Post from the Washington D.C. South Mission blog

 

This last week was a week to remember! I was able to witness four people commit to a baptismal date! I LOVE the opportunity to witness God touching these peoples hearts in a way that allows them to know that our message is true, and baptism is the path that they should go. I am no better than any missionary out here. My dad taught me that the most important thing while serving a missin is to be humble. I didn't do anything to these people. I just asked them a simple question. It was God that preformed miracles in the hearts and lives that allowed them to realize what's in front of them. I am trully honored to be a missionary at this time in my life. To witness the blessings of success that God gives to my companion and I. I love the work

With much love, Elder Michael Litchfield

So this week was full of high's and low's. Monday night, we stopped by
a potential investigators house, that we tracted into a while ago, to
try to teach. She answered the door, but said it wasn't a good time.
We quickly set up an appointment for Tuesday night, and she accepted.
WE got there right at 5:00 pm (when the appointment was supposed to
start), but she wasn't there. Our ward mission leader was with us, and
he suggested we wait a bit, to see if she was running late. 20 min
later, she arrives, and looks a bit surprised that we were still
there. She let us in, and listened to our message. We taught her about
the restoration, and it went SOOOO well! When we asked her questions,
she answered really well! It was a great expirience. She is in her
early 20s, and is a single mother of a 6 months year old boy. She
wants to raise him in a good enviornment with good examples. We talked
about the For Strength of Youth, and she REALLY liked that! We
committed her to read the Book of Mormon, and pray about it. She said
she would, and is she got her answer, she would be baptized!!!!!! We
are seeing her again this week. Keep her in your prayers that she will
recognize the answer that she gets! That is such a huge part in the
process of prayer. People pray for help, and feel that they never got
an answer, when in fact they did! They just didn't recognize it.
On a less happy note, we found out that the kids that we have been
teaching and playing basketball with, have not been keeping any of
their comittments. That really made me sad. They didn't read at all,
they said they didn't really want to go to church, and I know they
didn't pray. That really got me down. So we are going to have to take
a different approach with them. Hopefully they will soften their
hearts.
Back to a high note! We got a referral from our Zone Leaders last
week. It was a man that had gone to a departing missionary fireside (a
fireside for anyone, where the missionaries that are going home will
speak for a bit on whatever they feel) with his friend. He gave his
information to our zone leaders, and asked for missionaries to come
teach him. Luckily, he was in our area! His name is Rahheev. Born in
Kashmir, India, but grew up in the United States. He grew up
Christian, but converted to catholocsim when he married his wife. He
has teenage kids, but has recently seperated from his wife. He also
recently retired from the Navy, and his father died last year. All
these things are piling up against him, and so he feels that he needs
to find something that can get him through it. We taught him the
restoration, mainly because those were the questions that he was
asking about. We gave him a Book of Mormon, and he said he was excited
to read it. He, too, said that if he got an answer, he would be
baptized. We set up an appointment with him for this Thursday. Right
before we left, he asked us if next Thursday we could teach him about
the purpose of life. We happily told him that we could, and that it
would help him in his life.
So a bit of a roller coaster week, but the success outweighs the
disappointment by far. I have learned that even the slightest bit of
imporvment in a person spiritually, can make your week so much better.
I have learned to be so grateful for ALL of the blessings that God has
given me throughout my mission, even the smallest ones. I love being
out here! It's such a crazy good expirience!!!!!

Elder Michael Litchfield

So my companion was transferred on Thursday. I have been here half a
transfer, and now I have to lead the area. My new companion is Elder
Sjon Johnson (Sounds like Shawn). He is from Houston Texas. This is
his last transfer, so I will be "killing him" as the missionaries
here say. That means I'll be here for the transfer after that. I'm not
gonna lie, I was really scarred after transfers. This area has no
solid investigators, and now I have to lead it. I prayed sooooooooo
hard thursday night, asking for help. Friday night, when we were
playing basketball at the church with some kids that we met at the
streetball court, one of them started asking questions about what we
do as missionaries. He then told us his life story, and explained that
he was worried about what he would do after high school. We talked to
him about the plan of salvation, and gave him a book of mormon. He
told us that he doesn't read well. Luckily, I had a book of mormon
that had a speed-read in it (I got a paper that told me to mark
certain verses in the Book of Mormon, and then tell the reader to go
to a specific page. It should take him an hour to read, and they get
the gist of it.). He was really excited, and told me about 5 times
that he was going to read it. That lifted my spirits. Then, 2 guys
randomly showed up at church on sunday, stayed all 3 hours, then asked
us to come to their house this week and teach them. They also said
they would come to church next week. I know the Lord answered my
prayers. It has relieved me of so much stress.

We also went through our area book, calling former investigators.
There were SO MANY former investigators. It took quite a while to call
them all. Most of them haven't called back, but one of them did! His
name is Adam. Apperently, he was on date for baptism last september,
but it didn't go through, and the missionaries stopped visiting him.
We set up an appointment with him Satureday night, but he didn't
answer his door when we went there. So we decided to go Sunday night.
He was outside his house, smoking a cigarrette. He is from Kenya, and
has lived here for 9 years. We talked to him for a second, because he
was just leaving to go somewhere, but he said he would like to have us
over again and to teach him again. I don't know what the missionaries
did back in September, but he didn't know very much about the Gospel,
so we will be starting from scratch with him.

The lord does answer prayers! I have just given 3 examples of that!
Just like it says ALL OVER the Bood of Mormon "If ye keep my
commmandments, ye shall prosper in the land." How great a promise is
that?! I know it's true too and it gives me such joy knowing that!

I also have been studying the Book of 2 Nephi, and I came across a
scripture that I really like! It's 2 Nephi 9:40. I especially love
that last few sentences of that as well. Read it and think about what
it means!

Yours trully,

Elder Michael Litchfield