Heading to Bentonville---Three Times This Week

On Wednesday, Gary went to the temple with the Mena elders to join in the missionary session.  Elder Farris had missed attending the temple in the past two transfers so he was able to get permission for the two of them to go and Gary got to be their driver.

The following pictures are from our trip to Bentonville on Thursday where we went first to Springdale to orient the Cummings who will be taking over as district leaders for us after the District gathering, and then to the Mission office to drop off some stuff and also to meet some "old' missionaries who were visiting the mission for lunch.  

On our way to the mission office, we saw this street sign for Scott.  Since we now have taken pictures of Scott, Scarlett, and James street signs--I googled Chantel's name and we found one about 3 miles away----so off we went...

This is Razorback country.....

And another chicken display as well....

And here it is.  When I sent the photo to Chantel, she pointed out that her birth stone is the Garnet which makes this even more unique.  (In case you were wondering, I did try to google my other grandchildren's names, but didn't find anything in the local area.)

At the mission office, we got a photo with Elder and Sister Stephenson.  We met them in the MTC.  They are a week behind us and will finish a week after us.  They have served in the office over housing and also served as the mission secretary and financial person.  Lots of big jobs.  They are being replaced by two couples which is how it should be. They have done great and we will miss serving with them.

We met at the Stone Mill Cafe for lunch with (Elder) Richie Ecera and (Sister) Jenna Halle.  We love these sweet missionaries and are so grateful that they made some time for us while Jenna was in town visiting Rickie.  They both went home at the end of December--Jenna to Idaho and Richie to Samoa.  Conversations about converts that they had in common led to more personal conversations which led to dating--across states as Richie is working in Missouri as he prepares to go to BYU-I in the fall--where as "luck" would have it--Jenna also attends.  Jena and Jenna share a special relationship and they loved being together.

We had recently asked one of our young adults where are some of the spots we need to visit before we leave and he had mentioned the Hemmed-In Hallow waterfall trail area.  Because we had a bit of time before we needed to be in Clarksville for Game night, we headed east to that location, thinking we could handle a small hike.

Unfortunately, it was not exactly as he described it.  There was this big sign telling people to not take this trail without lots of preparation.  It is the trail that requires the most search and rescues in northern Arkansas.

We enjoyed the forests and the trees, but skipped the hike that we weren't prepared for.

Always space for photos of the wildflowers--I will miss them when we return to Utah.

Red barns---such an iconic view of the landscapes of mid-America.....

almost like a painting with the blue skies with clouds, the greens of the trees and field, and the yellow wildflowers.

and we found some dirt roads because we are lucky like that.

You have to love the Church signs.

On Friday, we went to the temple to do Baptism for the dead. It was a sweet experience as our newest convert was able to both be baptized for those who have passed on, he was also able to baptize others including our branch president who is about 6'4" while Ken is only about 5'6" and very slight build.  It was a tender moment.

Ken

After the session

We went to dinner and just before we left, the rain and the thunderstorms began and it poured about half of the way home with lightening everywhere. But in Ft. Smith, no rain until right as we got home. Then storms all night long.  We were glad our car was in a garage and that we had no place to go on Saturday. It was a busy week right before another busy week...which is running into another busy week....I am determined to catch up and keep up with my blog through our mission (and beyond, although there will be fewer pictures and posts as we move to a more normal routine of life-whatever that means.)

 

How Blessed Are We!

Well, this picture didn't turn out as clear as I had hoped, but it serves its purpose.  Because we are approaching the end of our service here as missionaries, I received a notification asking me if I wished to grant assess to my mission leaders to contact me after our mission is completed.  As I clicked the screen, it pulled up ALL of the mission leaders we have had as senior missionaries.  Oh, how I love these people and how much my life has been blessed to know them and to serve with them.  If you lined them up, you would be amazed how different they are from each other, but also how similar they are--in their faith, their examples of yielding to God, and of dedicated consecrated service (and this applies to all of their counselors as well who were equally valiant and impactful).

So, YES--please allow President and Sister Randall, President and Sister Holmes, President and Sister Collins and President and Sister Hathaway to contact us.  We love them, have prayed for them, and are forever grateful for their impact on us as a threesome and for me personally. We will forever be grateful to having served with you.

Saturday "Fun"

Because this current week is the end of the semester- Game Nights, we didn't have planning to do on Friday and Saturday, so we decided to head out and visit some cemeteries.  It was an overcast day and had a bit of wind which made the heat and the humidity more tolerable.

We had been wanting to do the Mount Zion Cemetery--because we support Zion, of course.

A Church sign nearby...

And the cemetery---

Some of the sights along the way, here and there.....

Yes, He can and He is the source of Hope.

As we headed into the second cemetery--the Vinita, there were two turkey vultures--we think that is what they are called walking down the gravel road.  One took off, but the other continued walking until we got quite close to him, then he flew off....

Beautiful to see it take flight right in front of us.....

Down another street there was a whole line of posters praising Jesus and honoring Him in this particular way, both on the grainery and along the fence line.

And then another tiny miracle, I got to see a farmer actually moving and unload his hay bales.  I have quite an obsession with this subject as you can tell.....

He noticed us watching and he gave us a wave while he headed off.

A very good Saturday in Arkansas as well!!

Zone Conference

This was our first Zone Conference with the Hathaways and it was awesome.  And they left us with a cliff hanger which will apparently be resolved tomorrow at a special mission wide Zoom meeting.  They kept referencing a bag of candy that their two sons were holding during the meeting but then nothing.....we got a message today about the Candy Zoom meeting tomorrow.  Stay tuned for more information.

The Theme of the Conference was Strengthening our Nets.  They focused on exact obedience, building member trust, and mighty miracles.  They talked about the current "culture" of the mission--words were shared like obedient, diligent, hard-working, and charity.  President Hathaway praised them for being great missionaries and promised them mighty miracles if they continue to improve.

He invited them to:

Have exact obedience

Be united and accountable

Eternally uncomfortable

and fulfilling the measure of your creation (personally this is a very important doctrine to me.)

Everyone did a great job and it was an honor to be there, to greet these missionaries who we know and love, and to be taught.

Our zone also had our interviews with the President for this transfer and I also had my temple recommend interview as well since my recommend expires this month.  Busy day.....

...but because we had to cancel Clarksville Institute due to painting in the building, we took some new roads home...

We decided to make a stop at the Lake Ft. Smith State Park.  This lake provides all of the drinking water for Ft. Smith and the surrounding areas.  It is a man-made lake that goes to 200' in some places.  It is beautiful but people are not allowed to swim in the water.  The water company set it up that way due to the ratio of water surface to depth and didn't want to have to deal with "people" pollution in the water.  You can take boats out on the water and fish, but can't get out of your boat.  

You can rent paddle boats but since we were in missionary clothes we skipped that.  We had a nice visit with the park ranger who shared facts and figures about the lake and the water.  Random stuff that is just interesting.  Plus it is always a bonus to talk to people who are passionate about their topic whatever that topic is.

The water level drops about 5' a week during this time of the year.  The rock on the right was covered on Monday but on Thursday was now beginning to be uncovered.  This will continue until late October or November when the rains begin.  No danger of running out of water, just the normal flows out of the lake.

Don't you love how water reflects!!

We stopped at Bruam's in Alma and got some yummy ice cream treats for the ride home.  A perfect end to a good day in the Arkansas Bentonville Mission. Checked Lake Ft. Smith off the Arkansas Bentonville Mission bucket list!!!