E-mail 08/31/2015

What an amazing two weeks!
First off, sorry everyone for not sending a family letter last week.

Tuesday the 18th, was transfers, and I was put into a threeship with
Elder Johnson and Elder Wallace, in one of the suburbs of Louisville.
I have know seen the outside of Church Hill Downs. Then, get this,
the area was split in two so there are two other missionaries
covering the second part. They are living in our apartment until
the mission gets approval from the church for their apartment, so as
you can imagine it gets interesting around here; especially with only
one key to the apartment.

Wednesday the 19th, Me and Elder Wallace are new to the area, so Elder
Johnson is showing us around. He has an amazing memory; Elder Wallace
calls him his walking computer.  We really just spent most of the
day seeing some people and getting to know the area.

Thursday the 20th we had district meeting, and we had to have the Zone
Leaders pick up all 5 of us because they have a mini van, that was
fun. This is a very unique district, there are the 3 Elders in my
group, the 2 Elders in the new area, the District Leader and his
companion, the companion being one of the Elders that came out with
me, our Zone Leaders, one of them being my first district leader so
that's cool, and the 2 Assistants to the President. Yes, I would
say that this is an awesome district. Then after the meeting we went
over to the office, because it's right next door to the church
building we had the meeting at and we finally got our bus passes.  It
will make travel so much better.

Friday the 21st, we had our weekly planning, then got to see people
and teach them, and got to know the area more.

Saturday the 22nd, we went to a house to go see someone that the other
elders talked with and sent us there info. Well, the person we went to
see wasn't there but we ended up teaching the other people that lived
there and it went amazingly well. Just as we were finishing
up, the guy that we originally went to see showed up and so we left each one of
them with a Book of Mormon .

Sunday the 23rd we had church at 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. It's just
a branch right now, but it could easily get turned into a ward. Then I
really can't remember what else we did that night but talk with people
on the side walk.

Monday the 24th, We had run out of Book of Mormons, so we had asked
the assistants to bring us some boxes of them. When they came we
had them give us a ride to the store and back. We spent a lot
of time cleaning the place and mowing the lawn.  YES we have a lawn!
That is one of the little things I didn't think I would miss. We
finally made it to the library to email, and that is why I didn't have
time to send a family letter last week.

Tuesday the 25th, we went over to a place to help them with some
heavy lifting of furniture that they take to people that need it.  It was a lot of fun doing that and then our ride left us so we walked 2-3 miles and then got on a bus the last 3 miles. Got home, got something to eat, changed into our white shirts and ties headed over to the church and helped with the Bishops Storehouse truck, then went to work for the rest of the day.

Wednesday the 26th, Nothing out of the ordinary happened.

Thursday the 27th, we had district meeting and this time we had the
assistants pick us up, but right before we left one of the other
Elders needed to get back into the apartment so Elder Wallace threw
the keys to him.  They landed on the roof, so I got video of them
getting it off; it was so funny!  After the meeting we had an exchange where Elder Wallace went with our District leader, Elder
Butler, who was Elder Wallace's MTC companion, and Elder Sharp came
with me and Elder Johnson. That was cool and the the other 2 Elders
finally moved out. It's not like I didn't like them but it's nice
having a lot more room.  We then had our coordination meeting with the
branch mission leader Brother Roy and his wife at the church. He made us dinner and it was good, but I still haven't had anything that beats your cooking Mom! ;) We spent the rest of the evening seeing people with the Roy's.

Friday the 28th, President Brough came at 6:30 a.m. to get Elder
Johnson because he was being reassigned and we will miss him.  Elder Sharp and I took the bus to go meet up with Elder Butler and
Elder Wallace. We ended up getting a free tour of the U. of L.
Campus because the bus had to take a detour. After all of that we had
weekly planning when we got back. Then biked all the way to the
other end of our area to have dinner with some members, the Schmucks. It's pronounced Schmook, like book.  He and his parents are
from Austria and his wife is from Utah.
Saturday the 29th was trying to see a lot of people that weren't home.
And then I got something in my back tire that flattened it even with
the slime. We were blessed and ran into someone that is a private
investigator.  He just gave me a whole new tube. That was awesome.

Sunday the 30th we went to go see some members that we didn't know,
and one of them ended up feeding us hamburgers that were very good!

Love you all! Talk with you next week!
Elder Durrant
Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

Sister Roy, Elder Durrant, Elder Johnson 

Elder Durrant , Elder Johnson 

Elder Sharp, Elder Matelau , Elder Seymore 

Brother and Sister Roy out with the Missionaries at Brother and Sister Payne's

E-mail 08/24/2015

Dear friends and family,
Elder Samuel didn't write a family letter this week, he ran out of time.  I'm thinking that they went out to play, and didn't leave enough time to write.  He did answer things in my letter, so I'm ok with that, here are some of the questions:

(I have been anxiously awaiting your letter this week so that I can get your address)

It is 2900 S. Crums Ln, Louisville, KY 40216   

(and heard about your companions.  Yes, I said companions, someone posted the picture of you and Elder Johnson, then the picture of you with 4 other missionaries outside a house.  It looks like Elder Wallace is a funny guy,)

Yep, I knew it, Facebook... Ye that was the ward mission leader. I've been warned that if I don't want something on Facebook, don't let him get a picture. So it is me, Elder Johnson, and Elder Wallace, in a three ship, and Elder Seymore and Elder Matelau, and we are all sharing an apartment for now because this area was split and they are still working on something with the new one, so it's interesting in the morning, but it's a good set of missionaries, so there hasn't been any fights.

So where I am at I probably won't be able to send as my pictures but I will do what I can.

**Oh well, I will just have to enjoy his letters without pictures.  

Thank you everyone for your love and support.

Love ya all

Mom

Facebook - Transfer day 08/18/2015

Transfers.👎🏼 You have an amazing son Maralyn Durrant!

Maralyn:  I love that young man. Thanks Heather, for posting it. On to new adventures! I know he will miss your family, thank you so much for taking good care of him.

Maralyn: I love seeing my young man. I'm glad to see that Elder Durrant is looking good.

Heather: Is this his new comp?

Raymond: Yes a 3 ship. Elder Johnson, Elder Durrant, and Elder Wallas (Wallas wasn't in the picture sorry)

Elder Seymore, Elder Johnson, Elder Wallace, Elder Durrant and Elder Matelau Shawnee Branch GKLM

Jill: Love my elder Wallace!

Barbara: Love them!

Maralyn: I love this picture, what a group of great men.

E-mail 08/17/2015

  What an amazing week!!!

Monday we did a lot of fishing again, and we got another turtle for our District Leader, then we had dinner with some awesome members, then that night we had a lesson with a less active member. So Monday wasn't out of the ordinary.

Tuesday we spent ALL DAY inside.  So what we figured was that on Monday we had lunch at Hardee's (Carl's Jr) and then Elder Koenig was sick all day, so we all have decided that we are NEVER eating at Hardee's EVER again.

Wednesday we didn't get a whole lot done but we did have our weekly planning meeting.

Thursday (now this is where it starts to get good!). We went up to "New Albany, Indiana" for a mission tour, where we heard from Elder and Sister Zwick, and President and Sister Brough, it was mind blowing! I will send a picture of one of my notes that was awesome!  That night we had an awesome lesson with some investigators that have a baptismal date.

Friday in the morning we went with this couple from Utah that needed our help looking for a tomb stone to see if it was for a guy named "John Brown" or something like that, but there had been too much vandalism and time wear to tell.  We did find a large caterpillar though.  Latter we had a couple lessons with some investigators, and we set a baptismal date with them. Now for the cool part, as we were biking away from our last lesson and heading to the Church for Amber's baptismal interview, we realized that we didn't have any keys to the church, so we are trying to get a hold of some as we quickly biked all the way across town up hill to the church.  Well by the time we got there, we had no keys and nether Amber nor President Brough (He's was the one doing the interview) was there, and so we have no idea what we where going to do (President does have a key.)  Well Elder Koenig said we should try all the doors, so we start trying each one, and as we did Elder Koenig would go "Knock and it shall be opened" at each door.  Well we tried all the glass doors with no luck, so we where heading back when we pass the door to the cultural hall, so we tried it, we knocked and said "Knock and it shall be opened" and the door was OPEN! My mind exploded!  Well after that everything went great, Amber passed and President said that she almost made him cry.  After they all left, Bro. Byrnes (WML) and he's wife brought over some Chick-fil-a because our dinner appointment cancelled. So it was a good day.

Saturday I got awful news, I'm getting transferred out of E-town, and Elder Koenig will be training, so I'll let you all know next week where I am.  We had Amber's baptism, it went very well, and yes I got pictures, and she bore her testimony, which was very beautiful!  Then us 4 missionaries went out for lunch, and the place had fried pickles, so I can now say I have had squirrel, turtle, and fried pickles, what's next?

Sunday, in the morning we tried to see people to get them to church, but they were either not home or were leaving soon, so none of them came, but we did have one that comes all the time, she even sings in the choir.  Bro Byrnes did confirmed Amber, so that was awesome, and President and Sister Brough were there for a meeting after church.  President and the stake President spoke in sacrament meeting, and he talked a lot about how amazing Amber's conversion was and also how members can get rid of their fears when it come to missionary work.  After church we had gone home to have some food, I need to work on having chocolate in my pancakes, it was OK, but it needs work.  Then Bro. Byrnes called and asked if we could go out with him to see some people, and we spent the rest of the evening going and seeing less active members.

This morning all 8 elder in the area went fishing and we weren't catching anything, then on the way back to the cars, we were walking past this little stream when Elder Koenig spots this huge snapping turtle, so he and Elder Caskey went and got it, so Elder Koenig now has a turtle shell.

Well talk with y'all next week and I will be off to new adventurers!

       Love you all!

           Elder Durrant

​Elder Koenig, Amber, Elder Durrant

Now THAT'S a turtle!  

This is something Elder Zwick taught us,
that Elder Packer taught him.

When speaking or teaching we need to:

Give a story or an example, then give doctrine, last testify.

Not to:
Give a story or an example, then give doctrine,
then testify, give another story or an example,
tell more doctrine, and then testify again.

That is how Elder Packer said to do it! 

That's a blue herring

E-mail 08/10/2015

Hey Y'all! That's right, it's Monday again!

So this week has been work, work, and more work, which is good, because it's boring not doing anything. So let us begin...

Monday we went, of course fishing..., but this time we caught something really cool! A Turtle! And we ATE IT! Tasted like chicken. Then that evening we ate at a members house and fished with him in his pond, and I caught a 2-3lb catfish, that I threw back in.  Dad, no one seems to like the idea of your catfish recipe.

Tuesday we had a lesson with Daisa, an 18 year old girl we've been teaching.  It's funny teaching her, because she keeps trying to convince herself out of it, but then we tell her about all the positives, and she always sighs and says I know, and once again good triumphs.  Unfortunately we won't be able to baptize her, because she is moving to Indiana, so some other missionaries will get to do it.  Then that night we had dinner with some members, he used to be the WML, then we went out with him to see some people that we've been needing to see for a few weeks now. It was a busy day.

Wednesday was a lot of finding new people and less actives, and had coordination with our new WML. We've already gotten a lot of work done with him.

Thursday we had an amazing District meeting, with that and the Zone Conference the week before, we are becoming more effective, and helping a lot of people (as of today, we have 7 people with a baptismal date). Afterwords we went and taught this guy, who we met the day before, we taught "The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ" and set a solid baptismal date with him, all in 15min! Then we went to go see Daisa again, because she went to a youth activity the night before, we talked to her about it and helped her with some of her concerns.  We were suppose to do our weekly planning, but after we got lunch we both fell asleep, we were really tired... WELL, we then went out to go see people with Bro. Byrnes, the new WML.  Then we went on splits, Elder Koenig went with Bro. Byrnes to go see Amber, the lady getting baptized this Saturday, and I was with the Harpers.  We had a lesson with a couple and their son at the church, it went amazingly well, and who knew Pokemon actually had a good use, the investigators son is huge into it, and so are the Harper boys, so that worked out cool.

Friday we started an exchange with our District leader, I stayed in this area with Elder Naylor and Elder Koenig went to Radcliffe with the other missionary.  We first went and helped a guy cut his branches, then went and taught a guy we have a baptismal date for, but I'm not sure how much he really understands. That night we had a lesson with Amber in a member's home, which went very well.  Afterwords we went to go see an investigator that we hadn't seen in awhile, but we ended up finding a less active lady who we got back to church!

Saturday we went and helped the member lady from Friday and helped her work on a fence she was putting up, and then the guy we helped yesterday took us to a buffet, (there are a lot of them in town), which was really good. Then that night, after we exchanged back, we taught the first lesson to this guy we ran into last week, and set a baptismal date with him.

Sunday we went over to the guy that we taught the night before, and taught him lesson 2, and asked him if he was excited for his baptism, he thought about it then looked at us and said "I'm starting to be".  We then went to the church and had another lesson with Amber, she's excited, I'm excited, everyone is excited! Church was great, and the rest of the day we really didn't get much done, except for setting up the program for Amber's baptism, Elder Koenig will be the one to baptize her.

So things that are coming up this week is Thursday there will be a mission tour, Elder Zwick of the Seventy and his wife are coming, that's exciting, Friday, Amber will be getting interviewed, and Saturday she's getting baptized! My first one!

Happy Birthday Mom! I LOVE YOU!!!

Love you all

Elder Durrant

Turtles!

Turtles!

Do you see all of them?

Aren't I turtle enough for your turtle club?

That is not a turtle.

Turtles really do taste like chicken, 

just ask this guy, oh wait you can't... we ate him  

Hold still!

I got one... fish really are slimy

We ate it.  

Facebook post 08-06-2015

How thoughtful of Elder Maralyn Durrant to get Tyson a pack of Pokemon cards for his birthday! We're off to go teach a family at the church with him and Elder Koenig now.

Maralyn:  I love it! Thank you Heather for posting this, they both look like they are having a good time. Happy birthday Tyson.

Carol:  Maralyn -- I met Elder Durrant today at the mini-mission conference! He is so sweet!

Maralyn: Thank you so much Carol, we kinda like him too.

E-mail 08/03/2015

Hi Family!
This has been an amazing week!

Monday, We taught this guy who was a referral from some other Elders, and this was one of the most interesting lessons I've been to yet. He was trying to teach us, and whenever we would try to get back to the lesson, he would start talking about how he's the one teaching us.  And the funniest thing about the whole thing is since I was a year or so younger than my companion, anything I had to say was inferior, and how me and my generation are destroying the world... it was an interesting lesson.

Tuesday, We had this amazing lesson with a young lady who is very prepared, every time she's not sure if she wants to do something, we just have her weigh the pros and cons, and she always says the pros win. She's going to get Baptized!

Wednesday, we had a lesson with people that we have been teaching the last couple of months, and they are starting to really get into the Book of Mormon, and they are starting to see that these things are TRUE!

Thursday, I got to drive! we went on exchanges with Elder Nailer and his greeny Elder (I don't know how to spell his name, it has at least 10 letters in it), I went up to Radcliffe with the greeny and Elder Koenig and Elder Nailer stayed here in E-town. That was a lot of fun.

Friday was mind blowing! We had Zone Conference, so Pres. and Sister Brough was there with the A.P's and everyone in the zone. We talked a lot about more effective weekly planning, and how we can double our numbers, and get more people BAPTIZED!

Saturday, we went out to find some of the lost sheep that had strayed, and then later we went out with two of the Y.M. in the ward to see some of our investigates, they were a big help. Then we went to the Brimhall's for dinner. They are the one of the best family's out here!

Sunday, we had a lesson with this lady, I don't remember if I talked about her last week, but the Lord has prepared her more than I think I have ever seen anyone! She will be the first baptism that I have helped teach personally, on the 15th of August!

Wow it's August! That's 4 months since I've started!

Well Love y'all, Talk to you next week!

Love Elder Durrant