Another Week in the Field

At a member's house near Gainesboro

Buenos!

Well, it was just another ordinary week here in Cookeville. Tracting...contacting...more tracting...teach the restoration...tracting...more tracting again...contacting...more contacting...teach the restoration again.....yeah. It's great. The work here is exactly the same as it was 9 weeks ago when we got here. Tons of potentials, nobody progressing. The only difference now is that there are more potentials. We just keep doing what we're supposed to, but we just aren't seeing anything go anywhere. It doesn't bother us too much, because we know we are doing what the Lord wants us to do, but I think some of the ward is starting to get a little fed up with the way the work is going.

That said, we still found some cool new investigators this week. One of those was M, who seemed very focused on the message, even though her kids were running around like crazy. Turns out, she can't read, so we told her we'd get her the Book of Mormon on CD's, and she seemed pretty excited about that. We also met a new English investigator, N. He doesn't have much of a religious background (which is rare here in the South). He was asking us all these questions about God, and the purpose of life, why is death necessary, are there sins which can't be forgiven. We got to have a great talk with him, and we got a return set up for this Saturday.

On Wednesday, we had district meeting up in Jamestown, and then when we got back to Cookeville, we had exchanges with the ZL's. Elder C ran the Spanish area with Elder M, and I went English for a day with Elder A. It was pretty fun. We started out with some service, tried to contact some formers, and had dinner with these awesome recent converts. That evening, we taught this ten year old girl that wants to get baptized. We were going over commandments with her and her little sister, who is getting ready for baptism as well. The younger sister was just cracking me up. We said that sometimes people put other things before God, and she just got this shocked look on her face like, whaaaaa?! It was priceless haha.

On Thursday we switched back. That night we went to Sparta to try people, but we didn't get anything. On Saturday, we went with Bro. T up to Gainesboro again to try less actives. We talked to a couple, and one of them said they'd come to church (they didn't though...). Then we had a normal, loooong Sunday. We are looking forward to this week though. This weekend we have Stake Conference where the stake is getting split. Also on Thursday, we have a Zone Conference with Murfreesboro and Madison Zones, which means I'll get to see Elder B and Elder W! Plus, it's going to be in Smyrna, so I'll get to see my old area!

This week, my ponderizing scripture is D&C 42:14 which says, "And the Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith; and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach." This week I am really trying to make my prayers more meaningful. We need to pray in faith to receive the spirit. If we don't have the spirit, we can't and we won't teach. That is a command, "ye shall not teach." So, pray for the spirit. Yup. Hope y'all have a great one!

Love,
Elder Mitchell

They found a couple of funny signs this week

"Thou Shalt Not Park Here"

Elder C being goofy!

Stakes in Zion

The new church building in Sparta

Buenos!

Well, we had a pretty good week here in Cookeville! The weather is heating up quickly. It's only April, and we are beginning to get days in the 80's. The work is still pretty much the same. We are finding plenty of new and potential investigators, but it's hard to get anyone progressing right now. But, we are getting more members to come out with us which is good. On Tuesday, we had a member come with is to do some contacting, and we actually got in with one of our investigators, D, and her less-active husband Z. The Hermanas had been working with them a lot, but we just haven't been able to catch them at home very much. But, we had a great lesson with them and invited them to church. They weren't able to make it though, because Z usually has to work on Sunday's and Donna doesn't really feel comfortable coming by herself. Hopefully we'll be able to bet back in with them this week.

On Wednesday we had the first district meeting of the new transfer. Elder C did well in his first week as the new district leader. We set some district goals for the transfer that will push us, and the potion will remain in effect. After district meeting, we worked the rest of the day out in Monterey. It was lots of tracting and contacting. We were able to have a solid lesson with this new investigator M. He was kind of like, "Well, why doesn't the Bible talk about the Book of Mormon?" And we were like, "Well, it does!" We showed him Ezekiel 37, and that seemed to satisfy him. On Thursday we had a booth set up at Tenn Tech to try and get some more publicity. The Sisters worked the first half, and then we did the second part. We tried to talk with as many people as we could, but there wasn't much traffic passing by us at that point. It was still fun though, and we got to talk to a couple people.

On Friday we were out finishing our tracting hour, and we found this awesome new investigator, J. As we were talking about the Book of Mormon, he started tearing up and he told us about how he's been going through a lot of challenges, and that he feels like his imperfections have caused him to move farther from God. We bore our testimonies that the Book of Mormon would help him get back closer with God, and the spirit was super strong. It was sweet. Then on Saturday we went with Bro. T out to Gainesboro to visit some less actives, which was fun. We actually had some really solid visits with some of them.

Sunday was exciting. First we attended the Sparta branch, because they were opening a brand new building there. The new building was really nice, and it was a great service. Then, we came back and had the Burgess Falls sacrament meeting. Then we had Ward Council, and then Cookeville ward's meetings. Another long day, packed between three sacrament meetings. We also got some exciting news: Our Stake is getting split! The McMinnville stake will be split north/south, and we will have the new Cookeville stake! There's a lot of shifting happening right now. The Cookeville stake is actually going to pick up Lebanon from the Madison Stake, and McMinnville will pick up Shelbyville from the Murfreesboro stake. Plus, we are picking up Fayetteville from the Huntsville, Alabama mission, which will get tacked onto the new McMinnville stake. So, we have stake conference in two weeks where they will officially split the stake. Exciting stuff!

My ponderizer for this week is Alma 26:22 which says, "Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing--unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance..." This is a great scripture for missionaries. As we have faith, stay worthy, repent as necessary, pray, and keep the commandments, we will be able to act as conduits for the spirit, and we can accomplish great works. Yup. Hope y'all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Mitchell

Out tracting

Staying in Cookeville!

They saved up all the coins they found on the street during the transfer

 and then went and got DQ Blizzards with their savings.

Buenos!

Well, the most exciting part of this week was transfer info! Elder C and I will be staying together in Cookeville! But, there are a lot of changes happening to our district. In Jamestown, Elder W (the district leader) will be leaving and Elder S will get a new comp. With the ZL's, Elder M will go to Murfreesboro and Elder A will have a new guy. Then, with the Sisters, Sister B is going home, and Sister C is getting moved as well, so we'll have two new sisters. So, there'll be plenty of new faces next transfer. To top it off, Elder C was called to be the new District Leader! He'll do great though, he is a stud of a missionary, and I love working with him. Other interesting thing about transfers: none of the Spanish elders in our mission got moved this transfer. So that was kinda weird.

The work here was interesting this week. We've gotten a flood of Hispanic referrals from the ZL's recently, so we started off the week with about 11 un-contacted referrals this week, and we were able to contact 7 this week, so that was good. Unfortunately, most of them weren't interested. Our tracting went great this week. We had a solid restoration lesson on the doorstep with someone almost every day this week. We also dished out a ton of baptism invites this week. Some of our new potentials seem pretty promising; the challenge will be getting back in with them. On Wednesday, we spent the afternoon working in Sparta, but we had no luck. So, we drowned out our sorrows with some KFC. The KFC in Sparta has a Colonel's buffet! It's an all you can eat Buffet...but it's KFC!!! It was great, we stuffed ourselves.

On Friday, we got a random call during weekly planning from some guy named P. Turns out, P was friends with J (one of our investigators that was working a lot with the Hermanas). P needed some help setting up a checking account at the bank, so we did that. Then, the really weird part was that J randomly showed up to church on Sunday, even though we hadn't talked to him in about a month. So, that was exciting.

Well, my ponderizing scripture for the week is Alma 34:38 which says, "That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you." I like how it talks about not contending against the Holy Ghost, but rather receiving it. We need to be humble and live in thanksgiving daily to receive the guidance of the spirit that we all need so desperately in our lives. Alright, hope y'all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Mitchell

Their district before transfers minus the ZL's

For this silly picture everyone got a prop from around the church

Their savings totaled $13

More sleeping pics

General Conference!

They got to visit Cummins Falls on their p-day this week

Buenos!

Well, this has been quite the week! General Conference was fantastic! But, before all that: The work here was a little slower this week. We've been doing lots of contacting and tracting. Unfortunately, we haven't found many Hispanics, but we are finding lots of people to refer to the English missionaries! Ironically, the English Elders have been giving us a lot of referrals too. We are up to about 8 uncontacted referrals right now, so we are plenty busy trying to get in touch with these people. Also this week, we were trying to use up our remaining miles on our car, so we made lots of trips this week. On Tuesday, we worked out in Monterey. Then on Wednesday we went down to Sparta. Then, on Thursday we went to Crossville. We did a lot of traveling around this week.

On Friday we had an interesting experience: tracting into Muslims. We knocked into this guy M, who let us right in. It was a little weird sitting cross-legged on his cushions (there was no other furniture in his apartment). His English isn't very good, but we did our best to explain the Restoration simply to him. He was asking a lot of great questions though, and the spirit was able to help us answer them. He was interested in learning more, and we told him we would get him a copy of the Book of Mormon in Arabic. Then, two doors later, we met another Muslim who also invited us right in, sat us down on their cushions, and listened to us for a bit. He wasn't really that interested though, but it sure was an interesting experience.

Let me slip in my ponderizing scripture before I talk about Conference. Alma 37:36-37, "Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever. Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day." This week, I'm trying to make my prayers more meaningful, so that will be a focus for me this upcoming week. Now, to conference:

General Conference! It was fantastic! I definitely wish I would've appreciated it like I do now when I was younger. There were so many great talks, I can't even pick my favorite yet. I loved the testimony of President Eyring in his first talk. I also loved the boldness of Bonnie L. Oscarson in her talk. Dale G. Renlund had a really good one. I also loved the closing remarks by Elder Holland. Overall, the Conference was a great experience, but the part I loved most was priesthood session. It was probably the most spiritual priesthood session that I can remember. All the talks were so powerful. There was an outpouring of the spirit as I heard the inspired words of Russell M. Nelson, Stephen W. Owen, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Henry B. Eyring, and our beloved prophet, Thomas S. Monson. The spirit was so powerful during that session. There was a great spirit about this conference. I was able to apply the lesson from Elder Bednar about writing down what the spirit teaches you instead of just quotes. I noticed this conference that I wrote down less notes, but my notes were much more meaningful. I love Conference!

Just last night, a man asked us, "So what sets your church apart from other churches?" For the answer, all you have to do is look at what happened this weekend. We believe in modern day prophets and modern day revelation. We believe that God speaks, not spoke. We believe that God called Joseph Smith to be a prophet and reveal more of God's plan to us through the Book of Mormon. We believe that divine priesthood authority has been restored to the earth, making possible the ordinances of salvation. I bear my witness that God lives! That he speaks! I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God, and I sustain him as the president of the church. There may be those who publicly oppose him, but they cannot destroy the appointment of the prophet of God! I know this is God's true church, led today by prophets, seers, and revelators. I so testify, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

I hope y’all have a fantastic week!

Love,
Elder Mitchell

More pictures from Cummins Falls

He did fall asleep during one of the talks,

but we wouldn't tell us which one

Crossville--Golf Capital of Tennessee