E-mail 09/24/2012

Hello glorious family!

This has been a crazy busy week. It has cooled off a lot.

I went to a leadership meeting on Tuesday and among learning much about how to minister the gospel, President Collins taught us about math. More specifically about trigonometry. He was teaching us a principle and he was proving his point by teaching us about math. The Gospel is like math. The basics are the arithmetic + - x etc. Complicated math is just a combination of the basics. With Trigonometry you are just trying to figure out a triangle. So not only did he teach us a lot about the gospel, but he taught us a lot about how to do well with math. I thought it funny, because he had asked who liked and disliked math. His response to those who disliked it was "That's because you don't understand." It was a good meeting. The following day in district meeting I basically just replayed, through proxy, what President Collins taught us. It went well.

We had interviews on Thursday. They went well. Sister Collins taught us about eating healthy. She told us to eat more fiber. She asked us, we were in a group, who knew what fiber is. She explained to us what it is and what happens if you don't eat enough fiber. She told us a story of a missionary who was in pain for three days because of it. It's a good thing I eat oatmeal...occasionally. ;)

I went on exchanges to Plainfield with Elder Hoffmann. We had a great exchange. When I got back there was a massive, heavy box waiting for me. I opened it up to behold the wondrous treasures inside. I beheld delicious looking pears, pear jelly, and energizing "Eternal Gatorade." I also beheld some hot looking peppers, which I am a little afraid to partake of, for fear of severe burning of my sensitive tongue. Many other things I had seen which cannot be written at this time.

The story about the "flippen car," I thought was funny that you sent that to me. Greencastle is in my district and the day that that happened those Elders texted me and said they had been the cause of a car wreck. My first thought was "oh no! My Elders are dead!" But I called them and they recounted the story. They were laughing the whole time. It has been the center of a lot of conversations. I will have to show those Elders the paper you sent me.

James and Julie came to church and they brought their two daughters Jasalyn and Lilly. They love church. They are becoming ever more excited to be baptized next month. We are very excited for them. They are seeing the blessings of the Gospel in their lives and they are feeling the Spirit.

May the Spirit be with you!

Elder Durrant

Pictures 09/17/2012

The Restoration is the only way!

Elder Judkins

in the apartment

in the fridge

Yea! three golf balls stacked on top of each other!

funky picture

school parking lot

He has a horn

Who is that?!

Say St. Ann five times fast

That's cool, in-spite of itself.

(God wants full custody
not just weekend visits)

You can't see me

We are in range. Fire when ready.

E-mail 09/17/2012

Hello Glorious family!!

This has been a great week! It has cooled off a lot. It has been great for biking. We are so busy I sometimes wonder how we are able to keep up with everything. We are teaching a lot of people. We have meetings to go to. And people's lives to bless.

One of our investigators, Donna, came to church a few weeks ago and loved it so much she said she will be coming every fourth Sunday. She is super funny. She is in her seventies. She loves our visits and is getting excited to come to church with us. We also told her about conference, now she really wants to go to that. It is amazing to see how people get excited over something I have had my whole life. To be able to listen to a modern day prophet I had taken for granted. People who have never even heard of a living prophet naturally want to hear what he has to say. I am getting very excited for conference.

We met with Jim this week as well. He is our "eternal Gator." He was feeling very sick, he had a stuffy nose, scratchy throat, and a headache. We offered to give him a blessing. In his way he accepted. We did so. We decided to go ahead and have the lesson only we would keep it short. Not five minutes into the lesson he improved a little bit. By the time the lesson was over he was completely healed. So much even that when we went outside he offered to give us a ride home and I wouldn't say he was leaping, but he had a lot of energy. That was really cool to see. Hopefully he will use this experience in his progression towards baptism. We love Jim.

I gave a baptismal interview this week. It was to a nine year old. She was nervous to death. I worked with her to get through it. By the end she was opening up more and more. She was baptized Sunday and had a great experience.

I love the members here! They are so awesome! This is the best ward in the best mission! Members go teaching with us, give us rides, and we have dinner with them.

James and Julie are doing so good. They came to church for the third time. They love it. We showed them the baptismal font and they got more excited for their baptism on October twenty seventh. They are getting to know the members. They are learning a lot. We are very excited for them.

I love you all! May the Spirit be with you!

Elder Durrant 

E-mail 09/10/2012

Hello Wonderful family!

This week has been awesome! It has been crazy! And we have been busy!

We met with James and Julie and their daughter Jasalyn. They were referred to us by a member. They don't have a lot of experience with religion, however they have been prepared by the Lord to accept what we teach and to be baptized. They have come to church twice and loved it. They tell us that when they come to church and when we come over they feel good. People at church are very friendly, they went up to them and welcomed them. They agreed to work towards the twenty seventh of October to be baptized. They are an awesome family!

Bro Dave who was baptized last month spoke at why I believe. He has a really good story. He is a super funny guy. Avery also spoke there. There was another little girl that spoke; both children bore simple pure testimony about the Holy Ghost. It was very precious.

So...Friday night it rained really hard. When we parked at our apartment I didn't realize that I parked illegally...so in the morning when we went outside to go to an appointment, our car was not there. I first thought it was stolen, then I looked where I had parked...It was right in front of a handicap sign. During the night they had come and towed it away. It took us a little while to get it back, but we did. So you are probably laughing really hard right now about this; you're probably making up jokes about how they should have let me park there because I am mentally handicap, but that's ok, I know you love me. :)     P.S. Don't let Mom put this part in the ward newsletter.

It has been a great week. People are coming unto Christ. Preparing for baptism. And I am loving it all!

May the Spirit be with you!

Elder Durrant

E-mail 09/04/2012

Hello wonderful family!

This week has been awesome! We are super busy.

It rained a lot this past week. With the hurricane down south it pushed the much needed rain all the way up here. God answers prayers in mysterious ways. It was also warm and humid. If you can imagine it raining, humidity all around, and very warm, it makes you wet all the way around. If you try to wear a rain coat it just makes you warm, so sometimes it is better to get rained on. I like staying dry. However, I love this weather much more than the cold.

Avery, the nine year I had taught in White River, was baptized this Saturday. It was a really neat experience. He is a funny kid, too.

Bro Robert was interviewed this past week. All's that he is waiting for is permission to be baptized, then he will be ready. He tells us that when it comes to the scriptures he is able to break them down, and understand them, but when it comes to his school books he struggles with them. They both love our visits.

A miracle that happened. We received a referral from a neighboring ward. We called the person and set up an appointment. When we went over, with a member, Julie was there, as well as her boyfriend James. We were able to teach both of them. They don't have much background with church, so we were teaching them very basically about God and Jesus Christ. They both felt the Spirit. We invited them to come to church and they came. They loved it and said they will be coming back. We are meeting with them again Thursday.

I love being a missionary! It is awesome! May the Spirit be with you!

Elder Durrant

 

Elder Durrant

 

Avery and Elder Durrant

Avery and Elder Durrant dressed in white