Missionary Life
We've been here a whole month now and I'm starting to get the hang of it.  I was very overwhelmed at first, but I'm starting to get the lay of the land.  Chris and I got a big map of the mission printed at Staples, then we stuck pins in where all the missionary apartments are.  I've had a hard time figuring out where we are and where the mission is.  This has helped a lot.

There is a big chunk of Missouri in our mission, then the next biggest part of a state is Arkansas.  We have a little chunk of Kansas and two chunks of Oklahoma.  This week whenever someone asked me something and I knew the answer I jumped and cheered and was so excited that I'm actually starting to know something. The missionaries laugh and laugh.  I make them cheer for me.  My trainer, Brother Bingham had his last day Monday so I've been by myself the rest of the week.  I'm working on securing five apartments right now, and closing two.

Everyone's air conditioning works really well here.  We freeze to death at church and in restaurants.

We love being here.  Some days we get a little weepy, especially knowing we are missing a special family event at home.  But mostly we are very happy and feeling way less overwhelmed.

Knee Therapy
I've started physical therapy for my knee.  He puts cuffs on each of my legs, like a blood pressure cuff, above my knees.  Then  he pumps them up tight till I can feel my heart pumping in my legs.  He actually has a gauge so he knows how tight to make them. Then I do simple exercises but they seem really hard because those things are so tight on my legs.  He says it tells my brain to send growth hormones so I will heal faster.  I've been pretty stiff this week, but my knee is getting much better.

Airport
Chris and I got to pick up a new missionary at the airport Wednesday.  He's so cute and so young and he was sooooo tired.  They get about 2 hours of sleep the night before they come.  The missionaries are all cute, but they are extra cute because they glow like missionaries.  He's from Arizona and on our drive to the office he said, "There sure are a lot of cows here."  Funny huh.  That seems totally normal to me, but not to him.  I guess there are not that many cows grazing in Arizona. When we brought him back to the mission office, the other Marshallese elders were there waiting to greet him.  It was seriously so cute.

The new missionary is just a normal size, but the other guys are big tall guys.  They all greeted him with enthusiasm and welcomed him with open arms.  It's so fun to watch.  We have four Marshallese speaking missionaries in our mission.  We have a large number of Marshallese people here.  There are more here than there are in the Marshall islands.  They come to work in the chicken farms.

Saturday we took a missionary to the airport to go home.  He went home a few months early because of some problems at home.  We senior sisters in the office gave him a little party Friday with cake and ice cream.  A couple of his missionary buddies came with us to the airport.  After he went up the escalator one of them said,  I think I'm more nervous for him to go home than I will be when I go home.  Do I say CUTE often enough?

Long Day
Friday Chris and one of the missionaries took the mission truck and trailer and drove to Joplin to get some unused furniture out of an apartment we have there and then drive it to Cherokee Village for a senior couple who just got here.  It was pretty much a 13 hour day of driving and very exhausting. Cherokee village is a long way away.

Sunday

Today we drove an hour south to go to church in Alma which is in the Fort Smith stake. We want to get familiar with the areas and also see the apartments where the missionaries live.  The Alma missionaries were happy to see us, especially because we brought them cookies.  We then went to Clarksville to see the missionaries there.  Then we drove around to see some missionary apartments.  It was a good day and it was a beautiful drive there.  There was fog over the mountains and it was just gorgeous.  I took a few pictures but it doesn't really capture it.  It's cooling off here and it's raining a lot.  Fall must be here.

This is the drive down through the mountains south from Bentonville to the Fort Smith area. It was about an hour. This freeway was completed just around 2000. So it's pretty new. The old highway is a little two lane windy road.

This is a picture of the Arkansas River. We are on the north side headed down the hill to Van Buren. Parley P. Pratt was tried in Van Buren. They were having a little street fair but we could not stop because it was the Sabbath.

More of the Arkansas river. We crossed over from Van Buren on the north to Fort Smith on the south. 

Missionary Experiences

TODAY was a neat experiment! We went to a local fair in Mountain View 'disguised' as normal people and set out a giant chalk board with life prompting questions(i.e- what's your purpose? What motivates you? What brings you joy?)!
And the results were amazing! We talked to over 1200 people and got to show everyone that there are so many amazing things that unify us as children of God! Missionary work is the coolest!! 😊 ☀️ 🤙