Hot and Dry in Arkansas

Hmm. How to start talking about this week. The heat kinda melted my brain together. It was our bike week, and according to the weather radio, each day was over 100 degrees. And that's not even the index! BUT WHATEVER. We toughed it out, and God blessed us for it. We worked pretty close to home. The work was still good, though. On Tuesday, our District Leader, Elder Gerber, challenged us to extend baptismal invitations right as we first talk with people. With that approach, we were able to obtain a baptismal commitment from a street contact! It was pretty cool.

We've been working with a woman, Linda, that some recent converts referred us to. She had some misconceptions of what the Book of Mormon was about, but now that we've told her what it really was, she's very excited to read it. We're hoping a testimony will blossom from this passion.

We've also been working with another new part-member family. They've had several missionaries in their home, and we're teaching them the best we can. 

This week has been teaching, teaching, teaching. Whether these seeds we plant will bear fruit is up in the air, but we're still going ahead and planting them. The biggest point we've been working on getting across is that the Book of Mormon is the foundation from which all other aspects of the restored gospel will build. It's frustrating how stubborn people can be and won't read, but the Spirit is there, and that's what matters.

This past weekend was Youth Conference. JT attended and set a great example to the youth around him, from what I hear. He also bore his testimony yesterday at church. President and Sister Petersen were at the Youth Conference to host a panel as well. And then they attended sacrament meeting at our little branch, which was a surprise. It was easily one of the best Fast and Testimony meetings I've attended. It was incredible. Unfortunately, the people that we wanted to be at church the most weren't there. Some unexpected visitors came, though, so that was nice.

Darn. Being vague is hard. My parents advised me to not using exact names for fear of offending people. 

In terms of how the mission is going, it's going well. I'm learning and changing a lot! I've been picking apart the Book of Mormon in my studies. I recently went through the first 4 chapters of Jacob, which were incredible. I'm moving on to King Benjamin's sermon. I'm also reading through the New Testament.

Well, I don't have too much more to talk about. We get our car back this week, so we're happy for that! Continue to enjoy your summers, everyone! The humidity here has been pretty low. If we don't get any rain before the evening of the Fourth, it might be too dangerous to light fireworks. Not that we can even light those things... The Fourth of July just might be a little less eventful, is all. Anyway, have a good week, everyone!

-Elder Staib