Doctor

Hey Family,

                  This week has been great. Monday we played games and then because Elder North and Elder Oveson were getting transferred we said goodbye to some people. Then on Tuesday Elder Oveson packed most of the day and I straightened up the house. Then we went and taught this guy named Eugene about the Book of Mormon. That night we said goodbye to a couple more people. On Wednesday we went to transfers. My new companions name is Elder Sakurada. He is from Roy UT. He has been out for a little over a year (1 transfer less than me). Elder Fredette's new companion is Elder Cassler. He is from Orem, UT. I did not know him before the mission but we know a lot of the same people. After transfers we loaded all of their stuff in our car and drove back to West Memphis. That night we went to mutual and they got to meet lots of the members. Then me and Elder Sakurada took the other Elders' car and drove to Little Rock. We were on bike week so we didn't have a car. We got to Little Rock and stayed with the Pinnacle Mountain Elders. The next day we got up and went to my doctors visit. I wore an awesome doctor tie ( I will send a pic).

This is my doctor tie- it is pretty legit!

  It was a fairly normal visit. Some lab work, an echo (ultrasound), and some chest x-rays. The doctor told me I was doing perfect. Because it was my year mark I needed to get a special blood test to check for rejection. I had to go to a different hospital for that blood test. So after I was done we got in the car and plugged in the GPS to the hospital. We drove there and after wandering around to find the lab because the person we asked told us it was downstairs, we found the lab. We walked in and told them why we were there and they said we were at the wrong hospital. We needed to be in Little Rock not North Little Rock. It was LAME. It had the same name and was just as far from the children's hospital as the one we were supposed to be at. We finally got to the right hospital and after I told them why I was there they said come on in we have been waiting for you. I got the blood test and we headed back to West Memphis. We then went around and saw a few people. On Friday I had to wear a holter monitor that the doctor told me to wear for 24 hours. We went and saw Anne. She is doing better and is not sick anymore. We were teaching her and her grandchildren wanted to listen so we scheduled a time this week to go teach the whole family. It was awesome. Saturday we went and saw Janette and Sharon. That afternoon we had a great discussion with Sherry and David. After we went up to the Teeter's and had dinner and a good visit with them. Sunday Noland came to church. It was really great and after church we read 2nd Nephi 31 with him. We are still working on baptism and trying to set a date with him. That night we went to the Anderson's for dinner and a lesson. It was really good and lots of fun. 

this is a pic of the moon at 5 o clock

                That was about it for my week. Hope y'all have a great week and a fun Presidents day. Thanks for all y'all have done for me. 

Elder Talbert  

Force Fields

Letter from Feb 10

Hey Family,

                 This week has been great. We have transfers this next week and I am not getting transferred. I am excited to stay in West Memphis. Well on Monday we did our usual thing and played lots of games. We had dinner at the Lotts. On Tuesday we went on exchanges. I stayed in my area with Elder Schut. He is a new missionary that came out this past transfer. We had lots of fun going around and seeing people. Since we had the car we were able to go and see Janette. She has been busy as ever and only had a few minutes to talk. We then got a call from the other elders to come and pick them up (they were on bike week and it was raining really hard all day). When they got in the car they were soaked. Right as we were about to back up 3 firetrucks, a city truck, and 2 fire cars pulled in around us. It was nothing too big just a smoke scare I guess, but after about 20 min of waiting we got the attention of the fire chief and got one of the fire trucks to move so we could leave. Later we had dinner with Brother Barnum and a less active named Thomas John. It was lots of fun. We gave Thomas a blessing because he wants to change his life around. We then went and saw the Russell's. On Wednesday we had zone meeting. On the way to zone meeting there was a mysterious ticking noise on the way over. When we arrived I glanced at the place it seemed to be coming from and saw nothing. Zone meeting was good. It was all about using the Book of Mormon more and always having a copy to give out in your hands. On the way back from zone meeting the ticking noise continued. About the time we got to the Millington exit our tire made a pop noise. We pulled off the freeway and it was flat. 

This is what our tire looked like

 We called everything in and after about an hour we were able to get the tire off and put the spare on. We drove home very cautiously on the spare. By the time we got home we had dinner then another meeting at the church. It was a long and eventful day. On Thursday we were able to go to Firestone and get the tire replaced. The old one looked like it had been stabbed several times. Friday was fairly boring. There was a social thing at the church in the evening which included food so we went. After they were playing jeopardy and I realized I knew most of the answers. On Saturday we tried to see some people but no one was home so we went to a gas station to get a drink. A guy walked in and asked us what church we go to. We then talked to him about the church and asked if we could stop by some time. That evening we saw Sherry and David. They are cool and asked a bunch of good questions. On Sunday, church was great. We had a talk about the atonement. It was awesome and really focused on how essential the atonement is to the plan of salvation. It was a great talk and priesthood was about the creation and how everything was made for a purpose. That night for dinner we ate at the Greens. In the middle of dinner their daughter Carly (she is like 5) walked up to Elder North and asked him to explain what a force field was to Holly ( she is like 3) her younger sister. He did and Holly just gave him a weird look. After dinner I shared a spiritual thought about Samuel the Lamanite and how he had a spiritual force field around him when he was up on the wall teaching the Nephite people.

We got this cool pic of a beetle bug and a guitar = perfect Kodak moment

                 That's about it for my week. Thanks for all y'all do for me. Hope ya'll have a great week and a fun valentines day. I love and pray for y'all.

Elder Talbert

L Tom Perry

Letter from Feb 3

Hey Family,

                This week has been great. Monday was usual, we played games. Then on Tuesday we went to  district meeting. It was good and both the AP's and the zone leaders where there. We learned about the restoration of the gospel. Sometimes you think that oh I have already learned about this but everything we believe in hangs on whether the restoration it true or not. So it was good to review it and learn that if our investigators don't understand the restoration we have no point to move forward till they do. That evening we taught this lady named Sherry and her husband David. They are really cool and are very active in their church. On Wednesday we went and tried to see a less active but she wasn't home so we walked around for a little. While we were walking I saw a dollar on the side of the road. I bent down to pick it up and as I did a truck passed us. We kept walkin and saw the truck that had passed us were some guys that work for the city. They asked me if I had picked up a dollar I said yes and then we got in a conversation on what each other does. Then we talked to them about the gospel and they seemed interested. We are going to go to their house this week and try and see them. On Friday we saw this less active lady named Sis Misskelly. She is really cool but I don't know why she doesn't come to church. After that we went to the Oreys. Then with the Oreys we went to Cordova to a meeting about hastening the work with Elder L Tom Perry. It was awesome and he is super energetic and happy and funny. He is also 90. He talked about how the bible was written a long time ago and is ancient and we need to be focusing on the D&C because that is modern. Out here its all about the bible but the bible is old we need to read the D&C. That is something I am going to try and do these next couple weeks. Another thing that really hit me was he said that Salvation is a personal affair and Exaltation is a family affair. It was a great night and awesome to see L. Tom Perry. On Saturday we went and we saw the Russells. They are a less active family that are really cool. We had a good talk with them. Then we went and saw Sherry and David. We taught them the Restoration and they seemed to grasp most of it. Then on Sunday we had fast and testimony meeting. It was great and Noland came to church. He stayed for all 3 hours then he had to go get ready for  work. He said he loved it and he would be back this next week. After church we went and visited the Oreys and it was lots of fun. 

                        That is about it for my week. Sounds like y'all had a great week. I hope y'all have a great week and have fun at school and work. Thanks for all y'all do.

Elder Talbert 

Jan 27

Hey Family,

                  This week has been great. On Tuesday we had district meeting in Bartlett. It was good and about inviting people to come to church. After district meeting we went to see some people but we were on bike week so we ended up talking to a few people on the street. Then on Wednesday we went up to Wynn with the other elders and Brother Jones. Brother Jones is the Young men's president and loves to hunt and fish. Well we went up to Wynn and tried to see lots of less actives but no one was home. We did find that lots of them had moved and talked to a couple people that said we could come back and teach them. Then after we had got home we got a call from one of the less active members we tried to see. He said he was home and was sick so he didn't want to talk to us and get us sick. We then talked to him for a while and he said he would like us to come visit some time when he is not sick. On Thursday we went out and saw this lady named Sharron. She is really nice and was willing to help us out with anything. We are going to go by this week and teach her. We also talked to this lady named Amber. She is really nice too but was sick so we are hopefully going to be teaching her this week. That night we ate dinner at the Jones' house. Brother Jones is a good cook and made us stew. About halfway though the meal he told us that the stew was made with raccoon meat from a raccoon that he had killed. It was very good and tasted like roast beef. On Saturday we went to the Teeter's to help them paint. We painted one of the rooms in their house green. I was somehow assigned to do the upper trim. Because I know a lot of medical info people instantly assume I have steady hands and can do the hardest jobs. I was OK with doing the trim and it looked good when I was done. On Sunday we had a good talk on forgiveness and repentance. Then in Gospel principles the teacher, Brother Barnum, did an role play thing. He gave everyone slips of paper with a personality on it and he asked a bunch of questions. You had to answer the questions as if you were that person. As missionaries we didn't get slips because he ran out. But depending on how you answered the questions depended on whether or not you stayed on the straight and narrow. At the end if you had fallen off the straight and narrow the last question was will you repent. If you do you can go back on the straight and narrow. I thought it was a cool lesson on how we can make choices in life and its easier to choose the right first. 

                  Well that's it for my week. I hope y'all have a great week and have fun. Thanks for all you do. I love and pray for y'all.

                                            Elder Talbert