Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Well, I feel a lot better today then I did last Monday! Having a fever of 102 is not fun! I pretty much slept from 4pm to 8 am. President approved me of sleeping in which was much needed! Elder Norris is a stud. He still woke up at 6:30 and stayed obedient. He was quiet all morning so as to let me sleep. MY COMPANION IS THE BEST!
Greg came to church on Sunday! Which means he can get baptized this Saturday! He has been smoke free for 5 days now, and is doing amazing! His whole family is smoke-free! At church, someone asked if Greg was a member. He told them that he will be on Saturday, and that his family will be very soon too! Heck ya! As soon as they can figure out their working on Sunday problems, they will get baptized. Greg really wants to go to the temple as a family! The plan is for him to baptize his family. What an incredible experience that will be for him. The ward loves him too. Such a great transition has taken place from us to the ward. Greg is already talking about how excited he is to Home teach! That's what this church needs! Members who are excited to do their home teaching! He will make an incredible Priesthood holder.

Lauren came to church as well! We found out that a recent convert lives right around the corner from her. This recent convert has an incredible conversion story that meshes perfectly with what Lauren is going through. Coincidence that they live so close to each other? I THINK NOT! Lauren grew up a member of the Seventh Day Adventist church, but became Agnostic in her teen years. She is 23 now. We are praying that the she will recognize the Light of Christ that is in her. I gotta say that teaching her has been a tricky one. But she has changed SO MUCH since we first met her. She has gone from totally NOT believing there is a God, to coming to church and actually asking questions if there really is a God. We have even gotten her to pray and ask for a confirmation that God exists! We see REAL GROWTH happening within her and it is incredible to be a witness of that.

Elder Packer (son of President Packer) came to the mission! We had a conference with him yesterday. It started at 8:15 am! If any of you have ever been to DC, you know how awful the traffic is! Going northbound on I95 in the morning is THE WORST! We had to wake up at 4:30 am, picked up another companionship at 5:30 am and drove 50 miles to the Stake Center where it was held at. We didn't get there till 8:00 am. One of the negatives of living the furthest south in the mission. Traffic on the way back was just as bad. We didn't get home till 5:00pm. The conference was from 8:15 am-3:00 PM. There was a meeting before and after the conference for a small group of missionaries (8 in total) and I had the priviledge of being one of them! It was incredible! In the small meetings, we had the opportunity to ask Elder Packer questions about the Gospel, being a missionary, and life after the mission. It was an experience that I will never forget (that's why I have a journal haha!). I don't know what caused it, maybe lack of sleep and food, but in the middle of the conference I felt like I had to throw up. I told Elder Norris that I had to use the restroom and we left the chapel. I ran to the batheroom (while running I was taking off my suit coat as to not get it messy) and threw up in the toilet. Such a gross feeling, but after I was perfectly ok. Elder Norris grabbed me a bottle of water and a mint while I was in the bathroom. But other than that experience, the conference was awesome! In the small group, I asked Elder Packer for his advice on getting missionaries to have a desire to be obedient. His response was short. He told us that missionaries are disobedient because they lack the faith of the blessings that come from obedience, and that their testimonies are struggling. He told us to concentrate on strengthening their testimonies, and by doing so obedience will improve. 

Funny story... Since being with Elder Norris, any time we encounter a BIG dog, the dog attacks (not really attacks, but barks and jumps on) Elder Norris. He has never been a dog person either which makes it that much more funny. So anytime we hear dogs in a house that we knock on, he steps behind me.  One time a big dog ran around me and jumped on him as the person opened the door to their house hahahahahahahah!

Happy Holidays!

Elder Michael Litchfield

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