Monday, 3/24/14 - Sunday, 4/6/14

Monday – Balled it up a Twin Hills again. Elder Smellie and Elder Swenson came up from Niceville because Elder Smellie had a dentist appointment up in Crestview so they got to play. Elder Smellie is way good! Had dinner and a lesson at the Bissen’s. It went pretty good. Andy just needs to take the leap of faith and get baptized. Saw the Nunley’s briefly. They are way funny people and I really love going there. I also got to look up schools and found out I will eventually be going to Utah State or to BYU at some point because they have Dietetics programs. That was about everything.

Tuesday – Today we went to the DeFuniak District Meeting. Elder Hintze is a brand new district leader but he does an excellent job so far. Traded off with DeFuniak. I went with Elder Hintze to Crestview and Elder Rasmussen went with Elder Larsen to DeFuniak. Elder Hintze and I had a pretty good exchange. He really wants to be effective so we discussed making visits with less-actives more effective by using the how to begin teaching bullet points. We were able to see Jamie for a brief moment and teach her a little bit. I think she might just like our company though. I don’t feel she really wants to learn. Went to see the Thomas’s and Brother Thomas didn’t come out so Sister Thomas gave us some Blue Bell Ice Cream. It is dang good! Shared a little message with her about Ammon’s perseverance with King Lamoni. Taught Chris Nichols a lesson and he is going to come out with us to a lesson. Read a bit with Angie Davis and it looks like she is going to be moving soon. That was about all the highlights.

Wednesday – Took Elder Hintze back first thing and tried to do some role plays. They were not very effective though. Hard to keep everyone focused. We were all a bit distracted. Weird day but we did get back in contact with Donna and we plan on helping her tomorrow. She got some of her path laid but had to tear some of it back up. It wasn’t level and we will have to pull some more up tomorrow. Went and picked up Chris after that to take him to Jose’s and that was such a funny appointment. At one point Jose said “I’m 5’9” so basically 6 foot”. Elder Rasmussen and I started laughing so hard. They got off on all sorts of topics. Saw the Woodring’s for a brief lesson and that went well. They’re cool! Ate with the Ratcliff’s which was really fun. They really crack me up! Then went to get a canopy for Brother Hartwell and he showed us all the cool things they are changing in their house. He is such a cool guy! Love this ward!

Thursday – Today we went to Donna’s in the morning to help her with her walkway and there was a guy named Will there who had done a lot of walkways and knew how to make it nice and flat. He was really good and he could explain things to Donna really well to get her to understand what he was doing. Had a really quick lunch and then went to see Theresa and Ariel. That was a good visit except that Theresa told us that she is still having issues with a member who is racist. It is really pushing her to her limit. Skylark’s fell through. They forgot about our appointment. Then we went and created some slips for referral sheets for the Family History Fair. Ate a quick dinner and then went to see Josh Vining and had a good lesson with him. He seems to be getting a lot more solid. Then we headed to the church for our first basketball night. It was a success. James Purcel came and I hadn’t seen him for a long time so it was good to catch up. He said he was still reading the Book of Mormon and is going to get baptized as soon as he moves out of his house which is going to happen pretty soon.

Friday – Had a lesson with Pat again and this time Brother Hansen came with us. Pat read a bit and says he is going to continue to read the Book of Mormon. He is softening and doesn’t even know it. Then had lunch with the Burbidge’s at Cracker Barrel and that was way fun. I love getting to talk to the Burbidge’s. They are such a cool family. Then we had some weekly planning. A quick version of weekly planning. Then had a great dinner at the Bissen’s with chocolate fondue. It was really fun. Then had a lesson after that was decent. Andy is being kind of difficult right now. He is just not excited about the Gospel because it has been around him so much. Then we had the coolest lesson ever with Tony. First thing he did was ask why we set the baptismal date for April 26^th. We told him we prayed about it and felt good about that. He kept trying to figure out if there was another reason and come to find out that day is his mom’s birthday. She just passed away so it was so cool! No coincidences in the gospel. The assistants then came over for our exchange and we had a lot of fun chatting it up about “Dumb and Dumber” and “Ace Ventura”.

Saturday – Today the first thing Elder McPhearson and I did was go to Main Street at about 7 am to set up our Family History booth on Main Street. That took a long time and then after that we went to McDonald’s because we were locked out because I forgot to grab the extra key. Elder Rasmussen and Musgrave got back and we were able to get changed and then do our studies. Went and tried to see a few people including the Grice’s but they weren’t available but we invited who I believe was their sister to church because she hasn’t been to her ward in a long time. Went to the bowling lanes for the Elders Quorum activity because we invited some investigators to it. Wes did come but he didn’t end of bowling so we didn’t either. It worked out though because we were able to set up an appointment with him. Saw a less active name Lucio who I kinda recognized and come to fine out he worked at the Greenwood Medical Center next to my house as a nurse. Went to the Family Search booth for our shift which was awesome. We had a ton of members help out and got 39 referrals of people that want to do more. After Brother Hartwell took us the APS and 2^nd Ward Elders to Bamboo Sushi which was good! Then had a pretty good lesson with Andy. He is getting closer I think.

Sunday – Today we called referrals from the Family History booth. Went to see some referrals and potentials with no avail. Then had some great testimonies and lessons at church. Had the 5^th Sunday lesson and Bishop Parker asked us to ask questions that we often got to the members so we could help the members to be more comfortable to get out there and talk to people about the truth. Taught Wes right after church about the rest of the Plan of Salvation. Brother Wirt helped us teach him. It was pretty good other than a tangent here and there. Then had the coolest Word of Wisdom lesson with Tony. We taught him and he said he would live it. After the lesson he poured his vodka down the drain. He hadn’t drunk that for like a year or so, so he was fine with that. He didn’t want to dump the coffee at first but I think he was so pumped when dumping the vodka that he decided to just do it. Had dinner after that a then we taught the Andersen’s a bit and then came to our complex to teach a lady named Judy that we met today. That fell through so we tried to see Brother Harter – wasn’t home so we talked to his sister and then we talked to Brian that we used to always teach. We told him to read the Book of Mormon and live the law of chastity.

Monday – Today was a good day. Got an email from the Brooke’s from the Fox Run Ward. It was awesome to hear from them. They are such a great family. Looks like their daughter’s boyfriend might just get baptized. Played some basketball again at Twin Hills Park. We lost for the first time in a long while. I had the shakes the entire time for some reason but it was still fun. Had Brother Wadas come out with us to see Mark Hayes but that fell through so we went to see Josh Vining and taught him the Word of Wisdom and Josh committed to live it. It was so cool! Then we headed to the Crestview 2^nd apartment to do an exchange with them. We are blitzing which means both companionships stay in Crestview 2^nd Ward. We hope to find some new gators.

Tuesday – Today was awesome! We blitzed and I went with Elder Burnham and Elder Rasmussen went with Elder Urquiaga. Elder Burnham has grown a ton! He was talking to everyone we saw and it was so good to see. He still isn’t always sure what to say but he is fearless. Talked with an awesome guy that had a sweet 60’s Buick Classic, I believe it was. Such a sick car! Had a great conversation with him. Then we had a weird experience where this little girl asked us who we were and we told her and then she asked if we wanted to see where she lived. Elder Burnham said sure and she was on her bike and we awkwardly followed her and one of the people in the neighborhood drove up wondering what was going on. By then we just gave her a card but it was weird. Then had dinner at Azteca with the Jackson’s. They are pretty cool. Brother Jackson is a member but Sister Jackson isn’t yet. She questions Joseph Smith’s story. Then had a chat and message with the Homestead’s, well just Brother Homestead and he is an awesome guy. Air Force guy and he knows so much about it. He has a cool gun too. I don’t know what it was.

Wednesday – Today we had MLC and President changed it from what it used to be and actually made it into a council and it was sweet! We got to actually throw out ideas and discuss what we thought could help the mission and our individual zones. I got to catch up with Elder Winter and let him know what is going on here in Crestview. Elder Welch and Elder Smith are also zone leaders so I got to catch up a bit with them also. After the meeting we went to help Sean Whipple who is married to a member but he is not yet baptized. We got 10 minutes into the move when a bunch of stuff fell off of the moving truck hydraulic lift. That included a TV, so in an attempt to catch the TV…didn’t catch it…Elder Rasmussen dropped a bed frame which fell and put a giant gash in Sean’s ankle so we had to take him to the ER so he could get stitches. He was way cool about it though. After that we ate with the Cochran’s which is always good. Then we had coordination which was kind of weird for some reason. Probably because our day was chaos.

Thursday – First thing this morning we had a conference call with all of the Sisters in the zone. There was a sarcasm issue in the zone with feelings getting hurt so we addressed that. Then we headed to help Sean Whipple move in. Try #2! This time Brother Dunn was there to help out with the unloading. He is a good guy but certainly could be a lot more humble. Had lunch and then went and taught Stan and Helen Rice for the first time. They are very kind and seem very open to learn about the restored gospel. Did some zone training planning after that and then got ready to go help Brian Andersen with some service. We got there and they were getting dinner ready. Brian had some hotdogs and took them outside to a homemade fire pit in which he started a fire with gasoline and then cooked the dogs. I don’t think eating food that is cooked with gas seems like a good idea. Didn’t taste too bad though. Then we asked what we were going to help with and he didn’t even know. So he decided to cut down a bush in their yard and their neighbor came over and he had the nasty tattoos on his arms, literally porn. Ate dinner and had a great lesson with Tony. He is living the Word of Wisdom still!

Friday – Did some planning today for zone training this morning. Then went to see Pat but he wasn’t home so Sister Gray told us to come by for lunch so we went and tracted a bit and met Mr. Thomley. Really nice guy who talked to us for a long time but wasn’t interested. Then we met a somewhat rude lady who had a mustache. Ate with Sister Gray. Did our weekly planning. Then I felt we should go find someone and Elder Rasmussen thought we should go see Chrystal a referral. So we went and saw her and got to teach and it went great! She is a really funny lady and I think she is ready for the gospel. Her mom was there too. Her name if Tonda but she told us to call her mom. It will be interesting teaching them.

Saturday – Didn’t get to do a ton today because we had zone training to plan for. We also had General Conference which is the last one for both Elder Rasmussen and I while on our missions. Unfortunately no one that was supposed to come did come. There were some great talks though. Elder Holland’s was awesome as always. Elder Zwick’s cracked me up! Quote of the conference was him when he was talking about his wife jumping out of the semi and he got out and said “What were you thinking?” Good stuff! Gave Sister Haines a blessing. She is such a celestial lady. I hope her husband gets back to being a strong member. Saw the Tatro’s to see how they were doing and they volunteered to feed us Monday. That was brief and we headed to Priesthood which was great. Elder Oaks gave an awesome talk! Then we had some root beer floats. Headed home after.

Sunday – Today we spent a bit more time on our zone training preparations. Had some more conference and it was great! After President Uchtdorf’s talk I have been feeling that I need to head home for school but man it is a tough decision. The fifth session is always hard for me to focus so I didn’t get a ton out of that. Then after conference we gave Wes a blessing for his toothache and then met Brother Burton at one house. He gave us a ride in his STI and it was sick! Dinner was also delicious! Sister Burton did a great job. On the ride home he showed us what it could do. He told us that it goes 0–100 mph in 8 seconds. I think my brain almost fell out of my head. Then taught Tony with Brother Boyd and he is well on his way to baptism. He doesn’t get everything yet but he will. Elder Rasmussen and I also had a heart to heart conversation with Tony about wine. He really likes that stuff.