So this week was pretty legit in a lot of aspects I think. There was a lot that happened that was just fun and I had a good amount of positive experiences this week. To start off, last P day we got to go to Fort Moultre. That was really fun and we all walked around the fort and saw all of the stuff that they have there. There's a lot of guns and we got to walk around on the beach too! I'll put a picture from it. Then on Tuesday we drove to North Charleston for ZTM (Zone Training Meeting). Elder Bowen and I gave a training at ZTM about being a successful missionary and how goals help us stretch to do better. I think that it went really well. One good point I brought up that a lot of people liked was about Moses. I talked about how while he was up at Mt. Sinai getting the 10 commandments the Israelites went off the deep end and by the time Moses got back, they were worshiping a huge gold calf and dancing around it. I pointed out that just because they all fell away, doesn't mean that Moses was a bad prophet, and that he didn't just get discouraged and give up. He turned around and went back up the Mountain to talk to the Lord about it so that he could fix the problem. What made him successful is that he went and did his best and looked to God for guidance when the people were being dumb. So that meeting was good.
Then on Wednesday and Thursday I had an exchange with Elder Leavitt. He's only been out 1 transfer less than me and so it was really fun to be with a missionary that's only been out as long as me. He is a really great guy and we get along really well. He's from Vegas and we like a lot of the same things and work in the same way. He and I had some success in finding people in his area too which was awesome. Being a DL has been really good so far and my district has been doing really well this past week. We've found a lot of new people to teach too.
On Friday we all had interviews with President Turner for the first time. It was great because while we waited we all talked with Sister Turner and then during the interview, President only wanted to get to know us better and just talk for a few minutes. We talked about where I grew up and asked each other questions about one another and it was really cool to just get to know him.
Otherwise this week hasn't been really all that eventful. Elder Bowen and I are still working hard every day trying to find people to teach. We still haven't really found anyone at all quite yet. We've been doing a lot of knocking to find people and also we've been teaching the Restoration to the members here so that they can get familiar with how missionaries teach so that they can feel comfortable with having us teach someone they know. We also are changing the ward mission plan because it's been the same for 4 years now. Once we organize that we're going to have a ward fireside for the members to get to know the mission plan and so that we can show them how we can help them and how they can help us be successful in helping others gain faith in Christ and be converted into the church.
It's been a little hard with all of the work we have been doing and not seeing much out of it, but that's just how it is sometimes. We're working hard and I think that diligence and patience are going to be what helps us become successful here. Elder Bowen and I have been a little frustrated in general with it, but we're glad we are going through it together so that we can help each other out.
This next week should be really fun. Today we are going to the aquarium and I have an exchange with the Zone Leaders on Wednesday. I'm also interviewing a lady that the sisters have been teaching for baptism! I'm excited for that. The District is doing good and so am I and I'm having a bunch of fun here. It's a stinkin swamp here and it's way humid and hot and I've seen 100 turtles everywhere and the scenery is cool here. Life is pretty good and I'm just doing my best so that we can find people and so that my faith can be strengthened every day. Hope your week was great too.
Love
Elder Sean Bills
PS: this photo is all of us in a bunker underground and it looked really cool.