Flour Ball!

This photo was taken on the Preparation Day we played Flour Ball at an abandoned water park. It was the best day. The Monett Zone is in red/black. and the Joplin Zone is in Blue. (I'm walking away from the camera.)

 

Déjà Vu!

 Guess where we went on Preparation Day!? Weird to think that this was not my first visit.  We came here during a family vacation in January 2001.

Precious Moments Chapel...July 2015  (I am second from the left)

Precious Moments Chapel Grounds...January 2001 (I am second from the left)

Precious Moments Chapel Grounds...January 2001 (I am second from the right)

Attending the "Festival" = Potential Opportunities!

We went to an adjoining city to see a member of the YSA Branch dance. (He is a great dancer). They danced in the middle of the street. Well, we discovered that it was this huge festival-like thing that they do every third Thursday during the summer. We saw that it was a major OTMing opportunity for the YSA Branch, so we're going to come back next month to OTM people.

I Had a Dream...

We contacted a referral...well, we're counting it as a contact because we contacted his wife. They requested a Bible on the media referrals, so we gave her a bible and asked if we could help her with anything. She said no, and while we were about to leave, she suddenly said, "Actually, there is something you could help me with." She then went onto saying that she has not been to her church in a while, and said that she gets into these cycles of losing faith due to scary movies (which she watches a lot). And then a day or two before we came, she had a dream that she should join another church.

It was pretty cool.

We're going to get in contact with her again to see if we could teach her some more.

Teaching the Same Doctrine as Us...

We also went to another city this week, about 30 minutes away. It reminded me a lot of my second area. We received some interesting news from the people there. According to them, there is another church in the area that is teaching a lot of the same doctrine as we do. They believe in prophets, three heavens, etc. So we believe we will have a ton of success there. The problem is if we find a ton of new investigators, we're going to be using a ton of miles.

Tracting and OTMing!

Our area has been doing really well. We've been tracting a lot to reach my companion's goal. I also have a goal to OTM ("Open the Mouth") to 5 people a day...which is really hard to do in our city because everything is in an adjoining city which is 20 minutes away.

We're trying to find a good OTMing activity here in our city, so we don't waste miles on OTMing (we only have 1325 miles for this month, so we're trying to use it wisely).

We received a ton of potentials for this week that we need to come back this week, so I'm very excited.

I Really Just Want to Stay...

I find it funny that while I am serving my mission, my family is traveling to more places than I have ever been. It's hilarious actually. I'm not interested in going to other countries as much now. I really just want to stay in Arkansas...and Missouri, too. They're both really cool places. I could be going to Oklahoma sometime soon, also.

The "Work" is Moving Along...

We started getting the Young Single Adult (YSA) missionary work moving along, and we are going to work on getting the ward missionary work moving along now, also. It's going to be fun. My companion and I are trying our best to be more obedient, prayerful, etc.

An Elder on Elder Road!

The ward is doing well. We have more investigators there than we do in the YSA Branch, but we are still in a major finding phase. I'm so glad we get 1300 miles on a car this month...and I'm also glad we carpool with the Spanish elders a lot because we need to save miles as much as we can since one of the places we cover is sixty or so miles away from us.

I love being a missionary!

Making Plans for Success!

We went on an exchange with the zone leaders this week.  That was great. One of the zone leaders and I talked about how to help the ward and the YSA Branch....mostly the YSA Branch, because we have no investigators. 

During weekly planning, my companion and I also found an amazing paper that tells us how to work YSA areas a lot more effectively. We looked through it, and we're trying a couple things on there. We're going to be doing a lot of active member lessons these next weeks with the YSA...which is also going to be difficult because half of them are going to Utah (BYU), or on a mission by August.   

Also, we have a very large area to cover.  However, we found another guideline that says that we could exchange with the different missionaries in our area to help the YSA Branch. We called the Assistants (AP) to see if we could do that. We don't have a final decision on the matter, but it would definitely help our area,  It's going to be a really awesome three weeks.

I love the YSA Branch. We had a "Break the Fast" potluck last Sunday...It was delicious. We ate a lot...then went to dinner...and ate a lot. It was hard to move afterwards XD.

The Fourth of July!

For the fourth of July, we watched fireworks at a member's house. We were very excited because they were huge fireworks (the ones that are illegal in Utah). We had a great time, and we were able to stay to watch fireworks until 10.

My companion and I still talk about my first area. I didn't realize how unique it really was. My companion was served 'possum chili while he was there. He was there last year on the fourth of July watching fireworks at a members huge ranch.

New Mission and New Mission President...

This week was amazing!!!!

The Oklahoma Tulsa Mission (OTM) is no longer. We are now in the Arkansas Bentonville Mission. It seems like we're keeping the terms for OTM, though, because it is one of the many things that made this mission shoot ahead of everyone else.

We met President and Sister Loveland, and they are really cool :j. Really different from President and Sister Shumway, but really cool.

My District...

We have a new missionary in our district who is older than me. It's so weird. It's also weird that I am still eighteen. I'm the youngest in our district.

The sister missionary from Morgan, Utah (where my maternal grandparents and some of my cousins live) is in my district. We talked about my cousins. It was pretty awesome.

My New Companion...

My new companion is from Riverton, Utah. He is an awesome district leader. He loves music. He plays the guitar and he is learning how to play the piano. He's served in my first area before, so we like to talk about the ward. He was in my first district. He's only had five areas in his mission. (I've almost had more areas than him. It's funny.) He became a district leader/trainer his last transfer, and he's been in our area for one transfer so far. He loves the mission a lot.

Serving in a Ward and Branch!

My new area is amazing! In the ward we are serving in, we're close to the corner of the boundaries.

The Young Single Adult (YSA) branch we are serving in is a lot more centralized. We have a ton of members (by a ton, I mean, 99% of the branch). All of the members live in Missouri.

We cover two stakes. We stretch all the way into Kansas.

We usually stay in our city, though. We call some of the other elders for investigators/members in the YSA branch, though. Speaking of which, we called some other elders this week, and it was great to speak to one of the elders that trained in the Mission Training Center (MTC) with me.