Sister and Elder Hintze: 8/1/23

 

Monday, July 31, 2023

Howdy, y’all! Here we are at the end of another month! A lot of exciting changes have

happened in the past week.

On Monday we participated in the monthly gathering that the ward has at a restaurant called El

Mariachi in the neighboring town of Zebulon, GA. It’s a nice tradition that allows people to

socialize, although it’s usually the same group of people attending. We always enjoy the

camaraderie but wish they would choose another restaurant. They chose this one because it’s a

centrally located place to meet, but it’s the worst Mexican food we’ve ever had!!! Oh well, old

traditions die hard!

Tuesday morning, we had our final weekly District Council meeting of this transfer. Sometimes

an Elder will stay in an area for two or even three transfers, which is a six-week period, and other

times they will be moved after only one transfer. The Elders lead and conduct the District

meetings, and it seems as though with each transfer they get stronger in their leadership skills

and in their testimonies of the gospel. We have learned so much from these young men. It truly

is amazing to watch them grow from boys to men as they serve the Lord. Elder Hintze and I

have developed a tradition of providing lunch after the last District meeting of a transfer. In the

past, we have brought lunch, but this time we chose to take them to one of our favorite

restaurants called the Oink Joint. Yep, that’s the name, and it’s the best BBQ around. Very

occasionally the Elders will be taken to a restaurant by a family, but none of them had ever been

to the Oink Joint. We had a wonderful lunch and spent time signing all of their books, which

they call “flight journals”. Every time they leave an area, they have the other missionaries that

they have served with sign their books. It’s wonderful for them to have a collection of comments

and testimonies to take with them to keep as memories forever!

We rushed home from lunch to prepare for our Come Follow Me meeting in the evening. It was

wonderful to have our little apartment family room filled with people! We had a great discussion

on Peter’s missionary journeys and teachings in the book of Acts.

On Thursday evening we bid farewell to Elder Buffham and Elder Platt. Elder Buffham had

served for two transfers in Thomaston, and Elder Platt had only been here for one transfer. They

got the news Wednesday evening that they were being transferred. We had heard that there were

a lot of Sisters coming into the mission, so since both of the Elders were being transferred out,

we suspected that they would be replaced with Sister missionaries. On Friday, when we arrived

home from our afternoon out visiting, the Sisters were just arriving. We have two really

wonderful sisters serving with us in Thomaston now, Sister Winn and Sister Lewis. Sister Lewis

and I were pretty excited to see each other because we were already acquainted with each other

from zone conferences and apartment inspections. She is one of the sisters that won the last

“golden brush award!

In the past, Elder Hintze has been quite a good bread baker. So, he has taken it up once again.

We have decided to deliver a loaf of homemade bread when we go to visit people. People love

to receive the bread as we give them a message about the Savior, who is the bread of life. Early

in our mission when we first decided to include the loaves of bread in our visits, we bought a

package of 120 bread bags. When Elder Hintze baked six loaves on Saturday morning and we

bagged them up, we had only eighteen bags remaining. That means that we have delivered 102

loaves of bread! They’re pretty inexpensive to make and he has the process down to a science!

The only problem is the great temptation of the aroma of that delectable bread coming out of the

oven!

After the loaves of bread were baked, we headed out the door with five loaves (we have to keep

one for ourselves, of course) and a goal to deliver them all. There are still people whose names

are on the ward roster but whom we have not yet met. So, we began with a sister named Lori

who had been on our list to visit for quite some time. She has had a really hard life. She has

many medical conditions and told us she has had 47 surgeries in her lifetime. She’s only 59

years old but walks with the assistance of a walker. She lives alone and doesn’t get out much.

However, she shared with us her deep testimony of the gospel and the joy she feels as the Savior

lifts her in her many trials. After we left our visit with her, we wished we had gone to see her

sooner and agreed that we will visit her frequently.

Our next visit was to a brother named Stephen. His son came outside upon our arrival and said

he would go in to see if his dad was available. His dad, Stephen, came out in a motorized

wheelchair. He is a Vietnam Veteran who was exposed to Agent Orange, and as a result, is now

100% disabled. He used to be a very active member of the church and would frequently go out

teaching with the missionaries. But he says he can no longer see to drive and can no longer get

his wheelchair into his truck.

Our third visit was with a couple named Josh and Elise. Josh has been a member of the church

all of his life, and Elise joined the church after they were married. She has a strong testimony of

the gospel and they are both active members of the ward. We didn’t know them very well before

our visit, and we were so surprised to hear that Josh has had two strokes and a heart attack eight

years ago at the age of 35.

At the end of our day, there were several things that stood out to us. First, we realized that we

had failed to follow a prompting from the Holy Ghost. We had been prompted in the past to visit

Lori, but we always seemed to put her off for something seemingly more urgent. After we

visited with her, we knew that we should have gone to see her sooner. When those promptings

come, it is important to follow through on what the Holy Ghost is nudging you to do. In a

recent conference talk, Elder M. Russell Ballard shared a personal story about a time that he

failed to follow a prompting. It was late on a snowy evening, and as he was leaving his bishop’s

office, he had a strong impression to go visit an elderly widow in the ward. He looked at his

watch, and when he realized it was 10:00 p.m. he reasoned that it was too late to make the visit

so he decided he would visit her the next day. The next morning when he went to the woman’s

home, her daughter answered the door and tearfully thanked him for coming but said that her

mother had passed away two hours previously. He said he was devastated and wept openly

because he reasoned away the opportunity for this dear widow to have her bishop hold her hand

and provide comfort and a final blessing. Any time the Holy Ghost prompts us to do something

good, it’s important to follow through. We are God’s hands on the earth and He is speaking to us

through the Holy Ghost. We also realized with each person that we visited, that the theme of

adversity stayed consistent throughout the day. There are so many people struggling with so

many different kinds of afflictions. Saturday’s theme was physical ailment, but there are so

many here in Georgia (as there are all over the world) struggling with poverty, unemployment,

contention in family relationships, addictions, and many others. We know that through adversity

and trials, we can have experiences that lead to spiritual growth and eternal progress if we will

turn to the Lord. In Acts Chapter 14 verse 22 the Lord tells Paul in his afflictions, “Confirming

the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through

much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”

We can enter into the kingdom of God through our tribulations. We love you all!

Elder and Sister Hintze