Chipley

Well, I made it to Chipley safely!  It was hard to say goodbye to "the View" and I am going to miss it there so much!!  But hopefully Chipley will be a good stay for me.  This place is filled with a whole lot of nothin, it's just a bunch of farmers, its' kinda cool!  There is a very high black population here and I'm pretty sure we are the minority, it's sick!!!!  Elder Johnson and I are getting a long pretty well, he is a great missionary and is super positive and kind to everyone!  There is this one guy that we are teaching, named Carl, who has been investigating the church for 2 years and is soooo close to baptism, all he has to do is quit smoking.  He already calls the Mormon Church his church and talks about baptism all the time, we just need him to quit, he is super close, he even gave us his pack the last time we saw him!!  We buy him Altoids as a substitute and it works pretty well for him, so hopefully he can keep that up!

As of right now, this area is kinda slow but Elder Johnson and I both feel that there is a lot of potential here!  Even though it is a small town, there are so many people to teach, we just have to be courageous and talk with everyone, no matter who they are!  It is going to be an awesome transfer, I just know it!!

I love you guys and hope y'all have a great week!!

Elder Schipaanboord

PS: my new address is -

1245 Spivey LN
Chipley,  FL 32428

Goodbyes to the Corbins, I sure am going to miss them!  They have been so good to me and have become my home away from home!

Came into my new area to a broken chair

We "Jimmy Riggged" it.

 

Bye Crestview

Well, we got the transfer call last night and found out that I'm leaving Elder Renslow and Crestview ): I had a feeling that this was coming, so I have already been saying my goodbyes to a lot of members  but there are so many people that I love, so we are going around saying goodbyes today as well.  It's pretty sad and is going to be hard saying bye to my first area and all of these families that I have grown so close with but I'm super excited for the new adventures that await in... Chipley!!!  Honestly don't know much about Chipley other than the fact that it's in the Panama City Zone and Elder Peck will be my Zone Leader!  My companion, Elder Johnson is the District Leader, so I will get to go on a trade of with Peck, it's gonna be so sick!! 

This week was pretty crazy!  We got to play with beehives, went fishing, oh yeah and we got in a wreck... yup, are car got destroyed!!  Thank goodness we weren't in our car when it happened!  A member with a big ole truck backed up into us and dented the driver door super bad and shattered the window!  It was a really weird situation and no one really knew what to do about it but thankfully, the they were super cool and the cop was cool too!  We are still trying to figure it all out and have to drive it to Tallahassee without a window for transfers, that's gonna be a long drive...

So the bees, I was over at the Harts house saying goodbye to them and they wanted to show us the "Hart experience" so they gave us bee suits and took us out to their hives, it was so sick!!  They get so much honey is ridiculous!  Those suits are super hot, and the net around your face gives you a headache, cause your eyes try and focus on the net and beyond, it's weird!  Even though we had suits, it was still sketchy cause they would be buzzing all around our head and land on us too!! 

A few nights ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and looked over at Elder Renslow, he took his blanket off, sat up and started teaching, it was so crazy!!  Like he was having a full on conversation with someone and then said a closing prayer and went right back to snoring 10 seconds later.  Yeah, he's that good of a missionary, he teaches in his sleep!!  Gosh I sure am going to miss him!  We have grown so close together, we are like brothers, it's awesome!!

I can't wait to start my new adventures in Chipley, Florida.  I will let y'all know how the area is and my new companion is and I will give you my address once I get there!!

I love you guys, thanks for all the support!!

Have a great week!!

Elder Schipaanboord

 

How we drove our car for a while until it got super obnoxious, so we took it off.

 

 

Brother Nelson and his wife. "Where did you get this knife?"  "The guy I took it from didn't need it anymore" *smirks*

Matt Nelson and the rest of his family.  The cutest girls ever!

Sister Mallory!!!  Gonna miss going to her house and having IBC Rootbeer and helping her progress to the Temple.

I sure am going to miss the Harts!  They are the strongest family ever!  They volunteer for everything and have the strongest testimonies, it's so awesome!

Bro. Vause and his family!!  He's the Ward Mission Leader and the biggest FSU fan ever!!  Every week to church, he wears a Seminols tie.

The Austins are so awesome! They had us over every Sunday to have the best chicken and mashed potatoes I have ever had! They are super awesome but are going though some trials with their newborn baby who is in the ICU...  ):

Selfie with the Stake President's family after a dinner and lesson with them!

The Roberts are so awesome!!  They have the most perfect family ever!!  He is the Stake President, and a doctor, Ingrid, played violin for MOTAB and their kids all play like 4 instruments and are always talking about the gospel, it's awesome!!

 

 

Brother Tamola and his wife.  He is the most humble guy I have ever met!  He is super high up in the 7th group, but you would never know it, you would just think he is some guy with some giant muscles!  His wife isn't a member but is the nicest lady ever!  They always have food for us when we go over and their kids are always running around crazy, it's so cute!!

 

 

 

Dropped

Well, that picture basically sums up our week...

We got dropped by like 5 people this week, including Amber... so that was fun.  She was supposed to get baptized on Saturday but dropped us 2 days before.  For some reason, I wasn't all that upset, I was able to have an eternal perspective and realize that the next time she is taught be missionaries, she will be that much more prepared, it just wasnt her time.

We did have some good things happen though, we were able to go out with Josh Hicks and go fishing and then to lunch with him and had a lot of good conversations!  We were walking through Walmart with him, and he got a pack of cigarettes (at the check out counter) so I took him by the shoulder and told him he doesn't need them, and he was like "Well it's too late, I already paid for them."  But after,  we went over to the pharmacy and he bought the nicotine patches and took me by the shoulder and said "You're right, I dont need them."  It was so sick!  Hopefully he uses them and is able to actually quit smoking, that would be so awesome!!  We went fishing with Josh last week, this guy is super cool!  He just got out of prison like 6 months ago, but is really on the up hill rise!  He is such a humble, caring, and generous man!  Even though he has a crazy past and his body is filled with tattoos, I look up to him a lot!

We also taught one of our investigators, Cruize (friends with Rebecca Beatie), the plan of salvation, and he agreed with it all, infact, he actually added a whole bunch of good comments and even taught part of the lesson before we could, it was crazy!!  We used scriptures to help him understand too, and he said "All the questions I had were answered when you pulled out the scriptures and showed me where it was at."  It was so cool!!  He is super prepared, but won't commit to a date for baptism yet. He wants to, he just doesnt know if he is ready yet, but he said he will when the time is right!

The last thing that happened was I GOT TO SKYPE HOME!!! I got to see my amazing Mom's face and wish her a Happy Mother's Day face to face, it was so awesome!!  I loved seeing my family and talking with them, sharing laughs and stories, it was so good!  I love my family so much and am so thankful for the support that they give me!!  Sorry guys, but I have the best family in the world, your families just dont compare!

Elder Skippy

Good Week

We have the absolute coolest guy in our ward!!  His name is Matt Nelson!  He is the most hardcore guy that I have ever met; he is in 7th Group Special Forces, has a bunch of tattoos, like 100 guns, jacked out of his mind, and yet he is one of the most spiritual guys you will ever meet!  We went over to his house a few times this week to help him with some stuff, and also to have him come on splits with us.  So this guy swears like all the time and is just super loud and looks scary and drives a Harley, so when he showed up to teach Amber, everyone was just super scared but soon found that he was an awesome guy!  We taught her the Word of Wisdom and he bore powerful testimony of how even though he is in the military and looks super hard core, he has never done any of that and is completely fine with it.  It really surprised Amber and made her realize how the WOW is for her own benefit, and she committed to live the WOW!  We then went to give someone a blessing with Matt, and he was the voice.  It was amazing to see how humble to the spirit he is!  He said some really profound things to this sister who is really struggling right now.  I seriously look up to this guy so much!  He is crazy hard core, super humble, is a great husband, and absolutely loves his kids, he truly is an amazing guy and a huge example to me!

I had the chance to go on a trade off with Elder Pranger this week, and we had such a blast!!  We taught a bunch of lessons and had some crazy stuff happen to us.  We taught Batman during our studies and I also played a little prank on him; I told him I knew an awesome object lesson where the bowl sticks to the ceiling hahahaha!!  When we traded back, we got a phone call from Amber; she was super excited to tell us something!  We found out that she did the sticky note challenge we left her, and she got an answer!!!  She was so excited and couldn't stop crying, and then she said 8 words that hit us super strong, "I know the Book of Mormon is true!"  It was so awesome to hear those words!!!  She is progressing so much!  Later in the week, we went over to her place and worked on the farm there for like 2 or 3 hours, it was so sick!!  We hoed a whole bunch of dirt but we also talked a lot about the church and she said "So I was reading the chapter in Ether you told me to read and I am confused on what baptism by fire is!!!"  She is reading and actually paying attention to the message, its so sick!!  So we taught her about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and how she will always have it with her after she is baptized, she thought it was so cool!  Then we taught her the Law of Chastity yesterday after church with the Baltimores there, and at first she wasn't really receptive, but then the Baltimores bore super strong testimonies and we helped her explain the blessings that come from living a chaste life, and she accepted it and said she would live the law of chastity!  Goodness, she is so solid and is super excited for a change in her life, I love it!!

Crestview is awesome!  We are seeing a lot of blessings, and will hopefully continue to see more!!

Love you guys!

Hope that yall have an awesome week!!

Elder Skippy