The latest news from the mission front....

Good morning everybody! (incase you are reading this in the afternoon/evening good afternoon/evening)

Well today has been well... not neccesserily (I can never spell that word yet I insist on always using it...) a bad week, but hasn't been extrememly great either. We have only had one real teach this week which isn't that good, but we are trying our best.

Of all of our investigators, we haven't really been able to see any of them. Alice cancelled her appointment and we haven't really been in contact with her since. Jimmy and Kathrine also cancelled the dinner appointment we had with them as something urgent came up, but we should be seeing them this week. We tried by Andy last night but he didn't answer the door, and our only other Investigator Mike, we saw him briefly the other day, but he has recently got some bad news about his health, and currently his sister is staying with him, who is against all religions so he has told us to try by again next week.

We have been trying by a few potentials that the sisters found before I got here though, that has seemed quite effective. On Wednesday, me and my district leader (we were on exchange) tried by one called Nicole, she wasn't home but her mother was, and she invited us in and asked us questions. We left her with a Book of Mormon and we have an appointment to see her tomorrow. Also on saturday we tried by another potential called Vanessa. She was happy to talk with us, and her two teenage daughters as well. We stood on the doorstep and talked with them for close to an hour. Vanessa has a Book of Mormon that she is reading throug hgradually, and her oldest daughter wants to read it too when she is done. So hoepfully we can see them all this week.

We have also been trying by some Lost Sheep that we have been given to check up on. Most have moved or are not interested, but when we were out in Totnes one day, we were knocking the street of one of them, and we met this nice lady called Elaine, who cahtted with us for a bit. We left her a Book of Mormon and she is happy for us to come back and tell her more. Only trouble is, totnes is really hard to get to, buses come once an hour and the only other option is getting a train all the way to Newton Abbot to go back on yourself to go down the line to Totnes. But we will try.

Well sorry this is kinda a quick email, I have just noticed my time is getting quite low....

Today though, as it is Elder van Der Put's last P-day the whole district is meeting up in Exeter to go bowling. It should be fun!

Oh yeah! I have found out what is happening when Elder Van Der Put goes to the temple on friday. I will be serving in Paignton still with Elder Bendall who is serving in Newton Abbot and his companion will be serving with one of the YSA there for a few days (Dann Gooding by the way) and that will be the case until Next Monday when moves are, so just a warning incase I don't get a chance to email you next monday. I highly doubt I will be getting moved, but just in case something happens that means I can't email, that is why.

Well hoep you are all doing well! can you believe on friday I will have been out 6 months already?! that's half a year!!! Its gone so fast!

Anyway, gotta go, Ciao for now!

Love Elder Mitchell

A few emails this week

First email was complaining about the local library's computers......

I know I normally have sent my email out by now but I haven't so
sorry... this is just to let you know that this library computer
sucks! so I haven't been able to do president's letter, and this
computer has been super slow so I have barely had time to read all
your emails.
I will go onto the computer at the chapel later and send you all my
email to let you know how I am doing. Just so you all know though
that... I am alive!!!! (it's not that scary people, come on :P)
Love you all
Ciao for now!
Elder Mitchell

He also managed to get a quick reply to mine....

Hi dad, sounds like you are having lots of fun with Thomas and
Caitlan, sound like they are still getting into mischief as always!
Hope you are all doing well.
Sandra Hancox says hello by the way, we saw her this week, she is
doing well, her husband Ally has been in and out of hosptial for the
last few months but he is getting better.
I will tell you more about my week in my big email.
I love you all
Elder Mitchell

Finally, having gained access to a good pc:

Hello everyone, I am now on a computer that likes me so I can email properly :D

Well I hope you are all doing well.

This week has been good. We have had 3 teaches this last week, so hopefully things will just keep getting better :)

We picked up a new investigator this week, she was a referral from mormon.org, her name is Alice. She is a young student who signed herself up to meet with missionaries which is cool. We met her with a member called Phil (he used to be a biker before he was a member, he always has interesting stories) but it was a great teach. He taught her about the restoration and Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. it was a great teach and the spirit was there. She was really happy when we gave her a Book of Mormon, she even said a prayer at the end of the lesson which was great! We did set an appointment to see her again tomorrow but she had to cancel as she has a biology field trip. She is very busy with school so rarely has free time to meet with us. She also works at the weekends which sucks, but hopefully we can see her soon though. Her parents are non-practicing Catholics though, so I just hope that they aren't stopping her from meeting with us. Ideally we would like to meet them and maybe teach them, but we will see.

We also saw Mike on tuesday as well. He always asks us a lot of questions, sometimes quite difficult ones too, like the other week he asked us if we all come from Adam and Eve he asked is every guilty of Incest, which was... interesting to try and explain haha. But he asked us a lot about the Holy ghost and the Plan of Salvation, I just hope we answered his questions well enough. He still doesn't believe that there can only be one true church though, but we will keep teaching him, and just pray that he feels the spirit from what we share.

Also we got to see Jimmy and Kathrine on thursday. It was good, although we didn't really teach much, they just had a lot of questions about what missionary life is like. We have a good relationship with them though and they have even invited us around for dinner this week, which is always good. Hopefully we can teach them both a bit more then.

Something amazing that happened though, as we were walking to get the bus after seeing them, Elder Van Der Put noticed this guy who was kinda sitting off by the side of the path on some steps, and he seemed quite down. At first we walked past (I hadn't seen the guy) but Elder Van Der Put stopped us and asked if we should go back and talk to him. As I didn't see him I didn't know what he was on about, but I agreed we should. Well the guy was going through a hard time, and had decided to go on a walk for various reasons and he ended up where we met him. But we talked with him and told him who we were and we were able to testify that whatever he was going through, Heavenly Father and Jesus christ know exactly what he is going through and that they can help. We gave him a Book of Mormon which, he was clutching to his chest and crying as we talked to him. The spirit was so strong then, it nearly had me and Elder van Der Put in tears as well. But when we finished talking to him, he gave us both a hug and thanked us for stopping to talk to him, then we gave him our number and we went our separate ways. We haven't heard from him since, but I am just glad that we were able to be there for someone who was in need.

Other then that, we have seen a few of the less-actives we normally see, and have seen quite a few of the members now too. We have also received quite a few referrals but half of them haven't gone anywhere. One of them, actually seems to be a prank the guys friends played on him, because one referral was a 14 year old boy, and the phone number was wrong and the email was something like idontreplytoemails@ or it was something like that anyway, which kinda frustrates me, that kids would be so stupid to do something like that. They don't understand how much of people's time they waste just to play a trick. Kids are dumb, I'm not having any (sorry Becky, I'm only kidding), so yeah, that annoyed me a little.

Also this week, we had to go all the way to St Austall for a Zone training. We had to wake up at 6am to get there for 10. 6!!! I missed half an hour of much needed sleep!!! I'm not bitter about it or anything, I just like my bed... haha! As much as I like it though, I always get up at 6.30. I have put my alarm clock in the hall just to make sure I physcially get out of bed to turn it off.

So yeah, that has basically been my week.

Thank you all for your letters and emails and so on. Oh yeah, thank the Mackay's for the late birthday package, I got that today so thank you so much! I don't think I could eat all those sweets at once so tell them they don't have to worry about that.

Well hoep you are all well.

I love you all!!!

Elder Mitchell

General Conference

Hello everybody!

Wow! how amazing was general conference!! After 8 hours of talks from the Prophet, Apostles and general authorities, I feel pumped and ready to take on the world again!! (we should have general conferences more often, they are so good!!!)

Well this week, it may not sound like much, but we have had 1 teach!! One!!! Our only teach in the last 3 weeks, I was so excited afterwards I called our district leader to report it as a miracle! But it was a miracle because it was a great lesson! We got to see Jimmy which was great. We had to go over a lot of things we taught last time as we last saw him like 3 weeks ago which is fine, and he had quite a few questions which is good. He told us that he had tried reading the introduction of the Book of Mormon and praying about it, but he said he didn't feel anything, so we went over how to recognise the Holy Ghost and both me and elder van Der Put shared our experiences of how we knew the Book of Mormon was true. strange thing about the lesson though, in the middle of the lesson, he just had a laughing fit, which me and Elder Van Der Put were quite confused about, But when he calmed down, he apologised and said he just felt so happy, and always does when he sees us missionaries so inside both me and i'm sure elder Van Der Put were just like "Yes! he can feel the spirit!" so we told him that was the spirit that was making him happy. Then at the end of the lesson, we asked if we could say a pray, and Jimmy came up with the idea that we should all say a prayer! It was Jimmy's idea! And when he started his prayer, the same thing happened, he had a small laughing fit, which was, i will admit, strange, but so good!!! and the best thing is, his partner came in part way through the teach, and she started asking us some questions too, as she was raised a catholic (but catholic school kinda pushed her away) so I hope we can teach her too.

Also yesterday, during conference we had a referral that we have never caught in get in contact with us and ask to meet up this week which will be good. We also have a few other potentials that we will hopefully get to see again over the next few weeks.

We have continued working with less-actives as well, and have a lot of information for the ward list like people who have moved or don't want visits etc which will be good for the ward.

Sorry this email is kinda short, but I only have 10 minutes left on the computers so I have to kinda wrap it up soon.

But how amazing was general conference!!! I have to admit 2 of my favourite talks were from Dallin H. Oaks and Jeffrey R. Holland, both of those talks were amazing though. I love hearing Jeffrey R. Holland speak though. If you missed his talk, watch it online, reading it does not do justice to the power he spoke with! It was amazing!! All of General conference was amazing though. I got so much out of it and now feel like I can take on the world!!! (I just hope I can keep that enthusiasm for the rest of my mission.)

Well time is running out so I better wrap up. Thank you all though for your emails, letters and prayers. If I don't reply to you directly then I am not neglecting you don't worry, I appriciate every email and letter I get, I just don't have as much time as I wish I had.

thank you all though.

I love you all very much!!!

Elder Mitchell

Paignton

Paignton is the middle Seaside town of Torbay. Torquay is to the North and Brixham is to the South. This area is know as the English Riviera and as I recall benefits from the Gulf Stream, hence the palm trees that Elder Mitchell sees. It's history goes back to 1086 and was a Celtic settlement. It was a small fishing village and a new harbour was built in 1847, with the railway arriving in 1859.

One of the famous residents of the area was Agatha Christie who often visited The Torbay Picture House, sitting in her favourite seat: Seat 2 Row 2.

I have fond memories of my time there. I arrived on the train, and had to get a bus to continue onto Brixham. When I was there, the Radio 1 Roadshow came to town and I had to introduce my companion to this piece of British culture.

I'll try and add some pictures.

Catching up.......

Moves again, but Elder Mitchell stays put......

19th September 2012
Hey everyone. Just to let you all know I am staying in Paignton, but my daddy Elder Martin has left me, he is now a District Leader in Epsom. My new Companion is Elder Van Der Put, who is from Holland. I haven't met him yet, I am currently at the Newton Abbot chapel with our Zone Leader Elder Livingston, and Elder Keller who is serving in Helston. All of us are waiting for our new companions (Elder Keller's companion is Elder Romney, of some relation to Mitt Romney which is pretty cool.) and we have been here sine half past 7 this morning with nothing to really do (there is a mcdonalds across the road though, so guess what we had for breakfast and probably will have for lunch and dinner too if we are here that long... man I am so fat!). We actually had to wake up at 5 though because we were staying down in Plymouth and had to drive from there to here, and there were 5 of us to get through the bathroom etc so it has and will be a long day! Anyway, just thought I would let you all know I am staying put for now.

Love you all

Elder Mitchell

24th September 2012

Hello everybody,

Well this week has been interesting. Driving back and forward to Plymouth was fun, but I am back to bussing it around everywhere. Only thing I will say... buses suck! :(

My new companion elder Van Der Put is great! We are getting along so well. This is his last transfer though, so I have to make sure he works hard for these next 6 weeks, and that he doesn't die too early. The strange thing is though, he has already served in Paignton before, about 4 1/2 months ago, so it is funny seeing all the members reactions when they see he is back. We are getting along really well though.

Well, this week teaching wise has... well let's be blunt, it's sucked! We have seen none of our investigators! Oh yeah, think thats bad, yesterday morning we had 2 baptismal dates, by about 3pm yesterday afternoon.... zero! Andy, we saw him briefly yesterday, but he told us he and his wife are not well, and he doesn't know when they will feel better so he asked us to try by again in a few weeks time, so we had to drop his date. He is still interested though, as he asked us what he could read in the Book of Mormon while he is off work, which is ace so hopefully we can see him again in a few weeks. then vincent, he was at church again yesterday, but he apparently felt pressured into being baptized so all the ward leaders told us off for inviting him in a first teach (which is what the MTC and preach my gospel tells us to do...) and so we have had to drop his date and they don't want us teaching him again just yet. Vincent though is apparently looking to marry a member of the church and they want to ease him into the gospel slowly and make sure he is doing it for him, and not for her, which I understand but, grr! I don't know, but I'm going to stop there before I say anything I don't mean.

We were also meant to see Jimmy on wednesday but he texted us and cancelled (which is good as we were stuck in Newton Abbot all day wednesday), but hopefully we can see him again this wednesday. We have a lot of potentials we are trying to see as well, but either we catch them at a bad time, or they are out. But we have seen a lot of Less-actives this week which has been good. Other then that though, we have done nothing as all of our finding efforts aren't effective as we don't find anyone interested and they all slam the doors in our faces or just tell us to go away, but I'm getting used to that.

Best thing about this week though... we finally got our new washing machine! Yaaaaaaaayyy!!!! :D I shouldn't be that excited about it should I?.... it means no more washing clothes in the bath though so I am happy.

Crazy story from this week though... no ice cubes getting thrown or preachers telling us to burn the Book of Mormon... craziest story from this week is on wednesday, I did have McDonalds for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. It sounded a good idea at the time, but I felt ill afterwards and I don't want to see another McDonalds for about a century but never mind. I'm sorry if I come home fat Becky, I really am.

So that has been my week.

Hope you are all well.

Love you all

Elder Mitchell

1st October 2012

Hello everyone.

Hope you are all doing well.

Well this week teaches wise has been... well its sucked! For the last 2 weeks we haven't had ANY teaches to investigators. Vincent wasn't at church yesterday (and I don't know if the ward actually want us to teach him yet), Andy we will be trying by next week as he said to try by in a few weeks to let him recover, even though I actually saw him down town the other day and he looked fine (I will give him the benefit of the doubt though) and our other investigators Jimmy keeps flogging us so we have had nothing.

So yeah, this week has been kinda hard with no one really to teach. We have still been working with Less-actives though, but we haven't seen as many as we did last week. Miricle of the week though, on wednesday, we went on splits with the Elder's Quorum President and his dad to see some less-active friends of theirs. From it, we saw 3 less-actives between us, and are welcome back at two of those families which is good. We will hopefully see them this week sometime.

We have also been trying to do a lot of finding but it is not working. We have been trying by Potential investigators and former investigators but they all either aren't home or they have moved. We have tried knocking but no one is interested and most people as soon as they see we are missionaries just shut the door without even saying anything which is harsh. We have tried talking to people on the street, but both me and Elder Van Der Put have trouble speaking to people so that has been hard as well, and anyone we do speak to just aren't interested, or are crazy. Like one guy we spoke to, he was a member of the church of england, but he had a theory that God was once a Dragon, but somehow when he created light when he was creating the earth he became a man. He did "explain" this theory to us using scriputres, but how he got that from the scripture he used I have no idea.

On the plus side though, me and Elder van Der Put are getting on great. I am gutted that he is in his last transfer, I wish I could serve with him longer than for 6 weeks, but that is the way it works I guess.

Well sorry, this email isn't all happy clappy etc, but I will work hard and make sure I have happier stories to share in next weeks email.

Oh yeah, mum and nan, I got your letters so thank you so much for your uplifting words, I loved reading them, so thank you.

I love you all!

Elder Mitchell

p.s just a bit of random information for you, I was on exchange in Bideford on thursday (its a massive area in north devon) but there is a place there called "Westward Ho!" I found it funny so I thought I would share that with you. God bless the West Country! bunch of pirates... :P