Last Weeks Letter

Hello family!

Wow! It's been a crazy week here!

So, earlier this week I spent a lot of time packing and saying goodbye to people and stuff. Friday was transfers. We drove up here and my comp (ElderThomas and I) got dropped off. A member picked us up, took us to lunch, and dropped us off at our apartment.

We share our apartment with 2 Spanish-Speaking Elders. Elder Poulsen and Elder Chidister. They're pretty cool. It way too much fun sharing an apartment haha.

Springdale has 2 wards. Springdale 1st and Har-ber. There are two other English Speaking Elders that cover Springdale 1st. The Spanish Elders go to a Spanish Branch. And here's the interesting thing. We have two Marshallese-Speaking Elders. yeah. Um, 10% of the world's population of Marshallese people live in Springdale, Arkansas. It's the largest concentration of Marshallese people outside of the Marshall Islands. Talk about Random. I hear that it's mostly because of all of the Chicken Factories out here (there's a ton). There is also a Marshallese branch. And there's another ward about a half an hour away (not in our district) that meets in our building. 5 units in one building. Insanity. haha.

My companions name is Elder John LaRoy Thomas. He is from a little town in the middle of no-where called Panaca, Nevada. His father is Devin Thomas. Owner and operator of Devin Thomas Damascus. Apparently, his father is the best in the world at making Damascus Steel. Apparently Damascus Steel is this amazing stuff that most professional knife-makers use. And, coincidentally, there are a ton of professional knife-makers in Northwest, Arkansas. Weird, eh? But Elder Thomas is really awesome. Very Gorilla-esque. Big guy. Big heart. He has great people skills. Great sense of humor. He is the District Leader here.

So on Saturday we first met with the Relief Society President. She is amazing. She gave us like 13 names of people to baptize. We later met with the Elders Quorum President. And apparently, Home Teaching here is just awful. We will have to fix that.

Yesterday we went into church way earlier and had about and hour and a half long meeting with the Bishop here. Bishop Scott. We learned a ton about the ward and about the work that we need to do here. He is very gung-ho about missionary work, which is awesome. I'm excited. He had us over for dinner yesterday. He grilled us up some AMAZING steaks (he used to be a butcher, and now works for Tyson, so he knows his meat). We tried something interesting. Black Raspberry Jam on Cheddar Cheese. Very interesting. Very good.

I like it here. Our apartment is way nice. The complex has it's own 9 hole golf course that residents can play for free. Sweet, eh? It also has a gym which we exercise at every day.

Well. I am glad to be here. Life is good! I'm excited to keep moving the work forward here. The Har-ber ward will be Translate before the end of this transfer, haha.

Not much else to talk about right now. And I've gotta go. My computer time is up! I love you all! Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers, and support! It helps me so much! :)

Love,
Elder Bracken