Monday 13 May 2013
Hey Everyone!
Before I start, yes I have decided to call my emails
epistles from now on, just because it makes it sound so much cooler! And yes
Linda, I am a geek haha!
Well this week has been good. I guess the main event from
this week was yesterday. Chanai got confirmed a member. It was really good
though and now all of Ishmail's family are members which is great!
Apart from that we have been working hard this week. We
were going through a worrying time where our teaching pool was just getting
smaller and smaller so we have been working hard to find new people. It isn't
much bigger just now, but it is still a working progress. We do have some
amazing people we are teaching though.
Harprett is doing well, we got to see him this week. He
is really smart and asked some interesting questions this week. He asked, if
Mormon's don't believe in drinking alcohol, is it right for them to be selling
it? ie. the owner of Marriot hotels having bars in all his hotels. And also, he
has seen the recent documentary of the ysa in america and was asking questions
like "I thought the law of chastity was about controlling those physcial
attractions and desires, if they are just making out with all those different
girls surely they aren't keeping it?" So that was interesting to answer.
The cool thing is though, this week we figured out that there is a member that
also works for microsoft like him and actually works in the next building,
which is pretty cool!
Only other thing I can think of to tell you is last night
we experienced a miracle. Well, I call it a miracle. So earlier this week we
got a referral from the Woodley missionaries called Paul. He is polish and he
has an alcohol problem. so we have been meeting with him a few days this week,
but thursday we lost contact with him. We tried calling him so many times but
he didn't answer. Then sunday, we get a call from him asking if we could meet
him that night, so we did. When we first saw him, he was drunk, and really
depressed. He was crying and he was angry with himself and he really was in
bits. But we said a prayer with him, and as soon as we said amen, he had
stopped crying, he was happy and smiling and even he didn't know how. It was
truly amazing. He says he struggles with faith in God but after that he is like
"there must be something there" which is great. So yeah, that was
amazing!
Well that is all I can really think of to tell you from
last week.
Hope you all are well.
I love you all!
Elder Mitchell
Monday 20 May 2013
Hey everybody!
I hope you are all doing well and that you all enjoyed
conference yesterday as well! It was amazing to be able to watch and hear the
same message at the same time as you all. It really was amazing, I hope you all
took good notes (because I forgot my notebook, so I may need someone to send me
theirs haha!)
Well this week has been interesting. We have been
teaching a lot of people, but we haven't really got anyone that is progressing.
Hopefully this next week will pick up though.
Harprett unfortunately we haven't been able to see him
this week as he was busy, but our mission has this cool thing where they have
missionaries who teach people via email, so we passed his email on so hopefully
he is still being taught that way.
Paul is still struggling, but he is making slow progress.
He made it for part of conference yesterday which was good, but he wasn't
feeling very well so he only stayed for about 20 minutes then had to go. Since
we have been meeting with him though, he has gone from having no believe in God
or Jesus Christ, to having a slim hope that he is there, which is a start at
least. He still needs help with his problem, but hopefully we can get him
there. He has met pretty much all of our polish members in the ward though, or
talked to them over the phone, so he knows he has good friends in the church
now at least. He enjoyed what was said at conference though, and said Elder
Baxter talked good sense, so he really likes the teachings, even if its just
from a logical point of view.
Apart from that, the only other thing I can think to
tell, is our Bishop's bad scottish joke he told me yesterday, he told me that
on the news they reported about a scottish man who was found dead on a pay as
you leave bus... If you don't get it let me know and I will explain, but it
wasn't funny... haha!
Also, (I just remembered something else I can tell you)
This week I went on exchange with Elder La Mazza (who some of you may remember
was supposed to be my trainer). It was good fun, we spent most of it driving
around but it was good. We also had a Dinner Appointment with none other than
the Nicholl's family, it seems everytime I go on exchange with the Zone
Leaders, we have dinner with them, its pretty funny haha! But something I
learned from him, is the importance of bearing testimony of Jesus Christ. It
seems that we rarely bare testimony of Him, it is so much easier to bear
testimony of the Book of Mormon, or of Joseph Smith, or Tithing, but as the
church of JESUS CHRIST of latter-day saints, the one thing we should always be
bearing testimony of is who the church actually belongs to: Jesus Christ.
I know that Jesus Christ is our saviour, and he welcomes
all who come unto him through Faith, Repentance, Baptism, receiving the Holy
Ghost and enduring to the end. Whatever trials or challenges we face, he is
always there for us. As I read this morning:
"Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a
little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold,
for such have I laid down my life, and have taken it up again: therefore
repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved."
I know that Jesus Christ is always there for us, he never
turns away from us, we only turn away from him, but his arms of mercy are
always extended towards us. I know that my Redeemer lives, and I look forward
to the day when I can kneel at his feet. I leave you my testimony, in his name,
even Jesus Christ, amen.
I love you all
Elder Mitchell
Monday 27 May 2013
Hey everyone,
This will just be a short one sadly as it is moves week
so got to get back to work pretty soon. I will let you know what happens with
moves though as soon as I know.
Well this week has been good, we taught Harprett again
which was great! He really is golden! We were able to bring a member with us
this time, who also works at mircosoft which was cool, and they instantly
clicked which was good to see. He didn't make it to church though, he partner's
parents were over from Idaho so he went to church with them in Whitechapel. He
is progressing really well though. He said this last week he has had a really
good spiritual conversation with his partner and he says he loves the feeling
of the spirit. He says it makes him feel, and I quote "like a
superhero!"
Unfortunately, we haven't been able to get in contact
with Paul. I hope he is okay, his phone has been off all week.
We were able to teach Christiana again though which was
good. It was a really good teach. She asked why she would need to get baptised
again if she joined our church so we talked about priesthood again. I hope she
understands it.
Well that is all I can think about to share this week. I
will let you know what happens with moves when I know.
I love you all
Elder Mitchell
Thursday 30 May
2013
Hey everyone! sorry I didn't email yesterday, it was a
busy day. Just to let you know I am safe and well.
So my new area etc.... I am now currently serving in.....
Wandsworth in London!! Don't ask me how it is yet as after travelling here
yesterday and so far today I have quite a biased opinion against it right now, but
it should get better.
My new companion is an Elder Coons from Derby, so I have
had more British companions than American haha! He is a really cool guy though
and we are getting on great.
Being in Wandsworth is interesting though, as we have
just whitewashed in, and replaced sisters, so I'm in another sisters flat. All
I can say is, no offence to sisters, but they are weird and disgusting... I
will maybe explain another day. They have only really left us with one
investigator though, so work wise is going to be interesting. Today has mostly
been spent trying to get to know our way around. We know where the chapel is at
least. We thought our travel money hadn't come through yet though and after
moving here we had no money so we have been walking around all day (money has
come in though so don't worry, we have oyster cards now, which I am still
confused about but we will see how that goes...) but it took us about an hour
and a half or something to walk to the chapel. So we were going to email up
there, but the internet wasn't working up there so that is why I am emailign so
late. Sorry if I made any of you worry, but this was the soonest we could
email. It is going to be interesting serving here. And my staying thin so far
on my mission will probably go out the window... there are tons of cheap kabab
shops here and we don't have any D.A's yet so I will probably get fat this next
week.
It will be interesting though being in London. Its so big
and busy and I think we've only spoken to 1 native english person all day. And
my first experience of London was in Clapham Juction of a dog relieving himself
in the middle of the station, yeah, so far that sums up my opinion of london
but I'm sure it'll get better haha!
Oh yeah, I have a little bit of a problem by the way... I
think for my birthday (or maybe needed even sooner) I will just need you guys
to sent me money as I need 2 new suitcases and a new pair of shoes. Basically
(as you can hopefully tell by attatched photo) London didn't like my suitcase,
so I need a new one. And my suitbag is breaking too, the shoulder strap broke
off, and its just too small for everything else I have so I will need another
one to replace that. And I need new walking shoes too. So yeah, that also
explains why my opinion of london is so biased against it.
I'm just realising how depressing this email must sound,
its all like bad news. On the plus side, there was ice cream in the freezer
when we got to the flat! Oh, and the flat is on the ground floor so no lugging
suitcase upstairs, which made me happy! I'll try and find some happier news to
tell you by monday.
Hope you are all well. Love you all!!
Elder Mitchell
Monday 3 June 2013
Greetings from London!!!
Thats right, I've been sent to take on the big bad city!
After moves day, my first impressions of London was not good, and I'll be
honest, they haven't changed. Its too big, its too busy, its too noisey and its
too polluted! Plus I think on our first day here, we saw every type of
emergency services you could think of (including a police helicopter and a
police dog unit).
So for those of you who don't know, I am in the
Wandsworth ward. Technically I live in Wimbledon though. Perfect time of the
year though, I can go watch my favourite sport (not!) Tennis. Could try
and give Andy Murray a Book of Mormon though, that would be cool!
So there isn't really much to tell you about from this
week to be honest. We haven't got lost yet which is good. And I had my first
ride on a london bus! Buses here are so confusing, we are just jumping on one
and hoping it takes us to where we need to go basically. So far it is working
well, but I still can't understand the buses. The tube isn't so bad, but then
again there are only two lines that we can use in our area so it isn't too bad
(compared with the 1,000s of buses there are here).
Well, the sisters left us with one investigator, called
Stephanie, she is a 60 year old lady from Hong Kong. She is interesting... She
is progressing quite well from when the sisters were teaching her, but she goes
to a different ward because there are "white people" there... yes she
is racist, and a little bit crazy but we will see how it goes.
The ward here is really nice though, its quite small but really
friendly.
Well there really isn't much else to tell you to be
honest, hopefully next week I will have more to tell you.
Well I love you all.
Elder Mitchell
Monday 10 May 2013
2 emails this week,
a short one responding to mine about our trip to The Temple at Preston.
Hey Dad, I am so glad you got to go to the temple and
that you enjoyed it there. I'm sure it was a sacrifice for you and mum, but
Heavenly Father blesses us for our sacrifices. I would love to go to the temple
again soon, I haven't been since Christmas. I do love the temple and I am glad
you enjoyed it.
Yeah, I didn't think it was that difficult to get to the
stream, but I guess as a 19 year old missionary it isn't too difficult haha.
No I hadn't heard about President Freed, is he alright?
Let me know.
That is so exciting that they have their mission papers
in, let me know as soon as you know where they will be serving. I'm so excited
for all of them! When does Andrew go out on his mission again?
I am starting to get used to wandsworth I guess, its
starting to grow on me a little bit. its still too busy though, I'm sure if I
wasn't a misisonary I would enjoy it more, its just too busy to talk to people
and try to find people to teach.
Just a quick bit of news, (this is why I am emailing so
early) today in Hyde Park there is a surprise conference that our zone has been
invited to, where we might be meeting a general authority (rumours say its M
Russell Ballard but we will see) so I am excited for that.
Well I will tell you more about my week in my big email.
I love you
Elder Mitchell
Hi everyone!
Hope you are all well. This is going to be a pretty short
email as we have a busy day today.
Will just share a few miracles that we had this week.
This week we have been trying by a lot of Less-actives as
the ward has asked us to do. We tried by one family, and when we got in the
house, the husband told us that just the other day he was thinking about and
praying about getting in touch with someone to get the missionaries to visit
him, and then the next day we stop by. He was just so amazed that, instead of
him having to contact us, Heavenly Father sent us to him. That was amazing.
The other miracle we had this week was, we were on our
way to an appointment, when a chinese lady comes out of her shop and asked us
if we had any Book of Mormon's. So we gave her a couple, and then said we had
somewhere to go, but would come back afterwards. So we came back and it turns
out that the chinese lady is a less-active from another ward, and two of her
work friends want to find out more. So we taught them both with the help of
their chinese friend as their english wasn't too good. It was great though, and
it was amazing. I still have no idea how it happened, but it happened.
Well that is just about all I have time for. We have a
busy day as there is a surprise conference going on today, that our zone is
going to. So I better get going.
I love you all
Elder Mitchell
Monday 17 June
Another week with
two emails – the first wishing me a happy Father’s Day.
Hey Dad,
the conference was great, I will tell you more in my big
email to everyone so I can tell you all at the same time. I did get to see the Smarts,
and the other couple you met when you were down here too (I can't remember
their names). I did get to see the Lees as well. They came over just to say hi
which was great :)
Oh yeah, Happy Father's Day for yesterday. I didn't
forget, I was going to email you last week to wish you a happy father's day in
advance but... okay I forgot while I was emailing last week, but I still
remembered! I'm glad you had a good father's day though.
I've just checked the ward map, battersea is in the next
ward across, so it is just outside my area, unfortunately. Could maybe get
permission to go on exchange there though just so we could go and see her if
she would like a visit.
Sadly I don't remember much about grandad, I remember
what he looks like from photos but that is about it. I can tell from you and
all my aunts and uncles that he did a good job at teaching you right though.
I'm grateful that he is my grandad. I can't wait to meet him again, and Nanny.
Well I hope you have a good week.
Love Elder Mitchell
Hey Everyone!
Is this really my 60th email? Either time has gone by
quick, or I am really bad at counting... (waits for whitty remark from Daniel
or Linda).
Well this week has been quite good. Of course the main
thing to tell you about was last monday. We had a surprise visit from Elder
Teixeira of the Area Presidency and Elder M Russell Ballard. They were supposed
to be going to St. Petersburg but there was issues with their visas so at last
minutes they decided to come visit the London and London South Missions.
It was cool as we got to go the the Hyde Park chapel,
which is north of the river (outside our mission, but we had permission so its
okay), and at least for 10 or 15 minutes Elder Ballard spoke to both missions
together which was cool. There were about 350 missionaries from both missions
there, and together we sung called to serve, which was powerful. It was great
though as I got to see some missionaries from my MTC group, including Elder
Riki! It was so cool to see him again. I didn't get a chance to talk to him
properly, but I at least got to give him a hug.
It was great to hear instruction and encouragement from a
seventy and an apostle of the Lord. Elder Teixeira told us of some revelation
he received just as he was called to serve in the area presidency. He told
us how he felt strongly inspired that the work in Europe would not grow until
the work grew in the UK, especially the London misisons. So not just here but
all over the UK we have a responsibility to help the Lord's kingdom grow, as
until it takes off here, it will not take off in the rest of Europe. Then Elder
Ballard left us with what I will call lanyway, a Prophetic promise. He said
"We Can find more, we can teach more, we can baptise more, we can
reactivate more." We CAN. I personally feel that isn't just to us
missionaries, that is to all of us, we all have a part to play. It's a big rock
the rolling down the mountain, it needs all our help to push it along.
Also, just some encouaragement for all those who are
currently serving and who are preparing to serve a mission whether they have
received their calls yet or not, I want you all to remember this. Every day, in
every temple around the world, there are people praying for you, yes you! And
every Thursday, in Salt Lake City, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the
Twelve Apostle gather together in the temple, and pray specifically for us
missionaries. Bear that in mind as you prepare to and as you serve the Lord.
So apart from that I'm not really sure what else I can
tell you. Stephanie isn't really making any progress. We got close to giving
her a baptismal date, but she still won't have it. We have at least found out
that she has an issue with tithing, which is only that she is old and doesn't
get much money anyway, but funnily enough the priesthood lesson this weekend
was on tithing which was helpful.
We have been working hard to try and build up our
teaching pool this week though. We have quite a few other investigators to work
with but no one progressing just yet. It is hard whitewashing, as we had to
literally start from scratch, but we are building it up well.
The only other thing I can think of to say, is to wish
all you father's a late happy father's day for yesterday.
I love you all
Elder Mitchell
Monday 24 June 2013
Hey everybody
I think soon I'm going to have to stop counting how many
emails I have sent... its getting scary. I still have 10 months though, so
nothing to worry about... yet haha!
Well this week has been quite good. We have been working
hard, and we managed to get 20 lessons this week! A lot of it has been teaching
in the streets, but that is what you have to do sometimes. We haven't been able
to find many new investigators this week, but we have tons of potentials to
follow up with so hopefully this next week will be better.
Just to update you on people we are working with.
Stephanie we weren't able to see this week as she was ill. She called one of
the members this week though from our ward (the member is from malaysia so they
get on well) which is good. And we at least know what her concern is so we can
work on getting over that.
We are also teaching someone called Joyce. She isn't too
well though, she is just recovering from cancer, so she isn't able to make it
to church sadly.
I can't really think of much else to tell you to be
honest.
I'm having to kinda rush this too as the other computer
isn't working so Elder Coons needs on. And my mind has just gone blank on
everything else we have done this week haha!
Well I had better run, but I hope you all have a good
week.
Love you all
Elder Mitchell
Monday 1 July 2013
Hey Everyone!
I have had a few people say these big emails from me have
been getting shorter, so I will repent and make sure this one is longer. Well,
I will try anyway.
This week has been a little slower work wise then other
weeks. Unfortunately Elder Coons hasn't been too well lately. Well he has had
some health problems for about 3 months and this week it was quite bad. We are
trying to get him to see a doctor, but they are messing him about big time.
A few people to tell you about. This week we were able to
see Ruth and her friend Lisa. They are really funny, and so cool (and Ruth let
me play her guitar, yay!). Ruth is a professional singer which is pretty cool,
and Lisa is her manager, so they didn't make it to church yesterday as they
were at a show, and we were meant to see them earlier today but they were busy.
Someone who did come to church though was our
investigator Felix. We have taught him a couple of times now and he has been to
church twice since we have been here. He seems to really like Elder Coons and
we get on quite well too. He is from Belgium originally I think. I never teach
anyone from England down here, they are always from somewhere else it seems
haha!
Our investigator Joyce hasn't accepted a baptismal date
yet. We have at least got her to commit to pray about it, but her health is her
biggest obstacle. And I think she lacks commitment, but we will see.
The previous ward mission leader has been really helpful
though, he has told us of a few former investigators we can try by that he is
still in contact with. Also on saturday we will be going to a less-actives
house who is wanting to come back to church. She also has a 9 year old daughter
who says she wants to come to church too. She isn't baptised. So watch this
space. We are hoping that from that we may have Wandsworth's first baptism in
over a year. I want to see a baptism here before I leave though.
Well it is moves next week. Both me and Elder coons have
pretty much been told by President that we are both staying though so there is
nothing to worry about I don't think.
Okay, I had better go.
I love you all!!
Elder Mitchell
Monday 8 July 2013
Hey dad! Happy birthday!
sorry this isn't such a big email, its not p-day until
wednesday as its moves week but we have to come on to do president's letter and
everything.
Well I hope you have a good day and enjoy your
birthday.
Love you Dad
Elder Mitchell
ps. I hear Murray won wimbledon, does that mean the
second coming is close?
tell everyone I will email them on wednesday too. Love
you all!
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