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