Monday 18th November

Hey Everyone!!!

I hope you have all had a good week this week. Ours has been quite a bit better then last week, thankfully.

So, first of all, Osa and Justin we have not been able to see them this week. Justin we haven't even been able to contact, which is quite strange. He hasn't answered our calls or replied to our texts, so we don't know what is going on there. Osa, we have spoken to over the phone, but every time we call him to set something up, he is always busy. So we don't know what is going on then.

We have at least been able to meet with Brian briefly. We stopped by last night, and he was busy, but he seemed happy to see us at least, he has just been really busy. He said he would call us at the end of the week and arrange a time we could meet though, which is at least a good sign. 

Then we have an Investigator called Steven. I don't remember if I have mentioned Steven before, but he is quite interesting. He comes from a very Catholic family, but we have given him a Book of Mormon and he is really interested in it. He says he feels that it is true, and he always calls it "the Third Testament" He has at least read up to 1 Nephi 4, and we have read some other bits with him, but he was telling us when we met with him this week that he has always felt that there must be more out there, that the Word of God didn't just stop at Revelations. It will be tricky though, as he has a few issues with some "worldly things" is probably the best way I could describe it, and he says that he won't change from being a Catholic.

Our miracle of the week though is Charles. Charles is a self referral from Mormon.org. He is an 81 year old man, who has been through 6 different religions in his lifetime, including Islam. He remembers meeting with Mormons 20 years ago, and he remembers how happy they were, and he remembers feeling good at any meetings he came to, so he wanted to find out more. He wants to come to church with us too, but as yesterday we had Stake Conference in Reading it will have to be this sunday. He seems really promising though.

So Stake Conference: It was great! We had a new Stake Presidency called which was good, and because of that Elder Walker, of the Temple committee and Elder Herbertson (from Scotland) were there. It was really good. At the adult session on saturday evening, Elder Walker gave the members 10 easy things they can do to do missionary work WITHOUT giving the missionaries a referral. I would share these with you as I had planned to, but silly old me left my notebook back at the flat, so that will have to wait until next week.

It was great to be back at Reading though, as we drove though, I was able to reminisce a little at seeing all the streets I used to walk down on a regular basis, and seeing the Reading buses (sad I know, but they are all different colours!) and being back at the Chapel again! It was great! And then, during the session, a member of the Reading Stake Presidency, who was in Reading ward came in and sat next to me which was great! And as Elder Holmes is our Zone Leader he was there too, so we got to see some of the members there, including the Bishop. It was good fun.

Well I think that is all for my week.

I hope you all have a great week, and that you are all getting your Christmas shopping done! (no hints or anything :P) Haha! I'm kidding!

Love you all!!

Elder Zach Mitchell

18th October to 13th November

Mon Oct 28^th

Hello Everyone!!

So this weekend just gone, I hit my 18 month mark! I am long over the hill and plummeting towards the bottom now! 6 months to sexy has officially begun, and it started today with 50 push ups!! How many I will get done tomorrow or the rest of the week is yet to be seen (but I'll be honest it'll probably be zero!).

So this week was really good. It started with us having a multi-zone conference on tuesday which was great! It was good being able to meet with so many other missionaries and to hear from our Mission President and others who spoke to us.

So the only one of our investigators we have really been able to see is Osa. We are still not sure how interested he is, but he has been reading the Book of Mormon, and he says he still wants to come and see how we worship, so we shall see.

Someone else worth mentioning though is Brian. So Brian, a few weeks ago we were knocking and we met Brian. He said he doesn't have much beliefs in God, and he didn't have time to talk with us, but he was interested in finding out more about the church.We gave him a mormon.org.uk card and he said he would check it out. Then we received him s a self-referral from the website. We got in contact with him, but weren't able to set up an appointment, so we stopped by one night this week, and we caught him in. He recognized us and he let us in. We were able to teach him, and answer some of his questions which was really good. At the end he said the closing prayer and he thanked God for leading us to meet with him at this time in his life when is is trying to make some changes. It was really good. Simple, but amazing. We are seeing him later this week, and I am feeling really hopeful for it.

Sunday was really good. At church we watched the final session of general conference as a ward which was really nice. It was good to get another spiritual re-boost from conference. We also had a munch and mingle afterwards too which was really good.

Before I wrap this up, something for you all to laugh at. Autumn is a lovely season, its so beautiful with all the leaves turning different colours and falling to the ground. But what puts a dampener on it it what else falls to the ground. Acorns!!! The other day I got hit square in the head! It hurt so badly!! And Elder Tidwell just laughed at me. You are all laughing at me now too aren't you? Just you wait...

Love you all!!! :D

Elder Mitchell

Mon Nov 4^th

Hey everyone!!!

I hope you are all well and had a lovely week!

This week was pretty good for us, we are getting quite a lot of teaches now which I can't complain about. We have quite a few investigators to work with now, but we have also had quite a few appointments cancel on us or flog, so we have also had to drop a few people.

So just a run through everyone we are working with that is worth mentioning.

Osa is doing great. He came to church on sunday which was really great! We were able to pair him up with a member who is also from Nigeria, who gave him a lift to church. As far as I could tell he had a good experience. He had a lot of questions so in gospel principles we had a good lesson with our wad mission leader. We was curious why, with Joseph Smith being the "founder" as he called him, why there weren't any pictures of him up in the chapel, so we explained to him how we focus our worship on Jesus Christ. Osa does seem really interested in Joseph Smith and how he died for what he believed in, which I feel is a good thing.

Also, I think it surprised the members a little that we had someone at church. When we first got here they were jokingly asking why we didn't have anyone at church, but yesterday when we had Osa there at least one or two of the members said "wow, you guys don't hang around!" So I think it had a good impression on the members.

Brian, we were due to see this week but he ad to cancel. With working freelance he got called into work at late notice, so we weren't able to meet with him. We have spoken to him on the phone though, and he says that he has done a lot of reading and a lot of research and he still wants to meet with us which is good. We also have a member in mind to bring to teaches with him, so hopefully we can get tat arranged this week.

Another one I feel is worth mentioning is Justin. We met him on the street the other week, and we had a good chat. We didn't get a return appointment at that time, but we did get his details and gave him ours. So this week, we got a text from him asking when we could meet up (that like never happens!) so we saw him on friday, and had a good lesson with him. He showed interest in reading the Book of Mormon and does want to come to church to see what it is like. We should be seeing him again on Wednesday.

Elder Tidwell is doing well. He is getting more confident when teaching and finding. e barely gives me a chance to say anything, but thats better then not saying a word. He seems a lot more confident then I was when I was a greenie that's for sure.

Well can you believe this is our last full week before moves week? I still feel like I jut got here! i'm pretty sure I won't be moving though, as President Millar doesn't like splitting up trainers and trainees, so we should be here until christmas.  Speaking of which, we are trying to get some christmas music, tis the season to be jolly after all!

I am trying to think of something funny to end this email with but... I have nothing. anyways!!...

Hope you all have a good week!

Love you all!!

Elder Zach Mitchell

With November 10^th being Remembrance Sunday I remember the brief period when Elder Mitchell was in the Air Cadets.  I mentioned this in my email (posted below) and his response.

Elder Mitchell,

I couldn’t help but remember today the brief time you spent as an Air Cadet.  They were good times.  I never took the plunge and joined the RAF – my preferred choice, but seeing you in uniform was good on the day we remember those who gave their all – the ultimate sacrifice. As a family I think we were so blessed that none of our direct forebears had to make that gift. My dad – Granddad Mitchell was on the way to Singapore when it feel to the Japanese – we can only wonder if he would have survived, but either way being a Japanese POW wasn’t a picnic.  At school we had a master who was and although he had some funny stories to tell, he kept the true horror to himself.

This week I have another week at Ashington and tomorrow I’ll find out about next week and going to Wales.

Mum’s watching Christmas movies already!!!  Can you believe that?  There should be a campaign to kick Christmas back into December!

Well it’s time to go.  Make these last six months count.

Love Dad

Hey Dad,

that is funny you should mention that, I was telling Elder Tidwell about my time in the air cadets the other day too, we saw some air cadets in town with the pots to collect money. I am glad Grandad didn't end up in Singapore either, it didn't sound too great over there.

I can't believe people are getting ready for Christmas already either, although at district meetings I do try and get everyone to sing christmas carols haha!

Thank you for all you have done for me dad, for setting the example by going on a mission and for raising me in the gospel.

Love you dad

Elder Mitchell

Mon Nov 11^th

Hey Everyone!

I hope you are all doing well. I hope you are all managing to stay as warm and dry as possible too, winter is definitely on its way now!

This week to be perfectly honest has been challenging. We must be doing something right as we have had quite a bit of opposition this week. I'll give you a run down of everyone we are working with and then you will be able to see what kind of week we had.

First of all, Osa. Osa, for lack of a better phrase, seems to be playing hard to get. We have called him or stopped by almost every day this last week, and he always says he has had a long day at work and is tired or he is never home. We saw him once briefly but he was just about to head out so we haven't really been able to see him.

Justin we weren't able to see last week either. He called us on wednesday to reschedule our appointment with him as something came up, and he mentioned that he had done some research and found out about black's having the priesthood restricted for a time. He wasn't angry about it or anything, and Elder Tidwell dealt with it well and gave an explanation why, and Justin seemed okay about it and we are still meeting him this week. Hopefully we will be able to answer his questions and help him with his concerns.

Last of all Brian. So, also on wednesday, while we were actually in District Meeting talking about how we could help Brian, he text us and said that he has been doing a lot of research and from what he has seen the church is a wonderful church, and he commented on how its teachings seem to be from original sources (his words), but that he does not feel at a spiritual level to be able to investigate it any further at this time. He was prepared to give us the Book of Mormon back as he felt it would be of more use in the hands of someone else. Thankfully we were able to call him that afternoon and talk a little about things. He has agreed to meet with us again but he is busy with work for the next few weeks so we have to wait for him to contact us to set up a time.

So that is the week we have had really. We have still been trying to find more people to teach as always, but with a start to the week like that it has been hard.

Hopefully this week will go better though, and this weekend Staines have their Stake Conference which will be good. However because the Staines chapel is so small, they will have to hold the sunday session at... guess where... Reading!! I'm so excited to go back to Reading again. Even if I don't see any of the members there or anything, just being back there will be so cool!

Anyway, I hope you all have a good week!

Attached is a photo of my boy in his tartan!! (sorry its not that good a pic)

love you all

Elder Zach Mitchell

Moves news – Wed Nov 13^th

Hey everyone!!!

Just letting you know what is happening, as I thought me and Elder Tidwell are staying put, so we will be together for Christmas (unless president is really mean and decides to change moves to the week before christmas, as moves day falls on christmas this year, but he will probably move it to the week after.)

Love you all!!!

Elder Mitchell