02/10/2020 Back to Blues

It has been a great 6 months here in Benton, but I will be leaving tomorrow to go back to Memphis. This time in the Memphis 2nd Ward, which is the southern part of the city, in a different stake even from my first area, Midtown. Graceland is also in the boundaries. And a previous member of the mission Presidency is the bishop, Bishop Faulkner. My companion is Elder Davidson, whom I have never met. I will also be the district leader there. 

I have really enjoyed serving in Benton. They are a strong ward. Large, organized, friendly, and willing to help out. I will miss all the great people I have met, and am sad I will not be here to continue teaching some of the people we are working with. Elder Smith and his new companion have a lot of great things going on in Benton this next transfer! One of my personal goals on the mission is to leave every area better than I found it, and I have been blessed to be able to do that so far. 

This week was Stake Conference for the Little Rock Stake. That was nice because I got to see a few faces from Arkadelphia. It was a good wrapping up of my time, over 9 months, in the Little Rock stake. At stake conference, Sister Boston, the temple president's wife, gave a hilarious talk. She grew up southern baptist until adulthood, so she had some funny southern flair as she talked about the great strength gained and spirit felt in the temple. Elder Smith and I also got roped into singing in a choir. We sung a song that has the same tune as If You Could Hie to Kolob. It was a super cool song though, talking about how Jesus Christ is this dark world's light. 

It also snowed for a combined 30 minutes this week. One day it cold enough to fluctuate between rain and snow. I'm sure the Walmarts were are raised of their eggs, milk, and bread. I'm not sure why people gravitate to those three items when it snows in the south, but they do. 

Pictures
1) we had the Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders at our last District Council. Full house! (From left to right: Elder Smith, me, Elder Hakes, Elder Larsen, Elder Robison, Sister Searing, Sister Black, Hermana Long, Hermana Damery, Elder Ashworth) 

2) welcome to historic downtown Benton. Honestly the sign could be a little bigger. But all around it has been a warm welcome to historic downtown Benton for the last 6 months. 

3) we got.... cheese'd? I do not know when or by whom, but nevertheless, we got cheese'd. 

4) Elder Critchfield and I got to hold these homemade civil war flag pictures when we first got to the area. Now Elder Smith and I got to right before I leave. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The first email

Image
So Elder Matt (EM) is serving in the Arkansas Little Rock mission. He was dropped off at the MTC in Provo by his brother, his sister, and brother in law. on the way to the airport in MN on Tuesday Laters How can babies walk away from their parents this easily??? "OK you can go now" In N Out Burger before the MTC induction on Wednesday. EM's brother says there were other families at the restaurant that were going to be dropping off their missionaries leaving sister's apartment MTC parking garage drop off And about an hour later, EM sent his first email: I have arrived at the MTC alive. Paul, Hayley, and Austin did a good job dropping me off and keeping me company. Next week Thursday is my P day. That's when you can expect to receive an email from me next.
Read more

11/1/2018 titled "Letter 2 Electric Boogaloo"

Image
Week 2 of the MTC. It definitely went faster than the first week. This email is just going to be a splatter of experiences, descriptions, and stories probably. More about my companion: Elder Miller is from Arizona. He likes basketball, and played on a national team in high school, which is pretty rad. He's pretty goofy and can make everyone in the district laugh. He likes rap and country music the most, so we're kind of on the opposite when regards to the music spectrum.  MTC cafeteria food is a hit-miss. The breakfasts have gotten old really fast. It's the same "egg loaf" (scrambled eggs that's really more of a loaf than a scramble), bad ham, and oversalted hash browns every other day. The lunches and dinners range from great to bad. For the most part it's better than what I ate in college, but that's because I was paying for food and being super cheap, I ate sandwiches and rice. We sit together as a district for most meals. We're all pre
Read more

11/7/2018 Elder Matt wanted this posted

Image
I have been arkanseen in Arkansas. [mother's note: that's the entirety of what he wanted posted on the blog] A rando took this picture at the SLC airport and sent it to me. EM must have given her my email address. Arkansas, Little Rock! EM and Pres Faulkner, a friend of my sister and brother-in-law
Read more