"I had fasted and I had prayed and come up with a list of questions that I needed answered, and then we did the same in our companionship, and all of them were answered!"

Monday, January 19, 2015

Monday - For P-Day as I just sent the pictures we went with the APs and went to the top of the capitol building! It was pretty cool, there is nothing to see but trees... never seen so far my whole mission, you are always closed in around you! It was a foggy day so we couldn't see the best, but on a clear day, you can see all the way to the coast they say!

State Capitol?

View form the State Capitol?

We also went to the Supreme Court building, cool as well, don't know what we're looking at, but got to see the library and their court room, the museum downtown was closed, so we may try and get there today!

But after all of that the Johnson's took us out to dinner to the Red Elephant, the Johnson's are awesome! After that we went and gave a blessing to a member's cousin who was in the hospital, the Grissett's cousin, she is not a member... so it was really good! And we got to talk to them, and the non member daughter in law was there. But really good visit with them, we will be  going back soon! And since we were up that way, we called Sister Gray and asked if Heath was in the rehab place still.. he was and she was there, so we came by! So we got there and he had just had surgery, and was in so much pain, like he was shaking.. so we were just about to leave, and Sister Gray says alright well I'm going to walk out with the Elders.. and he says, "What if I want them to stay, so I can talk to them?" So she was pumped, but hid it! So... it was awesome, we spent about an hour with him, and just had really good conversation with him, talked a lot about the changes he has made in his life and he wants to get back into church! And we got out and Sister Gray was waiting for us.. so we got to tell her all about it! It was a really neat experience!

Tuesday - We had District Meeting in the morning and we stayed at our own here in Tally. Then we went on an exchange with the APs, so I was with Elder Sorenson in our area, and Peterson went with Elder Welch. After trading off, it was our task to be able to find the Chamber of Commerce to find events in Tallahassee, that we can set up booths at as well as to just be in attendance, so we went to the Florida Chamber, they told us we need to go to the Tallahassee one. So we went there... and they told us they couldn't help us, so then we went to the Visitors Bureau and finally were able to find what we were looking for! We found a Farmers Market every Saturday in downtown starting in March, so we had a conversation with the man, and we talked to Pres Smith, and we got the go ahead, so come March until November we are going to be setting up a Family History booth at this Market. We had some really cool contacts along the way, the Visitors Bureau lady was super interested in FH, and the guy at the Florida one, his son is a member... so we worked on him, but he wouldn't give in! So after that Elder Sorenson and I, were just doing some finding.. So we were working mainly in apartment complexes, and it was hopping, it was awesome, we are going to start to do it more, there are people everywhere! Were able to find lots of people that are really interested in FH. Afterwards we ate dinner with the Reynold's at the church, love them! And then we had our correlation meeting in the evening. Things are starting to roll!

Wednesday - In the morning we did our exchange report... and then we volunteered at the Grace Mission, they feed the homeless, so we got to dish out all of the plates to people who were coming through.. I was the last one, gave them a choice between 3 veggies, then passed it off. It was a lot of fun, and it was so interesting, to see how thankful some of the people were, so nice! But then there were others that said... this is all the food we get. Its like you don't seem like your in much of a position to complain? But it was a really good time! Then we traded back! Then we had our visit with Gonzalo.. and it went really good, the Spirit was really strong. Then we had a great visit with Bro Barber! 

Thursday - Elder Anderson day! And I forgot my notes.. so I will try my best to give you what I took away from it! The whole mission came in, so it was a big deal, got to see all my favorite people! They did this big video presentation and we all made signs.. using the theme unity! So Elder and Sister Anderson were there, and man alive, it was like non stop Spirit in that meeting... it was so awesome!

Sister Anderson, Elder Neil Anderson, President Smith, & Sister Smith

I had fasted and I had prayed and come up with a list of questions that I needed answered, and then we did the same in our companionship, and all of them were answered! I don't really know what to expect from an Apostle.. but the bulk of their message to us, was Honesty! The whole meeting was taught with a scripture D&C 97:8.. and so I took away that Honesty and Accountability run together, I need to be completely honest with God and with myself, I should be able to kneel down each night and say, "Father, would you accept the very best that I could do this day? I know that we can't do it without you, and I am trying my hardest, and I plead with you that you can help us out!" And it really hit me hard... we are the first to complain about things.. but yet, I don't know if I was being completely honest each night! It has given me a renewed desire to do missionary work, and I have been so happy since that meeting! The other thing was: he told a story of a missionary from his mission in France, that wouldn't work in one city, and so finally he said, okay where do you want me to send you? The missionary said a city, so he sent him there. Elder Anderson said after he left, the city flourished. And I started to think about that, there will be missionaries that replace me in the 1st ward, and there will be baptisms here in the 1st ward.. so I can't let my mission become another missionaries experiences based on my lack of work or faith. Why not me, and why not right now!? It was so brilliant, it is probably one of the highlights of my mission! We hung around and then there was another devotional for the whole stake, we had T. R. there and he loved it, he loved Elder Anderson. He talked a lot about the Seen vs the Unseen in that meeting!

Friday - Did our weekly planning in the morning! Then some finding, and then the Southern's bought us pizza for dinner, we had to help setup for a funeral. One of my favorite ladies in the ward passed away, she was an older lady, and she was hilarious. Then we had some appointments cancel, and then we traded off with the 4th ward Elders, I went to their area with Elder Jackman!

Saturday - We had a super good day on the tradeoff! We helped a member to move in the morning, easy move, not too shabby. Then we had three awesome lessons with less actives and recent converts. The first sister wouldn't tell us why she wouldn't come to church, finally all it took was telling her that she can go talk to Bishop and it was crazy! Then we visited another older sister, and we just studied the scriptures with her. And then we taught the Lahtinens which is a recent convert, and they are stellar. We did some good finding.. Then we traded back in the evening. Elder Peterson had a good day in our area, he was able to teach T.R. as well as this new couple we have been in contact with Chris and Neisha! 

Sunday - Church! It was a really really good sacrament meeting! We had T.R. there and he is still loving it, he is just waiting for his witness to be baptized! We taught the Deacons Quorum there was only two of them in there, but it was a good lesson, we taught them how to teach the Godhead, and how to prepare a basic lesson plan. Then we ate dinner with the Gaskins, and they live 40 minutes away from Tallahassee, so it is a little drive. Bishop told us that he wants to visit all of the Part Members, focus more on the ward, so we were able to set up some returns with people. And then we taught Sister Daniels in the evening. And then had to finish our weekly planning!

Family, love you all!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Hintze