farmer's tans and angry beepers.......

hey all, 

sorry for not emailing yesterday but we had interviews, which takes up most of the day.  

Tuesday: we walked a lot the last week so this is the only time I will mention it, but we went and were able to cross a few people off of our to-see list because they were home and would not answer the door, even though we saw them peak out of the window.........  We were also able to see Frank! he is an Awesome sometimes-catholic who is an honest seeker of truth, we shared the Easter video with him and had a talk about how Christ can help those who are searching for answers.

Wednesday: we went and saw the Adkins family (da da dada *snap snap*) then we went out to Evans and tracted for a little while, invited a bunch of people to our church tour that we had planned for Sunday (insert frustrated sigh here) more about that later.  we also got to see a potential and set up a lesson for Friday.  it was awesome.

Thursday: we tried a lot of people and all of the set stuff ended up falling through........

Friday: we went out to Ravenswood and were able to see roger, an older gentleman who we talked to on Monday.  we were able to teach him the restoration and were able to help him understand the need for prophets.

Saturday, we had district meeting then went back out to Ravenswood to try and see a few people and talked to a lot of people that were out walking.

Sunday: Elder Goold got sick and so we only went to sacrament meeting then, when he was feeling better, we went out and set up for our church tour.  (one person showed up....)

Monday: only thing that really happened excitement wise was when I got a dressing down by the woman behind me for needing to change lanes last minute (i'm sorry, but you try driving around Charleston for the first time with only a GPS and a bit of faith) needless to say I got the bird and honked to death

see y'all next week

Elder strunk

I made a denim tie!

Another view. A no sew wonder!

stubborn Pentecostals and a Chocolate Festival

hey all,

this week has been great.  we have seen many people and started losing weight! 

Tuesday: we walked about twelve miles and were able to see a few potentials: Terry (an older woman who had been taught by sisters in the past) was not able to see us but did answer the door (which was nice), and Jesse (a semi-crazy middle aged woman who has had several tragedies strike her recently) and talked to her on her porch for about twenty minutes about many subjects.  

Wednesday: we walked about another eight miles and saw Joyce White and were able to set up an appointment for this Tuesday.  we also made a number of posters and signs for the Easter initiative.

Thursday: we went and saw the Shamblins and showed them the Easter initiative.  Then we helped them share it.  We then went out to Fareplane and saw a few people that were out that way, nothing really happened out there, but we aren't giving up.

Friday: Everything fell through.  it was a lot of walking and talking.......

Saturday:  we went and did a lot of walking and talking at the WV Chocolate Festival, which may-or-may-not-have ended with me about five dollars poorer then when we entered.

Sunday: mostly walking and a lesson with Joann Meadows, or rather a session of "we are just explaining what we believe, not trying to push anything on you" with her friend *shakes fist in the general direction of Lewisburg* who has been trying to counter all of our teaching with her Pentecostal stubbornness.

*sighs* rant over, see y'all next week,

Elder Strunk

our ingenuity for our street sign: two metal hangers, shoe goo, tape, and a lick and a promise

my companion (Elder Goold) and the finished product

the pimp glasses we found in the closet.  Green lenses, stylish!

Puns, Avatar: the Last Airbender, and the days of yore

Hey all,

this week is a blur, we had many things go on and a lot of interesting experiences.... ONWARD!

Tuesday: is a blur, we went and tried a few people and tracted in the rain.  interesting experience from that is the fact that my umbrella broke (which would kind of deter me from wanting to rain tract again, Darn you satan.) and a few minutes later, as we went by a house that we had knocked on earlier,  the guy who had said that he wasn't interested walked out and gave me a new umbrella (thanks heavenly father :) )

Wednesday: we went out to Ravenswood and tried everyone that we knew and had one person answer. Travis Casto is a good guy and willing to Read the Book of Mormon.  plus he has two GIANT and BEAUTIFUL Great Danes, Molly and Rose.    it was a good day though because we were able to decide on the videos for a Fireside that we are working on. 

Thursday: Zone Conference! New little black boxes, Now with female voice (which is so much harder for me to get angry at for some strange reason).  

Friday: service and a whole lot of invitations to conference.  we were able to see Hannah again, and talk to her.  she is still interested, but her ex-Husband won't let her daughter even hear our message.... dang pentacostals,,,,,,,

Saturday: we went to conference and were hoping for somebody to show up, but no one did....

sunday: back to the church, then back to the apartment to get the phone (25 mi) back to ravenswood to watch conference ( 12.5 mi) then back to the apartment for dinner (12.5 mi) 

favorite talk was either Joaqin costa or elder holland

see y'all next week

Elder Strunk

I made biscuits!

With Elder Scott

"mormons in the civil war... all right."

hey all,

 short email this week due to short week.  it's kind of funny that as a student you look forward to the short weeks, but as a missionary the short weeks are just boring.  

Thursday: transfers, shopping and unpacking.

Friday: went out to the food pantry and did service.  tried to see a few people and were able to see "Tall" Tim Moore, a guy that we invited to learn a couple of weeks ago and taught a really good restoration.

Saturday: panic sets in at about noon as first the first councilor in the branch presidency and then the branch president call us to tell us that we are speaking in sacrament meeting the next day ...... that was interesting.  we went out and visited the Raid on Ravenswood, a civil war reenactment and that is where the quote in the subject came from.  the first person that we saw said that as he puffed on a cigar....

elder Goold and I get along really well and are having a blast.  

that is all for this week, besides the fact that it rained cats and dogs yesterday....

*panicked screams echo from background* must be transfers.....I want my miumj

hey all,

this one will probably be the longest one that you will get for a while, transfer week and all

Wednesday: we were able to get in and talk with the Martins ( the family that was referred week before last) and had an amazing lesson.  She is dead set on baptism and the he is living the word of wisdom (more on that later) we had gone in and taught the restoration to them both and then answered some questions about the Word of Wisdom and committed them both to live it.  before that we went and taught Joanne, the woman that we I.T.L.ed at the end of last week, and she had a lot of good questions that we were able to answer and tie back to the Plan of Salvation.

Thursday: exchanges, we got to see Joyce and had a great lesson with her before going and trying a few people out in ravenswood.

Friday: meetings all day.

Saturday: we had another amazing lesson with Joanne, and were able to teach a restoration with a review on the plan of salvation.  it was amazing!  then we went back and taught Sister Martin again, and this is what she told us about the few days in between meetings, her husband set out to "prove us wrong" and decided to follow through with the commitment on the word of wisdom.  it ended up helping prove us right.  she told us that she had been able to see multiple changes in her husband as he has lived the word of wisdom.  and she had taught her mom straight out of Moroni 8 on infant Baptism! it was all I could do not to spin cartwheels all the way around the apartment when we got back.

the rest of the past few days was filled with elder grover's goodbyes and packing.  that means that your's truly is staying in ripley for one more transfer! 

see y'all next week,

 Elder Strunk

I want my mummy!

These don't have captions- must not have had something witty to say about them?

blessings of diligence

Hey all,

this week was great.  we had so many great things happen and we were able to see many blessings from parking the car and walking to places that are close.

Tuesday: we got in to see mike! we had a good lesson on faith and read Alma 32 with him, he asked a lot of good questions and we were able to help him progress a little bit further on the path.  on the way back from that appointment a woman asked us if we were selling something (which was a first for me, usually it is GO AWAY JEHOVA"S WITNESS) we told her no and ended up taking for a good few minutes and set up an appointment for this week.

Wednesday:  not much eventful happened and we ended up going to help get a couch for an active member that we ended up taking out after an hour because it had cat hair all over it and she was allergic....... so yeah.

thursday, we went out to ravenswood and were able to catch a few people before going to see Jeremy and Ashley, a part member couple, and reading the book of mormon with them.  it ended really well and he has really started to open up.

Friday: Zone meeting and Exchanges.  An interesting thing happened this week though, we didn't have to resort to tracting! it was awesome.  

Saturday: slow day nothing much happened...... sorry

Weather update: We are currently getting snow .........................

see y'all next week 

Elder Strunk

"you got the keys?" "........"

hey all,

this week was fairly dry (work wise) due to torrential rains and rising rivers in the hollers.  

Tuesday:  rain, rain , and more rain, we went and set up some appointments with less actives and those nearer to the apartment.

Wednesday:  more rain.  we went and did some knocking around our apartment complex.  only other eventful thing that happened was the fact that we managed to lock ourselves out of our apartment.  A nice neighbor was kind enough to card us into our apartment after noticing our plight.  

Thursday: we ha district meeting and then proceeded to try to see Mike, who promptly canceled on us and rescheduled for saturday.......

Friday: nothing more than knocking 

Saturday: we went to try and see Mike who rescheduled again for tuesday, however as we walked back to our apartment we ended up Inviting To Learning a girl who was out running.  

see y'all next week

Elder Strunk