Tender Mercies

My beloved friends and family

This week was one of the toughest and most fulfilling. Literally every appointment we had was canceled, so we just showed up at people's houses all week. Missionaries aren't exactly polite, but we are persistent. It turned out surprisingly well. What was best is the fact that I've worked harder this week than I ever had before. Even though our numbers were't as great as they usually are, Sister Loder and I both slept well knowing that we exhausted every amount of energy and tenacity that we had. 

I think the satisfaction and peace I felt from this week's work apply to life in general as well. When we think about it, we shouldn't be discouraged by the fact that we fall short. We know we aren't perfect, Heavenly Father knows we aren't perfect. There was a reason that an Atonement was needed, because no matter how hard we try we will never be perfect. It is only through the grace and mercy of our Savior, and our Heavenly Father, that we can receive Eternal Life. When we've done all we can, and we still don't measure up, we can find contentment as we lay our success and sorrow at the Savior's feet, and give it all to him. All the glory, shame, heartache, joy and everything in between. He suffers and rejoices with us. He comforts us and bears us up when we are striving to do what he's asked. Russell M Ballard teaches, "It is impossible for us to fail when we do our best and when we are on the Lord's errand. 

This is where we see that any failure and the feelings of sorrow, discouragement or worry come from either NOT giving it are all or NOT being on the Lord's errand. 

This life is tough. We are all laboring for our own Salvation, as well as our loved one's. Please don't do it alone. Give all that you have, and let the Lord do the rest.  

The Lord lives, and loves us. This is my testimony. 

Have a fantastic week!!!!

Sister Mitchell

Adventuring in Gahanna!

Calling My Name

Well well, It's been a short 4 days since I last emailed, but there's always something to say about missionary work!

On Saturday we attended the Columbus Temple's 15th Year Anniversary with the the H Family and brother H's non-member mom. Oh boy... I needed that. I did not realize how much I missed the temple. There were displays that explained biblical temples, the Plan of Salvation, Family History, and the history of the Columbus Temple itself. I t was an uplifting experience, and we had the opportunity to see some other missionaries who we have missed. I am so grateful we were able to go. We took a tour of the temple grounds with the girls. At one point we took them into the entryway between the outside, and the actual inside of the temple. 

I have not been so strongly tempted in quite a while. I had to physically hold myself back from throwing open the doors and running in. I had forgotten just how powerful the spirit of the temple is. When I saw all the smiling faces of the temple workers, and felt the overwhelming peace coming from that room, I realized just how much I missed the temple. It is so important to me to live worthy of that great privilege. I would die of happiness if I got to go through, so don't expect emails after the 15th..... because WE ARE GOING TO THE TEMPLE THAT WEEK! Oh, I just can't wait. Do me a favor? You don't have to wait. Go in my honor? Thanks! :)

Brother H's less active daughter felt that same spirit I did, because she broke down sobbing. She's never been to the temple, we'll fix that. 

I sure do love you all. 

have a wonderful week!

Sister Mitchell 

"The cutest diner to ever exist"

Mary's view driving home each night.

Transfer P-Day

Famous ice cream!

Temple open house with the chicas!

Here We Go Again...

Dear loved ones, 

Today we received transfer calls! I can't believe it's been six weeks from the time Sister Loder and I became companions. This transfer just flew by. My mission is moving faster and faster, and I really don't know what to do about it!

Some highlights from this week:

We met a great family, the Kenny's. They were referred to us by another set of missionaries who know a member who is their friend. Lesson learned? Missionary work involves A LOT of hands. It's a mom and her four girls. They are so friendly. We taught them a little intro lesson with Kami and it was splendid. Kami was perfect for fellow-shipping, and the girls love to pray. We have high expectations! Two of the girls came to church on Sunday. It's been fun, and unexpected how many kids I've been teaching. #momtraining #missionsarereallyjustschoolforraisingastrongfamily 

Fall happened over night. Literally. One day it was 100 degrees, the next I was wearing a sweater and scarf. That was an adjustment. Although, I can't wait for the Holidays! 

Football season has finally hit Ohio... it is pretty inconvenient for missionary work, but what do you do? #teamOSU

We found out that we will be sharing our car with a set of Elders in our zone so..... i'm a biking missionary! I would be super stoked, except that I don't have a bike... awkward. The sharing starts tomorrow. We'll see what happens!

I honestly can't think of what else happened... 10 days sort of blur together when you are a missionary. 

Today we had a great Zone Activity where we played Soccer and Ultimate Frisbee. It was not as painful as I thought, maybe I'm improving at sports... Or I'm just getting used to being bad. :)

Well, I'm staying in Gahanna with Sister Loder for another 6 weeks. I'm happy, and am excited to see what the transfer holds! 

Peace out boy scout,

Sister Mitchell

How Great

Hello hello! 

This week... the kind of week that reminds you why you are on a mission in Ohio, laboring in the nasty humidity.

The pay off? So much joy. How great shall be your joy? Let's see if I can do it justice...

 Monday: We had a service P-day! Those are starting to become a usual for us. I love serving, so it's no big deal. I however detest 100 degree humid weather. Never thought I'd miss Utah...  We packed up a single member's garage after her movers ripped her off. We essentially played life size Tetris., and it consumed nearly the whole day. 

Tuesday: We had lunch at Indochine with a member family, which is a Vietnamese/Laotian Cafe. The food was to die for, but the best part was the owner of the restaurant. He was this cool little Asian dude who started out by asking us how many wives he could have if he converted to our church, and ended at agreeing to give the Book of Mormon a read and meeting with missionaries. He's Buddhist but had recently been studying the bible. He even brought it to our table to show us. 

Wednesday: The Big Walnut Creek Sisters brought their investigator to Zone Meeting and he sang Amazing Grace to us. Keith is the most soulful, sweet black man I've ever met. He'll be baptized in no time. Later that night the girl's had their "interrogations" (interviews) with our District Leader. It was completely hectic. YW's and Activity Days were going at the same time, so we spent the rest of the night corralling the girl's into the classroom and trying to finish the tithing lesson. Oh boy. One of our girls is 8, so she got to be interviewed by Bishop and there was a pretty decent sized line, so we waited as patiently as we could. In Erin's words, they all "bombed it!" We celebrated and set up the program for the Baptism.

Thursday: We spent a good chunk of unproductive hours finishing things up for the Baptism. We visited this wonderful family. We tried to go over and offer service and instead we walked away with two jars of delicious pickled goods. How does that always seem to happen?! Our members are much too good to us here. #soblessed. That evening we had a lesson with Dale again. We taught the Restoration. Oh, he's a funny man. He is so accepting. If only we could get him to church!!

Friday: It's 10:30 in the morning, and we are going over to the church so that we can get a bigger suit for Elly. We begin to unlock the door and this lady appears in the hallway. She has the expression that would make you think we are thugs with guns storming into the church to kill puppies. She even extended her arm out in a "stop" sign. I mean, really? I have a Missionary Tag on! It's not that foreign of a thing for me to be entering the church.. Once we get in, she asks us if there is a missionary conference going on today and we explain that we are just there to pick something up. She tells us that that is good because she has the ENTIRE building reserved for the next two days. *Chaos ensue* We inform her that we have a baptism at 3:00 pm the next day, and she says that won't work..... Long story short, no one reserved the building as they should have, and this stake music lady was not very willing to work with us. Luckily, I have learned to bite my tongue on my mission. Facial expressions... I'm still working on that. We ended up having to fill the font Friday night (illegal) and then setting up for the baptism right at 3:00, and having it start at something more like 3:30.... 

Saturday: Baptism Day! It was chaotic, stressful, and perfect. We managed to start the baptism around 3:30. Kim gave a talk on Baptism to her girls and it was just so sweet. Brother Hodgins gave a splendid talk on the Holy Ghost. The elders sang When I am Baptized, and it  was excellent. It was hard to keep all my joy and excitement in check. Then came the big dunk! I feel for the girls.. the water had to be pretty cold after sitting there all night. They bore testimony afterward, and Elly shared that she knew the church had been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith, something both her and her mother had struggled with. The spirit was tangible. The whole room felt light and glowy. 

Sunday: Confirmation and Fast Sunday.... couldn't have asked for anything better. Not only did Amy share her testimony on Jesus Christ, but KIM (who we previously had to bribe to come to church on Fast Sundays) bore her testimony on the Holy Ghost, right after her daughters had received it. You couldn't write better Poetry! 

It has just been such a blessing to witness miracles here in Gahanna. Sometimes we get so discouraged and we lose faith in the idea of miracles. I even fall into the trap of recognizing that miracles happen, and are available, but forget that they can happen to me. 

Please don't let this thinking block your faith. Miracles can happen to you. They do. Every single day. Sometimes it is just hard for us to realize the little miracles God is working that lead to life changing moments. Have the humility to ask for our Father's help, have the sensitivity to look for miracles, the faith to accept them, and the charity to be someone else's and....

Great shall be your joy.  

This is my joy,

Love Sister Mitchell 

Where did this week go?!

News Flash: It is September... what? I hit my 4 month mark on Saturday. Woohoo! It certainly does not feel like it's been 4 months. 1 month? Sure.  A whole year? Sounds about right... figure that one out. Time is a funny thing.

Monday: "Elders and Sisters, this is as close as you are going to get to a rave for 2 years..." We played glow in the Dark dodge ball as a zone. All the balls had glow duct-tape, and we sprayed ourselves with broken glow sticks. Splendid time in the Ohio South Stake. That night we had an FHE with a family. We taught about CPR. The three things that help us to stay spiritually "alive": Church, Prayer, Reading of Scriptures. It went well, because they kept all their commitments! Hooray. 

Tuesday: Exchanges. Oh the fun. I stayed in Gahanna (again, I'll be here forever) with Sister Hunger, who is new to being a Sister Training Leader. We had a good time. We got a good chunk of tracting time in, and I got to learn some of her techniques. You can never have enough practice knocking on doors. 

Wednesday: District Meeting was great and spiritually uplifting as usual. We had a correlation meeting at Brother Konneh's house and he fed us this African... Peanut Butter? It's delicious. We had the smoothest restoration contact that I've ever had on my mission when we saw this guy pull into his driveway. Sadly, we later found out he was more interested in a date than the restored gospel. It was probably too smooth of a contact.....

Thursday: On Thursday we had the opportunity to serve a less active family. They are good people with a lot on their plate. They have two family members who have disabilities. Playing and talking with them reminded me of peer tutor. Ah, nostalgia. For dinner we went over to the Hodgins. How do I describe the Hodgins... Spectacular. They take care of their missionaries, I am certainly indebted to them. Also, they terrorize us. *See Pictures*

Friday: Weekly planning, which always seems to go longer than planned, especially since it is a baptism week. Another lesson with our investigator family. We strive to make daily contact with people who are being baptized that week. It all ends up blurring together, but I do remember that one of them gave up coffee and tea!!!!!!! This is major, people. Their mom is such a good example to them, and has really grown in her testimony of the WOW since her baptism. We come to know that principles of the gospel are true and righteous, when we live them. We can never know if something is right until we put faith in our Savior and take the plunge. I'm so grateful for the expressions of faith I get to witness everyday.  

Saturday: Basically every appointment we had fell through, but our backups were solid enough that the day went by quickly. We went to the baptism of a member boy, and then took the girls in our investigator family to Starbucks to get cream-based drinks. #butterbeerlove #whoneedscoffee #notthesegirls

Sunday: Church is wonderful... but sometimes so stressful. You want the atmosphere to be perfect the first time an investigator shows up. I've been working to remind myself that, of course it will be the right atmosphere, no matter how crazy the 5th Sunday discussion on temples gets. It's Christ's church, people will love it? #andtheydo #truedoctrine. 

That night we did service for a woman who fell down the stairs 2 weeks after giving birth and needed to move apartments. The adversary... don't let him get you down. She was amazingly positive. We gad a really good conversation and helped her clean. We have a lunch set up for next week, It's going to be great. 

Well my friends, there's the recap. Last week flew by, and I just know this week will be the same.

Enjoy your circumstances and opportunities now, because you won't always have the same. Sometimes I think about how it will feel to take off my tag for good in 14 months, and it inspires me to work harder, and enjoy myself even more. Let us all be inspired by the fact that one day we will stand before our Savior and account for the time, opportunities, gifts, blessings, and trials that we are given here. There's always joy to be found in the journey, and no matter where you go, God's light will be there. 

I love you all! 

Have some fun, be good, serve your Savior well!

Mary M

Skyline Chili with Sister Loder!

Gahanna District "G-Crew" 

The Hodgins "terrorizing" Mary and her comp with Love ;)

Doozy

I could sit at this computer and struggle to adequately communicate the experience that was this week and this one word would still wrap it up more fully: Doozy. 

To begin with, allergies are the worst. I know this, because I have been sent to the allergy capitol of the universe. Being sick on a mission is by far the worstest. I am blessed to have the Lord's support. #thankHeavenforprayersbeinganswered

Last Monday: We played the usual kickball with the District and the Crouses. You'd think I'd be better at kickball by now, but...nope. Later that night we had dinner and an FHE with our family. We organized a 30 Day plan for the girls and set their baptism date in stone for the 6th of September. The only resistance we got was from Aaron, who wanted to be baptized sooner. This is not a common complaint for us. It's outstanding, but this family is just outstanding in general. After the lesson we watched one of them do the ALS Ice Bucket challenge... "social media fast" blessings. We celebrated by playing Table Hockey. A different side of Sister Mitchell was displayed that night. 

Tuesday: I mowed a massive lawn. The work wasn't too bad. The humidity on the other hand... Since when is it 90 degrees outside at 10:00 am? completely whack. But hey, service is worth it. If I could just do service 24/7, I think I'd be satisfied. No problem can't be solved or made lighter when you look outward and help someone else. I have leaned heavily upon the doctrine found in the talk "The Character of Christ" this week. It's a Bednar. look it up, you won't be disappointed.  

Wednesday: We had another excellent Gahanna District Meeting. We took a picture organized by height. The tallest Elder is 6'8 and Sister Loder is 5'0. We make a perfect staircase. The Youth Missionary Challenge that we've been working for a month now had it's closing ceremony that night. The YW won, so the YM had to make them breakfast for dinner and put on a skit for them. After district meeting we decided since it was our idea, we could put on a dance of gratitude. Enter in G-Crew: The thuggiest missionaries to ever hit Columbus. We danced to a remixed Love at Home rap, and made complete fools of ourselves. It was wonderful. The youth deserved it. We saw many miracles from them accepting the challenge to share the gospel. There is even a baptism coming from one of the most prepared YW I've ever seen. Moral: You never know who God is preparing. Give everyone the opportunity to hear the gospel!

Thursday: Zone Conference happened. I needed to hear what President had to say so badly, and I didn't even know it. Listen to your leaders, they are Heaven's Angels. It was wonderfully inspiring for me, I just hope that the sound of me coughing up my lungs wasn't too distracting from the spirit for everyone else. That night we met a family of five who is totally going to get baptized(#optimism). The dad lived by the West African MTC for years and has met dozens of missionaries. Talk about exposure to the church. 

Friday: Weekly planning, a lesson with the family that didn't go so smoothly... well have to recap the restoration again. I'm definitely learning a lot about how to work with kids.

Saturday: Who even remembers... We worked hard.

Sunday... oh Sunday. One of the hardest days of my mission yet. After Wednesday the rest of the week had just started to roll downhill quickly, and it felt never ending. I faced rejection, confusion, feelings of inadequacy, and a little touch of devastation. But as always, I was blessed with the opportunity to live the principle that I teach, The Atonement. I was cleansed, sanctified, and enabled by my Savior's sacrifice this week. I prayed for strength and grace. I prayed for peace and support. None of my problems went away, but Heavenly Father bore me up. I am so grateful. D&C 84: 88.

This week was a doozy, as is this email. If you've made it this far, thanks for listening. Remember your potential, and the only way to reach it. Look to Him. 

Lots of Love

Mitchell