E-mail 12/26/2016

I've heard this rumor that it's supposed to be winter, but all I see is spring what with this 60 degree weather.

Tuesday, not a whole lot happened that day, we walked around town talking with people, I got a haircut, and we went to go see people.

Wednesday, Elder Hendricks woke up not feeling too good, but we still went out talking and he was doing ok, but when we got home he took a "short" nap and woke up feeling a little better. Then it was time for dinner and we were happily making waffles when we got a phone call from President Brough. I answered the phone and talked with him for a minute, him being his normal happy self, then he told me that our district leaders companion was returning home due to medical reasons and our district leader, Elder Permann, would need a companion for a few day. He asked if we wouldn't mind being a trio, well we had nothing against it so we agreed. We then went back to eating our waffles. After dinner we went to an older couples home and played Phase 10 with them, then went home to great our guests. We had four other missionaries spending the night, one of which is my favorite Samoan, Elder Matealu! And we stayed up late talking, but I made sure that I was in bed before midnight because I was the designated driver.

Thursday, was a cold frosty day and we were all out the door by 7:30 going to New Albany IN, for the mission Christmas conference! It was a blast, unfortunately my camera didn't have the charge I thought it did so I was only able to get recordings of a couple of the activities, so I will have to get the others from those that did record it. Afterwards we packed up Elder Permann with us and made a few quick stops before we went home because we were in Elder Matealu's old area and made it home safe with only a few non-lethal incidents.

Friday, we went around talking with people then went and saw some of the older members that hadn't been feeling too well lately and visited with then for a little while. Played card again then packed up and went to Jasper (Elder Permann's area) and taught a lesson that night to one of his investigators who is getting baptized this coming Saturday.

Saturday, we went to a members home and played some foosball/air hockey/table tennis with them and some other members of their ward for an hour. Then went to another members home to teach the young man from the night before. After lunch we went to the town square and started walking around talking with people and as we were starting there was this ice cream place that looked good (remember, it's like 55 degrees outside) and as we were passing, this lady stuck her head out the door and said "Hey Elders! Could I buy you some ice cream?" You know me, I won't turn down ice cream, so we went in and as we were getting some she was asking us questions about where we were from and stuff (she is a member that's new to the area) and she found out the Elder Permann was from the same town her grandparents were from and all that fun stuff and we ended up talking with her and her friends for about 20 minutes or so. Then later as we were talking with people, there was one lady that I talked to that told me she was "churched out" then she explained. She told us that she use to be apart of this church where, I can't remember his name but he was the purple Kool-Aid guy, so that was an interesting experience. Then that evening we went back to the members home that we first went to and had dinner with them and played Mexican train ride with them. At first I was keeping a strong lead but by the end I feel hard to fourth of seven. Oh well.

Sunday we went to church in Jasper and they had a nice little program. Then went home packed our stuff and came back to Tell City and called home, I know I had a great time and everyone loved seeing this beautiful mug of mine! We then quickly went to one family's Christmas dinner, but unfortunately we had to eat and dash, then went up the teach a lesson that went really well. I didn't think we would make it there because a huge fog cloud came rolling in and it was really hard to see especially in backwoods roads. On the way home we decided it would be best if Elder Hendricks drove because he is a much more experienced driver and it was a good thing too because as soon as I got in the car I started feeling nauseous, and it just got worse the more we drove, so it was a really good thing I didn't drive. On the plus side I didn't lose my stomach, so that was good.

Well, that was my exciting week, let's see what this one has in store.

Love y'all!

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

E-mail 12/19/2016

The south is really really weird, this week we have had freezing weather, then it wanted to have a summer thunderstorm one day then back to freezing temperatures. Next, I think their definition of a drought is different then ours. For the past two or three months they've said we've been in a drought, but the Ohio River has risen at least 10 feet. The Ohio River! It's a half a mile across! Has risen 10 feet! That's a lot of water! Anyway this was my week.

Tuesday, we made the last few cookies we needed to take around and we've seen everyone we intended to but one. We were planning to see them today but a family emergency came up and we had to reschedule with them again. But as we were driving to someone else's home that lived outside of town, I was reminded why I like taller vehicles. I really like the Nesson Altima that we get to drive, but it makes it easier for people to high beam us, and they don't get the hint when I tap the brakes. But we made it to our destination safely and delivered the cookies.

Wednesday, we had interviews with President and his wife, and I think I hit a personal record for longest interviews. This was the first time I actually had a conversation with them as we talked, it was nice. After we got home, we walked around a bit, talking with people, then tried by a few but no one was really home.

Thursday, we did our weekly planning, walked around talking with people, drove out to see if we could get in with a family, but unfortunately we were unable to. So we drove back and helped the Reeds fill the bags for Saturday, and this was the first time I've ever seen more stuff be put in the adult bags then in the kids' bags.

Friday, we were going around doing our normal rounds, trying by different people, then went over to the church to set up, and boy was that stressful. We got everything set up as far as we could, then got out of the way, waiting for one of the sisters to tell us what they wanted moved next, we were just sitting there joking back and forth, when the sister in charge called at as, asking why we weren't doing anything, so we told her exactly why. We had moved everything that had been asked of us to that point and didn't want to get in trouble for moving something we weren't supposed to. So she gave us a job, filling the last couple bags with things (we ran out of a few things the day before), and not two minutes later another sister walked into the room we were in and got after us for doing that when there was heavy things that needed to be moved in the main room. We just couldn't win that night, but it was finally all done.

Saturday, was a very interesting day, this whole week the temperature has been averaging around 20 degrees with a 10 degree or less wind chill. But today we had a high of 63 with scattered rain showers. So the Christmas party is at 5, but around 3 the rain started picking up and the severe weather sirens went off. We're thinking that this could be bad especially since there was a tornado watch warning on the weather app. But it started calming down and we went to the church to practice for the play with the primary. It was the birth of the Savior from the perspective of the Book of Mormon, I was Samuel the Lamanite of course, and Elder Hendricks was Nephi. As we were sitting there Sister Reed started handing out music sheets, and we gave a formal protest on that, ok it wasn't formal at all, but we weren't going to be singing. The storm did pick back up with vengeance, other then that, the evening went by really well and there was lots of good food.

Sunday, the temperature dropped back down to the 20's and the night before the branch president said there is a chance that church would be canceled if the roads were too bad, but the Lord provided a miracle. Even after all the rain we had, the roads were dry except for a few small ice spots, so we were able to have church. Afterwards we decided to walk around a bit just to show everyone how crazy we were, nay, we wanted to see if anyone was outside that we could talk to/ help out, but most people wisely stayed inside. Then that evening we went to see the family from last week, the Mitchell's, and after they feed us lasagna (mmm! so good) we shared with them the plan of salvation and she really liked it. The spirit was there and she appears as if she really wants to except it, but is still too nervous about the whole thing, but she asks really good questions. Afterwards when we were setting up a return appointment, I mentioned how next Sunday was Christmas and we figured they would not want to meet that day, but after they looked over their schedule, they asked us if we were busy that night, well we went so next week we will be teaching them on Christmas day!

Well, that was my fun, exciting, and freezing week.

Love y'all!

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

E-mail 12/12/2016

It got really cold, really fast over here, I! Don't! Like! It!

Monday, we were asked to help set up the Christmas tree at the church. I forgot what it was like to decorate with women, everything had to be done a certain way, and they told us they didn't want it to look like it was just slapped on. Giving my grin, I replied, that's exactly what's happening. Everyone got a good laugh. Well luckily for us we had to get going because there were things we had to get done.

Tuesday, we started our master plan, our plan to get in with less actives. One word; Cookies! We have made SO many cookies, but it's working. We have gotten in with so many people, never underestimate the power of cookies. Well we also had a Christmas card, an invitation to the branch Christmas party, and a Light the World card. For dinner a member invited us over and boy, that place was hard to find. They live out in the woods down a long driveway and their house isn't even visible from the road, but they have a very beautiful cabin that they built. They fed us pulled pork sandwiches, but instead of pork it was venison and it was good! After dinner, they had mentioned that they were having trouble getting their phones to connect to their cars so we offered to do it for them. It took us under a minute to get hers all set up, but after 20-30 minutes with his, we finally gave up because we had to get home.

Wednesday, we baked a ton of cookies and took them around to people and even got into one home that we've been trying the whole time I've been here. They were really friendly and the wife even said that we were lucky to catch them because she's not normally home at that time of the week. They even gave us some potato soup and said we could come back.

Thursday we were getting ready to go to Zone meeting when Elder Reed called us and said that a member had had a heart attack and wanted a blessing, so we dash over but just barely missed her. They were flying her over to Evansville, so we were going there anyway and headed over. Well somehow we beet the helicopter to the hospital and waited with the family, and waited and waited and waited. Finally the helicopter showed up and took her right into surgery. After another 30 or so minutes they finished and we were able to give her the blessing. Then we left and finally made it to the last 10 minutes of Zone meeting. Afterwards the Reeds took us out for lunch then we went home.

Friday, we made and delivered more cookies. Later we had coordination.

Saturday, we went to the church and filled up the font for a little girl getting baptized, so we did that and helped out with it. Then that evening we went over to some members that we had lost contact with, so we went up there and gave them their cookies. She apologized for not getting back with us being a very busy time. Well they also feed us "Poor mans stew" and it was really good. Then we helped them bring in their Christmas tree and asked him when his brother would be home (he lives next door with his family) and they said to try by the next night.

Sunday, it was interesting with quite a few people missing, being sick, but we still had a decent crowd. After church Sister Reed asked us to pick out our costumes for the Christmas party program, and immediately I saw what I wanted, I grabbed a long peace of material, throw it over my shoulder and put the belt around my waist and wala! (I will be Samuel the Lamanite. We are doing were it will be from both the Book of Mormon and the Bible.) Well that evening we went to the brothers house and took them cookies, and this was my first time meeting him. They were really nice, and after they sent the kids out of the room, told us that she would like us to teach her, so we got really excited, and taught her some right then. We set up a return appointment and they said they would even feed us! Who ever said that cookies were on the dark side was sadly mistaken.

 

Funniest thing I saw this week, someone quoting a TV show.

"How do you know He was the Flash?"

"He was SO nice. He was either a superhero or a Mormon."

Love y'all!

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

Rome Indiana, population 36, how many living things we saw, a goat and a rooster.

 

E-mail 12/05/2016

Greetings, it's cold here, but probably not as cold as wherever it is that you're reading this.

Tuesday, started off interesting, it was transfers and my new companion was coming down from Robinson Illinois. The plan was for the Reeds to drive us to the top of the area and we were going to meet up with them, pick up Elder Hendricks and his ride was going to take Elder Long the rest of the way to Louisville, then the Reeds take us back down to Tell City. It was a great plan, the best plan (he he he), that is until they tell us that they are running an hour behind, so the Reeds decided to just take us to Louisville and pick up Elder Hendricks there. I was just fine with that, I was able to see some missionaries that I hadn't seen in awhile. On the way back, they feed us breakfast at Wendy's, then when we got home we spent the rest of that day and the next doing a deep clean, because the apartment needed it badly.

Wednesday, see above paragraph. We also went to a members home to plan more of the Christmas party.

Thursday, we did a lot of walking, and walking, aaaaand walking. Then I started introducing Elder Hendricks to members.

Friday was a repeat of Thursday, plus district meeting.

Saturday, we were doing some more walking and decided to head to the church, and we got there just after the Reeds. They were there to clean the church, so we did what we needed to do then helped them out. Later we had stopped by the Relief Society Presidents home and talked with her for a little bit. She had asked us to go visit someone else, so we headed over there and start walking around the area trying to find the members home, but that's wasn't working, so as we were stepping off the road for a car that was coming behind us and to make a call to someone who would know, the car stopped beside us and it was the Reeds! Turns out, they were just by the members home and showed us were it was. Then the last thing for the day, we went to Bro. Zellers home and had coordination and introduced Elder Hendricks.

Sunday was good, tons of people gave there testimonies and everyone was excited to meet Elder Hendricks. After church when everyone else had left, Elder Hendricks suggested I practice the piano, so I sat down and started playing. He made the comment that he wished he knew how to play the piano, so we found a hymns made easy, and I showed him were to start and how to read the notes and for the next hour and a half he practiced. That evening, I thought that the Christmas Devotional was at 6 my time so we went to the church, and turned on the TV that was already set up, and it showed that there was still an hour before it started, so Elder Hendricks practiced for half an hour then I practiced for half an hour. Then we watched the Devotional.

A little bit about Elder Hendricks: He is from Bountiful Utah, he is the middle of five kids, he has been out for a little over a year, and we have had two similar companions. I replaced him when I went to Newburgh with Elder Crystal, and then he and Elder Painter were MTC companions. He is the first missionary that I knew before I became companions with him and we are both nerdy in similar and different ways so we have lots to talk about. I am excited for this transfer.

Love y'all!

Elder Durrant

Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

This sword is Bro. Embrey's, it's a replica of
Gandalf's sword from Lord of the Rings.

This sword is Bro. Embrey's, it's a replica of 

Gandalf's sword has while signing books.

This is a 5 car passenger train that is next to 

a flood wall next to the Ohio River.

 

 

 

 

This is the Embreys, they are the ones we are 

planning the Christmas Pparty with. 

And that is there grandson, 

his dad is the one on the stairs.

 

 

 

Me and Elder Hendricks on our first P-Day.

Our district