As You Wish

Hey Family

                    This week has been great and very busy. Monday we went over to Ray's house to have dinner and hang out with him. On Tuesday we went on blitzes (where other missionary come down and you all stay in one area) with the Paragould Elders. They came down and interviewed Ray for baptism. Then we went around and visited a couple other people that Elder Rich (the district leader serving in Paragould) wanted to see because he served here not too long ago. On Wednesday we went down to Memphis to see Gladys Knight. We got there really early, like 3 hours early so we went to eat before we got in line. We went to this place called Genghis Grill. It was really good. Then we went to the church and stood in line with Ray and his mom Sharron for about an hour or so. We got in and we sat there for a few minutes when the the music started playing. The SUV choir walked in and went up on the stage. Then we looked around for Gladys because she didn't come in with the choir. After a minute or so she came walking in and there w/ere lots of excited people. They sang lots of good songs. The first song they sang, in the middle of the song, an old skinny white guy started singing and he sounded like a great young black singer. One of the songs they sang was "I am a Child of God". After they sang "I am a Child of God," a white guy got up and started to introduce Gladys. He said you all probably are wondering why I get to introduce Gladys. He then went on to say that he was related to Gladys and Gladys just sang "I am a Child of God" so we know she is a child of God and I did some research and realized I am a child of God too, so we are brother and sister. Then this rich looking black guy got up and said in a very deep voice, "Hello my name is William McDowell and Gladys Knight is married to me." He told his story of how he and Gladys met and the whole time making little jokes like he said he built a man room off of Gladys' house after they got married. He said "I got the brethren together and we built a man room.  The TV was in the right spot, the remote could never be lost. We labored for 6 days and on the 7th day we rested. When we were done we stood back and saw that it was good." He than said that his biggest concern about joining the church was why did God restore the church though a "little white boy". He said he prayed about it and realized that Joseph Smith was his brother. Then Gladys got up and gave her conversion story and she was also really funny. At one part she was talking about how she liked ice cream and she said "I see lot of y'all are vanilla and a couple of y'all are strawberry but most of y'all are chocolate out there". At one part she had all the missionaries stand up and the audience cheered for us. Then she pointed out her grandson Elder Jackson. Overall it was a really great performance. On Friday we were supposed to have a father sons campout and fishing and stuff. It rained and the place we were going to go flooded. We still went fishing with Ray because he still wanted to go. We caught 7 fish. I caught 2 big catfish, Elder Staib caught 1 perch, and Ray caught 4 catfish. It was lots of fun. Saturday we went down to Memphis to hear Elder Soares a member of the Presidency of the Seventy. It was really good. He talked about how we need to go into the deep end and just go out and get the work done, Don't hold anything back. On Sunday the speakers were Brother Coons (high council member) Elder Staib and myself. I went first and after I was done with my talk I realized that my 10 minute talk turned into a 20 minute talk. I need to figure out how to cut down on the time I speak. The talks were all very good. We spoke on D&C 88:118. Then half way though church the power went out and stayed out till about 6ish.  

                    Thats all I have to say. Its great to hear all of you have had a great week and are ready for summer. Tell Kelsey congrats on the mission call. Have a great week.

                                                        Elder Talbert  

Happy Mothers Day

Hey Family, 

                     It was great to talk to you all yesterday. This letter will be short because I talked to you guys yesterday. Monday we went and explored downtown and took pictures at the flooded river in town. 

Black River flooding in downtown

Meteor in town

On Tuesday we had zone meeting in West Memphis and we talked about getting the members involved. On Wednesday I had my doctor appointment in Little Rock. It went really well and I don't need to see the doctor for 3 more months. On Thursday we went to district meeting in Paragould because president wanted to come and interview each of us. After we were interviewed, we had a fish fry. The missionaries in Paragould caught catfish last Monday. So for the fish fry we had the catfish, some crawdads, and some fries. It was all really good but the crawdads were good but they were to much work for a little meat. It has been a great week. 

 

. I hope you all had a great Mothers Day. Thanks for all your love and support.

                                                                                                         Elder Talbert  

Float like a Cadillac, Sting like a Beamer

Hey Family,

                  This week has been great. Monday we hung out with the Musicks till dinner time. Then we went over to a family of 7 that recently got baptized and had family home evening. Then on Tuesday we went to Paragould for district meeting. It was good and they focused on how you need to teach with the spirit. People are converted by the spirit. After district meeting we returned to Pocahontas and went to go teach a family named the Lindsey's. Every time we go over there we start by answering their questions. Then we can teach them although they have been taught before so its more like a review for them. On Wednesday we went to go teach one of our investigators named Ray. Ray is a 22 year old that is going to be baptized on the 18th of this month. He needs to start obeying the Word of Wisdom but after that he is good. Then that evening we went and had a missionary meeting. It was good. After the missionary meeting we went and had family night and played apples to apples. I won!!.......once. Thursday we went to Walnut Ridge. We went and visited a few people, one of which was a less active member that used to work for Elvis Productions. She would go around and put on Elvis shows. One of the guys that worked with her was Elvis's cousin. It sounds like she had a really cool job. That evening we went to go and see some of our investigators named John, Jennifer, and  Creanne. They are a family that should be getting baptized on the 25th of this month. They sill have a lot of progress to make though. Sunday we went to church and this week we had stake conference  I think I have been to like 3 stake conferences since I have been on my mission. It was a multistake stake conference and it included like 63 stakes on the eastern half of the country. We had 4 speakers at stake conference. One of the seventy, the general primary president, Robert D Hales, and Dieter F Uchtdorf. It was really good.

                  That is about all that has happened this week. Now you have all asked me lots of questions so here are the answers. My doctor appointment has been changed to the 8th and I will be waking up around 4 AM in order to get there in time because the latest they could do it was 8 AM and I got my meds last Monday. My companion is from Highland, Utah. He has been out about 19 months and has been in Pocahontas since February. We never ride bikes but we could if we wanted to. The town is named after Pocahontas but I don't think she ever lived here so I have no idea why it is named Pocahontas. Last is Mothers day. I will be at the Musicks house when I call you so I can probably do face time and it will be around 5-6 our time. I will call you and let you know specifics around 4 our time. I do know you will be at church till 3 so I will call after that.

                  That is about it from me. Have a great week.

                                                                                  Elder Talbert   

Frying pans, who knew?

Hey Family,

                    This week has been exciting. Monday and Tuesday were spent going around Hot Springs and saying bye to lots of the members and investigators. 

Elder Talbert and Elder Jacobson

On Wednesday we went the hour drive to Little Rock to transfers. My name was called as one of those going to the "Other Side". We then loaded up the trailers and drove 2 hours to the Memphis Stake Center. I got to see the Memphis Temple! It is by far the smallest temple I have ever seen. It was the same size if not smaller then the Stake Center. The Stake Center is normal sized. Then I went to the transfer meeting in Memphis. I am now companions with Elder Staib. We drove 2 hours from the Memphis stake center to Pocahontas, Arkansas where I am now serving. Pocahontas is a small town and there is a branch here. Wednesday night we went to family game night. There are not enough active youth here so they have a family game night on Wednesday instead of mutual. The rest of the week we went and visited some people here. I am still trying to learn names and figure out where I am. Yesterday church was weird. There were only about 40-50 people there and 90% of those were older folks. 

Elder Staib and Elder Talbert

Elder Staib is really cool. We kinda look alike but I'm a little taller. We have a lot in common so that is great. We were looking at each others photos yesterday and realized that his younger brother looks like Nathaniel. It was really strange. 

                    There is also a senior couple here in Pocahontas. They are the Musicks and they are really nice and always willing to help. We cover all the little towns around Pocahontas so we have a good sized area. I will enjoy it here.

                    A few side things. 1st, Dad tell Sister Hart hi and that I will be praying for her and I hope she gets better soon. 2nd Mom I have not gotten my med's but they should be here soon. I have enough to last till they get here. 3rd my doctors appointment will have to be changed because it is 2 hours to get to Little Rock. I talked to President about it and the Musicks are willing to drive us there and back so I will reschedule that today some time. It sounds like you have all had a fairly good week. I am excited to see Paula and Blake's new place. It sounds like Heather's face plant hurt and I hope she will be OK. Last thing is that this week I have heard a talk by Brad Wilcox called "His Grace is Sufficient". It is a great talk and I encourage you all to hear it.

                    Thanks for all that you do for me and know that I am always praying for you guys. Have a great week.  

                                            Love Elder Talbert

  

 Pastor George Rook

me with Derek Bruce

Edger on the left and Shelita on the right

my finger after i jammed it playing basketball

I'm a real boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Family

               This week has been great. Tuesday we had a meeting in Little Rock. We talked about becoming the fourth missionary. There is a talk or essay or a group of papers or something like that named The Fourth Missionary. It is a really good talk and it talks about four kinds of missionaries and how the fourth missionary is the one we all want to be. At this meeting we talked about how to become the fourth missionary and how it will help you during and after your mission. We also had someone from SUV (Saints Unified Voices) come and talk to us about the upcoming SUV fireside in our mission. For those of you who don't know anything about SUV, it is a Grammy award winning choir directed by Gladys Knight. Gladys Knight (from Gladys Knight and the Pips) is LDS and she has this choir that she goes around with and puts on firesides for nonmembers. Members can only get a ticket to go if they bring a nonmember friend with them. It will be an awesome experience and I will tell you all about it in May when it happens. We have started to run low on miles and so we have been biking these last couple of days. It is both fun and tiring to bike. On Sunday both of the talks, the lesson in Gospel Principles, and the lesson in Elders Quorum were all on the priesthood. It was all very good and in Gospel Principles, the priesthood was compared with the force. It was cool and the comparison made sense so that was good.

 

               This week is transfers and I am getting transferred. You should send things (like my meds) to the mission office this week until I know where I am going. I think that it is really cool that Mike is in the Bishopric. Tell him hi and that he's awesome for me. Tell Greg and Tanya hi for me as well. I hope you all have a great week.

                           Love Elder Talbert 

With great power comes great responsibility

Hey Family,

                  This week was awesome. On Tuesday we had zone meeting in Little Rock. After zone meeting we went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I stayed in Little Rock while Elder Jacobson and Elder Stewart went back to Hot Springs. While I was in Little Rock we visited lots of their investigators and I learned better how to know when an investigator is making progress and when they need to be put on the pause button. Wednesday morning we received a call from president and he was asking how to get into the gate the apartment complex was in. We let him in and he taught us how to plan better and how to make sure we can achieve the goals we set and still have them stretch us. It was a good exchange were I learned a lot and it was lots of fun. On Thursday we went to go and see this family named the McFadden's. The 10 year old girl got interviewed for baptism on the exchanges. That evening we had volleyball and our investigator named Edger came. I think that playing volleyball has really helped him be excited about church and have the desire to be baptized. He wants to be baptized in May around his birthday. Friday we set up for a wedding. It reminded me so much of setting up for Kent's wedding because they had the reception at the church. The wedding took place on Saturday evening and the reception was right after. The girl is a member but the guy is not and at the wedding, the guy asked us to teach him the discussions. The wedding was nice and the reception was also good. After we helped clean up. Sunday was fast and testimony. I did not get up because their was at least 2-3 people up there the whole time. At one point there was about 8 people on the stage in line. It was still very good. We also had lots of investigators and less actives to church. One of the less actives that came is Josh. Josh was baptized when he was 8 and went till he was 10. Now he is 25 and came to church for the first time in 15 years. Right after church we had a baptism for Lauren McFadden. She is the 10 year old that got interviewed this Tuesday. It was a great baptism. It has been a great week.

 

                  A couple of side notes. First I have not heard anything from the doctor. Second where are the Keeles moving too? Third who did Tyler marry? Last Heather keep practicing your southern accent and we will have a competition to see who's better.

 

                  Thanks for everything you do. I love and pray for all of you guys. Have a great week.

                                                                                                                                        -Elder Talbert

I'm right behind ya, yea right behind ya

Hey Family,

                   This week was great. This week on Tuesday after our district meeting we went with the other Elders in our district and visited a less active member of ours named Tommy. It was lots of fun. Then that evening we went to the Hot Springs Village to have dinner with one of the members. It was my second time at the Village and I realized why it is the biggest gated community in the U.S. After we got into the gate we had to drive another 10ish miles to get to the member's house. Without a GPS, a person would easily get lost there. Then on Thursday we went out teaching with a member in the evening. It was lots of fun and we took him to visit some of our investigators who live in a shady apartment complex in town. Then we went to the church and played volleyball. On Friday we went to a funeral in the morning. The funeral was for Sister Wray's dad. The Wray's are the members that we live with. If you look up my address on google maps it will show you their house. We live up the hill some more in the "Mountain House". On Saturday and Sunday I watched conference as you might have guessed. I watched all but the Saturday afternoon session at the church. The Saturday afternoon session we watched at Tommy's house. There were a lot of good talks and all the apostles spoke at least once some spoke more than once. I took notes but not too many because Elder Bednar told us to only take a few notes. I liked that there were a lot of talks on missionary work. Most of the talks on missionary work, they were talking to the members but it is also the missionary who can get the member involved. I liked the one Sunday morning about holding on to the knowledge that we have and always trying to get more. I liked listening to Elder Bednar and Elder Kopichke because I felt like I knew them since I have met them. It was a little weird watching all the sessions at the church and not at home. There were about 10 people at the church for the sessions. Overall it was a great conference.

 

                 It is great to hear that you had a good spring break. I like the pictures that you all sent. I will have to take lots so I can send some to you guys. The furniture looks nice mom. What did you do with the furniture that was in the living room before? Well I'm out of things to say so have a great week and know that I love and appreciate all that you guys do for me.

                                                             Love

                                                                    Elder Talbert