Week 8

Hey y'all! Sounds like everyone is doing awesome and that it is starting to turn fallish at home! Well here in Arkansas it's still beautifully green and hot! The end of next week things should start cooling down to the mid-low 80s! I'm super looking forward to not be dripping with sweat when we knock on doors! But then again it is a great way to get inside people's houses and get free water! Hopefully things will still stay progressing in the fall and winter time here! But the way things are going my guess is that they will!

So this week was a great week!! We had Zone Conference on Tuesday and so that took up our entire day because it's a 2 hour drive to Monroe and then our conference was from 9-5 and then 2 hour drive back and then dinner, so we only got to tract for 1 hour or so. But it was a real good conference! AND I made more friends! Haha I don't know if I mentioned this earlier but our district is a double-date district so it's really small. Only the 4 of us! So it was nice to be able to meet more people (:

On Thursday we went over to a members house to teach a couple that is investigating. Their names are Bill and Kathy and they have been working with missionaries since before my time here. Well they are progressing so so so good! We have been talking to them a lot about baptism and why it is important and they have tried to set them with baptism dates for such a long time and they haven't been able to. Well on Thursday it changed! They have been set with November 5, 2016!! I definitely feel like it had a lot to do with us having the lesson in a members home! It was such a great lesson and the members are so great! We even think that there is a small possibility that it could happen before then! But it was a great night! 

Other than that we have had a slower week but it has been good! It was so cray to plan for this week because it's week 6 and we have transfers next week! I''m really hoping that Sister Abril stays here for another transfer! She is so funny! And it would be weird if she left because our DL is going home and so 2 of the 4 of us would be leaving and that would just be sad. 

Well y'all have a blessed week! 

-Sister DeCamp

Week 7

Hey y'all! This week was sure a good and busy one! We did about 7 hours of tracting this week! I actually really enjoy tracting because you get to meet the weirdest people! (: 

So along with that we went to Monroe to have a specialized training with President Olson. Monroe is about 2 hours away in Louisiana, so that was a good time and took up most of our day. But we were able to learn a lot and laugh so much on the way home! We have a really small district, I don't know if I told y'all that, but there are only 4 of us. 2 Elders and 2 Sisters, so the ride home was a fun time because we get to know each other and just have a swell time. 

On Saturday we went to an outdoor expo! It was really sweet! And it was a great place to be able to AI and tract! We met a lot of awesome people and were able to get some name and numbers but the only struggle was that all but 1 were not in our area, so we get to pass them down to the other missionaries in our zone. Those lucky fruitcakes! But it was still fun and a good time! We also got to eat some real good BBQ. I love southern cooking!  Oh I also got a cool pen for free! We were watching these guys hand make pens and just talking with them while they made it and I got to choose things with the pen and then they gave it to me for watching the whole time and just talking with them! And helping them clean up! So that was sweet! 

Also while we were at the expo there was this insane storm! Like flash flooding and the storm almost broke one of the doors on the building. It was so intense that Sister Noyes's shed in her back yard flew over her house and landed in the middle of the street! and cars and windows were bent and broken from things flying! So insane! And So cool! We met a lot more people being trapped inside watching the storm haha! 

On Sunday we had stake conference and they were able to webcast it over to us so we wouldn't have to drive to Monroe so many times this month which is a real blessing! But it was really good! They talked a lot about keeping the Sabbath Holy and also about becoming like a child- They even had 5 primary kids bear their testimonies! It was a very cool and spiritual conference. They last thing they really talked a lot about was Temples and how the blessings of a temple can be a shield. They will protect you. And that was just so cool to hear! The temples are such a blessing in our lives! 

I love you all! I hope you have a blessed week!

-Sister DeCamp

Week 6

This week was a busy one for us! We went out tracting a lot and it paid off! We were able to teach over 8 lessons this week! (That is a ton for El Dorado) And we were able to get 2 less actives to Young Womens And one of them to church. We also were able to get another one of them to commit to come back to church! YES!!! The work is going good here and El Dorado is the promised land! 

Yesterday we went on exchanges. I was FREAKING OUT! But it went so good! I went with Sister Marble and Sister Abril went with Sister Mitchell. Together we tracted for 5 hours! And Sister Marble and I were able to find a new investigator! She is really kind! She has met with Elders before and so she knew a little bit about our church. And she invited us to come back this week!! SCORE! We also had a ward breakfast and some of our less-active families went to that and made some friends so we are hoping that since they made friends they will start coming more often to activities and church!!

Oh on Sunday we were able to go tracting in an area we hadnt ever really been to and we got to teach a girl named machelle and the spirit was so strong there! I extended my first baptism invitation and the she said YES! I was so excited for her! We are going to start meeting with her every Sunday now and then hopefully twice a week as she progresses more. 

Miracles happen when you are obedient and show the Lord your diligence by tracting! 

One last cool story! So we went to this place in our area call Junction City- population 752 people. There was nothing there... but we had a referral there.. she wasn't answering our calls so we prayed and both felt like we should still go.. so we go and there is one gas station in town so we stop there to get lunch and we are talking to the girl at the register and ask if she knows who we are looking for. She does and she tells us that she isn't living here right now. So we then decided that we would go and see one of our less actives.... well his address exists but his house does not. So we went to the one right next to it thinking maybe that could be his house. Well we ended up meeting his sister and when she saw we were missionaries she gave us a big hug and told us that we find her everywhere she goes. I laughed and joked that maybe it was a sign. She said that she was on her way out but we could come back another time- she was walking to the store. We said alright and started to leave. When  we got to the corner I felt like we should go walk with her and so we did. We started talking to her about what she knew about us because people usually don't just hug missionaries in the south- that NEVER happens. Come to find out she has read the Book of Mormon and her dad was a member. But she wasn't and it was her brother that we were looking for- he passed away about 2 years ago... but we were able to teach her about the restoration and answer a lot of her questions! We also gave her the challenge to go home and read from the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it was true and when she got her answer to call us. She called us the other night to let us know that she hadn't done it yet but was planning on doing it that night.! So we are looking forward to her call now ! And funny story since we went walking with her, I was able to walk back and forth between Arkansas and Louisiana! Pretty cool!    

-Sister DeCamp