Down in the Arkansas

We had a great week this week. Full of miracles. And I attribute it to a sacrifice we made this past week. On Monday evening we got a call from the Assistants to the President. They needed to borrow our car. They said we'd have it back on Thursday, but It is Monday and we do not have it back yet. We should be getting it this Wednesday. Should be. But until they we are full bike. Down the freeway frontage roads, across the highways, and over the interstate.  But we have been blessed with good members who have been able to tote us and our bikes around. And the work has been great. Ellis, the man on date for baptism, who we just could not contact, was home on our last attempt to contact him, and we had a great lesson. Sadly we haven't been able to see him again, but he is really cool.  Also Michael. Michael is someone that we met briefly and gave him. A pamphlet and set a return appointment. But when we came back, he had already read up to chapter 6 of the Book of Mormon...

365 days from now, exactly one year from now, I will be flying back home. That is a weird thing to think about. I have really enjoyed this past year and I am excited for what is in store this next year. The mission has really been a big testimony builder, and I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to be on it.  On that note, this past week has been a little rough. We started off the week super excited for two people in particular, the man who was on date who moved to Benton named Ellis, and another man we are teaching named Mike. And we have tried contacting them (calling, knocking, etc.) every day this week, and have not been able to contact them. It's always a little disappointing when people disappear and you don't know why, but oh well. Maybe later!  The Benton ward has a lot of young men and women leaving for missions in the next couple days or weeks. So this whole month's worth of talks has been and will be mission farewell talks. It's been really co...

We had a great week down in Benton! We had a surprise blitz with the zone leaders, Elder Hunt and Elder Hakes. They were in town for a meeting in the evening and we went out and found some cool people. I had never really went to Bauxite before, so Elder Hakes and I went there and had a good time. When we got back together, I made some fried chicken for them. This time I did not almost burn down the apartment.  We had a great lesson with a guy named Mike. He was going to come to church but he was not able to make it. But he really loves when we come by. We have met some really awesome people in Benton!  Great news as well! The Elders in Jacksonville, AR put a man named Ellis on date for baptism, and he is moving down to Benton today. So we are planning on seeing him this evening. He hasn't been taught many of the principles we teach before baptism, but he is really wanting to make a change in his life!  Also this week marks two big milestones: today I turn 21 a...

That's what everyone is all excited about down here. It was announced that a temple is going to be built in Bentonville, AR. Not in our mission, and Memphis is still closer for those in the Little Rock area, but a temple in Arkansas nonetheless. That announcement was really cool! There are apparently 50 or so temples under construction with 166 operational ones. Almost a third of the total! Wow The other announcement is transfers. I will be staying in Benton with Elder Critchfield. We are starting to get a better footing here, we'll see where that takes us this next transfer.  General Conference was really good. While on my mission it has seemed like my favorite sessions have always been the Saturday ones. Maybe I should have paid more attention to them before the mission haha. The changes are interesting. I like how the policies are changing to fit the circumstances of the units all around the world. Not one mold works the same for every congregation of saints.  ...

This transfer has been a little rough on my health. I passed out trying to donate blood, then I got sick this week. Started with a headache and became a 101 degree fever, to which I still went to Zone Conference with. I'm not missing zone conference. I do apologize beforehand to any who may get sick because of me, but we all got the flu shot, so maybe they got protected just in time.  I have mostly overcome my fever, but now a muscle around my shoulder blade hurts. Just started this morning. Hm..  Anyways the sickness put a damper on our work, but when I felt okay we did go out and met a whole lot of very nice people. Some of them we had great conversations with, one of them might come to church this week. We forgot it was General Conference. Well have to tell him that. The temple trip was great. I got to see some missionaries I had not seen in a while, and met some I had never seen before.  Zone Conference was also enjoyable, despite being 101% sick. We talk...

Today we are going to the temple so my letter is going to be short. But you could say I am now a master of southern cuisine. I made fried chicken, thanks to the recipe from someone in Arkadelphia. I only almost burned the apartment down. It was all worth it cause it tasted great.  We taught a great lesson with Evelyn this week. She found a lot of comfort in the message of the Plan of Salvation. It's great to teach people with so much faith.  We also did service for a man from Thailand. We were biking around Benton and came upon two guys looking at some structure outside of a building. Turns out they are opening a Hibachi Shop and we helped set some cinder block bricks. We laid mortar and the blocks and all that.  Pics:  1) me and the chicken 2) we saw a tract from another church, we decided to add our own. Hopefully other people do the same. See how many we can get

Throughout my life, I have had opportunities to donate blood, and I always passed it up for some reason. I have a relative fear of needles, and when I have had blood tests at Doctor appointments, it hasn't been my favorite experiences, and donating blood is just a longer version of that. Well, we were helping out at an event that the Stake Relief Society Presidency put on, and a blood drive, and they were giving out t shirts. I wanted a t shirt. And I have never known my blood type either. That's good info I have wanted to have. Well I signed up and go in with all the courage I could muster. First They prick my finger (I hate having my finger pricked, definitely more than getting shots. The squeezing of my finger is the worst part). I felt mostly fine, but as I started answering the questions on the laptop they had, I start losing the ability to focus, and I turn to the lady next to me and say "I feel kinda light headed." That was the last thing I remembered. Immediat...