Greetings from the South (a.k.a Downend Bristol)
Well this week has been amazing, both weatherwise and otherwise. It has
been SO hot down here!! like 27 degrees or something, as you can imagine I have
been dying in the heat!! But at least I am not burnt, which is more then what I
can say for Elder Martin, who has a nice tanline along both upper arms
haha!
Well the work down here has not been too bad, lots of walking and knocking
on doors. I had my first door slammed in my face this week. Obviously I have had
people slam their doors in our faces, but not as brutally as this one woman, who
just said "whatever you are selling I am not interested!" and slammed the door
really hard. It is quite sad to see people slam their doors or turn their heads
at the possibility of returning to our loving Heavenly Father, but they all have
their agency, and the last person who tried to take that away from them got cast
out of heaven, so that thought hasn't even crossed my mind.
As for the baptismal dates, we are down to one. See if you can guess which
one we still have... yep, Dhruba is still going strong, whereas Paul seems to
have just disappeared off the face of the earth. We have tried so many times to
get in contact with him, but he never answers the phone or anything, so we are
down to one... But Dhruba makes up for all the disappointments we have had with
other investigators and out knocking etc. He really is golden! Early this week,
we taught him the plan of salvation, which was an amazing lesson. At the end of
it, he turned to us and said "I know this is true because of the spirit world."
His concern was for his people back in Nepal, those who would likely never get
the chance to hear the gospel. When he found out, those who did not get a chance
to hear of the gospel in this life would hear about it and get a chance to
except it in the next, he knew it was true. He is so amazing!!
We have a few other investigators as well which we will be seeing and
teaching in the coming week so hopefully things with that will go well. We also
have quite a few potential investigators who we will be seeing too so fingers
crossed.
The ward here in Downend is really good, pretty big as well. It is amazing
how small a world it is though!! Some of you may remember Sister Kempe who
served in Livingston a few years ago... Well guess who is in Downend? Candy
Kempe!! And there are quite a few members here who are from Scotland or who have
family in Scotland or who even served missions in Scotland! But it is a really
friendly ward, and hopefully we can work with them to build the church here in
Downend.
A little message to Cameron Mackay in response to his email: Cameron, being
on a mission is amazing! There is nothing I enjoy more then teaching the gospel
and sharing with people my experiences. Yes it is hard work, and for me stopping
people on the streets is incredibly hard as it is a massive run and jump out of
my comfort zone, and you will be rejected so many times, but for every one
person that stops to listen to you, it makes the previous thousand rejections so
worth it! Cameron, do everything you can to prepare for your mission, study
preach my gospel, read the book of mormon, do everything you can to make your
testimony the strongest you can before you come out, it will be worth every bit
of sacrifice. I know I have been out only a month, but I do not regret coming
out here for even a second. I'm not saying it is going to be the best two years
of my life, as I am sure God has some amazing things planned for me in the
future, but these two years will be the best two years FOR the rest of your
life. they will set you up perfectly for the future leader and even husband and
father you need to be.
Wow, that was a longer message then I planned... haha!
Just another thing I have got from this week, I started to read the book
'Our search for happiness.' Well, to be perfectly honest I am nearly finished it
already, but it is amazing, and I encourage everyone to read it if they can. It
is a great book and I have learned so much from it, even though I thought I
already knew it all. I have also been reading bits from 'Our Heratige' (My
spelling and memory fails me on how to spell it properly) and reading more about
the prophet Joseph's life, and the lives and sacrafices of the early saints. It
really puts into perspective things that we are going through.
Well I cannot believe I have been out for a month already, it has really
flown by! In the life of a missionary I am getting old already! haha! But just
last night I was thinking about something you once told me Dad, how a mission is
kind of like a mini Plan of Salvation. That is so true!! I cannot remember what
living at home is like!! And I cannot begin to imagine how great our joy will be
when we are reunited with each other, just like I cannot begin to imagine our
joy when we return as family and friends to the Celestrial Kingdom. Sounds
amazing though. As much as I cannot wait, I know that there is things the Lord
needs me to do here before I can return home to you all, and before I can return
to live with him again, but I am determined to do everything I can.
Oh yeah, about the package you sent me... I wont get it until the next
District Meeting from the sounds of it, which is Wednesday, so I should
hopefully get it then :)
Hope you are all doing well.
lots of love
Elder Mitchell
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