Extra-Curricular Activities

Hello all! Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day, with all you missionaries calling home and such. I only get to do that one more time. Then it's in person. 0.o

But hey, that's all wayy far off, right? Let's stick to the usual stuff. This week was.... interesting. We did a lot of stuff, but very little of it was teaching. Monday we went to Walmart so Elder Fortie could buy some Avengers shirts, then we went to a hamburger cookout at the R's house. Then we went and walked around, ran into T also walking around, and then saw J, an investigator we hadn't seen in a while. 

Tuesday we had district meeting, and then went to Five Guys with the R's and helped their daughter move some heavy stuff out of her dorm. So now I can say I've been in a girl's college dorm room on my mission :P Anyway, after that we went on exchanges. I ended up with Elder Zickella in his area. We saw some of their new investigators, then went to the Rs for dinner. It was super delicious, we had steak, lobster, bratwurst, mussels, rolls, potatoes, corn.... yeah I was stuffed. Then we went and saw one of their coolest people, B. She is REALLY solid, and as soon as she can move out of her apartment (she lives with a guy) she can be baptized. But yeah, she's super legit. 

Wednesday we unexchanged, then went out to the Rs again. He had asked us to paint/build his fence. So we spent about 5 hours painting and stacking about 80 8-foot-long 2x4s. It was exhausting, and we were both beat. After a "See you tomorrow" from Bro. Rs, we went home and crashed, because neither of us could speak in complete sentences. So after a power-nap, we went out to Bay to go see Q. We set a goal with him to have 4 no-smoking days with him for the week.

Thursday we went back out to the Rs to get some more done. This time it was about 20 16-foot 2x8s, which took about half the time. We went out after that, but no one we tried was available. We did do basketball that night though, and a LOT of people showed up that we hadn't met yet, which was fantastic! 

Friday was the first full day we had that didn't involve a service project. We went to see D, and that went really well. He's been making a lot of progress lately, and we are really excited about it! anyway, we were there for a while, then went to the Ms for dinner. Then we went to see S, and talked with him about reading the scriptures. A little note on that: All the missionaries know this, but for those who don't, reading the scriptures is one of the most important things our investigators can do to find out for themselves what we are saying is true. So, we try really hard to get them into the habit. Anyway, that went really well. 

Saturday was right back to the grind! We went to Bro. R's house to help him clear out a ditch that was preventing drainage from his yard. That didn't take much time. Then we got a call from Bro. R's brother, who called in a favor we had promised a month ago to help him make a fence for his chickens. So all of us (us and Bro. R) went up to his house and poured some concrete to set some posts. Then it started raining. Really hard. But we figured since we were soaked already, we may as well finish. So, we put up some of the wire, and basically made the framework. Then we drove home, dried off, and went to dinner at O'Charley's with the S's. then we went out to Bay and had a talk with Q. It turns out he hadn't smoked AT ALL that week, so he's doing great! Also, they "initiated me" by putting electrotherapy pads on various parts of my arms and turning it up all the way. Note: NEVER PUT THOSE ON YOUR FINGERTIPS THEY HURT REEEEEALLY BAD. 

Sunday morning was a little rough. None of our investigators showed up due to lack of cars, which was sad. But then I got to talk to the family, which was fantabulous! Hopefully they pass along hellos from me like I said! Anyway, after that we went to dinner at the Solis' house. Then we went to see D with one of the Vivint salesmen, who just got off his mission in the Redlands California area 3 months ago. It was a great experience, and they are good friends now. 

Welp, I'm off to go finish the R's fence today! I hope you guys enjoy your week! Keep in touch!

Well, THAT was more of a cow than I wanted to see...

I'll explain that at the end. How are y'all doing? Happy May the Fourth Be With You!! I got really concerned when I thought I had missed it. I hope your day is full of nerdy wonderfulness!

All righty, let's go over the week:

Monday the zone leaders got here, and it was pretty darn fun! We ended up with Elder Marquez playing Smash-Up again (I got destroyed) then we went to the Bs for dinner. Then we went to an appointment with T, a former investigator, and her mom. It went pretty well, and we are coming back to their place to teach them! 

Tuesday we started off with a district meeting with the zone leaders. It was good. Basically they came up to get some things rolling in Jonesboro. Most of the zones in the mission have a "core" area where it all gets anchored down. But our zone, since it was made last year, has not been able to find one. So we were chosen as one of the testing grounds. Anyhoo, after that we had an appointment with Sis. D, who came to church the week before. It went well, and we answered a lot of questions and set a date with her for the 17th of May to be baptized! Then we went to English class for the last week. They are going on summer break for a month, so probably I won't be here when they start up again, which is sad because there are 70 people from Mexico coming into the program, so we'd be a huge help! After that, we had a good lesson with D. We talked a lot about revelation and how the Holy Ghost communicates with us. He learned a lot, and it cleared up a lot of concerns. Then we went to dinner at the Ls' house, which was super delicious. We did try to set an appointment with don, but he didn't respond so we went to Bay to teach Q. He cut down to a cigarette every other day, and no coffee! He should be baptized this month. 

Wednesday we did a lot of walking around, and it went really well! We met two AMAZING people, T and A. we were just walking down the street and both of us felt we should knock on this one door. As we were walking up, their little dog jumped out from behind this little gardening wall and started going nuts. We were about to back out and keep going when they came out and calmed it down for us. We talked with them for about an hour outside about our message, and they both loved it! They told us to come back when A's mom was home, since she liked religion and would love to talk with us! 

Thursday started off with another lesson with T, which went wonderfully as usual. She is super prepared to get baptized. Then we went to the Gs, a couple where the husband is Hispanic and the wife is American. It's kinda funny, neither of them speak the other's language at all but they both understand each other. I guess in marriage, everything works out. :) After that we went to visit S, since she told us that she was leaving for a month to go help take care of her boyfriend's mom. She promised to read and text us any questions she has from it. Then we went to the Os to follow up on their reading, but only their kids were home, so we talked with them for a bit. one of them had the audacity to whip out his Ipad and start playing all of the Avengers II trailers. We were understandably upset. By the way, thank you all for not mentioning anything about that move to me yet. It's giving me PMMD. (Post- Mission Movie Disorder :P) So then we had dinner at Bro R's house, which was super delicious. I tried turnip greens for the first time. A little stringy, but pretty good! 

Friday we had a zone meeting that had randomly been scheduled. President Wakolo had gone to a mission president's seminar, and he wanted to tell us all about it. It was a really good meeting, and we are set off in the right direction. After the meeting and some waiting around to talk to the ZLs, we ended up getting back around 5pm. We went to go see A and T, only to be greeted by her mom handing back the Book of Mormons we gave them and telling us that she did not want us coming back again. Grr. But we stuck around the area, and ran into some more really awesome people, K and K, her daughter. We found them cleaning the garage, and we talked for about an hour or so. They are really cool, and both of them had a Book of Mormon already, and even THEY weren't sure how! But yeah, that made our day. then we saw S and C, and worked out some things with their living situation. Long story short, S is in the process of moving out and getting a divorce to his separated wife!

Saturday we took a F Day. We went to see T and talk a bit about the Word of Wisdom. She is totally down to live it, and she basically already was, which is fantastic. Then we went outside and saw that her neighbor was moving out, a really short old lady with a lot of heavy furniture. So the Mormon Missionary Moving Co. stepped right in! We got basically all her heavy stuff into the van before her son arrived. We were pretty pleased. then we visited a Hispanic guy named J, and had a pretty good discussion with him, though he was a bit tipsy. Then we saw D again, and committed him to come to church. He was excited to be able to go. then we went to the Bs, but a few of them were sick, so we ended up talking with the daughter and getting her to commit to come to church. 

Sunday was pretty good! T was the only one who ended up coming out of the people we had invited, but she still enjoyed it. We had a lot of new faces in church again, which is always nice. Afterwards, we took our lunch and went to a few people who weren't home before  going to the Os. As soon as we walked up, the mom, who was in the process of ordering food from someone, told them that we were there and to order 2 more of everything they ordered. Sooo we had a true Hispanic dinner. Highlights: Menudo (soup made from cow stomach) and Tacos de Lengua (cow tongue soft tacos). Menudo was...... interesting. It tasted all right, but the texture of boiled stomach is REALLY not good. Plus, it smelled a bit like what comes out of a cow stomach. Not doing that again. But the tongue tacos were REALLY GOOD! The meat is actually really tasty, and since they dice it you have to look really close to see the taste buds. But I would highly recommend it! Anyway, after that lovely culinary experience we went to Bay again. This week we set a goal with Q to go smoke free for 4 days of the week. It's gonna be rough, but he's in our prayers. 

Well, that's all! I'm super excited for Mother's day this Sunday,  since I get to actually FaceTime home and see them for the third time in 15 months! If you have any messages to pass on, just let them know! Or just email too. That actually may be easier. But yeah. BYEE!

--

Llamado a Servir,

Andrew Reay

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!