Yokwe! (Essentially "hello" in Marshallese.....)
Man.......... I have never been so anxious to get an email out to ya'll! This week was mind boggling AWESOME! (And yes, I did just use the term mind boggling in my email.......) From unloading over 70,000 baby chicks, exploring bamboo forests, robbing people of their tea and coffee, speaking in Marshallese, exploring the uncharted north of our area, a baptism, General Conference, and even becoming the guest of honor at a Marshallese wedding, this has been a week I'll never forget! So let's get to it! :D
This week started like a normal one, but the first things of note occurred Tuesday when we drove all the way out to Valliant on the west border of our area! We were visited some less active members in our ward when they showed us this AWESOME bamboo forest on their property and it simply called for pictures! It was funny because you'll note in the first picture below that my hair is relatively dry, but in the second it is soaking wet............ Let's just say the heavens opened up and poured. EVERYTHING got soaked! It was nuts! It was pretty fun though!
The following day, we had dinner with some members and investigator, namely Johnny and Debra Wilson (They have baptismal dates set for April 29th.....). After an awesome dinner and conversation we went into the living room where it was suggested that we play a game. What game should we play? Oh how about a game where we make someone stand up, put a blind fold one, put head phones and rock out to music. I was too down! (Perhaps this was the reason why they made me go first......) The picture below is one of Johnny, right in the middle of his performance. Good times! XD
Now this couple that I'm talking about, the Wilsons, are AWESOME!! We're such good friends with them! This last week Johnny made us these incredible scripture signs/boards (See below.....)...... What a guy. I plan to stay in touch with this incredible couple for the rest of my life. They have come SO far in the gospel and have one of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard. There's nothing like standing on their porch with them in the evening and having Johnny honestly state, "I believe the Book of Mormon is another testament of Christ." They are seriously some of my closest friends and I'm so grateful for them......
Friday started off on a CRAZY note........ We got up early and drove all the way to the Arkansas border to go do some service for the Elders Quorum president in the branch, Brother Rasmusson. He's a chicken farmer. Now don't get confused, when I say chicken farmer it's not a simple coup with 20-30 chickens........ No, we're looking at more like over 150,000 chickens every 60 days!! It is INSANE!! This guy is serious! (He raises chickens for Tyson.......) Anyways we went over to help unload baby chicks! This was officially the craziest, and smelliest service I have ever done in my life....... Just look at the pictures. We unloaded over 70,000 baby chicks between the three of us that morning. And this isn't a nice, get the chick out, set it down. No, you grab a pallet of chicks (Usually 200+) and literally sling them out as fast as you can! You feel horrible for the first few minutes literally throwing these baby chicks at break neck speed, but hey........ It needs to be done, and supposedly they have padding? This was NUTS! Hundreds of thousands of baby chicks.......... It was really good timing for Easter. Afterwards we smelled SOOO bad that we had to go back to the apartment and shower again or face getting turned down at every single door. We could hardly stand to be in the same car as ourselves it was so bad. Regardless, the service was extremely fun and I would do it again in a heart beat!
Another interesting thing we did that day, we have a member who's really wanted to go get the church started "Up North" (North of Broken Bow Lake in the Indian towns of Pickens, Battiest, Bethel, and Smithville), so he drove us up (After our showers of course!) and we went about establishing the Lords kingdom in a place that had not seen missionaries in YEARS! We had to drive nearly an hour an a half to get there! It was AWESOME! The people there are so prepared to receive the gospel and we can't wait to go back next week! The region is gorgeous with these massive forested plateaus, pine trees, and open sky! Lots of Native American people in that region. We found a bunch of new investigators! AWESOME.
Now let's talk Marshallese...... We had something absolutely hilarious and EPIC happen! One day we were searching for some of the Marshallese members in the branch and we learned that they were attending this HUGE Marshallese wedding/birthday party and after calling them, they said we should come over. IT WAS INSANE! This was the place to be! There were hundreds of Marshallese people there from all over Arkansas and Oklahoma! They had this Marshallese band there which was rocking out, and it was PACKED! All of a sudden this lady who was over the celebration/wedding started ushering us towards the front and before we knew what was happening we were sitting in the very front with the families of the couple as the "Guests of Honor" at the wedding. WHAT THE HECK! We had only wandered in to find some people and now we're the guests of honor!! It was INSANE!! XD We were only planning on staying for a little bit with this we were obliged to stay the rest of the evening. They kept bringing us food (Namely rice and chicken, their favorite dish......), and the Marshallese kids were swarming. I'm not sure what it is but the Marshallese people here love the Mormon missionaries. Out of the hundreds of people at the party it was pretty funny being the only white people! It was a beautiful wedding though I could hardly understand any of it because it was in Marshallese. Speaking of the language, I'm slowly starting to speak bits and pieces of the language. Enough to introduce myself, learn their name, and talk about Jesus. It's so fun!
Man........ I haven't even mentioned GENERAL CONFERENCE yet!! General Conference was INCREDIBLE! I could go on and on about it, but you're probably wondering, "When is this email going to end?", so I'll get on with it! As a missionary, General Conference is like Christmas! (Or in my case St. Patricks day......) You practically get giddy with excitement. Let me just say, President Nelson is AWESOME, the last hour of the Sunday morning session was JAW DROPPING (I'm serious, if you haven't seen that session go watch it!!), and this church is true, growing, and FANTASTIC! If you didn't get a chance to watch Conference..... DO IT! (No excuses!!) This one will keep you on the edge of your seat it's so action-packed! I mean you never when President Nelson's going to jump and drop some EPIC new revelation! I couldn't take notes fast enough, and I gained so much from this inspiring conference! It was made even better because besides many of our other investigators coming to conference, we had this family of new investigators named the Baker Family (An awesome Choctaw family!) come to the Sunday morning session! Miracles are real folks!
To top it all of one of my cherished friends out here, Jona Steffler, was baptized between sessions on Sunday. I'm so proud of Jona and his decision to accept the gospel in his life. He's an incredible guy, and I know he'll perform miracles. I feel seriously blessed because he asked me to confirm him next Sunday. Every one, I love my job out here. I get to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone I see, everyday of the week, 24/7. Is there a cooler job than that, I don't think so. This church is true. I see literal miracles EVER DAY. I testify that President Russell M. Nelson has been prepared and called of the Lord to serve as our prophet in these latter days. Listen to him, because through his revelation and direction is our best chance to be happy and have peace both in this life and the life to come. Elder Gong is flipping awesome. In the name of our savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Clark Fox
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