Elder Mitchell's Mission to Tennessee: Georgia On My Mind...

Chick-Fil-A Cow Appreciation Day!

Buenos!

Well, it's transfer week!! Cookeville Spanish is going to be shut down for a few transfers, so Elder C and I will both be leaving. Elder C is off to Knoxville! He will be in a trio with the ZL's there while he waits for his upcoming surgery, and then after surgery he will spend some time in the mission home. As for me, I will be going to the Rocky Face Ward in Dalton, Georgia! The Rocky Face ward is the one full Spanish ward in the mission, so I am absolutely stoked! That's about all I know about the area right now. My new companion will be Elder J! I don't know anything about him, so it'll all just be new come Wednesday.

We had a pretty good week here for our last week in Cookeville. President Griffin kind of hinted to us early that we would be shut down, so this week we tried to do some things in preparation for that. We spent most of the week just trying to contact everyone in the area book. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see many people. So, we ended up dropping/deleting a lot of people, and everyone else we will end up referring to other missionaries.

Between the contacting, we had some fun experiences this week. Tuesday was cow appreciation day at Chik-fil-a, so if you dressed up like a cow you got a free entrée. That was fun haha. On Friday, Elder C had another doctor's appointment, so we got to cross over to the other side and go to Farragut. We actually met up with Sister Griffin at the mission office, and then she drove us around town. We met with another orthopedic surgeon, and got Elder C's surgery scheduled for August 9th. Then we got lunch, and then Sis. Griffin showed us the mission home and the Knoxville stake center where we go for transfers.

On Saturday night we went and played basketball at the church. It was great, we had some missionaries, some investigators from the Cookeville ward, and some less-actives from Burgess Falls ward. We had a fun time. I ended up spraining my ankle, but it's all good, it's feeling better now. Then, we had our last Sunday, and said goodbye to a lot of members. Pretty good week.

My ponderizer this week is one of my brother Nathan's favorites, Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." This week our bishop shared something in his talk that I loved, and it reminded me of this scripture. The Lord once appeared to a man and charged the man with the task of pushing a large boulder. The man began the task with zeal, pushing with all of his might. He pushed and pushed but the boulder wouldn't budge. He pushed all day, and the boulder wouldn't yield. The man came again the next day and pushed again, with no success. As he pushed and pushed, days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. Eventually he became discouraged, and Satan began to put thoughts of doubt in his mind. The man became lazy. He would go out each day, putting in a minimum effort. Then, he took his problems to the Lord. He asked why he was charged with this impossible task, and in his darkest moment of despair, he wanted to give up. It was then that the Lord consoled him: "Be of good cheer, you are doing a good work. Your job was never to move the rock, but to be obedient and push. Look at you now, you have become strong. Your arms and legs have grown, and the pushing has made you tough. And now, I will move the boulder." Whatever trial we face, whether it be in missionary work, or in the challenges of everyday life, our job is simply to push. It is through Christ that we are able to do all things, and our challenges will make us stronger. If we are obedient and push, the Lord will make up the difference and move the boulders out of our path. Sorry that was long, but I felt like I would share that. Hope y’all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Mitchell