Today was an interesting day to say the least. We had DDM which Elder
Staley and I double trained on. We trained on Resolving Concerns. We focused our
lesson on qualifying for the gift of discernment and Spirit to love the people
we are teaching. We shared some of "The First Great Commandment" by Elder
Holland in Oct. 2012 GenConf which is one of my favorite talks! After that, we
are with the Cheraw Elders at Bojangles. It was such a hot day out today, so we
were sweating like crazy. We ate at the Tallon's and had some spaghetti. When we
got back, we decided we should go and check on Sis. Mason since we couldn't
catch her on the phone and she had health problems last week. When we got over
there, something didn't seem right with her. She had a lot of memory loss and
didn't even remember us coming over six days ago. It looked like she hadn't
showered since then and there were clothes strung all over her house. She was
soo out of it trippin out saying that there was a ball following her around and
birds in her house. Her pupils were really dilated and said that she couldn't
feel half her body. I think she might've had a mini stroke. We called the
ambulance and it took about an hour and three cops to get her into the ambulance
vehicle to go to the hospital. Oh what a day in the life of a mission!
7-13-16
At around noon, we went over to Patti and Dave's to help them mow. We
finished mowing and then had a good visit with them. After that, we showered and
got all dressed up. We tried by a couple people and caught an older couple at
home we've taught before and shared a little bit about the BoM with them. After
that, Tammy called us saying that she's hungry so she took us out to eat with
her and Jake. We had a good visit with her and talked about our temple trip! She
took us over to the church for a meeting with our Ward Mission Leader. When the
meeting was over, we stayed and played basketball with Cason and Carter. Cason's
older brother who doesn't come to church too often came to play as well which
was fun!
7-14-16
We finished our 12 week training with Elder Staley! Then, we went over to
the library for Mormon.org time and watched some
Mormon Messages. Bro. Tadlock took us out for lunch, so we had a good visit with
him! It was so hot outside today, so we decided to get in some shorts for a
little bit and paint the rest of Louis Laffidy's swinging bench. We had a good
visit with her and her friend. Then, we went over to an investigator's named
Candace. We met with her outside for a bit and she found a BoM previous
missionaries gave her. We wrote our testimonies in it and marked some scriptures
for her to read. We came back for dinner and fell asleep instead. This sun
drains all of my energy! We got up and went to go watch Bro. Tadlock play tennis
before an appointment. We headed to the appointment and they weren't even home,
so that was cool!
7-15-16
A neat thing happened this morning... While we were weekly planning, I felt
prompted to call a guy we taught a while back to see how he's doing. I got ahold
of him and he had just had a baby with his girlfriend/wife yesterday! We went up
to the hospital to visit them, which they enjoyed. We gave them a proclamation
to the family pamphlet and then headed out. After that, we tried by some people,
but they weren't home. It was so hot outside today... We went over to visit a
couple other people, but eventually decided to head back to the apartment. There
were dark clouds flooding over and it was about to pour. We made it back just in
time! Hartsville won an All-American city award which is pretty neat, so they're
having a celebration tonight!
7-16-16
We got to go over to Tammy's to help with her yard. We went around and
picked up all of her pinecones, then did some weedeating and mowing! We hungout
with Jake too which was fun! He's a funny guy. He says my name now and calls me
"Mitchell" instead of just "Missionary!" Haha. After we helped her, we got
changed and went over to A less active's. That was an interesting visit to say
the least. The adversary had a strong hold onto her and she was wrestling with
it. She was possessed to be honest... There was a dark feeling in her home and
it was cold even though the thermostat said 80°. She was talking about how she
could hear voices in her head telling her to do terrible things. She was telling
us to "give up on her" and threatening us. She was saying some really rude
things to us and making fun of us, but we knew it wasn't her. Elder Staley got
mad and stood up and was about to leave, but I felt like we needed to stay. I
remained seated and calm. Her eyes were dilated and she never blinked. I felt
like I was having a conversation with the adversary himself. We gave her a
blessing and things seemed to get better after that. In our blessing we
commanded any evil spirits to leave the house in the name of Jesus Christ. I
felt like we were seriously performing an exorcism. It definitely wasn't the
lady we were used to talking to. As we remained our composure and was bold, her
mind cleared up. We shared the first vision with her and how he overcame the
darkness that surrounded him. Then, we shared her favorite scripture and had her
say a prayer with us. She seemed back to herself by the time we left which was
amazing. The crazy thing is that her eyes weren't dilated anymore either. The
interesting thing, is that I felt completely safe and calm. Even when the spirit
was saying that it was coming after us next... I felt protected and knew that it
wasn't possible as long as we are doing what we need to be doing. We ended up
having a good visit with her and invited her back to church. Coming back to
church after years is a huge step for her. Hopefully she will come tomorrow!
7-17-16
Church went really well today! The theme of all the talks was to "Love thy
neighbor as thyself." Bro. Tallon gave a really good talk about a confederate
soldier from South Carolina who risked his life to go and give aid to Union
soldiers who were wounded/sick. He ran with a bunch of canteens and coats to
help them. Such a neat story! After church, we went over to the Solomon's and
visited with them. Then, we went by Louis because she had a dessert for us to
try. She makes this really good dessert called blueberry salad. It contains
Jell-O, crushed pineapples, blueberries and a cream cheese frosting layer. We
stopped by a few people who weren't home and I got a prompting to go and visit
the guy with the Camaro we taught awhile back and haven't gotten ahold of. We
went over there and he was home! We had a good visit with him and checked up to
see how everything was going. Then, we made our way back to the apartment. Bro.
Tadlock is picking us up tomorrow and we are going to go to Myrtle Beach! We are
going to go to an aquarium out there which I am super stoked about!
-Elder Mitchell
