P-day today was nice and relaxing. We went to the church and hit the
tennis ball back and forth. Then, we played basketball. After that, we
got lunch at Huddle House which is like Waffle House. When we got our
food, we said a blessing (like usual) and an older lady came up to us
after and said that she noticed us praying before we ate. She said
that her son is in the hospital right now and asked that we pray for
him. I thought it was really neat that she had approached us just
because we were doing what we're supposed to be doing and praying. You
never know who may be watching!
After we got our groceries, we did a tough workout! I've been making
healthy smoothies with frozen mixed fruit and sometimes spinach.
Occasionally, I'll put breakfast essentials in there as well to add
some chocolate. I learned how to skinny a tie today, so we got some
cheap ties from Goodwill to practice on. We ate with some members at
Nueva Villa for dinner and visited with them for a little while!
3-8-16
A really neat thing happened today. While we were planning last night,
I planned to stop by this house where an investigator had already
moved out of. His sister and niece still live there though. I guess I
just thought we could check in on them and see how they're doing.
Little did we know, the niece is getting ready to get married! She
talked to us for awhile a out how they had previously, lost a child
together. She wants a family that is centered around Christ. We had s
really good lesson with her and invited her to church. We also,
invited her to pray about what we taught her. In return, she asked us
to pray for her and her family as they have been going though some
trials. It's so awesome how the Spirit directed us to go visit them.
Even when it doesn't always make sense. I had no idea at the time why
I planned it, but now we know! It goes to show how important it is to
have the Spirit with us while we are planning and trying to focus on
the promptings we receive.
We stopped by and saw a less active lady who we haven't met yet. She
was really sweet! We helped her trim some of her trees. Then, we
shared a message with her. Her husband passed a little over five years
ago, so we went over the Plan of Salvation with her. She invited us
over to her house on Thursday for dinner! She is always out of town
visiting her grandkids, but said she would come to church if she's in
town.
3-9-16
We had zone conference today and it was so good! Pres. Turner came and
talked to us about the "South Carolina Initiative" -which is a plan to
reactivate less active's. He stated that we shouldn't have to be
doing anymore knocking/tracting if we do this correctly. We should
just be working through members to seek referrals. Whether that be
active or less active's. I'm excited about that because that is easier
and more likely to be successful. The only downside of the meeting was
that we can't eat meals with members anymore unless they have
non-members or less active's over. So we can't seek referrals during
dinner time unless that is the case. I trust that this was enforced
through the Spirit, but it makes it a lot harder to build trust with
members without being able to eat dinner and spend time with them. I
think he's just noticed everyone gaining weight here in the south!
Haha
3-10-16
We met with a couple potential investigators today and taught them. We
saw a couple less active's as well. Including, the lady who invited us
over for dinner. We are with her and another member. She made really
good food! Then, we shared a message with her. After that, we went to
a member's home and taught their non-member grandma. She made comments
that were so far beyond relevance of the lesson. I was baffled at how
she said the most random things that didn't even pertain at all!
E. Rose and I have been working out every day. I've gained a little
bit of weight, but most of it is good weight! We workout our legs
everyday because we ride bikes, so for workouts, we usually workout
our arms.
3-11-16
We did a lot of service today. We helped a less active lady from the
ward rake her front yard. After raking, we went to the tennis courts
with Frank and his friend Jody. We got special permission from the
Zone Leaders to play tennis with them since we taught Jody afterwards.
Frank and I beat Jody and E. Rose 7-5 and 6-4. So awesome news...
Frank is on date for baptism! I really hope he follows through with
it. Please keep him in your prayers! The zone leaders and us have been
working a lot with him. Unfortunately, we can't teach him because he's
not in our area. Just the Florence Elders can (zone leaders). We still
spend time with him and he does a ton of stuff for us. Then, we helped
another member pack because he's moving.
After that, we went over to visit Patti and Dave. They fed us pizza
and cheesecake!
3-12-16
We stopped by to see Rickey today. His brother who is on date was
there and said he's been reading the BoM! We taught him a short lesson
on the BoM and the Holy Ghost. There was a lady who walked in later
and we taught her a little as well. We are trying to get Rickey back
to church and earnest to go with him.
3-13-16
We taught gospel principles today and it went pretty good! We got a
lot of interaction with the people in the class. After church, we went
to go locate some less active's. One LA we stopped by didn't live
there anymore. We talked to the guy who moved in and was pretty
interested. We set a return appointment with him so we can sit down
and teach him more!
For dinner, we went over to the Tingen's and had ribs! Sis. Tingen is
the Relief Society Pres. Her husband, Pete isn't a member but we're
working with him! He's the one we helped install the sprinkler system
a while back. We talked to them about prayer and the importance of it
since he struggles with that.
I love you!
-Elder Mitchell
