3/7/16

2-29-16
We went to Florence and played the Zone Leaders in tennis. We beat
them pretty bad. Tennis is actually fun to play! Frank is good, so he
gave us some pointers along the way. Then, he took us all out to
Cracker Barrel after! We headed back to Hartsville and got our
groceries. When we got to the apartment, a less active member called
and literally, talked to us (me) on the phone for 3 hours and 26
minutes!! I probably said a total of about 15 words the whole time.
She wouldn't let me go when I said we had to either. I was stuck on
there and it was frustrating.

3-1-16
Well, we ate lunch with the Mayor today! His name is Mel Pennington.
I've worked out a couple times with him when we used to get up at
5:30am for F3. It's a bunch of guys from the community who get
together and do military workouts. It stands for Faith. Fellowship.
Fitness. Anyway, we were biking down the street and he pulled up in
front of us. He asked if we've eaten lunch yet and then told us to
meet at this Mexican restaurant. We got there and there were a lot of
people who I have worked out with before. We all get funny nicknames
when we go. Mine us "Todo" since I'm from Kansas. I know, real
original. Haha but Mel paid for our lunches! He's a really nice guy.
We met with a guy later on got into some deep doc with him. It's not
always advised for missionaries to get into that, but the questions he
had caused it to lead to that. It was a really neat conversation and
got us thinking! He was a pretty intelligent guy.
For dinner, we ate pizza at a park with the Beckett's. After that, we
shared a message with them and went to go see Patti and Dave. They
were really happy to see us!

3-2-16
Today was a really slow day... Nothing seemed to go our way. Our
appointments all cancelled.  So we did some tracting. People were
really rude today for some reason, so that hurt my pride a little.
It's hard not to just reach out and strangle someone after they tell
us that we are going to hell in front of their kids. I just have to
remember that I'm a missionary! Haha
We taught s couple people today, but they were just doorstep lessons.
We had ward council and visited with the ward mission leaders. After
that, we went over to the Solomons. They're such nice people! Bro.
Solomon will talk your ear off.

3-3-16
It was a pretty busy day! When we were heading back to the apartment
for lunch, we drove by Ruth's. One of Frank's friend we know was
walking in, so we stopped to say hi. He invited us to eat lunch with
him, so we did and he paid for us! He's a pretty nice guy. We went out
to the "Alphabet Streets" (ghetto) to teach Rickey again. His brother
Earnest was there who isn't a member. I am surprised about how much
Rickey still knows about the church. We had a really good lesson with
and put Earnest on date! While we were heading to go see an
investigator, we noticed two kids playing baseball. They were a less
active's kids, so we stopped and played a two on two game. They had a
blast! After the kid, "Jr." And I won, we went to go see the
investigator and taught her husband. They seemed pretty interested, so
we will have to swing by later on!

3-4-16
We had ZTM this morning and it went really well! The Spirit is always
so strong in that room full of missionaries. At ZTM, they outlawed
member meals starting in April... Unless they're less active or have
an investigator. I think that is ridiculous. We are supposed to work
with members so how are we going to be able to do that without going
to eat dinner with them and build their trust. There is a whole
section in Preach My Gospel about working with members. We should be
able to eat meals with them as long as we are staying on purpose and
seeking referrals. It's better than going to the apartment for that
hour and not interacting with anyone. Oh well, still have to be
obedient to it!
After ZTM, we went on exchanges. Elder Webb came to Hartsville with
me. We got to teach quite a bit of people! While we were tracting, we
knocked into a nice family who's daughter has been to church a couple
times with the Thompsons. They are looking for a church to go to as a
family. We've been wanting to teach the daughter, so I'm glad that we
found them!
For dinner, we ate at the Carroway's. They have been members for about
7 years. We found out that they have gotten their endowments, but
haven't been sealed! We talked to them about that and getting their
patriarchal blessings. If they go and get sealed, we can go with them!

3-5-16
Before we finished up exchanges, we got special permission from the
Zone Leaders to go play tennis with Frank. He brought a friend, so we
played doubles. E. Webb played tennis in highschool. It was Frank and
I against him and Jody. We beat them 6-4! It was a lot of fun. Tennis
is nice because it can only take about to people to play. It's a good
workout as well. I picked it up pretty fast! After that, Frank took us
to Cook-Out to get some burgers.
When we got back from Cheraw to finish exchanges, a member of the ward
asked us to help them move the wife's grandma in. After we finished
that, they took us out to eat at Applebee's. It was nice to visit with
them! Then we went to go teach a guy who turns out to be flaming... It
was awkward and even more so when he started hitting on us. He was
wearing just a robe and I thought he was going to rip it open any
second. We got out of there pretty fast!

3-6-16
We went on probably the longest bike ride I've been on yet. We covered
a lot of miles! We were trying to contact some less active's we
haven't met. One out of six were available to talk to. The others were
either not home or moved. We taught a couple other people while we
were tracting out there. That long trip was exhausting because we were
fasting until dinner, so we didn't have any energy!
I made some hamburgers for dinner when we got back, so we chowed down.
It was a good day today! We are going to go play some tennis tomorrow
and just relax!

-Elder Mitchell

2/29/16

2-23-16

We had DDM today and it was really good! They trained on keeping the vision to baptize. Afterwards, the Cheraw Elders, Zone leaders and us went to eat at Ruth's Drive in. Later on in the day, we taught a few people and put one on date! For dinner, we ate at Fuji (Japanese Steakhouse). It was misting outside most of the day. All of our plans and appointments fell through, so we decided to just knock some doors. People go to bed at like 7:30-8:00 here so it's hard to tract at night. At least it didn't start pouring on us like it did yesterday! We met a younger guy and taught him a quick lesson.  He seemed pretty interested, so we will have to try back later.

 

2-24-16

Today was interesting. After lunch, we went to go give a member a blessing at her work. When we got done with that, we got a text from the ward mission leased saying; "Sisters just had a wreck, corner of Fifth St. And W. Carolina Ave. Can you go there and give a blessing. I'm at a funeral." ...so many thoughts ran through my head: what am I about to see? Are they okay? Who needs a blessing? The Bishop called us telling us about it as well. We were already on our way. I had never biked so fast in my life! My adrenaline was going crazy for some reason. I was just praying the whole time we were riding over there.i We got there and the police, a fire truck and ambulance were there. We were looking all over for the mission car and didn't see it. One of the sisters popped her head out of the window of a Chrysler and waved us down. They were all okay! The lady from Florence who was driving was really shaken up. I reached my hands in her car door and gave her a blessing. They were riding back to the church and someone ran a red light and hit them on the side. The Florence and Hartsville sisters were in there. There was a pretty big dent on the side, but none of them were hurt. The lady in the other car has a daughter who broke her arm. The other car was pretty torn up. After that, we taught a couple lessons and then had to go in because we are under tornado watch.

 

2-25-16

We went to go see a less active today. He lives in the ghetto (he's the drug dealer). We had a really good lesson with him. He had a friend over who is actually a member as well. He's a less active that we've been trying to locate. We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about repentance. His friend had to leave, but we talked to Rickey about going to the temple. He remembers going and wants to go again. He's been sealed to his family there. I'm not sure where his family is right now... We invited him to come to church and that it would be how he can end up back in the temple. And a couple other changes. Haha. He was all excited when we started talking about the temple. It was really neat because I could see the Spirit working within him. He asked E. Rose to give the closing prayer. Now, here in the south people like to give something called "prayer help." They'll say; "yes!" "Yes Lord."  "Amen" or "Hallelujah!" The first time it happened to me it really threw me off. But he started giving E. Rose prayer help. I got the clever idea to join in too! He said thank you for us being able to sit down with Rickey and I chimed in and said "yes!" Haha he just paused during the prayer for a little bit. I could tell he was try I got really hard not to bust up laughing because I was about to as well! We kept it together well, but I could tell it threw him off when Rickey did it, and especially when I did!

Later tonight, we had an appointment to meet with someone. Unfortunately, he was admitted into the hospital. He told us that he still wanted to meet with us, so we went up to the hospital to visit him and teach him a little bit. He's an awesome guy. He had a lot of questions for us. The lesson went well, but he was pretty loopy after he took some pain pills. Towards the end, he started falling asleep while we were talking to him. But I could tell the he is really searching for the truth! It's amazing to see how the Lord prepares certain people to learn to the Gospel. The hard part sometimes is their agency! A lot of them don't know what to do with these new feelings they're getting of the Spirit, so they might just brush it off. Some will also feel it and be sucked right into what we are talking about. It's just really neat to see how the Spirit works within others.

 

2-26-16

Today was a pretty good day! We taught quite a few people today. Most of the. We're doorstep lessons. For dinner, we went to a members house to eat chicken and dumplings! It was really good. Then we had peach cobbler.

We had planned to go teach someone and bring a member with us, but the investigator cancelled. Instead, we went by a couple other people to see if they were home. Most of them were already in bed, so we went over to see Bro. Haney. We talked to him for awhile and then he took us home! We finished planning and now we are listening to some Christian gospel rap prepping ourselves to go tracting in the ghetto tomorrow!

 

2-27-16

We went and ate lunch with an old lady from the ward today.  After that, we went to tract in the ghetto for a bit. We met a couple people and taught them. Our dinner plans fell through because they've had a bad week, so they cancelled. I also wrecked my bike.. Again. There was a curb that I was going to bunny hop onto from the road to ramp off a spot where the cement angles up. My tire caught the curb and three me off the bike! I didn't get hurt because I landed in a soft pile of leaves luckily, it was a night so no one witnessed it except for E. Rose. I just didn't jump the curb soon enough. That's my second wreck. The first one happened the other day. I went to cut through a bush thinking it was a shortcut and my bike found the only parking block in the lot... I hit it straight on, so my crotch quickly, met the handlebars and I flipped over the front. That one didn't feel very good. Haha they were both caused by myself and my stupidity trying to do cool things! Hopefully, I won't have anymore any time soon. Nevertheless, I've gotten pretty experience pad at riding a bike now! We found a little area where there is bamboo growing, so I cut a piece off and made a blow gun. It works really well. Haha E. Rose cut a big piece off and is making a walking stick. It was a pretty productive day! I am looking forward to church tomorrow because there should be some less actives coming that we met with during the week.

 

2-28-16

Today, we taught a lady who seemed pretty interested. She enjoyed hearing about Joseph Smith. I felt the Spirit so strongly during that lesson! Hopefully, we can sit down with her and her husband and kids soon. They seem like a really neat family! We planned to eat with some members, but they cancelled last minute due to a family emergency. They still dropped off food which was really nice! We taught quite a bit of lessons this week. The only thing is that we need to work on getting them progressing now by helping them follow through with commitments. I have been having E. Rose take the lead in door approaches and some lessons now. His confidence is starting to increase a little which is good! Frank dropped off some nice tennis racquets yesterday because we are going to go play tomorrow for PDay with the Florence Elders.

-Elder Mitchell

2/22/16

  2-15-16
  Bro. Tadlock (Frank) took us out to eat along with the Zone Leaders
  for my birthday! We call him Bro. Tadlock because he's basically a
  member. Just hasn't got dunked yet! After that, he took us so that we
  could go get groceries.
  For dinner, we are at the Harvey's. We had a really good visit with
  them! I was talking to Bro. Harvey about how much schooling he had to
  do for dentistry. It's only two more years than chiropractic
  schooling. It is better pay and easier to find a job. He said that he
  had initially wanted to be a Chiropractor as well. I've been thinking
  about dentistry and I think I would enjoy that. I might go into that
  instead! Maybe a pediatric dentist. I love the Harveys. Probably
  because they remind me so much of Kaylee and Roger.

  2-16-16
  Today, we had interviews with the President! He was impressed with how
  we are doing in Hartsville. The topic was goal setting and how we can
  achieve them. We brought all of our key indicators from the past four
  weeks and discussed them. We set the goal to use faith as a power to
  get four member presents this week.
  When we got back from Hartsville, we got some lunch at Cook-Out. Then,
  started our day proselyting. We taught a less active and committed
  hoer to come to church! After that, we taught a lady named Lisa. We
  out her on date! We taught a couple other lessons as well. We stopped
  by Juwan and he told us that his mom doesn't want him to make that big
  of a commitment to join our church. He's 18, but is still living under
  her roof. It was very heart breaking to hear that. The whole ward was
  so excited for him... Maybe someday, he will decided to join when he's
  moved out.

  2-17-16
  Today, we went to go see a less active in the straight ghetto. It is a
  pretty rough neighborhood. They're called the "Alphabet Streets"
  because they didn't even bother to name them. It's just A-L streets.
  The less active member lives on G street. I was very surprised to see
  how much knowledge of the gospel he still has and how strong his
  testimony of Joseph Smith is. He's a drug dealer which is pretty
  awkward! Haha his brother came over, so we were able to teach him as
  well. Later on, his goddaughter came over and we taught her too! He
  got offended by someone in the church and hasn't come back since.
  Elder Nielson from the seventy told us that we have the authority to
  apologize for the church and say; "As representatives of the LDS
  church, we solemnly apologize that you've been offended. Will you
  please consider joining us again?" I think just saying that meant a
  lot to him. Hopefully, he comes to church this Sunday.

  2-18-16
  Today went by really slow... I can't stop thinking about Juwan and how
  heartbreaking it is for him to cancel. His mom isn't even in a church,
  but doesn't want him to join one. It's sad because I know how much it
  could bless him and his family. He knows that too. He's the oldest
  sibling, so he would be setting a great example for his siblings.

  We met a lady at the public library to teach her a lesson and it was
  very interesting! She talked about how she thinks God is "lashing out"
  on us for using so many chemical for medicine and things. Those
  chemicals are hurting the environment, so God is mad at us... We just
  taught her about prophets and how they would've said something about
  that. Then, we talked about the authority needed to be a prophet. This
  led into the Restoration. We also, helped her know how to pray and
  recognize the answers she gets. We taught another lesson after that
  and then, went to eat dinner with members.

  2-19-16
  This morning, we helped a potential investigator year floors up for
  his house. They've been living in a small camper trailer until they
  finish the home. Cory has two kids and a wife. They have a pretty
  rough life. I feel bad for the kids... He was very thankful that we
  came to help. He was an interesting guy to say the least. Haha! We
  taught him a short lesson after that.
  During the evening, we went to visit the Laffidy's and talked with
  them for a bit. I love that family! They crack me up.

  2-20-16
  Today. Oh boy... I had no idea what I was getting myself into. A less
  active member texted us yesterday asking for help moving. I've never
  met them before, so I thought it would be a good idea. Oh I was so
  wrong... We got there and walked to the back of the house where the
  Uhaul truck was. The first thing I saw was a kid helping carry s
  mattress and on his back was a big COCKROACH crawling on his back! I
  didn't think too much of it until I walked in the house... My heart
  just dropped to my feet. There were cockroaches literally, everywhere.
  I have never seen so many in my life. Picture a horror movie with
  roaches and add more to that. There were reaches crawling all over
  their beds, pillows, food and everywhere else you could imagine. When
  we were moving stuff, they would just scatter and some would start
  running up our arms! I didn't want to freak out in front of them and
  be rude, so as I was dying on the inside, I quickly but calmly brushed
  them off. That wasn't even the worst of it. The walls were covered in
  mold and the air was probably harming our health. A guy that was
  helping them move, picked up a portable toilet that was by the bed to
  move and it WASNT EMPTY. It spilled all over the floor and his shoe!
  It smelled like death after it spilled. We had to take a "lunch break"
  to go buy gloves. When we got back, it was time to move the washer,
  dryer, oven and refrigerator. When we moved the fridge, the floor
  underneath looked like it was moving. You couldn't even see the actual
  floor. They scattered towards us, in the air vents, and up the walls.
  While we were moving the fridge, it opened and there was moldy stuff
  and roaches in there. The oven was even worse. We finally, got
  everything moved over to the other house. We tracked more roaches into
  their other house, so that's not good... They didn't clean off
  anything. We tried our best to clean everything off before we got
  inside. Once everything was moved out of the truck, the bed was
  covered with roaches that had fallen off the furniture. Let's just say
  I'm scarred for life. It made me want to deep clean everything. I am
  so thankful that I haven't had to live like that. It didn't even phase
  the people living there anymore. I just kept thinking about how many
  of those they've eaten in their sleep... I feel like breathing in that
  air took off about three years of my life. My breathing was really
  shallow afterwards. They were very thankful that we helped though. It
  was a very humbling experience.
  On the bright side today, we got a member to go out teaching with us
  for a little while. We also, put a lady on date for baptism! The
  member bought us each pizzas from Little Caesars after. He also talked
  about some experiences that his wife has had. His wife has lymes
  disease and it got to her brain for a little while. He was telling us
  about how there was an angel that used to come and help her when he
  couldn't. We talked about how it could've been a family member from
  way back. His wife used to know the angel's name, but forgot it.
  Imagine that! The veil must've been closed again. To end the night, we
  met with a couple less active members and shared a message with them.
  One hasn't been to church since she was just a little kid. She seemed
  pretty interested, so hopefully we can visit with her again!

  2-21-16
  I had to give my talk today, but I think it went pretty well! It was
  about faith and how it works. I related it to football! Frank came to
  Hartsville to listen to my talk. It was such a nice day today. It was
  about 67°. We reached the goal we set with President Turner when we
  met with him to get four member present lessons this week. We ended up
  getting five! We met three of the Standards of Excellence for this
  week! We've been working with some less actives as well. It was a good
  day today. I am looking forward to P-Day tomorrow. We're going to go
 play some tennis, clean and take a nap!

  -Elder Mitchell

2/15/16

2-8-16

The Cheraw Elders came to Hartsville to hangout with us for my birthday! They made me pick where I wanted to eat, so I picked Zaxby's! After lunch, they took us to go get our groceries since they have a car. Then, we went to the church and played basketball. It was a lot of fun! After they left, we went to the Edward's home for dinner. Bro. Edwards made steaks, flattened them and rolled bacon, pickles, cheese and mustard in them. It is supposedly a German dish and it was amazing! Then, we had cake with cream cheese icing!

2-9-16

It was a pretty good day today! We met some nice people who weren't always interested... But they were nice! Later tonight, we went over to Juwan's to visit him. We went over the interview questions and helped prepare him for the actual one on Friday!

2-10-16

We taught the Plan of Salvation to one of the people we have on date. When we left, the guy said, "next time y'all come over, I'll have something to share with you!" Haha I wonder what that's going to be. We went over to a member's for dinner and had some pizza. Then, we went to ward coordination to address the needs of our investigators and how the ward can help.

2-11-16

We did quite a bit of ghetto stomping today. We got some lessons in as well! We decided to go see a less active we have never met before. I just felt prompted to do so. We knocked on the door and talked to the lady who answered. She told us that the person we were looking for moved... So instead, we talked to the lady who was there. She seemed pretty interested in our lesson and would like for us to come back! It's amazing how much the Spirit can work with you. As long as you put your trust in those promptings and follow them, things will work out. It's really neat to see how we are led to certain people by the Spirit or they are led to us. These people who have been prepared by Heavenly Father to listen to the message of the restored gospel.

After that lesson, we met a member back at our apartment and went out teaching with him for a bit!

2-12-16

We had ZTM today and it was awesome! All of our key indicators as a zone have increased. Afterwards, we went on companion exchanges with the zone leaders. I stayed in Hartsville. So big news!!.. The District leader came to Hartsville as well so that he could interview Juwan for baptism! He is ready and excited to take the step of faith he needs to come closer to Christ. He requested that I should baptize him! We have had the date set with him for the 20th of February. It's amazing because Elder Siebers and I started this goal to pray daily and reason with the Lord on how to accomplish the goal of baptizing someone by the 20th. Our faith has paid off after we have been tested and tried. We used faith as a power to accomplish this goal. After the interview, we went finding for a bit and found 4 new investigators!

2-13-16

Comp. exchanges ended today. We went to drop E. Lambert off and picked up E. Rose. When we got back, we went tracting and found a few people to teach. To end the freezing day, we went to a member's home and visited with them. I got along really well with them. They filled us in on all the crazy political stuff and all the great movies I'm going to be missing out on. Haha. We shared one of my favorite scriptures with them (Helaman 5:12) and talked to them about how a Christlike centered home is so important. We will build that foundation that will be steadfast and immovable.

2-14-16

Happy Valentine's Day! Church went really well today. I wrote our Juwan's program for his baptism and a couple people to make some desserts for it. They announced his baptism time at church, so I really hope a lot of people show up! After church, we went over to see the Thompson's and have lunch with them. They grilled up some steaks! It was around 28° today, so biking was freezing! This humidity makes it so much colder too... We knocked into a Jehovah's Witness today and that was interesting! They have such a cynical view of Christ. It makes it difficult to no just unleash a bunch of doctrine on them, but that would just make them mad. We are told to stay away from bible bashing. Haha so I just shared my testimony and told her to have a good day. We ended up teaching a total of 20 lessons this week! Most of them are from tracting, but we are going to focus on getting more members our teaching with us next week.

-Elder Mitchell

2/8/16

2/8/16

2-1-16
Our PDay wasn't very eventful. But that's okay! We went to the apartment, cleaned and caught up on some sleep. For dinner, we got to eat at the Tingen's. The husband (Pete) into a member, so we taught him the Restoration. He's so quiet that it's hard to understand what he's thinking. We also, went to go teach a couple that E. Siebers got really close to. He got to say goodbye to them so he was happy about that.

2-2-16
A member took us out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant which was really good! We then went finding for awhile and couldn't find anyone... We came across a couple who was outside and the wife had just gotten out of prison! 😳 they were nice people though! For dinner, a member dropped off some Sonic for us.
After we ate, we went to see Sis. Smother's and her kids. We shared out testimonies of Joseph Smith and decisions to serve a mission. We also got to teach Vanessa which was awesome! We brought a member who was taking it way off subject... Vanessa started to lose interest when that happened, so I said a quick prayer. I was able to bring the lesson back as I really paid attention and listened to the Spirit. We discerned her concerns and then got her to pray at the end of the lesson!

2-3-16
Transfers! Bro. Haney took us to Columbia in this morning. Transfers are done differently now. We all just meet in the chapel, say an opening prayer and then they pair us up and tell us where we are going. E. Siebers went to a small branch in Georgetown. I am now with Elder Rose. He's from Cedar City UT. He is a nice guy and is excited about missionary work. When we got back to Hartsville, it started to rain. We were still able to teach quite a bit of people even though it poured on us.

2-4-16
For E. Rose's first full day, it rained all day. I kept him excited about going out in it so that he doesn't feel discouraged already. We met some more nice people. I feel like a lot of them just felt bad that we were out in the rain. We were able to teach Rosa who is on date and she still wants to get baptized! While we were out tracting, we walked up to a house with a Prius covered in Bernie Sanders bumper stickers. Along with signs covered in the front yard. She answered the door and said that she was "too busy trying to elect Bernie Sanders for President." Haha then she proceeded to compare him to Jesus!..
"Bernie Sanders doesn't judge anyone and supports gays like Jesus would." Haha We taught four lessons today! After dinner, we went to help Sis.
Smother's move stuff out of her house because of the divorce. She was very grateful we helped. Her 16 year old son is less active and I would like to get him going to church again. He's a really nice kid!

2-5-16
I took E. Rose to the ghetto today! He wasn't too excited. We also got a member out to teach with us for a lesson. Frank took us out to lunch to meet the new missionary. Then after dinner, we were heading to our planned area but I got prompts to go and visit Ryan. We haven't seen him or been able to contact him in awhile. It was in the opposite way, but I decided to listen to the prompting. He was there! We taught him and he's going to try and come to church this Sunday if he's feeling better.

2-6-16
We did some service for an old couple by raking leaves for them. We had to leave for a teaching appointment all the way across town. When we got there, he wasn't even home. I was not happy because we rushed over there thinking we were going to be late. We made that special trip up there just for him. We decided to see a couple potential investigators in that area since we were there. We went to one who had a friend over. We taught the friend and were able to put him on date.
E. Rose is struggling with speaking up and knowing what to say. I just told him to rely on the Spirit and be confident! We are just going to have to keep practicing. He's just been feeling bad because I've been doing all the talking. We also met a 90 year old man who served in WWII! He was telling us some stories about it. Haha We we left there, we went to dinner at an Italian place. I recognized a less active member in there. I heard that he doesn't really like missionaries... We went to go pay and they told us that the less active member had already paid for out meal. We thanked him and talked to him for a little bit. It was such a nice thing. Today, I was feeling pretty discouraged so it meant a lot to me. Heavenly Father will send tender mercies our way like that, as long as we are doing what we're supposed to be doing and put our trust in Him.

2-7-16
Juwan came to church! The less active member who paid for our meal yesterday came as well! They both sat next to us. I talked to the LA member and he said that his family doesn't like Mormons. So come to find out that he wants to be active, but his family holds him back.
Pretty sad. The Lillian's had us over for dinner and then we went over to the Harvey's while the Super Bowl was going on. They filled us up with all kinds of snacks. Then, we sat and talked to them for awhile.
They are a young couple and I get along with them so well!

-Elder Mitchell

2/1/16

1-25-16

After we finished our studies and writing our family, an older couple (the Edwards) took us to a chines buffet for lunch! Then, they took us to Walmart so we could get groceries. We cleaned up the apartment and the went to go and teach a young couple with kids. It went well! We also got to see Patti and Dave tonight. We talked about prophets. To end the night, we went over to see the Harvey's. They're a young couple from church. I get along with them really well. Bro. Harvey is a dentist and they're my favorite! He invited us over for the Super Bowl for snacks! I enjoy visiting them. 

1-26-16

We got to do some service for an old couple today. We raked their yard because the lady has been in the hospital. Their grand daughter is a member, so she told us to go and see how they're doing. They had a lot more leaves than I expected. We just showed up and got to work! Th nice thing is that the city will go through neighborhoods and pick up piles of leaves for the people. All you have to do is put the piles by the road! So we just showed up and got to work! The man was so grateful because he said that he's been worrying about that for weeks. 

We had three member present lessons today so that was awesome! We were going to see Juwan, but he canceled due to some family issues. We had a member come out with us tonight who is a senior at Hartsville. He is questioning serving a mission, so we talked to him about how awesome it is! He played football, so we had a little bit in common. He looked up my highlight film and watched it. Haha

We were able to take him to go teach Ryan. They kind of know eachother from school. Just different friend groups! The lesson went really well and he is preparing to be baptized on Feb. 20th!

1-27-16

Today was a lot of tracting. We met some cool people along the way! We also, saw the biggest dog I've seen in my life! His head was up to my shoulders. After dinner, we went over to see Sis. Smothers and her kids. They're going through quite a bit right now, so they always love when we stop by. 

1-28-16

The Florence and Charleston stakes met in Sumter today for a meeting. Elder Nielson from the seventy came with his wife and they spoke! He is such an awesome speaker. We all got to go up and shake his hand and talk to him for a bit. He was surprised when he heard I was from Kansas. Haha

Elder Nielson really focused on the redeeming and enabling power of the Atonement. He also talked about how vital companion unity is. We are all on the same team, so why should we criticize them? He said; "Diversity is needed to teach the diversity of the people in SC."

I started reading a book called "More than a Tattooed Mormon" and I can not put it down. It's so good! I'm already halfway done with it. A member let us borrow it, but it's about a young lady who becomes converted to the gospel. The book isn't mainly about her, but the person reading it. For dinner, we went over to the Thompson's. They're such an awesome family. 

1-29-16

We got to do some service for Patti & Dave after lunch. We helped them rearrange their living room. We moved the TV, so we had to go to the basement and drill another hole for the cable to go through the carpet. I was rubbing my arms against insulation trying to drill the hole and my arms started itching SO bad because of the fiber glass. When I itched them, it felt like I had a million little splinters in my arms. It gets better... A member picked us up to go to Cheraw for a baptismal interview, so I didn't have any time to wash my arms off. By then, the fiber glass was in my sleeves too and it was too late. It was miserable! Then, Bro. Edwards took us out to eat at a Japanese steakhouse, so food kept my mind off of it for awhile. At around 7pm, we got back so I could finally shower! I got dressed again and then went to visit the bishop. He is really working on getting members involved in missionary work- specifically less actives. Elder Nielson refers to part member families as the "goldmine." It's true! They already know a little bit about the church and have automatic fellow shippers. I'm excited to see how involved the ward is going to get. 

1-30-16

Today was a really good day! We got Daniel out with us to teach a lesson and then his mom took us out to eat with them. Soo I have some news... President Turner called me this morning and I'm going to be having a son already. He assigned me to be a trainer this Wednesday for a brand new missionary (my first son). He said that this is what the Lord has called me to do. When he called he asked; "So are you ready for an adventure Elder Mitchell?" I'm pretty nervous because I'm still learning myself, but I had a good trainer. I'm also excited because it shows that the Lord is expecting quite a bit from me right now. It is also good that I get to stay in Hartsville. I'm just going to put my trust in the Lord and I know he will help me!

Tonight, we had an awesome lesson with Ryan again. The Spirit took control over the lesson and we were just the mouthpieces. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We asked if he had, has the chance to pray about baptism and if the church is true. He said that he did last night and felt really good about it! He said that it felt like something "pinched his heart," he felt "calm" and "warm!" He is an awesome kid and is steadily progressing. Im going to ask E. Siebers for a blessing so I'm not so nervous about training. The Spirit has been nudging me all day to ask for one. I just asked him and he said he was literally, just thinking about asking me if I needed one. Haha!

PS: reply just to my email instead of E. Siebers email since he will not be my companion anymore!! 

I love you! 

-Elder Mitchell