CHARISOL ON A MISSION

Coincidence? or Inspiration?

Last Saturday we were asked to go to a ward open house in Anderson. It’s 30 minutes away. The missionaries couldn’t be there so we were their substitute. It was from 3 to 7 pm and they had a lot of different pictures of Christ displayed, and some nativities. In the small cultural hall, they had home made cookies and hot chocolate. It was lovely. Hardly anyone came, but we enjoyed visiting with a few ward members that were there. And we decided maybe we’d start going to church there.

Funny thing, when we met with the president Monday, Chris told him what we were thinking and he was so surprised because that went right along with some things he was thinking about. I can't reveal the details. The Lord works in mysterious ways. Maybe that open house was for us!

So Sunday we went to church in Anderson. It’s the first time since we first got here that we’ve been to the whole block. It’s also the last time for 3 hour church here.

Missionary Work

Another busy week. We went to the airport 3 times this week. Monday morning we said goodbye to Sister Shelley. We know her really well because she’s been working in the office a lot. I cried. It was rough. Nobody prepared me for this. Tuesday morning we took Sister Hay to the airport. She’s our transfer missionary from Temple Square. She’s headed back to her mission there. She loves it here so much she didn’t want to go back. Arkansas Bentonville mission rocks! Tuesday evening we went to pick up a missionary that’s being transferred here from Scotland. Her asthma is bothering her too much in Scotland. That’s a long flight and she was sooo tired!

New Missionary on the right: Sister Bernards

Beautiful sky at the airport early in the morning.

Goodbye Sister Shelley! Here's our office staff with her.

Missionaries - The Lord needs valiant servants to do His work in the latter days!

One sister missionary we know here grew up with member parents, but they refused to let her pray or read scriptures in their home. She wasn’t allowed to get baptized until she turned 18. She went to church with friends. She has very bad asthma problems that she developed when she got older, caused from second hand smoke from her mom. Anyway, the second she turned 18 she got baptized and then as soon as she could she turned in mission papers. Amazing!

Another sister missionary we know grew up inactive, but she had some good examples in her life, so at one point she cleaned up her life and started going to church. When we asked her why she came on a mission she said, “When you’ve had the atonement work in your life, it’s hard not to want to help others have that.”

Elder and Sister Johnson moving service

Thursday we drove to Fayetteville to help some Sisters move into a new place. They rounded up the Elders that were close and they came to help. Thank goodness for young missionaries. Those Elders can move furniture like nobody's business. The guys moved all the furniture out while the gals cleaned the apartment. One of the Elders cleaned all the hair out of the vacuum and it was pretty gross. When we got back to Bentonville we picked up some furniture from another apartment. Then we went to the storage shed, cleaned it out, and put more stuff in it. We then went to the dumpster at the office and chucked a bunch of stuff from the storage shed. It was a long day and Chris was especially exhausted. I cleaned hard but I don't move furniture. It's always fun to spend time with the missionaries.