Here is Elder Hintze's email sent on Monday, January 20th.
Hello Family,
So as I mentioned, Dothan and I just can't quite seem to part ways at all!!! In my interview with President he talked about how Pres. Monson told him to keep missionaries in the area for 8 months. And he made it sound pretty clear that I was heading out.. but I guess I am needed here for a reason, somebody that I can still reach! I am trusting in President Smith and the Lord, so it is all good in the hood!! A fairly good week for us, finally got the new apartment settled and now we are moving again, so the new address is going to be 200 Sweetwater Drive Apt. D-55 Dothan, AL 36305. Do taking the sister's pad and making it our tiny little home. :(
Monday - We moved ourselves out of the apartment basically all day! We ate dinner with the Davis's in the evening, and then went right back and kept moving ourselves. Our apartment was a mess until Thursday, didn't do wash until Thursday, it was pretty stressful, but now we gotta do it again, the APs called me and told me we were moving, and I just started laughing and I told him that we just barely got settled. hahahaha.
Tuesday - We had Zone Training, so it wasn't with President, but the Zone Leaders instructed us, they talked a lot about giving Church Tours, and the importance of getting people to come to church, we all struggle greatly with getting people to come to church with us, so trying to improve that. And our mission is a testing mission for doing Family History, so we are stressing that a lot. We were also able to set a new yearly mission baptism goal, of 373 and a stretch goal of 324. Our last years goal was 450, and we only got 324. After that we were able to teach Manice, and he is really confused as to the whole message, so we had to do a lot of clarifying as to the message of the Restoration, he is confused about the Book of Mormon, and was trying to find Lehi in the Bible. He has a lot of fears of jumping back into church, because of his really poor experiences in the Jehovah Witness. He said he would come to church, but we could never reach him again, tried to pick him up in the morning.
Wednesday - We traded off Tuesday night, so I went to 1st ward with Elder Sanders and Smith took Elder Carlile to 2nd ward. We went on a 15 mile bike ride to see this man in the morning, and we did, he is an odd fellow, but hope they can start working with him. A lot of our lessons for the day feel through, but we were able to teach another new couple for them, Amanda and Kirt, who live in their apartment complex. A member did take us to Cold Stone, ya! We taught Brother Filkins in the evening, a guy that has been coming to church for ever, but hasn't been baptized.. Pres. Smith has been with them twice and taught him. He still doesn't think that he has received an answer, he hasn't felt the Spirit testify to him that it is true.. but the Spirit was even so strong in the lesson, he has felt it, he just doesn't understand what he's feeling!
Thursday - Back in the own area. We spent all of Thursday morning getting our apartment in order, finally got to do wash and get everything in order!!! We also had to do Weekly Planning and we were able to teach Theresa. And she said she has been reluctant to tell us about the church she has been going to, the Pastor of the church was doing some super sinful things.. so needless to say the church is basically shut down. Heavenly Father basically tore down her church in order to tell her to listen to us. So she was going on about the programs, and how good it is, how they help people. And I was like alright enough of this, she said, "Your church is too slow for me." So I was like Theresa, "Christ's Church isn't about upbeat. God is a God of order. It is about truth, conversion, testimony, priesthood, ordinances, plan of salvation, and making it back to Heavenly Father. This is Christ's church once again established on the earth, there are way too many circumstances for it not to be. What would it mean to you if it was Christ's church?" then she says, "oh I think that it is. I am 99.9% sure." So then I said, "Well what should you do then?" And she said "come every Sunday and endure it." Then I started laughing a lot! :) So we committed her to be baptized, but she said she isn't ready for that.. she says that may take years.. but it was a great lesson with her. And she loves both of us, she said the fact that we don't irk her at all, is a sign from God. Hahaha. We also saw the Hughey's in the evening.
Friday - We had our Hospital shift in the morning. We got a ton a ton of solid potentials on the way there from talking to everyone that we see! So we are going to get back with them this week! Nothing big at Hospital Shift, some man in the ER felt the need to start telling us how wrong we are, he was cussing at us, telling us Joseph Smith was a fraud. After he finished I said, "So it's safe to say your not on the same page as us?" Then the security guards rescued us! :)
Saturday - We saw Barbra in the morning with Brother Prigmore, we also went with him and we saw Linda in the morning! Some things fell through with appointments and we were with Bro Thomley, and so we saw Brother Nunez with him, and Yovanny the son was there! And get this, all three of them came to church Brother, Sister Nunez and the son!!!!!!!!!! It was pretty darn cool to see them there!!!! And then we went with him and we taught Marcus. And we taught him the Restoration lesson, and it didn't click with him, so we are probably going to have to cover it again. But the Spirit was in the lesson, and he is dealing with a lot right now. All of the recent lost family and his ex wife is having to have her toes cut off. So he is really struggling and seeking after the truth, but he is excited to read the Book of Mormon. And his prayer is the most powerful prayer that I have heard from an investigator, besides Gloria. It was powerful, he prayed that we would touch hundreds even thousands with our ministry. So we will start with him as the first one of a thousand! :)
Sunday - We had church it was a great meeting! Didn't get any investigators out, sadly, hoping for next week! We took the sacrement to a lady in the hospital. And we went with Tony Hansen and tried to see a lot of potentals, and people that we had set up with, but couldn't get in with any of them.
So not too shabby. I still feel like there is so much more to be done, I often feel that we are living way under our potential, and I hate it that a whole lot never seems to improve. But I have grown in my confidence a little recently, so that helps. I just have to try and stay positive, I hate not achieving things. So I hope this next transfer and the future being great successes for us!! Love ya'll all a whole lot!!!
Love,Elder Bradley Hintze
Visiting this blog will you provide you information regarding Elder Bradley Brent Hintze and his two years in the mission field. He was called to preach the Gospel as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Florida Tallahassee Mission. He is served from June 2013 thru June 2015 He appreciated your love and support. Enjoy! The Gospel's true!
"He said something just keeps telling me that I need to listen to you guys."
Here is Elder Hintze's email from Monday, January 13th. Thanks for checking in on him.
Hello Family!! How are things!? I am doing well..! Transfers next week.. so I am a lot scared, but it will be good we will see where I end up! So we got a new apartment!! So my address is going to change slightly!!!! I believe it is apartment G-67.. So we have had to move a bunch of stuff this weekend.. and now we have to do a lot of cleaning.. a lot of cleaning, like 5 years worth of cleaning!
Monday - talk about freezing cold!! We went out on the bikes Monday night, and it was real cold guys.. nobody told me that it got cold here!!!!!!!!!!! so we were not prepared for that.. it was like 15 degrees and with the humidity and the wind wipping! So we ate dinner and planned our evening! We had one dinner appointment this week, so I am a cooking fool! :)
Wednesday - We did some finding, some knocking doors in the morning! And also made a new map for our apartment! We had a ward correlation meeting. We were able to see Barbara in the evening, and she continually gets better and better, it is just little little baby steps each time, but each time the Spirit is teaching her something new!
Thursday - We had weekly planning. We were able to contact a Media Referral that we received and it is a family, and she did request it herself! So that is my first one yet.. so we are going to call back this week and set up a time to meet!
Friday - We had President Akuma from our mission presidency spend some time with us today. We had our hospital shift back up again!! So we saw Linda on the way into the hospital, she had a bunch of questions for us! But President Akuma was with us for a short period at the hospital, he ate lunch with us, it was great to have him there. We also are able to stay in touch with Bonifay at the hospital, the lady we taught earlier, she is so close to baptism. The evening we saw Sister Crunelle, we are trying really hard to get her back active as well.
Saturday - We had President's interviews in the morning, which I love. I love being with and around President Smith, he is the man! I was just talking to him about the mission and how I always struggle to find the line between formal and informal.. just getting the perfect balance, and he said, You are exactly like me on my mission. hahahahaha. We saw Barbara again, and each time continually gets better. Dad, she loved the letter that you sent her, it made her cry when she read it, to know that there are people out there who care about her!! She has been showing off our family to everyone, hahaha. We also saw Theresa and she is now back. I don't know if I told you, but when she was in Orlando on Chrismas day at her husband's daughters house, Sister missionaries knocked on the door and they came in and prayed with them... how crazy is that!!!!! Heavenly Father wants her to listen to us! We had dinner with the Evans, Thai food, it is actually really good. Mom you would be so proud of me, I eat such good stuff, all kinds of veggies and what not! :) Our best lesson was with Marcus!!! We had our lesson with him, one that we had been trying to meet with for so long.. he told us all about his trials and everything that he has been through, he has been through a lot of deaths in the family.. So we only got through God is our loving Heavenly Father, but the Spirit was there, and he felt it. He said something just keeps telling me that I need to listen to you guys. He was talking and the member that was with us said, can I watch this video with you, it was mormon message, Mountains to Climb... and he loved it, it about brought him to tears! Marcus is awesome, going back Thursday, so I am very excited to teach him further!
Sunday - Biggest thing!!!! Brother and SISTER NUNEZ came to all 3 HOURS OF CHURCH! All 3 hours.. is was so sweet to see Brother Nunez in Priesthood. the Ward was so good, everyone was coming up and telling them how good it was to have them there!!!!!!!! Loved it, and President Bess spoke and he always just straight kills it! We did some finding after church, and then the Marturello's fed us! We did get a chance to see Melvin, the guy who came to church, he was just super overwhelmed by it all I think.. so it will be good to meet with him and explain everything to him!
Family love ya'll all a whole lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Hintze
Hello Family!! How are things!? I am doing well..! Transfers next week.. so I am a lot scared, but it will be good we will see where I end up! So we got a new apartment!! So my address is going to change slightly!!!! I believe it is apartment G-67.. So we have had to move a bunch of stuff this weekend.. and now we have to do a lot of cleaning.. a lot of cleaning, like 5 years worth of cleaning!
Monday - talk about freezing cold!! We went out on the bikes Monday night, and it was real cold guys.. nobody told me that it got cold here!!!!!!!!!!! so we were not prepared for that.. it was like 15 degrees and with the humidity and the wind wipping! So we ate dinner and planned our evening! We had one dinner appointment this week, so I am a cooking fool! :)
Tuesday - We had our District Meeting in the morning. And then after that we taught a new guy for the first time.. his name is Manice. He is 25 years old kid, raised Jehovah's Witness. And we met with him for the first time and taught him the restoration lesson! I love sharing the restoration, any time that we get to share the account of the first vision, I love it! When we shared it with him, the Spirit was so strong! The lesson went really, really well. We just stressed you can come to know that these things are true if you read and pray, read and pray!! I am very excited for the future with him! We also saw the Hughey's this evening, and we were able to have a really good conversation with Jef!
Wednesday - We did some finding, some knocking doors in the morning! And also made a new map for our apartment! We had a ward correlation meeting. We were able to see Barbara in the evening, and she continually gets better and better, it is just little little baby steps each time, but each time the Spirit is teaching her something new!
Thursday - We had weekly planning. We were able to contact a Media Referral that we received and it is a family, and she did request it herself! So that is my first one yet.. so we are going to call back this week and set up a time to meet!
Friday - We had President Akuma from our mission presidency spend some time with us today. We had our hospital shift back up again!! So we saw Linda on the way into the hospital, she had a bunch of questions for us! But President Akuma was with us for a short period at the hospital, he ate lunch with us, it was great to have him there. We also are able to stay in touch with Bonifay at the hospital, the lady we taught earlier, she is so close to baptism. The evening we saw Sister Crunelle, we are trying really hard to get her back active as well.
Saturday - We had President's interviews in the morning, which I love. I love being with and around President Smith, he is the man! I was just talking to him about the mission and how I always struggle to find the line between formal and informal.. just getting the perfect balance, and he said, You are exactly like me on my mission. hahahahaha. We saw Barbara again, and each time continually gets better. Dad, she loved the letter that you sent her, it made her cry when she read it, to know that there are people out there who care about her!! She has been showing off our family to everyone, hahaha. We also saw Theresa and she is now back. I don't know if I told you, but when she was in Orlando on Chrismas day at her husband's daughters house, Sister missionaries knocked on the door and they came in and prayed with them... how crazy is that!!!!! Heavenly Father wants her to listen to us! We had dinner with the Evans, Thai food, it is actually really good. Mom you would be so proud of me, I eat such good stuff, all kinds of veggies and what not! :) Our best lesson was with Marcus!!! We had our lesson with him, one that we had been trying to meet with for so long.. he told us all about his trials and everything that he has been through, he has been through a lot of deaths in the family.. So we only got through God is our loving Heavenly Father, but the Spirit was there, and he felt it. He said something just keeps telling me that I need to listen to you guys. He was talking and the member that was with us said, can I watch this video with you, it was mormon message, Mountains to Climb... and he loved it, it about brought him to tears! Marcus is awesome, going back Thursday, so I am very excited to teach him further!
Sunday - Biggest thing!!!! Brother and SISTER NUNEZ came to all 3 HOURS OF CHURCH! All 3 hours.. is was so sweet to see Brother Nunez in Priesthood. the Ward was so good, everyone was coming up and telling them how good it was to have them there!!!!!!!! Loved it, and President Bess spoke and he always just straight kills it! We did some finding after church, and then the Marturello's fed us! We did get a chance to see Melvin, the guy who came to church, he was just super overwhelmed by it all I think.. so it will be good to meet with him and explain everything to him!
Family love ya'll all a whole lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Hintze
"He never turns his back on us, and He loves each and everyone of us, He loves you."
I am sorry to those who visit this site. I neglected to post Elder Hintze's email from Monday, January 6th. Well here it is. It will be followed quickly by this weeks. Thanks for stopping by!
What up Hintze Family!?!?!?!?
So good as always to be a Monday when we get to exchange the short but oh so heart felt emails! Hope all is well on the home front. I would just like you to know that it is absolutely freezing here.. absolutely freezing.. going to get down to the teens this evening! Been wearing the warm coat all week!!
Tuesday - We had District meeting in the morning! We then did a lot of finding, we saw Robert Dobbs. So we just did more finding and then we had to be in at 5:45 pm.. so we just chilled inside and did some cleaning, wrote Thank You letters, and the Marturello's brought us pizza and sparkling cider.
Wednesday - Saw the Hughey's, none of them were home except for one of the boys. We were fed by the Hornsby's in the evening. And we also saw Barbra in the evening with Brother Prigmore. But other than that our day was a lot of trying to see people.
Thursday - We worked at the Food Bank in the morning. And did our weekly planning.We also had an appointment set up in the evening with a man named Marcus, and we got it all set up, double checked with him the day before, and he didn't show up, and now his phone number had been disconnected, so we don't really know how to get in touch with him again.. so that was a major bummer as well. But we were able to meet this man named Jon Davis, who we met on the street and he hold us that he used to be a member, so we stopped by to try and meet him, and he was home, and he shared with us his story, of how he was baptized in 2001 and then fell away, so we talked to him, and he agreed that he wants to come back. We can't find his records, so for the time being we are going to treat him as a new investigator, and teach him all of the lessons. And hopefully try and get it so he can come back.
Friday - We worked at the Food Bank in the morning. Our hospital shift got canceled, because Brother Willie is working on Friday's now, so we don't know when we will get to do it. So we tried to see some people, and we did a lot of finding and out and about, we were on the bikes all day. And then we had an appointment with Justin Dunaway set up, a man that we met one day in his front yard, and he wasn't home either, so we need to try and get him again this next week. We ate dinner with the Thomley's in the evening.
Saturday - Saturday and Sunday were definitely the highlight portion of the week! It saved it for me. Tony Hansen called us up in the morning and asked us if we wanted to go to breakfast, so we went out to breakfast with him, and talked to him for a good while, and had a lesson with him and answered a lot of his questions. He has only been a member for 18 months. So after that we took him to see Barbra with us, and it was awesome! Tony told his story of how he quit drinking and smoking, and coffee. Just bore his testimony to her and he said, I will make you a deal if you give up just coffee I will give up something as well. So she agreed, so we put her coffee pot up again.. where she can't reach it. And we all agreed to give up something! We visited less actives and did more finding after that. Also we called the Bull family, that family from a while back again... and I talked to the wife and just said wondered if ya'll were still interested at all and she said, "Actually ya we really are!" So hopefully this next week, we are going to get somethings set up with them as well!!!
Sunday - Fast and Testimony Meeting. Probably one of the best meetings of my life at least for me.. it was incredible. An absolute answer to prayers, I had a lot of my prayers answered this week. Called Linda this week, and she said, "Elder Hintze the spirit is telling me to tell you, that God is a work in our lives, He never turns his back on us, and He loves each and everyone of us, He loves you." And then again.. I was in the meeting and just thinking about what little we had accomplished, and then the Spirit in the meeting just hit me. My heart was pounding out of my chest, the whole time. And probably the neatest experience of my mission... Gloria got up and bore her testimony, through out all of this, she had always said that she was 80 or 90% sure that Joseph Smith was a prophet.. and she got up there and she stood and said "I want all of you to know that I do know without a doubt, that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that this Gospel was restored through him." And it was just like Yes.. this is all worth it right there. And she had me crying and I'm crying now writing about it. Probably the single greatest thing that has happened. Family I can't tell you how true this Gospel is! The feeling that I felt there in that meeting, and that the promptings of the Spirit that we receive, are things that cannot be denied. I can't tell you how much our Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of us, His infinite perfect love, something that we could never comprehend. We are His children. This is our Savior Jesus Christ's Gospel, He is at work today, He lives. The power and sanctification that we feel from His Atoning Sacrifice is something that we should use each and every day! He never turns His back on us! We also got to visit Brother Nunez and HIS WIFE in the evening with President Bess. And we had never been able to get her to come out, but they both agreed AGAIN to come back to church this week. We also met a new family the Brown's, he is a member, she is not, and they have 2 kids. I can't stop thinking about this family, and I just feel like we can help them out a lot. So let ya know what happens there! We got caught out in the rain on the bikes and we were drenched.
Family, ya'll are wonderful, I sure do love you a lot!
Love,
Elder Bradley Hintze
What up Hintze Family!?!?!?!?
So good as always to be a Monday when we get to exchange the short but oh so heart felt emails! Hope all is well on the home front. I would just like you to know that it is absolutely freezing here.. absolutely freezing.. going to get down to the teens this evening! Been wearing the warm coat all week!!
Monday - In the evening we ate dinner with the Depew's and the Bess family.. had all of them together! Really really good people, some of the best around, Carter has been home from school as well, so it has been fun to be able to talk to him, he is back to BYU now. For P-Day we played basketball with some people from the 1st ward and just did our usual thing!
Tuesday - We had District meeting in the morning! We then did a lot of finding, we saw Robert Dobbs. So we just did more finding and then we had to be in at 5:45 pm.. so we just chilled inside and did some cleaning, wrote Thank You letters, and the Marturello's brought us pizza and sparkling cider.
Wednesday - Saw the Hughey's, none of them were home except for one of the boys. We were fed by the Hornsby's in the evening. And we also saw Barbra in the evening with Brother Prigmore. But other than that our day was a lot of trying to see people.
Thursday - We worked at the Food Bank in the morning. And did our weekly planning.We also had an appointment set up in the evening with a man named Marcus, and we got it all set up, double checked with him the day before, and he didn't show up, and now his phone number had been disconnected, so we don't really know how to get in touch with him again.. so that was a major bummer as well. But we were able to meet this man named Jon Davis, who we met on the street and he hold us that he used to be a member, so we stopped by to try and meet him, and he was home, and he shared with us his story, of how he was baptized in 2001 and then fell away, so we talked to him, and he agreed that he wants to come back. We can't find his records, so for the time being we are going to treat him as a new investigator, and teach him all of the lessons. And hopefully try and get it so he can come back.
Friday - We worked at the Food Bank in the morning. Our hospital shift got canceled, because Brother Willie is working on Friday's now, so we don't know when we will get to do it. So we tried to see some people, and we did a lot of finding and out and about, we were on the bikes all day. And then we had an appointment with Justin Dunaway set up, a man that we met one day in his front yard, and he wasn't home either, so we need to try and get him again this next week. We ate dinner with the Thomley's in the evening.
Saturday - Saturday and Sunday were definitely the highlight portion of the week! It saved it for me. Tony Hansen called us up in the morning and asked us if we wanted to go to breakfast, so we went out to breakfast with him, and talked to him for a good while, and had a lesson with him and answered a lot of his questions. He has only been a member for 18 months. So after that we took him to see Barbra with us, and it was awesome! Tony told his story of how he quit drinking and smoking, and coffee. Just bore his testimony to her and he said, I will make you a deal if you give up just coffee I will give up something as well. So she agreed, so we put her coffee pot up again.. where she can't reach it. And we all agreed to give up something! We visited less actives and did more finding after that. Also we called the Bull family, that family from a while back again... and I talked to the wife and just said wondered if ya'll were still interested at all and she said, "Actually ya we really are!" So hopefully this next week, we are going to get somethings set up with them as well!!!
Sunday - Fast and Testimony Meeting. Probably one of the best meetings of my life at least for me.. it was incredible. An absolute answer to prayers, I had a lot of my prayers answered this week. Called Linda this week, and she said, "Elder Hintze the spirit is telling me to tell you, that God is a work in our lives, He never turns his back on us, and He loves each and everyone of us, He loves you." And then again.. I was in the meeting and just thinking about what little we had accomplished, and then the Spirit in the meeting just hit me. My heart was pounding out of my chest, the whole time. And probably the neatest experience of my mission... Gloria got up and bore her testimony, through out all of this, she had always said that she was 80 or 90% sure that Joseph Smith was a prophet.. and she got up there and she stood and said "I want all of you to know that I do know without a doubt, that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that this Gospel was restored through him." And it was just like Yes.. this is all worth it right there. And she had me crying and I'm crying now writing about it. Probably the single greatest thing that has happened. Family I can't tell you how true this Gospel is! The feeling that I felt there in that meeting, and that the promptings of the Spirit that we receive, are things that cannot be denied. I can't tell you how much our Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of us, His infinite perfect love, something that we could never comprehend. We are His children. This is our Savior Jesus Christ's Gospel, He is at work today, He lives. The power and sanctification that we feel from His Atoning Sacrifice is something that we should use each and every day! He never turns His back on us! We also got to visit Brother Nunez and HIS WIFE in the evening with President Bess. And we had never been able to get her to come out, but they both agreed AGAIN to come back to church this week. We also met a new family the Brown's, he is a member, she is not, and they have 2 kids. I can't stop thinking about this family, and I just feel like we can help them out a lot. So let ya know what happens there! We got caught out in the rain on the bikes and we were drenched.
Family, ya'll are wonderful, I sure do love you a lot!
Love,
Elder Bradley Hintze
"Can I just say that it was delightful to see all of you and talk to you!!!"
Email from Elder Hintze on Monday, December 30th, we had agreat visit with him on Christmas Day. It is great to have a missionary in the field!
Hey Ya'll!
Can I just say that it was delightful to see all of you and talk to you!!! Hope you continued to have a fantastic Christmas.I did as well, very weird to be away, but so fun! I love you all a whole lot, more than you know!
Wednesday - CHRISTMAS! Got to see all of your beautiful faces! So we spent the morning with the Marturello's. They fed us Breakfast, and they even had some cinnamon roll type things. But fun to see the little kids and all of their new toys. After that the Coggins picked us up and we spent the rest of the night with them! People are way too good to us, we don't deserve any of it! So it was a good Christmas!
Friday - We worked at the Hospital. One of our investigators who moved to Bonifay, works at the hopsital, and we basically taught her a lesson when we visited her, she is so close to getting baptized! So it was great to talk to her! After the Hospital, we taught Gloria and Zoya. Got them set up on their new tablet with the Church's apps, they loved that!
Saturday - Freezing day. And rainy all day, so we were out on the bikes all day, it was miserable. We ate at Forest's house for lunch, met with Anita McBride, she is going to go to the temple soon, which is so awesome! We then helped a new sister from Enterprise move into our ward. We are not allowed to bike at night anymore, and it was pouring rain, so we tried to find some members to go out with, but no one could. So we did a lot of book work.
Sunday - Church, then Lunch at the Lewis's farm. Church was really good, didn't get anyone out as far as investigators. We have reactivated Brother Nunez in 2014 we hope hahaha. I love this man! So I am really hoping that we can continue to get him back, and back temple active. We tried to see several investigators, but they fell through, but rescheduled with one of them, so this week, will have some lessons! I hope and I pray that we will be able to meet with some investigators soon, I hope to be able to see the fruits of these people that we have been able to find!
But it really was a good week mission work wise and with seeing all of you! Really do love you all more than you know! I miss you and love you! Thank you for your prayers and love, I can feel it every day, and I know without ya'll I wouldn't be able to do it! It's great to be a missionary!
Love you all! Elder Hintze
Can I just say that it was delightful to see all of you and talk to you!!! Hope you continued to have a fantastic Christmas.I did as well, very weird to be away, but so fun! I love you all a whole lot, more than you know!
Monday - P-Day we offered some service in the morning at an organization called Turkeys from Heaven. It started out as 1 Turkey but now they cooked over 1000 turkeys this year and handed them out to people in need. We were on the Green Bean crew, so I opened giant cans of green beans and drained them to be used in Green Bean Casserole, (lovely southern dish). It poured rain down on us, the whole time. Great service! After that we partook of the P-Day vibes, we emailed, played some football, and basketball. Got a hair cut! :)
Tuesday - Christmas Eve! We had our District Meeting. After that we visited Sister Crunelle, Barbara Phillips, Brother Nunez, and then the Hughey's fed us. So we ate there haven't made any progress lately as far as the Gospel, but they are again a family that is so good to us. After that the Bess's had us over, they are so awesome! We did some Fondu something or other, like boiling pots that you put meats in and fruit and bread and cheese. I don't know I was confused. But we were there for the night, such an awesome family, they gave us presents as well. I got an Alabama shirt, haha. They are huge Bama fans. But had a great visit with them, Carter was in town.
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| Elder Hintze & Elder Smith |
Wednesday - CHRISTMAS! Got to see all of your beautiful faces! So we spent the morning with the Marturello's. They fed us Breakfast, and they even had some cinnamon roll type things. But fun to see the little kids and all of their new toys. After that the Coggins picked us up and we spent the rest of the night with them! People are way too good to us, we don't deserve any of it! So it was a good Christmas!
Thursday - We had our Weekly Planning. We saw the Woollum's. And then we tracked for probably just about the longest that I ever have, I absolutely love tracting. We found a bunch of people that wanted us to return.. so we will see if they turn out! One man, we set up to meet with the next day, but then weren't able to, so in the new year, he said to call him! So it really was good. We were able to find a lot again this week, which is fantastic, now we just have to set things up with them. We then ventured out to see a few people the Owen's, McClellan's, and the Thomley's. Brother McClellan served a mission, all his kids active, served all his life, then one day just didn't believe it was true. So I was talking to him about that, very sad to see, very very sad.
Friday - We worked at the Hospital. One of our investigators who moved to Bonifay, works at the hopsital, and we basically taught her a lesson when we visited her, she is so close to getting baptized! So it was great to talk to her! After the Hospital, we taught Gloria and Zoya. Got them set up on their new tablet with the Church's apps, they loved that!
Saturday - Freezing day. And rainy all day, so we were out on the bikes all day, it was miserable. We ate at Forest's house for lunch, met with Anita McBride, she is going to go to the temple soon, which is so awesome! We then helped a new sister from Enterprise move into our ward. We are not allowed to bike at night anymore, and it was pouring rain, so we tried to find some members to go out with, but no one could. So we did a lot of book work.
Sunday - Church, then Lunch at the Lewis's farm. Church was really good, didn't get anyone out as far as investigators. We have reactivated Brother Nunez in 2014 we hope hahaha. I love this man! So I am really hoping that we can continue to get him back, and back temple active. We tried to see several investigators, but they fell through, but rescheduled with one of them, so this week, will have some lessons! I hope and I pray that we will be able to meet with some investigators soon, I hope to be able to see the fruits of these people that we have been able to find!
But it really was a good week mission work wise and with seeing all of you! Really do love you all more than you know! I miss you and love you! Thank you for your prayers and love, I can feel it every day, and I know without ya'll I wouldn't be able to do it! It's great to be a missionary!
Love you all! Elder Hintze
"The Spirit there was awesome, I love it so much"
Here is our email from Monday, December 23rd. Merry Christmas!!
Hello Family!!!!!
As for when the conference call is supposed to happen with ya'll I am not even sure.... It will probably be in the morning sometime, because we are going to go to the Marturello's their boys told me that they have stockings set out for us at there house.. so that is so awesome, I am excited to get over there on Christmas, mainly just to talk to you all!!!
Monday - We didn't do anything for P-Day at all.. waited in line for an hour to mail the packages, hope ya'll go them! But we ate dinner at the Grantham's house and then after that we had another dinner with Brother Willie Parker and LaMearl, and then they treated us to some ice cream as well, good, good people.
Tuesday - We did some service with the Marines, we did Toys for Tots, so we went to this way old air force building and helped them to sort out toys and to haul all these little kids bikes around and got to divide up toys for families. It was really a lot of fun, and some great service, we got to talk all of the people there! Then we had to go give Sister Knight a blessing in the hospital! And then get this after a lot of finding, we went and we helped this lady in her yard, we are still trying to do service/finding type of stuff. But its alright I guess. Then we got dinner dropped off.
Wednesday - We just did a lot of finding again, spent all of our time out and about finding people, but we didn't find anyone this week, but we talked to lots, probably just about more than ever! We stopped to see Theresa and she is fine, we didn't get to teach her because of the store, tried to set something up, but couldn't and she is again, just liking her church, so think we are going to take a step back and see what happens. And then we went caroling with the mutual in the ward, we went and saw some less active and recent converts while caroling, we saw Barbara and it made her cry. She loved it, the ward has really taken care of her lately.
Thursday - this was our Half Mission Conference and it took all day for real though. So we went down to Panama City it was awesome! Had a Christmas program with everyone's talents, crazy how good people are at instruments and everything. The Spirit there was awesome, I love it so much, coming together as a mission with so many of us, and having President and Sister Smith there, and then we did the gift exchange, and that was awesome. Saw a lot of familiar faces, Romney Hammond, and Elder Misi from MTC, and a lot of sisters from the MTC, saw a kid I knew up at Utah State, and Sister Stanfield from our stake. In the evening we had dinner with the Prigmore's.
Friday - We did our weekly planning. And then spent the rest of the day doing more finding, a lot of our appointments canceled. I love talking to people, so we did get a lot of potentials, that will hopefully turn out after Christmas. We saw Brother Nunez and had such an awesome visit with him, about getting him back to church, but we didn't get him this week, he says he will, so we are so close with thim.
Saturday - Oh man, we spend literally just about all day moving the Lint's! From 9 am to 4 pm, so we came home and cleaned up and then went with Bro Prigmore and visited Barbra, Sister Rush, and then the Thomley's.
Sunday - All of our appointments that we had fell through again today. But we did have a good Sunday, I sung in the ward choir, and then I said my part, it was a really good meeting! So we had to free style it and tried to see a bunch of people!
Well thats all Family! Hope that all of the Christmas festivites thus far have been great! I love you all so much, I can't even wait, can't even wait to see all of you and talk to you on Christmas!!LOVE YA!!!!!!!!!
Hello Family!!!!!
As for when the conference call is supposed to happen with ya'll I am not even sure.... It will probably be in the morning sometime, because we are going to go to the Marturello's their boys told me that they have stockings set out for us at there house.. so that is so awesome, I am excited to get over there on Christmas, mainly just to talk to you all!!!
Monday - We didn't do anything for P-Day at all.. waited in line for an hour to mail the packages, hope ya'll go them! But we ate dinner at the Grantham's house and then after that we had another dinner with Brother Willie Parker and LaMearl, and then they treated us to some ice cream as well, good, good people.
Tuesday - We did some service with the Marines, we did Toys for Tots, so we went to this way old air force building and helped them to sort out toys and to haul all these little kids bikes around and got to divide up toys for families. It was really a lot of fun, and some great service, we got to talk all of the people there! Then we had to go give Sister Knight a blessing in the hospital! And then get this after a lot of finding, we went and we helped this lady in her yard, we are still trying to do service/finding type of stuff. But its alright I guess. Then we got dinner dropped off.
Wednesday - We just did a lot of finding again, spent all of our time out and about finding people, but we didn't find anyone this week, but we talked to lots, probably just about more than ever! We stopped to see Theresa and she is fine, we didn't get to teach her because of the store, tried to set something up, but couldn't and she is again, just liking her church, so think we are going to take a step back and see what happens. And then we went caroling with the mutual in the ward, we went and saw some less active and recent converts while caroling, we saw Barbara and it made her cry. She loved it, the ward has really taken care of her lately.
Thursday - this was our Half Mission Conference and it took all day for real though. So we went down to Panama City it was awesome! Had a Christmas program with everyone's talents, crazy how good people are at instruments and everything. The Spirit there was awesome, I love it so much, coming together as a mission with so many of us, and having President and Sister Smith there, and then we did the gift exchange, and that was awesome. Saw a lot of familiar faces, Romney Hammond, and Elder Misi from MTC, and a lot of sisters from the MTC, saw a kid I knew up at Utah State, and Sister Stanfield from our stake. In the evening we had dinner with the Prigmore's.
Friday - We did our weekly planning. And then spent the rest of the day doing more finding, a lot of our appointments canceled. I love talking to people, so we did get a lot of potentials, that will hopefully turn out after Christmas. We saw Brother Nunez and had such an awesome visit with him, about getting him back to church, but we didn't get him this week, he says he will, so we are so close with thim.
Saturday - Oh man, we spend literally just about all day moving the Lint's! From 9 am to 4 pm, so we came home and cleaned up and then went with Bro Prigmore and visited Barbra, Sister Rush, and then the Thomley's.
Sunday - All of our appointments that we had fell through again today. But we did have a good Sunday, I sung in the ward choir, and then I said my part, it was a really good meeting! So we had to free style it and tried to see a bunch of people!
Well thats all Family! Hope that all of the Christmas festivites thus far have been great! I love you all so much, I can't even wait, can't even wait to see all of you and talk to you on Christmas!!LOVE YA!!!!!!!!!
Christmas Mission Conference - Thursday, December 19th - Panama City, Florida
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| Elder Hintze, Elder Smith, Elder ? |
"A pretty darn good one we had this week"
The following is from the email received on Monday, December 16th.
Hello Family and Friends,
Hello Family and Friends,
Another week down the drain here in Dothan.. A pretty darn good one we had this week. Will be mailing off the Christmas package today for all the Hintze Family to enjoy, also another one that is just full of random stuff, hope ya'll enjoy!
Monday - We just did some shopping this last Monday. Didn't really do anything in particular fun. We went with the 1st Ward Mission Leader Bro. Kelly to visit a lady that he knew in our area, we gave her a blessing because something went funky with her eyes. She is a non member, apparently they have been very exposed to the Gospel, so we are hoping to work with them. Then we ate dinner at the Allen's home.
Tuesday - We had our District Meeting in the morning. And then the kicker was lunch being delivered, it was so awesome. The lady Kim came in and said are you Elder Hintze, and so she brought all of the food, and took a picture of us. The food was really good, it came in a whole spread, and she was so nice. She loved doing it. We threw $5 dollars in her car as a tip. But it really was so fun! So fun to have that done Dad! So sounds like we will be going by and paying here a visit. But we will stop by and see her! Then after that we went bowling with the district, as our district activity. It was a lot of fun as well. Then we went to Linda's home for a Christmas party/lunch. They were worried that I was going to be leaving, so they wanted to celebrate it earlier, so it was with Linda, Gloria/Zoya, and Carol Hughey. They got us a watch, a wallet, some socks, and then just personal care items, toothpaste, shampoo, etc. So nice of them!
Wednesday - Today was Transfer day. So the switches have been made, two new 1st ward Elders and a new Dothan 2nd Sister. In the morning we met with Theresa with Brother Bain, and we taught her and it was a great lesson, talked about the Doctrine of Christ all the way through complete. And she came to church this week. But it was a really great lesson with her, the Spirit was there, and she again asked about baptism, but just isn't ready to do anything yet. But while we were teaching a lady was unloading a Christmas tree at the shop, so we ran out and helped her, and she said, "Hey I met with Elders in Florida, I want you to come teach my family." Pretty darn neat. So we got her info.. and since we have called and says she needs to think on it a little more, but... still really neat, and one that we really hope to start working with, her name is Gena Taylor. After that we ate lunch, and spent some time doing some finding, tracting. Then we saw Barbra Phillips with Charles Bain, she is doing very well, she fell on Sunday, so couldn't come to church, she is in rough shape, but she hasn't smoked or coffee in two weeks. :) We did some more planning, and then we went out and we saw the Thomley's.
Thursday - We worked at the Food bank making boxes in the morning. Had studies. Then we ate lunch. And we hit the finding, we have been trying finding with a rake, we share a message that we are missionaries, and then we just offer service to them, by raking their leaves up. We don't know exactly if its working, but we will see. People treat us the same hahaha. We also did something kind of cool, at a Baptist church they had something called a "walk through Bethlehem" and we went and did that, made some friends with the preacher, but it was a reenactment of the times when Christ was born, like Roman soldiers that we're really acting the part, and the had a real baby, kind of neat. Then they gave us the talk at the end if we had been "saved" or not. So then we did more finding, and we ate dinner at the Marturello's. We then saw Brother Nunez, trying really hard to get him to come back, but he didn't come to church this Sunday.
Friday - We worked at the Food Bank in the morning. And then after that we went to the Food Bank luncheon for all of the Volunteers, we won some prizes.. I won a candle... :( But it was really great to get to talk to so many people there, we just split up, I just sat down at a table and started talking to some folks, and the sisters did the same! So it really was good, then we worked at the Hospital, and then ate dinner at the Hansen's. Then we did our weekly planning to close it out.
Saturday - We saw Barbra P again in the morning with Prigmore, and we then saw Barbra Erb as well. Both good visits, hopefully we are helping them in some way! Then we went to the Hughey's they had us over for lunch, and she wanted us to help put up Christmas, so that they boys would come out and help hahaha, so we did, and during dinner, their Grandma, and Christian one of the boys, started asking us different questions regarding the church and just what we believe about certain things, so it was really a great visit with them. Then we saw Gloria, and she is also doing really well, she still loves learning and always wants us to continue to teach her. Then we had the Ward Christmas Party, and it was a blast. We had people there that never had been, we got Carol Hughey to come out and watch us sing. Hahaha the missionaries all sung the 12 Days of Christmas, but missionary style, so it was pretty good! Pretty funny, got it videoed for ya'll to watch! But it was great fun, had the primary program and all.
Sunday - Good day at church. Theresa came and it really was some great talks, that I think were exactly what she needed to hear! So we will see, we didn't get any real time to talk to her about any of it. She wanted to meet after church and talk, but couldn't. Also I am in the ward choir, and I volunteered to say some parts in next Sunday's program. They put me in "tenors" I don't exactly know what that means. We ate dinner at the Hall's. And then we just went on a walking spree, talking to everyone that we saw, our destination was Sister Rush's and we talked with her, but also we got a lot of contacts, a few pretty good ones. So this week was a good one for that, we got a lot of potentials, and we got 4 new investigators, which is pretty darn good for these parts, so we are very excited! So dinner this evening was with Lee & Joy, we met Lee when he was cleaning up a broken beer bottle by our apartment, we live right next to the dumpster, so I asked him if he needed any help, but we got talking for quite a while, he goes to Church of Christ, knew Utah a little, but anyway, a few days later they knock on our door and ask us if we would like to come over for dinner, so heck ya! So we do it, and they are so nice. And we ate with them and we basically talked about everything imagineable. We talked about all manner of stuff, plan of salvation, priesthood, articles of faith, word of wisdom, new Jerusalem, book of mormon, bible, etc. etc. All of that stuff! And Joy knew everything about a lot of stuff, she was good. I gave her props. :) Haha. But we left them with The Book of Mormon and they are going to read it, and then we are going to talk some more. But they really are so nice they made sure we were taken care of on Christmas and new years, they invited us to come eat with their whole family on Christmas, and to come over and have crackers and watch the ball drop. So we will see what comes of it, don't know if they are sincere seekers, but we will see!
Can't wait for the Christmas day phone call! Well I sure do love you family and can't get over how great you all are. We'll see ya.
Love
Elder Hintze
District Meeting
This picture was taken on Tuesday, December 10th at the Dothan Ward following their weekly District Meeting. I have listed the Elders names below, but do not know the Sisters. Oh, one is Sister Devries? The following day one of the Sisters, Elder Simmons, and Elder Davidson were transfered!
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| Elder Davidson, Elder Simmons, Elder Hintze, Elder Smith |
"Christmas in Dothan!"
Later on Monday, December 9th, we received his weekly email. Enjoy!
"HEYO Family!!
So as you know, I am staying in Dothan, Alabama for the Holidays. So that is going to be super awesome, and I already got the hook ups for a skype call Christmas day! I hope ya'll are still around!
So one of our sisters is leaving and we are getting one from Geneva which is right next to us. And then both of the 1st ward Elders are leaving.
Monday - We worked at the food bank in the morning. We spend out P-Day at the mall looking at some gifts and what now. Got some people's info as well to learn more, all in a days work! Then we ate dinner and we didn't really have any plans, so we took the time to plan out our whole week.
Tuesday - We had District Meeting and then we went and got free hot dogs from the man in the 1st ward, Bro Filkins. We then helped Brother Bain in his yard rake up his leaves and we tore out some bushes and planted trees. Then we went to Linda's and she had already finished the painting, so we talked with her for a second, then raked her leaves, did some service for her neighbors. Then we went home and dinner time.
Wednesday - We worked at the food bank in the morning again. And then we went to a red cross luncheon for all of the volunteers, so that was cool.
Got to meet lots of people there. Then we did some finding, trying to talk to people, did some tracting. Then we saw Barbra Phillips with Charles Bain. Barbra is well, still fighting the smokes and coffee, she knows it is wrong, but so she is trying very hard. Barbra is having a hip replacement surgery, I am kind of worried, but I told her it would help her. I hope it is a Zimmer part! :) She said a Dr. Robinson is doing it down here. Dad, look into that! Then we had our ward correlation meeting, and then a ward choir practice, thats right, opa! I'm in the choir, and nominated to say some parts in the program! Then we ate dinner with the Thomley's.
Thursday - We worked at the food bank again in the morning. And then we worked at the red cross after that unloading all manner of junk from a shed, we had to move like over one hundred shovels and rakes. Then we met with Sister Crunelle, a less active in the ward. Then we ventured out to find lost people. We were sent by the ward and it was actually really, really good. We found quite a few of them, and we were able to sit down and talk with them. Some we will hopefully begin to work with some. We then ate dinner with the Thompson's, awesome family. Luke's family. Then we saw Brother Nunez, had another really great visiit with him, he didn't come to church however, but he has been so sick, so hopefully once he is healthy, he will come. Then we stopped by to see the Hughey's, everytime we see them, Jef is slowly being realed in!
Friday - Pretty sweet day, on the way to the hospital. We stopped just to see how Linda was doing, and look who pulled in the driveway.. Athen. So I was like enough of this, lets do this thing. So we invited him to take the lessons. And he said, yes! Which was really cool, he said that he has been thinking about it for a little while. So it may not be immediately, he said he may need some time. But also on the way there we got to talk to two guys, who both told us to come back and talk to them, which was cool. So we worked at the hospital. And then we went to dinner with the Evans!
Saturday - We saw Barbra again in the morning with Brother Prigmore. We saw Theresa, and she is just the same, we are thinking we are going to take a step back and then see what's up with her. We saw Sister Rush, but basically just spent the whole time trying to find people, just talking to people. Then we had dinner and did our weekly planning in the night time.
Sunday - Church was good, didn't get any of our investigators out. After that we had our ward choir practice. And then we hit the streets to go find, just walked around and talked to everyone that we saw, we were headed to meet with Jeffery our new investiagator we found on the way to the hospital, but he didn't answer. So we then got a call from Sister Knight, she is leaving and so we headed to see her for the last time, because it was her last time and we had been talking to her a lot about the church, so we got her info for the sisters. And then we had a ward pie social before the Christmas Devotional.
Did ya'll watch the devotional? I don't think I have ever seen the devotional before. But Cameron's mom and sister came out to that, I called them during the week and made sure they were invited. And Sister Davis went out and invited them together.
So that was the week. A pretty good one. So I guess we will just keep doing our thing, and keep asking the members for referrals. I am really excited to spend Christmas here! I love you guys a whole lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"HEYO Family!!
So as you know, I am staying in Dothan, Alabama for the Holidays. So that is going to be super awesome, and I already got the hook ups for a skype call Christmas day! I hope ya'll are still around!
So one of our sisters is leaving and we are getting one from Geneva which is right next to us. And then both of the 1st ward Elders are leaving.
Monday - We worked at the food bank in the morning. We spend out P-Day at the mall looking at some gifts and what now. Got some people's info as well to learn more, all in a days work! Then we ate dinner and we didn't really have any plans, so we took the time to plan out our whole week.
Tuesday - We had District Meeting and then we went and got free hot dogs from the man in the 1st ward, Bro Filkins. We then helped Brother Bain in his yard rake up his leaves and we tore out some bushes and planted trees. Then we went to Linda's and she had already finished the painting, so we talked with her for a second, then raked her leaves, did some service for her neighbors. Then we went home and dinner time.
Wednesday - We worked at the food bank in the morning again. And then we went to a red cross luncheon for all of the volunteers, so that was cool.
Got to meet lots of people there. Then we did some finding, trying to talk to people, did some tracting. Then we saw Barbra Phillips with Charles Bain. Barbra is well, still fighting the smokes and coffee, she knows it is wrong, but so she is trying very hard. Barbra is having a hip replacement surgery, I am kind of worried, but I told her it would help her. I hope it is a Zimmer part! :) She said a Dr. Robinson is doing it down here. Dad, look into that! Then we had our ward correlation meeting, and then a ward choir practice, thats right, opa! I'm in the choir, and nominated to say some parts in the program! Then we ate dinner with the Thomley's.
Thursday - We worked at the food bank again in the morning. And then we worked at the red cross after that unloading all manner of junk from a shed, we had to move like over one hundred shovels and rakes. Then we met with Sister Crunelle, a less active in the ward. Then we ventured out to find lost people. We were sent by the ward and it was actually really, really good. We found quite a few of them, and we were able to sit down and talk with them. Some we will hopefully begin to work with some. We then ate dinner with the Thompson's, awesome family. Luke's family. Then we saw Brother Nunez, had another really great visiit with him, he didn't come to church however, but he has been so sick, so hopefully once he is healthy, he will come. Then we stopped by to see the Hughey's, everytime we see them, Jef is slowly being realed in!
Friday - Pretty sweet day, on the way to the hospital. We stopped just to see how Linda was doing, and look who pulled in the driveway.. Athen. So I was like enough of this, lets do this thing. So we invited him to take the lessons. And he said, yes! Which was really cool, he said that he has been thinking about it for a little while. So it may not be immediately, he said he may need some time. But also on the way there we got to talk to two guys, who both told us to come back and talk to them, which was cool. So we worked at the hospital. And then we went to dinner with the Evans!
Saturday - We saw Barbra again in the morning with Brother Prigmore. We saw Theresa, and she is just the same, we are thinking we are going to take a step back and then see what's up with her. We saw Sister Rush, but basically just spent the whole time trying to find people, just talking to people. Then we had dinner and did our weekly planning in the night time.
Sunday - Church was good, didn't get any of our investigators out. After that we had our ward choir practice. And then we hit the streets to go find, just walked around and talked to everyone that we saw, we were headed to meet with Jeffery our new investiagator we found on the way to the hospital, but he didn't answer. So we then got a call from Sister Knight, she is leaving and so we headed to see her for the last time, because it was her last time and we had been talking to her a lot about the church, so we got her info for the sisters. And then we had a ward pie social before the Christmas Devotional.
Did ya'll watch the devotional? I don't think I have ever seen the devotional before. But Cameron's mom and sister came out to that, I called them during the week and made sure they were invited. And Sister Davis went out and invited them together.
So that was the week. A pretty good one. So I guess we will just keep doing our thing, and keep asking the members for referrals. I am really excited to spend Christmas here! I love you guys a whole lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Transfer News!"
We received this short note from Elder Hintze on Monday, December 9th.
"We just got transfer news here!! I am staying in Dothan 2nd Ward
for another one!!! Elder Smith is also staying here.. so no changes
for us…"
"We just got transfer news here!! I am staying in Dothan 2nd Ward
for another one!!! Elder Smith is also staying here.. so no changes
for us…"
"HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Elder Hintze's email from Monday, December 2nd. First Thanksgiving in the mission field.
Monday - Did some biking and then went to the members. We then ate at Marturello's in the evening for dinner. And we went back and we planned out the rest of our week, it is necessary in order for us to be more effective, we have run into a lot of problems meeting with people, so we are trying to all call ahead planning now.
Tuesday - We had zone training in the morning, so all of the missionaries in the zone got together in Dothan and the zone leaders instructed us, no president, just the zone leaders. We do role plays on role plays on role plays. Hahaha. So after that we hit the streets knocking doors and talking to people, it started to rain on us. We saw Robert Dobbs a less active guy that just likes to play music for us, no gospel conversation, seen him once before, but we were able to talk to him about why he is less active. Then a lady tried to kick us out of her neighborhood for soliciting, it was ridiculous, I told her like 12 times we weren't selling anything. Then we ate dinner at the Hornsby's.
Wednesday - We taught Theresa in the morning and is fine, she isn't progressing, so we told her we have told you everything, and you agree with it all , you have changed because of it, now it is up to you in order to take the initiative and read and pray to know if this is true or not, she still says she wants to be baptized, but nothing immediately. So we will see what happens, she still hasn't come to church. We then did service at the Red Cross, that's where you got the thanksgiving video from.
They didn't really need us too much, so we did family history. We tried to see Brittani, but haven't been able to this week. We then contacted a media referral we got from a member in California, it is pretty cool. We get a text messsage that says their name, address, phone number, missionary visit or what they requested, who send them in this case it was a member in Apple Valley, California, and this one said they spoke spanish. So we took Brother Marturello, who went to El Salvador on his mission, so I spoke to the lady at the door and she didn't speak any english, so Marturello just took it over and whipped out spanish as we stood there, it was so cool. So we got a return appointment, but we can't call them and they live forever away, so we didn't get to see them again, he couldn't get a hold of them. Our nearest spanish missionaries are in Tallahassee, so we may have to teach with an interpreter. We also picked up a new less active lady to work with. We then saw Barbra in the evening, she is doing really well, she has now quit smoking and coffee for over 10+ days again, and she is so much happier when she does.
Thursday - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope it was a good one for you! We had a fun one! In the morning we played the Turkey bowl, football game. So we got there early and Davidson and I ran a couple of miles, to prepare for the food, I am pathetic, I get exhausted after like 2 miles now. But we played and it was really, really fun, we had about 22 guys and a ref came from the 1st ward, non member guy who refs high school, hahahahaha he was serious, like halfs, play clock, flags thrown, etc. It was the most organized flag football ever, it was hilarious. No injuries and I scored my fair share of touchdowns. It was also like 30 degrees when we started and the humidity, makes it cold, cold, cold. So after that we got picked up by Cameron's dad to go to dinner with them , so we went out to the house out in Cottonwood, an awesome house, way open tons of windows that look into the back, lots of land, with a couple different ponds, and there is a gator our there in it. So we got to meet a lot of the family, and talk with them for a long time. Didn't get anything too Gospel in, but talked to them a lot about our missions and about Cam and what he is doing. Haven't heard from him in a while, but read his email to his fam. But got to spend a lot of time talking with just his parents after the crew left. We also got to fish a little bit in their pond, which was good. Then we ate at the Hughey's house. And good visit with them, we had a really good Gospel conversation with them, Jef read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet I left with him, so I just wish they were members, they are dry mormons!!!! Thats what they call themselves, but slowly they are getting reeled in, the sons are awesome, they want me to come back and room with them at Auburn University.
Friday - We taught Linda in the morning, then we went to the hospital. The hospital was good, got to pray with quite a lot of people and talk with them. Then we ate dinner at the Hansens house and then we did our weekly planning in the night.
Saturday - We met with Barbra again in the morning, doing really good. So happy now! Then all of our appointments that we had set up canceled. So we each didn't have anything solid, so we decided well we can't visit anyone, because they will watch the game. So we went on a joint service spree, hitting a bunch of areas in the 1st and 2nd ward Chopping bushes, raking leaves, painting stuff. People are going crazy down here, and their were Alabama fans that were so mad! hahahahaha I am a total Auburn fan now, I was cheering for them all the way, I wanted the under dogs, so it was awesome. Then we visited Sister Burnsed, hadn't been able to see her for quite sometime and she is up in Headland which is out of our area, but Forest went with us to see her, really good visit with her.
Sunday - Church was real good! Didn't have Gloria, Zoya, or Barbra, all of them are sick, and we didn't have any investigators. Again our member canceled who was giving us a ride, so we had to wing it all day. We did some tracting, and we biked around a ton and saw some less actives. We visited Sister Knight, and we gave her a blessing. She isn't doing well.
Hope that all is well on the home front, and you had a good thanksgiving! I have got a lot to be thankful for, we all do, and I am so thankful for this family. You guys really are awesome and I love you all so very much!!!!!!!!!! I have grown to love and appreciate you all so much more and what the Gospel really means in terms of the family! This church is true, and I am feeling so blessed to be able to share that message each and every day! Love you all!!!!!!!!!"
Tuesday - We had zone training in the morning, so all of the missionaries in the zone got together in Dothan and the zone leaders instructed us, no president, just the zone leaders. We do role plays on role plays on role plays. Hahaha. So after that we hit the streets knocking doors and talking to people, it started to rain on us. We saw Robert Dobbs a less active guy that just likes to play music for us, no gospel conversation, seen him once before, but we were able to talk to him about why he is less active. Then a lady tried to kick us out of her neighborhood for soliciting, it was ridiculous, I told her like 12 times we weren't selling anything. Then we ate dinner at the Hornsby's.
Wednesday - We taught Theresa in the morning and is fine, she isn't progressing, so we told her we have told you everything, and you agree with it all , you have changed because of it, now it is up to you in order to take the initiative and read and pray to know if this is true or not, she still says she wants to be baptized, but nothing immediately. So we will see what happens, she still hasn't come to church. We then did service at the Red Cross, that's where you got the thanksgiving video from.
They didn't really need us too much, so we did family history. We tried to see Brittani, but haven't been able to this week. We then contacted a media referral we got from a member in California, it is pretty cool. We get a text messsage that says their name, address, phone number, missionary visit or what they requested, who send them in this case it was a member in Apple Valley, California, and this one said they spoke spanish. So we took Brother Marturello, who went to El Salvador on his mission, so I spoke to the lady at the door and she didn't speak any english, so Marturello just took it over and whipped out spanish as we stood there, it was so cool. So we got a return appointment, but we can't call them and they live forever away, so we didn't get to see them again, he couldn't get a hold of them. Our nearest spanish missionaries are in Tallahassee, so we may have to teach with an interpreter. We also picked up a new less active lady to work with. We then saw Barbra in the evening, she is doing really well, she has now quit smoking and coffee for over 10+ days again, and she is so much happier when she does.
Thursday - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope it was a good one for you! We had a fun one! In the morning we played the Turkey bowl, football game. So we got there early and Davidson and I ran a couple of miles, to prepare for the food, I am pathetic, I get exhausted after like 2 miles now. But we played and it was really, really fun, we had about 22 guys and a ref came from the 1st ward, non member guy who refs high school, hahahahaha he was serious, like halfs, play clock, flags thrown, etc. It was the most organized flag football ever, it was hilarious. No injuries and I scored my fair share of touchdowns. It was also like 30 degrees when we started and the humidity, makes it cold, cold, cold. So after that we got picked up by Cameron's dad to go to dinner with them , so we went out to the house out in Cottonwood, an awesome house, way open tons of windows that look into the back, lots of land, with a couple different ponds, and there is a gator our there in it. So we got to meet a lot of the family, and talk with them for a long time. Didn't get anything too Gospel in, but talked to them a lot about our missions and about Cam and what he is doing. Haven't heard from him in a while, but read his email to his fam. But got to spend a lot of time talking with just his parents after the crew left. We also got to fish a little bit in their pond, which was good. Then we ate at the Hughey's house. And good visit with them, we had a really good Gospel conversation with them, Jef read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet I left with him, so I just wish they were members, they are dry mormons!!!! Thats what they call themselves, but slowly they are getting reeled in, the sons are awesome, they want me to come back and room with them at Auburn University.
Friday - We taught Linda in the morning, then we went to the hospital. The hospital was good, got to pray with quite a lot of people and talk with them. Then we ate dinner at the Hansens house and then we did our weekly planning in the night.
Saturday - We met with Barbra again in the morning, doing really good. So happy now! Then all of our appointments that we had set up canceled. So we each didn't have anything solid, so we decided well we can't visit anyone, because they will watch the game. So we went on a joint service spree, hitting a bunch of areas in the 1st and 2nd ward Chopping bushes, raking leaves, painting stuff. People are going crazy down here, and their were Alabama fans that were so mad! hahahahaha I am a total Auburn fan now, I was cheering for them all the way, I wanted the under dogs, so it was awesome. Then we visited Sister Burnsed, hadn't been able to see her for quite sometime and she is up in Headland which is out of our area, but Forest went with us to see her, really good visit with her.
Sunday - Church was real good! Didn't have Gloria, Zoya, or Barbra, all of them are sick, and we didn't have any investigators. Again our member canceled who was giving us a ride, so we had to wing it all day. We did some tracting, and we biked around a ton and saw some less actives. We visited Sister Knight, and we gave her a blessing. She isn't doing well.
Hope that all is well on the home front, and you had a good thanksgiving! I have got a lot to be thankful for, we all do, and I am so thankful for this family. You guys really are awesome and I love you all so very much!!!!!!!!!! I have grown to love and appreciate you all so much more and what the Gospel really means in terms of the family! This church is true, and I am feeling so blessed to be able to share that message each and every day! Love you all!!!!!!!!!"
"Love this Gospel, love the mission, I know it to be true with all of my heart!"
Here is Elder Hintze's letter received Monday, November 25th. Always great to hear from him.
"HELLLOOOOOO! Busy day today! But finally winding down, ending the emails, with the fam!! Hope everyone is well and looking forward to a thanksgiving in St. George! Thanksgiving this year, will consist of two dinners both with non member families, how do I work my magic? Anyway has been a great day today, we were out biking on some trails. We are headed to eat dinner tonight at the Marturello's. They feed us everyweek, great family!
Monday - I didn't write in my journal all week, it is hard to write in it, I will try and be better at that, that is my source of material for emails, hard to even remember what I did yesterday, let alone beginning of the week! So for P-Day last week we went and we played some tennis and I got to play some doubles with some kids from the local high school, they were a 6A school and said they were headed to win state. I could have beat all of them handly, even now. psssh Alabama tennis. So after that we were fed by the Marturello's again.. Their kids never behave when were go over. I love it. hahahahaha. So after that we couldn't get anything, so we stopped by the Hughey's, a family were eating dinner with and saw them. We watched Mormon messages with Jef the father, he is who we are going to nab!
Tuesday - Had district meeting in the morning, it was a really great one! Love District meeting, after that we came back and we went and knocked on Brittani's door the one in our complex and we went and we taught her. She hadn't read The Book of Mormon, why don't people just daggum read it and pray? So we just talked more about that, and recomitted here, bore testimony and stressed the importance of it. Her boyfriend had also been saying some stuff to her, so we had to address some concerns like polygamy and what not, I love answering people's questions, love it, it all falls back on The Book of Mormon, so it went pretty well! We got invited to the Hughey boys baseball scrimmage at the high school, so we went and watched for about an hour and talked with the father, apparently he had been looking for Jesus parable videos on youtube and he couldn't find them, he said he found them in what we showed him, and he said that was an answer to my prayers. He then said, "As I keep searching, everything that I have seen in my study, and as I continue to pray to God and ask him for direction and to show me His will, everything that I have seen is pointing me to the Mormon church." I invited him to take the lessons and he said it will be a gradual thing, but we got him on the line, the Spirit is working him over. We went to basketball, next thing we know Nicholas is on the ground unresponsive, and he starts having a seizure, so all of us don't know what to do, and 911 is called and he is still unconcious after seizing for 2 minutes and he is having a hard time breathing, so the ambulance comes and takes him, we don't know him super, super well, but I find his phone and call his mom and give her the low down, and she tells me that it happens every single day. So apparently it happens a lot, because of epilepsy, I have seen people seize before, but not like this. But we have seen him since, and he is just fine. We traded off and Elder Davidson came with me to the 2nd Ward.
Wednesday - Davidson and I got up at 5:30 am and we went to the park and we ran around the track. We ran about 3 miles and did push ups there and pull ups, Davidson ran track for Idaho State University and he has gained just as much weight as I have, hahahahaha. We came out same time. So it was good to exercise, but 3 miles killed me, and I was sore the next day. I am so out of shape. We went to the food bank, but they didn't need us, so we went and we taught Theresa, and we answered her questions, she wants to be baptized, but not yet, she still didn't come to church. So working on that, but we read all of the questions with her and without us even asking she told us she will begin giving up coffee, in preparation for it, so it was really awesome, she is changing already. Then we worked at Linda's house we painted a door for her, it took so long to paint this door, for real, and we also went and we provided service at the Red Cross. We also helped Athen in his front yard, we didn't meet with him this week, I invited him out to church, but next time I see him I will invite him to sit down and take the lessons. No more dilly dally, gonna get the man. We ate dinner at the Depew's house. And then we went to Mutual, the young women invited us to their cultural night, so we ate MORE food. Then we get a text from the 1st ward that Elder Smith rolled his ankle and is injured needs a pick up. He was so mad. He tried to jump a fence!
Thursday - We worked in the Family History Center in the morning, just trying to get ourselves more and more acquantied with it! I traced a line all the way back to adam and eve also, the fam should go onto new.familysearch.org, there are some ordinances that need to be done for family, it is pretty cool. Not a lot of them, but names to be taken to the temple. Ferdinant Friis Hintze, was also the first missionary in Turkey. pretty cool stuff! We taught Brittani the plan of salvation lesson after that, one of the best lesson I felt like, I am really feeling more comfortable teaching. She was way impressed with all of the information, it kind of blew her mind, she is working on her boyfriend to meet with us. After that we did weekly planning. Contacted a media referral, which never work out unfortunately it seems like. Sister Bess dropped us off dinner, and then we saw Bro. Nunez. Had a way good visit with him talked about temple and church attendance, it was really neat, and we got him to come to church! Hadn't been in quite a while!
Friday - Had our hospital shift, quiet day, nothing really of event! We met with Gloria and Zooya afterwards and filled out baptism and confirmation records for them. Then Bro. Chappell took us out to eat. Then we saw Barbara again, she is pretty committed right now, quiting smoking, it is a constant battle, but she is doing it!
Saturday - Basically had nothing all day, people canceled on us and so we biked around trying to talk to people. But it was gloomy and cold so we really didn't do a whole lot of anything at all! Saw Theresa and Donte investigator we hadn't been able to see, and he isn't interested.
Sunday - Church! Had Gloria and Barbra there, no Zoya she was sick or Athen. Afterwards we ate dinner with the Davis'. We got invited to the Hughey kids birthday party ahahahaah, so that was cool, we ate with all of them. I said the prayer and it was Houston's Birthday.
Love you family!!!! Miss you a whole lot, going to be thinking a lot about you this week for thanksgiving! I have and we do as a family sure do have a lot to be thankful for!!!! More than we could ever imagine! Love this Gospel, love the mission, I know it to be true with all of my heart! If there is anything that I learn, it is that I need to be better, work harder, and be more obedient, much work to be done, love ya'll!!
"HELLLOOOOOO! Busy day today! But finally winding down, ending the emails, with the fam!! Hope everyone is well and looking forward to a thanksgiving in St. George! Thanksgiving this year, will consist of two dinners both with non member families, how do I work my magic? Anyway has been a great day today, we were out biking on some trails. We are headed to eat dinner tonight at the Marturello's. They feed us everyweek, great family!
Monday - I didn't write in my journal all week, it is hard to write in it, I will try and be better at that, that is my source of material for emails, hard to even remember what I did yesterday, let alone beginning of the week! So for P-Day last week we went and we played some tennis and I got to play some doubles with some kids from the local high school, they were a 6A school and said they were headed to win state. I could have beat all of them handly, even now. psssh Alabama tennis. So after that we were fed by the Marturello's again.. Their kids never behave when were go over. I love it. hahahahaha. So after that we couldn't get anything, so we stopped by the Hughey's, a family were eating dinner with and saw them. We watched Mormon messages with Jef the father, he is who we are going to nab!
Tuesday - Had district meeting in the morning, it was a really great one! Love District meeting, after that we came back and we went and knocked on Brittani's door the one in our complex and we went and we taught her. She hadn't read The Book of Mormon, why don't people just daggum read it and pray? So we just talked more about that, and recomitted here, bore testimony and stressed the importance of it. Her boyfriend had also been saying some stuff to her, so we had to address some concerns like polygamy and what not, I love answering people's questions, love it, it all falls back on The Book of Mormon, so it went pretty well! We got invited to the Hughey boys baseball scrimmage at the high school, so we went and watched for about an hour and talked with the father, apparently he had been looking for Jesus parable videos on youtube and he couldn't find them, he said he found them in what we showed him, and he said that was an answer to my prayers. He then said, "As I keep searching, everything that I have seen in my study, and as I continue to pray to God and ask him for direction and to show me His will, everything that I have seen is pointing me to the Mormon church." I invited him to take the lessons and he said it will be a gradual thing, but we got him on the line, the Spirit is working him over. We went to basketball, next thing we know Nicholas is on the ground unresponsive, and he starts having a seizure, so all of us don't know what to do, and 911 is called and he is still unconcious after seizing for 2 minutes and he is having a hard time breathing, so the ambulance comes and takes him, we don't know him super, super well, but I find his phone and call his mom and give her the low down, and she tells me that it happens every single day. So apparently it happens a lot, because of epilepsy, I have seen people seize before, but not like this. But we have seen him since, and he is just fine. We traded off and Elder Davidson came with me to the 2nd Ward.
Wednesday - Davidson and I got up at 5:30 am and we went to the park and we ran around the track. We ran about 3 miles and did push ups there and pull ups, Davidson ran track for Idaho State University and he has gained just as much weight as I have, hahahahaha. We came out same time. So it was good to exercise, but 3 miles killed me, and I was sore the next day. I am so out of shape. We went to the food bank, but they didn't need us, so we went and we taught Theresa, and we answered her questions, she wants to be baptized, but not yet, she still didn't come to church. So working on that, but we read all of the questions with her and without us even asking she told us she will begin giving up coffee, in preparation for it, so it was really awesome, she is changing already. Then we worked at Linda's house we painted a door for her, it took so long to paint this door, for real, and we also went and we provided service at the Red Cross. We also helped Athen in his front yard, we didn't meet with him this week, I invited him out to church, but next time I see him I will invite him to sit down and take the lessons. No more dilly dally, gonna get the man. We ate dinner at the Depew's house. And then we went to Mutual, the young women invited us to their cultural night, so we ate MORE food. Then we get a text from the 1st ward that Elder Smith rolled his ankle and is injured needs a pick up. He was so mad. He tried to jump a fence!
Thursday - We worked in the Family History Center in the morning, just trying to get ourselves more and more acquantied with it! I traced a line all the way back to adam and eve also, the fam should go onto new.familysearch.org, there are some ordinances that need to be done for family, it is pretty cool. Not a lot of them, but names to be taken to the temple. Ferdinant Friis Hintze, was also the first missionary in Turkey. pretty cool stuff! We taught Brittani the plan of salvation lesson after that, one of the best lesson I felt like, I am really feeling more comfortable teaching. She was way impressed with all of the information, it kind of blew her mind, she is working on her boyfriend to meet with us. After that we did weekly planning. Contacted a media referral, which never work out unfortunately it seems like. Sister Bess dropped us off dinner, and then we saw Bro. Nunez. Had a way good visit with him talked about temple and church attendance, it was really neat, and we got him to come to church! Hadn't been in quite a while!
Friday - Had our hospital shift, quiet day, nothing really of event! We met with Gloria and Zooya afterwards and filled out baptism and confirmation records for them. Then Bro. Chappell took us out to eat. Then we saw Barbara again, she is pretty committed right now, quiting smoking, it is a constant battle, but she is doing it!
Saturday - Basically had nothing all day, people canceled on us and so we biked around trying to talk to people. But it was gloomy and cold so we really didn't do a whole lot of anything at all! Saw Theresa and Donte investigator we hadn't been able to see, and he isn't interested.
Sunday - Church! Had Gloria and Barbra there, no Zoya she was sick or Athen. Afterwards we ate dinner with the Davis'. We got invited to the Hughey kids birthday party ahahahaah, so that was cool, we ate with all of them. I said the prayer and it was Houston's Birthday.
Love you family!!!! Miss you a whole lot, going to be thinking a lot about you this week for thanksgiving! I have and we do as a family sure do have a lot to be thankful for!!!! More than we could ever imagine! Love this Gospel, love the mission, I know it to be true with all of my heart! If there is anything that I learn, it is that I need to be better, work harder, and be more obedient, much work to be done, love ya'll!!
"UNREAL GUYS UNREAL!"
Here is Elder Hintze's letter from Monday, November 18th. Baptism this week!
"Hi Family! Good week this week, I suppose. Gloria and Zooya's baptism went through! I was able to baptize Zooya and assist with Gloria and I confirmed Gloria. Holy cow. So cool! I am very, very thankful that I was allowed to be part of it all!
Monday - In the morning we went to the Elephant Ear booth at the peanut festival and had to do some major clean up duty. For P-Day we enjoyed some nice Little Caesar's pizza in the church and shot some hoops. And then we ate dinner with the Grantham's in the evening. And then we helped good old Linda unload some furniture into her room.
Tuesday - After District Meeting, we knocked on Brittani's door the girl who knocked on our door and agreed to have us teach her, so we did and she said she was busy, but then she came back and knocked on our door. And so we were able to teach her outside the Restoration lesson outside on some picnic tables. And it went really, really well! Probably one of the better first lessons, but there was a lot of distractions outside, so it was hard to feel the Spirit. But she appears to be pretty solid. Then we went out with Bro Prigmore, and nobody was home, we did see Barbra Erb though. Did some tracting for the first time in along time and I actually really, really enjoy tracting! So then the Marturello's fed us.
Wednesday - So, we traded off Tuesday night, so I had Elder Winter one of the Zone Leaders down with me in Dothan. We taught Theresa in her thrift shop in the morning. We read Alma 32 with her and talked about Faith. She is scheduling times for us to meet her when the shop is closed, so that is pretty cool. But anyway it was an awesome lesson, and she loved it, the Spirit was definitely there. So I recommitted her to be baptized and she said yes! So... kind of cool right. She said that she believes that this is the true church, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. She wasn't set on setting a date yet, she said she needed to pray about it. So pretty awesome! But then she didn't come to church.... So we will see what this next week brings! Then she had us search in the woods for some lost puppy that she saw.. don't ask. But we didn't find it. So then we went and we taught Nicholas the Plan of Salvation with Forest. And it hit home with him as well! He said "I am a believer" So we still have work to do, but he told us that he wants us to come meet with his mom and teach her, so we are going on Tuesday to teach mom and him! Then we saw Linda. Then we ate dinner at the Myer's home, which then they sent you pictures! And then we had our exchange report and then we met with Gloria at the church and solidified all of the baptismal plans and we got the program all set up! And then we traded back.
Thursday - We worked at the food bank in the morning, that place would fall apart without us. We then saw Barbra with Charles Bain. Her health is getting really poor, she can barely walk. So I can't get on her too much, because she is in a lot of pain. But after that we did our weekly planning and then we worked our way all across Dothan trying all of the potentials that we had, with no success whatsoever, so we had an extra meal ticket so we ate dinner at the Hospital, and then we went out to see Burnsed, but she is a goner lately. So we gave the 1st Ward elders a ride, since they were right there and it was daggum freezing here.
Friday - We worked at the food bank in the morning and then we helped Sister Lock move. The classiest lady I know, she is 92 and still healthy as can be, she has more clothes than I have ever seen before in my whole entire life. So then the 1st Ward gave us a ride to the hospital and we gave them free lunch at the hospital, for their efforts. So then we did our hospital shift and nothing huge, we got called to a trauma in the ER, and some guy had been shot, so that was kind of exciting, he was fine. And I also prayed with a man who was deaf, so that was also kind of a neat experience. He had know idea what I prayed about! But then on the way home, my bike tire exploded or popped. So I was man down, and we had to get home because dinner was being dropped off real soon. So we call the Sister's for backup and they are just down the road. So they rescue us and then Theresa offers to take us to dinner, so we are like heck ya, can't turn this down, dinner with investigator.
Saturday - BAPTISM DAY!!!!!! So went in the morning and got the bikes fixed. There is a guy who owns a bike shop and his wife is a member, but less active, and he fixs all our bikes for free. Really nice guy, he told me I couldn't put white walls on my bike. So then we got to the church and got the font ready and got everything straightened up! And then it happened!!!
We had quite a turn out from the ward! We also had President and Sister Smith there!! And Athen the husband and father came. The whole baptismal service was phenomenal, as I said Zoya asked me to baptize her and Elder Smith did Gloria. It really feels so good, I am so blessed to be able to be a part of it. And through out the whole service the Spirit was strong, members of the ward welcomed them in awesome and they all were tearing up. And so after the fact, Athen said now that he is open! And so we are going to hopefully be able to meet with him this week!! So everything just went really well! :) :) Later we met with Anita McBride and read with her. And then tried a bunch of people, we saw Donte that kid that met with us a while ago. We have never been able to get up with him and he is no longer really interested, he read a little of the Book of Mormon and he prayed a couple of times and he said he didn't get an answer. So we set up to meet with him Sunday, but he wasn't there. But then we also talked with Brittani's boyfriend, because she said that she wanted us to meet with him too. And we did and he said, he would think about it. But he ain't getting away from me. We saw Barbra with Bro Prigmore and she was doing much better! So it was a good visit!
Sunday - We did get to confirm Gloria and Zoya and that was cool. What a huge honor! I really am just so thankful I got to be a part of it. To confirm them a member of the church and give them the gift of the Holy Ghost. UNREAL GUYS UNREAL! Then we ate lunch at the Hall's and they always do breakfast style, so it reminds me of when we used to do the breakfast dinner! But then we biked to see the Hughey's and nothing, but on the way home we stopped and talked to his older couple and their daughter I believe. And they have been surrounded by Mormons their whole life! He worked with them, their daughters danced with Mormons, they have seen the Salt Lake Temple and Hawaii Temple and her sisters used to play volleyball with the elders when they were young in Hawaii, and she knew tons of members from Samoa and Hawaii. It was really cool, so we probably talked to them for an hour and a half, they have a Book of Mormon on their shelf. And she said one time she called her Baptist raised mother and told her they were thinking of joining the Mormons and her mom got angry so they didn't. So we are going back this week to paint their whole house, hahaha. And we are going to do some serious work there! Then in the evening we ate dinner out at the Thomley's.
Love you a lot family! Missing you a lot this week, I kind of just wish we could all come do all this stuff, ya know? Good week this week, it was very neat to see Gloria and Zooya this week take a huge step in their lives. I love it all and I know without a doubt that this church is true!!
PS - After we confirmed Gloria she hugged all the men, but then gave us handshakes and then once she was through. She said "forget it," and came back and hugged both of us in front of everyone, so it was a good chuckle!"
"Hi Family! Good week this week, I suppose. Gloria and Zooya's baptism went through! I was able to baptize Zooya and assist with Gloria and I confirmed Gloria. Holy cow. So cool! I am very, very thankful that I was allowed to be part of it all!
Monday - In the morning we went to the Elephant Ear booth at the peanut festival and had to do some major clean up duty. For P-Day we enjoyed some nice Little Caesar's pizza in the church and shot some hoops. And then we ate dinner with the Grantham's in the evening. And then we helped good old Linda unload some furniture into her room.
Tuesday - After District Meeting, we knocked on Brittani's door the girl who knocked on our door and agreed to have us teach her, so we did and she said she was busy, but then she came back and knocked on our door. And so we were able to teach her outside the Restoration lesson outside on some picnic tables. And it went really, really well! Probably one of the better first lessons, but there was a lot of distractions outside, so it was hard to feel the Spirit. But she appears to be pretty solid. Then we went out with Bro Prigmore, and nobody was home, we did see Barbra Erb though. Did some tracting for the first time in along time and I actually really, really enjoy tracting! So then the Marturello's fed us.
Wednesday - So, we traded off Tuesday night, so I had Elder Winter one of the Zone Leaders down with me in Dothan. We taught Theresa in her thrift shop in the morning. We read Alma 32 with her and talked about Faith. She is scheduling times for us to meet her when the shop is closed, so that is pretty cool. But anyway it was an awesome lesson, and she loved it, the Spirit was definitely there. So I recommitted her to be baptized and she said yes! So... kind of cool right. She said that she believes that this is the true church, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. She wasn't set on setting a date yet, she said she needed to pray about it. So pretty awesome! But then she didn't come to church.... So we will see what this next week brings! Then she had us search in the woods for some lost puppy that she saw.. don't ask. But we didn't find it. So then we went and we taught Nicholas the Plan of Salvation with Forest. And it hit home with him as well! He said "I am a believer" So we still have work to do, but he told us that he wants us to come meet with his mom and teach her, so we are going on Tuesday to teach mom and him! Then we saw Linda. Then we ate dinner at the Myer's home, which then they sent you pictures! And then we had our exchange report and then we met with Gloria at the church and solidified all of the baptismal plans and we got the program all set up! And then we traded back.
Thursday - We worked at the food bank in the morning, that place would fall apart without us. We then saw Barbra with Charles Bain. Her health is getting really poor, she can barely walk. So I can't get on her too much, because she is in a lot of pain. But after that we did our weekly planning and then we worked our way all across Dothan trying all of the potentials that we had, with no success whatsoever, so we had an extra meal ticket so we ate dinner at the Hospital, and then we went out to see Burnsed, but she is a goner lately. So we gave the 1st Ward elders a ride, since they were right there and it was daggum freezing here.
Friday - We worked at the food bank in the morning and then we helped Sister Lock move. The classiest lady I know, she is 92 and still healthy as can be, she has more clothes than I have ever seen before in my whole entire life. So then the 1st Ward gave us a ride to the hospital and we gave them free lunch at the hospital, for their efforts. So then we did our hospital shift and nothing huge, we got called to a trauma in the ER, and some guy had been shot, so that was kind of exciting, he was fine. And I also prayed with a man who was deaf, so that was also kind of a neat experience. He had know idea what I prayed about! But then on the way home, my bike tire exploded or popped. So I was man down, and we had to get home because dinner was being dropped off real soon. So we call the Sister's for backup and they are just down the road. So they rescue us and then Theresa offers to take us to dinner, so we are like heck ya, can't turn this down, dinner with investigator.
Saturday - BAPTISM DAY!!!!!! So went in the morning and got the bikes fixed. There is a guy who owns a bike shop and his wife is a member, but less active, and he fixs all our bikes for free. Really nice guy, he told me I couldn't put white walls on my bike. So then we got to the church and got the font ready and got everything straightened up! And then it happened!!!
 |
| President Smith, Zooya, Gloria, Elder Hintze, and Elder Smith |
Sunday - We did get to confirm Gloria and Zoya and that was cool. What a huge honor! I really am just so thankful I got to be a part of it. To confirm them a member of the church and give them the gift of the Holy Ghost. UNREAL GUYS UNREAL! Then we ate lunch at the Hall's and they always do breakfast style, so it reminds me of when we used to do the breakfast dinner! But then we biked to see the Hughey's and nothing, but on the way home we stopped and talked to his older couple and their daughter I believe. And they have been surrounded by Mormons their whole life! He worked with them, their daughters danced with Mormons, they have seen the Salt Lake Temple and Hawaii Temple and her sisters used to play volleyball with the elders when they were young in Hawaii, and she knew tons of members from Samoa and Hawaii. It was really cool, so we probably talked to them for an hour and a half, they have a Book of Mormon on their shelf. And she said one time she called her Baptist raised mother and told her they were thinking of joining the Mormons and her mom got angry so they didn't. So we are going back this week to paint their whole house, hahaha. And we are going to do some serious work there! Then in the evening we ate dinner out at the Thomley's.
Love you a lot family! Missing you a lot this week, I kind of just wish we could all come do all this stuff, ya know? Good week this week, it was very neat to see Gloria and Zooya this week take a huge step in their lives. I love it all and I know without a doubt that this church is true!!
PS - After we confirmed Gloria she hugged all the men, but then gave us handshakes and then once she was through. She said "forget it," and came back and hugged both of us in front of everyone, so it was a good chuckle!"
"For every city, county, po dunk town they got a pageant queen"
Here is Elder Hintze's email for today, Monday, November 11th. Enjoy!
So here is the week! Went by quick, but it seemed we didn't get a lot done this week. Plenty of fun though, the National Peanut Festival!!! Got to bring the whole Fam back out to it! Here is the week:
Monday - So did the whole P-Day jazz. We then went and played some tennis, that is our new thing. But we are maybe going to be playing basketball today. So after that we dropped the other elders off at the peanut festival and then we went home. And then the Coggins picked us up and we went to the Festival with them, it was Father coggins, sister coggins, and bro in law coggins, no mother. So we spent the whole evening with them. I was way excited. Got to know them and had a good time with them. We did get to talk to dad a little about how transfers and all of that works. But it was good. His dad gave us each $100 dollars to start the night, and so I was like not spending this, and I was gonna give it back to him. So on the way home, I tried like 6 times to give it back to him, and he wouldn't let me, so they gave us each 100 dollars. :( So nice of them, but I felt way bad! So we got a ride pass and they just said, alright we're following you. So they walked around with us while we rode rides. Haha, They got quite the kick out of me riding the rides, so I think it was good! Tuesday - We saw Linda and we saw Paul Kennedy in the hospital. After that we saw the Hughey's and were able to talk to the son, they invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner, so that is really exciting, should be good. We also saw Theresa in the morning and helped her out, we have actually had a ton of oppurtunities to share the Gospel in her thrift shop, just being there.
Wednesday - We helped out at the Food bank, and then after that we helped Linda paint and sand down a bunch of shelves that need to go up in her new garage. Then we ate the the Bess's. :) They are so awesome! And they sent you the picture right? Spent some time in the Family History Center. Found a Ferdinand Friis Hintze, I think he is my great - great grandfather... it says he had 12 wives.. and I could count 27 kids.. I don't know how accurate it all was. But something cool, he was the very first missionary to go to Turkey!! After that we met with Gloria and Zooya with Linda and we taught them the Law of Chastity and we went over all of the baptismal questions with them! She is good to go, so the Baptism is going for this next Saturday!!
Thursday - We went to the thrift shop with Theresa in hopes to teach her, but she was too busy, but a man was there and we started talking to him and he said he was from Michigan and two elders used to live in his apartment, so we were able to start teaching him a little bit. Said he was going to read the Book of Mormon. Bye the way it is getting cold here!!! There were some days this week, where I was real nippy! So after all that we had Gloria and Zooya's interviews, before it we watched the Restoration video with them and it brought Gloria to tears! She really does have a testimony! It was so cool to see it, so Zooya was able to pass with Elder Simmons, but as I said, then Gloria had to do it with President. So after that we had dinner with Bishop Cain and his wife. It was really good. Ward councils have been pretty cool lately.
Friday - We had Hospital and we were able to have a lesson with Theresa, it was really cool to read the Book of Mormon with her, she can feel the Spirit and when she said the closing prayer! We were also able to find two pretty solid people on the way to the hospital. One guy named Steven we said Hi to and then he yelled back at us and said, do you have a Book of Mormon I can have? What!??!?!?!?!? How cool, he is trying to get his life back in order and he went to our church at basic training, so we are looking forward to that. Then we met with Gloria and just talked to her about the Restoration and how she was doing, she is so hilarious, she said, "don't you worry we are going to get the baptism done, so you can check another baptism off for your missions" hahahaha. She is hilarious. Then we had to go give a blessing to someone in the hospital with mono.
Saturday - All peanut festival. We were giving tickets to go to this special seating area, and so we got there early and walked all up and down the parade and talked to a bunch of people. Really cool! Then we watched the parade, all farm equipment, and then there was like 73 pageant queens that is all it was. The south for ya. For every city, county, po dunk town they got a pageant queen. Then we went to lunch with the elders, and then we went out to the peanut festival again and we worked in the church's booth there for the Boy Scouts selling "elephant ears" or scones.
Sunday - We went to church. Had Gloria there! And ward council was really good. But our plans for the day went down quick. Couldn't catch a break. So we did our weekly planning and then we saw Sister Knight and then saw Barbra. Barbra is doing okay, she is a tough one, but we are still working on her and loving her to death.
By the way: tomorrow is 5 months and the day will be 11-12-13. How about that? By the way, I still need someone to get that name off of FamilySearch.org and do that!!LOVE YA LOTS!!!!
So here is the week! Went by quick, but it seemed we didn't get a lot done this week. Plenty of fun though, the National Peanut Festival!!! Got to bring the whole Fam back out to it! Here is the week:
Monday - So did the whole P-Day jazz. We then went and played some tennis, that is our new thing. But we are maybe going to be playing basketball today. So after that we dropped the other elders off at the peanut festival and then we went home. And then the Coggins picked us up and we went to the Festival with them, it was Father coggins, sister coggins, and bro in law coggins, no mother. So we spent the whole evening with them. I was way excited. Got to know them and had a good time with them. We did get to talk to dad a little about how transfers and all of that works. But it was good. His dad gave us each $100 dollars to start the night, and so I was like not spending this, and I was gonna give it back to him. So on the way home, I tried like 6 times to give it back to him, and he wouldn't let me, so they gave us each 100 dollars. :( So nice of them, but I felt way bad! So we got a ride pass and they just said, alright we're following you. So they walked around with us while we rode rides. Haha, They got quite the kick out of me riding the rides, so I think it was good! Tuesday - We saw Linda and we saw Paul Kennedy in the hospital. After that we saw the Hughey's and were able to talk to the son, they invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner, so that is really exciting, should be good. We also saw Theresa in the morning and helped her out, we have actually had a ton of oppurtunities to share the Gospel in her thrift shop, just being there.
Wednesday - We helped out at the Food bank, and then after that we helped Linda paint and sand down a bunch of shelves that need to go up in her new garage. Then we ate the the Bess's. :) They are so awesome! And they sent you the picture right? Spent some time in the Family History Center. Found a Ferdinand Friis Hintze, I think he is my great - great grandfather... it says he had 12 wives.. and I could count 27 kids.. I don't know how accurate it all was. But something cool, he was the very first missionary to go to Turkey!! After that we met with Gloria and Zooya with Linda and we taught them the Law of Chastity and we went over all of the baptismal questions with them! She is good to go, so the Baptism is going for this next Saturday!!
Thursday - We went to the thrift shop with Theresa in hopes to teach her, but she was too busy, but a man was there and we started talking to him and he said he was from Michigan and two elders used to live in his apartment, so we were able to start teaching him a little bit. Said he was going to read the Book of Mormon. Bye the way it is getting cold here!!! There were some days this week, where I was real nippy! So after all that we had Gloria and Zooya's interviews, before it we watched the Restoration video with them and it brought Gloria to tears! She really does have a testimony! It was so cool to see it, so Zooya was able to pass with Elder Simmons, but as I said, then Gloria had to do it with President. So after that we had dinner with Bishop Cain and his wife. It was really good. Ward councils have been pretty cool lately.
Friday - We had Hospital and we were able to have a lesson with Theresa, it was really cool to read the Book of Mormon with her, she can feel the Spirit and when she said the closing prayer! We were also able to find two pretty solid people on the way to the hospital. One guy named Steven we said Hi to and then he yelled back at us and said, do you have a Book of Mormon I can have? What!??!?!?!?!? How cool, he is trying to get his life back in order and he went to our church at basic training, so we are looking forward to that. Then we met with Gloria and just talked to her about the Restoration and how she was doing, she is so hilarious, she said, "don't you worry we are going to get the baptism done, so you can check another baptism off for your missions" hahahaha. She is hilarious. Then we had to go give a blessing to someone in the hospital with mono.
Saturday - All peanut festival. We were giving tickets to go to this special seating area, and so we got there early and walked all up and down the parade and talked to a bunch of people. Really cool! Then we watched the parade, all farm equipment, and then there was like 73 pageant queens that is all it was. The south for ya. For every city, county, po dunk town they got a pageant queen. Then we went to lunch with the elders, and then we went out to the peanut festival again and we worked in the church's booth there for the Boy Scouts selling "elephant ears" or scones.
Sunday - We went to church. Had Gloria there! And ward council was really good. But our plans for the day went down quick. Couldn't catch a break. So we did our weekly planning and then we saw Sister Knight and then saw Barbra. Barbra is doing okay, she is a tough one, but we are still working on her and loving her to death.
By the way: tomorrow is 5 months and the day will be 11-12-13. How about that? By the way, I still need someone to get that name off of FamilySearch.org and do that!!LOVE YA LOTS!!!!
"And I most definitely know that it did happen!!!!"
I am sorry I am late with last weeks post. This is from Monday, November 4th.
"What up!? What up!? What up!? Another week down here in the mission! Another alright week, hope everyone had a Happy and a safe Halloween!! Lots of trick or treaters this year???? anyways lets get to it!
Monday - So yes it was a different P-Day we got here early, because we went and helped a guy move his sons. It is in 1st wards boundary, so hopefully they will be able to visit the sons. We went and played some tennis! We do that every P-Day now it is becoming quite fun for us. But after that we went and ate dinner with a new family in the ward, the Herrings, they moved from 1st ward, young couple from Arizona, they are going to the new medical school here in Dothan. So they are really cool! And then after that we hit the bikes and we rode to Sister Knight's, and the Sister's brought Barbara there, and so it was a really good visit with them.
Thursday - HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Unfortunately we did not dress up.... I know I know. We just didn't have time to go costume shopping and what not. So the best that I could do was to wear a fake mustache! We were also asked to be in at 7 for the night. So for lunch we went with the other Elders to try and find some pumpkins to carve for our evening, but we couldn't find any, so we bough apples and caramel and we tried to bake some apples. But after that we came back and we did our weekly planning. Then we went with Forest to see Barbara again, it was a really great visit. Everytime we read from the Book of Mormon with her, it just feels so good and she says it everytime. After that we had to get to Linda's to fill back in the hole that we dug for her. And after that we went to the Marturello's for dinner, they had chili, and breadsticks. And cookies, carameled apples. It was just kind of like being at home! But then we went trick or treating with the kids to a few houses, just walked with them. So then us and the other Elders went to the church and we baked our apples and we drank some sparkling cider and we played some basketball for our halloween evening!
Friday - We worked at Red Cross in the morning and we basically just made lunch for their big event that is coming up. So after that we hit up the Hospital, and it was a good shift. Nothing of event, but it is awesome to get to talk to so many people, I absolutely love it! So we picked up the 1st ward elders from red cross after that, and right before we got there, there was a huge drug bust, just like the movies. Like no joke probably 30 undercover cops in just normal cars and the sheriff, just all swarmed this house, and there were these 2 guys in a ghetto sled, just flying down the rode in reverse, and they were throwing cocaine out the windows, like huge bags of it, and as they are flying down the rode, a cop in a truck, just takes them out, and plows them off of the rode. We didn't get to see it first hand, but we saw the aftermath. So after that we went to visit a bunch of people and we got nothing. Tried to contact a referral that was supposedly really solid, but we didn't even get up the driveway before they told us to get lost. So then we biked to the church and we talked with the sisters about doing a family history booth. We are going to get a booth outside of the Walmart here in Dothan. Which should be pretty sweet. Then once we were home, we got a call from Tony Hansen, he got a call from Nathan's parents and apparently Nathan hadn't really talked to them about the baptism, so they were all up in arms, and Nathan's mom had to work, so she couldn't be there. And so Nathan was on his way home to talk to them, but they said the baptism is't happening. So Tony talks to them and we get it set up for Sunday morning, before he leaves, his parents can be there. So I was way worried, all night. But I figured it would be okay.
Saturday - So right off the bat, I start jumping through hoops to make the baptism happen, I am on the phone with Tony, Forest, I am talking to President Smith seeing what he thinks we should do, and I am texting Bishop. So we decide that it would be best to do it late that night after stake conference. But no Nathan. So I call his house and talk to his dad, and he was alright, not overly nice, and then he said that he would have him call us. So after that we met with Gloria and Zooya and we taught them tithing, and we were a little worried going into it, that this would be a tough one, but she knew it all, she told us how it is one tenth of you income, described the blessings and the sacrifice. So I just said, "Well sounds like we don't have to teach you much." The faith of both of them and the Spirit that they have, it really is very cool to see how much they are prepared. But before we went in, Nathan's dad called me and said, that the baptism is off. So we did not have the baptism, nor is there going to be one, until he gets back from boot camp. So he sent us some text messages saying how sorry he was, and when he gets back he will be sure. And he said he was really embarrassed. So we texted him told him not to worry about it. So we went home we got freshened up ate some dinner and then we went to Stake Conference the adult session, President and Sister Smith were there. After President could read what I was feeling he said, "No baptism, be patient it will come."
Sunday - We went to Stake Conference in the morning, and Pres and Sis Smith both spoke this time, which was way awesome. And all of the members of the stake presidency and what not spoke it was really good. So after that we went with Brother Prigmore and we saw Barbara, she was smoking when we got there. :/ So thats cool, but it was a good visit. And then we came back and we had to finish up our weekly planning, because we didn't have a chance to do it. And we made a ton of phone calls trying to set up some visits, but we couldn't get anything. And then the Thomley's picked us up for dinner. So we did that, I talked to President today after the conference, and he gave us permission to go to the peanut festival, so that should be really cool!!
"What up!? What up!? What up!? Another week down here in the mission! Another alright week, hope everyone had a Happy and a safe Halloween!! Lots of trick or treaters this year???? anyways lets get to it!
Monday - So yes it was a different P-Day we got here early, because we went and helped a guy move his sons. It is in 1st wards boundary, so hopefully they will be able to visit the sons. We went and played some tennis! We do that every P-Day now it is becoming quite fun for us. But after that we went and ate dinner with a new family in the ward, the Herrings, they moved from 1st ward, young couple from Arizona, they are going to the new medical school here in Dothan. So they are really cool! And then after that we hit the bikes and we rode to Sister Knight's, and the Sister's brought Barbara there, and so it was a really good visit with them.
Tuesday - We had District Meeting in the morning. And Tony Hansen came and he taught us for District Meeting. It was about talking to people or sells basically. Our job and his job as a marine recruiter surprisingly are a lot the same! Except we are recruiting people for a little bit different "branch"!!! Haha. But anyway after that we had our District Activity, so we went and we got free hot dogs from a member that owns a stand outside of Lowe's. We went to see Theresa after that, and we didn't get to have a lesson with her, she just had us help her to put up a cross for her thrift shop sign. So we helped her do that, and despite it, we really did do a dang good job of putting that thing together. Theresa still isn't progressing at all, but we need to actually sit down with her and have a legit lesson again. So this week!!! Then we saw Brother Paul Kennedy. And after that Linda had us and the Sister's over for dinner, we also ate with Gloria, Zooya, and Athen. So it was a really good dinner appointment. We are trying really hard on getting Athen to be involved!
Wednesday - We worked at the food bank in the morning, we were part of the backpack program, which is make individual lunches for kids. So we were there for like 3 hours, because it was us and a few other ladies, and the sisters came late and left early, so it took quite sometime. Then we went and we saw Barbara with Charles Bain, and then we headed to the ward trunk or treat, we just covered our trunk in toilet paper and then I hid in the trunk and I tried to scare some little kids, haha but that didn't quite work. But it was really fun, there was quite the crowd out and we had quite a few non members there that we were able to meet! So it was really quite fun!
Wednesday - We worked at the food bank in the morning, we were part of the backpack program, which is make individual lunches for kids. So we were there for like 3 hours, because it was us and a few other ladies, and the sisters came late and left early, so it took quite sometime. Then we went and we saw Barbara with Charles Bain, and then we headed to the ward trunk or treat, we just covered our trunk in toilet paper and then I hid in the trunk and I tried to scare some little kids, haha but that didn't quite work. But it was really fun, there was quite the crowd out and we had quite a few non members there that we were able to meet! So it was really quite fun!
Thursday - HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Unfortunately we did not dress up.... I know I know. We just didn't have time to go costume shopping and what not. So the best that I could do was to wear a fake mustache! We were also asked to be in at 7 for the night. So for lunch we went with the other Elders to try and find some pumpkins to carve for our evening, but we couldn't find any, so we bough apples and caramel and we tried to bake some apples. But after that we came back and we did our weekly planning. Then we went with Forest to see Barbara again, it was a really great visit. Everytime we read from the Book of Mormon with her, it just feels so good and she says it everytime. After that we had to get to Linda's to fill back in the hole that we dug for her. And after that we went to the Marturello's for dinner, they had chili, and breadsticks. And cookies, carameled apples. It was just kind of like being at home! But then we went trick or treating with the kids to a few houses, just walked with them. So then us and the other Elders went to the church and we baked our apples and we drank some sparkling cider and we played some basketball for our halloween evening!
Friday - We worked at Red Cross in the morning and we basically just made lunch for their big event that is coming up. So after that we hit up the Hospital, and it was a good shift. Nothing of event, but it is awesome to get to talk to so many people, I absolutely love it! So we picked up the 1st ward elders from red cross after that, and right before we got there, there was a huge drug bust, just like the movies. Like no joke probably 30 undercover cops in just normal cars and the sheriff, just all swarmed this house, and there were these 2 guys in a ghetto sled, just flying down the rode in reverse, and they were throwing cocaine out the windows, like huge bags of it, and as they are flying down the rode, a cop in a truck, just takes them out, and plows them off of the rode. We didn't get to see it first hand, but we saw the aftermath. So after that we went to visit a bunch of people and we got nothing. Tried to contact a referral that was supposedly really solid, but we didn't even get up the driveway before they told us to get lost. So then we biked to the church and we talked with the sisters about doing a family history booth. We are going to get a booth outside of the Walmart here in Dothan. Which should be pretty sweet. Then once we were home, we got a call from Tony Hansen, he got a call from Nathan's parents and apparently Nathan hadn't really talked to them about the baptism, so they were all up in arms, and Nathan's mom had to work, so she couldn't be there. And so Nathan was on his way home to talk to them, but they said the baptism is't happening. So Tony talks to them and we get it set up for Sunday morning, before he leaves, his parents can be there. So I was way worried, all night. But I figured it would be okay.
Saturday - So right off the bat, I start jumping through hoops to make the baptism happen, I am on the phone with Tony, Forest, I am talking to President Smith seeing what he thinks we should do, and I am texting Bishop. So we decide that it would be best to do it late that night after stake conference. But no Nathan. So I call his house and talk to his dad, and he was alright, not overly nice, and then he said that he would have him call us. So after that we met with Gloria and Zooya and we taught them tithing, and we were a little worried going into it, that this would be a tough one, but she knew it all, she told us how it is one tenth of you income, described the blessings and the sacrifice. So I just said, "Well sounds like we don't have to teach you much." The faith of both of them and the Spirit that they have, it really is very cool to see how much they are prepared. But before we went in, Nathan's dad called me and said, that the baptism is off. So we did not have the baptism, nor is there going to be one, until he gets back from boot camp. So he sent us some text messages saying how sorry he was, and when he gets back he will be sure. And he said he was really embarrassed. So we texted him told him not to worry about it. So we went home we got freshened up ate some dinner and then we went to Stake Conference the adult session, President and Sister Smith were there. After President could read what I was feeling he said, "No baptism, be patient it will come."
Sunday - We went to Stake Conference in the morning, and Pres and Sis Smith both spoke this time, which was way awesome. And all of the members of the stake presidency and what not spoke it was really good. So after that we went with Brother Prigmore and we saw Barbara, she was smoking when we got there. :/ So thats cool, but it was a good visit. And then we came back and we had to finish up our weekly planning, because we didn't have a chance to do it. And we made a ton of phone calls trying to set up some visits, but we couldn't get anything. And then the Thomley's picked us up for dinner. So we did that, I talked to President today after the conference, and he gave us permission to go to the peanut festival, so that should be really cool!!
So it was a good week here! A disheartening one! I was reading some way old Ensign last night about the Sacred Grove and the plaque going into the sacred grove says, "Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith here." And I thought that was so cool, that is all it said! It is either a yes that happened or a no that didn't happen. And I most definitely know that it did happen!!!! Without a doubt our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ did appear to Joseph, and because of that everything falls into place!! So I'm just gonna keep being happy and working as hard as I can! :)
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