11/14/16

11-8-16

DDM was today and it went really well! The trainings given were about helping people make and keep commitments that we leave with them. I started getting a headache during the meeting, so it was hard to focus. Today was a rough day because I didn't feel too good, but we were able to have some good lessons. We met with Bro. Fordham who is a less active that we are working with to receive the priesthood. He's a really nice guy who is a convert and wants to improve his relationship with God. We went over the Oath and Covenant of the priesthood with him and committed him to read somewhere in the BoM. After that, we tried by a few other people who weren't home before we headed in for dinner. I ate my dinner really fast so that I could sleep the rest of the time because I'm exhausted. Bro. Tea called and said that Tyler's friend (who is a senior), Levi was at his house tonight and was open to having us come over to teach him. We went over there and had a great lesson with him. He came to church a couple weeks ago and said that he will try to make it this Sunday. He used to work at the Zoo here in Columbia, so he is going to get us in for free on a Pday! Bro. Tea's daughter had a friend over there as well named Clairey and she had a couple questions about the church too, so we answered them and gave her a BoM. She said that she wants to come to church on Sunday! The Teas are an awesome family who are great member missionaries. 

11-9-16

It was another fairly slow day today. We went and had Mormon.org time before we ate some lunch. I passed out asleep during the lunch hour which was a nice nap. Then, we went to a member's house named Frona to see if she needed anything. She is an older lady with MS who can't get around very well. Her caretaker was there, so we just checked in on her. She was very happy to see us and thanked us for making her day.  We also, stopped in on a lady who is less active named, Sara (pronounced Suh-raw). Some local Elders met her at a Walmart and she told the, where she lived and her phone number so we could get in contact with her. Her records aren't even in the ward, so we went over there to get some info to request her records. She's a really nice girl who hasn't been to church in a few years, but grew up in it. Her husband is in the Army and goes to Fort Jackson here in Columbia. After we met with them, we knocked on another less active's house named Tammy. She was another very nice lady, but wasn't too interested in coming back to church. 

11-10-16

The first thing we did this morning was some service for one of our investigators. William hasn't had water for about three days since the water pump in the well is damaged. They are still trying to recover from the flood last year, so there's some damage they've been dealing with. We went over there and helped him pull the hose and pump out of the well which was about 110 ft deep. The pump was disconnected from the hose, so they had to get another one on there. We had to rush back to the apartment to get dressed up for an appointment we have with Taimi. Some members  of the ward (Gallahars) picked us up and went with us to his house. The husband is Tongan and the wife is Samoan and retired from the army. They connected really well with him since he's from Samoa as well. They brought over a Samoan dessert and we ate that with him. It was a really good visit with him, so hopefully he will feel more comfortable to come to church. After that, we came back to the apartment and took a little break since my head was hurting... we got some food and then, headed back out to try by some more people. We drove by a fruit stand that a less active guy runs, so we decided to stop and talk to him. He wasn't there because he was in the hospital, but his friend was there and gave us a bunch of free apples. We had to leave from there to go to choir practice which I'm not feeling up to doing at all... 

11-11-16

Today was a rough day of not catching anyone at home. We were able to meet Bawu's wife finally and she told us to come back on Sunday. We had Ward Coordination at Bro. Taylor's house which went well. We talked about some of the people we were working with and talked to the Sisters about redrawing the boundaries so we could get a bigger area. This area used to be a biking area, so it's tiny for an area with a car. 

11-12-16

Today was another rough day of not being able to teach any lessons again. We stopped by a family who the mom/wife is active and her kids and husband aren't. Her husband was the only person there and he let us in. We talked to him for a little bit and he talked to us about politics. Haha we just had a casual conversation with him and didn't bring up the church because we could tell he would shut it down fast. When he opened the door I asked, "Hey! Are you Bro. George?"

He replied, "yes, I'm Darrel." Haha oh. 

It's funny because him and his wife both grew up in Hutchinson, KS! First people I've met from KS. He worked for Coleman there and now runs his own business here cleaning the hoods of oven tops in Restaurants. When we got back to the apartment, the front office had a social thing going on for the residents called, "Beats and Eats." We scored some free BBQ and Mac & Cheese, so that was pretty dope. They also, had a live band playing which was all cool, but they weren't good... We left after that and tried to visit some other people, but when it gets dark here.. people don't answer their doors. We went to the apartment and had more success in calling people and setting up appointments for next week. 

11-13-16

Today, was cold and rainy all day... On the bright side, we had two investigators at church which was awesome! Clairey came with the Tea's and Ana showed up with her daughters. It was kind of lame though because the Bishop just talked about tithing during sacrament. Hopefully, Clairey had some good lessons in Young Women's! We taught Gospel Principles which we were asked to right before class started. The lesson was on Eternal Families, which ended up being a pretty good lesson and discussion. Ana was in there, so hopefully it got her thinking a little bit too. After that class, we sat in on a prospective elders class and talked about honoring the priesthood. After church, we went to go and visit Tammy who is the less active we visited earlier this week. She let us in and had a good visit with her and her nonmember husband. They also, had the Chiefs and Carolina Panthers game on with it tied up in the 4th Quarter. So that was hard to be unglued off of. The Corner for the Chiefs, Marcus Peters stripped the ball from the Panther's receiver which got them in field goal range to win the game. I was so excited to watch that even though they weren't because they're Panthers fans. Haha I also saw that Eric Berry had a stellar game with 9 tackles, a TFL and an interception. Back to missionary stuff... she invited us back sometime to have some of her famous Chicken Bog. We left her house and went over to see if we could see Bawu. He was home and we were able to talk to him for the first time in about two weeks. He talked about all the crap he's been going through lately and it was understandable why he was so busy. He was really thankful and it meant a lot to him that we texted him throughout the week to make sure he was doing okay. He said that it showed that "someone was looking out for him." We set up a time to have a lesson with him on Wednesday. He said he's got a lot of questions for us next time. We are going to bring Bro. Taylor over with us next! 

-Elder Mitchell

11/7/16

11-1-16

We stopped by to visit Kristin today who is a less active's wife. She was busy, but told us to come back Thursday at the same time. We tried by some other people who weren't available or home. We had another lesson with Ana and the Bishop came with us. It was a great lesson and the bishop gave some great input. Ana is super solid, but she isn't married to the less active guy she's living with. That is only because she is trying to file for a divorce, but can't locate her husband. It's an odd situation. We went over the Restoration even though she's already been taught it. We refreshed her memory and focused on the importance of reading the BoM to find out if it's true. She hasn't done that yet, but she committed to baptism if she knew this was the right path to take. She is coming to church on Sunday! 

11-2-16

This morning, we had Mormon.org time which we get to do up at the apartment office since they have computers there. After that, we had an appointment cancel last minute, so we tried by some other people who weren't available. We were able to set up a couple return appointments though. We went to go track down a referral to see him, but he wasn't home. There is an older less active couple who live right around the corner from him, so we went to go and meet them. They are nice people, but have trouble getting around. We talked about their conversion stories and some of his stories when he was in Desert Storm. We shared a scripture with them, then asked all of them their favorite BoM stories. The wife said that she like the part where it outlines the Plan of Salvation, so I told her to look up Pres. Uchtdorf's talk from this last Conference! We left to go and meet with a less active we had an appointment with and talked to him about receiving the priesthood. He seemed excited about that, but won't be able to come back to church for a little while since he will be traveling the next couple weeks. After dinner, we went over to Bro. Taylor's house to have Ward Coordination. We scheduled a BoM/Bible study class tonight, so we invited an investigator of ours to come. She confirmed that she was coming right before dinner. Luckily, she didn't show up for whatever reason. Let me explain; The sisters invited a recent convert of a couple months and an investigator they have. They showed up and the investigator was very weird... the first thing he told people is that we can call him "Catdaddy." When we got started, he kept interrupting with these off-the-wall comments and questions. The whole time he was just trying to start a debate with us. Supposedly, he wants to have a vision of God or just proof that He is out there. We tried to explain faith and how we should walk by faith and not sight, but it wasn't good enough for him. He asked all these questions to the recent convert to try and tear down his newly found testimony of the BoM and it was making us mad... he brought of Revelations (of course) where it says that we should add to the Bible. That's when you know the people aren't very educated in their rebuttals. We ended class early because we couldn't get him settled down and no one could feel the Spirit. He was definitely on something. 

11-3-16

This morning, we had an appointment with Kristen and her kids were crazy! It was hard for all of us to focus- especially her. I am convinced that Satan gets in the way of lessons through children. That has happened a lot on my mission. Haha after that, we went to go wash the car and then grab some lunch at Panda Express. We ran back to the apartment to go get some food that the Clark's dropped off for Taimi and his family. We took that over to him and had a good visit with him. Then we went over Sis. Cooper's who is a less active. We were going to teach her granddaughter, but she had to leave. Sis. Cooper talked about the rough times that she's been through and how she became converted to the gospel. We went to visit the Reynolds again and had a nice visit as usual. Her son, Michael is really warming up to us and he read Alma 36 that we left with them last time! I really want to see him go on a mission! We had to rush out and go to choir practice. 

11-4-16

We had ZTM today and interviews with Pres. Turner as well. They both went really well because I was "nourished and edified." Haha then, there was a Mexican guy who catered the meeting and brought a ton of authentic tacos and taquitos! We had exchanges today, so I went to Ridgeway with Elder Michaelis. We had a couple lessons with some less actives and brought a member with us to fellowship. E. Michaelis is a cool guy and plays the guitar really well! He came out on his mission when E. Winn came out. We got trapped on a porch because there was a dog that was going to bite the crap out of us if we stepped off the porch. We waited to catch the dog off guard, and took off for the car. It was pretty scary! Dogs don't like Michaelis most-likely because he is 6'6. Haha 

11-5-16

This morning, we were heading over to a member's home to do some service before we finished up exchanges. We ended up getting in a pretty bad car wreck. We got T-boned on my side of the car by a truck going about 55mph. It totaled the car and knocked me out. We were luckily, wearing our seatbelts and the airbags deployed. I was taken to the hospital by ambulance where they got me all fixed up. I was so out of it! I got some X-rays because it felt like I had broken a rib and I had bad whiplash. Everything seemed to be normal, but I did get a CT Scan and it showed that I have a concussion. I started throwing up while we were in the room. Haha but I am so thankful that the Lord watched out for both us. I truly believe in the ministry of angels because there's no way I could've lived from that-let alone not break any bones. I crawled out of the car by myself and I have no recollection of any of it. I joke around and tell people I stopped the car from hitting me with my hand, but I truly believe an angel must've stopped it from seriously injuring me. I don't remember this happening, but Pres. Turner called to checkup on me and I was probably way out of it. It was amazing because I managed to get the only nurse that was a member to take care of me. Haha 

11-6-16

I am so freakin sore this morning! My whole body just aches and the right side of my torso is swollen. Haha my right pec is a lot bigger than my left. It was hard to get up and go to church, but we went! We stayed for sacrament and gospel principles, but left after that because I was starting to get a headache. Bishop Lenker invited us over tonight for dinner with a recent convert and the sisters came too. They made some really good lasagna and salad! We visited with their son the whole time who is a senior in high school and talked about his plans to serve a mission after he graduates. I went by Rite-Aid to add my insurance card to get a refund on the prescription I got and to buy some Aleve. Pres. Turner called me again to make sure I was doing better. I asked him if I seemed out of it on the phone yesterday and he said, "I think you were in another universe." Haha

On the bright side, Ana came to church with Oliver's daughters who are members and it was great to see them!

PS: Ford Fusions have great crash ratings!

-Elder Mitchell

11/7/16

We just drove back to where we got in the wreck and I found this
laying down next to glass where we got hit from the truck that hit us.
We also, missed to big trees luckily.

10/31/16

10-25-16

This morning, we had DDM and I gave a training on faith. I focused on the power that faith has and how we can use it more fully. The APs showed up for it too, so that was a little nerve racking, but it was also good to see E. Overson again. After that, we stopped by some less actives and tried to set up some appointments with them. One of the less actives we stopped by is actually, Elder Staley's aunt! When I found out I was going to Blythewood, I remembered that his aunt lives there... so I went up and talked to him at transfers and got her contact info. She was a really nice lady when we met her and knew me from E. Staley's emails! It was a great way to break the ice and visit with her. Then, we stopped by a part member family where the wife is just the member. We pulled up to this really nice and big home and matched the address with who we were looking for. Her name is Sis. Lyons and we were able to catch her at home! Her mom and dad were there as well. Above her fireplace was a really big painting of lions laying down. Haha, so come to find out... her and her husband are owners of Auntie Anne's! We had an appointment that set up yesterday while we were biking around and went to a less active's house. He wasn't there, but his fiancée (Ana) was there and had met with missionaries before. We brought a member with us this time and his name is Steve Dobbs. And he looks just like Steve Jobs so it was hilarious. He also works on the circuit boards for work, so they're practically the same. He's just the off-brand version of Jobs. Haha but we got there and Ana was the only on there, so we taught her and one of her daughters. She's such an awesome lady and understands the Restoration! Bro. Dobbs had a lot of good input as well since he is a convert. 

10-26-16

We decided to visit a lot of formers that we have so we can figure out if they're interested in sitting down with us again or not. So we parked the car and biked around to each house. We decided to visit a less active who was in the neighborhood we were at, but she wasn't home. BUT her sister in law was and she was really nice and seemed interested, so we set up a time to meet with her again! After that, we loaded our bikes up and went to another area where there's a less active named Taimi Hill. Come to find out, it's this big Samoan dude. His wife answered the door and let us in. He just had surgery only his leg, so they were coincidentally, home from work! His wife was really nice and she's Puerto Rican! She called their kids SamoRicans. We talked to them for awhile and got to know them. Taimi played on a Samoan Rugby team out in New Zealand, so he knows how to do the Hakka. We went to the apartment to get some dinner and remember that there is a "Meet & Mingle" at the front office building of our apartment. They had a ton of pizza and cupcakes, so we had that for dinner! They had a raffle giving out gift cards and prepaid cards. There were five people that could win and we won! We didn't get any cards though. We got a voucher for a free carpet cleaning... haha but that's okay because we still won something! We had an appointment with a less active family we met last week named the Reynolds. There is a lady and her 18 year old son that lives there. We went there and ended up just talking to the son, Michael and built a relationship. He showed us his Mustang that he has and he took us for a ride. He's very proud of that thing! Haha we talked about how he needs to take us out teaching in it, so maybe he will come out with us sometime! We set a return appointment so we could actually share a message this time with him and his mom. 

10-27-16

I read over my Patriarchal blessing this morning which is always so neat. There are many things that I have already noticed in my life and so much more to come! We went to visit a guy who called us last week to set up an appointment. He was such a nice guy and had some great questions for us. We talked about the BoM and gave him one to read. We are going to go see him again on Sunday! While we were knocking around a less active woman, we knocked on this one house that is really nice with a big pond in the back. A really nice lady answered the door and knew we were Mormons. She started talking about her family history, so we gave her a pass along card for our family search. After that, she went off about Hillary Clinton and the refugees here and how she thinks white people will "become extinct if we keep bending over backwards for other races." Let's just say she was a racist! This sweet little lady was bashing on other races! Haha after that, we went to an appointment with... ironically, a black lady who's a less active (Sis. Lyons). And we shared the talk by Russell M. Nelson this last Conference called "Joy and Spiritual Survival." She asked for another blessing, so we did that as well. After dinner, we stopped by a few other people and then had choir practice. 

10-28-16

We were trying by some investigators and less actives and we noticed that an older lady who is a member lives around that area. We decided to stop by and introduce ourselves. Her name is Frona and she's this really sweet lady who has MS. Her house recently flooded, so she had a ton of things just scattered everywhere since they just put down new carpet. We could tell she was embarrassed about it, so we decided to help her organize her living room. We put some shelves up again and her decorations. She was so thankful and happy that we came because she rarely has visitors. Before we left, she gave us a big box of all kinds of food and a framed pictures of the temple. Haha she wouldn't let us say no! After we dropped the food off at the house and had dinner, we went to ward Coordination at Bro. Taylor's. We discussed the people we are working with and then afterwards, we got into some deep doc questions which was fun! Haha I love learning about deep doc because it's so intriguing. 

10-29-16

Today was a pretty slow day. We had three set appointments today and they all fell through... We were able to get in contact with a less active we have been trying to meet and he said we could stop by later to see him. We went over there and got to know him which was nice. He is from New York and that's where his wife still is. After we met with him, we got back to our apartment and got ready to go to the Ward Fall Festival (Trunk or Treat). There were a lot of people there including another Ward, so we got to talk to and introduce ourselves to a lot of people. We ate some hot dogs and talked with some of the young men and the other Elders. 

-Elder Mitchell

10/10/16

10-4-16

It was a crazy day today! We had DDM today which went well. Sis. Bassett (senior missionary) made us lunch for afterwards. We got back to our apartment and started cleaning it for our apartment inspections. We got a call at around 5:00 saying that they're evacuating missionaries from the coast because of Hurricane Matthew, so we are going to have to host some at our apartment. We are going to go pick them up at the church at 9:00 tonight. They told us to go and get groceries and water to prepare. We had a lesson this evening with Leigh again and her less active husband. It went really well! We committed her to baptism and set a date with her then, invited her to church. After the lesson, we got back to the apartment and the APs came by to drop off a couple beds. We went to the church and picked up the 5 Elders that are staying with us. One of them is E. Leuluai who was in my District when I was in Simpsonville.

10-5-16

Every morning this week, we have been getting up at around 5:15am to go and play basketball at the church with everyone! After studies this morning, we headed to Walmart to get stocked up on food and water to prepare for the storm. When we got back, 2 of the Elders staying in our apartment left to go to another apartment. We dropped off the Elders still with us at an apartment complex so that they could go knock around some people while we contact Bible referrals. They got us a new investigator while they were doing that! After that, we took them back and got dinner before our appointment with Chanta. We went over to Chanta's and taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ again. Her daughter who was baptized when she was eight but isn't active was there and participated as well. Two of Chanta's kids got baptized when they were really young because her mom was a member. Chanta wasn't ready yet, but now she has been ready and is progressing so well with her new member lessons! We left her house, then went to see Brian and his family. We talked about the BoM with them since they haven't been reading it. His wife opened up with her concerns about the church and we did our best to answer them. I could tell she just didn't really accept our answers.

10-6-16

President Turner said that if we don't have any appointments or anything, to look for service with the Elders her from the coast. So we contacted Relief Society president in our ward who is moving and all 12 of us went over there and helped her pack. She bought us a ton of Little Caesar's pizza afterwards! We went straight to Ward Coordination afterwards to meet with our ward mission leader. We talked to him about some of the things we will need to bring up in Ward council. Then, we went to the church and had Soccer night. There were a ton of missionaries there this week and we almost outnumbered all the Mexicans there (not really)! Haha

10-7-16 & 10-8-16

Today, we had an appointment with a new investigator, but they weren't home. We also, went over to do service for Sis. Ammer's where we do ceramics and painted a little bit too. We were then, put on lockdown because the weather is supposed to get worse later in the day. So we have been taking naps and watching training videos for Elder Winn. The Bishop came by and dropped off a bunch of food. He gave us some sandwich stuff, juice, pop, muffins and got us all Bojangle's fried chicken! We ate a bunch of that and then took another nap. The lockdown lasted until about 6:00, then we all went to the church and played some basketball with the Zone Leaders and all the people with them. The weather wasn't very bad at all! Just some higher winds than usual and heavy rain.

10-9-16

Sunday: a bunch of the Elders came to church so it was fun to have all of them there! Chanta was there and brought her daughter with her.

-Elder Mitchell

9/19/16

9-13-16

We finally had a DDM this morning which was in Orangeburg. It went pretty well and one of the senior missionaries made us lunch! We tried to catch a few people on the way back in our area and didn't have much luck. We did catch this lady that is a less active and she was very different! She was watching a movie when we came in and we apologized for interrupting it and making her stop it. She went on about how it wasn't a very good movie because he involved a lot of "intercourse." She said, "you know how boy's hormones go all crazy and they get all horny." Haha it was very awkward, so we quickly changed the conversation! She is a very blunt person who doesn't really hold back anything. After that visit, we went to see Craig who is the excommunicated guy. We had to find out where he was excommunicated and when so that the bishop could request his file. He seemed pretty open about it, except for telling us what happened. It made it a lot easier and less awkward! Later this evening, we went on Splits. We had an appointment with Chanta that we couldn't miss. E. Scarff had to go and interview someone in the district for baptism, So E. Winn and I went to see Chanta. Our lesson went really well! I tried to get E. Winn involved as much as I could. She is still on date for the 24th of this month and she has to be smoke-free by Thursday because that's the deal we made with her. Technically, she can't smoke for at least a week from her baptismal date, but we pushed it sooner. She said that she won't let us down!

9-14-16

We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders today and that was a lot of fun! E. Jacobsen came to Congaree with E. Winn and I. We had quite a bit of appointments today, but most of them fell through. We met with Bro. Newhouse and talked about the importance of scripture study since he hasn't been reading lately. We got to do some service for a less active lady who is a single with 6 kids. She had mattresses and box springs outside along with a big fish tank and other junk. She asked to have it all taken to the dump because her home owners insurance guy said it needed to be done in the next few days. Otherwise, he would take away her insurance. So let's just set the scene... It had just gotten done pouring and everything was soaked making it stinky and heavier. They had been outside for awhile so bugs were crawling all over and inside them. We forgot gloves, so we got to do it all with our bare hands! We went over to Brian's house and taught him some of the commandments for his new member lessons. They're going to work on having more family scripture study.

9-15-16

We finished up exchanges today and met up at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. We got a gift card from one of the Spanish Elders because he's trying to watch his weight. Sis. Jenkins who is the less active lady with 6 kids invited us back over since we didn't get to see her yesterday. She thanked us for what we did and we shared a message with her. We offered up more service for her since she needs a lot of help painting and patching holes in the wall. Ward coordination was tonight and we talked about the "Open House" that we are planning to have as a way to find new investigators. We are going to do a church tour and have some speakers by the presidents of the quorums and auxiliaries. They're going to talk about family history, the role of men/women in the church, the youth program, baptism (showing the baptismal font), and sacrament in the chapel. Then, we are going to have some recent converts bear their testimonies on how they came to know the church was true which one of them is Brian. We also, talked about Chanta who is still on date for the 24th and seems really solid still! After Coordination, we went to soccer night at the church where a bunch of Mexicans that that Spanish Elders invite each week who are nonmembers come and play. I scored a goal, so that was pretty dang sweet. Haha This evening, we were playing football in the apartment with the Spanish Elders like we usually do and E. Scarff was getting mad at us. We yell out calls, plays and audibles before we hike the ball to eachother and it's so funny! E. Gerardo recorded it, so I'll send the video out! 

9-16-16

Our day didn't seem like it was too eventful, but it actually ended up going pretty well! We went over to the Capell's who are active and got two referrals from them. One isn't in our area, but we can refer them to other Elders. We had planned to bike over there, but E. Winn got on his new bike and popped a wheelie in our parking lot and knocked off the whole tire. Haha he got it back on, but it fell off again so we gave up and Bro. Capell picked us up. When we got back, I made some awesome fried shrimp with the shrimp that was caught from Charleston. I made some really good StirFry with it last week! After dinner, we went over to see Chanta and teach her. We taught her the 10 Commandments and went into detail with them, so that she understood all of them. 

9-17-16

Chanta came to church again today and we taught her about tithing and fast offerings after church. She is going to get interviewed on the 22nd this next week because she's going to be baptized this coming Saturday and I'm so excited for her! We headed home and got a little food and then, headed to a member of the Elder's quorum. They are doing something called the "Shepherding event" where they're going to the less actives in their given areas to visit and invite them to the Fish Fry and let them know we are thinking about them. They split us up with members of the Elder's quorum, so I went out with Bro. Capell. They are doing this once a month with different people covering different areas. We only caught one person at home, but we left notes and invites.

Elder Mitchell

 

9/5/17

8-30-16
This morning during personal studies, I finished reading all of the
New Testament. I have been able to learn so much from it. Some of the
parables are hard to follow and a lot of Revelations, so I looked up
some of the meanings in the institute manual! I'm going to read the
Pearl of Great Price now. When we went out today, we stopped by a lot
of les active's and didn't catch them home. We knocked a little bit
around the members, but no one was really interested... We had an
appointment this evening with a lady we have on date for baptism. We
taught her the Plan of Salvation and we had a young couple there from
church as well (The Blacks). The lesson went well and she plans to
come to church Sunday! We were supposed to have another appointment
tonight, but they cancelled.

8-31-16
We started our day off right by having Mormon.org time to get on and
watch some videos of crazy Mormons. After that, we went an visited
Bro. Newhouse. He is a less active we are working with to get him to
church and to quite smoking. We talked to him mostly about the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. We discussed with him a lot about the repentance
process and how that involves forgiving ourselves. He seems to be
struggling with that and feels like Christ won't forgive since he
knows it's wrong and keeps doing it. It was a good visit all around!
We were knocking on some less active's and we came across a single
lady who has 6 kids ranging from 8-19 years old. She wasn't home when
we knocked, so just as we were about to leave, she pulled the driveway
and ran inside. I was very confused at this point. Then, she came back
out and told us she had to get some shoes on and now has to pick up
some kids. She told us to come back in 20 min. Well, we tried by a few
people around there and waited until she got back. She came back, and
we went back over there and had a nice conversation with her. She's a
really nice lady who has been through a lot. She hasn't come to church
because she said it's too much work to get all the kids ready in the
morning and she has narcolepsy. We scheduled a time to come by next
week and share a message with her! We had dinner and then went to
another appointment with a couple named Tamera and Jonathan. We shared
the Restoration with them and it went really well. They seem really
interested and set a return appointment for Sunday.

9-1-16
It was a good day today! We started our day off by getting lunch with
the Spanish Elders. E. Scarff didn't feel very good after that, so we
stayed in for a little bit until he was feeling better. Then, we
stopped by a former and she said that she would like to meet with us
again! We had a good conversation with her and set up a time to see
her tomorrow. For dinner, we went to a less active family's home. They
made some spicy chicken and French fries that were good. We talked to
them about why they haven't come to church. They had a really bad
motorcycle wreck and the wife's had bleeding in her brain and crushed
her leg and arm. The husband got his ankle broken too, because they
ran into a boat and trailer. They shared a neat experience they had in
the temple when they went and we talked about how we want to help them
get back. It seemed like that's something they really want to do.
Their youngest son who is 19 has had it pretty rough and give them a
hard time it... He's into drugs and dropped out of highschool when he
was younger. His teeth are all rotting which is sad at such a young
age. We left their house and went to our ward coordination meeting
with the ward missionary leader. We addressed some of the people we
are working with and then he kicked us out soon. The USC Gamecocks
play their first game tonight and everyone here are diehard USC fans.
It is always a hard time for missionaries here where there's USC games
on. We went over to Bro. Avery's house to see how he was doing and
they were watching the game and grilling out. They gave us some
burgers and we got to get a sneak peak of the game. I miss football
season so much!

9-2-16
ZTM was today, but I didn't go. One of the ZLs, E. Overson got sick
and couldn't go. So we had a mini exchange and I went with him to an
Urgent Care. We got to their apartment and took naps until ZTM was
over. Haha, so it has been storming and pouring consistently the whole
day. We got back to the apartment and called a few people we have
appointments with and they all cancelled today. We ended up stopping
by this older less active lady and her 40 year old son. We talked
about the BoM and its importance to our testimonies. On our way home,
we decided to stop in Wendy's and get a 50¢ frosty which was bomb.

9-3-16
We got a call this morning after studies from President. He has asked
the both of us to train a new guy in a 3-pack. This will be my fourth
son. We are picking him up on Wednesday. After that, we went up to
the hospital to give an elderly lady a blessing. We came back for
lunch and then went to stop by a less active. I felt prompted to go
and visit a guy named Terrell we have stopped by before, so we went
over there. He was home and we ended up having a really awesome lesson
with him. He opened up about how he has had a rough life in the past
and has grown up to realize that he needs God in his life. He said
that he knows that we showed up in his life at that time for a reason.
We basically, taught him the Restoration lesson while just conversing
with him and he helped teach himself! He plans to come to church
tomorrow, so we will see. We had an appointment with Wayne who is on
date, but he called last minute to cancel. We had a member that was on
his way and all dressed up to. We met the member at Wendy's and had a
nice little visit with him. He just received the Melchizedek
Priesthood a few weeks ago and joined the church two years ago. He
shared his conversion story and talked about his family. He also said
that he grew up next to the farm of Truett Cathy who was the founder
of Chick Fil-A!

9-4-16
Church was awesome because we had two investigators at church today!
Chanta and her daughter and Wayne came. Wayne actually went up and
bore his testimony of God. He says that he wishes he could climb to
the top of a mountain and yell how much he loves God. Haha, he
believed that was his mountain. He's a funny old guy. When he sat back
down, about five minutes went by and he passed me a note. The note
said, "Am I aloud to add more to my testimony?" We had already
broke into a sweat about him going up the first time, but he ended up
going up there a second time. oh well! Luckily, he didn't say
anything that was too out there. They seemed to enjoy church. We had
an appointment just before dinner, but they weren't home... Brian
Avery (the recent convert) invited us over and we had ribs, pasta and
deviled eggs! He is such an awesome guy and he likes the Oregon Ducks
too. He has a huge German Shepard named Bosco and he's such a baby-
it's hilarious. He is scared of the outdoors when it's dark, so they
threatened to put him outside when he was over by the table because
his head is above the table and tries sniffing around. He ran away
into the other room because he really didn't want to go outside. Haha

Bosco!

8/29/16

8-23-16
It was just an off day today... We went and tried a few people in the
morning who weren't home. Then, we headed up to the hospital to give a
lady a blessing. We stopped by the church to meet some Spanish elders
there. We planned on doing an exchange for one of their appointments
since one of them was sick. They got there and then their appointment
fell through. While we were at the church, the zone leaders showed up
for a meeting. I was talking to Elder Overson and he's from St.
Joseph, AZ. We talked about where I was from and he asked if I knew
the Avilas?! Usually you don't know random people that they ask about
since it's just a shot in the dark, but that was crazy! I talked about
how I grew up with them and that they just went to visit my parents.
He said that he would go on vacations with them all the time.
We left and then, tried to visit a few less active's around by the
airport that I flew in at. That airport is in our area! We went to see
a lady who had just had a knee replacement to see if she needed any
help. She has 3 little chihuahuas and two cats, and there was poop all
over the floor... Our shoes were sticking to the floor because there
was pee all over too. We made sure she was okay and then dipped out of
there. We had an appointment with the Knox family and that went well!

8-24-16
Interviews with the President in this zone were today, so I had the
privilege of meeting with him again! Before that, we biked around for
a bit and it was hot... I was glad that I'm still in shape for it
though. Haha
We taught a recent convert (Brian) some of the lessons. We taught him
and his nonmember wife about the priesthood and the blessings from it.
He is giving a talk this Sunday, so that will be awesome! He was
baptized about 3 months ago and is really solid. Then, we all went to
Book of Mormon class.

8-25-16
It has been a really slow week... We haven't been able to catch anyone
at home lately. We stopped by mostly, less active's today to see if we
can set something up to meet with them. They didn't want to talk to
us... We set up an appointment for tomorrow with a former
investigator. For dinner, a less active (Sis. Watson) met us at
Zaxby's and she got us some food. We met with her for a little while
and got to know her. Then, we went to the church and met to zone
leaders there to do a baptismal interview.

8-26-16
It's Friday finally! We had our weekly planning this morning and tried
to contact a bunch of people. After that, we had an appointment with a
less active named Bro. Newhouse. We are working with him to get him
back to church and quit smoking. He's a funny guy! We had another
appointment, but they called an cancelled. We went to go visit a less
active lady and do service for her with the Spanish elders. We raked
bagged her yard because the grass was cut. She made a big bowl of just
butterbeans so we ate a lot of butterbeans which was nice of her. Haha
We had another appointment this evening with a less active guy and his
girlfriend. His girlfriend is really interested and the lesson went
really well! The guy is around 35 or so and he hasn't been to church
since he was sixteen. It really seems like he is gaining a desire to
come back though.

8-27-16
We got up really early this morning with the Spanish elders and met
the APs, and ZLs at the church to play some basketball. We went back
and had our studies, then went to Waffle House to meet a guy named
Bernie who is a former investigator. He didn't make it there in time
until we had to go to the church to the ZLs baptism. After that, we
met a recent convert named Brian and his family at a taco truck for
lunch. That was an interesting experience because the workers at the
taco truck didn't speak English. We had Spanish elders with us, so
they translated for us. Haha knew they were good for something! We
attended three baptisms today at the church! The APs, the ZLs and the
Spanish branch had them. The Spanish one was fun because it was like a
whole fiesta afterwards! They made a bunch of authentic Mexican food
like tamales and we chowed down. We finally, made it back to our
apartment and about to crash.

8-28-16
Church went well today and the rest of the day! Brian a recent convert
gave a talk today and it went really well. His nonmember wife we've
been working with and his daughter came. After church, we came back to
the apartment and got some grub. We finally got back in contact with
the three people we have on date. One of them has been really sick and
the others, have been busy with work. We tried by a few other people
and tried to contact some former investigators. We got to the
apartment and finished planning. The Spanish elders came over and we
had a nerf gun war and wrestled around. Haha, Elder Casey (the one
with the mom that went to KU) used to wrestle in school so I had to
whoop up on him!
-Elder Mitchell

8/8/16

8-1-16
It was a needed PDay today... We were able to get some groceries and
actually have food at the apartment now. Haha. Then, we met up with
the Zone Leaders and we are at Olive Garden. A bunch of Elders usually
meet up at the gym to play basketball/dodgeball so we went there and
had a lot of fun! When we got back, we cleaned a ton and the apartment
feels a little more like home now.

8-2-16
Today was our first day going out proselyting with the car which was
pretty exciting. Haha, I remembered how to drive too! It was a pretty
good day. We tried to visit some less active's, but could catch any
home. We knocked around some and got 2 return appointments for
tomorrow! There was a Spanish Elder in this area before so the few
people that they had been teaching speak Spanish... Our teaching pool
is all tried up at the moment, so it's exciting when we get return
appointments! I don't think they were doing very well which is why
they whitewashed the area. We stopped by a family who are active to
get to know them and they're really awesome people! They're the Smiths
and they have three kids Kylee (17), Easton (15) and Landon (11). They
moved here about a year ago from Utah. Kylee had a friend over so they
invited us to stay for dinner! Bro. Smith grilled some awesome pork
chops! We had a good visit with them and I got along really well with
the dad! He served his mission in the Raleigh, NC mission. After
dinner, we went to the apartment where Bro. Adams picked us up to go
visit a recent convert and his wife who is an investigator. His wife
was the only one home, so we visited with her and shared a short
message with them. They're some interesting people!

8-3-16
There were some really neat things that happened today besides getting
stood up with those two return appointments. That wasn't very cool...
But we got a new investigator and stopped by a less active's house and
it was definitely inspired! The less active lady hasn't had
missionaries over there in years, so she was surprised and happy. She
was talking about how she could've really used us yesterday to help
move a swingset in her backyard. Her and her two daughters couldn't
budge it. We went in the back and it was a pretty solid swingset. I
got underneat the heavy end and put my shoulders underneath and picked
it up while Elder Elmer picked up the other side and we were able to
move it for her. Haha she was very grateful and talked our ears off.
She was talking about how people from the church judge her for having
a lot of cats (14) but they're all rescued animals that she hasn't
refused to turn down from people. I was surprised with how clean her
house was! She was really grateful that we didn't judge her for it and
she invited us back over for dinner on Sunday. She works as someone
who speaks for children who are in foster homes in court and does it
for free! She was such a nice lady and always seems to serve others.
She would be such a great asset in the church, so we have decided that
we are going to reactivate her! As for the investigator we found, a
rough looking guy stepped out of this apartment we knocked on and was
talking about how he was a Christian. We shared the Restoration with
him and he listened very intently actually! He was blown away about
the part about the apostasy. He said, "could you imagine being one of
those apostles at that time after Christ died and everyone is
rejecting you? That's chilling man." Haha, so he was actually
understanding our message! He told us to come back tomorrow at around
4:00 and we committed him to read the pamphlet.

8-4-16
We stopped by a house that we knocked on last week and realized that
missionaries had met with them in the past. The guy's name is Simba
and he's a Rastafarian guy who thinks that he is like Moses. He
started talking about some deep doc stuff that made no sense. He tried
to teach us more than he let us teach him... After we left, we biked
back over to our car and a guy named Jason approached us. He said;
"y'all are Mormons right?" We talked to him for a bit and come to find
out, he used to live in Georgia and went to church with his friend
named George who's a member. He was talking about how he used to have
a BoM, but lost it in the move. We gave him one and he was really
thankful for it! We gave him our number so he can call us whenever he
needs a ride to church. He promised to call us sometime! We also, got
his address and he said we could stop by anytime. We then, headed to
our 4:00 appointment with Steffon. When we got there, his fiancé
answered the door and said that Steffon was about to get in the shower
and that they were Christian. She was about to shut the door on us
while we were explaining to her that we are Christians as well,
Steffon poked his head around the corner and saw us. He said, "Hey
guys! How's it going?!"
He came over and started talking to us like we are good friends and
his fiancé was really confused! He said that he read the pamphlet and
thought it was "a lot to take in," but didn't say anything about how
he doesn't think it's true. After his fiancé noticed what was going
on, she asked a question about what Christ is to us. I talked to them
about that and Steffon really opened up to us. He talked about how he
used to be addict to heroin and his hit rock bottom. When he went to
jail, he read Job in the Bible and related with him. He came to the
conclusion that he is going to do what the Lord wants from him and
since then, he's met a girl, got an apartment, quit drugs and has a
daughter. He went inside and grabbed a book that was about a Christian
family growing up and some of the struggles the author went through as
well. The author was his mom and she had it published! They were
showing us a bunch of old family pictures in the book pointing out who
is who. At that point, I felt prompted to ask if they are very big
into genealogy. They were stunned that I had asked that because they
were JUST talking about that before we showed up! They have been
wanting to do more family history, but don't want to spend the money
for it. We talked about our free website for a family search our
church offers and they were so excited. We stepped inside and I got on
my iPad and showed them my family tree. They said they're part Irish
and Scottish, so I went back to show where I was part Scottish and
showed them. I learned something new as well... I am related to King
Henry!
After that, he asked all kinds of questions about Joseph Smith. He
asked about the Liahonna, Seer stone and the BoM. We answers his
questions and taught him the Restoration. It was neat because it
seemed like he looked up things about our church which shows interest!
We gave him a BoM to read and told him we would call him Saturday
about the family history account. He was so happy to receive a BoM and
was looking forward to reading it!
This evening, we had Ward Coordination and that went really well! We
talked about some less active's we should visit and the members that
would be willing to go teaching with us!

8-5-16
ZTM was today and it went really well! I got to see my really good
friend Elder Wille from the MTC and I also, saw Elder Rose! They're
both District Leaders as well in the zone. That was awesome to see
them both. There was a training about a goal that we are setting as a
zone to get a baptism from each district this transfer! The other was
about the importance of effective planning. After our zone meeting, we
had a leadership meeting and discussed the needs of each of our
districts and what to discuss with them. After that, we went to a soul
food Buffett called "Mutt's BBQ" with the elders in my district. We
finally got back and tried by a few people that were on the way. Then,
we got ready and went up to the church to play some basketball with a
bunch of nonmembers. There was about 20 people there and about half of
them were nonmembers. It was a lot of fun!

8-6-16
We had a busy day today. We stopped by a few less active's who weren't
home, but met with an active family. We went their because we noticed
that there was a less active that lived there. Come to find out, it
was their son and he was there as well! We shared a spiritual thought
with them and committed them all to read scriptures together as a
family each night. After that, we parked out car at a Walgreen's and
took our bikes off the rack and rode through some neighborhoods. We
caught a less active guy at home and talked to him for a little bit.
He was a nice guy who likes to go deep sea fishing, so I was talking
about how that's something I really want to do. He showed us a bunch
of pictures of the fish he caught on his trip last weekend. After we
bikes around knocking on a few doors, we went back to the car and got
some dinner. Then, we made our way over to Steffon's house to try and
set up an appointment with him to go and search his family history. We
got there and he was at work, but his fiancé was there. She just had a
death in the family today, so we said a prayer with her at the door.
She was really thankful for that and then we went over to a member's
house. They're the Fish's and they're a young active family. We had a
good visit with them and they gave us some awesome chocolate covered
almonds, so that was pretty righteous.

8-7-16
Church today was a better experience! The people were more welcoming
to us and some introduced themselves. Before church, we had ward
council and it went really well. They are all excited about missionary
work, so hopefully we can keep them that way. After church, we went to
the Boisher's home for dinner. We had a really good visit with them!
Sis. Boisher made some awesome lasagna and biscuits. Their daughters
were there who are members, but haven't been in years. One of them has
two sons and the oldest is 8. While we were visiting, they told us a
story about a family here (the Hughes) who are members, but murdered a
guy at their house! It was a very gory way too... They told us the
whole story behind it. Then, after a few seconds to let that soak in,
we realized that we had tried by that house just last week!! That was
where we saw the Mexican fiesta going on and we shook the guy's nub!
😳 the Hughes don't live there anymore because they live in.. Jail,
but it was still creepy that we were standing exactly right where that
guy was murdered!

-Elder Mitchell

8/8/16

8-1-16

It was a needed PDay today... We were able to get some groceries and actually have food at the apartment now. Haha. Then, we met up with the Zone Leaders and we are at Olive Garden. A bunch of Elders usually meet up at the gym to play basketball/dodgeball so we went there and had a lot of fun! When we got back, we cleaned a ton and the apartment feels a little more like home now. 

8-2-16

Today was our first day going out proselyting with the car which was pretty exciting. Haha, I remembered how to drive too! It was a pretty good day. We tried to visit some less active's, but could catch any home. We knocked around some and got 2 return appointments for tomorrow! There was a Spanish Elder in this area before so the few people that they had been teaching speak Spanish... Our teaching pool is all tried up at the moment, so it's exciting when we get return appointments! I don't think they were doing very well which is why they whitewashed the area. We stopped by a family who are active to get to know them and they're really awesome people! They're the Smiths and they have three kids Kylee (17), Easton (15) and Landon (11). They moved here about a year ago from Utah. Kylee had a friend over so they invited us to stay for dinner! Bro. Smith grilled some awesome pork chops! We had a good visit with them and I got along really well with the dad! He served his mission in the Raleigh, NC mission. After dinner, we went to the apartment where Bro. Adams picked us up to go visit a recent convert and his wife who is an investigator. His wife was the only one home, so we visited with her and shared a short message with them. They're some interesting people!

8-3-16

There were some really neat things that happened today besides getting stood up with those two return appointments. That wasn't very cool... But we got a new investigator and stopped by a less active's house and it was definitely inspired! The less active lady hasn't had missionaries over there in years, so she was surprised and happy. She was talking about how she could've really used us yesterday to help move a swingset in her backyard. Her and her two daughters couldn't budge it. We went in the back and it was a pretty solid swingset. I got underneat the heavy end and put my shoulders underneath and picked it up while Elder Elmer picked up the other side and we were able to move it for her. Haha she was very grateful and talked our ears off. She was talking about how people from the church judge her for having a lot of cats (14) but they're all rescued animals that she hasn't refused to turn down from people. I was surprised with how clean her house was! She was really grateful that we didn't judge her for it and she invited us back over for dinner on Sunday. She works as someone who speaks for children who are in foster homes in court and does it for free! She was such a nice lady and always seems to serve others. She would be such a great asset in the church, so we have decided that we are going to reactivate her! As for the investigator we found, a rough looking guy stepped out of this apartment we knocked on and was talking about how he was a Christian. We shared the Restoration with him and he listened very intently actually! He was blown away about the part about the apostasy. He said, "could you imagine being one of those apostles at that time after Christ died and everyone is rejecting you? That's chilling man." Haha, so he was actually understanding our message! He told us to come back tomorrow at around 4:00 and we committed him to read the pamphlet. 

8-4-16

We stopped by a house that we knocked on last week and realized that missionaries had met with them in the past. The guy's name is Simba and he's a Rastafarian guy who thinks that he is like Moses. He started talking about some deep doc stuff that made no sense. He tried to teach us more than he let us teach him... After we left, we biked back over to our car and a guy named Jason approached us. He said; "y'all are Mormons right?" We talked to him for a bit and come to find out, he used to live in Georgia and went to church with his friend named George who's a member. He was talking about how he used to have a BoM, but lost it in the move. We gave him one and he was really thankful for it! We gave him our number so he can call us whenever he needs a ride to church. He promised to call us sometime! We also, got his address and he said we could stop by anytime. We then, headed to our 4:00 appointment with Steffon. When we got there, his fiancé answered the door and said that Steffon was about to get in the shower and that they were Christian. She was about to shut the door on us while we were explaining to her that we are Christians as well, Steffon poked his head around the corner and saw us. He said, "Hey guys! How's it going?!" 

He came over and started talking to us like we are good friends and his fiancé was really confused! He said that he read the pamphlet and thought it was "a lot to take in," but didn't say anything about how he doesn't think it's true. After his fiancé noticed what was going on, she asked a question about what Christ is to us. I talked to them about that and Steffon really opened up to us. He talked about how he used to be addict to heroin and his hit rock bottom. When he went to jail, he read Job in the Bible and related with him. He came to the conclusion that he is going to do what the Lord wants from him and since then, he's met a girl, got an apartment, quit drugs and has a daughter. He went inside and grabbed a book that was about a Christian family growing up and some of the struggles the author went through as well. The author was his mom and she had it published! They were showing us a bunch of old family pictures in the book pointing out who is who. At that point, I felt prompted to ask if they are very big into genealogy. They were stunned that I had asked that because they were JUST talking about that before we showed up! They have been wanting to do more family history, but don't want to spend the money for it. We talked about our free website for a family search our church offers and they were so excited. We stepped inside and I got on my iPad and showed them my family tree. They said they're part Irish and Scottish, so I went back to show where I was part Scottish and showed them. I learned something new as well... I am related to King Henry!

After that, he asked all kinds of questions about Joseph Smith. He asked about the Liahonna, Seer stone and the BoM. We answers his questions and taught him the Restoration. It was neat because it seemed like he looked up things about our church which shows interest! We gave him a BoM to read and told him we would call him Saturday about the family history account. He was so happy to receive a BoM and was looking forward to reading it! 

This evening, we had Ward Coordination and that went really well! We talked about some less active's we should visit and the members that would be willing to go teaching with us!

8-5-16

ZTM was today and it went really well! I got to see my really good friend Elder Wille from the MTC and I also, saw Elder Rose! They're both District Leaders as well in the zone. That was awesome to see them both. There was a training about a goal that we are setting as a zone to get a baptism from each district this transfer! The other was about the importance of effective planning. After our zone meeting, we had a leadership meeting and discussed the needs of each of our districts and what to discuss with them. After that, we went to a soul food Buffett called "Mutt's BBQ" with the elders in my district. We finally got back and tried by a few people that were on the way. Then, we got ready and went up to the church to play some basketball with a bunch of nonmembers. There was about 20 people there and about half of them were nonmembers. It was a lot of fun! 

8-6-16

We had a busy day today. We stopped by a few less active's who weren't home, but met with an active family. We went their because we noticed that there was a less active that lived there. Come to find out, it was their son and he was there as well! We shared a spiritual thought with them and committed them all to read scriptures together as a family each night. After that, we parked out car at a Walgreen's and took our bikes off the rack and rode through some neighborhoods. We caught a less active guy at home and talked to him for a little bit. He was a nice guy who likes to go deep sea fishing, so I was talking about how that's something I really want to do. He showed us a bunch of pictures of the fish he caught on his trip last weekend. After we bikes around knocking on a few doors, we went back to the car and got some dinner. Then, we made our way over to Steffon's house to try and set up an appointment with him to go and search his family history. We got there and he was at work, but his fiancé was there. She just had a death in the family today, so we said a prayer with her at the door. She was really thankful for that and then we went over to a member's house. They're the Fish's and they're a young active family. We had a good visit with them and they gave us some awesome chocolate covered almonds, so that was pretty righteous. 

8-7-16

Church today was a better experience! The people were more welcoming to us and some introduced themselves. Before church, we had ward council and it went really well. They are all excited about missionary work, so hopefully we can keep them that way. After church, we went to the Boisher's home for dinner. We had a really good visit with them! Sis. Boisher made some awesome lasagna and biscuits. Their daughters were there who are members, but haven't been in years. One of them has two sons and the oldest is 8. While we were visiting, they told us a story about a family here (the Hughes) who are members, but murdered a guy at their house! It was a very gory way too... They told us the whole story behind it. Then, after a few seconds to let that soak in, we realized that we had tried by that house just last week!! That was where we saw the Mexican fiesta going on and we shook the guy's nub! the Hughes don't live there anymore because they live in.. Jail, but it was still creepy that we were standing exactly right where that guy was murdered! 

-Elder Mitchell