South Carolina Columbia

June 24 Hi Everyone!   This week was a lot more exciting than last week. We met with a lot of cool people! But one of the biggest things I have learned about being in the south is that I need to throw stuff away. At the beginning of the week we went and gave an older couple a blessing and there was stuff everywhere.  I said we would love to come by and help clean up - it made her freak out.  It was crazy but everyone here has so much stuff in their yards.    We sometimes get what is called a media referral and that's when someone sees an online ad and requests us to come over. Most of the time they claim they didn't put it in but in this area most of our referrals have been less active members trying to be active again. It's really cool! There was a 23 year old guy who referred himself and said he wanted to become active again. We started meeting with him and now he's coming to church again. It's really cool. We also had a guy from Vernal Utah who moved out...

June 17 Hi Everyone, This week was not that exciting.  We had zone conference which was cool and then had interviews with our mission president the next day. Tuesday we blitzed an area. That means that the whole district went to one area and did missionary work there.  So we were only actually in our area for like 2 days.    The two days we actually did work were a lot of fun. We met a nice guy that has been inactive since he was 16 and he is 23 now.   He called us and we went over and talked with him. It was really cool cause he had realized that he was unhappy with the world and wanted to get back into church. We invited him to church but he didn't come.  Too bad because I gave a great talk so he missed out. ha!   I was asked to speak on Sunday and I shouted out my Dad of course and talked about listening to the Lord's path and not the world's. I think it went well.  I didn't actually prepare a lot for it so I was glad the Spirit was with me for...

June 10 Hi Everyone,   This week was pretty fun. I went on exchanges and went over to Florence, South Carolina. I was there for two days with Elder Schlerf. It was a lot of fun.  We looked funny together because Elder Schlerf is maybe 5' 7".  We worked hard and had a fun time but I was excited to get back because we had a baptism! The previous missionaries had been teaching a 9 year old girl the lessons and she was all ready to be baptized. She was scared at first because she is in a wheelchair.  Her Dad was able to calm her down and get her baptized. It was really sweet and really cool.  She was  confirmed yesterday and it was an awesome experience!   That was the highlight of the week!     Love Elder Gurney

May 27 Hi everyone!  t actually happened, I got transferred. After 6 months in Statesboro,  I moved to Elgin, South Carolina.     This week was very sad and exciting. A lot of people in Statesboro were sad to see me go and I got a lot of really nice messages and prayers. I am super grateful for my time in Statesboro and am excited to see the work there progress.    This transfer was interesting.  One third of the mission was "whitewashed" .. where both missionaries were transferred out and into a new area. I assume it is because where we are serving now .. determines whether or not we change assignments to the new mission when they split South Carolina into two missions.  I will be staying in the Columbia mission.     So I left Elder Richardson and got my new companion Elder Albrechtsen. He's from South Ogden and a really fun guy.     We have spent the last couple days getting to know people because we are both new to the ...

May 20 Hi Everyone,   This week was a fun week.  At the beginning of the week, we had a half mission conference and I was able to see my old companion and trainer, Elder Larsen.  It was really cool.  We didn't really find out anything about the splitting of our mission though.  We were able to bring the service missionary, Elder Buckhoff.  Elder Buckhoff didn't know how to fold his burrito so he kept asking me to make it for him lol.  On Sunday, we told him that we have transfers on Thursday and he was sad to hear that I will most likely leave.  He said that since we are both Elders that we could hug and then he gave me a big hug.  He called us that night and asked to come around with me one last time.  So we are taking him around on Thursday.   The two teenagers that accepted baptism won't return any of our calls or texts.  I am determined to meet with them this week.  I hope I can see them especially if I ...

  May 13 This week was a pretty crazy one.  Tuesday we were texting a lady who was really interested in the church but wouldn't give us her address.  She would only let us meet her at Tobacco palace.  It was weird but she was super nice and we had a nice talk.   Later in the week we went on exchanges and I went down to Hinesville again.  I was companions with Elder Gibb from Canada.  A big storm came blowing in and we had to stay in the church until it subsided. It was pretty bad for a few minutes.   Vidallia, which is right next to us, got hit super bad.   The stake is organizing an effort to help with clean up on Saturday.  Thankfully, we stayed safe.   We then had a stake softball game and all the Elders from surrounding areas came.  We played with a bunch of families in the stake.  It was a lot of fun.    Today we had district pday and we were all over the place.  We went down to Sava...

May 6 Hi Everyone,   This week was an exciting one.  The biggest thing was we met with a part member family and we invited their two kids to be baptized and they accepted! It was great!  The kids had been coming the past couple weeks to church.   They are really enjoying it and are seeing the blessings that come from the gospel.  They have been coming to youth activities as well and they are really enjoying it.     Also, this week we have had so many referrals from online ads in our area that we had the whole district come to help with that.  It was called an area blitz. I hung out with Elder Abbott and we went and ventured through the middle of nowhere.  There were 20 minutes drives between levery referral so it was a lot of driving and no one was interested lol.  But oh well.   This morning we worked on a farm and we helped gather potatoes.  It was a lot of fun but it was hard being out there in the h...