"UNREAL GUYS UNREAL!"

Here is Elder Hintze's letter from Monday, November 18th. Baptism this week!

"Hi Family! Good week this week, I suppose. Gloria and Zooya's baptism went through! I was able to baptize Zooya and assist with Gloria and I confirmed Gloria. Holy cow. So cool! I am very, very thankful that I was allowed to be part of it all!

Monday - In the morning we went to the Elephant Ear booth at the peanut festival and had to do some major clean up duty. For P-Day we enjoyed some nice Little Caesar's pizza in the church and shot some hoops. And then we ate dinner with the Grantham's in the evening. And then we helped good old Linda unload some furniture into her room.

Tuesday - After District Meeting, we knocked on Brittani's door the girl who knocked on our door and agreed to have us teach her, so we did and she said she was busy, but then she came back and knocked on our door. And so we were able to teach her outside the Restoration lesson outside on some picnic tables. And it went really, really well! Probably one of the better first lessons, but there was a lot of distractions outside, so it was hard to feel the Spirit. But she appears to be pretty solid. Then we went out with Bro Prigmore, and nobody was home, we did see Barbra Erb though. Did some tracting for the first time in along time and I actually really, really enjoy tracting! So then the Marturello's fed us.

Wednesday - So, we traded off Tuesday night, so I had Elder Winter one of the Zone Leaders down with me in Dothan. We taught Theresa in her thrift shop in the morning. We read Alma 32 with her and talked about Faith. She is scheduling times for us to meet her when the shop is closed, so that is pretty cool. But anyway it was an awesome lesson, and she loved it, the Spirit was definitely there. So I recommitted her to be baptized and she said yes! So... kind of cool right. She said that she believes that this is the true church, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. She wasn't set on setting a date yet, she said she needed to pray about it. So pretty awesome! But then she didn't come to church.... So we will see what this next week brings! Then she had us search in the woods for some lost puppy that she saw.. don't ask. But we didn't find it. So then we went and we taught Nicholas the Plan of Salvation with Forest. And it hit home with him as well! He said "I am a believer" So we still have work to do, but he told us that he wants us to come meet with his mom and teach her, so we are going on Tuesday to teach mom and him! Then we saw Linda. Then we ate dinner at the Myer's home, which then they sent you pictures! And then we had our exchange report and then we met with Gloria at the church and solidified all of the baptismal plans and we got the program all set up! And then we traded back.

Thursday - We worked at the food bank in the morning, that place would fall apart without us. We then saw Barbra with Charles Bain. Her health is getting really poor, she can barely walk. So I can't get on her too much, because she is in a lot of pain. But after that we did our weekly planning and then we worked our way all across Dothan trying all of the potentials that we had, with no success whatsoever, so we had an extra meal ticket so we ate dinner at the Hospital, and then we went out to see Burnsed, but she is a goner lately. So we gave the 1st Ward elders a ride, since they were right there and it was daggum freezing here.

Friday - We worked at the food bank in the morning and then we helped Sister Lock move. The classiest lady I know, she is 92 and still healthy as can be, she has more clothes than I have ever seen before in my whole entire life. So then the 1st Ward gave us a ride to the hospital and we gave them free lunch at the hospital, for their efforts. So then we did our hospital shift and nothing huge, we got called to a trauma in the ER, and some guy had been shot, so that was kind of exciting, he was fine. And I also prayed with a man who was deaf, so that was also kind of a neat experience. He had know idea what I prayed about! But then on the way home, my bike tire exploded or popped. So I was man down, and we had to get home because dinner was being dropped off real soon. So we call the Sister's for backup and they are just down the road. So they rescue us and then Theresa offers to take us to dinner, so we are like heck ya, can't turn this down, dinner with investigator.

Saturday - BAPTISM DAY!!!!!! So went in the morning and got the bikes fixed. There is a guy who owns a bike shop and his wife is a member, but less active, and he fixs all our bikes for free. Really nice guy, he told me I couldn't put white walls on my bike. So then we got to the church and got the font ready and got everything straightened up! And then it happened!!!

President Smith, Zooya, Gloria, Elder Hintze, and Elder Smith

We had quite a turn out from the ward! We also had President and Sister Smith there!! And Athen the husband and father came. The whole baptismal service was phenomenal, as I said Zoya asked me to baptize her and Elder Smith did Gloria. It really feels so good, I am so blessed to be able to be a part of it. And through out the whole service the Spirit was strong, members of the ward welcomed them in awesome and they all were tearing up. And so after the fact, Athen said now that he is open! And so we are going to hopefully be able to meet with him this week!! So everything just went really well! :) :) Later we met with Anita McBride and read with her. And then tried a bunch of people, we saw Donte that kid that met with us a while ago. We have never been able to get up with him and he is no longer really interested, he read a little of the Book of Mormon and he prayed a couple of times and he said he didn't get an answer. So we set up to meet with him Sunday, but he wasn't there. But then we also talked with Brittani's boyfriend, because she said that she wanted us to meet with him too. And we did and he said, he would think about it. But he ain't getting away from me. We saw Barbra with Bro Prigmore and she was doing much better! So it was a good visit!

Sunday - We did get to confirm Gloria and Zoya and that was cool. What a huge honor! I really am just so thankful I got to be a part of it. To confirm them a member of the church and give them the gift of the Holy Ghost. UNREAL GUYS UNREAL! Then we ate lunch at the Hall's and they always do breakfast style, so it reminds me of when we used to do the breakfast dinner! But then we biked to see the Hughey's and nothing, but on the way home we stopped and talked to his older couple and their daughter I believe. And they have been surrounded by Mormons their whole life! He worked with them, their daughters danced with Mormons, they have seen the Salt Lake Temple and Hawaii Temple and her sisters used to play volleyball with the elders when they were young in Hawaii, and she knew tons of members from Samoa and Hawaii. It was really cool, so we probably talked to them for an hour and a half, they have a Book of Mormon on their shelf. And she said one time she called her Baptist raised mother and told her they were thinking of joining the Mormons and her mom got angry so they didn't. So we are going back this week to paint their whole house, hahaha. And we are going to do some serious work there! Then in the evening we ate dinner out at the Thomley's.

Love you a lot family! Missing you a lot this week, I kind of just wish we could all come do all this stuff, ya know? Good week this week, it was very neat to see Gloria and Zooya this week take a huge step in their lives. I love it all and I know without a doubt that this church is true!!

PS - After we confirmed Gloria she hugged all the men, but then gave us handshakes and then once she was through. She said "forget it," and came back and hugged both of us in front of everyone, so it was a good chuckle!"

"For every city, county, po dunk town they got a pageant queen"

Here is Elder Hintze's email for today, Monday, November 11th. Enjoy!


So here is the week! Went by quick, but it seemed we didn't get a lot done this week. Plenty of fun though, the National Peanut Festival!!! Got to bring the whole Fam back out to it! Here is the week: 

Monday - So did the whole P-Day jazz. We then went and played some tennis, that is our new thing. But we are maybe going to be playing basketball today. So after that we dropped the other elders off at the peanut festival and then we went home. And then the Coggins picked us up and we went to the Festival with them, it was Father coggins, sister coggins, and bro in law coggins, no mother. So we spent the whole evening with them. I was way excited. Got to know them and had a good time with them. We did get to talk to dad a little about how transfers and all of that works. But it was good. His dad gave us each $100 dollars to start the night, and so I was like not spending this, and I was gonna give it back to him. So on the way home, I tried like 6 times to give it back to him, and he wouldn't let me, so they gave us each 100 dollars. :( So nice of them, but I felt way bad! So we got a ride pass and they just said, alright we're following you. So they walked around with us while we rode rides. Haha, They got quite the kick out of me riding the rides, so I think it was good! Tuesday - We saw Linda and we saw Paul Kennedy in the hospital. After that we saw the Hughey's and were able to talk to the son, they invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner, so that is really exciting, should be good. We also saw Theresa in the morning and helped her out, we have actually had a ton of oppurtunities to share the Gospel in her thrift shop, just being there. 


Wednesday - We helped out at the Food bank, and then after that we helped Linda paint and sand down a bunch of shelves that need to go up in her new garage. Then we ate the the Bess's. :) They are so awesome! And they sent you the picture right? Spent some time in the Family History Center. Found a Ferdinand Friis Hintze, I think he is my great - great grandfather... it says he had 12 wives.. and I could count 27 kids.. I don't know how accurate it all was. But something cool, he was the very first missionary to go to Turkey!! After that we met with Gloria and Zooya with Linda and we taught them the Law of Chastity and we went over all of the baptismal questions with them! She is good to go, so the Baptism is going for this next Saturday!!


Thursday - We went to the thrift shop with Theresa in hopes to teach her, but she was too busy, but a man was there and we started talking to him and he said he was from Michigan and two elders used to live in his apartment, so we were able to start teaching him a little bit. Said he was going to read the Book of Mormon. Bye the way it is getting cold here!!! There were some days this week, where I was real nippy! So after all that we had Gloria and Zooya's interviews, before it we watched the Restoration video with them and it brought Gloria to tears! She really does have a testimony! It was so cool to see it, so Zooya was able to pass with Elder Simmons, but as I said, then Gloria had to do it with President. So after that we had dinner with Bishop Cain and his wife. It was really good. Ward councils have been pretty cool lately. 


Friday - We had Hospital and we were able to have a lesson with Theresa, it was really cool to read the Book of Mormon with her, she can feel the Spirit and when she said the closing prayer! We were also able to find two pretty solid people on the way to the hospital. One guy named Steven we said Hi to and then he yelled back at us and said, do you have a Book of Mormon I can have? What!??!?!?!?!? How cool, he is trying to get his life back in order and he went to our church at basic training, so we are looking forward to that.  Then we met with Gloria and just talked to her about the Restoration and how she was doing, she is so hilarious, she said, "don't you worry we are going to get the baptism done, so you can check another baptism off for your missions" hahahaha. She is hilarious. Then we had to go give a blessing to someone in the hospital with mono.


Saturday - All peanut festival. We were giving tickets to go to this special seating area, and so we got there early and walked all up and down the parade and talked to a bunch of people. Really cool! Then we watched the parade, all farm equipment, and then there was like 73 pageant queens that is all it was. The south for ya. For every city, county, po dunk town they got a pageant queen. Then we went to lunch with the elders, and then we went out to the peanut festival again and we worked in the church's booth there for the Boy Scouts selling "elephant ears" or scones.


Sunday - We went to church. Had Gloria there! And ward council was really good. But our plans for the day went down quick. Couldn't catch a break. So we did our weekly planning and then we saw Sister Knight and then saw Barbra. Barbra is doing okay, she is a tough one, but we are still working on her and loving her to death.

By the way: tomorrow is 5 months and the day will be 11-12-13. How about that? By the way, I still need someone to get that name off of FamilySearch.org and do that!!LOVE YA LOTS!!!!

"And I most definitely know that it did happen!!!!"

I am sorry I am late with last weeks post. This is from Monday, November 4th.

"What up!? What up!? What up!? Another week down here in the mission! Another alright week, hope everyone had a Happy and a safe Halloween!! Lots of trick or treaters this year???? anyways lets get to it!

Monday - So yes it was a different P-Day we got here early, because we went and helped a guy move his sons. It is in 1st wards boundary, so hopefully they will be able to visit the sons. We went and played some tennis! We do that every P-Day now it is becoming quite fun for us. But after that we went and ate dinner with a new family in the ward, the Herrings, they moved from 1st ward, young couple from Arizona, they are going to the new medical school here in Dothan. So they are really cool! And then after that we hit the bikes and we rode to Sister Knight's, and the Sister's brought Barbara there, and so it was a really good visit with them.

Tuesday - We had District Meeting in the morning. And Tony Hansen came and he taught us for District Meeting. It was about talking to people or sells basically. Our job and his job as a marine recruiter surprisingly are a lot the same! Except we are recruiting people for a little bit different "branch"!!! Haha. But anyway after that we had our District Activity, so we went and we got free hot dogs from a member that owns a stand outside of Lowe's. We went to see Theresa after that, and we didn't get to have a lesson with her, she just had us help her to put up a cross for her thrift shop sign. So we helped her do that, and despite it, we really did do a dang good job of putting that thing together. Theresa still isn't progressing at all, but we need to actually sit down with her and have a legit lesson again. So this week!!! Then we saw Brother Paul Kennedy. And after that Linda had us and the Sister's over for dinner, we also ate with Gloria, Zooya, and Athen. So it was a really good dinner appointment. We are trying really hard on getting Athen to be involved!

Wednesday - We worked at the food bank in the morning, we were part of the backpack program, which is make individual lunches for kids. So we were there for like 3 hours, because it was us and a few other ladies, and the sisters came late and left early, so it took quite sometime. Then we went and we saw Barbara with Charles Bain, and then we headed to the ward trunk or treat, we just covered our trunk in toilet paper and then I hid in the trunk and I tried to scare some little kids, haha but that didn't quite work. But it was really fun, there was quite the crowd out and we had quite a few non members there that we were able to meet! So it was really quite fun!

Thursday - HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Unfortunately we did not dress up.... I know I know. We just didn't have time to go costume shopping and what not. So the best that I could do was to wear a fake mustache! We were also asked to be in at 7 for the night. So for lunch we went with the other Elders to try and find some pumpkins to carve for our evening, but we couldn't find any, so we bough apples and caramel and we tried to bake some apples. But after that we came back and we did our weekly planning. Then we went with Forest to see Barbara again, it was a really great visit. Everytime we read from the Book of Mormon with her, it just feels so good and she says it everytime. After that we had to get to Linda's to fill back in the hole that we dug for her. And after that we went to the Marturello's for dinner, they had chili, and breadsticks. And cookies, carameled apples. It was just kind of like being at home! But then we went trick or treating with the kids to a few houses, just walked with them. So then us and the other Elders went to the church and we baked our apples and we drank some sparkling cider and we played some basketball for our halloween evening!

Friday - We worked at Red Cross in the morning and we basically just made lunch for their big event that is coming up. So after that we hit up the Hospital, and it was a good shift. Nothing of event, but it is awesome to get to talk to so many people, I absolutely love it! So we picked up the 1st ward elders from red cross after that, and right before we got there, there was a huge drug bust, just like the movies. Like no joke probably 30 undercover cops in just normal cars and the sheriff, just all swarmed this house, and there were these 2 guys in a ghetto sled, just flying down the rode in reverse, and they were throwing cocaine out the windows, like huge bags of it, and as they are flying down the rode, a cop in a truck, just takes them out, and plows them off of the rode. We didn't get to see it first hand, but we saw the aftermath. So after that we went to visit a bunch of people and we got nothing. Tried to contact a referral that was supposedly really solid, but we didn't even get up the driveway before they told us to get lost. So then we biked to the church and we talked with the sisters about doing a family history booth. We are going to get a booth outside of the Walmart here in Dothan. Which should be pretty sweet. Then once we were home, we got a call from Tony Hansen, he got a call from Nathan's parents and apparently Nathan hadn't really talked to them about the baptism, so they were all up in arms, and Nathan's mom had to work, so she couldn't be there. And so Nathan was on his way home to talk to them, but they said the baptism is't happening. So Tony talks to them and we get it set up for Sunday morning, before he leaves, his parents can be there. So I was way worried, all night. But I figured it would be okay.

Saturday - So right off the bat, I start jumping through hoops to make the baptism happen, I am on the phone with Tony, Forest, I am talking to President Smith seeing what he thinks we should do, and I am texting Bishop. So we decide that it would be best to do it late that night after stake conference. But no Nathan. So I call his house and talk to his dad, and he was alright, not overly nice, and then he said that he would have him call us. So after that we met with Gloria and Zooya and we taught them tithing, and we were a little worried going into it, that this would be a tough one, but she knew it all, she told us how it is one tenth of you income, described the blessings and the sacrifice. So I just said, "Well sounds like we don't have to teach you much." The faith of both of them and the Spirit that they have, it really is very cool to see how much they are prepared. But before we went in, Nathan's dad called me and said, that the baptism is off. So we did not have the baptism, nor is there going to be one, until he gets back from boot camp. So he sent us some text messages saying how sorry he was, and when he gets back he will be sure. And he said he was really embarrassed. So we texted him told him not to worry about it. So we went home we got freshened up ate some dinner and then we went to Stake Conference the adult session, President and Sister Smith were there. After President could read what I was feeling he said, "No baptism, be patient it will come."

Sunday - We went to Stake Conference in the morning, and Pres and Sis Smith both spoke this time, which was way awesome. And all of the members of the stake presidency and what not spoke it was really good. So after that we went with Brother Prigmore and we saw Barbara, she was smoking when we got there. :/ So thats cool, but it was a good visit. And then we came back and we had to finish up our weekly planning, because we didn't have a chance to do it. And we made a ton of phone calls trying to set up some visits, but we couldn't get anything. And then the Thomley's picked us up for dinner. So we did that, I talked to President today after the conference, and he gave us permission to go to the peanut festival, so that should be really cool!!

So it was a good week here! A disheartening one! I was reading some way old Ensign last night about the Sacred Grove and the plaque going into the sacred grove says, "Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith here." And I thought that was so cool, that is all it said! It is either a yes that happened or a no that didn't happen. And I most definitely know that it did happen!!!! Without a doubt our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ did appear to Joseph, and because of that everything falls into place!! So I'm just gonna keep being happy and working as hard as I can! :)