E-mail 05/30/2016

Another week down, and another one coming.

So this will be a short one because not a lot happened this week.

Monday, we had dinner with a less active lady that I've been told a lot about since the beginning of my mission.

Tuesday, we did service, by pulling up weeds out of sand.

Wednesday, we had district meeting, then that evening we had a member bring us dinner. She brought baked potatoes and so much stuff to put on them, it was great, we did share with the other elders. Later we biked up and taught the two kids that are getting baptized soon, they're funny kids.

Thursday, we had our coordination meeting. Our ward mission leader was running a little late, so we played a bit of basketball with his kids. Then that night we had dinner with some members, and their twenty something year old son (who I have never met before) picked us up, and I was a little confused because he's a spitting image of his dad. It was great, they are a lot of fun.

Friday, we did our weekly planning, then tried by a ton of people.

Saturday, we saw some less actives, some other people, and then taught the two kids again.

Sunday, church was good, except that it was really hot and during the third hour I actually think I blacked out a couple of times, because I can't remember parts of the lesson. Then we taught the two kids again right after church with their mom, and reviewed what we have taught them thus far. Then all four of us had lunch with the bishop, and they had the brilliant idea of biking there and back. It wasn't too bad, except I don't have a fast bike so it was interesting keeping up with them. On the way back a storm cloud came through and we got a "little" wet, but got inside, rested for a little bit. Later we heard it got really bad, and we even saw a whole tree down. Then from last night into this morning we had no power at our apartment, so we got to take care of that this morning.

Love

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

E-mail 05/23/2016

Tuesday, was a very interesting day. The weather didn't want to rain, but it couldn't not rain, so it went in the middle and did a very heavy drizzle, and the temperature dropped to the 40-50, so it was a little chilly.

Wednesday, we had district meeting, then had lunch with the other Elders. Later we went to see a less active lady, and ended up teaching her, one of her daughters and a granddaughter and her friend, so it was great. She then fed us a sub then some really good sheet cake. Then in the evening we had dinner with a member family and it was great! I was so stuffed that I couldn't eat all the ice cream, so I felt extremely satisfied because that doesn't happen very often. Later we taught the two youth that are getting baptized, and due to schedules we ended up moving their date up to the 12th of June. We are doing our best to help them be ready.

Thursday, we saw a less active member, then worked on finding more people to teach. That evening we had dinner with the stake president's son and his family, they are awesome, and fun to talk with.

Friday, we did our weekly planning, then did some finding, and a lot of biking.

Saturday, we were able to see all three of our baptismal dates, the first guy is cool, but we've only been able to see him twice. Then we saw the two youth.

Sunday, we had a good day at church. When we went into Sunday School, the teacher was out of town and the substitute wasn't feeling good, so it was up to the missionaries. Therefore it came to pass that Elder Durrant taught the people about the Millennium. So that was fun, on the spot lesson on the Millennium. Then we did our regular routine, taught the kids, then had dinner with another family.

All in all, it's been a good week, despite the cold and rainy days.

Love y'all!

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

E-mail 05/16/2016

Right now, I am so tired but feel so alive.

Monday, we had a normal p-day, and we had dinner with some members.

Tuesday, we tried to see some people and got soaked in the process. It rained hard and long, making for an interesting day.

Wednesday, us and the other Elders helped move some people from one apartment to another in the same complex. Then made the mistake of going to an Asian buffet, I came out happy (mostly because I didn't eat any raw meat this time) but the others came out saying things like "Why did we do that?" Or "I'm never doing that again", etc. etc. etc! They crack me up. Later as we were biking another wave of the storm hit, and we were already soaked by the time we could make cover, so we just stood in it, listening to the lightning crash above us that was within 1/2 to 10 miles, it was awesome! The whole time I'm thinking "I am standing over a steel frame bike... I sure hope I don't get hit." It cleared up after a little bit, and we dried off fairly well. Then in the evening we were talking with one of the YM who is a recent convert, and as we were doing so, the storm alarms went off. We looked outside and it didn't look too bad, so we kept talking and it turned off after a minute. About 10 minutes later it went off again, then we got a call from the Hermana's saying that it got really bad where they were, so we dashed outside and looked to the west and saw this huge black wall coming toward us (we later found out it was coming at 30 mph), so we told the YM that we would see him later, got on our bikes and got home as fast as we could, getting hit by a sand storm as we cut through a parking lot. So it was an interesting evening.

Thursday, we had a mission tour. Elders Kopischke & Gillenwater of the Seventy and their wives came and it was amazing. It went from 10 am to 4 pm and I could have sat there a lot longer learning. One of the biggest things I learned was how to use Alma 32 to increase your faith in any aspect of the gospel. We then drove the 2 hours back and through a time zone, and had dinner with some members.

Friday, we went on an exchange, and I stayed here with Elder Stedmen, and we had a great time. We were able to teach several lessons.

Saturday, we ended the exchange and Elder Crystal and I did our weekly planning, then we were able to see some people. We even set baptismal dates with two of their kids.

Sunday, was great. We set another baptismal date with someone, took the sacrament to a member in the hospital, then we had dinner with some members. They fed us Thai food pizza, and it was interesting, I ate it, but it definitely wasn't my favorite pizza in the world.

Monday, this morning we had the bike race, it was about 2.2 miles and they gave me about a 1-2 minute head start, and I stayed up front for about 3/4 of it but then they caught up and passed me, but all in all it was a fun ride. Oh and Elder Crystal won, so his head just a lot bigger.

Love y'all!

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

E-mail 05/09/2016

Monday, we did our regular thing. Did laundry, played pool, they played basketball, shopped, then played more pool.

Tuesday, we tried by a ton of people but no one was home. Then in the afternoon, we went to one of the ward missionaries to test out a simple lesson to help members do simple missionary work, and it worked out better then we planned because he had some really good ideas.

Wednesday, we had district meeting, then lunch afterwards and I took the opportunity to take a nap, those are few and far between. Then we biked to one of the nether regions of our area for an appointment, but the person wasn't there. We decided to work in the area for a few hours. Then we biked home because some members had scheduled to have us over for dinner, then last minute couldn't so they ordered us a pizza. After we got it, we went over to the church to talk with some people. Afterwards we went home and had the pizza.

Thursday, we were doing our regular thing when we got a call and it was (Elder) Wallace! That goon came to town! He wanted to go teaching with us, so we got to spend a few hours with him seeing people.

Friday, we did our weekly planning, then tried some people that we set appointments with, but none of them were there, so we talked with people that were out. Then we got picked up by the zone leaders for coordination, it was good. Now all we need is people to talk to, na, we just don't do as many as I would like. Later we had dinner with an active family and it was great, we talked a lot about how a mission helps you for life.

Saturday, we had a lesson with a guy at the church, he was a referral from the St. George Visitor Center, it was a good lesson and he even came to church, so he is looking very good. Then that night the bike race was scheduled and Elder Crystal was excited, but on the way over the weather sirens went off and when we got to the members house, it was a downpour and it was called off until another time.

Sunday, we had a good time at church and the talks were on Mothers and families. Then we took the sacrament to the member in the hospital, and had some lessons with a few other people. Then the best part of the day, saying Happy Mother's Day to my Mama! It was great!

I love you all!

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

Burning my one year tie

Burning my one year tie

Me and Elder Crystal

Me and Elder Crystal

Me and Elder Crystal

Me and Elder Crystal

E-mail 05/02/2016

Hello everyone, it's your favorite waterlogged missionary! It's been an interesting week.

Monday, me and one of the Zone Leaders took our bikes into the bike shop, because we both needed repairs that were beyond my skill.

Tuesday, we went on an exchange with the zone leaders, I went to their area because my bike was still in the shop. We went out trying by inactive members, when we got a call from the other elders in our district, they needed a pickup. We made our way back, and by the time we got to them, there had been one wave of heavy rain, but wasn't too bad when we got there. We took them to the bike shop, then had to rush to a lesson, and by this point the sky was getting dark with a hint of green. The lesson went well, it was long because her little boy was extremely active. The best part was, he was sitting next to me and would randomly point at me and say " Get this 'thing' out of my house!" What?! The lady we were teaching was so embarrassed, but I just laughed. All in all, it was a good lesson. Later we found out that a tornado hit several miles from us.

Wednesday, our district meeting was on the spirit, and it was great. We then went to lunch as a distinct and on the way there, we got side swiped. Nothing too bad, no one got hurt, just a big headache with everyone involved. But we did make it to lunch and had a good time. We then had another "exchange", sort of, and I helped with the paper work. We then tried by some people, then picked the other two elders up from the church because they were completely soaked.

Thursday, we went to an appointment that took us an hour to get to, because I had to walk, then when we got there, the guy didn't want to talk right then, so we had to walk back home. I finally got my bike back, so that meant I didn't have to walk all day.

Friday, we did service for someone, and we were bringing things up from the basement, and the smell down there was awful, all of us wanted to throw up, but we got it done. We then went home and got showers. Then went and met with some of the sisters at the church to see how they were doing, then gave them a little training. We then biked to a less actives home to see how they were doing, then biked back to the church for coordination.

Saturday, we had a lesson with someone we had talked with earlier in the week. We talked for a little bit, then shared a very powerful restoration lesson with her and she loved it. We even set a baptismal date with her, so we will see how this goes. We then saw the member in the hospital and visited with him for a bit. We then tried a few people, then had dinner with the part member family we see every week, and we were finally able to make plans with the parents to teach their kids.

Sunday was good, church went by quickly. Elder Crystal got us in trouble, he challenged a member to join the bike races, then that member invited the bishop to join. Now normally I wouldn't be too worried, but through different sources, we found out that the bikes they have are easily between 2-5 THOUSAND dollars, so... We are doomed. Later we took the sacrament to the member in the hospital, then had dinner with an active family, and it was great. One of their kids is almost as crazy as I am, that's probably why he wanted to play with me the whole time we were there, and let's just say, I now have teeth marks in my iPad case, because it was either that, or my legs. It was great, he was a mix between John and Elizabeth.

Well, I'm excited to see you next Sunday.

Quick shout out, Happy Birthday Dad!

Love ya!

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

My district

Front row, Elder Crystal

Middle row, Elder Conlin, Elder Peck, Elder Stedmen, Elder Hansen, Elder Durrant.

Back row, Sister Honey, Sister Bancroft, Hermana Larson, Grandma, 

Hermana Starling, Sister Webb, Sister O'ceffe (I think that's how the last one is spelled.)

My district

Front row, Elder Crystal

Middle row, Elder Conlin, Elder Peck, Elder Stedmen, Elder Hansen, Elder Durrant.

Back row, Sister Honey, Sister Bancroft, Hermana Larson, Grandma, 

Hermana Starling, Sister Webb, Sister O'ceffe (I think that's how the last one is spelled.)