We love it here.  The weather is pretty nice most of the time.  When it's cold, it's really really cold, but then it gets better and is quite nice for awhile.

Last Sunday
Where do the weeks go?  I can't figure it out.  Last Sunday we went to a Springdale ward, then in the same building we went to a Marshallese branch.  How about us going to 2 Sacrament meetings! We wore headphones for translation.  In the Marshallese branch, a family gave the talks.  Two young girls talked, both in English, but the big brother and mom and dad both talked in Marshallese.  The family sang a song in Marshallese.  We talked to the mom afterward and she said her little girls don't know their language and it makes her very sad.  She taught them a song in Marshallese and told them they had to learn it.  She said her husband barely knows English.  But she could speak it very well.

They sang their congregational hymns acapella.  The music leader would stand up and start singing and leading and pretty soon everyone would join in and it sounded beautiful.   Nice harmony and everything.

When we were walking into the Marshallese meeting, we visited for awhile with the man who does the translating.  Chris said, "How many people do you think you'll have here today?"  He said, "I don't know.  It depends on who shows up."

Both meetings were great.  We met lots of friendly people.  We were able to see 4 different sets of missionaries and give them brownies.


Elder Kopischke
When Elder Kopischke was here a couple weeks ago, in one of our meetings he told us he felt prompted that someone in the congregation was worried about their family.  He told us our family would be watched over while we are gone.  I looked around.  I could see several people bawling, me included.  Chris said to me, "Do you think he's talking to you?"  I said, "I have no idea, it's hard to tell."

Book of Mormon - It's true and I love it!
I had a chiropractor appointment this week.  While I was lying in bed that morning, a picture came into my mind and I saw myself giving her and her assistant a Book of Mormon.  So when I wen,t I took each of them some Dove peppermint bark  and a Book of Mormon.  I said exactly what I saw myself saying in my mind and it went really well.  They seemed glad to get them and said they would read them.  The chiropractor said she had read it once before many years ago, so I suggested it was time for her to read it again.  Imagine me being so brave!  Whew!

There was a homeless man sitting in the foyer last Sunday.  It was a bitter cold day and he was trying to get warm.  He looked well dressed and clean.  He said he sleeps at night in a shelter, but can't stay there during the day.  Chris talked to him for awhile, bore his testimony, and gave him a Book of Mormon.  We drove him to a McDonalds and gave him some money for a meal.  I offered him some brownies but he wouldn't take them because they'd be bad for his weight. Go figure!  He gave us his telephone number.  He was also charging his cell phone.  But he lives quite a ways away.

Christmas Tree
We got out a Christmas tree that was stored in the office and lo and behold it was BLACK.  I've never in my life seen a black Christmas tree.  We all voted no way are we putting a black tree in the office.   We put it in the dumpster and ordered one that's not black.  Honestly!

Mission life
A mission is such a microcosm of learning.  It's no wonder it's such a defining time in a person's life.  These missionaries have so much to learn.  They need to be 100 percent obedient, they need to be 100 percent responsible, they can't drive like a maniac or they get their cars taken away, they have to clean their apartments, they have to clean the toilet, they have to find courage they never knew they had, they have to face their fears and conquer their weaknesses, they have to keep accurate records.   A mission offers every single missionary an opportunity to learn...a lot.   They either accept it or they don't.  They go home a changed person, or they don't.  It's a choice.  When I was in physical therapy they put tourniquets on both my legs so that the simple exercises I did were magnified and seemed much harder.  I think a mission is like that.  We are in a bubble of learning and the learning is magnified because of the bubble we are in.  It's a wonderful thing to watch and a hard thing to watch.  I used to feel so bad when I saw the grand kids get disciplined.  I knew they needed to be and they've grown up to be great kids because of it, but oh it was hard to watch.  Same thing here.  Several missionaries got their cars taken away this week, and oh it makes me sad.  They drove somewhere out of their area without permission.  Salt Lake knows everything they do because of the Tiwi.  I think most of them will take the discipline, learn from it, and do better next time.  But I feel bad for them. But then they've only been out of primary for 6 years.

We're here to "Light the World"

Good thing there's a crafty lady in our office who made us all stockings.

Missionary Experience from Elder Keller
HELLO BEAUTIFUL MISSIONARIES!!!!!
I wanted to share a finding success/miracle Elder Stevens and I had last Saturday. We had biked to downtown Poteau for our dinner appointment and we stayed the rest of the night downtown visiting people. I (as I always do) brought my guitar with me on my back. As our night ended we began biking home. We happened to bike past a bowling alley and there were quite a few kids hanging out in the parking lot. As I saw them I got carried away in thought and memories of high school flooded my mind and before I knew it I felt a very strong burning in my chest. My chest hasn't felt a burning in months and immediately I knew we were supposed to talk to them. I turned into the parking lot and told Elder Stevens what I had just experienced and he said, "I'll follow your lead". When we rode over I asked if they wanted to hear a song and they did. Hahaha they made me play 3 songs. Afterwards Elder Stevens explained the Book of Mormon and we shared personal experiences. As we talked the crowd got smaller until there were only 6 kids. As it would happen 2 of them are actually from Mesa Arizona only 10 minutes away from my house and moved to Poteau a year ago. All 6 of them wanted a Book of Mormon and gave us contact info. What a miracle it was! Truly Heavenly Father does guide this work!
#AnotherOneForTheGoodGuys