You just have to soldier on and serve, it's about overcoming trials.

These two...no words really...

Howdy y'all!

Been another week.  Better in some aspects, but still a tough week.  We're surviving though.

Tuesday was a good district meeting.  We exchanged and I went with Elder Asay. I went to Hot Springs and it was full of service.  We helped move some furniture for a members parents.  They aren't LDS, but they were very kind! The members I think were actually from Missouri!  Super nice people!  My wrist got tore up from a cabinet, but I'm alive.  Next we went to rake leaves for the David's.  Oh how I love the David's!  I didn't have it on Tuesday, but Sister David makes the best cheesecake hands down.  After raking, we went and visited Sister Gibbs.  That was great.  We helped exercise her dog so they would sleep and not bother Sister Gibbs at night.  It was great to see her again!  She looks so much happier and upbeat now that she's fully active!

I do what I want.

Wednesday we exchanged back and as I got out of the car, I recognized something about Elder Barney (who was with Elder Miller) but couldn't tell until I got closer.  The dude was wearing my Donald Trump tie!  And as we were about to leave, he gave me back one of my watches!  So of course, I had to give him the good ole pat down to ensure he didn't thief anything else from me.  Little ruffian.  We did service at the CADC again.  Sister Crow took us out and we saw Sister Hill and found out we might be able to start teaching her son.  He is 8, so it's not a convert baptism, but she is a convert and he hasn't ever been to church, so hopefully this will help get her active again! We then drove to see Sister Jacobs, who is very fond of Elder Miller.  After visiting with her, we went out to Sister O'Neal's.  Boy is she a hoot.  She told me she is going to take and burn all of my journals at include her cause I write down all of the funny stories she tell us.  To be fair, she writes about us too, so I call it even.  She wants us to come over for dinner on Wednesday and have Elder Miller talk only, cause he's "too quiet."  It's a shame though because we are exchanging on Wednesday so I will be with Elder Barney....oh well, more pizza for us.  While there, she was telling us of how much she loved having us over and told us (without knowing of past weeks) that we should know that if we don't baptize anyone or see success, that we can know thaws uplift her weekly and that we have a profound impact on "sweet old ladies like [her]."  So that was a refreshing thing to hear with recent events.  After we left her, we tried to see the Hearns, but they weren't home.  We had ourselves some dinner and called it quits for the night.

Ray Stevens comes to mind...

Thursday was tough.  We painted the Luttrell's bedroom for a good few hours and had lunch at their place.  After that we had to rush home and change to get to an appointment, at which, we found the Bible referral we had was a 17 or so year old girl alone with her 2 siblings (no older than 7).  So needless to say, we gave them he Bible and we were quick to leave.  Sadly, though, we failed to ask when her dad was home to see if we could teach them all.  We'll probably go back next week to see how they like the Bible or something.  After that, we left to the flea market to look for people to teach and a new journal because I have filled my 2 and need a new one.  No one talked with us and we left empty handed with no journal or investigators.  We met a guy on our home teaching list at McDonald's and talked with him for a good hour or so outside on the chairs. We got to know the guy more and he got to know us and he has some service for us to do at his place soon.  It would have been a great visit, which is was, but there were some high school kids that were swearing up a storm and being super annoying right next to us.  Frankly, I was more annoyed at the fact they were spending their spring break at a McDonald's in Glenwood.  But we had a good visit and went home.

Dogs love Elder Adair.

Friday we weekly planned for FOREVER.  But we planned out some great things for next week and we hope to have a lot more success.  We went over what we need to do to find and teach because our teaching pool is non existent right now.  So lots of walking next week.  To rest our brains, we headed to Hot Springs for volleyball.  We invited so many people, but no one from Glenwood came.  So we played with the Nasili family and the Stevens and a few others.  It was great to see my seconds family again.  Oh how I missed them.

Saturday we went out to contact a bunch of formers and potential to no avail.  No was was home.  Literally not one on a Saturday.  We decided to do some finding in a trailer park we found.  Well, literally every single trailer, and I mean literally every one, was a Latino family who couldn't speak a lick of English.  I tried in my broken Spanglish to make something work, but nothing did.  We went walking after going to the church for a bit and talked to a few people, but no one was interested.  One of our potentials walked to the window, looked out and made eye contact, and walked away.  So yeah, if I could sum up the day in one sentence, it would be that.  Anyways, we ate dinner and called it a day.

And then there was this...

Sunday we had a good day at church.  Fran was baptized and confirmed.  We couldn't go due to time of baptism, but it happened.  We taught 3rd hour to the young men, and by that I mean the nonmember boyfriend of our branch presidents daughter.  He's a cool kid.  Has a Book of Mormon and agrees with just about everything we taught, which was the Atonement.  It was pretty great.  We're hoping to see him again and ask if he wants to be taught.  We went to the Robbins, came home, studied and took a walk cause we were kinda moping in self pity, but all is well.  It started to thunderstorm.  So we went back home and ate dinner.

So, in response to this past week and the trials that we had, I have just one scripture to share.

Philippians 3:13-14
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Apparently this is a gift to themselves?

Yeah the week sucked, but no sense dwelling in it.  I mean, Luke 17:32, remember Lot's wife, she looked back and became a pillar of salt.  No thanks.  All is well here.  Success in the pending future awaits me.

Kings Do King Things
Goin' Buck Wild

I knew this because Jeff Foxworthy.

A knight in shining armor is a man who has never had his mettle truly tested.

Howdy y'all!

I'll just start off by saying this was a very trying week.  Probably the most trying of my mission.  I'm doing better, but it was a tough one.

Monday we stayed in Glenwood and went everywhere in 2 hours and I napped the rest of the day.  We had a good dinner at sister Hawthorns and had family home evening with her and the Bershers.

Baby doggo.

Tuesday we had district meeting and lunch at the Rogers.  On our way back, we dropped by a referral from Sister Lenz, her son Kirk.  He was cool!  Has strange beliefs about the illuminati and all that type of stuff, but nevertheless, he's a firm believer in Christ and God and he invited us over the next Sunday.  We came home and studied and went to see Jerry and Sonja.  We had a great lesson on the restoration and it went beautifully. Well, on our end.  He had some questions and we answered to the best of our abilities and we ended.  We had dinner at the Luttrell's to end off the night.

Wednesday was easily one of the hardest days of the mission.  Fran dropped us to be taught by the sisters in Hot Springs and was pretty rude about it and it left Elder Miller and I dumbfounded and I will not lie, I was pretty distraught.  We were bewildered by it and I was so taken back and all we could do was sit down and wrap our heads around it.  We put our heart and soul into teaching this woman and to be so rudely dropped, it kinda made me mad.  It's just hard when you give your all and get nothing in return. We went and saw a few members with medical issues with Sister Crow to try to get our minds back in place.  Well as we were driving, Sonja texted he telling us Jerry didn't believe what we said about Joseph Smith and so that sucked.  But good thing is, she still has a testimony.  We were still super upset cause we felt like it was a great lesson.  Sister Crow took us to see Sister O'Neal after that and I'm glad she did cause Sister O'Neal and her stories and spirit always cheer me up.  So after that visit I was a little more happy.  We got pizza and went home.

Hey look, more doggos!

Thursday we saw Michael with Sister Hawthorn.  He told us he is going to be in Little Rock for the next month and he didn't agree with Joseph Smith.  So we testified and showed him the First Vision video.  He still wasn't buying it so we testified again of the Book of Mormon and how that will help us know Joseph Smith was a prophet.  He was a little better, but still not sure.  So we left and lost him as an investigator for a while.  Sister Hawthorn took us to the Caddo Cafe and ate lunch.  Afterwards, we got rear ended while backing out.  So that was great.  After it was all settled, we drove to Little Rock to get our cracked windshield replaced.  We walked to Target to pass time and I had to get new shoes cause mine are tore up.  As we walked back, we talked to a guy and gave him a Book of Mormon and he was super happy to get one.  He was homeless and had a BOM before, but he lost it in prison.  We drove home and ate to end the day.

Friday we exchanged and I went with Elder Barney.  He's dope from Gilbert, Arizona.  We were In the sticks trying to locate and contact a bunch of less and inactives.  We were able to get the information for a couple and even walked on the highway for a mile or so in search for a house.  We found it, but it was covered in no trespassing signs and had a locked gate.  So we left and will send a letter later.  We had dinner at the Pabst's home in Hot Springs Village, about 40 minutes north of Hot Springs.  They drove us back and we went to a gas station with wifi to do a tablet audit and there was a guy jamming to guitar and singing.  We enjoyed it and talked with him and got his info and invited him to church.  He accepted and was super happy to talk to us.  He told us our presence just made him happier and he felt a difference.  He sang to us and it was great.  We left and went home.  I wish I remembered songs to play, or else i would have played and we could have had a jam sesh.

Razorback sewer...seems right

Saturday we exchanged back and did service for a member in Hot Springs.  They're Tongan and super awesome.  They invited us over to dinner on the 26th so we're going to have a district P-Day and eat there next week.  We helped them build their house.  Elder Barney and I marked electrical wires to the rooms.  They took us to eat at a buffet and we came back and Elder Miller and I drove back to Glenwood.  We stayed in service clothes for a sec longer and Sonja asked if we could help take down a yard sale they had.  So we helped with that and set up another time to answer any concerns Jerry may have.  We're going over on Tuesday to do that.  They fed us burgers and we left and studied.

Sunday was good.  Church was great and the Robbins fed us.  They're the highlight of my week by far.  They're so loving and care for us as their children.  Sandy made us some sort of shredded chicken slider (I got to shred the chicken, so I'm basically the one who made the meal happen), but it was sooo good.  I don't know what was in it, but it was succulent.  They then made us milkshakes by mixing chocolate and mints chocolate chip.  It was so amazing.  Then they did this like experiment thing to figure out our love language with people?  It like falls between service, quality time, gifts, physical touch and words of affirmation.  I got quality time and physical touch.  That scared Elder Miller cause I always try to hug him and now he understands why.  We came home and studied and had a lesson with Kirk.  Just so y'all know, Bush did 9/11, illuminati rules the world, we are dead to the government and we have a secret bank account with our social security number.   Oh, and Hollywood drinks baby blood and eats kids.  Crazy stuff.  But I love the guy to pieces.  He asked for a Book of Mormon and we explained it and Jospeh Smith.  We were at his moms house for this and Sister Lenz was so awesome at explaining why we need the Book of Mormon and how it will change his life.  She bore powerful testimony and were going to be going over on Tuesday as well to teach him and hopefully a lady that lives by him.  We walked home and ended the night with dinner and a card game.

We had our ups and very low downs, but we're alive and pushing through. We lost some gems, but hopefully we can turn some new people into diamonds.  As hard as it was for me this week, I know there's better things laid up in store for us, whether it's a baptism or not, we will work for our King and give it our all.  If I can say one thing from this week, it's that it isn't over when you lose, it's over when you quit.  And someday, this pain and suffering will make sense.

D&C 121:7-8
7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

Kings Do King Things
Goin' Buck Wild

Dad Edit: A knight in shining armor is a man who has never had his mettle truly tested. 

Serving a mission is hard, sometimes harder than you can imagine.  There is so much pressure to baptize and when that hasn't happened for 19 months it can be debilitating.  It doesn't help that you are constantly told how much your leader baptized and how he expects baptisms and praises everyone who has one.  It puts a lot of pressure on someone who is serving faithfully and working hard.  However, such is life.  All you can do is get up, go to work, and give it your full effort.  As a dad, I feel the pain.  He puts on a happy face for his letters, but inside he is struggling.  Please pray for him to find peace and solace.  Help him to understand the good he is doing and that it isn't all about baptisms.  It is really about planting the seeds and tending the garden. If after your time in the field is over, someone else reaps the harvest you have sown, then your job is done.  I love you Kai Bear, keep your head up and move forward in faith.

"To belittle is to be little" - Grace Baptist Church Sign

Howdy y'all! Doesn't Grace Baptist have the best signs?

Preparing dinner...

Monday we went to Hot Springs for the last time.  We were told to stay in our areas for P-Day with our companions besides the once a transfer district and Zone P-Days.

Tuesday we went to the CADC and walked around the town a lot.  No one was home, but we got in contact with the Hearns again!  They were super sick though.  We also got a hold of an inactive member, Sonja Kelly, and we started teaching her husband, Jerry!  We just answered a few of his questions and he loves us!  It was a wonderful visit!  We walked home (we didn't see Shiloh...we were in the same trailer park) and had dinner.  Brother Rubly then came over and we gave him a ride to see Sister Myrick.  We helped her put in some light bulbs and left a message and went home.

Wednesday we got to see Fran again!  We got everything sorted out to where we will teach her, but when she is baptized, she will attend the Hot Springs ward and be fellowshipped here by members and missionaries.  Anyways, we taught her the plan of salvation and she loved it!  Sister Crow was amazing with her testimony and words as well!  Fran is fasting to quit coffee and is progressing beautifully!  We visited sister Jacobs.  Since Brother Jacobs passed away last week, she's been having it rough, but she was happy with us there.  She again told us she didn't want us to leave.  We left a thought on the spirit world and offered any assistance.  We saw Sister Hill again and read with her.  Sister Crow bought us some good pizza afterwards.  We went to young men's and had a game night.  Might I say I'm a pro at charades.

These are not the droids we're looking for.

Thursday was Zone Conference. 

Friday we went out with Sister Crow again.  We went to Brother Jacobs funeral and had another wonderful lesson with Fran.  We taught the Restoration with a more interactive twist.  I did this a ton in Memphis and haven't really done it since (Shout out to Elder York). I drew a church on a piece of paper and told her to blow on it.  It of course blew away.  So I put a bible in top of it and told her to blow it again.  Didn't go no where.  So I explained that's a church without the priesthood and prophets and apostles.  Without those, it cannot be the true church.  As said in Ephesians 2:19-20 and 4:11-14.  To backup those, we go with Amos 3:7 and Hebrews 13:8 to show Gods pattern of prophets.  Anyways, we all grabbed the paper and ripped it.  After Christ and his apostles were killed or exiled, the church crumbled due to doctrines of man and loss of priesthood.  So now there's a bunch of churches with different doctrines.  We then explained the restoration and calling of Jospeh Smith and it was powerful!  She wanted to keep the paper with the church on it! Haha.  After Sister Crow again bore testimony, she brought the spirit in so much and Fran was in tears.  She asked us for a blessing for some medical issues going on.  I don't think I've given a more spirit led blessing than that.  She told us that she felt immediate relief and was so grateful.  After seeing her, we saw Sister O'Neal.  Let me tell you, besides my grandmothers, I have never met a more funny woman!  She has stories upon stories upon stories that make you laugh til you cry!  Sister Crow took us home and we got ribs and enjoyed the night in peace.

What kind of hot dog prepares itself to be eaten???

Saturday we started to weekly plan but then we got called to help Brother Rubly move some mattresses.  So we went and then ate at a place called the OK cafe and let me tell ya does it live up to its name haha.  Pretty mediocre if you ask me.  We came home and showered cause the mattresses weren't exactly...clean or house friendly.  So we got all dolled up and went to Sonja and Jerry's again.  We taught the plan of salvation and holy cow this dude is AWESOME!  He wanted us to show him some of the doctrines in the Bible and I'm so glad I have good studies cause we were able to show him in his own bible those doctrines and he was so baffled and was so interactive!  I love this guy!  He agreed with our doctrine and is so happy to have us over!  When we got done, we got some gas and felt like we should see Sister Lenz.  We went over and she was home!  She's like never home due to work and her farm so it was a miracle!  She gave us a referral for her son and she told us that she thinks that's the reason we caught her at home!  And now for the fun part.  She was asking about the apocrypha and the illuminate and aliens and I was sitting there like, I can't wait to meet her son (he was asking her about all of this).  Haha.  But he just started becoming interested in religion so it's an open door hopefully!  We're gonna try to see him tomorrow!

On the Lord's errand.

Sunday we had a good church service and afterwards we went to the Robbins and had a great discussion on love and charity and service with both the Robbins parents!  It was amazing!  We got home and I got hit by a train of tired.  I've never been so exhausted.  I laid down for 5 minutes and accidentally fell asleep for an hour and a half.  That's the longest nap I've had on my mission.  Actually, besides me being sick in November of 2016, I have only napped like twice.  So the time is catching up to me haha.  But I was able to get up and study a bit (I read an Isaiah chapter in the Book of Mormon for 5 minutes and understood it perfectly after a tiring nap, so if I ever hear someone say they don't have time for scriptures I call bs). We then went to Sister Hawthorns for dinner and she made some good pork roast! 

It was a great week with so many miracles!  So far Fran is praying over a baptismal date!  Hopefully she will feel the sprit enough to want to do it soon!  I love y'all!

Kings Do King Things
Goin' Buck Wild

Ruff

Ruff, Ruff

Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuff

Ah...root beer, it washes the ribs down so well.

You don't need Twitter to follow God...but He still wants the follows, am I right?

Howdy y'all!

Well, today I'm not feeling like writing too much cause It's a chore hahaha.

Anyways!  High lights of the week!

We got a referral for a lady who is super prepared!  Now, get a load of this story! Her name is Fran and here's a little story on why I've been more stressed this week than any other week in a while.

I feel like a horror movie could work here...

The Hot Springs Sisters sent us Fran cause she has been going to the Hot Springs Ward for 6 weeks now  (since the Uchtdorf and Holland visit) and cause there's a member from Hot Springs who drives her.  She told us to our faces that it is true!  Everything!  It was great!  We started asking questions and then she told us that she wants to only go to Hot Springs.  We informed her that as good as it is to fellowship with them and get to know them (she's moving to Hot Springs sometime, we don't know when), she needs to come to Glenwood because that's where the jurisdiction is.  Well she accepted to come every couple weeks, which is fair.  President said it was okay and to count her as a sacrament Meeting.  So all is dandy.  Well, we call the elders on Sunday to ask about church (President told the elders to call the member to ask to bring her to Glenwood) and apparently the member who gives her rides, absolutely refused and says she is never going to Glenwood.  We got confused and called the sisters.  Apparently, the member of our branch who is her neighbor, never invited her to church and she got offended over that (even though they talk like, daily) and so she doesn't want to come to Glenwood and how she loves Hot Springs and wants to keep going there only.  She is also under the impression that we are going to keep teaching her when she moves.  So on Tuesday, we're going to have to clear up A LOT of things.  Prayers please.

We also got to see Jessie!  We watched the restoration video and explained about faith and church and the Book of Mormon!  It went well!  He fed us pizza afterwards!

Good ol' Shiloh

We got to walk around Glenwood for a couple hours and while contacting a less active (wasn't home again), there was a dog.  We of course named him Shiloh and kept walking.  He would follow and then walk back and we didn't think much of it.  Well...this dog decided it liked us.  It followed us for a little less than a mile back home before walking and wandering away for a bit.  As Elder Miller and I talked and walked, we heard trotting and who did we see?  Yup.  Shiloh.  We felt bad cause we had led it so far away from its home!  We ran to the apartment and waited a few minutes before I looked out the window and see him...AT OUR FRONT DOOR!  We were baffled!  Elder Miller then took it upon himself to put on the pug mask he bought and run outside and bark at Shiloh.  That didn't work.  We ate dinner and thought no more.  We haven't seen Shiloh since.  Pray for the pup that he makes it home safely (Disclaimer, there was no collar on him, so we didn't steal him, hopefully, from a loving family).

That's about it for the week!  It was rather slow, but my heart has never pumped so hard.  Looking forward to a good week this week!

Kings Do King Things
Goin' Buck Wild

The beginnings of a good meal...

Not Shiloh

...or that?

Is there chicken in that...

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