The End

Well this will be the last email from me.

It has been a great 2 years and I have come a long way.

This past week and a half has been pretty surreal. We did pretty much the usual missionary things. I got to teach a lot of lessons and visited a few members.  Had a couple fun activities (burning a suit) and a lot of goodbyes.  Nothing amazing but just a solid last week.  

I wish that I could summarize all of the things that I have learned and experienced in the past 2 years of serving, but it doesn't really work like that.  I have met a lot of successful people and have gotten a lot of life advice in the last little bit.  I am looking forward to moving forward to this next step in my life.

Hope you all are doing well and I look forward to seeing you soon.

Love you all

Busy Week

Hello Everybody!

 It has been a great week.  On Tuesday we had a conference with Elder Cornish of the 70  it was great and i learned a lot of things that i should have been doing for the past 2 years, but we live and we learn. during the conference i had to give my departing testimony, strange to think that is almost here. I shared D&C 88:67, and Alma 19:6  We also had the opportuity to go to a fireside with him and bring an investigator, ours didnt show, but i got to see the Evans family that i taught in Grove! 

Then wednesday we were on exchanges. Thusday we had interviews and i was in charge of organizing the zone meeting during that. We just practiced teaching but i got kinda crazy at times. Stressful day.  Then i left there to go on exchanges with the Grove elders. I got to see a few people that i had met there over a year ago. It felt good to come back.  Friday we got back to normal for a few hours and taught some people.  Saturday we helped at the Stake Emergency Preparedness fair. had a lot of fun there.   And then sunday was the Primary Program  and we had a lot of people come. close to 100 more than normal.  Crazy stat that we learned  of a membership of 450 we have ~100 kids from 3-11 and then ~50 from 0-3   so 1/3 of the ward is under 12.   Lets jsut say it gets reallly noisy.

It was great though because everyone is getting excited about missionary work now. it is so much fun to see.  Loving the work here

Hope you enjoy conference this week.

Missionary Work

Hello Everybody,

It has been a pretty great week here in Elm Tree.  We have had 3 investigators commit to be baptized and have met a lot of new people this week. There was a big city event On Saturday and our ward had a Booth set up  We handed out about 150 Book Of Mormons and a lot of other good stuff    it was a ton of fun.  From that we found a lady from Israel that wanted to take the lessons.  Pretty neat back ground.   I am really enjoying being in a trio with Elder Sullivan and Franks   they are both a lot of fun.

On Friday we had a mission conference With Elder Villareal.  I got to conduct and learned a lot.  It was really fun.

Got a lot of work still left to do here   getting to be crunch time.  Just makes everything more exciting.

Love yall

Labor Day

Hello everyone,   happy labor day.

Today i am emailing from the mission office, so president and sister loveland have been roasting me for the last hour. Not really sure what to write about.  Since last Wednesday not a whole ton has happened. Transfer day was a lot of fun.  I got to drive Presidents car around for a while and keep track of missionaries.  Then i managed to grab a brand new Malibu so we dont have to bike any more.  It has been neat being in a trio. we have been able to split most every night and that helps us get a lot more work done.  Elder Franks just came from Cassville which was in my last Zone.  He had a pretty rough go of it and has been struggling.  He seems to really enjoy serving here though, it has been neat to see him just be more happy. Sunday was exciting.   Had church for about 8 hours.  I got a call at 7:05 saying i needed to be at a stake meeting at 7.  Got stuck in a bike race and didn't make it there till almost 8, then had ward council, then Missionary correlation, then church.  It was a long day. I am really enjoying my time here though. Good ward. Good Companions. cant complain :)

Hope you all enjoy your day!

Final Countdown

Hello everybody, i have made it to my last transfer without dying   so thats exciting

I will be staying here in the Elm Tree ward with Elder Sullivan, but will also be getting a new trainee also   This past week we have put in over 100 miles on our bikes. My legs are pretty dead.  We are making progress with a few investigators but most of them just stand us up when we have set appointments   so that is fun when we bike to their place.   Also been doing some tracting    we have found a few people that said we could come back.  I feel like the biggest thing that i have learned in the past little bit is that when we are pushed to our limits that is when the Lord steps in and gives us strength. Monday we got up at 5 for seminary and then didnt go to bed till after 12 due to transfer calls.  after biking 100 miles in the past 4 days.   I know that the lord strengthens his servants.

Love yall

have a great week

Eclipse

Hey everyone.  Hope you have had a great week.  Looking forward to checking out this eclipse today

This week has been pretty good  although the heat cranked back up again. and we have been doing a lot of biking so it has been a sweaty week too. We had interviews early this week and that went great as always.  Although Sister Loveland had to ask me if it was our last one or not...  Havent really been able to meet with any of the investigators that we had set baptismal dates with this week so we  did a lot of finding and tracting and stuff. Nothing much came from that. One day we biked the perimeter of our area and tracted.  We got poured on and i almost hit a car. It was about a 15 mile bike ride with lots of hill so we were both sweaty and muddy at the end.  I took some fun videos with the camera mount on my bike. That basically describes my week right there haha.   today we are going to our bishops house for lunch and to watch the Eclipse with the zone   should be fun  he has a zip line and a full outdoor basketball court.  

Love you bunches  

Simple

If you keep it simple, simple is understood, understood is implemented.

 - Someone at Wal-Mart

Hey Yall.  Hope you have had a great week. It has been pretty good here.  The past few days have been overcast and rainy so biking has been extra fun (got pretty muddy last night)

For the most part things are pretty normal here,  we have been doing a lot of tracting and such but we have seen some results.  it seems like when we work hard, we are blessed in a totally unrelated way.  This week we had 3 new investigators that accepted baptismal invitations, and a few other families that we are going to teach, all from members inviting their friends.  We knock on lots of doors and bike several miles and then the Lord blesses us with other people to teach.  Almost feel like he is saying "nice try, here you go"  haha   its the best.

We have interviews with President and Sister Loveland tomorrow, looking forward to that. 

President Loveland shared this with us in his letter this week   I enjoyed it, has some good thoughts​​

 The father of a young man at the peril of death approached the Savior, seeking a blessing for the young man, his interaction with the Savior went like this:

“If thou canst do any thing,” he said, “have compassion on us, and help us.

“Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

“And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” 

See Mark 9:22-24

Elder Holland talks about how the man started with what faith he had and then acknowledges his limitation. He said "Hold the ground you have already won, even if that ground is limited"  

"The size of your faith or the degree of your knowledge is not the issue--it is the integrity you demonstrate toward the faith you do have and the truth you already know."

Love yall

22 Months

So, it's been a pretty good week:  the weather has been great for biking and knocking on doors. 

Probably the highlight of the week was getting to go back to Grove OK, the area that I served in over a year ago.  Got to see a few people that I had taught and some members that I spent a lot of time with. Nothing too much exciting happened this week.   I just got to 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon this week.  Doing a lot of good reading and studies.  And Elder Sullivan is doing awesome - training is probably my favorite thing to do.

Love yall and hope you have a great week.

Sorry this one was so short

- _ -

Well this week has been pretty slow.  Have had a lot of good dinners with members.  Got Pizza 3 days in a row  haha   it's a curse. 

Besides that we have pretty much just been biking around tracting and visiting people that bishop gave us to see.  Everyone here for the most part is really nice they just don't want to talk to us.  Elder Sullivan is doing pretty awesome.  Really enjoying training.  We ride our bikes a lot so we have tricked them out a bit.  I taped my portable speakers to mine. Elder Sullivan has a rope and a stretchy band so he can do curls while we bike.  I can now also ride my bike with to handle bars...no handbars

There are a couple of members that live in our apartment complex, here doing summer sales, that we played volleyball with this morning so that was a lot of fun. I dove to hit a ball and then elder Sullivan tripped over me and pushed my head in the sand.   fun times!

Here are a few pics   I

realized that the rest of my pictures are all just of our map for while we are biking haha

Hope you all have a great week

Biking and Training

Hey everyone,  Hope you all have had a great week.

I have had a pretty interesting last few days. 

Thursday we had transfers and that is always a crazy day. I spent most of my day in the parking lot of Sams club in Joplin Mo  waiting for a van to come pick up missionaries.  Cool thing though was that my new companion was supposed to stay in Bentonville but ended up getting on the first loop through, so I got to spend the whole day with him getting to know each other.  When we got back to Bentonville it took a while to get to our area. We had to find our keys and phone and then wait for about another hour for someone to give us a ride to our place.  Then had a couple of appointments that evening that our Ward mission leader took us to.

Friday and Saturday we mostly just biked around (it was way hot) trying to meet members, People the sisters were teaching, and doing some of our own door knocking.  I accidentally burnt a hole in one of my shoes while biking and on Saturday and  I showered 4 times. haha the joys of biking!

Sunday was great we got to meet the ward, they asked us to bear our testimonies in sacrament meeting and introduce ourselves. We got to meet with a few other Ward members and investigators that evening and had some good visits.

Today we had to get a ride with a member to go shopping and we just biked 8 miles to the stake center to email and play basketball. 

Recently I have been reading in the ward chapters in Alma and it talks a lot about how Moroni made preparations and fortifications for war. I love how that can apply to us doing little things, like praying and reading scriptures, so that we are fortified against the adversary.  Also, there are times when the Nephites have some inner conflict and that is when they are weakened against enemy attacks. I just love reading the Book of Mormon every day.  Just do it ;)

Love y'all and hope you have a great week   Should have some pictures by next week.

20!?!?

I am now 20 years old everybody

that's weird!

And we also got transfer calls and I will be leaving Monett. It has been a great 6 months here and I have really started to feel like this is home.  Met some great people and had a lot of good work going on. I'm looking forward to seeing how the area continues to grow.

Tomorrow morning I will be leaving for the Elm Tree ward in Bentonville Arkansas. I will be training a new missionary and shotgunning out sisters.  So it will be an exciting transition. (also a bike area)

We have had a pretty exciting week here in Monett. Our new investigator Tara is doing great. She reads and studies a lot and knows that this is what she needs in her life.   She told us a few experiences where we had basically been an answer to prayer.  She even defends the church to people that try to talk her out of it.  She has 3 kids 3,5 and 7  and the youngest two girls are pretty adorable.  Went to the park with them today.     We also had a district going away bbq at the church today.  Got to make some burgers and had some fun.

Hope y'all have a great rest of your week.

Love ya bunches

USA vs Canada

Happy Monday everyone!

Hope your week went as well as ours did (or Better)

Tuesday was a pretty busy day for us: we had 5 Meals planned and a lot of driving, the weather was pretty raining so that killed a lot of the fun but we still saw a lot of people and had a great time. That night we got to play some street hockey (elder Dick enjoyed that) with a bunch of members. Then we watched the city fire works from out apartment. Wednesday we had district meeting and did some tracting.  We met with our recent convert Robin Barnard. He blessed the sacrament last week and this week he got a calling and a temple recommend.  It is so great to see him progress in the gospel. Hopefully we will be able to go to the temple with him this week. Then went to dinner with a family, they made some good home food on request. Then we played basketball with the youth.

Thursday we had Planning and in the evening we met with Ashley, a members girlfriend that wants to get baptized.  It went really well, she wants to get baptized next month on her birthday.  Friday we went to Lamar for Exchanges. I went with Elder Henderson, who i served around in Fayetteville, and hada great time. Lamar is really a pretty small town but they love football and have won a lot of state titles.  And they have a good amount of missionary work going on. We also rode bikes in the 95* weather. i got really wet and have a good blue Book of Mormon stain on the back of my shirt (always tuck an extra BoM under the belt). I gave a hair cut in the morning and then Saturday we drove back. Got ready and then saw a Pentecostal guy and read Ezekiel 3:7 with him, Showed him why what he thought was wrong because it was 500 years off; don't think he quite got it though. Then we met with Ashley again and had dinner with the family.  Met with Tara that night and didn't really teach much but she really opened up about her life and what she wants for her future, was pretty neat. Sunday we had our people at church and then had some good discussion with members about how they can see more success in their missionary efforts.

Thats about it for the week  Today we are planning on playing street hockey again  should be a good day.

Love y'all,  have a day

99 Bottles of Pop

Hello everyone!  It is now July: surprise! 

This was one of those weird weeks that took forever but went by really fast. Weeks feel like days and the days feel like weeks.

Tuesday we had MLC in Bentonville and then dinner with Bishops family. Made a pitstop on the way home at an ice cream place :)

Wednesday we had a last minute zone meeting I had to run. It ended up going really well We talked about the correlation between Love and Expectations. If both are high we will experience miracles. We also applied it to helping members raise their vision of missionary work. We had dinner with the Yorks our EQP. We had some free time after so we went to the park to do some planning. While we were there we saw a family fishing. We were talking to them and realized that they were a part member family. We started teaching the Restoration and when we got to the Joseph Praying i asked if they have ever had a question like that. Their mom had died not to long ago from cancer and the dad was pretty bitter about that. They asked why bad things happened in life, a question we had talked about at MLC, so we were able to teach them the Plan of Salvation. It was a super powerful experience.

Thursday we had weekly planning and then a few exchanges with ward members. Got to spend some time teaching with President Leavitt, always learn a lot from him.

Friday all of our appointments canceled, even dinner, so we spent most of the day tracting. Also spent a bit in the park pondering what to do with ourselves. And we had a member show up with a non member friend and we ended up playing tennis with them. Was pretty fun even tough it was blazing hot.

Saturday was basically the same as Friday just less things to do haha. While we were tracting an old couple let us in because they "wanted to discuss what they had studied about our beliefs" as soon as she opened the door I know what was going to happen. So we came and sat down on a really nice couch in their interrogation room and listened while they proceeded to tell us a bunch of ridiculous things that we "believe"...but actually don't. They had this paper all printed up(pretty sure I've seen the same one before) and the wife seemed so excited to practice bashing Mormons. We were polite, crushed all their arguments told them to read the Book of Mormon and then left. Anti-   it makes me laugh

Sunday we spent most of the day with members. We had a family at church that brought a friend and say "Elders when can you come by and teach the lessons?"  That made me happy

Also  the stake Presidents wife called and asked if we had a dinner-we didn't.  Love when that happens.  Today we are going golfing and then it looks like tomorrow is going to be the busiest day of the week. Think we have about 4 member meals planned.

Hope y'all have a great week and Happy 4th!

Infection

Well this week was another super busy week.

Spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Bentonville with the Assistants. Got to do a lot of good work with them. The majority of their teaching pool is Marshalese people.  It is just a ton of fun - like serving a foreign mission.

Thursday we had interviews with President and Sister Loveland.  Always love those.  Then we stayed in the Sisters area and went tracting with another set of elders, taking some time for a quick exchange.

Friday we had exchanges with the Aurora Elders  Wasn't the best day because I came down with a bad infection.  Ended up ending the exchange early.  Saturday still wasn't feeling to great but getting better. Ate a piece of chicken. That was about it for the day.

Sunday was pretty awesome though

We had the McWilliams family at church, Also had a new family come and a few members had their friends at church too. This is something that President shared with us in his email

Hope it is Helpful :)

Love yall

"My dear brothers and sisters, if we look at ourselves only through our mortal eyes, we may not see ourselves as good enough. But our Heavenly Father sees us as who we truly are and who we can become. He sees us as His sons and daughters, as beings of eternal light with everlasting potential and with a divine destiny.

The Savior’s sacrifice opened the door of salvation for all to return to God. His “grace is sufficient for all [who] humble themselves before [God].” His grace is the enabling power that allows access into God’s kingdoms of salvation. Because of His grace, we will all be resurrected and saved in a kingdom of glory.

Even the lowest kingdom of glory, the Telestial kingdom, “surpasses all understanding,”see 76:56 and numberless people will inherit this salvation.

But the Savior’s grace can do much more for us. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we aspire to something unimaginably greater. It is exaltation in the celestial kingdom. It is life eternal in the presence of our Father in Heaven. It is the greatest gift of God.see 14:7 In the celestial kingdom, we receive “of his fullness, and of his glory.” Indeed, all that the Father hath shall be given unto us. (see 84:38)

Exaltation is our goal; discipleship is our journey.

As you exercise a little faith and begin your walk as a peaceable follower of our Lord Jesus Christ, your heart will change. Your whole being will be filled with light.

God will help you become something greater than you ever thought possible. And you will discover that the gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed working in your life. It works."

Let us take one day at a time and recognize the improvements we are making each day. You are a child of God with all that that implies – – never forget it. Our Heavenly Father will help us to see our strengths and use them and He will help us to improve upon every other thing that in humility we decide we really want to improve upon. 

Exchanges

Well this week was pretty crazy.  We had ran out of planners so I spent the majority of the week relying on sticky notes.  In addition to helping Elder Dick figure out the area and all of the people we had exchanges all week. So for 6 days this week I was managing 4 missionaries by myself, with a sticky note to keep track of all the people we needed to see and had met.  Needless to say it was a bit stressful but we made it through.  Monday through Wednesday we had the Traveling Assistants come to our area and that was a lot of fun. I got to spend a day with Elder King who trained me. Then went on Exchanges with my District Leader. And that was pretty solid too.  In addition to doing a lot of tracting we have been meeting with the members pretty consistently.  Trying to help them be better missionaries.  I really enjoy it but it is a lot of slow progress.  As missionaries we have this 6 week perspective on everything.  If it doesn't happen in that amount of time something isn't right.   The problem is that everyone else has a longer term view on things.  Patience is hard when you could leave anytime.

Not a whole lot else going on - it is starting to get hot and nasty here. I dont like it haha

Hope yall have a great week

Love 

Blueberries

This morning we went out to Farmville and Picked blueberries for about an hour.  Now we have 3 gallons of blueberries and an upset stomach.

This week was pretty great though. We had a baptism!  Robin Barnard, it was a great baptism and we had a lot of people come.

Thursday I spent most of my day in a Sam's club parking lot in Joplin waiting for my new companion, then helping all the other missionaries get back to where they were supposed to be.

Friday we did some service and then planning and then tried to find stuff to do. We did quite a bit of tracting.  

Saturday we spent most of the day getting ready for the Baptism

Sunday we had church and then went out with a Priest and didn't accomplish much and then went to a mission prep class.  We had 2 member lessons and came away with a lot of cake and goodies.

Not a whole lot else went on this week since Wednesday.   Been pretty slow.

This coming week we will be almost the whole time on exchanges.  Should be pretty packed and exciting.

My new companion is Elder Dick. He is from Alberta Canada.  He has been out for 14 months.  So far we have had a good time together.  Should be a pretty solid transfer.

Love yall and hope you have a great week.

20 Months and Transfers

Well today has been 20 months in the Mission field.  Also have transfers this week. 

I will be staying in Monett and Elder Belnap is leaving. This will be my first 6 month area.  Which means that I have probably only 1 more area for 2 transfers.

Not a whole lot happened this week as a result of us being out of our area for 2 whole days.  

Monday we moved Elder Belnap's piano to the Stake President's house to the basement so that was exciting.  Then we crashed a few BBQs.  Tuesday we went to Bentonville for meetings.

Thursday we went to the Kansas City Temple as a mission.  It was a pretty great trip. Had to get up at 4am to go meet the bus and then drive up there.   I love going to the temple and cant wait till I get to go more often.

 We have spent a lot of time getting ready for Robin Bernard's baptism this Saturday  we are pretty excited for him

This past Monday we had a zone BBQ as a reward for our goal to find 100 new investigators this transfer.  It was fun   I made buns again and we had homemade patties as well . Good food as usual.

Today we are going caving so I am looking forward to that should be a fun day.

I am excited to stay here in Monett and continue the work. Looking forward to a good transfer.

Also side note,  My birthday will be at the end of this transfer

Love y'all

Sister Loveland and Me at the Temple

My Trainer Elder King and my Trainee Elder Wright​

If I had to wake up every morning to your face . . .

Not to much different from last week

Tuesday we had a pretty solid day. We kept a time log of everything that we did.  We had 4 hours of tracting, 2 hours of teaching apts, 2 hours for meals, 1 hour for service and 1 hour of driving.   

So that right there is a day in the life haha!

I went on an exchange on Wednesday after District Meeting and met a family that had just moved from Washington near Redmond. The dad had just quit his job at Microsoft to come and farm chickens for Tyson's. I always enjoy getting out and seeing new areas to mix things up a bit. It is also a good learning experience to see how other missionaries teach and run an area.

Thursday service in the morning and exchange back to Monett, planning and then double dinners. Then we went out with the EQP to see the Rans and Ronnie.  So somewhere in the lesson I said that I would cry if I didn't see them at church that week.  Elder Belnap said "It's ok,he'll cry anyways."  Then the oldest Ran said "If I had to wake up every morning to your face, I'd cry too." We had a good laugh. Friday we had a lot of plans but they mostly fell through so we tracted a lot. We had one appointment that we brought two youth with us to. One is a struggling 16 year old boy and the other was the Stake president's daughter.  It was a pretty solid lesson. Saturday we had a bunch of stuff planned as well but then everything fell through including dinner.  And it was super blazing hot and muggy so we were wet and nasty all day.  We made steaks for dinner and watched fast and furious 6 (it was on at a place they visited :))   

Sunday was a pretty good day though. We had a youth come out with us again and had a few good lessons. Then met with members.

Now it is today and we are emailing and then moving a piano and then have a few BBQs to go to and we will see how that goes.

This next week we will be going to Bentonville on Tuesday and then the TEMPLE on Thursday. Sounds like a great week. Transfers are the next week so my next time emailing will be on the 7th of June.

Hope y'all enjoy Memorial day

Go to bed and try again tomorrow

Not a whole lot happened this week. 

We spent a day in Bentonville, did a lot of tracting this week and not a lot of teaching. So I don't know . . . 

We had to walk up a driveway because it was so washed out and muddy. There was a really big puddle that we jumped over.  Elder Belnap made it but when I landed  my feet slid out from under me and I landed in the mud.   I got pretty messy.  Then the next day we helped with an Eagle project digging a hole for a playground foundation,  and that was super muddy.

 Guess it has just been a muddy week

Hop y'all had a cleaner week than I did, not much else to report on.

We are going to the temple June 1st and transfers will be June 8th

so yay!

Also made fried chicken and Cupcakes this week

Love yall

Elder Shepherd

Happy Mothers Day

Hello everyone!
   
It's been a great week. Hope everyone remembered their mothers yesterday.

This week we had two days that were pretty much just meetings.  We had MLC in Bentonville on Tuesday.   Focused a lot of the need to find daily. The General Authorities told us that we needed to double our efforts and baptisms, which is a pretty lofty goal. So we worked on being better at tracting and teaching with the scriptures.

Wednesday we had exchanges. I also locked our keys in the car so I got to bike the whole day. It was a good day though.  We taught a few lessons and then tracted a bunch. Found a few people that the Spanish elders are now teaching.  Thursday we had interviews with President Loveland. Had a good interview and district meeting as well. Don't remember what happened Friday:  probably tracting.  That night we had the ward fiesta. I made cupcakes and almost won the contest!   It was a fun activity.  Saturday we knocked doors. And had Exchanges with President Leavitt.   Sunday we had a slow day at church but good lessons. We got to call home and had some more tracting in between calls.

So overall, we did a lot of knocking doors this week and not a whole lot of exciting things.  Good dinners, I suppose and member lessons.

Love you all and have a great week.

19 Month Miracle

I had a pretty amazing experience this weekend...

I ran a 5K and didn't die!  

Besides that though we had a great week. We had zone conferences on Thursday and learned a lot there. We talked about how the Battle is the Lord's as well as teaching with the scriptures. 

Also this week we have been doing a lot of finding: We found a few new people to teach and so far, so good.   One is a young family with 5 girls under 7. The parents both believe in a higher power but that is about it. We taught them that God is our Father in Heaven and they have really enjoyed meeting with us and even asked for a Book of Mormon as well as a Bible without us even asking.  Another guy that we tracted into who a good friend of some members. We had seen him at activities but thought he was just a less active member.  We are now teaching him too.  Everything is just going dandy!   

And I suppose this shouldn't be the highlight but it is:  Elder Belnap bought a baby grand piano and we are working on restoring it. Have done a bit of cosmetics the last few days and it is already starting to look great. It is pretty fun taking it apart and cleaning things out and figuring out how it works.  Our main tools as of now are a leatherman, cut up towels and vinegar.   

I am loving the work here  and all of the fun that we are having as well.

I know that we have a loving father in heaven that is intimately aware of all that we are going through and is here to support us in our trials.

We watched this video at zone conferece and it was pretty powerful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM3ccY55KLs

Love yall

Rain

Well, the past few days have been fairly exciting, mostly just because of the weather.  Had a lot of major flooding in the area so bad that lots of people even canceled church, which was pretty crazy.  We haven't done a whole lot of teaching since all of our investigators have pretty much petered out.  They have either dropped us or aren't making any progress. So, we set a goal to tract more every day and it has been pretty fun.  On Friday we tracted ourselves a return appointment to a steak dinner.  Then on Saturday we had a lot of fun.. that's when the rain came. We had no appointments so we got to go walk around in the rain for a few hours.  
Fun story: We knocked on a door and when they answered we could see that the water was up to the back door and they were kind of just watching it waiting for it to come in the house.  So we asked if we could help.  They had a few broken sand bags that they asked us to move.  Their back porch was built into the hill so it was basically a nice swimming pool, but we jumped in. We put the sandbags up to the door and then moved a few things so that the water could drain. And the house didn't flood!  By now we were completely soaked so we asked if we could come back on Sunday.   We did and had a great lesson with them.  They have a lot of challenges right now but I am so glad that we met them.

Anyway we have found a lot of new people this week and will hopefully find a lot more new people.

Also this week I sent a letter to a false prophet.  One of our recent converts keeps getting mail from a "Prophet Peter Popoff"   and he says that if she pays him $X that she will receive blessings. So I used the return envelope and roasted him with many much scriptures!  It was really fun - haha

Another fun thing is that all the members have been talking us up a lot lately. It feels like they all talk about us behind our backs but I guess its good things! Bishop said they had a conversation about the missionaries during ward council (which we missed) so who knows?!  Its good to feel the support and I feel like the members are becoming better missionaries as well.

Loving the work here.  

Have a great week!

i hate smoking

Hello everyone,

Elder Belnap and I are staying here in Monett

nothing to much going on so far   we are still seeing the same people and doing the same things  

A few cool experiences though:

Last Monday we opened our fridge and said "we have no food"  so we decided to go to the store and get a bunch of food.  Well a member ended up paying for our groceries - that was nice.  And then every day since we have been given food by someone: total of about 5 loaves of homemade bread, dinner leftovers, several pounds of hamburger and a few steaks, 2 gallons of chocolate milk, 4 dozen eggs, and a bunch of other stuff #InStatesMission

Another: We went out with Brother Hoyt (loaded airline pilot), went to go see a family that we are helping to quit smoking.  They had made it for 2 days so we were pumped (gave in day 3 though). After the visit the member asked us: How do you dudes stand it in there?

Us: what do you mean?

Member : That house was so inundated with smoke I could hardly breath; I felt like I was going to pass out!

Us: well I guess we are just used to it - haha

Second hand smoke for days!  It will be strange to not spend tons of time in houses that smell like smoke, pet urine, and sweaty nasty person.

Also something cool I learned or figured out at district meeting: in Helaman 10:4 God tells Nephi that anything that he asks for will be done because Nephi wouldn't ask anything that wasn't righteous and what God wanted.  So I have been pondering what I need to do to be there. In district meeting we talked about promising people blessings. We have the authority and calling to make promises as representatives of the Lord. If we follow the spirit when we make a promise the angels of heaven are waiting to go to work to make it happen.  Talked about some pretty cool experiences with that as well.

Love yall and hope you have a great week  

Happy Day After Easter

Today is the day to go buy easter candy! 

Hope you all had a great Easter. We had a pretty great time and just a great week overall. We went to Bentonville for exchanges with the APs which is always fun. I got to see Jurnie which was pretty cool #shout out. Then we sped back to Monett for District meeting.  Had a good meeting about inspired questions and we did a lot of practicing so it went well.  We stayed really busy the rest of the week. When we weren't in lessons we were out tracting the Prince of Peace video.   We had a great day at church  with some great talks in Sacrament about the Savior.   On Saturday we had 4 meals with members -ugh  it was a lot of food.  Also this week we spent a lot of time with an investigator cleaning out a house that had been abandoned  for a long time so that he can sell it. There was some nasty stuff in there - and also a way nice baby grand piano.  It was a neat find.   

Sorry if this letter has been a bit rambly, I'm kinda lazy today.

This week I just finished studying the Savior in the Topical Guide like President Nelson spoke about. It was a pretty amazing study. I am so grateful for this Easter Season when we have to opportunity to reflect on the Savior's sacrifice for us and his resurrection. I love having the opportunity to be his representative and be a part of His work. I know that He lives and I am blessed by His Atonement every day.

Luke 24:5-6

Love y'all - have a great week!

Spiritual Whirlwinds

Happy Easter Week Everyone!

This has been a pretty good week here.

Started off with general conference: thats' always great.  

On Tuesday we went on splits with the Spanish Elders. They had found a new investigator that they were passing off to us so Elder Belnap went there and I went to go see the Ran clan.

While we were out in the boondocks there happene to be a really bad thunderstorm -  which turned into several tornadoes. It was pretty crazy to watch to storm cloud pass over us. The main path was right where we were at, in a dinky old trailer.   (and sorry no pictures)   So we saw the big shelf cloud (i guess that's what its called) coming toward us and Grandpa Ran was just sitting on the couch saying "its too late" "it'll touch down any second, no point in running now"  So that didn't help!  And as the cloud got close it got really green on one side and the other turned a bright copper color - CRAZY lookin! As soon as the shelf passed us the wind went crazy.  Rain was horizontal, limbs ripping off trees, siding blowing off the trailer, and the youngest Ran had to hold the door closed!  The whole time with huge lightning strikes.   And the power went out.   When we thought we had less of a chance of dying we left.  The road is basically just dirt with some big ruts in it, so way muddy on the way out. I thought we were going to get stuck in our little Altima.  But we made it and didn't die. Fun day!

And our new investigators have a baptismal date, yay!

Wednesday we went on exchanges in Carthage after district meeting. We had some awesome experiences. (See email to President #lazy)

Saturday and Sunday we had Stake conference which was great.   The biggest topic was Missionary work and Family history work. There was a lot of great stuff also because the Temple president came and President Loveland came. Some great meetings.  And while the stake president was talking he gave a shout out to me and Elder Belnap. That was cool!  haha.

That's about it for me.   Have a great week and remember the reason for the season

#PrinceOfPeace

https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/spiritual-whirlwinds

1 To remember General Conference I am planning on Studying the conference Ensign when it comes out. I haven't really done this before and Elder Belnap has had good experiences with it so i want to apply that. Something we have also done that we talked to President Leavitt about is listening to all of the old general conferences. We did that this week with April '71. It is pretty neat to hear what the brethren talked about back then. I think that is another way that i can keep the spirit of conference with me year round.

2 Something that i am doing to put the Savior first is putting him first in my studies. I spend my first 30 min doing the Challenge from President Nelson and then i go into the rest of my study and preparing for investigators. It helps me to start off focusing on the savior and then it is easier to maintain for the rest of the day. I have loved seeing how focusing on the Savior brings more power to our teaching and direction in our lessons. That we are binding people to the Savior and his gospel rather than the church. It has been a good change for me.

We went on Exchanges with Carthage this week. It went really well, I always love going with Elder Nau because amazing things always happen. We helped a new investigator find answers to his questions through the Book of Mormon index, that was really cool. Then we saw 2 people that they had dropped, with one of them we met his house keeper who used to be baptist and had a lot of questions, all of the ones that the gospel answers, and she asked if she could come to church. She lives in Grandby so sisters are teaching her. The other guy was good too. We knocked on the door and his roommate answered and said he wasn't home. As soon as we knocked i felt impressed to invite him to be baptised. He showed up a minute later and we started talking to him. Went over quite a few things and he admitted that he knows the church and BoM are true. Then Elder Nau shared Alma 32:16. I had been trying to resist the prompting (bad thing) the whole time but when he read that i knew i needed to. So i invited, at first he avoided the question and got us water haha but then we asked again and he agreed It was an intense experience with the spirit. i am grateful for the way that the spirit works in us and the Lord has his hand in the work.

Conference Week

Morning Youins!

This has been a pretty stacked week. Lots of meetings and instruction. We started off with MLC on Tuesday in Bentonville - was a solid day. Both President and Sister Loveland pulled me aside one on one to talk to me.  Apparently our Stake President that I had gone on exchanges with had been talking me up: that's never a good thing.  President also gave us a $200 budget for our zone to pilot all of the ideas that we have had. Pretty cool deal! So most of Wednesday was doing that kind of business.   Thursday we had our Zone training and Interviews with the Lovelands.  Was a good time. We ended up not getting a lunch so we all went to Braums.  We also ended up having Steven (an Investigator) come with us. It was fun.  Friday we tried to get people ready for conference but didn't have much luck. We did have a launch party for the Easter Video and then went to our WML's daughters wedding reception (which we left to go play street ball). The court was basically plastic and wet so it was awful but I still managed to pull out the win from being down 10. It felt good haha!   Then the last 2 days we have just been conference party hopping   Met with a lot of great members,  But we could not get any investigators to watch.  WHY can we get 20 people to come to church for 3 hours but when they can sit on the couch for 2 and eat food, they can't seem to manage that?  idk - frustrating  . . .

hope yall enjoied conference as much as I did.

"sleeping in church is the healthiest kind of sleep there is"

Lots of great council and messages especially for nonmembers which I thought was cool

Have a great week

The "Prince of Peace" Storm

Hey yall

This week has been pretty pack and a ton of fun.

Wednesday we had a Zone Conference (I got to conduct for the first time)

and we learned a lot of good things.  We also got to watch the new Easter video #Prince of Peace.

after zone conference we went on exchanges and that is when the storm happened. Brain Storm!

We spent several days thinking of new and big ways to share the initiative and be missionaries.   We had some big ideas

-Setting up traveling visitor centers for the initiative
-Getting posters for businesses
-Ads and articles in the Newspaper
-Ad on the radio (WML said he could pay for that)
-Having a ward Launch Party to watch the video
-Sharing the video with other congregations

We are working through most of them and trying to minimize costs.  I feel like an important business man calling all of these people and making things happen.  It is cool to see because the fire spread to the rest of our zone and they are all on board.   We have had some good success with investigators this week. I went on a split with the Stake President and it was a pretty amazing night. Got a lot of great advice and learned a lot from him.   As usual I am really enjoying my time here and having a blast.

 Funny story of the week.  I got my hammock (thanks mom) and so we set it up on some hooks that were already in the wall.  It worked great for a bit and then my comp fell out and hurt himself.  So we had to put them up in a new spot.   So I got in and fell 5 feet to the ground - that hurt.  We tried again and he fell again.  Then we did some thinking and decided that we couldn't have the hammock super tight or it will pull the hooks out of the wall but when it was slacked and angled they don't pull out.  So now we have a hammock and it will be a great addition for exchanges be cause we only have one extra mattress.  

Anyway, we have to go to Joplin today to get a recall on our car fixed.   

Hope youins have a great week

Good Morning

Hello everyone! Hope You are enjoying your first day of spring!

Things are still going great here in Monett. No complaints about the first few days of this transfer. We are still doing a lot of work with the members here and are teaching a lot of great people because of it.

One exciting thing that happened this week I suppose was that we had dinner with a member who has the Largest Private collection of church history stuffs.  He was a major contributor to most of the Joseph Smith papers project and has donated most of his collection to the church. Way cool stuff!  

Another thing that we have been doing to save car miles(mission is tightening down on that) is what we call member surfing.  We get picked up by a member for an appointment  and then they drop us off at our next appointment.  Just gambling on whether we will get a ride or not.   It makes things more exciting for sure.

Not sure if I have mentioned this already or not but this transfer I am studying every reference under the topic of Jesus Christ, From a challenge given by President Neilson.  Study that for 30 min every day for 6 weeks to go over 2,000+ scriptures about the savior.

Anyway love you all and have a great week!  

Original Book of Mormon

TORNADO!

Hey everyone! We have transfers tomorrow but we are both staying here in Monett.  I am way excited.

We had a lot go on so we will se what all I remember:

Saturday we had a baptism. It went great and it even snowed for it so we got some good pictures. We also had an actual tornado near us. We got some big hail and had to spend the evening at the Stake President's house. It is pretty stressful making sure that none of the missionaries that I am in charge of die.

Also, we went to a resturant called the Bayou. It was way good but expensive. I got aligator and crawfish and then we shared some raw oysters. I enjoyed it. The Oysters tasted like home smells so it was a good time. haha

Nothing else too much. We are starting to get really busy again so I like that.

I'll send a bunch of good pics when I get to a computer that can do that.

After a 6 week analysis of Missouri we have defined what is smells like:

Sweat, urine and stale smoke, with a lot of pet hair.

Well we are going to lunch now,

Love yall

17 Months!

Hey everyone. Not Feeling to hot today so I am going to keep it short.

We had a long week with interviews and exchanges.  We had 4 exchanges in a row this week.  It was pretty exhausting.  Also for interviews when I met with sister Loveland. Normally she prays for you similar to a patriarchal blessing,  But this time she started and then said "Please bless him...... and then a 60 second pause(i recorded it) and then "amen".   Way crazy!   stupor of thought   She said that the Lord had something more powerful than prayer for me at this time

Besides that the work is going great. Melissa is getting baptized this week and we are making good progress with a few other families.  We actually got to teach in the Stake Presidents home yesterday with someone that he invited to church.  And we have 2 more lessons with him this week.  Love working with him.

Also Tim and Miranda from Fayetteville got baptized recently too. It is so good to see when people stick around and make it to baptism.

Love the gospel and being a missionary

Happy Monday!

I just wanna punch em in da head

"You can only wear your fist out so much punching people in the head"

-Ran Davis III (Mom note - Ran Davis is a recent convert from Mississippi. Bayou folk. Ran Davis II, III, IV all live together in a trailer.  Taylor says he wants to take a voice recorder next time they visit because it's always a hoot)

This has been a pretty good week. It was really odd but we made do. Seems like most everything that we had planned fell through. But we have been able to teach a good amount of people. An 18 year old we are teaching set a baptismal date for the 11th of March. She just moved here from California to live with her Aunt and Uncle who are members. She has had a pretty rough past so were are really excited for her.

We also had a lesson with a traveling preacher guy named Richard. He is pretty sure that the Book of Mormon is true and he knows Joseph Smith actually saw God. It is way cool because he believes that there needs to be a restoration of Gods church and believes basically the same things we do, and has come that that through his study of the Bible. It is so cool to see that. He just doesn't quite realize that the church is exactly what he is looking for.

We are working with a few other families that will hopefully end up doing really well.

We are also working with several people that members have found for us to teach.  I love it, it is basically the best thing ever.

On Sunday we got to teach the 15-16 year old Sunday school class which was a ton of fun. We got out PMG and had them all teach a point in pairs. It went well and they really enjoyed it. there is just a really good group of kids here.

There are just a lot of cool things happening here in Monett and in the rest of our zone. It is awesome to see the way the culture of our mission and our wards is changing. it all comes from the keys.

Loving my time as a missionary serving the Lord.

Have a great week.