Did He Really Say "Y'all's"???

     Hey! How is everyone? I can't believe I only have one more email home after this one! Scary. How was y'all's week? We had a pretty good week overall, though it was tough at the same time. A lot of the week, to be totally honest, I was somewhat frustrated because it seemed like we had all of our days filled with set appointments and just about all of them fell through. Of course that's just missionary work, though this was even worse than usual. I was getting a little bit discouraged, but I shouldn't have because we had a lot of great things happening. I think my frustration was just added to because I'm going home next week and I'm kind of tired of non committal people... And like I expressed before, it's hard to have these big plans and want to see certain things happen with these individuals and families and know that you don't have enough time to make it happen. But there are some really amazing things going on here. Chris and Jessica are a couple that have been making a lot of progress lately. They were progressing several months ago and about a month before I arrived in Bentonville they took a big dive and we haven't been able to get them going again most of the time I've been here. But lately they've just taken off! While they weren't at church last Sunday because they had some things going on, they came 2 weeks ago just for sacrament meeting and then yesterday they came to church again, and this time they stayed for the second hour as well. Today is their 7th day off of smoking, and they've been reading a chapter a night together out of the Book of Mormon for the last 2 weeks. They've missed a couple of days here and there, but for the most part they have been pretty consistent with that. It's amazing how much progress they are making. Chris is completely converted and ready to be baptized, he keeps telling us how much he wants it, but he won't accept a date until Jessica is ready to accept a baptismal date as well. She is also making lots of progress, she just has some concerns about the need for a prophet today. We had a really powerful lesson last night and she acknowledged that she definitely felt the Spirit, and we are expecting to be able to set a baptismal date with them this week.

David has stopped smoking and has accepted a baptismal date for the 17th of November, and then probably our biggest miracle this week is Caleb. We got a call Monday morning from Kyle, a member of the singles branch who's just coming back to activity. He told us he had a friend ready to meet with the missionaries and he wanted to meet us that day. Well unfortunately that was just a couple hours before we were leaving to drive to Tulsa (for Zone Leader Council), but we set up an appointment to teach him on Tuesday night in Kyle's home (or technically in Kyle's apartment...). Kyle gave him a Book of Mormon on Monday, and by the time we taught him on Tuesday he had already read the first 15 chapters! We could tell he had really studied them too, because as we taught about the great apostasy he asked "is that what it meant in the Book of Mormon when it talked about the plain and precious things that were taken away?" He asked all the perfect questions, and then was very excited to hear that there is a living prophet on the earth today. He also accepted a baptismal date for November 27. The next day he called us because he had some questions (from some information his mom had given him) and asked if we could meet somewhere. Since we were on bikes, we just met up at a nearby park and taught him again. We answered his questions and then felt prompted to teach the Word of Wisdom, which he readily accepted. He had also reread the first 15 chapters of First Nephi and had written down several questions. He was really studying in depth. And now he has set a goal of reading 5 chapters a day... Then Saturday we taught him at his mom's home because he really wanted us to teach his mom, who is a Jehovah's Witness. (Caleb was raised Jehovah's Witness as well) We actually had a really great lesson with her too. Caleb is completely converted and is really excited about the gospel. He has already even committed to go on a mission after he gets baptized, and he has gotten his friend Kyle excited about a mission as well. I don't know if I've ever taught anyone as prepared as him. On Sunday (his first time at church) during gospel principles when we were talking about how God answers prayers, he bore his testimony about how this gospel is an answer to his prayers and then said "I'm also so grateful to have the Book of Mormon, because it means that Joseph Smith is a prophet. It's so amazing that God has called a prophet to guide us today!" He really is an incredible young man.

I'm really sad I'm not going to be around for his baptism and all of that. I can't believe all the stuff I'm going to miss out on! :( Don't worry though, I'm excited to see you all though. I love you! See you soon!

Charles and Andrea Vannoy

Ashley and Austin Vannoy