Elder Mitchell's Mission to Tennessee: Praying For Miracles

In front of his apartment

Hola,

This week, Elder A and I were praying really hard to see miracles this week, so here's how it went: Monday night we tried to meet with O. He wasn't home, so we were a little bummed, but then, we ran into him on the street! He invited us back for the next night. We tried him again, and he didn't have time that night, but invited us back for Thursday. So finally, on Thursday, we try him, and he told us a bit of bad news. He just found out that his friend was killed, and I guess they were pretty close. We were going to try to talk about the Plan of Salvation, but he didn't really have time again. So, when we try him tonight, we are hoping to have an actual lesson with him. I've heard of Satan throwing opposition on people investigating the church, but hopefully this will be something that softens his heart to the gospel.

This week, we didn't have a chance to meet with the V family, although we talked for a minute at their door. They did tell us that they were reading, which was awesome! This week we did meet with H again. We were able to re-cover the law of chastity, and teach him the word of wisdom. He told us that he never wants to do drugs, and that even though he used to drink coffee, he won't ever drink it again. Whooh! We are doing everything we can to get him ready by the 28th. H told us this week that he knows the church is true! He said he feels so much peace at church, and he opened up to us about his family. He has a kid that lives in Kentucky who is a member, and his grandkids are all members too. It will be awesome for their family when H is baptized.

This week our finding efforts were much more successful. We found a couple new investigators this week, as well as re-contacted a guy who hadn't been seen in about half a year. He remembered who we were and invited us in. We were able to teach him the Restoration again, and he invited us back for next Saturday. One of our new investigators is E. She is the wife of the less active O that we found when we found G. We have determined that G doesn't actually live there, but we are trying to reactivate O, as well as teach E.

On Sunday we had a combined sacrament meeting with the English ward, because it was the primary program! It was weird being back in an English ward, but the program was nice, and the little kids were super funny. Unfortunately, H wasn't able to come to church this week, but we knew that was a possibility with the weird schedule. We hope that he's able to come to Stake Conference next week.

The other news this week is that my Spanish is becoming noticeably better. I'm understanding a lot lot more, and I feel so much more confident now, which is good, because we found out that I'm going to be running the area for a day on exchanges next week. That'll be fun. This week when we had dinner with the S family, they had a friend over named S. He told us about he had moved here from Guatamala 15 years ago, and still didn't know hardly any English. Then he asked us how long we had been studying Spanish. When Elder A told him 9 months he was shocked. Then I told him 3 months and his mouth dropped. He was stunned. So, it was a nice confidence builder.

I saved the best for last. This week we did have a kind of mini miracle. This week we were able to meet M. We have been trying to meet with her for over a month, but nobody ever answered the door. So, we were super pumped when she answered her door! We talked with her a little on her doorstep. She started taking the missionary lessons in 2012. She is super accepting of everything, and has been taught all the lessons. The problem is her husband. He is super anti against the church, and doesn't want M to join the church. He has also been telling their kids a bunch of bad stuff against the church, so he's been kind of a problem. One of their daughters was baptized after she moved out of the house. M told us about how she would read the Book of Mormon outside so that her husband wouldn't know. We asked if we could come back and set a return appointment with her. Then, something crazy happened. As we were walking back to our bikes, the husband came out and yelled to us, "Hey, you guys coming to teach M?" We told him yes, that we were coming back on Monday night. He said, "Ok, I'll be here! I've never really done this before, but this time I'm gonna listen to you guys!" As he went back in, Elder A and I just stared at each other. We couldn't believe it. We don't know what is different with him now, but I know that the Lord works in his own time and in his own ways.

We've got a little momentum now, and we are hoping for another great week here in Smyrna. Hope you all have a good week!

Love,
Elder Mitchell