PDay was so much fun! The Cheraw Elders (E. Curtis and E. Griffin) and
the rest of the district got together and we put a Christmas video
together for Zone Conference. It's going to be pretty funny! It's
about meetings with the president and we do random crazy things that
go against the mission handbook. For example, one of the sisters runs
away because she doesn't want to go home. The Cheraw Elders started a
mission fight club and one pretended to sit on a motorcycle. E.
Siebers suggests that I emigrate to another country and I adopt a
puppy since we can't adopt. Haha
12-1-15
Waking up at 5am to workout was not fun. We went with a member of the
ward to workout with this fitness group called "F3" (Fellowship.
Fitness. Faith.). Everyone gets these ridiculous nicknames when
they're initiated into the group. So of course, I got the nickname of
"todo" since I'm from Kansas. At least I didn't get something like
"Bareback" from Brokeback Mountain like E. Siebers because he likes to
ride horses. Haha it was a pretty tough workout! One of the guys
working out there was the Mayor of Hartsville.
We got to teach a lot of people today. One of them was Howard which is
a guy we have on date for baptism. He is such a nice guy! He lives in
a tiny camper trailer and has to clean his clothes by heating up a
bowl of water in the microwave. My heart goes out to him. He tells us
how much he appreciates and loves us when we visit him. Before we
taught our lesson, the coolest thing happened! The Spirit prompted me
to talk about baptism and the importance of going to church. Most of
what I said did not come from me. It was really neat. When I stopped
talking, my heart just started fluttering because I knew it was the
spirit talking through me. One of the things we recite each day is a
motto from our mission president; "I love tough things, I'm the first
to do tough things, I do tough things first, I'm a finisher. I love
being a missionary." As I say this each day, it is becoming more and
more real and applicable to me. Later that evening, we got to stop and
play some basketball (ghetto ball) with these young black kids. I
didn't get much traction in my church shoes though!
12-2-15
Today was probably the biggest test of faith on my mission so far. It
rained ALL DAY today and there was no escaping it. We got cold and
soaked. We were not having any luck while we were tracting so I just
felt like we were out there for no reason. Finally, things we starting
to look up when we met the sweetest old lady named Miss Dorothy she
invite us right in and had us sit down. She already has a strong faith
in Jesus Christ. She opened up to us about all of the trials that she
has had to face in her life. Her pregnant mom and sister died in a car
wreck that she was also involved in when she was young. She's 83 now,
but her dad had shoved her underneath the dashboard just before the
wreck which saved her life. She said that later on one of her sons
died in a bad motorcycle wreck on Christmas Eve. We had a very
spiritual lesson with her and she kept saying, "I believe it!" We
committed her to baptism. It's funny because she is the sweetest old
lady, but pretty racist. Haha welcome to the south! We also met with a
really cool guy named Nathan again. He's about 16 and he felt the
spirit so strong when we talked to him that he just broke down crying
at a point. He's friends with a kid in our ward. We were all
heartbroken including him when he told us that his mom doesn't want
the BoM in her house and that he can't go to church anymore. We can't
go against what she says, so we are just praying for her heart to be
softened...
12-3-15
It was chilly and my brakes were worn all the way down in the back so
I had to ride an old bike called "Free Spirit." It was a heavy rusty
thing with only a couple working gears. The back tire wobbled so much
that I thought it could fly off any second. It was pretty tough! So we
were riding in an area where everyone had dogs and they were barking
like crazy. A really big dog got loose and started sprinting after us.
Instead of riding away, we felt prompted to just stop dead in our
tracks. So we stopped fast and started it down. I yelled at the dog in
a low voice and it just ran away! That was pretty nerve racking!
We eventually made it to Walmart so I could get brake pads. We made it
back without any lights on the bike I had and fixed "T-Rek" (my bike).
After that we were heading over to a members house to just drop in and
teach them. We got a text asking for us to give them a blessing. It
was that very same member we were heading to anyway, so it worked out!
12-4-15
Today was our ZTM (Zone Training Meeting) and it was really neat! I
got to see E. Cloward from the MTC and I get to see E. Jones and E.
Wille on Tuesday for Zone Conference! I miss those guys. At ZTM we
talked about our goal of 16 baptisms this year. So far someone got
one, so we have a ways to go. We also talked about how we should focus
on asking inspired questions.
In my personal study I was reading in 2 Nephi 33:1-2 and that is about
how we can teach people. I like how it says "unto" the hearts because
it's like we are just laying it all on the table with the spirit and
they have the choice to accept the gospel and live it. That is a
choice that people have to make for their own.
We dropped in on Howard and shared a spiritual thought with him. Then
we invited him to the ward Christmas party tomorrow. I am praying that
he comes.
12-5-15
We got to a little girl's one year old birthday party this morning.
They're a really awesome young couple in our ward that we hangout a
lot with. In fact, we are teach lessons to Hannah Weibel's (the mom)
friend at their house every week or so!
We met a lot of really cool people at the party and hopefully made
good impressions!We got a referral from church headquarters to deliver
a dvd to her, so we were able to teach her an awesome lesson. We gave
her a BoM for her to read and we are going to follow up soon.
Our ward has been preparing for this Christmas party for months and it
was tonight! The primary kids put on a little play and it was actually
really good. They were all dressed up in handmade costumes and sang. A
member from the Florence area catered for it and it was awesome
grilled chicken! Howard was able to come as well! The members were
good at introducing themselves as well. We are praying he comes to
church tomorrow!
12-6-15
Howard came to church! He stayed all three hours and I think he
enjoyed it! He felt a little self conscious because he felt
underdressed with the polo and jeans he had on. He kept saying that
his clothes aren't very clean. We reassured him that he looks great.
Those nerves went away when everyone was really nice to him. He
enjoyed listening to all the testimonies. E. Siebers and I are going
to get him some slacks, a shirt and tie for Christmas. We already have
some nice shoes that will fit him as well!
We went to a member's home and you'll never believe what we got to
eat... CRAB LEGS. They're like one of my all time favorite foods so I
was really excited to be able to break my fast with that as well.
