Judges 13 - 15

We read the story of Samson this morning in companion study. You gotta shake things up sometimes haha.

It was so awesome to talk to you all yesterday! It is so crazy actually seeing you and talking to you guys. I hate it because afterwards I'm always like, oh I should have told them this! Or asked this! But it's ok. That’s why we have email haha.

When we talk I hope you guys can see how much I've changed. I know my personality hasn't changed much and I don't have the "accent,” but I've have changed and grown so much! And I hope you can see that. It was so good talking to you all, it looks like you are all happy and doing well :)

The work here in Bentonville is finally picking up. We are getting appointments and new investigators and making some real progress. I'm glad you got to meet Elder KXXXXX. He is such a funny guy. SO enthusiastic and hard working. It's been really awesome for me to feed off of his energy. And because I'm training him, I'm getting a good refresher course on all the basics, which is really helpful. We really feel good about everything. We are only getting started. We are ready to work harder and harder.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I've been blessed with to be a missionary. I can't believe the change it has brought in my perspective. Now I really understand the importance of the gospel. I really don't understand how anyone can go through this life without it. It adds so much happiness and peace to my life. I know that the gospel brings happiness. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real. And it can help us through this life. I love you guys so much!

Elder Sherwood also shared this part of an e-mail he received from his Mission President…

"Elder Sherwood...you are a steely eyed monster missionary! WAY TO GO."

 -President SXXXXX

Elder Sherwood, Mother's Day call :)

We talked/Skyped with Elder Sherwood on Mother’s Day.  It was so good to see his face and talk to him!  He looks and sounds amazing.  He is really loving his mission.  He loves to work hard and if you can believe it one of his favorite things is knocking on stranger's doors and talking to them!  If you know Elder Sherwood well then you are just as surprised to hear that as we were!

We are so grateful for this opportunity in his life.  Yes, we miss him but wouldn’t want him to be anywhere else.

Elder Sherwood and his companion with a young man
that was baptized

Apartment in Arkansas... on a bike now

More of his apartment

Elder Sherwood's home in Missouri

Outside his home

Looks like he found a turtle??

Add caption

Elder Sherwood didn't say but I think this is the family that
lived next door to him.  They are amazing!!

Our family Conference Sunday tradition...scones.  He asked
for the recipe!

People he met in Missouri

1 John 1:7

Hey!

So on Mothers day I think we will be skyping. It's not official yet because we haven't found anyone’s computer to skype with yet. So if we can't skype then I will just call. Lets just say like

At the beginning of this week the work was slow. We got a list of part member families in our ward, and we have been working on visiting all of them. It's good, effective work because we get to meet members, sometimes less active members, and their spouses. We have a couple appointments in the works with a few families as well. Which is all good. But we weren't teaching a lot of lessons. On Thursday we had visited so many people and only taught 2 lessons. So Friday, Saturday and Sunday was go time. We ended the week with 12 lessons. Pretty sweet huh. It's so awesome having a companion who wants to work hard all the time.

Last Monday, I'm not sure if I told you, we went to the Zoo in Gentry, AR. It was so sweet. It's more of like a safari type thing. You drive through this huge farm they have and you drive by like Bison, emu's, jaguars, tigers, and lions. Then they have a petting zoo with pigs (kinda lame) and monkey's and stuff. It was so sweet. I'll send some pictures in a second.

Earlier in the week it snowed. Can you believe that? Snow in May. I detest Arkansas weather. But it's really nice now. It was pretty warm yesterday and hopefully it stays that way.

This was pretty funny. Last night we were tracting and we taught like 4 lessons. Then we decided to ride down to the square in town, and on our way we rode past this runner who started yelling some interesting stuff. I won't go in to detail about his comments, just know they weren't very friendly :) haha. So we stopped to talk! He ran past us and I asked him a question, I can't remember what I said, but he motioned to us and said, "come on, let's go.” We followed this guy for I kid you not 30 minutes. Miles around town. It was mutual don't worry. We weren't chasing this guy down for half an hour, he was fully engaged in a full on gospel conversation mid-run. I admit there was some mild scripture bashing going on at some points on both of our sides, but at the end of the day its about testimony. I shared with him my testimony and left it at that. It was so awesome. Wierd stuff happens to me and Elder KXXXX haha.

So good to email you all! Have a good week! I love you and miss you all! See you in a week! haha ;)

Philipians 4:4

Hey! 

So this week wasn't the best week ever, but it definitely had it's highlights. On Tuesday we had exchanges with the 1st ward elders. I was with Elder HXXXXX in their area. Which is just across the street from our area so it didn't feel like much of a change. But anyways, that day it was freezing cold and wet. We were biking around all day and I came down with the stomach flu. It was awful. I was sick the whole next day and now I'm finally close to feeling 100%. So It was a rough few days after that.

On Thursday we had District Meeting, and “Train the Trainer.” Train the Trainer is when President SXXXXX goes around the mission and meets with all the Trainers. Our Train the Trainer meeting consisted of maybe 15 companionships from a couple surrounding zones. It was so awesome. It was so sweet to hear from President. Every time he speaks to the missionaries I get so motivated and inspired. I've never felt the spirit stronger in a talk than when President SXXXXX speaks.

His message was awesome. He talked about the mission statement of the doctrine of Christ and the ministerial statement. His mission was to perform the Atonement. To pay the price for us. To be our advocate with the Father. No one could accomplish this mission but Him. His ministerial statement is "come follow me.”  Christ invites all men to repent and come unto Him. This is something we can all do. We do this through Faith, Repentance, Baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. This is how we access the Atonement. The Atonement of Christ is available for everyone. The healing, the peace, the happiness is there for us all. All we have to do is put forth our hand, and take hold of his.

XXXXX's baptism was on Saturday. That was so awesome. Every single part of that program was youth led. The prayers, the musical numbers, the talks, even the actual ordinance was done by XXXXX’s friend XXXXX, a priest. It really was an amazing experience. It is such a testimony builder for me to see kids, 17 and 18 year old kids, exercising so much faith in building the kingdom of God. This Gospel is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that the Atonement is real because I am a witness of it's divine power in the lives of real people. Prayer works. God listens. God answers. I love being a servant of the Lord.

Hebrews 4:5

April 22, 2013

Hey family! :)

This week was pretty sweet. Elder KXXXX is so awesome. He's already such a good missionary. It's so funny because he's always so impressed by gospel knowledge I have. I don't think I know that much about the gospel. I really don't. I just know how to talk to strangers about it. That’s what being a missionary is all about. Talking with people. Trying to leave them better off than you found them. And the best way to do that is through talking about the gospel. I love this area of the country. I never thought I would fall in love with Missouri and Arkansas. The people here a so awesome.

This week we had a couple funny interactions. On Wednesday we knocked on the door of a Jehovah's Witness. That’s always an interesting conversation. You have to be careful because it can get pretty heated, pretty quick. Then the next day we knocked on another Witnesses door. Same deal. All you can do in that situation is be friendly and bear testimony. They aren't receptive to anything. Which makes me sad. Elder KXXXXX did really well. He held is own haha.

I guess this area has been getting like around 8 or 9 lessons a week on average. This week we got 16. We tracted so much. My companion loves tracting. It's so awesome! I love it too. It's so fun just getting to talk with people. I love learning about the lives of others and doing my best to share what I know with them.

This weekend we have an investigator named XXXXX getting baptized. The Elders here before us taught him and invited him to be baptized and set a date with him. So all we did was come in, finish teaching him, and set up the baptism. He's such a cool guy. He grey up pretty much atheist but as soon as the missionaries taught him about the gospel and he tried living it, he became so much happier. Last week he bore is testimony in sacrament meeting. It was so sweet. He's such a good kid and he will be such a great member. He's already wanting to go on exchanges with the missionaries haha!

Our investigator pool is pretty thin right now. We are doing our best to find more and teach as much as we can! I know now more than ever that this gospel brings so much happiness to the lives of those who choose to live it faithfully. I know that we have a Father in Heaven who actually knows us! Who actually cares about us! Who really loves us! I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, Brother, and Friend. I love being a missionary. And I love you guys! :)

Mosiah 4:27

Mosiah 4:27
Hey! Good morning Arkansas. So last week was a pretty sad week. Tuesday and Wednesday I said goodbye to everyone. I spent exactly 1/4 of my mission in Stockton Missouri. I feel like I grew up there. It was almost like leaving home again. It was so hard. But Bentonville is SO SWEET. It’s literally the exact opposite of Stockton though. It’s about the size of like Walnut Creek, maybe a little bigger. It IS the Walmart Capital of the world.

It is a full bike area. Meaning we don't have a car at all. But our whole area is pretty small. We are in the Bentonville 2nd ward. The area is only a few miles long and wide. The ward is so awesome. They are so missionary minded. I've heard Bentonville called Little Provo before. I guess Walmart recruits from BYU so there are a ton of members here and they are all returned missionaries so all they do is missionary work. It’s so sweet. The ward mission plan is run like a business. So organized so perfect. I love it.

My companion is awesome. His name is Elder XXXXX. He is actually from Pleasanton! That was pretty sweet when I found out about that. He just recently moved there after I was already out here though. So anyways, He is such a good missionary. All he wants to do is work hard. I love his attitude. He's so eager and willing to do whatever it takes. Which is so necessary in a full bike area.

We live really close to the rest of our district so we see them all the time. The YSA elders drive by us in their car all the time. It lifts your spirits so much just to see other missionaries out working. Finally we have something to do on Preparation day now! I think today we might go to this sweet museum called Crystal Bridges. The first few days were crazy. We didn't know where anything was or where anyone lived. It was pretty overwhelming at first coming from Stockton. But I love it here so far. I'm so excited to work here and get to know the people. Hopefully I will love the people and the area as much as I loved Stockton.

Anyways I am so stoked to be here. I love my companion. And I love being a missionary.

Ok I gotta go! I love you all so much! Have a good week! :)