Monday 9/23/2013 - Sunday 9/29/2013

Monday PDAY! Had lunch with the Burbidge's. They are sweet! Brother Burbidge is from Murray, Utah. Right next to Midvale! They took us to Lenny's sub shop which had a good Philly cheese steak. Played some 2 step and goalie. Ate dinner at the Lawrence's and did FHE with them. That was really fun! We had to act out different animals which was ridiculous and funny. Went and shared a message with Brother Higgins about family history and temple work. He really liked it.

Tuesday we did service for Donna. Dug a ditch for a french drain. Taught Billy Ray and read 3 Nephi 11. He gave me a poem and is into writing poetry. He followed us halfway home and talked to us about his life. We thought he was going to just keep coming. Saw Jamie and set a baptismal date of October 26th. Ate at the Green's, they are nice and it was a fun time. Taught Jamie and Ben about family history work and they got really excited. Rained like crazy! Also taught Kim and Scottie Smith who are a part member family. Then we came home to greet the Assistants.

Wednesday we headed over to the church to set up for the half mission conference with Elder Pino. It was pretty good and powerful, but we keep getting told the same things. We also had MLC which the same type of thing happened, so I guess that means we should start working harder and smarter to reach our goals and President’s vision. Then we had a lesson with Brian and he really wants to get baptized! He is going through a lot! He is juggling so many things trying to get his life back in order. Had dinner with the Haines family and we had some delicious chicken and rice stuff. It was an Indian dish, by Indian I mean from India. Brother Haines speaks English, Spanish, Arabic and Fijian. It is pretty cool. He said once you learn one it is easy to learn others. After that, we had Austin come out with us and we taught Johnny a lesson about prepping for baptism and the importance of it. Seemed like a really good lesson, so hopefully Johnny will get more motivated. I also got an awesome package from my Mom! Had some things that said "here's a little sunshine". Had tons of yellow stuff in it. Juicy fruit, banana laffy taffy, peanut M&M's, yellow sticky notes, lemonade, lemon heads and all sorts of stuff.

Thursday we taught James and he was basically already living the Word of Wisdom and chastity so it was easy! He is awesome! Did some weekly planning as well, then went to the Woodring's and shared a message. Robert is way solid, he is one of the recent converts in the ward. Ate at the Peterson's and they are so much fun to be with. We were laughing so hard. Went to the Wyatt's to chat with Brother Wyatt's Mom and Step Dad who are not members. That was pretty fun and hopefully it will spark their interest.

Friday we did some Zone business and finished up on some weekly planning. Taught Brother Spears a lesson on obedience. He is a less active, really cool guy. Taught Jamie about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She had an ear infection and had a hard time paying attention. We ran to Walmart for her. We felt like it was okay. Can't always go looking through the rules and getting permission or nothing gets done. Then we went and saw Manny and Becca Sanchez. They are really cool, set up a time to go see them. Ate dinner at home. Brian and Alisha fell through. We did teach Andy a good lesson on the Word of Wisdom and obedience. Not sure if he will live it.

Saturday we went to Ryan's with President Miller as usual. Did studies and then went and helped some people move stuff into a storage unit. Had to put together a shelf and I ended up cutting myself on one of the metal things that holds up the shelf. It fell and I caught it and it cut my hand. I also cut my thumb during lunch while cutting an apple. Then my bike tire was really, really low. So that part of the day was pretty crappy. Then we had a lesson with Marisol which went pretty well. She was very confused about why she needed to know if the BoM was true. She didn't pay attention to much of what we said. We also saw Brian and Alisha and they said they would come to church. Had dinner with the Kirby's and they told us so many stories. We just couldn't get out in time. Taught Johnny and he brought up an interesting concern. He just isn't sure if Christ is the son of God. Easy concern to fix. Taught Ben about the priesthood a bit. Read D&C 84 with him, but didn't get to finish it.

Sunday was church and Brian and Alisha did come!! I unfortunately didn't get to take the sacrament because we went on splits to get them to church. I went with Elder Bailey and we got back late. Had to try to get Johnny to church but he didn't come, so we got some papers printed off from the ward. Headed home and got in studies. Ate dinner with the Fisher's which was pretty good.  Had a powerful lesson with Andy about prophets, dispensations, great apostasy and restoration. Tore through the Bible and bore strong testimony. The spirit was strong! Taught Johnny a short lesson. Trying to get him to church!

Monday 9/16/2013 - Sunday 9/22/2013

Monday was an awesome P-day. Found out transfers. Elder Winter and I will be staying in Crestview 1st Ward. Our ward will be getting Sister missionaries as well. They should be good ones too. Elder Welch also emailed me with the sweetest news ever! TJ from Fox Run was baptized! I used to always teach him so I am so happy for him. Played some sand volleyball once again with the 2nd Ward Elders. It didn't seem to be as fun today as it has been but still good. Had dinner with the Thomas' the part member family we are teaching. Taught about the prophets and it was a great lesson. Planned for transfers in the evening and learned that the Destin Sisters apartment has no furniture in it, so that is a problem. Hopefully we can get that worked out.

Tuesday we had breakfast for our district activity then district meeting. They were both really fun. Elder Chappell is a really good teacher and district leader. We also got to teach Billy Ray and we actually got to teach him. Then we went to see Angie and gave her a blessing. Also taught her a little lesson. Tried to see Jamie but that fell through and we even had Austin with us. Saw some gators, the Nimmo's, and they scheduled to feed us Sunday. Johnny also fell through, but we ate at the Wyatt's. I really like them and love going there. Then taught Mallory King about family history. He just won't make commitments though.

Wednesday I went to see Dr. Roberts about my ankle problems. My left ankle has been hurting for quite some time. I found out that I need new shoes and arch supports. Also had transfers and it went smooth. Got an oil change that turned into replacing a water pump. Got that all sorted out and then walked to Brian's and ran into Billy Ray and walked and talked a bit. Taught Brian a bit, him and Alisha had their baby. Mike, the guy he lives with, is crazy and talks a ton. Ran over to the Boyd's to eat and do coordination with Brother Boyd and the Sisters. The Sisters are Sister Liefson and Sister Shattack. Really good missionaries! Then went and taught Johnny an awesome lesson with Brother Lawrence. Great and powerful testimony by Brother Lawrence!

Thursday we started the day going to Donna's house to do some service for her. That went well and was pretty fun and kinda weird. Very nice lady. Taught Josh and had a pretty good lesson there. Had basically everything fall through today. Lost all our member present possibilities. Went to teach Jamie with Brother Fisher, but we ended up teaching Ben a lesson instead. Then Brother Fisher took us to Sonic for shakes.

Friday we started off going to teach Will and Derrell at the park and they weren't even there. So we headed home and did our studies. Then did weekly planning. Went pretty fast. Then we had dinner with the Cochran's. They are really awesome members. Every time we go and share a message they are already doing it. Then we taught Andy about family history work. He seemed excited to find some of his family members. Then we had volleyball and it went well. There were a few non-members there too which was awesome.

Saturday we started with eating with President Miller at Ryan's. Then we headed to Elder and Sister Bailey's to do some further coordination with them, Brother Boyd and the Sisters. Tried to see Brian and Alisha which fell through. So we had a short study and then taught Billy Ray. He mostly just talked a lot and tried to make us watch “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”. We did finally get to share a message. He said he would come to church too. Ate dinner with the Burton's. They are really cool and have very energetic kids. Great food! Then Brother Lawrence was going to meet us at Johnny's but Johnny fell through. Brother Lawrence got there before us and invited Johnny to church. Then we taught Ben with Brother Lawrence which went really well. Had a good conversation as well. Read Helaman 5 and he seemed to like it.

Sunday we had church and Billy Ray got there and so did Andy and Sister Carr. Sister Carr is an investigator that we never get to teach. We waited for the 1 o'clock church as well because Johnny said he would be at that one. We even went to Johnny's with Brother Lawrence and Johnny was gone. Brother Lawrence talked to all of our gators as well. He is such a good fellowshipper!! Had lunch and studies when Billy Ray called so we headed over there to teach him a lesson. Tried to catch Brian and Alisha but they weren't home. Neither was Joanna. Came home and ate because our dinner with the Nimmo's didn't work out. Taught Andy a lesson about Temple and family history work. Then Austin came out with us to see Johnny and we taught him the importance of commitments.

Monday, 9/9/13 - Sunday, 9/15/13

Monday we emailed, shopped, and did the usual. Played sand volleyball with the 2nd Ward Elders. Taught Johnny a really powerful lesson as well. Read Lehi's vision and the Spirit was so strong.

Tuesday we went on a trade-off with the Fort Walton 2nd Ward Elders. I stayed here in Crestview with Elder Malmberg. Elder Winter went to Fort Walton with Elder DeGroff. Elder Malmberg is very quiet but a great Elder. He is just new so he is nervous. Anyway we went to the Fort Walton 2nd District Meeting as well and it was really good. Elder DeGroff is a really good missionary. Came home, ate lunch, did some training and then went out. Taught Steve with Angie there and Steve understood pretty well which surprised me. I thought he'd have trouble. Then we made some calls for the 1/2 mission conference food. Sister Smith asked us if we knew of any places to get some food for the missionaries, so I checked with some members. Then we ate at the Taylor's for dinner. Tried to see the Rix's. Ended up giving a guy from the De Funiak Ward a blessing. His name is Barry and he was in the hospital up here in Crestview. Went to try to see a few other people which fell through, but hey we did our best!

Wednesday we taught James for my first time. He has been investigating for a while. We had a great lesson and set a baptismal date. He really wants to be baptized so hopefully everything will fall into place so that he can. Biked a lot as well and got to teach a guy named Andy that we met. Really nice guy and seems to be open to learning. Ate with the Boyd's and talked to Brother Boyd about when to do Coordination. He is the new ward mission leader. Also taught a young boy named Devin. He is a less active and sorta a recent convert. Taught Andy, the one we normally teach. He told us he wasn't ready to be baptized this weekend. He is a hard cookie to crumble. We are really sad that he didn't want to be baptized.

Thursday we had weekly planning. Then we went and saw the Woodring's and the Fisher's came there for a home teaching appointment that we didn't know about. So we piggy backed off their lesson. Ate at the Rowan's which was good food. It was funny cause there seemed to be a bit of a father-in-law/wife rivalry going on. Tried to teach Johnny which fell through so we went to teach Ben (recent convert) or Jamie his wife. Talked to Jamie for a while and then Ben ended up calling us into his house because he was excited to learn. Read D&C 20 with him. Didn't quite finish but he seems to like it and understand it.

Friday was a good day. Didn't get as much done as I would have liked. We didn't get any member present lessons. We did get to go and teach Billy Ray which went well. His progress has really surprised me. Also got to teach Johnny and read part of Helaman 5. He is an awesome guy. I really enjoy going over to see him and teach him. Also got to teach Josh and the lesson went well. He has a great understanding of things already from his Methodist days. We also played volleyball with the ward which looks like it is going to be very successful.

Saturday we had the usual breakfast with President Miller. Then went to the Olive Sister’s baptism. It was a really good service. Then we learned a bit about family history work from Sister Bailey. Wish I could have found more. Then got to teach Brother Thomas who is one of our part member family investigators. They seemed to enjoy the lesson. Then taught Johnny about family history as well and he really enjoyed it and was excited. Also showed him the Bible videos and Mormon messages. Taught Ben and read the rest of D&C 20 with him. We also taught Andy and scheduled another date for baptism with him.

Sunday we had church today and it was awesome because Billy Ray was there. He really enjoyed it as well which made me very happy. Brother and Sister Peterson gave extremely good talks as well in Sacrament. Went out and tried to see a couple people. No luck. Then Elder and Sister Bailey took us down to Fort Walton for a Stake musical devotional that we were in. It is called "Joseph Smith the Prophet". We did narration parts. Elder Winter was Joseph Smith and I was Parley P. Pratt. It went pretty well. Spirit was strange and people were crying so that’s all that counts!

Monday 9/2/2013 - Sunday 9/8/2013

Monday was P-day again and we played some volleyball with the 2nd Ward Elders and Sisters. Sister Lawrence and a few other members came as well. It was really fun. I got a haircut from Elder Winter as well. Saving money!! Emailed at the Boyd's because the Library was closed because of the holiday. Ate some dinner at home before heading out to see Joanna. We walked there and met Elliott along the way. Maybe he will be interested. Joanna wasn't home so we came back and worked on zone conference.

Tuesday we did a lot of zone conference planning. Ate lunch and then went and taught Billy Ray. Told us that our soul was in the balls. He seems like he is softening a bit. Had dinner with the Hansen's. Then gave Sister Thomas a blessing and taught her and her husband about the Priesthood. Then taught Ben and his son a good lesson. Read D&C 13 with Ben and explained about John the Baptist coming to Joseph Smith. The assistants also came over so they could sleep because zone conference is Wednesday.

Wednesday we had zone conference and it was really good. President was way powerful today and so were the assistants. Sister Smith had awesome remarks too. Everything was really good. Hopefully we did well. Then we went on a trade-off with the Spanish Elders. Elder Winter went down to Fort Walton with Elder Bravo and Elder MacClay came up to Crestview with me. Ended up eating with the Lawrence's. They called us and asked if someone was feeding us and we didn't so they told us to come on over. It was so awesome! We went to the transfer spot because Elder and Sister Mower gave us some supplies as they were going to Fort Walton to drop off the new Sister. We had a Sister go home for medical reasons so she is the replacement from the Temple Square mission. Taught Johnny a little lesson about reading and he said he would. Also, taught Brian and Alisha a quick lesson. They really seem to want to change.

Thursday there was no weekly planning due to the exchange. Elder MacClay and I got to do some service for a nice lady named Donna. It was good because we basically taught her the restoration lesson while we were doing the service. Told her all about Joseph Smith's experience. She liked talking about it. She fed us some food and then we headed to Fort Walton to trade back. We then went home and I cleaned up and we went to Brother Moore's home and had some good dinner. He is really cool. Older guy and he recently had a really gnarly infection on his hand that looked so nasty! He showed us some pictures. Practiced for "Joseph Smith the Prophet" that the Stake is doing. It is a musical thing.

Friday was chaos! We had 6 total lessons. First thing in the morning we got to teach Will and Derrell. Derrell is an Atheist and Will is Christian so it will be interesting teaching them. Did our studies and then we were going to weekly plan, but got a call for a blessing which fell through. We ended up getting a call from Elder Bailey because Billy Ray called him and told him we were supposed to go over so we did. We didn't get to teach too much, but it was good to talk to him. Then taught Steve and Angie two different lessons which was cool. So we got a member present and a recent convert lesson. Then went and taught Josh about baptism. Dinner with the awesome Wyatt's! Lesson with Johnny fell through. He was probably stuck in traffic. So we ended up seeing Jamie and encouraging her to read and pray. Brother Boyd was there for that. Then played volleyball with the ward. They are trying to get it to where non-members will come out and play.

Saturday was the weirdest Saturday! Had Breakfast with President Miller as usual then headed to the church for the Carr daughters baptism. I spoke on baptism and Elder Winter spoke on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. She bore the most awesome testimony! It was so cool. Then they had some grub there so we ate and then headed home. Did our studies and weekly planned. It was pretty fun! We didn't get to weekly plan because of the exchange. Then ate dinner and taught Jamie and Ben about equality in marriage. Then Johnny fell through so we ended up having to go on a "faith walk" which is just walking and hoping to find someone.

Sunday no one came to church that said they would. It is so sad, we invite and invite and hope people will come but they don't. Billy Ray fell and hit his head so Satan is holding him back. Nevertheless, it was a pretty good day. Got yelled at by some drunk people and also ate at the young Kirby's home. Found out that Brother Kirby may have been in the young men's over Jacob Lawson who was in the Tallahassee 4th Ward. We then headed down to Niceville to do a baptismal interview. 10 year old and she is awesome! I did the interview. Passed! Came back and taught Johnny about the 10 commandments. Short lesson, Johnny didn't have a ton of time.

Monday 8/26/2013 – Sunday 9/1/2013

Monday was a good P-day. Played beach volleyball with Elder Chappell and Elder Elmer. Ate at the Wyatt's, which is always way fun. I love going over there! Taught Devin and went over the baptismal interview questions. He is a sharp tool!

Tuesday we went to the Fort Walton 1 district meeting, which was really good. I enjoyed it a lot. Then we did an exchange. I went to Fort Walton with Elder Schwartz and Elder Harrar went to Crestview with my companion. Then we started off doing some service, but I wasn't feeling very good so we cut that short. We just stayed in after that and I ended up having a violent throw up session. So it was not effective. I think the chicken I ate last night wasn't cooked all the way through. Elder Schwarts was really good about helping me out. He is awesome. We talked a lot and got to know each other pretty well. He is having a hard time right now.

Wednesday I woke up feeling kinda crappy still and went through the day like that. Traded back. Planned our baptism for Devin a bit. Taught Billy Ray a lesson as well. Ate at the Lawrence's. Brother Lawrence cooked and it was way good! Wish I wasn't feeling sick. Took Brother Lawrence out to Johnny's and had a really good lesson.

Thursday was weekly planning. Then went to Devin's to do his baptismal interview. Elder Chappell did the interview. Devin said Elder Winter could baptize him and I would give him the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Had dinner at the Cochran's. It was really good! Homemade bread, jam and yummy chicken. Also taught a less active named Mallory King. Older guy, really nice and wants to quit smoking.

Friday we started off at Miss April's house doing some service. We cut down a lot of trees making a path through the forest that is her backyard. I almost cut off my leg with a machete... Haha no I just scratched it. Then went home and helped someone move out that was in our complex. Ate at the Boyd's, which was good. Taught Brother Higgins (less active). He is really cool and funny. Gave Angie Davis a blessing and taught her friend, Steve, with the Boyd's son. He is going to Brazil on his mission.

Saturday we had Devin's baptism! It was pretty awesome! Elder Winter performed the baptism. Devin is such an awesome and smart kid and I am happy I was able to teach him. We also had breakfast with President Miller at a restaurant called Ryan's where he takes us every Saturday. Planned for Zone Conference. Headed to Brian and Alisha's, but they weren't home. As we were leaving, we ran into a young man named Austin. Elder Winter taught him once when Elder Locken was here. Then we headed to Jacob Kirby's to eat dinner. It was pretty good food. They are cool and their kids are pretty funny. Then the Boyd's son came out with us to go to the Barbecho's and we ended up teaching Ben. Jamie left somewhere. Stopped by to see Johnny, but he pulled out his own wisdom tooth and was out of it. Good day! Can't beat a baptism!

Sunday I had the privilege of confirming Devin a member of the church in sacrament. That was cool! First time I have ever done that. Good lessons at church. After we prepped for zone conference a bit. Then we went and saw the Della Pitro's, a part member family and shared a little message. Had a great dinner with the Ratcliff's. I asked for the recipe, it was just that good! Taught Johnny and he said that everything we teach he already has his mind on and we just bring it out. So that was cool! Good week!