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

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!)