Turkey Week

Monday- We didn't do to much. After emailing we went and were just kinda chilling at our apartment, it was alright but a little boring. Then Curtis texted us and wanted to play some board games?   We were like heck yea, so we got to play some board games. We played this one that was really weird, it was all of these questions on church stuff and it was surprisingly really fun.   I don't know if anyone possibly knows more then half of the answers to these questions that this game had! It was good.  Elder Robinson was able to get a haircut from Curtis so that helped save some time! That night was pretty cold but we were able to get quite a bit done. We followed up with quite a few people that we had tracted into earlier in the year who were on some records.  Not to much came of that but we were able to tract around them and try to find some people! We ended up not finding anyone but we were able to talk to a ton of nice people who all wished us a happy Thanksgiving so that was nice!!

Tuesday- Was really fun, we went out that morning and were tracting when we knocked on this preachers door.  He invited us in so we went in and started talking to him and it was a good conversation but he didn't really want to listen but was super nice. He told us about this new version of the bible that had come out recently and said the translation on it was pretty good so it was interesting to talk about that! Then we were able to have a lesson with our investigator Stephen.  It went pretty well.  We were teaching the plan of salvation and it basically ended up at pre earth life. He had many deep questions which couldn't be answered ... it was so crazy and at the end we just testified of what we believed.  We were a bit off track but were able to set up a return appointment to come back and finish teaching it so it will make more sense for him! It was pretty exhausting trying to keep up with his train of thought.  That night was really cool we were able to go out and tract for like 50 minutes and we found 2 people who are super interested in hearing more about the restoration - it was really cool! Then we went out with a member to visit some people and it went really well.  We had a lesson with some members named the Hendersons and it was really good.  They set a date to find some one for us to teach in their home!

Wednesday- We had a pretty interesting district meeting but it was really good, we all had fun and were able to continue to try to be better at teaching.  There was some pretty funny comments made! We all had lunch together and then after that Elder Robinson and I set out for a place called Franklinton where we had an appointment with an this lady named Kadejah! It went really well we were able to give her a Book of Mormon and tell her more about it and we read the introduction. She wanted to come to church as well so we told her we would get her a ride to come.  We set one up and called her friday and we never got an answer so that was frustrating!!  The rest of the night was cool. We went and were able to talk to Dan, and we need permission from his parents for him to be baptized.   We will see how that goes but he is getting really excited to be baptized. He is 17 and a really good kid! Our lesson was at the church and it was funny since there was volleyball going on!

Thursday- Turkey day!!!! We went and played in the ward turkey bowl, it was a ton of fun!  I had 2 interceptions one of which was a pick six so I scored on it!   Then I had a deep catch where I ran it in and scored!! We were like the best team but no biggy!! Then we were able to get up with a few investigators and wish them a Happy Thanksgiving!!   Then we had dinner ourselves, it was really good! Then we went and had dessert with a few more people the rest of the night and it was really good!! We got this one really manly man to tear up with the new light the world video it was really cool!

Friday- Went by so fast, but we got a call from Dan and he has permission to be baptized now! It will be on Jan 5 it is so exciting!!!   We were able to have a great time tracting that day. I had been feeling a bit off but we pressed on. After dinner we went and were tracting for about an hour and then I felt so sick. So we went home and I ended up throwing up once and then I just passed out on the couch and that's all that I really remember!!

Saturday- I felt great when I woke up it was really good, and we had a great day. We went and had some appointments and were able to teach some more of the restoration to people and then we tracted a ton. We met this lady who was really weird she was like yall are so nice. Just keep seeking for truth... so we ended the conversation.   We tracted these huge houses and we found 2 people.  It was crazy since we usually don't have much success in this big of neighborhoods!! But we did!!  We also went out with brother Higbee and visited Connie and we had a great lesson again on faith with her and we read through Alma 32 it was pretty good. We are trying really hard to get her to come to church!

Sunday- We went to church and it was a good service.  I really enjoyed the talk of this one returned missionary who got back not to recently. It was a good day and we tracted a ton but we were able to see our investigator Joe he is pretty cool. He had a party last Saturday and that was why he couldn't come to church... It was so lame but we are gonna try to get him there!! Then we were able to go and visit some people after tracting and what not and the timing was so inspired.  This guy named David was puling up right as we got there and we were finally able to talk to him and we will be able to teach him more now since his old phone stopped working and he hadn't been able to get our number! It was great!!

Now i sit here emailing and we are going to play scrabble or something today! Oh and we have a mouse in our apartment and its just a little one but we will get him soon, he has missed our traps so far but we will get him now!!!!

Love yall

Love Elder Dylan Hutchings

Last temple trip!!!

Monday- We had a good ole time, we had a district activity. So that consisted of us and 2 other Elder companionship's and 1 Sister companionship. We played some chair soccer and then some dodge ball.   Then this game called dot dot, it was a ton of fun and we all really enjoyed it. We were suppose to play basketball and do some other games but I forgot to tell the people with the stuff to bring it so we would be able to play. It turned out really well, I think everyone enjoyed it for the most part! It was a lot of fun, after that we came home and relaxed for a bit. Then we went and hit the pavement.  We went and tried contacting some investigators who we haven't been able to catch up with. Sadly they were leaving right as we pulled up so we weren't able to catch them... But we were able to tract some more of the area. Let me tell you these houses were flippen huge too!  Then we went with one of our ward missionaries to visit a recent convert. We were able to talk to her about writing her conversion story for the mission since president James asks everyone to!  We were able to talk to her about work and why she had been missing church but she said they had scheduling conflicts and what not so that was why but she said she would be at church!! So we were happy we could meet with her!

Tuesday- We tracted a ton, we went and were tracting in the town of Youngsville and it was weird.  The town its self was pretty on the dead side. No one really answered the door, I'm not sure how many people lived in the houses where we were knocking but it was a nice part of town.  Elder Robinson and I were both super surprised! We took our lunch after that and headed back out! We had a good ole time tracting in this place and we found this super cool lady and she had twins it was great!! She said my mom must be a saint for dealing with twins!  She is super interested in learning more and what not!! Then as we were heading to the farthest reaches of our area we stopped on this road to tract and we met Valdakina and she is super cool.  She speaks  5 languages and she is super interested.  It was a great contact and we can't wait to meet up with her again!  We had dinner was this super sweet southern lady who made really good food and half way through the meal she said - well y'all didn't get enough on your plates get more... I was breathing heavy at this point from so much food but I continued to take just a bit more of everything! It was good, and we were able to visit some part member families around her which were super nice and we are going to start teaching one of them!!

Wednesday- Was the best!! We got up at about 5:45 and headed down to Raleigh. We picked up a pair of Elders and headed to Apex... Because today was the conference temple trip for our zone! It was so good, the temple was great!!!  I was excited to go. It might be my last time in the temple here though so that was a bit of a bummer but oh well I really enjoyed it. I even got to sit by President James during the session so that was really cool!! We got home late after the meeting though, we got back at 7 ate a little food and then went and tracted a bunch till the night was over and I went on exchange with Elder Randall so it was fun!!

Thursday- Was fun we went back up to Franklinton and it was blast up there.  We knocked and got a ton of answers that we were able to contact. We met this cool lady named Kadejah. She was awesome and we were able to set up a time to come back and teach her more so it will be cool to go and teach her!! We had a great night too, we took Ivan Duncan with us to visit Connie and we had a great lesson on faith with her. We were able to talk to her about coming to church!  It was a good way to end the night and it was a fun time being with Ivan he is a cool guy!

Friday- Was so busy, we ended up doing our weekly planning in the morning so that took quite a bit of time to do but it was better then doing it on Saturday! Then we had like 3 appointments that we needed to go to.  One that was the best was with this guy named Stephen, he is a southern baptism Seminary student. He is really cool though and super nice. He got us a cracker and cheese and meat platter tray and bought us drinks to have while we taught him. The lesson wasn't bashing at all and we taught him and he had some great sincere questions.  It was a good lesson over all. Then as we were going to leave he said - wait I baked you cookies!! It was so cool and such a good time! Then we got to have some great Mediterranean food for dinner when we went to a ward activity and it was fun to be there and we followed up with some members on things we had asked them to do!

Saturday- We tracted a bunch and not to much came of it.  We met a few people who tried to be all confrontational and tell us we don't know what we believed in.  I just told them to have a nice day and walked off. So it all turned out pretty good!! We tried our best to just share a sincere testimony with them and but they wouldn't listen! Oh well!!!  We had a great dinner with members called the Abshers and it was great, they are super nice!!   We had a great lesson after dinner with this lady who we tracted into. She said her husband would be really interested as well!!!

Sunday- NO one came to church, sadly people had to cancel for various reasons but it was still hard. We will get them there next week though! We had a good time that evening though we had a cool lesson with one of our investigators Sisters who is super interested. It was interesting how we were at the right place at the right time. We finished the night by watching the Young Single Adult Face to Face with Elder Oaks and Elder Ballard. That was really good and we were able to watch it over at the Duncan's home it was a good night!!

Have a great week!!!

Love Elder Hutchings

Always let your companion be in Front!!!

Monday- We had a zone activity down in Raleigh, it was a ton of fun. We played a ton of sports and what not so it was a good time. We played this one card game at the end that was pretty weird it was where you got a character card and an attribute and so did your opponent. Then you decided who would win in a fight between the two characters. But it was a good time, I think everyone in the zone came and had a pretty good time! It was pretty fun! That night was pretty good, we went and tracted a ton. We were in this one neighborhood that was pretty nice and some members of the ward live there. We found this guy named Matthew and he is pretty cool. He has seen Jesus play a huge role in his life and really helped him with tough decisions and what not. He really liked the message of the restoration and the concept of the Book of Mormon. It was really cool, and we were able to teach him  quite a bit and set up a return appointment, so that was good!

Tuesday- We did our accounting for the day with the zone leaders, it was pretty interesting.  Then we went to our appointment with Sue and Gilbert and for some reason they weren't there so that was weird since they are this older couple who like never leave their home. We will see what happens with them.  We checked out this place right next to them and it was weird because it looked like it was an apartment complex thing but after walking around it for just a bit we were like yea not sure what this is... so we left! We tracted a ton as well, I mean we tracted all day. It was great because we had a lesson with our investigator named Dan.  He should be getting baptized here soon. It was good then we had a really great lesson with a lady named Connie who is really awesome, and we were working on getting her to come to church!

Wednesday- We had district meeting, with both us and one other companionship so that was fun. It went pretty well and it was fun having it be so small and simple. Made it easier to have everyone involved in what we can do better! We then went and tracted a ton again. We were tracting in this one neighborhood and we met this anti mormon theologist, who has disproved everything we believe multiple times. He was interesting to talk to for a minute then I shook his hand and told him I was going to go knock on other doors. He was funny though and he didn't bring up anything I haven't ever heard before ha! But it was great, then we got the cops called on us... But it was all good because this person just wanted us to move our car and everyone was nice about it! It was all good. That night we had a great dinner with some members, but afterwards we planned to work in their neighborhood and we got some hot chocolate from some super nice people!

Thursday- We tracted a ton again, we had a lot of planning that we did as well. At 3 though we were able to have a lesson with a lady named Kathrine. She is super interesting, she only believes in doing what you feel God tells you and not what is written in a book... She is a "free spirit" pretty great we will see how the teaching process goes from here. She did say that next Sunday she will come to church! So that is super cool, and we also got to go out with this Rm named Ryan Barnes. He served his mission in Ghana, the Accra mission. It was a good time, we went and taught the Hendersons, some members in our ward an active member lesson on missionary work. It was a great time they have the funniest bunch of kids.  It was a great lesson with them!

Friday- Was quite a blur we tracted a ton, like 10 to 4:30 we were knocking doors and we met a lot of really cool people and found a few people who were interested. That morning was so cold though.  Then at 4:30 we had a great lesson with a guy named kelvin and we set him with a date to be baptized it was great. He is going to be turned over to the other elders since he doesn't live in our area but it was a great lesson. Then what was really cool was that night we got to help out at a merit badge clinic for the Boy scouts. We helped with a citizenship in the nation merit badge and we got to meet a ton of non members. One kid even drove down here from Buffalo New York crazy!! Good time though it was a ton of fun that was for sure!

Saturday- We went and helped some people move an oven, and they gave us pizza so that made it really good. Then we went and were tracting in these mansions of houses. It was quite interesting, we had this kid whistle and we would whistle a tune back to him.  It was funny because I don't think I ever saw where he was but the houses were huge!! Then we went and had another lesson that night with Connie and it went really well.  We shared a powerful lesson on how it was satan keeping her from church and we got her pretty fired up to go and she was committed to come!!!  It was pretty cool!  Then we went and visited her daughter who is really cool and talked to us about wanting to come to church as well, so that will be really awesome!

Sunday- Connie didn't come to church so that was sad, we called her and she cancelled last minute it was a heart breaker!!  Church was really good, I enjoyed the lessons that we had.  We had our appointment with Matthew and we are going to try to start teaching his family so that should be fun!! Then we were able to get some delicious BBQ for dinner from some members! That night was crazy, we were out tracting and it was about 7:30ish when we knocked on this door. Next thing we know this lady is like who is it, so we tell her and she yells something through the door. Then the door swings open gun in hand aimed in our general direction. She the proceeded to yell at us for knocking so late, we were understanding since she had a 7 month old baby but it was so cool. Good thing was Elder Robinson was in front so I wouldn't have been shot - lol. It was pretty funny!!

Great way to end the week, hope everyones week was a fun as mine was!!

Love Elder Dylan Hutchings

The picture is of a dead bird on a porch while we were tracting!!!  I thought it was funny!!

Crazy Back Road

Monday- As everyone could see we didn't have our P day this last Monday. We had a good time we went and taught this old couple named the Benfeilds.  It was a good lesson on the restoration and they found it quite interesting. We ended the lesson and committed them to come to church and they said they would do their best (they didn't come). It was a good lesson and the crazy part was that they already had a Book of Mormon.  They couldn't remember where they got it either! We continued to tract the rest of the day! Then Curtis invited us to come with them to dinner at this place called waffle house. It was pretty good I liked it and then we found out it was his Brother Ivan's birthday so we sang to him and it was fun! Then we went and tracted a ton more and tried following up with some people and we had to bike a ton but what was really nice was Curtis was able to come and pick us up at the end of the night so that was really good.   All of our tracting payed off because we were able to find 2 people that day it was really great!

Tuesday- I had so much fun, we spent the whole day with Curtis. So we were out of miles so he came and helped us drive to get groceries.  That was super nice and then we emailed and what not. But then the day started when we got back we played these board games that Curtis brought.  We made some cinnamon rolls and this Stromboli thing it was really good! Such a fun time.  The games were ones I had never played before.  I won twice it was great! Then we got this call later that day and we ran over to help one of our investigators really quick with some service and then basically the day ended. We had dinner then we were to stay inside and plan for the week that night! But we were able to finish early so I pulled out this church movie called how rare a possession. I had never seen it before but it was really good! That was our basic day!!

Wednesday- Was so much fun, we had a Tri zone conference and it was really good. All of the instructions were really good, they focused on faith and reaching goals that we have set. It was really a good time. Then we did some service for the people who were hosting us. Then we had this activity with it. We were on this farm thing so we had a sack race, and three legged race. It was a ton of those types of games. Elder Robinson and I were the anchor for the three legged race, and it was crazy, we were behind by quite a bit when it got to us. We caught up and we were going so fast it was crazy, then we went to turn and we both lost our footing and fell down, but we were still able to take 2nd so that was good, but we were so close to beating those who were in first! It was crazy awesome till we fell hahahah, then we went on to win some other ones and what not it was really fun.  The race messed up my leg it was all swollen from the fall with the rope on and being tied to elder Robinson but I was fine and it is doing really good now! That night we went and took one of our ward missionaries out with us and it was really great because we taught an awesome lesson to these two people and he had great insights and testimony!

Thursday- I had a zone meeting with the other leaders of the zone it was quite interesting. We had a good time at the meeting. I of course was cracking jokes the whole time trying to keep it lively!!  It was great. After that I went on exchange here in Raleigh with a missionary named Elder Lowe and we had a great time. We had a good time tracting because that was basically all that we did, but it was good. I rode a bus for the first time ever, it was pretty interesting!  We had dinner with this member who was really cool, he was a mission president down in Peru and he had the funniest stories from it! Then tracting was great that night we were able to find 2 people who were really interested! Then as we were walking to the bus we noticed that we had missed it so we were like oh no... Then this member turned the corner and was like want a ride? We were like heck yea! Then we got cook out shakes and he sent a picture home it was a pretty great way to end the night!!

Friday- Elder Robinson came and picked me up so we were finally able to be back together and we headed up to Wake Forrest. It was an interesting day, we had a few people that we tried to get together with but we missed them sadly. It was a pretty generic day, but that night was really great! At 6 we went to this members home who had invited a family to meet with us. We had dinner and it was a ton of fun the members are so cool and so is this family. We taught them the restoration.  We went over how Christ had established a church and the apostasy and then Joseph Smith and his part in being called as a prophet! They had great questions and we set up another appointment and committed them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. After the discussion it was funny the member challenged us to go and play them in foozeball. So my skills were put to the test.  I won a few games but then I lost, my left hand is really bad now at playing! It was a great night!

Saturday- We went to an appointment and it was with the people that we visited with on Wednesday.  It was crazy and tough because Wednesday after we left a member of the family tried to commit suicide. It was super discouraging, but we taught about our relationship to Heavenly Father and how they can get strength from him. It was very interesting, we just tried to show our love to them and asked how we can help them out. All of that put a damper on them coming to church this week! It was super sad, but we will help them work through it! We finished the night with visiting this less active member and it was great they talked about how they wanted to start coming back to church so hopefully we can help them get there!

Sunday- Was great,  I got to meet a lot more members of the ward.  It was sad no one that we invited to church came and that was hard. But we will get people to come.  What was really cool was there was a member from the Raleigh 1st ward and he was going around telling everyone that they had some great missionaries in the ward!!!  It was really funny!  It was a great Sunday, we had an awesome dinner with these members named the Henderson's. We had ribs and it was so good, and they have some super fun kids!  Then we went tracting and we found a baptist seminary student who is getting his masters.  It will be interesting with our return appointment. He said he was going to bring his bible hahaha!! Then we went and visited a recent convert and went back over the restoration with her. It was great way to end the night!!

Today we have a zone activity it will be tons of fun since we are playing chair soccer!!

Pictures are me on this crazy back road, every Elder still out here who came out with me except one. And then the trip down to the zone conference!

Road trip to zone conference

Crazy Back Roads

All the missionaries I came out with!!!