We went to the Alphabet streets (ghetto) today to visit Rickey, who is
a less active. We walked in on there smoke session of weed and
cigarettes with was really awkward... Especially when he has mold in
his lungs and had pneumonia, so he shouldn't be doing that! We talked
to them for a little bit and met a couple ladies there named Qwae and
Esireth. They were actually pretty curious about the church. They
asked us about prophets and if the can foresee things. They have no AC
or airflow in there and it was really hot out, so we were just
dripping with sweat in there. We set up a return appointment to visit
with them and then got out before we passed out! Haha it was perfect
because it started to rain a little bit on us right after that, so
that felt nice. We went over to the Edwards and visited with them for
a little while as well.
6-1-16
We were able to find two new investigators today! We met a lady named
Marilyn and a younger girl named Lydia. Marilyn's mom was a member, so
she is pretty familiar with the church which is great! After we saw
them, we stopped by to say hi to Sis. Mason. After we got some dinner,
we stopped by these kids that we played basketball with the other day
and played them. We talked to one of them that talked about his mom
named Lisa who works at a barbershop. We figured out when would be a
good time to goop see her, so we are going to go see her later this
week! My shoe blew out today... Biking all day everyday really speeds
up the life of shoes! Good thing I had some super glue to glue the
soul back down.
6-2-16
We had exchanges today with the ZLs. I stayed in Hartsville with Elder
Dillree. We had a good day! We were able to teach a couple people. We
got a phone call from Sis. Smothers' mom saying that her dog died. So
we went over there and helped bury their big golden retriever for
them. I was drenched in sweat. It is so humid here that you sweat like
crazy. Bro. Tadlock was in town playing tennis, so we stopped by to
say hi to him before we headed over to visit with Bro. Haney. He had
shoulder surgery last week, so we were checking in on him. It started
pouring down rain "the bottom fell out" while we were there, so him
and his wife drove us back home.
6-3-16
Before, the Florence Elders went back, we went and got some Cook-Out.
After that, we stopped by some people who weren't home. We had to go
back to the apartment for E. Staley to fix his bike. I waited for
awhile until we left because there was nothing wrong with it anyway.
When we went back for dinner, we got changed into regular clothes and
helped a less active lady (Katrina) who has started to come back to
church. We helped her move all of her things out of her old house. She
was very grateful that we came to help her. It was another humbling
experience helping her move. Some people have it rough...
6-4-16
Daniel came out with us today for a little bit! We were able to see a
lot of people too. We visited with Dequan (the football player at USC)
and talked to him about the BoM. We put him on date for baptism and he
said he will be at church tomorrow! After that, we met with Sally and
tried to get her to church as well. She keeps putting off coming and
isn't following through with her commitments, so I think we are going
to have to drop her. We also, went to this ghetto barbershop to meet
with one of the kid's moms who we played basketball with the other
day. Elder Staley got his haircut from her while we talked to her
about our church. I would've had her cut mine too, but Elder Dillree
cut mine on exchanges. All the people were really nice to us in there
even though we stood out like sore thumbs. Haha we talked to them all
about the gospel. After dinner, Daniel had to go home and we got
undressed to do some service for Martha Haney. She is Bro. Haney's
aunt and she needed some help trimming bushes in her yard. After that,
we were riding back to the apartment and I made eye contact with a BIG
dragonfly flying right at me. It suddenly, turned and dive bombed into
E. Staley's face! It got stuck in between his helmet visor and his
forehead and started freaking out. He screamed so loud... like a girl!
I was cracking up while it was happening. He about wrecked too!
Muhammad Ali died today... Sad day! He was an amazing boxer.
6-5-16
It was a really good Sunday today! The only downside was that Dequan
didn't show up at church... Dang agency. Bro. Wiedrich from the ward
gave me a really nice Columbia summer raincoat for all this rain! He's
such a great guy. His 22 year old just got his mission call to
California. Bro. Wiedrich said that he will take care of us since he
knows that someone will be taking care of his son as well. After
church during our lunch time, I took a quick nap so that I didn't have
to think about being so hungry from fasting. Haha so after that, we
went to go and visit Katrina again. She has a bad fever, so we went
over and gave her a blessing. I think it is so neat being able to give
people blessings. In my patriarchal blessing, it says that I have the
gift of discernment and I have really been able to see that on my
mission. It may sound crazy, but I can feel the energy of the Spirits
of the people I give blessings to. The lady I gave a blessing to today
had a really bright Spirit and I could tell that she is really sincere
about coming back into the church. Her husband wouldn't let her go. He
is psycho... And now that he's in jail from almost killing her, she
left him and has been coming to church. He made bail after and went
right back to the house to actually try and kill her. Now he's back in
jail, but will be released this week. I think that's ridiculous that
he was only in jail for about two weeks for beating the crap out of
her... We helped her move everything of hers out of the house and into
a member's. This week went really well! We were able to get 6 member
presents this week which is two away from the Standards of excellence!
-Elder Mitchell
