Exchanges, Ups, Downs, and a Mission Goal

HEY how are you guys doing? Let me tell you what a week. Where to begin hmm. Well I guess I will start from the beginning and then answer all y'all's questions.
   It started off with exchanges where Elder Chapman went to Jacksonville and I had the opportunity to stay in Cabot with the district leader Elder Staib. Once we parted ways, Staib and I went spiritual harvesting in Ward. There we found some awesomely prepared people. Once we kocked on the door and a man answered it and asked what were we selling. We told him that we were  representatives of Jesus Christ and that we felt that we needed to stop by and leave the Savior's peace and blessing. Once he heard this he said come on in, and the family was awesome. More on them later. So after that we taught a boss lesson which the sisters took, but I'm fine with that.
   This week was crazy. We had baptisms drop and lessons turn sour =(  but we kept our heads up. Oh, and I can tell football season has started. I remember we were spiritual harvesting and I kocked on a door and a man opened it. He looked at us and said " Hey guys not on Sunday alright!" I was about to ask why when we heard a referee whistle and he turned around and closed the door. Man, people in the south love their football. They also have a UofA here too 0_o. I think some one should tell someone about that.
   I have learned a lot from the hard stuff, but I only remember the good stuff in great detail. Like the lesson we had with that awesome family in Ward. We were teaching Lesson 1 and when we were telling them about the First Vision the father of the house said " I like that. It makes me feel good." The spirit was so strong they commited to baptism, but there is stuff we need to talk to them about.
    Last but not least the mission goal was to baptize 56 people this month. Last I heard they were one away from that goal. Also President has asked us to focus on The Book of Mormon when teaching, because that is how you can know if it is true. He challenged us to keep one in our hands at all times when we go out, but also use it to answer people's concerns, and what a difference it makes.
  I would like to answer y'all's questions.. The food is good. All Southern cooking like BBQ chicken, steak and gravy, and mashed patatoes. And with Conference we tend to invite people to watch and listen to see the fruits of  modern day prophets. Oh and the tech! Thats the big news. Missions in Texas have already got tech from what I hear and it's doing wonders. Like missionaries are teaching people in China! Also, When people are interested but the missionaires in thier area good to bed earlier, then they can talk to missionaries online. So that is awesome. Look on facebook under the name Elder and you will get a lot of them.
Love you all. Sorry no pictures this week but next week I will send them.
Elder Duron

Exchanges, Pox, and a Marriage/Baptism

Hey what's up???? Man what a week, let me tell you guys. A lot of stuff has happened in the past two weeks. let's see here where to begin... I think I will tell y'all about my exchange to Jacksonville for starters.

    Two weeks  ago I went on exchanges with elder Merrail in the town right next to Cabot named JacksonVille. A little bit about  Jacksonville: It's like Cabot but with more black people which is cool. Also it's bigger. So we go to into town eat fried pies (empanadas). Then we go to visit this one family; we go up to the door no one answers. So Elder Merraill walk's over to the house next door and I thought this was another family that they were teaching. He knocks on the door and this lady comes out and first thing I say is "Hi my name is Elder Duron, Elder Staib ( the distirct leader) is in Cabot. " Then Elder Merraill says  '' And I am Elder Merraill we are from the church of Jesus Christ..." I then realized that we were spiritual harvesting. Yeah I asked why he did not tell me he said "well I did not think of it until you started talking". But I learned a lot from him and how to study effectively.

   We have run into a lot of drunk guys  lately

and let me tell ya they are no fun. Like on Saturday we were teaching a family of two, Lynn and Cole, who are super close to baptism, and we were teaching Lynn about the word of wisdom when out of the blue this guy named Roberto comes in and you can tell that he is a little more then tipsy. Roberto then asks us why are there so many languages and starts telling us his life story. It was sad because you can tell the spirit had just taken a nose dive. But she commited to keep the word of wisdom. AH,  I just realized that Roberto might be the reason why she commited to the word of wisdom. We all learn from examples I guess.

    Yeah, having the chicken pox really stinks, but I can go out now. It's I just that look like a leper now, and most people tend to shy away from us, but I know that God's work cannot be stopped as long as we do our best. Oh, yeah also I have been cutting my hair I will send y'all a picture with this email.

  Oh and we have a baptisim happening this Saturday, but it's not just a baptism, it will also be a wedding. So that's going to be super cool.

   love you guys. I know that this is God's church and that he loves us and wants us to be happy. I know that God has called prophets to lead and guide us back to him, and that the book of Mormon is the truth of the restoration.

  from yours in arms,

 Elder Ryan Duron

Awesomeness, Fire and Brimstone and sickness!

Hey family how y'all doin'.

This week was awesome. We have new investigators who are amazing.
    We are teaching this lady lesson1 and asked her for examples of prophets.When we say that they usually say Moses or Noah, but she said Joseph Smith and Bringham Young. So that was cool. Also there is guy named Guimen who we are teaching. After we thaught him lesson one he said " You believe just about everything I do, just updated".  And he also said "hey so the book of Mormon connects  the dots".
   Also Hell is a very popular subject down here. These people are a God fearing people. At the tasty freeze they give away comic books which always end with someone going to H E double hockey sticks. But everyone here has a deep love for Christ.
  Cabot is full of many different churches. Bapitist, Nazeraine, Methodist and Assembly of God. We are actually planing on teaching a lady who says she can speak in tounges. 0_0 The work is awesome and the people are super cool.
love you guys,

Elder Duron

P.S. I am sick but don't worry that won't stop me from helping people come unto christ.

About Cabot Arkansas

   Let me tell you about a small town named Cabot. Cabot is a place where everyone knows just about everybody unless you are in the Airforce; there is a base not too far form here. Cabot is made up of three places- Cabot, Ward, and Austin. Cabot is where the city folk live, but Austin and Ward is were the country people are at. In fact Jackie lives in Austin. There are three things you will find a lot of down here is Religion, Bugs, and kids!
   Religion is a big here. There are church buildings are every street; they even outnumber the fast food places. Also everybody belongs to a church. You have to look hard to find someone who does not have faith in Christ, which is one of the cool things about the south. HEY did Y'ALL know that President Kimball had a vision for the south? President Kimball said because of the faith of people in the south it will become one of most highest baptizing missions in the world.0-0 And I can see why.
  Cabot is like the fire swamp or the forbidden forrest, because there are bugs and dangers all over the place. But to a child its a playground. Yeah you find kids everywhere here, which is good because that means the are families that are ready for the gospel.
   We are teaching two part member families, the first is the Beasly's. The whole family are members expect for the father, Billy (he is the one that asked me about the guns) and we are helping him understand the gospel. Which is super cool because Billy told us he knows the book of Mormon and church are true. The other family is the Steeles who are the opposite, meaning the father is a less active member and the rest of the family are nonmembers. We have met and talked a lot but have not been able to teach because of how busy they are.
  What else...oh yeah I lead my first lesson. that was cool, that family was super prepared. and I had my first hand holding pray/talk which was kinda weird. We met this lady and her son in the middle of the street one day while S.Hing( Spiritual Harvesting/ Tracting). And we talked with them and offered to say a prayer with them. well Elder Chapman knew what was coming just by talking to them and had me say the prayer. And while I said it the lady started to yell and shake! 0-0 So that was fun, but work is going well. We have five people with a date to be bapitized.
  I love it here. Thank you guys so much for everything. Oh, tell Cierra and Shayla that their heavenly father loves them and it's awesome they're getting baptized. They are starting the path that leads to happiness and joy in life.

From first area-Cabot Arkansas

WOW. I'm here in Cabot Arkansas. My trainer is elder Chapman. He is a really good missionary. I have learned so much from him already. The ward and the people here are awesome. And I already have some crazy mission stories.
    So listen up-heres a story about Elder Chapman. He is from southern Cali, been here 10 months, and he has been hit by a car not once or twice but three times. He is a great missionary though, who knows the power of prayer. I know I have alot to learn from him.
   Cabot is amazing. The members are a great example of every member a missionary. They are also ready to serve when asked as well. On Sunday we saw that we did not have anyone signed up for dinner for the next ten days, so we gave our list to the RS president before sacrament meeting, and after it was over the whole month was full (even that night).
   Arkansas is flat, meaning acres of farm land. With that there are a lot of farmers and other people who live on the land. Like we were talking to this man named Billy my first day here and the first question I was asked as a missionary was "does Arizona have guns?". But after talking to Billy he reffered us to a man named Jackie. It turns out that Jackie owns a junk yard\barn yard with all kinds of animals chickens, turkeys, peacocks, horses, geese, doves, cats, goats,and a pig the size of my bike. Man it was huge, Jackie said he uses it like a guard dog.
   So anyway we were able to give Jackie a Book of Mormon, and plan to visit again. Also we have 6 people preparing to be bapitized this month.
  Talk to you again soon.
Love you guys.
from Elder Duron