Steven's letter Dec 28

Dear Family
Hey how was everyone’s christmas?  It was great talking to yall this last week.   It was good to hear everyone’s voices.   Christmas was great here.  We went around and saw 4 or 5 families in the ward and then went caroling.   We had a Christmas eve party with the Darby family.  They had a few of their neighbors over and we got to talk to them a little.  One of the families was a Hindu family from India.  They were really nice people.   They have a little girl about 5 years old.  They had never celebrated Christmas before, they really enjoyed the party.  The Darbies kids had a nativity play.  It was a lot of fun.  They invited us over for Christmas breakfast too.  They are a really nice family.  Then we went over to the Jessop’s.  That’s where we called home from.  They have a really young family.  Both of them went on missions.  After that we went to the McBride’s for an early Christmas Dinner.  All of their family lives in the Memphis area, so they had a full house.  I think Brother Harris said they had about 40 people there.  They invited a recent convert over to eat to.  His name is Brian.  He is from Simbobway.  He is going to University of Memphis for school.  He lives in the other ward.  He is a really neat guy.  His Wife is moving here this next week, and she wants to be baptized.  The elders that cover that ward are really excited.  After that we went around and saw a few more families and went caroling.
So I don’t know if you remember Kelly.     Elder Perza and I were working with him a lot trying to get him and his girlfriend to get married.  He got married the day I left Pocahontas and baptized that same Saturday.  Any way.  I got a call from him Christmas night.  Last Sunday,  he got the aronic priesthood.  And he is now a Sunday school teacher for 13-15 year olds.  So awesome!  It was great talking to him.  I miss being able to see him.  He is such a great guy.  There are a lot of people I miss being able to see in that area.  I’m sure its going to be the same way when I leave here.
   Elder Morris is getting transfered.  We are pretty bummed about that.  I guess it would have happened sooner or later though.  He is getting moved on Wednessday so half of this week we are going to be going around so he can say good bye to everyone.    He has to pack everything up today.    We are going over to the harris’ tonight.  They are having us over for dinner and then we are going to show them how to have Family home evening.  Things have been going a little slow this week.  Its been hard to catch people home over the hollidays.  Elder Morris and I have really been trying to find people are ready to hear and accept the gospel.  I’m a little nervous about him leaving.  I don’t feel like I know the area or the people very well yet, but I know that God will help me.  I have come to rely on that help with a lot of things since I’ve come out to Arkansas.    Well I hope everything is going good there.  I hope you have a great week.  I miss you all. 
Love Elder Marshall
Quote of the week
“Whenever we are inclined to feel burdened down with the blows of life, let us remember that others have passed the same way, have endured, and then have overcome.”
        -Thomas S. Monson

steven's letter Dec14

Dear Family
How is everything going there?  Is everyone getting excited for Christmas?  It’s coming up pretty fast.  It feels like December has just started and its already half way over.  Has it started to get cold there?  Its kindof different here.  It can be real cold one day and be we will be wearing our big coats, and two days later it is t-shirt weather again.  It’s pretty nice today.  It’s been a pretty good week.  We go one on one off with the car.  This week was our walking week.  So we got a lot of walking done.  Brother Harris is getting baptized on Saturday.  He is real excited for that.  He was telling everyone at church about it.  He’s a great guy.  I don’t remember if I’ve told you, before but a week ago when we went and saw him,  he told us he believed that Joseph smith was a prophet, and that the book of Mormon was true,  but he didn’t believe that God would want him to give up the tobacco and the coffee.  He has been chewing tobacco since he was five years old.  He told us he would pray about it though, and if he got an answer to his prayer, he would quit.  Elder Morris and I were praying for him too.  Two days later, he had a doctor’s appointment.  He has problems with depression.  The doctor told him he needed to quit chewing tobacco, and drinking coffee.  That was pretty neat to hear.   Kind of like out of the mouth of two witnesses.  His wife has been less active for a few years now, but wants to start coming to church too.  They have the goal of going to the temple to be sealed together in a year.  It’s a great goal for them to have that will help them both as they become active in the church.  The members of the ward here are really excited for the baptism.  It’s the first baptism they will have since the ward was formed 2 years ago.  We are hoping that there will be a big turnout at the baptism and that it will get the members excited about doing missionary work.   Well I hope everyone is having a great week.  I love you.
Love Elder Marshall
Quote of the week
“They do not love that do not show their love”
                           -William Shakespeare

Steven's letter Dec7

Dear Family
Hey is everyone getting excited for christmas?  How long before school lets out for christmas break? I got the package. thankyou.  Its been a really good week here.  Im still trying to find my way arround collierville.  Elder Morris and i are working really hard together.  We have been working with a lot of the members here in  the ward.  We are trying to get them to do more missionary work.  Missionary work is a lot better when it is the members that are finding people for us to teach.  So we are trying to help them see that.  We have been working a lot with Brother Harris.  He is the 79 year old.  we are hoping that he is going to get baptized before christmas.  We talked about how he can get married in the temple to his wife.  Thats something that he really wants.   He has to give up his chewing tabacco though.  That might be a little hard for him to do, but i know he can do it if he wants to.  He has been chewing tabacco since he was 5 years old. He has to stop drinking coffee to, but i don't think that will be as hard for him.  I think its really interesting how big of a thing the word of wisdom is.  almost every person that i've seen get baptized has had some kind of a word of wisdom problem.  Even a 13 year old girl.  And most of the time, it was a challange for them to give it up.  It just shows how a testimony of the gospel can help us and those around us come closer to God.  They knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Word of Wisdom had come from God, so they knew that it was something they needed to follow.  well I hope everyone is haveing a great day.  I love yall.  Hope you have a good week. 
Love Elder Marshall

Quote of the week
"The spirit of giving gifts has been present in the mind of each Christian as he or she commemorates the Christmas season. Our Heavenly Father gave to us His Son, Jesus Christ. That precious Son gave to us His life, the Atonement, and victory over the grave.

"What will you and I give for Christmas this year? Let us in our lives give to our Lord and Savior the gift of gratitude by living His teachings and following in His footsteps. It was said of Him that He 'went about doing good.' As we do likewise, the Christmas spirit will be ours."
Thomos S. Monson

family letter

O quote of the week
"There is danger in the word someday, when what it means is not this day.  The thought "some day i will" can be a thief of the opprotunities of time and the blessings of eternity.  If you choose to serve the lord this day, i make you 2 promises, hard as things seem today, they will be better in the next day if you choose to serve the lord this day.  By choosing to serve Him this day, you will feel his love and grow to love him more."   - President Eyring

Have a good week
Love Elder Marshall

Steven's letter Nov 30

Dear Family
How was thanksgiving? I hope it was a lot of fun.  Did you watch a movie over at the shop?  Is it still nice and warm there?  Its been a pretty good week here.  Elder Morris and I have been staying pretty busy.  We have a lot of fun together.  He has been out almost 11 months now.  He’s from Logan Utah.  I’ve learned a lot from him.  We spend a lot more time walking than I’m used to.  In pocahontas, we had a car the whole time.  Now we have a car every other week.  I think I like walking more.  We get to talk to more people while we are walking.  The ward here is a really nice ward.  There are a lot of nice people here.  We have a baptism coming up on the 12th.  We found him last wednesday.   Its an older guy.  He is 79 years old.  He is probably one of the most humble people I’ve met while I’ve been out.  We talked to him about the restoration of the gospel and watched the Joseph Smith movie with him.  He told us he felt the spirit stronger then than he had in a long time.  That’s when we challenged him to be baptized.  He came to church for the first time on Sunday and loved it.  We talked to him about being baptized again and he told us he didn’t feel like he was ready yet, but said he would keep praying about being baptized on the 12th.  He believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the book of mormon is the word of God.   He is a really great guy.  Elder Morris and I are excited to be working with him.  Thanksgiving was a lot of fun We went around and talked to a lot of members.  I think we saw 16 families.  We had dinner with the Rees family.  They had a bunch of family out from Utah.  It was a lot of fun.  We are going to go buy a little christmas tree today.  Well I hope everything is going good there and everyone is having a lot of fun.   Have a good week. 
Love Elder Marshall

Steven's letter Nov 23

Dear Family 
I think that’s  a new record getting pulled over three times in one trip.  And I thought I got pulled over a lot.  Its been a pretty good week here.   Elder Morris  Is a really good missionary.  He has been teaching me a lot about how to be a better missionary.  Its been kindof hard coming from a little branch to a big ward.  There are a lot more names to remember.  There are a lot of nice people here in the ward.  We had a fireside at the ward mission leader’s house last night.  That was a lot of fun.  We have a new investigater because of it.  It was for the youth to bring their friends to.  There was only one non member there, but she really liked it and I think we are going to try to see her again on Wednesday.   She told us that she wanted a copy of the book of mormon so she could give it a chance and find out for herself if it was true or not.  Elder Morris and I are pretty excited to get to teach her. We get fed a lot more here than we did in Pocahontas.  That’s going to be nice.  We have only had to cook dinner twice since we got here.  I miss the little town life style though.  Everything is really big here.  The people here in Collierville are a lot more wealthy than the people in pocahontas were.   A lot of the buisness people that work in Memphis commute there from German town and collierville.  We go down into mississippi too.  The people there are more country people.   I had a lot of fun going out there.   It was a lot more like what I was used to.  One house even had the cocroaches running all over the walls in the living room.(and the floors… and even one on the kitchen table.  No joke)  That grosed out the member that went with us.  Thanksgiving is going to be a lot of fun.  They have a turky bowl here.  There are two wards here, so we get to go play football with them in the morning.  We are going to be going out like a regular day besides that though.  We do have 2 dinner appointments already though.  So Elder morris and I are planning on being pretty full by the end of the day.  Well I hope everything is going good there.  Hope every one is having fun in school and corey is having fun working at linns.  Have a good thanksgiving.
Love Elder Marshall

Dear Family
Hey just letting you know im in Collierville.  Its right down next to Memphis Tenessee.  It looks like its a pretty wealthy area.  I don't think i've ever seen houses as big as the ones here.  I thought they were appartment buildings.  My new companion is Elder Morris.  I'm looking forward to serving with him.  He says the people here are really wealthy so I think its going to be different than Pocahontas and Ash Flat were.  He was serving with Elder Baron before me.  Elder Baron was in the MTC with me.  I got to see him and Elder Steed today at the transfer meeting.  It was good to see them I haven't seen Elder Baron since we got to arkansas.  Well i better go.  Hope everything is going good there.  Talk to you on Monday.
Love Elder Marshall

Here is my mailing address:
396 ramport lane
Collierville, TN 38017