E-mail 02/28/2011

Hello wonderful family!

I have a new companion! We are on bikes all day! We are tracting a lot! I love being a missionary!

My new companion is Elder Eames, he is so awesome. We are getting along great. We have the car every other week, so we get to ride our bikes. It is so much fun to ride a bike again. We rode to the edge of our area on the first day and that took an hour, it was a good ride. Being on a bike you get to talk to a lot more people, spread the gospel more.

We are starting to tract the west side of our area. I think I have tracted more this week than the whole of my mission. I love tracting! We find a lot of interesting people.

I love you all! Thank you for your support!

May the Spirit be with you!

Elder Durrant

E-mail 02/22/2011

Hello superfanfreakentastic family!!

This week was the last week of the transfer. Yesterday we found out who stays and who goes. Elder Aston is going back to Eagle Creek.

We have been so busy, there is always something to do, rarely do we go out tracting, which is good. Tracting is one of the least effective ways to find people.

Sunday, in the middle of church, during gospel essentials, there was a gas leak in the building, so the firefighters came and evacuated the building. That was exciting! They were saying it started in the primary room, but it was throughout the whole building quickly. We had five investigators at church though, and a bunch of less-actives. I didn't even really know who or what less-actives really were until I got out here, now a third to a half of the people we see are less-active, there are so many in White River.

We have some new investigators that are really awesome. One is a 19 year old Roman Catholic that is very interested and his parents will probably follow very shortly. Another family said they were strong Jehovah Witness's but after meeting with them, we are not so sure about that, if they do their reading and pray and watch conference, they will be hooked. I love conference, it brings the Spirit so quick.

Elder Clawson is leaving White River and I am staying to manage the fort. I love elder Clawson he is so awesome! Next week I will have a new companion. And I'm going to love him!

Oh, Mom, someone out here said they put sprite in their meatloaf. When I heard that I thought it was weird, but they said it made it taste good. That reminds me, I think the weirdest thing I have eaten out here is chili with spaghetti noodles in it. apparently everyone out here does that, except one I know of. I have also had lamb, that was good, it came with other African food, which was made by french speaking African members. They are way awesome.

One more thing, David, and Daniel your sign spinning skills are pretty awesome! Elder Clawson likes the one where you spin it above your head. Looking good!

I love you all! I will let you know who my knew companion is next week.

May the Spirit be with you!

Elder Durrant

E-mail 02/14/2011

Hello Glorious family!

This week has been so awesome! It's like 50 or 60 today! It's so nice out!

We had Zone conference Thursday! they are so fun, we received some awesome training (it's confidential stuff that only special agents of the Lord can know) We got some great chastisement, too. Pres. Collins was practicing role playing on the stand, and he needed help, so he called Elder Clawson and myself up. I was a ten year old boy, so I just really stood there and looked cute., ha ha.

We had a fireside on Sunday, called “Why I believe”, it is where new converts testify to why they wanted to join the church. It is so awesome, they have them once a month. It is great because we can bring new converts, less-actives, and investigators. There they can hear others testimony and strengthen their own.

We have a bunch of investigators in White River, but they are all slow in their progression, it takes people time to change habits of a lifetime. They just haven't experienced a change of heart, it will come though, through the Spirit. We have one investigator who we are weaning off cigarettes. He started at like six per day, and each week we came by, we got him to go down one cigarette per day. This last week he was down to two, we got him to commit to one per day this week. The next step is to quit altogether, he is doing great.

The ward is really starting to trust us more, they are getting more involved, going on splits, giving people rides, feeding us, doing FHE with others. It really helps to have ward support, if the ward doesn't help, we can't do our job effectively. This is a great ward!

We are still going back and forth from White River to Eagle Creek. We are so busy, with both wards. There is one thing that surprised me when I got out here, that is, breaks. I didn't think we got those. We get a total of two hours during the day, weird. I thought we just worked all day. Although some days I really enjoy having a break, other days, it gets in the way, it's good though.

Transfers are next week. I love being a missionary, I love this Mission, and I love all of you!

May the Spirit be with you!

Elder Durrant

E-mail 02/07/2011

Hello Wonderfully awesome family!

This week was so much fun! We had one of the biggest ice storms anyone can remember around here. It started Monday night and was off and on all the way to Wednesday. Freezing rain is so weird. it is rain drops but once they hit something they freeze and lay a sheet of ice on everything, the ground, trees, mailboxes, window, everything. Then it was so cold the next day that when it snowed, the molecules didn't combine so the best way to describe it would be, cold beach sand, that is a bit lighter. they looked like little diamonds. It was so awesome! Then it all melted together and made an inch or two thick sheet of ice. It was like one big skating rink. We had so much fun sliding around on it. :) I didn't break any bones.

Because of the weather, and considering the church parking lot was all covered in ice, not to mention it was Superbowl Sunday, church was canceled. I thought it was crazy, too. The mission president said that we missionaries could administer the sacrament to each other. Since we have Sisters in our district we needed to take the sacrament to them. So we picked up a member and went over to the Sister's home, they lived in a members home, so there were eight of us there. We had a mini sacrament meeting. It was a wonderful opportunity. Elder Clawson and I prepared, blessed, and passed it. It was a very cool experience.

We have been blessed to help and assist many people shovel their walk, scrape off their car or get their car out of a rut. We found many people to teach that way. Being a missionary you learn to be bold, have courage, and the guts to walk up to a random person on the street and talk to them, teach them about what you believe and know to be true, and hope they accept what you have to say.

I love being a missionary! Teaching is the best thing in the world to be doing! I love it! I love Indiana! I kinda love the snow. I love...I love...I love a lot of things! But, I really love you! :)

May the Spirit be with you!

Elder Durrant