Feliz Navidad and Star Wars

Christmas Eve dinner at Panda

Buenos!

First off, I hope you all had a wonderful and Merry Christmas! The work was a little slow here this week, but we still had fun getting ready for Christmas. This week we weren't able to meet with R, and MJ and G were sick all week, so we didn't see them either. But, we were able to have a good lesson with J. We read through Alma 36 with him, which talks about the repentance process that Alma the Younger went through. J really related well to it, he kept asking us questions and saying, "I'm just like Alma!" So hopefully he'll start making some more changes in his life soon.

A big highlight from this week was our Christmas Zone Conference. We had a combined conference with the Knoxville and Cookeville zones, so there was a good sized crowd. President and Sister Griffin gave trainings, then we had a testimony meeting. After lunch we got to play dodgeball, which was a lot of fun. Then, as a Christmas treat, we got to watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens! So that was pretty awesome, I liked it.

Christmas was pretty good. Sacrament meeting was interesting, since we only had about a third of the branch there. Plus, instead of having speakers, they just wanted to have a Christmas program filled with lots of congregational hymns. But with our small group, the singing was....mmm...bad, yup, it was pretty bad, but we still had a good time haha. Skyping was great, it was so good to see y’all! We ended up having Christmas dinner with this older less-active couple, the Ms. They stuffed us pretty good, and I got plenty of ham, so I was good. I hope y'all had a great Christmas too!

My ponderizer this week is Isaiah 9:6 which says, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." I'm so grateful for the fact that Christ was born, to be our savior. He is wonderful, He is mighty, and only though Him can we find peace. I hope y'all had a Merry Christmas, and that you have a happy New Years!

Love,
Elder Mitchell

His fortune at Panda

Bowhunting with J

Caroling/Cookie Delivery to less-actives in the branch

with the sisters and the senior couple

Since they didn't have a Christmas tree, 

this was their Christmas wall :)

Christmas dinner at the M's house

The M's dog

Trying to give out a #LighttheWorld card

Walking in LC

White Christmas!

A random wheelchair they found??

Buenos!

Today I want to start out with a shout out to my boys down in Dalton, Elders M, R, and F. A couple weeks before I left Dalton, Elder M and I found and began teaching a lady named L, and she was just so prepared to hear the gospel. Over the last few weeks, the other elders have continued to work with her, and on Saturday she was baptized! Whoo! I got to skype in for a minute just before the baptism and say hi, and it was just so awesome to see L dressed in white. It was incredible to see how much L's faith has grown, and the big steps that she had to make to get there. I'm proud of her, and proud of the work my boys put in, and for getting it done! Whoo!

This week we have been working a lot with J. Bro. E and another member, Bro. H, took us out to an early Christmas lunch this week, and they brought J along too. We had a fun time together, and we even opened up some early Christmas gifts. Bro. E and Bro. H are both from Kentucky, so we ended up with some UK gear, haha. Later in the week we met with J again, and we ended up having to reteach some things about the word of wisdom. J has this attitude where he won't go out and buy drugs, but if somebody offers him something, he's not going to say no. So, we'll have to keep working with him on that.

Also this week, we had another great visit with MJ and G, and taught them the Plan of Salvation. It was going pretty well, until one of MJ's roommates came out and tried to bash with us, trying to use the whole "add and take away from the Bible" argument. But, we handled it pretty well, and it actually turned into a good chance to teach MJ and G about opposition. We committed them to come to church, and they actually came! It was awesome, G  loved primary, and MJ really connected with some of the members. It was great.

This week my ponderizer comes from Mosiah 3:5, 8, 9, "For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay...And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning...And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name." During the Christmas season, we celebrate Christ's birth. But, let us also remember why he came, to die for us, that salvation might come unto us, through faith in Him. Have a Merry Christmas!

Love,
Elder Mitchell

Skyping with L at her baptism!

Bonfire with J (to burn his drugs)

Lunch with Br. H, Br. E, and J

District pictures at Walmart

Be a Light!

Buenos!!!

Oh my, what a week it has been! There's been a lot that's happened this week, so buckle up, this email will be LONG. First off, our p-day this week was changed to Wednesday, because we had a half-mission conference with Elder Brent H. Nielson of the 70! (Who is the director of the church missionary department). But before the conference, we had a pretty crazy week. This week we have seen a lot of negatives, and it would have been really easy for us to only focus on those. The week before, Elder C was sick, and then this week I got it, so that was fun. Plus, we have really been struggling to find new people to teach lately (you'd be surprised how many people aren't willing to watch a two minute video about Christ/accept a 2''x3'' Christmas card). But, between all the struggles, the Lord is really blessing us with little miracles!

We are still continuing to meet with J, and it's been...interesting. He brought up that since he started meeting with us, his seizures have been getting worse, and there's just been a lot more opposition in his life. We also noticed that he had been drinking/smoking this last week, so we felt like we needed to move ahead and teach him about the word of wisdom. It was a disaster. He definitely did not accept it very well, and I thought, "Well why would God have prompted us to do that?" We went back a few days later, and it was much better. After teaching him the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson, he told us, "You know, I've been thinking a lot about what y'all said the other day, and y'all are right. Next time y'all come over, we'll make a big ol' fire and we'll burn all the stuff I got." So, tomorrow we're going to go have a campfire to get rid of all his drugs and stuff haha. Anyways, he's continuing to make steps.

Even though we've been struggling to find people from our own efforts, the Lord blessed us with two solid referrals this week! We have a teenage recent convert in our branch, C, who is just on fire with the gospel right now. This week he referred us to his friend G, and G's mom, MJ. Oh man, they are just incredible, and so prepared for the gospel. MJ has been through a lot in her life, and in our first visit with her, we just testified of the atonement and the power it can bring in our lives. It was awesome. Then, just this Monday, we taught her and Grant about the Restoration, and they loved it. The spirit was just so strong, and we committed them to be baptized on January 21st! Whoo!

The weekend got pretty crazy. Friday night, we had our branch Christmas dinner/party, and it was lots of fun! G actually came with C, and he really enjoyed it. Then, on Saturday and Sunday, we had Stake Conference, and Elder Nielson was there for that. I really enjoyed his message that right now is the best time in history to be a Latter-day Saint, ever. We have more members, missionaries, stakes, and temples than we have ever had before. He talked about how we cannot even foresee the destiny of this kingdom. He then showed a video about the growth of the church from 1830 when we started with only 6 members, to the present day when we have 16 million. It was so powerful. Elder Nielson also talked a lot about conversion, and how we need to "lay down our weapons of rebellion." 

Then finally, yesterday, we had a half-mission conference with Elder and Sister Nielson, along with the Knoxville, Cumberland, Chattanooga, and Cookeville zones. I got to see lots of old friends, including Elder M and Elder R (his old trio companions). It was a fun reunion. We learned a lot from Elder Nielson. He taught us a lot about the redeeming and enabling powers of the atonement. I really loved what he said that we are never done with using either the redeeming or enabling power. We need to constantly be using them both! We also talked a lot about the best ways to find new investigators, and a lot of it was using recent converts and less-active members as referral gold-mines. We also had a great Q&A session at the end. It seemed like every time I would think of something to ask, somebody else would ask the same question! Overall, it was incredible meeting, and we learned a ton.

My ponderizer this week is Ether 6:3, "And thus the Lord caused stones to shine in darkness, to give light unto men, women, and children, that they might not cross the great waters in darkness." This week, I have to give a shout out to our branch mission leader, Bro. E. One afternoon this week we were doing some tracting in a neighborhood not too far from J's trailer. The street we were on was at the top of the hill, and from there we could look down and see J's trailer. Well, as we looked, we noticed someone outside talking to Johnny, and we recognized that it was indeed Bro. E. Bro. E also had an open pair of scriptures, and we could tell that he and J were reading together, and E was expounding the scriptures, helping J to understand them. Wow. I can't say enough about this, it was awesome. Here was a member that saw a need, a person who needs help, and who went out of his way and did it. Not because the missionaries asked him to. Not because the bishop/branch president/other church leader asked him to. He simply went and did it. The Lord is preparing all of us to be lights to our fellow brothers and sisters so that they will not cross the great waters of life in darkness. I invite you all to ponder this, and think about how you can be a light to someone who needs the gospel in their life. Then, go out and do it. Don't wait for your bishop/leaders or anyone else to ask you, just go find it, and do it! Light the world! I love you all so much, and I apologize for the ridiculous length of this email. I hope y'all have an incredible week! 

Love,
Elder Mitchell 

At the branch Christmas party

At stake conference

At the half-mission conference 

with his old trio companions and their trainee

Pictures from around Lenoir City

Drippin' and Droppin'

Down by the river

Buenos,

Well, winter weather is settling in here in Lenoir City. Things are getting colder, and we've gotten LOTS of rain this week. It's a blast. We didn't have the best week, but, not every week can be perfect. Lately we've struggled to find new people to teach, and on top of that, P dropped us this week after talking with his pastor about the Book of Mormon...ugh. On a better note, we were able to see R this week, and he is still progressing well, and he was at church again! Also this week, we participated in the worldwide day of service as part of the church Christmas initiative. We helped one of our older investigators, a different R, by cleaning out his gutters. He was really appreciative, and even took us to lunch the next day!

Honestly though, the highlights this week were our two visits with our investigator J. For the first one, we had our branch mission leader Bro. E with us, and he was able to develop a pretty good friendship with him. We talked a lot about his Book of Mormon reading. He is absolutely tearing through the Book of Mormon. He usually reads 3-5 chapters a day, and he has to read it over a few times before he understands it. He was just kind of jumping around, but ultimately he ended up in 3rd Nephi reading about the Savior's ministry among the Nephites. He said it "inspired" him, and that he wanted to be a better person. It was super cool to hear him talk about how much he already loves the Book of Mormon.

Our second visit this week was even better! We taught J about the Plan of Salvation, and it just answered so many of his questions! He also opened up to us about some challenges he is having right now, and it was just so powerful to be able to testify to him about the power of the atonement. Then at the end of the lesson, (keep in mind we hadn't even brought up baptism at all) he asks, "So, how does the whole baptizing thing work? Cuz well, I want to be baptized!" What?!?!?! It'll be a long road to get him there, but we are really excited about him!

My ponderizer this week is Moroni 7:19 which says, "Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ." Not only do we need to search diligently in Christ's light, but we need to share diligently the light of Christ. We will emanate the light of Christ as we lay hold upon every good thing. As Mormon explains in the rest of this chapter, we lay hold on every good thing by developing faith, hope, and charity. So strengthen your faith, have hope, and share Christ's love and light this Christmas season! Have a good week y’all! 

Love,
Elder Mitchell 

For p-day they explored a bit down by the river

Helping R clean his gutters

Ball is life??

Turkey Week

A WHOLE TURKEY, just for them

Buenos!

Well we had a great thanksgiving, but before I get to that, let me back up to the start of the week. I forgot to mention it, but last Monday we got our transfer call. Elder C and I are staying together for this transfer (surprise, surprise), but there were some other changes around the mission. First big one is that my old comp Elder C is now one of the Zone Leaders here in Knoxville! The other one is that my last companions, Elders M and R, are trio-training a new greenie! We had a great p-day; we met up in Farragut with a bunch of missionaries from the Knoxville zone, plus some elders from the Chattanooga zone (including C), and my old ZL Elder T (who was having his departing interview since he went home this week). It was quite the reunion, we had a blast!

This week we weren't able to meet with R, but we met two new people who could be really solid. The first one is J. He called us requesting a free Book of Mormon after he got a pass-along card from one of his neighbors. J has had an extremely rough life, he's been through a ton, but he's shown a sincere desire to learn more and to change. He also told us he wants to come to church! The other person we met this week was P. It was one of those classic missionary moments where nothing has been going right, nobody wants to listen, and you just want to quit, but you just "try one more house." Well, P let us right in, and we had an incredible first visit with him, the spirit was just absolutely amazing! He loved everything we taught, and he was so pumped to read the Book of Mormon. We are really excited about him!

We had plenty of turkey this week. We had two dinner appointments on Thanksgiving, so by the end of the day we were absolutely stuffed, plus both appointments gave us leftovers. On top of all that, another member swung by our apartment and dropped off a WHOLE TURKEY just for us! So yeah, we were well fed this week. Let me just say, I'm thankful for turkey, my awesome family, friends, the gospel, and the chance to serve as a missionary!

I'm also thankful for the Church's new Christmas initiative, Light the World! This week my ponderizer is Ether 4:12 which says, "And whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do good is of me; for good cometh of none save it be of me. I am the same that leadeth men to all good...For behold...I am the light, and the life, and the truth of the world." Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, and our perfect example in all things. Let us emulate His example this Christmas season by going about doing good, serving our fellowman, and bringing that light into the lives of those around us! I hope y'all have a great week! Go Light the World! 

Love,
Elder Mitchell

From the Farragut reunion

With Elder T (the old ZL who was going home) 

and Elder C (his old comp, now the ZL)

The gang at the reunion

They filmed the Haka at the reunion they did with Elder T. 

He and his comp aren't in it because they didn't know they were going to do it 

and they didn't have proselyting clothes, but it's still really cool!

Week 2 in Lenoir City

Buenos!

We had another great week here, and we are settling in well here in Lenoir City. This week we kind of got off to a slow start, but we really saw the Lord helping us to reach our goals this week. By the end of the week, we were able to meet almost all of our goals, and we actually exceeded a lot of them. Another great thing this week was zone meeting. President Griffin roasted us during his training, but it was a really good roasting, he basically called us all to repentance. It was good though.

Another highlight from this week was one of our new investigators, J. She's a really cool teenager, who loves the Bible, and she seems like she could be really solid. Another awesome thing from this week is that we were able to set a baptism date with R! He has been a long-time eterni-gator (he's been to church over 40 times), but we had a great lesson with him about baptism and he committed for the 7th of January! So we are really excited for him.

Sorry I don't have that much time to write this week, but my ponderizer for this week is Mosiah 2:20, "I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another." Of course, it's Thanksgiving this week. We have so many blessings from God, we should be giving Him all the thanks and praise we can render. I hope y’all have a great Turkey Day! 

Love,
Elder Mitchell

Sweater Weather

Buenos!

Greetings from Lenoir City! Yup, I'm now in the Loudon Branch, which covers two small cities, Loudon and Lenoir City. We share the area with a pair of sisters, so they cover Loudon, and we cover Lenoir City. The new area is great; it reminds me a lot of my first area in Smyrna. It's a pretty small town, but there's a good number of Hispanics here, so that's good. One of the things I noticed right off the bat is that it's way colder here! Down in Georgia it was still in the 70's and 80's, but I've had to break out the sweaters this week. My new companion is Elder C! He's only been out for a few weeks, but he's ready to work hard! He is 18, right out of high school, and he is from Modesto, CA. He played water polo in high school, and wants to study nursing after the mission.

Well, for my last few days in Dalton, we put in some good work and said good bye to lots of members. On Tuesday night, the T family took us out to dinner, and I tried cow tongue! It was a little squishy, but good. Then, we shipped out Wednesday morning to Lenoir City! These first few days we've just been trying to figure out the area. We don't really have any investigators at this point, so we are basically starting from scratch. So, this week we did a lot of finding, mixed in with trying to meet a lot of Less-actives. One success from this week was our visit with a less-active family, the R family. We got to teach them, as well as Sis. R's boyfriend, R (who isn't a member). Then, they were all able to make it to church the next day! It was great!

My ponderizer this week is Romans 8:16-18 which says, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Sometimes we receive different trials in our lives, new assignments, different challenges. But, we are joint-heirs with Christ if we hold out faithful. If we will endure the hard times, God promises us unimaginable blessings. I hope y'all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Mitchell

Last Dinner in Dalton 

with the T family

The third from the left is the cow tongue!

Goodbye Bishop T

Last Sunset in Dalton

With his new companion Elder C

His new district

In Lenoir City