Monday, November 30, 2015

I HIT HALFWAY!!
I hit halfway! Crazy! We celebrated with some cookie dough ice cream. And Lewis called and sang "Happy 9 Month" to me. :)

Thanksgiving! I hope y’alls was great! We ate with Katie and her family! Lewis and Ponce came too! Katie's fam was awesome for letting the 4 of us crash the party. We ate tons of good food and got to chill for a few hours and hang out with Katie and our mommas! 


KATIE!
SADIE!
CAIDEN!


And then from there we went on exchanges and.....I got to go back to Russellville with Lewis!! Best Ever! We went straight to the Barreras house and saw them! We ended up eating Thanksgiving dinner with them and Veronica! Turns out they just eat normal Mexican food, which I certainly wasn't opposed to at all. It was delicious and they were excited to see me! It’s crazy that I ended up being "home" on Thanksgiving. God is too good. 
VERONICA AND BARRERAS
GERALD BARRERA

We also got to see Daniella and we went to the rest home and saw Billie! We also saw the Brag family!! 
BRAGG FAMILY
I GOT TO SEE COCO

It was so much fun to be back with Lewis for a day. We kept saying "yep nothing has changed" haha I went right back into my old routine and routes and investigators and everything. During the exchange we did 2 "pre-baptism interview" questions with gators. They both got baptized this last weekend (yes, Russ Vegas is still bumpin’) I don't know if I mentioned them before but one was Kyleeann-she was a miracle phone call we got one day from a member who said his daughter in law wants to be baptized. And the other is Amanda, who was another little miracle we found while contacting less actives. So it was fun to see them! Don't worry, I really do love Danville too! But c’mon Russellville is home, and everyone likes a day out with mom. :)
THEY NOW HAVE BED BUGS SO WE SLEPT ON THE GOOD OLE TILE!

Hmm.. what else..

Oh yea, we found a family of 9 this week! (they are the "golden nuggets" I refer to in the video). They all are super young families and are new to the area, looking for a church. One has even had discussions with elders before in Missouri. We committed all of them to come to church and they were excited about it, so we found them all rides and then all 9 bailed. Sweet is the work. Still golden nuggets though. ;)

We had a nice little run in with a man that is convinced that Christ isn't the son of God and that we all came from star dust and that after this life we all will turn into star dust. We just kinda sat there with smiles on our faces and let him run circles around himself. "Smile and wave boys, just smile and wave" haha  These kind of conversations are super rare because we hardly ever find people who don't believe in Christ down here, so I love being able to just simply testify of Christ. 

I love my comp. She can be real quiet and then out of nowhere she will do or say something hilarious and has be about peeing my pants. I love her lots! 
WHENEVER I ASK MAC TO TAKE A PIC FOR ME, SHE ALWAYS TAKES AWESOME SELFIES. I TOLD HER I WAS GOING TO START SENDING THEM HOME AND SHE DIDN'T BELIEVE ME! :) HEEHEE

A RECENT CONVERT SHOWED UP TO CHURCH WITH PIE FOR US. WE LOVE HIM! (A LITTLE ASHAMED THAT WE ATE SOME OF IT FOR A NIGHTLY PLANNING SNACK!)

We had a less active come to church for the first time in YEARS. YEARS I TELL YOU! When she walked into sacrament meeting I about fell off my seat. Truly a miracle. Especially because we weren't able to go see her this week so we really were not expecting her at all. 
WALK DAY IN OLA
WE DROVE ACROSS THAT BRIDGE LAST WEEK. TONS OF FLOODING THIS WEEK

The first couple weeks here were a little bit slow but now the weeks are starting to pick up again. I still feel like we are running in place a little bit with the work though. I can't really find the words to explain the work in Danville...There is certainly a reason that God has 7 missionaries in one little baby branch. We have potential baptisms that are so so close, but now are kind of at a standstill. I just see so much potential with this branch and I keep praying and asking what we need to do for this area..and my answers seem to be EVERYTHING. THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO BUT I JUST DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO IT ALL. If that makes sense...I ran across Alma37:6 this morning in studies..”small and simple things are great things brought to pass.” I think that’s my answer. 
This branch WILL be a ward someday!!

Love Y’all
Les Quiero


P.S. IT’S BASKETBALL SEASON! GO LAYTON! TAKE STATE! AHHH I LOVE Y’ALL! 
MOM SENT ME A KITTY SHIRT

DISTRICT MEETING 
(MAC, YO, SPECK, ALLRED, FOSTER)

NOCHE DE HOGAR - FHE WITH SPANISH MEMBERS
 
STUDY ROOM

Monday, November 23, 2015

#BLESSED BECAUSE OF SMALL TOWNS AND 
#BLESSED BECAUSE OF ANSWERED PRAYERS
MY STUDY OUTFIT

I hit hump day this week!! AHHHH!!!  I don't think I really wanna come home though. 
anyways..

#Blessed moments of the week:

We had an early Thanksgiving with the Torgerson family. (missionaries refer to them as the "Utah Mormon" family) so blessed because extra thanksgiving ;)

On Friday, I took an awesome 45 minute nap during lunch and I woke up so pumped to go out and work and it turned out to be the best day ever! We contacted a guy and his girlfriend. We found him outside his apartment complex skateboarding and we went up and asked if he knew any families in the area. He replied..'uhh..mine!" So we went back and taught both of them, they have a 3 month old baby too! Such a sweet little family! They committed to baptism! So we set 2 dates and found 4 new solid gators all in one day and it was just the best. 

We had 3 less actives we have been working with come to church this week! YAHOO! 

We had specialized/zone meeting this week and got to see our moms! When we went on the blitz the 4 of us all got to go together! So fun to be with them! 

I can still do handstand pushups. #novembermiracle I did a total of like 6 the entire week and I was so sore. Hahah.  Ahh the missionary life is the best!

We went and taught a member, who is having some issues with the doctrine. He immediately whipped out the Old Testament and started using big words, and crazy names that I've never heard of (I'll admit, I know close to nothing about the Old Testament) and he knows close to everything about it. And this is one of my favorite parts about being a missionary. When this kind of thing happens, not even a bash at all, just some sort of disagreement on a subject that I don't know enough about to defend, that’s when the spirit works the strongest. I wish I could describe the feeling. My hands start to tingle and I just feel so warm inside and I know exactly how to respond to things and I feel so calm. It’s when the spirit reaffirms my testimony so strongly. It’s those moments when I feel the authority of my calling the most.  

I love Baby Mac. She is so funny! We are getting along so well!! I don't even feel like I'm training her because she is so smart! I love her!
MAC DADDY AND I

Not so #blessed moments

I translated again..and at one point I got so lost and behind I just pulled up "The Family, a Proclamation to the World" in Spanish and just started reading it. hahaha oh dear

We were on our way to Russellville to catch a ride on the transfer van to Little Rock for a meeting..and just as we were leaving Danville I got pulled over =/ but so #blessed because all he said was "you’re going 11 over so slow down" and then walked away. What a good guy. 

I've ate more cereal this week than I have my entire mission. Sometimes we have it for lunch and dinner haha. I guess this is kind of a #blessed thing too because Cinnamon Life is delicious. 

It’s gotten to the point where we eat things that are "less expired" Everything in this place is expired. We've had to dig in the back of the cupboards for meals this week so it’s been pretty amazing what we were able to find. If it’s been expired for less than a year, we eat it. hahaha so gross. In fact we have some rock hard corn bread in the kitchen right now that we made tonight. We smothered it in milk and honey though so it turned out to be fine. Don't worry though, I'm sure as you all can tell..I'm not starving ;) haha

We had 3 tornado warnings this week. One was real and 2 were our practice emergency drills. I'll send a fun little vid on that. 

Saturday night I lost my wallet. We searched the car and the apartment and it was nowhere to be found. I was starting to get a little nervous. We started retracing our steps and thought we should go check Dollar General. We walked in and asked one of the workers if they'd found a wallet in there, she said "Oh yea Miss Linda found it under her car! I'll call her for you!" WHAT ARE THE ODDS?! #blessed because small towns and #blessed because answered prayers. So we met up with Miss Linda, who now is our friend ha and she gave me my wallet back!

Ok now for the grand finale story. All week our car has smelled awful. We searched it up and down and couldn't figure out where it was coming from! We just figured we'd give it a good cleaning on P-day and blamed it on Danville because Danville gives off some crazy smells sometimes (lots of chicken plants). Well Sunday afternoon we had just got back from church and were on our way out to head to visit some less actives. Baby Mac was backing me..and our car made a really crazy sound. Mac went to the front to see what was going on and made a terrifying face. My first thought was "oh crap the front bumper fell off" (I may or may not have driven off a slight cliff/curb earlier this week and we weren't sure if I had done any damage) So I figured that’s what happened, and that would have been bad enough!! I hurry and get out and look, and instead...ahhhh this is the worst. But it was a cat seizing and squirting blood from it’s head!!!! Easily the most traumatizing thing that has happened on my mission. We both just froze and went pale. We stood behind the car so we couldn't see it and started making phone calls and no one was answering. After about 15 minutes of standing there without the slightest clue what to do, a man and his family came home and parked next to us and we asked him to take care of it. He was a champ and totally did. Now we just have blood in the parking lot and our car. WORST THING THAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED. Every time we see a gosh darn cat now, Mac has to make somethin smart to say. haha  .....we did figure out what the smell was though...dumb cats have been hiding out under our car! So #blessed because our car smells better now..it’s just covered in blood and I'm going to have nightmares for the rest of my life about a seizing cat that I killed. WORST EVER. 
DONE KILLED THE CAT

On a lighter note, President Uchdorf sums up this week perfectly "It (the gospel) is beautifully simple, and it works beautifully." We are running into a lot of issues with members who are digging so deep into the doctrine and are getting so worked up over "non-salvation" related things, spending hours researching/watching history channel attempting to find some miraculous piece of information that our prophets haven't already found, yet somehow in the midst of all this studying forget to attend church each Sunday. We are always encouraged to ask questions and seek answers for ourselves but I wanted to see what our prophets and apostles had to say about it. 

I was told in my priesthood blessing last week that all the answers to my questions would be found in the recent general conference. And they sure were! 

President Uchtdorf kills it. I wish I could summarize this in my own words but he says it too perfectly. He said: (as you read you have to imagine his voice, it makes it so much better ;) 

"Sometimes, the truth may just seem too straightforward, too plain, and too simple for us to fully appreciate its great value. So we set aside what we have experienced and know to be true in pursuit of more mysterious or complicated information. Hopefully we will learn that when we chase after shadows, we are pursuing matters that have little substance and value.

"I wish I could help everyone to understand this one simple fact: we believe in God because of things we know with our heart and mind, not because of things we do not know.  
If we can put the burden of proof on God, we think we can excuse ourselves from taking God’s commandments seriously and from taking responsibility for our relationship with our Heavenly Father."

"Let me be clear: there is nothing noble or impressive about being cynical. Skepticism is easy--anyone can do it. It is the faithful life that requires moral strength, dedication, and courage. Those who hold fast to faith are far more impressive than those who give in to doubt when mysterious questions or concerns arise."

Well that answers that. 
For this week’s study I'm going to see if the scrips say anything about a kitty heaven. 

Have a #blessed week

Love y’all 
Les quiero 

THEY LOVE MY RAIN BOOTS

Monday, November 16, 2015

LOTS TO DO. LOTS TO STUDY. LOTS TO WORK ON!
SISTER KASAW

This week I had to use a sewing machine. We made pot holders for an enrichment activity and I didn't break anything and I sewed really not so straight lines but I did it and I have a dorky little pot holder to prove it! 

We had a hot dog roast with Sally and Linda this week. Sally was a missionary here 12 years ago and converted Linda and now they live together and are the best of friends and it’s the cutest thing ever. They fed us hot dogs, smores and hot chocolate and we sat around the fire and visited. Such a fun night!! Love them!
SALLY AND LINDA'S HOT DOG ROAST

We prepared, prayed and fasted all week for a special lesson on Saturday. We wanted to teach the importance of the age of accountability to the parents and help this sweet girl feel like she was ready too. The morning before the lesson we received a lot of clarity of exactly what we needed to teach for her and felt so good about it! We were in the middle of our fast and were just so excited to go see her! We felt for sure this was our miracle we've been waiting and preparing for! So we went and taught, everything went according to plan, we felt that going through the baptismal questions with her would indicate whether she was ready or not and could prove to us, her parents and her that she was ready, and we also did a little activity with them explaining baptism. It all went smoothly and she knew all the answers for the baptismal questions. Her parents were on board and agreed that she was ready as long as she felt ready. The happy ending to this story would have been "she said she wants to be baptized tomorrow! But nope, she said she wants to wait a month. She wasn't really sure why...we don't really know if she knows how long a month is..but her parents didn't want us to push it so we left it at that.  We left feeling pretty sad. We put our whole hearts preparing for that lesson, and it did go well we just didn't get the result we thought would come. We feel like so far we haven't seen the miracles that we were expecting. The hardest thing for me is to decipher between my lack of faith/work between God’s will. At least the parents are on board now too! We did get a step closer...we are just waiting a month now haha. There is still time for big miracles! God’s timing. I hate that sometimes. 

We had a lesson with a less active's son. We taught the Restoration and it was one of the better lessons I've had on my mission. We teach the Restoration more than any other lesson and I love it. It’s so simple and clear to me now and it’s cool to see how far my teaching has come. The Restoration brings the spirit more than any other lesson in my opinion. At the end we invited one of them to say the prayer, they both declined. After waiting for a minute in silence she said "well I do have some things I'd like to say" She dove right into a prayer and apologized to God for falling away and for not doing what she needs to be doing. We also were able to set a date with him. 

Sunday morning in ward council President Hall introduced some things that were going to be discussed in the upcoming weeks and months. Anyone who attended ward council this last week most likely discussed the same thing. For the last little while The First Presidency has asked the church to emphasize on keeping the Sabbath day holy by coming and partaking of the sacrament. The goal was to increase the spirituality of members everywhere. Now the next part of this is being introduced and we are being asked to model gospel living within the homes, to teach one another to live the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout our week within the family unit at home. It has been made very clear that (PROCLOMATION TOFAMILY) the parents are responsible for making sure that their children are living the gospel fully and are in consistent progression back to their Heavenly Father. It’s obvious looking around the world today, especially as missionaries we see it up close face to face, that families and parents all over the world are not doing that. 

This conversation really struck me. I didn't have to translate this week, or investigators to sit by so I had the entire sacrament to be lost in my thoughts. I've realized I receive the best revelation for myself among the spirit during church. I'm going to attempt to collect all of my thoughts and I want to share some of them. 

First I had an overwhelming appreciation for my family. The primary song "Love is Spoken Here" came to mind. I'm grateful for a mother, who like the song, made my siblings and I, as a family gather together to pray, despite all of our grumbles and complaints.  A mother who prayed for me. A mother who took us to church every week and enforced young women activities and seminary. We were not perfect, sometimes our "family nights" weren't as spiritual as they should have been (Walking Dead and SYTYCD;), we weren't 100% with everything, but the spirit was felt in my home and I knew what God expected of me.  I grew up with 3 loving parents who were involved in my life, who expected a lot out of me, and who implemented the principals of the gospel in our home. (PLEA TO MY SISTERS, recent conf talks)

This week was hard. We didn't see a lot of progression with investigators or less actives. Our sacrament attendance was poor and some of the member’s testimonies are wavering. My heart aches for the families who aren't living the gospel of Jesus Christ or who won't except it and aren't receiving the blessings waiting for them. I feel and see the casualness about things that are not in any way casual. We are so good at making excuses. I do it all the time. 
I've heard and I've given too many excuses as to why we can't fulfill our duty as disciples of Jesus Christ, in fact just this past week I've heard oh I dunno upwards of a dozen and I've given the same amount too.  And I can't help but think of the day when we stand before Christ and try to give him the same list of excuses face to face. It's time for me to tear up that list. 

I'm excited to help encourage and apply this new announcement our prophet has given. We plan to get into more member and less active homes and help them strengthen their families. 
Y'all will be learning this real soon and have the chance to apply and improve on these things as well. I have a testimony that the gospel of Jesus Christ is lead by Jesus Christ and right now that is what He needs us to do. This is what we are lacking. He has called a prophet, Thomas S Monson to be His mouth piece and because we have a living, latter day prophet, Jesus Christ can still be the head of His church and help us learn what we need to learn and change what we need to change. 

Speaking of prophets, that’s been a hot topic lately too. We haven't seen the news but we hear enough to know that testimonies are being shaken because of the recent statements made by our prophet. I remember having a conversation with my mom years ago. It was about drinking coffee and having extra piercings. Those commandments didn't make sense to me really, I thought they were silly. She told me that she didn't have all the answers but that she knew that a prophet asked us to avoid those things, and what the prophet says is what God wants and therefore basically we should "get on board." haha I loved that. And because of that, whatever our Prophet has to say is of God. I sustain him, I know he is called of God, therefore, I don't questions what he says. I get on board.

It's saddening to hear that people are leaving the church and I can't imagine all the nasty media comments that are going around. But at the end of the day we know what is true and nothing that anyone else says changes that. "I fear not what man can do" Moroni 8:16

President Wakolo asks that whenever we enter into a new area we get a blessing from the Bishop/President. I think I say this every time I get a blessing but this one was so incredibly powerful. I do not know this man yet I received specific guidance that were answers to prayers that I've been waiting for for weeks now. Only God has the power to do that. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but I suspect that I will be in Danville for some time, and I've realized that my purpose in Danville is different than in Russellville. We need to spend more time on the members here and bring back those that have wandered. There is so much work to do; the biggest issue is not having enough hours in our day. I was also assured that the work I'm doing now is preparing me and my family not just for this life but for the eternities as well. 

I'm approaching my 9 month mark. And I wanted to be able to have some sort of list of all the things I've learned. I realized that’s not very realistic, but some of the bigger things that God has made clear that I need to learn is how to raise my future family. He has been preparing me for my calling as a mom. I wasn't much of a babysitter growing up, but out here I'm drawn to the kids. I love teaching them, and I've learned how to understand gospel doctrine in a way that I can explain it simply to children. My mission has strengthened my testimony more than I ever could have imagined. I feel I am a more stable and converted disciple of Jesus Christ because of my mission. And I feel in the world we live in, I have to be. 

Lots to do, lots to study, lots to work on. 
 The Church is true =)

Love y’all
Les quiero 

THANKS GRANDMA FOR THE CUTE CHRISTMAS TREE! WE LOVE IT!

Monday, November 9, 2015

YEP, I'M IN DANVILLE NOW!!!
HERMANA MACFARLANE

Well the biggest Novermber miracle so far is that I was taken from my home and Mom (Hermana Lewis) and I are still alive. Yep, I'm in Danville now!

OUR COMPANIONSHIPS SWITCHED

We got a call Tuesday morning during studies from the AP's...which we knew right off the bat that that was a bad sign. And yep I was told that I was transferred. It didn't take us long for us to find out I would be going to Danville. I was fine for the most of the day. I packed (I had to buy a bucket from Wal-Mart because I have too much stuff now!) and went out to eat lunch and had appointments to be to. I felt ready for a new adventure and was trying to be strong all day...and then that night it hit me and since I was told last minute that I was leaving I didn't have much time to say goodbye to anyone. So I only saw a handful of families...I was heartbroken. 
AMBER AND JAKE
BRAGG FAMILY
VERONICA
MADDY
DANIELA, JAMIE & ELIZABETH 
(SAYING GOODBYE TO THIS FAMILY IS WHEN I LOST IT. I WASN'T EVEN THEIR ORIGINAL MISSIONARIES AND IT WAS SO INCREDIBLE THE LOVE THEY SHOWED ME. DANIELA SAID A BEAUTIFUL PRAYER AND WE GAVE LOTS OF HUGS. AND THEN NEXT SUMMER WHEN I GET HOME...SALT LAKE TEMPLE:) I LOVE THEM.)

Sam Smith came and hung out with us at the apartment for a little bit and came with ice cream and we chatted and reminisced. 
 SAM SMITH

None of the missionaries have a lot of sympathy though, everyone kept saying "yea welcome to the mission you greenies, this is how everyone else feels every transfer." haha It was pretty amazing that we lasted 5 transfers so I can't complain. It's just weird being with someone 24/7 and then all of a sudden they are just gone! All I knew of my mission was Russellville with Lewis! 
ALL HERMANAS (MINUS 2) AT TRANSFERS
SOME OF THE SPANISH GANG - "LA RAZA"!

So here is a little memorial of Lewis & I:
-Our tornado alarm going off at 3 in the morning and so we both decided to unplug it-rather die in a tornado than get woken up by that thing ever again. haha we hate that thing.
-After recording miles at the end of the night one of us always forgets to turn off the car light...every.single.time.
-Frogs and cockroaches greeting us when we come home at night
-Powerade Slushies from Sonic after sports night
-We went through a ridiculous amount of Raisin Bran in the last 7 months. We had our Monday Wal-Mart grocery shopping routes down to a science. 
-Her jaw pops when she eats
-She loves brushing her teeth
-every night before going to bed we'd say "te quiero, buenas noches"
-belting T-Swift on bike week
-Holding our breath on 16th St because it smelled like dead armadillo
-Being so lost in Spanish Sunday School...finding seats in the back and keeping our heads down so we wouldn't get called on. haha
-An incredible amount of illegal U-turns to avoid having to back each other
-her soft snore that I've gotten used to haha
-Sharing each other’s clothes...2 closets was the best
-She still gets lost in Russellville.I'd have to direct her everywhere
-Our Memphis road trips blasting music and telling stories
-Running every morning-she had to be on the right side
-After long exchanges we would each go buy a pint of Ben and Jerry's "Tonight Dough" and eat the entire thing in the target parking lot. 
-She hates my lancer blanket because it’s huge and I had to take it everywhere 
-Counting all of our bug bites (knock on wood but the day I left they got bed bugs, hahah. I don’t think they came here with us!) 
-Freddo's was our favorite frozen yogurt place...always finding excuses to go
-laughing our pants off of videos that Char sent
And so so much more 
I love Lewis. She is a lifelong friend I found on my mission. 


But good news is my new companion Hermana Mcfarland is the best too! I'm follow up training her, she has only been out 6 weeks. (And technically she is follow up training me...so we are each other’s "dads") she is from cedar hills! And what’s way fun is she is so much like Olivia! Sometimes she says or does something and I'm like AHHH ITS LIV! haha 
 MAC AND I

So yep I'm in Danville. It’s tinsy. Danville has the population of 2,409. It's only about 30 miles from Russellville so I didn't go too far! Our boundaries touch and in fact Bishop Stokes used to be the branch President here! So there are a lot of connections between the two which has been fun for me. At church this Sunday Bishop Stokes mom was here in the Danville branch. It felt so good to see a familiar face! It was hard to work so hard in Russellville and really get things cranking to come to a new area and relearn everything. It felt like a slow week since I'm trying to meet everyone and get settled into the work here. What is real cool though it right now they are in the process of really pushing this branch to turn into a ward. They are getting real close and it’s fun to be here at this time and play a big part in the urgency right now! 

 Oh man y’all will get a kick out of this...there are a small handful of Spanish families here in the Danville area..and since its all one branch..I have to TRANSLATE! I sit in the very back with my headphones on and talk into a microphone and they have their little headphones on too and listen to me. Oh my gosh...I was so nervous. For prayers and church vocabulary stuff I'm fine for the most part..but of course this week they talked about veterans and military and wars and all sorts of crazy vocabulary that missionaries don't use! =/ I kept apologizing and just had to summarize and sit in silence quite a bit..haha so embarrassing. It'll be a big learning experience though :/ I'm also supposed to be teaching poor Hermana Macfarlane this language..her first trainer was fluent in Spanish so I'm definitely a down grade. haha I need the gift of tongues X10. 

Another fun part about Danville is that there is a senior couple here! The Brooksbys! At first I was a little unsure what to expect working with them, but it’s actually been real good! They cook for us and take us out to eat and drive us when we don't want to use our miles. They also are sweet member presents for us! ha And its real helpful because they mostly focus on less actives and when they find investigators they give them to us. And they do funny things like leave their car blinker on for a really long time and get in little arguments about what restaurant to eat at that keep Macfarlane and me laughing. haha 

Monday night back in Russellville we contacted Wendy, she was found during the Russellville blitz and we couldn't get a hold of her. It actually was a cool story; she had been in the shower praying for an experience that would help her feel God, and then the missionaries knocked on her door. She has felt disconnected with God for the last 4 years and didn’t know why she couldn't feel Him anymore. She has felt extremely alone and depressed. I felt an immediate connection with Wendy and it broke my heart to leave her. She was so receptive and recognized that missionaries were a sign God was watching over her. She admitted that for a while she was ignoring us and didn't want to answer the door but was so surprised that we wouldn't give up on her, she was in tears when she saw that we remembered her name and told her that for some reason God kept wanting us to come back. Which was the truth, normally when people don't answer a certain amount of times we eventually stop going by, but we kept being led back to her door. I'm sad I don't get to watch her progress. But it was an incredible experience for me. It was one of those moments where you feel overwhelmed with your calling as a missionary. It’s a humbling feeling, and a huge reminder that God is in control, and that the spirit is directing us even when we don't realize it. 

Not sure if y’all remember but back in August I sent a picture of us next to a lake at a baptism! It was a Nix family baptism, and they are in this branch! So I've met this family a few times and we know each other fairly well already. The parents were baptized this summer; they have 6 kids with one on the way! They are an incredibly spiritual family, and they have an 8 & 9 year old that we are teaching and preparing for baptism right now! 
 ZIPPY AND ANGEL NIX

I don't doubt that God wants me here, and it’s been comforting to have those little moments where I truly feel like I'm in the right place. In my setting apart blessing I was told that I am put in a place where I can make a difference. Although I didn't feel quite ready to leave Russellville I still feel that I've been placed in Danville at this time to be able to make a difference. 

Love y’all
Te quiero
THE EASTMANS 
(THEY HAD ME GET ALL GEARED UP IN ARKANSAS STUFF. HAHA THEY ARE HUGE FANS!)