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
