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