Steven's letter Jan 19

Dear Family
How has the week been?  Its been a great week here.  What did everyone do on the day off yesterday?  Sorry I couldn’t email yesterday.  All the libraries were closed.   Its been a pretty good week.  Its warmed up a lot since last week.  Its been pretty nice all week.  I think its supposed to be raining this next week.  Elder Kelly and I are doing great together.  I am loving being his companion.  He is a great missionary.  .  I got a call from one of the AP’s yesterday morning.  He gave me kindof a Spanish test over the phone.  This is the second one I’ve had since I’ve been out.  He told me President Drewes is looking for a couple new Spanish elders.  I guess I’ll find out in a couple weeks whether I’m getting moved to Spanish speaking.  I hope I am.  Then last night Elder Kelly and I were walking home, and we stopped and talked to a guy on the sidewalk.  He wouldn’t really say much when we introduced our selves, then he told us he didn’t speak English.  So I tried to give him a pass along card and explain what it was in Spanish.  I didn’t do so great.  So my question is:  is it like an omen?  Like you better get ready cause here it comes?   I duno
We went back and saw Mikey on Tuesday.  It was great.  He knows so much about the bible.  We were talking to him about Faith Vs. Works.  Because Baptists believe that its by faith that we are saved.  There is nothing we of ourselves can do to be saved.    He was quoting all kinds of scriptures and different things to us.  Almost like he was trying to convert us to his way of thinking.  It was really amazing what happened.  After he was done talking,  Elder Kelly and I and a former stake president that went with us started talking about how works are very important.  It was really neat.  The spirit was so strong as we were talking with him.  At the end of the lesson, we could tell that he was really thinking about the things that had been said.  It was amazing.   Elder Kelly said it really helped his testimony to grow.  We  are hoping to go and see him again this week. 
So I tried some new southern food this week.  Neck bone from a pig.  It looked grose, but it was pretty good with a little hot sauce.  Then I tried Cow maw.  That’s the bottom part of a cows stomack.  It wasn’t as good as the neck bone.  Really rubbery.  Then… Elder Townsend and I tried Pig feet.  That was grose.   They just threw the whole pig foot in the oven and cooked the whole thing.  We ate  it right off the bone.  I guess its one of those things I’m glad I can say I’ve tried it, but I probably don’t want to try it again.  Well I hope you have a great week. 
Love Elder Marshall
Quote of the week:
"What may appear initially to be a daunting task will be much easier to manage over time as you consistently strive to recognize and follow feelings prompted by the Spirit. Your confidence in the direction you receive from the Holy Ghost will also become stronger. I witness that as you gain experience and success in being guided by the Spirit, your confidence in the impressions you feel can become more certain than your dependence on what you see or hear."
 - Richard G. Scott

Steven's letter Jan 11

Dear Family
Hey how has the week been?  Is everyone enjoying being back in school? It sounds like Stake Conference was really good. That’s interesting that they talked about complacency.  That is something that our mission president has talked to us a lot about in the last couple of months.  The goal for baptisms for the year was 409.  We beat the goal, but president Drewes thinks we can do better.  The goal for this year is 712 baptisms.  Its going to be a tuff goal to get to, but we will be able to do it.   It will defiantly stretch us.
Its been a good week here.  It got real cold though.  It snowed and everything.  Just enough to turn the ground white, but they shut the schools down for a couple of days because of it.  Some of the businesses were closed too.  This week was our walk week.  We were able to talk to a lot of people.   We were able to start talking to a guy who was unloading groceries out of his car.  We started talking to him about families and how they could be sealed together in the temple for time and all eternity.  He asked us to come back and teach him and his family next Sunday.  Elder Kelly and I are both pretty excited to go talk to them.  We also went back to talk to the Baptist minister.  He and his wife are such nice people.  They both know a lot about the bible.  A lot more than Elder Kelly and I do.  We ate dinner with them last Tuesday.  They are very nice people.  She has had a lot of good friends that are LDS.  We are going back tomorrow to talk to them again.  I think we are going to watch the restoration DVD with them that we give out to people.  
Elder Kelly and I are doing great together.  I love serving with him.  This week is the half way mark for the transfer.  It feels like we just started the transfer.  Time has really started to fly by.  Well I hope you have a great week.  I miss you all.
Love Elder Marshall
Quote of the week:
“And I was led by the spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.
Nevertheless I went forth…”
1Ne. 4:6-7

Steven's letter Jan 3

Dear Family 
How was the new year?  Did everyone make it to midnight?  It was just a regular day here.  We went to bed at 10:30 and were up at 6:30, just like every other day.  The holdays were a lot of fun.  It was hard to get ahold of people though.   I think I told you,  but I got a lava lava for Christmas.  Those Hawaiian skirts.  Ya one of the sisters in my district is Hawaiian.  We had a white elephant gift exchange and that’s what I got from her.  Its pretty neat.  I bet there aren’t many missionaries that go to Arkansas that can say they got a lava lava on their missions.  Elder morris had to get a picture of me wearing it because he thought it was funny. 
 Elder Kelly and I are doing great together.  He is a  great missionary, and being with him is defiantly breaking me out of my comfort zone.  I’ve had a lot of fun with him.  Hes from Salt Lake City, and he is about 2 inches taller than me.  I’m starting to feel a little short, there are two missionaries here in Collierville that are taller than me now.  Elder Cox is in the first ward.  He is about the same height as Elder Kelly. We have a tall district.   This week we have been doing a lot of finding.  Elder Kelly and I are both getting good practice at tracting.  Yesterday, we tracted into a family that let us come in and seemed really interested when we started talking to them.  They asked for a book of Mormon and said they would read and pray about it.  We are going to try to go back a little later in the week.  We have also started teaching a Baptist minister.  Most of them don’t really like talking to us,  But this one does.  His name is mikey.  He and his wife are really nice.  They told us we should come over for dinner some time.  Both are very nice.  They went out to Utah a couple weeks ago and ordered a free video when they went on a tour of the tabernacle.  We have a lot of fun talking to him.  I’m not sure if he is really interested in making changes, or if we have just sparked some curiosity.   That’s something that still amazes me is how nice and friendly most people are here.  Every once in a while we meet someone that doesn’t like us, but most of the time everyone is very friendly.  Almost everyone has a church they go to.  Sometimes it makes it hard because a lot of people are set in their ways.  Their parents were Baptists, so they are Baptists.  Very good people though. 
Chruch is starting at 11 now.  That’s going to be really nice.  This will be the first time on my mission I will be able to study before church starts.  I have always been at 9 or 9:30.  It will be easier to try to get investigators to church now too.  They don’t have to wake up as early.  We had a couple of less active families that we have been working with come to church this week.  It was great to see them all there.  They’ve made the goal to start coming back to church again.  Both families have been inactive for 10 or 15 years.  They both live down in Mississippi. 
Well I hope you have a great week this week.  I hope everyone has fun going back to school.  I love you all.
Love Elder Marshall
Lol  and nope I haven’t eaten it all yet.  There is still a lot left.  Elder Kelly are working on it though.
Quote of the week:
“As we go about our daily lives, we discover countless opportunities to follow the example of the Savior. When our hearts are in tune with His teachings, we discover the unmistakable nearness of His divine help. It is almost as though we are on the Lord’s errand; and we then discover that, when we are on the Lord’s errand, we are entitled to the Lord’s help.”                       - Thomas S. Monson