Ether 12:27

Dear family and friends,



We had a pretty good week! It always seems to go by faster when I email on Wednesday since there's less time between emails. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing! :)



On Wednesday we spent most of the day in Booneville. We were able to see Sis. Williams, a less active member. She's great! We saw Bro. Henry. We're having a hard time getting a hold of him because his phone is turned off right now and so we've had to set things up through the members through facebook! :) We had dinner with Bro. Lynch and the Elders. We taught him more about the Priesthood. He got interviewed yesterday for the Aaronic Priesthood so hopefully soon he'll be ordained a Priest! :) It's so great to see people move forward in the gospel! :)



On Thursday we went to the Jacksons to get back in contact with them. Turns out that Bro. Jackson isn't going to police academy until January now. We weren't able to stay very long, but we have another appointment with them tonight. Hopefully we can start working with them more! It's just hard to get a hold of them!



On Friday, we had Zone Training Meeting and Sister Ficklin and I had to instruct on "ANTs" - Automatic Negative Thoughts. Sister Shumway instructed on it at MLC. Anyway, it was a really good discussion and it went much better than I thought or anticipated it would go! We went over our time a little bit...oops! Oh well. :) It was a really good meeting. Really spiritual. It was also really sad because it was my last Zone Training Meeting! I like can't even believe that. It doesn't feel like I'm going home, but I am. It's weird.




Also on Friday, I went on an exchange with Sis. Tait in Charleston. We had the Vendel's son come for dinner and the Van Buren sisters joined us as well and Sis. Tait and Sis. Huskey were able to practice their Portugese on him. He served in Brazil a while ago so they just taught him the Restoration. Their Portugese is pretty good for only being out for a few weeks. She's going to do great things in Brazil! They both are just waiting for their Visas! I hope they come soon so they can get to the mission they've been called to, but for now they are here in the OTM changing people's lives!



Saturday night we went to see a lady that the Zone Leaders told us to go see. They had met her at the hospital. Her brother is a member and he called them to give their dad a blessing. The dad ended up passing away. But when we went over there, the lady told us that she wasn't interested at that time because her brother who claimed to be a Mormon said some very choice words to her and she got really offended. So she said anybody who acts like that, she doesn't want anything to do with her religion. So we talked a little bit with her and she was really nice. We ended up giving her a card with our number on it and a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. She said that maybe she'll get over what her brother said and she'll give us a call because she really does like learning about other religions. So we'll see what happens with that!


We had a fantastic lesson with the Hobbs yesterday. She could not be more excited for her baptism. She told her mother about her decision to get baptized and her mom was happy for her! Sis. Hobbs had a dream that her mom was going to disown her but she didn't! She's happy for her and is even planning on coming to the baptism! It's so great! She really sees God's hand in her life. Even when she's working. She's a mail carrier in Ft. Smith and so some days she'll be walking and on the verge of crying because she's stressed, then Elder Phelps, a missionary in Ft. Smith, will pull up and roll down his window and say, "Hi, Sis. Hobbs!" She'll say, "Hi, Elder Phelps..." He gave her a blessing a while ago when we were starting to teach her and so they've become friends because of it. I can't remember if I told you this but we know that their family will be sealed in the temple one day. Every time we're over there, Bro. Hobbs says things that make us believe that he believes what we're saying, he's just having a hard time mentally right now so he doesn't want to admit it. We don't know if that's actually the case yet, but that's what we think. They love us coming over and our visits get a little funny, but it's good for them! :)


I just love being here. I'm so glad that I was able to spend so much time in Charleston. When I go home, I'll have been in the Ft. Smith Zone/Stake for almost 10 months!!! That's more than half of my mission in one Zone. Crazy! But I'm so grateful for the time! I've loved Ft. Smith! It's so great!



Well, I think that's about it for this week! Thanks for all the support!



Love you all!!



See you soon then!!



Love, Sister Pahl