12/02/2019 Arkansas festivities

I hope everyone had a good thanksgiving. We sure did. We had 4 separate thanksgiving meals (not all on thanksgiving day). It was very tasty. We helped out at the local First United Methodist Church and their thanksgiving meal. I saw some people we have knocked into or seen around Benton. One man we reconnected with at the meal was a man Elder Critchfield and I met a couple months ago. Then he was homeless and jobless. As simple missionaries we are unable provide much in the way of helping him but we had a good long chat, gave words of encouragement, and prayed with him. At the meal he was saying he has since rebounded from his situation and has a place and job. He never gave up! 

On friday we participated in a quintessential Arkansas activity: the leaf burning. Why buy a bunch of yard bags and dispose of leaves through the garbage system when you could just burn them? Arkansas has figured it out, and so now everyone, around late summer and fall, participates in the yearly burning of leaves. We helped a sister in the ward with her leaves and burned them in the backyard. With the help of a lot of lighter fluid, we made not so quick work of piles upon piles of damp leaves. A thick cloud of smoke covered the whole neighborhood. I was baffled that we had no angry neighbors that day. 

On Sunday we did a blitz (where one of more companionships come to an area and work together) with the Little Rock Elders in our area. Elder Robison, our new District Leader, like Elder Morrow the previous DL, was also in the MTC with me, just at that time was going off to the Alabama Birmingham Mission. He came to our mission with the boundary change as well. 

1) our leaves getting burned. This was the first of many, many piles.

2) Downtown Benton has gone all out for Christmas

3) our district for this transfer. 

4) me and my two friends.

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