Sister and Elder Hintze: 9/4/23

 

Hello everyone,

It’s good to be back. I apologize that you did not receive an email last week. We had a very

busy few days and I simply did not have the time. So, I will catch you up with two weeks' worth

of our wonderful experiences.

One of the things we’re focusing on is trying to keep up physical strength and wellness. We

joined the wellness center that is connected to the local hospital and we’ve become more diligent

about exercising. It’s really a great gym that is pretty much designed for seniors. It’s about a

three-minute drive and is so convenient. They have a wonderful lap pool that is entirely shallow.

I’ve been swimming laps while Elder Hintze lifts weights. I was so proud of swimming 60 laps,

thinking I had made a mile, only to find out that it was 70 laps in this pool! Oh well, I’ll keep

working on it. I never really liked gyms before, but this one is filled with old people like us, so

it’s not so intimidating!

Our weekly Zoom mission devotional with all of the missionaries in our mission is always so

inspirational. We have time at the end dedicated to sharing miracles that happened during the

week. Elder Dunn, the one who has returned to our district after serving in Thomaston

previously, is now serving as our zone leader. He is an incredible missionary and a great leader.

He shared a story about a woman that he was teaching who had been very ill. He said she had

about 50 prescription bottles of medicine on her table. He administered a priesthood blessing to

her and said he felt the spirit direct him to tell her that she would be healed. He followed through

on that prompting, told her that she would get well, and the next time he returned to see her she

was down to only four prescriptions and doing incredibly better. We are so edified by one

another when we share our miracle stories. We love our mission devotionals!

We have been teaching Julianne, Lisa’s mom, on a regular basis. She’s always completed the

reading we invite her to do, but she struggles with comprehension. However, she gets the

concepts and seems to feel the spirit of the message. Her husband passed away last January and

she’s been particularly interested in knowing where he is and what he’s experiencing. We taught

her the plan of salvation and assured her that he is still learning and growing and that she will see

him again after this life. We were a bit concerned when she didn’t show up at church last week.

But we found out Lisa was sick, so Julianne didn’t come without Lisa. I spoke with Julianne on

the phone in the middle of the week and she said, “See you Sunday”. That is a lot of growth

since just a few weeks ago when she responded, “maybe” when we asked if we would see her at

church.

Over the past two weeks, our friend Wyett has been away on reserve duty, so we have been

checking in on Kelli and the kids. We met them one evening at Chick-Fil-A where the girls

could play at the indoor playground while we visited. Kelli was very open with us about some of

their struggles. But they have both come a long way recently. Kelli’s mom opened a café and

Kelli has been working there. Kelli was committed to working every Sunday, so Wyett was

coming to church with the girls on his own. One Sunday, Kelli showed up with Wyett, and he

told us that he told Kelli that she had to ask her mom for a Sunday off. Then she showed up

again at church, and again this Sunday. She told us that she has told her mom that she has gone

back to church and would like to have Sundays off!!! So, she’s now working Thursdays,

Fridays, and Saturdays. The light is beginning to flicker in this family again but it still needs

much more nourishment. We’ve grown to love this little family so much and we hope that we

can help them strengthen their testimonies of the gospel.

The ward has a great tradition of meeting at a local Mexican Restaurant on the first Monday of

each month. The restaurant was chosen due to its central location, but it’s definitely not a star for

its quality of food. However, it’s a wonderful opportunity to bring friends and introduce new

people to the ward members. This past Monday we took Julianne so she could meet people, and

Pat Druce came with two ladies who are in her Scrabble group who are not members of the

church, and Brother Adams brought a neighbor who is also not a member of the church. So, out

of the 14 people that were present, four of them were new! We had a wonderful time!

We made a visit to a sister named Gail who requested a priesthood blessing in preparation for

surgery on her hand. We arrived with her ministering brother, and he and Elder Hintze

administered the blessing. Gail and I have developed a close friendship, and I was touched when

she asked me to hold her hand during the blessing. We went to see her a few days after her

surgery and brought her family a full dinner of lasagna, salad, garlic bread, and brownies. I

know the meal was much appreciated, as she is not able to use her dominant hand at all. It’s

pretty hard to cook with one hand!

We had, without a doubt, the best district meeting we’ve had of our entire mission. Elder Dunn

and his companion Elder Tobiason are zone leaders, but they’re also filling in as our district

leaders right now. Lucky us, because they have definitely pumped up the energy and the spirit of

our district! They taught us about using the acronym CPR to teach the gospel, which stands for

CHURCH, PRAY, AND READ. We pray to our Heavenly Father, we go to church to worship

Jesus Christ, and when we read the scriptures, we feel the spirit. We talked about how we must

have all three of these components to feel the power of the Holy Ghost and experience

conversion. 

We ended our week by teaching a lesson on the plan of salvation to the Coley family. As I’ve

mentioned in the past, Sister Coley is a lifelong member with a strong testimony of the gospel

who, for whatever reason, decided to become inactive in the church for many years. As a result,

she has two adult sons who were not baptized as children. One of them is still in high school

and one lives out of town but was home this weekend for the holiday. Sister Coley has a

daughter and son-in-law who are living with her, and her son-in-law is also desiring to be taught.

So, we had an opportunity to teach the entire family. What an amazing spirit filled that room!

It’s going to be a glorious day when this family unites in the gospel.

We had a full chapel yesterday at church! Our calling on this mission is to build and strengthen

the Lord’s kingdom in this area, and it finally feels as if that is happening. There were four

people that we’re presently teaching who are not members of the church who were present. And

there was one sister who moved into the ward six weeks ago also present. She’s been away from

the church for several years, but after visiting her several times, she told us she would come on

Sunday. She sat with me, and as she sang out the hymns, she was glowing with joy. She

thanked us over and over again for encouraging her and told us she would be back next week.

The greatest joy of being a missionary is when we can see the joy of the gospel shine in the eyes

of one of God’s children.

The absolute icing on the cake this week was the birth of our new grandson, Cole Michael

Schwartzman, born on August 30th at 9:59 p.m. He weighed in at 6 lbs. 14 oz. and was 19

inches. We love this little guy so much already and can’t wait to get home to hold him. We will

be taking a quick trip home on September 19th to meet him.

Have a wonderful week,

Love,

Elder and Sister Hintze