Well... Another hectic week in the DC South...

We had a great lesson with one of our investigators last night, Nancy... She is still a little skeptical, but her willingness to read the Book of Mormon is amazing. She committed to coming to church next Sunday and searching for an answer with a sincere heart. We had her friend at the lesson and they bore such a powerful testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel. 

We did a lot of driving around the mission this past week. There were several different instances where missionaries had to go through an emergency transfer. There are consequences to all decisions. Negative decisions will bring a negative consequence, such as being moved in the middle of the transfer. 

This next week is Zone Conference week. The mission is struggling with inviting someone to be baptized at every lesson, so President Riggs is have Elder Norris and myself give a presentation on inviting and have the missionaries practice it. President Riggs has a vision of what the mission can become, and we are trying to get the missionaries to see that! We have so much potential in this mission! I'll be honest... Across the board, Sisters do better than Elders, and we are getting A TON OF SISTER MISSIONARIES! So we are very excited about that. Lots of areas being opened up and we are preparing the the mission to be split in July. CRAZINESS!!!

Love you all!

Elder Michael Litchfield

Well this week was such an exhausting week! Monday we played dodge-ball as a zone. It was a lot of fun and we had a great turn out! Monday night Nina and her family had us over for dinner and to say goodbye. They made a huge pot of their special rice and another huge pot of their special pork. It was delicious! Tuesday we had district meetings and then we picked up another missionary to be in a tripanionship with us.  Tuesday at around 5 pm President Riggs picked me up with all of my bags. Since I was in the southern most part of the mission, it was a long drive. It was nice to be able to talk to him for that long in a one-on-one setting. We went to the mission home and ate some dinner with Sister Riggs. We then we to the office to start working on Transfers. They had a rough idea of where they wanted each missionary to go, but things soon started changing. Elders and Sisters out there, from first hand experience I can tell you that mission presidents fast and pray over EACH missionary on where they should go an who they should go with, and that every transfer is ALWAYS inspired! We would be sitting there looking at the board and President Riggs would get up and move someone saying that he felt prompted to do so. He truly does have the spirit working in him! Elder Norris soon met us at the office and it was nice to see him again. We didn't leave the office until 2:30 am. We woke up at 6:30 and met President and the office to work on transfers again. It was such a long process. The new missionaries flew in at 2 pm that day. 22 new missionaries. We had to rent a uhaul to fit all of their bags. It was amazing to be one of the first people to see the new missionaries get off the plane. They all had dear-in-the-headlights looks on their faces. We drove them around DC for about an hour, then went to the mission home. We ate dinner and had an orientation meeting. That night, we went with President Riggs to the mission office again to pray over which trainers should train the new missionaries. We also had to plan our presentation for transfer meetings. We didn't leave the office till 2:30 again. We woke up at 6:30 the next morning to take the new missionaries to the Stake Center where transfers are held. We had another orientation meeting and gave some direction on things dealing with the mission. We then met with the trainers and paired them up. Transfer meeting was hectic, and everyone was asking me questions. At this point I had zero energy. After transfer meeting we went to the mission home with the departing missionaries  had dinner, and then had a testimony meeting. After that was all said and done we went home at about 10:30. I was dead. I don't think I have ever been more tired in my life. But the work moves on. We were able to work in our area a good amount of time on Friday and over the weekend. We taught a lesson to a lady who was absorbing everything really well! At the end of the lesson we invited her to be baptized when she received her answer that the Book of Mormon is true. Her answer was something I have never heard before on my mission. She told us that she would never be baptized again. She was already baptized by the most influential person in her life (her father) in the Jordan River. It was 9:00 by then and we didn't want to go into a big discussion about authority. So we encouraged her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.

Church is at 3pm in this area. That's a bummer because Sunday evenings are a GREAT time to work! But we still got a lot done after Church.

Well that is the last 7 days of my life haha...

Love ya!!!

Elder Michael Litchfield

Well this week has changed the course of my mission... To say the least.

On Tuesday, President Riggs came to our zone to train us on how to better use the pamphlets that the church distributes to help us teach. We were also trained on how to better teach less active members, as well as introduce the Book of Mormon. It was the same stuff that we learned when the guys from SLC came, but now every missionary will have heard it.

After the meeting I went on an exchange with a new missionary. His companion is a district leader and is struggling to have spiritual District Meetings. Elder Cluff was an incredible District Leader and was able to train him well. The Elder I was with is the only 18 year old elder in our mission right now. He lives with 2 other missionaries that are piles (bad missionaries). We practiced teaching for a while, then went out to work. He has an incredible drive to work, and a very good knowledge of the Gospel. His only set back is a mediocre trainer and awful roommates. Hopefully that will all be changed this Thursday (transfers).

This last weekend was Stake Conference. We visited Kathy Osbourn Friday night with a priest and invited her to come to the adult session on Saturday night. She said she would! She called us about 20 min later and said she didn't know if she could come or not, but would call us in the morning. Right away were bummed because that almost always means they wont go. Well Saturday morning she called us and said she would go! So we arranged for the relief society president to pick her up from her work and take her. We had a meeting before the adult session, so we were going to meet them there. Well we get to the meeting and saw Sister Fitzgerald (RS Prez) sitting by herself. We went over and asked where Kathy was. She told us that Josh (her son who was the priest that was out with us Friday night) told her that she cancelled. AHHHHHHH! Kathy had been sitting at her work for a half our waiting for someone to pick her up. She ended up going home. Josh didn't realize that she had called the next morning and confirmed. It was a huge mis-communication that resulted in Kathy not coming.

Sunday afternoon we had one of the greatest lessons of my mission. We taught a less active guy (professional weight lifter. His max bench press is 600lbs!!!!) and his non member fiance. We took a member with us who knew Bryce (the husband) and his family. We were going to teach them about the Plan of Salvation, but Elder Cluff and I both felt impressed to talk about conversion by the spirit. Our member was a convert and shared his conversion story. All 3 of them were in tears at the end of the lesson. It is safe to say that they will be at church this Sunday. haha

Well... To back track now...

After the Adult Session Saturday night, President Riggs (who spoke at the meeting) asked Elder Cluff and myself to stay after for a short meeting to discuss some things in the zone. So after the meeting we met him in the Stake Presidents office. We said a prayer and then President Riggs just sat there looking at us for a solid 25 seconds. He then looked at me and said "Elder Litchfield, I want to ask you to be my next Assistant." Well, I was pretty dang shocked and didn't know what to say. After a few moments I was able to say yes. We then talked about how the next few days would lay out. President is picking me and my stuff up Tuesday afternoon and taking me to the office. Elder Cluff will be with a missionary that lives down the street (one of the piles that I mentioned earlier) until Thursday where he will get his next companion. It is going to be a crazy couple days, but I look forward to the opportunity to serve so close to President Riggs. He is an incredible man! Plus... I will be companions with Elder Norris again! 

Love you all!

Elder Michael Litchfield

So most of you have heard about the new missions opened up. WELL there is one being opened in Virginia! Which will change out mission boundaries. 2 zones from our mission will be part of the Richmond mission. It wont happen until July though. Crazy news around the mission though. Everyone is worried that they will switch missions. It's crazy how close you get to the people you serve with on your mission, ESPECIALLY your Mission President. I would not like to switch mission presidents. I LOVE PRESIDENT RIGGS! He is truly incredible. But alas, it is all in the Lord's hands. If I am mean't to switch, I will switch. 

We are working with Nina to get married. Her baptism date is THIS SATURDAY! I believe in miracles hahaha! We are going over there tonight and she should know by then. She doesn't even want a wedding! She just wants to be married so she can be worthy to live the law of chastity... Actually, ever since she has learned about the law of chastity, she has obeyed it! HAHAHAHA! Her faith is so incredible! Pray for her!

My last full week in Spotslyvania has come. March 7 is transfers. It feels like this is my home! I will be sad to say goodbye to a lot of the people in this area! But the area is in good hands with Elder Cluff. 

Love ya!!!

Elder Michael Litchfield

We had a baptism on Friday! Ariana was baptized by her Step-Dad, Greg. It was an amazing baptism. The spirit was so strong! Ariana said she feels so clean! YES! The impact of her decision to be baptized will not only affect her, but her 4 year old daughter as well. The ward loves that family and the family loves the ward! I am so grateful to have met them.

After the baptism, Nina came up to us and told us that she is going to be baptized before I leave (which will be March 7). She said she got the marriage papers and is going to give them to Joey and let him know that nothing will stand in her way of being baptized. What incredible courage she has! I love it!

The temple was open yesterday. We got a ride with a couple in our ward. It has been almost 7 months since I last went! It has been a year since my companion went! It was such a great day!!!!!

Sorry this is short! Not a lot of time to email! 

Elder Michael Litchfield

Welllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Ariana was interviewed for her baptism. She passed with flying colors. It AMAZES Elder Cluff and I at the progress she has made! She went from avoiding us, to listening to us from another room, to sitting in the same room, to commenting on the lessons, to actually praying! When we first asked her to pray it was like pulling teeth. Now she prays no sweat! Her love for the gospel increases each time I see her. It also helps to have her Mom, who was baptized less than a month ago, constantly bear testimony to her about how true this church is. We talked with Nina (Ariana's sister) about getting married... It seems like all of my emails talk about her getting married. Well, she is going to the courthouse today and getting the marriage papers. She is going to give them to her boyfriend and tell him to sign them so she can get baptized. HECK YA NINA! How can he say no to that?! haha!

We had Zone Leader Council on Thursday this last week and it was really intense! President Riggs is making a lot of changes in the mission! It's awesome! Change keeps us from becoming complacent. The success of this mission is going to skyrocket. President Riggs is such an incredible mission president (now, every missionary will say their president is incredible). He will always and forever be my mission president.

We have this new investigator named Bryan Brown. He calls himself "to be or not to be". He's a great guy and even came to church last Sunday. He's super weird though haha. He never looks at us when we have lessons. He looks at the wall to the right or left of us. One time he was even talking to us for a solid 6 minutes with his back to us. The guy is strange, but he is a child of God nonetheless. He is willing to make the changes in his life necessary to live a Christ-like life.

This week is a busy week with Zone Training, Interviews with President, and Ariana's baptism. For Zone Training we are going to have each missionary right down on a piece of paper how many months they have left on their mission. We are then going to give each of them a picture of Jesus Christ. We are going to talk to them about how much they can give to Jesus Christ in the time they have left. We hope it will give them a little fire under their butts get out there and work.

Elder Michael Litchfield

I STAYED!!!!!

I will be in Spotsylvania for 5 more weeks (it's a short transfer)!!! I will be with Elder Cluff too!!! I was SO happy to stay! Elder Norris told me that this will be my last transfer here. Sad....

We had a REALLY good lesson with Ariana on Saturday! We taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She asked lots of questions which was good! WE were able to answer them and comfort her. She is so excited for her baptism on the 15th. We are too! We're trying to get Joey, Nina's boyfriend, to sit in on the lessons with us. He is starting to warm up to us, but we still have a lot of work to do. 

Each week Elder Cluff and I do ALL that we can to get our investigators to church. Usually 1 or 2 investigators come to church each week. Yesterday, 6 INVESTIGATORS came to church!!!! Our gospel principles class was PACKED with recent converts, less active members, and investigators! We had to bring in more chairs from other rooms so everyone could sit down. Elder Cluff and I taught the lesson this week. It was on Missionary work. It was a great lesson and Kathy Osbourn (she finally came to church!!!) was crying and bore her testimony in class about how loving members of the church are. We hope to set her on date for baptism this week!

We had 25 new missionaries come into the mission this week! 12 of them were Sisters! In the next two transfers we are getting 50 missionaries and more than half are sisters! only 15 are going home too! 

Scripture for the week: 1Peter 3:15 "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready alwaysto give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:"