Mother's Day Call

Missionaries get to call home twice per year, on Mother's Day and on Christmas. So a little more than a week ago, we got to speak to Justin for more than an hour, and he really sounded great! We got the full run down on what he's up to, heard him say "really" (ie. "it was 'really' sweet!!!" about a bazillion times, and of course heard "y'all" quite a bit. We asked him if he could speak with a southern accent, but he said he had mostly lost it since transferring from Arkansas to Oklahoma earlier this year. So... he "yoostakood" speak southern, but no longer.

For the fun of it, to the right here is another picture from the set that Justin sent us last month. It's of he and his current companion, Elder Conrad (from Washington state). Anyway... for those whom were not in the call with him, following is the e-mail he sent on Monday, May 11th:

Hey everybody! It was so great talking to you yesterday! It was so nice to hear from you all and to know that all is well at home. I don't really have too much else to say though, other than that nothing has happened since we talked last night... I'm still alive... but for those that are getting this email that I didn't get to talk to, life is good.

With Brother Wooldridge

With her Mom

On Saturday we baptized Karlee Hood, who is the 13 year old daughter of a woman that just got baptized 4 months ago. Heather (her mom) got baptized, but Karlee and her 2 brothers (9 and 7 years old) kept going to their other church and had no desire to go to church with their mom. Their church was just more exciting. But Elder Conrad and I were able to get through to her and now she's way solid. She's a SMART girl, so once we were able to sit down with her and teach her she really understood, and then she couldn't wait to get baptized by the proper authority. She's really going to go places in the church, we can feel it. (yesterday we convinced her to go on a mission when she's 21, and she can't wait) And now because of her example, her 9 year old brother is getting baptized. He's a super smart kid too. So that's all going well. Otherwise it was just a normal week. Friday we had a major storm come through (80 mph winds where we are, and we just caught the bottom edge of it) and even some tornadoes touch down, but none nearby us. There were thousands of people without power. And according to Brother Wooldridge this was a small storm compared to what we'll probably get the rest of this season... but there was tons of damage for it. So that was pretty exciting. Otherwise life is good. The church is still true. I love you! Talk to you soon!

Elder Conrad and I just before he left