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

Oh, It's Such a Small World

Heyyyy ya'll!

August in Georgia...is HOT!

Georgia

This has been a pretty cool/crazy week for me I suppose. My companion, Elder Zundel, is District Leader so I get to go on exchanges often to different areas! This week after district meeting I went down with one of the Zone Leaders, Elder Prisbey, to the Winder area. Mostly I just followed him around as he did administrative duties haha. Anyway, the next morning we woke up bright and early to go to Zone Conference in Athens! 

Fun Fact: The stake center in Athens is brand new (it hasn't even been dedicated yet) and apparently it will be the last stake center ever to be built. The church has found that it will be easier and less expensive to build small churches and broadcast events such as stake conference over satellite to each of the different buildings-- crazy, huh?!?

Zone Conference was amazing. President King is such an inspired man, you can't not respect him. I learned so much from the all-day meeting. We watched The District 2, the missionary department's documentary sort of thing about missionary work, and talked about our purpose as missionaries. The spirit was so strong there, I took like 4 pages of notes or something like that. After zone conference I had a greater desire to obey the rules, be led by the spirit, become a better missionary, and ask inspired questions. We did lots of role playing, practicing how to invite someone to be baptized. Preach My Gospel says that unless the spirit directs otherwise we should invite investigators to baptism on the first lesson.

Before Zone Conference and during the lunch break I watched a defensive driving video and filled out a booklet, so I will soon be certified to drive mission cars! Oh and it's such a small world, at zone conference I met Sister Eversole, who graduated from Payson High and was in the same group of friends as Riley Fitzgerald's older sister. Also, Elder Koopman, from the Volksen's ward, introduced himself to me and it turns out that we both had the same trainer, Elder Zundel! It's funny, in the mission field if you train someone they are called your 'son'. So that makes me and Elder Koopman 'brothers' haha.

Well, I met another crazy Georgian this week. His name is Eli. He is about 58 years old and has a big long gray beard and long gray hair. He met us, asked us if we were Mormons, and then started telling us about how many deaths he has witnessed in Habersham county. He also told us that he once practiced Islam. I don't know if I believed much of what he had to say haha.

We have been working with the same investigators this week, no new ones, just trying to move things along with the ones that we have.Things are going well, I enjoy being a missionary and feel privileged to serve the Lord and help bring others unto Christ.

I love you all so much.

Take care!

Love,

Elder Mikey Caplin

"Bless Their Heart!"

Boy oh boy. I just don't even know what to write about. Life is so good. I wish I could remember and tell you every little detail from the week, but I just can't. Oh well, here I go with what seems pressing at the moment.

 

This week I have just felt really content. I was able to read and study a whole lot this week and as a result I have learned and felt the spirit tons. I finished Our Heritage, A Short History of the LDS Church, and loved it. It is incredible to read about the trials that the early saints went through, and I know that their perseverance was possible because they were truly converted to the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and felt of God's love for them on a regular basis. Their whole lives were devoted to God and as a result they saw many miracles and felt the power of the Holy Ghost on a very high level. That level is available to us today-- I just think that we sometimes are complacent and are content with simply living our lives and not striving to always grow closer to God.

 

Many times this week my companion and I have testified to people of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and the importance of participating in the saving ordinance of baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, but the people reply that they have already done both of those. I can tell that this will be a recurring challenge on my mission. We explain to them the Apostasy and they still don't understand that their baptism wasn't legitimate. They do not understand that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is simple but specific--that things must be done by those who are worthy and have authority from God. 

 

I am finding out how much I truly love teaching. I wish that I could teach all of the time. The times that I am most full of energy and adrenaline and whatnot are right after we leave someone's house where we taught a good lesson with the spirit present. One thing that I really worried about when I left the MTC is that I wouldn't be ready. They prepared us quite well there however. Also, I have been prepared since an early age by going to church and learning over and over again the basic principles of the gospel, hearing the scripture stories, and reading the scriptures for myself to gain my own personal testimony. My testimony has grown a lot this week as I have felt the spirit from truly studying the scriptures and being prompted by the Holy Ghost. The scriptures are so amazing. I love so much looking at the footnotes, connecting the Book of Mormon to the Bible, and trying to apply what I learn to investigators.

 

One cool experience happened to me yesterday while we were teaching a really good guy named Larry about the restoration. He is in his 30s, is married, has 3 daughters, grew up Pentecostal, and really enjoys learning from the Bible. I was explaining to him how we must be baptized by someone who has authority given to him by Jesus Christ, someone who has been called of God, and he said, "Well this line of authority thing sounds like it's very select, like only certain people can get the priesthood." I told him that because these are the last days it is quite the opposite. Every worthy male has been called to receive the priesthood and all members of Christ's restored church have been called to preach of it. I said that it is different than in the days where the Levites were the ones with the priesthood and they traveled around administering to people. I told him that he could be ordained and receive the priesthood to bless his family even though he is not a preacher or pastor. He immediately pointed straight at me and said, "That is exactly what I was looking for. I was thinking about the Levites and how it doesn't seem right that only some people can have the power of God." 

It's just cool to know that God uses me personally as a tool to bring others unto Christ.

 

It's difficult down here because people are Southern, which means they don't like change and accepting new things is hard for them. It's difficult for them to understand why they need to be baptized again. They feel the spirit when we teach, they like what the Book of Mormon teaches, but they don't understand why their church doesn't have the authority of God, or why Joseph Smith was important. I guess that's why they give us two years. Two years to constantly learn and grow. Two years to get to know the scriptures so that we can use those scriptures to help address investigators' concerns.

 

Ok, now to talk about some other stuff. Something that people down here say that is super funny is "Bless their heart". Whenever they want to gossip about someone or say something mean about them they say it and then they end with "Bless their heart." It's so funny. Or sometimes you will be talking to someone and to sympathize with you they will say, "Oh myyyy, bless your heart." It's so funny. 

 

Bruce (an investigator we are trying to commit to baptism) has promised to slowly but surely teach me all of the Southern sayings. I love sayings. They are fantastic. People out here don't need much. There aren't many big houses at all. They love their gardens and their front porches and they don't really need anything else--it's pretty cool.

 

On Thursday I went to Cleveland, GA, which is in our area but quite a few miles away, so we don't go there very often, and I love it. It is my new favorite place. Why? Because it has mountains. It's so pretty driving up the GA hills and then realizing you are on top of a mountain. You look out and everything is so green and pretty. Mount Yonah is nearby Cleveland and it is this sweet little mountain with a granite face towards the top. On Sunday my companion took me to the top of some Indian mountain in Cornelia and it was great. I took pictures and just loved feeling more at home on the top there.

 

Ok family, get ready. The greatest game in the world is Monopoly Deal. I went on an exchange with Elder Mastaler to the Hartwell area because my companion Elder Zundel is the District Leader and wanted to work with Elder Mastaler's companion. Elder Mastaler showed me Monopoly Deal and we played it every single meal break. It is a card game version of Monopoly and is just as fun, but each game goes by way quicker. You will love it. If you don't buy it soon I will give it to you for Christmas because I am just that generous. :)

 

Okay, well love you long time! Byeeeee!

 

Elder Caplin