Hello Family!!
Another week gone and by in this mission, fun fact today marks my 2 month period for being a missionary! Eh? Pretty nice am I right? Not going to lie it has gone by fairly quick, but at the same time I feel like I have been gone for like 13 years. But any whom, so this week was kind of a dull one with teaching people, but we did get two new sisters. And holy cow... They are blowing us out of the water, they have been creating fliers and come worship with us cards, and coming up with all kinds of smart ideas that we had never even thought of, who are they? But it is really nice to have a set of sisters just over the Dothan 2nd ward. So that we can both work over the area. So get this, they passed this rule a few weeks back, that sisters and elders can't eat at the same dinner appointment, so.. Basically this past month we have been fed like 7 times.. and the Sisters calendar is full up. So I am basically starving here without members, and on a limited budget. So don't worry about me, I am fine. :) Any way I will give you the week!
Monday - P-Day. So we found out in the morning that one of the Sisters was going to Tallahassee. And so she was shedding lots of tears, and so we all went to lunch as a District at Zaxbys. And she was wanting to take like a million pictures, and I was just so over it all. It was so much drama. Hahaha. :) So we got all of our shopping and stuff done, we always try and hit up some local thrift stores for ties, I think today we are going to go to the pawn shop, and I think that Elder Stubbs and I are going to go roller skating at the skate rink, my goal is to teach a lesson while on roller skate, huh? But after we were done we were fed by the Marturello's, Dean and Brooke Marturello, they have been here for 3 weeks, they moved from Utah. They have already fed me more times than anyone. They are really awesome, they both served missions, so they are willing to help us do anything. I love them!! So after dinner we tried to visit some less actives, and none of them worked. And so we didn't know what to do, and I just had a thought that we should go visit Linda Pollium. I don't why, but I just did. So we got to her house and we were talking, and she just broke down, and started sobbing, and she said, "I don't know why you boys decided to come over here today, but I have been praying all day, because it has been so hard." And the Spirit was so strong, I learn more from her everytime we teach her. And it really felt good, because I sometimes think that I am not the best at feeling promptings of the Spirit, so I was so thankful. Because that also meant a lot to me, that I just had an impression to go see her, it was awesome!
Tuesday - Had District Meeting in the morning, and District meeting has become one of my favorite things to do, I really enjoy them. So after that, we went and had a lesson with Kevin Hust. And we read Enos with him, just all they way through, and explained all of it. I love Enos! It is the bomb, it basically goes through prayer, faith, repentance, Gospel of Christ. It is awesome. So we just answered all of his questions that he has, and read with him. Each time we meet with him, he has questions, and we have to crack the shell, and get through all the problems, but each time we meet with him, he softens up just a little bit more, it is really cool to see. And afterwards, they fed us some soup. But he was just talking about how much he enjoyed that! So slowly I think that we are progressing with him. After that we helped Levi Hansen move to Burmingham, he is in our Elders Quorum, and he was from Idaho. The Also Elder Stubbs had a prompting to go into the Dothan Rescue Mission so we did. We also went into this antique shop, and you wouldn't believe all that was in there, I told the guy that if my family was here they would be in heaven. So then we met with Barbra Phillips. We had a set time to be there, and they showed up 30 minutes late.. because they were baking cookies. So we had like 20 minutes with Barbra to teach her... I mean come on, and then the Sisters were late to their dinner appointment as well. AHHHH. But we just read some out of the Book of Mormon with her, and got her to pray which is awesome, she gets more and more confident every single time she does it! Then we had dinner at the Myers, Paul and Cindy, he used to be the old bishop, but has had two strokes, and is now going in for heart surgery to fix a hole in his heart, but I heard they had run marathons, and so I asked them, and he has run 29 marathons, and she has run 4, crazy! So I talked to them for a while about that, but Paul used to run and ride his motorcycle everywhere, but now can't do any of that, so it is a little sad. But he is hilarious, if anything happens, or if he drops something, or if he needs more food he just says, "Stroke. Stroke. Stroke." He is hilarious, I love them too.
Wednesday - We started out the morning working at the food bank, loading up pallets of food to be shipped out all over Alabama. So we got all sweaty doing that, came home showered sat down for studies, got a call, that a part member family needed help in the yard, so we went and did that for like 3 hours. And we were fasting throughout this whole process as well, so we were pooped. But we were able to watch Mormon Messages with the family, so that was really cool. Then the rest of the day was kind of a bust, the new sisters got there and so we went to Taco Bell with them, and we just debriefed them of the area, and things to be aware of, and all the members in the ward, so it was really good.'
Thursday - We started out in the morning again working at the food bank, packing up pallets of individual boxes this time. And then after that we spend the morning with the Sisters doing weekly planning with them, just further getting them acquanted with the area, both of them are brand new. So we did weekly planning, and thats where we got a lot of really cool ideas going on. I think we are going to throw a fireside for members to teach them about mormon.org, and to show them the new videos on the church website about missionary work. And also, we are putting on a talent show for the ward, to get all less active or investigators too in like a month or so. So that should be really good! Then we don't have any real direction here, so we went and got maps, and so I made two brand new maps and hung them on the wall, and started putting in all of the pins from the roster. So that we actually know whats going on and who is who, the last map is really pretty old. The ward roster is 20 pages long! So you can imagine the amount of pins, and we aren't even done yet. Then we had dinner at the house of Sister Yawei.. Celery Juice, and that same leaves, with like 9 tomatoes in it. And we had sweet potatoes.
Friday - Got a real good jump on the day, and we ventured far inside the middle of the circle, which is the sketchier areas to try and track down a bunch of less actives. And we didn't really see any of them, but we found someone off of an old progress record, that we got a return appointment for, and we found two new investigators, who told us to comeback, because they would like to learn more. So that was sweet!! The one lady was really young, and pregnant, and was saying she grew up Baptist, but didn't like some of the stuff they did, and was developing her faith right now, I mean come on, that is golden! So we were way excited about that. Some of the areas that we are in, make me feel sad though. One less active we tried, had no windows, they were all broken out, so it was just wide open, and their front door, had no door knob. So then we went to the hospital for clergy duty, nothing too exciting happened, but we just talk to everyone, that we can, and it is really fun. The workers in the CCU hate us, because they think we're in their way, so I decided I was going to make them like me, so I talked to each and everyone of them, and just asked them how they were doing, and it was awesome! We went to Krispy Kreme and brought donuts with us, and the chaplain after us was really mad, and so I was just like ya know what sir, would you like a donut, and at first he was like NO. But then he did a double take, once he figured out what I asked, and said, oh yes thank you. And he was so nice to us afterward, and believe me I was saving that last donut. :) After that we had correlation meeting with the mission leader. And then we had dinner at the Dewpews, I ate their my first night that I got to Dothan, and I was just thinking about the difference in how I felt and it was really cool, because the first night there, I was thinking, what have I gotten myself into. But now it was so different, it was much more enjoyable. :)
Saturday - We helped the Mitchell family move, another solid member of the Elders Quorum, that we are losing. Then we did a trade off with the Dothan 1st Elders, I went up there so that I could see Sherlyn Everage, BG Hunts sister. And I was with Elder Davidson who came out the same time as me, so we were lost because he didn't know where we were going, and it wasn't my area. So that took awhile. But I tried her house twice, but no one was home either time. I have her phone number, and I know where she works in Dothan. But I would just rather see her at here house, so the other Elders kind of have an in, and can start working with her. So I will keep you posted on that, but we just visited some of their less actives, and members, and we did some tracting. After that the Chappell's took us out to eat, which I love. They took us to Ryan's a southern buffet, they had steak grilling, you would just walk up and say how you wanted it cooked and he would give it to you, and the CHICKEN oh my goodness, I bet I had like 23 chicken nuggets/tenders/fried chicken. Any whom, I put the hurt on the buffet. After that we stopped by Bro Willie Parkers house and talked with them, and read from the Bible with him. I'm working up to talking about the Book of Mormon dad!!! So he fed us ice cream, and we asked them what time their service was, and so we told them we would go, I'll get there. Then we visited that referral from the bishop in Douglas. Nathan Spivey, and we talked with him forever on the porch, President Bess has talked to him, because they both work at Flowers Hospital. And we told Pres Bess to talk to him, which is about the best thing that I can think of for anyone, Pres Bess will get the job done. But they are getting married and 2 weeks, and we both kind of walked away with that in 2 weeks we will be able to work with them.
Sunday - So some huge stuff happened today. So it was the sister first time at church, so we had ward council. I piped up, and told all the ward council to "please don't hesitate to send any of these rescue names to us, that you would like to be contacted." that's all I got. But we didn't have any investigators at church, but we got Paul Kennedy there. So after church Bishop Cain invites the sisters into his office for a meeting. WE HAVE BEEN ASKING FOR A MEETING FOR WEEKS. Hahahaha. So I was just like whatever. And we weren't invited in, and they were in there for 2 hours! And we carpooled with them, so we got all new rosters and such talked to everyone that we could and then finally we were like alright we got work to do, so we started walking home, in the suits.. bad idea. I was drenched. Luckily we got picked up, but we got to the apartment, and we were locked out the key was in the car so, we had to sit there and roast while we waited for the sisters hahaha. So Quinn Krizer the elder's president came up to us, and was like alright guys I need your help, so we are going to be working heavy with him. Which is fantastic! After church I put everyone on the ward roster onto our white board, so there is like 120 names in the "Unknown" category, so we have lots to track down this week! So we went to the Southside Baptist Church with Bro Willie Parker. And I got to say, I was pretty dang impressed. With some of the stuff that they do, if I was looking for a social church, I would be all over that one! They were way in to fellowship, and everyone there was SO nice. It was hilarious though, I had to hold back laughter a lot, this guy in front of us was throwing up fist pumps, and yelling "That's a fact!" It was just a really hilarious experience. But we talked to the Pastor for awhile, and he got our number and said that he wants to take us all out to lunch, he was so nice, and asked us to call him, he would love to come out with us is what he said. Hahaha. But we think we are going to go again, we asked what we could help them with. And so if we can get in with them, some how it could be really awesome for us!
Well, family I miss you all so much. I got the baby package, and all the pictures and that made me cry. Really I love all of you so much!! And it is really hard to be away from ya'll. But I love it here, I am beginning to love it more each and everyday. I love this Gospel, and what it had done to our families life, and what I see it do in other peoples lives! There really is nothing else like it!! I know that this Gospel is true!!
Love, Elder Hintze
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