Companion to the DL

Bruce says hello y'all! (He is one of our favorite investigators, 58 years old, extremely southern.)

 

I hope everything is going great in the real world; missionary life has been good to me this past week.

 

I love being companion to the District Leader because I always get to go on exchanges to other areas and spend time with other missionaries. On Tuesday one of the Zone Leaders came up to Cornelia for a night and that was a good time. I hadn't known him before, so it was good getting to meet him and learn from him when we tracted. (He is really good at keeping people from closing the door on us haha.) Wednesday we drove down to Winder to meet up with some other missionaries. All of the leaders had a two-day leadership training conference, so I got paired up with Elder Crandall for that little while. He came out the transfer before me and is stationed in Monroe, GA. I had a really good time down there and my eyes were greatly opened.

 

Much unlike Cornelia, the population in Monroe is 60% black 40% white. There is a lot of poverty there. Before I put in my mission papers, I wanted to go to a third-world country so that I could help people. I knew that I was extremely blessed and wealthy compared to the rest of the world. When I was with Elder Crandall, we visited a lady who just got baptized a few weeks ago. She and her family live in a tiny old home, very worn and rotted. They don't have any beds or a kitchen table. The only furniture that they have are some chairs that the church gave them. 

 

When Elder Crandall first found them, they couldn't afford any light bulbs, so he bought bulbs for them. He told me that the woman who just got baptized has changed like crazy since they started teaching her. At first she was very quiet and depressed, and now she is the most happy, cheerful, humble woman. It made me sad to see the small and unclean conditions that these people live in, and very grateful for what I have. Monroe was definitely an eye opener.

 

Elder Whitehead and I got back to Cornelia Friday morning and finished up the week here. We are trying to make sure that Jason is ready for his baptismal date. We had a good time this week meeting with him and Bruce and some less-actives in the ward. We helped Jason build a shed at his Dad's house at Lake Burton. It is sooooooo pretty up there. Lake Burton is a vacation area way up in the mountains. It is so green and clean and beautiful up there--I loved it.

 

Last night we had a super interesting, crazy experience. We were up in Cleveland and stopped by to say Hi to a long time friend of the missionaries and ended up having a gospel discussion with a Catholic, a Southern Baptist, and a Jew. Haha-- it was a real good time. Elder Whitehead and I were marveling about how it just randomly happened. Crazy stuff comes to you when you are a missionary, you don't even have to go looking for it. We have a return appointment for Wednesday with the three of them, so we are excited.

 

Well, things are going super great for me out here. It has been raining for the past 60 hours nonstop, so that's kinda new I guess. I hope all is going well for you guys.

 

Send me letters :)

 

Love,

 

Elder Caplin

 

P.S. Can I have an Aloe plant for Christmas? They are really popular in Clarkesville..

Lean Upon the Lord

Hello!!!




Thank you so much for all of the emails, I love and appreciate them all :)



Elders and Sisters in our Area

 Well it was very difficult saying goodbye to Elder Zundel, but it became easier when I found out who my new companion is! We were at transfers meeting and then President King announced that my new companion is Elder Kenneth William Whitehead. I was excited because I already know him! He was in the district right below ours and now came up to be district leader of Cornelia. He is a fun kid--he has been out for 10 months now. Already I am learning so much from him and doing some new things. Elder Whitehead prays a lot, which is really good and I benefit from that. Also, we run two laps around the nearby cemetery every morning (crazy, I know, I'm exercising now!). Also, he is very organized with the area books and maps and whatnot. He wants to make sure that everything we do benefits us and this area so that there isn't any wasted time. He's tons different from Elder Zundel, but he will be a very good companion. I'm excited for this transfer.

My new companion, Elder Whitehead

For companion studies in the mornings we have decided to read through the entire Preach My Gospel manual. I'm super excited about that just because there is so much of it that I haven't even seen. We also want to learn every song in the Hymn book-- haha. Elder Whitehead loves music and is very musical.


On Monday and Tuesday we traveled around saying goodbye to everyone and then Wednesday was transfer day. When Elder Whitehead and I got back to our apartment we had a little surprise-- no car keys! Elder Z had accidentally taken them to Lilburn (his new area) with him, haha :) so until we got them in the mail on Friday we are on bike. :)


Things are going well with our investigators, especially Jason, whose baptismal date is scheduled for October 16th. Everyone in the ward loves him because he is just on fire about the church and loves getting involved. We are focusing on enlarging our teaching pool so Elder W and I are going through the area book to see if we can pick up some former investigators.


I love GA, especially the beautiful mountainous area that I am in now. I love missionary work and hope to become better at it. I love ya'll back home :)


Lean upon the Lord when times get tough. That is one thing that I am learning. Also, pour your heart out in out-loud prayer. God will always help you.


Love, Elder MTC

Elder Zundel Becomes a Zone Leader

Helloooooo!!!

I hope that you guys are doing well and I hope that you had a great time at Aunt Linda and Adam's wedding in Boston!

SOOOOO MUCH HAPPENED THIS WEEK. Both good and sad. I will start with the good. One of our investigators is getting baptized!!! We gave him a baptismal date on Thursday and he is really excited! We had a very, very spiritual meeting where we read Alma 7:11-16. It was so cool to watch him as he learned new truths about our Savior Jesus Christ. He is a real good guy and loves the ward. He has been helping out with a few service projects in the ward so everyone has gotten to know him pretty well. It is so exciting to watch him as he is slowly learning a little bit more each day. We are good friends with him and are glad that we were able to accidentally find him. (We knocked on his door looking for someone else and he ended up being really interested in the church!)

The next big thing that happened this week is that we got a call last night from President King and he told us that Elder Zundel will be leaving Cornelia! We are both very, very sad. I can't believe that a whole transfer (6 weeks) is already over and that my time with my trainer is coming to an end. We go down to the Tranfers Meeting in Lilburn on Wednesday to find out who my new companion will be here in Cornelia and where Elder Zundel will be serving. It is very sad because we had so much fun together and enjoyed working together as missionary companions, but it is good because he will be serving as a new Zone Leader! So that is exciting for him. :) We had a good six weeks together and I learned a lot from Elder Zundel.

Yesterday was the Athens Stake Conference and it was a really cool experience. The speakers and choir at stake conference were amazing and afterward they dedicated the building which was a really cool event! I can't remember being at another stake center dedication so I enjoyed myself a little bit.

Well a lot of fun things happened this week too. I got some real boiled p-nuts from a stand on the side of the road. They were mighty delicious. Last night as we were driving to see one of our investigators we saw an 8- year-old kid peeing off his grandparent's front porch, which happened to be facing a very well-traveled highway. It was very odd but funny. 

We went to the Habersham County Fair and Rodeo on Saturday night. That was a blast. I got a picture with a camel and saw some crazy circus acts and the rodeo was tons of fun. I hadn't been to a rodeo in forever.

Georgia Rodeo Time

Camels...in Georgia!

Elder Zundel has been an awesome companion and trainer!

Some lady that I met told me that I look exactly like Mark Ruffalo. She pulled out her "Just Like Heaven" DVD and showed me his picture and then told me to ask my family if we are kin to him. So... Am I related to Mark Ruffalo? haha.

Things are going well with all of our investigators and the less-actives that we visit. I enjoy teaching from the scriptures and enjoy very much studying from them each morning. I'm sad that Elder Zundel is leaving, but am excited to be able to learn from my future companion.  The rest of today and tomorrow we will be going around to all of our friends from the ward and investigators who we are friends with so that Elder Zundel can say goodbye. It's crazy how much you get to love an area even though you are only there for a short while. The area becomes your home and responsibility.

Love you so so so so much. Have fun! One love!

Elder Mikey Caplin

Stop Smoking in 7 Days...

Hellooooooo!!!

 

I hope you guys had a good Labor Day! Mine was pretty awesome. We went fishing on the Chattahoochee River! We also made a fire on a rock which was pretty hardcore and I boiled some peanuts for me to eat. I sure do love boiled peanuts.

 

Life is good here in GA. So much happens each week, yet it sometimes feels like not much at all happens each week because they are all scheduled out so I know exactly what I will be doing on each day throughout the week. Right now I am on an exchange in the Hartwell area. I have a fun district. There are 4 elders and 2 sisters. We cover 3 areas--2 wards and a branch.

 

This week we had some pretty inspirational mission meetings, which is always good and the work is progressing at pretty much the same rate as usual in our area. Something difficult happened this week--Elder Zundel and I decided that we needed to stop visiting an investigator as much. It was really sad because we thought things were going really well with this family. We went over to their house after about a week of not seeing them because they had been out of town. We watched "Together Forever" with them and then started to ask if they would come to church this Sunday and how their Book of Mormon reading was going. 

 

Basically he told us that they loved having us come over, we are always welcome, but that he started reading the Bible again and won't ever be able to go to church on Sundays and probably won't be reading the Book of Mormon very much. He told us we were welcome there, but we decided to stop focusing our main attention on them because they aren't willing to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. It was really sad just because we felt like they were doing so well and we know how much the Restored Gospel can bless their lives. The Book of Mormon really is one of the most important parts of spiritual survival today. When people read the Book of Mormon regularly their testimony grows in every aspect of the Restored Gospel. It also gives you strength to go through life's challenges.

 

Even though that happened we still have a lot of good things going for us. Hopefully we will have two baptismal dates set up by the end of this week. We have also started working with a few part-member families, which I enjoy because the gospel has already been a part of their home just a little bit which makes thing easier. 

 

We made fliers for a "Stop Smoking in 7 Days" workshop which we are excited for. Tobacco is a huge thing here and many people want to quit, but they just don't know how. Hopefully with our workshop we can help some people out and possibly find some new investigators.

 

My companion and I were talking last week, and he was telling me about some really cool experiences that he has had on his mission. He asked me what I want out of my mission and I told him that what I would like most is to honestly be able to help someone improve their life or become happier because of the gospel truths. He told me how great of a feeling it is to do that and showed me a letter written to him by a girl that he had baptized. It was heartwarming and all that good stuff.

 

Sorry I didn't write on Monday; the libraries were closed for the holiday. I hope school and work are going well for you, things are just dandy here in GA :)

 

Love you long time, let me know if I can do anything for you!

 

Love,

 

Elder Mikey T. Caplin

Southern Fried Chicken...ridiculously delicious.

Ok so last week I forgot to tell you about all of the firsts that I experienced. I had my first real southern meal which included fried chicken (ridiculously delicious), mashed potatoes, fried okra (some weird vegetable that they batter and fry and it is way good), and squash casserole (I think the best food ever. It has tons of cheese in it.) I ate my first Georgia peach, which was amazing. I saw my first lightning bug. GA is pretty awesome. I'm happy to be here experiencing all of this.

 

Things went pretty well this week. We're progressing with our same investigators, teaching them the gospel, trying to help them feel the spirit. We met with this guy Jason on Wednesday. He told us how he had been reading the Book of Mormon and loves it. He said he knows that it is the word of God and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. It's so much fun to watch investigators actually progress and come to love the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We had a recent convert present at the lesson who explained to him getting rebaptized (which was a relief for us) and that the LDS chuch contains the fullness of the Gospel. It went really well. We met with him again on Saturday and watched "Safety For The Soul" by Jeffrey R Holland. He loved that too. Church was amazing for him as well. He stayed all 3 hours and loved every minute of it. He is accepting the message of the restoration and loves it.

 

On Friday Elder Zundel and I had the Trainer/Trainee meeting, which was pretty good. It was fun because I got to see my buddies from the MTC again. President King gave us a good lesson which included a lot about the importance of bearing testimony and increasing our testimonies so that we can truly bear witness to investigators. That is a powerful thing. Later that night we met with Bruce and had a very spiritually powerful meeting. He finally prayed out loud and now that he does it is so very spiritual. The way that we got him to pray (for months he has refused to pray out loud with us there) was by asking him to say The Lord's Prayer and instead of saying give us our daily bread ask for a different, more personal blessing in his life. Once he did that he prayed for minutes-- it was truly beautiful. He knows the messages we share are true, and he is now working on building his faith more so that he can act how he knows he should.

 

Yesterday we spoke in church. Our ward mission leader spoke on the Vision of the South and how the members are responsible for Finding and how the missionaries are responsible for Teaching. After that Elder Zundel sang "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" and it was beautiful. We all felt the spirit so strongly. I spoke next and talked about the many ways that the Restored Gospel blesses our lives. I told the parable of the talents and said it doesn't matter how far along we are just as long as we are always moving forward having faith in Christ. I encouraged the members to pray for opportunities to bear their testimony this next week to nonmembers. I like talking in church, it was a good time.

 

I had a humbling experience last night. We are told as missionaries that we mustn't teach a thing without the spirit present and I didn't follow that counsel. Larry was asking us questions about the spirit world and temples and we just didn't have the spirit of understanding with us at the moment so it was a long and very back and forth lesson if that makes sense. I need to work on listening to the investigators better and to always be praying to Heavenly Father while we are teaching a lesson that the Holy Spirit will be there. Without the Holy Ghost we aren't missionaries, just kids trying to convince people that they don't have it all. Haha anyway things are still great with him-- he loves us and we love him. We'll be back this week and we'll try to do things better than last time.

 

Missionary work is fun. P-days are fun too. Last week we went to the Chattahoochee River. It was a beautiful day, clear skies, sunny, no humidity. I had a real good time. I hope all is well at home! You guys are number one. Thanks for everything.

 

Love,

Elder M Caplin