Elder Mitchell's Mission to Tennessee: Zone Conference with Zwick!

Hola!

Well, we had quite an interesting week. The biggest news is that this last Wednesday I got to go to my first Zone Conference! The conference consisted of the Murfreesboro, Franklin, and McMinville zones, and was held in the Smyrna building which was super nice. We had the special opportunity to have Elder Zwick of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy visit our conference. We all got to shake hands with him. He also speaks fluent Spanish, which was pretty cool. He taught a looooooot of stuff to us, but his main message was to shorten our lessons. Missionaries have a tendency to teach too much and ramble. Elder Zwick taught us that we need to "Simplify and Intensify". It was a great conference, and we learned a ton from him.

This week we weren't able to meet with H, but he did come to church. We were able to teach him about tithing and fasting during Gospel Principles, which went really well. As for our other investigators, we weren't able to meet with E, or M. We tried M a couple of times this week, but it just didn't work out. We also weren't able to meet with the V family again, but they did tell us that they were still reading in the Book of Mormon. In spite of our missed appointments, we were able to find some new investigators. One of those was D. He lives in the same house as J, one of the new investigators we found last week. We were trying to see J, but he wasn't home, but D let us come right in. It was confusing though, because D and J look very similar, so Elder A thought that they were the same person. So, Elder A started following up on the reading assignment we gave him, and D just looked super confused. So finally I just asked if he was J, and we got that straightened out. We had a great lesson with him though! We taught him the whole Restoration, and the spirit was great. He wondered if there could really be another prophet after the Bible times, but we taught him how he could pray to find out. And, at the end of the lesson, he gave a great prayer! Way cool.

As for other news, my bike tube popped again for the second time this transfer (incidentally, it was on the way to J, so, Satan be trying to stop us, but he can't). Not sure if we can just patch it, because we haven't had a chance to look at it fully yet. Also, we'll be having exchanges tomorrow, so that'll be fun. I'm going to be running the area for a day with a comp that doesn't know Spanish, so it'll be great! Also, I forgot to mention that this last week, we had a lesson with O! We read part of Alma 40 with him, and talked about the Resurrection and the spirit world, in light of his friend recently passing away. He told us that everything that we were teaching just made sense, and he just immediately accepted everything, which was cool. We also extended a baptismal invitation to him, and he accepted! We are still trying to figure out a date for him though. We also invited him to come to church, and he said he would! Whooh!

This week we also had a branch activity for the "Día de pavo" (day of turkey). I ate so much meat! Great turkey, ham, chicken, it was great. The members had a great time as well. It was also really great because we got to meet a ton of less actives. They won't come to church, but they'll come to a party! We'll be working on the getting to church part, but it was great to have so many people in the building.

Speaking of less actives, we met one this week, C. We contacted her, and wanted to meet with us, but she lives by herself, so we couldn't go into the house. We are trying to get a member to come with us when we try her again this week. The cool part was that during Sacrament meeting, with about 20 minutes left, in walks C! Maybe she just needed a reminder to come back, but hopefully we'll be able to see her come for all three hours next week.

Lastly, just some stuff from my studies. Last week my ponderize scripture was Moroni 8:16, "Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear." Sometimes, missionaries (and members) can be afraid to open their mouths and tell people about the Gospel. But, as we have charity for others, we will desire their happiness, and God will give us the courage we need. This week, President Andersen asked us to ponderize D&C 4, so that's what I'll be doing. This week during my studies, I felt prompted to study the story of Naaman. As you'll recall, Naaman was the captain of the guard for Syria, and he was also a leper. He sought the help of the prophet Elisha to be healed, but when he asked what to do he got an unexpected answer: go wash in the river Jordan seven times. Naaman was appalled by the thought of washing in such a dirty river, and refused to do it. Finally his servant said to him, "Look, if Elisha had said to go do some great task, you would've done it right? So why don't you just go wash in this river?" After humbling himself, Naaman washed and was made clean. I thought about the missionary lesson from this. If the Lord had asked us to go do some great task (like, baptize everyone you see) then we would do it! But, that's not what the Lord asks of us. He simply asks that we work 7 days a week, doing our best, and as we do so he will clean and sanctify us, and bless us with success.

Sorry that was really long, but a lot happened this week! We are hoping for another busy week here in Smyrna! Hope y’all have a great week too!

Love,
Elder Mitchell