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

6 Weeks Out...Here Comes Mississippi!

Hey Everyone!!!

So, tomorrow is transfer day in the mission, meaning I have been in the mission field for 6 weeks!!! It is crazy to think about. And I have some crazy news.... I made breakfast this morning!!! Wow! Hahahahaha, not the crazy news. Anyway....

So Saturday morning we received a phone call from President Tucker. Elder Redmon answered it, because he thought he was in trouble. He borrowed another missionary's GPS and the Elder had wanted it back for awhile now. That Elder called 15 minutes before President Tucker did, and Elder Redmon ignored the call, thinking he would call him back later that day after he shipped the GPS. So 15 minutes after the ignored call, the President called and Elder Redmon thought the other missionary had called the top dog and that he was gonna get a talkin' to! Well, turns out he was wrong. We had forgotten about transfers, and we all get a phone call saying whether we were getting transferred or not. Anyway, this whole time I had no idea who Elder Redmon was talking to, because I was in the other room. But he comes in and hands me the phone, and tells me it is President Tucker. I had no idea why he wanted to talk to little ol' me, but I answered the phone. We greeted each other, and then he said, "I assume Elder Redmon told you about the bigs news" and I told him no.... and then he said to me.... "You're being transfered!!!!!" It caught me completely off guard! I have only been in Texarkana 6 weeks. So I asked him where I was being transfered to and he told me I am going to Gulfport South (Gulfport, Mississippi...right on the coast). I then asked who my new companion was, and he said it was an Elder from Utah by the name of.... Elder Todd!!!! (He asked if I knew him, knowing full well that I do). It is CRAZY!!!! For those reading this that might not know who Elder Todd is, allow me to explain. Elder Michael Lorin Todd is from Mt. Pleasant, Utah! Same stake as me, and we used to work together. We are really good friends. Spent plenty of time hanging out and goofing off. It is absolutely crazy that we got sent to the same mission, and now we will be serving together. When I got sent to Texarkana, I thought I wouldn't get to see Elder Todd at all, because he now only has 6-12 weeks left and that is how long I was expecting to be in Texarkana. I told President Tucker that this was a complete surprise and he said it was. He said he normally doesn't do this, but he had a strong impression that he should. I guess the Lord has a work for Elder Todd and myself out in Gulfport, MS. It's crazy!


So that was Saturday morning. It is bitter sweet. I love Texarkana, and Elder Redmon and I were really starting to get along well, and I love the people here and have made some friends. I am especially going to miss Lyman Sisson. He is so awesome. I have mentioned him before. I have learned a lot from him and consider him a really good friend. It is going to be tough to leave here, but I am excited to serve with Elder Michael Todd. It is going to be a BLAST!!!! His older brother, Taylor, and I were joking around before I left that Michael would be my trainer and we would have so much fun together sharing the gospel that people would see us and the joy we had, that they would want to have what we have and would be curious and come investigate the church. Well, I guess it will happen now.

Not too much else happened this week. Same ol' same ol'. We did go to Ashdown, AR on Friday and worked there for the day. A member, Brother Jet (he is Thai and has a hard name to pronounce so he goes by Jet for short... and I don't remember his last name) drove us. We ended up going on splits, and I went with Jet and Elder Redmon went with Tylor Jones, a 16 year old who lives in Ashdown (which is 20-30 minutes away from Texarkana). We all had a lot of success and it was tons of fun.

Well, not too much else to report on. I leave tomorrow sometime for Gulfport South (which is the coast... and one of the longest transfers of the mission.... LOOOOOOONG drive!) The transfer van (15 passenger van) will pick us (Elder Davis and Elder Mark from my district are being transfered as well) up in Monroe. So we will drive to Shreveport, LA, and from there get a ride with a member to Monroe and from there we will meet Elder and Sister Erikson and head out east.

It's not very often at all that a greenie who has been out 6 weeks leaves his trainer and goes to a different area. Elder Todd will finish my training. I am assuming that I will serve with him until he goes home, and then I will be there another 1-2 transfers. Not to worry. Hurricanes and oil don't bother me much. I hear the apartments there are really nice. Elder Redmon served in Ocean Springs, which is the area right next to Gulfport.

I look forward to my transfer. The Lord had a work for me to do here in Texarkana, and I have finished (almost... I still have 1 day left!) that and now he needs me in Gulfport. I am ready and willing to go where the Lord calls.

For any letters, until I know for sure of my mailing address in Gulfport, you can send them to the mission home address:
Elder Dwight Douglas Mendenhall
681 Towne Center Blvd Ste C
Ridgeland, Mississippi 39157
They will forward all the mail on to me. And any mail sent to Texarkana will also reach me in Gulfport....eventually.

Well, the work goes on. I will try to not have too much fun with Elder Todd. Keep the faith, and keep on keeping on!

Love,
Elder Dwight Douglas Mendenhall

Jan 10th - 24th

Hey All Y'all!

I hope this email finds everyone in good health! :) I know I am strong and healthy. Stronger than when I left too. Have 30 minutes every morning for exercise is a good thing. Though I need to be more consistent.

Anyway, so last p-day I got caught up in stuff and didn't get a chance to email. I apologize. We were out with Lyman Sisson (a less active member) checking on his wild hog trap and baiting it. He caught some 3 weeks ago. A sow and a boar. Both about 200 lbs. Elder Redmon and myself actually helped him gut them. :) We try to spend time with Lyman several times a week. He is going through a hard time right now with his wife and so we just try to be there for him. He has come to church the last two weeks now, which is awesome!

So last Monday, I went on exchanges. Our district leader, Elder Mark, came here to Texarkana to work with Elder Redmon, and I went to New Boston, TX to work with Elder Judkins. It was a really good experience. Though New Boston has CRAZY people! One guy, Mark, is one of their investigators and he is actually crazy. He has meds and everything. The problem is he doesn't take them. The Elders there have tried to drop him, but then he "randomly" pops up around town when they are walking, or when they are at the library, or at their apartment at 9pm. Anyway, when I was there, we say him Monday night and he seemed only a little crazy and pretty normal. But the next morning... oh boy! He started the opening prayer and I think he started off "Hey if anyone is up there" and then he started yelling at God. Yelled the entired prayer. He is mad at God for things that happened to him as a child. Then he later went on about how Solomon was a child rapist and that he didn't understand how a holy and just god would have a man like that build a holy temple. We just sat there and left when we could. We/They can't really begin to help him until he takes his meds. They're trying though.

Anyway, Elder Judkins is from Orem and has been out... about 4 months now. It was fun to work with him. And that was just one experience there. I came back Wednesday morning for DDM (my initials... also District Devotional Meeting) and have been here since! I love Texarkana!

So a little news. We tracted into Steven, one of our investigators, on Jan. 6th. He's an awesome guy. He's 20. Anyway, we invited him to be baptized, he accepted, and we have a date set for him on Feb. 12th! YAY! The Lord is awesome. :) Also, Tina and Daryhl Bell have dates for the 31st of this month, but I don't think it will be that soon anymore. :/ They were first taught by missionaries months ago. Long story there. I'll keep you posted on them though.

I had an interview this past Wednesday at DDM with President Tucker! It was cool :) I also encourage all of you to create a profile on mormon.org. They are having missionaries use that as a teaching resource now and we are actually allowed on on days other than p-day. We even have passalong cards for it. It's cool. :)

So later today, Elder Redmon is headed to Jackson, MS for some training. Elder Davis (from our district) is also going (they came out together...they both have 14 months left). So I am going to Atlanta, TX tonight, tomorrow, I'll be in Texar Wednesday, and back to Atlanta on Thursday. They will be back from training Friday morning. I am working with Elder Petersen while they are gone. Should be fun! He's been out 6 weeks longer than I have. Two greenies working together!

The work here is awesome. I am learning and growing so much everyday! The gospel is so amazing and so true. Elder Redmon is a good companion and we are getting along well.

Anywho, time is up! Keep on keeping on! The gospel is true and Christ lives. :)

Love,
Elder Dwight D Mendenhall

Snow!!

Hey hey! I hope all is going well! We didn't get the chance to email yesterday, so we get to today!

So.... I don't know where to start. This week has been.... long? It seems like it. But it has gone by really fast all at the same time.

The Lord is amazing. That is all there is to it. I have grown so much in the past week now that I look back. It has been absolutely mindblowing. Nothing big or anything. Just the desire to do better, and working with the Lord to do so. Learning of some things that I should be doing and reminded of others. I tried to pray all the time before my mission. I would just catch myself sometimes praying and thanking the Lord for something that just happened. It was amazing. But I don't do that now. I don't get it. But I am working on being better again. Praying for compassion and charity, patience and courage. Praying with faith, and then working actually works. Pray as if it all depends on the Lord and work as if it all depends on you. You can pray for Charity all you want, but it wont get you anywhere unless you try to have it. It has been a nice reminder. I am learning to love my companion and to look past the imperfections and the annoying things. The Lord is amazing.

Anyway, so some news about the work. One of the investigators before I got here, and one I've met with a few times, told us (or my companion) that he wants us to back off for now. He wants to be a mormon, but not right now. Or something to that effect. Elder Redmon is going to talk to him more tonight.

The reason I feel like the Lord has called Elder Redmon and myself as companions in this area is to regain the trust of the members. I guess in the past year, a lot of the missionaries in this area haven't really focused on the work like they should have and they broke some rules, and the members' trust. And missionary work can only go so far without help from the members. We were talking about it with Kelly Rowland tonight (she was baptized in April, and is really amazing. She is one of my "mothers". She fed us pizza and cookies tonight and we talked about it. So we are going to work our hardest to earn the members' trust and to bring some souls to Christ. This work is amazing.



So they are spraying for cockroaches tomorrow. Hopefully it will do something. It's a war we will win.

So. Yesterday we were supposed to go to Shrevport (we are part of the Shrevport zone) for interviews with the Mission President. We were actually going to have p-day tomorrow because of this. But.... guess what! It SNOWED on Sunday! We got probably...6 inches? Something like that. We had stake conference on Sunday (10-12, it was broadcasted and President Monson spoke. It was AWESOME!). After we came out, 2 1/2 hours later, we had at least a 1/4 inch of ice on the windshield. It was crazy. Anyway, because of the snow and the bad roads, interviews were canceled, and we had p-day! Attached are some pictures of our snowman we built. He is about 6 foot 3 inches tall. His name is Harry (he had grass on him, and looked hairy). His nose is a cucumber, is mouth a banana, and his eyes are Dr. Pepper cans. P-day was a blast yesterday. Tons of fun! Anywho.

Ummm... I know there are other things I want to say, but I don't remember what. I hope all y'all are doing well. Love the Lord. Pray for the people here. And do good to all.

Also! Please take care of the missionaries in your areas. Treat them as family. Love them, adopt them as your own. They need it. That's all I have to say. Feed them. Let them share messages with you. And then kick them out and have them work. Give them referrals if you have them. Support them.

I love you all! Have fun in Utah with all the snow! We had our one snow storm of the year. It will all be gone in a few days too. (They plant their gardens on Feb. 14th...)

Love,
Elder Dwight Douglas Mendenhall (I have a looooong name!)

Cockroaches and such...

I guess I will thank President Tucker in my email to him for telling all y'all where I am serving. Don't worry, my accent isn't that bad...yet. Texarkana, Texas! And Arkansas! We serve both sides. And the surrounding area. We have a HUGE area. There used to be four missionaries out here, but now it is Elder Redmon and myself. It's tough.

So, we bike a lot. A LOT. Elder Redmon was a BMX trickster before his mission and loves to bike. I enjoy it too. The weather is great. It's getting colder. I think it was 28 degrees the other morning. Janurary and Feburary are the coldest months. My bike works great, though I need to put the chain back on. It fell off Saturday night. We haven't biked since then.

The food is pretty good. I actually had black eyed peas and cabbage (with corn bread) on New Year's Day. It's supposed to bring you good luck and something else. The peas were cooked with ham and tasted really good. We ate at a less active member's house. He is in a wheelchair and has lung problems so going to church is hard (to get there as well as sit). Brother Cambell is his name. Nice old man. We've had two other dinner/lunch appointments last week. Kelly (I forget her last name) is a less active. She fed us spaghetti. The next night we also had spaghetti with another lady named Kelly Rowland and her son Jonathan. They were baptized April 9th and are considered new converts. Kelly is preparing to go to the temple. They are really nice. She told me a story about when Jonathan was 4 and was talking about angels who were nice, but he didn't like the mean one named Lucifer. Pretty neat "no veil" story. She was freaking out at the time. Anywho, we have several more appointments for dinner and lunch this coming week. And I cook food as well. Elder Redmon made me breakfast the first day, and I made dinner once... the rest of the time I cook for myself.
The Ward is really nice. Not very many people. 60 maybe. We have lots of "moms" so I am taken care of, so don't worry about me too much, Mom. :)

In our kitchen in our apartment, we have... COCKROACHES!!! Hahahaha, they're not very big. The biggest one I have seen so far wasn't longer than a quarter, and not nearly as wide. We are fighting a war, and we hope to win! I will send a seperate email with pictures you can look at.

I met a man today by the name of Lyman Sisson. Probably in his late fourties early fifties. Maybe a little older. Anyway, he has lived here for 27 years, but grew up in Mapleton and actually knew some Mendenhalls. Bruce, Melanie, and Heidi Mendenhall. I know we are from Mapleton area, so I thought I would send the info to y'all. Really nice man. Has 64 acres of property here. REALLY pretty. Has a pond with catfish we can go catch. He took us on a tour around the property. He also raises long horn cattle. I think we are helping him put up a fence in the next week or two. He is a less active. I think I will go back and visit him and maybe work for him for a summer after my mission. If he has work to pay me, if not, I still want to go visit and fish and hunt. So maybe the winter. Who knows?

Funny story. Well not really, but pretty cool. We tracted into the wife of a pentecostal preacher the other day. Really sweet and nice lady. She wants to have us over for dinner sometime. They recently had a fire in their house so it will be a few weeks while that is cleaned up.

Anywho, the gospel is true! Always remember that. It is so amazing. I think it is my calling in life to teach it. No joke. Though after my mission, it will be to members. I feel like it's the thing to do. So look forward to me doing that in the future.

So the first night, a week ago, we had orientation the first day and then went and knocked on some doors. Fun stuff. Ate food, slept, and left at 10AM for Texar, and got to Shrevport about 3:30/4:00. From there it is another hour or so to Texarkana.

Anywho, need to get going! :)

Love,
Elder Mendenhall

??Texas or Arkansas??

Yes, Dwight was called to serve in Jackson, Mississippi Mission. So as soon as he gets there, they send him to...wait for it...TEXAS! Yah! He is pretty pumped. He is in Texarkana. In the Northern corner of Texas, right on the border of Texas and you guessed it Arkansas. Check it out www.txkusa.org