South Carolina Columbia

July 29 Hi Everyone, This week was very fun.  I went on exchanges with Elder Lockington.   I went to Greer, South Carolina and saw the biggest mountain I've seen out here.  I'll upload a picture of it. Greer was great tho.  It reminded me a lot of Statesboro. It was kind of in the middle of nowhere and we talked to some interesting people.    We teach a mission prep class at the end of the each week and I made it on one of the kids Bereals so that was cool.   Just a regular week .. .  not too many notable things.  We are really trying to build this area so hopefully there will be more to talk about next week.     Love, Elder Gurney

July 24 Hi Everyone!   This week I was sick for the whole second half of it but we still met some great people. I started out the week by going on exchanges with Elder Young and we had a lot of fun. But he was sick with a head cold right before he came here and then when he left I got a head cold.   So that sucked but I'm good now lol.  Later in the week when my throat wasn't hurting as bad, we met some people from New York who had come to church a couple of times before.   We talked a lot about my experiences growing up so close and were able to teach them a lot about the Book of Mormon.   They seemed really interested. They were invited to church by their neighbor and that's how they found out about the church.  They were a lot of fun.  They had the New York accent that I hadn't heard in a while so it was refreshing for me too.   But this week will be a great week since I won't be sick and I'm going on exchanges again.   Zone Conferences wi...

July 15 Hi Everyone,   This week was a pretty standard week.  My new comp and I are getting along great!  Neither of us have been taking too many pictures so there aren't many for this week.  But it was a great week!    I was able to meet a bunch of people that have been taught here in Simpsonville and there are some really cool people here.  We have several fun recent converts.  There is the Starks family.   They have 3 kids that are kinda interested and they have 3 MASSIVE dogs.  They have a 6 month old Mastiff that is 130 pounds.  It was hard to focus while that thing kept sniffing my leg.  There is also the Maguires.  Brother Maguire is really cool! He has read all the Pearl of Great Price, D&C, and the Book of Mormon and he has only been a member for 5 months,  He is really excited about the truth and he is super fun to talk to,  We started discussing the Baptists and how they usually aren't...

July 8 Hi everyone,  I got transferred! I wasn't really expecting it since I spent 6 months in Statesboro and only 6 weeks in Elgin.  I am sad to leave Elgin.  I became close with two friends that we are teaching. One is close to being baptized.  I am hoping that I can go back for it.     The week before I got transferred I went on exchanges again.  I spent the day with Elder Eakle and learned a lot from him.  One highlight was that we got to ride in a really old car.  It was really cool. For transfers, those that are moving areas all meet together.  I got to see Elder Richardson, who I trained, and learned that he is training someone.  It was fun to see.   My new companion is Elder Shannon.  He is from Boise, Idaho.  We also work with a service missionary named Elder Flint.  They both are a lot of fun.   Simpsonville has been really cool so far. It is a nice town with a lot of good spots to eat and I am exc...

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