E-mail 03/19/2012

Hello Wonderful superb family!!

This week has been great! It has been really warm. The trees are blooming, flowers are growing. It is really pretty.

We had a good lesson with Bro Tom. He had read Enos and our lesson was on the Atonement so it fit great. We helped him, another day, with some yard work. He really appreciated it. When we stopped by yesterday to follow up with him, he told us that he had read that morning four chapters out of Mosiah. We were really excited for him. He has moved forward so much as opposed to previous years. Before he let us over for his wife, so she could have visitors. Now he is finding for himself that God is there. He is doing great.

We did a lot of finding this last week and found a lot of cool people. When we work hard the Lord will bless us.

We gave talks in church yesterday. Elder Walker spoke on the Prophet Joseph Smith. I spoke on the Book of Mormon. They were both good talks. I shared several points which the book of Mormon is and presented the challenge of "duplication." A collage professor at BYU came up with thirty points or characteristics of the Book of Mormon and stated that "What one man can create another can duplicate. The challenge the Book of Mormon makes is that of duplication. If written by Joseph Smith then anyone can write about ancient Tibet and claim it as factual history. Have over five hundred pages and over three hundred thousand words. Describe all aspects of life. Change the style of writing many times. Have over eighty thousand competent salesmen so sold that your book is the word of God that they give up two years of their life to spread it to the world. There are many more. Have a friend mortgage his farm so that it can be printed. Please have your book completed in sixty days. There is only one answer. It is an inspired book prepared by the hand of God. It is the Word of God.

You are all amazing! Thank you for your awesomeness! May the Spirit be with you!

Elder Durrant

E-mail 03/12/2012

Hello Good wonderful family!!

This week has been super eventful. A new companion, being ill the first day, and many miracles.

So Monday we got transfer calls and we found that Elder Mayfield is leaving. We had a sweet lesson with Bro Tom. We read the book of Mormon with him and he was intrigued by the symbology, i.e. iron rod, tree of life, etc.

Tuesday we went around and worked. At the end of the day we biked out to Max's to say bye. They live a ways away. On the way I wasn't watching where I was going(brace yourselves because you're not going to believe this) I ran into a sign. It was a construction sign that had fallen and was covering half the side walk. I knew it was there but I forgot and it was dark out and I was looking down. Next thing I knew I was in the hospital with a few broken bones. Just kidding! The only thing hurt was my pride. My front tire blew. We stood there wondering what to do, when a Pentecostal preacher pulled up and gave us a ride, he had seen the whole thing. He was a really nice guy. He took us to Max's house. His parents gave us a ride home. We told them what just happened and they gave me a brand new bike that was sitting in there shed. It is a nice bike. The Bat-mo-bike has now been retired. This bike is officially my fourth bike.

Wednesday, we had transfer meeting. My new companion is Elder Walker. He is from Upalco, Utah. That is near Vernal. He is my second Utah companion. He has just been trained by my MTC companion. I am his second companion. Elder Walker is really funny. We are having a good time.

Also I found that my district was completely overhauled. Instead of having six Elders in the district, I now have four Elders and four sisters. The other Elders are the Zone leaders. I have never been over either one, so this is a new experience for me. It is really awesome. I have an amazing district.

Thursday we stayed inside all day.

Friday we saw Bro Frank with our Elder's quorum president. It was an awesome lesson. At the end Pres Snow invited him to church. It was a really good day.

Saturday we had something really cool happen. He were late stopping by an investigator, but they couldn't meet so we set another time to stop by. We walked off the porch and saw one of our potentials(potential investigator) walking down the road. We talked with him. He wanted to walk and talk. Our bikes were sitting just behind us and our plans were taking us elsewhere. But Someone came to mind that we could stop by over where he lived, so we walked with him. He was really stressed and needed to talk. He will be back in town the first of April, we will start teaching him then. The person I thought of stopping by was home. He told us that he was thinking about going to bed, but he had the thought to stay up, then we come to the door. It was really cool how all of that worked out so beautifully. I love being a missionary.

Sunday was amazing. Church was awesome! Max, the eight year old that we taught is getting baptized on March thirty first, right before conference. I am so excited for him!

This has been a really awesome week. I love being a missionary! Thank you for being awesome!! May the Spirit be with you!

Elder Durrant

E-mail 03/05/2012

Hello Wonderful family!!

It snowed today, but it is all melting away. People tell me that happens down here. It will snow and the next day it melts. Overall it has been very warm.

We got transfer calls this morning.

We finished teaching Max the lessons. He is now ready to be baptized. He is very excited for it. He is all the more excited for his dad to baptize him. The last two lessons we taught him were the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. For the Word of wisdom I used an example I learned from primary. We had a picture of a boy and for the good things Max colored him in. Then for the bad things Max scribbled on him. He looked a lot better when he was colored in. After the lesson we were getting ready to leave but they pulled out there Nerf guns and we had a few rounds sent our way. They gave us a fully auto twenty round gun to fight back with. The battlefield was riddled with bullets. :)

We taught a less active lady this week. In the lesson my companion read to her the scripture Isa 6:5. What was cool was she read in 2 Nep the same account right before we came over. Another similar story; we taught a Spanish speaking lady and we brought someone who spoke Spanish. He gave the account of the restoration in Spanish. When he finished I said "I don't know what he said exactly but I felt the Spirit as he said it, so I know it's true." After the lesson my companion told me he was going to say something similar but I spoke first. Both of these show that God prepares people and you know it is the Spirit when you both receive the impression to do something. I love being a missionary!

Elder Mayfield is leaving Clear Creek and is going to train a new missionary. I am staying here and getting a new companion. I love Clear Creek it is a great place!

Being a missionary is the best thing ever! I love you all! May the Spirit be with you!!

Elder Durrant

E-mail 02/27/2012

Hello Family that is wonderfully awesome!

We have have an amazing week. Lots of running back and forth. We had two exchanges, zone conference, and stake conference, all in the same week.

We taught Bro Tom this past week. We finished the Plan of Salvation lesson and at the end we invited him to be baptized. He said that he doesn't feel that he is ready to make that step, but he is going to read the scriptures we had given him that testify of Jesus Christ and pray to know if God is real. We told him that he has nothing to lose and everything to gain. If he prays and God doesn't answer then He can tell us to leave him alone, but if he prays and God does answer than he has eternal life to gain. He is willing to do it. The scriptures we gave him were out of the Book of Mormon and they testify that Jesus is the Christ. It was after reading two such chapters that he felt the Spirit.

We taught Max the other day. He is such a smart kid. We are going through the commandments right now. After the last lesson he asked "how many more of these are there?" He said that because he is really excited to be baptized and right now the lessons are the only things keeping him from being baptized. I thought it was really funny for him to say that.

This winter has been so mild. Right now it feels like it is fifty degrees. The weather can't seem to make up it's mind. It goes up and down up and down. It is rather funny, when it is our week for the car the temperature drops, when we lose the car the temperature goes back up. The other Elders don't like that as much.

We taught a lady this last week who speaks good English, but her native language is Spanish. We brought someone who speaks Spanish with us. He shared the First Vision in Spanish and even though I couldn't understand it I still felt the Spirit. Then she Prayed in Spanish and it was such a heart felt prayer. It was very cool.

You are all awesome!! Oh and one of the exchanges I went on was with one of my leaders who has a full-time car and we biked so much that day, I think his legs were about to fall off. He was really good about it.

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

Elder Durrant

Pictures from Plymouth, IN 11

My first white castle experience.

Our investigator William and his family.
He was baptized.

Me feeding geese

My ward mission leader Brother Keim

Elder Pachner (pok-ner)

What happens when you drop a
Book of Mormon in a rain storm.

Elder Pachner

Me, driving the Subaru

Pictures from Plymouth, IN 10

My bed is made.

I love pear jelly!

That's me!

Yea! I knitted that!

My pet lobster going for a ride.

My companion...

Sister Bankhead and Sister Lamb

Looking for four leaf clovers, and dandelions :)
Sister Stanford, sister Barrett, and Elder Walker

Elder Walker throwing something at me.

E-mail 02/20/2012

Hello Wonderfulytastic family!!

This week has been awesome! it has been really warm and no snow.

We went to a luau this past week. It was fun. They had lots of food. We had a good turn out. Lot's of non-members came which was great. At the end they had all the men come up and do the hooka. We stomped our foot on the ground and made the whole cultural hall shake. There were twelve missionaries that came I thought that was really cool.

We taught one of our investigators this past week. His name is Brother Tom. He doesn't have a belief or testimony in God so we are helping him to gain one. Missionaries have taught him in the past and he has had lots of contact with the church, but he did it for his wife. We are helping him to gain a belief in God by teaching him the plan of salvation. We emphasized the Spirit reminding him of what he already knew. In our last visit with him we read 1 Nephi 10-11. This is Lehi and Nephi testifying of the savior. As we were walking out he said to us "I felt the Spirit." I was so over joyed by that statement. There are so many miracles happening here. There are many people preparing to go to the temple that two years ago if someone asked you if they would ever be a member or go to the temple you would have said there's no way. There are many good things that happen when a temple is announced. There are also many trials.

For valentines day we went to a gyro shop with two other Elders nearby. They were very yummy. My companion said it was his funnest valentines day yet.

I hope you  like the pictures. the first group are from my first area. I will label the next ones so you know which area is which. and yes I do make my bed, you can see that. :)

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

Elder Durrant