MADNESS

Hello, all you wonderful people!
So this week, we have been sharing a video that the Church out on Saturday called Because He Lives. I couldn't attach it to here directly, but WATCH IT. ITS AMAZING. Go to Helives.mormon.org. NOW.

Anyhoo, this was an... interesting week.

Monday we met this awesome lady named L. She's Catholic, but seemed really interested in what we had to say. We set an appointment for Thursday.

Tuesday we had district meeting. It was still super weird with only four people, it ended up being a really big companionship study. We all learned a lot though so it worked out. Then Elder Diaz and I hit the bikes, because we are low on miles for the car. We went around, and talked to some people by the hospital. that place always has people sitting around, and they really like listening to us to take their minds off of the person inside the hospital. (Fun fact: the hospital is directly across the street from the city cemetery. Best city planning EVER.) Then we taught S at the R's house. He postponed his own baptism because he has to work out some old marriage issues and move out of his girlfriend's house. We are totally fine with that one, seeing as that is one thing we were going to ask him to do anyways.

Wednesday we were back in the car... for a bit. We went out with F in his hoopdy to go see some former investigators, the Os. They are good friends with the Ms, and VERY catholic. But they enjoy having us come by, and we had a good discussion about the Restoration. then we met with the husband of a less-active, and he agreed to let us come by and teach him. He hasn't really ever been open, so we're excited! Then we went and shared a quick spiritual thought with the Ds, a part-member family. the kids love us, but the parents not so much. So we came by when only their aunt was home, and talked with them for a bit and committed them to go to church.

Thursday was a bit hectic. We had planned a whole day of walking so we could talk to some more people, with plans to go later in the day with a member to go see L. Well, we ended up with two members saying yes to go out with us. We went with Bro. L  (who MOM knows) to see L. She had to cancel due to a hair appointment she'd forgotten about, and so we left. As we were leaving, and she was leaving, The Father of the Catholic church here came out with her. Close encounter there.  Then, we took out B, one of the youth, and went finding. We had a long talk with an ex-marine who had severe mental issues and was very drunk, and that was about everyone we could talk to. We taught L, a guy Diaz found on exchanges, about the book of Mormon to clear some things up. Then we dropped him off and had dinner at the W's house.

Friday we had a normal day at first. We did weekly planning and then went to ASU to help out Bro. R. This week his job was taking the huge pile of old class furniture, smash it to pieces with hammers, and throw it in the dumpster. Fun stuff. then we got a call from the zone leaders, and apparently there were some issues in Pocahontas with some members, so they were doing an emergency transfer. Elder D had 2 hours to pack and be ready. So, now I am with Elder Holden! I'll only be with him for a couple weeks most likely, so it feels like a really long exchange for us. He is also an English missionary, making me the only one here who speaks any Spanish. Whee.

So, Saturday. It snowed a bit in the morning, so we figured it would be a weird day. We did a bit of reassessment and then went teaching. we tried to see some of the people we had met by the hospital. No one answered so we left our number. then we saw S again, and read the Book of Mormon with him, since he was a little lost about the chapter we left him. Turns out he read the wrong chapter so it makes sense! Then we tried some other appointments we had, but they mostly fell through. We did find a family of Jehovah's Witnesses who tried Bible bashing us. Luckily, they spoke Spanish so I was the only one who could talk. that made the discussion shorter.

Sunday was also pretty crazy! I was translating for the meeting (obviously) and they called a new bishopric! Bishop G was replaced with Bishop R, with Bro. L and Bro. W as counselors. It was a big change. The D kids came, and so did S. he got to meet the stake president and he was super excited. After church, we had  polled venison sandwiches (which were AMAAAAZING) from the Ms, and then went out walking the streets again. We met some people, & left a Book of Mormon in a "mini library" box. Also, the people we left a card with on their door called us and asked us to come back! Turns out he doesn't even live there, but the people who do are AWESOME. We have high hopes for them.

So that's about all the time I have! I hope you all have a wonderful Easter. I know that He lives, and that the sacrifice He made blesses all of us.

Love you guys!

Bring on the Spring

So this week has been pretty fabulous! A lot of good happened, especially towards the end of this week. 

Tuesday I had planned to do exchanges, but with zone meeting the next day we decided not to. We went to English class and met a really nice girl from China named M. or X. She's super cool, hopefully we can talk to her some more! We had a lesson with S. and taught about the Plan of Salvation. He ate it up, he just loves learning about the gospel and it's great. Then we went out to Bono to look for a less active member, but he didn't live there. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.
Wednesday we went down to Searcy for zone meeting. We focused on working with members and achieving the "Standard of Excellence." It's basically a set of goals that President Wakolo set for the entire mission for lessons, new investigators, etc. Our district hadn't done so well last week, so it was a tad embarrassing going up to write down our results in front of everyone. That kinda made the push for the rest of the week. Then we went to the hospital to try ad find someone's neighbor only to find, after about half an hour, that he had left it that day. Still, we got to talk to someone outside about the Plan of Salvation and get him in contact with the missionaries where he lives.

Thursday we went to ASU to do the booth again. It was kinda slow with spring break coming up and all but we still got to see some people. Maggie came by and said hi, and some of the professors who are members also did. There are actually a lot of the teachers here who are members, so it's kind of nice to have them around there. Then we went on exchanges! I went with Elder Zickella to his area. We saw a new investigator named T.  and set a baptismal date with her! That will be exciting! Then we drove out to Bono to go try and find some people, but no luck. Then we drove across the area to Trumann to contact a referral from the bishop. It was a woman named B. and her 3 kids. She had been going through a rough patch, and her friend who is a member contacted the bishop and sent us over. She is a really nice lady, and it's a great family. I have high hopes for them. Then we contacted some other people who lived out there, then went and had dinner with the Rs. 

Friday we unexchanged, then went to the college to help Bro. R clean out some more chemistry lab stuff. We've taken out a lot, and there's a huge pile of old furniture and air ducts and stuff outside. So this week we are all going out there with sledgehammers tom make sure that no one can use it again. It'll be quality entertainment. Then we went out and found some potential investigators for a few hours, then had dinner at the Ms.

Saturday we really put the pedal to the metal! We called one of the youth, S, to go out with us. He's a super chill kid, and plays upright bass in the orchestra and is really good at it. But anyway we went to go contact the people we had found the day before. None of them were there, so we looked around the neighborhood for some more people. We talked to H, a former investigator, for a bit. She was busy cooking (she caters from her home) so we didn't get to teach too much, but she made us pupusas, which are basically deliciousness pancakes made from cornmeal, cheese, and meat. Hard to explain. Go find a Guatemalan and have them make you some. Then we went to S's house again and had the 3rd lesson with him, which he enjoyed as much as the first two. He is firmly convinced that this church is true, and he has felt the Spirit every time we go see him. It made S's day to go there, because S is just a very energetic guy and just went on and on. Then we dropped him off and went to see a Hispanic guy named A. We talked to him about church, and he said he would go. Sounded sort of shady about it, but we set up a ride for him and everything.

Sunday rolled around, and it was great! S came to church and loved it, A also came to church and.. well, we're pretty sure he liked it. He is NOT a talkative guy. President Wakolo also came to church, and spoke in sacrament meeting for a bit about fellowshipping people. He did interviews with us all, which was great. It's always nice to have an interview with President Wakolo, he is the single nicest man I have ever met. Then we went and gave a blessing to an older member who's having back issues. We also went and had dinner with the S family, a recently married couple who met in the MTC. The wife is from here, and the husband is from Mexico. They are awesome people, and super funny too! We had southern sopes, which was basically normal sopes but with "queso dip" (velveeta with salsa) instead of cheese. Then we went and had a lesson with the B family, and we watched the Restoration with them. It was a really good lesson.

Well, that's about all! Just in case anyone needs to write me during the week, my address is:

3700 S Caraway Rd. Apt. B-12

Jonesboro, AR 72404

Probably the worst name for a shopping center ever....

Some of the flowers we have here (they are called daffodils, Andrew) 

Yay Sunburns

Well, winter has officially died! It is currently 75 degrees outside and sunny as good ol' AZ! Sorry I am late writing, but we had an interesting day. But we'll get to that later. 

So I didn't bring my planner today, so it won't be super detailed, but I will try my best. This week was pretty wet, it was raining more than half the week. That made finding people while we walked outside a little difficult. But we still managed to meet some cool people! 

Wednesday was Specialized training, which was super good. I love all the meetings with President Wakolo, he is just an incredible human being. One of the focuses was making sure that we knew what made up a lesson, what sorts of people we can call investigators, stuff like that. We were also called to repentance on some of the "mission culture" things we were doing. To explain, each mission kind of has its own little traditions that we do just because that's how we were raised by our trainers. We all committed to improve on that, and change any of the things that weren't fitting in with the mission standards. All in all, good stuff. 

The other highlight of the week is Sammy. His story: we were out looking for a less active member, and elder Diaz though he knew where she lived. SO we go there, and it turns out that it was a DIFFERENT less active lady. But she let us in to talk for a bit. We met her boyfriend Sammy. He was VERY excited to talk to us. He soaked up everything we said. We came back the next day to talk about the Restoration and he was so excited, he was actually giggling! Then he came to church on Sunday, and loved every minute. The members love him, and in his words, "it just had that something that's just... ahh. It's a good feeling." So we are super excited to be working with him. 

And then today! So some of us went to the temple today, because our birthday month just passed or is in March. So, we had 4 missionaries in our zone go, and four stay here in Jonesboro, me included. Seeing as Elder Zickella's apartment had a golf course and he had a discount for living there, we all went GOLFING! Look how classy we are:

Dang, that was fun! Granted, the only one who has EVER played golf was Elder Zickella, and we lost 30 balls in the lake, but it was still fun! I am VERY sunburned though. That's how you know summer is coming. 

Have a wonderful week! Love you all!

Come on, this isn't Utah!

Well, dadgum.  ("dadgum" means like "whoa," or "gee wilickers") It's been a crazy week! It kinda went all over the place, but it ended up pretty good. 

Tuesday we had district meeting. Now that one of my areas was moved to another district, it's just us and the English elders. So, 4 people. It was really more of a district discussion, which was actually pretty nice, since I really prefer not talking the entire time. Then we went to English class, which was pretty empty because a new semester had just started for them I guess, so most of them were at orientation for their new classes. But we ended up talking with one of the professors and answering some of his questions about the Book of Mormon, which was a good opportunity! Then we went and saw D., but we caught him right before he was going out the door to the dentist's to have a tooth pulled.  so that one fell through, but we got to talk with him for a bit as well as with the person who was giving him a ride, who happened to be from Utah and know all about us. Then we had dinner with Sister A., who is one of the "mission grandmas" as I like to call them. Basically, they spoil us rotten all the time. But anyway, she made a lot of good food. Then we were supposed to help out a member move in, but when we called for their address they toold us they had already finished. So by then, it was too late to go see anyone.

Wednesday was the fun one. It was raining in the morning, and it finally melted the last remnants of ice from the corner of our porch. We went out and saw a few people, and met quite a few new investigators! We had just gotten done teaching this little old El Savadorian lady when the rain started turning to ice. Sooo we went back in before the road froze over. The mission sent out a lockdown text, so we couldn't go out at all, so naturally me and Elder Diaz took a nap. We woke up a few hours later, and it was still coming down as sleet. For those of you from Arizona, sleet looks, sounds and feels like it is raining sand. It's not snow, but it's kind of in between. So anyway, we sat around, watched church movies, Elder Diaz started making ANOTHER temple (the Fiji one for President's anniversary gift) and before you know it it was late. It had gotten quiet outside, so we went out to check the weather. We were greeted by about 3 inches of actual, bona fide snow! Then we got excited, Diaz made a snow angel, and then we realized it was super late and went to bed. 

Thursday morning, it was sunny. Buuuut there was also 6-10 inches of snow all over everything. Also, it only got to about 27 degrees that day so nothing really melted that wasn't on the road. So Elder Diaz and I got stuck at home again. We both built our first legit snowman, and our apartment manager came by to take our picture with it (no idea why). Then we went back inside and repeated the day before. At 3:30they let us out since the roads were "melted." Maybe down in Little Rock, but up here in the North it was a mess aside form the main roads. We got stuck a few times, but we managed to get to the Munoz family to watch the Restoration video with them. They called us back in at 6 because the roads were refreezing and the wind chill was going to 0. 

Friday the roads were better by the time we were done studying, so we got a full day! We went out to contact some referrals from the ward, but didn't find anyone.  We got to see D. and have a lesson with him at the S's about the Priesthood. They fed us some really good stuff, and I tried butternut squash for the first time (actually it was pretty good). 

Saturday was interesting. Our plans apparently were not very good and we basically went around to everyone and invited them to church. We talked with T. again, which was good. She's been reading the book of Mormon, which we were super excited about! Also, her 5-year-old daughter shaved off one of her eyebrows during the night, which no one was very happy about in the house. We met with some of our new investigators, the G. family. It's a young couple who just moved here from Mexico. They didn't have much time, so we talked about the Book of Mormon briefly and shared it with them. Then we went to the B's to invite them to church, but the kids were sick, so they couldn't. 

Sunday none of our investigators showed up, which was sad. It was raining too, which melted most of the snow, which was also sad. Also, it was Daylight Savings, so we woke up an hour ealrier, which was sad. It was still a good meeting, though! Afterwards, we went and had lunch with the Ls', and they cooked a TON of lasagna and bread and it was super delicious. Later that night, we went out with one of the Rs' sons, armed with some cookies that his mom made, and made some visits. No one was able to talk to us for more than a few minutes, but they gladly accepted the cookies (figures). Then we dropped him off and Sis. R. made us stay for dinner. So, with 2 meals, we rolled on home. 

Here's hoping for a week WITHOUT some major weather event! Have a great week! 

Pic: Our snowman, Elder Diaz. :P

Our snowman "Elder Diaz" in civvie clothes

Elder Zickella and Elder Diaz with appropriate sized shopping carts :)

Here we go, Number 9!!!!

Transfer 9 is officially starting! Woohoo! Don't have a whole lot of time, I am writing from the library in Little Rock right now since I had to go to a doctor's appt today. So, weekly sumup:

Tuesday we Went to go find some people, but got a call from D requesting a priesthood blessing. He has been having some medical problems that will eventually lead to him losing his hearing, and for now will give him vertigo at random times. Luckily he already knows ASL because one of his longtime friends was deaf. Then we went to go visit D, and that went really well! He had a bit of a rough week, but now he figured out what was wrong he is totally fine. He has a super chill cat, a guy named Daisy. They thought he was a girl when they got him. So now his name is Day-Z. Thn we went to the R's house so Elder Diaz could cook one of his favorite Guatemalan foods for them. It was super good. Dad, don't know if you had it, it's called Pollo con crema. Super delicious. Then we went to go see some more talented members and nonmembers at a choir concert at ASU. The R's daughters are in it, and we know several of their friends. We met a guy in the choir from Puerto Rico, named F. He was super funny, and had NO IDEA I spoke Spanish. Gave him quite the shock :P

Wednesday we had a bit of a slow day. We are starting to wonder if our investigators tell us to come when they know they won't be there. But it was still a pretty good day. Our car had just about no miles left, so we walked the whole time. We had dinner with Sister P and some of her friends, the R. Brother R just got back from five years in Afghanistan burning opium fields for the Department of State. He had some fun stories. 

Thursday was a bit of a crazy time. We did the booth again at the college, which was pretty good. We found a few less actives that hadn't been to church here. Then we got home and had to figure things out. We had 0 miles left on the car at this point, so we called up F and we drove all over the place, visiting everyone we could think of. The bad part about that is that nobody is home when you need them to. We called a lot of folks to see if they were home, but no dice. The high point was dinner with the Welch family. They are super funny, and part ginger, so of course they're awesome. We had a Nerf war with one of the kids for the whole dinner, discussed the benefits of buying a 9mm handgun with Bro. W and F, and also all the deer heads' backstories. The Ws hunt a lot. But we got venison sausage to take home, so it's all good. I also got to meet our new guy, Elder Johnston from Kaysville, UT. He seems pretty cool, so it's good to have him here!

Friday we did a LOT of service. We helped Sister R move out of her apartment all morning, then we went to ASU to help Bro. R clean out some tool sheds in the chem department. That led us right to dinner with his brother, who is basically the redneck version of Prof. R. He is SUPER smart though, about a lot of stuff. 

Saturday was our "invite EVERYONE to church day." We finished moving Sis. Raodes (she as a LOT of stuff) and then went right to it. We borrowed the other elders' car for a bit while they borrowed F, and we got a lesson/dinner with some of hour Hispanic investigators. They do that a lot, and it's great. 

Sunday, nobody showed up to church that we invited. Some of the less actives did though, so that was good! I think the people we invited were guilty, because we went to their houses after church and they avoided us. But then we went to dinner at the R's and had pancakes, which lifted our spirits up a bit. We also had chocolate-covered chocolate. It's basically homemade Lindor truffles. SO GOOD. but SO RICH. 

.aaaaaaand that's about all I have time for! Hope you are having a good week, and if anyone sees the missionaries our there, go buy them a Sprite. Or something. 

--

Llamado a Servir,

Andrew Reay