Steven's letter Nov 1

Dear Family

Hey how is your week going? Is it starting to get cold there already? Its been getting a lot colder here. Have you been doing anything exciting lately? Can you believe its November already? It feels like October just started and its already over. Everything has been going great here. Elder Andreasen and I have been working really hard together. Erica didn’t get baptized. She has gotten real hard to get a hold of. We will keep trying though. We have been working a lot with a lady named April. She has a strong testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints. She told us the first time she walked into the building she knew she was supposed to be going to church there. She has felt the spirit a couple of times since telling her that she needs to get baptized. We are pretty excited for her. She just needs to keep coming to church. She is going to get baptized on the 12^th. There is another guy named Octavius that we just started talking to this last week. He is going to collage right now at University of Phoenix. He is real smart. He has prayed about Joseph Smith and knows he is a prophet too. He just needs to come to church. That seems to be the problem that a lot of people have. Coming to church. Lol a lot of people around here get a “Sunday sickness.” He is hopefully going to get baptized on the 19^th. We have really enjoyed talking to him. He and Elder Andreasen get a long really well. We are also trying to work more and more with the members here in the ward. We are trying to get them to be more involved in the missionary work going on here. So far there hasn’t been a whole lot of involvement from them. Elder Graham, Arnold, Andreasen and I are hoping to change that a little. Well I hope everyone is having fun there. Good luck in school. I love you all.

Love Elder Marshall

Steven's letter Oct 25

Dear Family

Hey how is everyone doing this week? Has it still been raining there a lot? It rained here last night. It was real nice. It’s supposed to be raining tomorrow too. It’s been a really good week here. My new Companion is Elder Andreasen. He is from Brigham City Utah. Everything has been going pretty good. We had a great weekend and we have a great week planned this week. We are both pretty excited for this transfer. We have been working a lot with Erica this week. We aren’t sure if she is going to be able to get baptized this weekend. We are hoping she will be able to, but she isn’t sure if its something she should do yet. And as much as we tell her that it is important, she is gonna have to find out for herself. She has been to a lot of different churches before looking for “The one true church,” but every time she thought she had found it, she got disappointed. So she is nervous about committing herself again. She came to church yesterday. She really liked that. It was the Primary program. She was really impressed with how much the kids knew and how they acted. She was going to leave after sacrament meeting, but a few of the members surrounded her and got her to come to Sunday school. She ended up staying all three hours. Her son didn’t want to stay at all either, but by the end he said he really liked it and he wants to come to the Wednesday night activity. We have been doing a lot of finding this week. We are trying to find new people to teach. We found a Cambodian family. I was on an exchange with the Spanish elders, and we stopped to talk to them. They got all excited and told us they were Mormon. They moved to Memphis 10 years ago from Florida where they were baptized. When the moved here, they didn’t know there was a church here, so they haven’t been back since. They said they had seen missionaries ride by a few times, but none had ever come and talked to them. We were pretty glad we did. They don’t speak much English, but it’s a great family. Well I hope you are having a great week this week. Have fun.

Love Elder Marshall

Steven's letter Oct 18

Dear Family



Hey how has your week been? How was the trip to Logan? I bet it was pretty nice weather up there. How has everyone been liking school? Is everyone getting ready for Halloween? The ward here is doing a big trunk or treat and a chili cook off. Are they doing that again there this year? We are going to be trying to get a lot of our investigators to come. Elder Graham is getting transferred. He got called this morning. He is leaving on Wednesday. It doesn稚 feel like it has been that long since we first got together. I知 not sure who my new companion will be. I guess I値l find out on Wednesday. I hope he is ready to work hard. We just got done with a lesson at the church this morning. We were talking to a lady named Daffney and her husband. She had come to church a couple times, but this was the first time we had actually been able to have a lesson with her. We had a less active member that agreed to come with us too. Brother McCormick. He really enjoyed it. He has been afraid to come back to church because it had been so long since he has been, but he said that was the ice breaker and that he would be there on Sunday. We are pretty excited. His daughter just got baptized a couple months ago so it will be good to have them all there as a family. Its been a good week here. We are still working a lot with Erica. She has had a lot of questions come up about getting baptized. She is going to miss Elder Graham a lot. She had a really great connection with him. They have had a lot of similar experiences. Well I hope you have a great week this week. Have fun.



Love Elder Marshall



quote of the week: "A testimony is not thrust upon you; a testimony grows. We become taller in testimony like we grow taller in physical stature; we hardly know it happens because it comes by growth." - Boyed K. Packer

Steven's letter Oct 12

Dear Family

Hey how is everything going this week? It sounds like a lot has been happening. We have been having a great week here. I’m glad all the meetings are over for a while. I won’t have another one until the first part of November and that one will be here in Memphis so we won’t have to drive clear to Little Rock again till December unless I get moved over at the transfer. That’s coming up this week. We will be finding out on Monday if one of us are getting moved. I think we have a pretty good chance at staying together another transfer though. Elder Graham has only been here for one transfer longer than I have. We are working really great together. He is a great missionary. He really wants to work hard. We have been working with a new family lately. We saw them earlier today. It is a great family. We read a little from 3^rd Nephi 11 with Zane today. Star, his girlfriend had read the chapter 3 or 4 times since Saturday since we last saw them. They asked us to come over again tomorrow and talk to them again. We are going to teach them the Plan of salvation and Commit them to get baptized. O I heard someone speak in tongs a couple days ago. I had heard a lot about people doing that, but I had never heard anyone do it though. It was right in the middle of our closing prayer with Erica. She was praying and she kept on getting louder and louder until she was about yelling, then she started speaking in tongs. That was a new one. I guess she felt the spirit real strong. And that’s what happens when she feels the spirit. Elder Graham and I weren’t sure what we were supposed to do. Ok so another story from this week. So Elder Arnold and his new companion decided they wanted to catch a squirrel a couple days ago. He wanted to find out what they tasted like. The neighbor always feeds all the squirrels every day, so we have a lot of fat squirrels around the apartment. So they decided to take a fishing pole and put a piece of bread with peanut butter on the hook and leave it as bait. Then when the squirrel bites, just reel it in. The things missionaries do when they get bored. Well instead of catching a squirrel, the neighbor’s dog came over and started licking the peanut butter. Then it ate the piece of bread… hook and all. They caught a dog with a fishing pole. The neighbor wasn’t to happy. Lol Some people’s kids. Well I hope everyone has a great week this week. Have fun going to Logan this week.

Love Elder Marshall

Dear family

Hey how are you doing this week? How is grandma doing? That’s good that everything is doing better now. So the barn is coming down? Wow it’s going to look a lot different when I get back. It’s good to hear that it is finally cooling down there. It has gotten pretty cool here too. When we left our apartment this morning, you could see your breath. It is a pretty big change from a week and a half ago. It’s still cool outside now. I think its supposed to warm back up though. Everything has been going pretty good here. . The exchange with Spanish went pretty good. I wasn’t able to add a whole lot, but I could understand most of what was being said. I thought it was pretty good for not speaking Spanish very much for the last 7 months. I can’t believe it’s been that long. It’s been a good week this week. Not a whole lot of excitement. I went to little rock on Friday. It is a 2 and a half hours drive. So five hours driving, and then a 4 hour meeting in between. I was ready to be done sitting by the end of it. It was good though. We left Memphis at about 7 in the morning and we didn’t get back to east Memphis until after 6. Elder Arnold and I have 2 more meetings this week, but they are both here in Memphis and shouldn’t take so long as the last one. We have been working a lot with a lady named Erica. She is a really nice lady. She is getting baptized on the 29^th. We haven’t been able to meet with her very much this last week because she is going to school up at the University of Memphis, but she has been reading a lot out of the book of Mormon. She really likes it. We are going to drive up there a couple times this week to read with her on campus. We also have a trip to Mississippi planned for Saturday. There are a bunch of people down there that we are hoping to see. We are pretty excited to go down there and get out of the city for a few hours. Well I hope you are having a great day. I love you. Have a great week.

Love Elder Marshall

Dear Family

Hey how is everyone doing this week? How is school going with everyone? It sounds like the trip to Boise was a lot of fun. It’s weird to think that David is home now. I’ve heard that it’s hard going home and going back to regular life. Well everything has been going great here. Elder Graham and I are working hard together. We went down into Mississippi a couple days ago. That was really nice. It had been a long time since I had been out in the country. It’s been about 10 months now I think since I left Pocahontas. It was real peaceful. It felt good to be out away from all the noise and traffic in Memphis for a little while. This area covers a lot of area out in Mississippi. I like it a lot. Most of the active members in the ward live out in Mississippi too. We haven’t had the baptism for Ray yet. He is getting baptized on the 24^th. We are all pretty excited for him. He is loving having the missionaries come over and talk to him and his wife. I wish I could still go over and see him. I’m glad I’ll get to watch him get baptized though. Most of the people here in East Memphis are a lot like the people in Orange Mound. The only difference is that most of them have jobs or are going to school. So it’s a little harder to catch people home here. They are still great people though. Its still pretty hot here too. Has it cooled down there yet? We got told all this week is supposed to be real hot. It will be nice when it cools down. Well I hope you have a great week this week. I love you.

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” -1 Ne 4:6-7

Dear Family

Hey how are you doing? How is everyone liking school? It sounds like Rebecca really likes school. That’s great that she does. That’s great that Kaitlyn likes playing Tennis so much. I bet she will do great at it. The motorcycle trip sounds like it was a lot of fun too. Bet it was a great ride. It sounds like there is a lot going on there. So David goes home tomorrow doesn’t he? I think that’s what he told me. Wow that’s crazy. It doesn’t seem like it has been long enough. I’m glad President messer got up and said that about everyone needing to go on a mission. I’m so glad I came. I would always regret not coming if I hadn’t come. I think all the young men would regret not going after it was to late to go. It will be something that they will always remember and bless the rest of their lives. Well everything is going great here. I’m in East Memphis now. Melisa Browder is a member of the ward here. She has us over for dinner sometimes. We were over there last Friday or Saturday and she started talking about face book and told us she would look our parents up. The missionaries have been working with her for the last year or so helping her start coming back to church. She is really nice. Its pretty nice being in the same ward. I know all the members still. Its kind of weird not being with Elder Arnold though. Elder Graham is a great missionary. We are getting along pretty well. This area is a little bit different than orange mound was. It’s a good area though. O by the way. I got a call from President Drewes today. He got a letter from the first presidency and Ray got the approval to get baptized. We are pretty excited for him. Elder Arnold and his companion will be going over tomorrow to set up his baptism. I’m really glad I will still be around to see him get baptized. I saw him at church on Sunday and he was talking about how he was excited about how he finally found Christ’s church. His family owns a few different churches. He wants us to go over and start talking to his mom now. He has been talking to her about the church and how much he likes it. I think it is here in this area. That would be really neat to be able to start teaching her too.

I got asked to be a zone leader. I’m pretty nervous about it. I call into Elder Hansen every night though. He helps me out a lot. I’m still not sure what all I’m supposed to be doing. I guess I better learn fast. Well I hope you have a great week. I love you all and miss you.

Love Elder Marshall

O and yes I did get the package with the 4^th of july t shirt. I thought I told her thankyou. Maybe I didn’t though. I’ll tell her again.