MUSIC CONTEST

I, Elder Mendenhall, have come to realize that I need more music to listen to on my mission! I need more variety or I might go crazy. So I have decided to hold a music contest!



What to do: Make a CD and send it to me.

When: Now until April 30 (postmark date…) in order to qualify for the prize!

How it works: You send me a CD, at the end of April I will choose three winners! You will win prizes… Which are currently a surprise!

Qualifications and Expectations:

1- Needs to be spiritually uplifting. Mission rules: Needs to invite the spirit
and not be distracting.

2- I enjoy upbeat music.

3- I enjoy lyrics and being able to sing along.

4- Adding any songs you think I might like is a plus!

5- I think that is all…. Be creative!



Make sure to have your name on it and the different track names listed! Naming the CD is a plus!

Have fun!

Send the CD's to:
Elder Dwight Mendenhall

980 Courthouse Road #407

Gulfport, MS 39507

Mardi Gras

Dear Everyone,

Happy Fat Tuesday Eve!!! Tomorrow is Mardi Gras!!! Alright! Fat Tuesday! The day where you are allowed to get all your sinning out before Ash Wednesday where you repent and give something up for the 40 days of Lent, followed by Easter. I haven't been to a parade yet, though I know some Elders have. Elder Todd and I want to go and hand out some pass along cards, and of course have people throw us beads. Which I really don't get. Beads are just plastic necklaces... oh well. The parades and celebrations here are really really mild compared to New Orleans. Cool holiday I guess. I agree with someone here that told us the floats are gaudy. I can imagine with the colors. Yellow, green, and purple. Maybe someday those will be my wedding colors. I wonder how many people in Utah would understand that.....not many probably. So.... moral of this paragraph, get all your sinning for the year in tomorrow!!!!


Be the good missionary that I am (hahahahahahahha) I was NEVER planning on breaking rules tomorrow.... at least not seriously. It appears that I wouldn't really ever get that chance though. I am going to Hattiesburg (AGAIN)! This time for a "leadership training", aka, training in general. MTC stuff that they don't teach you in the MTC. So I will be with President and Sister Tucker as well as the Assistants all day. No chance to not behave. I will also be there Wednesday and Thursday. Three days of training! Alright! Elder Todd and I are leaving tomorrow morning at about 6:00 AM and going to Ocean Springs to pick up Elder Djainy (Johnny....is how you pronounce it... not sure if I spelled it right.) and Elder Rowley. Then going to the Biloxi apartment, dropping Elder Djainy off and picking up Elder Sherriff. Then we are going to Waveland and dropping Elder Todd off and picking up another Elder. Then driving to Hattiesburg. Elder Todd will be working in Waveland with Elder Manning for three days while I go to the training meeting. Fun stuff. I am actually really looking forward to it.

This past week, I went and worked in D'Iberville for about a day. I went on exchanges and worked with Elder Westbrook. It was a fun experience, seeing as how it was good for him and me as well. I have been out 6 weeks longer than him. Greeny power! This is his fourth week in the mission. Fun stuff! We tracted for awhile.... and I got to tract on Wizards Cove! And Unicorn something or another. Cool little neighborhood. No one talked to us there, which is really sad. Souls are at stake and no one realizes it, but the work goes on. We just need to look for those people who are ready! Those people who have had their hearts and minds prepared to receive the fullness of Christ's gospel.

It just so happens that I brought a list of quotes with me on my mission.... and I was reading through them the other day and I found a new favorite. Allow me to share it. It is on my wall now, because it is AWESOME!!!! It is by Theodore Roosevelt:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Isn't it awesome? I love it. We must ACT! And try our hardest! Whether we fail and come short, at least we tried and gave it our all.

We had rain Friday night and all day Saturday. I was actually out standing in the parking lot at our apartment complex on Friday at about 10:00 PM in shorts, a t-shirt, with no shoes most of the time, just standing in the rain. It was marvelous, beautiful, and fantasmagorical! It was that amazing. It then stopped raining and I really wanted it to rain more, and asked God to have it rain more and to just open the Heavens and have it pour down!!!! And.... He did! Just the next day. Lesson learned? Be specific! Hahahahaha. But standing there in the rain really was a marvelous and awesome experience. A very personal and spiritual time for me as well. I loved it. And they say that when it rains it either gets colder or hotter, well.... it got colder!!! YAY!

I think I am in a really talkative mood today! And then also not. Which is potentially good or bad... as I have 8 letters I still need to reply to. Something interesting... I just overheard one of the librarians say they will be closed next Monday.... maybe no email.... hmmmmm.... one of the other libraries might be open. Hopefully.

So... in the south they eat a lot of... chicken! Elder Todd had chicken Wednesday night (I was supposed to but went to D'Iberville), then we had it Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. Saturday we were fasting, so nothing then. And someone gave us $20 to go try this place called Cajuns. I imagine it's like KFC, only different slightly. They have a buffet, so I think we will be eating there for dinner. So far I haven't really gained any weight, which is good. At least I haven't gained fat. I have succeed in doing one fingertip pull up (a pull up done by just holding on with your fingertips.... it KILLS your forearms. At least mine). I haven't been working out lately. Not like I should. I need to get on that. I've been too lazy in the mornings. Not good.


General conference is coming up quick! I am excited!!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! March is awesome!

So I mentioned that tomorrow is Fat Tuesday. It is also the 8th... meaning... BIRTHDAYS! Happy birthday, Dad! Don't worry, I wont tell the world how old you are. Also, my really good friend, Alyssa, (who no one but me will ever really fully understand how much she has done for me, if I even fully comprehend that) turns 18! Woot! And.... it is my three month mark! Meaning I still have 2 years left! Alright! I get to serve 2 more years for 2 years. That never changes. Remember that. I think Elder Piggott mentioned yesterday that him and Elder Todd have 60 days left, meaning 59 today. Wow. Crazy!

Ummmmmmm.... I don't have much else to say. Have fun! Keep the peace! Be strong! And.... eat lots of cake! King cake! It's a Mardi Gras thing... it is DELICIOUS! I shall come home indoctrinated in all the ways of Mardi Gras... a Catholic holiday originally.

I love you all. Keep the people of the south in your prayers. And me! Lots of love!


--

Love,
Elder Dwight Douglas Mendenhall
980 Courthouse Road #407
Gulfport, Mississippi 39507

February 28

Good Morning!

It's raining!!!! It's pouring!!!! Which Elder Todd informed me will just make it hotter. Oh well. I will enjoy it anyway!



This past week has been an awesome one! Elder Todd and I are slowing improving and our work is beginning to show up with numbers. I think what we really needed was the Zone Conference we had to get us pumped up! On Wednesday, we drove to Hattiesburg, MS for Zone Conference, where we had the Gulfport , Slidell, and Hattiesburg zones. At least I think those are the correct names. It was really uplifting! And also.... condemning? Our mission goal was 35 baptisms for the month of January. We got 3 for the ENTIRE mission. In December we set a record for the highest number of baptisms in the mission and January was the lowest ever. The theme of Zone Conference was balance. Learning to balance everything we do. For February we have/had a goal for 27 baptisms, and so far we are at 21 or 22.... something like that. The numbers shot up towards the end of the month. We do have someone with a baptismal date, but he used to be a member so he wont count as a convert baptism. We don't care, we just want to help him. He has an interesting view of the church, and doesn't really like it and it's "rules". Some part of him knows it is true, but he doesn't want to change. He tries to find loopholes into Heaven and he is fine with going to the Terrestial kingdom. We're working on him.

We talked a lot about our key indicators and how we can look at them and see what we need to work on and balance it all out. I got to role play with President Tucker. He was a missionary and I was an investigator. It was tons of fun! Hahahahahaha, I love that man. He truly is a servant of the Lord.

At Zone Conference, Sister Tucker handed me an manila envelope. It had Elder Mendenhall written on the front in Elder Redmon's handwriting. I was thinking he sent something I forgot. Instead, I found 6 letters inside! Woot! It made me happy. I guess instead of forwarding, he knew that with Zone Conference coming up, he could just pass them along. By Saturday night, I had 10 letters which I needed to reply to. I'm down to 9 so far. I know how I am spending the rest of my p-day! Hahahahahaha, it's good to know that I have people who care about me and want to keep in touch. I feel loved! Not that I don't already, but still....

This week, Shay let us know about some more of her problems, and we didn't get to really share much of a lesson with Sandy, as things came up while we were there, but we did develop our friendship more with her. Which is good.

I was privileged to attend three baptisms on Saturday. The first two were some 9 year old twins our Zone Leaders taught. Those were convert baptisms (older than 8). The other one was an 8 year old in the ward. Elder Todd and I were the witnesses, which was really neat! It was the second baptism I ever remember participating in. The first one being mine! Yes, that one counts. We were also invited to stand in the circle to confirm her. Regan Christensen! It was really neat to see and help with.

I know I haven't said much, but I don't have much to say right now. I know this gospel is true and I love the work! Keep the faith and stay close to the Lord. He will never lead you astray!

--

Love,
Elder Dwight Douglas Mendenhall
980 Courthouse Road #407
Gulfport, Mississippi 39507

Happy Valentines Day/Single's Awareness Day!

Hey All Y'all!

So. Crazy week! I was on the T-Van (transfer van...and other vehicles and transfer points...) for 10 hours on Tuesday! But I arrived in Gulfport safe and sound. The gulf is really pretty. Though I would trade it any day for mountains! Good old Utah mountains. They can't be beat.

Elder Todd and I are companions! And we're crazy! Hahahahahha. So we don't have too many investigators at all. We have one 10 year old girl who is super close to being baptized, but that is it. But we have a plan and we have worked hard on it this past week! We are going to be working a lot with part member families. And we are trying to have the best area book ever, which we worked on a lot this past week. It's going to take a little while before our work shows up number wise, but it will be worth it. The Lord is here with us in Gulfport and we have a work to do!

The Gulfport ward has 800 members!!!!!!!! Insane, huh?! But guess how many are active... about 200. We are working on it. We actually have 6 missionaries in our ward. Elder Todd and myself, our Zone Leaders, Elder Gardner and Elder Piggot, and then the Spanish Elders, Elder Belt and Elder Price. It's pretty legit! We have a family who feeds all os us every Wednesday night. (We actually just got the Spanish Elders... or they are in the process of moving in.) And I actually got to speak in Sacrament meeting yesterday. Lucky me! Not the best talk ever, but I sure hope the spirit was there.

Anyway... I had a bunch to talk about, but I don't remember any of it now. The people here are nice. I have yet to see an alligator, but I sure am going to be on the lookout for one!

Well, I guess that is all I have to say at the moment! Keep the faith all.... and................... HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!! Hope it's full of love and joy! Just like every other day should be. And to all you single people... Happy Single Awareness Day! That's my holiday! Hahahahahahaha..... I enjoy myself too much.

Oh! I have a cowboy hat! It is AWESOME!!!! Brother Sisson gave it to me before I left Texarkana. It makes me happy.

Keep on keeping on!

Love,
Elder Dwight Douglas Mendenhall