Down in the Arkansas

Transfer news came: nothing changed in our district (besides the change of Davises to Steeles as the senior missionaries, which has already happened). Another transfer in Midtown. There's still a lot to do here, so I'm glad I get to stay here.  Today was the best week for finding people to teach. Some of the roads we went to the past few days have been incredible. One road in particular, we were able to engage every single person we talked to in a good conversation and every one was open to us coming back and meeting with them. That road was super special. Everyone knew each other and many of them were family as well. There was just a happy atmosphere about it. Although one interesting man showed us his dogs, while entertaining, also a little concerning. He had 5 pit bulls. And he showed the first 3 individually (he would show us one, then bring it inside and bring out the next one, and so on). Then he brought us to the backyard and showed us the last two. He casually m...

My second transfer is winding down, and now I'm really starting to understand the area. Transfer info is dropping this Saturday. So next Pday you'll know whether I'm staying or going.  In an area where a couple hundred thousand people live in, work in, pass through, we have come to see quite a few people on the streets that we have come into contact with times before. I'm starting to feel like a part of Memphis now. We take the city bus all the time now, and we are starting to see the same bus drivers and the same passengers. People on the bus are starting to greet us and converse with us as if we are their regular associates on the bus. We haven't been able to get really any solid interested people on the bus, but there usually people willing to talk, which is fine by us. Better that then people telling us to go away. We also see familiar faces just walking or biking the streets. Some good, like a guy I had a good laugh with at a bus stop last transfer, some no...

Greetings, all.  This week has been kind of a downer. Elder Jolie got sick, so we didn't get get out as much as we usually do, and when we did go out, we were not 100%. So here are just some random stories: -we were in the large Memphis library about to leave (from a missed appointment), and a guy walks in wearing a BYU jacket and a durag. A good BYU brother. He is either already a member or elect. Turns out he's a Hebrew Israelite who had just been to Utah and got a BYU jacket while he was there... tragic. At least I got so see someone in BYU gear wearing a durag. That was a first.  -One day, as usual, we didn't get to everything we had planned to. One of them was going to a specific street. But later in the day, we felt the Taco Bell urges, so we went and got some dinner. While there and while Elder Jolie was in the bathroom, a man stopped me and said he wanted to meet with us and that he has been looking to find himself. We got his address, and it turns o...

With this new transfer (that we're already like halfway done with?!), the zones of the mission got some realigning, and now the zone I'm in (Memphis North) is one of or the biggest zones in the Mission. We combined the previous West Memphis Zone (the zone I was in) and the Millington Zone and cut off the Arkansas side districts (West Memphis and Blytheville). So now the Zone goes from this area (Midtown) all the way to Jackson, TN. There are about 14 or so companionships in the zone.  I spent the first day of the year in a new area on exchanges. I had not yet gone proselyting anywhere else other than Midtown, so it was a new experience, especially since it was Millington (where the zone leaders are). The Millington area is a lot more like most of the areas in the mission: rural countryside with a couple smallish towns. I haven't seen open fields in months, so it was pretty refreshing to get out of the bustling city and get out to the country. Life is a lot slower,...

There is no better way to spend Christmas eve evening than going way out of your area and having to catch buses to get back. To make a long story short, we were originally going to go caroling with the zone in Lakeland, but our plans were dashed when we found out the car in the area we were in had only half the miles we would've needed to get there and back. So we just gave up and trekked to the bus stop to catch buses back, but it ended up being a very interesting time. If we missed any bus, we would be stranded until the next day, so we booked it to the stops to not miss them. And we got close to missing the first one. On top of that, Elder Jolie didn't realize he had forgot his bus pass at the apartment of the Elders we were originally going to borrow the car from until we were already on the bus. And we didn't quite have enough quarters on hand to cover the trip, so we were trying to figure out what to do while the bus was moving. All the while a young man was be...

Transfers happened. Elder Perkins and Elder Paopao are now enjoying home life after two years. On Monday we enjoyed one last District P-Day before they went home, and before Elder Patterson went to Lonoake. We goofed around, ate what is called "fazookie" (a pan of cookie with ice cream on top, and you all just eat from the pan), and played Risk. Sadly we didn't get to finish Risk, but it ended up being pretty much me vs. Elder Paopao. We both hadn't played in many years, so it was funny to take down the more "experienced" Risk players I am now with Elder Jolie, still in Midtown. Elder Jolie is very hard working and bold. He had been the zone leader for the past nine months or so, so he is a pretty great missionary. He still has about half a year on the mission, so it's likely that I won't be killing him off, although it's not impossible.  So I was kinda bummed at the beginning of the week because we only had a couple dinner appointme...