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!