Monday, November 13, 2017

Service brings blessings for all involved. This was a GREAT week, one of the best yet!

I call this, "Man under street lamp."
Howdy!

Tuesday was pretty good.  We went to habitat for humanity and did some service and we got to witness a crazy redneck cuss out Walmart for giving him a bad propane tank.  We drove out to the boonies and no one was home so that sucked.

Wednesday was dope.  We went to Zone Conference in SEARCY!!!  It was awesome.  We learned some awesome facts about Joseph Smith and the translation/writing of the Book of Mormon by the prophet and how to use it better.  I got to see Sister Duncan and the Brown family as well as a few other members, like the Ryans (Sister Ryan and Sister Howard and Wilman fed us lunch!).  Sister Ryan pulled through and got me the first caramel apple pie before they really brought out desert.  It was awesome to be back in that building and hang with my favorite people!!  Steven moved to Beebe so I'm gonna get on those kids to teach him.  They're both super green and so Steven is gonna tear them up if they don't know how to talk to him.  I started my exchange with Elder Parks.

The bed...reminds me of my time in Korea.
Thursday was friggin full of miracles.  So we studied and then went out and got cookie dough and to bring them to a few members.  Well we get home and see our neighbor, Martha, and she's struggling to get stuff out of her car (she's 80 something years old).  So we go and help her and she goes off on how she loves the Mormons.  She won't study with us, but tells people she has the greatest neighbors and brags about us!  She is so sweet!!  Well we went in and made cookies and delivered them. The Kistners loved it and then gave us a few referrals!  We went and saw them and had an interesting experience.  Their names are Gretchen and Greywolf.  Yes, Greywolf.  No, he's not Native American.  But, he's a shaman mystic minister.  So he does like freaky deaky magic stuff but in the name of Jesus.  New experience?  Yes.  Does it surprise me?  Not even a little bit.  He's a street preacher and told us his story and I think he tripped once or twice on some illegal substances.  Hard.  Anyways, we taught about the Book of Mormon and we were then taught that we had the Book of Mormon before Jospeh Smith!!  It came over on the Mayflower in the 1700's!  Why didn't we know about this?  Why isn't this historically correct?  Also, why does he think the Book of Mormon is the Bible?  Haha it's whatever though.  He agreed to come to church and read so that's good.  So we went to get them a ride for church from Brother Trayler and he agreed and also took Elder Parks and I on a tour of his house.  This dude has a bathroom so big that it has a tub, a separate shower, a computer desk and 2 closets...full of suits.  So we tried them on and took pics as we drank out of 60 year old wine glasses that have never been drunken out of...oh and did I tell you they were rimmed with solid 24 karat gold?  We were in the presence of angels that day.  We had sports night and I had a random outburst of being good at basketball for a half hour.  That was cool.  Miracles.

The after pic makes the bed look just fine!
Friday we had ANOTHER miracle!  We were leaving to go service finding by raking people's lawns, when a guy was walking down the street.  We stopped him and talked to him and he's had a rough go.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and Bible and he almost broke into tears thanking us cause he hasn't had a Bible, let alone a free one, since he was in prison.  He wants to give his life to God and wants to learn more!  We talked for about an hour when the other Elders showed up to exchange back.  We went to Popeye's and weekly planned for what felt like the rest of the night.  The Lagomarsinos came and visited as well!!  It made me so freakin happy!  They took us to DQ and invited us to Christmas dinner with their nonmember family!  It's in our area too so that's lit.

Gentrified.
Saturday we had a couple really awesome things happen.  Brother Trayler called us and took us out to eat lunch at this cute little restaurant down town.  Then when we left we drove by a little old lady raking her yard.  So what do we do?  Well the super Elders sped home (within an obedient speed) and grabbed their super rakes and raced on over to help!  We raked her yard and her neighbors yard (it was a senior home) and we talked with Mrs. McGuffey for a while.  She said when she saw us run over with rakes she thought "oh please stop here". Hahaha it was adorable!  She tried to pay us but I assured her that friends don't pay friends.  She gave us a huge hug with tears in her eyes and I just felt so good.  Service really does heal the soul.  It made me almost choke up thinking of how much it meant to her.  It made me think of a poem I read somewhere called "someone's mother".

Happy Elders.
The woman was old and ragged and gray
And bent with the chill of the Winter’s day.
The street was wet with a recent snow,
And the woman’s feet were aged and slow.
She stood at the crossing and waited long,
Alone, uncared for, amid the throng
Of human beings who passed her by
Nor heeded the glance of her anxious eye.

Down the street, with laughter and shout,
Glad in the freedom of ‘school let out,’
Came the boys like a flock of sheep,
Hailing the snow piled white and deep. …
One paused beside her and whispered low,
'I’ll help you cross, if you wish to go? …
'She’s somebody’s mother, boys, you know,
For all she’s aged and poor and slow.

“‘And I hope some fellow will lend a hand
To help my mother, you understand,
If ever she’s poor and old and gray,
When her own dear boy is far away.’
And ‘somebody’s mother’ bowed low her head
In her home that night, and the prayer she said
Was, ‘God be kind to the noble boy,
Who is somebody’s son, and pride and joy.’"

Mary Dow Brine

Arizona boy getting some throwback!
Just as the boy in his poem, I hope that my good deeds help others, especially my family, sometime in the future.  Let me tell ya, this can't be anyone else's but the Lords work.  It's moments as tender as this that make me stay on my mission.  Even though she didn't want to meet with us, my heart was touched and my spirits were lifted.  If you're ever down or sad or just aren't at your best, only service for others can bring you back to your feet and then a little higher.  Our prayers were answered later on when the office Elders brought us our beds.  We finally got beds.  I'll send a picture of what I've been sleeping on for this past week.  The first few nights was on the ground, then the Simmons family gave us camping mattresses, then the Wahlquist's gave us a futon mattress and I grabbed couch cushions.  So it was like a Temperpedic bed.  I only did it for a couple weeks, sleep on the ground, so it kinda makes me empathetic towards the people all around us who do it year round.  In Utah and Arizona, you may see homeless people every now and again.  But those guys get money all the time.  But the homeless here, they have literally nothing besides what they can carry with them, which isn't a lot at all.  Most people will never understand how truly heartbreaking it is to see the needy.  We are blessed beyond all measures and have way more than we even could dream of needing.  Please I beg of all of y'all, don't take your blessings for granted.  You may never understand how bad some people have it.  I don't think I can ever say I have a hard life ever again.  Never.

Monday funday.
Sunday Greywolf and Gretchen came to church.  It was awesome to listen to the primary (6 little girls) sing.  There's a reason God tells us to become as little children.  Only they can bring the spirit like they do.  Only they can be humble and meek to the point to where God will accept them into his arms no matter what.  Oh how I wish I could have even the slightest amount of love for life and others as these little children do.  I was able to give a talk on understanding and recognizing the spirit for about 10 minutes.  It was good I think.  I had a pretty tough act to follow haha.  We took Greywolf and Gretchen back home with Brother Trayler and had lunch at the Simmons house.  We came back and did studies and training for Elder Cundick.  We saw Deedee and gave her a Book of Mormon and explained why it's so important.  She loves us so much haha.

We got a hold of a guy named Drew and he wants to take us out hiking today!  We'll send details about that after!  But it's been a great week!  Many miracles happening in Batesville!  I've been humbled and more happy than ever.  I cant wait for this week!  It's weeks like this that come to show God answers prayers.  He's there guys, he's there and listening.

Look at my french toast, mom!
1 Peter 4:8-12
8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are there unto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.
10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

Kings Do King Things
Goin' Buck Wild





What is that tree???
The woodsen...where are the moosen?




2 comments:

  1. What a beautiful letter.... Because I am a poet, I want everyone to know who wrote that touching poem: Mary Dow Brine. Please, always put her name as the author so this poem does not become an "Author Unknown" poem.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for the information Forrest, I have added her name to the Poem so she gets full credit for this beautiful poem.

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