Alma 56: 47 - 48

(e-mail & pictures from June 17th)

Alma 56: 47-48

 47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the ^aliberty of their ^bfathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their ^cmothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

 48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their ^amothers, saying: We ^bdo not doubt our mothers knew it.

Good Morning!

This week was pretty sweet. We struggled with out key indicators (number totals) this week but that’s ok. We are working so hard. And we are super pumped for this next week. Elder XXXX and I have decided to make it our best week thus far. We'll see how it goes.

This week it was HOT! so hot. I'm not even sure what the temperature was but the humidity kills. The air is just wet, like a bathroom after a hot shower. And we bike around all day in that hot, damp, muggy air. It’s awesome. We have ridden over 800 miles in the past 9 weeks. Elder XXXX is such a champ, I love working with him. I'm scared for this upcoming transfer call because chances are that we will be split up. I don't want to leave Bentonville but we train our replacements. I'll go wherever the Lord calls me.

XXXX is doing awesome, she's still stressed over moving and family struggles but she is really progressing. She loves everything that we teach her. She has even told us that she feels a difference in her life. She's happier. It really is that simple. The gospel makes people happier. We are teaching another lady named XXXX, she is a super nice older lady from the Philippines. She's also a 7th day Adventist. She's very set in her ways and somewhat knowledgeable about the bible. It's fun teaching her. We are teaching another family, the XXXXs. They are a family who has been investigating the church for several years now. They are so awesome and they love missionaries. They know the church is true. They just won't admit it. I just thought I would tell you a little bit about just a few of the people we are teaching. Keep them in your prayers :)

I'm so grateful to be serving a mission. It amazes me that 8 months have already gone by. 1/3 of my mission is over. I really feel a sense of urgency now. It makes me want to work harder all the time. I can barely put in to words how much I'm grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. To quote Dieter F. Uchtdorf quoting St. Francis Assisi: "Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words." The gospel is something we live, something we exemplify. I know that Jesus Christ lives, and that he loves us. And if we do our best to follow him, we will be happy. Love you all so much.

Elder Sherwood

Elder Sherwood's District in Bentonville

 "A crawfish boil that we went to. All that stuff on the table is like these little miniature lobsters basically. They are called crawfish. Super wierd. Super delicious."

A little basketball in the apartment

"Is this how you eat a mango correctly? We can't figure it out."

"We took that picture on a day where we biked all the way across our area to this little neighborhood on top of a mountain to tract it."

2 Corinthians 12:9

Good Morning!

This was a great week! Sorry I didn't get to email yesterday! We had a Zone Training meeting and interviews with the President! We were among the last missionaries to get interviewed out of 34 missionaries in our whole zone. I think we are the biggest in the mission. So with the meeting starting at 9 am and with 34 missionaries all getting 10 minute interviews, we would be interviewed by about 3 pm. However, how realistic is a ten minute interview with president? I'll tell you, very unlikely. So we ended up not getting out of there until around 5pm. So we were at the church literally all day. It was really fun though because we got to hang out with our Zone Leaders and the missionaries in our district for a long time. My interview with president went great. He's so inspiring and motivating. I wish ya’ll could meet him!

Today for preparation day we are going to the Walmart Fitness Center. It's this associates only fitness center but they are allowed to bring guests so we get to go today! I'll let ya’ll know how it is.

This week Elder XXXX and I did so awesome. I've told ya’ll how we tract all the time right? We are trying to work smarter. We have no problems working hard, that’s for sure. We decided to stop keeping track of the lessons we teach while tracting, in order to boost our motivation to get more member present lessons and actual scheduled appointments. We got 13 lessons this week without counting our lessons from tracting (which I estimate is somewhere around 10). It was such a fun week.

XXXX is progressing well :) keep her in your prayers!

Thank you so much for all your support :) I love you all so much!

We also received this e-mail & photos yesterday :)  ...

Hi Moms of Elders Sherwood and XXXXX,

My name is XXXXX and we had the pleasure of having your missionaries join us for dinner tonight. I have 5 children ages 8 and under and they gave your boys a run for their money tonight. My daughters are 8 and 5 and the 8 year old acted goofy around them and my 5 year old made eyes and flirted with them while sitting quietly next to them all night. My older boys who are 6 and almost 3 got in a fight over their chair which came to blows and then my 6 year old had to have the usual fight over food and how much he was going to eat. After my almost 3 year old settled down and ate nothing he found the camera and took some pictures of your sons. I am just glad that my little 7 month old can be confined to the high chair.

Thanks for helping to send your sons on missions. They are a great example to my children and after tonight I think they could use all the good examples they can get. They gave us a great little lesson to end the night and helped us get things calmed down.

Photos by 3 year old :)

Ether 12:6

Good Morning Family!

This was a good week. XXXX is doing good. She was anticipating a really tough challenge for a few days last week but it turned out to not be as bad as she had hoped. I know that is a result of your prayers :). We are continuing to work so hard every day all day. This week was awesome we found a couple more potential investigators while tracting. We've actually been having a lot of success with tracting recently which is pretty amazing. It's so fun, I love tracting so much. I'll definitely be looking into some summer sales jobs at some point in my life haha.

We ran into that jogger again the other day. No comment.

Bentonville is still such and awesome area. I love being on a bike. We have biked over 600 miles since we've been here. We are always out doing something. Always out working. I love it. Being a servant of the Lord is the most fulfilling thing I've ever done in my life. And I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to train Elder XXXXX. I am just trying so hard to be a good example for him in setting the tone for the rest of his mission. I am confident that he will never be lazy. That's for sure.

I'm so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I love having the knowledge that because of His sacrifice, we can have peace. I know that true peace and happiness only comes through the Gospel. We can be happy without it, but the fullness of joy only comes with the fullness of the gospel. I know that families are the center of the gospel. Everything Christ taught us and everything He now teaches us, is for our families. And I am so grateful for it. I know this is true. And it's the most important thing in the world to me. I love you all :)

Elder Sherwood

Ether 12:6

6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that ^afaith is things which are^bhoped for and ^cnot seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no ^dwitness until after the ^etrial of your faith.

Pictures From Members

The members in Elder Sherwood's area are so awesome!  They send us pictures!  It's such a fun surprise to get a random text or e-mail with a picture of Elder Sherwood!

Out to dinner with a member in their ward - looks like dessert!

Sushi in Arkansas!  Not sure why this picture is so distorted.

I received this picture this morning from a lady who ran into
 these elders on their bikes.  She said... 
Moms-
I ran in to your impressive sons on one of Bentonville's trails.  They serve
in the neighboring ward to me, but couldn't resist taking a little picture
for you.  They looked great and were so friendly and happy.  Thanks for
sending them our way.

Psalm 50:3

(e-mail from Monday 5/27/13)

Sorry that was just a random scripture I chose, let me know how it turns out haha

How are you all! This week was a pretty good week! We focused a lot more on working smart. Elder XXXXX and I work so hard it’s ridiculous. We ride at least 20 miles a day. Our area is only like 3 miles from one end to the other. We've ridden 500 miles this past transfer.  So it was a good week. Our investigator XXXXX is doing good. That poor lady, she has so much going on in her life right now. We are doing all we can to help her out. Continue keeping her in your prayers. Last night we taught a first lesson to this lady that we tracted into. Her name is XXXXX. She's so awesome. She has traveled all over the world so she has a lot of cool stories. She is super open and willing to listen. It was an amazing lesson. 

So last Monday was pretty crazy! Luckily we were in a member’s home that evening during the storm. We didn't think it would be that serious until the tornado sirens started going off haha. Then we all went out to the garage to watch the storm. It was awesome. At first is just a beautiful calm day, then within 10 minutes it turned into this crazy storm with ridiculous wind knocking down giant tree branches and soooo much rain. And then within another 15 minutes it was all over. Luckily, no tornado.

Bentonville is so awesome. I love it here and I love the work. I love being a missionary so much. 

And I love you all!

Ether 12:27 (classic)

Well another fantastic week here in NWA has come and gone. Bentonville is doing great and we were untouched by any foul weather that may have happened last night. The work continues to go well. I can't believe a whole transfer has come and gone! We got transfer calls on Saturday night and we are both staying here in Bentonville.

We are having some really cool experiences with one of our investigators, XXXXX. She is this older lady, around 60, who is so sincere in here search. When we teach here she has such great questions and you can really tell she is an honest truth seeker. One of my favorite parts about our message and our purpose is that we never force our beliefs on anyone (at least I never do). We teach, testify, and invite. XXXXX is a prime example of this. It's so amazing teaching her because she truly wants to know! She loves the plan of salvation so much. I do to. I love that God has a plan for us. God, the Supreme Being, has a plan for you and me, as insignificant as we are. We are everything to him. Moses 1:39, His purpose is to bring us joy and eternal life. I love it.

So Wednesday was fun. After district meeting we returned home to find that we had locked ourselves out of our apartment. We called our landlord and to our dismay, he was out of town and wouldn't be back until "sometime this evening.”  Not a very comforting resolution to our request. So we started walking, and it started raining, then it rained harder, and we continued walking. All day long. Bikes locked in our apartment, along with our raincoats. Luckily we had three appointments set up that day. But as should be expected on a day like this, they all fell through. But we kept walking, and knocking, and talking, and most importantly laughing. White shirts soaked to our skin. Feet sore and pruney. It was a fantastic day. I love serving the Lord. :)

"Forget yourself and go to work"