Mission Journal

June 10, 2012 – Sunday

Last Sunday I taught the priesthood lesson and talked about how important it was to be at meetings on time, so it was very important to me to be sure that we were at the PEC meeting on time this morning.  I’m glad that we were because everyone else was on time as well! J  We had to leave by 9:30 to go get WH and give him a ride to church today; his usual ride is on vacation.  We had Branch Conference so the Stake President and Young Woman President were there.  They along with President Wiles, the Branch President, gave the talks and it was good.  Our church attendance has improved so much.  We had about 40 people there and the BC family was gone on vacation.  President McKee told us when we were at zone conference he had heard we were really improving our branch and bringing lots of people  back into activity.  I told him it wasn’t us, it was the spirit working in our area.  Things are really changing in our little branch for the better and it is so wonderful to see the change.  People are showing love for each other and coming together.  President Wiles, the Branch President, has made some changes in callings and this has made a change in attitudes and activity.  It is so great to see everyone huging and talking to each other, and sit all over the church, instead of in a certain area of the church.  More people are giving talks, giving prayers, and accepting callings too.  It’s quite a change, from the church we saw when we first came here.  These people here are so wonderful; we are truly going to miss leaving here. I now understand when Elders say they hated to leave certain areas and people.

After church we set up tables and had a potluck dinner.  It went well and we had a good time.

June 9, 2012 – Saturday

We went by BN’s house again today for a few minutes, his son CN was playing with water balloons with his friend.  They were placing the balloons on the street watching them grow and pop because of the heat.  They said they were playing water balloon baseball earlier.  When we talked with BN we were able to setup another appointment for next Wednesday.

We spent a lot of today getting ready for the potluck tomorrow.

June 8, 2012 – Friday

We went back to JS house, he was still working and not at home, but we did have a prayer with Mrs. JS and invited them to Branch Conference Sunday morning.

We also went by WH’s house; he called Wednesday telling us that someone had put something in his gas tank and that his truck was ruined.  As it turned out; his battery was dead and the fuel gauge pointed to full, all he needed was a new battery.  He gave us chicken and green beans for the potluck dinner on Sunday after Branch Conference.  We talked to him about chewing, and it was hard for him to talk about, he’s very paranoid and for a minute he thought we were rejecting him.  I assured him that God loves him and wants the best for him.  That’s why he gave us a word of wisdom.

June 7, 2012 – Thursday

Zone meeting was in Clarksville today.  We had to be there at 8:45 and it’s an hour and a half drive to get there, but we always love the meetings.  President McKee and his family were there and the meeting was spiritual and we were able to learn, as always.  We got home about 9:00 at night, a long day.

June 6, 2012 – Wednesday

Sister HS went with us to teach OP and her daughters again this morning, but when we arrived, OP told us that she and her boyfriend had to leave to wash a house with a power washer.  We’ll have to try again on another day.

We were to have dinner with BN and family this evening and then teach a lesson, but BN called and said that his son’s team won their game last night and are having a playoff game today.  So instead of teaching, we watched another little league baseball game, it was fun.

June 5, 2012 – Tuesday

We met with WH and gave him a copy of a talk given by President Monson, and then encouraged him to do his best to live by the lessons learned in the talk, that’s good advice for all of us.

We played a church video to WE that portrays Christ teaching Nicodemus about baptism with water and the Holy Spirit.  We used that to teach her a little more about the Plan of Salvation.

The Corn behind our house is growing fast.

June 4, 2012 – Monday

Elder and Sister Peterson came over today.  They have to give a family home evening lesson today and want to use the cup lesson as their base lesson.  We helped them put together a set of cups with pictures and showed them how to use the lesson, and then let them practice with us.  We sure do like Elder and Sister Peterson, they are good people.

  

Below is a picture of our first tomato from our garden.

June 3, 2012 – Sunday

There were more than forty people at church today!  We’re excited, but still have a long way to go.

June 2, 2012 – Saturday

Elder Robinson and Hamblin invited us to go to a baptism in Morgantown; their font in Leitchfield doesn’t work.  It was good to see a baptism performed by someone who holds the authority and uses the proper priesthood in the proper way.

  

We went with the other senior missionaries to Bowling Green to the Corvette museum.  It was good to be with other missionaries our age.

June 1, 2012 – Friday

We had set up an appointment with JS and Mrs. JS but when we arrived, Mrs. JS told us that he was gone, so we visited with her for a short while and set a time to come back.  Next we went to WH’s house; he lives alone and is a very sad person.  Sometimes we have to stay longer than we intended.  His only friend did something that he believes was very vulgar and now he has lost that one friend.

BN and family asked us to go to their son’s little league games tonight, a double header.  It was a lot fun watching the games; their youngest son was sick and supposed to be at home, but played on his big brother’s team because they were one man short, their missing man showed up for the second game so he went home with his mother.  They won both games by more than ten points.  We have a dinner appointment with them for next Wednesday.

May 31, 2012 – Thursday

We drove out to Horse Branch and found OP and her daughters at home.  We wanted to continue the Plan of Salvation with them and first showed the video Heavenly Father’s Plan.  The spirit was strong and just as we started to teach OP’s mother, BP showed up at OP’s house with a cigarette in her hand and insisted that OP go with her on some kind of errand.  The spirit immediately left and we knew that it was time to leave.  We set up a time to come back next week and left a Book of Mormon with her, pray for this family – please.

May 30, 2012 – Wednesday

District Meeting was canceled today, so we drove around trying to find someone to teach.  BL wasn’t home; it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to teach her, we’ll keep trying.  We went by TC’s house, and then LB’s house, and on and on.  Sometimes it’s really hard to find people who will let us in.