Where to begin... So I got on the plane in Salt Lake City headed to Regan International with 20 Elders, and one Sister. I got a window seat, and there was a guy in the aisle seat, but luckily no one was in the middle. I struck up a conversation with the guy. He lived in southern Maryland, and was in SLC on a layover. He mentioned that he had grown up Catholic, but hadn't had a religion in many many years. He didn't feel the need at this point in his life for one. I talked to him about the restoration, but he wasn't interested. So for the rest of the flight I read in Alma, and slept. When we landed, we started talking again and I gave him a pass-along-card with a number on the back for a free book of mormon. He was thankful for it, but who knows if it ended up in the trash. However, as we stood up to get our bags and get off the plane, and girl behind me said she had listened to the conversation that this gentleman and I had, and was quite interested. She had a book of mormon at her house, but hadn't read it in many months. She got it from the missionaries, but hadn't seen them in a long time either. I committed her to read it again and pray about it, and she said she "most definitely would". I gave her a pass-along-card as well, and told her to call the number when she got home. She didn't live in my mission, but hopefully she will contact other Elders in her area.

    It was raining quite hard when we got there. All but maybe 3 missionaries were from Utah, Idaho, or Arizona and hadn't seen it rain this hard. It reminded me of home :). They also couldn't stand the humidity, they missed the disgusting dry air in Utah (as you can tell, I did not). They were sweating and complaining, but I was quite content. We met the mission president and the APs and left. Our van was able to drive past the lincoln monument, but only the back side of it. It was raining really hard, so visibility was pretty bad. We then went to the mission home which was a nice home in the country. The elders slept in the basement. There were 5 bunkbeds, and the rest slept on the floor. I quickly snatched a bunkbed, hehe! We ate dinner and met a lot of different people. We then had a testimony meeting. It was pretty short, because we were behind on schedule. After that, we had about 2 hours of "free time". Then we went to bed. The bunkbeds were really really old, and squeaked at the slightest movements. So the whole night was an orchestra of squeaking. We got up, ate breakfast, then had a slideshow about the different area's in the mission. We then practiced door approaches on each other. After, we went to George Mason University and did street contacting. I made sure to be paired up with and elder whom I became friends with in the MTC. It was pretty funny, because as we were walking towards people, we would say to each other "This is it! We're going to talk to this person!", but as they drew nearer, we would say "Nevermind! We're not ready!". This happened probably 20 times before we attempted to talk to someone. We probably attempted to talk to about 40 people, and almost all of them speedily walked away. We did come in contact with Greg, a wrestler for the college who toar his ACL. He seemed interested and gave us his address and number. That felt pretty good. We were there for probably 2 hours.

       We then went to a stake center and met our trainers. My trainer is Elder Paswaters. He is a short guy, but full of energy. We then sat through the departing missionaries devotional. Once that was over, we grabbed our bags and put them in the car and took off. I am lucky to be in an area with a car haha. We are in the Woodbridge Zone, in the Bristow ward. We went to a families house for dinner, the Cuestas. They are members from Columbia, and have a son serving in San Antonio. And yes, I ate everything they gave me. They didn't say what it was, and I didn't ask. I just ate it. They were a very nice family though. And at the end, we gave a spiritual thought.

     The apartment that I am staying at is 3 stories. Two other elders are staying in the basement, and I am upstairs. I even have my own bathroom! But the place is a dump. I have a lot of cleaning to do, because I will not accept how dirty it is.

     I have yet to go tracting, or even teach a lesson, which has been bothering me. We have gone to investigators houses and visited and ate with them, but no lesson. I brought that up with my companion, and he understood what I was saying, and that we would work on that. We have been doing a lot of service though. One investigator makes wooden toys from his house, and we went over there and helped him out, then later that day we went to another house and cut wood. They owned a splitter and asked if I knew how to use it, I told them I had seen one once or twice before hahahahaha. They had a good amount of wood, and I asked them how many winters it would last them. They said one winter. I couldn't believe it! They keep their house at 78 degrees! Waste of money if you ask me... Hopefully I will go tracting soon!

    This ward that I am in is unbelieveable. We have a calender for members to sign up for making us dinner for the month of december. Everynight is full. They give us fruits and vegitables, V-Neck Sweaters, Toilet paper, Tissues, Paper towels, Laundry stuff, candy, milk, and soap. Its crazy. They are such a generous ward. At the christmas party, I was able to meet most of the ward. We sat next to this guy and I started talking to him. He is incharge of the flight attendants on a plane, and has met some pretty famous people (Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Mohammad Ali, Wilt Chamberland)! He is a big guy and likes basketball. We talked about that for a while and then he said that he wanted to have me over of dinner cause he liked me. I later found out that he had his records removed from the church 30 years ago, and never lets the missionaries over. I'm looking forward to see him.

      It's been an interesting few days, but I am doing great. My trainer is teaching me a lot, and I am grateful to have him. If you want to send me mail, it has to be to the 5242 Lyngate Court address. If its a package, it has to be through U.S Postal service. If its UPS or something like that, I would get it till transfer day (6 weeks from now). I love you all and miss you dearly.

 

Elder Litchfield