Thanks

Hello from Little Rock! I had another doctor's appointment so I came
down last night with Elder Heaton and Elder Doty. Anyway, this week
was so incredible. Since it was the week of Thanksgiving, I decided to
choose one thing a day to be especially  thankful for.

Monday we didn't do anything at all. Just sat around, emailed, and
went to Steak N' Shake. After that we had a pretty good day though! We
saw a really sweet old couple, A and O. They have been
investigating the church for a looooong time now, but due to some
complications they have had trouble getting a living situation
together to be baptized. (Family note: A reminds me a lot of
Evelyn. She's super cool.) We read in the Book of Mormon with her,
which she reads a lot and has really marked up. After her, we saw the
L family. They are super cool, but they hadn't been to church in a
few weeks, so we went to find out why. It turns out both of them had
been sick and had car trouble, so they had been unable to come. I had
the privilege to give them both blessings. It is something I really
love about being a missionary, having the priesthood authority to
bless people. I love being able to help people, and on top of that I
really feel the Spirit guiding me. So, Tuesday I was grateful for the
priesthood.

Tuesday we had district meeting. It went really well, and we learned a
lot about how we aren't just missionaries, but we need to be friends
too. That's one of my weaknesses as a missionary: As much Spanish as I
know, small talk kills me. I can't really even do it in English, let
alone Spanish. It's just awkward for me. So that is something I want
to work on the next few months. After some cinnamon rolls (we had 3
TUBES of cinnamon rolls in the refrigerator at home, and Peterson
never told me!) we went and saw the L girls. I met their dad,
G, officially for the first time. He is a super cool guy. He has
been to church once already and loved it, and is hoping and praying he
can get work off on Sundays so he can keep going. I got to practice my
small talk a bit, and it went better than expected and we had a great
lesson afterwards with him. Then we went out teaching with Bro. D
and his son E to go see some people. We managed to get in with
the G family and talked to the wife. I actually was the first
one to find her when I was with Elder Heaton in the summer. I didn't
think it would amount to much, but apparently she reads regularly and
is super interested! I'm grateful for missionaries being diligent and
following up. We are working on the rest of her family. Anyway, we had
a good lesson with her and then had dinner at the Hs. It was
super fun, as usual. Sister H made a ton of homemade
tortillas, and I ended up in a face making contest with one of T's,
the youngest, friends on Snapchat. T kept posting and sending
random pictures of the missionaries, and since I was next to her I
ended up having to mimick one of her friend's expressions every time
she replied. So now one of her friends thinks we're hilarious.
Hopefully we can share the gospel with her sometime!

Wednesday we couldn't catch many people at home. We did manage to
teach A again, and read Alma 32 with her. She really
understands a lot. She will make a great member someday. I am
extremely grateful for the Book of Mormon. She told us that she is not
only learning spiritual things, but she is improving greatly in her
reading ability! She taught herself to read some time ago, and the
Book of Mormon helps expand her vocabulary according to her. It is
such a powerful book. It changes people in so many ways, and all for
the better. It's great.

Thursday was great. First we went to the Ds and ate with them. They
told us to invite people, so we invited the Cs, a less active
family we felt needed more friends. It seemed to go well! The kids
were a bit shy, but E started entertaining them and hey had fun.
Immediately after them we drove to the P house to eat again. We
didn't eat as much, but we were still stuffed. They had some of their
kids and grandkids over, and we entertained them with a magic trick
they had to figure out. It was a lot of fun. We also "got" to sing for
them on the spot, which went better than expected. I am so grateful to
be here in Memphis. I love all the people here, investigators and
members alike. I am grateful they let us come by.

Friday I was grateful for all the wonderful families we visit. First,
we saw the L girls. We came by without telling them, but the whole
family was home and they fed us anyway. We had a really good time
getting to know all of them better as well as reading the scriptures
with them. Then we saw the C kids. They're a bit of a handful
sometimes (the mom rarely comes out) but we still got them to sit
still for a short lesson. Then we helped them collect pecans from the
tree in heir backyard. (Mom, you'd be jealous. Pecan trees are
everywhere here.) After seeing them we went over to the R
house. We had just missed them every day this week, so we were hoping
and praying they still wanted to be baptized this weekend. We came
over and.... THEY DID! We made plans for Sunday morning and practiced
the interview with them, which they passed with flying colors. I am so
proud of them. Then they left with a friend and we had a good talk
with J and he fixed us some turkey and bacon quesadillas about the
size and thickness of a Chipotle burrito. It took him like 10 minutes.
I need to learn that.

Saturday we had a fantastic day. I would say what I was most grateful
for was the missionaries that I serve around. Elder Wells (from
Conway, he goes home in 2 weeks! Ahh!) and Elder Butler came to give
the Girls the baptismal interview. They passed it! They were super
happy about it. After them, we went and tried to find people, but it
was raining so for a while no one opened the door. After a while, we
got in with one guy named J and his son. They are really cool. We
talked with them for a while, and he had some really good questions.
Then we saw the O family and made sure they understood that
coming to church was the most effective way they would be able to know
that this is the true church. Kinda hard to have an opinion about
something you have never experienced :)

Sunday was extremely stressful/awesome/emotional. I was grateful for
everything. We had planned to baptize D and B before church,
but J was sick and T was working. So we had to move it to
afterwards. Then, the L family had lost their car keys, and I was
stressing out like crazy that they wouldn't make it to church on time
to confirm them, and it was not good for me. But, due to a lot of
prayer on all parts, they made it and got confirmed! Church was good
today. It was the Primary program, so all the adorable little niños
got up to bear their testimonies, and it was adorable. Also, Elder
Heaton came with Elder Doty to baptize B as well as to take me to
Little Rock. Then we got asked literally one minute before if we could
teach the Youth class about missionary work. Again, a little
stressful, but it was a really good experience. I got to share my
testimony that missionary work brings a kind of happiness nothing else
does. I mean, it gets hard sometimes. Really hard. But it's worth
every slammed door, every cuss word we are called, every person who
tells me I don't really believe in who I represent, to be able to
participate and be the instrument of God in saving some of His
children. I hope it stuck with them, because it really stuck with me.
So I was grateful for that chance. Then after church D and B
were baptized and confirmed!!! Man, that was a super long time in he
making. I remember when we first really started teaching them. They
have come so far, and I am so proud of them. After that we all had
dinner together and we headed out to Arkansas!

I have a lot to be grateful for. More than anything, I am grateful for
Jesus Christ and for his sacrifice. He has made me who I am today. I
would not be here without Him.
Love you all, and have a great week!