E-mail 12/28/2015

Wow! What a week! (Snicker)

Well this has been a very interesting week.

Monday was the mission Christmas party, which was a blast!

Tuesday, we had P-day, did our laundry, did some stuff with the other Elders.

Wednesday, the other Elders had a Baptism, so we went and helped them set things up, and we even had a lot of investigators there too. Then afterwards we went to a buffet with Bro. Roy, (buffets are apparently missionary magnets) then Elder Morrow and I went to see some people then went to catch the bus to head to the church, we ended up taking a different way than normal, so we got off the first bus and were waiting for the next bus and watching a huge thunderstorm in the distance, then low and behold the other two Elders walked up, so we all got on the bus and headed to the church, and on the way the storm hit! The rain was coming down so hard the bus slowed down and it dropped us off a block from the church, and we ran! and by the time we got in, we were so wet! Well we waited for for some members that were going to feed us, well when they got to the church and was just about to come in, there was a huge crack of thunder and the power went out, but a moment later it turned back on, well they feed us pizza and by the time we were done, the rain had calmed down and they gave us a ride home.

Thursday we had District meeting, then got some work done, then spent the rest of the night with some members, that was a lot of fun! Then the other two Elders got permission to have a sleep over.

Friday, Christmas Day! Well for most of the day we played the game we made, then a member had us over for lunch, which was great, the wife believes in stuffing you and giving you a varity of food to do it with. Then there was the BEST part of the day, talking with my family! I love you so much!

Saturday, not much happened, the last week was catching up with us, so we were really tired, but we did get some work done.

Sunday, was good, really rainy, but good. But all that was accomplished was we contacted a referral, and we got our weekly planning done.

Love you!

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

Sorry the videos are upside down, I'm not sure how to fix them.

E-mail 12/22/2015

Merry Christmas everyone!

So this week has been very busy, so I'll start from where I left off last time, way way back, all the way to....

Tuesday! So since we weren't going to transfer meeting, we did our weekly service, it has become a lot more fun now with the other two Elders coming too. Then afterwards we all went back to our apartment, took care of some things then headed up to the church to help with the Bishop's food truck. It was a big load, but it wasn't too bad with all the help we had. After all of that we spent the rest of the day trying to see people and we were semi successful.

Wednesday, near the end of studies, we get a text from the Zone Leaders, about the conference call for the district leaders, they wanted to do it over skype, so I checked the bus schedule and we had five minutes to get to the bus stop about half a mile away, so we hopped on our bikes, hoping there weren't other bikes on the bus, and miraculously we were able to get on the bus and got to the church to take care of what we needed to do. Afterwards, we went out teaching with Bro. Roy, but unfortunately we weren't able to get in with anyone. But later that evening we were able to teach some peoplez!

Thursday, we had an awesome district meeting, then that night we were able teach a member one of the temple prep classes.

Friday we did our weekly planning, then headed over to the mission office for an exchange but the other missionaries got on the bus so we ended up waiting for almost two hours when they FINALLY made it there, so we started the exchange and I was going to their area but we had to wait ANOTHER HOUR, but we finally got there. We were able to get some work done so the day wasn't completely boring.

Saturday morning we ended the exchange and we were given a new washing machine, I'm so happy! And that night we were going to do our bible study class, but we ended up not doing it, so the one member that comes every week wanted to take us out to eat, unfortunately it was a single sister so we had to make our own way to the place and that took way too long, but we finally made it and dinner was really good.

Sunday was an interesting day, well we got a new branch president because the old one had heart surgery so he couldn't do it anymore. Then after church our ride home was taking care of things he had to do so we were sitting around for awhile, but we always appreciate getting rides so we won't complain. Then we taught another temple prep class and we had chicken and dumplings for dinner, it was the best I've ever had, of course it's the first time I've had it so that might have had somethings to do with it... No that can't be it.

Monday was AWESOME! We had our Christmas Conference, we had a very spiritual first part, President Brough taught us about who is and what it means to be in the tribe of Israel, then there were scriptures read about the birth of Christ and poems given and musical numbers that were very beautiful. Then we all went into the cultural hall and had an amazing lunch, then watched some talents, then played some games and I got pictures and video on my camera so I can't send them until I can get to a computer, but it was Awesome.

So it has been a very amazing week.

Love you all!

Elder Durrant
Great Kentucky Louisville Mission  


Pictures from the Christmas party that were posted on the Facebook page.

E-mail 12/14/2015

This is the time of week I look back and try to figure out how it's Monday again. This has been a good week, except for the three exchanges we went on this week.

Monday we had a good time with Bro. Roy, I will send pictures and let you fill in the blanks. That night we went with a member to dedicate some graves, that was interesting. We started an exchange with the other Elders and I went to their area. We missed the bus, so we had to wait for the next one and that meant we got home late... That wasn't good.

Tuesday we did our weekly service and we ended up staying and helping for awhile. I then spent the rest of the day with Elder Matelau and we did a whole lot of biking, but after doing it for over eight months straight, it's not too bad. That night we closed the exchange.

Wednesday after studies the Zone Leaders came by and we had an exchange with them, I stayed in the area and we got work done! We even taught this lady that didn't want to believe us, but we taught with the spirit and testified boldly so the spirit testified to her heart that what we said was true. That evening we had a lesson at a members home with an investigator that went really well. We had to meet up with the other two so the zone leaders could go to a stake meeting. Elder Morrow and I went home, had dinner, planned for the next day, then waited for them to come back. When they did, Elder Morrow went to their apartment and we went to bed.

Thursday we had an awesome district meeting. We ended the exchange with the zone leaders, started another exchange with some other Elders in the district, then went to district lunch. The rest of the day didn't go too well because our three set appointments all fell through.

Friday we ended the exchange, then Elder Morrow and I went and saw the lady we taught Wednesday She didn't have a lot of time so we showed her the Plan of Salvation video, gave her a pamphlet, and will be seeing her this next Friday. We saw some less active members, visited with them and then went home then the other Elders came by. Bro. Roy picked us up and we had dinner at his house, they gave us an early Christmas present.

Saturday, we tried some people, but they weren't home. We went over to the church to make sure that things were set up for the Christmas party and that was when my panic attack ended, because I found out that my family still loves me hahaha!!! (Mom's email wasn't working) Well the Christmas party was really good and the best part about it was that the missionaries got first pick at the left overs. Well we then saw some people and got some weekly planning done. Oh and we got transfer news. I am staying in the area for seven more weeks (seven weeks because this last one was a five week transfer because of Christmas).

Sunday was really good. But we were exhausted with this really busy week, but we were able to see a lot of people.

Love you all
Elder Durrant
Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

E-mail 12/07/2015

Hello everybody! I came across a new word, so as I'm writing this letter, I will be using my most interesting sprechstimme.

     Monday, we were with the other two Elders, Bro. Roy and his son for most of the day, it was a lot of fun.

     Tuesday, we did a lot of service, like we always do on Tuesdays, but in between we tried to go see a guy that we had talked to earlier, but he wasn't home so we did more service! Then we got to teach some more people, like Dennie, he is awesome and is so excited for baptism.

     Wednesday, Bro. Roy took us to the bike shop because the bike that Elder Morrow got, the tires were dry rotten so we had to get him new ones. We got that done and took Bro. Roy to lunch for all that he does for us. That evening we taught a young man at the YM's presidents home. Later we saw a lass active family, and the husband was working on a car for a friend, so I got to use some of the car fixing knowledge that Dad taught me. I held that flashlight in just the right place for him. Then he was nice enough to give us a ride home in the car.

     Thursday, we did weekly planning, then that evening we went out with a member to see a part member family. It was great, because we have been trying to get in to see them for months, and so now we are "finally" teaching them.

     Friday was AWESOME! We had zone meeting and one of the coolest things I learned was... go to the Guide to the scriptures, then to "Joy", read the first line and look what the synonym for it is. Then that night we were going to go on an exchange with the Zone Leaders, but there were some things that came up so we didn't do it.

     Saturday was soooo cooold! By afternoon it got warmer and we got to see Dennie again. We helped our landlord clean our gutters. That wasn't too bad, but I don't think it was cleaned last year. Then we went to the church to teach the bible study class, but no one showed up.

     Sunday was interesting. Our branch president had some surgery this past week, so he wasn't at church, so the stake presidency came and took care of some of the things that needed to be done. Then we watched the Christmas Devotional at the Roy's, it was great, but Hunter gave me a hard time because I couldn't point out my family out of the thousands of people there.

Love you all!

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

My three companions still in the mission.

Elder Chander one of the Zone Leaders, Me,
Elder Koenig, and Elder Morrow

E-mail 11/30/2015

Monday our Branch mission leader, Bro. Roy and his wife took all four missionaries in the area to their house to do laundry and then to go shopping, the Roy's are awesome! Then when we got home we played Monopoly. I've been playing that a lot recently, but by the time we were done we were all sick of it. So throughout this week, in our free time, we have been working on making it more exciting and now we're not even playing monopoly any more, it's evolved into somethings completely different, and when we all finished our missions, we are going to become rich and famous with this game.

Tuesday all 4 missionaries went to do service in the morning. It's funny, all of the other people there are Baptist, and the guy who gives us rides to the different places and back home, is a retired professor and he has told everyone that he is the only one allowed to call us the "Mormons" :) He's really funny. Then that night we had interviews with President and Sister Brough, that's always a lot of fun, then we started an exchange and I was with Elder Sharp, who came to the mission with me, in my area.

Wednesday was very interesting, we had started getting work done then we ended up spending most of the day getting Elder Morrow a bike. We went on a long adventure with many buses. By the end of it I was very hungry, and I start to get cranky when I'm hungry or when people throw my sandwich out the door, but no one has done that in a while. We were able to tame the savage beast, and we finally were able to talk with Dennie who we had lost contact with for the last few weeks, so that was awesome! We ended up missing the bus, so we waited to catch the next one, and talked with a guy who got off his hand phone to talk with us. I'm still not sure what he said though... When we ended the exchange, the other two missionaries stayed at our house for the night.

Thursday Thanksgiving, we had the day off, so we worked on the board game, then we had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner (even though it was at 2) then went home and played our game for the rest of the night. I know that sounds boring, but we had a lot of fun.

Friday, we had another exchange (that's what happens when the district leader is sick for two weeks, there's a backlog of work to do) and I stayed in the area, it was a good day, and the best part was that we had a lesson with Dennie! He and his wife are still really excited for baptism. Sunday was good, not very many people showed up for church. But the theme was how we all need Christ like love.

I love you all
Elder Durrant
Great Kentucky Louisville Mission
.

Thanksgiving day

Thanksgiving day

Thanksgiving day

Thanksgiving dinner with Hunter Roy

E-mail 11/23/2015

Hello!!! People to talk to! That makes me happy!

Well from Monday to Friday was the same, me doing reading, cleaning, eating, pacing back and forth, and monopoly. Well Elder Morrow slept and slept and slept. We did have an awesome district meeting on Friday, and Tuesday, it finally got so bad that the mission nurse sent him to an instant care, so we spent all day trying to find one, then wait in line for the medicine, but we found out what it was, he had a sinus infection and a double ear infection, but it getting better now.

Saturday we FINALLY got out to see people, and we walked a lot because the other missionaries were borrowing my bike, I was cooled, I was hungry, and I loved it because it meant I was out of the house! Then we had a pretty good bible study.

Sunday, church was awesome, I did get distracted with some scripture

suggestions in the manual.

Love you

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

This was a really rainy day. 

We have been stuck inside for too long.

E-mail 11/16/2015

(Head pounding brick wall) Ello there! 

Well this week can be extremely summed up.

So Monday, after emailing we went shopping and caught the bus home, then grabbed our laundry (it stinks not having a washer) caught another bus to a members home to do our laundry. It went well, all four missionaries were there, the members fed us dinner then we had a lesson for them. Then we took the bus home, because it goes right in front of our house, but on the 1/4 mile walk to the bus stop, the top clothes probably needed to be dried again because of the downpour, but it wasn't to bad, except for a car trying to splash us with a huge puddle of water.

Tuesday was fun, we got to teach a lot and several were with members that drove us around. And I got a haircut! It looks pretty good. The member doing it made the comment, "You're hair is changing colors, the longer it is, the redder, the short, the blonder." I found that rather amusing.

Wednesday, we weren't able to get a whole lot done, but we did go over to the church and helped out were we could.

Thursday we had district meeting, it was Elder Morrows first training as a distinct leader, and it went really well, then ten minutes before we finished a guy walked in and asked if this was a bible study, so that was interesting... But it all got taken care of. And everyone LOVED the cake cookies that I made. Then we went home and the next few days can be summed up like this. Elder Morrow sleeping on the couch because he gone done got sick. He was feeling good enough to go to the temple Saturday with someone he taught in Etown, when he served there a year ago, so that was a lot of fun.

And that was my week. Hence, Head pounding brick wall.

Love ya!

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

Scripture for the week: 2 Nephi 11:4

"4 Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him."

The four of us on Elder Seymores last night. 

They told us to switch around, and this was as far as we got. 

This is what happens when Elder Morrow gets sick 

This is what happens when Elder Morrow gets sick

E-mail 11/09/2015

HELLO EVERYBODY! (Like Fozzy in the moppets)

So not a whole lot happened Monday or Tuesday, so I'll move on. Wednesday, we were going to help a less active member clean up his house, but Elder Morrow woke up not feeling well, so we had to cancel and let Elder Morrow sleep, so it was an extra long study time for me.  Later he was feeling well enough to see some of the people we had set appointments with. First we had Dennie, he is doing amazing, he said, in his own words, "I am determined to get baptized!" How awesome is that! And he really wants to be able to baptize his wife, I'm not sure how that will work but they both love the church. Next we saw a guy who was a referral from his catholic uncle, which that alone was funny, but this guy just soaks everything in that we say.  He doesn't argue about anything we teach him, and even with the chaos at his house, he can feel the spirit and readily accepted the baptismal invite. Last we saw a member family that we reactivated and they fed us home made fried chicken, it was delicious!

Thursday we went out teaching with the YMs president, Bro. Neilson, who has only been back from his mission for about a year and is already married. He is awesome to teach with. Well we first saw a less active member who will probably be coming back to church this coming Sunday. Then we taught Dennie and his wife with him, and that went really well. .

Friday we had Zone Meeting, which was fabulous! Then we had an exchange of prisoners, oh wait wrong kind of exchange. We had and exchange where Elder Matealu came down to my area, and we were able to teach the referral guy, Steven, which was interesting, because there were a lot of people in a small amount of space, but he loved it, then we went to catch the bus home, and this guy came up to us and was telling us how him and his family had met with missionaries in the past and was interested in meting again, so he wrote down his number on a card and told us to call him as soon as we could, then we got on the bus and went home, but when we got home I pulled the card out of my pocket and the number was smudged, nooooo! Oh well.

Saturday we went and taught Dennie and when we got there he was just finishing setting up a guest LDS account, how awesome is that?! Then we went and saw Steven again and taught him the second lesson and it went much better, because there were not nearly as many people as last time. Then we went home had lunch and then President Brough call! My hart nearly stopped because I forgot it was transfer call Saturday, but it wasn't for me it was for Elder Morrow, so I still have my hundred percent streak of guessing what happens to each one of my companions so far, Elder Morrow got called as District Leader, so that makes me District Monkey! Mwa ha ha ha!

Sunday was great! It was the primary program and we had The Adams family there, and they loved it! Then we got asked last minute to teach gospel principles, we had the Adams, the Carbines (Mission office couple), the Burrus's, the branch president and one of his counselors, so no pressure. But it went amazingly well and the Adams loved it! Sister Adams gave the closing prayer and basically bore her testimony and said she was home! Afterwards everyone in class introduced themselves! It was a good day!

Love ya'll!  Have a great week!

Love
Elder Durrant
Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

E-mail 11/02/2015

Hey Family!

Thursday, we had our district meeting, and it will very inspiring. Instead of a planned meeting, we had an open discussion that ranged from gospel questions to how we can become better missionaries. Then afterwords we all went out and had lunch together. And yes I got pictures! Later we had a lesson with this guy we are sort of teaching, but he's fun to talk to, because one moment he's subtly trying to disprove us, then the next moment he's complementing us on how we follow Jesus Christ. He's a funny guy. Later we taught Dennie, who is planning on being baptized, November 21st, and we started teaching his wife too, and she is scheduled for December 5th, and they are both amazing!

Friday, we had lunch with an amazing older sister in the branch, she's always fun to talk with. Then in the afternoon we saw some less actives, then in the evening we had an appointment with a part member family that we have been trying to get in with for the past couple of months.  We tried really, REALLY, hard to get someone out with us but no one could come, so we went over and... They forgot! The daughter we were there to teach wasn't there, so we talked with her mom for a while at the door, and set up a return appointment.

Saturday we taught Dennie and his wife again, and they were exited to go to church. Then we tried to see a few more people, but when people started answering the door thinking we were trick or treaters, we decided it was time to go home. Then at 6 we were given time off, so all the Elders in the district went to one of the bigger church buildings and had a ping pong, and a corn hole tournament. That was a lot of fun!

Sunday, we had a great day, Dennie and his wife Mary came to church!!!! But we will be having to teach "keeping the Sabbath-day holy" soon, because someone mentioned going home teaching to "Sister Wendy's" or "Brother Burger King" and he liked that idea, so that will be fun to talk about. Then later we were asked to give the temple prep classes to a sister in the branch, so that will be interesting.

Today, we were going to go to the zoo with some other Elders, but they all pulled out at the last minute, so today will be a normal P-day.

Love Y'all!
Elder Durrant
Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

Look what I found!

My first KFC, in Kentucky. 

Corn hole

Us at the end of Halloween night. From left to right -
Elder Bennett, Elder Money, Elder Matealu, Elder Seymore,
Elder Durrant, Elder Morrow, Elder Waite, Elder Sharp,
Elder Millitt, and up front Is Elder Steadmen 

Us at lunch after district meeting.