It's September

Well this week was really great, felt pretty long but then short at the same time. It was interesting to  have a slow week compared to last week. But it was pretty fun!

Monday- we had a ton of elders who came down to Wilmington and we played this board game which is called bang and it is pretty fun. Its a game where the sheriff is trying to kill these bandits and he has 2 helpers and a ton of bad guys.  It's hard to explain much more about it. Then we had a nerf war thing, so we played whats called terrorist in Paris. So you have 2 people who are trying to get everyone else out. Everyone has nerf guns and its done with a card selection. Both of the bad guys know who each other but no one else knows so its a bunch of people shooting everyone trying to find out who the bad ones are. It really messes with you because you don't know who you can trust. It is a ton of fun! Then that night was interesting we finally met this guy named Alex who the sisters referred us to. He seemed interesting and  we started teaching him but he dropped us this week. After that we went and spent the rest of the night tracting and we met this guy named Damion, he is from Jamaica and is really cool. We just sat in some chairs outside his front door and taught him the restoration. He was like yea mon, I wanna be more committed to Jesus. It was really funny and cool!

Tuesday- Was our normal accounting like usual, then we went on exchange. We exchanged with the Jacksonville elders which was interesting. They were a bit late to the exchange point but it was still a good day. It was a great exchange we were able to go and meet with a bunch of different people. We found a few people as well, one was this  man named Anthony who had met mormons before and was like its not my time yet. After some persistance he was like yea actually y'all should come back it was the best. Then we went and taught this lady named Patrice and she doesn't have a strong belief in god but she was open to hearing us out. So we taught her the plan of salvation and we ended with talking about the Holy Ghost and I quoted a scripture to her and she was like whoa and got all big eyed and said I think I just felt the spirit when you said that. It was crazy cool! Then that night we taught a guy named Lake who is 18 and he finally read the pamphlet we gave him and is understanding the apostasy. So that was good and he had great questions on the priesthood and stuff. Great lesson, and we were able to set a time to come back for Friday to make sure he would still be able to come to church.

Wednesday- We went up to Jacksonville to exchange back, and we had our district meeting and lunch up there. It took what felt like forever, we finally got home at 3 which was really nice. Then we got straight to work and  we gave a blessing to this lady who is about to have twins, she had them this weekend but wanted a blessing before hand. So that was cool!

Thursday- We went and met with Laura and it went so well, we covered most of everything left to teach.  She is so excited for her baptism, we gave her a program to start looking over and picking people to do certain things so we will get that all scheduled out this week, it is so exciting!! We had a YSA member named Michael with us for her lesson and Laura adores Michael, he is the sweetest guy. Then we had our weekly planning session for the week which was weird because it usually happens on Thursdays but with how crazy hectic our schedule has been it has been on different days. It was really a great day. Then we got this media referral for a book of mormon, it was really cool. So we called them and set up a time to come by on Friday. Then we were suppose to have had coordination meeting with our ward mission leader but he forgot about it, but we were able to reschedule it for Saturday!

Friday- That night was a blast, we had this recent convert named Matthew Moore out with us and he is 18 and headed out to BYU Idaho. It was really awesome, he is excited and is also preparing for a mission and he spent the whole evening with us. So we went to contact the referral we got first and he ended up not being home but his mom was there so we were able to talk to her and she was really funny and was telling us - yea come on back by he needs it! Then we went and taught this lady named Gwen, and she has a bit of memory loss, but the lesson was really good and Matthew bore a really great testimony on the priesthood and its importance. It was great. Then we went and taught Lake. At the end of the lesson we invited lake to be baptized and he had a few concerns about it and how he was still young then Matthew again came in like a champ and told him, I was baptized at 17 and testified it was the best and Lake committed to come to church and to pray about being baptized!

Saturday- Not to much happened, we tried going to Marlyns baptism since I had taught her but apparently she was baptized on Friday so i missed it. It was a bit upsetting but she got baptized so i was happy about that.  I don't really remember much of the day though. That night we had coordination and it was so funny we talked about the hurricane and what not. We had a ton of people to talk about and our ward mission leader was quite impressed!! It was cool.

Sunday- Laura came to church and she had her baptism announced over the pulpit. It was awesome and made everyone so excited for her! Then church was great we taught the gospel principles class which got off topic so much but it was fun and everyone liked it! Then after that ward we ran over to Lakes house to make sure he was ready because we arranged a ride for him. Which he wasn't ready for when it came so his ride showed up and no Lake... But his brother brought him so it was a blessing. He walked in at just the right time it was so cool. The one conducting couldn't have been a moment to soon or late. It was so cool, he liked the meeting. Oh and in the 1st ward this guy quoted Donald Trump in his testimony it was so funny!!!!! That night was crazy though, we went to visited a few people in the hospital and gave a few more blessings it was a pretty great night!!

The Picture is of us with Matthew, last week we ordained him to the Melkezick priesthood and it was so cool. This is out last picture with him before he leaves for school this Tuesday!

Love y'all and I should have Pictures of the baptism this week!

Love Elder Dylan Hutchings

Elder Rawlins an I with Mathew

Article from North Carolina Mission paper that Elder Hutchings wrote

Elders and Sisters, we read in Preach my Gospel Chapter Six, Christlike Attributes under diligence that, "diligence is steady, consistent, earnest and energetic effort in doing the Lord’s work." Then directly following it says, "The Lord expects you to work diligently." I believe this often causes fear of what will happen if we choose not to work diligently. I don't want to dwell on that aspect, but on why Heavenly Father expects this. He knows our Eternal Potential, so he knows who we can become even when we often times forget. He asks us to do hard things because we, with His support, can do them. It does take effort on our part, but the more we exert ourselves the more we grow to our Eternal Potential. The wonderful thing is that we are never alone as we exert our efforts, we receive the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As we diligently strive to fulfill the task at hand, we can exercise our faith to call down this power. D&C 58:28: "For the power in in them, wherefore they are agents unto themselves." We can call down this amazing power and do all things. Now Go ye therefore and teach all nations!! - Matthew 28:19. 
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. ~Elder Hutchings

What a Whirlwind!!!

This week was extremely busy, it was crazy. Probably the busiest week I have ever had as a missionary.  I will not lie, I am so tired it is not even funny!

Monday- Was the big day for the ECLIPSE... we didn't even see it, there was a bunch of cloud cover! We had a really fun day, we went down to Shallotte's district activity. We had this like nerf war, really fun and we played this game called zombies down there! We scared the daylights out of this one missionary while playing. It becomes a really intense game. Think of Raptor or ghost in the grave yard, except you have a gun if your not one of the dead guys and you shoot the zombies to stay alive while they try to get you! It is crazy we turn all of the lights off and make it all spooky! It was well worth the drive down to Shallotte!  That night was great, we finished some stuff up for our zone conference that was on Tuesday.   We had a great lesson with Lake, we taught him most of the plan of salvation and it was really cool.  He said that he has always had a belief in the pre earth life but always wondered why no one taught it! Great night!!

Tuesday- We had zone conference, which is this huge meeting with all of the missionaries from the zone, about 30 in total.  President James and the assistants are there as well! Its always a great meeting. It always goes over though it is so funny.  Elder Rawlins was conducting and I looked over at him and was like I bet we don't get out of here till about 5! Now the schedule says that we should be out by 3:30, and we got out at about 5. Lets just say I won that one! Then that night we exchanged with Elder Miller and Elder McComb.  Elder Miller came to Wilmington with me and we killed it! We went and had dinner with Laura, which was good. Then the lesson afterwards was great, we taught her the last of the commandments.  She was great with it and totally loved it! Then we got to go and knock some doors. Elder Miller has been out for about 3 weeks now so he was pretty funny on the doors, but we found 2 new people who want us to come back this week that was awesome. One of them is trying to find more peace in this life with everything she has been through and was so happy that we had came by, even though we had to push really hard to get her to listen, because at the beginning she was just  yeah I'm not interested. But we didn't give up it was great!

Wednesday- I went and picked up Elder Rawlins and we exchanged back, and after that we ran out to try and tract a bit. Then we ran home for a minute to allow him to drop his stuff of and I packed my stuff up. We ran to a lunch with a member which was pretty good! We had sandwiches. Then we ran over to Leland and went on an exchange with Elder Cox and Elder Shore. I went to Leland which was tons of fun. We went and saw a few people that I knew from when I was there.  We then got to tract a bit before we ate dinner with the Carols who have fed me when I've been back there before, so they were excited to see me!! We had a great lesson with this lady and she was really interested in the thought of a prophet. This all happened after her dog tried to get me, but I was fine and it was all good. It was fun to be back in Leland though, always a great time, I just wished I had been able to see the Child family - love them! But its all good I will have another exchange!

Thursday- We exchanged back that morning and we ran over to a recent converts home to have a lesson with him. Brother Burwell, he is this super funny older guy! Then after the lesson we ran home to unpack and repack because we were heading up to Raleigh because we had an exchange that we needed to do with them as well.  Up to Raleigh we drove and then we get there, they needed to push the time back so we went and tracted some huge houses in their area. These people were so rich I was like whoa!!! Then we got to exchange after dinner. I went with Elder Shearer, and we went and taught this guy named Nathan, he was interesting so say the least... Then we ran over to another appointment with this guy named Sar. He is from Africa and is really cool, we taught him the restoration.  His son joined in as well and he is now interested in learning more so hopefully that turns out for them!

Friday- We woke up and went to MLC and man were the assistants helping us out because we spent the night with them and we didn't have to wake up at about 4:45 to head up to Raleigh for the leadership meeting because we were already there!!!  We had a great time setting up and getting ready. Then the meeting was great, it as well was suppose to end a lot earlier then it did. It was pretty crazy so long story short, we ended up back home by about 6:45.   That was a nice long day of meetings! It was fun though because President James is so funny in those meetings. He doesn't have a filter on some things and it is just the best thing ever! That night we just tracted - no real appointments but it was a good night!

Saturday- First normal day. We got to contact this guy who was referred to us by this member down in Florida. It was pretty cool and the guy seems really open to learning more and really pretty committed. We will have to be careful since the member is his soon to be Father in Law!!!  We don't want him doing this so he can get some brownie points!!!!  Just teasing him, he seems like a great guy!!

Sunday- Well to start off Laura had her baptismal interview and she is all set, it was amazing! I was so excited to see her and now we just have 2 weeks that we are working towards and she will be baptized. It is such an exciting time!  Then in the YSA Branch i gave a talk, and with how busy it has been I wrote my talk the night before.  I let them know that I was not prepared for my talk which was on Being Prepared for Spiritual Emergencies. Haha it was so funny, but i think it went well!! Everyone who I talked to liked it! 

So overall it was a great week really busy and pretty tiring but it was great!

Love Elder Hutchings

Sick days can't get us down!!!

Monday- We had a district activity that went really well. We all met here at the church and played some card games for a bit which was surprisingly pretty fun! Then we played some volleyball and chair soccer which are always fun.  The best news was I didn't hurt my ankle playing volley ball this time which is always good! Most of the time was spent playing chair soccer which is really my favorite game out here. Then that night before we left the Wilmington 2nd sisters stopped us and told us that they had someone that they wanted us to go teach.  We went and taught him, which turned out to be him and his 2 friends who are all pretty interested so we will see how it goes after the second lesson.  We will see if we can get them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. That was exciting because we were a bit skeptical of the appointment but it went really well! Then we spent the rest of the night tracting, which wasn't to much time since that night we came back to the church so some other elders could help elder Rawlins give me a blessing since I had been sick for a day or two!

Tuesday- Woke up feeling some what better but definitely didn't do any exercising.  I really wasn't up to it, was kinda sore from all of the sports that we had been playing yesterday but it went good! We had to do our accounting which was pretty weird since everyone had appointments on when they were needed to account but we got it all worked out, it took more time then we would have liked but it all went well.  In between the accounting we were able to go and meet with our investigator Lake, he is super cool. He is 18 and just moved here, he had read about 2 pages of the Book of Mormon, so we read some more with him and helped explain it more. It was a great lesson.  We are just working on getting him to come to church with us now! Then that night what was really awesome was that Babbs and Ronnie, people that I had worked with in Leland live here in Wilmington. So we went and met with them, they are in a bit of a rough spot.  It was good to see them and we started teaching Ronnie again who isn't a member. It was pretty great to see them and see if we can get Ronnie to a point where he can be baptized!

Wednesday- Well that night was interesting, I woke up twice only to find that my fever was breaking and both times i was really really sweaty which was gross, but i just went back to sleep. Then that morning I felt great.Then it was time for our exchange with the Shallotte Elders so we headed down to Shallotte for district meeting. It was a good meeting, this one older missionary couple took like half of the meeting which was really funny but it was good. Afterwards I stayed in Shallotte with Elder Lambert.  It was a pretty great day. We had quite a few appointments that we went to.  Then I got to do a baptismal interview for their investigator who is doing good but will need to be interviewed again. But it was all good, but let me tell you about the dinner that we had in that ward, we had ribs and they were so good.  They gave us peach cobbler and it was so amazing!!

Thursday- Elder Rawlins and I were back together. Which was nice but we needed to go on another exchange with the Wilmington 2 elders.  So I again left the area and went to the other ward. It was a great day as well, I was with elder Manu who is this big Samoan guy from washington! He was really funny. We got to go to this birthday thing where the investigators fed us some cake it was really good cake to!  We taught this funny old black couple who were Jehovah witnesses. The whole time they had something to argue about but we taught a good lesson to them and they invited us to come back and teach again! So that was exciting! While out tracting we found this guy swinging this thing around, well come to find out he is a fire dancer guy and this is a new thing that he will be using.  He was cool but not super interested in learning more at that time! The concluding lesson that night was so good, we taught this guy who came to church because he started talking to one of the members of the church at Walmart. Then after she told him he decided to come. So we taught him the restoration that night and he is super solid just really looking for truth and he said that if he came to know that this was all true that he would be baptized it was really cool!!

Friday- I am once again in my area and now this is for the rest of the week, and Elder Rawlins told me how everything had gone and what all had happened and how this ladies mom had a heart attack while they were teaching her it was crazy.  That night we went and taught her, her name is Gwen. She is the nicest lady, we have taught her  3 times now and each time she is like okay I get it, she does have some memory issues from a stroke a few years back but she is doing really well!! Then most of the rest of our day was spent tracting or planning but it was a good day just not to busy or exciting! That night though at 2 am Elder Rawlins woke me up, a cockroach had been crawling on him while he slept and now he had to find it.  It was back behind my bed, so I get my blow dart nerf gun and we pull the bed away and boom first shot got it even while it was trying to run away!!  We disposed of the body and went back to bed!

Saturday- Was cool we went back into this area that was super rich and we found a few people who were interested. This one guy though had  this pond connected to his house it was probably the craziest thing I had ever seen.  His house foundation went into the pond... He was really well off! Then as we were walking out we found this turtle. It was a cute little turtle and you know us so we picked it up and took a few pictures with it, only a small photo shoot not to big or anything. I think a few people saw us but what the heck right! Then we visited this one less active member and it was a good chat with him, he makes these like metal sculptures and has all this army gear, quite cool.  In the process of trying to spark some kindle of fire in him again he says well boys I'm not active and I feel like the terrestrial kingdom will be good enough for me... But we told him it wasn't and were going to keep trying to get him back to church! Then the rain came down it dumped for a bit it was pretty crazy, then we got a call from the 2nd sisters again asking us to go to another appointment.  It was in this pretty rough part of town and we were both scared but the guy was really nice and we had a pretty good lesson. At the end he like told us that he believes that aliens are god... so we will see how this teaching process goes!

Sunday- Laura came again to church and she told us that next week she is going to be bringing like 3 of her friends.  She keeps telling everyone at church that she is going to get baptized and become a member!  Babbs came to church it was really good, I guess Ronnie was feeling sick so that was why he didn't come but we will get him there next week!! Then in the YSA ward we got asked to bless the sacrament, it was pretty crazy  because this is my second time doing it in church. But it was fun! We were expecting more people to be at church with school starting but it seems like not to many people have popped up yet which is kinda scary since the YSA branch is tiny and there is like 5 active guys not including us... But they should be fine haha! The rest of the night was pretty busy with some tracting and appointments but nothing else exciting really happened!

That is about all of my week in a nut shell it is pretty great, really a fun week this week. Lots of driving and exchanges!!

Love Elder Dylan Hutchings

The Big House

Photo shoot!!

Me and the Turtle!!

Babbs at Church!!!

Capture the flag Zone style

This week was really fun!

Monday- we had a zone activity and we went out to the beach, it was a ton of fun! We played some soccer on the beach and some capture the flag it was all really fun. It was like the perfect day to go as well.  The weather wasn't the best so the population at the beach was pretty low so that was fun. Ever missionary in the zone ended up showing up which made it quite a bit of fun and we were able to meet everyone and put a face to all of the names that we know. So that was good, all of the new missionaries are so young. They like all just graduated and I'm over here like this old decrepit man - LOL!!! It is so weird... But it was a good day. We took food from a place called cook out, which is like my favorite place ever and ate it out on the beach. Everyone needs to try it, it is the best stuff ever! That night we went out to work.  We were still on bikes but we made it to all of our appointments and we even got to see one of our investigators who we were in need of catching up with. Then we ended the night by giving a blessing to some of the sisters in the district it was a pretty good day!

Tuesday- Was a bit odd our usual schedule was thrown a bit off but we were able to go out and get done what we needed to. We went and taught this guy named Ricky.  He was so cool, and he fed us so that was great! He made super good potatoes and ribs.  It was the best! After that we booked it in the rain on our bikes because our car had finally gotten finished.  We biked up a rode called market which was super sketchy but we made it! Then we were able to make it to our other appointments for the night, so it all worked out. We had our one and only meal of the week that night with this super awesome member who took us to Jimmy Johns! We also got a call that night to tell us that one of investigators baptismal dates will be able to be moved forward significantly so that will be really good.  That was an exciting call!!

Wednesday- We headed up to district meeting in Jacksonville. It was a great meeting, really fun and they had a ton of missionaries in the district up there!  Afterwards elder Rawlins stayed in Jacksonville and I took a new missionary with me to Wilmington for exchanges. All we did that day was teach and it was so awesome. We just went from appointment to appointment. We taught this guy named Tom first and we read Alma 7 with him and focused the lesson on the atonement of Jesus Christ. Then we taught this guy named Lake who is YSA age and that was great.  We read the intro to the Book of Mormon and he committed to reading and praying about it. Great lesson, then we went and taught the restoration to this one lady who ended up not letting us come back, but that is alright! Then we taught Kayla who we talked about reading and praying and it was awesome and she said she had gotten an answer to her prayers and believes it is all to be true!

Thursday- We exchanged back and had a pretty fun day, we went and met with Brother Burwell. We tracted into like 5 muslims and then we tried to visit this bible referral and it turned out to be a bust.. and then we met this man named Lateef Peace!!! It was so funny and a great appointment!

Friday- We went and did quite a bit of teaching, we went and were tracting in this one awesome neighborhood where everyone is super nice and we found this lady named Toni, she was super cool!! Then we went and taught our investigator Gwen, and the lesson went so well. We taught most of Plan of Salvation and then invited her to be baptized, and she said yes if she received and answer to her prayers!

Satuday- we went and taught Laura the rest of the plan of salvation and the word of wisdom and she is so solid!! She is going to get baptized it is so awesome!! She gave her cigarettes to us to get rid of!! It was awesome best day ever!!

Sunday Laura came to church and we had a great time.  The YSA ward was great - this girl went way over on time for her talk it was awesome. A lot of new people moved in and what not with college starting again!! It was a great day and we found 2 new people to teach!!

That was mostly the week if you have any questions just ask!!

Love Elder Hutchings

Craziest Contact Ever!!

Monday- We went and tried to catch some more gators and then got some dairy queen. It was pretty great, I really enjoyed it! We didn't do to much since everyone needed to pretty much get stuff done with transfers so that was fun. That night we went out and worked and we found these 2 new investigators  and it was pretty great. One of them is the daughter of an investigator that we found a few weeks ago.  We are trying to get the whole family to start meeting with us so hopefully that all pans out. We met with a less active that we are teaching and that was fun, he told us he is on this world renowned martial arts team it was pretty funny. Then we ended the night with going and giving some of the sisters blessing for this coming transfer.  One was called to train and the other was bringing in a new leader. So that was pretty cool.

Tuesday- Was transfers we were the only ones who didn't go up.  We were so out of the loop for what was going on but we found out pretty fast because we get a rooster of the mission of where everyone is.  Elder Dobson got called to train which is pretty exciting! We took this YSA out with us to go teach and sadly our lesson fell through but he was a good sport about it.  He tracted with us for a little bit! Then we spent most of the day tracting.  We had a few really good contacts but it wasn't super eventful but that's okay because the rest of the week was!

Wednesday- we took the car in to get the tire fixed because we needed take it into the shop  later and we didn't want the tire to go flat while it was in the shop. So we cut it really close since we took it in right before district meeting, but they got it done before it started so that was good. Then we took the car in after the meeting and we started our bike week off! It was pretty great, I feel so skinny again. We biked all over the place and it was kinda scary.  We found these two really cool new investigators. Then that night we met this less active part member family who is super nice and want us to come back for dinner.  He was so cool, he ran the heart machine for the first open heart surgery here in North Carolina and joined the church in 78. Just a really cool couple who we are hoping to teach!

Thursday- We biked a ton, we biked clear down to where Laura lives so we could have dinner and a lesson with her. It was a ton of fun. We also met with Tate Bagley who is this really cool Priest. Dinner was really good!!  It was a pasta dish and Laure is Italian so it was really good! Then the lesson was just awesome. We taught her all about the plan of salvation and Tate was really involved with it as well! I really enjoyed it and then we were able to commit her to be baptized and she was all for it. She had already asked for her moms blessing and everything!!  It was amazing and Tate was like whoa whoa!!! It was great. Then she gave us these shrimp that she had caught that morning it was super cool! Luckily we didn't have to bike a ton after that because it took up a ton of our night but it was well worth it!

Friday- We got a call and the sisters needed some help fixing a bike so we went and helped them with that and then tracted some YSA apartments which was fun. We had this one guy who opened the door and let us right in and and told us that he will not be converted that he was catholic, but that he would convert us. So after about 5 minutes of us trying to get him to listen to us we both just stood up and walked out because he started  bashing with us.   We needed to leave so we said sorry sir we mean no offense but we do need to be going because this isn't what we are trying to do and what we are about!!  Unfortunately he was like jvihdiubasj and so we just walked out.  We ended up finding 2 people who were super interested in hearing and invited us to come back! Then that night we went out tracting again and this time we meet this guy.. Ken and he idk what was up but he thinks the government is microwaving him with radiation and he had this lab coat and a helmet and everything. It was pretty crazy. He went on for days telling us all about it. Then he gave us this card with his website on it to get the word out - it was crazy. Then he tried telling us that the government can read minds and that the weed smokers below him are government goons who are using pulse cannons on him hahaha it was the best!!!

Saturday- It feels like all we did was bike and it was so hot. As we biked to this recent convert we got dumped on by the rain and what not it was the worst. But we had a great lesson, I thought I was going to catch pneumonia though because his house was so cold!! Then we spent the rest of the day tracting and we found a few people but most everyone was nice just not to interested!! We finished the night by stopping by this family from the Congo and we set up an appointment with them so it was a pretty good day.

Sunday- we had church and it was really good, Laura was telling everyone she had made up her mind and was going to get baptized. It was awesome, sadly, all of the cool sales guys from the YSA ware are going home so we won't have any cool priesthood in the ward except the elders quorm president. But it will be alright!! That night we biked the farthest ever!! We live 3 miles outside of our area so that doesn't help but we biked 30 miles.  The people we went to see weren't even home, it was so frustrating. But we were rebels and went across this closed off bridge!!!  It was completely finished though so we were all good.  It was a great Sunday.  I was so tired from all of the biking this week though it was crazy and really hard but we did it!!

Love Elder Hutchings

 The picture is me being a rebel!!

Our last district meeting

The size of Moths here!!!!

Lots of Exchanges

Well this week was crazy and exciting we got a ton of work done and had some great experiences!! It was pretty busy and I ended up being in Jacksonville for our exchange and now this week I will be going to Hampstead. It will be fun, also we have an exchange with the assistants this week so that should be fun! 

Monday- We ended up going out to the beach which was tons of fun. We got a batchi ball, that one game where you throw the little ball out and then throw your two out and try to get closest to it. It was pretty fun on the beach!!  We threw the Frisbee around which is always pretty fun on the beach! After that we zoomed home really quick and headed out to our dinner which was with the African family who is moving to South Dakota and another member of the ward. It was fun.  We had pizza and we helped them communicate which is always super hard! Then we spent the rest of the night tracting but it was fun, you always meet the most interesting people while knocking on doors!!

Tuesday- We went around and met a bunch of less actives in the ward. Some of them were super friendly, like this one lady who wasnt interested in coming back and was super suprised that we knew where she lived but it was funny and good. We found this old guy, and sadly he wasn't interested but he was really nice and talked all about his life with us for a few seconds. Then he said his neighbor would talk to us and that was when we met Annette.  She is this sweet older lady who was agreeing with everything we were teaching her about according to the restoration! It was pretty great! We spent most the rest of the day tracting again, but then we went to see the African family that is moving with the bishop so he can see what he can do to help them.  We got just about everything squared away! That ended up taking up most of the night but it was definitely needed!!

Wednesday- We woke up and then headed up to the Jacksonville district for their district meeting. Which the drive up there went great, not much traffic or anything and the meeting was really good as well!! Then I stayed up there with Elder Rowley. He was super cool, he is a pretty big guy like football player looking guy but I had a ton of fun with him. We ended up teaching this group in a car, the contact was really scary. I just like saw them and pulled a card out and motioned that I wanted to give it to them. Then while they sat in the car we taught them the restoration, which was super funny because they were like cracking jokes in between stuff. It was really funny and they all said they were interested in learning more so we set up a time to go back and teach them. It was a ton of fun and just funny the whole time I was in Jacksonville!

Thursday- we exchanged back and that is always nice. Then we did all of our planning for the week when we got home which was exhausting like always but we got it done fairly quickly so that was nice. Then we found this awesome little family out tracting. We shared with them the restoration as well, and they were like thrilled by it! They were like you definitely need to come back! So that was really awesome! Then we had a meeting with one of our investigators Karen, and this girl has worked with the missionaries for like 4 years, and keeps backing out super close to baptism.  We had a great lesson with her and we showed her this awesome video which really got through to her.  We set a date for her to work towards and I think it will actually happen this time!! Then we met with the African family to drop off a suitcase which we were fixing for them! 

Friday- We worked really hard and it was hot and not to much happened, we tried following up with some people but it didn't really work out but we found some one else so that was great!!

Saturday- This day was the bomb! We went and met with this guy who was super funny his name is Joe.   He kept telling us to stop calling him sir and what not.  It was a pretty great lesson with him on prophets and how that all works! Then we went and visited with a recent convert named James who is the sweetest old guy who was baptized not to long ago, he is the best!! Then that night we went and taught this other African family.  They are super elect and we found them because they were using wifi from another complex and were out on the side walk hahah!! It was funny but we had a great lesson with them. We taught them about faith and repentance which went great, considering the father was like I know the Book of Mormon is true!!  Then he told us that we  teach the word of GOD and that he wants to come to church!! It was so amazing!! Then the sad part came in, because we were like can you come this week and next week? And he was like this week yes next week no, this Saturday we are moving to Ohio!!!  Ughhhh  it was heart breaking!!!! But that's alright we will send them as a referral to the missionaries there!!!

Sunday- we had a boat load of Africans refugees there, and then the other really awesome thing happened!!!  Will, my recent convert here in the second ward asked me to give him the Arronic Priesthood!! It was really awesome I am so excited for it!! Then that night all of the Africans sang and danced for us it was really cool!! They are amazing people.  Definitely a super cool experience!! 

Love

Elder Hutchings

Temple Trip

This week has been pretty interesting, I wont give any spoilers because those are just the worst. It has been a really good week. A lot of interesting things happened and I was all over the place, well all over the zone!

Monday- We got to go have dinner with the YSA branch president, that was interesting. He doesn't really like missionaries or doing missionary work, so that makes it tough. But we had a great dinner to be honest. They had this really good roast thing and some potatoes. What was really awesome was they live super far down at the bottom of our area, and it is like right on the beach!!   We had a great view of the ocean while we ate it was really scenic! Then that night was really interesting, we went and taught this couple and this is my first lesson with them and they are living together and what not but of course it is the law of chastity lesson with them. It went really good, we started by showing this one video and then talked to them about what it was and why its important! It was a good lesson, and they both committed to live it. He is a member also so we were hoping they were living it!! They are super interesting people.

Tuesday- We went and met with this investigator Shea, she is really awesome. We found her last week tracting and went back this week. We just mostly went back over the restoration because we only taught her on the door.  She remembered a ton though. She was like yea it all makes sense and she was like I was looking forward to getting the Book of Mormon as well!! So she committed to read it and pray.  She said if she received an answer that it was true should would be baptized, which was cool. Then we had the member with us bear his testimony on the Book of Mormon. It was a great lesson! Then we spent most of the day tracting.  It was a good day though and we found quite a few people. We also took the car into the shop to get an estimate so that went well. It was a great day!

Wednesday- We woke up at about 4 so that we could be ready to go up to Raleigh because we had a temple trip. Which was awesome by the way!! It was also mashed up with the zone conference, in which I was the one who was asked to conduct. That was some pretty scary stuff, but it went well and it was a great one.  The instructions at the Zone Conference were really good and the temple was the best! After that I went down on exchange with the tabor city elders, which is the farthest west part of the zone, and the drive down took forever. We rode with this one senior couple and to be honest it was so scary!! We didn't get home till about 7 so it was a nice long trip for sure! Then we went out and worked that night which was a ton of fun.  The elder I was with is super tall and really funny! Then while we were out we found these 2 guys and they thought I was older then the missionary I was with it was crazy funny because I think he looks a ton older then me!!

Thursday- the morning was going great, until I got a call from Elder Rawlins saying that we had some emergency in the zone.  That meant our exchange back needed to be pushed to a later time in the day.  We eventually exchanged back and then we needed to exchange again with some other elders.  I can't go into the detail on everything but it was crazy. Everything ended up going super well, but I spent the day in Wallace which was a ton of fun that is for sure!!  We tracted all night long which was fun!! I ended up feeling pretty sick that night but I powered through it and made it so it was all good!! While out tracting we found a bowling ball and I threw it in the air trying to make it sink into the ground... I don't think I threw it high enough!!

Friday- We exchanged back that morning and did a ton of planning stuff and then I'm not to sure what happened that night but it went well I'm sure of it!!

Saturday- we spent the morning knocking doors all day and it wa so hot, then we knocked more doors and more haha!!  It was spent all day knocking. But we got some rain which cooled it off that afternoon which was a blessing. Then someone gave us a gallon of water that day it was weird. That night was amazing, we went and taught a lesson in full Swahili, it was crazy!! But they are like really interested and want to read the Book of Mormon. We are going back this Saturday to teach them more!!!

Sunday- we went to church and then we had a small bit of a break in between but we had to use that time in which  to be finding out where a recent convert family was moving. The ones from Africa to be exact!!  It was the saddest news that morning!! But we got it all figured out and what not. Then after sacrament meeting for the YSA ward we booked it to go help this part member family move which was the bomb!! Then we had an awesome dinner with these really nice members! It was great then I don"t really remember what happened that night!!!

Great week this week, 

Love Elder Hutchings

Happy Fourth!!

Hey everyone, I hope this week was good for y'all and that it was a good 4th of July. It was pretty interesting here. I had had a pretty great week myself, I will tell you more about it!

Monday- We had a zone activity and it was tons of fun! We had most of the missionaries from in the zone gather together and we played this like lacrosse but with milk jugs.. Elder Rawlins found them by various means.. (in recycle bins) hahah It was a ton of fun. (Dont worry we washed them.) Then we played some soccer, it was a really fun day for sure. Then I went on an exchange with an Elder named Elder Cox, he is super funny and we mainly just tracted that night, but we found a few new people to teach. It was pretty great!!!

Tuesday- Was the Fourth of July, and we started it right by going to the ward breakfast. It was really good - tons of pancakes and sausage!! Then since it was Tuesday we did our accounting and by We, I mean I, and man was that exhausting!! It is so hard to do by yourself its crazy.. but I lived and its all worth it. Then it was a regular day basically. We had a few appointments that we went to and visited some less actives but it was a pretty basic day. We found a few more people to teach so that was awesome.  I was a bit skeptical because it was the Fourth but it all turned out good!!  That night on the way home we were able to see some of the fireworks going off over the tree line. Sadly though we mostly just got to hear them!

Wednesday- That day was crazy. We picked up Elder Rawlins and his companion for the day and then headed down to Shallote for their district meeting. Then I stayed in Shallote with a new missionary while Elder Rawlins took his trainer back to Wilmington for the day for an exchange. Yeah, I like wasn't with Elder Rawlins most of the week it was pretty funny!  Shallote was fun, it was hot and of course their car was in the shop so we were on bikes. It was pretty warm.. but it made me think of Chance since this missionary was the same age in the mission as Chance would be... but it was fun and it is weird to be around a missionary that young again!

Thursday- Elder Rawlins and I were finally back together in our area. it was pretty great, but it was funny we had this weird lesson with a recent convert and he got talking about some worldly things which was pretty funny!!  Then we met this lady who was like the government in controlling the weather hahaha!! It was a fun day, and I don't remember much because we were both so tired!!

Friday- Honestly, I don't remember much other then the fact that that night we ended up getting in a car accident. It was so crazy and awesome. Okay, so it would have been really bad. So we are driving straight down College Roadd going about 45 headed back home because its 9.  As we come up to this intersection this guy decides that he thinks he can shoot the gap.. well he didn't have enough time, so we slam on the brakes and turn the steering to the right.  We went into a drift and instead of T boning him like we should have we just ended up nicking the back right side of his bumper. It was a crazy miracle and it was amazing everything was in slow motion. The good news was everyone was okay and no one was hurt, which was really good because he had kids in the car. It was an interesting night so we went and got slushies after that - We needed it!! 

Saturday- spent most of the day filling out our accident report from our accident and some other stuff. We met with this guy named Mario!!  We were talking to him and idk how but he some how was like yeah man I smoke to much weed hahaha!!  It was super interesting.

Sunday- we got 2 people to church which was a huge sucess and we were happy about that. One of them was one of the Africans that we are teaching. His name is Sumili he is so cool and he said that he loved church it was really awesome! Then he also invited us to come and play soccer with him so I am pretty excited for that!!!

This morning we went fishing and I caught a crab it was exciting!! Fun week this week I was ecstatic!!

Love Elder Dylan Hutchings

Making some smores!!

Yummy!!!

Elder Rawlins making a double smore!!

The fender bender

Catching a crab!!!

Deadly Chinese Food

Monday- After emailing we played this nerf game called zombies it is really fun and kinda crazy, but it was really enjoyable. Its a lot like raptor or ghosts in the grave yard but you have nerf guns and your hunting the zombies.  It gets pretty scary to be honest! That night we went and visited some less active members and tracted around where they lived. It was a quite night not to much happened. Then being a zone leader we account with President James, kinda scary (haha) but not really it went really good and was quite fun! 

Tuesday- we did a ton of less active hunting and knocking the houses around them. We also met this lady who was totally a member of the church, we walked up and I tried starting the contact like with a regular person, then she like got all hostile. She was like grrr basically it was funny and it was totally her.  We called the number on the directory and she answered, but she tried telling us it wasn't her and we were like yea sure! Then that night was really awesome, we had a lesson with a couple named Travis and Katelyn, they are characters. They aren't married but have a kid together and what not, the sisters gave them to us.  Their lesson went way over and we had to teach them all of the basics of why we were there and what we wanted them to do and recommitted them.  It was interesting and lasted a long time, but it made everything work out! That placed us perfectly to intercept Nick!!  He is the nicest guy and he is going through a hard time, and he is ready for the gospel! It was amazing! We got to give him a Book of Mormon and share a ton about the plan of salvation, mostly on the atonement of Jesus Christ!

Wednesday- I went to the Wilmington 2nd ward for an exchange it was so much fun!! We mainly just tracted all day, but it went really good. The best was that I got to go and teach someone I had found when I was there. Her name was Marlyn and she is super cool.  She remembered me and everything. It was a great lesson and Brother Grishman came with us. It was like the best blessing ever! Brother Grishman also took us out to eat that night it was really awesome, just a great day in the Wilmington 2nd ward!!

Thursday-everything fell through and we were suppose to have like 4 appointments it was kinda sad but it was all good, we tracted a ton and followed up with some people it was a good day!

Friday- This is the day that the deadly food came in, and not for me I'm totally fine!!!! So we went down to the bottom of our area and worked there all day, and it went really well!! Then to save miles we were like well we will get something to eat that is cheap and stay down here.  Well Elder Rawlins is allergic to nuts. We decided to get Chinese food... well long story short the sauce that we ate had peanuts so we spent most of the night in the urgent care.  He is doing great and I didn't even freak out!!!!  The nurses thought that we were like pretty chill... so we get Elder Rawlins all treated but while in the urgent care we taught the nurses the restoration lesson, it was awesome!! Then we left as Elder Rawlins was high on benadryll , it was so awesome!!!

Saturday- nothing really happened!

Sunday- we got 2 people to church and it was exhausting, but they came even after we thought that they weren't!! It was the best, then we had church for the rest of the day, it is great I really like it!! 

That's my week in a nut Shell hahha!!!!!

Love Elder Hutchings!