2nd July
Hey everybody.
Hope you are all doing well! I hope the weather up there is better then it
is down here, we may have to build an Ark soon if the rain carries on at this
rate...
Thank you all for your emails and everything, it is great to hear how you
are all getting on. I hear you have to go work in Newcastle Dad, how long is
that going to be for? I hope it isn't for too long. Linda, sounds like its
business as usual at work then ay? They always have been useless at sorting
passwords and everything out haha! I am glad things so far are going well with
setting up your business and I hope all goes well with getting that grant. Can't
believe how much Caitlan is growing up! Becky sent me photos from when you went
to burnt island, looks like you all had fun. A photo of Caitlan made me laugh,
its one where she is trying to eat a red toy of some sorts, and she is looking
almost at the camera with an innocent face as if eating her toys is normal, I
love it! haha. I love hearing what all of you are up to.
Pass my congrats onto Cameron and Jennifer for graduating seminary. Hope
everything in the ward is going okay as well.
Oh yeah, I did not get moved last week, so I am still in Downend! In our
zone we have 3 newbies though, and one newbie in our district. Its quite funny
because Elder Wu in our district came out the transfer before I came out, so we
have a young District and Zone haha.
This week, we have not really had any teaches. We haven't been able to get
in touch with Dhruba again, which is really sad, and all our other potentials we
cannot find a time when they are in and we can teach them. We taught Phillip
last week though, we left him a Book of Mormon and asked him to read Alma 32.
When we went back, he had read it, which is great! and we taught him a little
about the Book of Mormon. He was more interested in the history of it though,
and he said as we left that we weren't going to be able to convert him, but we
are going back to see him on wednesday, so we will see.
The other day we were out contacting, and we met this guy, he didn't tell
us his name, but he was really cool. He actually stopped us. As we approached
him, he stopped and said "mormons!" which could go either good or bad to be
perfectly honest, but he was a great guy. It turns out his best friend in High
School like 20 odd years ago was a member. I found it amazing that, even after
all these years, he remembers his friend was a Latter-Day Saint and obviously
remembers his example. Shows the importance of setting a good example, all the
time, because we never know who is watching us, and who will remember our
example 20 odd years down the line.
On saturday we got to attend a baptism of a girl named Tia (she had just
turned 8) but it was amazing the spirit that was there. It was so strong and it
is so great seeing someone, even as young as Tia, following Jesus' example by
being baptized. it was a great experience.
Well hopefully this week we will get a few more teaches and be able to see
more people. Later today, we are actually having a family home evening with a
part-member family called the skinners. The husband Mike is not baptized, and
they have 4 children, 2 are baptismal age, who are not baptized either. we are
hoping we can start working with them, so we shall see.
Well today for our P-day, we are all meeting up as a zone and going to
Bath! I am excited for two reasons, 1) because it sounds an amazing place and 2)
because that is where Dad started his mission when he was my age. a bit of
family history there for me, so I am excited! it's a shame about the weather
though... well, we were planning to go to Bath... I dunno if that is still the
plan as the missionaries here are a bunch of panzies but never mind...
Well, err... can't think of much else to tell you all to be honest, err...
I'm alive? always a good thing. I still haven't put on any weight, that's pretty
amazing, I'm happy with that! haha. So yeah, this week has been alright, hope
next week is better.
Haven't met President Millar yet, but we are having a Zone conference in
Pool on the 11th, so I think we will meet him then.
Feel free to write and email whenever you like, I will reply when I next
get to email.
Love you all
Elder Mitchell
9th July
Hey everybody,
Well another week has been and gone, can't believe it is already july! its
gone by so fast!
The week has been pretty good, even though we have not been able to see
most of our investigators or potentials. We did get to see Phillip though. Last
time we saw him we asked if he would read the introduction to the Book of
Mormon. When we went by on wednesday, we were surprised to find that he had
read, not only the introduction but the testimonies of Joseph Smith, the three
witnesses and the eight witnesses as well. He had a lot of questions about where
the Book of Mormon came from and about Joseph Smith, so we started by telling
him the story of Joseph Smith and the first vision and then went on to tell him
about how Moroni appeared to him and told Joseph Smith about the plate, and how
through the power of God, Joseph Smith translated them. He seemed really
interested and the spirit was so strong there. So at the end of the lesson we
asked if he would continue to read and to pray about the Book of Mormon. Well he
said he would read, but he was not sure he would pray. It was amazing though as
he started telling us why he likely wouldn't pray, but he kept talking and he
managed to resolve all his concerns and came to the conclusion that he has
nothing to lose and that he will pray. It was amazing!
Also we are going to be teaching a guy called Adam. The other week we tried
by a potential named Zoe that Elder Martin and Elder Murphy (who I replaced)
found. She wasn't in when we knocked but she came up the road while we were
there with her mother and who we thought was her brother (Adam). She did not
recognise us, which is pretty funny, but Adam was like "Hey, aren't you guys the
Mormons?" so we talked to him a little bit and we left him with a card to check
out the church's website. This week we went back to see him. He would have
invited us in but they have a white German Shepard (its a pretty cool looking
dog, I'd say I want one, but I'd rather have a husky... or a wolf) that is not
very good with strangers so we talked on the doorstep, but he had obviously
checked out the website as he started asking about Moroni and Gold Plates. So we
told him about the Book of Mormon and we gave him a copy. He was pretty stoked
to get it (sorry, when you spend 7 weeks with a companion who has been
americanized you start to become american) and was liek "Are you sure I can have
this?" So We are going to see him on wednesday and teach him a bit more.
So we have some amazing people we are teaching. We also have a lot of
potentials we are hopefully seeing this week, like Jo and Emma. We have been
working a lot with some Less-active and part member families as well. One less
active we found her name is Sarah, she has been in-active since she was 13 and
her parents went through a divorce. But she has a partner and 6 kids!! It is
amazing and we are hoping we can start working with them.
So this week has been good, dispite the rain. Yes summer seems to have
missed us too, don't feel bad haha.
Oh yeah, this week we got to meet our new President, President and Sister
Millar. (I nearly wrote Shamo instead of Millar, opps haha). We had to travel
down to Bournemouth on Wednesday night, and stayed with the missionaries there,
and then we went to the Bournemouth Chapel on the Thursday for the Zone
training. We had to cancel 2 teaches and 2 Dinner appointments to go to it, but
thats okay I guess. Anyway, President Millar is from St George Utah, and is a
heart surgeon. He also served a mission in Australia where his mission president
was... (if i remember rightly) Elder Boyd K. Packer. So it is gonna be
interesting. Sister Millar is originally from Chorley up in t' north and came
into the gospel through a friend in university in Manchester. They seem amazing
people though and I know I will grow to love them just as much, if not more then
Presidetn and Sister Shamo (can't believe I just said that!). They are still
settling in though, they were late for the Zone training by a few hours... they
put the wrong fuel in their car... I think every misson president does that when
they first get into the mission field haha.
Well I hope you are all doing well. Hope you are enjoying being 50 dad.
Don't worry though, you aren't yet as old as Methusala (however you spell it).
hehe :P
It is great to hear from all of you, even if it is just a short letter or a
quick email.
Lots of Love
Elder Mitchell
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