I have survived a whole week in the Richmond mission... It's actually been really great! The mission president here has treated me really well (President Perry from Seattle) and my companion is amazing. We have had a great time together thus far. This past week we have been touring the mission to get familiar. I was able to meet many of the missionaries, and all of the zone leaders. The zone leaders here are terrific! There are 2 BYU football players that are zone leaders. Elder Collie (His older brother is Austin Colle, NFL player) and Elder Unga (Tongan). They are amazing leaders! I was able to introduce Elder Neumeyer to the Zone Leaders in Woodbridge and Fredericksburg as well. We are both VERY Excited for the merge of the two missions! 

It has been the busiest time in my mission this past week. We have been in meetings, running around the mission, and solving conflicts. So proselyting hasn't been plentiful, but after this week, things should mellow out. 

This mission is HUGE! It goes from West Virginia to North Carolina. We drove to Virginia Beach the other day. That was really cool! There is this bridge that cuts across the water, and it goes underneath the water at one point. Apparently it's famous, but I have never heard of it. It was about a 2 hour drive back to the mission office. One of my roomates was in the van with us. I was driving and he was in the front seat. He is new and hasn't taught many lessons in his first couple transfers. I think he said he has taught 4 total. I felt honored that he confided in me and asked me for advice. I had none to give, but the Spirit of the Lord filled my mouth with words to say. It seemed to comfort him and give him the encouragement to continue being a diligent servant of our Heavenly Father. How grateful I was to be worthy of the spirit at that point.

The city of Richmond is neat as well. Elder Neumeyer showed me around a little bit.

This Wednesday we are driving up to Centreville, VA to attend the DC South full mission conference before the split. It was very nice of President Wilson to allow me to go. Then Thursday at 4 President Wilson arrives. He is from Minnesota. From what I hear, he is a huge BYU fan.... SWEET!

I'm loving my mission and all of the experiences that I have been able to have. I am grateful to be here and to be serving the Lord.

LOVE YOU ALL!

Elder Michael Litchfield 

Well... I am now part of the Richmond VA mission. I am in their mission office right now. This morning President Riggs interviewed me, then gave me a blessing. We drove down at about 10 am, and got here a little before 12. We ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant, and then President Riggs left. My mission President is President Perry... Until President Wilson arrives on the 27th of June. President Perry is from Seattle! My companion is Elder Neumeyer. He is from Centerville, UT. He has a little under a year left of his mission left. He went to Weber before coming on a mission. I think he is older than me... But I am not sure. There are a lot of new faces and names to remember. I'm looking forward for the opportunity to serve and learn. I pray that this new experience will make me stretch and grow. 

We live in a house, not with a member, but in an actual house... Weird. We live with 3 other missionaries. I met them at the office a couple of  minutes ago. They seem nice. All 3 of them are new to the mission field. I have been told they they all do Insanity every morning to work out. Looks like I am going to get quite fit! 

Love you all!

Elder Michael Litchfield

One week down, one week to go... Then I will be in the Richmond Mission. President Riggs drives me to Richmond to have lunch with that Mission President on Monday June 17th at noon. Then I help prepare for President Wilson to land and take over, as well as prepare for the other 30 companionship's to be switched. It's gonna be a wild ride.

This last week I was able to visit my first area, Bristow. It now has Sisters in it. They are both brand new to the area. I was looking  through their area book and found a teaching record that I had filled out about 18 months ago. I had a strong impression to have them visit this man. A couple days later they called me and told me that they had visited him. He had been praying that day for direction from God. His life was confusing and he wanted help. After he prayed he sat on his couch and pondered for 4 hours! Then the Sisters knocked on his door. He told them that they were angels sent from God to help him. He even went to church the next day. What an incredible tender mercy from the Lord!

We had MLC this last week (formerly known as ZLC). I gave a spiritual thought about a talk that I got from a family friend many months ago on the children of Isreal and the passover. It was by Elder Waddell. It applied to the fact that we are making a sacrifice by being here, but we have to apply the lessons that we learn to our lives now and in the future.

We have Zone conferences this week. It's going to be so busy! Oh well!

Love you all!

Elder Michael Litchfield

Well... Transfer week was hectic as always! Going to bed at 2 for the past 4 nights has taken a toll on me. Plus it didn't help that I was sick... We had 38 missionaries come in. We opened up a ton of areas. Which meant furnishing apartments, getting cell phones and cars, and everything else that is involved. Everyone was on edge at the Transfer meeting. It's a scary thing not knowing if you are going to a different mission or not. There were a lot of tears afterward (mostly by the sisters). You become such good friends with the missionaries you serve around. Especially the ones that I have served with my entire mission. However, Elder Yates, Rasmussen, and myself are living it up together while we still can. We have been having so much fun! We had some really cool miracles this last week!

Saturday we were checking up on someone whom we had taught the first lesson to. On our way to her apartment we saw these two girls sitting on the curb. We started talking to them about the Book of Mormon and they loved it! One of the girls, Roxy, told us she had a bunch of friends that needed to hear this. So we walked all around the neighborhood meeting her friends and teaching them. It was sweet! After all of that walking, I had to pee SO BAD! But I couldn't find a bathroom. So after an hour of walking around talking to Roxys friends, we went to Noreen's apartment. As we were knocking, I saw a guy (who reminds me of Newman from Seinfeld) who I had talked to when I bumped into Noreen. He had said that his wife wouldn't like it if missionaries visited because she is very Catholic. I asked him if she was still that way and he said yes. So we knocked on the door a couple of times.... No answer. So we walked back down the stairs. Ron (the newman guy) was walking back up to his apartment. Right then I had this impression to ask him to use his restroom. I did and he said "sure I guess that's ok"... We went in and his wife was there. SUPER NICE LADY! I used the restroom and came out and my companions were sitting down talking to her. I sat down and we started teaching her. Turns out she wanted to be LDS when she was younger, but her parents wouldn't let her. She then lost interest over time, but is very excited to learn more. She wants to come to church really bad, because she went as a kid and had an incredible time.

Next cool miracle... We were tracting yesterday and it was SO HOT! We were in our suits because we were going to go to church right after. We must have knocked on 20 doors with no answer. Usually people are home on Sundays. We got to the last door and knocked. Out came Peter. This guy is the definition of God's elect. He had incredible faith increasing questions and is earnestly seeking for the truth. We taught him about the Restoration and he loved it. The spirit was so strong in that lesson. Elder Rasmussen, Yates, and myself both felt very prompted that he is going to get baptized very soon.

LOVE YOU ALL!

A guy called me out of the blue about a month and a half ago. He is from Ghana. He didn't tell me how he got my number, but he asked where the nearest church was to his house. Turns out he lived just down the street. We got him in contact with the local missionaries ASAP! He just got baptized yesterday!!!!! Samuel was his name. I LOVE IT!

Well... Another mission changing week...

President Riggs called me into his office. We had the LONGEST conversation I have ever had with him... But I will sum it up with one sentence he said to me... "Elder Litchfield, it has been revealed to me by the Lord that you are to serve as an Assistant in the Richmond Virginia Mission."........................... Holy smokes... I did not see that coming in the slightest. There will be a brand new mission president in Richmond on July 1st, 2013. His name is President Wilson (we looked him  up haha). So that is the path that my mission will take. Just has Aaron said to the King in Alma 22 "The Spirit of the Lord has called him (ME) another way..." It will be a great opportunity to learn and grow, but I will miss President Riggs and all of the friends I have made in the DC South mission. It's weird. When I got my mission call, I would have never thought I would be switching missions. But if that is what the Lord wants, that is what I will do.

We recently called up 2 new assistants to repalce Elder Norris and myself. Elder Yates, from Bountiful Utah. And Elder Rasmussen from Sandy Utah. Both are great leaders and will do a fantastic job. We will have a fun time being in a trio. I have been told that I will leave for the Richmond mission on June 15th. Where I will spend 2 weeks touring the mission and learning as much as I can about it from my future companion, Elder Newmeyer. I will also show him around Fredericksburg and Woodbridge. I know that area fairly well, since I served 6 months in both.

The mission is always changing. Something that I have learned over the coarse of my mission, and have a firm testimony of, is that whatever happens... know that God is in it.

Transfers are this week. We are getting 37 new missionaries. It will be crazy, but exciting. I think the hardest thing is having to memorize their names and faces before they arrive. President Riggs told us he is going to take us to get our shoes shined before the new missionaries arrive. SWEET! I have never had that happen to me before. They will most likely do a better job than I do... But it will be close. =)

Love you all!

Elder Michael Litchfield

What a cool week this has been! We found some really solid investigators this week! On Tuesday we were working in our area with President Riggs. We were able to teach two INCREDIBLE lessons. It is so nice teaching with President. We had 3 of our investigators come to church on Sunday! One lady brought her two little girls. It was awesome!

On Friday we had Elder Larry Echo Hawk speak to our mission at a conference. There were actually 2 conferences cause we divided the mission up in half. So I was able to hear it twice. It was a such a blessing to be able to hear his testimony and talk to him afterward. it was such a last minute thing too. We had no idea if he would be able to speak. Elder Norris and myself also spoke at the conferences. I feel we accomplished our purpose, which was to get the mission pumped! Our mission struggled in the beginning of the year, but we have made some HUGE strides this past month and have really kicked into high gear. I love it! 

This week we go to the temple with the missionaries that are going home. It is such a blessing to be able to go to the temple once a transfer. Then the next day there is Return and Report, which is where the new missionaries and their trainers meet and discuss how the transfer is gone. As well as receive training on how to improve their missionary skills.

Each week a "Keystone" is written for the mission. It is read before district meetings on Tuesdays. This week I had the honor of writing it. It is attached to this email.

Love you all!

Elder Michael Litchfield

Another great week in the Washington DC South mission has come and gone.

Monday night we had a lesson with a less-active family in our ward, who has a recent convert daughter that Elder Norris taught when he was in this area a year ago. They haven't been to church since then. The lesson was amazing. We committed them to read from the Book of Mormon everyday and they accepted! Come Sunday we see them sitting as a family together! The family wants to work towards going to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity.

Tuesday I was on an exchange with a zone leader from the McLean zone. We were in a neighborhood with a lot of people walking around. President Riggs has emphasized boldness and persistence. So if people are to reject us, we want them to reject our message, and not us as missionaries. When we attempt to talk to people, most of them will say no thank you. That's only because they don't know the message we have to share. So we need to be bold and persistant and teach them our message. If they refuse us again, then we know that they are refusing the Restored Gospel. This has been working well, but it has also brought up a lot of angry people... haha! One lady, in the neighborhood, was yelling at us. She told us that we were unwanted and didn't belong. A couple days later that lady came up to me while I was in line at Subway and apologized to me. That was a first! But she said that didn't change the fact that she doesn't want to hear our message. DANG!

While tracting we were asking people if we could leave a blessing on their home in prayer. One guy let us in! His name is Josh and is a senior in high school. After the prayer we went straight into the Restoration. He loved it! He told us that it wasn't a coincidence that we knocked on his door. The only problem is that his Dad is a tough cookie. He will let us teach Josh, but is going to get in the way a lot.

We had Leadership Training Meeting on Thursday. I talked about Jacob 5:70-77. What an amazing set of verses! I talked about the blessings that come from being diligent and obedient. 

Friday I was on another exchange with a different zone leader. Elder Cluff! My old companion! While tracting, we met these teenagers who we thought were golden! Turns out they were just punking us. At the end they offered us Marijuana. It was ridiculous...

Overall, everything is great! Looking forward to Mothers day!

Elder Michael Litchfield