Dear all,

This week has been another hectic one. President and Sister Albright leave this next Thursday. This last Wednesday, Elder Dehaan and I had the opportunity to go to the temple with the departing missionaries, the APs, and President and Sister Albright. What an experience that was! One that I will not forget. President then took us all to Cafe Rio for lunch. It was a lot of fun! We also had two half-mission conferences. One for the south side of the mission, and one for the north. It was a farewell conference. The Albrights spoke to the missionaries, and shared different pieces of advice. Elder Dehaan, myself, AP Johnson, and AP Parker had been thinking this whole transfer of something to give them as a farewell gift. We wanted to present them with a gift at both of the conferences. Both gifts were a miracles. So we decided to give them a mosaic of the DC Temple, made up of 5,000 pictures of missionaries and different baptisms. The whole picture was 3 feet from corner to corner. Elder Dehaan and I went to Michaels to get it framed 3 days before the conference. They told us that it would take 3 weeks to get it done, or we could go to a custom framer, and pay $150 bucks for one. So that was out of the question. We were pretty down, then Elder Parker found a frame that was almost exactly what we needed on Craigslist, for much much cheaper. And the person lived in Fairfax (just down the road)! So we got the frame, and took it back to Michael's the day before the conference to get it put in. we found out that it was 3/4 of an inch too wide, and they didn't ever cut pictures. So we took a razor blade, and carefully trimmed the sides. Now we needed it to be put into the frame. They told us that it wouldn't be done till the following evening. That wouldn't work. So we put the picture in ourselves, and the guy working there came over and stapled it in. He told us that it was no charge, because it was such a pretty picture. During one of conferences, we surprised President and Sister Albright with the picture. Their faces were priceless! The whole audience was in awe. The picture of it is attached to this email.

The second gift was a miracle as well! We couldn't figure out what else to give them. We already had the mosiac, but what else? In the DC Temple Lobby, the picture at the top of the email is spread across a wall. I was standing there looking at it, and President walks up beside me and we start talking. I told him that we were lucky to have that same picture in our apartment. He was surprised, because he didn't think there were any more of them made. He had been looking for a copy, but couldn't find one. So after the temple, we were running a bit late. President and Sister Albright took the Sisters to the book store. We decided that we would go there, and if they were there, we would stay. If we didn't see them, we would go to lunch. So I'm driving, and Elder Johnson is next to me. I had no idea where I was going. He was telling me to take all of these turns. Then after 15 min, he told me "I have no idea where we are going". Great... We sat there for a sec, then he told me to turn down this tiny street. We go down, and we can't believe it. The bookstore is right in front of us, AND President and Sister Albright are pulling into the parking lot. So we go in, and look around. Lo and behold, I find that picture that President wanted. We secretly buy it without him seeing. We gave it to him at the other conference, and he was so surprised and happy! If we had gotten to the bookstore any earlier, we would have seen that they weren't there, and left. It was crazy...

I went on an exchange with an elder in my district a couple days ago. His name is elder Coates. His companion is the district leader. He is being trained this transfer. The two of them have been struggling with getting along with one another. Elder Coates just has some adjusting to do. Which is what all new missionaries need to do. He is from a small town in Idaho, and is now put in a big city full of different cultures. So we went and delivered some stuff to goodwill that an older lady had asked them to donate. As we were unloading the stuff, a worker came out to help us. As a missionary, you always notice when someone is looking at your tag. It's like you have a giant bug on you or something. He then asked me if I was a jehovah witness. I kindly told him that I was a Latter Day Saint missionary. He then asked me about Mitt Romney. I have found that Romney is a great conversation starter, but just a starter. The conversation is difficult to move to the Gospel when the person is talking about politics. So I told him that we as a church don't support nominees, but as individuals we do. I quickly asked him if he goes to church. He said that he hadn't in a long time, but has been looking for someone to bring him to one. He went through Alcoholics Anonymous a while ago, and says he has been sober for 14 years. We talked about the atonement and Christ's love for all of us. We invited him to attend church, and he accepted without hesitation. He lives in the Mt. Vernon area, so we got his information, and passed it along to them. I'm excited to hear about how he is doing over the next week or so. 

I love you all!

Elder Michael Litchfield

Dear President Albright,

      This last week was one of the most tiring weeks of my mission, but it was one of the most spiritual. I was very grateful to have been able to attend zone conference this week. There was something said that really struck me, which was to listen and FOLLOW the Spirit as we find and teach. It reminded me of a true story that I hold very close to my heart that comes from our family history.

      Many years ago, there was a missionary who was half-way through his mission. He hadn’t had a single baptism, and he felt very discouraged. One day, he and his companion were out tracting. They knocked on a door and an angry man answered. He yelled some explicit words at the elders, and then slammed the door closed in their faces.  When this missionary arose the next morning, he felt a strong impression to return to that same house and knock again. His companion argued with him for most of the day, but finally ended up agreeing to try. They prayed that the man’s heart would be softened.  When they knocked on the door again, the wife of the man answered. She let them in and the elders taught her and her four young children about the restoration. The husband arrived during the lesson and listened; this time his heart was softened. A month later, the couple was baptized. These were the only baptisms this missionary had during his entire mission. That young married couple were my great-grandparents!

     Every two years, we have a family reunion. Several years ago, my grandfather contacted that same missionary who was still bothered about the apparent “lack of success” on his mission. Then during our family reunion, my grandfather had all of our family gather in an auditorium. He then invited this former missionary, now an old man, to walk out onto the stage. He had him look into the crowd, and asked if he knew who these people were. The old man replied, “No.” My grandfather then explained to him that all these people were the result of his baptism of one couple many years earlier!  All 107 members of the church present were the direct descendants of the couple he had baptized, with 24 people serving or having served full-time missions. Countless others had been converted by these dozens of missionaries serving from our family. The old man fell to his knees and cried. We all cried together. I was just a teenager at the time but I will never forget the overwhelming feelings of love and appreciation in the room. If this man as a former missionary had not listened to a spiritual prompting early one morning, and acted upon it, my family and I may not have become members of this church. How grateful I am for that missionary to have acted on that impression. Without him, who knows where I would be today, or what I would be doing.

     We all need to pay close attention to spiritual impressions we receive and then have the courage to act on them. Even if it means going back to someone who had said some pretty mean things! I bear you my testimony that I know this gospel is true. The work that we do is far greater than we can comprehend. I love our Savior and the Atonement that he performed.

Sincerely,

Elder Michael Litchfield