Week 79

Elder Geddes and Elder Geddes
They discovered they are 4th cousins!

  This week was a great and busy transfer week!  The new transfer went really smoothly, it helps that it was "T1" which means most transfers took place within the same zone.  It was pretty cool though because on transfer day we were just driving and it felt just like a normal day, because everyone basically got their own rides. 

 Then after many weeks of waiting the delivery went well and I am now a proud "Grandfather"!!  Elder Ceron is training so his "son" came in this last Tuesday.  His name is Elder Santiago y he is from Puerto Rico.  He seems like a great kid, and Elder Ceron is excited to be training.  We didn't know if  Elder Santiago had a license and if he wouldn't have had one I would have had to go to Jonesboro every other week this transfer. He did end up having one, but President still wants me to go to Jonesboro for a few days to be with them.  That'll be a great experience!  With the new training cycle there is more focus on training, so the trainees stayed in the mission home for a couple days with their trainers.  We were able to go to be with them for a little bit of the time for a couple meals, and as well President invited us to come to the last testimony meeting which was a great experience!

  The week involved tons of driving covering places such as Batesville, Brinkley, West Memphis, Southaven, and basically all over the city of Memphis.  We took all the trainees to their new areas on the Memphis side y had to take care of a lot of trio beds.  President did put another trio right next to us in NLR ,so when we go on trips Elder Phillips always comes with us to be an extra driver.  He was with us basically the entire week, He is super cool, and is from Centerville, Utah.   

 Even with us being super busy and being all over the place we were  able to see Hunter two times this week both with members, which was a miracle for the office!  It was nice to bring more support for fellowshipping with us, and he really clicked with one of the members we brought.  He was able to share his conversion story, and it was really powerful.  Hunter was able to set some goals of having more consistent contact, and daily reading patterns, and as well as his member girlfriend Kaitlyn made a goal to pray every night!  That was great, and we are looking forward to seeing them a few times this week.  

  Sunday was a day filled with a ton of great things happening.  Church was really good!  After church  Elder Ceron called me and told me that Claudio had given a talk in church, and that the whole family had gone.  He said the talk was awesome, and he talked to Hna Gaby after saying how she felt about it..  She really liked it, and will probably be getting baptized soon.  It's been awesome to hear about the progression of Claudio, and how solid he is doing, He is getting the Melquisedec Priesthood in a few weeks.  I don't know if I had mentioned this before but Claudio said a few days before he decided to be baptized he had a dream where Christ was hugging him and welcoming him into the fold.  It's amazing how much happiness the gospel can bring into anybodies life, and the true difference that it makes.  Also on Sunday I talked to Yader and they had gotten their endowments in Dallas, and are getting sealed in the Memphis temple.  President has given me permission to go, so I'm super stoked about that.  

  And to top off a great Sunday we went with the ward mission leader to see a Hispanic referral from him.  The guy is named Luis and the WML had actually showed us to him before. because he works at an Hispanic restaurant that he goes to a lot.  He was a really nice guy, and said we could come over.  We go over to his house kind of late at night y knock on the door.  People look out the peep hole but no one answers.  So we leave, and as we are driving down the street Luis calls our WML and said that his wife didn't know who it was so she didn't answer.  He said that we could come back, so we flip around and go to the house!  We meet the family and Luis y Lety were super cool.  I was able to get to know them better, and explain about El Libro de Mormon y the a little bit about the restoration. Even though I was teaching alone, this spirit was definitely my companion that lesson.  It seemed as if everything smoother and I was able to speak really well.   Come to find out they know the Benitez family in Little Rock because she works with her, and had just gone to play Volleyball at our church this last Thursday.  It's amazing how the Lord will prepare people!  They are going to start reading in the Book of Mormon,, and we have another appointment set up with them.  

Thanks for everything, love you lots!  Have a great week!

Con Amor,
Elder Geddes

Sister Boudrero, Nate, and I

Week 78

 Another good week here in the great land of Arkansas!  Nothing too big happened this week, but we have been really busy.  

 The highlight of the week was the Mission broadcast el merciless, and then going to the temple for MLC the next day! I quote that I really liked from the broadcast was  "If you don't know what to say, start talking about the Savior.  We can never talk to. Much about the Savior, Matt: 10:32. Speak of him, and he will speak of you to the father."  Neil L. Anderson.  That was a huge theme of the missionary broadcast is having the "Savior on our lips".  Sometimes we get focused on all of the little things, but I have seen as we relate everything to the Savior, the spirit testifies and those that we are teaching our touched.  We should all be ready to testify of the Savior in all times and places.  It was the first Worldwide Missionary Boadcast in ten years. The last one was the release of Preach my Gospel.  I learned many things from the broadcast, and was able to set some good goals personally and as a district.  

   That night we headed to Memphis and stayed the night there, so we could get to the meeting on time that next morning.  We had mission leadership council,l and in the middle of the meeting were able to do a session in the temple.  It was an awesome experience, and we had a really cool questions y answer session with the Temple Presidency after. The temple is such an amazing place.  

  Other than that this week included a snow day, but we only had to stay in the apartment for a couple hours extra.  There was about five inches of snow on the ground though, it was pretty impressive!  Later on that day we went and closed down an apartment.   Then on Saturday we had to drive downtown o Arkadelphia to deliver a bed for a trio.  Pretty good week overall.  We were able to teach a little bit, and Alina the less active member in the Spanish branch made it to church down there on Sunday which was sweet!  

  It sounds like you had a fun week this week!  Our week will be pretty crazy with transfers.  Our whole district is staying the same other than the Elder that is going home, and another Elder will come in.  Elder Ceron will be training in Jonesboro this transfer, so I will be a grandpa!!  Pretty sweet stuff!  Have a great week, love y'all!

Con amor,

Elder Geddes

Week 77

  Another really busy week here in the office! Yup for a lot of the trips I pull the Mormon.org trailer behind our big Chevrolet Express Van. At the beginning of the week President had us y Elder Eatchell take the Spanish Elders (Heaton y Doty) up to Russellville, and then the Spanish sisters (Macfarlane y Moore) back down to Little Rock for an exchange.   That was a pretty good drive, and it's always good being around the Spanish missionaries!  The next night we had to do the same thing as well to switch them back.  We also had a meeting with President Wakolo y the office staff over lunch as he explained to us the new transfer cycle now that we don't have transfer meeting.  It's pretty cool what they have come up with.  Elder Lundell and I will be staying together for another transfer.  

  A cool highlight of the week was when were and the Spanish ZL's were able to go over to dinner with Monica!  She had remembered what my favorite food was, and made us Tostadas de Tinga!!  They were pretty unreal, It had been a long time since eating that!  We also were able to talk with her and set some goals to start reading again ,and having the missionaries more consistently as well! It was great remembering all experiences that we had had with them.  After Monica striked again, and she shoved one of her daughters faces into a cake for a "Mordida" just like she had done with Elder Heaton about a year ago!  That was great,, and she told us to give her a call again for when we could come down for another dinner!  

   For the rest of the week were were really busy with things in the office, preparing for a new Office Sister who just came in, and moving and switching some apartments up in Morrilton.  As well as giving furniture to missionaries in Choctaw y Danville.   On Saturday we were even able to have a full day of Proselyting which was pretty cool!  And during the week Hunter called us y asked if we could switch our appointment to Friday.  He told us to come hungry, and he made us dinner which was pretty sweet. We were able to teach him the Plan of Salvation and it went really well.  He said he was going to pray about being baptized.  Overall a good week, and this next week should be a great and busy week as well!  

  I hope all is well with y'all, have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Geddes

Week 76

Many Miles Traveled

Hola from the great land of Arkansas, and yes I can say from hello from the whole land because we traveled all around the.  For this week we went to the areas of Conway, Otter Creek, Cabot, Jacksonville, Arkadelphia, Camden, Monticello, Pinnacle Mountain, Little Rock Spanish South y North, and Forrest City!  I will send a map showing some of the places that we drove to. state this week!  We had a really busy week starting from Monday night driving missionaries places.  This week included: closing an apartment, driving missionaries to and from appointments, taking stuff to apartments, staff meeting with President Wakolo, and all sorts of other great office stuff. 

Reuniting with Ana

A great highlight was getting to have dinner with Ana again in Little Rock with Elders Heaton, Diaz, Doty y Anaya.  It was such an awesome reunion to see Ana again and she was excited to see me.  She mad us some awesome food as always, and she has been doing super well.  It was amazing because this time I could understand clearly all that she was saying!  I remember when we ate there before it would always be a struggle to understand when everyone was speaking Spanish.  The lord truly has blessed me with the gift of tongues, and it was cool to see how much I really have learned since the last time I was there about a year ago.   

Visitng Yader and Family

Another awesome day is when we went down to Yader's to have Lunch with them while we're delivering a few things in that area. Before that we left a little early so I could try and see Monica who the missionaries hadn't really been in contact with for a while.  It was a weird feeling going back into my first area again, and seeing everything.  When we got there they had just got in their car. so we walked up and knocked on the window!  She was really excited and surprised that I was there!  It was a great reunion and she invited us over for dinner on a day that we have open.  I'm hoping she will be reactivated and back on the right track before they move back to Mexico in April!  Cassandra was there and as well as Bryan!  

After that we went to have lunch at Yader's!! That was awesome seeing him again as well as Joanne and the girls.  It is so cool to see the change in them over the past year, and how focused they are in the gospel.  They are really excited about getting sealed within a month or so.  They are doing great, and both have callings in the Spanish Branch.  It is always awesome to see them!  

This week was so busy we didn't have too much time to do a lot of actual teaching.  We were  able to see an investigator (Hunter) last night.  He is a boyfriend of a member and he is really cool.  He told us some great stories from his work because he checks electric meters, and he runs into all sorts of interesting things. He asked us randomly about tithing and says he wants to pay it next week!  That was pretty cool, and we hope we can see him this wee as well.  We are working with a few less actives and that is also going well. 

Have a great week!!

Con Amor, Elder Geddes

Pinnacle Mountain

Week 75

Huge BBQ nachos en Memphis!

  It's hard to believe that it's already 2016, the last year has flown by and it was filled was so many amazing experiences.  

Alvaro y los Hermosillo

  This last week was another really busy week as it always is as Office Elder, and we as well had some really good teaching experiences.  We had to go to Memphis and back twice this week to transport people to the leadership training, and as well close an apartment in Memphis.  We were able to see Alvaro my recent convert. He was in Memphis for the break, and he had been attending school in Ohio.  It sounded like he has been doing great, and it was sweet to see him!  

Con la familia Lopez

Gotta see ceron again!

  We also got to go to the promised land of Jonesboro, Arkansas on New Years days to deliver some furniture to the Elders there.  We set up a dinner with Claudio y his family, and we ate some great Pasole!  It seriously was the best seeing them again, and it felt as if I had never left.  They are an awesome family, and since Claudio was baptized the family has been doing Family home evenings, and they are starting to listen in on the lessons.  It's always a great feeling knowing that your recent converts are staying strong and progressing in the Gospel.  Claudio even mentioned that he wanted to go see the Temple in Utah!  While there we were also able to go see Tina y Takiya for a few minutes.  That was a great trip, and we arrived back in North Little Rock that night.  

  Over the weekend we were able to go out and do some teaching after we finished the office work.  One night we went to see Alina y Rafael who are less active in the Spanish Branch. This was the second time we visited them.  We knocked on the door and no one was there.  I figured we might as well knock another house since we were there. No answer either,so we went to get in the car, and then right after they pulled up to their house and we were able to see them!  We had a really good lesson on the BOM, and they really opened us to us.  They both committed to going to church, and this time they said we could come back whenever.  Where the last time they said the only day they could do it on Saturday night.  I was definitely glad we knocked on that extra door to keep us in the area for them to come back.  

   Diligence has been one of my goals recently, and I've seen the blessings as we have been more diligent in missionary work.  On Sunday night we went to an investigators house, and their Pastor was there as well as like 15-20 other people from their church.  We didn't want to bother them because they had visitors, but they invited us to come in.  They are all Hispanic and for an hour I talked with the pastor about the Book of Mormon and our beliefs, while everyone else was listening.  It was a good experience, and we are going to bring them Spanish copies of the BOM in the next couple of days.  It was also nice to be able to speak Spanish!  

  That night we had gone to another place to see some people.  It was around 8:40 and we were out of people to try.  I felt that we needed to return back to the trailer park and see a lady that we had seen last week.  We went to her trailer and all the lights were off. So we decided to knock the trailer next to it an Hispanic family let us in right away.  I was able to share our basic beliefs with them and introduce the BOM to them.  They were really cool, and we were able to set up a return appointment with them.    Great experience of how the Lord places someone in our path as we decided to try just another door instead of going in a few minutes early.  Other than that just an overall great week, and should be another busy one this week! 

I love you lots, and hope your week is great as well! Thanks for the email! 

Con amor,

Elder Geddes 

Week 74

 It was a great Christmas week, and it was sweet being able to talk with y'all!   Well I probably told you most of what happened this week, but I will write a few other things that happened this week.   On Christmas Eve we were able to go over to one of the senior couples in the ward.  All of us Elders went (seven of us) and we had a nice night at their house.  They wanted us to go down to sing to a less active family that lives right by them that they had been working with for months.  We were able to sing a few Christmas carols and it was a great experience.  The spirit was very strong as we sang and you could tell that they were touched.  At the end they even invited us to come back and visit them whenever we are up there!  On Christmas Day we had a great Christmas breakfast, and there was a baptism held which was really nice!  We had an awesome dinner later on as well!  

  Later on in the week we were able to visit one of the Recent Converts that lives in the area.  We had tried him a few time but this time we were actually home.  He was super cool guy and he said that he had saw another member at the store earlier on in the day.  It's amazing to see how the lord will send people to those are in need, and those who need to come back to the gospel.  We only saw him for a few minutes but he asked us to start coming over more and going over all the lessons again.  As well he promised to come to church in the morning.  And sure enough in the morning he made it to church, and was able to enjoy a great Christmas program that we had.  

The Perez's

Other than that were went to Memphis this week to open a new apartment, and deliver a  bunch  of things to other missionaries. We basically played Santa Claus this week delivering packages and all that good stuff.  The Memphis trip was great, and on Christmas Eve morning we were able to eat with Presidente Perez y his wife which was sweet!  We are always busy and constantly on the run as office Elders, it has been fun getting to see all of the areas in the mission!  Other than that just another great week on the mission!!    Have a great week, love y'all!

Con amor,

Elder Geddes

Week 73

Transfers/Leaving  Jonesboro

Jonesboro District

Oscar and family

  

The Lopez Family

   This week overall was just really crazy!   It all started off saying goodbye to everyone in Jonesboro on Monday and Tuesday.  Oscar (Claudio's son) y his wife took us out to dinner on Monday, and then Claudio y his family took us out on Tuesday night.  It was so sad to have to leave them, and they were all super sad that I was leaving! They are seriously like my family here, and I was so grateful for the opportunity to be part of their family.  It was basically Christmas for me that day with them!  We  were also able to say goodbye to a bunch of other members and as well say goodbye to the Ester kids, as well as Tina y Takiya.  It was hard to leave all of them as well.  Seeing their progression was amazing, the spirit no doubt touched the heart of each and every one of them.  Then on Wednesday Sister Boudrero drove us down to transfer meeting, she was so amazing and helped me so much while I was in Jonesboro! There were just so many amazing people in that place.

Ester family

At transfers President had asked that all missionaries would attend the meeting.  He announced that worldwide this would be the last transfer meeting ever.  So for now on it sounds like we will get a transfer call and then have to find a ride to our next area, should be pretty cool!  When President started announcing the transfer list he said that "Memphis Spanish North Area" would be closing down.  I was pretty shocked and had no idea where I was going at that point.  Then he announced that I would be serving in North Little Rock as an Office Elder.  I was pretty surprised, and I my new companion Elder Lundell was at the Memphis transfer meeting so that's why they had me go their first.  Also in my new area Elder Geddes and I are in the same ward, it's pretty awesome!  Everyone was all confused when I introduced myself.  

  Basically since that time we have been on the road all week delivering furniture to missionaries, closing down several apartments, and do other similar stuff to that.  We have already had to go to a ton of areas in the few days as an office Elder.  I'm actually replacing Elder Hunt (from Cedar Hills) who started his mission in this area and had been here for almost a year.  So far we have been to Glenwood, Quitman (twice in one day), Dardanelle, Morrilton, Choctaw, Jacksonville, Maumelle, Conway and passed through many other mission areas.  It has been cool kind being able to work with all the missionaries and getting to know them.  I'm also looking forward to working a lot closer with President Wakolo.  This week it looks like we are going to Memphis to do more moving, opening an apartment, and all sorts of other fun stuff.  My first Sunday here was good and Javier Ramirez (former Elder Ramirez) surprised me and visited me at church which was awesome!  Well that about sums up my week, this new responsibility is going to be completely different from what I've been doing before, but it should be good!  I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas, and I'm looking forward to skyping with y'all!

Love ,

Elder Geddes

                        

                Boudero Family

My man Freddie!