4/10/17

4-4-17

We went around today and said goodbye to all the people that E. Volmar wanted to say bye to. All the ones he wanted to see were home, so he was happy about that. 

4-5-17

Transfers were today, which was sad to see E. Volmar leave. I wish I could've been with him for more than just a transfer. He went to the Columbia Zone which is where I came from when I was in Blythewood. He is a ZL there which is a Spanish area. My new comp. is Elder Guzman from San Antonio, TX. He shreds on the guitar and is super good at singing. Like E. Volmar, he is a Spanish missionary but now working English. When we got back to the apartment, 

4-6-17

We did some service for SBP today which was a lot of fun because we got to put up drywall. We have been working on the same house fire the past few weeks, so we have got to see all of the progress! We scrubbed the board for mood remediation, then put up insulation and then, drywall was today. When we got done with that, we got back to the apartment and got all cleaned up to go to Stake Council. We had to give a report on all of the missionaries in each unit and their key indicator averages for all last month. We also, put the whole Stake Council on date to have find for the missionaries to teach by the next council which will be in three months. 

4-7-17

Early this morning, we all met up at the church to play some basketball. Then, we came back and had studies and transitioned into weekly planning. We made some plans and then, met the APs at an Mexican restaurant for lunch which was super good. I had a cow tongue (lingua) taco and a pork one! Bro. Mumford texted us earlier asking for help picking up a washer and dryer from someone's house. We rode up there with him which took so much longer than we expected. It was a mixture of terrible traffic, bad driving and it was far away. We eventually, got back and headed straight over to Jerry's boxing gym to help him with that again.

4-8-17

We played basketball early this morning and the APs came over to have some of my buttermilk pancakes! After that, we finished up weekly planning and headed out for the day. We did a ton of finding today and had lots of success. We were able to meet some awesome people and some interesting ones. For example, we met a drunk raging Muslim getting in our faces saying that we are puppets and that there's no Christ. Then, we met a homeless guy outside of Cook-off asking us for a ride and money, so we bought him a burger instead. THEN, we met like the only hipsters in South Carolina named Peter and Hannah. Haha, Peter is a geologist... surprised? Lastly, we met a Chinese lady named Yuqi who is going to USC in study abroad. She had this really funny-looking dog and she named it some Chinese word for a "sweet BBQ meat."   so it was a pretty good day to say the least. 

4-9-17

Church went well this morning even though we totally forgot it was fast Sunday... our investigator Ina was supposed to come, but she couldn't get to sleep last night. When she finally did get to sleep, she over slept. After church and ward council, we were walking out in the parking lot and a college student approached us asking where he can go to learn more about the church because he has some questions. We went inside and found a classroom to use. We had such a powerful Restoration/Plan of Salvation/BoM lesson. We covered a lot because he had so many questions. It seemed like he was really soaking it all in. He said that he wanted to know why his girlfriend (who is a member) broke down when she was expressing he testimony of the BoM and why she reads it everyday. He got a little emotional after we talked about the way the Spirit works. At the end of the lesson, we committed him to baptism and tried to set a date. 

He then said, 

"guys, I have to be honest with you... I'm actually, a member who has been inactive for years. My dad is a high counselor in Aiken and I just wanted to get a investigator's perspective to make sure if I want to reactivate or not. This really helped solidify my choice that I want to come back. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure I was doing this for me and not just to appease my girlfriend."

That took us off guard a little bit, but we just shared our testimonies and related with him. We talked about finding your own testimony and the process. Nonetheless, It was a great lesson and the Spirit was very evident. He got a little emotional at the end. He's a really good guy and we invited him to ball with us some Monday. 

After we got back to the apartment, We set up some plans for the upcoming week and did some finding. 

-Elder Mitchell

4/24/17

4-18-17

The Zone had interviews with President Turner this morning and ours went really well. We always go first, so we were early to make sure everything was still set up and got to interview longer! After that, we went on exchanges with Newberry and I got to go with E. Oliver again. We had a good day of finding and got to meet some cool people to set return appointments with. Then, we ended the day with Ward Coordination. 

4-19-17

We went to SBP today and we sanded the walls on the house we've been working on. We were covered with the dust and we had fun while doing it! After that, we got back and showered and exchanged back. It was really great to see E. Oliver and catch up with him. I miss that kid! After we exchanged, we went to a couple appointments that we had, but they fell through. This evening, we met up with our ward mission leader (Bro. Jennings) and visited a member to put them on date to have someone for us to teach by three months. Bro. Jennings is such a stud! 

4-20-17

This morning we played basketball again which was tiring. Haha, then we had exchanges with Lake Murray. I went there with E. Wilkes and got back on the bike which wasn't too bad. It was hot today though! We met this old guy knocking around and he invited us in and politely tried to Bible bash us with his wife. His wife was like Satan himself, so I decided to just bring out the scriptures and unload on her. It probably wasn't good, but I was just fed up with it. They told us they weren't going to change, so what the heck! After we stumped them, we told them that we had to go and they gave us these little "Fisherman's Bibles" and told us to read the tabs on it. Then, we had to rush over to an appointment with a lady named Donna. The member they had scheduled to teach with us, went into some deep doc. with the lady so that was fun! 

4-21-17

We went to Lexington's DDM today with the APs which went a lot better than the last one we went to. That District has struggled with Maturity, but they have really stepped it up recently since we sat them all down and talked to them. After DDM, we went out to eat Mexican food with Lexington and Lake Murray. We came back and we met up with some Sisters so that E. Guzman and them could practice a musical number for Zone Conference next week. 

4-22-17 

Weekly Planning went down today which is always effective, but takes awhile. After planning, we had a couple appointments that fell through. We did get to teach a lady we met last week named Yuqi. She is from China and is going to USC for college. She does not have a religious background at all. The only time she had heard about God was when she came to the US for college and took a religion class. It was very different teaching a lady with a little bit of a language barrier and from a totally different culture. We taught simply as like we were teaching a little kid, but she's super smart and is going for her Ph.D. in school right now. We had a good lesson with her and set a time to come back! We are going to pass her off to the YSA Elders (APs). 

4-23-17

Church went well today and we were able to get two investigators at sacrament! Ina, our investigator on date was going to come, but she got off work at 7:00 this morning and was really tired from working overnight. After church, we had Ward Council and discussed the SCI and missionary efforts over the past couple weeks. We went back home and the Spanish Elders met us there to have lunch with us. We had some of this soup/gumbo/jambalaya stuff I made last night which is super good. I just took a bunch of random things from the cabinet and threw it in a pot! We had an appointment at 5:00 with a family we met a couple weeks ago, but we caught them going out the door. They had to go over to one of their parent's house due to a family emergency. After that, we went over to the Mumford's to help them move their washer and dyer. Bro. Mumford is the ward clerk, so we talked to him about cleaning up some of the old membership records that don't even live here anymore. 

-Elder Mitchell

3/27/17

3-21-17
Today, we went out to Lexington with the APs to sit in on their DDM.
That District has some wild kids in there. After that, we headed back
to West Columbia for a lesson. Then, the lesson cancelled. Later on,
we had another appointment with a guy named Odell who just wanted to
Bible bash with us which wasn't very hard to rebuttal. We ended the
day with some finding around less active members.

3-22-17
This morning, we went over to the Atkinson's to help with yard work.
We ripped out some more tree trunks which was quite the job! After
that, we met up with the Congaree Elders and went on exchanges. I got
to go to Congaree which one of my last areas. I got to see Brian Avery
and his family which was awesome. We planned to go and stop by Chanta
who is our recent convert, but she wasn't home.

3-23-17
We finished up exchanges and I went back to West Columbia after a
marvelous reunion with my comp. We celebrated by making chocolate chip
buttermilk pancakes! After that, we secured some plans for today and
made sure we knew where we were going. We did some finding until it
was time for our appointment with Ina. We had a really good discussion
with her about the Plan of Salvation. She seemed to really enjoy it
and listened very intently. She is going to try and make it to church
tomorrow, but she will be just getting off work since she works
nights. She does swing shifts which means that she will work weekends
for two weeks and week days for the next two. That can probably be
very tiring and hard to establish a regular sleep schedule! We were
going to meet with Gabe and Chaneta, but they had to cancel today. KU
won their game last night by quite a bit! They are just flying through
the bracket and I wish I could watch them play.

3-24-17
We didn't get in pros. clothes (shirt & tie) all day because we were
doing service. For the morning and afternoon, we did service for SBP
which is always fun. We did mold remediation, so we got all suited up
in gear to scrub every single board & board surfaces in the basement.
Then, we spray it all down with chemicals and wipe it off. When we
were done with that, we hurried home and got ready to go and help
Jerry (nonmember) set up more of his boxing gym. He said that he is
going to be coming to church Sunday!

3-25-17
We started the day out with some finding which went really well! We
invited a couple people to church tomorrow, so hopefully they come!
That's basically, what we did all day and it turned out to work well.
We knocked into this young black guy who was really chill and down to
earth. We asked where he was from and he said that he was from Kansas!
I haven't heard that or met anyone from there in forever. I told him
that I was from the Lawrence area and he's from Leavenworth! He a
disabled veteran and came here since his wife is from here. Sis.
Bassett also, hemmed my new pants for me today which was super awesome
of her to do that.

3-26-17
Church was so great! Jerry came to church and he got to hear me speak
since I had to give a talk. I was asked to talk on Member Missionary
Work, so that was right up my alley! After church, we got to the
apartment and saw that these two guys were moving in and struggling to
carry a couch. We helped them carry their two couches in and they were
the father and boyfriend of the girl moving in. I also, ripped my new
slacks in the back while helping them move which was a literal
bummer... There's a lady in the ward here that can sew them, so
that'll be fine. When we got in and ate some food, we
finalized some plans and made some more for this upcoming week. We got
a sad text later today from Chaneta. She said that her and Gabe broke
up... That is kind of sad, but now we can find out if he's truly
investigating the church for himself or just her.

-Elder Mitchell

3/13/17

3-7-17
This morning, we did some service for a member of the bishopric who is
Bro. Contini. He's the guy we bought my mission bike from! We cut down
a few bushes and bagged some leaves for him. The weather is perfect
for yard work today! We had three appointments cancel today, so we
went into finding mode for the day.

3-8-17
We had Zone Conference this morning which turned out really well! E.
Volmar and I had to give a 45 minute training on weekly planning and
implementing a change in that for our mission. After that, we did some
finding in our area and had to go back to the church to take down
everything that we set up for the conference. Then, we went with the
AP's apartment and had dinner with them.

3-9-17
This morning, we all woke up early this morning to go play basketball
at the church. It was fun and always a good exercise. We came back to
the apartment to have our studies and then, went to a member's home
(Atkinsons) to do some yard work. E. Volmar raked the yard while I was
removing small bush & tree roots. Then, we bagged all of the leaves
up. They were very happy that all of that got done! We grabbed some
lunch and then, started our weekly planning session. We did it a day
early because we are going on exchanges tomorrow and we are
supervising their weekly planning session. We had an appointment to
see a recent convert and her boyfriend who is an investigator. It went
really well and they're planning on coming to church on Sunday. We
went over a little bit of the Restoration again and figured out his
intentions behind wanting to find out if this is the path he needs to
take.
We had an appointment with Patrice after that, but she wasn't there.
Her mom was there this time though, so we shared the Restoration with
her.

3-10-17
We had exchanges with one of the DLs and his comp today. We went to
their weekly planning session before exchanging since we changed the
planning steps as a mission. We did to make sure that it was done
correctly aligning with what we trained about. We figured that if the
DLs know, then they can help train their district on how to correctly
do it. I stayed in Lake Murray with E. Beck who is the DL's comp. He
came out with E. Winn & E. Oliver. We had some really good talks while
we were out knocking doors. After that, we went to their ball night at
their church building.

3-11-17
It was one of those really slow days today. We finished up exchanges
and I went back to West Columbia. We did some finding all day and met
some cool people! Although it, we did a lot of talking with doors
instead. Other than that, I don't have too much to talk about today.
The nice thing is that even though nothing really happened, we still
have fun just bein zealous missionaries. Haha we get along really
well, so that helps a lot.

3-12-17
The craziest thing happened this morning... We went outside to go to
church this morning and it was SNOWING!? It was snowing in SC... It
went on for a little while, but none of it stuck. It melted when it
hit the ground. This sacrament meeting was very powerful. The talks
given were centered around Christ and the Atonement. After that, we
taught Gospel Pinciples which was on Ch. 1 (Our Heavenly Father) and
that went well. We headed home after ward council, got some lunch and
made plans for the day. We had a lesson with a lady named, Ina who was
a Bible referral from awhile back. We had a powerful lesson with her
about the BoM and put her on date for baptism! She is planning to come
to church next Sunday. She is truly seeking and said that she feels
there is a void that she needs to fill that other churches haven't. It
was funny though, because we were talking about the BoM and the
Nephites & Lamanites. She was having the hardest time pronouncing
those even after helping her. She at one point said; "the nipplites"
and I almost lost it! After the day was over, we went to the mission
office and chilled with the APs. We are staying overnight with them
and spending pday with them tomorrow!

-Elder Mitchell

3/10/17

Sister Basset:

"Sister Mitchell, this is sister bassett. Thought you might enjoy this photo of elder Mitchell. I'm excited that is he not only back in our zone but he is actually my zone leader!  I was disappointed to miss our first zone conference with him but heard he did a good job.  I tangled with some poison ivy, caught a cold and somehow was over over by a truck in the middle of the night. No evidence of tire marks but my body sure felt like that is what happened. This was taken when elder Stevenson was here and I was able to visit with some of my favorite missionaries whom I hadn't seen for awhile. It is a real joy working with these young missionaries."

2/20/17

Hi there! I am one of the sisters who served in Blythewood with your son. I took lots of photos at his surprise party awhile back and was sure you'd want to see them, so I got your email from him so I could share them with you. He has done a lot of really good work here and you should be very proud! I hope you enjoy these photos!
Emily Pew

2/20/17

2-14-17
DDM was this morning and there were some really good trainings given.
I had Sis. Pew train on the example of angelic missionaries that
Christ and his apostles were. I asked E. Oliver to train on becoming a
more persuasive teacher. Then, I trained on trusting in the Lord's
ways and how to better align our will with His. I used excerpts from
the talk "Willing to Submit " by Neal A. Maxwell in April 1985. After
DDM, we went on exchanges with the ZLs. Elder Heimuli came here with
me in Blythewood and we were able to meet with some neat people. We
were also, able to see Lynda and Ruben that evening. E. Heimuli was
just baffled at how well they are progressing! Ruben talked about how
he wants to get baptized and eventually, marry Sis. Reynolds in the
temple!

2-15-17
We did service for SBP today which was basically, all day long. We
helped sand down some walls and painted the with a primer. We went to
a ghetto burger joint and it was surprisingly, really good and
affordable! After we got back from our service and got all cleaned up,
we went to the Dobbs to have some Bojangle's and Lynda was there. We
had another good lesson with her and talked about her getting her
patriarchal blessing! She texted the bishop that night to get
interviewed for that.

2-16-17
Thus morning, we planned to do some service for an older less active
man who's pipe got clogged up, but he wouldn't answer his phone/door.
We still had some service planned for Sis. Jensen, so we went and did
that. We helped he move a bunch of stuff out of a storage unit to
their house. One of those things happened to be a wagon wheel which
wouldn't fit in her van or dad's car. We were not going to take a
whole nother trip just to get the stupid thing, so we got creative and
put it on our bike rack! We only had to go up the road a few miles, so
we drove cautiously. We got it there all in one peace and helped her
unload everything else. Sis. De La Rosa invited us over for dinner
tonight. When we got there, the Sisters were there as well because
they were invited. Dinner went well and she talked our ears off!

2-17-17
This morning, we got a phone call and it was from President Turner. He
was calling to talk to me about transfers coming up... He has asked me
to be a Zone Leader for West Columbia, so it looks like I'm going back
over to the other side of the river! That's right where I was at my
last area in Congaree. That was pretty nerve-racking to hear that, but
I will be with Elder Brian who was in Ridgeway when I got here and
he's a dope farmboy from UT. We got along really well when he was
here, so that was kind of a relief to hear I'm with him. We had some
Mormon.org time and tidied up our apartment for inspections today.
Those went well and they didn't have anything to complain to us about!
After that, we had weekly planning which went really well! We set up
some times to visit people that I want to say goodbye to. At the end
of the night, we went over to Eric's to eat dinner with him, the
Sisters, Sis. Emerson (Lynda), Sis. Reynolds & Ruben and the Ridgeway
Elders. That went very well and they were all sad to hear that I will
be leaving next week. It was funny, because while we were there, Ruben
approached us and said that he heard that there are some courses that
he has to take before baptism and that he would like to start on them.
Haha, he was pleased to hear that we've already started them with him!
Sister Reynolds also, said that bishop called her and asked if an Area
70 could come and visit them in their home! She was so excited to tell
us that news. It's really neat because she is less active and has been
coming back to church since the beginning of the year with Ruben.

2-18-17
It was a really good day today! We had ward coordination this morning
which ended went well. After that, Lamping and I grabbed some lunch at
Applebee's. After that, we visited Tammy so that I could say goodbye
to them and talked to her for a little while. Then, we visited the
Hill's to do the same thing and they were eager to see us. They were
also, glad that we were able to stop by. At that time, we headed to
the apartment so that I could do a little bit of packing until we
headed to the adult session of Stake Conference. We went to Stake
Conference and got to listen to Elder Alba from the Area Seventy. He
gave such a great talk! Ruben went there and came up to us to talk. He
told us about Elder Alba coming to visit the house. He got pretty
emotional and teared up while he was saying that it was amazing to
hear a man called of God in that "hierarchy " to tell him that he sees
a lot of good in him and that he knows the Lord is happy with him. We
seconded that notion. Elder Oliver came up to me and said that there
is this couple that have a son in the Wichita, KS mission and they
want to meet me. I went up to them and talked to them for a little
bit. Their son (Elder Campbell) was serving in Burlington, KS and is
now in COLBY, KS!? Grandma and Papa were just talking about him in
their email to me. They are from the Elgin ward which is right next to
Blythewood, so I thought that was really neat!

2-19-17
Stake Conference was today and it was so good! There were some great
talks given -especially, by Elder Alba. After church, the Sisters had
a pass of lesson with us with a guy they've been working with named
Michael. Then, Marshall Walker who has been going out teaching with us
quite a bit just received the Melchizidek Priesthood and we got to sit
in for that. We got back from church and went over to the Bishop's
house for dinner. We ate some pretty dank BBQ that reminded me of
home! Ruben and Sis. Reynolds came over there as well! We had a good
visit with them. After that, the we followed behind the Sisters and
went to the Hunter's to say goodbye. Then, we went to visit Lynda so
that I could say goodbye. She has been really sad that I'm leaving,
but is excited for me to move onto the next chapter. We talked to her
about her reading and she has read a ton lately. She is already in
Alma 25 and loves every bit of it!

-Elder Mitchell

2/13/17

2-7-17

Last night, we went to visit Lynda and shared a message with her. She is doing so well! She's already in 2 Nephi in her scripture study and she called bishop to set up a time to meet with him about going to the temple!

Today, we helped Cindy who is an investigator of ours move a couch. She bought one from her friend that we went to go help her move onto her trailer. Then, we went over to her house to help move it into her living room. We noticed that she had some reading material from the Jehovah's Witnesses from stopping by, so we snagged it without her noticing. Haha she doesn't need to be reading that stuff anyway! Later this evening, we met with Ruben and brought Bro. Gallahar with us. It was a great visit and Sis. Reynolds even fed us dinner! We talked a little bit of the organization of the church and the BoM.

2-8-17

We got to start my birthday off by doing service for someone in Columbia with SBP. We did some more mold remediation at another house. We got all suited up in that gear again. After we got back from the service, we went on exchanges with the Ridgeway Elders. We all stayed in Blythewood and just worked there. Lamping & Oliver went to an appointment we had scheduled while Dean and I knocked around and found two new investigators! We set return appointments with them to come back. Later on that night, we went to Oliver to share a message with them. Little did I know... It was a planned surprise party for me. A lot of people showed up -including Lynda! The sister brought my favorite types of wings to the party to cater. Eric cooked me up a New York cheesecake! It was so much fun to have everyone together. I will always remember this birthday and the people I got to spend it with.

2-9-17

We continued our exchanges today, except I went with Oliver today. It was a long day since we weren't able to catch anyone at home. We did quite a bit of knocking as well. One neat experience that happened today was that we decided to go eat lunch at Panda Express. Firstly, we were walking in the parking lot and we saw a big deisel truck by the front door. The back tailgate had a sticker with writing on it in cursive saying; "Just because there's smoke, it don't mean it's Broke." I was thinking that, that was pretty odd that someone would put that on their truck... Haha but funny! We walked in the doors and a less active was there! Bro. Dove was right in front of us ordering food. We went up to say hi and he was happy to see us. He bought our lunch and saved a seat to sit by him. We had a good visit with him and was just casual. When we went to leave, he got in that truck in the parking lot and drove off. Haha, he is such a funny guy and even funnier that it was his truck we were joking about! Good thing we didn't say anything to him about it! Later this evening, we went to choir practice since Lynda cancelled our appointment with her due to illness. Lamping and Dean were there as well! After that, we finished up exchanges and got ready for tomorrow.

2-10-17

We got up and got ready for ZTM this morning which went really well! They trained on Obedience and being more of accepting to change. After ZTM, we went to Lizard Thicket to have some good southern cookin'! After we ate, we came back and stopped by a guy we had an appointment with, but he wasn't home. We stopped by a few others on our way back with no luck. We ended the night with a productive weekly planning session.

2-11-17

This morning, we helped the Garbe's move into their new house which took a good 20mknutes with just three of us. They don't have very many of their belongings since they're all out in Colorado. They took out to eat at Bojangle's afterwards which was good as always! We got back to the apartment and we had about 30min until we had to go meet Bro. Moon to ride with him to go help clean the church. We got there and the Sisters were there as well. They brought an investigator they have who is on date for baptism next weekend! They have him a tour of the church and then, helped us all clean the church. We made quick work of cleaning and headed back to the apartment. We had an appointment with Lynda which ended up really well. We talked about how God will give/allow trials to help us grow and learn from them. She is struggling with a lot of night terrors, so we helped her understand why she may be going through them. We gave her a blessing before we left to help with them.

2-12-17

Church was interesting today! We had a "musical sacrament" where a member from each quorum and auxiliary goes up and shares their testimony along with their favorite hymn and why it is their favorite. After that, we would sing the hymn that they shared. About seven people went up to do that and it was really spiritual! After that, I taught Gospel Pinciples today which turned out well. We had a big turnout that came to class today. We overheard Ruben talking to Bishop about him wanting to get baptized. He also, expressed that he wants to get married with Debbie in the temple! It was so exciting to hear that. He is such a great guy and is very sincere. I can't wait until he is able to eventually, get to that point!

Lynda grabbed us after church and told us that she met with bishop and is working on getting her limited-use temple recommend. She said that the bishop is going to assign her as a primary teacher! She's was so excited for that because she said that she really wanted to work with kids. I am so happy for her and the progress she has made.

 

-Elder Mitchell

 

 

1/25/17

Dear Reed
1-25-17
I thought you would like to see this text and mine.

"Hello, my name is Lynda. This Saturday morning I am to be baptized because of your precious son, Elder Mitchell :) I moved here almost three months ago and a week after I had moved in I heard a knocking on my door. Heavenly Father has shown me His love and redeeming Grace through these missionaries. They have shown me patience, love, and understanding

As they have taught me about the Atonement and Repentance and Heavenly Fathers redeeming Grace! Sorry, I sent this before I was finished tying...me and technology don't mix well! Lol!  Anyways, I can't begin to express my gratitude to your sons, Elder Mitchell and Elder Lamping, and to you, for your prayers and encouragement!

You have amazing sons!! I will remember them always and I pray that Heavenly Father blesses them and all of you always! I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ️"

My response: "Thank you Lynda. Such expression of kind words makes my heart so happy. I am especially happy that you have had faith in Jesus Christ and in his healing power. He is the great physician. I love Jesus Christ and his gospel with all of my heart. It is the way to find true joy which is deeper than happiness. I love you and am thankful for the love and trust you have given my Son. I have been praying for you. I am so excited about your baptism!! Love, Sister Mitchell "

1/9/17

Fwd: Monday!

Lisa Mitchell

Begin forwarded message:

From: Reed Alton Mitchell <reed.mitchell@myldsmail.net>
Date: January 9, 2017 at 3:20:02 PM CST
To: Mom <lisa.mitchell.423@gmail.com>, Dad <tmitchell@communitybanktopeka.com>
Subject: Monday!

Mom and Dad-
How y'all doing?! My new suit fits really well! We had a mission-wide
conference with L. Whitney Clayton and Elder Gary E. Stevenson. It was
such an amazing experience. I got to shake their hands and talk to
them a little bit. So how are you liking the .22 mag rifle? Does it
have a little bit of a kick to it? That's very surprising to hear
about Indy beating Butler and Hutch! Firing that coach was probably
the best thing they've done. That Black positions coach from Indy
(Coach Lolar) is the head coach at Bethel and he emailed me asking me
to play for them when I get back. I want to go to school out in Utah
somewhere though. Our ZLs are okay. Sorry, we are busy playing
basketball with a lot of my friends from West Columbia. I hope y'all
have a great week! I love you very much. ️

1-3-17
We went on exchanges with the Ridgeway Elders today and I stayed in
Blythewood with E. Dean. He has only been out for about 5-6 weeks, so
he is still a greenie! We tried by quite a bit of people today. We
were able to meet with the Riggs who are less active. Later that
evening, we met with another less active named; Horace Branham. He is
an older guy who has cancer and has been going through a lot of health
issues lately. We were able to teach his daughter who isn't a member a
little bit.

1-4-17
We finished up exchanges today, so we went up to Ridgeway to switch
back. Transfers were today, so Sis. Hansen is training a new Sister in
Blythewood. Her name is Sis. Pew. When we got back, we met with Lynda
and had a really good lesson about the Word of Wisdom. She smokes,
drinks coffee & tea and drinks alcohol. We have been working with her
about the alcohol lately. She went a whole week without drinking last
week, but plans to tonight. She said she has three beers in the
fridge, so before we left we asked for her to give them to us. Haha it
was hard for her, but she ended up doing it after we prayed about it.
We knew that if she wasn't willing to give them up now, then she might
not ever. Later tonight, we had ward Coordination with Bro. Taylor
which went well! We got to meet Sister Pew.

1-5-17
We were knocking by some less actives when Tammy (less active) called
us and asked us to come over. It sounded like she had been crying...
we went over there and she had a really rough day and everything had
just piled up on her. We were the first she thought she'd call. We
went over there and shared some scriptures and a video that we thought
would help. She was very thankful that we were able to come by and
share those things with her. We bore testimony and shared experiences
to relate. After dinner, we met with Oliver and Ana. We brought a
recent convert over named Eric, which they got along really well. We
talked about tithing and fast offering which went well! Oliver said
that he made a promise with God that he would pay a full tithe from
now on and work towards receiving the priesthood. We committed him and
Ana to fast this Sunday for our fast Sunday.

1-6-17
We had Weekly Planning for next week today which went well. It usually
takes a few hours, so that was our morning. Later on, we met with
Lynda and brought Bro. Walker with us. She was upset about some legal
situations with his sister and mother passing.
Afterwards, Bro. Walker had us over for dinner and had some cheesy
potatoes and pork roast! We had to be back to our apartment, Elders
from the Greenville East zone came down early for the mission
conference tomorrow because it's supposed to snow in the morning.

1-7-17
This morning, we got up in the morning to go to a mission-wide
conference in West Columbia. We got to see Elder McArthur and L.
Whitney Clayton from the seventy there along with Elder Gary E.
Stevenson from the quorum of the twelve! The Temple President for the
Columbia temple was there as well. I got to go up and shake all of
their hands and talk to them which was a neat experience. They all
gave talks after Sister and President bore their testimonies. Their
talks were so good! I was nourished and edified. ️ Elder Stevenson
talked about following urgent promptings urgently and went over our
purpose as missionaries. I got to see so many of my close friends
because the whole mission was there! I got to see Elders Winn, Staley,
Rose, Gerardo, Casey, Stapley, Overson, Hartman, Michaelis, Volmar,
Brian, Wille, Holt and Jacobsen! E. Staley came up to me and said that
Tammy Barefoot from Hartsville got the letter I wrote her about a
month ago bearing my testimony to her. He said that while she was
telling him about it, she started crying and he said that I had a
really big impact on her life while I was there. She is still active
in the church and it meant so much to hear that from him. Also, it
didn't snow any...

1-8-17
This morning during studies, we got a text from Lynda saying she had a
rough morning and didn't feel like coming to church. Her mom recently,
passed away and today was her mom's birthday. She was part of my fast
today. We went over to her house before Ward Council and talked about
how coming to church will help her immensely. We promised her that she
will feel peace as she goes. She agreed to still go, so we told her
ride that she will still go. We ended up having three investigators at
sacrament this week! The boyfriend of a less active came and brought
her. We have been working with both of them. It was fast and testimony
meeting and people bore some powerful testimonies.
After church, Lynda came up and said that we are the most persistent
people we've ever met. Haha, but she said that she is glad she came!
On our war home, we stopped by Tammy who is a less active and talked
to her for a little while and talked about having family prayer with
her family. Then, we went over to Bishop Lenker's house to have dinner
and break our fasts. He invited us and Lynda over along with some of
his family members. Lynda seemed to really enjoy it and be with people
from the church. Sis. Lenker's mom shared her conversion story with
Lynda. So go this... Bishop's dad is the temple president of the
Columbia temple and he was there as well! We had dinner with him and
talked to him for awhile. He talked to Lynda about the BoM and bore
powerful testimony of it. That was a super rad experience and Lynda
seemed to really enjoy herself!
We surpassed the Standards of Excellence in member presents again this
week! It was very exciting to get 9 again. It was hard work, but
definitely was the Lord blessing us. The Ridgeway Elders in the
District hit them as well! Blythewood Sisters hit them last week with
us, so the District is doing so well right now. It motivates me to do
even better and is so exciting to labor in the Lord's vineyard!

The whole mission! I am in the front row

Inbox	x
Lisa Mitchell <lisa.mitchell.423@gmail.com>	Jan 9
to Dane, me

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