Disappointing and Wonderful...

Two of our dinner appointments cancelled and two of our exchanges with members cancelled for multiple reasons.  We didn't meet the standards of excellence goals for the week...we were two short on lessons. Other than that, the week has been wonderful.

Exchanges Again

We went on exchanges this week with a Missouri ward. My companion went to Missouri, and I stayed in our area in Arkansas with another elder.  We tried to contact a bunch of people, with little success.  I almost became lost on the roads (they are confusing to me) but I didn't! That is a major accomplishment for me. We tracted between contacting people, and dinner at Western Sizzlin'. We received a few more promising potentials down close by a church that looks very similar to our church buildings. We also visited a less-active ward member and gave her a lesson.

Uh...He has a gun!

My companion and I were traveling with the bishop to visit a family. We went to the house, and knocked...and knocked...and knocked...but no one answered. We knew they were home, so we knocked one more time. When we were about to go back to the car, a guy answered the door with a pistol in his hand. He was a police officer, and usually answers with a gun in the evening because of many threats, He didn't shoot us, obviously. We were able to meet with the family for a short time.

"Lazarus Squirrel" and "Stuck On the Road"

We found "a Lazarus squirrel". It was funny. One of the ward members was on an exchange with us, and we found something dead (or so we thought) on the road. We were going to drive [over] it, when suddenly it [stood] up. That was funny. Swerving is awesome.

Another thing that happened while with the ward member.  He was turning his truck from a gravelly road to an asphalt road. Long story short, the truck became stuck because of some huge rock. We prayed to know what to do. Five minutes after, some other truck dude came and helped us out. He didn't want to be paid for it, even when we offered him money. It was nice.

Feels A Lot Like Home!

The area I am serving in feels a lot like home. The members are nice, the land is peaceful, there is a lot of wildlife. I love it. It is amazing! I really don't want to leave this area, but I know I have to sometime.

Happy Birthday to My Sister!

Feliz cumpleanos a ti, mi hermana!

Wonderful, Happy Items!

We have a new member! While shopping at Walmart, a woman found us and asked us where our church is. She is really nice.

I memorized all of the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission 60 scriptures in two months :D.

Potholes and Dirt Roads!

I really love to drive our new truck. It is an amazing vehicle. I really don't like potholes, which makes up 99% of the roads in our area.  Speaking of roads, Arkansas has a lot of dirt roads, but we have the truck to take care of the dirt roads. There is even one place we go that is ALL dirt/forest/riverbed. In fact, my companion had to stay over at a member's house who was in that area because it rained while they were eating dinner. They were surrounded by water. It's awesome.

Exchanges With District Leaders...

One of our district leaders and one of our zone leaders are going home this transfer.  Speaking of district leaders, we went on exchanges.  I stayed in our area with one of the district leaders, and my companion went with the other district leader to Branson. The district leader I was with has been in this area before, and he was able to direct us. 

"Scripturettes"

We are working with a couple. The sister had vivid dreams about the temple and [they both] want to quit smoking. We are trying out our district leader's idea in helping them quit.  We are grabbing packs of cigarettes that we find, and are putting pictures of Christ, and other things on them. We are also going to roll up some "scripturettes" and put them in the pack.

Delicious Meals, New Investigators, and Dogs!

This week was awesome. We had exchanges with the members almost every day. The meals we have had were delicious.

We received new investigators that are amazing. We haven't been able to meet with them inside the house until this week because they have a few dogs (solidifying my view on dogs) and one of them doesn't like visitors. They said that they [would] probably come to our church [last] Sunday. They didn't come, but that's okay. They're still awesome. They are reading the Book of Mormon.

Different Kinds of Hugs...

I'm known among all of my zone that I don't like hugs. And what do the missionaries do? They find every opportunity to hug me. One neat thing about this mission: There are a variety of different hugs. There is one hug that elders do - they hug someone, and they act like they are a zombie, making sounds of eating the other person. There is a penguin hug, where two missionaries waddle to each other and just place their heads on each others' shoulders. That one is my personal favorite because it isn't actually a hug :j

Tracting Part 2 - Hardheartedness

We went tracting this week because the people we worked with were all "dropped" or left the area. I now understand "hardheartedness", because it was very apparent among most of the people we talked to. They usually don't want to have anything to do with us.... :j

Tracting Part 1 - Numerous Religious Sects

We went tracting this week and found a new potential investigator. She is Presbytarian (or Protestant, or some religion that starts with P. I get confused with the names and beliefs of those sects), and she committed to read the Book of Mormon. 

Speaking of different religious sects, there are a ton in our area. Some of the names are Church of the Nazarene, First Baptist Church, Faith Assembly of God, Church of Christ, Reformed Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Church of the River of Life, etc. It is like Utah in the number of church buildings, basically.

Freezing Rain = Cancelled Church!

Church was cancelled this week due to the bad weather (we skated to our truck...). Freezing rain is really fun (it's like black ice EVERYWHERE except on the grass. It ruins trees, power lines, everything because of the weight of the ice hanging on them). Nevertheless, we braved the storm, because our truck is unfazed by the freezing rain.

A New Vehicle!

We received a new truck this week (It's white, and really amazing. I love it.), and we drove down from Springfield in the truck, almost crashed once or twice because of this weird intersection (BUT WE DIDN'T).

A Wonderful Place to Grow!

I've found out that missionaries who come to this area are here for a while. This is my companion's fifth transfer here. His former companion was here for four transfers. Another elder in our mission was here at the beginning of his mission and the end of his mission for a total of six transfers. etc. (the ward members say it is a wonderful place to grow, and I believe it).

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Two New Foods!

I tried two new foods this week: Frog legs and "crawdads". Frog legs are absolutely delicious, I love them and highly recommend them.  I don't recommend "crawdads".  [They] are absolutely disgusting (should have figured from Mr. Bean's Holiday). They are nasty.

Missionary Traveler and New Investigators!

We went on exchanges in Missouri, and I realized that so far I have spent at least a day in three of the four states in my area. I spent a day in Oklahoma in the mission home. I spent a couple of weeks in Arkansas, obviously. Lastly, I spent two days in Missouri. Just need Kansas, then I could say I have been in all four states in my mission :D. 

I was with one of the Zone Leaders,  It was fun. We were able to find two (maybe three) potentials investigators in the area that day.

We also received a new investigator this week. Previously, in the last two weeks, we have been putting "He is the Gift" cards around in laundromats. This week, we were traveling in our car when my companion decided to go to a laundromat that we haven't been to before. We didn't put any "He is the Gift" cards anywhere, but we went "OTMing" (Opening our mouths, basically) and we found this man who is from Hawaii. He came to Arkansas to stay with a family member. His family member died two months later, and he has been trying to travel back to Hawaii. He was once a Jehovah's Witness, and he has some interesting beliefs.

The Ups and Downs of Missionary Service...

Down:  The "Golden Investigator" family - The father decided to do his own research (on the computer) about the Book of Mormon. He ran across some Anti-Mormon material. He stopped investigating the church and didn't want us to come back.

Down:  Another family - The father wants to convert but the mother doesn't, and the father didn't want to have a house divided. They all but dropped us. They still want us to come over, but they are continuing to practice their current religion.

Up:  We gave a less active member a blessing of healing this week. We have yet to visit her again, but I feel as though she is okay. 

Up:  We visited a family where one of the family members didn't want to have anything to do with us, previously. (He wouldn't sit in the same room as us).   On our last visit, the two people who we usually teach were unavailable, so we visited the rest of the family. The man who had abhorred us, told us that we needed to "come back here more often". He has had a complete change of heart.

Beautiful Freezing Rain...and a Golden Investigator!

I got to experience freezing rain! (VERY BEAUTIFUL...VERY DANGEROUS :D)..... 

We have also been...persecuted, per se.....I call the guy the "Pyrite Investigator" since I don't know his name. But he appeared like a golden investigator to my companion, but the second time he visited this person, he was MEAN! Anyway, he persecutes us from time to time. 

We are beginning to teach a family.  They are very nice people who were interested in us from the beginning, but their father wasn't there and GUESS WHAT, the next time we had scheduled for them the father was home! AND HE WAS INTERESTED IN THE BOOK OF MORMON. He was an actual "Golden Investigator"!

Miracle #4

On Sunday, we had scheduled in our plans to have a couple take us to church. As we were walking to their apartment in a more round-about way because we had not felt good to walk our usual way, we ran into an individual we have befriended.  He had previously wanted us to help him move out on Monday, but he had received a call that Saturday that he had to be all moved out by Sunday afternoon. He had been up all night moving. We helped him out the rest of the way with his apartment and when we were done, we then made it to the apartment we meant to go to. We were a little late for ward council, but most of the council knew we had something going on (since we are always the first ones to arrive).

Miracle #3

Someone knocked on the window of the church while we were doing family history and said a bunch of crude things about us. Not much to talk about this one, because it is harder to explain with more words, so it is best to just say: "Long story short, this persecutor is now our friend." 

Miracle #2

Before you read this post, please read Alma 56:47-48  - it is about the stripling warriors' faith.

We were on our bikes (we were riding a lengthy 10-11 miles that day),  we were going downhill and a car came behind us.  This had happened before, but on this particular road, there was no room for us to move around much. The car was coming up behind us, and my companion moved. I, however, being less experienced on bikes, moved a little bit too much. I went off the road on to a hill. Now, what happened next was kinda a blur. The next thing I remember, I was on the ground and the bike was on top of me. I had slid about a dozen feet on the ground. When I got up, I was perfectly fine. Nothing hurt at all. It was awesome. 

We have also been chased by some big dogs while on our bikes, too. It can be scary.