Car crash...hmmm, interesting way to get a contact...flooded apartments, tornado warnings and rain, LOTS of rain!

Howdy y'all!

Red is where dry land normally is.

Monday we went for a hike and mini golf as a district that was awesome!

Tuesday we got a ride with a returnin member and taught him about the fall all the way to district meeting.  It was a great meeting!  The member then took us out for Subway before we walked for a couple hours in the rain, then heat of Arkansas.  It was funny cause we were pelted in the front so the front of my body was soaked and my back completely dry!  We got barked at and followed by 3 angry dogs and no one answered the door!  Oh, and we were on exchanges so I was with Elder Trejo.  Great guy!  We had pizza at the Luttrell's home and shared a video about repentance.  We got home and the rain came DOWN!  We called some people to try to set-up appointments, but I guess when it rains in Arkansas, doors and phones stop working.

Mini-golf spiritual gangsta crew...

Wednesday on our way to exchange back, Elders Miller and Asay got rear ended and we thought an officer would be there soon...well it took about an hour.  So Elder Trejo and I stayed in the car watching Mormon messages cause we were out of cell range.  We stayed dry!  Poor other Elders got drenched haha.  The lady that hit them gave Miller her info and said she might be interested in us coming by, so maybe after it's all sorted out.  We went out with Sister Crow and saw a couple who is 7th Day Adventist and boy did they give us some crummy excuses on why they thought the Book of Mormon was not true.  I'm not going to go into detail, but they are basing the TRUE account of Jospeh Smith that it was of the devil.  But it's whatever, cause he gave some pretty lame come backs at our testimonies and scriptural back up.  It's so sad to see the hardness of some hearts.  But before we went over there, we visited an elderly sister named Sister Jacobs.  She's super sweet.  She told us she didn't want us to leave and wants us to come weekly.   We got some GOOD ribs for dinner and had a good night.

Pardon my ma'am, would you like...

Thursday we did service at the CADC and then did weekly Planning.  We went out and drove to a referrals house and he told us there was 1 house on his street.  Well there was 2, so we knocked both and no one was home at either one.  Then the prettiest mix of a husky and shepherd came trotting up and let us pet her.  Boy she was pretty.  The little town we were in was super run down and I have come to the conclusion, if I need to go under the grid, I'm going to Pike City.  We drove back and stopped at a less actives on the way home and had a good little visit with him before we headed to dinner.

Friday was tough.  It started pouring for most of the day and flooded some streets so we couldn't go out with Sister Hawthorn.  We called some people and went by a couple more, but again, phones and doors don't work when you're looking at a tornado watch.  We went on a home teaching blitz with the branch president and Sister Hawthorn. We saw Sister O'Neal again!  It was great!  We couldn't stay for too long, but she's in better spirits and was so happy to see her!

...to hear a message about Jesus Christ?

Saturday we were planning on going out with Chad, but floods stopped that.  We studied and had to take shelter for a while as we were under tornado warning and flooding.  Water got in the apartment but we got cleaned up and blocked with some towels.  We went to Sister Hawthorns cause she's our emergency contact and had dinner over here.  As we waited for the storm to blow over, we watched Ephraim's Rescue.  Let me tell you, if you didn't understand what the pioneers went through before, you will after seeing this movie.  It was AMAZING!  There's a pretty awesome scene where Ephraim Hanks is giving a blessing towards the end of the movie (his special gift was healing) and this guy's mom asks him why he cleans his hands before each blessing in clean water when he's a holy man.  He explains cause he has many faults that he cannot count.  When she asks how he does see miracles, he just simply replies "I try" and I about lost it.  As Jacob explains in 2 Nephi 9, "O how great the plan of our God!" He's given us the gift of His Son so that no matter what we do, so long as we try and repent daily, we will have His Spirit to be with us and eventually  be able to return to Him.  The storm blew over finally and we could go home.

The gang all gussied up.

Sunday was an experience.  I got to hear an amazing testimony on prayer from Brother Robbins and we taught a little in Young Men's.  We had lunch at the Robbins' and met Sister Robbins'
parents. Boy are they spiritual power houses!  We shared testimony and left to go home teaching with Brother Dunson and we saw a guy who was gossiped about in church like 20 years ago as a deacon and hasn't been back since.  It was good!  He has no intentions to come back, but it was great!  We got back and studied and ate dinner and went to bed.

Oh yeah and I'm with Elder Miller for another transfer!  The branch sounded pretty excited, so I guess we're doing something right!  I love y'all!  Can't wait to hear back!

Kings Do King Things
Goin' Buck Wild

Where they should be...

More flooding.

See, I told you...straight gangsta!

Evidence...gang signs! Lock these hooligans up!

Oh second thought, this is punishment enough!

Sometimes Tacos 4 Life is all you need...and Eggos, lots of Eggos.

Howdy y'all!

P-Day gangstas, rollin'.

Tuesday we had district meeting and were supposed to go on exchanges but Elder Asay got sick so we didn't.  We went to Mt. Ida with Sister Crow and saw a couple families but our best visit was with an elderly sister named Sister O'Neal.  She is super funny and I love hearing her stories.  We got home and studied and Jimmy brought us BBQ sandwiches.

Wednesday we did service at the CADC and then saw some home teaching families and one of them made us dinner and we talked about church and their son's missions and it was great!  We went around the area trying to see some formers but none were home or not there.  We got in touch with a potential and we're seeing them this Saturday.  We had dinner and called it a night cause Valentine's Day kinda takes out missionary work as people are spending time with their spouses, or in Arkansas' case, baby mama and daddies. 

Touch my Eggos, you die.

Thursday we went out with Sister Hawthorn.  We went to Murfreesboro and only talked to Denise a bit but she was sick.  We then drove back to Glenwood and saw a lady named Frankie Adams.  The sisters used to see her but she's really busy.  She is so cool!  We taught the restoration and she had a couple questions about the Book of Mormon that we were able to clear up.  She said that we are really good at answering questions so that's good!  We tried to see a members niece, but she was sick so we talked to her "hubby" as he called himself.  We then saw the Harris family (members) and set up a cottage meeting with them so that will be fun!  We ate at Sister Hawthorn's to end the night.

18 months, burn pants. Seems legit.

Friday we drove up to Little Rock for Elder Millers last check-up appointment.  We blitzed Conway and talked to some cool people.  One guy of course tried to tell us our religion was wrong and that there will be no more Gods, not us nor him and all this jazz and then slammed the door and gave us a scripture to read that didn't quite prove his point...but we kept on and I connected with a guy who plays guitar for his church and we talked to him for a bit before he had to go.  Conway is pretty awesome!  We ate dinner at Tacos 4 Life and then saw some home teaching families.  We talked to this one couple and the whole time we were talking, their dog was just licking the lady's foot with all his might.  It was pretty funny cause she just acted like nothing was happening.  I tried not to laugh and Elder Miller just kinda was staring at the dog.  We went to Walmart to get me some contact solution and ice cream and we called it a night after playing a game of Skip-Bo.

Somehow the tough looks don't play out...

Saturday, Elder Miller, went to another appointment with one of the medical guys for the mission named Brother Routt.  His family is awesome!  I talked to his wife while Elder Miller met with him.  She has a Snapchat group with some old missionaries I knew, so she let me say hi to Elder Thomas and Elder Ortiz so that was fun.  They then took us out to eat with the Conway Elders at a place called Beebe's.  It was super good!  We drove back home and ate dinner and weekly planned the rest of the night.

Because Older.

Sunday we had some really good talks at church.  Alyssa gave her farewell talk as she leaves for her mission today.  It's sad cause we got pretty close!  But then President Palmer (of the Stake Presidency who is in the branch) talked and he told us if you can get along with your companions, you'll be a great spouse.  So yeah, that happened...my poor wife.  But we taught Sunday School for about 15 minutes on our purpose in life and then we brought a cake to Alyssa and ate it with the Robbins and youth.  We went to the Robbins's afterward and celebrated Jessie's birthday with lunch and a few games.  We got a balloon stuck on the ceiling and I'll send the video of how we got it down.  It was a stellar day as we talked to Jessie and he's now in 1 Nephi 21.  He messaged us later on with questions concerning some things in the Book of Mormon.  We answered to the best of our abilities but it seems we will have to meet face to face with him to address some of the things.  Oh yeah and Chad came to church and said he wants to serve a mission!  That was huge!  We all surrounded him and hugged him.  He has a few struggles, but such is life!

I love y'all so much!

Kings Do King Things
Goin' Buck Wild 

There was no explanation for this...I don't know what he is doing.

What's up, hot pants?

Hot springs, raccoons, tweekers, and lots of other good missionary moments!

Howdy y'all!

So Monday we took our car in to the shop to fix the tire and we had to stay the night in Hot Springs cause they didn't have the tire.

Tuesday we had a breakfast at the Griffins in Hot Springs and took part of their missionary correlation.  We actually were able to help as I knew some people from when I was there!  We then had district meeting and it was great!  Brother Jordan caught a raccoon in the roof and so that was fun!  Got some sick selfies.  After District Meeting, we went to the Rogers for lunch!  That was awesome!  We got our car and drove home and then studied and went to the Luttrell's where we had a lesson with Jimmy.  We had a bit of a good discussion on him being re-baptized.  It was great!  He didn't commit...but he said he would pray about it.

Back in Hot Springs...see past posts for reference

Wednesday I woke up with a stye that freaking hurt.  I slept a bit more while warming it with hot water and a towel.  Then we went to the CADC and then to Sister Hills.  We came back and I took care of my eye again while studying.  We had dinner at the Wilson's and they fed us taco burgers!  They were great!

Thursday we went out with Sister Hawthorn to Murfreesboro and no one was home.  We got Sonic and headed to Mike's house.  We drove there and had a wonderful plan of salvation lesson!  We tried to commit him to baptism but he said he would pray about it.  It's hard to set baptismal dates lately.  But we came home and started to walk around and see if the home teaching families we were assigned were home.  None were, in fact, they were abandoned and the people near have no recollection of them.  We think one of the ladies we talked to was the lady we were looking for because she was in shock when we got there and kept looking at our tags.  But it was whatever because as we walked back we talked to a guy named Charles who was really cool!  We talked about our beliefs and he gave us his and was super cool about it!  I thanked him for talking to us and thanked him for not cussing us out like how we usually are.  He told us to come by whenever because he would love to talk.  Then we went to the Rubly's for dinner and talked with him about the home teaching visits because he's our elders quorum president.

What's love got to do with it?

Hot Springs and a hide-a-bed

Friday we went to Delight and had the most interesting experience.  We went out to look for a referral and we found the house.  Pretty backwoods, but they weren't home so we left a card and started to drive away.  Well as we drove, a lady popped up outta no where and flagged us down.  We got out and she said her daughter was a member and she wanted us to see her so we followed her to behind the house we just knocked on to his little shack like house.  I felt a little weird about it, but we went in and of course the mom calls her daughter who's 29 and she comes out in just a robe (but it wasn't all the way tied up and she wasn't wearing much) and then the mom leaves and we're standing there like uh, we gotta go.  But the girl kept talking and talking and asked what's new with the church.  So I said we got a new Prophet and asked who the last prophet she knew was and of course she says Gordon B. Hinckley.  So I came to two conclusions...she's either been stowed away in this shack for 15 years, or she's just very inactive...I wouldn't put it passed the first option.  But she started talking about how the world needs more voodoo and that she felt something crawling on her face and kept picking at her face.  She was tweekin' pretty bad was our guess, and then she kept asking if we saw flashing lights.  Well at that point I was singing in my head Lenny Kravitz "I got to get away, I wanna flyyy awaaayyy!"  So we said a prayer with them and ran to the car.  We drove and ate lunch and just kinda laughed the whole situation off but then we realized they have our number and church address.  So yeah, freaky moment of the week.  We studied and tried to see some other people and went to the Wilson's.  Teresa and Steve had to leave so we just had a game night and taught about temples and eternal families with Taylor and Buffy!

Look ma, a raccoon!

Saturday we had an AMAZING lesson with Jessie!  We taught the plan of salvation and he basically rehearsed everything to us.  We didn't even need to be there.  He is so prepared!  Sister Robbins came with us and she bore such a powerful testimony.  I can't believe how awesome it was!  He has been reading and is in 1 Nephi chapter 7 and was telling us all the stories he read and was acting it out!  Holy cow, I love this man!  He took us all to eat at a fish buffet (with some of the best fried cat fish I've had) and we talked and had a great time.  We did out weekly Planning on Saturday cause we were in Delight on Friday.  I had a great time that night trying to watch a new student orientation video but Glenwood had terrible connection and the dumb thing wouldn't pull up.  So that wasted an hour before we had dinner.

Bradley Cooper was not happy.

Sunday Mike came to church!  Also we taught the young men (Tony) about why we have adversity.   It went well, I think.  We had a break the fast and then come home and studied and went to the Wilson's.  Alyssa came with us and it was great.  We showed the new video of Elder Uchtdorf talking about how God sees the whole picture even if we don't.  We explained commitments and why it's important to keep them and why we ask them to do certain things, like come to church and read the Book of Mormon.  It was definitely spirit led!  Alyssa had some amazing input as she explained church to them.  She's gonna make a fire missionary!  We came home and just kind of talked about the lesson and life and went to bed.

Because sometimes you gotta golf.

It was a great week!  We had some good lessons and I was definitely able to feel the spirit a lot more!  Let me tell y'all, the spirit is real.  I felt his presence so much this week and it's amazing how just a feeling in your heart (which was undeniable and stronger than Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime) can make you know and understand so much.  I'm so grateful for this church and all of the good that comes from it.  I don't care what people say nor do I care how I am treated.  It's not making The Church not true, it's not making my testimony dwindle, in fact it builds it up.  I love this Church with all my heart.  It's Christ's Church with him at the helm.  I will not doubt it, I will not question it.

Kings Do King Things
Goin' Buck Wild

Flat tire, but inflated hearts!

Howdy y'all!

This was a pretty good week!

Tuesday we went out with Sister Hawthorn to see some people in Amity and Murfreesboro.  We saw Sister Hill and then We saw Richard Collins again finally.  We dropped him a while ago but ended up teaching the word of wisdom again and giving him a priesthood blessing to help him stop smoking!  We saw Denise Godwin as well and taught a really good plan of salvation!  She loved it and wants to be with her family forever!  We went back to sister Hawthorns and had dinner with the Bershers and it was good.

Who doesn't love Girl Scout cookies?

Wednesday we had Zone Conference so we woke up at 4 to get there on time haha.  We had some really good role plays and learned a ton!  We had interviews and they were stellar.  When we got back to Hot Springs, we were picked up by David Palmer and went to Buffalo Wild Wings.  We tried to teach our spastic waitress but she was too hyped up.  It was her 5th day on the job and let us know at many times.

Thursday we did service at the CADC and did some work haha.  We swept and did the frozen dinners and cleaned out the pantry.  We then had a study then I filled out scholarship applications and college stuff.  I was able to memorize 7 full scripture references that day!  That was good! We had enchiladas at the Hawthorns that night.

Cowboy Kai making a reappearance

Friday was good.  We had weekly Planning and then Sister Crow took us to Mount Ida and we saw a couple who want us to come back next week and tracked down a less active who didn't live where the address was.  We saw Sister O'Neal and she's a talker!  In a good way!  She's funny and talked about her family and how it's going through a rough time.  We shared Ether 12:6 about faith and hope and how it will all work out in the end.  We then got dropped off at home and as we drove to Amity to see the Wilson's, my luck decided to kick in and we ran something over that caused a loud thud and then as we got to Amity, my tire light went on.  So I knew at that moment, there was something wrong.  As we pulled into the driveway, I looked at the now flat wheel.  We the donut on with Taylor and Steve and the hole was the size of a pencil in the friggin thing.  So we ate tacos (I only had 7 or 8 this time but they were thicker and bigger) and had a lesson.  We read 3 Nephi 27 with them and explained how Christ established his church in America and how his Church should be named after him.  It was awesome!

Honestly, why not?

Saturday we were able to see a home teaching member that we were assigned to.  Her name is Sister Lenz and she is a sweet heart!  Hard working old lady who loves the church but due to work she can hardly make it.  She wants us to start reading the Book of Mormon with her.  Sister Hawthorn picked us up and drove us to Little Rock for Stake Conference and it was great!  Lots of great talks!  President Palmer talked about King Benjamins address and how every soul who heard it never fell away but the very next generation would not follow the teachings given by King Benjamin because they were too little.  He then asked "who was in the wrong?" Well it's quite simple, the parents.  They heard it and lived by it, but they never taught it to their children who were too young to remember.  They never had family home evening or scripture study.  They took what they learned and held it in.  So when we hear the prophet or read the scriptures, we have to teach it to those who we are entrusted to care for.  For me, it would be the people in my area.  For y'all, well ate personal.  Who do y'all need to teach and lift with the holy Word of God?  We drove home and got back around 10:30 or 11.

Happy companions, these guys are loving it!

Sunday we woke up early at 5 and went to Stake conference again.  Good stuff again!  Sister Hugentobler gave a talk and it was phenomenal about how God may be trying to get a hold of us, but our connection might not be strong enough to pick it up.  It was awesome!  She then said "your choices you make effect your eternity."  Wow.  Isn't that profound!  The choices we make today, can effect where we stand in the eternities.  It was a great conference!  We drove back and had lunch and spent the afternoon with the Hawthorns.  Her family was over so that was neat.  We got home and enjoyed our super bowl Sunday tidying up the apartment and writing this letter haha.

Another sock monkey smolder...

I love y'all so much!  I hope y'alls week was as grand as mine!  Just know that I know for a certainty that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Is Christ's church once again restored to the earth by Joseph Smith.  It's not just another church.  It's THE church.  God isn't just a God.  He's our father.  He loves our souls and He loves us and knows us each individually.  Isn't that nice?  There's hope.  Hope for a brighter world and hope for a better future.  No one is alone with God and no one loves you more.  I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ.

Kings Do King Things
Goin' Buck Wild