All the Awesome People!

This was an AMAZING week! A lot of awesome stuff happened!

So Monday we went out with Bro. S to go visit some people. We saw the H family, who we had met a few weeks back. They are a really sweet family, they all get along really well. They had had some concerns about us because missionaries claiming to be LDS had stopped by before, and basically lied the whole time. Apparently, we don't believe in God or anything like that. So, we set things straight with them and had a good lesson. 

Tuesday we went to Conversations class, and we found out that they were doing Floor Hockey for it. We didn't do much, mostly sat on the sidelines and talked to people. But we did get a few good selfies, which was awesome. :P then we went and saw the Ms. Bro. M really opened up to us, and he wants to get back into church now!  Then we had dinner with the S, and had to rush off to Bay and go see Q. We had a good lesson with him and his siblings, and watched the Restoration video with them. 

Wednesday we decided that we needed a lot more people to teach, because we were running out of people who were interested! So we walked around for a good minute. And find people we did! We talked to this awesome kid named D who is really cool and stuff. He told us to go visit one of his friends who was going through a bad time. Then we ran into a guy who had been taught before, C. He seems pretty cool. They're building a second floor onto their house currently, so it's crazy over there. Then we talked/ate with the O family, which was super delicious. They always offer us food or something when we come over! After that, we had dinner with the
L family, which was also delicious. Then we walked around some more, and met this cool lady named B who we are going to see on Tuesday. 

Thursday we went to Conversations again. It was pretty chill, we mostly sat around and talked, like we normally do. We met some more of the Japanese students. One of the teachers taught them to say Hola, so when we came in they all yelled it. It was funny. We met a lot more cool people in an area I had never gone before, and it turned out there were a lot of Hispanics there! Then we tried some more people, got to talk with K for a bit, which was nice, and then went to basketball. We had to leave right before it started to go give a blessing to Sis. S, who was in the hospital. Then we got a call from Bro. L, needing some help lifting some heavy stuff. By the time we got back, no one was at the church, so we went home. 

Friday we went to Little Rock! Elder Kopishke from the Seventy came down to visit with us. It was a great meeting. The way he does his visits is awesome! He doesn't come with anything prepared. He gives us a minute to think of some questions we have had, then he speaks for a bit, and turns the rest of the time over to us. We ask questions about anything, and then he helps us find the answer in the scriptures and stuff. I learned a ton from it, and it was great! We got back to Jonesboro about 7: 30, so we didn't have much time. We met a referral from Conway named K who is really cool, then we saw D. Things are really going well with him in all aspects of his life now, which he attributes to what he's been learning from our lessons. 

Saturday was another round of "How much Sweat Can You Have?" We did a lot of walking again, and met even MORE new people! We are really getting blessed with so many people who are interested in our message. We got to see D, a guy we had been teaching who we hadn't seen in a LONG time. When we left there, this kid ran up to us and said, "Hey! You should go talk to my dad, he has one of those Jesus pictures you guys have." (we have a lot of little cards with His picture on it that we give people.) Anyway, his dad wasn't home, but his mom was! They are a really awesome family, and they are really open too! We talked for a while, and it was great. Then we met with D again, and then went to some less active members we had met a few weeks ago, the Ks, and shared a video with them. Actually, I'm gonna look that video up. It's REALLY good. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MiF_HKoFr4 . It's called "Our Eternal Life." It talks about a lot, but mainly where we came from, why we're here, and where are we going. It's only like 3 minutes. WATCH IT. 

Sunday was pretty standard. I did the Spanish translating for the service. I've been doing it for the past 3 months or so, and it seems to help my Spanish. Also it really seems to raise my stress level for the entire hour. But it's all good. After church, we went to look for more people. We met this super cool dude named D. He has a really strong testimony, and you can see it. Then we did some more snooping around, and found some more people. We met 3 brothers from Honduras, one of which had arrived here the day before. Then we had dinner with the C family, and went to go see T. 

And that was our week! I will send some pictures in a sec, and maybe a video if it'll send! Love you guys!

Missionary Work in the Digital Age... Weird stuff.

Hello everyone! It's been another nutso week down here in Arkansas! A lot of random stuff happened and it all turned out amazing! 

On Tuesday we went to the English classes again, only to find out that the students from Mexico were still flying in, and wouldn't get there until that night, when they'd have a "fiesta" for them. Either way, we met T, a girl from Japan here to study communications to work for a news station. She's pretty funny. Anyway then we went and saw D for a bit, tried some other people, and went to the welcome party. It was fun! A lot of the ESL students were there, and we got to meet the Mexicans. They all are very friendly and excited to be here! 

Wednesday was the big day!! We drove down to Searcy and had a good meeting. And got our Ipads!!! The digital age has officially begun! I have to admit, it's taking a little getting used to. I mean, for those of you who remember me before the mission, I didn't even have a cell phone. So naturally I'm still in the "how do I tablet" phase. I can really see how good this will be, though! If I can make a plug for one app in particular, it's called LDS Pamphlets. If any of you are familiar with our teaching stuff, we use pamphlets a LOT in our teaching. It's an easy way to give out a summary of what we believe, etc. Anyway, now there's an app for that! It's free, and it's really cool and interactive and stuff. It's also free. So if you've ever wanted to get the Reader's Digest version of what we believe, download it! 

ok, so anyway, back to the week. That night we went to Q's house to get the baptismal service prepped up.  Thursday we went to conversations class again, which went well. It was super hot outside so we were grateful for the A.C.! After that, we went to get the oil changed on the car. That took a while, but considering we didn't want our car to die it was worth it. Then we had dinner with the Rs again, which was delicious as usual. 

Friday we had to get everything ready for the baptism! We got the program all set, got refreshments, stressed out (maybe that was just me) and basically scrambled. We did get to drop by and see some people though! D is still going strong, but couldn't come to church due to a doctor's appointment. T has been working a TON, and then she went on vacation, so we haven't seen her in a week or so. 

Saturday was the baptism! Through a lot of craziness, like Q's ride to the church dropping out, the font filling really fast with cold water, and a lot of other stuff, but in the end it was an amazing experience! I attached a picture. 

Sunday Q got confirmed, and it was great! Then we went out with a member to go visit some people, but couldn't really get anyone at home. Then we went to the Ss' for dinner, which was delicious and Latino. Then, we went to visit some people who turned out to not be home, so we went across the street to talk to a Hispanic lady outside. After talking with her for a bit, her godfather came out, who happened to be a Catholic deacon. I'm really glad that I have a Hispanic companion, he is a lot less awkward talking with everyone. It turned out to be a very good discussion! Then we went over to the Bs, and ended up helping their daughter build her gardening table, since the mom wasn't able to let us in at the moment. 

And that was our week! Today started of great! And by great I mean... not so great... On the way here to do email... we kinda.... got into a little fender bender. Not our fault. Some guy was trying to back up on a road (no idea why) and didn't see us, so he rammed into us while we were turning. No one was hurt or anything, but the car got pretty banged up! It's still driveable though, so we will use it up until we can get an appointment with the body shop. Great start to the week! 

Anyhoo, hope to hear from you guys! Write a letter, we missionaries LOVE those! 

The Entire Spanish Speaking Zone of the ALRM

Rescued Kitten - Now  at the Shelter

Q-s Baptism!!!

Mission 2.0

Hello from Little Rock, everyone! Hope you all had a fabulous week! I sure did! Let's see how much I remember, though.

Monday we went to the mall to see how the prices were on dress shirts (not worth it) but we ran into an investigator I had in Conway who we thought we had lost because he moved to Jonesboro! We just ran into him in the bathroom, isn't that weird? Anyhoo, that night we got a "bad weather so get inside quick" text, so the other elders came over to our apartment since its on the bottom floor and safer. We had some cake rolls (thanks Aunt Patty!) and got a game of Risk going that the box said would be faster than the classic version. Well, without any of us realizing it it took about 3 hours for us to reach the point where we were too tired to continue. Up until yesterday it was still on our table, but we took a picture and put it away for later. I still dominate Australia though, so I'm pleased. 

Tuesday I turned 20. That was weird. It's behind me now though. We had a pretty normal day. We did Q's baptismal interview! He turned up on Monday after going to help his cousin with some stuff. we are set to do the service this coming Saturday!! Then we went to the Os for dinner, since their son in law also had a birthday the same day. It was an awesome party, and we got to meet a lot of their family and friends.

Wednesday we went to Little Rock for a special conference. Elder Zwick from the Seventy came down to tell us how to use our new I-pads. 

Yeah. 

I- pads. 

I-PADS. 

I-PADS.

I-PADS.

Yep, the digital age has officially started! We are getting them this Wednesday. It won't be all at once, but once it's all established we will be on Facebook too! So if you have any questions about the church or missionary work or anything, just message me once that happens! We are all extremely excited. So yeah, that was really fun! Then we came back, had dinner at the Rs house, then went out to go visit some of the young men with some other young men. All in all a great day. 

Thursday... man, what did we do Thursday? Well, I remember we did a LOT of biking. We found some new people that  speak Spanish, which is nice!  Also we played basketball, which is really getting popular. We had enough people to do a tournament with four teams, which is a big improvement! 

Friday included a lot more biking. Also it absolutely DUMPED rain on us for the 300 yard stretch of Main Street that has no shelter whatsoever. It stopped as soon as we got to the church to hide from it. We had dinner with the R brothers at Sam's Club. Those two are really entertaining. Their sense of humor is wonderful. 

Saturday got really weird really fast. We went and visited some peope close to us, ALMOST got soaked again (#umbrellasrock) and then went with F to go see some people. We were walking past a less-active member's house when his mom came out. She asked us if we could help her to take out a kitten that had hid behind a stove in the abandoned apartment attached to their house. We did. It was a three week ish old kitten that was abandoned. We thought we had the mom outside, but she flipped out when we brought the kitten over so we decided it wasn't. We volunteered to take it to the animal shelter. It wasn't until afterwards that we found out the shelter was closed until Monday. So long story short...

Yeah, we had a cat in our laundry room. Admittedly, not the best decision we've made, but it WAS really really adorable and fun for a bit. It's in the shelter now, so if anyone feels like going to Jonesboro to adopt a kitten, feel free :P BUt the rest of Saturday we worked with a list of potential investigators we found deep in the apartment. Not a whole lot of success with getting them at home yet, but we'll keep it up! 

Sunday was great too! It was the Vivint guys' last Sunday here before they went to Little Rock, so that was sad. But we had a good service, and then we went out teaching with Bro. Solis, and saw a few people. Then we had dinner at the B's (which they apparently sent a picture  of us home to my mom so it may be on the blog) and then saw T! We finally caught her at home, and we got caught up with her schedule. 

And that was my week! I may or may not see y'all on Facebook this week, but keep in touch anyways! I'd love to hear what you're up to! Email or write, with the Ipad I'll be able to see all of it. Writing would be legit though. Letters are fun :)

--

Llamado a Servir,

Andrew Reay

It ain't over till it's over I guess....

Man, this week was NUTS!!! 

Tuesday we had a pretty normal day, for the most part. We went and saw D, and then went to the Os and talked with the mom and her daughter in law, who we hadn't met before and is actually really awesome! Then we went next door to the R' to go see their newly hatched chicks, which were adorable. Then on the way to the next appointment, we got a call from the APs. There had been a last second transfer meeting and Fortie was OUT! This was like 7:30 the day before transfers, so needless to say our day went crazy from there. We drove all over and said bye to everyone, and then went home to pack.

Wednesday we drove down to Little Rock to pick up my new companion. It was a pretty good meeting. 

Anyhoo, so as far as transfers went, I got Elder HERNANDEZ!! He is from Veracruz, and has been out for 23 months. He extended his mission, so he goes home the 22nd of July. SO chances are I will be here until he goes. That'll mean 9 months in Jonesboro, too! #booyah

Elder Zickella Got Elder Croft, fresh out of the MTC, from Pocatello Idaho. He is pretty cool. 

After transfers, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings with a bunch of the Spanish elders and sisters, which was fun. A lot of new Spanish sisters got here, which is nice since all the others have gone home. Then we drove back, unpacked, and went to teach the kids at Mutual how to be everyday missionaries. 

Thursday we hit the ground biking, since going to little rock left us with basically no miles on the car. we talked to some Hispanics, then met up with the other elders to go do Q's baptismal interview. We got down there to an empty house. We called his dad, who informed us that Q had disappeared with his cousin who had come up to visit, and they hadn't seen him in 2 days. Sooooo we are hoping and praying that he comes back soon and hasn't done anything bad. After that, we went to basketball, which was once again full to the brim with people. 

Friday we helped out Bro. R with some stuff in the chem labs, then went around to find some more  people. And we found a lot! We talked to 5 guys outside of their houses, and they all agreed to let us come back and teach their families! Then we had dinner at the W's house, which is always super fun. 

Saturday was spent out biking some more! but first we went to the ward Day of Service at a cemetery, cleaning it up and fixing tombstones. It was fun, and I ended up being chaced around the place by the kids, who were using their water bottles to spray me. Great exercise. Then we went back and got to work!  It was really hot out, but we got a ride from one of the Vivint salesmen who happened to pass by. Then we went back up north of town to go see some of the people we had talked to earlier, but no one answered. Then my blood sugar crashed so we took a break until the other guys come and got us for dinner at the R's house. 

Sunday was interesting. Elder hernandez gave a talk in church (its funny because I still haven't done one :P) and it went well. After church the Ms fed us lunch, and then it was back on the road! We walked across town, taking our time to talk to people, so that we arrived at our dinner appointment exactly on time, with some new people met to boot! Dinner was super fun. It was with the Os, which are some o my favorite people ever! We had a lot of fun. We taught the kids to play Ninja Assassin (which they loved) Had a selfie party (I'll send those too) and had a good talk about missionary work too! 

And thus begins transfer 5 here in Jonesboro, Arkansas! I have a doctor's appointment next week in LR, so I may be writing from there. See ya!

Missionary Selfie

Elder Reay and Elder Hernandez

UNO MAS! UNO MAS!

Hello hello hello! How are y'all doing this fine morning? I'd tell you about my week in detail, but I left my planner at home, since I just got a new one for the transfer. So I will do my best.

First off, I am staying in Jonesboro for another one! This'll make 7 and a half months here, and it has FLOWN by, let me tell you! Fortie is staying as well. Elder Johnston is getting transferred, though! His trainer, elder Zickella, is getting ANOTHER newbie! This guy just can't stop! 

So anyway, highlights of the week:

Q's baptism has been postponed, he still has to work through his smoking addiction. He really wants to do it though, so I know he will. 

We had two baptisms this week! B and H are super legit. I got to teach both of them on exchanges. They were super excited, and it was awesome! I'll attach a picture. 

T has been working a lot, so we haven't been able to see her much this week. She is growing in her testimony though, so she'll be good!

D has been making leaps and bounds! He had dental surgery this week, so he wasn't able to come to church, but he was really sad about it. He WILL come next week. 

On a sadder note, S up and moved to Missouri randomly. From what he told us, him and his girlfriend had a falling out and so he made his exit. We'll be putting him in contact with the missionaries up there, and leave it up to them! 

What else.... oh yeah! So do y'all remember how I had said a long time ago that we would be getting Ipads? Well, they're in the office right now!!! We're getting training on the 27th, and then we'll be mobile in the weeks after that! 

Another sad thing, D apparently is done with church. One of the members was texting with him to see if he'd be coming yesterday and he said he wouldn't be coming anymore for "personal reasons." We'll see about that. 

That's about all I can remember! If you want to get in touch, my address is still:

Elder Andrew Reay

3700 S. Caraway Rd. apt. B12

Jonesboro, AR 72404 

 Love you guys! 

"Makes me think of my SMHS days!" commenting on his new tie

My Arizona Plant - I got seeds when I first got here and now it needs to be repotted.

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