August 18, 2014- Taking Flight

Aloha!

First off, I would like to apologize in advance about the long nature of this email. It is long because of, well, you will soon find out. ;D

We were driving along the interstate to get to another city for district meeting when there was a bug flying around in the car. This bug had flown in when I first got in the vehicle and had been bothering is for a few minutes, so we both tried to kill it. I was using my hands and Elder Raiford grabbed a weighted GPS mount from off the top of the dash. This was a mistake, because in doing so we both had our eyes off of the road for a good full second or two. The particular part of the road we were on started to curve to the right; us being hellbent on killing the over sized critter didn't steer the car to follow suit. (Can you guess from the subject line where this is going?)

I looked up first just in time to see the car fly off the interstate at 60 mph, crossing the other lane of traffic, and into a ditch. It was our remarkable good fortune (#God'sBlessings) that there were no cars in the lane at the time. I was in the process of warning my companion to stay on the road, but by that point it was a bit too late. We were already driving through the weeds on the side of the road. All I managed to say was "Holy Crap!" (I guess you can tell I'm a Mormon. lol)

Elder Raiford looked up right around the time we hit the ditch running alongside the road. It was mostly dry, so it was just an impressive spray of earth and fauna that erupted when the car impacted it, striking the far embankment by the driver's side wheel. This, as you can imagine, slowed us down considerably, but we still had enough momentum to continue flying forward and succeeded in getting all four wheels off of the ground.

I don't know about your mission, but in Arkansas we have a couple of terminology for cars. "Baptizing" a car means you take the speedometer needle, bring it all the way forward and then bring it back again. "Confirming it in the Spirit" means you make it temporarily a non-earth bound vehicle. For "An Election Made Sure" you have to roll the vehicle and use it again later. We had no baptism, but we definitely confirmed our vehicle and almost made its election sure! Luckily there was no election because we took of and landed on all four wheels.

Shortly after take-off Elder Raiford gave off an very energetic shout and slammed on the brakes once we had some semblance of control over the vehicle. We slid to a stop after traveling roughly another 50 feet in the same direction as the road, ending up in a rice field 5 feet from the ditch and about 20 from the road. A very concerned woman, who we had scared the daylight out of when we flew off the road, stopped and called 911 after making sure we were OK. Several officers arrived and a tow truck to get us out.

Eventually we got the car out and we had large quantities of rice sticking out of the car in places where there normally isn't rice. The officers gave us back our licenses, wished us the best, and continued on their way. The tow truck guy, who drove the car out of the field, said it seemed to be running fine, and also went on his way. By this time about half an hour has gone by and, for fairly obvious reasons, were late to district meeting. We had just piled back into the vehicle to start the drive to Paragould, mud-caked vehicle and all ("Everyone will find out sooner or later"), when the tow guy showed back up. He expressed some concerns that if we drove off and there was something wrong with the car then the insurance wouldn't cover it because they could claim it was worsened by the driving. Or something like that. Anywho, he lifted the car up with some seriously cool contraption on the back of his truck and started looking around for anything suspicious. He found it, by way of a greenish-blue fluid leaking out almost directly beneath the front-left part of the hood. After calling our vehicle coordinator it was decided that we would get towed to a repair place.

Suffice me to say that we did not make it to District meeting that day.

In a way this was an answer to my prayers, because although we just had a head-on collision with the world, I still wanted some way to turn this into a missionary opportunity. After everyone drove away that first time in rapid succession I was seriously bummed. But the tow truck guy came back, we found something abnormal with the car, and we were given a second chance. We had a very good conversation during our short drive, basically amounting to "what are two Utah boys doing in Arkansas"? We were quite happy to tell him all about it.

At the repair place we had the car examined yet again, and it was determined that the leaking fluid was not coolant like we had feared, but instead it was the highly-crucial Windshield Washer Fluid. So we would have been fine if we really had gone to District Meeting anyway, but Se La Vie. The car was towed once more to a repair place that specializes in tires to check out the alignment (it was fine, we later found out), and we walked home. On the plus side we did talk with several nice people about the gospel, one of whom (tow-truck guy) we hope to be able to find and talk to again sometime later.

That day we were called by the Vehicle Coordinator, Elder Cahoon, that my comp is now red-dotted. AKA, not allowed to drive church vehicles for one year. He has 3.5 months left, so he basically gets to kick it and let someone else worry about driving for the rest of his mission, meaning me. Which I am OK with; I rather missed driving and it was strange not doing much of it for 6 months. We got the car back a few days later with the majority of the mud and such washed off. Sorry folks, I don't have any good pics, and all of the damage was minor cosmetic damage (with the exception of the fluid reservoir). I'll send what I've got, but it's rather unimpressive.

Also, I would like to make it known that nobody was injured in the accident. Unfortunately this includes the bug that started everything. I hope it drowns in the rice. (Is that mean of me? I really hope not)

We were over at a member's home a while ago, and that is were I got the video of the singing dog. If you can't see it, I do appoligize; it is quite hilarious. There are several families over in the city of Corning that we try to visit, but for us to go up there it is a 120 mile round trip. For comparison we are alotted 1200 miles per month, or about 40 per day. So we don't get to go up there much, unless a member takes us. There is a man in the branch by the name of Bro. Hendricks, and he is a trooper. He can afford to take us up there every two weeks, and so that's what he does. We, the missionaries in the Pocahontas branch, have been trying to get the members pumped up about missionary work and we are happy to see that they are taking it to heart.

While we were in Corning we visited another less-active member of the church. He is difficult to get a hold of, and has been away from the church for so long that he has lost a great deal understanding about the Church. He still has a strong desire to learn and be close to God, but is a bit confused. He's ex-military, I think, and because of his service he thinks of everything in terms of combat. Getting to know him is a great learning experience for me because it really drives home the concept that, in any situation, you have to speak in terms that both people will understand. So for this conversation and most other ones we liken the gospel to military combat, about preparing our spiritual 'equipment'  and ourselves for active duty by reading (studying strategy), praying (talking with the Commander and Intelligence Officer), and going to church (in-field training). If we talked with him in a way that wasn't specific to his needs we would have gotten nowhere. However, because we did it the way we did everything worked out.

We also had a baptism in the Pocahontas brach this past Saturday. The Sisters found and taught a man by the name of B***. He's pretty cool and his baptism was a huge uplift for the branch. I was on the piano the entire time and thus got no pictures from it, but it was a super awesome experience. As icing on the cake B*** was there as well. As I've mentioned before (I think) he is a preacher at another local church, but he has a testimony of the BoM, Joseph Smith, and of keeping the commandments. Although he has dropped the invitation to be baptized before, he made a special effort to be at B***'s, leaving a relative's birthday a little early to make it in time. He also will be attending church with us on the 31, which just so happens to be the day that the speakers of the sacrament service are the Branch's missionaries. So we are really looking foward to two weeks from now.

You may have heard about the really bad train wreck. It was happened down the road from us. Granted it was about 6 miles down the road, but still. It was pretty cool to see all of the excitement that it caused. Sad about the fact that it happened, but exciting nonetheless. From what I've heard from locals (we don't get the news in any proper form) citizens were evacuated within about a 2 mile radius. This included a few of our investigators and a few members, but as we have been unable in getting a hold of them we can only assume that they are OK, as all of the other residents are now living back in their homes.

I think that's everything of note. Any questions about the area? About me? If so, please let me know!

Inspirational Quote: "Preach the Gospel at all times and, when nesessary, use words." -Saint Francis of Assisis (1181-1226)

Elder Jayden Barker

We have tree frogs in this area.  'Nuff said.

Apparently I am married, and am a retiring Church of God pastor.  Wait 'til I tell my parents...and wife!!!

August 11, 2014- Even belly bugs can't keep me down (for long)...

Hi Y'all!

 

There isn't much to talk about this week. I got sick twice, once when my stomach hoisted the banner of rebellion and then yesterday when an elephant wearing high-heals decided to stand on my head. I mostly slept, much to the chagrin of my companion, because he became very bored very quickly. Apparently I'm at least good for entertainment value!  An investigator family back in Cabot gave me a turtle that "pooped" tic-tacs on his desk.  I loved it mostly because I could, and the reactions people give when they see him are really quite fun. Hence the picture of a turtle. Also, if you look just at his head he looks remarkably like that one guy on Star Wars who shouts "It's a trap!". I noticed that shortly after I quieted the belly rebellion - we had a good laugh about it.

 

We had another good discussion with D*** again this week. He is very set in his ways, and has a hard time seeing how our Father in Heaven does actually love his children and that keeping the commandments is the way to freedom, and not following some other unknown gods and goddesses. He has read some from the Book of Mormon, and says he can see how it relates to the Bible, but because he won't follow Christ as the Bible directs, he most likely won't because the BoM says to as well. He did commit him to pray about it though, and promised him that if he reads from the Bible and Book of Mormon and prays about it, believing he will get an answer, then he will get his answer. We are still waiting for the day when he will allow us to share with him the message of the Restoration.

 

We are also talking with an older gentleman J***. He is very knowledgeable about the bible and we had a very good discussion about our beliefs and the various beliefs of Christianity at large. He also is one of the few people I've met who has not only taken what we present, but has really tore into it. He took the Restoration pamphlet we left him, highlighted various parts he wanted further explanation of, underlined it, and even wrote his own thoughts off to the side of the pages about what he thought of a particular doctrine. We are only able to visit with him every other week, but we are hoping to see some fruits of this in the future.

 

S*** is in jail. Again. Hopefully she gets out before the decade is over. *sigh*

 

I think that's just about everything, so if y'all have any questions or something you want to know more about, please let me know!

 

Yours in Awesome

Elder Jayden Barker

 

Random fact for the week: Bald Eagles can swim

 

Spiritual thought: In 3 Nephi, chapters 3 and 4, there is a story of the Gadianton Robbers, a particularly nasty group of people who do whatevery they have to in order to get gain for themselves. At that point in time they had grown so numerous and powerful as to outnumber the righteous part of the people and held the opportunity to completely destory them. The leader of the good guys saw the threat and did several things to combat it. First he told the people to repent so that they would have the Lord's help. Second he gathered all of the people together with all of the provisions from everywhere into a single point, the strongeset and greatest city they had. Third, they did not go to battle against the Robbers, but instead waited for the Robbers to come to them.

 

"Now why is this important?" you might ask. Me, I'm realating the Robbers to sin or tempation. Think about the very worst torment the devil can and does throw at you on a regular basis.  Got one? The Robbers are to the good guys as that thing is to you. Now to apply the three steps.

1. Repent -  It's self explanitory so I will mostly skip over it for the sake of time.

2. Gather together - This mean both do all of the good that you can, and all of the good that you can. If there is anything good, uplifting, or spiritual in your life that can help you fight against your tempation, take it with you! Also, don't give anything to your ememy that he can use against you. You can also take this to mean to gather together with others who are going through the same thing as you. Let them use you for support, and do the same back.

3. Wait - The good guys in the story had gathered together enough supplies to last them for at least 7 years of seige. They were well prepared for anything. They held their possition of strength, and relied upon the Lord for aid. Hold onto what will make you strong, and discard the weak. Don't go out to fight sin, but rather fight it where you are strongest, where you are safe behind Christ's protection.

 

In short, stay strong, and stay where you are stong. If you are weak in an area, make that area stong. The best way to do this is through the Savior, because he knows exactly what each of us need. As Christians we need to stick together and help eachother, but we cannot do this if we don't allow Christ to help us first.

 

God Bless

August 4, 2014- Problem Identified... Beginning Reconstruction

Good morning/afternoon/evening/other, Children of Humanity!

 

At the request of my Maternal Parental, and also because I'm really not sure what else to talk about, here's the down-low on the Pocahontas (Pokey) branch. There are about 150 members within branch boundaries, and about 50-ish of them are active. Most of them are over the age of 60, and all of them have both an extensive collection of interesting life stories to share. One of my top 50 people in the branch is a woman by the name of P***. She used to be in charge of the largest Elvis Presley Fan Club in the US, possibly the world, and used to work at Graceland as the President. She also knows more about Elvis than anyone else that I know, for obvious reasons. Example: before he died he was taking the missionary discussions, had extensively studied and annotated the Book of Mormon, and had a baptisimal date set in August. The inside of her home is just filled with signed Elvis memorabillia along with signed pictures from other artists who performed with him at one point or another. Random trivia about Elvis: If Michael Jackson was to sell the same number of records as Elvis he would need to release a song as popular as Thriller at least once every year, for 25 years running. The King is the King for a reason!

 

The branch building is a Tier 2 building. To put it into perspective, Ward buildings are tier 3, and tier 1 don't have a basketball court inside the cultural hall. We don't have pews, but it is still a very nice building. We are across the street from a J.W. Kingdom Hall, and not far down the street from the hospital. Due to the location it is very humid, but we have de-humidifiers running nonstop to combat the problem. Sacrament (i.e. Lord's Supper, Commumion, Bread and Water) is first, followed by the various classes. The missionaries are in charge of teaching the Gospel Principles class, a class geared toward helping others understand the basics of the gospel. We cover topics such as faith, repentance, priesthood authority, gifts of the spirit, tithing, fasting, prophets, Christ's mortal life on Earth, what happens after death, and others. Last week (yesterday) it was our turn to teach, so next sunday will be the Sisters' turn.

 

One of the big problems Elder Raiford and I have found has to do with the large number of Less Active members.  So, we are changing the majority of our focus from off of non-members to less-active members to try and strengthen the branch as much as possible. This involves going and visiting as many members as possible. So we did. One of them, R***, heard that I was hoping to get a Confederate flag while I was in Arkansas. He happened to have two, and so gave me one of them. (see the pic) I'll be sending it home when I get transfered.

 

Another family we visited is the S*** family. They are super cool and we talked with them for a good 2 hours. In fact, we will be going over there to eat with them next sunday night. While we were there we discussed why they weren't going to church. Long and short of it is that they didn't think that the branch was strong enough for their youth aged children, so they are going somewhere else. They said that if it gets stronger they may come back in the future. Young families like the S*** are some of the biggest focuses of us missionaries, mainly because most of the strong branch members are more wise than youthful. While we were on our way out from the S*** they gave us a large bag of various peppers. We used the shells in a rice dish we made for dinner last night, but we are going to keep the seeds to see if we can use them to prank the Sister Missionaries somehow. We'll think of something.

 

Not long ago we were on Bike Week. During the midst of it there was a freak storm that showed up. Elder Raiford and I thought that we had more time that we otherwise did, and sat there for about 5 mintues discussing the storm ("Oh, I'm pretty sure it's a good 30 minutes away" -me) and trying to decided if we had time to go and visit someone before it hit ("Meh, it looks more playful and exciting than mean. We'll be OK." -me). The storm started coming on faster than we had anticipated and we booked it for home only 5 minutes after starting our discussion. While we were on the road the storm hit with a great deal of ice-cold wind ("You were so wrong!" -Raiford). With the wind at our backs we started flying down the road, almost litterally. If the cars passing us were any indication we were probably going about 40 Mph. We turned down a couple of side streets to make it home faster, nearly getting blown over when the wind hit us broadside, and got in-doors just seconds before the rain came down. We flipped the lights on, sat on the couch, and began watching the storm dump itself on us in angry torrents ("I'm pretty sure the storm isn't playful, bro." "It was an honest mistake!"). After about 15 minutes the power began to flicker. 30 minutes after that it went off for good. We just sat there in the dark and played card games under the light of a flashlight. ("Is this exciting enough? Haha." "Hush you. It's your turn to draw.") Eventually the power came back on, but by then the day was basically over. I've not seen that much lightning in a long time.

 

Missionary thought for the day: Moroni chapter 7. If something is helping you to believe in Christ, then it is good. If it doesn't, then it's bad and of the Devil. If you are uncertain of something, and whether it is of God or not, ask yourself if it will bring you closer or further away from God. We are to judge righteously, and this is a good way to do it. Stay strong my Brothers and Sisters. The Devil would have us judge that which is good and of God to be of the Devil, and that which is of the Devil to be good and of God. Choose carefully, and pray often.

 

Remember the Savior, for He is your strength.

 

Elder Jayden Barker

Round #2

July 28, 2014

To start off the letter here's a bit of unrelated trivia: There are 4 different venomous types of snakes in the US; the Rattlesnake, Water Moccasin, Copperhead, and the Diamond Back. For the most part they have their native habitat in various different parts of the country, but in just one state of the Union they all meet. That's right, baby, the Good Ol' Arkansas!

 

Now for those of you who guessed that I'd be staying in the area, you would be correct! Elder Raiford and I will be comps for at least another 6 weeks. This is a very good thing, as he has had a total of 3 companions in the last 3 transfers here; I'm the only one who is actually sticking around. The church members here was getting worried he was scaring everyone off! Haha.

 

It's kinda sad, but, while we have found some new people to teach a bunch of our 'oldies' have dropped us. K*** and J*** were among the group. From what we could tell from our conversation with K*** she was OK with us coming over and even enjoyed our discussions because we were "intelligent human beings who actually knew what it was we were talking about". Her husband, however, was less interested, and had sent K*** out to talk with us and tell us that he didn't want us to come back anymore. His excuse was he "didn't want to be a Mormon", which I can accept if there is a good reason behind it, but when we were just told it was because 'he didn't want to' I was a little bit unhappy. Simply put, this was old prejudice coming back to the surface. It seems almost everyone here is related to a preacher of some sort and thus has been taught from birth to hate/fear us. It makes those golden people who are eager and willing to listen that much more awesome, and I'm disappointed that one of said people is married to someone who isn't. The good part is we were able to help them feel the Spirit, so that some future missionaries will (hopefully) be able to help them make it to the temple.

 

Another iffy good thing is about S***. We lost contact with her for a bit as she was trying to get a place of her own to live in. She is currently between jobs and has a bit of a drug issue, so that makes it really hard for her. She finally found a place, but it isn't in our area. In fact, it isn't even in this mission! It's over in the Missouri mission. We are getting a hold of the missionaries in the area where she is going, but we are both sad and happy to see her go. Sad because we have grown to care a great deal about her, and happy because she is getting away from the better part of her poor friends.

 

A super awesome highlight from the past 6 weeks: Although we haven't brought anyone new into the church, we have been able to help 2 people begin coming back to church who haven't been there in a very long time, mostly because of work. This is, to a great extent, a far greater success than baptizing someone new. The reason for this is highlighted perfectly in Alma in the Book of Mormon.The people who once had the truth, and then fell away from it, were often the most wicked and unrighteous part of all of the people against the Church. Once someone knows the truth about God and His Gospel they cannot sit idly by, serving neither God nor the Devil. There is no middle ground, and once someone has decided to walk away from God, it is often very hard for them to walk back. Their pride gets them. I've heard some inactive members say that they don't hate the church or God; they just want nothing to do with them. These individuals are demonstrating by their actions that they hate both, because if you know something is true and then walk away from it, particularly after you have grown to love it, then it is only because you are against it, perhaps not in word but in deed, and this is just as damaging. These two people, just by coming back, are doing more good for both themselves and those around them then they will probably ever realize. They are living testiments that it is possible to come back, it is possible to repent, it is possible to do what is right, even when it is hard. I am so very happy for them and hope that they will stick with this new direction they have chosen.

 

Sorry about my tirade. I had a few more thoughts on the subject than I had realized. Hmm. Anyway, to conclude all of this I will bestow upon you, dear reader, a portion of my majestic wisdom I have gained in my extensive 19 years of living: People will not change unless they are invited to do so. Sometimes this invitation comes from God Himself as a feeling of emptiness or unease, perhaps a repeating thought after reading in the scriptures. Other times (rarely) peole will change for the better simply because they feel like it, or have nothing better to do. Most often this invitation will have to come from someone who is personally close to the individual. This means that you are going to have to talk to that friend, child, parent, aunt, uncle and invite them to change. They won't unless you invite. Thus far I've been talking about this with regards to spiritual matters, but I would apply this to everything else too. If they have an eating disorder, invite them! If they are lacking on personal hygene (I really hope this isn't the case), then invite them! When you invite someone to do something you have to also stick around, help them to do those changes that they need.

 

Bringing it back to God, this is all he is ever doing for us. He is inviting us to repent, to change, and to come back to Him. He will help us do it, if we let him. He will also use us as His tools to bring to pass His miracles. Translation -- He needs you to be willing to help. You need to invite. This is my call to action. Stand up and help those in need. You will be astonished at the help you recieve as you help others.

 

God bless my friends, and believe in Him who created you.

 

Elder Jayden Barker

 

2 Nephi 31:20

Finding Miracles

          July 21, 2014

My most prolific greetings to you all!

 

So this past week has been crazy. Basically all of our appointments have fallen through the past week, but by some miracle our accomplishments have never been higher.

 

Small miracle #1: The temperature has been crazy low. As in less than 90. Without vast amounts of humidity. Yeah, it was fantastic. There as also a constant breeze blowing which both kept our favorite flying parasites off of us and also kept us nice and cool.

 

Small miracle #2: None of us were bitten by spiders last night. This could be an chapter straight out of a horror story. We got home from church and all of our activities last night and called up the District Leaders to tell them our numbers for the week. (How many lessons we taught, who we talked to, how they are progressing, etc...) During the middle of our conversation Elder Raiford noticed a very large spider on the wall next to my head. I grabbed the nearest object (a Book of Mormon) and proceeded to pound it into the wall. I then noticed that there was a smaller one on the wall behind his head. Before he killed it though we got a good look at it. It was a Brown Recluse. I grabbed a can of Raid bugspray from the closet and Elder Raiford examined the carcass of the newly-deceased arachnid. Right around the time I finished covering the second spider in white foam my companion decided that the first spider was most likely a Brown Recluse as well. We began a thourgh examination of our living quarters to try and find any others.

 

We went into the bedroom and started looking everywhere in the walls and in the closet. After examining all of the visible walls we closed the doors and looked at the walls behind those. Guess what we found on the ground behind the closet door? A Nickel! Hurrah for hidden money! Just kidding, it was another Brown Recluse, about the same size as the second one. (The first was about the size of a quarter and the second and third were about the size of a nickel.) I then proceeded to cover that one in white as well. Somewhere in the midst of all of this Elder Raiford mentioned that Brown Recluses are often resilliant to common poisons. As I sprayed down the newest invader I told him "Then it's a good thing over-kill will fix just about anything!" You couldn't even see the spider after I was done spraying it.

 

By this point both of us were thouraghly paranoid and were seeing every random spotch on the walls as a spider ready to attack us.  After scouring all of the walls and doors yet again, we decided that we probably/hopefully got them all and started checking out our beds to make sure there weren't any in there either. Mine was clear, but Elder Raiford's.... not so much. We pulled back the pillows, nothing; blanket, nothing; the bedspread, yep. A big fat one, sitting right in the middle of it. He screamed quite nicely, so nicely in fact that I wish I could have gotten it recorded, and proceeded to flick it off of the bed and beat it to a pulp. Apparently the myth that a well-made bed keeps the spiders out is true - mine was made and his was not. (both of us made our beds this morning; tucked the sheets in as tight as they could go.) We plan to buy a few more cans of bug spray today and go to war.

 

Small miracle #3: We were walking down the most run-down part of the town looking for someone to talk to. We did that a lot this past week. While we were walking we saw a guy I'll call Denny working out in his yard. He introduced himself and told us he was Pagan and really wasn't interested in what we had to say. We asked him if he believed in a higher power, to which he responded 'yes'. He told us a few of his beliefs, the majority of them being that there is a God, but that he doesn't care about us, and he wasn't going to serve a god who didn't care about his creations. We started talking to him, showing him in the scriptures about how God really did exist and not only did he exist, but he loved every one of us. Long story short, he became intrested in our ideals and has invited us back to talk with him. We plan on going back tomorrow or tonight. A bonus miracle to this story: we have been wanting to knock on his door for a while now, but never seemed to have the time to do so. Now we know why our Father in Heaven wanted us to go there! It was very much an Ammon and King Lamoni experience. (Book of Mormon, starting on page 250)

 

My testimony is this: God is there, and he still is a God of Miracles. They are there; you just have to look for them. Just as God performed many miracles in the biblical days, He still does so today. Some of these miracles are big and obvious, like the last one I shared. Others are like the first, far less visible, unless you take the time to look for them. Something kinda crazy I've noticed as well: The more you look for miracles, the more you will find. The more you thank the Lord for that which you recieve, the more you will recieve. So thank the Lord for the miracles you've got, and keep looking for them.

 

The Church is True,

The BoM is blue,

God loves you more than your mom,

Sorry y'all; it's true!

 

Stay classy, my friends!

-Elder Jayden Barker

 

Today's scripture: 2 Nephi 1:13-15

The Heat is On

July 14, 2014

   Things are getting warm  in Arkansas. Very warm. I feel a great deal of sympathy for our District Leaders who had the great misfortune to be on bike week, but that sympathy did not extend far enough so as to allow us to let them borrow our vehicle. The mosquitoes are also getting quite aggressive (did you know there are more than one type? The striped ones are the worst), but we have found that by adding liberal amounts of garlic to everything we eat and bathing ourself in bug spray we can fend off the worst of them. Perhaps I've asked this question before, but do you think it is a sin to kill something with a book of scripture? Because I've started thinking of a game we could play with the bugs: If you kill one that's on you it's worth 1 point, if you kill one out of the air it's 2 points, either by clapping your hands together or smacking it out of the air and then stepping on it, and if you kill one on the other person its death is counted for 3 points (plus there is the pleasure of hitting each other). If they are 'juicy' the points count for double. I haven't decided on a reward for the victor, so it's mostly just bragging rights for now. Any suggestions?

 

   I don't remember if I have mentioned Stephanie (not her real name) before, so if I have then sorry for the repeated info, but if not then you're welcome. Stephanie is a young woman we ran into a while ago when she was working in her yard. She's somewhere in her 30's (maybe?) and has had a very difficult life. Very difficult. She has no real family to speak of and no real friends. She's staying with the mother of one of her ex-husbands and they take care of eachother. Stephanie hasn't gone to church in a very long time, not since her childhood and had really lost her connection with God, largely because of the great many could-have-been-better choices she made in her past. After we talked with her that first time both Elder Raiford and I got the strongest impression that, although she is very far from where our Father in Heaven would want her to be right now, she has massive potential to get there. We met with her several times and invited her to come to church, which she agreed. We went by her house last Sunday (eight days ago) with a member to pick her up for church and we found her outside working on a shed, clearly not remembering the commitment she had made a couple of days previous. She was quite embarrassed and promised to come the next week. Well, we stopped by several times this past week to visit with her and check up on her. Stephanie had sliced her hand up pretty bad by grabbing a submerged knife in the sink, but despite this she was dressed and ready to go when we knocked on her door yesterday morning.

 

   The meeting was definitely one of the better ones, because a Return Missionary named Dallin Ginn was to speak for the first time in 2 years at his home congregation. The Spirit was super strong there, and as bonus speakers both Elder Raiford and I were able to talk. Personally I thought that the feeling in the room was best when the other two were speaking, but appparently I did Ok as well.Stephanie  really enjoyed the mettings, although it was clear Satan did his best to make it so she didn't. She had gotten a massive migrane about half-way throgh the meeting and took a smallish nap on the couch instead of going to the Relief Society class. However, there was a really good pot-luck afterward where lots of people had brought food and it was a really good time fo stop and feel a spirit of unity over a large plate of food.

 

There was some more that happened that Sunday, but allas for me I have zero time left because I have an appointment with Brian (agian, not his real name) in about 8 minutes. Tell you about it next time and will have some pictures to show as well.

 

Love you!

 

Elder Jayden Barker

 

Thought for the day: Church, Prayer, Reading = spiritual CPR. If you are feeling far away from the Lord, this is a good place to start.

Watching the Proverbial Fireworks

July 7, 2014

Greetings, girdles and boydles. 

 

This fourth of July was rather uneventful. The crazy drunkenness was kept to a minimum (that we could see) and the temperature was incredibly kind. It was only about 82 with 0% humidity. This never happens. Like, ever. It was very pleasant to walk around in, but we didn't get all that much done. Nobody was very interested in us or what we had to say, although one guy did give us hotdogs. That was nice.

 

We had a very interesting experience a few days ago. We had been walking down a street looking for people to talk to when we saw an older gentleman in his driveway talking to a woman we later discovered to be his daughter. The man was clearly intoxicated after his first word to us. We introduced ourselves par usual and asked if there was anything we could help him with. This man turned to us and asked us if we had a chainsaw. We told him no, we didn't own a chainsaw, because there aren't any trees by our house to use it on. He began to cuss us out in some of the most foul and filthy language, calling us liers and demanding that we take the chainsaw out of our bags so he could use it. "If you really are from Jesus you would take out the chainsaw from your bags so I can use it, but you aren't so you can't!" It was a strange mixture between slightly insulting and incredibly funny, because this old man was so drunk that he couldn't even swear us out properly; he kept on mixing up his words, sentences, and vowels. Eventually he just collapsed on the driveway, bawling his eyes out, occasionally muttering the random vulgarity at us. His daughter just stood there looking more and more mortified as the seconds went on, and when her father collapsed she ran over to him, knelt on the ground in front of him and just hugged his head. As she got down she said over her shoulder "pray for him". With assurances that we would we accepted the dismissal and continued on down the road.

 

It's rather sad at how badly alcohol can completely destroy an individual. This man probably didn't wake up when he was 50 years younger thinking to himself, "You know, I want to be a drunk when I grow up." He most likely had aspirations to become a rodeo star, an astronaut, or the doctor who cures cancer. I am very grateful for the prophets we have on the earth today, who were able to receive the Word of Wisdom and counsel us to stay away from alcohol and other addictive things. I would have liked to think that if I didn't have just a man of God to follow I still would have been just fine, but I don't know. I certainly wouldn't have the same knowledge that I do now. I really hope that I will have the oportunity in the near future to go and talk to this gentleman again and share with him the Gospel, and bless his life the way it has blessed my own and the lives of my family.

 

The rest of this week has been rather difficult. We have a car thankfully, because it is pouring right now. Mother Nature added her fireworks to the sky a few days too late. We were supposed to finally get some investigators to church this last week, but it didn't happen. One of them skipped town, another forgot, and I don't know what happened to the last family. I'm hoping that next week will be better. The Lord has really been testing our diligence and our patience, watching to see if we are going to keep on going even after things get hard for us. I'm hoping we passed the test.

 

Not much else I can add right now, mostly becasue I'm out of time. I love you guys, (yes, even you Random Citizen), and are praying for you. The Church is true and has the power to bless the lives of anyone who will take the time to simply learn about it and pray to know if it is true. I wouldn't be in the state of Arkansas if I didn't know this for myself.

 

God bless.

 

Elder Jayden Barker