So a while ago, Elder White and I were tracting, and got let

into this one house. The family was really nice, and enjoyed talking

to us. However, they did not have interest in the gospel. So as we

were leaving, a friend of the family that was there asked us if we

would stop by his house and talk to his mom in a couple days. We wrote

down his address, then left. So last week we went to his house. The

guy, Matt, answered the door and told us that his mom was gone. He let

us in and asked us to sit down. We taught him about the Restoration of

the Gospel, and he had lots of questions. He is a senior in high

school, and has questions about his religion (He is Catholic). His dad

died when he was 14, and that has been bothering him as well. We gave

him a book of mormon and he said he was excited to read it. We then

set up a return appointment (hopefully his mom will be there) and

left.

     We weren't able to see Carol this week, because she had some

health problems, but she was at church on Sunday! She even brought her

daughter! A sister in the ward, who is neighbors to Carol and doing a

great job of fellowshipping, told us that Carol was explaining things

to her daughter throughout church. That was awesome to hear! She is

taking what she learns from us, and teaching it to her daughter! She

isn't even a member yet, and already doing missionary work!

    We tried setting up an appointment with Domininc (From Ghana),

but he said he had a big project at his work, and would be very busy

all week. He asked us to pray for him, and told us that he has been

reading the book of mormon and likes it a lot!

   So we have two missionaries that are our roomates, and they have

been coming home later and later since the transfer. So Elder White

and I decided to play a little prank on them. We got home at 9, and

knew that they would be home late. We parked the car a little bit down

the road, so they would think that they were the only ones in the

house. We tied fishing line to an open door, and to the power switch

on the breaker board (Which was right above one of their beds). It was

nearly invisible, so they would never see it. I hid under the bed,

while my companion was right outside the back door by their beds, with

a scary clown mask on. At about 9:40 they got home and sat down to

plan for the next day. A few minutes later, I pulled the string that

killed the power, then pulled the string that slammed the door on the

opposite side of the room. That freaked them out. Then my companion

came through the door with his clown mask on. I have never heard two

grown men scream as loud and high pitch as they did... After the

realized what had happened, they thought it was funny as well. I will

never forget those screams.

    On a different note, while I was at a dinner at a ward members

home, they were talking about a dance festival that the stake was

doing. I mentioned that I had participated in one back at home, and

thought it was really fun. Little did I know that word travels fast in

my ward. The next day I get a call from the Stake Young Womens leader

asking me if I would speak at a fireside Sunday night about my dance

festival experience. My companion said as long as I brought it back to

missionary work, it would be fine. So Sunday night I told them that I

was a part of a dance festival, and that I had fun doing it. I also

challenged them to invite at least on of their friends to the

pracitces, and to be bold when asking. Too often I hear about soft

invitations, that are easy for non-members to find a way out. I told

them to let their friends know that they trully want them to come, and

that it is with the best people they could be with. Hopefully we will

be getting referrals soon!!!

Sincerely,

Elder Michael Litchfield

First off, I'd like to give a shout out to my Dad. It is his birthday
tomorrow! Happy Birthday Dad!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to go through the Washington D.C.
temple. It was incredible!!! What an amazing expirience it is to be in
such a magnificant place. On the way to the temple, we got a call from
our Zone Leaders. They told me that I was staying in my area, and my
companion was leaving. He had been in the area for 6 months, so it was
a big shock to him. My new companion is Elder White. He grew up on a
farm in Iowa, so I knew he would be a hard worker. He actually was in
this area a year ago, so he knows his way around (unlike me). Right
when he unloaded all of his bags, we left to go work. We had a lesson
with a man named Domonic. It was incredible! He understood a lot of
the restoration. His sister, who was sitting near by, also joined in
on the conversation. His only concern was the significance of baptism
by water. Friday we had a lesson with Carol. It went great! Her
neighbor was there, who is a member, which made the lesson better. At
the end of the lesson, we set her on date for baptism! She will be
baptized February 18th! At church on sunday, she said that she was
going to have her 2 good friends and her daughter come and listen to
the next lesson. It was awesome! The weather here is finally starting
to look and feel like winter. It started to snow on Friday, but not
that much. Not as much as Washington, thats for sure! During nightly
planning, everytime we have open space in our schedule, I put down
tracting. I love it! I tract in below 30 degree weather. I tract in
rain. I tract in snow. It's fun! Elder White says he has never met a
missionary that likes tracting. I guess there is a first for
everything... Staying busy is key, and I feel that we will be very
busy this transfer. We are going to get a lot of work done in these
next 6 weeks.

Elder Litchfield

This last week was really good! We got a referral on Tuesday, which is
like gold for missionaries. Someone had went to the DC Temple, during
the festival of lights, and requested to have the missionaries in
their area come teach them. So wednesday, I was like, Elder Paswaters
I want to go see Domonic (The referral) tonight. So we went and
knocked on his door. We stood their for about a minute or two, and no
one answered. So elder paswaters wrote a note and stuck it on the
door, saying that we dropped by. I just stood there. He told me that
no one was home, and that we should leave. I don't know why, but I
didn't move. I didn't say anything either. Another minute goes by, and
I see someone peer through the curtains on the side of the door. They
opened up and we started talking. It turns out that Domonic lives in
Maryland, and this was his Brothers house (Joe). He said that we could
come back tomorrow, because he would be there. So thursday we went
back, and it was pooring down rain. Joe answered the door and said
that Domonic wasn't there. However, he asked us to come in and dry
off. So we sat down and started talking with him. He is in his late
20s, and moved to the United States from Ghana when he was 19. He
works with Computers, and travels a lot. He asked us a lot of
questions about the church. I asked if he wanted to come to church
Sunday. He said he would if he were in town. To our dismay, he flew to
Europe sunday morning and was not able to attend, but said he will
next Sunday! We are still trying to set up an appointment with
Domonic. Friday we had an appointment with Carol. We taught her the
restoration, but she had so many questions! That made it hard to have
an organized lesson. Her neighbor, Sister Hale, was able to sit in on
the lesson. The members seem to learn much more when there is a member
present in the lesson. Carol had a problem understanding the language
of the Book of Mormon. I told her to pray before she reads, and ask
for help. She didn't come to church sunday, which was a huge bummer.
Later that night however, she called me and said she was so sorry for
missing church. Her great grandkids were sick and she didn't want to
get others sick. She didn't want us thinking that she was becoming
uninterested. She told me that she had stayed up till 1:00 am the
night before, reading the book of mormon. She said she did what I said
about praying for help, and it worked! She said she believes in what
she is reading, and is excited for our next lesson (This Friday)!
Sunday I gave a talk on Charity. I had been studying the topic all
week long, so I was very prepared. I found a love for the scripture in
the book of Corinthians chapter 13! That was the basis of my talk...
    So there is a place in our area called BR Frozen Custard. They
have this challenge that you have to eat 6 lbs of custard with 3
bananas and 6 toppings in 30 min. I guess 700+ people have tried, and
only 18 have done it. So yesterday (P day), I decided to give it a
shot. Sadly to say, I failed. I ate 4 lbs, and could not eat anymore.
The lady who owns the store said she has seen most of the 700 who have
tried, and almost no one gets past 2 lbs. So I guess that made me feel
a bit better. I have pictures of it, so I'll try to send those soon.
Transfers are this Thursday, and I find out tonight If I am staying
with my trainer for the full 12 weeks, or if I am getting a new one.
We'll see what happens...

Sincerely,

Elder Michael Litchfield

So I live in a 3 story townhouse with another companionship living in the basement. One of the Elders living below us has been having a really hard time. He goes home this May, but has gotten really depressed. So Wednesday, my companion drove him to see a doctor. That means that I was with his companion for the day. Elder Barney. He is an amazing Elder. This is his third transfer, so he is fairly new as well. His area is a walking/bike area. We walked to see some of his less-active members, knocked on doors, and did service for his investigators. He played basketball for his high school, so we had a lot in common to talk about. The day practically flew by. We biked to one of his investigators later in the day, and taught a lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It flowed perfectly. Afterward, he told me that that lesson worked perfectly. It was a great day. Thursday was Return and Report. We drove to the mission home and discussed about our mission thus far. I was surprised to see that the hot topic of the missionaries was how lazy their trainers were. It made me feel a little better that I wasn't the only one having problems. Friday we were able to take one of our investigators to the temple visitors center. He was baptized in 1972, but took his records off the church in 1976. He struggles with homosexuality. He tells us that he knows the church is true. He doesn't want to give up the lifestyle that he has. After the tour of the visitors center, he came up to me and made a deal with me. He said that after I am done with my mission, he would go through the temple with me. I was completely shocked. That means he has to be baptized at least a year before that, not to mention the process of being baptized again. I see his testimony growing every time I see him.

       Today we went to DC again. We went to the Holocaust museum. That was such an interesting expirience. I can't even describe it. We also went to the Verizon Center (Sports Arena for those who were wondering), and walked around the China town there. It was a lot of fun. It also started snowing today! First time this season, and it is coming down like crazy! The snow flakes are huge!

    Anyway, I'm doing great. I'm absolutely loving Virginia, and the people as well. I can't believe that I have been out almost 2 months. Doesn't seem like it at all!!!!!

 

Sincerely,

 

Elder Michael Litchfield

I can't believe 2011 is over! It's weird to think about where I was a year ago... Well because my companion is a district leader, he had to go to a mission leadership conference. So I was with Elder Worthington for the day. He was in the MTC the same time I was. He is a hard worker. I went over there in the morning, and we did our studies. From there, we went out tracting. I believe we walked about 15 miles. It was a lot of fun. We knocked on tons of doors, and met a lot of interesting people. We stopped by at many of his investigators homes and talked to them for a bit. We got back to his apartment at around 5 pm. We started making dinner, and got a call from some other elders in our district. Elder Worthinton was talking with them. They were at the library doing Mormon.Org stuff. They said that our companions were there, watching motocross videos on Youtube. Way to set a good example. Saturday night we were able to watch Kung Fu Panda 2 as a Zone! It was such a funny movie!!!

     So we had set up an appointment with Carol (The lady who referred herself online) Friday afternoon. She called us Thursday and told us that she was really sorry, but she couldn't have the meeting with us that day. She said she would try to come to church though. So we sat down for sacrament meeting and looked around. We couldn't see any of our investigators. It was such a sad feeling. After the sacrament, something caught my eye. I looked, and saw Carol sitting with her neighbors (Already members) towards the front! I was so happy to see that! After the meeting got over, we showed her the nursery and had her drop her great grandson off. We then took her to gospel essentials class. From there, she went to relief society. We have investigators that have come to church for weeks, but don't ever stay all 3 hours. This was her 3rd time ever coming to an LDS church, and she stayed all three! After church was over, we talked to her. She said there was a lot to take in, but she likes the feeling that she has when she is in the building. I'm feeling pretty good about her. We set up an appointment with her later in the week to teach her about the restoration.

     Yesterday for P-day, we went to the Capital. I went to the National History Museum, Washington Monument, Lincoln monument, The war monuments, and the Air and Space museum. They were all amazing to see. I wanted to go to the Holocaust Museum, but we didn't go. We took the metro to and from, and on the way back, we talked to this lady and her daughter. She asked us why we were dressed up. That led into asking about her religion and committing her to go on to Mormon.Org... It was a good P-Day.

 

I love and miss you all!

 

Elder Litchfield

Merry (Late) Christmas to everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas weekend! I know I did! But I'll start from earlier on in the week. So there is an elder here who had bed bugs in his bed. Gross, I know. He had bites all over him, and wasn't getting much sleep. He was having a miserable week. They had a guy go to their apartment to check it out. He said that there were tons of bugs, as well as larva under his bed. I don't know the extent of the circumstances, but there was an emergency transfer, and he was transferred to a different district in the zone. He was still having a bad week, and asked the Zone Leaders for a priesthood blessing. I don't know why, but they called my companion and asked us to do it. As we were driving over, my companion told me that I was going to give the blessing. Well I had never given one before, so I was pretty nervous. I got there and said a quick prayer, asking for inspiration on what to say. I gave him the blessing, and It went really well! A couple days later, after an unsuccessful morning of walking around Walmart and best buy, we came back to the town house and got a letter. It was a referral. Someone in our area had gone online and requested to have the missionaries come talk to her. I was really excited! We drove over and knocked on her door. She let us right in! Her name is Carol. She is Methodist, but doesn't practice it. She is around 60 years old, and is taking care of her two great grandchildren. She is having trouble with her children and grandchildren making "healthy" choices. She likes how the LDS church is very family oriented. One of her good friends was converted to the church some time ago, and told her to listen to the missionaries. She didn't have much interested in it at the time, but years went by and she felt it was the right thing to do. Now, this was my first lesson ever taught to a real investigator. This is what I have been waiting for, and I loved it. I felt I was prepared, and had studied my tail off. I was able to answer everyone of her questions to where she could understand it. We gave her a book of Mormon, and she said she would read it. We committed her to pray about it, and she said she would. We committed her to come to church, and she said she would (she ended up not going, due to family issues). I asked her that if she felt that these things were true, and that if she felt that the book of Mormon were true, would she be baptized. She said she wants to! But she wants to learn more first. So we set up an appointment with her this Friday. It was a great feeling to have. The week got even better, because I was able to talk to my parents on Christmas! That was the best gift of all. It's going to be weird to have to wait another 6 months before I can talk to them again. I continue to gain a stronger testimony of this church, and of the book of Mormon. The light that you see in someones eyes when they grab hold to the gospel is unlike anything I have ever seen before! I know this church is true. Without a doubt in my mind. I'm so grateful to be out here sharing this message with others. It's truly an amazing experience

 

Sincerely,

 

Elder Litchfield

This week has been one that had its ups and downs. Last monday, we played a game as a zone called Gator ball. Its like soccer and football and basketball mixed together. Confusing, I know, but fun. I realized that I am incredibly out of shape, so this past week I have been working out every morning and night. I went tracting for the first time, and the only time thus far, Wednesday night. It was only for an hour and a  half. We didn't find anyone that would listen to our message, but the last door that we knocked on asked us to come back Saturday to tell them more. So that felt good to hear. Thursday was the Mission Christmas Conference. All of the missionaries met at a stake center from 9 am to 4 pm. It was much needed. I was able to see an elder who I had become very close to in the MTC. His name is Elder Staley. We talked the entire day about the field. Apperently he wasn't having any success either, but they are working. I couldn't say the same about us. We agreed that we would request to be companions a few months into our mission, because we trully believe that we could get work done. Our personalities are identical, and we both have the mindset of working nonstop. That was the highlight of my week. The rest of the week was boring and long. Elder Paswaters has been here so long (6 months in this area) that the non-members that we visit look at him as a friend, rather than a missionary. I have yet to be a part of a lesson. The closest thing we have done is a spiritual thought after a meal with a family in the ward. It's been very discouraging. The only upside is that I am able to read an insane amount in the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel. It's hard to call the people that we see "investigators" because that would require them investigating the church. However, we have this older couple, Mike and Sue Belote, who have us over twice a week to do service. They met the missionaries in April of this year, and have had them over for service ever since. We were able to get them to come to church yesterday, but only for the first hour. They have been multiple times, but only for sacrament meeting. There isn't much progression going on. Last night is when the poop hit the fan. We went over to a non member house, the Pennington Family. They were watching a football game, had beer on the table, and were using fowl language. Elder Paswaters likes going over and "relieving stress", whatever that means. We were there for 2 hours, and didn't say one gospel related word. We just hung out. I sat there, for 2 hours, reading my weekly planner. Over and over and over and over and over again. I was fuming when we left. I had bit my tongue this past week, because I am new, but that was the last straw. I didn't yell at him or anything. I told him that I wasn't going over to peoples houses anymore to hang out. I'm not on a mission to hang out with families, I am here to bring people unto Christ. I told him we are not using our time wisely at all. He wasn' too happy to hear that. He told me that missionaries with that attitude are labeled as robots. I thought to myself: what attitude? An attitude to work hard and obey the rules? If so, then they can call me a robot all they want. If missionaries don't like me as a person, that's their problem, but they will respect me as a missionary. I will not spend these 6 weeks making absolutely no progression with people. That's not what missionary work is.

    So we will see how this week goes. I prayed that night and asked for help with this whole situation. I had yet to see any progress with anything. I am here to so that the lord always answers prayers. Today, as I sat down to open up my email, a guy comes up to us and asks if we are Missionaries for the LDS church. We told him yes. He said that missionaries knocked on his door 2 years ago, saying that they had a message to share with him. He let them in, and they challenged him to go to church that next Sunday. He said he would, but ended up not being able to. I don't know why, but they didn't go back and see him, so he thought he was in trouble for not following through on his committment. We told him that wasn't the case at all. We asked him if he would like to talk to us again and he said yes! As we were taking down his information, we asked him why he invited the missionaries in 2 years ago, and why he talked to us today. He said that the message that they shared is something that he wanted to learn more about. I was very happy to hear that. It was an uplifting expirience to such a bad week.

I love you all, and hope your christmas season is special. Just remember the true meaning of Christmas. I challenge you all to read Luke 2. Just as a refresher :)

 

Elder Litchfield