March Tractness

So this week I was laying on my back looking at our phone and I dropped it right on my face and it cut my forehead and I started bleeding everywhere, so that was fun. Watch out for those LG Xpressions, they'll get ya. Also, Elder Wolverton had a doctors appointment and he paid his $10 copay in quarters #savage, it was pretty funny to watch. 

Anyways this has been a pretty uneventful week. Most mornings our planning goes something like this 

Elder Wolverton: So after Comp Study what do you want to do?

Elder Critchfield: Hmmm, should we tract Old Buckingham until lunch?

Elder Wolverton: Yeah that's a good idea

Elder Critchfield: Okay cool, what about after lunch? We have dinner at 5 so that gives us 3-4 hours

Elder Wolverton: Tracting?

Elder Critchfield: Sounds good to me

Elder Wolverton: And after dinner?

Elder Critchfield: We actually have a lesson with Cecile after dinner

Elder Wolverton: Really!?!?

Elder Critchfield: Nope

Elder Wolverton: Oh bummer, looks like more tracting then

Okay so maybe I'm exaggerating but let's just say when I get home I'm gonna be AMAZING at selling Vivint. All jokes aside though we are working our butts off and we are finally starting to see things happen here in Midlo!

Cecile is doing super well!! She is the phillipino lady we are teaching, I'm pretty sure I've mentioned her before. We meet with her as much as we can since she's so busy with work and if she works late we'll just call her when she gets home and check on her reading, she's awesome!! Being a missionary is probably my favorite thing in the entire world right now because you meet the coolest people. 

Hmmmm what else, oh yeah!! So I don't know if anyone remembers but we were working with this Albanian lady named Eli, she's super cool as well. We found out this Sunday that she got her Patriarchal Blessing! There isn't a Patriarch in Albania and she goes back there in May so I'm happy she was able to receive hers before she left. 

Some members fed us some flank steak this week, and while it definitely wasn't the best I've had it was pretty good. The only thing that was missing was some Yoshidas and the Sorensens. 

My scripture this week is Alma 36:21

"Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy."

This is definitely how I feel on my mission. Some weeks are unbelievably hard, and I can easily say that some of the hardest days of my entire life were experienced in my first few months, and they still come every once in a while. However, I can also say with equal confidence that the most unbelievable joy I've ever experienced has been felt while on my mission. Being out here truly is a privilege and I thank Heavenly Father every day for trusting me enough to gather his lost sheep!!

Alrighty well last weeks email was really short so I made this one a bit longer, props if you made it all the way through. I'll close with a quote from one of my favorite members in the ward. Love you guys!!

"If you're going to find a girl in the singles ward, she might as well play an instrument" -Brother Burch

P.S. Transfers are next week so don't send anything until I let y'all know next Monday if I'm staying here in Midlo!

Pics

1. The District (find the hidden Elder)

2. The District 2 (find the hidden Elder)

2. Elder Wolverton: Cat Whisperer 😻

Shortest Weekly Ever

Hey!! Well this week hasn't been the most eventful so not much to talk about, just a lot of tracting and visiting with members. 

One quick story though. So you guys remember Regina from last week? The super solid lady that disappeared? Well I decided that while she may be able to say no to the restored gospel, NO ONE can say no to fresh baked chocolate chip cookies 🍪.  So on Saturday we made some cookies and dropped them off with a note haha (yes, we are that desperate). She never said anything though after we dropped them off so they were probably baked in vain ☹️. Maybe we should have made snickerdoodles or something who knows. 

Anyways, that's about it for this week! Also, here is my new motto for my entire life, I love it so much. 

"We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day" -Richard G. Scott

It amazes me how much progress I've been able to make physically, mentally, and spiritually on my mission. I know God has played a huge part in that and I'm very grateful for his help!! Love you all!!

Oh also, we were out tracting and all of the sudden we heard a bagpipe off in the distance. So we jumped in the car and drove around with the windows rolled down until we found this old dude like 5 blocks away, sitting on his porch just blasting the bagpipes!!! He played us a couple songs and we had a good discussion about the gospel, he wasn't interested though. I included a little snippet of him playing so you guys can appreciate it haha. 

Pics

1. Funny sign 

2. Exchanges with Elder Grimaud

3. Cookies and note

4. Bagpipes

Miracle 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Alrighty so here is our miracle this week. So we set a goal to find
one new investigator on Wednesday night and we had an AMAZING
miracle!! So in the afternoon we went and tracted in this apartment
complex for at least 3 hours and we didn't really have any luck, we
accidentally tracted into a member though so that was fun. After
dinner we decided to go back to the same complex and try some more.
Right as we got there (it's on the far west side of our area) Elder
Wolverton said "actually I think we should go see Cecile". Except
Cecile is on the complete other side of our area!! But I agreed
because I decided I would trust Elder Wolverton. Once we were almost
to Cecile's Elder Wolverton says "actually I think we should go back".
I was feeling the same thing so we headed on back. When we got there
Elder Wolverton asked if we should start in the 200s or 500s (building
numbers). I said 500s and he agreed, so we start tracting. It's about
7 o'clock  at this point and we are having zero luck, pretty much
everyone who answered was not happy to see us, and someone even
threatened to call the cops. 8 o'clock rolls around and we still
haven't found a new investigator. Since we aren't supposed to tract
past 8 we head  to the car, hoping someone will send us a referral or
something so we could get a new investigator. Just after we back out
of our spot Elder Wolverton said he felt like we should stay and I
agreed, but we decided to say a prayer just to be sure. Before the
prayer though a building had caught my eye and I thought about going
to it. Elder Wolverton said the prayer and while he said it I saw the
second floor of the building that had caught my eye and the back left
door, it's hard to explain but I just knew we needed to knock that
door. So after the prayer I said "alright let's choose one door to
knock" and Elder Wolverton agreed. I pointed to the building I wanted
to go to and Elder Wolverton said he was thinking the same thing, then
as we pulled up to it I said "alright second floor", he agreed again.
Then I said the back left door, but he replied that he was thinking
the front right door, so we decided to knock both (you have to know
the layout of the buildings to understand). We knocked the front right
door and a Muslim guy answered, who wasn't interested. So then we went
and knocked the back left door. A lady with a green sweatshirt and
black hair that was half dyed red came out and she was super bubbly
and happy to see us. She knew who we were Mormon and was from Arizona.
She went on to tell us how she loved the Mormon people and thought
they were amazing. She expressed how she wasn't really liking the
Catholic Church in Virginia. She also talked about stuff like how she
doesn't think a man has power to absolve your sins and how important
the family is, she started tearing up a couple of times, especially
when we told her how we had found her. Then she told us how she hadn't
seen a Mormon in like 6 years and she was super happy to see us. She
was so prepared!!

Now, this sounds amazing and you probably think she's getting baptized
in a few weeks right? WRONG. Unfortunaltet we have lost all contact
with her. We were able to have a second lesson which was equally as
amazing as finding her but now she doesn't answer the door or return
our calls.

It's been a big struggle for me to figure out why we were led to her
if she was just going to bail on us. However, everyone has their
agency, and our jobs as missionaries is just to give them the best
opportunity we can!!

I love everyone and miss all of you!! But things in Virginia always
make things worth it. Have a good week y'all!!


(Sorry no pics this week ☹️)

Love Elder Critchfield

No Soliciting

Well this week has been a pretty sweet! We knocked some HUUUGE houses.
I'm talking about huge plots of land with horse stables, 5 garages,
and a different Tesla for every day of the week.

Okay so maybe not that crazy but they were pretty big, I'll include
some pictures of the medium sized ones. We also had a lot of people
yell at us for "soliciting". One guy chased us off his lawn haha, it
was pretty fun.

This week has truly been humbling because we have seen how little we
actually do and how much God does for us. We set a goal to earn the
trust of the members and then out of nowhere we had so many
opportunities to build good relationships!! On Tuesday we were able to
go teach a Seminary classs and talk about missionary work, and this
Tuesday we are going to the mutual activity to talk to the Priests and
Laurels about missionary work. Then, in Ward Council a member of the
bishopric commented that he had never been in a Ward Council where the
missionaries contributed so much, so that was awesome.

Okay now for the miracle of the week: So we were calling down this
list of less actives and we get to this older single sister. We call
her and ask if she needs any help and she tells us she has the Nora
Virus and was super sick. She asked us if we could walk her dog and
get her some Tylenol and give her a blessing. So, being the great
missionaries we are, we ran to Walgreens, grabbed some Tylenol and
chicken noodle soup, walked her dog, and gave her a blessing. After
the blessing she got emotional and told us that all of her kids were
sick as well so no one could help her, so she decided to pray and ask
for help. Seconds after her prayer we called asking if she needed any
help with anything. #MIRACLE. It was so cool!!!

The best feeling in the world is being able to be used as a tool in
God's work. As long as Elder Wolverton and I stay obedient and unified
then God makes stuff happen, we literally do nothing haha. These
amazing situations just fall into our laps.

So yeah, it's been a pretty humbling week to say the least. I hope
everyone is doing well! Love you all!!

Pics
1. Mansion 1
2. Mansion 2
3. Club Tuna 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Elder Wolverine 🐺

Hey y'all, my new companion is Elder Wolverton, but Wolverine sounds cooler haha. He's 25 and from Kansas. He used to be an atheist but he converted 3 years ago so that's pretty sweet.

We have been talking to literally everyone! It's crazy, this has been the most rewarding and stressful week of my mission by far. This area hasn't had any baptisms in a long while but Elder Wolverton and I set a goal for 3 so we have been trying to find people like crazy.

It's amazing to see how sensitive to the spirit Elder Wolverton is though. He will literally just take off in a direction because he "feels like he needs to". Then next thing you know he's talking to some random member we see on the street who just happens to have a referral for us, the guy is insane!!

So I've definitely learned a lot from him and I'm starting to get better at recognizing when it's actually the spirit telling me something and when it's just me wanting it to be the spirit.

Other than finding people though this week has been pretty uneventful. But we really feel like the work is going to explode in this area really soon. So I'll keep you guys posted!!

"Just when all seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more. He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are to where He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain." -Richard G. Scott

I really like this quote because it shows us that everything that happens to us is for our benefit. Heavenly Father loves us so much! We literally cannot comprehend the love he has for each of us. So why would a God who loves us that much do ANYTHING to harm us? Sure we may have incredibly hard trials, but God knows that they will make us stronger and more like him and the savior. Heavenly Father knows each of us perfectly, better than we know ourselves. So all we have to do is out our faith in him and the savior. 

I hope everyone has a solid week this week, I love you all!

Pics 

1. The humble abode of former NFL player Deangelo Hall (knocked it)

2. Final pic with Elder Griffin

3. Heart shaped pizza for Valentine's Day

4. Our Area Book from a couple weeks ago 

6 Months 😱🎉

So I've been gone six months now which is crazy, I have no idea where the time went haha. I don't know how I feel about it, I kind of wish life would slow down for a second. I celebrated by grilling up an old tie, I'll include the video.

We had an investigator named Ceciley come to church this week! We actually didn't think she was that solid but she came and stayed for the whole first hour. After that she had to leave to VCU since she is a nurse there.

We've also been having off and on lessons with this guy named Rodney, he is the superintendent for the Juvenile Detention Center in Richmond which makes it really hard to meet with him since he works so much. We had been having trouble getting him to read so the last lesson we had with him we decided we were really going to try to go by the spirit and use the gift of discernment to figure out what his problem was. We just talked about his work and the conversation naturally went into the gospel. We quickly found out that he thought he had never felt the Holy Ghost and didn't even know if he believed in it!! BINGO! 10 points to Griffindor, found the problem, thank you Holy Ghost 🙏🏻🙏🏻. So we said a prayer asking for the spirit and read 2 Nephi 31 out loud with him. At the end he was totally feeling the spirit and said that he felt more at peace so that was awesome. Now we just need to find a way to meet more frequently. 

Elder Griffin is getting transferred this week to who knows where so I'll be staying here in Midlothian for another 6 weeks and getting a new companion.

Our Area Book Planner on our iPads had a worldwide crash on Saturday which was pretty lame, we never have any set appointments anyway though so it didn't effect us too much haha.

I was reading in Moses this week and I thought I'd share a quick little story from chapter 6. So the Lord commands Enoch to go prophesy to the people because they are being wicked and as soon as Enoch hears his words he feels SUPER inadequate and replies to the Lord by saying:

"Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?"

This is how I feel ALL THE TIME!!!! It was comforting to know that even a great prophet like Enoch had doubts. However, the Lord gives Enoch some awesome counsel that I've tried to apply throughout this week and hopefully the rest of my mission. He says:

"Open they mouth, and it shall be filled... Behold my Spirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify; and the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course; and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me."

I love this exchange between Enoch and the Lord so much. If we just put our trust in God and know that through his power we can conquer anything, then life will be a whole lot easier for us.

I hope everyone has a super awesome week and a killer Valentines Day!

Pics

1. Bowling for Zone P-Day

2. The District 

3. The District pt. 2

4. 6 month tie barbecue 

The Book of Mormon Play 😐

Well, the Book of Mormon Play is showing in Richmond all week this week so we are pretty much celebrities. Random people come up to us and say "hey, you guys are the Mormons!". This one guy drove up to us and waved, said that he just wanted to say hi to a missionary, then drove away. Last year when the play came all the missionaries in nearby areas passed out copies of the Book of Mormon as people left the play and they passed out 2,000!!! But this year the public relations people in Salt Lake said it causes too much contention so we aren't doing it.

Yesterday morning we walked out to the car and our tire was totally flat!! We were super confused because it was fine last night and we couldn't find any nails or anything in the tire. Anyway, thankfully I changed a tire with my pops a week or so before I went to the MTC so I changed the tire and we were are taking it to Firestone today.

Elder Griffin and I decided to make flyers for free family history lessons to try and find some investigators. So we went to the library and whipped some up real quick and put them all over town. So far nothing has come from it but we are going to put in all the work we can wether or not Heavenly Father chooses to bless us with success.

I found a quote by Joseph Fielding Smith that I think is so powerful!! It testifies of the power of the Holy Ghost and how important his role is in peoples conversion. Before the quote he talks about how all 3 of the Three Witnesses fell away from the church but they never denied their testimony of the Book of Mormon. I truly believe that we don't need to have a vision or see an angel or hear a voice to know that the Book of Mormon is true. I have never had an experience like that and I probably never will, but I know, through the small feelings given to me by the Holy Ghost, that it is true.

I hope everyone has a great week!!

“Therefore, the seeing, even the Savior, does not leave as deep an impression in the mind as does the testimony of the Holy Ghost to the spirit. … the impressions on the soul that come from the Holy Ghost are far more significant than a vision. It is where spirit speaks to spirit, and the imprint upon the soul is far more difficult to erase.” -Joseph Fielding Smith

Pics

1. I realize I haven't really included any good pictures of Elder Griffin, so here is the man, myth, and legend

2. Family History Flyers (I crossed out our number so you don't get tempted to call your favorite missionary)

3. Flat Tire

4. Timelapse of changing the tire