Elder Mitchell's Mission to Tennessee: Moving North for the (rest of) Winter

Proof that he's eating real food!

Hola!

Well, if you didn't gather from the title of the email...I'm getting transferred! Yup, I'll be leaving my good ol' Smyrna tomorrow. In the past, we would just get a voicemail from the ZL's telling us if we are staying or moving, but this time they changed it so that they told us where we are going and who our new companion is. So I'll be going to (drum roll)....Clarksville! It's a city about an hour or two north-west of Nashville, near the Tennessee-Kentucky border. And, my new companion will be Elder W. He hasn't been out too long, just two transfers more than me. Interestingly enough, Elder W trained Elder B (my CCM companion) and his last companion was Elder W (from my CCM district). So, he just gets all three of us right in a row. I'm a little sad to say goodbye to Smyrna, but I think a change will be good right now.

Well, we didn't have too many lesson during my last week here, but we did meet with H again (unfortunately Hermano F couldn't make it to church, so neither did H). We also met with the R brothers, and had a good lesson with them. We also met with another one of the V clan. Hermana G V is now active again, so we started working on her sister N this week. We were able to meet with N and just kind of got to know her, and shared a brief message. It was good though. Also this week, we found a new investigator named I. We talked at her door for like 20 minutes, and she could potentially be golden. I won't get to find out though, bummer.

This week we also had some other cool stuff. First off, on Thursday, this random hay bale just appeared outside of our apartment. Not really sure why. It just kind of showed up, and nobody has since come to reclaim it, so I guess it's ours now. Free hay bale. Also, we had a tender mercy. We were tracting up in La Vergne and we just couldn't find anybody, we were having no success. Then, we tracted into an English member's house by accident. The member was just visiting from Arizona, but she was super nice and gave us cake, so woohoo!

Relaxing on the mystery hay bale

We had a pretty good weekend. On Saturday we had the Spanish Conference, which is pretty much just a regular Zone Conference, but it's for all the Spanish missionaries in the mission, and all the trainings were in Spanish and stuff. So, I got to see Elder A and Elder B and Elder W there. It was a good conference. We had lots of trainings from the more experienced missionaries, mostly on how to improve our language skills and studies and stuff. I really liked the training by Elder P (one of the Spanish ZL's). He talked about the difference between an honorable mission and a valiant mission. As an object lesson, he gave everyone two no-bake cookies. They both looked the same, but one had sugar and one didn't. So the one without sugar tasted really nasty. Good training. After the trainings, we heard the testimonies of the missionaries who are going home this transfer. It was a fun day.

All the Spanish elders in the mission

Then on Sunday I said goodbye to lots of the members. I'm gonna miss em. When Presidente R heard I was moving, he was pretty sad haha. He said, "Elder Mitchell, who am I gonna mess with when you're gone?" Haha, good ol’ Presidente.

Elder Mitchell with Presidente R

My ponderizing scripture this week is 1 Nephi 21:4-5: "Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught and in vain; surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. And now, saith the Lord--that formed me from the womb that I should be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him--though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength." Sometimes in missionary work it's easy to feel like you aren't getting much done, and that your labor is in vain. But, the Lord chose us before we came to this earth to be His servant and help gather Israel. And although we might not have gathered all of Israel, if we did what the Lord asks, then we will be glorious in His sight. I'm thankful to have served in Smyrna, and I'm thankful to have helped the work progress in this area.

Hope y’all have a great week! I'll be writing next week from Clarksville!

Love,
Elder Mitchell