Called to Serve

Monday, February 10, 2014

First Transfer will happen this week! Bittersweet! but mostly bitter
















WHATS UP FAMILY!
Well........the Cooksey's are a great family. Chris is really hanging in there. He said he's a real warrior mormon, we never give up on anything nor anyone. I just love them so much. They say they can't wait to meet you!  It is going to be hard to leave Searcy!!

Well the email that was just sent was Chris's, not mine. I typed the "Whats up family" part and he did all the  "real warrior mormon" stuff. s  I am going to miss this family! Anyways......I got the call this morning......and the time is here! I am getting transferred. So ya its been a pretty sad weekend. I actually knew on Tuesday. We asked President Petersen about it and he said I was leaving. He said I needed "new experiences." So I am pretty sad about the whole deal. It still hasn't really hit me yet though.
 
So this week has gone by so fast. We have been everywhere it seems like! Tuesday we went over to North Little Rock for Mission Council. Thats always a really good meeting. After that we stopped at a members pet shop in Cabot where we taught the restoration to 2 of his employees! It was awesome! Then they took us out to a chinese restaurant where I chowed down on some monkey brain.
 
On wednesday we had zone meeting here in Searcy. Elder Soelberg and i focused on the Book of Mormon and chapter 5 of Preach my Gospel. We went over the power of the Book of Mormon and how we can use it as a finding tool and to respond to every objection. It was a good meeting!
 
After that we went on exchanges with the Paragould elders and I stayed here with Elder Freestone. We had some good experiences! On Wednesday we drove up to Paragould and exchanged back, and then Elder Soelberg and I drove through Missiouri to Blytheville and blitzed their area. It was sweet! I got to do some baptismal interviews for some awesome people. I worked with an Elder from St. David, AZ who is actually going home tomorrow. We stayed the night at their place and just slept on their couches.  The next day we drove to Jonesboro and did work in that area with the missionaries there. Its been crazy!! We have not been in Searcy that much this week but we were able to go teach this family the Schulists and teach them. They have a 9 year old son named Kaia that hadn't been baptized yet so we went over and taught their family and prepared him. Its a single mother and she is awesome. She has been less active for a long time but its been amazing to watch the change take place as we taught them and as they have read the Book of Mormon together. The first time it was a little awkward going over there for some reason, it just didn't feel that comfortable. The lesson went well though and the next day we went over there and it was completely different. They said they had been reading the Book of Mormon together and we could tell before they even said anything. You could really feel the difference. Things just got better and better progressing towards the baptism and at the baptism the mom gave a talk on the Holy Ghost that was so powerful. They are so much happier now! I wish you could see the difference. On sunday when they pulled up to the church parking lot the mom got out and saw us and had the biggest smile on and did like this fist pump! It was was awesome! Experiences like that make every sacrifice of a mission worth it. To be able to be apart of bringing a family together through the Gospel.
 
One more cool story: Remember the guy that is Brigham Youngs descendant? He heard about how we give priesthood blessings so last week he asked for a blessing for his sight and memory. That he would be able to see more clearly and remember things better. So we were able to give him a blessing and afterwards he said his eyes had immediately started to "open up." It was cool but he still couldn't see that well and I hadn;t really though about it until yesterday Sister Easter called and told us he can see patterns now! Everything used to be a blur but now he can see patterns and read!! The Priesthood power is real. I have 2 more miracles that happened to me that testify to that but they will take to long to type.
 
Anyways yesterday was really sad. It was my last sunday and it was sad saying bye to everyone. We have like 8 dinner between today and tomorrow though because people want to feed us before I go. Man.....this is kinda bitter sweet, mostly bitter, almost all bitter.  but I guess it needs to happen.  I love you all so much!  Thanks for your support!