Baptism in Arkansas

Justin had a great week this past week, including seeing one of the people he was working with come in to the Gospel of Jesus Christ! This guy is moving to the city right next to us, though. It'll be cool to meet him!!!

Hey everybody! Sounds like ya’ll had an awesome time in Fremont last week! It’s always so much fun going out there. I hope the weather got a little nicer. It was nice here for a little while, but then all of a sudden it dropped like crazy! We had actually had a little bit of snow on Saturday morning! It was insane! This was a crazy weather week. A couple nights before, on Thursday, we had the most intense lightning storm. It was awesome. I LOVE the lightning. We’ve actually had much more lightning then what we got Thursday night, but as far as how hard it was raining it was one of the worst we’ve had yet. It was really coming down hard. There was a heck of a lot of lightning, too. Not as bad as some of the nights when we get so much lightning that it just never gets dark, but there was still a lot. I just love these storms out here! But now it’s nice and sunny again. For now, anyway. Arkansas weather is even more fickle than Boise’s. I love it though. I really really love Arkansas. I wouldn’t want to raise a family here because the school system is awful (because this area is so poverty stricken) but other than that I would love living down here. Speaking of poverty, you are right Dad right now it is such a major blessing to have such a great job right now. I don’t think you could ask for anything better right now, which is awesome considering how the economy is right now. It’s kind of cool because obviously the economy sucks down here, too, and there are a lot of people out of work. But you’d be surprised how many times we’ve started to teach someone who tells us they have been out of work for months and can’t find a job anywhere, but then find one as soon as they start to meet with us. So many times we’ve seen people in that state but every single time they are interested and invite us back, by the time we return for our second appointment they’ve found work, often times jobs have just dropped right into their laps. It’s amazing how many ways the gospel can bless our lives.

As far as our week, it was amazing! Francis Estrada finally got baptized!

Brother Booth, Francis, Bishop Scott

Me, Francis and E. Simakov

It didn’t happen last week because several people were going to be out of town so he decided to push it back a week. Normally that would be fine, but Francis faced some challenges. So he set up a meeting with the Bishop Saturday at noon (the baptism was scheduled for 2:30). They were in that meeting until like 2:40! Everyone was just sitting there waiting for it to start for about 10 minutes when they finally came out, all smiles, and went in for the baptism. We were talking to Bishop Scott afterwards, and he said that up until about 2 minutes before they came out, he honestly didn’t think Francis was going to end up getting baptized. I don’t know what all they talked about, but finally, at like 2:35, they knelt down right there in the Bishop’s office and prayed. First Bishop prayed, then Francis prayed. He said that Francis prayed in Spanish, so he has no idea what was said, but he said that the Spirit was very very strong. When Francis finished praying he just looked up and said, with tears in his eyes, “I’m ready.” So then we baptized him! It was awesome. I was so happy to finally see that happen. It was amazing how happy he was, too. He knew he made the right decision. Or course, as our converts always seem to do, he’s moving to Idaho on Friday. At least he’s moving to Meridian so it’s not like I’ll never see him again. It still sucks though. Especially for the ward. They get so excited for all the growth that they so badly need but then everybody we baptize moves out! We’ve got a lot of good work going on right now, though, and hopefully everyone else we’re working with will stay here. I really hope so. We have a ton of people we’re teaching that could be progressing right now. It’s nice cuz this week is conference so they’ll all have 4 opportunities to come to church. No excuses now… I’m so excited for General Conference! My first one as a missionary! I can’t wait, I’m getting SO pumped. Btw speaking of conference mom could you send me the last couple conference reports? No hurry, just whenever you send another next package. Thanks. (speaking of packages, thank you so much for those thin mints!!! They were so delicious!!!) Not too much else exciting happened this week. Oh except that we got a new car! It’s a 2009 Malibu! SOOOO nice! I love our new car. According to the Assistants it’s one of the nicest in the mission. Well I’d say more, but the internet here at the library sucks, so I’ll need the entire 5 minutes that we have remaining just to send this email… Love you!

Francis Estrada

Jumping 6 Feet in OTM

It sounds like Elder Goodale had an awesome-but-roller-coaster week. Such is Missionary life!

Hey everybody! We had an awesome week! We finally jumped 6 feet this week! Haha I guess I better explain what that is... To start off with, President Seal is very numbers oriented. He puts a big emphasis on all the key indicators, that's how he keeps us accountable and working hard. Of course he also makes sure that we aren't just going for high indicators just for the sake of getting high numbers, he makes sure we can attach a name to every single one and that we realize that individuals are far more important than numbers. But he does put alot of emphasis on the key indicators. As part of that, he has us record our "OTM's", or street contacts. OTM stands for Open Thy Mouth, and they invented that and started calling them that because we are serving in the OTM (Oklahoma Tulsa Mission, also known as the Only True Mission) and so OTM is a very popular acronym here. So anyway, we call street contacts OTM's. We are expected to get 140 OTM's a week (so 20/day). In big cities where you spend alot of time finding I'm sure that isn't very difficult, but here it's mostly small towns and with the amount of time we spend teaching (remember the goal is 40 lessons/week) it's pretty hard work to get 140 OTM's/week. Jumping 6 feet, which is what we call it when you get both 40 lessons and 140 OTM's in a week, is significantly harder and pretty rare. We always shatter the OTM's (one time we had 97 in one day, though this week we didn't do quite as well and only had 151), but the 40 lessons is tough. But we did it this week for the first time! So, short story long, it was an awesome week. We worked our butts off, and we saw so many miracles as a result! We were really really blessed this week. We also had 11 new investigators. Yesterday we had a neat experience with one. We were super busy yesterday, and because we had so many people to see we didn't schedule in time for lunch or dinner. Our schedule was too packed. So around 5 we knocked on the door of this couple, Rodney and Katherine, who were some potential investigators that had said we could come back. They let us in, and she just happened to be cooking tacos that night and offered us some. They were so good! Then we taught them and it went really well. So we got dinner and two new investigators at the same time! It was amazing! We were definitely blessed for our sacrifice. Though that wasn't really even the greatest experience yesterday. The best part was this other new investigator named Erica. We had OTM'd her in the park last Wednesday and set up a return appointment for yesterday evening. As it turns out, she is actually dating Heath Sanders, who is a less active member. He hasn't been in like 10 years, since he was 13 or 14, but his dad is in the bishopric. They have been living together for 3 years and have a kid together, and she was basically the most golden investigator I've ever taught. SO ready. She's totally going to get baptized (again, probably right after I get transfered...) and her soon to be husband was present for the lesson and it sounds like he's wanting to come back to church too! It was such an amazing miracle. All of our days are filled with miracles, though.

But that's not to say that this week was all amazing. It was really an emotional roller coaster, actually, becasue Saturday was one of the most disappointing days on my mission so far. We taught the Lemons, and from the moment we walked in we could feel a lot of tension and we could tell something wasn't right. Kurt and Krista were majorly fighting. About half way through the lesson we found out why. Apparently Kurt has still been drinking Friday nights after work, and lately he started smoking and chewing again too. Krista is getting really excited for her baptism and is super ready and keeping all her commitments (and she's already read like half the Book of Mormon), but she was really upset at him because he isn't keeping his commitments and doesn't seem to care enough. So obviously Kurt isn't getting baptized this week. (and Krista actually had to move her's back to next weekend, though she has decided she still wants to go ahead and do it on her own even though he isn't ready) He really needs your prayers right now, hopefully it all gets worked out soon. So Saturday wasn't a great day. Francis is still set for his baptism on March 28, though. He's getting really excited, and he's really committed this time, too. He even biked to church each of the last two weeks because he doesn't have a car, but he still wanted to be there. So he's ready too. The only reason he didn't get baptized this last Saturday was that the man he wants to baptize him had to go out of town, so he decided to move it back. So we'll baptize him on Saturday, then the following weekend he'll be in Boise (actually Meridian) getting married! I gave him our address and he said he would stop by so he could get to meet ya'll. Hope that's alright.

Well that's it about us, how are ya'll doing? I guess you're in SanFran right now with the Grimms, that sounds way fun! I hope ya'll are having a blast. We always do with them so I'm sure you are. How are they doing? How's the rest of the family? Tell them all hi for me. In other news, I can't believe that news about Jourdan Watanabe. That's insane. I actually knew him very well, I can't believe he's gone now. You're right dad, it's so great to have that gospel in our lives and to be able to be grounded on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ. That's just unbelievable. But speaking of the gospel, how is Andrew doing? Is he getting baptized soon? Tell him he better be... Well I hope everything else is going well for everybody. I love you all so much! My thoughts and prayers are with you!

20 New Investigators in Two Weeks

Justin's e-mail today was sweet and short, but it's always great hearing from him!!! Regarding some of the people he is teaching, Justin had listed some personal stuff, so just to protect their privacy, I have partially edited today's e-mail. However, most of these entries I post exactly as we receive them.

Hey everybody! How's it going? We had an awesome week! Not quite like last week, but it was still pretty good. The weather wasn't quite as nice this week. Today it's real nice and sunny and it's supposed to get up to 73 which I'm very excited about, but most of the week it's been pretty overcast. But the temperature has been all right, for the most part. Except that on Thursday it snowed all day!!! It only got down to like 33 so none of it stuck but it was still very unexpected. It was so nice then all of a sudden we had snow for just the 3rd time this winter. But like I said it's real nice now and I think it's supposed to stay nice this time, which is good because that means lots of people outside to talk too. I actually like the cold (it's kind of funny because my 2 companions so far have been from Orem, Utah and Moscow, Russia, yet they both complained about the cold far more than me, the one who grew up in SoCal) but as a missionary the warmer weather is alot better because like I said that means people outside to talk too. So for that reason I hope it stays this way, but who knows. Arkansas weather is kinda like Boise weather, as far as how unpredictable it is. So what else is new up there? It's kind of too bad that Christopher had to finally get rid of the Camaro, I always hoped that he would be able to get it up and running good, that would have been fun. It's probably better this way though because it never would have been finished. And what's going on with Brianna? Why the heck can't she get better already? I hope everything else is going well, though. It sounds like other than that life is good, and Dad's work is going very well again as well, which is good. As far as the work here, it's still as good as ever. We currently have 6 investigators with baptismal dates. Really pray for them so that that can happen. Over the last 2 weeks we've had a total of 20 new investigators (14 last week, 6 this week) so we've been super busy all of a sudden trying to teach all of them. It's nice that we have so many people to see now. Hopefully several of them will start progressing over the course of this week and next. They're really great people. We're working hard and I feel really good about things. It's going to be a really crazy week, but it's going to be an awesome week. I'm excited. And I can't wait for Francis's baptism on Friday! Thanks so much for all of your prayers for him! He finally couldn't withstand them all. :) I love you so much! Have a great week!

Haha wow. I was just looking back at my email from last week and I realized that in that email I had said that we do only 1-2 hours of finding per week. Wouldn't that be crazy! Wow that would be a lot of teaching. That would be awesome. But what I meant to say was that we only do 1-2 hours of finding per DAY... well just thought I'd clear that up. Love you!

Wow. That part looks awful! I didn't really have the part down yet.

My hair was way too long. This is right before I cut it.

Accent: Fixin' to Get One

Justin's e-mail this week came in on Tuesday; they must have moved P-Day this week. Sorry I'm just getting around to posting it. It sounds like Justin's really getting to like the South! Justin's even likin' the accent, and fixin' to get one! Remember to write Justin; I'm sure he'd be thrilled to hear from y'all!

What's going on with Brianna? That majorly sucks, hopefully they get it all figured out soon. It seems like by now they could have figured something out. So was removing her gall bladder a waste or do they think that was also a problem? Fixing one problem just so you can find another... Her body is acting like Christopher's car! Hopefully it gets better soon. But I am glad to hear that Andrew is actually acting 13 and that he's not as perfect as we thought he would be. Christopher and I don't look quite as bad now... I'm also glad to hear that Mark's bells palsy is clearing up a little bit. And that Steven's eye was fixed! Crazy! our family has the weirdest health things going on... Any others I should know about? At least my body is doing alright. I don't have any exciting stories about hurting myself or anything yet. But I haven't touched my bike yet, so when I start riding it that will probably change... By the way I know I mentioned it last week but it's pretty cool that you've been having all of my friends over and everything. Next time you just need to tell them all to write me!

I'm way excited for Tucanos. Make sure you keep them in business until I get back. :) But yes Dad, we do get fed really well here so it's alright. One time the Eubanks (he's the high priest group leader) had just gotten a new smoker so they had us over to try it out. We had these delicious ribs (from their own cows, like most of the meat we have here. That's really cool too.) that they had been smoking for 7 hours and they were so delicious! One of the best meals I've had out here. One time I was on exchanges in Alma and we had this smoked tri-tip steak and that was really amazing too. The Kennelly's have taken us out to 2 different really good steak houses, which I loved, but the other home grown and cooked meat was just as good. We've been eating really really well. And I'll eat (and enjoy) pretty much anything now. But I have learned that I'm not too fond of potato salad, which isn't a good thing when you're serving in the south. (the rest of the mission is midwest, but the people here in Arkansas consider themselves south. And they sound it too. :) Elder Simakov can't understand anyone, but I LOVE the southern accent! I'm fixin to git me one...) As for the rest of your questions Mom, his full name is Maxim Simakov. I've got all those pictures, you'll get some eventually... The last preparation day before Elder Johnson left we printed a bunch of his pictures at Walmart so you'll get those as well. Lloyd's last name is Weitkamp (pronounced white camp). I have no idea how he's doing. We haven't seen him since his baptism... But just because he moved up to Bentonville. He actually moved the day before his baptism and just came back down for it. I'm sure he's doing fine though, they've got some good missionaries up there, and the church is really strong up there. Alot stronger than here. Down here it's really struggling. It's kind of funny hearing that Alex is now covering 2 wards because he has the whole county, whereas the ward that I'm in (which was a branch until just about 6 months ago) covers almost 3 counties). It's insane. It is really interesting to read the other missionaries letters though, and just see the differences between the different missions. Like for instance in some missions they do nothing but tract all day, and here we only do 1-2 hours of finding per week. The rest of the time we're in teaching. We are expected to teach 40 lessons per week. Most missionaries don't (we've done it a couple of times, and we're always close) but the First Presidency has said that all missionaries in the US should be able to teach 40 lessons a week. It's hard, but possible.

But anyway, back to our struggling stake. The Fort Smith stake is having a tough time, which is really amazing since Elder Bednar used to be the stake president here. It's kind of funny though because when he was here you had to have at least 50% home teaching to get a temple recommend, because home teaching was so bad. Now it's way down again. Last month the Fort Smith ward got 7%!!! Unbelievable. Our ward was actually one of the best in the stake, around 25%. But this month we're doing well, we may even get 30%... It's bad. And because of that the inactivity rate is through the roof! Especially in Fort Smith itself. The funny thing about it is that the Fort Smith Zone is actually leading the mission in most categories. The work is just exploding down here, in spite of the members.... I can't really say that about Clarksville though. They're doing alright. But the work here is exploding too! Last week alone, we had 14 new investigators!!!!! People here are SO receptive! I love it! We're having alot of success in finding people to teach. Right now we have 4 baptismal dates: Francis on March 21, Kurt and Krista Lemons on March 28, and Thom Vannoy on April 4. It was tough for awhile because we were opening a brand new area, but it's exploding now. I'll probably get transfered on April 10, which sucks because we are probably going to have alot of baptisms in April and May. Alot of baptisms. But if I do have to leave it's ok. Wherever I get sent I know that's where the Lord needs me so I can't complain.

For the rest of your questions, I honestly don't remember my first teaching experience in Clarksville. My first day after I got here we went out with some of the other missionaries in Tulsa and I had a couple cool ones then, that I wrote you about back then. After I got to Clarksville we didn't have anyone to teach yet so our first couple hours my first day we spent contacting less active members in Lamar. I think. I don't remember much though. I think it was this crazy couple named the Baxter's who haven't been to church in years. I do remember being AMAZED at the awful living conditions there. I didn't know there was so much poverty here in the United States. Now it doesn't even phase me. I'm just like "yup, that's Arkansas..." Not to complaing though. I really do LOVE Arkansas. I could even see myself living here some day after my mission. I don't remember the first door I knocked on either, but I do remember my first street contact. (we call them OTM's here. I'd explain but I only have 9 minutes left on the computer. Remind me to explain next week) It was this really overweight man in a wheelchair. He was drinking a mountain dew. His name was...shoot I forgot! I remembered up until like a week ago! I have it written down, I'll look it up. But he was Methodist and wasn't really interested. The next lady I talked too wasn't interested either, she actually ran away... But that's all I remember. Sorry. But thngs are going really great here. All of a sudden we just have so many people to teach! The warm weather has really helped, there are so many more people outside to talk too, and so we're finding alot more interesting people. My companion is also a stud and a way good missionary, so that helps too. We've been working ourselves to death and we pretty much just get home and collapse every night, but we've seen so many blessings because of it. It's awesome. So I'm really loving everything. AHHH!!!!!!! 20 seconds left before I get logged out!!! Love you! Bye!

Jessica Scott, Tim Trotter, Eliza Griggs, me, Heather Scott

Jessica Scott, me, Heather Scott (Bishop's daughters). I don't know what I am doing there. I think I'm about to laugh.

Comp from Russia AND Pocatello

Following is the e-mail from Justin today. The card he is referring to is the memory card from his digital camera which he mailed home to us, but was damaged en route. We couldn't read it in any card reader here, nor could he read it in his camera when we sent it back to him. :-( If anybody has a miraculous solution for getting data off a damaged Memory Stick Duo card, please let us know!

Hey everybody! How's everything going? So first of all, yes Dad you did send that print out, and no the card didn't work. I'm afraid those pictures are just gone forever. I printed out some of Elder Johnson's pictures so I could send those home, but of course there weren't as many with me in them. Plus his pictures just weren't as good as mine... And it really sucks cuz he forgot his camera for Lloyd's baptism, so I don't have any pictures of that anymore. But I got what I could from his camera. I'll just have to have a lot more baptisms to take pictures at to make up for it... That's so crazy about Brianna! I thought they had fixed her! That majorly sucks. Is Mark doing any better? That's cool that Ronnie and Andrew and Bailey all came over for dinner. Kinda weird though, that I'm gone and all my friends are still hanging out there.
But things here are still going great! I love my new companion! We get along really great. Like I said last week, his name is Elder Simakov, and he's from Russia. He was born there and lived there until he was 14, when he and his mom moved to Pennsylvania. He joined the church not too long after that, and then 3 years later his mom married an LDS man and moved to Pocatello. So that's where his family currently lives. But Elder Simakov isn't a citizen, and his real dad still lives in Russia, so he just introduces himself as being from Russia. That always gets peoples attention... Well... I really don't have anything else special to talk about this week. There's still alot of great work going on though, and I'm loving every minute of it! Please keep us in your prayers! I love you!

Schubarth Family (kids Jesalyn and Zach) - They feed us like every week. Bro S. comes out on exchanges with us 3-4 times a month. His dad also drives us to Alma every week for disstrict meeting. They are one of my favorite families (tied with the Griggs and the Scotts too.) I just love this whole ward but they're my 3 favorite families.