OK! I'm a real slacker, I know. But I have been very busy at work for the past couple of months and my work computer works better than my one at home so I like to do things from work. Anyway, I'll try to do better but no promises. Here's Kyle's letter from this week. I'll post the others later.

Hey!

We had our transfer calls last night, I'm staying! Elder Manser is now our new District Leader. He's not extremely thrilled about it. Yeah the past while has been a bit slow for us. You would think that if we found new people that we would be teaching more lessons every week. Somehow that has not had any effect for us. We find on average 2 to 3 new people a week and yet we teach the same amount of lessons every week. It doesn't make sense. We have a teaching pool of about 13 people. When I got here, we only had 4. The last two weeks we have been teaching fewer lessons than when I first got here. It's pretty frustrating. We have a lot of appointments set for this week though, so this week should be pretty good.

It sounds like Jayden had an awesome time with Lagoon. Why didn't she like the Spider or Tilt-a-Whirl? I bet it was pretty fun trying to get her to leave. I'm glad that you all had a good time there.

Today with Bro. Harrison (the member who teaches us self defense) was working with us on some wrestling. It was pretty awesome. We were working on how to take our
opponent to the ground and also how to fall. We work on falling a lot so that when we do fall, we don't get hurt. He was teaching us what to do when someone comes up and just bear hugs you. He taught us that you just put the joint of your thumb in between the joints in your index finger and then push your thumb into the ribs of whoever is doing that. It's a pressure point that hurts pretty good. He had me bear hug him and he did that to me. I had a good tight grip on him and he tried doing it to me and it had no effect. He pressed it into me pretty good and lifted me off the ground and everything and it did nothing to me. He set me back down and walked over and started pressing on my ribs and said "Man, what kind of mutant are you? That
would light me up!" It was really funny.

On Thursday, I was on exchanges with Elder Taylor. He's my District Leader. When we ran out of stuff to do, he mentioned that we should go see Bro. Wurthen. (Elder Taylor served here a year ago) We went over and Bro. Wurthen had just gotten home a few minutes before we got there. Bro. Wurthen is a big time drummer and has a few really awesome drumsets. We went back into one of his rooms where he kept one of his sets and He played for a while. He's a really awesome drummer. He has been playing since he was like 4. He's like 47 now. He's amazing. He has opened for Metallica before. If you don't know who that is, you can ask Brittney. When he was done, he let me play for a while. He gave me a few pointers and taught me a couple tricks to show off a bit while playing. It was really awesome!

That's awesome that both Taylor and David are leaving. I guess that David is already in the MTC and that Taylor will be going in on Wednesday, right? We have quite a few missionaries now. A lot more than when we first got here.

Wow, Courtney is already in college? That's crazy. I'm glad that you guys had a good time with them. Those pictures are crazy! Jayden is huge! She has changed a lot! So dad is officialy going to graves now huh? Thats good for the money! I'm glad that he is looking forward to fixing some of the problems there. The whole sleep schedule thing doesn't sound too fun though.

I had heard that quote that Sis. Spencer read when I was in the MTC. It's a really good quote and it is so true. I have been working on having more charity this transfer. It's a little tough to work on, but I definately have grown more.

This week we are going to be introducing the Branch Mission Plan during our combined meeting on Sunday. That will hopefully get the members a lot more excited about doing missionary work. Our Branch has a lot of drive to become a Ward, but I think a lot of people struggle with how to go about sharing the Gospel with their friends. So I think that we are going to be doing some Role-Plays with them. That should be pretty fun. We started having weekly meetings with all of the Auxillary leaders of the branch. That is going to help get the ball rolling a lot.

Well, that's about all for this week. We had somewhat of a slow week. Next week should be really good though. I love you all!

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators:
Cody - We were finally able to teach him after not seeing him for over a week. We taught him three times this week. We watched the Restoration DVD with him and then read from Alma 32 with him. We talked about how he had to put forth some effort in order to know if the Church was true. I stopped by again with Elder Taylor. We read through half of Mormon chapter 9 with him. The third time, on Saturday, we took him and his kids on a tour of the Chapel. It went really well. His kids loved the church. It helped him to become more familiar with what would be going on. He said that he would be there at church on Sunday. Sunday came around, and his dad had to go to the E.R. so he didn't make it. We'll get him there next week. Before he wouldn't even give us a solid commitment to come to church.

Nicole - She's a new investigator. It was pretty funny how we found her. We went to teach Ladonna, one of our investigators. We started teaching Ladonna and Nicole, who lives in the apartment next to her walked out. Ladonna yelled over to her and asked her if she wanted to come listen. Nicole said sure and then walked over and sat down. A short while after, Ladonna got up and went and talked to one of her neighbors. So we just taught Nicole. We went through the Restoration with her. When we went over the first vision, we asked her if she felt anything, and she said she felt something, but didn't know how to explain it. So we helped her recognize that it was speaking to her of the truth of our message. We set up another appointment
with her for this week. Hopefully all will go well with her.

Thats all for this week.

Danielle FINALLY got her diploma from school. YEAH!!! It's about time. Now she can start looking for a job. Yesterday was Jayden's third birthday. I can't believe it. I swear it was just yesterday that she was born. Our lives have changed a lot since then but we wouldn't trade a second of the time we get to spend with her. She is such a joy (most of the time).

Here's Kyle's letter from the last two weeks. We went to Island Park, Idaho for a family reunion last week. We had a great time and absolutely loved the cooler weather and had a great time.

July 26, 2010

Hey,

Yeah it was pretty awesome about Elder Sorensen. Yeah his family still lives in Lehi. Yeah the Hop-Ke-Do is pretty fun. Yeah I remember when I did the Karate for like a day. That was a long time ago. It's alot more fun now.

My new companion is awesome! We get along way good. He is from West Valley. It's nice being in a small town again. I don't have to bike as far to get anywhere. For our preparation days we are just by ourselves. We might do a District outing sometime. There are only 4 Elders in this District.

Wow, it sounds like there has been a lot of stuff going on with Dad's ankle again. He has more problems with his legs than any other person I know. At least he doesn't have to get anymore surgery.

How was the trip up to island park? Sounds like it should have been pretty fun. Have you found out why Lynda has to sell the cabin?

It's good to hear that Jake is doing a little bit better. How could they have messed up on his medication? That just seems really strange to me. That's funny that they died their hair black again. That's awesome to hear that Zack is doing good. I'm glad that he has gained more confidence.

It's sounds like Jayden is still a little monster. Tell her happy birthday for me. She's going to be huge by the time I get home. That's insane that Danielle is still waiting on her certificate. It's been quite a while hasn't it? She still hasn't written me in like 7 months!! Is Brittney on her 4th term now?

Tell everyone in the Ward "Hi" for me. There are about 330 names on the roster here and I think their average attendance is around 60 or 70. We are working with Bro. Draleau (Branch Mission Leader - pronounced Dray-low) on the Branch Misson Plan. Its a really simple plan so everyone should be able to do it. We set a goal to have 11 baptisms by the end of the year, which means about 2-3 baptisms a month. It shouldn't be too hard if the Branch gets involved.

The song book is awesome!! It's a little hard to play some of it, but I can work it out and it will help me improve. We actually do sing in Elders Quorum. Usually just an opening song though. I want to get good enough so I can write my own stuff for the piano.

The cookies were awesome! I love cookies. I really like ginger snaps. Those ones are probably my favorite. Yeah, the temperature here has been in the mid 90's, but the heat index has been up to 113. That's ridiculous. I've been trying to read my Patriarchal blessing every week, but I have been failing at that. I'm trying to do better. I'm glad to hear that dad liked the tie. I thought it was awesome!

This week was a better week for us. We were actually able to see some investigators. That always makes for a better week. I was on exchanges with Elder Nash in Ft. Smith on Friday and some of Saturday. He is one of my Zone Leaders. He said that I'm a pretty good missionary and that I really know my stuff. He asked me how I think I would do as a District Leader. I told him that I'm not too sure about that. We helped out with the Stake Pioneer Day activity on Saturday. Elder Manser and I sat at the Information booth for 4 hours helping people fill out the Release forms and stuff so they could participate in the activities. There were about 1000 people that showed up for it. It was an awesome day.

Well that's pretty much it for this week. I Love you all and pray for you always.

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators:
Kody - We saw him twice this week. The first time we reviewed the Restoration and the second time, they saw him when I was in Ft. Smith. They taught him the Plan of Salvation. He's a really awesome guy and really likes what we are teaching him. Hopefully he will continue to progress and will come to church with us next week.

Bill - We tracted into him last week. We taught him the Restoration. We left him with a Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet and commited him to read and pray. He said he would. He's going to be moving down to the Gulf of Mexico somewhere so we are going to try and get his new address so we can send his info to the missionaries where he's moving.

Tim - He is friends with Jess Drywater (a member) and he came with us to teach him. We went over the Restoration with him answered some of his questions. Alot of his questions are about the Plan of Salvation so we're going to teach that to him next time. He said that he is comfortable where he is at and that he'll move when God tells him to. Hopefully that happens soon.

Thats all the investigators we saw this week.


July 19, 2010

Yep, I got transferred again. Do you remember a Morgan Sorensen? He used to be on my baseball team a long time ago. I can't remember what year though. His mom was my sixth grade teacher. He served here with Elder Manser before I got here. He got transferred to the other side of Springdale. He and I sat and talked for a while when we were waiting for me to get picked up.

Sallisaw is a small little town. It's smaller than Parsons was. It too is a branch. We set a goal for this branch to become a ward by the end of the year. It shouldn't be too hard.

That's pretty awesome that you know the Wrights. I will tell them Hi next time I see them or next time I have to call them. That's pretty awesome that Pres. Merkley is related to one of your old bishops. That's pretty weird about the pictures. I don't have my camera with me this week. I filled up the memory card today so I will be sending it home today with a summary of what all the pictures are. There are quite a few. I'm going to buy a new memory card so you don't need to worry about buying me a new one.

That's crazy to think that Elder Holladay is back. Well I guess I can call him Zack now. It seems like he just left not too long ago. Elder Manser reminds me a lot of Zack. They have a lot in common. He's really easy to get along with. My mission is going by way too quickly. Sunday was my 8 month mark. That's ridiculous. How is Jake doing? It's good to hear that he is finaly starting treatment? How long do they expect the whole process to take for getting rid of it? I have been making sure to keep him in all of my prayers.

Dang, it sounds like you guys are doing quite a bit of work on the house. That drop ceiling had been sitting there unfinished for a long time. I would be suprised if you guys got all of the basement done before I got home. At the same time I wouldn't be suprised of you did finish it. That's awesome that you guys are going up to Island Park. That's too bad that she'll have to sell it. Why does she have to sell it?

Well this week has been a pretty slow week. Sallisaw only had 5 investigators when I got here and we dropped one the other day so we're down to 4. We're planning on setting a date for the 14th of August with one of them. We have set a goal for this transfer to have 1 baptism, 2 people with a date, 10 new investigators, and to have a Power Hour every day. We weren't able to teach any investigators this week. We were able to teach a few Less-Actives and a Recent Convert. We had a total of 6 RCLA (Recent Convert/Less-Active) lessons. We have been doing a bit of paper work trying
to get everything organized. This morning we went over to Bro. Harrison's house and did some Hop-Ke-Do. It's a style of Martial Arts. It's really awesome. He's teaching us a lot of self defense and stuff like that. We are going to be meeting with him every Wednesday and Friday at 6:30 in the morning and every Monday at 10:30 for an hour and a half. We were also doing another exercise called Hu-Bud. It deals a lot with defending against punches and being able to counter. It's so awesome!

I was wondering if you guys might be able to get a book of piano solos that are Hymns. I've been working on this song called "I Believe in Christ." It's the song that Elder Barton and I performed. It has a really awesome piano accompaniment. We live right around the corner from the church here so I should be able to practice some more during Preparation day and maybe during luch sometimes.

Well I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing well. I hope everything continues to go well. I love and pray for you all always!

Love Elder Joyner

Another Transfer

As you can see by the title and the address change, Kyle is being transferred this week. I was just getting his old address memorized. This one, however, should be easier. I was raised in a town named Ruth, NV. When I called the mission home today to get his address, the sister who I spoke to was raised in Ely, NV which is about seven miles from Ruth and where I went to high school. She knows my parents very well and I remember her parents. Really, it is a small world and sometimes even smaller within the church. Anyway, here's the latest....

Hey!

So transfer calls were on Saturday! I am leaving Springdale and going to Sallisaw, Oklahoma! I will have now served in three states. My new companion will be Elder Manser. Nobody that I have talked to has ever heard anything about him. Elder Barton is going to be training now. He's not excited. He won't find out who his companion is until Thursday. Elder Barton served down in Mena, Arkansas which is right by Salisaw so he said that its a pretty nice little town. It's also a bike area. Good thing we got me a good bike.

This week has been a pretty slow week for us. We did a lot of service on Monday with Bro. Garner and Bro. Sutten and we taught Joe that night. Tuesday was our P-day because the Library was closed on Monday for the 4th of July. We taught Roy and Dianne Reed that night. Wednesday we just did a ton of finding. We were pretty much tracting the whole day. Thursday we had our weekly planning session and then we helped Sis. Castorena move her furniture from her house to her neighbors house cause she is moving back down to Louisiana with her husband. She moved up here for two months cause they were having some problems, but they got everything worked out. We gave her husband a blessing because he was have some problems with his back.

Friday was our best day of teaching. We taught Brian + Leeann and we taught Gwynne in the afternoon and that night we taught Nouxay Keomany. He's a less-active member that we've been meeting with every week. Saturday we did a ton of biking. We went out to Bethel Heights which is about a 45 min bike ride. We did some tracting up there. We pretty much just did finding that whole day as well. Sunday we taught John + Mary. It had been a few weeks since we had seen them. He's still doing good. He has a lot of headaches and they said that is because the radiation is still working in him. They said it takes about a year for it to get completely out. We had dinner with the Berry's and the Hornbergers and the Harmons. They were having a big family get together and we were just going over there to get a picture with them
and they told us to stay. This morning we took our apartment pictures and Elder Barton and I took a companionship picture. We are going to put it on a Mug for Leeann.

It poured on us on Friday. It was raining buckets! We'd get soaked whenever we went from Dakota's truck to a door to contact our potential. Dakota is the Harmons boy that comes on exchanges with us. It was crazy how much rain we got in a short period of time.

I haven't gotten your letter for this week yet. It will probably be in the mail today. It takes about two days for the mail to get here.

Did you guys get the Birthday cards I sent? So it sounds like dad had a pretty awesome time with the 4th of July Celebrations at work. That's pretty funny about the band that came. Obviously they weren't thinking too hard about where they were going to be performing. There was a Less-Active member that was just telling us the other week about those new drugs that are legal. One of her sons was using it. It sounds really retarded to me.

Well everything is still going good here. We're going to go tie shopping at some thrift stores today.

I hope all continues to go well for you all. I love and pray for you all always!

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators:
Joe - We went over the Restoration again with him. He seems to be understanding it more each time we go over it. He gets distracted pretty easily sometimes. We are having dinner with him tonight. We are going to be using some visual aids to help keep him focused.

Roy + Dianne - We set a baptismal date with Roy this week. The date is scheduled for the 31st of July. We were hoping to set a date with Dianne as well. She just has a couple concerns that we need to get over first and then she said she might join. She was actually the one who first started talking about baptism. Roy has actually asked the bishop a couple times when he could get baptized.

Brian + Leeann - We talked with them again about commitments and why we come over. We showed them a copy of the Progress Record and asked them based on what they saw how they thought they were doing. Hopefully something clicked and they will start progressing again.

Gwynne - We read the intro to the Book of Mormon with her cause she told us that she wasn't too sure about it cause she didn't understand what it was. Her daughter walked in on the lesson towards the end. Gwynne told her that they were going to start reading the Book of Mormon every night together. Heather (her daughter) said that she wants to go to young womens as well. They didn't make it to church this week. We're not sure why yet.

That's all the investigators this week.

On June 17, Danielle, Jayden and I headed out to Dugway for the "pinning" ceremony for Brent. He is now Captain Joyner. That will take a little getting used to. (Of course, at home he's still just papa, dad, etc.) I pinned on his Captain's badge and Danielle pinned on his captain's bars. It was a really nice little ceremony and Brent is honored to have been given this position. He absolutely loves his job and probably writes more tickets than everyone else combined. We're very proud of him.

Danielle also finished school yesterday. YAHOO!!!!!! It seems like she's been in school forever. She will receive her medical assisting certificate probably in about two weeks and can start looking for a new job. It gives me hope that someday she will move out and have a place of her own. However, I will miss Jayden - my little shadow - a lot.

Here's Kyle's letter for this week. I can't believe he's been gone for over six months. Wow!

Hey!

Well it sounds like there is quite a bit of stuff going on at home. I'm glad to hear that dad was made official as Captain. That's pretty crazy to hear about Jake. Hopefully all is going well. I forgot to bring my letter with me this week so I can't remember everything that you told me. Thank you for sending me the information on the Stake. I still need to call that in to the office.

This week was a pretty good week for us! We taught the most lessons this week since I have been here. We taught six investigator lessons this week, which is really good for us. We also taught 8 lessons to less-active members. We did quite a bit of finding this week as well. A lot of knocking doors. We have more than double the amount of investigators than we did when I got here. The majority of all our investigators are new.

We have interviews with President here on Wednesday. I'm kinda excited about it. It's always a good day. We have to be at the church by 8 in the morning so the interviews can get started cause we have another district that meets with us for them.

Elder Barton and I are going to be singing a duet in church on Sunday. It's going to be pretty awesome! The song that we have is only a solo so we wrote in a lot of harmonies and it sounds really awesome!

We found out that John Sawyer, Mary's husband, is having more problems with his tongue again. He has been recovering from throat cancer for the past while. He may have to have part of his tongue removed or all of it removed. They only give him about a year to live. He has to use his feeding tube for the rest of his life.

Other than that, not a whole lot has been happening. It's been getting really hot, so we sweat like crazy. It's ridiculous. We have to change our clothes just before dinner so that we don't stink. My facial hair is growing like a weed. I have to shave at dinner as well cause it grows so fast.

Well that's pretty much everything. I hope that all continues to go well! I love and pray for you all!

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators:

Brian + Leeann - We taught them on Tuesday and Friday. Thier life is finally starting to get back in order. They are finally going to be getting a new car this week. They should be making it to church this coming Sunday.

Junior - We taught him on Friday. He's a really cool guy. He is from Hawaii. We have visited with him a couple times before, but we hadn't been able to teach him. We taught him about the Restoration. He liked it all. He said he would read and pray about the Book of Mormon.

Clayton - He is friends with one of the youth in our ward. We talked with him for a short while and got to talk about Prophet and God's plan for us. We aren't really considering him an investigator yet cause we haven't been able to give him a commitment yet.

Joel - He is a guy that we tracted into this week. He loves to talk about "God." He's a really cool guy. We taught a lot about the Book of Mormon. We gave him a copy and asked him to read it. he said he would cause he loves stuff about God.

Suellen - We taught her about the Sabbath day and church. She said that she wants to come to church once to check it out. We answered a ton of her questions cause she always has a ton when we are there.

That's all for this week!

The most exciting news that we have right now is that Danielle finishes school next week and will finally be able to go to work doing something she actually enjoys. HURRAY for Danielle.

Here's Kyle's letter for June 14.
Hey!

Well we've had another pretty good week here. We've helped the work pick up quite a bit. I haven't gotten your letter this week so I don't have anything to write back to. Oh, in the next letter that you send, I need you to tell me the name of our new Stake that we're in, Our Stake President's name, and the Home Address of the Stake. I need the info so I can report it to the office sisters.

For Preparation day last week, we played basketball for a couple hours and then we went to the Spanish and Har-ber elders' apartment. We played some pool and ping pong. They have like a lounge place where they have a bunch of stuff like that. It did quite a bit of raining on monday. Luckily, it was all while we were E-mailing and playing basketball. I have sweet pics of the storm clouds forming.

On Tuesday, we did quite a bit of finding. We got two new investigators as well. It's been getting pretty hot and humid here! We'll get done biking and walk up to a house, and there will be a layer of sweat on my arms. I have to use my hanky to wipe myself off quite a bit.

Wednesday, we mowed our lawn and two of our neighbors lawns. We did a lot of finding as well. We talked with one potential for about half an hour, but we weren't really able to teach him. Hopefully we'll be able to teach his whole family. There are like 6 or 7 people in his family living there.

Thursday, we had our weekly planning session, which is always a blast. 3 hours of sitting at a table trying to make plans for the whole next week is really fun. We were able to teach one of our investigators in the afternoon and then we did more finding. We visited with a potential investigator for about 40 min and we're weren't able to teach him either. He and his wife would be solid if we could teach them. We taught one of our Less-Active members in the evening. He had been coming to church regularly for a while, but then something always comes up last minute so he can't come. He's really sick of not being able to come.

Friday, we knocked doors all day until 8. Then we were able to teach one of our Less-Active members. She has problems making it to church in the morning, but she always does her calling.

Saturday, We had our meeting in Tulsa! It was awesome! I got to shake hands with Elder Russell M. Nelson, Elder Maynes of the Seventy, and Elder Gong of the Seventy! It was so cool! They gave some really awesome talks. We talked alot about being effective missionaries. Elder Nelson answered a lot of questions that missionaries had. Our ride to the meeting was President Renfro. He is a counselor in the mission presidency. He is a professional witness for people who have been in car accidents. So the entire time we were pretty much talking about cars and how safe or not safe they are. It was pretty awesome. He bought us breakfast on the way there. He talked to us a little bit about what our plans are for the future. He's a really awesome
guy! After the meeting we did more finding. We had a Stake Priesthood meeting that night as well.

Sunday, we met with Brian and Leeann in the afternoon and in the evening we got a new investigator. So overall this week has been pretty awesome! We have another mission tour at the end of the month. Elder Lyn G. Robins of the Seventy is the one who is coming. That should be pretty awesome as well.

I have my camera with me this week so I am going to be uploading pictures. I'm not really suppossed to be on any other website besides my E-mail and the church website, so I'll just E-mail the pictures to you and then you can upload them from your computer. Well I can't really think of anything that I am in need of. Maybe some cookies or something, but other than that I'm good.

I hope that everything is still going good for you guys! I love you all and I pray for you always!

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators:
Jeremy - He is a new investigator that we picked up on Tuesday. He had been meeting with the missionaries at the beginning of the year, but they had lost contact with him. He is a little bit slow, but is able to comprehend what we talk about. He really likes meeting with us. He says that he needs to come to church and read more from the Book of Mormon.

Lori - She is also a new investigator that we picked up on Tuesday. She has gone to a lot of different churches throughout her life and she doesn't like some of the things that goes on in other churches. When we first met her, she OTM'd us. We were unlocking our bikes and were about to head somewhere else when she yelled over to us. We talked with her for a little while and probably confused her a little bit about the Spirit World. When we were about to leave, we asked if we could come back and visit with her. She said yes, but she didn't think it would do much good. When we went and taught her, we taught about a whole lot of different things. She was asking questions about a whole lot of different things and we were able to answer all of her questions. She said that she did not expect the night to turn out like it did. We commited her to read the Book of Mormon, to pray about it and Joseph Smith, and to come to church with us. She accepted all of the commitments except for church, cause she was going to be out of town. She has definately been prepared by the Lord.

Kong - We watched the Finding Faith in Christ DVD with him. We talked to him about prayer and how our prayers are answered. He said that he had never prayed in his life. He had some family that became Christians and when they did, they pretty much shunned them for not being Christian. So that has kind of turned him away from Christianity. He said that he would pray and give it a shot.

Brian + Leeann - We visited with them for a while. Their car got repoed a couple weeks ago, so we got them in contact with a member that is selling a couple vans. Leeann told us that she was praying about the Book of Mormon and she had a really creepy dream that told her it wasn't true. We talked to her about how the dream made her feel and that the Spirit doesn't make you feel bad. We told her that her dream was from the devil and that she needed to continue praying about it.

Gabriel - She is a new investigator that we picked up on Sunday. She is very nice. She has four kids. Her oldest is 8 then she has twins that are 6 and her youngest is 4. We taught her about the Restoration while our exchange, Bro. Garner (our previous ward mission leader), entertained the kids. It was a really awesome lesson. She asked some really good questions that we were able to answer. She said that she believes what we were teaching her is true and that she will read and pray to know that it is true. She is very prepared by the Lord.

That's all for this week!

This is Kyle's letter from June 7.

Hey!

So this week has been a pretty awesome week! Today it is raining, once again. I have some awesome pictures of the storm forming this morning. I don't have my camera with me today, but I will upload them next week. I have about 70 new ones for you. We taught more lessons this week than any other week since I got here.

Last Monday was really awesome! We went to Lokomotion for 2 hours. We did Go-Karting for about 45 min or so and then we did some Lazertag for a while and then some of the Elders rode the Mechanical Bull they had. I got some awesome pictures of that. For Lazertag, we broke up into 3 teams. 2 teams had 5 people on them and 1 team had 4 people. My team was the team with 4. My team never lost. The last game that we played was Elder Barton and I against 5 other people. Our other 2 teammates went Go-Karting. We still won though! Elder Barton's score was about 2400 and my score was 5500! The other team only scored 6200. It was awesome!

It has been really hot this week. It's been staying up close to 90 degrees for most of the week. It makes for a miserable day on bikes. It was a really good thing that I bought the Camel back.

This Saturday is going to be awesome! We're having a mission conference in Tulsa. Every missionary is going to be there. Elder Russel M. Nelson along with 3 other General Authorities are going to be there. I'm so excited. We have to leave here by 6 in the morning to get there in time. Not excited about waking up that early. I'm guessing that something big might be happening here pretty soon. Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy is going to be coming here as well at the end of the month. That trip has been scheduled for a while. Elder Nelson's trip was announced just last month.

The Mashallesse missionaries just got a new car today. It's a 2010 Ford Fusion. It's a really nice car. Their last car was the oldest car in the mission. Definitely a big upgrade.

That's awesome that dad got the Captains position. I think it'll be good for him. Sounds like the garden is doing pretty good. That'd be cool if you guys did the corn. I don't know how much work goes into it, but I do know that it would all get eaten. I can't believe that your office has already moved again. When is the next time that your office is going to move again?

Well that's about all for this week! I love you all!

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators:
Mary - Mary is now the newest member of the Springdale 1st ward. She was baptized on June 5th by her husband John Sawyer and was confirmed by Elder Barton on June 6th. She had a great big smile on her face the whole time during the baptismal service. It was awesome! Elder Barton and I had to go to the church at 12 to start filling the baptismal font because it takes 3 hrs. for it to fill up. We didn't get to the church until about 12:30. We each grabbed two pitchers and had to go back and forth between the bathroom and the font with pitchers of water, until 1:30, to fill the font in time. It was pretty awesome!

Brian + Leeann- We visited with them last Monday. Their relationship is pretty much on the rocks. They have both said that they are done with each other, but neither one of them want to move out. Well Leeann wants to move out, but she doesn't have the money to move out. They got into a huge argument while we were over there. Leeann is still committed to meeting with us and is making some progress, but Brian is pretty much going in the opposite direction.

Suellen - We answered a lot of questions that we had. She was talking to us a lot about how the Book of Mormon and the Bible are so similar. She said that she wants to come to our church one day and see what it's like. She really likes meeting with us.

Kong - Kong is a new investigator. He claims that he is an Animist, but he doesn't really practice it. That's just how he was raised. Animists do like animal sacrifices and stuff. We taught him about the Restoration of the church. He doesn't really have much of a belief in Christ. We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and asked him to read it. We set up an appointment with him for this Tuesday. After we set that up he said, "That won't give me enough time to finish the book though." It was pretty awesome. When we go over we're going to try and teach his wife and his sister too.

Flor, Meeka, Lilly, + Pena - This is a Marshallesse family that we tracted into a while ago. We went over and they were very welcoming. They invited us in and brought a bunch of chairs into the room so they could all sit in on the lesson. These four are all girls, the boys were sleeping or going to work so they didn't get to sit in on the lesson yet. Flor is the mother and she is really nice. She has met with the missionaries in the past. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and she said that she would read it. We don't know how interested the other girls are yet. We are teaching them because the girls don't speak Marshallesse. There is a total of 7 or 8 people in the house. We haven't really counted them as new investigators
yet. Once we find out their interest level then we'll decide if they are investigators or not.

That's all for this week.

Hey mom!

Yes we are having a lot of fun with the weather. It's been getting up into the high 80's a couple times and that is miserable! The humidity just kills you out here. We step out the door and it's like walking into a wall of water. It's ridiculous. One minute it will be raining and then the next it will be all nice and sunny. That's the worst cause it just creates more humidity!

Yeah we've done quite a bit of tracting this past week. We've found about 21 potentials from tracting last week though. Hopefully we'll be able to contact and teach them all this coming week. Elder Barton told me that the average for the mission is one baptism for about every 18 new investigators. So we've got some work ahead of us.

That's awesome that the lady is getting baptized. That's the same day as Mary's baptism. Dang! The whole ward is going to be different when I get home! Everybody is moving.

That's good that Danielle has the goal to move out. It's a lot different being on your own. You really have to watch the things that you buy so you don't spend all your money on junk. That's awesome that Dad is going to be made a captain! With his schedule changing, is he still going to have Sunday off? The extra money will
probably help quite a bit.

Our survey for Preach My Gospel was to see how much we've grown in the past 6 months. It's to see how effectively we us the teachings of Preach My Gospel. A lot of it is kind of like a self evaluation to see where you're at compared to where you were. Then you can realize the things that we need to work on to become more effective.

We talked to a lot of investigators and Less-Actives this week. We didn't really have much of a chance to teach them at all though. If we had taught a lesson to all the people that we had talked to, we would've had a whole lot of lessons! Some of this week went by pretty slow. Mostly because of the tracting, but that wasn't even too bad.

We've been doing a lot of lawn mowing too. We mow our lawn and our neighbors lawn every Tuesday. We were mowing another members yard on Tuesday too, but now the Elders quorum is taking care of that.

Our ward choir is singing in church this coming Sunday. Elder Barton and I pretty much got volunteered to do a musical number next month by everyone in the choir. That should be pretty fun.

The only thing that I can think of that I need is some stamps. Thank you.

Well I hope that everything continues to go good for you guys! I love you
all!

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators:

Mary - Mary got married to John Sawyer on Saturday. She was very excited about that. She is still very excited about her baptism. We have an appointment set up with her tomorrow. We are going to be going over her program for her baptism and going over the baptismal interview questions with her. We are going to set up a time for her to get interviewed for baptism as well.

Brian + Leeann - We talked with Brian + Leeann about having a family prayer every night. They said that they would do that. We went over there on Saturday and found out that their car had been repossessed. So we spent the time over there finding them a ride to go down and get their stuff out of the car. We set up to come back on Sunday. We got a call from them Sunday afternoon and one of their twins (who is 14 months old) had fallen on the lamanet floor and buster her face open so they were at the emergency room. Hopefully we'll be able to teach them more this week.

Brad + Carrie- They dropped us on Friday. They said they don't feel like it's time for them to change yet. Our old Elders quorum president works with him and they're good buddies so he's going to do some work on them.

That's all!

I've been kind of a slacker getting Kyle's letters on here so this post has the last two weeks.

May 10, 2010

Hello!

Well this week hasn't been too exciting for us. Last night we had a pretty awesome storm hit us. It was raining really hard. Everyone else said it was thundering and lightning pretty bad. I was passed out so I have no idea how bad it got. I was exhausted last night. I woke up just before it started raining really hard and then I was out after that.

While I was on exchanges with the zone leaders, we tracted from 10 until 6 without getting into any doors. We had a total of like 40-50 OTM's. It was a long day. We have been trying to do a lot of finding in our area as well cause we don't have very
many investigators. We haven't had any luck so far. We'll find quite a few potentials and then we can never get in contact with them again.

This saturday we had our Zone Conference. It was pretty awesome! We learned a lot from our leaders. Our song went pretty well. Our Zone Leaders said that it sounded really good. Unfortunately I don't have a good recording of it. Saturday night was the wards Tribute to Womanhood. We helped out with that. We got a free dinner out of it. We had steak, baked potatoes, salad, chicken, rolls, and cheesecake for dessert. We spent 12 hours at the church. We got to the church at 8 and we left the church at 8.

Sunday we had some of our Less-Actives that we've been teaching come to church. One of the sisters hadn't been there for almost ten years. She really enjoyed it and said she hopes that she can start coming regularly. We had a visit with John and Mary. Mary is still doing well. She finally got over her sickness so she could come to church. I think she has come to church over a dozen times already. Then I got to call you guys!

I bought a workout book last monday so I've been going through the workouts in there every morning now. Hopefully I should be getting into some pretty awesome shape pretty soon! I have gone through all of the Perplexus now. I beat it from 1 to 100! It actually didn't take me that long to do. Today we are going to be getting together with some other missionaries from our zone and we are going to play some basketball and some volleyball. It should be pretty fun!

Well that's pretty much all for this week. Oh, so I was thinking about getting an electric razor in a few weeks. That way I won't have to be buying razors every 4 weeks. In the long run it will save us some money. Just let me know what you think about doing that.

Well I hope that all is still going well for you all. I love you all and I
keep you in my prayers.

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators:
Mary - Mary is doing well. She has cut her smoking down to half a cigarette a day. She has to stop smoking at the latest by May 22 in order to be baptized on June 5. In reality, we want her to be stopped smoking by about May 17. She's made quite a bit of progress pretty quickly so hopefully it should be no problem for her. She has been opening up to us a lot more about the things that she doesn't understand. We have helped her understand quite a bit. We usually meet with her twice a week so she should be ready for the 5th. John and Mary are planning on getting married by the bishop on May 22

Brian + LeeAnn - We met with Brian and LeeAnn on Friday. LeeAnn told us that she finally prayed! They have been having trouble keeping up with the rent. After she prayed about it, Brian got another part time job and they won't have any problem covering the rent. Brian is still trying to get back to where he is ready to be baptized. Hopefully LeeAnn will start having a desire to be baptized as well. She really likes having us come over. She has a pretty good friend in the ward so hopefully something will click with her soon.

May 17, 2010

Well this week has been pretty interesting. We have had some really awesome thunderstorms come through here. We got rained on like four times while we were out. We got soaked! We came in one day for lunch and we had to throw our clothes in the dryer cause we had already gotten so wet. I had a Wal Mart truck driver splash some water on me from a puddle. We had a basketball tournament last monday with some of the missionaries from the zone. It was pretty awesome. My team got eliminated pretty quickly cause Elder Tong and I were the only ones who knew how to play basketball and he got injured right at the beginning of the first game. The other two team members weren't too good, but we had fun anyways. This monday we're going to go to some thrift stores to look for some awesome ties.

We didn't have a whole ton of lessons this week. We had two with Mary, we had one with Brian + LeeAnn, and a lady named Suellen. She was a media referral that we recieved for a Book of Mormon. She had met with missionaries in the past and wants to meet with us again. We have been doing a bunch of tracting lately. We don't have very many investigators so we're trying to fill up our teaching pool. We probably average about 2 hours of tracting a day. We have found some pretty awesome potentials, now we just have to contact them.

I'm going through the Book of Mormon again for my studies. I'm taking it a lot slower and I'm marking a whole lot of stuff. I'm marking: All the titles and names for Christ and Heavenly Father, The Christlike attributes from Preach My Gospel and the descriptions of Christ, Words of Christ, all the Priciples that are in Preach My Gospel, and then any verses that I like. I go through it a lot slower and I focus a lot more on what is going on and what is being taught.

We had interviews with President Merkley on Thursday. He said that he really likes Elder Barton and I as a companionship and that he would keep us together forever if he could. He said we are both really great guys and really hard workers.

Well not much else has happened here. I have to do a survey for Preach My Gospel here in a couple minutes. I'm real excited about that (Just Kidding). Well I hope that all is going well for you guys! I love you all!

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators:
Mary - She is doing well. She is scheduled to get married to John this Saturday at three. She has quit smoking. She was talking with their home teachers and they said that she is really excited to get baptized. She was excited that John will be able to baptise her. Hopefully all still goes as according to plan.

Brian + LeeAnn - We taught them about the Spirit World and we also talked about preparations that have to be done for baptism. Brian already knew alot of the answers and is trying to get there. LeeAnn still doesn't know what she wants. We feel like she knows what she wants, but that she is not willing to admit it. We found out yesterday that Brian has picked smoking back up. Hopefully we'll be able to help him quit.

Suellen - We taught her about the Restoration. She seemed to have understood it all. She is a little bit slow but can still comprehend things. We just have to explain things a little more simple to her. She has read into 2Nephi in the Book of Mormon before. She said that she would read the Restoration pamphlet and then meet with us again.

That's all for this week.

Hey mom!

So I am now in Springdale Arkansas! The transfer went pretty smoothly. It's really different being here in this area. There are a lot more hills here than there were in Parsons. Thes area is a bike area so we don't ever have a car. Luckily the area isn't really massive. We only cover about 1/3 of the city of Springdale. The church building here is absolutely huge. There are 5 units that meet in the building. We meet in the stake center.

We live with another set of Elders. Their names are Elder Tong and Elder Tabao. They are Marshallese speaking missionaries. Elder Tong is our district leader. They're really cool. We have been challenging each other with riddles. It's pretty funny. Elder Barton, my new companion, is from Bountiful Utah. He has been out for about nine months now. He's a pretty awesome missionary. We get along really well and we have a lot in common.

The Springdale 1st ward, which I'm serving in, is the smallest ward in the area of Springdale. This area hasn't seen a baptism for quite a while. The members here are really awesome! There are some pretty interesting characters in the ward. Our Elders Quorum president, Bro. Gardner, is pretty stinking funny. Our ward mission leader, Bro. Dias (pronounced Gias, don't ask me why), is really excited about missionary work and is trying really hard to get the work moving along quickly. Elder Barton and I have a goal to have at least one baptism by the end of the transfer. We don't have a ton of investigators, but the ones that we do have are pretty solid. We shouldn't have any problems reaching that goal, but who knows what can happen within the next few months. We only have 5 investigators in our teaching pool right now. Elder Barton and I have set a goal to have 20 investigators in the pool by the end of the transfer as well. We have a few really solid potentials that will soon become investigators.

The place that we live in is really nice. It's a duplex that is owned by a member. There is plenty of space for all of us in there. It's a lot bigger than the apartment in Parsons was. I'm pretty much all the way moved in now. There is still some stuff left in my suitcases, but its not stuff that I use on a daily basis.

I have a feeling that I'm going to lose some weight in this area. We bike at least 20 miles a day. On one day, I'm pretty sure we did close to 30 or 35. We were really tired. It was a really hot day too.

Fishing last week was pretty awesome! I didn't catch anything myself, but I did come pretty close a few times. We were fishing for cropey. That is one weird lookin fish. Elder Budden caught one though. I took a few pictures of us while we were at the lake.

It sounds like dad had a pretty good adventure while he was hunting. Too bad he didn't get anything though. Yeah so when we played ultimate frisbee the other week, I was pretty much like the deciding factor for which team won. After each game, I would switch sides to the losing team. Which ever team I was on, won. When we played poison, I was pretty much the eliminator. I got like everybody out, but then got out right toward the very end. Today, we are going to play some football with a bunch
of the missionaries from our zone. It should be pretty awesome!

My address is 2560 Mia place #A Springdale Arkansas 72764.

Well I hope all is well for you guys! Everything is going good here! I love and pray for you always!

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators:

Brian + LeeAnn- They are an awesome couple. They are not married yet, but they have 3 kids. We are going to try and get them married here soon. He lived in Utah for a while and met with the missionaries there. He came really close to baptism and then had to move. He needs to give up chew and then once they're are married he can be baptized. She, as far as I know, doesn't really have anything that is holding her back. So we just need to get them married.

Mary - She is an older lady that is trying to marry a less active member of the ward. She is waiting on her divorce to be finalized. She has a smoking problem and she can't take the stop smoking workshop because her teeth are too sensitive for some of the steps. She will get close to quiting and then she will pick it back up again. She says she has a testimony, but we're not too sure about that yet. Hopefully we'll find a way to help her quit smoking.

That's all the investigators that we were able to see.

Hey mom!

Thank you for the CDs, the socks, and the tie! The tie is sweet! My district leader Elder Pack is jealous of it.

So how did the turkey hunt go? Did dad get anything? How is his knee doing?

So guess what! I'm getting transferred. I'm going to Springdale Arkansas! Elder Budden served there for his second area so he has been giving me the down low on the area. It sounds like it should be a pretty good area. My new companion is going to be Elder Barton. One of the assistants said that he was a really good missionary and that he admired him so hopefully he should be pretty awesome.

Our Zone outing last week was pretty awesome! We played ultimate frisbee for about an hour or so and then we played basketball for a couple hours. We were playing a game called poison for almost an hour. It's a really fun game! We had a really good turn out.

How is the garden doing? has anything come up yet?

This week has been a pretty good week. We only had a total of 13 lessons this week, but that's higher than the past few weeks. I don't remember if I told you or not, but we have been going through our investigators and deciding who is serious and who is just curious. We dropped a whole bunch of our investigators. On Tuesday I went on an exchange with Elder Browning our zone leader in Joplin and then Wednesday I went on an exchange with Elder Pack here in Parsons. It was kind of weird, cause Elder Budden planned out Wednesday for Elder Pack and I so there were a couple of potentials that he had planned for that I didn't know. It made the day a little crazy, but it was still a good one.

I didn't bring my camera with me today cause I'm going to have Bro. Sykes (Elders quorum president) upload the pictures for me at dinner tonight.

Today we are going Spoonbill fishing with Bro. Virtue. It should be awesome! They're big fish!

Well I hope that everything is going good for you guys! I love you and pray for you always!

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators:

Rosco + Mary - We talked with them about the trinity. He's way too stuck on his belief about the trinity. We're going to be dropping them for a while. They're going to be spending a whole lot of time out at the lake here pretty soon.

Jerry - We talked with him about the Book of Mormon. He has been reading, but not a whole lot. Hopefully they will be able to get him reading more and coming to church.

Anna - We talked with her for a little while about the brother of Jarred. We are going to be reading from the book of Ether with her to help her start gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. She is not happy that I am leaving.

Bonnie - This week Bonnie invited her preacher over during our visit. So we had a session of confounding his false doctrine. We totally destroyed him. We gave him lots to think about.

Elmer - We talked with Elmer about Prophets and the Book of Mormon. He told us that he has been praying and the he knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet. He said that he wants to come to church as often as he can.

Travis - Travis is a new investigator we picked up on saturday. We answered a lot of the questions that he had. He's a really sincere guy and you can tell that he really has been prepared by the Lord. I carry my floppy copies of the Book of Mormon in a duct tape case to take care of them. He noticed that and was suprised by how well we take care of them. At the end of the lesson he asked us if we had anything that he could read, he was expecting a pamphlet, we gave him a Book of Mormon. He was extremely shocked that we gave it to him and he was really greatful. He'll be baptized soon. He's very prepared.

Thats all for this week.

Hey mom!

General Conference was awesome! I got so much out of it. General Conference is way sweet while you're a missionary. I took a whole bunch of notes. We didn't have any investigators come to the General Conference sessions, but one did come to the Priesthood session. This week hasn't been too bad for us. We didn't have a whole ton of visits, but the ones we had were pretty good. This transfer has gone by way fast. We're already more than half way through it. I don't think that I'm going to be staying here for another transfer, but I could be wrong.

For my personal studies this week and last week, I've been trying to find more scriptures that I can use for the lessons. It's amazing how many scriptures there are about any topic that you are searching for. There are a lot of scriptures that I have read before without really thinking about the meaning of it and there are a ton of good scriptures that can be used in the lessons. I do a whole lot more talking during the lessons than I used to. I've gained a lot more confidence in the things that I say. I've gained a lot more confidence in my ability to OTM people as well. That was one of the things that we learned in our Zone Conference (how to effectively OTM). It's helped me out a lot.

I'm uploading more pictures for you right now. The internet isn't very fast here so it takes a long time. I've realized that I should probably take more pictures of the things that I'm doing. I always have my camera with me, but I forget to use it. I've been teaching myself the piano and it's coming along pretty well. I can play about 6 songs from memory. I'm working on the whole sight reading thing.

We are going on a District Outing today. We are going bowling up in Pittsburg! It's going to be sweet.

So I found out from Lisa that when she served here, she served in Pittsburg. Back when she was here, Parsons was a part of Pittsburg. There is a family here named the
Shouse's and they both remember her. I thought that was pretty cool.

I almost have a tape about half way full for you guys.

Elder Budden and I are trying to get ourselves in some good shape so we are going to start running about 4 days a week. We've been waking up around 6 every morning to get in some extra time for exercise.

So, somehow, a pair of my socks disappeared so if you could send me out another pair or two that would be much appreciated. Also, if you guys could send me out some MOTAB
CD's or just some other church CD's that would be nice too.

Unfortunately the work here has really slowed down. We've been trying to get some new investigators, but for whatever reason we haven't really been able to get any. Hopefully we will be able to get the work to pick back up here again.

I hope that everything is going awesome for you guys. I remember you in my prayers always! I love you all

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators that we saw:

Fran - We taught Fran about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a really good lesson. It's hard to tell if she is really paying attention sometimes. She says that she is, but sometimes it doesn't seem like she is. She still says that her head is not right for her to come to church. She says she wants to be there, but she wants to have her head clear first so that she can focus on church and nothing else. She is having trouble forgiving someone for something that happened in the past.

Mayhues - We taught Sis. Mayhue about the Restoration again, about Prophets and about the Book of Mormon. It was a really good lesson because we focused a lot on the things that she didn't understand. She still didn't fully understand everything, but she said that she understands more now than she did before. She says that she is open to change and that she will give the church a shot.

Jerry - We talked with Jerry mostly just about what is going on in his life. We talked to him about trials and about prayer. We talked to him about General Conference. He's really open and honest with us. We just need to find a way to get him to church.

Anna - We taught Anna about the Book of Mormon. We taught her about the book of Ether. We are going to be going over the book of Ether with her and see if we can get her liking the Book of Mormon more and seeing the importance of it so she'll start studying it more.

Bonnie - We taught Bonnie about the Plan of Salvation. She said that it was a different spin on it and that she hadn't thought of it like this before. She had a very different view of what the Plan of Salvation was, but she said that she will pray about it to know if our way is the correct way.

Rosco - We taught Rosco about the Book of Mormon. Where it came from, why it's important, and the storyline of it. He said it was a really good lesson and that he appreciated us teaching him about it. He still hasn't realized that if the Book of Mormon is true then the church is true. We're working on that.

That's it for this last week!

Here's a couple of pictures that Kyle sent this week. I have to say that I love the one of him with the ukulele and his suit sleeves pushed up. The other one is from the Zone Conference they had this last week. I'm glad he's having fun. Here's his letter from this week:

Hey mom!

Well I'm trying to upload the pictures right now, but it's taking it a while so you will probably get some this week and next week.

All the snow has melted. It is so nice! It is supposed to be around 75 today and 80 the next few days!

Dang! that's a lot of strawberries! Yeah that sounds like it would be a whole ton of work! Yeah hopefully there will be a ton of strawberries throughout the neighborhood. I hope that all goes well with your garden!

Zone Conference was awesome! We have them in Joplin. It's and hour and a half drive to get there. The conference is only one day, but there is a whole ton of stuff packed into that one day. We watched a video called "The Journey of Faith". It was way awesome. It talks all about the archeological and geological proof of the Book of Mormon.

We didn't have Church (last week) because of the snow. We had a ton of snow for this area.

General conference is going to be awesome! We have to go to the church for it. Which isn't too hard since its right across the street.

I hope that all goes well for Danielle and Brittney with their tests. Jayden climbs even more than she did when I was there? Somehow that actually doesn't suprise me.

I actually have a tape recorder and player. I've been making a tape for a couple weeks and once I fill it up I'll send it to you guys. So you don't need to buy me a player. I have a micro player though so you might have to wait to buy yours so we have the same size of tape.

My birthday was awesome! So funny story. When I got out of the shower on my birthday, the door handle broke on the inside so I couldn't open the door. After fighting with it for a few minutes, I had E. Budden slide me a hanger underneath the doorway. I was trapped in there for about 5 min. We weren't able to visit with anyone, but we were able to help the Wheats put up some drywall in their house. I love the presents you guys sent me. The Ukulele books are awesome and so is the brain book. I love the puzzle ball. It's intense. I can't get halfway through it yet. Yeah it's kinda weird to think that I'm not a teenager anymore.

My companion and I are getting along really well. We're always having a good time. Yes these are by far the best two years of my life. I had to buy some insoles for my shoes with arch support cause my shoes don't give me enough when I'm walkin around.

I'm going to send Jake and John a couple of my chainmale hacky sacks next week for their birthday so you can ask them about what I've been making when they get them. Bro. Adams (Our Branch Mission Leader) gave me a whole ton of wire to use for them so I won't have to buy any for a long time.

Yeah I remember Bro. Hales. It's been a long time since I've heard that name. Tell
him "Hi" for me.

This week has been a pretty slow week for us. We haven't been able to get very many visits with people at all. We only had 3 lessons with some of our investigators and we had 4 with some less-active members. Hopefully next week will be much better.

I hope that everything is going good for you guys. I love and pray for you all.

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators:
Rosco+Mary - We visited with them twice this week. The last time that we saw them, we watched special witnesses of christ. Rosco said that he really liked it. They have come a long way from when we first started teaching them, but they still have a really long way to go.

Elmer - Elmer is an old man that we have been trying to teach for a long time. He has really bad health problems so it makes it really difficult to see him. We commited him to pray about whether or not he should be baptized and if there is a prophet on the earth today. He says he will do that and if he gets an answer he will call us and let us know.

That's all that we were able to see this week. Like I said before, this was a really slow week. We just couldn't ever catch anyone at home.

Other than Kyle's stuff, there is a few things happening at our house. Jayden is growing like crazy and talks even more than she did before. Now you can actually almost have a real-word conversation with her. Danielle has only three months left of school and then she will be done. We're all going to celebrate that. Brittney is still going to school and coming home every week. We don't see her much because she usually gets home from school after Brent and I go to bed. I think she's enjoying it and the challenge it presents.

Brent and I are still working and trying to keep up with things. Brent drew out for the turkey hunt so we are heading to Brittney's neck of the woods in April to hunt. Boy, doesn't that sound fun. I'm planning to do lots of reading, scrapbooking, reading, sleeping, reading, etc., while Brent's chasing turkeys. We planted our "spring" garden last weekend and are feeling the after effects of that now. Getting old is not very fun. We planted about 40 strawberry plants (we bought LOTS more than we thought), some broccoli, carrots, radishes and some chard. We're trying to put all our new-found knowledge from our gradening class to work. Hopefully we will have lots of good stuff to eat when we're sitting in our chairs too sore and stiff to move from all the work.

Hey mom!

I'm really glad that I don't have to tract as much as dad did. I like OTMing people on the street a lot more than knocking doors.

That stinks that the weekend for the garden didn't turn out. Our weekend has been a bummer too. We got about 6 inches of snow on saturday. It started snowing at 8 in the morning and didn't stop until about 9. Luckily its like 60 degrees today so it should all melt by the end of the day. Blue sky and sunshine is very nice. we only have it about half of the time if we're lucky.

Yeah I knew that Joseph was engaged, but they didn't have a date for the wedding yet. How did the dinner with them go? Is she a winner?

Anti-Mormon stuff is all over the place around here. I haven't really ran into any here in Kansas so far, but I hear that the worst place for anti is Missouri. Some people are just too stubborn to listen to a good message. Boy are they going to be in for a shock in the next life.

We have a recent convert here that has run into some anti and her faith has been pretty shaken. She was one of the most solid converts from last year too. She never thought that her faith would be shaken and that she would have doubts about the church. She said "She feels as though she is taking a journey away from the church." We have an appointment to meet with her tonight.

Wow you guys are already moving your building again? That's crazy. Yeah having a job is a good thing. There are a ton of people here who don't have jobs, but they get wellfare, and they are totally happy with that. It boggles my mind. I wouldn't be able to stand just sitting around and doing absolutely nothing for my entire life.

Well I remembered to bring my camera this week, but I forgot the cord to plug into the computer. The computer doesn't have a card reader on it either. If I have a dinner with a member who will let me upload it from their house I'll do that.

Well everything is going good for me and I hope that everything is going good for you guys as well. I remember you always in my prayers.

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators:

Shanon + Molly - We haven't been able to get a meeting with them this week cause they live so far away. We didn't have church either so we couldn't talk to them there either.

Amy - We had an interesting meeting with her this week. She likes to argue a lot and she is really hard headed. If she continues to argue with us so much we are going to end up dropping her.

Rosco + Mary - Mary has been at work both times that we saw Rosco. He is still reading the Book of Mormon. He hasn't found any fault in it, but he has a couple little problems with a couple doctrines. We're going to give them a soft baptismal commitment and see if it helps them progress more.

Mayhues - We had a good visit with the Mayhues. We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The lesson went really well and I gave them a soft baptismal commitment. They had an issue with it cause they have already been baptized into another church. We told them to pray about the church to know if it is true. They said that they would and if they got an answer they would be baptized.

Jerry - We had a really good lesson with Jerry on the Plan of Salvation. He understood pretty much everything. We invited him to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. He hasn't started reading yet so hopefully he will start now.

Bonnie - We had an awesome lesson with her this week. We taught her the Restoration and she had no problems with it. You could feel the Spirit very stongly during the lesson. We invited her to read from the Book of Mormon and to pray about it.

That's all the visits we had with investigators. Bit of a slow week.

Hey Mom!

Yeah, it was a bit of a shock to find out that Elder Argyle was leaving. My new companion is Elder Budden. He's been out for 1 year on Thursday. He is from Oregon, some town called Klamoth Falls, I think. We get along really well. We have a lot in common so it makes things pretty easy. He's a really good teacher so our lessons are pretty good. He has learned to talk a bit more. He likes tracting just about as much as I do.

Well chainmale is what some types of armor were made with back in the old days. The hacky sacks that I make are just 1/2 inch copper piping and 10 solid copper wires. It's pretty cool. I'm going to send one to the Holladay boys sometime soon so once they get it they can show you what it is.

Dang you got more snow? That's crazy! We haven't gotten any more snow, but we did get rained on the other day. We were at an appointment on the other side of town from our apartment and had to bike home in the rain. I was soaked! That stinks that the snow got in the way of your plans. Hopefully it'll dry up fast so you can get the garden started. Holy cow! That's a lot of classes in one day! I hope you learn lots.

Yeah our golden investigators are sweet! He was at church this week, but his wife wasn't. She had to babysit their nieces and nephews. We went through the baptismal questions with him and his only hold up is the one cup of coffee that he drinks in the mornings. Hopefully we will be able to help him quit quickly.

Wow you finally had some peace and quiet. That's awesome! Wow, you went out to Red Lobster?! That's way cool! I'm sure dad absolutely loved it.

I just realized that I forgot my camera, so I'll see if a member will upload the pictures for me at a dinner appointment. I've got about 60 new pictures on there. So that should keep you busy for a while. I'll see about trying to take more pictures.

Well I love you guys and I pray for you all the time!
Love Elder Joyner!

Investigators
Rosco + Mary - We had a few good visits with them this week. Mary was about to cry when Elder Argyle was leaving. We taught Rosco about the Plan of Salvation this week. He didn't really have any problems with it. We just need to get him to pray about the things we've taught him. We are going to give him a soft baptismal commitment this week. He doesn't really have any problems with the things that we have taught him. It just hasn't clicked in his head that if the Book of Mormon is true then that means that the church is true. Hopefully, once we commit him to baptism, something will click.

Mayhues - We visited with the Mayhues briefly this last week. We just stopped in mostly to invite them to church. They said they would come, but they still didn't show up this week. Hopefully we can put a desire in their hearts to come to church.

Anna + Amy - We met with Anna + Amy 3 times this week. We have had a few good discussions with them. Anna still feels uncomfortable about the church a bit. She has been praying to know whether or not the Book of Mormon is true. We're still trying to get her to want to quit smoking, but she will probably have to get her answer to her prayers first. Amy is starting to open up to us more. Hopefully she will start reading from the Book of Mormon now.

Fran - We met with Fran this week. We mostly just checked up on how her reading and praying is going. She still doesn't feel comfortable coming to church, but she is praying that Heavenly Father will help her feel ready.

Shanon + Molly- When we met with Shanon and Molly, Shanon told us about an experiment that he did while he was in Salt Lake at Temple Square. He would stand out on the street in front of Temple Square, then he would walk in the front gates, and then he would walk back out. He told us that he could feel a huge difference between the street and Temple Square. He said when you walked in the front gates, it was like Heavenly Father had wrapped his arms around him. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the third lesson. We only got to Faith in Jesus Christ, which is the second part of the lesson, and then he pretty much told us the rest of the lesson. We left him with all the pamphlets that we had so that he could study them cause he loves them. We have another appointment with him for Friday. We are probably going to set a baptismal date with him.

Here's Kyle's letter from this week. We were both shocked and very excited for him.

So when I got the package I didn't realize that the second envelope was for me sending the stuff back, so i ripped the pull tab on it. I wasn't thinking. So I'll just have to glue it back down before i ship it home. The CD is all the same pictures that I uploaded before. I just want a CD copy so I can put all my pics on a hard drive when I get back. I have more pictures that I'm planning to bring next week and upload.

Well that's awesome that you don't have to go to San Francisco for training anymore. Going turkey hunting with dad sounds like it should be fun. I'll make sure to upload my pictures before then so that you'll have something to do. At least you get to stay in a trailer rather than be in a tent.

Yes every once in a while this guy stops us and gives us doughnuts. There's a doughnuts shop in town that he goes to and gets bags of the day old doughnuts that they can't sell and whenever he sees us he tells us to grab about half a dozen each.

Yeah we haven't done a whole lot of biking lately because it's a little more awkward talking to people while we're on bikes so we've done a lot of walking. I just barely bought a light for the back of my bike today.

We were really shocked about how many people were inactive here too. If all those people were active, then there would be two stakes instead of just the one probably.

That's cool that our new neighbors are coming to church with our ward. I had no idea that they were even members. I figured that dad would be over there talking to them about motorcycles.

Hopefully everything goes good with your garden this year. It sounds like you guys have learned a lot about gardening.

That's cool that you and Sis. Argyle are having lunch together. We found out on Saturday that Elder Argyle is getting transfered to Webb City on Thursday. My new companion is Elder Buddon. I think that's how you spell it. I don't really know much about him. My zone leader Elder Browning said that when he went on exchanges with him he was kinda quiet, but that was a while ago so hopefully he talks more now.

So I picked up a new hobby this week from Bro. Adams. He taught me how to make chainmale. It's pretty sweet. He showed me how to make a hacky sack out of it. It's really easy. All it takes is copper piping and aluminum wiring. It can keep me busy when I have any down time.

Thursday will be the beginning of the third transfer of me being out! That's so crazy! This transfer has gone by extremely fast. It seems like I was just barely making the planner for this transfer and now I have to start making the one for next transfer. So I found out with me being out until the 2nd of December that the days that I'm out divides perfectly into 24. So every 31 days that I'm out is 1/24 of my mission. So I think the 20th is 1/6 of my mission. Time has really gone by fast!

I hope that everything is going good for you guys! I love all of you!

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators I saw this week:

Anna - We saw anna 3 times this week. We talked to her about commandments, humility, baptism, stoping smoking, and a whole lot of other things. She still doesn't have a desire to quit smoking, but we also found out that she doen't really know if the church is true yet either. She told us that she prayed about it and she received an answer in a dream, but she can't remember the dream so she can't remember her answer. So we still have a lot of work to do with her.

Rosco + Mary - This week we talked to them about how if the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith was a Prophet and that he set up God's true church on the Earth. Rosco believes that the stuff that he has read so far is true and that he can find no fault in it, but he's not completely sure about the church yet. They came to church with us this week and they liked it a lot. Rosco loved that we have a lot of youth and kids in the church. He says that's something that he doesn't see in many other churches. He really liked coming to church. He said it was different and new, but he liked it. We have an appointment for Wednesday with them and we're going to talk with them about church more.

Stacie - We met with Stacie twice this week. She still doesn't really seem too interested in the church, but she likes meeting with us still. Hopefully we'll be able to change her mind about the church.

Bonnie(Toni)- Bonnie is a sweet old lady that we've started to teach. We do service for her about twice a week for her and then teach her. She said since we've been coming around that she has a lot more energy and she feels better. Hopefully we'll be able to continue to help her feel better and be able to teach her about the restoration.

Shanon + Molly - Shanon and Molly are the most golden investigators ever!!! They just moved here from Salt Lake. They have had LDS friends for a long time. We found them because they ordered the Restoration DVD. He used to work on Welfare Square in Salt Lake and has been to Temple Square about 100 times. He knows the visitor centers by heart. He has seen "Joseph Smilth the Prophet of the Restoration about a dozen times, he's seen "The Testaments" about 5 times and he's seen just about every single movie the church has put out. He has studied about pretty much every Prophet that we've had and he loves Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Willford Woodruff, Gordon B. Hinkley, and President Monson. When we first contacted him he was already talking to us about the first vision and how awesome it was. He already knows pretty much
everything about the church. He has never met with missionaries before. He has a triple combination and loves it. D+C is one of his favorite books. He knows about the Word of Wisdom and how he needs to stop drinking coffee. That is his only set back. He's already expressed to us that he wants to be baptized. They're amazing!

Fran - We taught Fran about the pre-mortal life and how God has a plan for each of us. Then she got way off topic and started talking about angels and some struggles that are going on in her life right now. So we're trying to help her overcome her struggles that she's going through now.

Amy - We visited Amy with Anna. Amy seems really interested in the church. She's kinda hard headed though. She is pretty stuck in her beliefs, but she says if her beliefs are wrong then she wants to correct them and make them right. She said that's why she is investigating the church cause if she finds out that we are right, then she wants to join our church.

I've decided it's much easier to just post Kyle's letters here instead of trying to retype what he said (yes, I'm a little slow). I have obviously taken out some "housekeeping" things and last names. Anyway, enjoy!!

Hey mom!

That card was awesome! We have been out of the snow for about 2 weeks now. The temperature has been up in the 40's for most of the week. It sure doesn't feel like it when the wind blows though. When I wrote you last week I was feeling much better. I have no idea what was going on with me last Sunday. It only lasted for that day so there's nothing to worry about. If I would have continued to be sick I would have gotten a blessing, but since it only lasted the one day I didn't get one.

Well we went back over to Honey's this week to see how she was doing, and Wes was back over there. Apparently she has now taken him back. We started teaching Wes again, but its obvious that he isn't where we had thought he was at. So it's obvious that it'll be a while before he can get baptized.

It seems like our teaching pool has been decreasing in the last little while. Elder Argyle and I have been doing a power hour everyday for the past week to try and find some more people to teach. Bro. Mahoney told us that these next couple weeks are the slowest weeks of the year so he told us to stay pumped for a little while and then the work will pick up more. We have found some pretty good potential investigators and hopefully we will be able to contact them this week.

We had a good district meeting with our zone leaders this week. They did some role plays with us to help us out with our OTMing (Open Thy Mouth, its contacting people on the street and stuff) and tracting abilities. It really gave me a boost of confidence cause I know I have the ability to talk to people I just don't care to do it.

We had stake conference this sunday. Bishop McMullen of the Presiding Bishopric was there. He is an amazing speaker. We found out from him that only about 41% of the people in the stake are active. There are about 2,400 people who are inactive in the stake. I couldn't believe that. There is a lot of reactivation work to be done in this area.

We found out this week that President Merkley is trying to keep trainees and their trainers together for 3 transfers so Elder Argyle and I should be together for another transfer.

Well I hope that everything is going good for you guys! I love you all!

Love Elder Joyner

People we taught this week.

Dave- we had a brief visit with Dave this week. We talked to him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the 3rd lesson in Preach My Gospel. It talks about faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We didn't get too in depth cause we only had about 10 minutes to teach him.

Rosco + Mary- We read 2Nephi 29 with them and talked to them about how it is going on right now. Rosco really liked it and understands it. They said that they were going to try to come to stake conference, but if they couldn't make it there they would come this week. Hopefully they will come this week.

The(name removed) family - They live in our apartment complex, just on the other side. We talked to them about God answering prayers and church. They are actually looking for a new church now cause something happened in their last one so hopefully they will come with us now. They've been investigating since April and Bro. (name removed)has come to church once.

Stacie - We talked with Stacie this week about how it really does matter which church that we go to. I still don't think that grasps the concept that we are the only true church and that we are the only one that has authority given to us by God. Hopefully she'll learn some day.

Glenn- We talked with Glenn about the priesthood. He is a very strange man. He's convinced that Christ's second coming started in 1914 when WW1 started. He believes that even Christ didn't recieve the priesthood until 1914 so he doesn't believe that Joseph Smith could get the priesthood. Like I said, he is very strange.

Wes- We read Moroni 7 with him and talked about the spirit of Christ and how we can know things are good or evil. He understands everything that we teach him, but obviously something hasn't clicked with him.

Anna- We talked with Anna this week. She's been having difficulties with her fiance. We talked to her about still coming to church with her. The lesson was all over the place and we talked about alot of stuff. Hopefully she can overcome the obstacle in her way.

Fran- We had a good visit with Fran this week. We went over the Restoration with her. We could actually feel the spirit with her during the lesson. It's one of two lessons where we've really been able to feel the spirit. We've been able to keep her on track a lot more during our lessons and she is starting to make some progress. She still doesn't feel quite ready to come to church yet though.

I can't believe how fast the time goes. It seems like I just wrote in here, but it has been two weeks. However, when I stop and think that Kyle has only been gone three months, it seems like time is standing still. I feel like he has been gone forever. Everyone has said that the first year goes by slow. I guess they're right.

Anyway, he is doing great and really enjoying things. However, he has a cold right now and is very tired of the cold weather. Luckily they didn't get much snow from these last storms. It's just been cold.

He cooked grits and eggs for his companion, who was very skeptical about eating it. He really liked them and Kyle says they have them quite often. Very filling and yummy! I'm amazed at how domesticated he's becoming. He cooked a few things at home, but not alot. Hopefully he will also learn to eat and like a lot more foods. He is one of the pickiest eaters I have ever seen. Hopefully he's also learning to pick up his clothes, make his bed, etc.

Kyle has been very lucky to have a companion that he gets along with so well. They seem to have a good time together. Elder Argyle has taught him a lot and been a great help to him in learning the ropes. I could only hope that every companion he has is that great.

They have several investigators they are working with and are hoping for a baptism by the end of March. Having been a member all my life, I'm amazed at how differently people think of things like the Godhead, life after death, etc. I find great comfort in the knowledge I have that we have a loving Father in Heaven and that my family can be together forever. I think life would be pretty meaningless if I thought this was all there is to me, that everything ends after this life.

Not much new at home. I've been scrapbooking (I know no one will believe that - I'm shocked myself) Kyle's pictures and letters. I'm not much of a crafty person so this has been a challenge for me. However, I have to say that I'm doing a pretty good job. I hope he will like it. He was a little worried when I told him I was scrapbooking his stuff. I assured him that it would not be "girly or anything. It's kind of hard to put together a "manly" scrapbook, but I'm trying.

Kyle's email yesterday said they had received another 6-7 inches of snow, which, of course, turns to ice out there.

He and his companion had two baptisms scheduled for February 13 and it looks like both of them have changed their minds. One girl they have been teaching, Stacie, said she feels like people at church are judging her and she doesn't feel comfortable there. They are still working with her, so maybe......

They are teaching another couple who believe everything they have taught so far except for eternal families and they belive strongly in the Trinity. He has told them it will be hard to change his mind. The Lord works in mysterious ways. I would think that eternal families would be something most people would believe in (even if they say they don't). How sad to think that you would never see your spouse and kids again after you die.

They have a couple other investigators they are also working with and are hopeful for a few baptisms by the end of March. That would be perfect for Kyle since his birthday is the end of March.

It sounds like he and his companion stay very busy and are enjoying the work. They also seem to get along well which is a blessing.

Not much else going on for the rest of us. Mostly just work and/or school. Luckily mine is not school. I've had enough of that to last a lifetime. I think I stood in lines at BYU more hours that I was actually in class. Brent and I are going to attend a lawn care/flowers/vegetables class offered by the stake. We're excited about it and hope to gain all kinds of knowledge to help make our yard look better. Maybe it will even inspire me to WANT to do yard work. That might take a miracle. We'll see.

On Sunday, January 17, we met Elder Argyle's family (he's Kyle's companion). We met then at their home in Spanish Fork and visited for quite a while. It was amazing to see how many things these two Elders have in common. Sherry (Sis. Argyle) and I talk at least once a week to see if either of us got a letter/email and what it said. They both tell us a little bit different things so it's fun to compare notes and get the whole or more of the same story. I'm hoping our son's are companions for a long time.

A few more pics - the first one is of the children of one of their investigators who made them Christmas cookies; the next is Kyle studying; next is their living room; then showing the digital picture frame we sent for Christmas.

He is doing really well and keeping very busy. They have been doing a lot of walking because the ice still hasn't melted so they can't ride their bikes. He and his companion have two baptisms scheduled for February and are quite excited. I've heard they are opening seven new areas in his mission very soon but hopefully he will at least be there for these baptisms. He and his companion get along very well and his companion tells his mom that Kyle is a hard worker. I know this because his companion's mom and I talk quite frequently. She is extremely nice and I feel like we have been friends forever.

Here's a few more pictures.