Here is our email from Monday, December 23rd. Merry Christmas!!
Hello Family!!!!!
As for when the conference call is supposed to happen with ya'll I am not even sure.... It will probably be in the morning sometime, because we are going to go to the Marturello's their boys told me that they have stockings set out for us at there house.. so that is so awesome, I am excited to get over there on Christmas, mainly just to talk to you all!!!
Monday - We didn't do anything for P-Day at all.. waited in line for an hour to mail the packages, hope ya'll go them! But we ate dinner at the Grantham's house and then after that we had another dinner with Brother Willie Parker and LaMearl, and then they treated us to some ice cream as well, good, good people.
Tuesday - We did some service with the Marines, we did Toys for Tots, so we went to this way old air force building and helped them to sort out toys and to haul all these little kids bikes around and got to divide up toys for families. It was really a lot of fun, and some great service, we got to talk all of the people there! Then we had to go give Sister Knight a blessing in the hospital! And then get this after a lot of finding, we went and we helped this lady in her yard, we are still trying to do service/finding type of stuff. But its alright I guess. Then we got dinner dropped off.
Wednesday - We just did a lot of finding again, spent all of our time out and about finding people, but we didn't find anyone this week, but we talked to lots, probably just about more than ever! We stopped to see Theresa and she is fine, we didn't get to teach her because of the store, tried to set something up, but couldn't and she is again, just liking her church, so think we are going to take a step back and see what happens. And then we went caroling with the mutual in the ward, we went and saw some less active and recent converts while caroling, we saw Barbara and it made her cry. She loved it, the ward has really taken care of her lately.
Thursday - this was our Half Mission Conference and it took all day for real though. So we went down to Panama City it was awesome! Had a Christmas program with everyone's talents, crazy how good people are at instruments and everything. The Spirit there was awesome, I love it so much, coming together as a mission with so many of us, and having President and Sister Smith there, and then we did the gift exchange, and that was awesome. Saw a lot of familiar faces, Romney Hammond, and Elder Misi from MTC, and a lot of sisters from the MTC, saw a kid I knew up at Utah State, and Sister Stanfield from our stake. In the evening we had dinner with the Prigmore's.
Friday - We did our weekly planning. And then spent the rest of the day doing more finding, a lot of our appointments canceled. I love talking to people, so we did get a lot of potentials, that will hopefully turn out after Christmas. We saw Brother Nunez and had such an awesome visit with him, about getting him back to church, but we didn't get him this week, he says he will, so we are so close with thim.
Saturday - Oh man, we spend literally just about all day moving the Lint's! From 9 am to 4 pm, so we came home and cleaned up and then went with Bro Prigmore and visited Barbra, Sister Rush, and then the Thomley's.
Sunday - All of our appointments that we had fell through again today. But we did have a good Sunday, I sung in the ward choir, and then I said my part, it was a really good meeting! So we had to free style it and tried to see a bunch of people!
Well thats all Family! Hope that all of the Christmas festivites thus far have been great! I love you all so much, I can't even wait, can't even wait to see all of you and talk to you on Christmas!!LOVE YA!!!!!!!!!
Visiting this blog will you provide you information regarding Elder Bradley Brent Hintze and his two years in the mission field. He was called to preach the Gospel as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Florida Tallahassee Mission. He is served from June 2013 thru June 2015 He appreciated your love and support. Enjoy! The Gospel's true!
Christmas Mission Conference - Thursday, December 19th - Panama City, Florida
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| Elder Hintze, Elder Smith, Elder ? |
"A pretty darn good one we had this week"
The following is from the email received on Monday, December 16th.
Hello Family and Friends,
Hello Family and Friends,
Another week down the drain here in Dothan.. A pretty darn good one we had this week. Will be mailing off the Christmas package today for all the Hintze Family to enjoy, also another one that is just full of random stuff, hope ya'll enjoy!
Monday - We just did some shopping this last Monday. Didn't really do anything in particular fun. We went with the 1st Ward Mission Leader Bro. Kelly to visit a lady that he knew in our area, we gave her a blessing because something went funky with her eyes. She is a non member, apparently they have been very exposed to the Gospel, so we are hoping to work with them. Then we ate dinner at the Allen's home.
Tuesday - We had our District Meeting in the morning. And then the kicker was lunch being delivered, it was so awesome. The lady Kim came in and said are you Elder Hintze, and so she brought all of the food, and took a picture of us. The food was really good, it came in a whole spread, and she was so nice. She loved doing it. We threw $5 dollars in her car as a tip. But it really was so fun! So fun to have that done Dad! So sounds like we will be going by and paying here a visit. But we will stop by and see her! Then after that we went bowling with the district, as our district activity. It was a lot of fun as well. Then we went to Linda's home for a Christmas party/lunch. They were worried that I was going to be leaving, so they wanted to celebrate it earlier, so it was with Linda, Gloria/Zoya, and Carol Hughey. They got us a watch, a wallet, some socks, and then just personal care items, toothpaste, shampoo, etc. So nice of them!
Wednesday - Today was Transfer day. So the switches have been made, two new 1st ward Elders and a new Dothan 2nd Sister. In the morning we met with Theresa with Brother Bain, and we taught her and it was a great lesson, talked about the Doctrine of Christ all the way through complete. And she came to church this week. But it was a really great lesson with her, the Spirit was there, and she again asked about baptism, but just isn't ready to do anything yet. But while we were teaching a lady was unloading a Christmas tree at the shop, so we ran out and helped her, and she said, "Hey I met with Elders in Florida, I want you to come teach my family." Pretty darn neat. So we got her info.. and since we have called and says she needs to think on it a little more, but... still really neat, and one that we really hope to start working with, her name is Gena Taylor. After that we ate lunch, and spent some time doing some finding, tracting. Then we saw Barbra Phillips with Charles Bain, she is doing very well, she fell on Sunday, so couldn't come to church, she is in rough shape, but she hasn't smoked or coffee in two weeks. :) We did some more planning, and then we went out and we saw the Thomley's.
Thursday - We worked at the Food bank making boxes in the morning. Had studies. Then we ate lunch. And we hit the finding, we have been trying finding with a rake, we share a message that we are missionaries, and then we just offer service to them, by raking their leaves up. We don't know exactly if its working, but we will see. People treat us the same hahaha. We also did something kind of cool, at a Baptist church they had something called a "walk through Bethlehem" and we went and did that, made some friends with the preacher, but it was a reenactment of the times when Christ was born, like Roman soldiers that we're really acting the part, and the had a real baby, kind of neat. Then they gave us the talk at the end if we had been "saved" or not. So then we did more finding, and we ate dinner at the Marturello's. We then saw Brother Nunez, trying really hard to get him to come back, but he didn't come to church this Sunday.
Friday - We worked at the Food Bank in the morning. And then after that we went to the Food Bank luncheon for all of the Volunteers, we won some prizes.. I won a candle... :( But it was really great to get to talk to so many people there, we just split up, I just sat down at a table and started talking to some folks, and the sisters did the same! So it really was good, then we worked at the Hospital, and then ate dinner at the Hansen's. Then we did our weekly planning to close it out.
Saturday - We saw Barbra P again in the morning with Prigmore, and we then saw Barbra Erb as well. Both good visits, hopefully we are helping them in some way! Then we went to the Hughey's they had us over for lunch, and she wanted us to help put up Christmas, so that they boys would come out and help hahaha, so we did, and during dinner, their Grandma, and Christian one of the boys, started asking us different questions regarding the church and just what we believe about certain things, so it was really a great visit with them. Then we saw Gloria, and she is also doing really well, she still loves learning and always wants us to continue to teach her. Then we had the Ward Christmas Party, and it was a blast. We had people there that never had been, we got Carol Hughey to come out and watch us sing. Hahaha the missionaries all sung the 12 Days of Christmas, but missionary style, so it was pretty good! Pretty funny, got it videoed for ya'll to watch! But it was great fun, had the primary program and all.
Sunday - Good day at church. Theresa came and it really was some great talks, that I think were exactly what she needed to hear! So we will see, we didn't get any real time to talk to her about any of it. She wanted to meet after church and talk, but couldn't. Also I am in the ward choir, and I volunteered to say some parts in next Sunday's program. They put me in "tenors" I don't exactly know what that means. We ate dinner at the Hall's. And then we just went on a walking spree, talking to everyone that we saw, our destination was Sister Rush's and we talked with her, but also we got a lot of contacts, a few pretty good ones. So this week was a good one for that, we got a lot of potentials, and we got 4 new investigators, which is pretty darn good for these parts, so we are very excited! So dinner this evening was with Lee & Joy, we met Lee when he was cleaning up a broken beer bottle by our apartment, we live right next to the dumpster, so I asked him if he needed any help, but we got talking for quite a while, he goes to Church of Christ, knew Utah a little, but anyway, a few days later they knock on our door and ask us if we would like to come over for dinner, so heck ya! So we do it, and they are so nice. And we ate with them and we basically talked about everything imagineable. We talked about all manner of stuff, plan of salvation, priesthood, articles of faith, word of wisdom, new Jerusalem, book of mormon, bible, etc. etc. All of that stuff! And Joy knew everything about a lot of stuff, she was good. I gave her props. :) Haha. But we left them with The Book of Mormon and they are going to read it, and then we are going to talk some more. But they really are so nice they made sure we were taken care of on Christmas and new years, they invited us to come eat with their whole family on Christmas, and to come over and have crackers and watch the ball drop. So we will see what comes of it, don't know if they are sincere seekers, but we will see!
Can't wait for the Christmas day phone call! Well I sure do love you family and can't get over how great you all are. We'll see ya.
Love
Elder Hintze
District Meeting
This picture was taken on Tuesday, December 10th at the Dothan Ward following their weekly District Meeting. I have listed the Elders names below, but do not know the Sisters. Oh, one is Sister Devries? The following day one of the Sisters, Elder Simmons, and Elder Davidson were transfered!
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| Elder Davidson, Elder Simmons, Elder Hintze, Elder Smith |
"Christmas in Dothan!"
Later on Monday, December 9th, we received his weekly email. Enjoy!
"HEYO Family!!
So as you know, I am staying in Dothan, Alabama for the Holidays. So that is going to be super awesome, and I already got the hook ups for a skype call Christmas day! I hope ya'll are still around!
So one of our sisters is leaving and we are getting one from Geneva which is right next to us. And then both of the 1st ward Elders are leaving.
Monday - We worked at the food bank in the morning. We spend out P-Day at the mall looking at some gifts and what now. Got some people's info as well to learn more, all in a days work! Then we ate dinner and we didn't really have any plans, so we took the time to plan out our whole week.
Tuesday - We had District Meeting and then we went and got free hot dogs from the man in the 1st ward, Bro Filkins. We then helped Brother Bain in his yard rake up his leaves and we tore out some bushes and planted trees. Then we went to Linda's and she had already finished the painting, so we talked with her for a second, then raked her leaves, did some service for her neighbors. Then we went home and dinner time.
Wednesday - We worked at the food bank in the morning again. And then we went to a red cross luncheon for all of the volunteers, so that was cool.
Got to meet lots of people there. Then we did some finding, trying to talk to people, did some tracting. Then we saw Barbra Phillips with Charles Bain. Barbra is well, still fighting the smokes and coffee, she knows it is wrong, but so she is trying very hard. Barbra is having a hip replacement surgery, I am kind of worried, but I told her it would help her. I hope it is a Zimmer part! :) She said a Dr. Robinson is doing it down here. Dad, look into that! Then we had our ward correlation meeting, and then a ward choir practice, thats right, opa! I'm in the choir, and nominated to say some parts in the program! Then we ate dinner with the Thomley's.
Thursday - We worked at the food bank again in the morning. And then we worked at the red cross after that unloading all manner of junk from a shed, we had to move like over one hundred shovels and rakes. Then we met with Sister Crunelle, a less active in the ward. Then we ventured out to find lost people. We were sent by the ward and it was actually really, really good. We found quite a few of them, and we were able to sit down and talk with them. Some we will hopefully begin to work with some. We then ate dinner with the Thompson's, awesome family. Luke's family. Then we saw Brother Nunez, had another really great visiit with him, he didn't come to church however, but he has been so sick, so hopefully once he is healthy, he will come. Then we stopped by to see the Hughey's, everytime we see them, Jef is slowly being realed in!
Friday - Pretty sweet day, on the way to the hospital. We stopped just to see how Linda was doing, and look who pulled in the driveway.. Athen. So I was like enough of this, lets do this thing. So we invited him to take the lessons. And he said, yes! Which was really cool, he said that he has been thinking about it for a little while. So it may not be immediately, he said he may need some time. But also on the way there we got to talk to two guys, who both told us to come back and talk to them, which was cool. So we worked at the hospital. And then we went to dinner with the Evans!
Saturday - We saw Barbra again in the morning with Brother Prigmore. We saw Theresa, and she is just the same, we are thinking we are going to take a step back and then see what's up with her. We saw Sister Rush, but basically just spent the whole time trying to find people, just talking to people. Then we had dinner and did our weekly planning in the night time.
Sunday - Church was good, didn't get any of our investigators out. After that we had our ward choir practice. And then we hit the streets to go find, just walked around and talked to everyone that we saw, we were headed to meet with Jeffery our new investiagator we found on the way to the hospital, but he didn't answer. So we then got a call from Sister Knight, she is leaving and so we headed to see her for the last time, because it was her last time and we had been talking to her a lot about the church, so we got her info for the sisters. And then we had a ward pie social before the Christmas Devotional.
Did ya'll watch the devotional? I don't think I have ever seen the devotional before. But Cameron's mom and sister came out to that, I called them during the week and made sure they were invited. And Sister Davis went out and invited them together.
So that was the week. A pretty good one. So I guess we will just keep doing our thing, and keep asking the members for referrals. I am really excited to spend Christmas here! I love you guys a whole lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"HEYO Family!!
So as you know, I am staying in Dothan, Alabama for the Holidays. So that is going to be super awesome, and I already got the hook ups for a skype call Christmas day! I hope ya'll are still around!
So one of our sisters is leaving and we are getting one from Geneva which is right next to us. And then both of the 1st ward Elders are leaving.
Monday - We worked at the food bank in the morning. We spend out P-Day at the mall looking at some gifts and what now. Got some people's info as well to learn more, all in a days work! Then we ate dinner and we didn't really have any plans, so we took the time to plan out our whole week.
Tuesday - We had District Meeting and then we went and got free hot dogs from the man in the 1st ward, Bro Filkins. We then helped Brother Bain in his yard rake up his leaves and we tore out some bushes and planted trees. Then we went to Linda's and she had already finished the painting, so we talked with her for a second, then raked her leaves, did some service for her neighbors. Then we went home and dinner time.
Wednesday - We worked at the food bank in the morning again. And then we went to a red cross luncheon for all of the volunteers, so that was cool.
Got to meet lots of people there. Then we did some finding, trying to talk to people, did some tracting. Then we saw Barbra Phillips with Charles Bain. Barbra is well, still fighting the smokes and coffee, she knows it is wrong, but so she is trying very hard. Barbra is having a hip replacement surgery, I am kind of worried, but I told her it would help her. I hope it is a Zimmer part! :) She said a Dr. Robinson is doing it down here. Dad, look into that! Then we had our ward correlation meeting, and then a ward choir practice, thats right, opa! I'm in the choir, and nominated to say some parts in the program! Then we ate dinner with the Thomley's.
Thursday - We worked at the food bank again in the morning. And then we worked at the red cross after that unloading all manner of junk from a shed, we had to move like over one hundred shovels and rakes. Then we met with Sister Crunelle, a less active in the ward. Then we ventured out to find lost people. We were sent by the ward and it was actually really, really good. We found quite a few of them, and we were able to sit down and talk with them. Some we will hopefully begin to work with some. We then ate dinner with the Thompson's, awesome family. Luke's family. Then we saw Brother Nunez, had another really great visiit with him, he didn't come to church however, but he has been so sick, so hopefully once he is healthy, he will come. Then we stopped by to see the Hughey's, everytime we see them, Jef is slowly being realed in!
Friday - Pretty sweet day, on the way to the hospital. We stopped just to see how Linda was doing, and look who pulled in the driveway.. Athen. So I was like enough of this, lets do this thing. So we invited him to take the lessons. And he said, yes! Which was really cool, he said that he has been thinking about it for a little while. So it may not be immediately, he said he may need some time. But also on the way there we got to talk to two guys, who both told us to come back and talk to them, which was cool. So we worked at the hospital. And then we went to dinner with the Evans!
Saturday - We saw Barbra again in the morning with Brother Prigmore. We saw Theresa, and she is just the same, we are thinking we are going to take a step back and then see what's up with her. We saw Sister Rush, but basically just spent the whole time trying to find people, just talking to people. Then we had dinner and did our weekly planning in the night time.
Sunday - Church was good, didn't get any of our investigators out. After that we had our ward choir practice. And then we hit the streets to go find, just walked around and talked to everyone that we saw, we were headed to meet with Jeffery our new investiagator we found on the way to the hospital, but he didn't answer. So we then got a call from Sister Knight, she is leaving and so we headed to see her for the last time, because it was her last time and we had been talking to her a lot about the church, so we got her info for the sisters. And then we had a ward pie social before the Christmas Devotional.
Did ya'll watch the devotional? I don't think I have ever seen the devotional before. But Cameron's mom and sister came out to that, I called them during the week and made sure they were invited. And Sister Davis went out and invited them together.
So that was the week. A pretty good one. So I guess we will just keep doing our thing, and keep asking the members for referrals. I am really excited to spend Christmas here! I love you guys a whole lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Transfer News!"
We received this short note from Elder Hintze on Monday, December 9th.
"We just got transfer news here!! I am staying in Dothan 2nd Ward
for another one!!! Elder Smith is also staying here.. so no changes
for us…"
"We just got transfer news here!! I am staying in Dothan 2nd Ward
for another one!!! Elder Smith is also staying here.. so no changes
for us…"
"HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Elder Hintze's email from Monday, December 2nd. First Thanksgiving in the mission field.
Monday - Did some biking and then went to the members. We then ate at Marturello's in the evening for dinner. And we went back and we planned out the rest of our week, it is necessary in order for us to be more effective, we have run into a lot of problems meeting with people, so we are trying to all call ahead planning now.
Tuesday - We had zone training in the morning, so all of the missionaries in the zone got together in Dothan and the zone leaders instructed us, no president, just the zone leaders. We do role plays on role plays on role plays. Hahaha. So after that we hit the streets knocking doors and talking to people, it started to rain on us. We saw Robert Dobbs a less active guy that just likes to play music for us, no gospel conversation, seen him once before, but we were able to talk to him about why he is less active. Then a lady tried to kick us out of her neighborhood for soliciting, it was ridiculous, I told her like 12 times we weren't selling anything. Then we ate dinner at the Hornsby's.
Wednesday - We taught Theresa in the morning and is fine, she isn't progressing, so we told her we have told you everything, and you agree with it all , you have changed because of it, now it is up to you in order to take the initiative and read and pray to know if this is true or not, she still says she wants to be baptized, but nothing immediately. So we will see what happens, she still hasn't come to church. We then did service at the Red Cross, that's where you got the thanksgiving video from.
They didn't really need us too much, so we did family history. We tried to see Brittani, but haven't been able to this week. We then contacted a media referral we got from a member in California, it is pretty cool. We get a text messsage that says their name, address, phone number, missionary visit or what they requested, who send them in this case it was a member in Apple Valley, California, and this one said they spoke spanish. So we took Brother Marturello, who went to El Salvador on his mission, so I spoke to the lady at the door and she didn't speak any english, so Marturello just took it over and whipped out spanish as we stood there, it was so cool. So we got a return appointment, but we can't call them and they live forever away, so we didn't get to see them again, he couldn't get a hold of them. Our nearest spanish missionaries are in Tallahassee, so we may have to teach with an interpreter. We also picked up a new less active lady to work with. We then saw Barbra in the evening, she is doing really well, she has now quit smoking and coffee for over 10+ days again, and she is so much happier when she does.
Thursday - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope it was a good one for you! We had a fun one! In the morning we played the Turkey bowl, football game. So we got there early and Davidson and I ran a couple of miles, to prepare for the food, I am pathetic, I get exhausted after like 2 miles now. But we played and it was really, really fun, we had about 22 guys and a ref came from the 1st ward, non member guy who refs high school, hahahahaha he was serious, like halfs, play clock, flags thrown, etc. It was the most organized flag football ever, it was hilarious. No injuries and I scored my fair share of touchdowns. It was also like 30 degrees when we started and the humidity, makes it cold, cold, cold. So after that we got picked up by Cameron's dad to go to dinner with them , so we went out to the house out in Cottonwood, an awesome house, way open tons of windows that look into the back, lots of land, with a couple different ponds, and there is a gator our there in it. So we got to meet a lot of the family, and talk with them for a long time. Didn't get anything too Gospel in, but talked to them a lot about our missions and about Cam and what he is doing. Haven't heard from him in a while, but read his email to his fam. But got to spend a lot of time talking with just his parents after the crew left. We also got to fish a little bit in their pond, which was good. Then we ate at the Hughey's house. And good visit with them, we had a really good Gospel conversation with them, Jef read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet I left with him, so I just wish they were members, they are dry mormons!!!! Thats what they call themselves, but slowly they are getting reeled in, the sons are awesome, they want me to come back and room with them at Auburn University.
Friday - We taught Linda in the morning, then we went to the hospital. The hospital was good, got to pray with quite a lot of people and talk with them. Then we ate dinner at the Hansens house and then we did our weekly planning in the night.
Saturday - We met with Barbra again in the morning, doing really good. So happy now! Then all of our appointments that we had set up canceled. So we each didn't have anything solid, so we decided well we can't visit anyone, because they will watch the game. So we went on a joint service spree, hitting a bunch of areas in the 1st and 2nd ward Chopping bushes, raking leaves, painting stuff. People are going crazy down here, and their were Alabama fans that were so mad! hahahahaha I am a total Auburn fan now, I was cheering for them all the way, I wanted the under dogs, so it was awesome. Then we visited Sister Burnsed, hadn't been able to see her for quite sometime and she is up in Headland which is out of our area, but Forest went with us to see her, really good visit with her.
Sunday - Church was real good! Didn't have Gloria, Zoya, or Barbra, all of them are sick, and we didn't have any investigators. Again our member canceled who was giving us a ride, so we had to wing it all day. We did some tracting, and we biked around a ton and saw some less actives. We visited Sister Knight, and we gave her a blessing. She isn't doing well.
Hope that all is well on the home front, and you had a good thanksgiving! I have got a lot to be thankful for, we all do, and I am so thankful for this family. You guys really are awesome and I love you all so very much!!!!!!!!!! I have grown to love and appreciate you all so much more and what the Gospel really means in terms of the family! This church is true, and I am feeling so blessed to be able to share that message each and every day! Love you all!!!!!!!!!"
Tuesday - We had zone training in the morning, so all of the missionaries in the zone got together in Dothan and the zone leaders instructed us, no president, just the zone leaders. We do role plays on role plays on role plays. Hahaha. So after that we hit the streets knocking doors and talking to people, it started to rain on us. We saw Robert Dobbs a less active guy that just likes to play music for us, no gospel conversation, seen him once before, but we were able to talk to him about why he is less active. Then a lady tried to kick us out of her neighborhood for soliciting, it was ridiculous, I told her like 12 times we weren't selling anything. Then we ate dinner at the Hornsby's.
Wednesday - We taught Theresa in the morning and is fine, she isn't progressing, so we told her we have told you everything, and you agree with it all , you have changed because of it, now it is up to you in order to take the initiative and read and pray to know if this is true or not, she still says she wants to be baptized, but nothing immediately. So we will see what happens, she still hasn't come to church. We then did service at the Red Cross, that's where you got the thanksgiving video from.
They didn't really need us too much, so we did family history. We tried to see Brittani, but haven't been able to this week. We then contacted a media referral we got from a member in California, it is pretty cool. We get a text messsage that says their name, address, phone number, missionary visit or what they requested, who send them in this case it was a member in Apple Valley, California, and this one said they spoke spanish. So we took Brother Marturello, who went to El Salvador on his mission, so I spoke to the lady at the door and she didn't speak any english, so Marturello just took it over and whipped out spanish as we stood there, it was so cool. So we got a return appointment, but we can't call them and they live forever away, so we didn't get to see them again, he couldn't get a hold of them. Our nearest spanish missionaries are in Tallahassee, so we may have to teach with an interpreter. We also picked up a new less active lady to work with. We then saw Barbra in the evening, she is doing really well, she has now quit smoking and coffee for over 10+ days again, and she is so much happier when she does.
Thursday - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope it was a good one for you! We had a fun one! In the morning we played the Turkey bowl, football game. So we got there early and Davidson and I ran a couple of miles, to prepare for the food, I am pathetic, I get exhausted after like 2 miles now. But we played and it was really, really fun, we had about 22 guys and a ref came from the 1st ward, non member guy who refs high school, hahahahaha he was serious, like halfs, play clock, flags thrown, etc. It was the most organized flag football ever, it was hilarious. No injuries and I scored my fair share of touchdowns. It was also like 30 degrees when we started and the humidity, makes it cold, cold, cold. So after that we got picked up by Cameron's dad to go to dinner with them , so we went out to the house out in Cottonwood, an awesome house, way open tons of windows that look into the back, lots of land, with a couple different ponds, and there is a gator our there in it. So we got to meet a lot of the family, and talk with them for a long time. Didn't get anything too Gospel in, but talked to them a lot about our missions and about Cam and what he is doing. Haven't heard from him in a while, but read his email to his fam. But got to spend a lot of time talking with just his parents after the crew left. We also got to fish a little bit in their pond, which was good. Then we ate at the Hughey's house. And good visit with them, we had a really good Gospel conversation with them, Jef read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet I left with him, so I just wish they were members, they are dry mormons!!!! Thats what they call themselves, but slowly they are getting reeled in, the sons are awesome, they want me to come back and room with them at Auburn University.
Friday - We taught Linda in the morning, then we went to the hospital. The hospital was good, got to pray with quite a lot of people and talk with them. Then we ate dinner at the Hansens house and then we did our weekly planning in the night.
Saturday - We met with Barbra again in the morning, doing really good. So happy now! Then all of our appointments that we had set up canceled. So we each didn't have anything solid, so we decided well we can't visit anyone, because they will watch the game. So we went on a joint service spree, hitting a bunch of areas in the 1st and 2nd ward Chopping bushes, raking leaves, painting stuff. People are going crazy down here, and their were Alabama fans that were so mad! hahahahaha I am a total Auburn fan now, I was cheering for them all the way, I wanted the under dogs, so it was awesome. Then we visited Sister Burnsed, hadn't been able to see her for quite sometime and she is up in Headland which is out of our area, but Forest went with us to see her, really good visit with her.
Sunday - Church was real good! Didn't have Gloria, Zoya, or Barbra, all of them are sick, and we didn't have any investigators. Again our member canceled who was giving us a ride, so we had to wing it all day. We did some tracting, and we biked around a ton and saw some less actives. We visited Sister Knight, and we gave her a blessing. She isn't doing well.
Hope that all is well on the home front, and you had a good thanksgiving! I have got a lot to be thankful for, we all do, and I am so thankful for this family. You guys really are awesome and I love you all so very much!!!!!!!!!! I have grown to love and appreciate you all so much more and what the Gospel really means in terms of the family! This church is true, and I am feeling so blessed to be able to share that message each and every day! Love you all!!!!!!!!!"
"Love this Gospel, love the mission, I know it to be true with all of my heart!"
Here is Elder Hintze's letter received Monday, November 25th. Always great to hear from him.
"HELLLOOOOOO! Busy day today! But finally winding down, ending the emails, with the fam!! Hope everyone is well and looking forward to a thanksgiving in St. George! Thanksgiving this year, will consist of two dinners both with non member families, how do I work my magic? Anyway has been a great day today, we were out biking on some trails. We are headed to eat dinner tonight at the Marturello's. They feed us everyweek, great family!
Monday - I didn't write in my journal all week, it is hard to write in it, I will try and be better at that, that is my source of material for emails, hard to even remember what I did yesterday, let alone beginning of the week! So for P-Day last week we went and we played some tennis and I got to play some doubles with some kids from the local high school, they were a 6A school and said they were headed to win state. I could have beat all of them handly, even now. psssh Alabama tennis. So after that we were fed by the Marturello's again.. Their kids never behave when were go over. I love it. hahahahaha. So after that we couldn't get anything, so we stopped by the Hughey's, a family were eating dinner with and saw them. We watched Mormon messages with Jef the father, he is who we are going to nab!
Tuesday - Had district meeting in the morning, it was a really great one! Love District meeting, after that we came back and we went and knocked on Brittani's door the one in our complex and we went and we taught her. She hadn't read The Book of Mormon, why don't people just daggum read it and pray? So we just talked more about that, and recomitted here, bore testimony and stressed the importance of it. Her boyfriend had also been saying some stuff to her, so we had to address some concerns like polygamy and what not, I love answering people's questions, love it, it all falls back on The Book of Mormon, so it went pretty well! We got invited to the Hughey boys baseball scrimmage at the high school, so we went and watched for about an hour and talked with the father, apparently he had been looking for Jesus parable videos on youtube and he couldn't find them, he said he found them in what we showed him, and he said that was an answer to my prayers. He then said, "As I keep searching, everything that I have seen in my study, and as I continue to pray to God and ask him for direction and to show me His will, everything that I have seen is pointing me to the Mormon church." I invited him to take the lessons and he said it will be a gradual thing, but we got him on the line, the Spirit is working him over. We went to basketball, next thing we know Nicholas is on the ground unresponsive, and he starts having a seizure, so all of us don't know what to do, and 911 is called and he is still unconcious after seizing for 2 minutes and he is having a hard time breathing, so the ambulance comes and takes him, we don't know him super, super well, but I find his phone and call his mom and give her the low down, and she tells me that it happens every single day. So apparently it happens a lot, because of epilepsy, I have seen people seize before, but not like this. But we have seen him since, and he is just fine. We traded off and Elder Davidson came with me to the 2nd Ward.
Wednesday - Davidson and I got up at 5:30 am and we went to the park and we ran around the track. We ran about 3 miles and did push ups there and pull ups, Davidson ran track for Idaho State University and he has gained just as much weight as I have, hahahahaha. We came out same time. So it was good to exercise, but 3 miles killed me, and I was sore the next day. I am so out of shape. We went to the food bank, but they didn't need us, so we went and we taught Theresa, and we answered her questions, she wants to be baptized, but not yet, she still didn't come to church. So working on that, but we read all of the questions with her and without us even asking she told us she will begin giving up coffee, in preparation for it, so it was really awesome, she is changing already. Then we worked at Linda's house we painted a door for her, it took so long to paint this door, for real, and we also went and we provided service at the Red Cross. We also helped Athen in his front yard, we didn't meet with him this week, I invited him out to church, but next time I see him I will invite him to sit down and take the lessons. No more dilly dally, gonna get the man. We ate dinner at the Depew's house. And then we went to Mutual, the young women invited us to their cultural night, so we ate MORE food. Then we get a text from the 1st ward that Elder Smith rolled his ankle and is injured needs a pick up. He was so mad. He tried to jump a fence!
Thursday - We worked in the Family History Center in the morning, just trying to get ourselves more and more acquantied with it! I traced a line all the way back to adam and eve also, the fam should go onto new.familysearch.org, there are some ordinances that need to be done for family, it is pretty cool. Not a lot of them, but names to be taken to the temple. Ferdinant Friis Hintze, was also the first missionary in Turkey. pretty cool stuff! We taught Brittani the plan of salvation lesson after that, one of the best lesson I felt like, I am really feeling more comfortable teaching. She was way impressed with all of the information, it kind of blew her mind, she is working on her boyfriend to meet with us. After that we did weekly planning. Contacted a media referral, which never work out unfortunately it seems like. Sister Bess dropped us off dinner, and then we saw Bro. Nunez. Had a way good visit with him talked about temple and church attendance, it was really neat, and we got him to come to church! Hadn't been in quite a while!
Friday - Had our hospital shift, quiet day, nothing really of event! We met with Gloria and Zooya afterwards and filled out baptism and confirmation records for them. Then Bro. Chappell took us out to eat. Then we saw Barbara again, she is pretty committed right now, quiting smoking, it is a constant battle, but she is doing it!
Saturday - Basically had nothing all day, people canceled on us and so we biked around trying to talk to people. But it was gloomy and cold so we really didn't do a whole lot of anything at all! Saw Theresa and Donte investigator we hadn't been able to see, and he isn't interested.
Sunday - Church! Had Gloria and Barbra there, no Zoya she was sick or Athen. Afterwards we ate dinner with the Davis'. We got invited to the Hughey kids birthday party ahahahaah, so that was cool, we ate with all of them. I said the prayer and it was Houston's Birthday.
Love you family!!!! Miss you a whole lot, going to be thinking a lot about you this week for thanksgiving! I have and we do as a family sure do have a lot to be thankful for!!!! More than we could ever imagine! Love this Gospel, love the mission, I know it to be true with all of my heart! If there is anything that I learn, it is that I need to be better, work harder, and be more obedient, much work to be done, love ya'll!!
"HELLLOOOOOO! Busy day today! But finally winding down, ending the emails, with the fam!! Hope everyone is well and looking forward to a thanksgiving in St. George! Thanksgiving this year, will consist of two dinners both with non member families, how do I work my magic? Anyway has been a great day today, we were out biking on some trails. We are headed to eat dinner tonight at the Marturello's. They feed us everyweek, great family!
Monday - I didn't write in my journal all week, it is hard to write in it, I will try and be better at that, that is my source of material for emails, hard to even remember what I did yesterday, let alone beginning of the week! So for P-Day last week we went and we played some tennis and I got to play some doubles with some kids from the local high school, they were a 6A school and said they were headed to win state. I could have beat all of them handly, even now. psssh Alabama tennis. So after that we were fed by the Marturello's again.. Their kids never behave when were go over. I love it. hahahahaha. So after that we couldn't get anything, so we stopped by the Hughey's, a family were eating dinner with and saw them. We watched Mormon messages with Jef the father, he is who we are going to nab!
Tuesday - Had district meeting in the morning, it was a really great one! Love District meeting, after that we came back and we went and knocked on Brittani's door the one in our complex and we went and we taught her. She hadn't read The Book of Mormon, why don't people just daggum read it and pray? So we just talked more about that, and recomitted here, bore testimony and stressed the importance of it. Her boyfriend had also been saying some stuff to her, so we had to address some concerns like polygamy and what not, I love answering people's questions, love it, it all falls back on The Book of Mormon, so it went pretty well! We got invited to the Hughey boys baseball scrimmage at the high school, so we went and watched for about an hour and talked with the father, apparently he had been looking for Jesus parable videos on youtube and he couldn't find them, he said he found them in what we showed him, and he said that was an answer to my prayers. He then said, "As I keep searching, everything that I have seen in my study, and as I continue to pray to God and ask him for direction and to show me His will, everything that I have seen is pointing me to the Mormon church." I invited him to take the lessons and he said it will be a gradual thing, but we got him on the line, the Spirit is working him over. We went to basketball, next thing we know Nicholas is on the ground unresponsive, and he starts having a seizure, so all of us don't know what to do, and 911 is called and he is still unconcious after seizing for 2 minutes and he is having a hard time breathing, so the ambulance comes and takes him, we don't know him super, super well, but I find his phone and call his mom and give her the low down, and she tells me that it happens every single day. So apparently it happens a lot, because of epilepsy, I have seen people seize before, but not like this. But we have seen him since, and he is just fine. We traded off and Elder Davidson came with me to the 2nd Ward.
Wednesday - Davidson and I got up at 5:30 am and we went to the park and we ran around the track. We ran about 3 miles and did push ups there and pull ups, Davidson ran track for Idaho State University and he has gained just as much weight as I have, hahahahaha. We came out same time. So it was good to exercise, but 3 miles killed me, and I was sore the next day. I am so out of shape. We went to the food bank, but they didn't need us, so we went and we taught Theresa, and we answered her questions, she wants to be baptized, but not yet, she still didn't come to church. So working on that, but we read all of the questions with her and without us even asking she told us she will begin giving up coffee, in preparation for it, so it was really awesome, she is changing already. Then we worked at Linda's house we painted a door for her, it took so long to paint this door, for real, and we also went and we provided service at the Red Cross. We also helped Athen in his front yard, we didn't meet with him this week, I invited him out to church, but next time I see him I will invite him to sit down and take the lessons. No more dilly dally, gonna get the man. We ate dinner at the Depew's house. And then we went to Mutual, the young women invited us to their cultural night, so we ate MORE food. Then we get a text from the 1st ward that Elder Smith rolled his ankle and is injured needs a pick up. He was so mad. He tried to jump a fence!
Thursday - We worked in the Family History Center in the morning, just trying to get ourselves more and more acquantied with it! I traced a line all the way back to adam and eve also, the fam should go onto new.familysearch.org, there are some ordinances that need to be done for family, it is pretty cool. Not a lot of them, but names to be taken to the temple. Ferdinant Friis Hintze, was also the first missionary in Turkey. pretty cool stuff! We taught Brittani the plan of salvation lesson after that, one of the best lesson I felt like, I am really feeling more comfortable teaching. She was way impressed with all of the information, it kind of blew her mind, she is working on her boyfriend to meet with us. After that we did weekly planning. Contacted a media referral, which never work out unfortunately it seems like. Sister Bess dropped us off dinner, and then we saw Bro. Nunez. Had a way good visit with him talked about temple and church attendance, it was really neat, and we got him to come to church! Hadn't been in quite a while!
Friday - Had our hospital shift, quiet day, nothing really of event! We met with Gloria and Zooya afterwards and filled out baptism and confirmation records for them. Then Bro. Chappell took us out to eat. Then we saw Barbara again, she is pretty committed right now, quiting smoking, it is a constant battle, but she is doing it!
Saturday - Basically had nothing all day, people canceled on us and so we biked around trying to talk to people. But it was gloomy and cold so we really didn't do a whole lot of anything at all! Saw Theresa and Donte investigator we hadn't been able to see, and he isn't interested.
Sunday - Church! Had Gloria and Barbra there, no Zoya she was sick or Athen. Afterwards we ate dinner with the Davis'. We got invited to the Hughey kids birthday party ahahahaah, so that was cool, we ate with all of them. I said the prayer and it was Houston's Birthday.
Love you family!!!! Miss you a whole lot, going to be thinking a lot about you this week for thanksgiving! I have and we do as a family sure do have a lot to be thankful for!!!! More than we could ever imagine! Love this Gospel, love the mission, I know it to be true with all of my heart! If there is anything that I learn, it is that I need to be better, work harder, and be more obedient, much work to be done, love ya'll!!
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