Well, I am in the middle of nowhere. My area is bigger than both zones that I have previously served in, and I am surrounded by hicks... I LOVE IT! It was definitely a change from being in the busy city. I am as far south as you can go without leaving the mission boundaries. My companion, Elder Tolle, is a stud! During our weekly planning session on Friday, he was able to tell me all about the current people they are teaching and what their needs are! I was thinking "Geez! This kid is going to be training me!" then we went to Burts........ Burt is a less active member. His wife and son were baptized 4 months ago. He gets the missionaries to do some really stupid stuff! I was shocked! He gets missionaries to watch movies/TV, go in a hot tub, shoot guns, look at a pin up calender, play video games, etc... Oh, and if that wasn't bad enough, he is OPENLY cheating on his wife. The whole situation is unbelievable. He is trying to get the Elders to move into his basement too!!! We went there for dinner Friday night. We left there and I was like "Elder Tolle, we can't go back there..." Elder Tolle was trained for that stuff to be normal. Along with other disobedient stuff. I can't really blame him either. His trainer got him to believe that it was OK... Well we have been talking a lot about it, and in a loving way I am trying to steer him back to being an obedient missionary. He is making HUGE progress! I kept stressing that blessings come through obedience. Sunday proved just that! At church, a girl in the ward brought her boyfriend named Joey. He had refused to take the lessons in the past. The young mens leader invited him to come to priests class. (he was the only priest age kid there) So we were able to have a lesson. We talked about the Book of Mormon and the power of the Priesthood. It was amazing! He told us that when he comes to church, he feels so much better. His anger just goes away. He is now preparing to be baptized on October 21st! After church, we had a lesson with a guy named Bill. His wife is a member. He says that he is waiting for his answer, but if it is a YES, he will get baptized asap. We are going to fast this week so that he will get his answer. THEN, we had a lesson with Jasmine. Her sister got baptized a couple months ago and is now at BYU-Idaho. She said that she is interested in learning more and wants what her sister has. "That light that is in her" as she put it. We were pushed for time, but are going to go back tonight and teach her about the Plan of Salvation. Later that night, I met Mary... Elder Tolle and a previous zone leader tracted into Mary right before transfers. Mary doesn't belong to a church because non match her personal beliefs. She told us her beliefs and I kid you not, they matched perfectly with ours! SHE IS GOLDEN! She is already in Alma, and says that if she doesn't come across anything weird when she finishes the Book of Mormon, she will be baptized!!! OBEDIENCE WORKS! I believe the success of those lessons is in response to our diligence and obedience in working as hard as we can! This area has the potential to be very fruitful! I have a feeling that if we continue on the path that we are one, we will see an incredible amount of miracles. I believe Elder Tolle could train a new missionary after this transfer if we fix little bugs here and there. We have also prayerfully chosen 30 families that we are going to visit weekly to ask if they have received any revelation. That was what President Riggs told me to do when he talked to me in his office about the situation. I can see it yielding much fruit.

I started reading the Book of Acts recently, and found a scripture that had an incredible effect on me. In chapter 5, verses 40-41, it says : "And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name."   How amazing is that?! They rejoiced that they could suffer for his name. What a powerful story. I thought a lot about that. Do I rejoice when people yell at me? Or do I sulk? I have to be honest, it doesn't feel too good. Attitude is everything out here. My goal is to have the attitude of the apostles. Serving a mission is a privilege, not a sacrifice! 

Elder Michael Litchfield