10/10/16

10-4-16

It was a crazy day today! We had DDM today which went well. Sis. Bassett (senior missionary) made us lunch for afterwards. We got back to our apartment and started cleaning it for our apartment inspections. We got a call at around 5:00 saying that they're evacuating missionaries from the coast because of Hurricane Matthew, so we are going to have to host some at our apartment. We are going to go pick them up at the church at 9:00 tonight. They told us to go and get groceries and water to prepare. We had a lesson this evening with Leigh again and her less active husband. It went really well! We committed her to baptism and set a date with her then, invited her to church. After the lesson, we got back to the apartment and the APs came by to drop off a couple beds. We went to the church and picked up the 5 Elders that are staying with us. One of them is E. Leuluai who was in my District when I was in Simpsonville.

10-5-16

Every morning this week, we have been getting up at around 5:15am to go and play basketball at the church with everyone! After studies this morning, we headed to Walmart to get stocked up on food and water to prepare for the storm. When we got back, 2 of the Elders staying in our apartment left to go to another apartment. We dropped off the Elders still with us at an apartment complex so that they could go knock around some people while we contact Bible referrals. They got us a new investigator while they were doing that! After that, we took them back and got dinner before our appointment with Chanta. We went over to Chanta's and taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ again. Her daughter who was baptized when she was eight but isn't active was there and participated as well. Two of Chanta's kids got baptized when they were really young because her mom was a member. Chanta wasn't ready yet, but now she has been ready and is progressing so well with her new member lessons! We left her house, then went to see Brian and his family. We talked about the BoM with them since they haven't been reading it. His wife opened up with her concerns about the church and we did our best to answer them. I could tell she just didn't really accept our answers.

10-6-16

President Turner said that if we don't have any appointments or anything, to look for service with the Elders her from the coast. So we contacted Relief Society president in our ward who is moving and all 12 of us went over there and helped her pack. She bought us a ton of Little Caesar's pizza afterwards! We went straight to Ward Coordination afterwards to meet with our ward mission leader. We talked to him about some of the things we will need to bring up in Ward council. Then, we went to the church and had Soccer night. There were a ton of missionaries there this week and we almost outnumbered all the Mexicans there (not really)! Haha

10-7-16 & 10-8-16

Today, we had an appointment with a new investigator, but they weren't home. We also, went over to do service for Sis. Ammer's where we do ceramics and painted a little bit too. We were then, put on lockdown because the weather is supposed to get worse later in the day. So we have been taking naps and watching training videos for Elder Winn. The Bishop came by and dropped off a bunch of food. He gave us some sandwich stuff, juice, pop, muffins and got us all Bojangle's fried chicken! We ate a bunch of that and then took another nap. The lockdown lasted until about 6:00, then we all went to the church and played some basketball with the Zone Leaders and all the people with them. The weather wasn't very bad at all! Just some higher winds than usual and heavy rain.

10-9-16

Sunday: a bunch of the Elders came to church so it was fun to have all of them there! Chanta was there and brought her daughter with her.

-Elder Mitchell

9/19/16

9-13-16

We finally had a DDM this morning which was in Orangeburg. It went pretty well and one of the senior missionaries made us lunch! We tried to catch a few people on the way back in our area and didn't have much luck. We did catch this lady that is a less active and she was very different! She was watching a movie when we came in and we apologized for interrupting it and making her stop it. She went on about how it wasn't a very good movie because he involved a lot of "intercourse." She said, "you know how boy's hormones go all crazy and they get all horny." Haha it was very awkward, so we quickly changed the conversation! She is a very blunt person who doesn't really hold back anything. After that visit, we went to see Craig who is the excommunicated guy. We had to find out where he was excommunicated and when so that the bishop could request his file. He seemed pretty open about it, except for telling us what happened. It made it a lot easier and less awkward! Later this evening, we went on Splits. We had an appointment with Chanta that we couldn't miss. E. Scarff had to go and interview someone in the district for baptism, So E. Winn and I went to see Chanta. Our lesson went really well! I tried to get E. Winn involved as much as I could. She is still on date for the 24th of this month and she has to be smoke-free by Thursday because that's the deal we made with her. Technically, she can't smoke for at least a week from her baptismal date, but we pushed it sooner. She said that she won't let us down!

9-14-16

We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders today and that was a lot of fun! E. Jacobsen came to Congaree with E. Winn and I. We had quite a bit of appointments today, but most of them fell through. We met with Bro. Newhouse and talked about the importance of scripture study since he hasn't been reading lately. We got to do some service for a less active lady who is a single with 6 kids. She had mattresses and box springs outside along with a big fish tank and other junk. She asked to have it all taken to the dump because her home owners insurance guy said it needed to be done in the next few days. Otherwise, he would take away her insurance. So let's just set the scene... It had just gotten done pouring and everything was soaked making it stinky and heavier. They had been outside for awhile so bugs were crawling all over and inside them. We forgot gloves, so we got to do it all with our bare hands! We went over to Brian's house and taught him some of the commandments for his new member lessons. They're going to work on having more family scripture study.

9-15-16

We finished up exchanges today and met up at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. We got a gift card from one of the Spanish Elders because he's trying to watch his weight. Sis. Jenkins who is the less active lady with 6 kids invited us back over since we didn't get to see her yesterday. She thanked us for what we did and we shared a message with her. We offered up more service for her since she needs a lot of help painting and patching holes in the wall. Ward coordination was tonight and we talked about the "Open House" that we are planning to have as a way to find new investigators. We are going to do a church tour and have some speakers by the presidents of the quorums and auxiliaries. They're going to talk about family history, the role of men/women in the church, the youth program, baptism (showing the baptismal font), and sacrament in the chapel. Then, we are going to have some recent converts bear their testimonies on how they came to know the church was true which one of them is Brian. We also, talked about Chanta who is still on date for the 24th and seems really solid still! After Coordination, we went to soccer night at the church where a bunch of Mexicans that that Spanish Elders invite each week who are nonmembers come and play. I scored a goal, so that was pretty dang sweet. Haha This evening, we were playing football in the apartment with the Spanish Elders like we usually do and E. Scarff was getting mad at us. We yell out calls, plays and audibles before we hike the ball to eachother and it's so funny! E. Gerardo recorded it, so I'll send the video out! 

9-16-16

Our day didn't seem like it was too eventful, but it actually ended up going pretty well! We went over to the Capell's who are active and got two referrals from them. One isn't in our area, but we can refer them to other Elders. We had planned to bike over there, but E. Winn got on his new bike and popped a wheelie in our parking lot and knocked off the whole tire. Haha he got it back on, but it fell off again so we gave up and Bro. Capell picked us up. When we got back, I made some awesome fried shrimp with the shrimp that was caught from Charleston. I made some really good StirFry with it last week! After dinner, we went over to see Chanta and teach her. We taught her the 10 Commandments and went into detail with them, so that she understood all of them. 

9-17-16

Chanta came to church again today and we taught her about tithing and fast offerings after church. She is going to get interviewed on the 22nd this next week because she's going to be baptized this coming Saturday and I'm so excited for her! We headed home and got a little food and then, headed to a member of the Elder's quorum. They are doing something called the "Shepherding event" where they're going to the less actives in their given areas to visit and invite them to the Fish Fry and let them know we are thinking about them. They split us up with members of the Elder's quorum, so I went out with Bro. Capell. They are doing this once a month with different people covering different areas. We only caught one person at home, but we left notes and invites.

Elder Mitchell

 

9/5/17

8-30-16
This morning during personal studies, I finished reading all of the
New Testament. I have been able to learn so much from it. Some of the
parables are hard to follow and a lot of Revelations, so I looked up
some of the meanings in the institute manual! I'm going to read the
Pearl of Great Price now. When we went out today, we stopped by a lot
of les active's and didn't catch them home. We knocked a little bit
around the members, but no one was really interested... We had an
appointment this evening with a lady we have on date for baptism. We
taught her the Plan of Salvation and we had a young couple there from
church as well (The Blacks). The lesson went well and she plans to
come to church Sunday! We were supposed to have another appointment
tonight, but they cancelled.

8-31-16
We started our day off right by having Mormon.org time to get on and
watch some videos of crazy Mormons. After that, we went an visited
Bro. Newhouse. He is a less active we are working with to get him to
church and to quite smoking. We talked to him mostly about the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. We discussed with him a lot about the repentance
process and how that involves forgiving ourselves. He seems to be
struggling with that and feels like Christ won't forgive since he
knows it's wrong and keeps doing it. It was a good visit all around!
We were knocking on some less active's and we came across a single
lady who has 6 kids ranging from 8-19 years old. She wasn't home when
we knocked, so just as we were about to leave, she pulled the driveway
and ran inside. I was very confused at this point. Then, she came back
out and told us she had to get some shoes on and now has to pick up
some kids. She told us to come back in 20 min. Well, we tried by a few
people around there and waited until she got back. She came back, and
we went back over there and had a nice conversation with her. She's a
really nice lady who has been through a lot. She hasn't come to church
because she said it's too much work to get all the kids ready in the
morning and she has narcolepsy. We scheduled a time to come by next
week and share a message with her! We had dinner and then went to
another appointment with a couple named Tamera and Jonathan. We shared
the Restoration with them and it went really well. They seem really
interested and set a return appointment for Sunday.

9-1-16
It was a good day today! We started our day off by getting lunch with
the Spanish Elders. E. Scarff didn't feel very good after that, so we
stayed in for a little bit until he was feeling better. Then, we
stopped by a former and she said that she would like to meet with us
again! We had a good conversation with her and set up a time to see
her tomorrow. For dinner, we went to a less active family's home. They
made some spicy chicken and French fries that were good. We talked to
them about why they haven't come to church. They had a really bad
motorcycle wreck and the wife's had bleeding in her brain and crushed
her leg and arm. The husband got his ankle broken too, because they
ran into a boat and trailer. They shared a neat experience they had in
the temple when they went and we talked about how we want to help them
get back. It seemed like that's something they really want to do.
Their youngest son who is 19 has had it pretty rough and give them a
hard time it... He's into drugs and dropped out of highschool when he
was younger. His teeth are all rotting which is sad at such a young
age. We left their house and went to our ward coordination meeting
with the ward missionary leader. We addressed some of the people we
are working with and then he kicked us out soon. The USC Gamecocks
play their first game tonight and everyone here are diehard USC fans.
It is always a hard time for missionaries here where there's USC games
on. We went over to Bro. Avery's house to see how he was doing and
they were watching the game and grilling out. They gave us some
burgers and we got to get a sneak peak of the game. I miss football
season so much!

9-2-16
ZTM was today, but I didn't go. One of the ZLs, E. Overson got sick
and couldn't go. So we had a mini exchange and I went with him to an
Urgent Care. We got to their apartment and took naps until ZTM was
over. Haha, so it has been storming and pouring consistently the whole
day. We got back to the apartment and called a few people we have
appointments with and they all cancelled today. We ended up stopping
by this older less active lady and her 40 year old son. We talked
about the BoM and its importance to our testimonies. On our way home,
we decided to stop in Wendy's and get a 50¢ frosty which was bomb.

9-3-16
We got a call this morning after studies from President. He has asked
the both of us to train a new guy in a 3-pack. This will be my fourth
son. We are picking him up on Wednesday. After that, we went up to
the hospital to give an elderly lady a blessing. We came back for
lunch and then went to stop by a less active. I felt prompted to go
and visit a guy named Terrell we have stopped by before, so we went
over there. He was home and we ended up having a really awesome lesson
with him. He opened up about how he has had a rough life in the past
and has grown up to realize that he needs God in his life. He said
that he knows that we showed up in his life at that time for a reason.
We basically, taught him the Restoration lesson while just conversing
with him and he helped teach himself! He plans to come to church
tomorrow, so we will see. We had an appointment with Wayne who is on
date, but he called last minute to cancel. We had a member that was on
his way and all dressed up to. We met the member at Wendy's and had a
nice little visit with him. He just received the Melchizedek
Priesthood a few weeks ago and joined the church two years ago. He
shared his conversion story and talked about his family. He also said
that he grew up next to the farm of Truett Cathy who was the founder
of Chick Fil-A!

9-4-16
Church was awesome because we had two investigators at church today!
Chanta and her daughter and Wayne came. Wayne actually went up and
bore his testimony of God. He says that he wishes he could climb to
the top of a mountain and yell how much he loves God. Haha, he
believed that was his mountain. He's a funny old guy. When he sat back
down, about five minutes went by and he passed me a note. The note
said, "Am I aloud to add more to my testimony?" We had already
broke into a sweat about him going up the first time, but he ended up
going up there a second time. oh well! Luckily, he didn't say
anything that was too out there. They seemed to enjoy church. We had
an appointment just before dinner, but they weren't home... Brian
Avery (the recent convert) invited us over and we had ribs, pasta and
deviled eggs! He is such an awesome guy and he likes the Oregon Ducks
too. He has a huge German Shepard named Bosco and he's such a baby-
it's hilarious. He is scared of the outdoors when it's dark, so they
threatened to put him outside when he was over by the table because
his head is above the table and tries sniffing around. He ran away
into the other room because he really didn't want to go outside. Haha

Bosco!

8/29/16

8-23-16
It was just an off day today... We went and tried a few people in the
morning who weren't home. Then, we headed up to the hospital to give a
lady a blessing. We stopped by the church to meet some Spanish elders
there. We planned on doing an exchange for one of their appointments
since one of them was sick. They got there and then their appointment
fell through. While we were at the church, the zone leaders showed up
for a meeting. I was talking to Elder Overson and he's from St.
Joseph, AZ. We talked about where I was from and he asked if I knew
the Avilas?! Usually you don't know random people that they ask about
since it's just a shot in the dark, but that was crazy! I talked about
how I grew up with them and that they just went to visit my parents.
He said that he would go on vacations with them all the time.
We left and then, tried to visit a few less active's around by the
airport that I flew in at. That airport is in our area! We went to see
a lady who had just had a knee replacement to see if she needed any
help. She has 3 little chihuahuas and two cats, and there was poop all
over the floor... Our shoes were sticking to the floor because there
was pee all over too. We made sure she was okay and then dipped out of
there. We had an appointment with the Knox family and that went well!

8-24-16
Interviews with the President in this zone were today, so I had the
privilege of meeting with him again! Before that, we biked around for
a bit and it was hot... I was glad that I'm still in shape for it
though. Haha
We taught a recent convert (Brian) some of the lessons. We taught him
and his nonmember wife about the priesthood and the blessings from it.
He is giving a talk this Sunday, so that will be awesome! He was
baptized about 3 months ago and is really solid. Then, we all went to
Book of Mormon class.

8-25-16
It has been a really slow week... We haven't been able to catch anyone
at home lately. We stopped by mostly, less active's today to see if we
can set something up to meet with them. They didn't want to talk to
us... We set up an appointment for tomorrow with a former
investigator. For dinner, a less active (Sis. Watson) met us at
Zaxby's and she got us some food. We met with her for a little while
and got to know her. Then, we went to the church and met to zone
leaders there to do a baptismal interview.

8-26-16
It's Friday finally! We had our weekly planning this morning and tried
to contact a bunch of people. After that, we had an appointment with a
less active named Bro. Newhouse. We are working with him to get him
back to church and quit smoking. He's a funny guy! We had another
appointment, but they called an cancelled. We went to go visit a less
active lady and do service for her with the Spanish elders. We raked
bagged her yard because the grass was cut. She made a big bowl of just
butterbeans so we ate a lot of butterbeans which was nice of her. Haha
We had another appointment this evening with a less active guy and his
girlfriend. His girlfriend is really interested and the lesson went
really well! The guy is around 35 or so and he hasn't been to church
since he was sixteen. It really seems like he is gaining a desire to
come back though.

8-27-16
We got up really early this morning with the Spanish elders and met
the APs, and ZLs at the church to play some basketball. We went back
and had our studies, then went to Waffle House to meet a guy named
Bernie who is a former investigator. He didn't make it there in time
until we had to go to the church to the ZLs baptism. After that, we
met a recent convert named Brian and his family at a taco truck for
lunch. That was an interesting experience because the workers at the
taco truck didn't speak English. We had Spanish elders with us, so
they translated for us. Haha knew they were good for something! We
attended three baptisms today at the church! The APs, the ZLs and the
Spanish branch had them. The Spanish one was fun because it was like a
whole fiesta afterwards! They made a bunch of authentic Mexican food
like tamales and we chowed down. We finally, made it back to our
apartment and about to crash.

8-28-16
Church went well today and the rest of the day! Brian a recent convert
gave a talk today and it went really well. His nonmember wife we've
been working with and his daughter came. After church, we came back to
the apartment and got some grub. We finally got back in contact with
the three people we have on date. One of them has been really sick and
the others, have been busy with work. We tried by a few other people
and tried to contact some former investigators. We got to the
apartment and finished planning. The Spanish elders came over and we
had a nerf gun war and wrestled around. Haha, Elder Casey (the one
with the mom that went to KU) used to wrestle in school so I had to
whoop up on him!
-Elder Mitchell

8/8/16

8-1-16
It was a needed PDay today... We were able to get some groceries and
actually have food at the apartment now. Haha. Then, we met up with
the Zone Leaders and we are at Olive Garden. A bunch of Elders usually
meet up at the gym to play basketball/dodgeball so we went there and
had a lot of fun! When we got back, we cleaned a ton and the apartment
feels a little more like home now.

8-2-16
Today was our first day going out proselyting with the car which was
pretty exciting. Haha, I remembered how to drive too! It was a pretty
good day. We tried to visit some less active's, but could catch any
home. We knocked around some and got 2 return appointments for
tomorrow! There was a Spanish Elder in this area before so the few
people that they had been teaching speak Spanish... Our teaching pool
is all tried up at the moment, so it's exciting when we get return
appointments! I don't think they were doing very well which is why
they whitewashed the area. We stopped by a family who are active to
get to know them and they're really awesome people! They're the Smiths
and they have three kids Kylee (17), Easton (15) and Landon (11). They
moved here about a year ago from Utah. Kylee had a friend over so they
invited us to stay for dinner! Bro. Smith grilled some awesome pork
chops! We had a good visit with them and I got along really well with
the dad! He served his mission in the Raleigh, NC mission. After
dinner, we went to the apartment where Bro. Adams picked us up to go
visit a recent convert and his wife who is an investigator. His wife
was the only one home, so we visited with her and shared a short
message with them. They're some interesting people!

8-3-16
There were some really neat things that happened today besides getting
stood up with those two return appointments. That wasn't very cool...
But we got a new investigator and stopped by a less active's house and
it was definitely inspired! The less active lady hasn't had
missionaries over there in years, so she was surprised and happy. She
was talking about how she could've really used us yesterday to help
move a swingset in her backyard. Her and her two daughters couldn't
budge it. We went in the back and it was a pretty solid swingset. I
got underneat the heavy end and put my shoulders underneath and picked
it up while Elder Elmer picked up the other side and we were able to
move it for her. Haha she was very grateful and talked our ears off.
She was talking about how people from the church judge her for having
a lot of cats (14) but they're all rescued animals that she hasn't
refused to turn down from people. I was surprised with how clean her
house was! She was really grateful that we didn't judge her for it and
she invited us back over for dinner on Sunday. She works as someone
who speaks for children who are in foster homes in court and does it
for free! She was such a nice lady and always seems to serve others.
She would be such a great asset in the church, so we have decided that
we are going to reactivate her! As for the investigator we found, a
rough looking guy stepped out of this apartment we knocked on and was
talking about how he was a Christian. We shared the Restoration with
him and he listened very intently actually! He was blown away about
the part about the apostasy. He said, "could you imagine being one of
those apostles at that time after Christ died and everyone is
rejecting you? That's chilling man." Haha, so he was actually
understanding our message! He told us to come back tomorrow at around
4:00 and we committed him to read the pamphlet.

8-4-16
We stopped by a house that we knocked on last week and realized that
missionaries had met with them in the past. The guy's name is Simba
and he's a Rastafarian guy who thinks that he is like Moses. He
started talking about some deep doc stuff that made no sense. He tried
to teach us more than he let us teach him... After we left, we biked
back over to our car and a guy named Jason approached us. He said;
"y'all are Mormons right?" We talked to him for a bit and come to find
out, he used to live in Georgia and went to church with his friend
named George who's a member. He was talking about how he used to have
a BoM, but lost it in the move. We gave him one and he was really
thankful for it! We gave him our number so he can call us whenever he
needs a ride to church. He promised to call us sometime! We also, got
his address and he said we could stop by anytime. We then, headed to
our 4:00 appointment with Steffon. When we got there, his fiancé
answered the door and said that Steffon was about to get in the shower
and that they were Christian. She was about to shut the door on us
while we were explaining to her that we are Christians as well,
Steffon poked his head around the corner and saw us. He said, "Hey
guys! How's it going?!"
He came over and started talking to us like we are good friends and
his fiancé was really confused! He said that he read the pamphlet and
thought it was "a lot to take in," but didn't say anything about how
he doesn't think it's true. After his fiancé noticed what was going
on, she asked a question about what Christ is to us. I talked to them
about that and Steffon really opened up to us. He talked about how he
used to be addict to heroin and his hit rock bottom. When he went to
jail, he read Job in the Bible and related with him. He came to the
conclusion that he is going to do what the Lord wants from him and
since then, he's met a girl, got an apartment, quit drugs and has a
daughter. He went inside and grabbed a book that was about a Christian
family growing up and some of the struggles the author went through as
well. The author was his mom and she had it published! They were
showing us a bunch of old family pictures in the book pointing out who
is who. At that point, I felt prompted to ask if they are very big
into genealogy. They were stunned that I had asked that because they
were JUST talking about that before we showed up! They have been
wanting to do more family history, but don't want to spend the money
for it. We talked about our free website for a family search our
church offers and they were so excited. We stepped inside and I got on
my iPad and showed them my family tree. They said they're part Irish
and Scottish, so I went back to show where I was part Scottish and
showed them. I learned something new as well... I am related to King
Henry!
After that, he asked all kinds of questions about Joseph Smith. He
asked about the Liahonna, Seer stone and the BoM. We answers his
questions and taught him the Restoration. It was neat because it
seemed like he looked up things about our church which shows interest!
We gave him a BoM to read and told him we would call him Saturday
about the family history account. He was so happy to receive a BoM and
was looking forward to reading it!
This evening, we had Ward Coordination and that went really well! We
talked about some less active's we should visit and the members that
would be willing to go teaching with us!

8-5-16
ZTM was today and it went really well! I got to see my really good
friend Elder Wille from the MTC and I also, saw Elder Rose! They're
both District Leaders as well in the zone. That was awesome to see
them both. There was a training about a goal that we are setting as a
zone to get a baptism from each district this transfer! The other was
about the importance of effective planning. After our zone meeting, we
had a leadership meeting and discussed the needs of each of our
districts and what to discuss with them. After that, we went to a soul
food Buffett called "Mutt's BBQ" with the elders in my district. We
finally got back and tried by a few people that were on the way. Then,
we got ready and went up to the church to play some basketball with a
bunch of nonmembers. There was about 20 people there and about half of
them were nonmembers. It was a lot of fun!

8-6-16
We had a busy day today. We stopped by a few less active's who weren't
home, but met with an active family. We went their because we noticed
that there was a less active that lived there. Come to find out, it
was their son and he was there as well! We shared a spiritual thought
with them and committed them all to read scriptures together as a
family each night. After that, we parked out car at a Walgreen's and
took our bikes off the rack and rode through some neighborhoods. We
caught a less active guy at home and talked to him for a little bit.
He was a nice guy who likes to go deep sea fishing, so I was talking
about how that's something I really want to do. He showed us a bunch
of pictures of the fish he caught on his trip last weekend. After we
bikes around knocking on a few doors, we went back to the car and got
some dinner. Then, we made our way over to Steffon's house to try and
set up an appointment with him to go and search his family history. We
got there and he was at work, but his fiancé was there. She just had a
death in the family today, so we said a prayer with her at the door.
She was really thankful for that and then we went over to a member's
house. They're the Fish's and they're a young active family. We had a
good visit with them and they gave us some awesome chocolate covered
almonds, so that was pretty righteous.

8-7-16
Church today was a better experience! The people were more welcoming
to us and some introduced themselves. Before church, we had ward
council and it went really well. They are all excited about missionary
work, so hopefully we can keep them that way. After church, we went to
the Boisher's home for dinner. We had a really good visit with them!
Sis. Boisher made some awesome lasagna and biscuits. Their daughters
were there who are members, but haven't been in years. One of them has
two sons and the oldest is 8. While we were visiting, they told us a
story about a family here (the Hughes) who are members, but murdered a
guy at their house! It was a very gory way too... They told us the
whole story behind it. Then, after a few seconds to let that soak in,
we realized that we had tried by that house just last week!! That was
where we saw the Mexican fiesta going on and we shook the guy's nub!
😳 the Hughes don't live there anymore because they live in.. Jail,
but it was still creepy that we were standing exactly right where that
guy was murdered!

-Elder Mitchell

8/8/16

8-1-16

It was a needed PDay today... We were able to get some groceries and actually have food at the apartment now. Haha. Then, we met up with the Zone Leaders and we are at Olive Garden. A bunch of Elders usually meet up at the gym to play basketball/dodgeball so we went there and had a lot of fun! When we got back, we cleaned a ton and the apartment feels a little more like home now. 

8-2-16

Today was our first day going out proselyting with the car which was pretty exciting. Haha, I remembered how to drive too! It was a pretty good day. We tried to visit some less active's, but could catch any home. We knocked around some and got 2 return appointments for tomorrow! There was a Spanish Elder in this area before so the few people that they had been teaching speak Spanish... Our teaching pool is all tried up at the moment, so it's exciting when we get return appointments! I don't think they were doing very well which is why they whitewashed the area. We stopped by a family who are active to get to know them and they're really awesome people! They're the Smiths and they have three kids Kylee (17), Easton (15) and Landon (11). They moved here about a year ago from Utah. Kylee had a friend over so they invited us to stay for dinner! Bro. Smith grilled some awesome pork chops! We had a good visit with them and I got along really well with the dad! He served his mission in the Raleigh, NC mission. After dinner, we went to the apartment where Bro. Adams picked us up to go visit a recent convert and his wife who is an investigator. His wife was the only one home, so we visited with her and shared a short message with them. They're some interesting people!

8-3-16

There were some really neat things that happened today besides getting stood up with those two return appointments. That wasn't very cool... But we got a new investigator and stopped by a less active's house and it was definitely inspired! The less active lady hasn't had missionaries over there in years, so she was surprised and happy. She was talking about how she could've really used us yesterday to help move a swingset in her backyard. Her and her two daughters couldn't budge it. We went in the back and it was a pretty solid swingset. I got underneat the heavy end and put my shoulders underneath and picked it up while Elder Elmer picked up the other side and we were able to move it for her. Haha she was very grateful and talked our ears off. She was talking about how people from the church judge her for having a lot of cats (14) but they're all rescued animals that she hasn't refused to turn down from people. I was surprised with how clean her house was! She was really grateful that we didn't judge her for it and she invited us back over for dinner on Sunday. She works as someone who speaks for children who are in foster homes in court and does it for free! She was such a nice lady and always seems to serve others. She would be such a great asset in the church, so we have decided that we are going to reactivate her! As for the investigator we found, a rough looking guy stepped out of this apartment we knocked on and was talking about how he was a Christian. We shared the Restoration with him and he listened very intently actually! He was blown away about the part about the apostasy. He said, "could you imagine being one of those apostles at that time after Christ died and everyone is rejecting you? That's chilling man." Haha, so he was actually understanding our message! He told us to come back tomorrow at around 4:00 and we committed him to read the pamphlet. 

8-4-16

We stopped by a house that we knocked on last week and realized that missionaries had met with them in the past. The guy's name is Simba and he's a Rastafarian guy who thinks that he is like Moses. He started talking about some deep doc stuff that made no sense. He tried to teach us more than he let us teach him... After we left, we biked back over to our car and a guy named Jason approached us. He said; "y'all are Mormons right?" We talked to him for a bit and come to find out, he used to live in Georgia and went to church with his friend named George who's a member. He was talking about how he used to have a BoM, but lost it in the move. We gave him one and he was really thankful for it! We gave him our number so he can call us whenever he needs a ride to church. He promised to call us sometime! We also, got his address and he said we could stop by anytime. We then, headed to our 4:00 appointment with Steffon. When we got there, his fiancé answered the door and said that Steffon was about to get in the shower and that they were Christian. She was about to shut the door on us while we were explaining to her that we are Christians as well, Steffon poked his head around the corner and saw us. He said, "Hey guys! How's it going?!" 

He came over and started talking to us like we are good friends and his fiancé was really confused! He said that he read the pamphlet and thought it was "a lot to take in," but didn't say anything about how he doesn't think it's true. After his fiancé noticed what was going on, she asked a question about what Christ is to us. I talked to them about that and Steffon really opened up to us. He talked about how he used to be addict to heroin and his hit rock bottom. When he went to jail, he read Job in the Bible and related with him. He came to the conclusion that he is going to do what the Lord wants from him and since then, he's met a girl, got an apartment, quit drugs and has a daughter. He went inside and grabbed a book that was about a Christian family growing up and some of the struggles the author went through as well. The author was his mom and she had it published! They were showing us a bunch of old family pictures in the book pointing out who is who. At that point, I felt prompted to ask if they are very big into genealogy. They were stunned that I had asked that because they were JUST talking about that before we showed up! They have been wanting to do more family history, but don't want to spend the money for it. We talked about our free website for a family search our church offers and they were so excited. We stepped inside and I got on my iPad and showed them my family tree. They said they're part Irish and Scottish, so I went back to show where I was part Scottish and showed them. I learned something new as well... I am related to King Henry!

After that, he asked all kinds of questions about Joseph Smith. He asked about the Liahonna, Seer stone and the BoM. We answers his questions and taught him the Restoration. It was neat because it seemed like he looked up things about our church which shows interest! We gave him a BoM to read and told him we would call him Saturday about the family history account. He was so happy to receive a BoM and was looking forward to reading it! 

This evening, we had Ward Coordination and that went really well! We talked about some less active's we should visit and the members that would be willing to go teaching with us!

8-5-16

ZTM was today and it went really well! I got to see my really good friend Elder Wille from the MTC and I also, saw Elder Rose! They're both District Leaders as well in the zone. That was awesome to see them both. There was a training about a goal that we are setting as a zone to get a baptism from each district this transfer! The other was about the importance of effective planning. After our zone meeting, we had a leadership meeting and discussed the needs of each of our districts and what to discuss with them. After that, we went to a soul food Buffett called "Mutt's BBQ" with the elders in my district. We finally got back and tried by a few people that were on the way. Then, we got ready and went up to the church to play some basketball with a bunch of nonmembers. There was about 20 people there and about half of them were nonmembers. It was a lot of fun! 

8-6-16

We had a busy day today. We stopped by a few less active's who weren't home, but met with an active family. We went their because we noticed that there was a less active that lived there. Come to find out, it was their son and he was there as well! We shared a spiritual thought with them and committed them all to read scriptures together as a family each night. After that, we parked out car at a Walgreen's and took our bikes off the rack and rode through some neighborhoods. We caught a less active guy at home and talked to him for a little bit. He was a nice guy who likes to go deep sea fishing, so I was talking about how that's something I really want to do. He showed us a bunch of pictures of the fish he caught on his trip last weekend. After we bikes around knocking on a few doors, we went back to the car and got some dinner. Then, we made our way over to Steffon's house to try and set up an appointment with him to go and search his family history. We got there and he was at work, but his fiancé was there. She just had a death in the family today, so we said a prayer with her at the door. She was really thankful for that and then we went over to a member's house. They're the Fish's and they're a young active family. We had a good visit with them and they gave us some awesome chocolate covered almonds, so that was pretty righteous. 

8-7-16

Church today was a better experience! The people were more welcoming to us and some introduced themselves. Before church, we had ward council and it went really well. They are all excited about missionary work, so hopefully we can keep them that way. After church, we went to the Boisher's home for dinner. We had a really good visit with them! Sis. Boisher made some awesome lasagna and biscuits. Their daughters were there who are members, but haven't been in years. One of them has two sons and the oldest is 8. While we were visiting, they told us a story about a family here (the Hughes) who are members, but murdered a guy at their house! It was a very gory way too... They told us the whole story behind it. Then, after a few seconds to let that soak in, we realized that we had tried by that house just last week!! That was where we saw the Mexican fiesta going on and we shook the guy's nub! the Hughes don't live there anymore because they live in.. Jail, but it was still creepy that we were standing exactly right where that guy was murdered! 

-Elder Mitchell

8/1/16

7-26-16

Today I made my rounds to say goodbye to some people in Hartsville. I saw the Laffidys, Bro. Tadlock, Ronnie, Sis. Mason, the Thompsons, Patti & Dave, the Hesleys, Sis. Catoe and the Harveys. We ate lunch with Bro. Tadlock at Shug's Steakhouse. We ate dinner over at the Thompsons with her boyfriend Mike. He cooked some really good ribs!

Then, Sis. Catoe and her son Cason picked us up from our apartment to go get ice cream. There was a little going away party at an ice cream place! The Harveys were there, Maci Catoe and the Hesleys (new move ins). So we were stuffed today!

Tammy and Jake picked us back up from the apartment when we got done and took us to Sonic and I just got a drink. She wanted to say goodbye, so we spent some time with them!

 

7-27-16

Today is the day... Transfers! I'm pretty nervous. The Hesleys took us to Irmo for our transfers. I was able to see Elder Wille and Jones from the MTC! I also, saw Elder Rose. He's going to be training a new guy in a 3-pack. We got paired up and went into our training meeting.

I am with Elder Elmer now.. Yes, his personality matches his name. He is VERY quiet and he told me he "wasn't an outdoors guy." All he did was play video games. It's very hard to relate with this one, but I will make it work! I am in Simpsonville, SC in the upstate now (1st Ward). It is a fairly small area, but we have a car! If we can find it... We haven't been able to find it since we got back from Transfers. When we got to our apartment, we threw all our luggage in the apartment and got dressed to go help someone move in. We helped them for the remainder of the day. They are the Adams and they're a fairly young family from Utah. He has been down here for awhile and his family finally came out to join him. When we got all done with that, a member (Bro. Daugherty) took us back to our apartment. His wife went to K-State for college for a little while, so when I told her I was from Lawrence.. She acted all discussed. Haha I finally met someone who is familiar with KS! When we got to the apartment, we started unpacking everything, but haven't finished. I called my District which is a small district. It consists of two other companion ships -who are Elders. They're a young district! Two of them have been out for 6 months, and the other who is training has been out for 4 months.

 

7-28-16

We finally found the car after walking to the other side of our apartment complex. These apartments are pretty nice, but the Elders before didn't take too much care of it. We looked at the miles to see how much the previous Elders left us and they went over their miles, so we didn't have any left. So we biked today which was a struggle for Elder Elmer. Hopefully, he will get faster with time and work. We stopped by a lady that is on date and got to meet her. She's nice, but I've been told by a couple people that her and her recent convert husband ask for money all the time. She did give us a referral though!

She said the couple below her in the apartment just had a baby and told us their names. We had a good visit with them and they invited us back!

 

7-29-16

After our training and planning, we went out to a small suburb called "Fountain Inn" and tried to catch some less active's at home. We rode out bikes out there which was quite the distance. Especially because I had to stop every hundred yard for E. Elmer to catch up. I've got some patience that I need to work on.. When we made it to the first house, we tried to catch this less active lady at home. We noticed that she was on the records, but didn't know she died a couple months ago (the neighbor told us) so that was a bummer. We went tracting for a little while in that area, but not too many people interested. One lady was talking to us while she was slowing backing up and closing the door on us. Haha thx. Then, we found a black lady with a young son at their house. We shared a little bit of the Restoration with her and gave a pamphlet. Eventually, it was time to head back towards the apartment.

We went to go play basketball with some members in the ward, the missionaries in the district and nonmember friends were there. It was a lot of fun and I got to know a few more members of the ward!

 

7-30-16

We started our day off with biking in the rain! we went to go visit a less active lady who wasn't too far away from the apartment. We quickly, found out why she wasn't active. She's in an assisted living place and has one foot in the grave and the other is amputated. Haha!

Kidding. I don't know if she has any missing limbs because she wasn't even there. Her daughter took her somewhere. But we were totally ready to visit some old folks and if need be, throw down on them in a mad game of checkers. It eventually, stopped raining and we went to go visit a couple other people on the record. We knocked around the ones that didn't answer and didn't have too much success. We set up an appointment to visit a less active couple (the Nelms) at 4:00. They live in Fountain Inn, so our ward mission leader gave us a ride there so we didn't have to bike all the way out there again. The lesson went really well! I taught them the Restoration to kind of rekindle that testimony of Joseph Smith and the BoM. Yes, I said I. I gave Elder Elmer a chance to speak and he choked up and didn't know what to say.

Then, when we were talking about the BoM, I asked the Nelms how they came to know it was true and they answered well. I asked Elder Elmer to get him involved more and he said, "prayed about it." Dude... So he's going to have to come out of his shell a lot. I think he can do it! After the lesson, we were waiting on our ride so we knocked around a little bit. The second house we knocked on, a lady answered and said, "hold on, let me go get him." We were kind of confused... But come to find out, the Elders have met with them in the past! Her husband/boyfriend goes by the name of "Simba." She told us to call her tomorrow and set up an appointment! I looked at the teaching record of him after and supposedly, he's this stoner Rastafarian dude with dreads who likes to talk about deep doc. I thought it was pretty neat and inspired that the second house we knocked on out there, was someone who's met with the missionaries. So we will set up an appointment to see how it goes! After dinner, we went to a less active's house, but there weren't home. So we knocked around the area until we were about to leave. I decided to knock on just one more house before we leave the neighborhood. We knocked on this nice home and a black guy came out. He was asking about how he wants to record a video with us. At first, I thought he was going to bible bash so I was getting all prepared. He said he wasn't going to film our faces, just up in the sky pointing at a tree, because "it's the closest thing around pointing to heaven." We never ended up recording because he went off on sermons about the bible and life. He wants to start an anonymous online ministry thing because God gave him a vision 14 days ago telling him that he needs to do this. We could just smell the alcohol and cigarettes from his breathe while he was ranting on. It was quite the visit to say the least, but at least he was kind and didn't make us leave!

 

7-31-17

Church went okay today. It definantly, didn't have the family ward feeling that Hartsville did. There were only a few people who introduced themselves and shook our hands. The rest, we had to approach and start talking to. The gospel principles class was tiny!

It was just us, the ward mission leader and three other people. Our ward mission leader (Bro. Simpson) is awesome though! He helps us out a lot and has taken us to a couple appointments this week so that we didn't have to bike so far. We met with the old fart from the assisted living home today and it went really well! She had a "friend" who was a little more than that in there with us and we taught him as well. We committed him to read the BoM and the lady told him that he should. He said to her; "what if I don't? Will you spank me?" and poor Elder Elmer... She asked him about 10 times where he's from. after that, we went to go and locate a less active. We rode up on a Mexican fiesta with like 8 cars in the parking lot. It was odd because we didn't ever imagine that "Hughes" would be Spanish people. Well, they didn't live there anymore... A Spanish guy answered the door and spoke to about the people who live there and that they were busy with a family thing.

I reached out my hand to shake his and he puts this nub out in front of me... It took my by surprise, but there was no turning back now. I just grabbed his nub arm and shook it. There was a couple awkward moments of silence because I was lost for words at that point. The first words that I uttered out was, "stay safe out there!"

definantly didn't expect that one. We knocked around them to see if anyone knew the owners before and we met this lady who invited us to come back! We set out to meet another less active which turned out well! He answered the door strapped up with his pistol, but then saw it was just us. He invited us in and fed us some chili dogs. He was a rough lookin guy who is tatted from head to toe. We talked to him and his funny kid for awhile about his tatts, the confederate flag, the civil war, black people, and donated his beer cans to raise money for children who have been burned in fires... so that was pretty rad.

Haha. He's a firefighter and they do a fundraiser for burnt kids called AC/BC (Aluminum Cans for Burnt Children). He talked about how he WAS a member before him and his previous wife separated.

Technically... You still are, but now he's been church hopping to all kinds of other ones with his current wife and kids. He talked our ears off, so I think it was good that we had a visit with him. He was a really nice guy, just rough around the edges!

 

-Elder Mitchell