Dear family
Hey how is everyone’s week going this week? Has it been raining there at all? It’s been raining a lot here. We still haven’t seen any tornadoes on the ground yet though. It’s still raining off and on today. Has anything exciting been going on there? Well everything has been going good here. Elder Petaia and I are working hard together. We had someone at church on Sunday which was great. She was the first Investigator we have had so far come to church here in this area. We were pretty excited about it. We have been doing a lot of finding this week. We found a yesterday that we are pretty excited for. The mom let us come in and talk to her and her son. As we were taking to her, she told us about how her son died a couple years ago, and it still bothered her a lot. We were able to teach her about the plan of salvation. She really liked it. She had a lot of questions about everything. During the lesson, we were putting a lot of emphasis on her need to get baptized to live with her family forever. At the end of the lesson, she told us she wanted to get baptized, so we set a date for the 21st of May. She can’t though because she is going to Mexico for a week. And she can’t do it the week of the 14th because She is going to be in North Carolina. She said she wants to as soon as she gets back though. We are pretty excited for her. I wish I could be there to see her get baptized. It is going to mean a lot to her. We are still teaching Adela. She still hasn’t come to church yet. That seems to be the biggest challenge we have in this area. That and it’s a really small rural area. Everyone here knows who we are and a lot of people have already studied with the missionaries in the past. We have been trying to find new people who haven’t met with missionaries in the past. We will definitely be doing our best to help everyone we can. The Spanish still isn’t the greatest. If anything, I’m still figuring out how hard it is going to be to learn it all the way. Elder Petaia says that it’s getting better, but it doesn’t seem like it to me yet. I can understand most of what I hear now, but talking and expressing myself is a lot harder. Hopefully it will come though. It gets a little frustrating sometimes not being able to talk very well and not being able to help Elder Petaia as much as I wish I could. O well though. Thanks for everything you do for me. I don’t think I need any more clothes or shoes. One of the pairs of shoes, I only wear on Sunday and still look brand new. And my other pair aren’t real bad either. I still have lots of socks still too. Thanks again for everything.
Love Elder Marshall
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Dear family
Hey how is everything going this week? How is your week been going? Anymore snow there? I still can’t believe it snowed there last week. Everything has been going pretty good here. Elder Petaia and I have been doing great together. We are striving to get a lot done here. It did storm pretty good here this last week. I didn’t really get to see too much of it though. I slept through most of it. I guess there were a couple tornadoes that never touched down and everything. I slept through it all. Elder Petaia said he heard the tornado sirens going off for a little while, but I didn’t hear them at all. I remember feeling the apartment rattle a couple times because of the thunder, but I slept through everything else. I wish the storms would come during the day so we could watch them. Its supposed to be raining all week this week, but I don’t think any big thunder storms. It was kind of a slower week than we would have liked. We didn’t have any investigators at church this week. Adela couldn’t come because she had to move a bunch of stuff out of her old house into her new one. She told us she will defiantly be at church this next week though. We are hoping to have a lot of people there this next week. We are both ready to work hard this week. The Spanish is coming ok. Not as good as I hoped it would but I’m learning. Elder Petaia and I are trying to speak Spanish as much as possible. I am starting to be able to help more in lessons. I wish I had had more time learning Spanish. We have been working a recent convert named Fausto. He is a great guy. He would make an amazing missionary, but he is married. He is only a year older than we are. He got baptized in February, but he has a very strong testimony of the gospel. He has invited some of his friends over tonight to meet with us at his house. We are pretty excited for that.
We went fishing this morning. It was a lot of fun. There were 6 of us that went. Elder Leavitt was there too. We had breakfast with a family and then they let us use their pond for a little while. It was fun. Well there isn’t a whole lot else going on here. Dardanelle is a great place. Its nice and small. We are starting to work more in Russellville too. There are a lot more people there. Thanks for everything you do for me.
Love Elder Marshall
Hey how is everything going this week? How is your week been going? Anymore snow there? I still can’t believe it snowed there last week. Everything has been going pretty good here. Elder Petaia and I have been doing great together. We are striving to get a lot done here. It did storm pretty good here this last week. I didn’t really get to see too much of it though. I slept through most of it. I guess there were a couple tornadoes that never touched down and everything. I slept through it all. Elder Petaia said he heard the tornado sirens going off for a little while, but I didn’t hear them at all. I remember feeling the apartment rattle a couple times because of the thunder, but I slept through everything else. I wish the storms would come during the day so we could watch them. Its supposed to be raining all week this week, but I don’t think any big thunder storms. It was kind of a slower week than we would have liked. We didn’t have any investigators at church this week. Adela couldn’t come because she had to move a bunch of stuff out of her old house into her new one. She told us she will defiantly be at church this next week though. We are hoping to have a lot of people there this next week. We are both ready to work hard this week. The Spanish is coming ok. Not as good as I hoped it would but I’m learning. Elder Petaia and I are trying to speak Spanish as much as possible. I am starting to be able to help more in lessons. I wish I had had more time learning Spanish. We have been working a recent convert named Fausto. He is a great guy. He would make an amazing missionary, but he is married. He is only a year older than we are. He got baptized in February, but he has a very strong testimony of the gospel. He has invited some of his friends over tonight to meet with us at his house. We are pretty excited for that.
We went fishing this morning. It was a lot of fun. There were 6 of us that went. Elder Leavitt was there too. We had breakfast with a family and then they let us use their pond for a little while. It was fun. Well there isn’t a whole lot else going on here. Dardanelle is a great place. Its nice and small. We are starting to work more in Russellville too. There are a lot more people there. Thanks for everything you do for me.
Love Elder Marshall
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Dear family
Hey how is your week going? So it snowed this last week there? Wow That’s crazy. It has been pretty warm here. I’m in Dardanelle Arkansas. It’s a real small town a couple hours north of Little Rock. It’s nice and quiet. I forgot all my Spanish though. My companion is Elder Petaia. He is from California. He is full Samoan. He speaks really good Spanish though so he is helping me a lot. We get along great together. He goes home at the end of June. I would have gone home with him if I would have been able to extend. Not much has been going on this week here. We have been working hard together. The ward is excited to have missionaries again. They haven’t had missionaries for a while now. It’s a little different. Benton was kind of hard starting out, because neither of us knew anyone. But the missionaries before us had been doing a lot of work so it wasn’t to bad to get started. Here though we are starting brand new. It’s good though. It is defiantly keeping us busy. The Spanish is coming ok. I have forgotten a lot, but I feel like I’m learning a lot faster with Elder Petaia than I ever did with Elder Contreras. Starting today we aren’t speaking any English while we are away from the apartment. Then hopefully in a couple more weeks we are going to speak all Spanish. Hopefully I will be able to pick it up fast. The members here are great. It is almost like being back in the maple street unit. There aren’t very members here. On Sunday, there were only about 30 people there. We are hoping to get that up though. We set a date for baptism for the 30th with a lady we met on Friday. We are pretty excited for her. Elder Petaia made me do it. He is good at getting me to talk during lessons in Spanish. It was great though. Well not a whole lot else going on here. This next week will be a busy one. I am hoping to be able to go back down to Benton to watch Bill and Jenny owens get baptized. Thanks for everything.
Love Elder Marshall
Hey how is your week going? So it snowed this last week there? Wow That’s crazy. It has been pretty warm here. I’m in Dardanelle Arkansas. It’s a real small town a couple hours north of Little Rock. It’s nice and quiet. I forgot all my Spanish though. My companion is Elder Petaia. He is from California. He is full Samoan. He speaks really good Spanish though so he is helping me a lot. We get along great together. He goes home at the end of June. I would have gone home with him if I would have been able to extend. Not much has been going on this week here. We have been working hard together. The ward is excited to have missionaries again. They haven’t had missionaries for a while now. It’s a little different. Benton was kind of hard starting out, because neither of us knew anyone. But the missionaries before us had been doing a lot of work so it wasn’t to bad to get started. Here though we are starting brand new. It’s good though. It is defiantly keeping us busy. The Spanish is coming ok. I have forgotten a lot, but I feel like I’m learning a lot faster with Elder Petaia than I ever did with Elder Contreras. Starting today we aren’t speaking any English while we are away from the apartment. Then hopefully in a couple more weeks we are going to speak all Spanish. Hopefully I will be able to pick it up fast. The members here are great. It is almost like being back in the maple street unit. There aren’t very members here. On Sunday, there were only about 30 people there. We are hoping to get that up though. We set a date for baptism for the 30th with a lady we met on Friday. We are pretty excited for her. Elder Petaia made me do it. He is good at getting me to talk during lessons in Spanish. It was great though. Well not a whole lot else going on here. This next week will be a busy one. I am hoping to be able to go back down to Benton to watch Bill and Jenny owens get baptized. Thanks for everything.
Love Elder Marshall
Monday, April 4, 2011
Dear family
Hey how is your week going? So the fair is going on this week? Is corey and kaitlyn working there this year? Does that mean spring
break is this week too? Its been a pretty hectic week this week. We
have been running everywhere. Tuesday night we went on exchanges. I went with the elders in Spanish North in Little rock. It was a great exchange. I got to see a lady named Carmen Ramierez. Elder Contreras and I were teaching her when we were in that area. She got baptized about three weeks ago. It was great to see her again. We got back from the exchange Wednesday night just in time to go out ith one of the priests from the ward here. We had a great evening with him.
Then Friday we had to go to memphis for a meeting with all the other zone leaders and the mission president so that took all Friday between the meeting and the 3 hour drive each way. Then Saturday and Sunday were conference. I loved this conference. The were a lot of good talks. I think the big thing I got out of it was the need to act. Like when Elder Eyering was talking about having sentimental feelings when disaster or trials happen in other lives. And that we needed to turn those feelings into actions. I liked Elder Uchdorf’s talk in priesthood session too. There were a lot of great talks. A lot of talks that will be usefull t a lot of people. I’m getting transferred. I got the call from president Drewes. He told me that I’m getting moved up to Russleville to be a spanish missionary. I’m excited but pretty nervous too. There haven’t been any missionaries in Russleville spanish in a while now. So me and my new companion will be opening the area. It will be a great transfer. Im excited for the challenge. I was hoping I wasn’t going to get transferred though. There are a lot of great people here I am going to miss. We went and saw Shawn Barber and his family last night. He is still doing great. He and his wife told us they have started to read the Book of Mormon every night and he is loving it. He didn’t think he would. They are a great family. We are going over to see bill and Jenny owens tonight. They are the other family that I’m going to miss a lot. They are getting excited to be baptized. They just need to get married first, but they want to already so its just picking a day.
That’s about all that is going on here. We probably aren’t going to do a whole lot today. Just pack up some stuff. I’m going to be sending a box home this week. Thanks for everything you do.
Love Elder Marshall
Hey how is your week going? So the fair is going on this week? Is corey and kaitlyn working there this year? Does that mean spring
break is this week too? Its been a pretty hectic week this week. We
have been running everywhere. Tuesday night we went on exchanges. I went with the elders in Spanish North in Little rock. It was a great exchange. I got to see a lady named Carmen Ramierez. Elder Contreras and I were teaching her when we were in that area. She got baptized about three weeks ago. It was great to see her again. We got back from the exchange Wednesday night just in time to go out ith one of the priests from the ward here. We had a great evening with him.
Then Friday we had to go to memphis for a meeting with all the other zone leaders and the mission president so that took all Friday between the meeting and the 3 hour drive each way. Then Saturday and Sunday were conference. I loved this conference. The were a lot of good talks. I think the big thing I got out of it was the need to act. Like when Elder Eyering was talking about having sentimental feelings when disaster or trials happen in other lives. And that we needed to turn those feelings into actions. I liked Elder Uchdorf’s talk in priesthood session too. There were a lot of great talks. A lot of talks that will be usefull t a lot of people. I’m getting transferred. I got the call from president Drewes. He told me that I’m getting moved up to Russleville to be a spanish missionary. I’m excited but pretty nervous too. There haven’t been any missionaries in Russleville spanish in a while now. So me and my new companion will be opening the area. It will be a great transfer. Im excited for the challenge. I was hoping I wasn’t going to get transferred though. There are a lot of great people here I am going to miss. We went and saw Shawn Barber and his family last night. He is still doing great. He and his wife told us they have started to read the Book of Mormon every night and he is loving it. He didn’t think he would. They are a great family. We are going over to see bill and Jenny owens tonight. They are the other family that I’m going to miss a lot. They are getting excited to be baptized. They just need to get married first, but they want to already so its just picking a day.
That’s about all that is going on here. We probably aren’t going to do a whole lot today. Just pack up some stuff. I’m going to be sending a box home this week. Thanks for everything you do.
Love Elder Marshall
Monday, March 28, 2011
Dear Family
Hey how has your week been going? It sounds like the priest’s Camp helaman was a lot of fun. Why wouldn’t anyone go on the zipline? I remember those trips were always a lot of fun. Everything has been going pretty good here. We have been staying very busy. We are trying to figure out how to best use our time between the two wards. We were in church for about 8 hours yesterday. Both of the wards meet in the same building. We have to be there at 7 30 for meetings before church for Benton, then as soon as we get done with Sunday school in the Benton ward, we go to the Little Rock ward for 3 more hours. Then we have another Correlation meeting after that for the Little rock ward. It was a lot of sitting. Between the 2 wards, we don’t have much down time anymore which is realy good. I like staying busy. Its just that now we don’t have to look for things to do. Now we have to plan out how to fit everything in. This next transfer, we should be having a few baptisms. I’m pretty excited. Transfers are coming up this next week. I’m really hoping Im going to be staying here my last transfer. I really love this area. It is probably my favorite area. Shawn Barber’s baptism went great on Saturday. It meant a lot to him. I think the confirmation meant more to him though. We went and talked to him about the priesthood last night and he was telling us about how he felt something very strong when he received the Holy Ghost. He felt that a lot of weight had been lifted off him. I love talking to recent converts about their experience when they get baptized and confirmed. I think we as lifelong members of the church take the gift of the Holy ghost for granted because we are so used to always having it with us. I love talking to new members because they can feel the difference before and after. Shawn told us he didn’t want to “sound corny or anything” but that he had actually felt some very strong impressions and emotions when he was getting confirmed. It meant a lot for him to tell us that because he isn’t very open with how he is feeling. He told us that he wants to get the priesthood and a calling now because he feels like he needs to contribute something back. He is such an awesome guy. I’m really grateful we were able to help him to get baptized. It was his father in law that baptized him. After the baptism, the mother in law came up and talked to me for a minute and told us that it was a huge step for him. That he had told her that he didn’t think he was ever going to be allowed to go to heaven because of the things that had happened in Iraq. She told me that it had surprised them a lot when he had called her husband and asked him to baptize him. Elder Kelly and I are very grateful we were able to be there to watch it all happen. There is a different feel in their house now from what it used to be. I remember the first time we went to meet them, it was a very serious meeting, and he told us that he had been through a few sets of missionaries, and that he was getting frustrated with us coming over because he didn’t feel like he was getting anything out of it anymore. There was a huge difference between that first meeting and the lesson we had last night after the confirmation. The whole family was there. Everyone was happy, and you could feel the spirit in the room. I know that the Gospel changes people’s lives. I’ve watched it happen. I didn’t really see the blessing of having the gospel in my life when I was back home, because I’ve always had it. But being able to come out here and help other people find the gospel has helped me see all the blessings that are there for us because of the gospel. I’m so grateful that I was able to come here. I can’t imagine what my life would be like now without this great experience. Thanks for the great example you have always set for me.
Love Elder Marshall
Hey how has your week been going? It sounds like the priest’s Camp helaman was a lot of fun. Why wouldn’t anyone go on the zipline? I remember those trips were always a lot of fun. Everything has been going pretty good here. We have been staying very busy. We are trying to figure out how to best use our time between the two wards. We were in church for about 8 hours yesterday. Both of the wards meet in the same building. We have to be there at 7 30 for meetings before church for Benton, then as soon as we get done with Sunday school in the Benton ward, we go to the Little Rock ward for 3 more hours. Then we have another Correlation meeting after that for the Little rock ward. It was a lot of sitting. Between the 2 wards, we don’t have much down time anymore which is realy good. I like staying busy. Its just that now we don’t have to look for things to do. Now we have to plan out how to fit everything in. This next transfer, we should be having a few baptisms. I’m pretty excited. Transfers are coming up this next week. I’m really hoping Im going to be staying here my last transfer. I really love this area. It is probably my favorite area. Shawn Barber’s baptism went great on Saturday. It meant a lot to him. I think the confirmation meant more to him though. We went and talked to him about the priesthood last night and he was telling us about how he felt something very strong when he received the Holy Ghost. He felt that a lot of weight had been lifted off him. I love talking to recent converts about their experience when they get baptized and confirmed. I think we as lifelong members of the church take the gift of the Holy ghost for granted because we are so used to always having it with us. I love talking to new members because they can feel the difference before and after. Shawn told us he didn’t want to “sound corny or anything” but that he had actually felt some very strong impressions and emotions when he was getting confirmed. It meant a lot for him to tell us that because he isn’t very open with how he is feeling. He told us that he wants to get the priesthood and a calling now because he feels like he needs to contribute something back. He is such an awesome guy. I’m really grateful we were able to help him to get baptized. It was his father in law that baptized him. After the baptism, the mother in law came up and talked to me for a minute and told us that it was a huge step for him. That he had told her that he didn’t think he was ever going to be allowed to go to heaven because of the things that had happened in Iraq. She told me that it had surprised them a lot when he had called her husband and asked him to baptize him. Elder Kelly and I are very grateful we were able to be there to watch it all happen. There is a different feel in their house now from what it used to be. I remember the first time we went to meet them, it was a very serious meeting, and he told us that he had been through a few sets of missionaries, and that he was getting frustrated with us coming over because he didn’t feel like he was getting anything out of it anymore. There was a huge difference between that first meeting and the lesson we had last night after the confirmation. The whole family was there. Everyone was happy, and you could feel the spirit in the room. I know that the Gospel changes people’s lives. I’ve watched it happen. I didn’t really see the blessing of having the gospel in my life when I was back home, because I’ve always had it. But being able to come out here and help other people find the gospel has helped me see all the blessings that are there for us because of the gospel. I’m so grateful that I was able to come here. I can’t imagine what my life would be like now without this great experience. Thanks for the great example you have always set for me.
Love Elder Marshall
Monday, March 21, 2011
Dear Family
Hey how is your week going this week? Anything exciting going on?
Its been kindof crazy here. Where do I even start… Elder Kelly and I have been working really hard this week. We have been working a lot with the barber family. The dad of the family is getting baptized on Saturday. He has been kindof hesitant saying that he isn’t ready yet.
He spent a lot of time in Iraq and wants to be able to have a new start that baptism would give him, but he has wanted to be completely ready for it. To make things even harder, they have a very busy work and school schedual and we have only been able to meet with them once a week. Last week he said he wasn’t ready at all. Then by the time we left he was sincerely thinking about it. Then we saw him yesterday and he told us he wasn’t ready yet. We read 3rd nephi 11 and started talking about how important it was for him. He told us that he really wanted to be baptized, he just wanted to be completely ready. We went over the baptismal interview and set up an interview time. Then thismorning, his wife, who is a member, called us and told us that she had already set up a couple of talks for the baptism, he had said her dad could baptize him, and she wanted to know who she could talk to about playing the piano. The baptism is going to be at 1 on Saturday.
We were pretty excited to get that phone call. It was great. Our
other baptismal dates for this weekend aren’t looking so good though.
I’m pretty confident they will go through eventually, but probably not this weekend. We have had a crazy weekend though. We got a call from our mission president on Friday telling us that the little rock elders were needing to stay with us for a little while. That something had happened whith where they stay that they couldn’t stay there anymore.
So they were with us Friday night. Then Saturday, we were cleaning the church building and Elder Baron and Elder steed, the Aps, came and picked up the younger missionaries. He was supposed to stay with them for a few days, and the other missionary was supposed to stay with us.
Well we were finnishing up cleaning everything, putting everything away, and we noticed that the missionary wasn’t with us anymore. We figured he was just somewhere else cleaning stuff up. So we started looking for him. We couldn’t find him anywhere. Then we went outside
and our car was gone. He had just left. He didn’t have a phone or
anyone with him, so we had to call our mission president. It turned out to be a chase trying to find the kid again. There aren’t any missionaries in the little rock ward. We found out yesturday that we are covering it now. Our area just went from Benton, Bryant, alexander, and all the areas around them, to that and all of Little Rock too. There are a few sets of missionaries up in North little rock and pinacle mountain, but not in Little Rock. So our area went from big, to Huge. So now we are trying to figure out who all there Progressing investigators are and where they are. Its going to be a busy couple weeks till transfers. Well that’s about all from here.
Everything is going great. We are working hard and loving being able to serve here together. Everything is great. I hope everything is going great there.
Love Elder Marshall
Hey how is your week going this week? Anything exciting going on?
Its been kindof crazy here. Where do I even start… Elder Kelly and I have been working really hard this week. We have been working a lot with the barber family. The dad of the family is getting baptized on Saturday. He has been kindof hesitant saying that he isn’t ready yet.
He spent a lot of time in Iraq and wants to be able to have a new start that baptism would give him, but he has wanted to be completely ready for it. To make things even harder, they have a very busy work and school schedual and we have only been able to meet with them once a week. Last week he said he wasn’t ready at all. Then by the time we left he was sincerely thinking about it. Then we saw him yesterday and he told us he wasn’t ready yet. We read 3rd nephi 11 and started talking about how important it was for him. He told us that he really wanted to be baptized, he just wanted to be completely ready. We went over the baptismal interview and set up an interview time. Then thismorning, his wife, who is a member, called us and told us that she had already set up a couple of talks for the baptism, he had said her dad could baptize him, and she wanted to know who she could talk to about playing the piano. The baptism is going to be at 1 on Saturday.
We were pretty excited to get that phone call. It was great. Our
other baptismal dates for this weekend aren’t looking so good though.
I’m pretty confident they will go through eventually, but probably not this weekend. We have had a crazy weekend though. We got a call from our mission president on Friday telling us that the little rock elders were needing to stay with us for a little while. That something had happened whith where they stay that they couldn’t stay there anymore.
So they were with us Friday night. Then Saturday, we were cleaning the church building and Elder Baron and Elder steed, the Aps, came and picked up the younger missionaries. He was supposed to stay with them for a few days, and the other missionary was supposed to stay with us.
Well we were finnishing up cleaning everything, putting everything away, and we noticed that the missionary wasn’t with us anymore. We figured he was just somewhere else cleaning stuff up. So we started looking for him. We couldn’t find him anywhere. Then we went outside
and our car was gone. He had just left. He didn’t have a phone or
anyone with him, so we had to call our mission president. It turned out to be a chase trying to find the kid again. There aren’t any missionaries in the little rock ward. We found out yesturday that we are covering it now. Our area just went from Benton, Bryant, alexander, and all the areas around them, to that and all of Little Rock too. There are a few sets of missionaries up in North little rock and pinacle mountain, but not in Little Rock. So our area went from big, to Huge. So now we are trying to figure out who all there Progressing investigators are and where they are. Its going to be a busy couple weeks till transfers. Well that’s about all from here.
Everything is going great. We are working hard and loving being able to serve here together. Everything is great. I hope everything is going great there.
Love Elder Marshall
Dear Family
Hey how has everything been going there? How is everyone liking school? So did corey go on splits with the missionaries? I bet they liked that, Especially if they’re on bike week. Its been a great week here. Elder Kelly and I have been working great together. We have been riding our bikes a ton. Yesturday we didn’t start riding until about 6 in the evening, and by the time we got back to our apartment, we had ridden 17 and a half miles. I took my gps with us because I wanted to know how much we were riding. I’m going to start keeping track more. It has been a great week though. We have 4 people who are hopefully getting baptized. We are real excited for all of them. Lisa is still working towards her date. She has been going through a lot this week. Her husband might be having to go back to Mexico. We are working with a part member family named the Barbers. The dad of the family is the one we have been teaching. He has been putting off getting baptized because he doesn’t know if he is ready yet. He was in Iraq for 3 years and has been going through a lot since because of it. It has been great being able to see the change that is happening in him as we go over and read out of the book of Mormon with him and talk about the plan of Salvation. He says he really wants to get baptized on the 26th. We are hoping that he will. Another person we have been working a lot with this week is a friend of one of the members here in the ward. Her name is Jessica. She has been coming to church for the last couple weeks and has been starting to come to mutual and work on her personal progress. She says that she has been to a few other churches, but none that have felt like this one does. We have been working hard and have been seeing a lot come from it this week. It has been great. I had an interview with the mission president on Friday. The first thing he asked be about was if it would make me nervous to go back to Spanish speaking. It was a pretty big surprise. I didn’t think I would be going back to Spanish speaking. Right now there is a shortage of Spanish speaking missionaries here. We had 2 go home in the last couple months that weren’t supposed to go home yet. So one of the areas got closed. I told him that I would like to go back to Spanish speaking. Hopefully I will get to. A couple weeks ago when we were in our zone leader council, we had been talking about not having as many missionaries as was needed. I had had a really strong feeling that I should ask about extending so we wouldn’t have to close one of those areas. After President told me about maybe going back to Spanish speaking up in Russellville, I told him that I had wanted to ask him about extending. The transfer after I am supposed to go home is only a 5 week transfer. It’s the transfer when the new mission president will get there and President Drewes goes home. So instead of coming home May 17 I would come home in the end of June I think. It feels right to me. President Drewes said that before anything else I should talk to you and ask what you thought of it before he called the stake president and talked to him about it. Hopefully you’ll get this before I have to go. If not that’s ok too. That’s about all that has been going on here. O ya in the interview, I also had to get a new Temple Recommend. Mine is about to expire. Can you believe its been 2 years since I went to the temple. It doesn’t seem like its been that long. Well I hope everything is going great there. I love you.
Love Elder Marshall
Hey how has everything been going there? How is everyone liking school? So did corey go on splits with the missionaries? I bet they liked that, Especially if they’re on bike week. Its been a great week here. Elder Kelly and I have been working great together. We have been riding our bikes a ton. Yesturday we didn’t start riding until about 6 in the evening, and by the time we got back to our apartment, we had ridden 17 and a half miles. I took my gps with us because I wanted to know how much we were riding. I’m going to start keeping track more. It has been a great week though. We have 4 people who are hopefully getting baptized. We are real excited for all of them. Lisa is still working towards her date. She has been going through a lot this week. Her husband might be having to go back to Mexico. We are working with a part member family named the Barbers. The dad of the family is the one we have been teaching. He has been putting off getting baptized because he doesn’t know if he is ready yet. He was in Iraq for 3 years and has been going through a lot since because of it. It has been great being able to see the change that is happening in him as we go over and read out of the book of Mormon with him and talk about the plan of Salvation. He says he really wants to get baptized on the 26th. We are hoping that he will. Another person we have been working a lot with this week is a friend of one of the members here in the ward. Her name is Jessica. She has been coming to church for the last couple weeks and has been starting to come to mutual and work on her personal progress. She says that she has been to a few other churches, but none that have felt like this one does. We have been working hard and have been seeing a lot come from it this week. It has been great. I had an interview with the mission president on Friday. The first thing he asked be about was if it would make me nervous to go back to Spanish speaking. It was a pretty big surprise. I didn’t think I would be going back to Spanish speaking. Right now there is a shortage of Spanish speaking missionaries here. We had 2 go home in the last couple months that weren’t supposed to go home yet. So one of the areas got closed. I told him that I would like to go back to Spanish speaking. Hopefully I will get to. A couple weeks ago when we were in our zone leader council, we had been talking about not having as many missionaries as was needed. I had had a really strong feeling that I should ask about extending so we wouldn’t have to close one of those areas. After President told me about maybe going back to Spanish speaking up in Russellville, I told him that I had wanted to ask him about extending. The transfer after I am supposed to go home is only a 5 week transfer. It’s the transfer when the new mission president will get there and President Drewes goes home. So instead of coming home May 17 I would come home in the end of June I think. It feels right to me. President Drewes said that before anything else I should talk to you and ask what you thought of it before he called the stake president and talked to him about it. Hopefully you’ll get this before I have to go. If not that’s ok too. That’s about all that has been going on here. O ya in the interview, I also had to get a new Temple Recommend. Mine is about to expire. Can you believe its been 2 years since I went to the temple. It doesn’t seem like its been that long. Well I hope everything is going great there. I love you.
Love Elder Marshall
Monday, March 7, 2011
Dear Family
Hey how has everyone’s week been going? Is it pretty nice weather there? Everything has been going good here. I was right. I'm with Elder Kelly in the Benton area. Thats great that Corey found out wich track he will be on. So he doesn't start till next winter? wow thats a long time to wait. I thought he would for sure start earlier than that. I bet he will like it alot though. There was an earthquake here a week ago. We didn’t even feel it though. It was after we went to bed. We are living with a family here though, and they felt it. We heard it was a lot stronger other places than it was here. I wish it would have woken us up. We didn’t even know anything had happened until the next night when we were having dinner with a family. Everything has been going great here though. We are getting a lot of exercise. Our mission’s miles got cut in half for the month of march. So we have been biking everywhere we go now for the last few days. We have about 9 miles a day now that we can drive. So we are going to be doing a lot of bike riding this next week. By the end of the day, we are pretty tired. The family we are living with is the Higgins family. They are both converts to the church. We really like living here. There is a garage between us and the Higgins, but they take care of us pretty well. They have a dog and a huge yard and a shop out back too. It’s a lot different than living in the little house on Maple Street in down town little rock. Everything is a lot more spread out here. We live in a little town called Bryant Arkansas. Our area is pretty big. Its all of Saline county and chunks of Polaski county too. We have been working with Lisa still a lot. She was supposed to be getting baptized this Saturday, but she didn’t come to church again. She told us her family has been getting her to go with them to a Jehovah witness church the last couple weeks. We had a good lesson with her last night. She told us she loves us coming over and teaching her, and she feels the spirit while we are there, and she really enjoyed church, but her family doesn’t like us and they have been working on her trying to get her to go with them. It was a great lesson. We talked to her about the Holy Ghost and how we can find answers to any questions we have through praying and studying the scriptures. We have also been working a lot with a lady named Susie. She was going to get baptized 3 years ago. She was in the water and everything, but she has a huge phobia of water. She never went through with it. Then the missionaries left and we just got back in contact with her. We had a great lesson with her and talked to her about the miracles that God has done all through the bible and talked to her about how if God can do all those huge things, he can help her be baptized. She was still nervous about getting baptized, but she said it was something she wants to work towards. She is getting baptized on the 26th of March. Well that is about all that is going on here. Elder Kelly and I are working hard together. The ward here is great. There are a lot of great members. Thanks for everything you do for me. I hope everyone has a great week.
Love Elder Marshall
Hey how has everyone’s week been going? Is it pretty nice weather there? Everything has been going good here. I was right. I'm with Elder Kelly in the Benton area. Thats great that Corey found out wich track he will be on. So he doesn't start till next winter? wow thats a long time to wait. I thought he would for sure start earlier than that. I bet he will like it alot though. There was an earthquake here a week ago. We didn’t even feel it though. It was after we went to bed. We are living with a family here though, and they felt it. We heard it was a lot stronger other places than it was here. I wish it would have woken us up. We didn’t even know anything had happened until the next night when we were having dinner with a family. Everything has been going great here though. We are getting a lot of exercise. Our mission’s miles got cut in half for the month of march. So we have been biking everywhere we go now for the last few days. We have about 9 miles a day now that we can drive. So we are going to be doing a lot of bike riding this next week. By the end of the day, we are pretty tired. The family we are living with is the Higgins family. They are both converts to the church. We really like living here. There is a garage between us and the Higgins, but they take care of us pretty well. They have a dog and a huge yard and a shop out back too. It’s a lot different than living in the little house on Maple Street in down town little rock. Everything is a lot more spread out here. We live in a little town called Bryant Arkansas. Our area is pretty big. Its all of Saline county and chunks of Polaski county too. We have been working with Lisa still a lot. She was supposed to be getting baptized this Saturday, but she didn’t come to church again. She told us her family has been getting her to go with them to a Jehovah witness church the last couple weeks. We had a good lesson with her last night. She told us she loves us coming over and teaching her, and she feels the spirit while we are there, and she really enjoyed church, but her family doesn’t like us and they have been working on her trying to get her to go with them. It was a great lesson. We talked to her about the Holy Ghost and how we can find answers to any questions we have through praying and studying the scriptures. We have also been working a lot with a lady named Susie. She was going to get baptized 3 years ago. She was in the water and everything, but she has a huge phobia of water. She never went through with it. Then the missionaries left and we just got back in contact with her. We had a great lesson with her and talked to her about the miracles that God has done all through the bible and talked to her about how if God can do all those huge things, he can help her be baptized. She was still nervous about getting baptized, but she said it was something she wants to work towards. She is getting baptized on the 26th of March. Well that is about all that is going on here. Elder Kelly and I are working hard together. The ward here is great. There are a lot of great members. Thanks for everything you do for me. I hope everyone has a great week.
Love Elder Marshall
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Dear Family
Hey how is everything going? How has everyones week been going? We are getting transferred tomorrow. Elder Peinamalie and I both. We got the call yesterday morning. I was kindof surprised that both of us were getting transferred. We call it getting white washed. It doesn’t happen very much. I think I know where I am going though, and who my new companion will be. President Drewes told me that I wouldn’t be getting moved to far, and that I would be getting put into an area with another zone leader. Well Elder Steed used to the other zone leader in the zone, but he is the new AP and his area got white washed too. So I’m pretty sure I’m getting moved to Benton Arkansas, and I think my new companion is going to be Elder Kelly. I trained him when we were in Collierville. I hope I’m right. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow afternoon. Everything has been going good here. We have a baptism on Thursday. I am hoping I will be able to come up for it. Its for Marquise Philips. He is Brother Philips’ Grandson. Brother Philips is one of the active members in the Unit. We had a really small church service this last week. When sacrament meeting started, there were only 15 people there. Including 6 missionaries. It was kindof sad. Usually there is more like 30 people there. We had three investigators there though. And a new member that we found. I don’t think I’ve told you about her yet. We found her a couple weeks ago. She is going to school up at the Baptist collage right now. She says she is the only white girl that goes there. She is pretty funny and we have really enjoyed getting to know her. She was very excited to be able to start coming to church again. She got baptized a few years ago up in morelton. We went to go see her last Tuesday I think, She told us she had cancer. She had gotten a call from her doctor earlier that day and had been told that her 40% chance of survival had just been changed to a 25% chance of survival and that her cancer was now Terminal. We were the first people she talked to about it. She doesn’t have any family here in little Rock. The little unit has become her family. She was immediately accepted and loved by the little unit. She has only been to church once so far since we met her, and we have met with her a couple times with members besides that, but she is already a part of the family here on Maple street. I don’t think I have ever been in a place where the ward or branch is such a close group as it is here. You can feel the love they have for each other. I am going to miss it a lot. I wish I could stay here longer. O well the next place will be great too. Well I hope you are having a great day. Thanks for everything you do for me.
Love Elder Marshall
Hey how is everything going? How has everyones week been going? We are getting transferred tomorrow. Elder Peinamalie and I both. We got the call yesterday morning. I was kindof surprised that both of us were getting transferred. We call it getting white washed. It doesn’t happen very much. I think I know where I am going though, and who my new companion will be. President Drewes told me that I wouldn’t be getting moved to far, and that I would be getting put into an area with another zone leader. Well Elder Steed used to the other zone leader in the zone, but he is the new AP and his area got white washed too. So I’m pretty sure I’m getting moved to Benton Arkansas, and I think my new companion is going to be Elder Kelly. I trained him when we were in Collierville. I hope I’m right. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow afternoon. Everything has been going good here. We have a baptism on Thursday. I am hoping I will be able to come up for it. Its for Marquise Philips. He is Brother Philips’ Grandson. Brother Philips is one of the active members in the Unit. We had a really small church service this last week. When sacrament meeting started, there were only 15 people there. Including 6 missionaries. It was kindof sad. Usually there is more like 30 people there. We had three investigators there though. And a new member that we found. I don’t think I’ve told you about her yet. We found her a couple weeks ago. She is going to school up at the Baptist collage right now. She says she is the only white girl that goes there. She is pretty funny and we have really enjoyed getting to know her. She was very excited to be able to start coming to church again. She got baptized a few years ago up in morelton. We went to go see her last Tuesday I think, She told us she had cancer. She had gotten a call from her doctor earlier that day and had been told that her 40% chance of survival had just been changed to a 25% chance of survival and that her cancer was now Terminal. We were the first people she talked to about it. She doesn’t have any family here in little Rock. The little unit has become her family. She was immediately accepted and loved by the little unit. She has only been to church once so far since we met her, and we have met with her a couple times with members besides that, but she is already a part of the family here on Maple street. I don’t think I have ever been in a place where the ward or branch is such a close group as it is here. You can feel the love they have for each other. I am going to miss it a lot. I wish I could stay here longer. O well the next place will be great too. Well I hope you are having a great day. Thanks for everything you do for me.
Love Elder Marshall
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Dear Family
Hey how is everything going for you there? I hope everyone is getting over being sick. So you are going up to Idaho this weekend? I bet that will be a fun trip. Its been a pretty crazy week this week. Sorry if I gave you a bit of a scare on Wednesday. That was Elder Steed that called you. He came out with me. We were on our way down for a district meeting in Camden Arkansas, then we were going to go on exchanges with the Hot springs Elders and the Monticello Elders. We had met up with the Hot springs Elders earlier in the morning and were riding to district meeting with them. Well we were almost to Camden, and we got pulled over by a highway patrol. The missionary who was driving was speeding. Well when the officer asked to see his license, he couldn’t find it so the officer asked him to come back to the police car with him so he could put his name into his computer. After a few minutes, the police officer found out that the missionary’s license was suspended. The three of us left were just waiting in the car watching, and after a few minutes, the police officer told the missionary to turn around and put his hands on the car so he could search him. After he got done, he handcuffed the missionary and put him in the back of the police car. We weren’t sure what we were supposed to do after that. The officer called Elder Steed and I out to talk to him and told us that we needed to follow him to the police station. When we got there we got told that for him to get out of jail, we needed to pay the bail which was $590. That’s why I had to get money out of my account. Elder Steed and I split most of it, and the other missionary picked up the rest. He was in jail though for a good hour and a half. While we were in there, a few of the police officers came out and were talking to us and told us we couldn’t have had a more aggressive officer pull us over. None of us knew that he was driving with a suspended license though. He didn’t know either. The officer told him that it was from when he was back home in Arizona, but The missionary said he had paid all his tickets, and he had been pulled over before while he was here in Arkansas and nothing had been said about it. But that’s why we called on Wednesday. It turned out to be a pretty rough day. We were all interviewed by President Drewes and the Missionary got moved to another part of the mission. Then later that night, Elder Steed and I found out another missionary from Idaho Falls had gone home earlier in the morning. It turned out to be a bad day in our zone. Hopefully this next week will be a lot better. Sunday was kind of crazy too. There weren’t very many adults there at church, but there were a lot of kids. Right in the middle of sacrament meeting, they all got rowdy and started goofing off. All the missionaries were being used to pass the sacrament, so we couldn’t help much. The Unit leader got up and took them all out to the car and took them home. When they left, it was like half the congregation was gone. Well that’s about all the excitement from here this week. There should be a letter coming in the mail with a check for $255 and aletter. I hope you have a safe trip to Idaho this week. Have fun.
Love Elder Marshall
Hey how is everything going for you there? I hope everyone is getting over being sick. So you are going up to Idaho this weekend? I bet that will be a fun trip. Its been a pretty crazy week this week. Sorry if I gave you a bit of a scare on Wednesday. That was Elder Steed that called you. He came out with me. We were on our way down for a district meeting in Camden Arkansas, then we were going to go on exchanges with the Hot springs Elders and the Monticello Elders. We had met up with the Hot springs Elders earlier in the morning and were riding to district meeting with them. Well we were almost to Camden, and we got pulled over by a highway patrol. The missionary who was driving was speeding. Well when the officer asked to see his license, he couldn’t find it so the officer asked him to come back to the police car with him so he could put his name into his computer. After a few minutes, the police officer found out that the missionary’s license was suspended. The three of us left were just waiting in the car watching, and after a few minutes, the police officer told the missionary to turn around and put his hands on the car so he could search him. After he got done, he handcuffed the missionary and put him in the back of the police car. We weren’t sure what we were supposed to do after that. The officer called Elder Steed and I out to talk to him and told us that we needed to follow him to the police station. When we got there we got told that for him to get out of jail, we needed to pay the bail which was $590. That’s why I had to get money out of my account. Elder Steed and I split most of it, and the other missionary picked up the rest. He was in jail though for a good hour and a half. While we were in there, a few of the police officers came out and were talking to us and told us we couldn’t have had a more aggressive officer pull us over. None of us knew that he was driving with a suspended license though. He didn’t know either. The officer told him that it was from when he was back home in Arizona, but The missionary said he had paid all his tickets, and he had been pulled over before while he was here in Arkansas and nothing had been said about it. But that’s why we called on Wednesday. It turned out to be a pretty rough day. We were all interviewed by President Drewes and the Missionary got moved to another part of the mission. Then later that night, Elder Steed and I found out another missionary from Idaho Falls had gone home earlier in the morning. It turned out to be a bad day in our zone. Hopefully this next week will be a lot better. Sunday was kind of crazy too. There weren’t very many adults there at church, but there were a lot of kids. Right in the middle of sacrament meeting, they all got rowdy and started goofing off. All the missionaries were being used to pass the sacrament, so we couldn’t help much. The Unit leader got up and took them all out to the car and took them home. When they left, it was like half the congregation was gone. Well that’s about all the excitement from here this week. There should be a letter coming in the mail with a check for $255 and aletter. I hope you have a safe trip to Idaho this week. Have fun.
Love Elder Marshall
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Dear family
Hey how is everything going this week? How is everyone liking being
back in school? sorry this is the third week in a row I have been
late sending out an email. All the libraries were closed yesterday
because of the snow. School is still out. We got about 3 or 4
inches. Little Rock shuts down when it snows here. We got to do some
service because of it though. Sunday night the roads were really
slick. So if the cars stoped going up a hill or at a stop sign, they
couldn’t get started again. So there were a lot of cars getting
stuck. So we helped push them up the little hills and get going after
the stop signs. It was fun. They wouldn’t role backwards down the
hill, just sit there and spin the tires. So a couple of us behind
them pushing made the difference. The baptism went really good on
Sunday. We went to the funeral with Luis on Saturday. Then Sunday
was Stake conference. It was a broadcast from salt lake. President
Monson and Elder Perry were the speakers. Then the baptism was right
after. Lol she didn’t want to go under the water. She was fine
walking down into it, but after I said the prayer and was trying to
get her under the water, she didn’t want to do it. Lol It took a few
tries and a few times saying the prayer. Finally, Elder Nield had to
find a jump suit and come into the water too. It still took a couple
tries and we finally just slid her down under real fast. Lol I think
everyone was having a good time watching except the three of us in the
water. Well I’m getting transferred again. Not to far though. Just
to the other side of maple street. I’m taking Elder Cowan’s place.
So I just move bedrooms. We have another general authority that is
coming to the mission. Elder Gonzales is going to be here on Friday.
He is the area 70 for the south east part of North America. There
are 6 or 7 companionships that are being invited to come and meet with
him. We are one of them. We are pretty excited for that. Then the
next week is when Elder Sybrowskie is coming. Lots of great stuff is
going to be happening. Then on top of it all. Elder Peinamalie (my
new companion) and I are going to be having a baptism on Saturday.
Lots of great stuff. I haven’t started working on anything with the
application stuff for BYUI. I forgot about it all. Ill be seeing
President Drewes at the transfer meeting tomorrow though and I’ll ask
him about it there. Thanks for the reminder. I hope you have a great
week this week. I miss you.
Love Elder Marshall
Hey how is everything going this week? How is everyone liking being
back in school? sorry this is the third week in a row I have been
late sending out an email. All the libraries were closed yesterday
because of the snow. School is still out. We got about 3 or 4
inches. Little Rock shuts down when it snows here. We got to do some
service because of it though. Sunday night the roads were really
slick. So if the cars stoped going up a hill or at a stop sign, they
couldn’t get started again. So there were a lot of cars getting
stuck. So we helped push them up the little hills and get going after
the stop signs. It was fun. They wouldn’t role backwards down the
hill, just sit there and spin the tires. So a couple of us behind
them pushing made the difference. The baptism went really good on
Sunday. We went to the funeral with Luis on Saturday. Then Sunday
was Stake conference. It was a broadcast from salt lake. President
Monson and Elder Perry were the speakers. Then the baptism was right
after. Lol she didn’t want to go under the water. She was fine
walking down into it, but after I said the prayer and was trying to
get her under the water, she didn’t want to do it. Lol It took a few
tries and a few times saying the prayer. Finally, Elder Nield had to
find a jump suit and come into the water too. It still took a couple
tries and we finally just slid her down under real fast. Lol I think
everyone was having a good time watching except the three of us in the
water. Well I’m getting transferred again. Not to far though. Just
to the other side of maple street. I’m taking Elder Cowan’s place.
So I just move bedrooms. We have another general authority that is
coming to the mission. Elder Gonzales is going to be here on Friday.
He is the area 70 for the south east part of North America. There
are 6 or 7 companionships that are being invited to come and meet with
him. We are one of them. We are pretty excited for that. Then the
next week is when Elder Sybrowskie is coming. Lots of great stuff is
going to be happening. Then on top of it all. Elder Peinamalie (my
new companion) and I are going to be having a baptism on Saturday.
Lots of great stuff. I haven’t started working on anything with the
application stuff for BYUI. I forgot about it all. Ill be seeing
President Drewes at the transfer meeting tomorrow though and I’ll ask
him about it there. Thanks for the reminder. I hope you have a great
week this week. I miss you.
Love Elder Marshall
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Dear family
Hey how is everything going there? How has your week been going? When does everyone get out of school? Is it this week or next? So you are doing a lot of work on the hall? That will be neat to see. Everything has been going good here. It’s been a good week this week. Zone meeting was really good. I was kind of glad when that was over. It went good though. The zone as a whole is kind of struggling right now. We are getting down to the last of the year, and we have a long way to go to reach our goals. So this week Elder Cowan and I are probably going to be doing a lot of exchanges. So it will be another quick week. I think I’ll be down in Benton Arkansas sometime, but I’m not sure. We haven’t really decided anything yet. We have a big Christmas zone conference on Tuesday. That is going to be great. There are two of them this week in the mission. One here in Little Rock and the other in Memphis. So half the mission will be there on Tuesday. So I’ll get to see Elder Levitt. I haven’t seen him yet. He is in North Little Rock. It isn’t in our zone, so I haven’t been able to see him yet. It should be a fun day tomorrow. There were 28 people at church yesterday. I am really loving being here in the group. I think there are two of these little groups in the US right now. What they did is they took a little chunk right in the middle of little rock, and put a set of missionaries there. It’s like we are starting completely from scratch. Everyone in the group is a convert to the church except the missionaries. There is a group leader from the Little Rock ward and his wife that come and help, but they are converts to the church too. There is a really neat feel to this area because everyone is learning together. You can tell that the new members here love each other and rely on each other. Like yesterday, two of the new converts were blessing the sacrament. Well they forgot they were supposed to wait till the sacrament song to start breaking the bread. They started right in the middle of the opening prayer. By the time the prayer was done, they were half way done. I spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday, and sometimes people will Amen or Halleluiah praise the lord. When you say good morning brothers and sisters, they say it right back. It’s a great place. We are working real hard to find new men who are potential for the melkezidec priesthood. They have a goal to become a branch sometime this next year, but to do that they need 6 to 8 Melkezidec priesthood holders. I think there are potential for three right now that come to church every Sunday. It’s a great place to be serving though. I’m really grateful I have the opportunity to serve here. At the first of this next year, we are going to be starting to have priesthood and Relief society every Sunday. So far we have been having it every 2 or 3 weeks at our house. That’s where bible study is too. It gives us a little more incentive to keep our house clean. Thanks for everything you do for me. Thanks for the package you sent and for the letters and the cd. I hope you have a great week.
Love Elder Marshall
Hey how is everything going there? How has your week been going? When does everyone get out of school? Is it this week or next? So you are doing a lot of work on the hall? That will be neat to see. Everything has been going good here. It’s been a good week this week. Zone meeting was really good. I was kind of glad when that was over. It went good though. The zone as a whole is kind of struggling right now. We are getting down to the last of the year, and we have a long way to go to reach our goals. So this week Elder Cowan and I are probably going to be doing a lot of exchanges. So it will be another quick week. I think I’ll be down in Benton Arkansas sometime, but I’m not sure. We haven’t really decided anything yet. We have a big Christmas zone conference on Tuesday. That is going to be great. There are two of them this week in the mission. One here in Little Rock and the other in Memphis. So half the mission will be there on Tuesday. So I’ll get to see Elder Levitt. I haven’t seen him yet. He is in North Little Rock. It isn’t in our zone, so I haven’t been able to see him yet. It should be a fun day tomorrow. There were 28 people at church yesterday. I am really loving being here in the group. I think there are two of these little groups in the US right now. What they did is they took a little chunk right in the middle of little rock, and put a set of missionaries there. It’s like we are starting completely from scratch. Everyone in the group is a convert to the church except the missionaries. There is a group leader from the Little Rock ward and his wife that come and help, but they are converts to the church too. There is a really neat feel to this area because everyone is learning together. You can tell that the new members here love each other and rely on each other. Like yesterday, two of the new converts were blessing the sacrament. Well they forgot they were supposed to wait till the sacrament song to start breaking the bread. They started right in the middle of the opening prayer. By the time the prayer was done, they were half way done. I spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday, and sometimes people will Amen or Halleluiah praise the lord. When you say good morning brothers and sisters, they say it right back. It’s a great place. We are working real hard to find new men who are potential for the melkezidec priesthood. They have a goal to become a branch sometime this next year, but to do that they need 6 to 8 Melkezidec priesthood holders. I think there are potential for three right now that come to church every Sunday. It’s a great place to be serving though. I’m really grateful I have the opportunity to serve here. At the first of this next year, we are going to be starting to have priesthood and Relief society every Sunday. So far we have been having it every 2 or 3 weeks at our house. That’s where bible study is too. It gives us a little more incentive to keep our house clean. Thanks for everything you do for me. Thanks for the package you sent and for the letters and the cd. I hope you have a great week.
Love Elder Marshall
Monday, December 6, 2010
Steven's new address is
Elder Steven Marshall
2504 Maple st.
Little Rock, AR 72204
If you are sending a package Steven has asked that it be sent to the mission home at
905 Kierre Dr.
North Little Rock, AR 72116
He does not want the packages just left on his door step in the City. He is close enough to the mission home that he will get them from the mission office.
Dear Family
Hey how is everything going there? So everyone is getting sick? That’s no fun. Everything has been going great here. I’m back in little rock again. I’m in down town little rock. It’s a pretty neat area. It’s the Maple street group. It isn’t even a branch yet. They just started it about 9 or 10 months ago. They were meeting in our house for a long time. Our house is a dedicated church building. We can have lessons there and everything. We have a bible study class there every Wednesday night for anyone to come to. Now we are renting the seventh day Adventist church just down the road from us. Its a lot smaller congregation than even Pocahontas was. Yesterday there were 26 people at church. Including 6 missionaries and 6 other members from the little rock ward. I had heard about the group when it got started, and have always thought it would be cool to go there, and now I’m here. My companion is Elder Nield. I’m pretty excited to be serving with him. He came out with Elder Arnold. I saw him his first day in the mission field and have been serving around him since. Our area is really small. It’s about 8 square miles. We can walk from one end to the other in about 45 minutes and there are 4 missionaries and the assistants that all work in this area. We had a baptism on Saturday. For a lady named Sandra. Her mom and son are hopefully going to be getting baptized on the 18th of December. It is going to be a lot of fun serving here. We will be getting a lot done. This week has been pretty hectic for me. Transfers were on Wednesday, but I didn’t get to work in the area till Friday night. Wednesday at the transfer meeting, president drewes called me aside and told me that he needed help in one of the Spanish areas here in little rock for a couple days because one of the missionaries was having some health problems. So as soon as I got to little rock, we went and dropped my stuff off at our house, then we had a dinner and after that, I had to meet President and the Spanish elders at the church. I was with them till late Thursday night. It was a good exchange. It wasn’t the area I was serving in when I was here, but the one right next to it. Then Friday morning, the other zone leader and I had a meeting with all the other zone leaders in the mission and president drewes. We didn’t get back from that until in the evening. So Saturday was my first real day in the area. It was great. Especially having a baptism. This week is going to be a great week. We have a zone meeting tomorrow that Elder Cowen and I are in charge of, but after that its going to be good. I hope you liked the pictures. Lol the elder that always has his belly hanging out is Elder Arnold. He was my companion for 6 months. It is a lot of fun. If you saw the video of someone jumping off the roof of a house, that is who I’m with now. Well I hope you have a great week. Thanks for everything.
Love Elder Marshall
Elder Steven Marshall
2504 Maple st.
Little Rock, AR 72204
If you are sending a package Steven has asked that it be sent to the mission home at
905 Kierre Dr.
North Little Rock, AR 72116
He does not want the packages just left on his door step in the City. He is close enough to the mission home that he will get them from the mission office.
Dear Family
Hey how is everything going there? So everyone is getting sick? That’s no fun. Everything has been going great here. I’m back in little rock again. I’m in down town little rock. It’s a pretty neat area. It’s the Maple street group. It isn’t even a branch yet. They just started it about 9 or 10 months ago. They were meeting in our house for a long time. Our house is a dedicated church building. We can have lessons there and everything. We have a bible study class there every Wednesday night for anyone to come to. Now we are renting the seventh day Adventist church just down the road from us. Its a lot smaller congregation than even Pocahontas was. Yesterday there were 26 people at church. Including 6 missionaries and 6 other members from the little rock ward. I had heard about the group when it got started, and have always thought it would be cool to go there, and now I’m here. My companion is Elder Nield. I’m pretty excited to be serving with him. He came out with Elder Arnold. I saw him his first day in the mission field and have been serving around him since. Our area is really small. It’s about 8 square miles. We can walk from one end to the other in about 45 minutes and there are 4 missionaries and the assistants that all work in this area. We had a baptism on Saturday. For a lady named Sandra. Her mom and son are hopefully going to be getting baptized on the 18th of December. It is going to be a lot of fun serving here. We will be getting a lot done. This week has been pretty hectic for me. Transfers were on Wednesday, but I didn’t get to work in the area till Friday night. Wednesday at the transfer meeting, president drewes called me aside and told me that he needed help in one of the Spanish areas here in little rock for a couple days because one of the missionaries was having some health problems. So as soon as I got to little rock, we went and dropped my stuff off at our house, then we had a dinner and after that, I had to meet President and the Spanish elders at the church. I was with them till late Thursday night. It was a good exchange. It wasn’t the area I was serving in when I was here, but the one right next to it. Then Friday morning, the other zone leader and I had a meeting with all the other zone leaders in the mission and president drewes. We didn’t get back from that until in the evening. So Saturday was my first real day in the area. It was great. Especially having a baptism. This week is going to be a great week. We have a zone meeting tomorrow that Elder Cowen and I are in charge of, but after that its going to be good. I hope you liked the pictures. Lol the elder that always has his belly hanging out is Elder Arnold. He was my companion for 6 months. It is a lot of fun. If you saw the video of someone jumping off the roof of a house, that is who I’m with now. Well I hope you have a great week. Thanks for everything.
Love Elder Marshall
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Hey how has everything been going this week? I didn’t know you had church at 1:30 wow that pretty late. I bet no one has the excuse that it’s to early to make it to church though. Your temple trip sounds like it was pretty amazing. I always love going to the temple now. It makes the rest of our week go great. So how is every one liking school? I bet everyone is ready for the Christmas break. It will be here pretty quick. Everything has been going great here. April got baptized on Friday and confirmed on Sunday. It was a great service. She was real excited for it. Her mom and sister came to the baptism too. They thought it was great. We are going to be starting to teach them now too. We had already given them a copy of the book of Mormon and they liked it a lot. It’s been a really busy week for me. Elder Ulrich and I left Memphis on Tuesday night and didn’t come back until Thursday morning. It was great being out of the city for a while. I miss being out in the country. It’s been a year now since I left Pocahontas and went to Collierville. I haven’t really gotten to serve in the country since. Senatobia is bigger than Pocahontas was, but it was still real nice. We went to their district meeting and then we spent all of Wednesday with them. Thursday was a pretty crazy day for us. We left Senatobia by 7, and had to go to South Haven. The set of missionaries there didn’t answer their phone the night before during call-ins, so we had to go make sure they were still ok. We got there and we found out one of the missionaries there wanted to go home. So we talked to him for a little bit (He is doing a lot better now. They had a baptism Saturday.) Then we drove back to Memphis. When we got there, Elder Andreasen told me one of the members needed our help to finish one of the cakes she was making that she had to deliver in a couple hours and couldn’t find any one to help her. She lives down in Mississippi. So we had to take Elder Ulrich and his companion all the way up to Walnut Grove, Then drive back to Memphis and finally get down to the members house to help her. All that before 10:00. The cake she was making was huge. It was over 4 feet tall and took Elder Andreasen and me both to carry it. And it took us two trips. Sister Browder told us it probably weighed about 200 pounds. It was huge. And it was all for a 1 year old’s birthday. That took most of our day. We didn’t finally get back to our area till about 5. Sunday was really great for us. We had 7 investigators at church, and a whole bunch of kids. There were a couple less active families that came that we have been working with too. We just started teaching a new family. That was 5 of the investigators. We are real excited for them. We are going to be inviting them to be baptized on Tuesday. It’s been a great week for us. I’m going on exchanges with Elder Hansen this week. He is one of the Assistants to the President. He is going to be with us for a couple days. That will be fun. Well I hope everything is going great there. Thanks for everything. I hope ya’ll have a great week.
Love Elder Marshall
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Steven's letter Nov 8
Dear Family
Hey how is everyone week going? It sounds like everyone has been real busy. I didn’t know Aaron Dally was getting married. Wow that’s great. I bet about the whole valley was at that one. Everything has been going pretty good here. We just got back from going to the Temple. That was the second time since I was in the mission I have been able to go to the Temple. I don’t know if we will be able to next month. Hopefully we will. We have been staying real busy. We have a baptism coming up this weekend. For a Lady named April Jones. She is real excited to be getting baptized. She talked to us Sunday at church and told us that her Mom’s preacher has been doing a lot to make sure she doesn’t get baptized. He has called her up in front of the Bible study class she went to at the church and told her she was making a horrible decision. And then Saturday night after we met with her he came to her house and had a good talking to her. Both times she told him she had already gotten her answer from God and that she was going to get baptized. She is staying strong to that no matter what anyone tells her. Elder Andreasen and I are pretty excited for her to be getting baptized. We have a busy week this week. Elder Ulrich and I, the other Zone leader are going on exchanges down in Mississippi with a couple sets of missionaries. We are leaving Tuesday and going to be getting back on Wednesday night. Then Friday we have April’s baptism. I’m betting it will be a pretty quick week. I got to go on an exchange with a set of Spanish missionaries this last week. That was a lot of fun. I really like going on exchanges with them. It gives me a chance to practice my Spanish. So I have a question. What is the best way to get rid of roaches? We have Roaches everywhere in our apartment. We keep our apartment really clean, but every time we come in our apartment after it gets dark, when we turn on the lights, there are cockroaches all over in our kitchen and living room. We aren’t sure how to get rid of them. We think the whole apartment complex is probably infested with them. If you have any ideas let us know. Well I hope you have a great week. Thanks for everything. I love you.
Love Elder Marshall
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 12th. 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 19th. 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
Sunday, October 31, 2010
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 3rd 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
Monday, October 4, 2010
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 29th. 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
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