Addlestone Ward Family Home Evening

Hey everyone!!!

I am starting to hope I have miscounted somewhere and this really isn't my 85th email, it is getting scary haha!

Well I hope you all have had a good week. Our week has been a mixed week, full of fun and games (not really fun and games, we have been working hard, but it has been interesting)

So the week started great. We had a ward family home evening, that was better announced at church on sunday than it was attended, but that it no problem, we still had quite a few of us there (10 if you include us 4 Elders). We were doing the lesson, so we did it all about faith, and I set up a maze of chairs they had to navigate while blindfolded, and they had to listen to their guide and have faith that they would guide them the right way. It was fun and went well. No one was hurt, which is always a bonus.

This week we did have some better luck with seeing some of our investigators. First, we were able to get back in touch with Justin, which was good. We lost contact with him again for a while, but we should be able to see him again tomorrow. We also got back into contact with Osa, but we haven't been able to see him yet.

We were able to see Crystal again on friday which was good. She has been doing a lot of reading which is great! She has already finished 1 Nephi, which is amazing! She has been going through and making notes too which is great! We did invite her to church on sunday, but she couldn't make it. She did say though, since meeting us she is praying a lot more than she used to. She used to only pray and ask for help, but now she prays even when things are well which is good.

We also have a new investigator called Innocent. We met him a few weeks ago, but we weren't able to arrange a specific time to meet him. But we saw him again on saturday, and he says he has been reading the Book of Mormon that we gave him, and he has some questions about it, that he will ask us next time, as he has them written down. So we will be seeing him on saturday and going with him to our ward Christmas party which should be fun.

Something I learned this week is that the adversary will do anything he can to get in the way of this work, even if it involves messing with some plumbing... So, since we moved to the flat the bath has had trouble draining water, and over the last week is gradually got worse until it wouldn't drain completely until about 3-4pm (after we finished using it around 7.30ish). So we called the office, and between them and the landlady they brought out a plumber. He managed to clear the blockage and it was draining great, and then the next morning, Elder Tidwell got out of the shower and stepped into half an inch of water all over our bathroom floor... So the Plumber had to come back again on saturday and he spent all morning and part of the afternoon tearing out our bathroom to find where the water was coming from, and he had to replace the whole pipe. So that took out a chunk of time this week.

So yeah, we have had quite an up and down week, but we are working hard, even though its cold, and gets dark at about 4... which is annoying. people keep telling us that we should knock on their doors so late, we are like "it's only 4.30!" its funny. We had someone threaten to call the police on us the other day, which I shouldn't laugh about, but it is just funny.

Well I hope you all have a good week!

Attached is some photos of my maze from last weeks Ward F.H.E

Love you all!!

Elder Zach Mitchell

December's here!

Hey everyone!!!! 

I hope you have all had a good week!! December is officially here! I have no idea where the other 11 months went, but alas we are here now! I hope you are all getting excited for Christmas, but at the same time remember the true meaning of Christmas.

This week has had ups and downs if I am honest. We haven't really been able to meet with any of our investigators sadly, so we have spent a lot of time trying to find more. At the start of the week it all seemed to be going well and we found 3 new investigators this week, but the weekend was pretty tough. No one we spoke to wanted to listen and we got quite discouraged. It is a new week though so we will move on and work hard.

We had a great Zone Conference on friday which was great! We had a visit from Elder and Sister Teixeira which was great! there shared some really inspirational ideas with us, and they gave us a lot of encouragement and advise. (obviously the adversary didn't like that as it was after that conference that the week got tough). It was a great conference though, and I got to see quite a lot of the missionaries from my MTC group which was great!!

I wish there was more to tell you from this week, but we haven't been able to meet with any of our investigators like I said, so it is difficult to tell you how they are doing. We did get three new investigators this week though, so we will see how that goes.

Well I hope you all have a good week.

I love you all!

Elder Zach Mitchell

P-day Activity, Visit to Brooklands

Elder Mitchell loves his F1 and any sporting activity - he got to visit Brooklands recently.

Elders Darcey and Mitchell

Hey Dad, I'm glad you've had a good trip and have travelled safe. I'm sure it must have been great seeing everyone.

Glad you got to attend church in Norwich again. That is what I loved about serving in Reading, is that the building reminded me of Norwich.

I had laready heard that Elder Riki was an AP, he has been for a while haha.

I'm not going to even comment on Mathew's hair...

Oh, guess who I met on friday at Zone Conference, do you remember an Elder Darcy fro Dublin, he served his mini mission in Livi with Elder Neilson. He met and I asked him where he was from and so he asked me (I said Edinburgh because no one knows where livingston is) and he was like "where about's in Edinburgh?" so I told him Livingston and then it clicked and he was like "Are you Bishop Mitchell's son?" He says he loved serving in Livingston, and he was telling me how great a ward mission leader you were, which I already knew. I have a picture that I'll try and attach.

Love you Dad!

Elder Zach Mitchell

Monday 25th November

Hello everyone!!

I hope you are all doing well and have had a good week!

Mine has had some high and low points, but that is life I suppose, so I won't complain.

So I guess I will just run you through everyone we are working with.

Justin, we were able to get in contact with, and we meant to meet with him, but he hasn't been well these last few weeks so we weren't able to get to see him. Osa, we were kinda able to see him, but it was hectic at his place and we weren't really able to teach anything. Steven we were hoping to see this week also, but he had some family stuff he needed to sort out. He did text us on saturday night asking if he could come to church with us on sunday though, but sunday morning he text again and said he wouldn't be able to make it. And finally Charles...

We managed to get a member to come with us to see him on tuesday, and the member we picked remembers going to see Charles 6 years ago with the missionaries... The member told us in advance all his reasons for not reading or praying or anything, and Charles brought up the same reasons why he wasn't able to read or pray. Anyway, the next day, we got a call from Charles asking if we could stop by at some point that day, so we went by and he basically told us he didn't want to meet with us anymore. He wasn't reading the Book of Mormon because it didn't interest him and he wasn't praying because he says he physically can't pray (except he says the Islam prayers fine). Anyway, he said that he doesn't want to waste our time, so sadly he dropped us. Never mind. It happens.

One good thing about this week though is that we met a girl called Crystal. We taught her on friday and it was a really good teach. She seemed really interested in the Book of Mormon and in finding out more. It was funny though as when we told her about the first vision, she said she had heard it before from this tv show ages ago that was just back talking all religions, and of course, as they do they took a dig at us. It was funny though, her telling us some of the things they said about Mormons, it was so ridiculous that you just had to laugh at it! but we should be seeing her next friday.

So yesterday we had our primary presentation which was really good. It is always great to hear the children bear their little testimonies in their own little way. It was good to hear all the primary songs I remember from singing them when I was in primary (all those years ago).

So, as I promised last week, here are the 10 things we as members can do to help the missionaries without giving them a referral (note these are from Elder Walker, with my own insights added):

1. Learn the names of the Missionaries in the Ward. I know for myself this is a big help to the missionaries, as for me there is nothing worse than someone on sunday coming to shake your hand and having to look at your badge before they actually say your name, so I agree with this.

2. Pray for the Missionaries in the Ward by name.

3. Pray for Missionary experiences. If you pray for them, they will come. Big or small, pray for an opportunity to share the gospel.

4. Feed the Missionaries. I am sure all Missionaries will agree with me on this one. 

5. In Sacrament Meetings, look for those you don't know, and introduce themselves. The signs on the front of our chapels say "Visitors Welcome" we need to make them feel welcome, whether they are less-active members who haven't been for a while, or someone who has never been before, make them feel welcome.

6. Invite the Missionaries to teach you and your family the Missionary lessons. Sometimes it is difficult for Missionaries to get a proper sit down teach, so they need practice.

7. Offer to fellowship investigators and new members. Many times, us Missionaries struggle to think of somehow who would be good to fellowship our investigators when they come to church, so if you offer to help, it will be much appreciated. 

8. Offer your home for Missionaries to teach investigators in. Allowing and investigator into your home will help them to feel the spirit more, as your home will be somewhere that the spirit can more easily enter.

9. Decide not to be so shy about sharing the gospel. Just make the decision not to be shy.

10. Offer to take investigators to the Temple and Visitor's Centre. I know this one does not necessarily apply to all of us as nto all of us have a temple nearby, but for those who don't you can start by regularly attending the temple as much as your circumstances allow, to show the Lord that you want a temple nearer to your home. (that is my personal opinion anyway, I don't know if it works like that, but no harm in trying right?)

Well, if there was more time, I would tell you about last P-days activity, and attach some photos, but I am short on time, so maybe next week.

I hope the 10 steps are helpful.

I love you all!!!

Elder Zach Mitchell

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