West Memphis

This past week.... I'll be honest, I'm in a slump. Some people's mentality is the hardest thing for me to combat. It goes against so many of my personal philosophies to the point that I can't seem to connect with anyone. Collierville was mostly a Tennesse city overrun with Westerners, but here in West Memphis is different. It's been a challenge. They keep making commitments they don't keep. We missionaries get so hyped up over nothing ALL THE TIME. Everyone is too dang comfortable minding their own business.

Regardless of all these disappointments, we move on. We just keep visiting people and showing our love for them. Whether it will work in the long run or not, we don't know; perhaps we'll never know. Nothing has changed in the hearts of the people this past week. They're the same 7 days ago as they are today. God hasn't forgotten about us, though. Yesterday, we had a member bring her friend to church for the first time, and a man and a woman that recently moved from San Diego suddenly approached us before church began. It seems like the man is nearly ready for baptism, according to the woman. I'll have more details as I get to know these two people more.

Our mission has been given a new program for working with the members, called the "Missionary Toolbox". It's a step-by-step guide on how each auxiliary in the ward should help the missionaries with the work. Hopefully we can start applying it to this branch. They want to become a ward, but they aren't ready yet. We gotta shake things up here in West Memphis. We need God to help us do it.

-Elder Staib