4/10/17

4-4-17

We went around today and said goodbye to all the people that E. Volmar wanted to say bye to. All the ones he wanted to see were home, so he was happy about that. 

4-5-17

Transfers were today, which was sad to see E. Volmar leave. I wish I could've been with him for more than just a transfer. He went to the Columbia Zone which is where I came from when I was in Blythewood. He is a ZL there which is a Spanish area. My new comp. is Elder Guzman from San Antonio, TX. He shreds on the guitar and is super good at singing. Like E. Volmar, he is a Spanish missionary but now working English. When we got back to the apartment, 

4-6-17

We did some service for SBP today which was a lot of fun because we got to put up drywall. We have been working on the same house fire the past few weeks, so we have got to see all of the progress! We scrubbed the board for mood remediation, then put up insulation and then, drywall was today. When we got done with that, we got back to the apartment and got all cleaned up to go to Stake Council. We had to give a report on all of the missionaries in each unit and their key indicator averages for all last month. We also, put the whole Stake Council on date to have find for the missionaries to teach by the next council which will be in three months. 

4-7-17

Early this morning, we all met up at the church to play some basketball. Then, we came back and had studies and transitioned into weekly planning. We made some plans and then, met the APs at an Mexican restaurant for lunch which was super good. I had a cow tongue (lingua) taco and a pork one! Bro. Mumford texted us earlier asking for help picking up a washer and dryer from someone's house. We rode up there with him which took so much longer than we expected. It was a mixture of terrible traffic, bad driving and it was far away. We eventually, got back and headed straight over to Jerry's boxing gym to help him with that again.

4-8-17

We played basketball early this morning and the APs came over to have some of my buttermilk pancakes! After that, we finished up weekly planning and headed out for the day. We did a ton of finding today and had lots of success. We were able to meet some awesome people and some interesting ones. For example, we met a drunk raging Muslim getting in our faces saying that we are puppets and that there's no Christ. Then, we met a homeless guy outside of Cook-off asking us for a ride and money, so we bought him a burger instead. THEN, we met like the only hipsters in South Carolina named Peter and Hannah. Haha, Peter is a geologist... surprised? Lastly, we met a Chinese lady named Yuqi who is going to USC in study abroad. She had this really funny-looking dog and she named it some Chinese word for a "sweet BBQ meat."   so it was a pretty good day to say the least. 

4-9-17

Church went well this morning even though we totally forgot it was fast Sunday... our investigator Ina was supposed to come, but she couldn't get to sleep last night. When she finally did get to sleep, she over slept. After church and ward council, we were walking out in the parking lot and a college student approached us asking where he can go to learn more about the church because he has some questions. We went inside and found a classroom to use. We had such a powerful Restoration/Plan of Salvation/BoM lesson. We covered a lot because he had so many questions. It seemed like he was really soaking it all in. He said that he wanted to know why his girlfriend (who is a member) broke down when she was expressing he testimony of the BoM and why she reads it everyday. He got a little emotional after we talked about the way the Spirit works. At the end of the lesson, we committed him to baptism and tried to set a date. 

He then said, 

"guys, I have to be honest with you... I'm actually, a member who has been inactive for years. My dad is a high counselor in Aiken and I just wanted to get a investigator's perspective to make sure if I want to reactivate or not. This really helped solidify my choice that I want to come back. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure I was doing this for me and not just to appease my girlfriend."

That took us off guard a little bit, but we just shared our testimonies and related with him. We talked about finding your own testimony and the process. Nonetheless, It was a great lesson and the Spirit was very evident. He got a little emotional at the end. He's a really good guy and we invited him to ball with us some Monday. 

After we got back to the apartment, We set up some plans for the upcoming week and did some finding. 

-Elder Mitchell

4/24/17

4-18-17

The Zone had interviews with President Turner this morning and ours went really well. We always go first, so we were early to make sure everything was still set up and got to interview longer! After that, we went on exchanges with Newberry and I got to go with E. Oliver again. We had a good day of finding and got to meet some cool people to set return appointments with. Then, we ended the day with Ward Coordination. 

4-19-17

We went to SBP today and we sanded the walls on the house we've been working on. We were covered with the dust and we had fun while doing it! After that, we got back and showered and exchanged back. It was really great to see E. Oliver and catch up with him. I miss that kid! After we exchanged, we went to a couple appointments that we had, but they fell through. This evening, we met up with our ward mission leader (Bro. Jennings) and visited a member to put them on date to have someone for us to teach by three months. Bro. Jennings is such a stud! 

4-20-17

This morning we played basketball again which was tiring. Haha, then we had exchanges with Lake Murray. I went there with E. Wilkes and got back on the bike which wasn't too bad. It was hot today though! We met this old guy knocking around and he invited us in and politely tried to Bible bash us with his wife. His wife was like Satan himself, so I decided to just bring out the scriptures and unload on her. It probably wasn't good, but I was just fed up with it. They told us they weren't going to change, so what the heck! After we stumped them, we told them that we had to go and they gave us these little "Fisherman's Bibles" and told us to read the tabs on it. Then, we had to rush over to an appointment with a lady named Donna. The member they had scheduled to teach with us, went into some deep doc. with the lady so that was fun! 

4-21-17

We went to Lexington's DDM today with the APs which went a lot better than the last one we went to. That District has struggled with Maturity, but they have really stepped it up recently since we sat them all down and talked to them. After DDM, we went out to eat Mexican food with Lexington and Lake Murray. We came back and we met up with some Sisters so that E. Guzman and them could practice a musical number for Zone Conference next week. 

4-22-17 

Weekly Planning went down today which is always effective, but takes awhile. After planning, we had a couple appointments that fell through. We did get to teach a lady we met last week named Yuqi. She is from China and is going to USC for college. She does not have a religious background at all. The only time she had heard about God was when she came to the US for college and took a religion class. It was very different teaching a lady with a little bit of a language barrier and from a totally different culture. We taught simply as like we were teaching a little kid, but she's super smart and is going for her Ph.D. in school right now. We had a good lesson with her and set a time to come back! We are going to pass her off to the YSA Elders (APs). 

4-23-17

Church went well today and we were able to get two investigators at sacrament! Ina, our investigator on date was going to come, but she got off work at 7:00 this morning and was really tired from working overnight. After church, we had Ward Council and discussed the SCI and missionary efforts over the past couple weeks. We went back home and the Spanish Elders met us there to have lunch with us. We had some of this soup/gumbo/jambalaya stuff I made last night which is super good. I just took a bunch of random things from the cabinet and threw it in a pot! We had an appointment at 5:00 with a family we met a couple weeks ago, but we caught them going out the door. They had to go over to one of their parent's house due to a family emergency. After that, we went over to the Mumford's to help them move their washer and dyer. Bro. Mumford is the ward clerk, so we talked to him about cleaning up some of the old membership records that don't even live here anymore. 

-Elder Mitchell

3/27/17

3-21-17
Today, we went out to Lexington with the APs to sit in on their DDM.
That District has some wild kids in there. After that, we headed back
to West Columbia for a lesson. Then, the lesson cancelled. Later on,
we had another appointment with a guy named Odell who just wanted to
Bible bash with us which wasn't very hard to rebuttal. We ended the
day with some finding around less active members.

3-22-17
This morning, we went over to the Atkinson's to help with yard work.
We ripped out some more tree trunks which was quite the job! After
that, we met up with the Congaree Elders and went on exchanges. I got
to go to Congaree which one of my last areas. I got to see Brian Avery
and his family which was awesome. We planned to go and stop by Chanta
who is our recent convert, but she wasn't home.

3-23-17
We finished up exchanges and I went back to West Columbia after a
marvelous reunion with my comp. We celebrated by making chocolate chip
buttermilk pancakes! After that, we secured some plans for today and
made sure we knew where we were going. We did some finding until it
was time for our appointment with Ina. We had a really good discussion
with her about the Plan of Salvation. She seemed to really enjoy it
and listened very intently. She is going to try and make it to church
tomorrow, but she will be just getting off work since she works
nights. She does swing shifts which means that she will work weekends
for two weeks and week days for the next two. That can probably be
very tiring and hard to establish a regular sleep schedule! We were
going to meet with Gabe and Chaneta, but they had to cancel today. KU
won their game last night by quite a bit! They are just flying through
the bracket and I wish I could watch them play.

3-24-17
We didn't get in pros. clothes (shirt & tie) all day because we were
doing service. For the morning and afternoon, we did service for SBP
which is always fun. We did mold remediation, so we got all suited up
in gear to scrub every single board & board surfaces in the basement.
Then, we spray it all down with chemicals and wipe it off. When we
were done with that, we hurried home and got ready to go and help
Jerry (nonmember) set up more of his boxing gym. He said that he is
going to be coming to church Sunday!

3-25-17
We started the day out with some finding which went really well! We
invited a couple people to church tomorrow, so hopefully they come!
That's basically, what we did all day and it turned out to work well.
We knocked into this young black guy who was really chill and down to
earth. We asked where he was from and he said that he was from Kansas!
I haven't heard that or met anyone from there in forever. I told him
that I was from the Lawrence area and he's from Leavenworth! He a
disabled veteran and came here since his wife is from here. Sis.
Bassett also, hemmed my new pants for me today which was super awesome
of her to do that.

3-26-17
Church was so great! Jerry came to church and he got to hear me speak
since I had to give a talk. I was asked to talk on Member Missionary
Work, so that was right up my alley! After church, we got to the
apartment and saw that these two guys were moving in and struggling to
carry a couch. We helped them carry their two couches in and they were
the father and boyfriend of the girl moving in. I also, ripped my new
slacks in the back while helping them move which was a literal
bummer... There's a lady in the ward here that can sew them, so
that'll be fine. When we got in and ate some food, we
finalized some plans and made some more for this upcoming week. We got
a sad text later today from Chaneta. She said that her and Gabe broke
up... That is kind of sad, but now we can find out if he's truly
investigating the church for himself or just her.

-Elder Mitchell

3/13/17

3-7-17
This morning, we did some service for a member of the bishopric who is
Bro. Contini. He's the guy we bought my mission bike from! We cut down
a few bushes and bagged some leaves for him. The weather is perfect
for yard work today! We had three appointments cancel today, so we
went into finding mode for the day.

3-8-17
We had Zone Conference this morning which turned out really well! E.
Volmar and I had to give a 45 minute training on weekly planning and
implementing a change in that for our mission. After that, we did some
finding in our area and had to go back to the church to take down
everything that we set up for the conference. Then, we went with the
AP's apartment and had dinner with them.

3-9-17
This morning, we all woke up early this morning to go play basketball
at the church. It was fun and always a good exercise. We came back to
the apartment to have our studies and then, went to a member's home
(Atkinsons) to do some yard work. E. Volmar raked the yard while I was
removing small bush & tree roots. Then, we bagged all of the leaves
up. They were very happy that all of that got done! We grabbed some
lunch and then, started our weekly planning session. We did it a day
early because we are going on exchanges tomorrow and we are
supervising their weekly planning session. We had an appointment to
see a recent convert and her boyfriend who is an investigator. It went
really well and they're planning on coming to church on Sunday. We
went over a little bit of the Restoration again and figured out his
intentions behind wanting to find out if this is the path he needs to
take.
We had an appointment with Patrice after that, but she wasn't there.
Her mom was there this time though, so we shared the Restoration with
her.

3-10-17
We had exchanges with one of the DLs and his comp today. We went to
their weekly planning session before exchanging since we changed the
planning steps as a mission. We did to make sure that it was done
correctly aligning with what we trained about. We figured that if the
DLs know, then they can help train their district on how to correctly
do it. I stayed in Lake Murray with E. Beck who is the DL's comp. He
came out with E. Winn & E. Oliver. We had some really good talks while
we were out knocking doors. After that, we went to their ball night at
their church building.

3-11-17
It was one of those really slow days today. We finished up exchanges
and I went back to West Columbia. We did some finding all day and met
some cool people! Although it, we did a lot of talking with doors
instead. Other than that, I don't have too much to talk about today.
The nice thing is that even though nothing really happened, we still
have fun just bein zealous missionaries. Haha we get along really
well, so that helps a lot.

3-12-17
The craziest thing happened this morning... We went outside to go to
church this morning and it was SNOWING!? It was snowing in SC... It
went on for a little while, but none of it stuck. It melted when it
hit the ground. This sacrament meeting was very powerful. The talks
given were centered around Christ and the Atonement. After that, we
taught Gospel Pinciples which was on Ch. 1 (Our Heavenly Father) and
that went well. We headed home after ward council, got some lunch and
made plans for the day. We had a lesson with a lady named, Ina who was
a Bible referral from awhile back. We had a powerful lesson with her
about the BoM and put her on date for baptism! She is planning to come
to church next Sunday. She is truly seeking and said that she feels
there is a void that she needs to fill that other churches haven't. It
was funny though, because we were talking about the BoM and the
Nephites & Lamanites. She was having the hardest time pronouncing
those even after helping her. She at one point said; "the nipplites"
and I almost lost it! After the day was over, we went to the mission
office and chilled with the APs. We are staying overnight with them
and spending pday with them tomorrow!

-Elder Mitchell

3/10/17

Sister Basset:

"Sister Mitchell, this is sister bassett. Thought you might enjoy this photo of elder Mitchell. I'm excited that is he not only back in our zone but he is actually my zone leader!  I was disappointed to miss our first zone conference with him but heard he did a good job.  I tangled with some poison ivy, caught a cold and somehow was over over by a truck in the middle of the night. No evidence of tire marks but my body sure felt like that is what happened. This was taken when elder Stevenson was here and I was able to visit with some of my favorite missionaries whom I hadn't seen for awhile. It is a real joy working with these young missionaries."

2/20/17

Hi there! I am one of the sisters who served in Blythewood with your son. I took lots of photos at his surprise party awhile back and was sure you'd want to see them, so I got your email from him so I could share them with you. He has done a lot of really good work here and you should be very proud! I hope you enjoy these photos!
Emily Pew

2/20/17

2-14-17
DDM was this morning and there were some really good trainings given.
I had Sis. Pew train on the example of angelic missionaries that
Christ and his apostles were. I asked E. Oliver to train on becoming a
more persuasive teacher. Then, I trained on trusting in the Lord's
ways and how to better align our will with His. I used excerpts from
the talk "Willing to Submit " by Neal A. Maxwell in April 1985. After
DDM, we went on exchanges with the ZLs. Elder Heimuli came here with
me in Blythewood and we were able to meet with some neat people. We
were also, able to see Lynda and Ruben that evening. E. Heimuli was
just baffled at how well they are progressing! Ruben talked about how
he wants to get baptized and eventually, marry Sis. Reynolds in the
temple!

2-15-17
We did service for SBP today which was basically, all day long. We
helped sand down some walls and painted the with a primer. We went to
a ghetto burger joint and it was surprisingly, really good and
affordable! After we got back from our service and got all cleaned up,
we went to the Dobbs to have some Bojangle's and Lynda was there. We
had another good lesson with her and talked about her getting her
patriarchal blessing! She texted the bishop that night to get
interviewed for that.

2-16-17
Thus morning, we planned to do some service for an older less active
man who's pipe got clogged up, but he wouldn't answer his phone/door.
We still had some service planned for Sis. Jensen, so we went and did
that. We helped he move a bunch of stuff out of a storage unit to
their house. One of those things happened to be a wagon wheel which
wouldn't fit in her van or dad's car. We were not going to take a
whole nother trip just to get the stupid thing, so we got creative and
put it on our bike rack! We only had to go up the road a few miles, so
we drove cautiously. We got it there all in one peace and helped her
unload everything else. Sis. De La Rosa invited us over for dinner
tonight. When we got there, the Sisters were there as well because
they were invited. Dinner went well and she talked our ears off!

2-17-17
This morning, we got a phone call and it was from President Turner. He
was calling to talk to me about transfers coming up... He has asked me
to be a Zone Leader for West Columbia, so it looks like I'm going back
over to the other side of the river! That's right where I was at my
last area in Congaree. That was pretty nerve-racking to hear that, but
I will be with Elder Brian who was in Ridgeway when I got here and
he's a dope farmboy from UT. We got along really well when he was
here, so that was kind of a relief to hear I'm with him. We had some
Mormon.org time and tidied up our apartment for inspections today.
Those went well and they didn't have anything to complain to us about!
After that, we had weekly planning which went really well! We set up
some times to visit people that I want to say goodbye to. At the end
of the night, we went over to Eric's to eat dinner with him, the
Sisters, Sis. Emerson (Lynda), Sis. Reynolds & Ruben and the Ridgeway
Elders. That went very well and they were all sad to hear that I will
be leaving next week. It was funny, because while we were there, Ruben
approached us and said that he heard that there are some courses that
he has to take before baptism and that he would like to start on them.
Haha, he was pleased to hear that we've already started them with him!
Sister Reynolds also, said that bishop called her and asked if an Area
70 could come and visit them in their home! She was so excited to tell
us that news. It's really neat because she is less active and has been
coming back to church since the beginning of the year with Ruben.

2-18-17
It was a really good day today! We had ward coordination this morning
which ended went well. After that, Lamping and I grabbed some lunch at
Applebee's. After that, we visited Tammy so that I could say goodbye
to them and talked to her for a little while. Then, we visited the
Hill's to do the same thing and they were eager to see us. They were
also, glad that we were able to stop by. At that time, we headed to
the apartment so that I could do a little bit of packing until we
headed to the adult session of Stake Conference. We went to Stake
Conference and got to listen to Elder Alba from the Area Seventy. He
gave such a great talk! Ruben went there and came up to us to talk. He
told us about Elder Alba coming to visit the house. He got pretty
emotional and teared up while he was saying that it was amazing to
hear a man called of God in that "hierarchy " to tell him that he sees
a lot of good in him and that he knows the Lord is happy with him. We
seconded that notion. Elder Oliver came up to me and said that there
is this couple that have a son in the Wichita, KS mission and they
want to meet me. I went up to them and talked to them for a little
bit. Their son (Elder Campbell) was serving in Burlington, KS and is
now in COLBY, KS!? Grandma and Papa were just talking about him in
their email to me. They are from the Elgin ward which is right next to
Blythewood, so I thought that was really neat!

2-19-17
Stake Conference was today and it was so good! There were some great
talks given -especially, by Elder Alba. After church, the Sisters had
a pass of lesson with us with a guy they've been working with named
Michael. Then, Marshall Walker who has been going out teaching with us
quite a bit just received the Melchizidek Priesthood and we got to sit
in for that. We got back from church and went over to the Bishop's
house for dinner. We ate some pretty dank BBQ that reminded me of
home! Ruben and Sis. Reynolds came over there as well! We had a good
visit with them. After that, the we followed behind the Sisters and
went to the Hunter's to say goodbye. Then, we went to visit Lynda so
that I could say goodbye. She has been really sad that I'm leaving,
but is excited for me to move onto the next chapter. We talked to her
about her reading and she has read a ton lately. She is already in
Alma 25 and loves every bit of it!

-Elder Mitchell