Occupations and Diversity (or lack thereof)

Here is Justin's e-mail from this past Monday, August 10th. It's great to hear of Justin's investigators whom are progressing, and we feel sad along with him when they aren't.

Hey everybody! How's your week going? Things here were pretty good, especially the last couple of days. It's finally warmed up a little bit, but it's still not bad. Actually there's another storm that's moving in that will be bringing the temperatures down again. Towards the end of the week it almost warmed up to what I've heard August in Missouri is usually like, but now it's dropping right back down again. It seems like all we've gotten this summer is rain, which I'm not complaining about after how hot June was. We've had a pretty good week though. Donald came to church, and he loved it! He's still set to be baptized here in a couple of weeks. Angela, on the other hand, dropped us this week. So she won't be getting baptized on the 22nd. It's sad because she knows she needs it (for her and for her 2 year old daughter) but she just likes partying too much and doesn't want to stop. She knows exactly what changes she needs to make and says she'll make them someday but isn't going to right now. Hopefully someday soon she realizes the importance of it and is able to make that change. Everyone else is doing really well, though, especially Donald. He's pretty solid.

In answer to your question about what people do down here, yes, it's mostly agriculture, especially in the really small towns. Or they drive all the way in to Springfield or Branson to work. There are also a ton of truck drivers out here.

In answer to your question about diversity, there is none in Ava. Zero. In Clarksville about half the town was hispanic, and there were a small handful of black people. Not as many as I would have expected, but a good amount, I guess. Miami was really diverse, mostly Indians, but there were quite a few hispanics as well. There were also alot of people from the Micronesian Islands. But nothing but white people in Ava. It's kind of weird, really. But as far as that old north/south division you were talking about, the only place I really saw it was down in Clarksville. Oklahoma and Missouri you don't see it at all, but it's a whole different world down in Arkansas. I think I told you this before, but Clarksville is just a little over an hour south of the headquarters of the KKK (Harrison, AR). So you see alot of racism there. Not as bad as it used to be, though. Just about every street has at least one confederate flag hanging on it, but to most people it doesn't even mean the same thing anymore. It's just the cool thing to do... But we met people down there who are still pro-slavery and who still firmly believe that the South will rise again... But there are also more crazy people in Arkansas than either of the other two states I've served in. And more conspiracy theorists. As far as animosity towards the church goes, you'll see alot of that everywhere here in the "Bible Belt." But that's also gradually going away as more and more members move out here and as more and more members are beginning to play prominent roles in the community. Those two factors help out a ton. It's mostly the older generation that's still harboring all of those negative ideas, so that is slowly but surely changing as well. It's amazing how fast the church is growing out here. It's doing really well. It's very exciting.

Well, I think that's it for this week. Sorry I didn't have a whole lot to report on. Things here are still going great! I love you!