Another major catch up

Email 69 - 19^th August

Hey everyone!

So I managed to get back on to finish my emails properly as we didn't get too much time this morning.

So highlight of this week was, on tuesday we had a special multi-zone conference in Crawley where we got to see Elder David F. Evans of the seventy. It was a quite inspirational conference and I learned a lot from what was shared.

Other then that, we haven't really been up to much this week. We have been in the flat most of the week to allow Elder Coons to recover a little so that he is well enough to go home. It is amazing that I don't know what to do with free time anymore as I'm not used to having any.

We were at least able to see Tara and her mum Joyce though which was good. We talked with them a little about prophets and watched the dvd about Thomas S monson "on the Lord's errand" with them, as in the baptismal interview our district leader said we needed to go over it again, as she wasn't too sure about prophets, or couldn't remember it very well. It wasn't a major concern though, as she is only 9 years old, so it wasn't anything to stop the baptism going ahead. They are doing well though. Tara will be at her dad's for the next 2 weeks though before she goes back to school so we won't get to see her for a little while. We will keep in touch through her mum though.

So Elder Coons goes home tomorrow, his Bishop and mum are coming to pick him up in the car, so until Wednesday I will be with the elders in Mitcham. Just a heads up though, his sister is going to the temple on saturday to go through the temple for her endowments and so he will be there too, so maybe keep an eye out for him.

Well, as far as I now I will be staying in Wandsworth for one more transfer, but we will have to wait and see, the call should come through tonight so we will know soon. I will of course let you all know as soon as I know.

I love you all!

Elder Mitchell

22 Aug

Hey everyone! just to let you know moves news, I am still in Wandsworth. My new companion is an Elder Davies from Merthyr Tydfil, in South Wales. He has been out 6 months and this is only his second area, and he is our new District Leader, so this transfer should be fun.

Love you all

Elder Mitchell

Email 70 – 26 Aug

Hey everyone!

Hope you all had a good week. For those of you who were at the temple on saturday (especially Cameron, Sarah and Heather) I hope you all enjoyed the wonderful spirit there.

So this week has been pretty good. My new Companion Elder Davies is a star! We have been working hard to build up the area again. We haven't been able to find any new investigators yet as everyone we talked to didn't want to set a solid return appointment, but we have been talking to lots of people. We managed to get 20 lessons, and that is just really from wednesday evening when Elder Davies got here (As I was in Mitcham in a tri for Monday and Tuesday). So next week should be good.

I just want to share some cool things that happened this week. First of all, I spoke to my first person on a bus. Normally that is way out of my comfort zone, but this time I managed it. We got on the bus at the same stop, and I saw this girl before the bus came, and felt I should speak to her, but just as I was building up my courage to do so, the bus came. Luckily though she sat at the back of the bus, and the rest of the seats at the back were free too so I sat next to her and started talking to her. It was really good and she was really nice. She was from Atlanta which was cool. I was gutted though because, just as I started sharing the First Vision, she hit the stop button as her stop was coming up. I at least finished the first vision and gave her a pamphlet, hopefully she will read it and give us a call.

Also, last night, we had about 10 minutes before we had to jump on the tube so we could get back to the flat for dinner and to account with the district, so we were outside Tooting (yes there is a place called Tooting, I think its halarious!) Broadway station, and looking for someone to talk to. I saw this girl by the road just standing there and felt we should talk to her, after getting that feeling a few times I said to Elder Davies lets talk to her, so we did. She was really nice and seems really receptive. I just hope she will give us a call at some point so we can meet up with her again.

For me, those are the two main highlights from the week I guess.

Well I hope you all have a good week. And Heather, as you will probably be gone by the time I email next, good luck on your mission, you will do fantastic, and I will see you in 18 months!

Love you all!

Elder Mitchell

Email 71 – 2 Sep

Hey everyone!

A few of you have emailed saying you can't believe I only have 9 months left. Well in that case you really won't be able to believe it when I tell you I actually only have 8 months left. I'm not counting or anything.

Well this week has been pretty good. We have been working hard and things are starting to pick up. We are getting the ward more involved and starting to work more closely with the ward council. The Relief Society President gave us a list of some people she hasn't seen at church in a while so we have been visiting some of them and it has been pretty good and those people has been receptive and friendly so we will hopefully be working with them. We are also trying to work with the ysa and with the youth. There are some of the youth who are a little bit shakey at the minute and so we want to strengthen them, especially one particular youth, who is the son of our ward mission leader, he hasn't been to church for at least a month. His name is Brigham Young, which I find quite funny, having to reactivate Brigham Young.

Cool miracle that we had this week. One of the Ysa brought her 15 year old cousin to church on sunday so we started talking to them. Turns out they both went to EFY this year and the cousin (a non-member) loved it! So we asked her if she wants to find out more, and she said she would be interested in finding out more of the teachings. It is great as the ysa has just started her mission papers and so we can help her learn what she will be teaching and teach her cousin at the same time!

Apart from that we have just been trying by some former investigators and some less-actives. It has been quite good and we have met some really nice people who hopefully we will be working with soon.

Oh yeah, something else exciting. On the 10th, Elder Dallin H Oaks will be coming to Wandsworth for a special fireside, or something like that. Elder Kerian and Herbertson will be with him too, but that is really exciting and the whole stake is excited about it. So this will be the 2ndApostle I've got to see since coming to London, cool or what?

Anyway, I can't think of anything more to share with you guys. There are some funny stories I could share, especially from last monday when we ended up in Peckham for lunch, but I think that is a post-mission story.

Well I hope you all have a good week. Oh and Andrew (Elder Patterson) I'm glad you will be able to re-join me in the harvest! You'll do great bro!

Love you all

Elder Mitchell

ps. Is there a specific wrist men should wear their watches on? We have a less active that if I go to hers again with it on the wrong wrist she will slap me, and she actually will because she is from Jamaica!

Email 72 – 9 Sep

Hello everyone!!

I hope this is actually my 72nd email, if not, ah well!

Anyway, not too much time today as we are currently in an internet cafe emailing as the zone leaders are using the ones of the chapel preparing for Zone Training later this week, and the other computers are out of order at the minute. So I only have an hour this week to do everything...

This week has been good, me and well I would say Elder Davies, but he hasn't been here for part of the week as we have had 3 exchanges this week and he only stayed in his area once! (the joys of being a District Leader) Anyway, we have been working really hard this week. In total we got 27 teaches this week, which is the most I have ever achieved on my mission so far. It's not a competition though (which is good because the rest of our district got more than us!) those are 27 people who we helped come closer to Christ.

Just a quick word about Sonia, we were able to see her twice this week which was good. Her Cousin was there and even one of her young women friends from the other ward was there one time which was great. It helps that both of them have a solid testimony and are there to support Sonia which is great.

Joyce and Tara are both doing well also, Tara is back from her Dad's and was happy to finally meet "the new guy" Elder Davies. They are both doing well though, and Joyce just got a calling in the Young Women's presidency which is cool!

We had a good Ward Council meeting on sunday too, I feel it was effective. We were only in there for an hour (quite a record) and then we had to go as we were teaching Sonia afterwards, but we got the whole hour to talk about the people we were working with and to report back on people they had asked us to see. It was good and I feel the ward council is beginning to trust us more which is going to be a great help. 

Anyway, I just realised we only have 5 minutes left on the computer so I better wrap this up.

I will let you know how Elder Dallin H Oaks goes. I nearly got to be in the choir but one of us has to be free to welcome our investigators so Elder Davies is singing instead.

Anyway, gotta run.

Love you all!!

Elder Mitchell

ps. I have a funny story to tell about Bishop Cooke from Clapham ward, (the guy in the mormon message from jamaica who talks all about the book of mormon) but it is another post-mission story haha!

Email 73 – 16 Sep

Hello everybody!!

So this week, there has not been too much that has happened, but a lot has happened, if that makes sense... It doesn't, does it? I know what I mean!

So, where to start...

Okay, first to let you know how everyone is doing quickly. Sonia is doing good, we saw her at youth night on thursday. She is being well fellowshipped by all the youth which is good to see. We haven't been able to see her this week apart from that though as her dad was back from Dubai, as we works there a lot and only gets to come back every now and then, so she wanted to spend time with him, which I think is reasonable. We will hopefully see her this week though.

Also, I don't know if I told you about Lucy. She is a born-again christian that we met the other week. We have met with her a few times now. She seems to have the mindset of, yes she wants to find out if "mormonism" is right, but if it isn't she wants us to know, which is interesting. She seems to be trying to prove us wrong on everything though. She studies everything we give her, but that comes back and brings all this "evidence" of how its wrong, for example the prophecy in Amos 8 about the great apostasy (well, dual prophesy) she studied and told us it isn't about the great apostasy, so as you can imagine that is difficult. She also can't accept the Godhead being 3 seperate beings (even though it is biblical) and she is hung up on how we believe we can become like God (even though it is biblical also), so yeah, we will see how that goes.

So other things that have happened this week.

On tuesday that Stake had a visit from Elder Hebertson and his wife, Elder Keiran and his wife, and Elder Dallin H Oaks and his wife. It was amazing and really inspirational. Elder Oaks is also really funny. He shared a story from his first visit (of only three) to the UK as an Apostle which was to Hull and he shared how a 10 year old girl gave him a letter which he read part of, but the end is the funniest. It read; "I know you are an Apostle because you are clean, and your head in shiny." But there was so much to get from what was shared, it was truly amazing. If I shared with you everything I got from it, this would be a seriously long email, and it wouldn't even do justice to how amazing the meeting was.

So that was really good, and yes I did get to shake Elder Oaks hand (crazy fangirl moment, I haven't washed my hand since... Joking!). 2 Aposltes down, another 10 to go! Haha!

Also on thursday we had a Zone Training which was really good. The best thing about it though was because of some news I got from on of the Assistant's Elder Curran. I don't know if you remember me mentioning a Blake Jones when I was back in Reading? He was the 13 year old boy, who had seen the book of mormon musical, and signed himself up to meet the missionaries. We lost contact with him for whatever reason. Well, it turns out that, we lost contact because his parents weren't too keen about him meeting with us, but he kept reading the Book of Mormon, he got right up to Helaman, and then somehow got back in contact with the missionaries and now his parents take him to church every sunday. So hearing that news made my day!

On saturday as well, we were supposed to have a Stake Sports Day, but it rained so it was a really poor attendance (really poor, there were more missionaries then members there). It was good fun though, we played some touch rugby in the rain, and my team won of course! The advantages of having a welshman (Elder Davies) and a South African on your team haha!

So yeah, that has been my week.

I love you all!

Elder Mitchell!

Email 74 – 23 Sep

Hey everybody!

It is a scary time for Elder Mitchell just now, the Sister missionaries from my group go home next week. It is a sure sign that my time is coming, and coming fast... uh oh.

So this week has been good. We have been working hard and have been able to teach a lot. Our teaching pool is slowly getting bigger as we have a few more people to work with. I wish I could tell you everything from this week, but we are getting low on time as we are meant to be meeting with the rest of the zone at Elephant and Castle (genuine place name, Elder Davies thought I was playing a trick on him when I told him we were meeting there) at 2pm and its currently 1.39pm so.... I better make this quick!

Just to let you know how everyone is doing. We haven't been able to see Sonia last week as she was busy, but hopefully we will see her at youth night on tuesday. She is still doing good and her cousin is encouraging her which is great.

Lucy, we haven't been able to see either as she was away at a wedding when we normally meet with her, but we have kept in contact and she is still reading the things that we have left for her which is good. Hopefully we will be able to see her this week.

A miracle to share this week. We were in a far out part of our area (so far out that we were nearly in another Stake) trying by a less-active. He wasn't interested, but we decided to knock some doors nearby. We found a house with 7 university students living there (there were 4 there at the time, we later found out there were 7) and the first girl we talked to, Rebecca, invited us to come back. So we went back on friday and we were able to meet with Rebecca. She had a friend that also lives there that wanted to meet with us but she wasn't there at the time. But we were able to teach Rebecca and share the restoration with her. She asked a lot of good questions which we were able to answer, and the spirit was really strong there. All of us felt the spirit it was incredible. She said she would love to find out more, so hopefully we will be able to see her later this week.

So that is all I can really say about this week (mainly because I am really out of time) but I hope you all have a good week.

Just a head's up, next week is the week of moves. I should be able to email quickly on monday, but if not don't panic.

Love you all!

Elder Mitchell

Elder Mitchell was fast approaching his 18 month mark.  I don’t normally include my emails in the blog, but I include this one and his response.

Dear Elder Mitchell,

 I know it’s not often I start my emails to you that way, but there’s a reason.  I’ve been thinking that very soon you will be out for longer than I was.  I’m not sure now if it was 19 months or 18 and a half that i was out for, but for two weeks I was the longest serving missionary in the mission, not even the mission president had been out longer than me!  Well the reason I’m telling you this is that I finally realised that I knew what it was to be a missionary but I was going home.  It seemed to me that it took me 18 months to figure it out but then it was too late.  Maybe I was a slow learner, maybe I was very shy and lacked the self confidence that others seemed to have in abundance (how else can missionaries get to be APs, Zone Leaders when they haven’t been out for very long?)  Either way, I’m telling you now you know all there is to know.  That’s not to say you wouldn’t learn things in the remaining months of your mission, but you know what it takes to be a missionary, you have found and taught and baptised.  I think one more and you will have had as many baptisms as I did.  I know it’s not a competition, but you can still do more.  You will be one of the senior missionaries of the mission – an elder statesman if you like, and the missionaries that have been out less than you will look up to you.  Always lift them up and tell them they can do it.  Be positive and joyful.  When your Mum and I were doing Amway or Kleeneze, they would say things like “You have a bar of gold you want to share, but when you do, they have their bar, but you still have yours.”  I know that that was due to the nature of the business plan they used, but it is also what the Gospel is about – you have something to share that is way beyond gold or jewels, but just because you share it and try and give it away, you don’t lose any of what you had, in fact it’s increased!  This is better than any worldly business plan or model!

 Go to, till the garden, work hard and thrust in your sickle with all your might that ye may lay up treasure in Heaven, not treasure that moth and rust corrupts, but treasures of brothers and sisters who have excepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who will be forever grateful that Elder Zachariah David John Mitchell knocked on their door.  They will praise your name forever and call you blessed!

Work hard, these last week months will fly by and before you know it, you will be standing at the steps of the Temple for the last time as a young missionary.  Don’t waste a minute of it.

Take care.  I know you are on the Lord’s errand and you are where you are meant to be.  Jesus is our Saviour and loves us.  All we need to do is to give him all our sins and follow him.  This is my testimony and I leave with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Love

Dad

Hey Dad,

thank you very much for your inspirational email, it is really uplifting and insightful. Yeah, its not too long before I will have served as long as you, you part-timer! haha I'm teasing. It is a scary time though as the sister missionaries in my group go home next week, shows me my time is coming, so I just have to work as hard as I can with the time I have left. John 9:4 comes to mind when I think how long I have left "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." it is so true, my days out here are numbered so I need to work as hard as I can, while I can.

I love you Dad, and I am ever grateful for your example by serving your mission all those years ago. I hope I am setting a good enough example for my future children.

Love you Dad

Elder Mitchell

Birthdays and baptisms...

Just a few lines reporting on his birthday....

Hey dad , I did have a good birthday thank you. I got the package from you guys, from Linda and dad, and the two packages from Becky, any others, they must have been sent to the office and I haven't got them yet but there is a conference on Tuesday so I should get them then.

It looks like you had a good time in Glasgow, I would like to go when I get back, but that can wait until next year.

Thanks for your emails and pictures and presents and everything.

I'll let you know about the baptism in my big email.

Love you

Elder Mitchell

Then his regular weekly email.

Hey everybody,

I hope this actually is my 68th email, I've lost count haha!

First of all, Cameron, I told you that you were coming to England London south! Haha! Congrats on your call, see you in a few months!

S the highlight of this week is that Tara got baptized on Saturday! I was a great service and there was a great support from the ward and a good turn out. The water was apparently freezing but it was okay for me as I was just witnessing, it was elder coons doing the baptism. I got to confirm her on Sunday too which was good. She was really excited though. I would attach photos but the computers at the chapel weren't working so we are currently at the senior couples, elder and sister Hom, and they let us use their iPads which is fun haha. I'll try and get photos sent soon.

Other then that, I have some, quite sad, but I guess also good news. Elder coons health wise is not doing too good. He has been talking to president and he will be going home at the end of this transfer. He is getting an honorable release though, because he tried to push himself to work this week, but it made him worse. So he is going home at the end of the transfer and I will be getting a new companion.

Thankfully though I have not spent too much of the time in the flat, our district leader has been able to come through a few times which has been helpful. Because of that we have just been able to get 20 lessons this week which is good.

I'm not sure how well this week will go, as president has told elder coons to take it easy this week, but I will keep myself busy.

Well thank you all again for the birthday cards and presents and everything. I love you all so much.

Elder Mitchell 

It's his birthday.....

I asked how his companion was doing and Elder Mitchell replied:

Hey Dad, Elder Coons is doing okay. We were al least able to go out and do some work this week. And our district leader was able to come and do splits with us twice last week, which really helped our numbers for the week haha!

That is exciting stuff to hear. It is good to hear people are coming back. And yes Becky has told me about her going out with the sisters and her helping them which is great! :) Hopefully the work will pick up a lot quicker back at your end :)

Down here, July was the highest baptising month for this mission in the last two years!!! Plus so far in August we already have 8 baptisms as a mission, with 18 scehduled for baptism next week, and 30 something the week after, so the work really is hastening. Hope that that news can help your missionaries (in livi I mean) get excited too, as it isnt a competition between missions, we are all on the same team!

Love you Dad

Elder Mitchell

His regular email follows:

Hey Everybody,

first off, thank you to all of you who sent an email, letter or package to wish me happy birthday. For all of you who forgot, it is tomorrow, so feel bad for not wishing me happy birthday! Just kidding! :)

Well this week has been good. Elder Coons still isn't feeling too great, but we have at least been able to get out a lot more then the previous week. It has also been helpful as our district leader and his companion came through for a workover on saturday, so with their help we got 14 lessons in 1 day! so that boosted our numbers quite well.

Tara is still doing great. Everything is set for her baptism on saturday! We are just getting the last few bits and pieces organised for it but it is all going ahead. The ward is also really excited as it is their first baptism since november last year, so the ward are really supportive. Hopefully Tara will get her friends to come along as well, that would be great!

Well other than that, again there isn't really much to tell, except we have a few more people we can potentially work with so that will be exciting.

Also, keep Elder Coons in your prayers, as he has to go for an MRI scan on wednesday.

Hope you all have a good week.

Love you all!!

Elder Mitchell

You may remember...................

Elder Mitchell had an eventful last moves.  He sent a picture of his suit case.  Here it is.......

What did he do to it?

Elder Mitchell and the month of July

Monday 15 July 2013

Hello everyone!!!

Sorry I didn't send this email on monday, we didn't have much time but at least now I can tell you for sure where I am this next transfer. The news is, I am staying in Wandsworth with Elder Coons.

So this last week and few days has been quite good. Since monday we have been in a tri as a missionary in Mitcham goes home this transfer so His companion Elder Sorenson has been with us. It has been good fun being in a tri again, but kind of awkward street contacting etc. His new companion comes today though so things will be back to normal after tonight.

Main thing that happened this week. We had a member ask us to come do service with him for a less-active called Joyce. We helped her weed her garden which was fun (except the heat) it was good though, she is a really nice lady and she really wants to come back to church which is great. She also has a 9 year-old girl named Tara who is not baptised. When we saw her last week and asked if she was baptised, we asked if she would like to and she said yes. She really wants to come out to church too as she remembers how fun it was when she was younger. We are seeing them again tonight so hopefully that will go well.

We got to see Ruth and Lisa again last week. Ruth's boyfriend was there as well. He seems a really cool guy, and he has met with missionaries before and even has a polish Book of Mormon, but he doesn't want to properly take the lessons yet as he says when he does he wants to be able to put his all into it, which is a good thing I guess. We were hoping to see them again earlier this week but we haven't been able to yet.

Joyce (our investigator) is doing well. She is still not very well, which is preventing her coming to church but since we first started meeting with her she looks a whole lot better, and both me and Elder Coons believe that she will get there eventually.

Felix is interesting. We are still trying to work out how serious he is about the church. He still came on sunday, and he was there yesterday when we saw his member friend, but he doesn't seem to take things seriously. He might just come to support his friend. We will try and work that out though.

Apart from that we have just really been doing a lot of finding. We need people who are going to make progress, but we only seem to be able to find people that we see once or twice and then they flog us. We will keep going though.

Well that is all I can think to tell you about my week. The only other thing I can think of to tell is that the whole of wimbledon seems to be going Andy Murray crazy after sunday (yes I found out he won, which well done to him). As you can hopefully see by the attached photo, they really have taken it too far.

I hope you are getting some nice weather back home. It's too hot down here, I'm dying! It was apparently 27 degrees on sunday, 27!!!! that's like alomst 27 degrees hotter then what I'm used to! I'm kidding, but it is ridiculously hot.

Well I hope you all have a good week.

I love you all!!!

Elder Mitchell

Monday 15 July 2013

Hello everybody!!

Greetings from what currently feels like the hottest part of the planet! (It's over 30 degrees, I start to melt when it gets to 25!...)

I'm trying to think what has happened in the last 4 days since I last emailed...

I guess the bast place to start is Joyce are Tara. We got to see them on wednesday which was really good. We had a really good lesson with them. It went really well. We have invited them to pray about a date for Tara to be baptised and we have been doing the same. They weren't able to come to church on sunday unfortunately as Joyce had to work, but she has changed her work pattern so she gets sundays off, so next week she should be here which will be great!

The other Joyce is doing okay. She is still struggling a little bit with her health. We are just trying to help her recognise if she is getting an answer to her prayers about baptism. She has been taught everything before by the sisters, but we are just going through everything again.

Felix is doing okay, he seems really eager to meet with us, and has invited us over to his house, without his member friend there, so he is opening up a bit more. He was at church on sunday as well. We are still not too sure about how serious he is though, but hopefully this next week or so we will be able to work that out.

Ruth and Lisa are doing good. They came to church as well on sunday. Ruth is moving back to Spain though as she has family that she needs to help look after, but she will be back in london once a month. Hopefully we can still work with Lisa though.

Yesterday we had a really good talk with our Bishop though. We just talked about goals for the ward for this year, and how we can help the work progress. That is something we are going to focus on, is working with the Bishop and the Ward and help them with their missionary work. Whether it is Home Teaching, or taking them on teaches with us, or them inviting investigators over for dinner or whatever, we will try and work out. We will probably try everything, just to see what works and what doesn't. Hopefully we will see some success from it.

Well that is about it that I can think of.

Hope you all have a good week.

Love you all

Elder Mitchell

Monday 22 July 2013

Hey everybody!!!

hope you are all doing well and enjoying the "lovely" summer we are having. I only put that in quotation marks because everyone says it is lovely but when you have to go around in shirt and tie its not so nice. Having said that the other day I saw my first cloudy day in about a month! It was still hot though.

So we have a bit a great news this week. Tara has a baptismal date for the 10th of August! We saw her on wednesday and had a great lesson with her and her mum, and invited her to be baptised on that date. It is amazing as they said that was around the time they were thinking of for her to be baptised, so I guess it is meant to be :) They both came to church on sunday too which was great!

Another Miracle we had this week, was with Ruth and her boyfriend. We got a call from Ruth saying her and Mikel (I dunno how to spell his name put its the polish version of Michael) had a long talk and he would like to get baptised was basically what came out of it. So we met with both of them the other day and had a good lesson with them. The unfortunate thing is that Mikel lives in north london so we can't teach him. We are hoping to at least refer him on to the missionarires in his area though.

So just to catch you up with our other investigators: Joyce we were really pushing to come to church yesterday, but she wasn't sure how she would feel healthwise, So we said we would call her on saturday to see how she felt. We tried calling and she didn't answer. I just hope we didn't push her too much, maybe she just isn't fit enough to come to church just yet.

Lisa and Felix both came to church yesterday which was good. Lisa came with Ruth for just sacrament and Felix came for the whole thing. We are hopefully going to see them both next week but I am not too sure due to events I will explain later.

Tomorrow we have our multi-zone conference in Crawley, its the first one I have been to in the east, I have always been out west or stuck in the middle so it'll be different. It should be good though.

Can I ask that you all keep Elder Coons in your prayers this week. He is still having problems with his stomach and this week (on wednesday) he has to go in for a procedure (I won't scar you with the details, I'm sure you can imagine) so just pray that all will go well and that they will find out what is wrong with him, as he has had this problem for 4 months now.

So that's about it from me this week. I'm trying to think of something whitty I can end my email with but I've got nothing.

Have a good week.

I love you all

Elder Mitchell

Monday 29 July 2013

Hi everyone,

So there isn't really much to tell you about from this week, it has been quite tough.

Elder Coons had his procedure on wednesday, they found some small ulsers in his bowels, but they also found that he has chrons disease. They have put him on medication for now, but it is likely that he will be on medication for the rest of his life. He has taken it pretty hard, and he is considering going home. We have spent most of the week in the flat though, due to him not feeling well, which I totally understand, but I'm getting a little frsutrated with being stuck in the flat with nothing else to do. I think I have solved my Rubik's cube about a gazillion times out of sheer boredem.

So due to that we have not been able to do much work. It has been a little frustrating for me, but there is not much else that I can do.

Tara and her mum made it to church yesterday though which was good. And Lisa and Ruth made it there as well. It was our Ward Conference which was good. The Stake presidency talked a lot about member missionary work which was really good. Hopefully it will get the ward excited about missionary work.

Other then that, nothing much has happened, except for our multi-zone conference on tuesday which was good. It was great to be gathered with all the other missionaries and to see all my friends, like Elder Bendall, and also to see Elder Pettersen one last time before he goes home next month. It was really good and really inspiring.

Well sorry this email is so short, but there is nothing much really to talk about.

I will keep you posted about the situation with Elder Coons.

I love you all

Elder Mitchell

Various photos of Elder Mitchell on his mission

Finally got round to adding some more photos.  You can see more if you search for Elder Mitchell on Facebook

Elder Mitchell in front of the London Temple with Elder Martin

The River Avon running through the City of Bath.  I remember this view well as I was serving in Bath on my mission and was there for 5 months

Elder Mitchell and Elder Holmes - companions

Name tags

Zone Conference

P day (Preparation day) and the missionaries went bowling.  Strange to think that over 30 years before, Elder Mitchell's father went bowling in the same bowling alley

The zone in the Paighton area

Elder Mitchell with The Thames and Tower Bridge behind him

Major catch up

I hadn't realised I had left it so long, sorry about that.

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!