February 25, 2015 - "And it came to pass...actually it was just a big snowball in the face!"

Hello on the Homefront!

Just to make all of you deeply jealous, check this out!

Now, if  you aren't incredibly jealous, it is probably because you are somewhere in the Eastern half of the US and are absolutely sick of the stuff. Now, to take away the jealous-ness, here's something you can be glad you don't have!

Mmm. Yummy, right? (*cough cough gag*) If you want a Jar, just let me know. I'll just print off a haz-mat symbol to put on the package first! Lol

Anywho, the snow here is awesome. This is what it looks like as of about an hour ago:

Sister Tu'ifua, one of the missionaries here in Morrilton, is originally from Tonga, so naturally I talk about how wonderful the snow and cold is as much as possible while I'm in her presence. She shows her appreciation for my kindness by repeatedly giving me Tongan Death-Glares and threatening to eat my dog, all the while doing her very best to not shiver! She goes home in 6 weeks to her island paradise, so this is good for her. Her companion, Sister Neal, goes home tomorrow, so she will be getting a new companion for her last transfer! As they were leaving the building just a few minutes ago, Elder Ford and I ran outside and started throwing snowballs at them both. Sister Neal returned fire, but Sister Tu'ifua hurried and jumped in the car. Just before they drove off I ran to Tu'ifua's window and drew a large smiley face with the tongue sticking out on the window in the snow plastered there. Just a little something to remember us Elders by. ;D

And speaking of transfers, both Elder Ford and Elder Petty will be leaving! This means the end of all the poorly thought out puns we think up as we walk around, but that's perfectly OK! I'm looking forward to getting a new comp and just tearing it up here in Morrilton. I've got no ideas what is going down, but I just know it's going to be great.

A few highlights from this past week:

>T** has started smoking again, this time cigars. He says those will be easier for him to stop in the near future. We will be going over the 15-step Stop Smoking program every missionary has to help him stop again. It's all up to him though on whether it works or not.

>Stake Conference was this past Sunday, and it was super good. We talked a great deal about Missionary Work (my favorite!) and about strengthening our own conversion. Before we can help others we first have to help ourselves.

>Wednesday we had a bit of fun with the Danville Sisters. More on that in a bit.

>Thursday we had Lunch with T**. I sang my happy-birthday song, and I think it is starting to be a bit famous around the mission. We also had quite a few interesting conversations, not the least being one with a man probably in his late 20's shortly after offering him a picture of Christ. It went something like this:

<Us> Would you like a picture of our Savior?

<Him> I don't need no picture! I already knows what he looks like.

<Us> Really?

<Him> Yep, he's my son. I'm God!

<Us> *stunned silence, not sure what to say...*

<Him> *lights a cigarette* You boys be good now! *gets in truck and drives away*

That same day we were also able to have a great lesson with A*** and share with here some of the Mormon Messages with her so she can hear the words of the Prophets and Apostles herself. Everything in Christ's church is based upon faith, but not blind faith, and to know if someone speaks the words of God it does a remarkable amount of good to know what those words are!

>Friday I we had Zone Conference, and that was super awesome. It was all about becoming a consecrated disciple of Jesus Christ. Afterward I got a haircut from a member there (You are welcome, Mom), and had a great interview with President Wakolo.

>Saturday and Sunday we had stake conference, and then Sunday evening we got snowed in. Yeah, that was fun, but we did get to go to bed early that night!

I do believe that's everything! Have a blast, wherever you are. Remember who you are and who you represent.

The Morrilton Missionaries

~Elder Barker

I just realized I didn't tell y'all about the Danville thing. They were having it really rough over there with little member support and a even smaller group of people interested in hearing about Jesus Christ, so because of this and also partly just because we could we spent the first part of Wednesday morning making a pineapple cobbler/cake from a recipe that my family sent from home and then drove for about 90 minutes to Danville. With the help of there neighbor across the hall (they live in an apartment complex) we finished frosting it, making a hurried trip to a local grocery store for supplies we had forgotten, and stashed it in their refrigerator. We had to re-frost it after this picture was taken because the stuff we used was applied  just a few minutes after we pulled it out of the oven, and the letters sort of melted... yeah, not my best moment. Alas, I neglected to take a picture of the final product after we fixed it up in all of the excitement, but here's this at least!

We had this same nice neighbor help us by calling the Sisters on their phone and tell them that there was some "suspicious men creeping about [their] door" and that they "should come home as soon as possible". It was the best (and nicest) prank I think elders have ever pulled on Sister missionaries. Haha!

~Elder Barker