Here come the Vivint Salesmen.....

Hey guys! It was another fantabulous week here in Jonesboro!

Monday was pretty fun. We got together and played this game called Smash Up, which is basically an epic "shuffebuilding" card game of plants vs. zombies vs. dinosaurs with lasers vs. ninjas vs. an army of Russians riding bears. 

Yeah. Pretty much the most fun card game I have ever played. Anyway, then we had a lesson with Q again, and talked more about faith. He's doing really well with quitting smoking and coffee, we're impressed! After that, we went to the Os and talked a bit about a lot of our messages. Kinda all over the place. But it was still good. 

Tuesday was started with district meeting. Our ward mission leader, Bro. S came to it, which made for some really fun role plays. He's a bit of a goof :P After that we went to English classes and met some new people. We met one of M's (the Chinese girl) friends, D. She's from Vietnam, and she's pretty cool. After that, we walked a couple of miles to an appointment that fell through, and then checked up on some other people in the area. Then we walked back to the S's house for dinner. 

Wednesday we started out by looking around an area that neither of us had seen before. Those are always fun, it's kind of like Narnia for missionaries. :P Then we went and visited T for the first time in a LONG time! She got back from Wisconsin, and is now working less so we can go see her more often! Then we went and saw S, a really nice lady who lives in one of the REALLY low- income areas. She seems really humble and willing to learn. Then we went back out to the Ss and had a lesson on repentance with the family. 

Thursday was a bit rough. We couldn't find anyone at home. We went to English class, then went to get the car's wiper blades replaced, then saw S again. We had dinner with the Rs at a Chinese restaurant and talked about all the movies that made Elder Fortie emotional
(I won't tell you which ones though). 

Friday We actually got quite a bit done! It was interesting, we just kind of wandered around for the most part, but we wandered into the people we needed to see I guess, and the day went better than planned! 

Saturday there was a baptism planned for a lady that the English missionaries had been teaching for over a year now. Unfortunately she had to back out at the service itself because her leg had an infection and she didn't feel comfortable with it. The medicine should get rid of it in a few days though so hopefully she will this Saturday! Anyway, we had another lesson with S that fell thorough because she is pregnant and very sick. Then we went out to Monette, a tiny town about 45 minutes away, to help a family move in from utah! They are really cool, and the kids are actually excited to be the only members in their school so they can share the gospel with them! Gotta love that greenie fire! After that we went back to the Youth Spaghetti Fundraiser night at the church. It was really fun. They had all the youth bring desserts to auction off, and some other families brought stuff too. It was really hilarious because there are some families here that are pretty well-off, and they would raise the prices on stuff just for the fun of it, pay for it and then give it to someone else. (I got a big pan of that peanut-butter-cup-brownie-super-delicious-thing that you made before, Mom. I promise I won't eat it all. :P) But it was an extremely enjoyable night. 

Sunday was great as well! T came to church, and she really likes it. She plans on bringing her kids next time! Afterwards, we had leftovers from the night before, then we went out with one of the Vivint salesmen. so the story behind the Vivint salesmen: A LOT of returned missionaries do this job because the work is basically the same as knocking doors as a missionary, except you get paid for it. SO anytime you see a guy selling Vivint Security systems, ask if they are Mormon. Chances are it's a yes. Anyway, we went out with one of them to go see a lady he had met who told him to bring us by to teach her. She wasn't there, so we went to some other people. We ended up seeing S again, who was feeling better. We  had a great lesson with her and her boyfriend, who hadn't been interested before. He had had some questions for a long time that no one had been able to answer, and we could! It was great. Then we dropped him off and went around looking for more people. We saw some former investigators and got some return appointments with them! Then we had dinner at the Cs, and then went to the Os and taught them about our purpose in life. 

All in all, a good week! We have the zone leaders here to do a 3- day "blitz" of Jonesboro, so we'll see what happens! I love you guys! 

Elder Andrew Reay

3700 S. Caraway Rd. Apt. B12

Jonesboro, AR 72404

Slooooooowwwwww start

Heyy guys! How is everybody doing this lovely day? Well, lovely for us anyway.

Ok, down to business. This week was aight, I guess. Monday we went and had Dinner at the Stevens house, which was pretty tasty. Q, the kid we are teaching there, is doing pretty good. He cut down from one pack of cigarettes a day to 2 or 3 cigarettes. We're impressed with him. 

Tuesday we met with A, a girl that Elder Fortie was really good friends with who removed her name from the church ( that means basically decided not to be a member anymore) after he left Jonesboro. She told us basically her brother told her some things, and she decided that the church was no longer true. It was really sad to see. People do this all the time, because a lot of other religions use a lot of lies and stuff to convince people that none of our beliefs are true. But her brother (who is atheist) went the extra mile and now A is barely believing in God at all. Still, she's friendly, and she is willing to help us out with non-religious stuff, so it's not the worst case scenario. After that meeting, we went to English classes, which was super fun. We helped them with some of their school projects, and me and E (one of the other volunteers) ended up with lovely paper mustaches on for the majority of the class. Then we went out looking for some referrals that Elder Jardine had for us. We managed to find a couple of them, but we couldn't get in the door, just set return appointments. Then we had dinner with Brother R at Sam's Club and had some pizza. 

Wednesday we had Specialized Training down in Searcy for most of the day. it was a good meeting, we talked a lot about working with members and stuff like that. Then we went back and had dinner with the As, which was super delicious (Southern barbecue is fantastic). Then we went and visited a few families Elder Fortie knew of that I did not. 

Thursday we made a "trek day." We hitched a ride with the other elders to lunch with the zone leaders, who were finishing exchanges with them, then went to English class at the college. we all got to talking about music, and E taught me how to play the piano. I still know basically nothing, but I was learning a little bit. Then came the "trek" part. We went to visit the Os, who lived about 4 miles away from the college. It was a fun trip. We talked to some people along the way, but no one was really interested. we made it there after about 1 hour or so, and got caught up with the daughter, who hadn't been there in the other visits. Then we started the 4.5 mile trip to the S's house for dinner. A member happened to pass by and give us a ride, which was great! Then we had dinner, which is always good at their house. They are a pretty hilarious old couple. 

Friday was another pretty good walk day. We went out to visit T, someone we had taught about a month ago but had gone to Wisconsin for a bit. Well, she came back and told us to come by sometime. So, we walked. It was pretty hot outside, especially with 90% humidity. But we finally made it there, after meeting with a Hispanic lady who had been taught by missionaries in Mississippi.... the only problem was T wasn't home. Sooo we walked most of the way back, before the Ms popped up and drove us the rest of the way. I really am grateful for people who give rides to missionaries. If you ever see any on the street, ask if they need a lift. Even if we decline, we are still grateful someone took the time to ask. Anyway, then we went to Bro. R's house and helped clean his backyard. He has epilepsy, and so he can't do much super hard labor. Add that to the fact that he owns 10 acres of fields and wilderness (Marissa, you would LOVE his yard) and that's a lot of work! So we helped take leaves out of his dried up koi river that goes through his backyard. Really it was Fortie who just ripped through it. Then we had dinner with him and crashed at home, seeing as we were covered in mud and exhausted. 

Saturday was the standard scramble to get everyone to church! We visited the D's kids and had a good talk with their mom. She just had foot surgery, so she won't be able to walk until Mother's day, basically. But it was a good visit. Then we saw S and C and had a good lesson with them on... well, a lot of stuff. They seem to have settled some differences lately, and C was more open with us with her concerns, which we were glad for. Then we went to dinner at Bishop R's house. We had taco salad, which gave me home flashbacks (not too bad though). Then we drove to Bay and talked with the Ss again, but this time with more of their family. It was more of an update/bonding time though, due to their short attention spans and Family Feud on TV. It was good in the end though.

Sunday was pretty good as well! We had a LOT of new faces. Part of it is that the Vivint salesmen are in town for a few months. If you weren't aware, a LOT of the Vivint salesmen are Mormon. So we had about 12 new people from that group. S and the Ss showed up as well! Don wasn't there though. He's been hard to catch lately, and frankly I'm worried. We'll keep on it though. I had to translate for all of sacrament meeting, which was GREAT. Oy. Headaches. But I am grateful because it helps my language skills! Then we had lunch at the church that someone brought us, along with a HUGE case of Ramen and other basic foods for all of us. Then we set off walking again. We were super excited, because the radio had said that a huge storm was hitting that afternoon, and it was going to be strong. So naturally, we charged our camera batteries and were super stoked. 

Well.... it turned out that the storm wasn't there. At all. In fact, it was probably the warmest and sunniest day of the week. We were disappointed. But we walked for a long time and couldn't really find anyone home. We need to look at the other church's schedules and figure out when everyone gets home! :P But anyway, we went home for dinner. When we came back out, there was a wall of clouds moving in really slowly. So we decided to go to the neighborhood next to our apartment to go see some Hispanics that live there. After we came out, it was about 20 degrees cooler and way darker. So we got into the car for the rest of the day. It dumped buckets on us, and there was a ton of lightning. We were on a tornado watch for a bit, but the storm moved on pretty quickly. 

So in short, we are looking for a good week this week! Hoping you have a good one too! 

Elder Andrew Reay

3700 S. Caraway Rd. Apt. B12

Jonesboro, AR 72404

Elder Reay's address

Here is a P. S. from Andrew:

Also, there has been some confusion as to my real address. Here it is:

Elder Andrew Reay

3700 South Caraway Road Apt. B12

Jonesboro, AR 72404

Feel free to write me anytime! I love letters!

Note from Elder Reay's mom - if you look at the upper left corner of the blog I try to keep his address current. The mission address is for when you are not sure where he is going to be when he gets your letter, package, etc. but the rest of the time you can use his actual address.

Elder Cuatrocorbatas

Hello, errybody! I hope you all had a wonderful week! Ours was pretty good.

Tuesday was a smidge slow. We went to the English classes, and talked with some Saudis for a bit about Saudi stuff and soccer. We got a call from S. saying he was ready to move out. Right then. So we called up F. and we were getting set to get him, but then his girlfriend came home and got super angry. So we brought S. to the church to kind of work things out. He was in bad shape. His girlfriend had been making some false accusations that he was worried would make the police involved. So we gave him a blessing. It was a very spiritual experience for everyone. Then we took him home, then Elder Holden got packed and ready for transfers! 

Wednesday we drove down to pick up my new companion, who is...... ELDER FORTIE! (four-tie)

And here is my companion, elder Fortie! And ladies, he IS single :P

He has been out 18 months. He actually started his mission here in Jonesboro, so he already knows the area pretty well. Elder Diaz went to Little Rock to replace Elder Meyers, who just arrived home. We drove home, went and bought some food, and then went to have dinner with the S family, which are basically the grandparents of the missionaries. Then we went to the church to make some copies and introduce the "new guy." Then we went and met with the Os, a family that Elder Fortie was really close to the first time. They were super excited to see him. 

Thursday was a lot of getting Fortie on his feet and updating him on the people. We met with D. really quick, and visited some part member families that he met with back in the day, that I didn't know existed. One of the cool ones is the S. family. He baptized some of them his first few transfers. They are super awesome. Then we went and played basketball, in which we creamed the other kids at 2 on 2. I'm actually improving at a sport! 0.o 

Friday we went to go help bro. R. at the college, then we met with the Os, a part member family that Elder Fortie knew, and taught his wife a bit. Then we had dinner at the Ss, who were VERY happy to see Elder Fortie again. 

Saturday we went all over. We had an appointment with an ex-member that Elder Fortie knew, but they cancelled so we ended up just walking around. Miracle moment: We were crossing at an intersection, and a guy didn't see the red light. He screeched to a stop, skidding 6 inches in front of Elder Fortie. Had he taken another step, he would have been nailed by a pickup truck. It was actually pretty funny, there were 2 girls advertising a carwash right at the corner, and they freaked out. Elder Fortie just stopped, looked at the truck, then at them, and said, "Huh. Kinda close, wasn't it?" then walked away. Always nice how God will look out for His servants. Anyhoo we went around and saw more people, then had dinner with the Os. It was super delicious authentic Mexican food. Man, it was good. 

We got up early for ward council at 7:30 (ugh). It was really good though, Bishop Rich seems to have some big plans for the ward. S ended up not coming to church, because he said he wanted to skip a Sunday and see if he felt any different. We're a little worried about that, but we will see what happens. But anyway, after some plugs from the pulpit on how important it was to have the missionaries over, we gained some weight. First we had lunch at the Cs right after correlation meeting, and taught them a bit. Then the other elders dropped us at the church and we had just enough time to drive home and change, then we went to dinner at the Ss' house. At this point I'm pretty full of a lot of food. Then we drove out to the Ss house, where we found dinner watiing for us. And it wasn't a normal dinner. It was a "T plate." T, the dad , had put about 3 pounds of rice, hamburger, mashed potatoes, and mac'n cheese, with 2 king size candy bars for dessert. Needless to say, I couldn't do it. I gave it my best, though, and got about half of it down before I could not fit anything else. Then we had a great lesson with Q, one of the sons who hasn't been baptized. We set a date for baptism with him, and made a plan to help him quit smoking. 

Aaaannnd that's it! I hope to hear from y'all soon! I love you guys!

Best. Weekend. Ever.

Hey hey hey everyone! It was another fantastic week! Obviously with General Conference it's like a midnight movie premiere for us missionaries! But we'll get to that later.

Monday night we had Family Home Evening with the O. family. I was in charge of the lesson, and I did the "Easter Egg" lesson, with things inside each egg to tell the Easter story. They loved it. Also, I creamed their son in chess.  

Tuesday we were basically down to no miles whatsoever, so we drove just far enough to be able to drive home. Then we walked. And walked. And walked. We went to english classes, but it was pretty slow. I don't know why, but I guess, we scare off some people I guess :P Anyhoo then we went and walked and talked to some more people, and then went to the S's house to have dinner and a lesson on the Word of Wisdom with S. It went super well, he's basically already living it, he just has a reason now. 

Wednesday was zone meeting in searcy. We got a ride with Sister R. (honestly one of the nicest people on the planet) and it was pretty good. I was voluntold to instruct for a bit on finding people to teach, which is the foundation for all the work we do in the day. It went eh, since they told me about it the night before and we didn't really have study time. But I got it done, and hopefully people got stuff out of it. 

Thursday we were GOING to do a booth at the college, but apparently our rent ran out because when we got there we didn't have a booth and it was super awkward because another church had one there. Soooo we left to go to English class instead. And people were actually there! We had a good time, and got to settle once and for all the fact that Mormons actually DO drink soda. (they asked and I got up and bought a Diet coke from the vending machine. It was pretty funny.) Then we had a lesson with S. His girlfriend has been stealing his paychecks and spending them all, because she doesn't want him to move out. He's a little stressed about it, but he handled it so well you couldn't tell. He is onto her now though, and is hiding money. We hope everything works out. Then we played some basketball with the Ms, Ms and their friends. Elder Holden got a huge blister from it, but we all had fun!

Friday we drove all over to try and get people to General Conference! We saw The Ms and made sure they would turn it on, as well as the Bs. The daughter's birthday was that weekend though, so they said chances were slim. :/ Then we got Taco Bell, because Elder Holden hadn't had it in 6 months since it wasn't in Pocahontas. :P

Saturday and Sunday were basically the same, so CONFERENCE TIME!!!! It was incredible. I loved Saturday, it focused a lot on marriage, family, and how they need to be in order to raise up children who will stay strong in the gospel. I really liked Sister Burton's, Elder Oaks', Bednar's, and Uchtdorf's talks on Saturday. Sunday, I would REALLY recommend listening to Jeffrey R. Holland's talk, "Where Justice, Love and Mercy Meet." It's a great testimony of the Savior and how He helps us. Also, Uchtdorf gave a wonderful talk on the Grace of God. 

Well, that's about all for this week! Transfers are here, and Holden will be leaving. I'll let y'all know who I get! I love you all! bye!