E-mail 04/25/2016

Salutations, Y'all! This has been a great week.

Monday, we played volleyball as a district, plus two elders from another district. The highlights for me was, first when I hit the ball multiple times in between a few who kept teasing me about my serves. Next was when Elder Crystal spiked the ball into the face of another Elder.  They were trash talking each other all week (he was ok, except for his pride).

Tuesday, we did service in the morning. We first moved thin cinder blocks that made up an old patio.  We then smashed some that were mortared to bigger ones with a sledgehammer. :) Then I got to use my master gardening skills and transplant two plants. The member we were doing this for also wanted a rose bush and a butterfly bush separated, but that would have taken a lot more time than what we had. It was great doing physical work. That evening as we were trying to visit some members in apartments, this guy walks up to us and starts asking questions. I am positive that there is a web site that tells you what to say if you talk with Mormon missionaries, "Act super friendly, start out with these innocent questions, work your way up to these questions, share these scriptures to prove them wrong, and use these scriptures to follow up with. Remember to always act friendly and repeatedly say you only want a good talk about each other's beliefs, but ignore anything they have to say." That is the basic layout EVERY TIME. But they can never deny pure testimony.

Wednesday, we had district meeting, then afterwards we went on an exchange, and I went to the other area with Elder Stedmen, it's the first time I've been on an exchange with him since I first came out, so it was great going with him. We first did service for some members, digging holes then filling them back in. He was getting a storage container and we were getting the foundation ready with this interesting gravel. Then that evening we were meeting up with the other elders because they had both of the phones. We were about two miles away, when Elder Stedmen blew his tire, so we started walking and trying to find somewhere safe to lock the bikes up when we came across a fire station. We explained our situation and they let us leave our bikes and we started off again, oh and it's raining this whole time, and as we are walking and laughing (because there's no point in complaining), we are soaked, and we only see one sign and it was just for us. It said "Jesus cares", it was de best. Well we got the phone, walked back to the fire station, got our bikes and walked home.

Thursday, we were out all day trying people, nothing too interesting happened, except for we almost got soaked by a flash storm, but we took cover. Then the Zone Leaders brought the other two elders back, then they had coordination, so we got to see how to fit 6 Elders in a 5 passenger car. You guessed it, Elder Crystal got in the trunk!

Friday, we did our weekly planning, then had coordination again, and he is great because he brought orange slices! And he also wants to do the job right so that helps a lot.

Saturday was busy, we saw some less actives, and tried a few people. Then we biked way up to a part members home and had breakfast for dinner, hopefully soon we will be able to start teaching their kids.

Sunday, was a great day. We had ward council in the morning, then had a good day at church. We then took the sacrament to some people in the hospital. Later we had dinner with a young family, so while they were finishing getting it ready, we were playing Frisbee with their boys. When we got home, we returned a call from another member, he asked us to come over to give him a blessing because he couldn't stand up, so we dashed over. Now this guy is big, so we first tried to help him stand, but his knee was giving him too much pain, so we gave him a blessing. He tried to stand up, but he still couldn't, so we talked for a few minutes. Then Elder Crystal asked if we could give him another blessing, so we did, and he simply said, "By yours and our faith you will stand and the pain will go away." Then we stood back and after a moment he stood up with no pain! After that my testimony shot through the roof! I never thought I would actually be a part of a blessing like that. God is good. The church is true. And the book is blue!

Love y'all!!!

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

E-mail 04/18/2016

Yellow everyone!

Monday, it rained really hard, but it wasn't too bad because we were inside most of the time. And then when it was time for us to go out, it had cleared up.

Tuesday, I was FINALLY able to send off that package, and then Elder Crystal's bike was messed up even more from the crash (it was already in bad condition by the time I got here) so we went over to the bike shop and he found a really good bike, at a really nice price, so he got that and now I can't keep up with him. He went from a bike just like mine, to a hybrid road bike. He challenged the Zone Leaders to a bike race without telling them he got a new bike, and they quickly accepted, and the two losers would buy the two winners Blizzards. So there was a little bit more trash talk this last week than there normally is with basketball.

Wednesday, we had district meeting and it was spectacular, amazing, awe inspiring, all about humility too! Oh and I was the one that gave it! (Mwahahaha!) just kidding, I did give it, but it was about using chapter 8 of PMG, and I think I did a pretty good job, even if I do say so myself. ;) Later we were going through the member list but wasn't having much success mostly because it was in the middle of the day, and around here, not too many people are home then. Then we had an earlier dinner than normal, we then went and tracted a few neighborhoods with the Hermana's to help them find people to teach. After we had finished in one area, we were waiting for them to come back so they could tell us where the next place to go was, and I was just standing there minding my own business when I got hit! I looked down and there was bird poo on my arm, I was not happy. But all of us found people to teach so I can deal with it.

Thursday, we had our weekly planning, and that was about the most exiting thing that happened that day.

Friday, we did something interesting, since elders can't go on exchanges with sisters, Elder Crystal does something else. We have a two on two meeting with the sisters (with a member there), he sees how they are doing, if there is anything he can do for them, then does a mini training. Later we had a lot of people planned in the day, but we were only able to get in with some recent converts and some less actives.

Saturday, was a repeat of Friday when it came to lessons. We had coordination with our new ward mission leader, then had dinner with a part member family, and they fed us goulash and it was great! Then that evening we had the race! Where we chose to do it was 2.1 miles long, and I was absolutely destroyed, they all had road bikes, and I had a 45lbs trail bike. Elder Crystal won and the Zone Leaders tied for second, at least that's what I was told, I was too far behind to see anything, so I owe someone a Blizzard.

Sunday, we had a good sacrament meeting, the last speaker tried to use popular movies to help people connect with gospel teachings, it was rather interesting. Later we took the sacrament to the two members in the hospital, then tried some referrals and we ended up playing some basketball with some 6-10 year old boys.

Well that was my week love ya!

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

E-mail 04/11/2016

I'm soooo tired...zzzz

So on Monday I went and got a new pair of jeans, but when I got back I tried them on and they didn't fit! So now I get to take them back and make sure they fit this time. Then I also got a haircut, and no one can seem to get it right. It's either too short or too long, this time it was too short. Oh well. Then we started an exchange with some of the other elders and I was with an elder who was trained by Elder Morrow, so that was fun.

Tuesday, I spent the whole day in the other area, and we did A LOT of biking. We added it up and we biked about 21 miles, but it wasn't too bad.

Wednesday, we were able to teach some people and we even had a last minute dinner appointment with a member. Other than that, not much happened.

Thursday, we had zone conference, which I always find enjoyable. Both President and Sister Brough said they liked my hair cut, so I guess it wasn't too bad. :) Then we were able to teach someone new that we will be seeing again tonight. Then we had dinner with a member and that's always nice, it's helping us to get to know the ward better.

Friday, we biked up to the Hermana's apartment (all but 2 sets of missionaries in the district live in our area) to give them blizzards because they did a huge favor for us. While we were talking with them at their door, it started down pouring, but thankfully when we left, it had lightened up. We headed back down to visited one of the members in the hospital. Then we went back up because we had some appointments up there, then back down to the hospital again to visit the other member in the hospital. We then had dinner with a member who lives around Indianapolis but is down here for the next few weeks. When we were leaving to head home, my tire had a slow leak so I tried to ride it home, but ended up walking. (Note to self, must get slime!)

Saturday, was a very long day. So, the sisters in the district were struggling really bad to find people to teach, ok, most everyone in the district is struggling, but the sisters were becoming very down on themselves, so we went and helped. Elder Crystal and I set aside the whole day, biked to their area, and had a goal of talking with a hundred people, and find as many potentials for them as possible. Just to get there we had to bike 7 1/2 miles, we then bake for the next several hours and talked with about every part of the spectrum of people, but we were able to find some people for the sisters and ended up talking to 102 people. By the end, I was so sick of it, I was excited to go home and do some weekly planning. Well we stopped by and gave the sisters the information on the people we had gotten for them, then headed home. On the way, we were going over a walking bridge, at the last turn Elder Crystal went too fast and smashed right into one of the concrete pillars, then fell over and laid there for a bit, it looked really bad. He wasn't bleeding, which was surprising, but then he started laughing and I helped him up and made sure he didn't have a concussion, so we slowly made our way home. No hospital trip was needed thankfully. We ended up biking around 35 or more miles that day.

Sunday, we had fast Sunday, and one of the people that went up to bear their testimony was one of the members we had dinner with. She bore a powerful testimony about what we had talked about at dinner, and that made us feel really good. After church we took the sacrament to the two members in the hospital, then had dinner with the bishop and his family. That evening we had a lesson with someone who we had talked with earlier this week in a parking lot. We taught them the restoration and they really liked it, and they accepted a baptismal date, that's always exciting.

And that is my week, we biked a total of about 60 miles this week. I am so tired.

Love y'all!

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

That's not a lake, thats a river, it's huge!!! 

Wow!!! So much sugar!  

I love it! And the ties are great!

E-mail 04/04/2016

This week has been one of those drag, drag, too fast, weeks.

Monday, we played basketball, I only played one game, because after being body slammed to the ground by one of the zone leaders, I got the hint that this game is not for me. Oh well, this just gives me more time to work on my "extra curricular" project (mwa ha ha ha!!!)

Tuesday, we have been going through the member list to get to know them, because I'm new and Elder Crystal has only been here a transfer longer then me. So we have been going through that. The funny thing is, we've been running into so many non members, and part member families, so hopefully they will let us in later.

Wednesday, we had a great district meeting. Later we went by a place to see if we could do some service that the zone leaders suggested, but when we got there they told us that the other two missionaries were already doing service there, so they didn't need our help. That was a first. Well we then continued to go by members homes, then we went to the church to talk with members and one is getting a friend of hers comfortable with us, because she really wants her to be baptized and I am ok with that.

Thursday, I can't really remember what happened on Thursday. I know we did see a member that day, but that's about it.

Friday, we went on an exchange with the zone leaders and I was FINALLY in the car area! This was the first time since the beginning of my mission. Well we did some running around, then picked the other two up because a member had asked us all to help him help another member move. But that didn't happen due to lack of communication and a little bit of miss-communication. So in the end we went to a Chinese buffet and it was really good, except for a little piece of raw meat I accidentally ate, but I didn't get food poisoning from it. ;)

Saturday, was great. We watched conference at the church, and it was great. Then in between we went and got something to eat, but we made the mistake of go somewhere really busy so after we finished eating, we had to rush back to the church to watch the next session. After that we had dinner with a part member family, but they weren't quite ready, so we sat and talked for awhile. We ate, and it was really good, then we had to rush back for the Priesthood Session. Well after the Priesthood Session, we realized that we hadn't talked with anyone yet. So we got home about 8:45 and dashed out to talk with people, and we talked with over 20 people in under 10 minutes. The Lord provides.

Sunday, we watched General Conference at the church again. Then we had lunch with the part member family from Saturday; we had homemade pizza and it was good. We then went back to the church for the final session, by this point everyone was getting antsy because Elder Holland hadn't spoken yet, there was almost a cheer when he did, and I found the whole thing amusing. Conference was great! Then we were fed AGAIN! We were so full by the end of the day. It was great, we then rushed to take the sacrament to two people in the hospital. Then we had to talk with a ton of people before we could go in.

This has been a good week.

Love y'all!

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

That is Elder Crystal inside