¡Feliz Navidad y un nuevo año!

¡Feliz Navidad y un nuevo año!

Well, we had a pretty good week here. Tuesday was pretty slow, but we had a pretty good day on Wednesday. In district meeting, Elder F gave a training on prayer, and during that we talked about praying for your companion during a lesson. Lessons are huge mental exercises for me, because there's so much to pay attention to. You have to focus on what your comp is saying, then what the investigators are saying, and then focus on what the spirit is trying to tell you to say, and then for me I have to translate everything in my head, so sometimes it's hard for me to remember to pray for my companion during the lesson. But, as I've been remembering to do it, I've been feeling the spirit more during our lessons, which has been pretty cool. Also on Wednesday we met with one of our new investigators, G. She was able to understand the role of prophets and was pretty accepting of the Restoration. Pretty sweet lesson.

Some other things that have been going on: the weather here is starting to get a little nuts. It's still 70 degrees outside most days, but we've been getting some pretty good lightning storms lately. On Tuesday we got a text to go in at 7 because of severe weather. Also this week, we took care of a member's dog while they were gone for Christmas. Summer, the dog, is super energetic. She has a little fenced area where she can run around and stuff, but if she can escape out the front door into the street, she's gone. Well...one night she slipped by us and got out. So, we spent 30 minutes chasing her around the cul de sac, trying to lead her inside. We tried baiting her with dog food, but nothing was working. Eventually, while Elder S was chasing her down the street, I just knelt and prayed that we could get this dog to go back inside. Two minutes later, Summer was running and just stopped in front of the house. Then, she stayed still long enough for Elder S to grab her and put her back in the house. #answeredprayer

On Christmas eve, (during the day) we found a new investigator, M. He has a lot of problems with his family, but we were able to testify that the Restored Gospel would bless his family. He was really interested in learning more. Then on Christmas, we woke up, opened up some presents under our tiny little tree. A couple of the members gave us little gifts, which was super nice. Then we just did our normal studies, and then we chilled at the English elder's apartment and had lunch. During the afternoon we skyped. It was so good to see you guys. I hope I was able to satisfy your questions, but if not, you've got Mother's day. Then for dinner, we ate these massive sandwiches with our branch president. They were pretty good. They were loaded with meat and tons of vegetables that I probably couldn't name. We also had a ton of ham. I was pretty satisfied.

That's one tiny tree

We had a really productive weekend after Christmas. On Saturday, none of our plans fell through, which was awesome. We had a couple of great lessons with less actives, we met with J  again, and even contacted a referral while we were at it. Yeah, when we were visiting J, something crazy happened. So background: a couple weeks ago we found this new investigator, D, who lives in La Vergne, but we just haven't been able to get back in with him. Then when we were leaving our lesson with J on Saturday, we saw D on the hammock outside, and found out that they're related! D invited us to stop by the next day.

So on Sunday, we had our regular meetings. No investigators came, but two of our less actives, Hermana V and Hermana P came to church for the second time in a row! And they invited us to have lunch with them on Saturday. Also, I got to give a talk on the new and everlasting covenant, which was pretty interesting to study about. Then after church, Hermano M drove us out to Shelbyville where we had a great dinner with their family. On the way back from Shelbyville I passed out (pic below, it's very flattering). That night, we met with D and had a super solid lesson with him. He also accepted a soft invite to be baptized, which was cool.

Good thing he wasn't driving

My ponderize scripture this week is 1st Thessalonians 5:16 which says, "Rejoice evermore." Yup, that's the whole scripture. I like it a lot because it's just a simple reminder to be happy. As we reflect on this past year, and set goals for the New Year, let's remember to rejoice!

Hope y’all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Mitchell

Come Back in January!

Feliz Navidad!

Well, we had a rough one in Smyrna this week. Yeah, this one was pretty hard. It started on Monday night. O, one of our investigators that had a baptismal date, who seemed so golden....dropped us. He told us that he'd been thinking and praying, and that he just didn't want to change his religion anymore. It was a sad start to the week. Then, throughout the week, we just couldn't meet with anyone. Hispanics take their vacations pretty seriously, so most everyone is out of town, and nearly everyone that we talk to tells us, "Come back in January."

Even though our tracting wasn't super successful this week, we found a couple new people through the church Christmas video initiative. One of those was G. She goes to an Adventist church right now, but she's open to learning more. The other is A. She's the first Hispanic that I've met that doesn't already go to a church, so hey, who knows.

Let's see. Other news from this week: we had our branch Christmas party on Saturday. A grand total of four people showed up (not counting us). We had the branch president's wife and two daughters (not the branch president though), as well as the first counselor of the branch presidency, Hermano M. There weren't many of us, so we all ate a ton of nachos. We watched the video "Joy to the World" in Spanish, which was pretty good.

Sunday was pretty good. After church, Hermano M drove us out to his house in Shelbyville for dinner. During dinner, we talked about how we've had to walk so much because Elder S left his bike back in Goodlettsville, and we are quickly running out of miles on our car. So, Hermano M was just like, "Hey, well let's go get your bike!" So he drove us to Goodlettsville, we got the bike, and then he drove us back to Murfreesboro where our car was, and then we drove back to Smyrna. Lots of driving.

My ponderizing scripture this week is 1 Timothy 2:5 which says, "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." During Christmas, we remember Christ's birth, but I remember that Christ was born to undergo the atonement. Because he suffered for us, he is our mediator with the Father. He bids the Father to welcome us back into His presence, and there is no other name given under heaven whereby man can be saved, except through Jesus Christ. Let us
remember why He was born during this Christmas season.

Love y’all! Have a very merry Feliz Navidad!

Elder Mitchell

They got more day-old goodies from a local store.

I guess I didn't need to worry about sending him goodies!

Getting some air!

They did a lot of walking!

Black Boxes and Kicking a Possum

Dunking with a tennis ball they found

Buenos,

Well, we had a mas o menos week. It was ok, but the overall feeling was just kind of bleh. We started off the week with a Zone Conference on Tuesday with the Murfreesboro and McMinnville zones. We had trainings from the AP's, as well as President and Sister Andersen. After the trainings, we did a mini Christmas party. We had a white elephant gift exchange, and all the Elders did a tie exchange as well. 


The big thing from zone conferences was the black boxes. All of our cars got black boxes installed. Basically, it tells you if you are speeding or if you went over a bump to fast. It talks to you while you're driving, and if you need to fix something with your driving, it'll tell you. It's just designed to help us be safe and stuff. The first time it told me to "Check your speed" it scared the heck out of me though. It's kind of funny though, because the voice they used for the black box is the same as the robot in "2001 A Space Oddessy" haha. I'm just waiting for the day when it takes over the car and says, "I'm sorry Elder....I'm afraid I can't do that..." Haha.

The black box

Other news from this week: I got to kick a possum. It's a tradition in our mission that everyone has to kick a possum sometime in the two years that they're here. We were walking to this appointment, and we saw a dead possum on the side of the road, so I got to kick mine this week.

As far as our investigators: nearly all of our appointments fell through so...fun stuff. We couldn't meet with Héctor this week, although he did come to church (whoo!). We had a great Gospel Principles lesson with him all about the Priesthood. We also were able to meet with the Romeros (Julio and Denis this time). We had a pretty good lesson with them, teaching the Plan of Salvation. We also had a lesson in Murfreesboro. That was shocking. Murfreesboro is pretty much a black hole as far as missionary work goes, but we were able to contact this guy, Tomás. His wife is a less active, and he's heard a lot from the missionaries before, so we just kind of wanted to figure out where he was at. We showed him the Christmas video, and talked with him about the Book of Mormon. Who knows, maybe he'll work out.

Probably the other crazy thing that happened this week was with Oscar. We went to meet with him, but then he told us how his friend at work had fallen off a roof or something, and so Oscar had to take him to the hospital and sign a bunch of papers saying that his friend wasn't drunk and stuff. Satan is working hard on this guy, my goodness. I was also kind of bummed that Oscar wasn't able to make it to church this week. We really need to get him coming to church to get him ready for his baptism. Hoping everything works out.

My ponderizing scripture this week is Philippians 2:5 which simply states: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." As we think about the gifts that Christ has given us, especially the Atonement. Another great gift he gave us was his example. As we follow him, we should strive so that His thoughts and actions become our thoughts and actions. Let us be true representatives of Christ at all times, in all things, in all places.

Anyways, the work is moving slowly here, but hopefully we'll start to see some progress. We’re hoping for a better week as Christmas approaches.

Have a good one y’all!

Love,
Elder Mitchell

His companion, Elder S

New Companion!

His new companion, Elder S

Hola a todos!

Well, a new transfer has begun here in Smyrna. On Tuesday we had to drive up to Nashville for transfer meeting. Elder A was sent out to Mayfield, in Kentucky, and he's now with Elder B, my CCM companion. My new companion is Elder S. He's from Houston, TX, but is originally from Venezuela! Yep, he's a native, which is great. I've already picked up quite a bit of Spanish from him. He's been out about 9 months, and he's served in Paducah, Lewisburg, and most recently, Goodlettsville. He absolutely looooooves basketball. His dream is to play in the NBA one day. We'll see how it goes, considering he's only 5'7 haha. He is uhh....interesting. It’s funny because he has the personality of a black guy, but he's Spanish. It's like serving with the black guy from "Suits on the Loose" but he speaks fluent Spanish. He's a hilarious guy though, kind of a goofball, but we get along pretty well. Being friends with Abdul prepared me for this, haha. Another interesting thing is that he doesn't have a driver's license, soooo, I get to drive the car this transfer! Woot woot!

We had kind of an up and down week. I'll start with the downs: We weren't able to meet with the V family or H. H wasn't able to come to church either because Hermano F, his ride, was sick. Also this week, we talked to M at her door a little. She told us that they just had some friends move in, because they have nowhere else to stay for a few weeks. Apparently, these friends are very anti-Mormon, so M doesn't want us to come back until mid-January. Which means, if I leave Smyrna at the end of this transfer, I might not get another chance to visit with her. So that was a little sad. She is so prepared, but her husband just doesn't want to listen to us.

Now for the ups: We finally found a doctor for H! We still need to work out a lot of stuff with him, but he is a cardiologist up in Nashville. The only thing is, he'll be out of town for a couple weeks, and we don't know how long it will take to hear from the First Presidency, so we've had to postpone H's baptism indefinitely. Also, we had a chance to talk to E at her door last night. She didn't have time for a lesson, but she did tell us that she's reading in the Book of Mormon, and wants to learn more! Highlight of the week though was our lesson with O. He was asking us about the differences between our church and other churches, and we got to talk about a lot with that. He told us about how he was baptized into the Catholic church as a baby, but how he would feel better about baptism if it was his decision. Then he just started telling us about how he wants to change his life and join our church (even though he hasn't attended yet). It was super cool, and we just hadn't realized how prepared he is. We committed him to be baptized on January 9th and we are hoping and praying that everything works out!

My ponderizing scripture this week is Alma 57:21 which reads, "Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them." As missionaries, it is so important to be obedient. Russell M. Nelson said that a mission is a two-year exercise in obedience training. Also, if we aren't being obedient, we can't have the spirit. I love what it says in chapter 10 of Preach My Gospel. In talking about investigators, it says, "Their understanding will be influenced by your personal worthiness." It's our job to keep the spirit with us so that investigators can understand our message, by the spirit.

Hoping for a good one here in Smyrna, and I hope y’all have a good week! 

Love,
Elder Mitchell

They found a street named after a prophet!

Staying in Smyrna!

They found this neighborhood library,

so they decided to donate some items.

Hola a todos!

Well, we had a good week here in Smyrna. It was a little slow, but we kind of blame Thanksgiving for that. I guess the biggest new of this week is transfers. Elder A got a call from President on Saturday telling him that he's getting moved, and that he's going to be a district leader!! Yup, I trained him well, haha. He'll do great though, he's a solid missionary. We don't know where he's going yet, but our guess is that he'll be going to Mayfield, in Kentucky. If he did go there, he'd be with Elder B, my CCM companion. So, I'll be staying in Smyrna for at least one more transfer, with a new companion. Transfer meeting is tomorrow, so I'll find out who my new comp is then. Most of our district is getting switched too. Elder H is moving, as well as Elder L. Elder M, our district leader is also going to be training a new greenie.

As far as Thanksgiving, we didn't really do anything on Thursday. We didn't have any meals with the Spanish members, so our thanksgiving dinner consisted of chicken patties and tater-tots. Pretty great. We did make up for it though. We were invited to an activity by the English Elders on Saturday. This guy in the Smyrna ward has this tradition of having another Thanksgiving dinner after Thanksgiving, which was pretty nice for us. I got to stuff my face with turkey and mashed potatoes, so that was great.

As for our investigators: We had a great lesson with H this week, where we finished teaching him the commandments and filled in some holes on his teaching record. We've moved his date to December 12th. He's ready, we are just still trying to get a doctor to sign off for him. He wasn't able to come to church this week though, which was too bad. Also for some reason, we just couldn't get in with our other main investigators. We weren't able to meet with O, M, E, or the V family. So that was a bummer. We did have a great lesson with the R family though. When we originally contacted the R family about a month ago, we just talked with J. The next time we talked to D. This week, we had a lesson with all three of the Romero brothers, J, D, and E. We had an awesome lesson with them. We read in 3rd Nephi 11 and talked about why it's important to follow Christ. We invited them to be baptized, and all three accepted! Whoo! Now we just got to get them coming to church.

My ponderizing scripture this week is one of my new favorites. It's Alma 62:36, "And it came to pass that Teancum in his anger did go forth into the camp of the Lamanites, and did let himself down over the walls of the city. And he went forth with a cord, from place to place, insomuch that he did find the king; and he did cast a javelin at him, which did pierce him near the heart. But behold, the king did awaken his servants before he died, insomuch that they did pursue Teancum, and slew him." Probably doesn't make a bunch of sense at first, so let me explain. It says that Teancum's javelin landed, NEAR the heart of the king. He was just a couple of inches short. He was just a little bit off-target. Don't get me wrong, I love Teancum, I think he's awesome. But, how different would things have been for Teancum if he hadn't just barely missed? This teaches me a powerful lesson: Live in a way where you don't fall just short. As a missionary, I don't want to finish with regrets. I want to know that I gave it my all. And as members of the church, how heartbreaking would it be to reach judgement day falling just short? To land "near" the Celestial Kingdom? We've got to do all we can so that we don't fall just short.

Well, I'm excited for this week, and for this new transfer. When I first got to Smyrna, the area was kind of a mess, and H was really the only solid investigator we had. But, during these last two transfers, we've laid a great foundation. We have a lot of investigators that we want to have progress towards baptism this transfer. We'll see what happens! Hope y’all have a good week! 

Love,
Elder Mitchell

His district

 Outside the store, they saw these Hispanic guys sitting on horses.

They were just giving rides to people around the parking lot!

 More pictures of the library and their donations

Winter Weather, Double Digits and the Other Gift of Tongues

They are so pumped because of all the lessons they had this week!

Hola a todos!

Winter weather has officially set in here in Smyrna. But, the South is weird, because we've had days this month where it's been 70 and sunny, and other days the high is 40. This week was pretty darn cold though. And windy. But we are super stoked for Thanksgiving and all that good stuff. We are not sure if we'll be having a Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving because most of our members are going to be out of town this week. But, we did get invited to come to one of the member's houses in the Smyrna English ward. Apparently this guy cooks up three turkeys every year, and invites all the missionaries, so we'll at least have that to look forward to. Elder A and I certainly have a lot to be thankful for this week. We had a great week here in Smyrna!

This week started off with exchanges! Whoo! I was with Elder L again (last transfer I did an exchange with him in his area). Elder L's great, and I'm always getting new ideas from him. We had an awesome day. I was super nervous because I was going to be running the Spanish area with a companion that couldn't speak any Spanish. But, we were super blessed to find some new investigators, and we taught 4 lessons, as well as another lesson with our less active, C. Usually our goal is to have four lessons a week, but we did it in one day!! So, Elder A and I adjusted our goal to seven, and we still blew it out of the park. This week, we were incredibly blessed to teach 11 other lessons, 2 lessons with less actives (total of 13), as well as find 7 new investigators!!! Those kind of numbers are unheard of for our area!! It was so crazy! Let me give you the highlights from all those lessons:

On Wednesday, we met with the V family. They won't really commit to baptism yet, so we are trying to get them to have testimonies of the Book of Mormon first. We read part of Alma 32 with them, and had a great discussion about how they needed to experiment upon the word, plant a seed of faith, and how they could recognize answers from the Holy Ghost. The spirit was super strong, and we felt like it was just putting words into our mouths, and it was such a great experience with them. On Friday, we were finally able to meet with M, but her husband decided to not listen to us this time (dang it!). But, we had a great lesson with her. She hadn't heard from the missionaries in a while, and so we were able to re-cover the Restoration with her, with a big emphasis on Joseph Smith. Super solid. Then, on Sunday, we met with E and her inactive husband, O. We decided to focus more on E, and there was incredible spirit in the room as we taught her the Restoration, and when we recited Joseph Smith's own words in the first vision, the spirit was just amplified. E is super solid, but O is still a little apprehensive about us.

In spite of all of our lessons, we weren't able to meet with two of our most progressing investigators. O just didn't have a whole lot of time this week (he works like crazy), and H wasn't able to meet with us either. We were hoping to get H baptized this Saturday, but it's just not going to happen. Even if we had finished teaching him everything, we are still trying to find a doctor to confirm his condition. We've got members of the high council working on finding a doctor in the Stake, but they haven't gotten back to us with anything yet. (You'd think that with a stake of 1400 people that there'd be a doctor). 

Speaking of the Stake, we had a great opportunity this Sunday to have Stake Conference! We had a great meeting on Saturday night that was all about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. Sunday was a little interesting. First off, the meeting was held in the conference center of a hotel, so that we could fit everyone. Also, we were going to be getting a new Stake president, so Elder Zwick was back in town, as well as Elder McArthur of the 70. We received great counsel from two marvelous general authorities. They released the old Stake president, President T, and called his second counselor, President P, to be the new Stake president. Oddly enough, President P's son, Elder P, was Elder A's companion in the MTC! Small world, huh? Elder Zwick is incredible, and I really felt the spirit when he was speaking. One of the things he talked about was that (similar to Peter when he walked on the water) the Savior is simply inviting us to "Come." He invites us to simply follow him, keep his commandments, and become like He is.

Now let me tell you about the Other Gift of Tongues. Many missionaries are blessed with the gift of tongues so that they can learn a new language. I have definitely felt that so far in my mission. But, I have also developed a strong testimony in the 2nd gift of tongues, specifically, the gift of taste buds. Before my mission, I was terrified about being able to stomach weird food. But, I have definitely seen how my appetites have literally been changed. I still have a rough go at refried beans though. The gift of tongues is real. Also this week, I got to have one of my favorites, carne asada. It's soooooooooo gooooood. Not as good as bacon, but it's nice.

Recently in my studies of the Book of Mormon, I've been studying the war chapters in Alma. I've found a lot of great scriptures in there, so my next few ponderizing scriptures will be coming from there. This week, my scripture is Alma 48:17 which reads: "Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men." I love this scripture. The missionary work that we are engaged in is a war between us and the adversary. But, if all missionaries would be like Moroni, and study chapter 6 of Preach my Gospel, and develop those Christlike attributes, then Satan's hold on the hearts of others would be shaken forever. I leave you my testimony that this is the work of the Lord, and that this is His true church. I hope y’all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Mitchell

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

The Murfreesboro Zone

Elder Mitchell is the tall one in the back row

Another of the branch activity

This week's sleeping pics.

This time he got Elder A