So a while ago, Elder White and I were tracting, and got let

into this one house. The family was really nice, and enjoyed talking

to us. However, they did not have interest in the gospel. So as we

were leaving, a friend of the family that was there asked us if we

would stop by his house and talk to his mom in a couple days. We wrote

down his address, then left. So last week we went to his house. The

guy, Matt, answered the door and told us that his mom was gone. He let

us in and asked us to sit down. We taught him about the Restoration of

the Gospel, and he had lots of questions. He is a senior in high

school, and has questions about his religion (He is Catholic). His dad

died when he was 14, and that has been bothering him as well. We gave

him a book of mormon and he said he was excited to read it. We then

set up a return appointment (hopefully his mom will be there) and

left.

     We weren't able to see Carol this week, because she had some

health problems, but she was at church on Sunday! She even brought her

daughter! A sister in the ward, who is neighbors to Carol and doing a

great job of fellowshipping, told us that Carol was explaining things

to her daughter throughout church. That was awesome to hear! She is

taking what she learns from us, and teaching it to her daughter! She

isn't even a member yet, and already doing missionary work!

    We tried setting up an appointment with Domininc (From Ghana),

but he said he had a big project at his work, and would be very busy

all week. He asked us to pray for him, and told us that he has been

reading the book of mormon and likes it a lot!

   So we have two missionaries that are our roomates, and they have

been coming home later and later since the transfer. So Elder White

and I decided to play a little prank on them. We got home at 9, and

knew that they would be home late. We parked the car a little bit down

the road, so they would think that they were the only ones in the

house. We tied fishing line to an open door, and to the power switch

on the breaker board (Which was right above one of their beds). It was

nearly invisible, so they would never see it. I hid under the bed,

while my companion was right outside the back door by their beds, with

a scary clown mask on. At about 9:40 they got home and sat down to

plan for the next day. A few minutes later, I pulled the string that

killed the power, then pulled the string that slammed the door on the

opposite side of the room. That freaked them out. Then my companion

came through the door with his clown mask on. I have never heard two

grown men scream as loud and high pitch as they did... After the

realized what had happened, they thought it was funny as well. I will

never forget those screams.

    On a different note, while I was at a dinner at a ward members

home, they were talking about a dance festival that the stake was

doing. I mentioned that I had participated in one back at home, and

thought it was really fun. Little did I know that word travels fast in

my ward. The next day I get a call from the Stake Young Womens leader

asking me if I would speak at a fireside Sunday night about my dance

festival experience. My companion said as long as I brought it back to

missionary work, it would be fine. So Sunday night I told them that I

was a part of a dance festival, and that I had fun doing it. I also

challenged them to invite at least on of their friends to the

pracitces, and to be bold when asking. Too often I hear about soft

invitations, that are easy for non-members to find a way out. I told

them to let their friends know that they trully want them to come, and

that it is with the best people they could be with. Hopefully we will

be getting referrals soon!!!

Sincerely,

Elder Michael Litchfield

First off, I'd like to give a shout out to my Dad. It is his birthday
tomorrow! Happy Birthday Dad!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to go through the Washington D.C.
temple. It was incredible!!! What an amazing expirience it is to be in
such a magnificant place. On the way to the temple, we got a call from
our Zone Leaders. They told me that I was staying in my area, and my
companion was leaving. He had been in the area for 6 months, so it was
a big shock to him. My new companion is Elder White. He grew up on a
farm in Iowa, so I knew he would be a hard worker. He actually was in
this area a year ago, so he knows his way around (unlike me). Right
when he unloaded all of his bags, we left to go work. We had a lesson
with a man named Domonic. It was incredible! He understood a lot of
the restoration. His sister, who was sitting near by, also joined in
on the conversation. His only concern was the significance of baptism
by water. Friday we had a lesson with Carol. It went great! Her
neighbor was there, who is a member, which made the lesson better. At
the end of the lesson, we set her on date for baptism! She will be
baptized February 18th! At church on sunday, she said that she was
going to have her 2 good friends and her daughter come and listen to
the next lesson. It was awesome! The weather here is finally starting
to look and feel like winter. It started to snow on Friday, but not
that much. Not as much as Washington, thats for sure! During nightly
planning, everytime we have open space in our schedule, I put down
tracting. I love it! I tract in below 30 degree weather. I tract in
rain. I tract in snow. It's fun! Elder White says he has never met a
missionary that likes tracting. I guess there is a first for
everything... Staying busy is key, and I feel that we will be very
busy this transfer. We are going to get a lot of work done in these
next 6 weeks.

Elder Litchfield

This last week was really good! We got a referral on Tuesday, which is
like gold for missionaries. Someone had went to the DC Temple, during
the festival of lights, and requested to have the missionaries in
their area come teach them. So wednesday, I was like, Elder Paswaters
I want to go see Domonic (The referral) tonight. So we went and
knocked on his door. We stood their for about a minute or two, and no
one answered. So elder paswaters wrote a note and stuck it on the
door, saying that we dropped by. I just stood there. He told me that
no one was home, and that we should leave. I don't know why, but I
didn't move. I didn't say anything either. Another minute goes by, and
I see someone peer through the curtains on the side of the door. They
opened up and we started talking. It turns out that Domonic lives in
Maryland, and this was his Brothers house (Joe). He said that we could
come back tomorrow, because he would be there. So thursday we went
back, and it was pooring down rain. Joe answered the door and said
that Domonic wasn't there. However, he asked us to come in and dry
off. So we sat down and started talking with him. He is in his late
20s, and moved to the United States from Ghana when he was 19. He
works with Computers, and travels a lot. He asked us a lot of
questions about the church. I asked if he wanted to come to church
Sunday. He said he would if he were in town. To our dismay, he flew to
Europe sunday morning and was not able to attend, but said he will
next Sunday! We are still trying to set up an appointment with
Domonic. Friday we had an appointment with Carol. We taught her the
restoration, but she had so many questions! That made it hard to have
an organized lesson. Her neighbor, Sister Hale, was able to sit in on
the lesson. The members seem to learn much more when there is a member
present in the lesson. Carol had a problem understanding the language
of the Book of Mormon. I told her to pray before she reads, and ask
for help. She didn't come to church sunday, which was a huge bummer.
Later that night however, she called me and said she was so sorry for
missing church. Her great grandkids were sick and she didn't want to
get others sick. She didn't want us thinking that she was becoming
uninterested. She told me that she had stayed up till 1:00 am the
night before, reading the book of mormon. She said she did what I said
about praying for help, and it worked! She said she believes in what
she is reading, and is excited for our next lesson (This Friday)!
Sunday I gave a talk on Charity. I had been studying the topic all
week long, so I was very prepared. I found a love for the scripture in
the book of Corinthians chapter 13! That was the basis of my talk...
    So there is a place in our area called BR Frozen Custard. They
have this challenge that you have to eat 6 lbs of custard with 3
bananas and 6 toppings in 30 min. I guess 700+ people have tried, and
only 18 have done it. So yesterday (P day), I decided to give it a
shot. Sadly to say, I failed. I ate 4 lbs, and could not eat anymore.
The lady who owns the store said she has seen most of the 700 who have
tried, and almost no one gets past 2 lbs. So I guess that made me feel
a bit better. I have pictures of it, so I'll try to send those soon.
Transfers are this Thursday, and I find out tonight If I am staying
with my trainer for the full 12 weeks, or if I am getting a new one.
We'll see what happens...

Sincerely,

Elder Michael Litchfield

So I live in a 3 story townhouse with another companionship living in the basement. One of the Elders living below us has been having a really hard time. He goes home this May, but has gotten really depressed. So Wednesday, my companion drove him to see a doctor. That means that I was with his companion for the day. Elder Barney. He is an amazing Elder. This is his third transfer, so he is fairly new as well. His area is a walking/bike area. We walked to see some of his less-active members, knocked on doors, and did service for his investigators. He played basketball for his high school, so we had a lot in common to talk about. The day practically flew by. We biked to one of his investigators later in the day, and taught a lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It flowed perfectly. Afterward, he told me that that lesson worked perfectly. It was a great day. Thursday was Return and Report. We drove to the mission home and discussed about our mission thus far. I was surprised to see that the hot topic of the missionaries was how lazy their trainers were. It made me feel a little better that I wasn't the only one having problems. Friday we were able to take one of our investigators to the temple visitors center. He was baptized in 1972, but took his records off the church in 1976. He struggles with homosexuality. He tells us that he knows the church is true. He doesn't want to give up the lifestyle that he has. After the tour of the visitors center, he came up to me and made a deal with me. He said that after I am done with my mission, he would go through the temple with me. I was completely shocked. That means he has to be baptized at least a year before that, not to mention the process of being baptized again. I see his testimony growing every time I see him.

       Today we went to DC again. We went to the Holocaust museum. That was such an interesting expirience. I can't even describe it. We also went to the Verizon Center (Sports Arena for those who were wondering), and walked around the China town there. It was a lot of fun. It also started snowing today! First time this season, and it is coming down like crazy! The snow flakes are huge!

    Anyway, I'm doing great. I'm absolutely loving Virginia, and the people as well. I can't believe that I have been out almost 2 months. Doesn't seem like it at all!!!!!

 

Sincerely,

 

Elder Michael Litchfield

I can't believe 2011 is over! It's weird to think about where I was a year ago... Well because my companion is a district leader, he had to go to a mission leadership conference. So I was with Elder Worthington for the day. He was in the MTC the same time I was. He is a hard worker. I went over there in the morning, and we did our studies. From there, we went out tracting. I believe we walked about 15 miles. It was a lot of fun. We knocked on tons of doors, and met a lot of interesting people. We stopped by at many of his investigators homes and talked to them for a bit. We got back to his apartment at around 5 pm. We started making dinner, and got a call from some other elders in our district. Elder Worthinton was talking with them. They were at the library doing Mormon.Org stuff. They said that our companions were there, watching motocross videos on Youtube. Way to set a good example. Saturday night we were able to watch Kung Fu Panda 2 as a Zone! It was such a funny movie!!!

     So we had set up an appointment with Carol (The lady who referred herself online) Friday afternoon. She called us Thursday and told us that she was really sorry, but she couldn't have the meeting with us that day. She said she would try to come to church though. So we sat down for sacrament meeting and looked around. We couldn't see any of our investigators. It was such a sad feeling. After the sacrament, something caught my eye. I looked, and saw Carol sitting with her neighbors (Already members) towards the front! I was so happy to see that! After the meeting got over, we showed her the nursery and had her drop her great grandson off. We then took her to gospel essentials class. From there, she went to relief society. We have investigators that have come to church for weeks, but don't ever stay all 3 hours. This was her 3rd time ever coming to an LDS church, and she stayed all three! After church was over, we talked to her. She said there was a lot to take in, but she likes the feeling that she has when she is in the building. I'm feeling pretty good about her. We set up an appointment with her later in the week to teach her about the restoration.

     Yesterday for P-day, we went to the Capital. I went to the National History Museum, Washington Monument, Lincoln monument, The war monuments, and the Air and Space museum. They were all amazing to see. I wanted to go to the Holocaust Museum, but we didn't go. We took the metro to and from, and on the way back, we talked to this lady and her daughter. She asked us why we were dressed up. That led into asking about her religion and committing her to go on to Mormon.Org... It was a good P-Day.

 

I love and miss you all!

 

Elder Litchfield