"Ain't nothing but love!"

Monday, December 15, 2014

Whats up Family!!!

Hope everyone is doing well today! It is our dodgeball tournament here, so we have got to be here for that and have to do some christmas shopping for you all! I am staying put here in Tally 1st Ward, staying as a ZL and I am staying with Elder Peterson, not too many changes for our zone.. This week was a really good week, it seemed that things go picked back up here, we were able to reach or exceed all of our 11 key indicators, so that is a dang good week right there! I love you all like crazy, here is our week!

Monday - We played dodgeball as always for our P-Day, I tried to find some Christmas presents at the FSU Bookstore, but it was pricy, so I am going to have to go to a different place this Monday, hopefully it is not too late to get the package there. After dodgeball the Tally 2 Zone Leaders so kindly accidentally stole our keys when they left, and so they got home and then when we were leaving we had no keys, so we had to wait for them to come back. We had to eat and change and get up to the other building, where we set up for the Half Mission Conference, got all of the tables and chairs set up, and then vacuumed. It was actually a lot of fun, Pres and Sis Smith were there. Then all of the Dothan Zone came into town, so we had 2 companionships sleeping over at our place, had my man Elder Urquiaga! So that was really good too.

Tuesday - Half Mission Conference! It was so much fun! As I mentioned I was asked to conduct, so nothing big, but it was fun. We started out with a little program and then in between short narrations by Sister Smith, different missionaries came up and performed musical numbers, there was some super super awesome ones, some people's talent is amazing. We then ate some lunch, by Sonny's BBQ, our official sponsor ;). And then we had or stocking exchange, so each district got to introduce themselves in a funny way, ours wrote a song, there were some really good ones. It was hilarious! Urquiaga had me in the stocking exchange, so he got me some good stuff. Then after that we watched Meet the Mormons..  now let me tell you, it was so awesome! I loved the movie!! It was really powerful, makes you feel really good about being a mormon, because before I watched it I was just like whatever about being a mormon, but now I am sold! ;) It was a highlight for me though, really well done! Afterwards, I went on an exchange with the APs, so I went with Elder Welch in the 3rd Ward. So we had to get everything all cleaned up and we had to vacuum about the whole building, it seemed. After that we had dinner and then our appointment canceled imagine that? :) I was with Elder Welch, we came into the mission together, so it was really good to be with him, he is the man!

Wednesday - Still with Elder Welch in the morning, we had to do some chores, we had to run and grab some mattresses from storage and load them up, and other stuff like that, had to go to the mission home to pick up the media supplies for their meeting, so we got to talk to Pres and Sis Smith, they are the bomb! So we again didn't have too much time to proselyte, but we we're able to teach this guy named Jamail, and it was just a very brief lesson, we just taught the Book of Mormon and bore testimony! Then we traded back, so I was back with my boy Elder Peterson. Once we got back, we popped by to see Bonnie and Cristina... and it was as if nothing had ever happened, they were both just so happy to see us, and so we were like, whats been going on, whats up? And Cristina says she has just been at home "meditating" and then Bonnie came out of the room and said, I heard you guys, I want you to know that I am still on, I still want to be baptized, but with it being postponed, and the Holidays, and she is really busy with work. She said I am thinking that it is going to have to be after the new year. And then we had a lesson with Gonzalo, he will be taking off to Miami for the break to see his family. But we talked to him about the Book of Mormon.
 

Thursday - We had our good old weekly planning session the morning as we always do. Afterwards, we had a lesson with T.R. at the church with Brother Delp, we watched the Prophet of the Restoration DVD with him, and he really liked it, we invited him to just pay attention to the spirit, and we committed him to very seriously start to seek and to know if this is true, to read the Book of Mormon and to pray. But Bro Delp has been awesome with him! Afterwards we did some service with Sister Delp. Her brother came out, he is really funny. He gave us our new saying, he always says, "Ain't nothing but love!" We ate dinner at the Baldwin's in the evening. Afterwards we contacted a super awesome referral given to us by the campus sisters, Ray Forbes, she was told about the church by a member on the bus, and then ran into sisters. So we visited her and she told us she was no longer interested which was a bummer, but a lot of her family pulled up right then, and we talked to her god mother.. I don't even know what a god mother is, for almost an hour on the porch about the church. She told us how she had just left her church and she had been praying to know what church she needed to join, and then she ran into us... but it is so interesting.. people pray that prayer, and then the run into the Mormon missionaries, but then they say I already have my faith, and keep on searching. Uh Hello!! Can't be us right? Whatever. After that we had to give a baptismal interview to a man named Bruce Howell, he has been dating a member of about 1 year, and they are engaged, he really is awesome!

Friday - We went on an exchange with the Tally 4 Elders, so I was with Elder Hildebrandt for the day here! We had an appointment to visit a member Bro Shipley. We were able to see him, but we visited him in the hospital, because his mother was there, She is not a member. And we are going to help him on his farm. We also got to see Kreg Mecham, but he was asleep. So it has been Family History week, and so we just did tons of family history finding! We know that is what President has been inspired to do! We taught Eric in the evening with Bro Miller at the church, we are just starting over with him, but he is absolutely committed he has given up the other church, and is now looking for ways that he can serve around the church here, he is so awesome! We ate dinner with Sister Presley. Then we taught Sister Daniels in the evening with Taahira Daniels, we read Alma 34 with them and it ended up being a really good lesson!

Saturday - We went to Delmara Jackson's baptism in the 1st ward, the other elders had taught her, it is a really cool story, some members picked here up walking on the side of the road, pushing her son in a wheel chair, and they invited her to church and now she is baptized. She is really cool! It as one of the most spiritual baptisms that I have been too! Then it was the Christmas party in the ward, Eric was there, and Torrez and T. R. LeBrun were there, they all went to the baptism as well! Bonnie was there! Also Cristina helped set up for everything and she was at the baptism! The Christmas party was really fun though! After that we attended another baptism in the 5th Ward for the Bruce Howell, who we gave the interview too, also such a good baptism, the Spirit was so strong! Then we taught Bonnie and it was a freaking awesome lesson, Spirit was very strong, we watched the John Tanner Story, and then talked about service and enduring to the end, went hard with some 3 Nephi 14 on them... so it was really good and we committed here to baptism on January 10th, so that is the day that we are shooting for!! Then we contacted a media referral that we got, and he is a non member, and he is married to a less active member, that we didn't; know about, not on the ward roster! So we were able to teach them for a few minutes and are going to start working with them!

Sunday - Good day at church! Bonnie and Cristina were there for Sacrament meeting, and then they had to take off. Bonnie's grandfather passed away in New York, so she is headed up there. Then Eric was there for Sacrament and T. R. was there for all 3 hours! After church we went with the Tew's and we taught Sis Groves. Then we taught that referral again, Anthony and Michelle! Then we ate with the Hargrett's! And in the evening we taught a lady named Ling, with Bro. Hollett, she is a former and we taught her to see if she was still interested, she gladly welcomed us in, she has decided to go with the Jehovah Witness, mainly because she doesn't think that Christians should be involved in politics.

I love you like crazy family!!!!!

Love,

Elder Hintze

"There is no comfort in the growth zone, there is no growth in the comfort zone."

Monday, December 8, 2014

Hello Family!!

I hope everyone is doing well!! I am doing great this morning. I think that we should Skype in 17 days, what do you guys think?? Let's get to the week!

Monday - Dodgeball is the new sport of the mission, so we played dodgeball and some basketball for our activities! Today I believe we are doing the same, I may spend sometime acquiring the family some Christmas gifts as well!

Tuesday - So we went to FSU's district meeting, it was a good one, we spoke again on overcoming fears to them! After our district meeting, we went and we did some service with Sister Lopez. And then after that we went and we helped Bro and Sis Haire with some service, they asked us to come help them put up Christmas lights... Then we ran to our meeting with the Stake Presidency. Then once we were done we went to our Correlation Meeting in the evening! Our Ward Mission Leader, won a trip to go to the movie premiere of Hobbit in London and spend the day with Evangeline Lilly. So he has been out of town.

Wednesday - MLC day, we got up bright and early.. and we headed out to Crestview, Florida, passed through good old DeFuniak Spring's area. :) MLC was really, really good! We talked about Finding, how to motivate missionaries, and how to revive dead areas in the mission, we talked about consecration oil and questions about that for the sisters. President read to us the things that Christ went through during His suffering, and that was the highlight for me, He went through so much, it hit me really, really hard. There was some cool things that happened though, I have been asked to conduct the Half Mission Conference this week, as well Elder Peterson and myself are filling in for the APs, in 2 weeks at transfers, they do a train the trainers, for all of the missionaries that are training, and it is an hour and a half, and Elder Peterson and I have been asked to teach that this time, as fill in for the APs, since they will be at the airport. So after we traveled back, we taught Gonzalo! And it was a really, really awesome lesson, we talked to him about the Book of Mormon, we also talked to him about patriarchal blessings and he is going to make an appointment with Bishop to get that. Also during the MLC, Cristina texted us and said, "My mom no longer wants to be baptized..." So we texted back and just said, how sad we were to hear that, can we come and see her to talk about it? And she said, "Won't be necessary but thanks for asking."

Thursday - Road Trip day!! We had to deliver the stockings to all of the missionaries in our zone for the Christmas conference coming up.. so from 10 am to about 5 pm we road tripped to every area in our zone and delivered their stockings Madison to Perry to Crawfordville to Tallahassee, it was a pretty fun road trip though! We ate at a delicious BBQ place in Perry, Florida, it is a po dunk town, so you know it was delicious! Also Eric called us and he prayed about his job offer at the church, and he didn't feel that it was right for him to take it and he is going to ask for Sunday's off so he can come to church, so it was seriously such a miracle!! So things are looking up for him! Once back, Sister Maurer fed us dinner and then we did Family HIstory with her once more, we are having tons of success with her. 

Friday - We taught this man named Walker in the morning for the first time, he is this 82 year old man we tracted into him, and he was pumped for us to come back, so we taught him or started to teach him the restoration, and did some HTBT, and mainly just talked to him about the Book of Mormon. We went back to the Haire's they had a few more jobs for us to do for them! We tracked down Kreg Mecham he is in the Hospice House, and so we went and we visited him, he was sound asleep, so we didn't want to wake him, we talked to the nurses about him and then called his family again! They have been updated on him.. it was so cool for me to talk to his mom, it was my highlight! She said, I want you to know that for 25 years I have been praying that my son would come back to the Lord, and now it is happening, he is leaving this life better off, she said when you get off your mission you can count this as one of your conversion stories.   It was so special, it really meant a lot, I guess I hadn't looked at it in that way, but truly that is what it is! Then we taught Eric, we talked to him about enduring to the end, we watched the video the John Tanner story of the man who gave up all, good lesson!

Saturday - We went and we saw Kreg again in the morning and he was awake and we we're able to talk to him for a bit, we tried to get him cheered up and we were able to do that! He is 62 years old, and he looks like he could be in his 90s. His mother told us he is dieing, because his body cannot fight off the infection, his liver is shot. But his sister is here in Tallahassee, I talked to her on the phone for the first time. Then we were able to see the Liedy's and that was an awesome visit as well, we shared He is the Gift with him, and talked to him about his relationship with Jesus Christ, he said an awesome prayer at the end, and he was in tears. So powerful. Because of that, he came to church and also his wife, and the kids... so it was so awesome!! We we're able to see Sister Daniels and her family. We shared He is the Gift with them as well. We did a lot finding as well, we have been knocking the doors like crazy!

Sunday - We had T. R. at church, he is just fitting right in, he might as well be a member, we haven't been able to meet with him in a couple weeks, but he is awesome! Church was good, I always love Fast Sundays.. they are without a doubt my favorite weeks! After church, we went and we visited Kregg again, it was his birthday and his sister from Provo was there, so it was really fun to get to talk to her! He is kind of out of it most of the time, but it was great to get to talk to her, 20 long years and she is just seeing her brother, it is absolutely amazing! We got out and we did some more finding, we we're able to find one super cool guy that we are going to go back and teach. Then we ate dinner at the Stuckey's, and they are so awesome! Then we went and we watched the Church's Christmas devotional! It was really good, I really liked Elder Cristopherson's talk, that was my favorite!

We have Half Mission tomorrow, so we will get to watch Meet the Mormons, we are excited for that! These last few weeks have been some really hard ones but I'm going to be alright, some of the things that have happened have hurt a little bit, but I'm just gonna trust Him, because He knows way better than we do! President shared a quote a while back, "There is no comfort in the growth zone, there is no growth in the comfort zone." I love you all like crazy!!!

Love,

Elder Hintze

 

PS - I made good use of my old bright yellow shoes... now hanging above Charlotte street on the telephone wires... we live in the ghetto anyways, am I right!? check that off the bucket list! :)

"Can we borrow some bleach we have worms coming out of our shower?"

Monday, December 1, 2014

HELLO!!!!!!

I hope that you all had a terrific Thanksgiving! I missed you guys like crazy, here is the week!

Monday - I just want you all to know how much I love you! So for P-Day today we played a few game of basketball and then we played dodgeball.. it is super fun, we play everyone against everyone, and if you get out, you sit down and they only way to get back in, is if the person who got you out gets out! So it was crazy, but it was a blast. I woke up the next morning and I was so sore, it kills me. So after we went and we visited with Bro Barber and we read Alma 24 with him, which is the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies and how they choose to die rather than to take up their arms, and then that was the basis of the lesson, just talked about that, and the things we can learn. And when we were leaving, Mike Jones pulled up in his car, so we just stayed and we went and we taught Mike Jones a little lesson there. So we just talked to him about his Faith, and Prayers and Scripture study, we can teach him all we want, but until he does something about it, it won't do any good.

Tuesday - District Meeting day! So we had district meeting in the morning, it was a good one, we spoke on how to overcome fears. We did a pretty good job I suppose. It was a good meeting, I'm learning a lot lately, I have a lot to work on. Then I went on a tradeoff with Elder Farris, who is on campus right now, what to say about Elder Farris, he is a fantastic missionary. It was pouring rain again here today, so we we're just getting drenched, we are just trying to keep things rolling here! 

Wednesday - Still with my man Elder Farris, we did our companion exchange report first thing in the morning. Then we headed out to get our finding on.. We were able to go and see Eric, he is just fading in and out, he won't respond to our calls, so we have to go rescue him from darkness. So we were just out doing tracting and talking to the people out on the town, we we're able to find this really cool dude who lives right next to where the Stone family used to live (moved to Utah), he is an 82 year old man named Walked.. and he just won a gold medal in the senior olympics, eh? He is really excited for us to come back. We then taught Bonnie, and she did not get a chance to go to the Orlando Temple, due to the bad weather that we have been having, but her baptism on the 13th should be really good, the other 1st ward elders have a lady getting baptized as well, so we are doing them together on the 13th at 9am, right before the ward christmas party, so we are including it right into it, so hopefully they're will be lots of support and it should be fun. So we taught her the law of tithing and the law of the fast/fast offering.. it went really well, no problems there, she already knew this commandment and so she is ready to live it! She really is awesome and is doing so well, really excited for everything! Then we did some Family History with Bro Barber! And then we visited with Taahira Daniels, Sis Daniels daughter who is 11, and we shared a lesson with her!

Thursday - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!! Very good day, very good! In the morning, we played in a Turkey Bowl for the Stake.. but it was more like all of the missionaries, some YSA and some 4th Ward people, but it was so much fun! So much fun, they were serious about it, had an offensive line, and flags, but we dominated. And not too shabby of a day for myself out there on the field! :) I got challenged to a race, mid game, by this kid named Charlie, so we had to pause the game, so we could race.. I could make a whole lot of excuses, because I hate losing, but he got me barely. I'll get him again. So we came home and we did our studies. Then we headed on over to the Knudsen's home, and we ate with them, it was great!! Great food, great company, great desert. So we were there for a bit, and just got to chill a little bit, went on a short walk with them, to see that burned down house near their home. And then we tried to see Craig Mecham, but he has been released from the Hospital to a Hospice House, so we don't know where that is, so don't know if we will be able to visit him anymore. And then we went tracting, knocking doors baby! Didn't have much sucess, a lot of really nice people though, also some not very nice people.

Friday - So after our studies in the morning, the FSU Elders came over and said, "Can we borrow some bleach we have worms coming out of our shower?" Headed out to do some more finding, so we went to this neighborhood and we tracted for a good 2 hours.. and not much came of it, talked to some people, but nobody that was interested. We also chased down a bunch of potentials we had mapped out, and that worked fairly well for us.. we're able to talk to some people in the process. We met with Eric at the church, update on him.. oh boy, so the other church he has been volunteering at, he has accepted a job to go full time in the "ministry" so he will be the supervisor over the homeless service, so he will be moving out of our area, and he will be working full time there, we we're pumped for him, but we were very clear to tell him that he knows what church he needs to be at, and how this would really make it hard for him to be baptized when it came around to it, he acknowledged that, so I guess we will work on that when it comes.. he is a hard one to help! We read with him from PMG, in chapter 5 about the Book of Mormon, and then watched Elder Holland's Mormon Message, the testimony of the Book of Mormon, and then the He is the Gift Christmas video! We are trying to get him back into the Book of Mormon. After that we ate with Cristina and her mom, they prepared basically a whole new Thanksgiving dinner for us, it was so awesome, super nice of them! We didn't think that Bonnie was going to be there.. but she was, so afterwards we taught her a lesson. We covered the Priesthood in greater depth, Eternal Marriage, and Missionary Work, and then covered the baptismal interview questions, in preparation for her interview! It went really good, she has awesome questions. After that we went out and we gave the zone our new He is the Gift pass along cards. I don't know if ya'll have seen the video or not yet, but you should it is super awesome! I love the church, they do everything always super awesome! So.. #ShareTheGift!

Saturday - We did service with Sister Lopez in the morning. We were breaking up pallets for her, she is going to make a credenza out of them, so we we're breaking them up, but not breaking the boards, so we had to very carefully take them apart with a hammer and a crow bar, it was some tough stuff, took a lot of patience, because those suckers we're old! And then we had 4 beautifully planned and confirmed lessons and all 4 of them canceled. One didn't want to meet with us because we  we're strangers and you never know who you can trust, the other had to work, one didn't speak english very well, and then Cristina got sick, so we couldn't meet with Bonnie. So we were just out and about finding, we did probably 2 hours of tracting again, talked to a good amount of people. So we just spent the rest of the time tracking down potentials and talking to people. We ate with the Gray's in the evening, well just Bro Gray, I love the Gray's. So afterwords, we we're less activing hunting and doing anything we could to stay busy, had some people tell us to never return, that is always fun. But we were able to visit with the Markham's for the first time, just tried them. So we just got to know them and visited with them and then we shared He is the Gift with them.

Sunday - Church today was fantastic! It was one of the best Sacrament meetings that I have been to in quite a long time. I got to bless the sacrament with Gonzalo again! And then the speakers did such an awesome job, and there is this lady named Sister Neeley-Bey, and she can sing baby, and she goes no piano and no microphone and just belts it out, she is unbelieveable!! We didn't have any investigators there today.. We tracked into this preacher guy, and so we talked to him in the front yard for like a half an hour, he didn't agree with us, and I was just boiling up inside, the rejection had gotten the best of me, so I didn't get heated, but I made sure that he was very clear what I knew to be true and how I knew it to be true! He was a really nice guy though!

But I am good! I am really, really happy and learning a lot lately, which has been good! I am learning how to be humble and realizing what is really important in life and what is not, that is so important, we need to never lose sight of what is really important in our lives! So thankful for all of you, love you like crazy!!

LOVE, 

Elder Hintze

"Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!! Thankful for all of you.."

Monday, November 24, 2014

Family, Family, Family!!

Hello, hope that everyone is doing well! I am doing really well, it is pouring rain here and has been for quite some time now! Lets get to it:

Monday - For P-Day we played basketball, it isn't quite the same without all of the ballers there, they're home and transferred. We cooked dinner under our own hand, can you believe that? Then we taught Bonnie the 10 commandments, law of chastity, and keep the sabbath day holy, really good lesson, she commited to live them.. and she loved us coming over like for real though, she is inviting us back every single day!

Tuesday - Zone Training day! Also a day where we had zero proselyting time at all. So we got to the church bright and early and we go everything set up, we got the projetor all hooked up and got the computer ready to go. Also while we we're doing that, Bro Davis from the Dothan 2nd Ward was there doing maintenance on the building, it was so fun to see him! So we talked for a good while!! So we got all of our equipment set up and then we started our zone training! The program went as follows, we opened it up with same old introductions and announcements, everybody is pumped for Family History week again, that was one of the announcements, so after that we talked to them about some of our goals that we have set, just a little zone accounting, our zone goal this year for baptisms is 48 and we are currently at 36.. but we baptized 10 people in the last transfer.. so it has been crazy lately, so we are really, really trying hard to reach this goal, we commited everyone to pray each time they pray for 12 more baptisms for the Tally 1 Zone!! Then the Sister Trainer Leaders took over and they did an awesome job, they talked about Our Purpose as missionaries.. they started out doing a cooking show and they we're cooking cookies, they put the recipe up on the board, and then did not follow it at all just didn't measure and threw in random stuff... and then they talked about the categories of finding, teaching, studying, and planning. All aspects of missionary work, should fall under these things... it was really, really good! The cooking really highlighted the principle a lot! Then the other Sister Trainer Leaders took there turn, they talked about Commitments. Then we taught the things that Elder Soares taught us in MLC, about Goals, Plans, & Attitude! We hope they were able to get something out of it, because it really was important, and the way that Elder Soares taught it was so powerful! Afterwards, we watched the Pres. Uchtdorf video that was given to the Mission Presidents, and it was awesome, I think that it was most people's highlight of Zone Training,  it was really really good! We ran over to the office and we took back all of the computer supplies and what not, then we ran by President's house to give him his USB flash drive back, and we had some questions for him, we are supposed to set the new 2015 zone goal for baptisms for our zone and how we are going to reach that, so we asked him about that, and we we're with him for a bit, he showed us a bunch of graphs and stuff the church has and printed them out for us! Then we ran back and we went to our Stake President's meeting with Pres. Campbell. Then we ate dinner at the Knudsen's home, they are still awesome! Then we had our correlation meeting in the evening.

Wednesday - We taught Bonnie in the morning... and it was a awesome lesson! We talked to her about he Doctrine of Family History and Temples, because she was going to Orlando for the weekend, and going to visit the temple! It was so a good lesson, the Spirit was there.. I really feel and they do as well that they have some definite work to do on the other side, for their ancestors that have passed away! Bonnie is so awesome, she is really committed to do whatever she needs to do, and know everything that she can! We did have kind of a cool experience, there was a referral that came to the mission office for this man, named Kreg Mecham, who needed a blessing, so we were there and we took it.. so we go there, he is in the ICU, and we give him a blessing, we talked with him or tried, he was pleasantly confused, so it was hard! But the nurse was talking to his family, and they wanted to talk to us.. so I took it, his family is all in Utah.. in Provo, and get this they have not seen him in 20 years.. he just up and left his family and the church, and has been in Tallahassee for 20 years, was apparently homeless and brought in here, so I talked to his family, the first time they have made contact with him... and so they were so thankful, they are all members! Talked to his mother, just the sweetest woman, so they gave me their phone number and we have been checking up on him, and then calling them to report, because they have no other way to find out.. And they are a long way away from coming to see him! It was crazy.. absolutely humbling, what some people go through! And as well the nurse grew up in DeFuniak Springs, so I got to talk to her about it! Then we taught Gonzalo in the evening, we talked to him about Chapter 4 of Preach My Gospel, how he can better understand the Spirit, Gonzalo is still the man!!

Thursday - We taught Bonnie again in the morning... SO GOOD! So her assignment was 2 Nephi 2 to read, and she did it right after we left on Wednesday, so we talked about that, and the Plan of Salvation, in just review, and talked about the Spirit World with them. And then Cristina talked about how she talked to you Dad, which just added to the lesson, and she said, oh ya he was here in this lesson with us! Pretty cool, and again the sweetest spirit came into the room as we talked about the Plan of Salvation... and then the door slowly opened up..... and we all looked at it, and the wind had just blown it open, but I said, "Hey guys, come on in!" And it was funny, right as we talked about all of that... so cool! Then we shared a lesson on the Follow the Prophet, as a commandment, and she had some good questions about that.

Saturday - We helped a member's neighbor move, she is in prison, so she is getting evicted, so had to move all of her stuff.. it was sad to see, all of her kids there, and you can't even understand them how they talk, you see how little they have, but they trash what they do have.. all of their stuff was hammered.. it was sad, take care of your stuff, and life a healthy life, clean your house! Then we visited Bro Barber, we talked to him really heavily about church. We tried to see a bunch of our potentials.. and then we went and we saw Kreg in the hospital again, he remembered us and had been moved from the ICU, so that was a good sign, so we talked with him and then said a prayer with him... then we called his family, and they called us back and we gave them the update... they are so thankful! Then we saw Gonzalo in the evening, and we talked with him about tithing.

Sunday - Good old Sunday. We had T.R. LeBrun there, and he loved it, he was dressed in a suit this time, really hit it off with some of the youth, and he was really at home this time! We got to bless the sacrament with Gonzalo... Elder Peterson and I, and him in the middle... it was really special! My first time getting to do that in this ward! After church we taught this dude named Jake at the institute building, he is 20 and he is a student at FSU, we ran into him on the street on Saturday, and he met us there, so we will be passing him over to the FSU elders... but we taught him the restoration.. and he is the man!!! It was such a powerful lesson, and he really was into it, he is really looking for something in his life.. it is always cool to talk to people the same age as us, he is the same age as me! So cool, he is from Orlando, and we are going to meet up when he returns, he said he needs to talk to his family/friends about this.. he committed to find out for himself! Then our day was just spent chasing all kinds of people down, we got to teach this lady named Sondra. Then we ate dinner with Bishop and Sister Hargrett, they are super awesome! Then we visited with Sis Daniels, and had a lesson with her.

This week I learned a lot of lessons.. we really don't have a single reason to complain or be down about.. we've been blessed with so much, I think often of the Savior and what he went through, and take a good look at my life, and say ya know, I'm doing pretty good! I miss you and love you all like crazy!!!! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!! Thankful for all of you.. LOVE ELDER HINTZE

PS - I just got a email from the missionary department, they are having us track our numbers in the next couple of weeks.. for  the "He is the Gift Initiative" I guess it is a thing for Christmas, and a video comes along with it, in 2 days or so, look for that!!

"You've got to be kidding me, well aren't you the wousiest thing."

Monday, November 17, 2014

Here goes nothing!!!!

Monday - So P-Day today, don't know how much more basketball we will be playing without Elder McPherson and Elder Smellie here they were the real ballers. Today as I talked about we had Elder Rispress with us, so we had to run him back to the mission office, so we spent a few minutes there with President and the AP's... President and Sister Smith are really the best, and the Mills and the  Bells the senior couples in the office, I love all of them! We had to run the bikes of the Africa bound missionaries to the storage unit.. So we did that for Elder Mills, then we did our shopping and we headed back and got our emailing done. We ate dinner at our place. But after that we met Sister Ayers at the church and we helped her to do some of her Family History..  I am very thankful for all of you, we really have been blessed with an awesome family, we don't appreciate it enough! After that we went and we contacted this 13 year old girl that we talked to and we set up a return appointment.. in hopes to sit down and talk with her whole family, ya know.. surprise em! So we went and her and her sister and their friend came out on the porch.. So we were able to talk with them and teach them the Restoration for about 40 minutes. So we will see what happens, they seem to be fairly interested, we left all of them with Book of Mormons.. and they said we could come back, so we will see! I am much more committed to my goals, so always trying to meet the goals that we set each day!

Tuesday - We headed out on an exchange to Madison, Florida and to head to their district meeting, so we had to swing by the mission office for some supplies, and then to President's house to grab a flash drive for Zone Training, which is in a week. So fun to interact with President, talked about the zone and zone stuff for a bit. Then we headed off to Madison, they had an exchange there, so the new District Leader is Elder Snow, it was a great meeting! And then Elder Snow and I headed off together back to Tallahassee.. it is an hour away, so it is a miserable drive.. and our A/C in our car broke, hahaha. So it is so hot in the car, and driving down the road, kind of funny. We got back here and we taught Mike Jones, at Bro Barber's place, but Bro Barber was not feeling so well, so we just taught Mike and he hadn't begun to read the Book of Mormon yet, only the beginning and the testimony of Joseph Smith... We started to read with him, we just read 1 Nephi 1 and 2.. and then just committed him to read on! He is still really interested, lots of potential! Then the evening got hectic.. we had a lesson with a new person, that fell through.. then our correlation meeting got canceled, and so the evening was left wide open! So we just we're running around like crazy, trying to see somebody that would have us... it is so hard here, when you don't have appointments in the evening, because it is getting dark here by like 6 in the evening... and in the south, when it is dark, nobody answers their door after dark! So we we're able to see a few people and set up some return appointments, and then finally we were able to see Sister Daniels and her daughter Taahira.. so we had a lesson with them, Taahira is 11 and is a member! Then we we're home! Elder Snow is a good man, he has been out for 10 months, and he is from Sacramento, California! He is going to be a good DL, he understands missionary work.

Wednesday - SO.. some great news! So we taught Bonnie Hamilton in the morning, and Cristina was in the lesson with us. So her mom said she had some concerns and some questions that she had been thinking about that she was going to be ready to share with us when we got there.. but when we pulled up they had just received a call from her mom's husband, so basically grandpa. So he called up out of the blue and just wanted to talk and patch over the relationship, and we had talked to them a little bit about it, how we need to forgive.. and it was right before we pulled up... thus all of these good things happen when we are around, it has been crazy.... so she was crying and just saying how blessed she and they have been since we started coming around.. and she said, I no longer have any questions and concerns, she said this is confirmation enough, lets get on with the lesson! So we start and I say first thing, "If I were to invite you to follow the example of your Savior Jesus Christ right now, and be baptized, what would be holding you back?" And she said, well I've already been baptized. Easy!! So we explained it to her, Christ showed us the example in all things, including who was the one to baptize Him.. Authority! And she accepted it, we went on to teach the rest of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, Endure to the End. The spirit was so wonderful, and Cristina was bearing awesome testimony throughout, and there were tears.. and so we get to the end, "With all of that being said, we have been thinking and praying about a baptismal date for you to work towards, we would like you to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding this priesthood authority from God on December 13th!?" AND it is a YES! So December 13th, mark it down ladies and gentleman, she's getting baptized! And she is really excited, she said, "I can't wait to be baptized!" She is really solid, she knows without a doubt that it is true! So then Elder Snow and I drove back to Madison again with no A/C... then we picked up Elder Peterson and then we turned right around and came back, without the A/C we would have to roll down the windows for periods of time on the freeway, and we would blast our EFY tunes.  We met up with the sister trainer leaders when we got back, and we had a little pow wow as to what we needed to discuss in our zone training meeting.. and we met for a good while and we we're able to talk and discuss a lot, but we were kind of at a loss.. so we took what we had, we are going to show Pres Uchtodorf's video that we saw in MLC.. so we found a projector and we found a screen for it, then we took the time to watch the video and to make notes from it and what we wanted to talk about from it.. Then we taught Gonzalo, we watched the story of John Tanner with him.. and then we talked about Consecration, and although we may not live the law of consecration, we still can consecrate all we have to the Lord, in fact the only unique thing that we have to give him is our will/agency, so that was the basis of our lesson! Gonzalo is literally the man, he is like my best friend, we are super close to him, he will be blessing the Sacrament this Sunday! Today was a really good day, a humbling one! Side story it is interesting to see the sacrifices that a lot of people in the YSA Ward make to join the church.. so those that our taught by campus missionaries, one of them was sat down by his parents and they said," Why couldn't you have been on drugs or gay, rather than join the Mormons?" Another one that the FSU Elders are teaching is so ready, but her parents have said if you join the church, we will cut all ties with you.. It is amazing to see, how ignorant people are! But amazing to see these people join the church!!

Thursday - Real chilly here today. So we headed out and we contacted 2 people that the High Priest Group Leader told us to find, we got em, just contacts at the door. Then we w're able to get in and see the Liedy's, he has just had surgery on his nose, so he was down and out, but we visited. Still trying to get his wife on board, don't know what we can do. So then we met Sister Maurer at the FH Center, she is a member, and we began to do some research for her and take all of her information and plug it into the computer, and it was awesome, probably the most successful trip I've ever had, she was prepared, and we were able to find a ton of stuff on there! It was super exciting, it really was, so we are going to be doing it this next week with her! We have been struggling with zone training planning, so by the time you read this zone training will be tomorrow, so pray for us! Things have been really fun around the "compound".. all of the missionaries here are awesome. The funny story coming from FSU today.. there is this homeless man named Dennis, who is always around, and he knows the missionaries because we always talk to him for a minute, well mainly the campus missionaries, one time I gave him my panda express  :).. but anyway Elder Farris asked Dennis if they could meet up sometime and have a lesson? And Dennis responded, "Sorry, I'm too busy!" WHAT!?!?!? Hahahaha, even the homeless are "too busy" to meet with the missionaries.

Friday - So bad news for our vehicle, we took it in this morning and they have to keep it until Tuesday, which that made things a little interesting... no car for the weekend, it is very cold, and it is very hard to bike in Tallahassee, zero bike lanes or sidewalks and busy streets, so ain't no hill for a climber! We met Gonzalo at the church for a lesson, starting up his new member lessons, so we taught him the Restoration again, and we went a little bit more in depth about it.. covered some of Why 1820? talk. Then we met Cristina at the church and we did some Family History with her, got her set up and got searching for her family... she knew quite a bit, so we actually were able to find a lot, it was good.. but her family is from Georgia.. She said that her Mom has been talking to her grandma and her husband about her decision to be baptized in the church!  Then we went to lunch with Gonzalo, we convinced him to go with us, we went to a place called "Super Perros" which means Super Dogs... so I was a little sketched out, but it was alright. Then Gonzalo came with us to teach Mike Jones... and we taught Mike in Bro Barber's place, Barber is not feeling well, so he wasn't in the room. Gonzalo was so good in the lesson, like he killed it!! It was incredible, he was just able to bear his testimony to him about his conversion, and about his past struggles, we read Alma 32 with him, and just talked about planting this seed and nourishing it. He dropped us back off at the church, and a new guy forgot about our appointment, so we took the time to brainstorm and work on zone training. Then our boy Eric came to the church for a lesson, Eric is so funny, I love him... he had been studying his Preach My Gospel in the Chapter 9 How do I find people to teach? So he had a lesson planned for us, so we answered all of the questions in the beginning of the lesson, referring to how we can have faith to find, and how we can find people, so he has his eyes peeled for us! Then we talked about Obedience with him, and the commandment of keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, we really challenged him to come to the 9 am church in 1st ward, talked about the transformation that can happen in each of us because of the Atonement, just as the Resurrection, changed all of the apostles... so he is coming at 9 am, Gonzalo is picking him up. We ate with the Southern's for dinner, they had to come and give us a ride! 

Saturday - So crazy day...  I pulled some strings with my man Elder Bell in the mission office, I told him that our car was down and out.. wondered what he could do to hook a brother up.. first thing he says is, "You've got to be kidding me, well aren't you the wousiest thing." But needless to say.. he hooked us up with one of the trucks that has been retired.. so we are now driving the DeFuniak Springs truck baby!!! Her and I are reunited, so we are rolling in style in Tallahassee until our car is fixed, he only did it because we are Zone Leaders, rough life we have. So all of this was in the morning, we had to be shuttled over there, and then we had to run to the Ford place to get our stuff out of the car.. So we got that back.. then we did some service with the Liedy's, which wasn't much they had us go out and pick some form of clementine off the tree for them. After that we helped Sister Byrd in her yard, cleaning out this drain and unplugging all of the mud from it, then she fed us some lunch. Oh this is kind of fun... so this morning I was notified that the Stake has asked me to talk for 10 minutes to the little shaves preparing for the priesthood in the priesthood preview tomorrow! Then we went and we ate dinner with Cristina, she cooked us some good spaghetti and pie.. Cristina is feeding us and the other elders, Gonzalo is helping people move... it is, as you described in your letter today dad, pure Joy! So awesome to see. So we had a lesson with her, we actually talked about the with holding of priesthood from African Americans, we read the official declaration 2 with her.. and then we covered the original 12 apostles lesson with her in response to anti material.. she doesn't have any anti, but I had particularly felt that we needed to talk to her about it, just in case anything does come up.

Sunday - Real good Sunday! So we had Eric there at the 9 am meeting! And Gonzalo was there. And Cristina and her mom were there and as well, the neighbor who was there last week was there with her daughter, the ladies name is Vandera, and we are going to teach her on Monday. So Sacrament meeting was really, really good for me today, all because of what happened in the sacrament, Gonzalo showed up in a white shirt, but no tie.. hahaha, so I was like Elder Peterson, quick whip off your tie and let Gonzalo wear it.. so he did and so he had a tie to wear up there, I was going to bless with him, talk about that in a second, so Gonzalo did awesome, he was just up there, he did not bless, but he did so awesome, so cool to see him up there. So instead of myself blessing a boy named Max Davis blessed, this was the best part for me.. he is in a wheelchair, handicapped, he has some movement, so he pulls his wheelchair up to the stairs and then he crawled up the stairs and across the carpet to take his seat at the Sacrament table.. it was amazing, it brought a tear to my eye! So Sacrament was amazing, really it was. Afterwards, we had to run over to the other side of Tallahassee to get the laptop from the AP's so we could test it out for our zone training. So after that we came home we ate lunch and then we had some studies, so that I could finish up my talk for the priesthood preview, got it done! So then we taught Bonnie Hamilton, with Cristina, we talked a lot about what went on at church. She is so awesome, she just told keeps focusing on what she feels and not the things that she sees around her... so she is doing so well! Talked a lot about the Sacrament it is interesting to me, to learn that no other churches.. really understand the sacrament and the significance that it holds to us with the Atonement and our repentance, she was never taught that before! So we taught her the Word of Wisdom, and she says coffee will be easy, but she is going to struggle with tea, a little bit, but she committed to do it! And I believe her, she is super awesome! After that we met the church media guy to see if our video will work for zone training. Then we ate dinner with the Karlberg's and then we went to the Priesthood preview... I think my talk went really, really well, I was happy with it.. and the Spirit was definitely there.. I got really emotional at the end, because I told of the events that had just happened in sacrament meeting that day... about Gonzalo and Max, so fun for me to speak on the Priesthood, what an honor for those young men to hold the priesthood, I wish I would have appreciated it when I was their age!!!! The headline of my email today is because I lost my big PMG... I am still hoping it returns... I prayed about it this morning.. literally all of my secrets of missionary work are recorded in there... so it is super sad.... I am sure Satan confiscated it, so that the world wouldn't have such good material.... 

Anyway, I love you all so so so so so so sooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!! Love, Elder Hintze

A BAD ATTITUDE IS LIKE A FLAT TIRE, YOU CAN’T GO ANYWHERE UNTIL YOU CHANGE IT!!!

WE, OF ALL THE CREATURES OF EARTH, CAN CHANGE OUR OWN PATTERNS…THE GREATEST REVOLUTION IN OUR GENERATION IS THE DISCOVERY THAT HUMAN BEINGS, BY THE CHANGING ATTITUDES OF THEIR MINDS, CAN CHANGE THE OUTER ASPECTS OF THEIR LIVES. 
WILLIAM JAMES

"Can I be bold with you for a second?"

Monday, November 10, 2014

HELLO FAMILY!!!

Hope everyone is well and happy! I am doing fantastic, been busy today, but here is the email and the week coming at you!!! 

Monday - We had our Family History dodgeball tournament.... and it was sooo sick and soo much fun!!!!!

We had perk for all of the districts, the winning district, the other team couldn't catch their ball to get them out, and then the small districts who only had like 5 people, if they caught a ball, then their whole team came back in! But each district had their own shirts on and they all had their own cheers and it was so much fun! We had the bracket drawn out and it was a double elimination tournament... it got competitive and fun, but not maliciously, so it was awesome, it turned out to be a really good unity exercise!

The APs and the Tally 2 ZLs district won it all, they had all Elders... I blew it for me district, their was one person left from this district, and he caught my ball that I threw at him... but I am going to avenge our loss and bring my team back up this next transfer! In the evening we had dinner with the Roberts. And then we went to visit Bro Barber, but his friend Mike Jones was there, who we had met before at his house, and was interested, but we were never able to get up with him, we ended up being able to start teaching him the restoration, and with Bro Barber there he was adding to the lesson, super awesome!

Tuesday - We had district meeting and then we had our district activity and we played SCRUD on the pool table in the institute building! We have mission conference calls every Tuesday and for like 6 straight Tuesday's the Tally 1 Zone has been given a shout out to by President for doing awesome things! We were out hunting most of the day, in the finding grind.. Then we ate dinner with the Miller's in the evening! And then we taught Aurther Harrelson at the McDonalds.. haha, he wanted to meet us there, so we taught him, and don't really know about Aurther, don't know if he is really that interested, so we just tried to get him going, based the lesson around Moroni 10:3-5! Then we had our correlation meeting in the evening!

Wednesday - TRANSFER DAY! So we loaded up and got everyone set out to go! And then we drove all the way to Crestview, and we had the announcing of all the new companionships and all of the new areas!

Elder ?, & Elder Smellie & Elder 

Elder Hintze & Elder ?

Elder Smellie & Elder Hintze

We didn't have too many changes to report in our zone! It took us a really long time to get back, and we had an appointment with Eric at the church... and we were a few minutes late.. We had to run and pick up a missionary to stay with us for the night and tomorrow, who was headed home.. and so we got Elder May to stay with us! He is awesome!

Elder May & Elder Hintze

We taught Gonzalo in the evening, and we just went over D&C 138 with him, talked about the spirit world, he is still doing really well!

Thursday - Had that weekly planning and then we taught T.R. and Torrez LeBrun, taught them with Bro Delp and we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ it was a great lesson, and we invited T.R. to be baptized.. but didn't really jump at the prospect, but we are going to continue to chip away at him slowly, and their is progression coming! Then we did some family history. Then we taught Mike Jones again with Bro Barber, we we're able to finish up the Restoration lesson, and he is super interested, and he is very, very impressed.. so he is really awesome though, so we are really excited! Then we dropped off Elder May, he is a goner.. the picture on the blog of Pres and Sis Smith in black, it was hilarious!!

Departing Class of November 2014

Then we taught Cristina and we watched the Restoration DVD with her.... she really loved it! And she showed it to her mother, and then her mom started to read the Book of Mormon after that! Then we had to run and pick up Elder May again to spend the evening with us. This evening we took Elder Rispress with us into our companionship to form a trio!

Elder Peterson & Elder Rispress & Elder Hintze

Friday - We helped Bro Pope move in the morning, they are headed down to Crawfordville. It is so funny, Gonzalo is there helping out, he is just part of the ward now. And Cristina is signing up with the other members to feed us.. they are both so awesome! Then we did some Family History work with Gonzalo at the church! Then we taught Mike Jones at Bro Barber's place again, and we focused the whole lesson on saying prayers and how we can learn and receive revelation from our prayers! He is coming along, he has a broken leg, that hasn't been treated yet, so he is not able to come to church.. but he is reading and praying! Then Elder & Sister Mills a senior couple who works in the mission office, went back to Utah.. and so he has been talking for months that he was going to take us out to dinner and he took us to Outback Steakhouse.. Outback Steakhouse on Elder MIlls, I ate lobster for the first time! 

Saturday - In the morning is when we tracked down Eric and talked with him for a bit about what happened! Then we went to the other church building in Tallahassee to hear Elder Soares of the Presidency of the Seventy... lets just say it was the new best thing of my life... wow!!!! It was so awesome and the Spirit was so strong... we we're with him for about 3 hours! And he talked about goals, plans, and our attitude! It was incredible, he spoke to me and I learned so much... I have a lot that I need to work on.. he spoke about our attitudes and our thoughts and it really hit me, how I need to dig deep.. not much time left on the mission! He also opened up goals for me and I really received a witness as to how important they are!!! President told the story again of him and I when I was first out, how I had not taught the Restoration lesson.. and we taught Gloria.. I cried so much, when he told it. Story means a lot to me! But it was just amazing! After that our evening was nothing special, we just tried to do finding and chase down our potentials.. we contacted a referral passed over to us by the campus sister's... so we saw him, and he told us he knows its all true, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, but yet he has decided to go to another church... my favorite line to say is, "Can I be bold with you for a second?" And of course they always say yes... and they gave me permission.. haha, so I told him how ridiculous of a thing that he just said, but he has decided to stick with the old church!

Sunday - Church!!! It was kind of bad, we didn't get any investigators to church... I always hate that... doesn't ever feel good, but we will regroup and get them next week! We had to each Gospel Principles, they told us when we we're on our way to church... hahaha. Gonzalo received the Priesthood this week, he is now a Priest! And this next Sunday, he will be blessing the Sacrament.. it was so cool to see! After church we did some planning of the next week.. and we saw Gonzalo for a bit and just ran through blessing the sacrament and the prayers... Then we visited with Cristina and we were teaching her and we are really interested in teaching her mom, but we want to separate the 2 appointments, so we are going to begin teaching Cristina to her needs, and to her Mom, so her mom was in the back bedroom, so we had Cristina go get her and we are now going to teach just her.. she said she has a lot of questions, and she wonders what is different with what we have, and what she has as a Baptist, so we are excited to teach her this week! Then we taught a new one named Silena White, she was a former from the sister's that we met, so we taught with Bro Hollett and we also taught Silena's roommate... we just taught the Restoration and it was good one!!

Love you all like crazy family!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Hintze

"OYMing (talking to people, opening your mouth) is my game...."

Monday, November 3, 2014

Hello Family!!

How is everyone doing today!? I am doing fantastic as always! It is always good when Mondays roll around! I will start out by telling all of you, that it is absolutely freezing here, like we only have the heat on, and I am rocking long sleeve white shirt and a cardigan, or maybe I just want to be super classy!? :) Either way it is cold, cold, we had frost on the lawn this morning! So lets get to the week this week! Oh and by the way... I am staying here in the 1st Ward, and with Elder Peterson... our zone didn't have but 2 transfers, and a handful going home! BUT I am pumped to stay here, this is my stomping ground!!! 

Monday -  We played football and basketball for P-Day! And this past week was our Family History finding week, so today we will all be competing in the dodegeball tournament for both of the tallahassee zones! So that should be good! But in the evening we ate dinner with the Schrader's. Everytime we go over there, he gives us a big hug, in place of our father! They are awesome! Then we we're able to visit Sister Ayers, her husband was baptized earlier this year.

Tuesday - We had our District Meeting in the morning! And then we taught Eric Erickson after at the library! We shared with him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we were pretty straight up with him, and told him that if he really wants this, if he really wants to be baptized, he needs to get to church! Then we taught Gonzalo everything for the baptism! We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he knew all of it, so we just reviewed with him! Then we had our meeting with the Pres. Campbell of the stake presidency! And we tried to run down some potentials, then we had our correlation meeting!

Wednesday - We we're determined to find.. and to get our Family History on! So we took off in the morning on our bikes! And we rode around for hours and hours and just talked to everyone that we could... and we didn't have too much success. We then went to Gonzalo and Eric's interviews for their baptism! So then we did some Family History for Eric... Then there was the ward Trunk or Treat, so we ate dinner there, and then we just sat with all of the members and then helped to clean up afterwards!

Thursday - We met with Torrez and T.R. LeBrun at the church, and we took what we had taught with the Plan of Salvation and we taught the Doctrine of Family History and we taught with Brother Delp, it was really good.. they are awesome to meet and they love it! We then did Family History with them. Then we taught the Adams Family... which is a part member family, she is the member, he is not, as well as his daughter was there, who is 18 I believe. Sister Adams really does have a testimony of the church. We were able to teach the Restoration, and it was really awesome, spirit was there, and so we committed them!

Friday - Best day ever! It always is when I go to FSU... I am going to try my best to get to campus, that is the place!!!! I LOVE IT. So I was with Elder Frederikson, and Elder Milne,

Elder Hintze & FSU Student & Elder Milne

and we taught a guy named Yanis, he was recently baptized... super good guy though, we watched the devotional that they we're showing at the institute with him, and then we taught their recent convert Rodson Sylune, about the Priesthood, really good lesson, loved being with Milne and Frederikson, awesome missionaries! So then we just had a lot of contacting time.... and it was so awesome!!! We had 82 OYMS.... which is crazy... crazy...... and we got 40 people's phone numbers! OYMing (talking to people, opening your mouth) is my game.... so I would stop to talk to someone, and then they would leave me, and then those two would go get someone, so we just divided and conquered!! It was so fun! Then we had to be in early for Halloween! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!! Thank you so much for the package and cookies, they we're so good!

Saturday - BAPTISM DAY!! So we we're at the church early to get him some baptismal clothing, and some members we're cleaning the church, so we helped them out! And while in the process, we cleaned out the baptismal font, and just spruced it up! Then we set up and got the font filling up for the baptism! Gonzalo was there so early, so we just sat and talked with him, he was so happy! So the service was fantastic! And as I mentioned I had the opportunity to baptize him... so it was really special!!

Elder Hintze & Gonzalo Mendez

Elder Hintze & Gonzalo Mendez & Elder Peterson

But it was all awesome, afterwards, we taught Eric, and we taught him the Word of Wisdom, and just went in depth, because he had some questions.  So it was super good... he is still hanging tough! Keep him in your prayers! Then we did some more potential work, and then we met up with Tally 2 ZLs and finished all of the preparations for the dodgeball duel!

Sunday - Gonzalo was confirmed in church, it was awesome as well!! Cristina was there, she hasn't missed a Sunday since we met her, she is still doing awesome! As well Gonzalo is still doing really well.... After our meetings, we attended the 5th ward sacrament meeting with Eric, so it was good to have him there after a while! Then we went out finding and trying potentials, we tried this potential named Glen.. and we went and he let us right in, so it was cool.... and we taught him and a man named Todd... So we taught them the Restoration.... and it honestly actually turned out to be super awesome! The Spirit was working this lesson... so we don't know what will happen! And then we met with Cristina, and we taught her the Plan of Salvation... it is always super awesome! And after that we headed out to see some people, and Gonzalo calls us up and says, "Hey what are you up to!?" "Oh we're just headed to see some people!" "Oh so your not seeing me!" Hahaha, so we went and we saw him.. he is the happiest that I have ever seen him!!!! It really is so awesome, he said that he talked to you Dad, and he thought you we're funny.. so obviously something was wrong! But he really, really enjoyed it!

It has been so good lately here! But it has also been hard... we are struggling a lot with stuff to do at times.. and just dealing with a lot of people where we teach them once or twice and then so hard to get back with them, so I feel like we are filing through people quick, and just trying to find all of the potentials that we got! I love and miss you all like crazy!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Hintze

"I am remembering the story of Sodom an Gommorah, and the two angels that came and led them out of the city... I look at you two there and I know that you two are those Angels for our family, and are going to lead us out of something!"

Monday, October 27, 2014

Whats up Family!!!!

This week has been so good, so so so so good!!! I just am feeling really happy today! SO the big news...... GONZALO is getting baptized this next week Saturday... he asked me to baptize him... so I will be doing it, really humbling and exciting!  Also this transfer was only a 5 week transfer, so it is going to be transfer news this next week, but I don't think that I am going to be moving!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is a lot of fun, this week is our Family History competition, ending with a dodgeball tournament this next week! Happy Halloween to you all this week!!!! Alright lets get to it!

Monday - We just played basketball for P-Day and we are doing that again as well... same thing, because we love it! :) We ate dinner with the Delp's in the evening, love that family! Then we met with a man named Mr. T, he showed up to the 4th ward building one day... and said he had met with missionaries before and he was ready to get back into it! So we met up with him, and we sat down and just did some HTBT, got to know him, and then we just read Alma 32 with him, get him back into the Book of Mormon! But something kept telling me that I knew this guy, so I just asked him if his first name is Tshombe? And it is! So that means... we have his old teaching record and he was ready to be baptized... but fell off for some reason!! So it is super exciting, we are going to begin to work with him again!

Tuesday - We had our district meeting in the morning, good one! We were at Campus District, the DL there is awesome. Then we got over to the mission office, to have our president's interviews! IT WAS SO GOOD!!!! After that we taught that man named Tom, we shared with him the Restoration, but he doesn't believe, nor would he let us come back... so he is an interesting fellow, he doesn't believe it has been restored yet, but it will be restored! We ran back and I gave a baptismal interview to a kid name Rodson, who was baptized this week for FSU Elders. He is so awesome, he plans to go to BYU and he walked into the institute building and said, I want to be baptized! He is so awesome! Then we went to MLC, it was a 2 day thing this time, they do it every so often! So all the STLs and ZLs met in Tally and we played games and had a fire that night... It was really, really good. We had a testimony meeting around the fire, and people sung and played the guitar. The spirit there was so strong... love it!!!

Elder ?, Elder McPherson, Elder Smellie, Elder ?, Elder Hintze, & Elder ?

Wednesday - So then we had MLC the actual discussing part... it was really, really good! We got to watch the new temple garment video, and we watched Al Fox the tattooed mormon video, and we got to watch Elder Uchtdorf's talk in the mission president seminar, it was not released to the public, it was so killer!!!!!!! He talked about the sacrament and the change that should be wrought in each of us because of Christ's Resurrection as was the Twelve Apostles, then talked about unity in companionships! It was so good! Loved it all!

MLC - October 2014

After all of that was done, we got all cleaned up and we came back and we just did some finding.. Then we met with Gonzalo and we just went over all of the baptism details, set the date and we went over the baptismal questions one more time with him... he really is so excited!!

Thursday - We did our weekly planning! Then we met with Torrez Lebrun and T.R. again, we had Bro Delp with us and we we're able to finish the plan of salvation... We have taught him how to pray and he has been reading the book of mormon! So afterwards we did Family History with them again, and he really, really loves that! Then we met with Cristina and we began to teach the new member lesson, so we started with the restoration again, and we only got to God is our loving Heavenly Father and Gospel Blesses Families, and we talked a lot about her family. It was really good, every appointment with her, the Spirit is so strong! 

Friday - We met with Robert in the morning and we just talked with him about his "search." Then we went on a tradeoff with the other Tally 1 Elders, I went with Elder Harding, he is a new Elder. We met with this man named Phil Inman, we did some service with him, helped him out in his garden and then he fed us dinner. Then we met with Gonzalo again, and we taught him the Gospel of Jesus CHrist, we reviewed Faith, Repent, Baptize, Holy Ghost, and Endure, and he knew all of the answers!

Saturday - We visited with the Liedy's in the morning. Oh and we went to a 1st ward baptism for 2 kids in the morning! Our zone had 5 baptism this weekend! Which is unheard of!! So we helped set up for the 1:00pm! And then we attended a baptism at FSU for Rodson and we were there with Gonzalo, so he got to see another one! And then we went to another baptism at 7:00pm for the 4th ward! 

Sunday - Such a good day! We had Gonzalo and T.R. at church! And Cristina is still doing so awesome! After church we had a really, really good day! We just went out finding, back to the tracting.. and we had a ton of success! We found a bunch of people and we were able to sit down right then and there and teach a woman, named Reatha! Then we taught Gonzalo with Brother Carroll, and it was just kind of a Endure to the End lesson, we talked about the things that are to come after baptism, like receiving the Priesthood! Then we found this couple, that we talked to for a long time as well, that hopefully we will be able to teach! Just a finding day! Then we met with Cristina again, and we continued with the Restoration lesson, only this time her mother was in there... and she is a new investigator! It was such a powerful lesson!! She already knows that the church is true.. she has felt it! We shared the part about Joseph Smith and the First Vision, so we invited her strongly to begin to read and pray! She said, "I am remembering the story of Sodom an Gommorah, and the two angels that came and led them out of the city... I look at you two there and I know that you two are those Angels for our family, and are going to lead us out of something!" Powerful.... so we said, "It has nothing to do with us... but the message that we bare, and it is the power to lead us through anything!!!!!!!!!!!

I am happy... so happy! This mission continues to be the greatest thing that has ever happened to me in my whole life!! It is changed me in so many ways! I really do miss and love you all like crazy!!!! Have a happy Halloween!! LOVE YOU!!!