South Carolina Columbia

  October 13 This week was transfers! I was moved to a small branch in Union South Carolina. This Sunday there were 11 people that attended church! In total! And 3 of them were from outside of the branch boundaries.  The Branch President is from a different ward and just asked to serve in the branch.   It is really cool serving here because I have never been in an  area like this! But my new companion is Elder Espinoza. He's a recent convert. He was baptized about 3 years ago and is now a missionary. He has some great insights! Email sent from a member in Greenville,  Hello Gurney Family, I thought I’d share a good story about your very tall and very nice  missionary  son who, sadly, was just transferred from our ward!   I’m the RS president of the Greenville Ward and the mission rules for eating meals in members’ homes is that only the president of an organization can host all 3 sets of Elders at a time.  All six of the Elders serving i...

  Sept 22 Hi Everyone,    These last couple weeks have been good .. we are working hard but I don't really have much to report.   We were able to go to the temple.  It was great to see some missionaries that I have served with before.   Last Monday, our district woke up early to visit a place nicknamed "Pretty Place".  It is actually called Fred W. Symmes Chapel and is part of the YMCA Camp Greenville.  We arrived when the sun was rising.  It was beautiful and we took some great pics.     We had dinner with a couple in our ward, Brother and Sister Gunter.   He served his mission in South Korea.  He was there in the 70s and told us about how he was part of a missionary boy band.  The Mission President at that time was trying to get people to just know about the church and decided to do it through music.  One of the members of the band is the leader of the Tabernacle Choir, Mack Wilberg.    

  Sept 1 Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't been the best at emailing. I will try and do better. This week was transfers and I'm still in my same area.  I did get a new companion.  His name is Elder Collotzi from Utah. He's pretty cool.    Last week we had stake conference and during the meeting they announced that they would be splitting the stake and creating a new stake.  My mission president was at the conference and I could tell by the look on his face that he didn't know anything about it.   Transfers were the following week.  I am sure he had to make a lot of changes.   While I am in the same ward, I lost part of my area and gained a new part.  Thankfully one of the families that we are teaching and progressing towards baptism is still in my area.     The pictures are from a fun multi Stake conference where everyone in the upstate came.  I saw some old faces and met some new people.     Love ...

  August 4 Hi Everyone,   Last week I ended up getting transferred to Greenville, South Carolina. I was surprised since I had only been in Augusta for one transfer.  They created a new zone so I was needed here.   Greenville is a nice city but I still prefer being out in the more rural areas.  My new companion is Elder Clare.  He is a cool guy.     Greenville is close to one of my old areas, Simpsonville.  This past week I was able to go on splits with one of my old companions and we visited some of the people we taught. The best visit was with Dan.  He was baptized after I left Simpsonville but he keeps in touch with me.  He is getting ready to go to the temple.  It was great to see him and how he is progressing in the gospel.    We have been meeting with a couple interesting people and families.  We are teaching a nine year old girl from a part member family and family from Nigeria.     All is good! ...

  July 7 Hi Everyone,   These past weeks have been pretty busy!  This area receives a lot of media referrals.  We spend a lot of time calling referrals and then meeting with people.  While many say that they are interested, they don't follow through with commitments.  It has been fun meeting so many different people though.   This past week I went on exchanges with my trainee's (Elder Richardson) trainee, Elder Dawson.  It was fun to see that some of my training trickled down.    The best part of last week was that we got to go to the temple with a recent convert and her husband.  The wife was baptized and they were married the same day.  This was their first trip to the temple.   We had a fun 4th of July.  We were able to spend time as a zone playing wiffle ball and volleyball for part of the day.     That's pretty much it!   Love, Elder Gurney

  June 16 Hi Everyone,   Sorry I forgot to get an email out last week.  It has been a busy couple of weeks.  I am in a new area and there is a lot going on here.  I am back in Georgia for the 3rd time ..  I am now in Augusta Georgia.  It is where the Master's golf tournament is held and it is a pretty big area. It is a lot of fun and my new companion is Elder Stoker.  He has been out for like 10 months!  So far it has been a great time.   This week a guy I taught in the Simpsonville first area was baptized.  His name is Walter and I never thought he would be baptized lol.  But here we are.  I'm happy for him.   Also I ward share with one of the missionaries I trained! Elder Rose. It is cool seeing him again.  It was a little sad to leave White Knoll but I am excited for Augusta.   (Pics:  Most of the pictures are with people he taught or grew close to in White Knoll.)     Love, ...