Another week gone

Dearest Family,

The weeks keep flying by! The days are long but the weeks are short. I can't believe that we are already halfway through July!

We had a pretty good lesson with the J last Monday! We were able to watch the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie. Around the First Vision time, their two kids, ages 3 and 17 months, started getting more roudy and Bro. J phone went off, so we could tell that the advesary was trying to intervene on the situation. But Bro. J turned his phone off and the kids eventually went to sleep and we were able to watch the rest of the movie in silence. At the end, we could tell that Sis. Jones was emotional. Then Bro. J tried explaining to us his logic of how Joseph Smith didn't really see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ but that it as a trick of Joseph Smith's mind. We then told him no and that Joseph Smith really did in fact see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the flesh and bone. We feel that Sis. J knows that the church is true but Bro. J is having a harder time receiving or recognizing that witness. He is out of town this week so we are meeting with just her at least once. Whenever we ask them a question, she always looks at him and waits for him to answer. So we feel like talking with just her we will be able to see where her testimony really is.

Something happend this week that is really sad! We've been told that Diana Hoelscher cannot come! :( We aren't exactly sure why the Stake changed their mind and decided against it, but she can no longer come and do a fireside. We were pretty bummed when we found out. It really was going to make a huge impact on the way missionary work is done out here in Bella Vista. Maybe I can get her to come out to Salt Lake when I come home. Sister Knutson is going to have her come to her ward when she goes home in a few months.

We also had a really good lesson with A! He moved to Bentonville recently to work for Walmart and he came with a friend, M, who is an intern with Walmart for the summer and is also a member of the church. The last few times we were going to have a lesson with A, we had planned to meet at his house and he was going to feed us lunch. But everytime we go, lunch isn't finished yet so 45 minutes into our appointment we are finally eating. Then we have to quickly eat, maybe answer a few questions he has, and then go because we have another appointment. This time we planned to meet at a member's house. She, J, is a branch missionary so we were going to meet at her house. M, who is also a branch missionary, was also going to come. So we got to J's house and she ended up having to leave so us, M, and A sat on their front porch and had a discussion about the Plan of Salvation. It was really good! M did a great job in playing his role as a member missionary. We were able to explain the doctrine of the Plan and testify that it is God's plan and not just a good plan that was set out by man. We have another appointment with him this week and we hope it will go just as well!

I want to challenge everybody to make their own Mormon.org account! Here is my account: http://mormon.org/me/8RMS this is one way that we can do missionary work! Also, if you have questions about our church, you can go to mormon.org and talk live with missionaries who can answer your questions! It is pretty sweet! So that's my challenge!

Sorry this is shorter but I've said all I want for the week! Talk to you next week!

Love you all!

See you soon then!

Love, Sister Ashley Pahl