Thomson - Week 2

Dear Family,

I have had a good week.  Thank you so much for the packages!!  I am so grateful for them!  This week was also pretty adventurous.  I have started to grow to actually enjoy biking in this blazing heat for some reason, but I think it is pretty fun.  Well, fun until I crashed... I am alright just a few bruises but it was pretty epic.  I have also come accustomed to be dripping in sweat after every bike ride because of the humidity.  I also had to bike to the church this week, and yes it is 17 miles.  We were helping out the sisters in Harlem because they wanted to give church tours.  We couldn't find a ride so we just biked there.  But this week we had an investigator named Walter come to church.  We have only taught him the first lesson so far, but he is asking all the right questions.  He has been searching for a church for a long time and I know that the Lord has prepared him.

Elder Cherry and I get along really great!  We have lots of fun together and he is a good missionary.  We send our e-mails from the library and it was closed yesterday for Memorial Day so that is why you are getting this on Tuesday.  In the Harlem ward we have Elder Cherry and I along with two sisters, Sister Curtis and Sister Smith.  On Sundays we get a ride to church and our ward mission leader has made sure of that.  Elder Cherry has been in Thomson for 18 weeks so far.  The members here feed us about once a week, but usually it is pretty questionable if they will feed us.  But they have been pretty good so far.  There are 10 missionaries in our district.  All the rest of them are located in Grovetown.

Thank y'all so much and I love you all!

Love,

Elder Hinrichs

My companion, Elder Cherry

Our apartment in Thomson

Thomson - Week 1

Dear Family,

I am loving my new area!!  My new area is in the Augusta Zone.  It is in the Harlem area, and I am in a town named Thomson.  It is a good, safer area.  It is a biking area and it has been pretty fun.  So far I have learned how to change a bike tube, avoid a cotton mouth snake, and how to bike for miles.  My bike tube popped this week when we were out tracking and I had to walk three miles to the store with it, buy some repair tools, and fix it.  It was so ridiculous that I couldn't help but just laugh. Although I am getting a nice sun tan, and I am pretty sure I have dropped another five pounds.  My new companion is named Elder Cherry.  He is from Queen Creek, Arizona.  He has been on his mission 13 months.  My new apartment is pretty good.  It is not as nice as the last one but still good and most of all safe.  The ward is pretty good sized and most the people are genuinely active.  I actually really like the ward here because it kind of reminds me of back home for some reason.  So this area has been great.  Also the hardest part so far about my mission is that I want to share so much of what I learn, how I have grown, and some awesome experiences I have had, but I can't ever seem enough time to even share one-hundredth of what I want to.  Thank you for all of the love.  I love y'all so much!

Love,

Elder Hinrichs

A cotton mouth (venomous) snake on the road.

 



 Elder Hinrichs & the cotton mouth!  Run away!!!

Vidalia - Week 17

Mother's Day 2014

It was wonderful to Skype with Bridger on Sunday afternoon.  He is doing great and is happy.  He will be transferred to a new area on Tuesday.  He enjoyed being in Vidalia because it was a laid-back, small town that suited him well.  He made some wonderful friends and will miss them.  He will also miss the fishing!  Some is his special experiences have been seeing people completely change their lives.  Some of the interesting foods he has eaten are grapefruit cobbler, pig’s tail, and Boston Butt (the back end of a pig).  He has lost about ten pounds due to lots of bicycle riding.  We are looking forward to finding out about his new area.

Vidalia District:

Sister Sevey, Sister Gray, Elder Harris, Elder Badger, Elder Shwarts, Elder Shiers, Elder Tippets & Elder Hinrichs

 

The Guaycha Family

Vidalia - Week 16

Dear Family,

I had a good week this week.  I spent a couple days inside sick, but I think I was supposed to because I learned a lot.  Actually it was quite ironic because Elder Badger and I both got sick at the exact same time.  He and I learned so much together and he helped me grow spiritually.  He also taught me how to develop and use spiritual gifts.  I absolutely couldn't believe that some people go throughout their whole lives without ever developing such amazing gifts.  And you can obtain more than what we have already been blessed with!  It blows me away that people have the potential to use all of these gifts in their life time but waste it on temporal distractions.

Other than that I have had a good week.  Karen is now getting close to baptism.  I was too sick to go to church, but she wasn't there.  Although I am all better now miraculously.  I am looking forward to next week when I can Skype home but I am still not sure what time.

Transfers works like this.  Every 6 weeks, we all (the missionaries) use our cell phones and call into a big conference call.  Then we are told who is leaving. Then we pack our bags on Monday and find out through e-mail if we are being in a leadership position or not. Tuesday we drive to Macon and have a big meeting.  President puts up a big screen and projector.  He puts up the area and the two missionaries names and picture.  You go find and hug your new companion.  Then you go to their area for however long.
Love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Hinrichs