What's Up Doc?

Hey Family,

                  This week has been great! On Monday we played lots of games and the Lakeland Elders came down and hung out with us. After we went to the Crickmores for dinner and the Teeter's after that. then on Tuesday we all went to zone meeting in Frayser. It was all focused on how to overcome people's problem and concerns. We did a lot of role plays and had lots of fun. After zone meeting we came back to WM (West Memphis) and went to go see some people in this shady neighborhood. We have lots of investigators all in this neighborhood. None of them were home but we met this guy named Arsenio. He seems really cool and we are going to start teaching him. Then we went to dinner and then drove to Little Rock. We stayed with the Pinnacle Mountain Elders. The next morning we got up and went to my doctors appointment. It was very boring. We sat around, I got some blood work and an echo then the doctor looked at me and said I was still doing good. We then drove back to West Memphis. By the time we got back it was about dinner time so we went to the Teeter's for dinner. We watched the movie Joseph the Prophet of the Restoration with them. It is still a good movie. On Thursday we had the apartment specialist come and check our apartment. We passed with flying colors.....Probably because there is nothing in our apartment. We then went to the other Elders' house for lunch. After lunch we went on exchanges. I stayed down in WM with Elder North. It was lots of fun and we found some new people for them to teach and set a date with one of their investigators. Meanwhile up in Marion, Elder Oveson and Elder Anderson found some new people, contacted some referrals and set a date with a lady named Joanne. She is really cool and loves leaning the gospel. Friday we exchanged back and Elder Oveson and I went to that neighborhood I was telling you about and talked to lots of our investigators there and had some good lessons outside with lots of people. On Saturday President Peterson came down and did interviews for the four of us. He told me I am probably staying here this next transfer but I love it here so I was OK with that. That night we had an appointment with Joanne. She wasn't home but we went to go see a different investigator that lives right around the corner and she seems solid and wants us to teach her next week when her husband comes back from a work trip. On Sunday we had stake conference. We went with the Teeters to save us some miles. It was very good and most of the speakers talked about how members need to be more involved in missionary work and how the members and the missionaries need to work together. It was a great stake conference and the new temple president and his wife spoke. They are Bro and Sis Griffin from Hot Springs. It was cool to see them again. 

                 That is about it for my week. It has been good and productive. It sounds like y'all had a fairly good week and I hope y'all have a great week this week.

Love Elder Talbert

A Great Missionary Picture

Halloween costume (Secret Service)

Monster Mash (November 4)

Hey Family,

                    This week has been good. On Tuesday we had district meeting in Bartlett. We talked a lot about how to find new investigators and what works best as finding methods. It was a really good meeting. I learned that I need to be better at getting people's names. I seem to forget to ask for people's names when I talk to them on the street. After district meeting we went to Lakeland and helped the sisters find in their area for an hour. We found a couple of new people they could go back and see. When we were done finding in Lakeland we went back to West Memphis and went finding in our own area. We found this guy named Jeff Wilson. He had a lot of questions for us and we answered them the best we could. At the end of the discussion he said he wanted us to come over and talk to him some more. So we are going over there hopefully this week to talk to him. We also got a car on Tuesday and the WM Elders went on bike week. On Wednesday night we went to the branch's Halloween party. We all dressed up. I was a secret service agent, Elder Oveson was a thug, Elder Anderson tried being a ninja but then changed to the President, and Elder North wrote the word book on his face and went as facebook. It was a fun party. Thursday was Halloween. We were down in West Memphis all day helping out the other Elders and doing a lot of finding. That evening we went to a Halloween Party one of the members was throwing. It was fun but we left when they went out trick or treating. Here in Arkansas trick or treating is a little different then in Utah. Instead of the parents going with their children from door to door, the parents sit in their car and watch their children go from door to door. The parents stay in their car the whole time and slowly inch forward as their child moves along the street. It was kinda funny to see just a line of cars on both sides of the street slowly inch forward as kids are running everywhere. After we got home, we played Betrayal at a house on a hill. It is a fun game but every time we play I am always the traitor. On Friday we did more finding and we met these two guys named Roman and Ladarius. They are both cool and seem interested in the gospel. We taught them the first lesson when we met them. We also had to drive the WM Elders to Midtown so they could go on exchanges.On Sunday was fast and testimony. It was very good. Then in Sunday School class we learned about a talk by Bruce R McConkie about the atonement. It was very good talk and all about how we would be hopeless without the atonement. Then in Elder's quorum we talked about home teaching. We read part of Thomas S Monson's talk about home teaching from this past general conference. It was about how we need to be the home teachers that go and care about the family and really get to know them. Often we go home teaching because we are asked and we want to tell the Elder's quorum president we did it. I think the same thing applies to visiting teaching. We need to go because we care for the person. After church we had a great lesson with a lady named Joanne. She seemed interested and we are going to teach her again on Thursday this week. 

 

                       That is about all for my week. I hope you are all doing good and having a fun time with school and work. I love and pray for y'all.

                      

                       Love

                               Elder Talbert   

It was the Monster Mash

Joseph's letter from October 28th

Hey Family,

                  This week has been slow and tiring. To answer your question, I keep up just fine on bike week. Our area is flat for the most part. Although we didn't bike at all this week. We walked everywhere because we live next to a major highway and in order to go anywhere in the town from our place you have to go down the highway. We thought it would be a lot more safer to walk and neither of us died so I think we were fairly safe.

 

                  Well on Tuesday we had district meeting. We went and all learned about how to get our investigators to pray with faith and realize that they can increase their faith by reading and going to church and by praying. It was a very good meeting. After the meeting we gave our car to the Lakeland Elders and we went back with the West Memphis (WM) Elders. We walked to Chris's and talked with him for a little. We learned that he is going to Jonesboro for the month so we won't be seeing him around but we are still going to try and teach the rest of the family. For the most part we walked around and talked to everyone we saw and handed out a lot of cards. On Wednesday morning we went with the WM Elders to a teaching appointment then we walked around WM and contacted a referral. Then WM Elders took us back to Marion and we went around to see some people with them. That evening we went to the church and they were having a Halloween Party for YM and YW. It was fun and we dressed up as missionaries. I was Elder Anderson. On Thursday we walked around a sketchy trailer park for most of the day trying to contact people but no one was home. On Saturday the WM Elders called us and told us they were going to come pick us up. We went with them to a birthday party for a kid named Joe. He is really cool and he is a member. The birthday party was at his grandmas house and she is a non-member. We celebrated his birthday ( he turned 9) then we went to Proctor. We went to another Halloween Party one of the members was throwing. There were a lot of nonmembers there too. It was a good day. Sunday we went to church and Elder Oveson and Elder North gave talks. It was very good and all about missionary work and we all need to not procrastinate and do missionary work. It was very good and the rest of church was also great.

 

                  That is about it for my week. Not to bad but fairly boring. We got a lot of help from the WM Elders so that was nice. I think it is awesome that Mike is the new bishop. I know he will do great. I hope y'all have a great week and a Happy Halloween.

                                                                                                  Love Elder Talbert  

Letter from October 21

Hey Family

                    This week has been fairly good. First to answer some of your questions. I received the Hold to the Rod award by memorizing 42 scriptures. It is really cool and now I can recite scriptures so that makes it super cool.

Earning the Hold to the Rod Award

Marion is a smaller town. It is kinda split in two by the freeway so we go under the freeway all the time. It is as close to west Memphis as Orem is to Provo. West Memphis is right on the other side of the bridge over the Mississippi River. We go to the West Memphis Branch. There are about 60 people in sacrament each week. There are lots of awesome members and they seem to all really like the missionaries. We live in a nice 2 bed 2 bath apartment on the golf course. The only down side is you have to go on the highway to leave and we are on bike week this next week, so I will try not to get hit by anything.

      OK now on to my week. On Monday we emailed and played some Risk. The version we were playing is called 2210 Risk and you can nuke others so that was awesome. Then we went to the Crickmores for dinner and tried to see some people. Tuesday we helped this girl named Alex move almost all day. It was super fun but some tiring work. On Wednesday we had specialized training. We went with the WM (West Memphis) Elders to Bartlett for that. It was lots of fun and they talked about how we need to use the Book of Mormon more in everything we do. We have also started a thing where we carry a Book of Mormon in our hand at all times. It has really helped us give out more Books of Mormon. After specialized training we went to the church and had a missionary correlation meeting. We should be getting more members to go out with us. Then on Thursday we went finding all day. We went to this sketchy part of town and walked around talking to people outside. We met this guy named Chris and set up a return appointment for the next day. We found some others and have appointments to go see them this next week. Friday we went over to the WM Elders' apartment for lunch and games. Afterward, Elder Anderson (the District Leader) decided that he wanted to do exchanges. So Elder Anderson and I went to Marion while Elder Oveson and Elder North stayed in WM. We had a couple of appointments but they all fell though except for Chris. We went and we taught him and his wife and her brother. Then we said a prayer at the end with his whole family. There are 9 people in the family. The dad, Chris, mom, Lovie, mom's brother, Demond, son, Chauncey, 4 Daughters, Janerica, Jerinautica, Jerranisha, and Shequisha, and grandson, Mario. It was super awesome and we are going back this week to teach them more and see if they will come to church. On Sunday, I gave a talk on the sacrament and how important it is to be reverent before and during the sacrament. It was a good talk and I liked what I read out of Gospel Principles that it is a time to repent and you need to go into Sacrament meeting with a reverent heart wanting to repent. We then taught Gospel Principles and that was on the spirit world. It was a good lesson.

           Whew....that's all for my week. It has been fun, busy and tiring. I hope you all have a great week and a fun time at school and work.

Elder Talbert

West Memphis is in Arkansas?

Hey family,

                  This week has been exciting. So like I said in the last email I got a call on Monday saying I was going to be transferred. Well that morning we went to the temple to say goodbye to Elder Staib. After we emailed, I packed and we played some games. On Tuesday I packed some more and went to go say goodbye to people. We went to the Seamen's and they gave me a cool blanket. Wednesday we went to a lady named Quantrice's.Sshe is one of the sisters' investigators. We did a baptism interview for her. After, we went to transfers. We hung out at the church till 3 when the people from Little Rock came and we could start transfer meeting. Transfers are supposed to start at 2 but the traffic was bad. Then transfers happened and I got transferred to Marion, AR. My companion is Elder Oveson. He is from Murray, UT and has been out about 9 months. Marion is a small town right above West Memphis. There are Elders in West Memphis so they came over and helped us set up and gave us some people we could go see. On Friday and Saturday we went around and visited a bunch of people. We went to see all the people Elder Anderson gave us as well as some members in Marion. The West Memphis Elders are Elder Anderson and Elder North. We see them about everyday usually at dinner appointments. On Sunday, we had fast and testimony meeting. It was good. There is a branch here and the members seem really cool. Then that evening we went and saw one of the other elders' recent converts named the Teeters. They are really cool family.

       

              That's about it for my week. It was exciting and fun. It sounds like y'all have had a great fall break. Have a great week this week.

          Love Elder Talbert

I didn't know you spoke chinese

Hey Family,

                  This week has been great. First off to answer all of your questions. I did finish the Book of Mormon challenge and loved every moment of it. I did watch all of conference and we watched it at the ward building just in case investigators showed up. We use Mormon messages sometimes in lessons.

        

                   On Monday we played some volleyball and cleaned our house. Then Tuesday, we packed up all of our stuff and more. We waited for the sisters to be done emailing because their pday had been moved. One of them had a meeting on Monday. Well, we finally got the car and then moved in with a member just up the street because on Wednesday they are putting more sisters in Bartlett and they are going in our old apartment. After we moved, we unpacked. It was really boring but kept us busy. Then on Wednesday we had zone meeting in Frayser. It was lots of fun and President had decided to do away with the conference call so we had more time to role play and learn from the Zone leaders. We also were supposed to decide a monthly zone baptism goal and we spent about 30 minutes trying to decide. After zone meeting we went to see Eugene. This was our first time actually meeting him. Well, we sat down and started to discuss what he already knew and what he needed to learn to be baptized. He told us that he knew the Book of Mormon was true and he wanted to be baptized. Well, he has a hurt foot so as soon as that is healed he will be baptized. He also owned his own quad and said that he had been reading the Book of Mormon but he wasn't as far as he wanted to be. We asked him how far he was and he said he just finished Mosiah. You should have seen the look on our faces, we were both amazed! Well, we are going back tomorrow to start teaching him the lessons. That night we were hanging out with the young men at the church and the member we just moved in with was there with his son who came home that day from his mission. It was super weird to see him get released and realize that is only 1 year away. On Thursday, we had a lesson with the Hills and we just planned Beckie's baptism. On Saturday we watched all of conference and I really loved Elder Uchtdorf's talk on Saturday morning about bringing people back to church and finding the lost sheep. We didn't have any investigators come to the church and watch conference but we had a couple watch it at home. Sunday, we also just watched conference all day. It was lots of fun. I loved Elder Nelson's talk on how are bodies are temples and should be treated as temples. I really love conference and listening to all the prophet and apostles. It was also funny when Elder Soares talked. It was like Dejavu. We were in the same building we saw him in in person. 

 

                              Thats about it for my week, not too exciting. Oh yea, and today I learned that I am getting transferred. So next week I will be somewhere else. Also, we went to the temple this morning to see some missionaries going though today and I learned I will probably be opening an area so that will be fun. Well thanks for all you do and all the prayers.

                                                                Elder Talbert 

Nobody move, I dropped me brain

Hey Family,

                  This week was good but tiring. We were on bike week. This week we have really been focusing on building up a teaching pool for us and for the new sisters coming in. We did a lot of street contacting this week and gave out a bunch of Book of Mormon's. On Tuesday we had district meeting and the zone leaders said that they were going to come so Elder Breckenridge was freaking out. Well in the end, the APs came instead and Elder Breckenridge did a great job teaching about the Book Of Mormon and the APs had great advice. On Friday we got a call from President Blaine. (He is President Petersen's councilor.) He gave us a referral but all he had was a phone number. Well we called the number and after a little bit of phone tag we got in touch with this guy named Eugene. He said that he had been reading the Book of Mormon and wanted us to come over talk to him about what he had been reading. He also mentioned that he wanted us to teach him so he could get baptized. We are super excited and have a meeting with him on Wednesday. 

                   Also this week there has been a beaver eating the trees at the apartment complex we live in. The management has had to cut down a couple of them. Then today we had a tree that fell over because of the beaver. It has been funny to see what the beaver has done each day.

                    It has been a great week and I am doing great in the 30 day Book of Mormon reading. I just finished the war chapters and I love how Captain Moroni uses strategies and asks the Lord how he should attack. He never just attacked a city. He always tried to kill the least amount of people as possible and always relied on the Lord for help.

 

                      Well that's about it for me. Sorry this letter is so short but my week was really boring. Hope you all have a great week and have fun at school and work. Thanks for all you guys do for me.

                                                         Elder Talbert