"It was hard to leave DeFuniak!"

Monday, July 14, 2014

Well if it isn't my Family,

Family, how is everyone!? I hope so well...  we have much to talk about! It was hard to leave DeFuniak, but it felt right! Hard, but it felt right! Lets get it on:

Monday - P-Day in DeFuniak... we didn't go to the beach, too much to do packing... but we ended P-Day early and we got up to the Crosby's and we taught Zac the Plan of Salvation... it was an awesome lesson, truly awesome! He is changing a lot and so it is pretty special to see. After that we ran over to the Mitchem's for dinner and that was the rest of the night!

Tuesday - The last District Meeting for me for awhile, it went really, really well! The last hooray for our District! We discussed Christlike attributes and becoming more like Him! It was pretty neat. Then we had our District Activity, we played some ultimate frisbee with the other Crestview District, it was a blast! We got to see Sis Habbard in the morning as well, before District Meeting, she almost passed away from a heart attack and her kidneys were failing, so she seemed to be improving, she is the sweetest woman ever, so I hope that she gets better! We did Fam History with Bro. Skayhan and we got to say goodbye to him, we were able to get a lot of his family on there for him to get ready to take them to the temple! Spent time with Brother Stripling, he is the man! Gonna miss that dude. Then we ate dinner at the Cobb's in the evening and said goodbye. 

Wednesday - Our last day, we were running around like crazy! In the morning we ate breakfast with Brother Stripling. Then after that we saw Mark Lassen and we had our last lesson and said goodbye to him, he is such a special man. I hope he can continue to progress and stay committed. Then we had to go down to Freeport, where we saw Bob and Pam Niedermeyer... said goodbye to them and had a last lesson! Then we worked with Bro Mitchem and we tore out the floor in Sister Hunt's trailer and we began to put down the new boards, we worked with Bro Diviney as well! Then we had to run all the way out to Mossy Head where we had our last lesson with JR Strange... he was super sad to see us go. Then we saw Elliott and said goodbye to him and Granny for just a tad, and Granny started to cry on us...! Then we ate dinner with the Griffiths in the evening, they are super super awesome!!! They invited me to come back and go through the temple with them, they are going to be going through the Nauvoo temple! Then we ran back to the church, where we got to see Zac, we were planning on teaching a lesson, but weren't able to... so we saw him and Bro Stripling, and Bro. Skayhan and many others in the ward! Lots of good people!

Thursday - We got all packed up and Bro Anderson took us down to Crestview, where we all gathered together at Transfer spot, we all got our Wendy's that they all order us. Chiled out for a while and then the first bus came and they loaded everyone up, Elder Larsen and I parted ways. And I got to see my son, Elder Smith. He is doing well, good kid! So everybody got loaded up and then we headed to the Crestview apartment and we just hungout with the Crestview Elders and the zone leaders. Then we headed back and we all loaded up again... and off we went to Tallahassee... so it was quite a ride! Tally sweet Tally!!!!!!! So we got there and got to see a bunch of people that I knew, a bunch of them headed home! So got to meet Elder Cooper, he is so awesome, me and him get along fantastic! He is from Idaho Falls, Idaho. So we live at a place called "The Compound".. Dan Cosson who has a home in DeFuniak, who is not a member owns the house we live in, and so he is always over hanging out, I convinced him to put up a basketball hoop already, and so he is going to buy us a hoop, we live next to 2 other companionships! So everynight we all get to hangout and talk, literally family! We ate dinner with the Porter's in the evening! Then they got me... I was assigned to speak in Sacrament meeting in the evening! So we live right next to the FSU Campus. We found a ton of people to go teach, we got 11 return appointments since I have been here so far! Oh this is hilarious on the front of our house it says, "God's Army LDS" Hahahahahahaahahahahahaaha Dan put that up!

Friday - It has been interesting these first few day, I have been stressed out, we have a lot going on, we have zone training tomorrow, so a lot of our time has been planning that out, 3 hours where we instruct the zone! I am super excited for it, we have a lot of awesome things planned for this zone, we can do way better than we are! I am excited for our area... we are going to do awesome things here I feel.... Tallahassee should be booming! So we have had to do a lot of administrative stuff, So we have been running around getting supplies and then we had to grab a bike. Then we visited with a guy named Bro Barber! And we are planning on doing some family history with him. Then we are just in finding mode. But we also visited a PM family, the husband has lost his voice box and has to talk with this little machine, it is really cool! We got to share a lot of the restoration with them.. and they invited us back Saturday and we are going to BBQ with them and teach the husband! Then we saw our investigator Eric, he is so solid!!! We are teaching him and his neighbor tonight! Then we ate dinner, and we did our weekly planning and our zone training plans!

Saturday - We taught Eric at the church with Bro Perez and we taught him Follow the Prophet, he is awesome. We watched some videos about Pres Monson and we shared with him conference talks, he is really wanting to know if he is a prophet. Then we had to do more weekly planning, we have just done a ton of getting things in order, it is the calm before the storm! :) Doing all of the planning and zone stuff and getting things in order! Then we had Dinner with the Atchley's, our meal calendar is full all month! :) Then we found all around their neighborhood and it was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We found a family, 2 young kids, they are catholic and we had a super awesome conversation with them about the plan of salvation and they invited us back ,they literally have so much potential. And that happened with several others! Then we had an awesome discussion with Robert Delmonico, he is a neighbor of member the Grays... it was so awesome, we talked about restoration and apostasy, he is so cool!

Sunday - We went to church, I gave my talk, it went really really well I think!!!!! We had Eric there and we had Gonzolo Mendez there. Gonzolo is so awesome he is in his 20s he is from Brazil has been here since he is 11 and I have no doubt he will be baptized! Then we had ward council which lasted 2 hours.. and then tons of zone training planning! Then we ate dinner with the Crandall's, then we did some finding!!!!!

I love you guys a whole lot!!!! I am loving this new area... tons to be done!!!!!!! Love ya'll!!!

Elder Hintze

"DeFuniak has a special place in my heart!!!!"

Monday, July 7, 2014

Hello Family, sure do love ya'll a whole lot!!

So yes the big news from here today is that I am Tallahassee bound to be a zone leader in the Tallahassee 1st ward with Elder Cooper.. he is awesome, I knew him in the Dothan Zone. Elder Larsen is headed to the Fort Walton 1st Ward.. I believe that I am going to be close to Elder Hammond. But these past few days have been interesting, it is sad to leave DeFuniak, I'm such a baby, a couple times I have started to think about it and tears have come easily to my eyes, it is going to be hard to leave, a part of who I am going to be for the rest of my life was formed here! DeFuniak has a special place in my heart!!!! It's been good DeFuniak... Thursday here comes Tallahassee! Elder Uriquagua and Elder Smellie, two of the elders I am really close with all of us are going to be zone leaders.. so it is funny, Smellie will be in the other zone in Tallahassee. Can I tell you guys one of the weirdest things about the mission? DREAMS. So when you dream it is about random stuff right... but not on the mission, every dream that I have is about mission stuff! It is so weird, I dream about Elder Larsen and I teaching and doing stuff, really weird. Lets get to the week!

Monday - We went to the beach again.. it was a good time, it was hott… :)  We are not going today at all! But we got back and we had dinner with the Anderson's we were just a few minutes late getting back, so we ate with them and then we had a lesson with them, to wrap up our evening!

Tuesday - We had our District Meeting in the morning, it was super awesome! We had a little mormon message testimony meeting, and it was so spiritual.. one of the Sisters fathers had passed away, so... she got so emotional with some of them, and the spirit was super strong, not a dry eye in the place. Then we ate lunch at Taco Bell. :) And got back to the church for our Correlation Meeting with the people! Then we taught John Reyes, it was a good one, we talked to him about Eternal Families! Then we had to move two fridges with Elder Habel and take them to his house, and then we got to Mark Lassen's in hopes to help him, but he just fed us... and didn't have time.. then we went and we watched the Prophet of the Restoration with Al Jackson and Bro Stripling... we popped popcorn and watched it... Al loved it, he learned so much about Joseph Smith and listed off like 7 things he learned.

Wednesday - We went with Brother Mitchem and we ate lunch and then we headed down to Freeport and we helped Sis Hunt we took apart her trailer and had to rebuild or still in the process of rebuilding all of the floors and securing the water heater all that jazz.. We got back up to town and Bro. Skayhan was in the family history center doing his work, and we stepped out and we taught Zac Gauntney with Bro Stripling, so we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ.. and it went super well actually!!!!!!! He seemed into it and interested and humble like he wanted to change, he is super pumped. So we committed him to baptism on Aug 2nd... and without a doubt he is going to make it, super solid! Then we broke for milk shakes with Bro. Stripling... Bro Stripling, he is the best man in the world, we have become really close.. it is going to be hard to leave him behind, we are always doing stuff with him. 

Thursday - We went to the Howard's in the morning and we helped them out... we helped load things for them. So we did that and helped load a bunch of cinder blocks and cemented stuff in. Then we got back and we taught JR Strange, it was awesome! So we taught him and he had some major doubts at the first... about Joseph Smith and about him suppressing a newspaper and going to jail for it... I just told him, what does that matter, completely irrelevant, Peter denied Christ 3 times, Paul persecuted the saints, does that make them not apostles, NO. Imperfect men... so we got him straightened out he is just so apprehensive, super into learning though! After that we saw the Ammons, the family we did Family History with, and they are so nice, they   show up to our appointment, but we talked to them for quite some time and we got the oppurtunity to share the Restoration with him and we are going back on Wednesday to teach it to them.. he was super into it! Afterward we went home teaching. I went with Bro Stripling and Bro Andersen and we taught Al Jackson, we taught him 4 of the commandments, and he had no problems he committed to live all of them, he took special interest in the Sabbath day holy, he loved that! Then we ate dinner.

Friday - HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!!!! wooow... But we did our weekly planning and then we went and we visited the Habbard's, we followed up with Bro Habbard on the calendar that we set up.. and he is still on it and trying to quit smoking cigarettes, we talked to him about the talk 'The Joy of Redeeming the Dead" and we are hopefully going to start going family history with him..  then we went up to the Crosby's they had us over and so we ate with them and visited with them for a short time and then we got back down and we went to the Jones's home, they invited us over and they had lots of members of the church over there, so we ate and then visited… Then we all went to the lake yard and they shot off fireworks over Lake DeFuniak.. so right by our house, surprisingly.. not that bad of a show for DeFuniak, we were impressed! Ohhh we had one of the cooliest experiences, we OYMed this guy around the lake, I just felt prompted we needed to talk to him, his name was Darrell. And it was probably the best OYM of my life... he said, "anyone from your church is welcome in my home!" Wooow, so the new elders are going to baptize him, I'm sure of it! :)

Saturday - We taught John Reyes in the morning, probably our last time.... so we just read to him passages about the Atonement from the Bible and then the Book of Mormon, the Bible is lacking in that... so we just read him a bunch and testified, and he was crying during the whole thing, so we said our last prayer with him, he says he is going to be out in 2017 and we are going to get his address and write him in there, he wants us to come see him when he's out..! Then we saw Sister Dunaway... trying to do family history with her, been less active for a long time! Then we didn't quite know what we needed to do, and Sis Howard called us and told us that Bro Howard's brother is at the house helping out, and we were trying to contact him, planned on it that day, and we didn't really feel very prompted about our plans.. so we ran with it and we got up there and we helped them to unload stuff again... I got to drive the tractor!! And we got to meet him, he is not a member, so hopefully something can come from that! Then the Russ's had us over for a little barbeque at their place.

Sunday - We had Zac at church! Nobody else besides, Brother Skayhan and Mark Lassen.. Skayhan has been asking me if I will be here to rebaptize him.. it was super sad, just this man in the wheelchair... I hope he can keep moving without us here... He is set up to meet with the bishop on Wednesday.. bore my testimony for the last time here, love testimony meeting! I taught gospel principles as well, and Zac introduced himself and said, "Hi I'm Zac Gauntney and I am getting baptized August 2nd." So things went well there, after the meeting we gave the Howard's blessings, some of the most powerful blessings. Then we ate with the Hughe's after church. Then we went out to Freeport with Brother Anderson, but our people weren't home at all.. so we stopped and saw the Diviney's hilarious, hilarious people, I die! Then we went out and we visited with JR again, we just talked to him some more about getting an answer, desiring to change, about how we give it, and used some of Elder Holland's talk this conference, about peoples view of a comfortable God. Then we were at the Farris's, which you probably saw pictures of…

Elder Larsen & Elder Hintze

it was our time to grill up the burgers for burger night!!!!! So we did that, and then we ran out to the Habel's their daughter is here from China, she teaches over there... so she got to do a little fireside about the Church in China, it was so interesting.. the Gov't over there is crazy.. a lot of other churches break the rules as far a proselyting, but the church doesn't at all, because the prophets have said, either we go in through the front door or we don't at all... so when it happens and China opens up look out! The Gov't over there is really afraid of the church, because they see them taking over.. .sounds about right to me, eh? :)

Family sure do love you a whole lot, miss you like crazy!!!!!!!!

Love, 

Elder Hintze

"Transfer News"

Monday, July 7, 2014

Hello Family!!!!!

SO here it is for you.. just to start off, my new assignment in this mission, which I will talk more about in the big letter.... But I am going to be heading to the Tallahassee 1st Ward... and I am going to be a ZONE LEADER!!!! So I did not expect this, but I am going to be with Elder Cooper, and I got to know him fairly well, he is so awesome!!!!!!!! So I am headed to the big city of Tallahassee. 

Love ya'll!!

"Heavenly Father please make this night's sleep seem like it lasts forever!"

Monday, June 30, 2014

Hello Family!!

Hope everyone is well and happy! I am doing outstanding this morning, coming to live from DeFuniak Springs Library, sorry for the early emailing... But, lets talk about a few things... can we be for real about the weather in Florida right now... I don't know if ya'll have seen how hot it is here, but they are saying it hasn't been this hot in a long time!!!!!!!!! I am literally burning, literally cooking in my own epidermis, send me some dry air!!!!!!!!! This humidity, is lighting me up baby, sweating all the day long! It is killer. This week, was awesome for us.. we had a stellar week, probably the best one since I've been here, with that being said.. I honestly have never been so tired in my whole entire life, I woke up at 1 am last night on the couch in my shirt and tie, and I don't remember getting there! So we have been working so hard, I have never worked so hard in my whole entire life, before I go to bed I always pray, "Heavenly Father please make this night's sleep seem like it lasts forever!"

Monday - We went to Fort Walton last week and we played basketball, there is this kid named Elder Smellie and he is too small or else Utah State was going to sign him on the team.. he is ridiculously good, we played with him, he plays like Cam. So it was some pretty good ball! We ate at the Crosby's in the evening, and The Moreno's were there (Anderson's daughter and grandson, who came from Arizona), and Sister Farris. Zac was also there, so we shared a lesson around the Family Proclamation to the World, and around the Plan of Salvation it went really well. Apparently Zac is a lot more interested than we first though!

Tuesday - We had our District Meeting in the morning, and it went pretty well, discussed the principles of How to Begin Teaching. Then we had to jet back and we ate lunch with Bro Stripling at Pizza Hut.. another buffet.. Then we had our correlation meeting. And we went after that to mow Mark Lassen's lawn, so we got started on that, and then we didn't get to finish, so we had a lesson with him, he is doing well, Simone is not doing very well, but he is really been getting into the scriptures! We read Alma 60-61 with him, interesting chapters there, the cleansing of the inner vessel! So we had dinner with the Habel's and we picked up Al Jackson and we had him over there as well with Bro Jones. Al is a hoot! After dinner we had a lesson with him and we taught him the Plan of Salvation, it went really well, it was nice to be in the Habel's home to teach, no distractions, just peace, the Spirit really was felt and Big Al felt it as well!

Wednesday - We got up and we went and we finished Mark Lassen's lawn, and we had another little visit with him! Then we visited with the Habbard's we didn't get the chance to continue the extension of the calendar with Bro Habbard, but we will got on that! Then we went out in hopes to see Christian Cannon, but he wasn't there, Bro Cannon had gotten some rare infection and he almost passed away, so Sister Cannon was home and she had not slept in 4 days, so we talked with her, comforted her and prayed with her. She was tired, so we got out of there, to let her sleep! We ran out to see JR Strange next, and when we got there he was determined the the Book of Mormon was wrong... okay now JR, just settle down. His problem was in 2 Nephi 3 talking about Joseph, it didn't correspond with the Bible, so we read that with him and covered it all, and by the end he was apologizing to us for doubting it, so he is still into it, he is a studier! 

Thursday - We had our weekly planning in the morning. Then we taught Bro Skayhan, we taught him about the Family History and the doctrine behind it, we are going to start getting him over to the Fam History center. Then we visited with Bro Copeland again.. they have always been there.. he just has super bad health, so we haven't been able to teach them anymore! We then ran down to Freeport, and we started to do some finding around there, we were biking and we visited with this man named James Sevy, a less active guy, his wife and kids are all non members, his family is super awesome, all in the church, and live in Utah/Idaho. His brother served a mission, but he was so cool, he knows everything about the church. So we are going to go back and visit with him and his wife, and kids hopefully! Then we met for Home teaching, Elder Larsen and Bro Diviney went and taught Rick Birch, been a long time since we have been able to see him, but we got him back on it now. And I went with Bro Mitchem and we visited with Barbra Hunt, her trailer is falling apart, so Wednesday we are going back with the ward and we are going to replace all of her flooring! She was so touched by that, we got her to church, she hasn't been in a long time!

Friday - We left bright and early for Darlington, way up in our area, with the Habel's and we helped the Thomas family paint their house, (different Thomas's than neighbors!) Good times, good times! So then we went with Bro Stripling and we saw Al Jackson, we taught him the commandments of Pray Often, Follow the Prophet, and Law of Chastity. All went really well, he hasn't had a sip of coffee, since we taught him the Word of Wisdom, he has been reading, and we left him a conference ensign, and we showed him the organization of the church... But we left and I had to run back in to give him something, and he was already reading the magazine! He is so awesome! Then we went back down to Freeport, we had a little lesson with Bob Niedermeyer, they just have been so busy, we just checked up on everything, his reading, etc. We then ate dinner with the Williams family, super awesome! We were supposed to meet with Rick again, but couldn't and David Royce, don't remember if you remember him. We haven't been able to see him at all.

Saturday - We got together for a big old service project with the EQ's, but not that many showed up. So bright and early us and Bro. Stripling, pulled a tree out of Bro Skayhan's yard and did some work around his house.. pulled it out with our old Chevy Colorado! Then we joined the rest of the group, and we did Carmen Caryl's yard, her huge yard, did all of it! I logged probably 5 hours straight on a weed eater... and my shoulders and fingers and forearms, are feeling the burn baby! I was treating that thing like a mower, I could cut our grass with a weed eater, and you wouldn't even know! ;) Then we did Sister O'Neill's yard, and we trimmed a bunch of limbs down from her yard! It was so hot... I was exhausted! After that we got fed lunch! Then we went out and we visited with James Larkins, the guy way out in Mossy head, and we visited with him, he is super awesome, we are going to get him back to church, we are going to go next weekend hopefully and teach his wife! Then we went and we saw a referral for Family History, so we visited with the Ammon's family and began to start their family tree out on paper, and we set up a time to meet them in the fam history center on Tuesday. They are so nice. They go to Mossy Head First Baptist.. so they were a little apprehensive, but they agreed, kind of, to let us come tell them why we do family history work!

Sunday - We had Al Jackson, Bob Niedermeyer, Mark Lassen, and Bro Skayhan all at church!!!!!!! It was awesome, Al and Mark had to take off after sacrament meeting, but we got them there!! After that we came home and we had a little bit of study, and then this was our only day where we weren't running around like  a man man, so we tried to contact some referrals, but some plans fell through and we ended up doing some finding, we ran into dudes named Caesar and Candido, Caesar's sister and nephew are members of the Church in Mexico, so we are going back next weekend hopefully with Tarek Thomas, he served his mission in Mexico. And we have tons of Spanish materials. Then we went out and we saw JR Strange again, it was awesome, we had an awesome discussion with him, we ready 2 Nephi 27, he is struggling a little bit with the Book of Mormon, and with the original plates. Then we ate at the Farris's home and we had a lesson with their son and Sister Roldan... But then we talked with the Farris's a little bit afterwards, Sister Farris, is literally no kidding here, the funniest person that I know... I die the whole time! 

We were busy this week... it was good! I love you all so much! I really do.. I think I am starting to figure things out a little bit lately, I think I am really getting it, soon I may be on the train! :) Love ya'll.

Love,

Elder Hintze

"I GOT STRUCK BY LIGHTNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM A SURVIVOR."

Monday, June 23, 2014

Hello Family!!!!

How is everyone doing today!? I am doing outstanding, couldn't be better. I have to apologize about my poor emailing last week, the surf was calling my name, you will have to forgive me! Plus that iPad is not the best for typing, I was going as fast as my little fingers could manage! Just want you all to know how much I love you! So to break the ice about transfers, we had interviews with our Mission Pres this week and I am going to be headed out, that is all that I can tell you. And kind of sad, but I got 3 weeks to continue to work hard!! Love you all so much! Lets get to it!

Monday - So we went down to the beach with Nathan Cobb, it was a blast, we played beach volleyball and football and threw the frisbee around, on the way down there, we picked up the Niceville Elders and there was lots of missionaries there, lots of fun! We were a little late getting back, but after that we had to get out to the Reeves place and we ate there with the Crosby's and the Reeves, and because of travel, that was our night! 

Tuesday - We had our district meeting in Crestview. Everyone participated and prepared a part of Preach my Gospel and shared the section that they had been assigned, it didn't turn out as planned, but it went well! We had the zone leaders there, and then we went on an exchange, we picked up Elder Rasmussen and he stayed with us until Thursday morning, so it was a 2 day exchange! We got back and had our Correlation meeting and then we tried to see John Reyes, but we were unable to see him. We went and we visited with Bro Skahan, and we taught him the Word of Wisdom, and he took it very well, he of course knew it all, but we had seen tea and coffee around, so he said he had no problems, but then I saw some in the kitchen, and I said, don't you think we should get rid of this, hahaha, so I threw away his tea, coffee, and the coffee maker!!! Bro Skahan is super nice, he is so lonely and unable to do a lot, so we try and call and talk to him at least every day, just so he has somebody to talk to! We then helped with the church cleaning, but we were the only ones that showed up, so we cleaned the church, and then we went with Bro Andersen and we taught Bro Al Jackson, he did not come to church, because he got taken to Louisiana, I love Al so much! So we set a new baptismal date with him for July 12th, and we talked to him about Baptism, Sacrament, and the whole Doctrine of Christ, we bore powerful testimony of the Priesthood in all of this, it was an awesome lesson!

Wednesday - We had to go back in the morning to Bro Skahan's. We then went and we taught the Habbard's, we made a calendar for Bro Habbard and mapped it all out, on how he was going to be able to quit smoking, he is trying to hard, so we set a date with him, and a goal for each month and week to continue to lower it every time! He took it really well, he really wants to quit, so hopefully we can help him out! Then we out and we taught JR Strange, and again it was a wonderful lesson. :) We talked with him and read with him about 2 Nephi 31 and we taught him the Doctrine of Christ, he is a little mixed up at times, but he knows that the Book of Mormon is true, and he knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet, he was super touched to find out that Joseph was murdered, he was almost in tears. So we committed him to a baptismal date of Aug 2nd, and he agreed, he has got some things to overcome, he is afraid of church, and he has got to quit drinking, he knows he needs to quit, so we are going to stick on him, and see if we can get him! We got back into town, these people invited us to come to their Evangelical Church, so we popped in for like 30 minutes... hahahahahaha it as ridiculous family, it was all about the new age, he said things like this, "I was speaking to a youth in the church the other day and I told him that if you want to have a new car at age 16, then have faith in Christ." It as all about money, so we just left..! We then visited the Routley's, we had an awesome visit with him, we just talked about why he is away from church and how we can help quit smoking.

Thursday - We had our exchange report thingy to feel out! And then we stopped by and we visited with the Linke's, just shared a quick message with them and then headed to Crestview for our interviews with Pres. Smith, thats where the news was dropped on me, and we ate with the Crestview elders there. Then we got back up and we taught Christian Cannon and Darrius again, we watched the Restoration video with them, and they are tough to teach let me tell you... but we thought that would keep their attention fairly well, so little by little we are trying to help those 2. 

Friday - We did our weekly planning in the morning. After that we got out on the bikes and we just drove and were talking to everyone and holy cow, everyone was so rude to us, so no success. Then we met this super sweet lady Deanna Curry, so nice, she is a hospice nurse, then we ran into her on Saturday and the sister's did as well, so she is going to do family history with the sister's! She is so sweet! But it starts pouring rain, so we are like nuhha, so we pull over and ditch our bikes under a tree and book it to the nearest porch, the house ended up being abandoned, but listen up right here!!! So it is just a down pour and the thunder and lightning are super close, like I was getting scared again... like it was nuts, so as we just sit there, I am saying, dude we are going to get struck by lightning, and not 30 seconds later, this bold comes screaming out of the sky and strikes right next to us on a tree, and both of us got electrocuted... I kid you not!!!!!! I GOT STRUCK BY LIGHTNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM A SURVIVOR. It was wild family, I got struck by lightning, I never thought I would say it.... Crazy!!! Then we did some running around to some less actives and did some finding, but to no avail.

Saturday - We helped the Elder's Quorum in the morning and we built Bro Skayhan a ramp from his front door and we built him a platform into his garage, so he can get into his laundry room, so he is wheelchair accessible now! So we hit up the Lakefest around the lake yard here, a big city festival and so we just went around and we talked to a ton of people, we ran into Mark again, and so we set up to meet with him on Sunday. After that we taught JR with Bishop and it wasn't the best lesson, we just had to review parts of the Restoration. But then we ate with the Everett's.

Sunday - We had not heard from Al at all, last we hear is that Friday he was in Tallahassee at his sister's house, he is the man! He told me he had been reading every single night, and his family wanted him to stay awhile with him, but he kept telling them you guys have got to take me home, I have got to go to church on Sunday... so we didn't hear from him, so I was praying so hard that he would come, after PEC and we went and got Bro. Skayhan and wheeled him over, he lives right next to the church. I am passing the sacrament, so at the front, I look back and there is my man, Al Jackson in the seats, I was so excited! So I went and sat with him, the ward is so welcoming, afterwards Sis Howard asked if he was an investigator and he so puzzled he said, "Investigator...???" "Nah, I'm trying to become a member!" Hahahahahaha it was so awesome, he had to take off after sacrament, because his uncle was preaching, but we got him there! After church we had a pot luck social thing for the Howard's. Then we went to Fort Walton to a Family History Fireside put on by Pres and Sis Smith, it was really good! 

And thats a rap ya'll, it can rain and lightning can hit me, but nah Elder Hintze will continue to spread the Gospel! Love ya'll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Hintze

"He says he knows Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true."

Monday, June 16, 2014

Hello Family!!!!

How is everyone doing today? I am doing fantastic as always... I am emailing early today, because we are zooming to get down to the beach, the missionaries are congregating at the beach for some volleyball and ultimate frisbee! We are headed down with Nathan Cobb. Anyway, this week was an alright week for us.. But I will tell you all about the week, how about that!!

Monday - By the way DeFuniak really knows how to use their prisoners around here, every single yard care duty that the city does, they have them prisoners out there working like fools, they are everywhere!! Anyway we had dinner at the Habel's monday night with the Crosby family and we watched a movie about the life of President Monson while we were there with them, it was really really good!

Tuesday - And Monday night we drove down to Crestview to stay at the Elders apartment for the night and we woke up and we headed with them down to Niceville for our Zone Training, zone training was really really good, I always love them, they are always like a pump up for me, lately we haven't been learning to many new things as a mission, but we have just been told to use all of the stuff we have, it is up to us! The Spirit was super strong, really good. I had to do a few things in it talk about our District and then they had me and some others up doing some race thing and doing pushups. But after that on our way in, we were able to stop by and to see JR Strange. Then we went and we visited with the Habbards in the evening, and we had an awesome lesson with them, Sis Habbard is so sweet, we are still going to try and work with Bro Habbard a lot, he has been coming to church every week for a longwhile now! After that we visited with Al Jackson, we just taught him Read, Pray, Come to Church, and we discussed Alma 32 with him, about Faith and developing our seed. He really really liked that. His daughter is gone for about a month in Orlando, so he has lots of free time. I really want Al to be able to make it to Baptism, as I sat in there with him... I just really really love him. Like he is one that I care about a lot a lot!

Wednesday - We went and we mowed Rosslyn's yard in the morning. So we did that, and did our studies, and then we visited with Mark Lassen. Simone isn't doing well, she fell this week really bad. But we just talked with him and we read D&C 122 with him, about trials and just praying with him, and just letting him talk, he cheered right up and just calmed down and felt at peace! So they took off to Tennessee this week to see her grandbaby for the last time! After that we tried to teach Christian Cannon, but he wasn't home, so we jetted out to Mossy Head, where we were going to meet with Ronnie, Dustin, April, Ashley! But after we went and we taught JR again, and it went much much much better. He has read a lot of the Book of Mormon, and has been studying all of the pamphlets and has been praying. We taught him about Baptisms for the dead in relation to the plan on salvation and the spirit world, and he loved it. We also talked about a lot of stuff, the priesthood and how that works. He is all in with it, he even said in regards to baptism, that is a small thing for me to do, if that is what he requires of it. He says he knows Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true. 

Thursday - 1 YEAR A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!! We went back and we finished up Rosslyn's lawn. And Thomas Skahan, we visited with a little bit is back, so we went and we visited with him, he had his right leg amputed, because of diabetes. I celebrated the year mark with a nice big burger from Ed's restaurant! After that weekly planning. And then we saw our Brother John Reyes... it went probably the best that it has, we just said to him, look no more arguing, we just want to teach, and so we started teaching him the Plan of Salvation, and he really really enjoyed it and he agreed with everything, which was good! :) We did some work around the Lake, had no success, then we went out home teaching with the gang, I went out with Brother Stripling, man wish you guys could meet him he is the bomb. But we made two visits to Sister O'Neill, we helped her out with her lawn mower and she had some questions for us about some things her friend had said about the church, so we answered those and she is going to invite her friend to learn, then we visited with Sister Caryl, he husband passed away about a 9 months ago, and she is working 90 hours a week.. can you believe that to survive, so her yard wa a mess, and she was just in tears, so we said, alright say no more it will get done. 

Friday - Us and Bro Stripling loaded up the gear and we hopped to Sis Caryl's yard, we borrowed 2 weed eaters and he brought a push mower, the grass was like knee deep, so we went to town, she had lots of garbage and so we made a burn pile, we mowed and weed wacked a ton of grasss... tons, and then we organized all of the stuff on her porch, pressure washed the porch off after we got that engine started for her, cleaned everything up and organized it all, got it out of the weather, and it was looking super nice! Took a good while of the day, but she greatly greatly needed it! We got all cleaned up and we did some finding.

In the evening we taught Al again with Bro Anderson and we taught him the word of wisdom and he committed to live the word of wisdom, no problem. His only issue is going to be that he drinks coffee. But he agreed to give it up with no problems.

Saturday - We committed to do 5 hours of finding a week. So we did a bunch of finding in the morning out and about knocking some doors but we did not have much success at all. Bro Skahan called and told us that he did not want to join the church anymore. So we visited with him, and I told him that nobody needed to do anything but himself. I said the only one that needs to do anything is you, you have withdrawn yourself from the temple you have withdrawn yourself from the gift of the Holy Ghost so on and so forth, then we taught him this new thing we learned about the short comings of the original apostles, but it didn't make the church not true, so that straightened him out, so he is coming back! Then we had sports night.

Sunday - we didn't get anybody at church, talked to Al on Saturday and on Sunday morning said he was headed out there. I waited for him in the foyer.. But he never showed up! So didn't hear from him. We didn't have much to do again, we taught a lesson to a couple around the lake yard, and it went really really we'll, so hopefully something happens with them!

Love ya'll a whole lot! Love,

Elder Hintze

"all they talked about was missionary work... it was beyond fantastic."

Monday, June 9, 2014

Hello Family!

I am here, coming in a little bit late this week.. started to email and then had to wait around to be able to get onto the computers again so that we could finish! We had a pretty good week this week, it has been HOT here.. it is a joke, so I am getting used to just uncontrollable sweating again, even if we are out for like 2 seconds! Gotta love it though! Lets get to it!

Monday - We ate dinner at the Curtis's home in the evening and had a lesson with them, then we had a lesson with the Habbard's. Had a really neat lesson with them, Sister Habbard is probably one of the most Christlike individuals that I know!

Tuesday - We had District Meeting in the morning, it was an alright one not my best, we just talked about ways to find! We were with the Habel's so we had to get bread from the Reeves and then we headed to correlation meeting. Then we saw John Reyes. After that we ran to the hospital and had to give Sis Andersen or attempted to give her a blessing, she had to go in for surgery, but she is okay now. Then we were with the Habels, they drove us out to see Bobbie McMillan.. and we didn't get to see him, but we rode with them for a bit down to Freeport and we got to see a few people down there, we finally made contact with Bob again, and then just stopped by some less actives homes.

Wednesday - We saw Sister Miller in the morning in the rest home. And then we got out around the lake we met a man named Clyde and we got to talking with him and we shared with him the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon and we are headed back to teach him and his wife this week! We then went and taught Mark Lassen, we just read from the Book of Mormon with him and we talked about Faith, it is good for him just to talk to somebody. After that we saw Sis Hughes and her LA grandson named Joshua Mitchem. Then we went with Chris Jones and we taught Christian Cannon a 12 year old grandson of members who are less active and he is a non member, taught him and his son Darius. It was really hard, they were crazy... but we just talked to them about prayer, how to pray, and taught them the point of God is our Loving Heavenly Father. But I don't know how much they remembered. After that we headed out and we ate dinner with Elliott and then we helped him out for about an hour.

Thursday - We went with Sandy Jack Brown and we taught Al Jackson and we talked to him about the things that went on at church, talked a lot about the priesthood and the sacrament in terms of our baptismal covenant and then we talked about Gift of Holy Ghost and Enduring. He is doing good, he has been reading some.. which is good. I hope things continue to progress with him. He enjoyed church, and he asked some good questions about what we teach him. His daughter who is 6, is crazy, tons of attitude, she loves me, she kept coming up and sitting next to me and putting her arm around me. Hahaha. After that we got after it around the lake yard again doing some OYMIng and we had another really great experience, we met these 2 couples and both of the girls were previously baptized in the church, one in Michigan and one in Olive Branch just right next to us. So we were able to teach them, the one from Olive Branch was super into it , she said that she still believes all of it and we are trying to teach them, we had something set up and it fell through. But then we went out with Chris Jones again, he is 15, was adopted by the Jones's is super nice. So he has been wanting to go out with us alot, so we took him with us and we went and we taught JR Strange, we taught him about the Plan of Salvation again and he has been studying and writing down tons of scriptures, so we studied the scriptures in regards to these points and we set up next time to teach him about baptisms for the dead, because he asked questions about the Spirit World. Then we saw the Linke's just an active family, visited with them and taught them a little lesson, and gave him a blessing. Then we went out Home Teaching! I went with Bro Stripling.. we saw 2 less actives Shannon Sanchez and Kate O'Neil.. But he told me his conversion story, he has recently been activated, and he just cried as he told it to me, it is so powerful. 

Friday - We had to do some weekly planning. The weekend ended up being kind of a hard one, we did not get to see that many people. We did some more OYMing around the Lake. And then we went out with Bro Stripling and we did service for Kate O'Neill we cut down and stacked up a bunch of limbs we cut down a lot of a big tree for her.

Saturday - It was Stake Conference this weekend, so we did some OYMing and saw Rosslyn, don't know whats up with her. Then we took off at about noon with Bro Jones and Elder Habel for Fort Walton for the Priesthood Leadership Session at 2 and then the Adult Session at 5 pm. We had Elder Clarke from the 70 there, then Elder Maradith from Tennessee an Area 70. Let me just tell you!!!!!! AWESOME. They were soooo good, I love how they do the Stake Conferences now, they are up and about and in the crowd and microphones passing around and they watch videos and panels, and asking questions. They were hilarious. In the Priesthood Session they talked about us as priesthood holders and how nothing is going to happen until our own homes are set in order. Then in the adult session all that they talked about was missionary work... it was beyond fantastic. I was so spiritually recharged! They were so good!

Sunday - They broadcasted it from DeFuniak.. so we got to go there and it was just as fantastic.. those two were phenomenal... ahhh so good family, so good! I loved every minute of it! They also got a new stake president here, he comes from Crestview he is only in his 40s or so, very young. One of his counselors bore his testimony and said I looked over and saw what his wife had in his bag, (crying as he said this) and you know what I saw…. diapers!" Just showing the sacrifice of how young he is. We unfortunately did not get any investigators there sadly... I really wish that we would have been able to but we didn't. We went out with Bishop afterwards to try and see the people we found around the lake. We tried to visit with James Larkins and the Wymans. But our week came to a close. 

The time on my mission has absolutely flown by. I miss you all a whole lot, love you!!!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Hintze

"why doesn't any one else talk about Joseph Smith?"

Monday, June 2, 2014

Hello Family!

How is everyone doing today! Coming to you live from dreary, rainy DeFuniak Springs! We have had lots of it this week, either that or it is just HOT! Things were really good this week, we really are seriously only working with Mark Lassen and Al Jackson... everyone else has just kind of fallen off! So things are really progressing with these two! Lets get to this week!

Monday - We ate dinner at the Crosby's.. But we went out there and just taught the Fam a lesson, her father was there, who is not a member, so I just locked it in and I started getting after him, so we ended up teaching him the Restoration lesson, "why doesn't any one else talk about Joseph Smith?"  

Tuesday - We had district meeting and it was a good one, it went really well! We just talked about how to help our investigators to progress and overcome the things that they are dealing with... all of them can be solved with the Spirit. So we as a district are starting something called a 40 day fast, where you fast for 40 days not from food, but from things that hinder the Spirit, should be pretty good! Then we had our District Activity, we played kickball with the Crestview District, it was pretty fun.. We went afterwards and we taught Mark Lassen with Brother Andersen, those two have really bonded and it has been awesome, Mark calls him often and ask questions, and Bro. Andersen has really been the enforcer as far as what he needs to do to come back. He has been in the Bishopric, so he knows all that stuff. But we had it set up to teach Simone and him the Plan of Salvation, and it was going really well and the Spirit was present and then Simone's nurse came who is a good friend and she was out for like 30 minutes so we waited and then she came back, and she was completely turned off... So she wouldn't allow us to give her a priesthood blessing.. but we gave Mark one and it was a powerful experience, we was happy as can be! He also went and he met with Bishop on Wednesday night, so things are rolling! After that we were there for a long time, we worked the Lake yard OYMing.. the lake is so big it is overtaking everything..a park is under water! 

Wednesday - Happy Birthday Kell's Bells! We got up and we mowed Mark's lawn early in the morning and we got back and we got cleaned up and we taught Al Jackson with Sandy Jack Brown, we were planning on teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but only got to Faith... Al was pumped about Faith and so he went off and he LOVES TO TALK. So we gotta wrangle him in, I made the mistake of razzing him about the Miami Heat and then he really went off. But it was a good lesson it was an answer to his prayers he has just been praying about faith! He called an old preacher of his, to ask if he could get baptized in another church, super cool answer he got... "Al I just want you to do whatever your heart tells you, do whatever the Lord tells you to do." We went out and we helped Elliott.. We got cleaned up and then we ate dinner at the Griffith's home, who just recently got baptized, they are so awesome, I love them. He got the priesthood this Saturday, it was pretty special!

Thursday - Happy Birthday Baby Claire! We did our weekly planning in the morning and then this was a super bad day. Nothing happned. We tried to get out to teach John Reyes. And then we went over to the church and to see if the font got fixed and the man was fixing it right then, so we have a working baptismal font! We went down to Freeport to eat dinner with the Williams! 

Friday - We headed out with Bro Mitchem in the morning up to Paxton area and we tried to see, but we actually got to see a lot of the people up there, he is run and gun, so it is usually just a pop by and see how things are going, we invite you to come back out to church, then were out! So we got to see a lot of people! We headed out to Mossy Head and we taught JR Strange the Plan of Salvation.. He loves everything that we give him, he believes the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith are true, the Plan of Salvation threw him for a whirl, but he loved it. I don't know what will come with him, but he really is the dream investigator, but I just wish he wasn't an alcoholic. We ate dinner at the Reeve's home! And then we were able to see a man named James Larkins, a less active guy, he is super cool, we are going to start working with them, he has a lot of non member family. He joined the church in the 80s!

Saturday - We had to get to the church building, after we worked around the lake some! Oh... there are a group of Messianic Jews that meet around the lake that we have met and talked to quite a bit.. and we went and we talked to them, our yard man is with them, and we know him really well. We were just talking and the head hancho guy just starts like attacking us, and telling us all kinds of stuff about Joseph Smith, and that he is a liar, the Book of Mormon is false. He was being so rude, all false information, I was biting my tongue so much, so much!!!!! I just told him, "I didn't come over here to knock your beliefs I respect them and I ask the same from you, I have no desire to argue with you there is no Spirit in that, I would strongly encourage you to find some correct information," and then I bore my testimony. We had to fill the font up, so we got everything set up and got the font filled and then we had the 3 baptisms of the 3 kids that the Habels have been working with, it was very neat to see! We got to see lots of less active families coming out! We went and we taught AL Jackson after that with Bro Andersen... Bro Andersen is the best, don't know if I have said much about him! He is hilarious, we get a long really well. He also whips me into shape a lot, like one time last week I drove off his driveway a bit and smooshed down some soft ground, and boy did I hear one, he was yelling at me. But anyway we taught Al and we talked about Repentance and Baptism, again he is a talker! He had a lot of good questions about Repentance and we were able to talk to him a lot more about what baptism means. He asked his current preacher if he could be baptized in another church, and the preacher and the deacons in the church told him absolutely not... so he went off, who are you to tell me that, your not God. Hilarious! So it went really well and we talked to him about why we do it and what we gain from it!

Sunday - Fast and Testimony meeting, always my favorite Sunday! I had my fast tie one! We had Al Jackson and Mark Lassen there! Mark got up and he bore his testimony, it was really neat, very simple, but he is so humble! Al knew tons of people there he is the umpire for little league, and that is A HUGE deal here! So everybody in church knew him, they call him "Big Al". He really liked it both of them had to take off after Sacrement meeting! But they confirmed the 3 kids! We got to participate in the circle, so so so so neat! Elder Habel promised one of the children that he would see his family in the temple, and he started to cry as he said it, very special! I also have had the oppurtunity to bless and pass the sacrament in this ward, almost every Sunday, I have enoyed that a lot!!!!!!! We went afterwards and we contacted a referral for a member, and "he told us that we worshiped a different Jesus, then said bye." So I don't think he is ready yet. Then we tried to see Bobbie McMillan. We ate dinner at the Jones' and we were there for a while too, Bro Jones confided in us a lot and told us some of the stuff in his life, and gave us a tour of the place. Then we saw the Cannon's and then we talked to Jeff Fiquette! So that was a wrap.. we have been trying to teach Maddie Cobb, like I mentioned and the Sister's are going to have to take her back. This week was a good one! Hopefully we can get the ball rolling with some other folks this week! Love you all so much!!!!!!

Love, 

Elder Hintze