Another week gone by. I can't believe how fast time goes!

It's been an interesting couple weeks, learning the area. We do have a number of investigators, which is great, but most of them aren't going anywhere....

There's this one guy, Andrew. He's 22. He's lived a very hard life. He's on probation right now. He's in all kinds of legal trouble. He's done many bad things in his life. He has nothing. He is living in his sister's apartment by himself, whose rent hasn't been paid in 2 or 3 months. His water is shut off. He has no job. He's getting very sick, also. He's in a really bad situation. He's been being taught by the missionaries for a few weeks now. We've seen him many times since I've been here. Of course, repentance has been a HUGE topic of discussion with him. But the amazing thing, is the Spirit that is there when we teach him. It's always so strong. It is teaching him so much. Recently we taught him the Plan of Salvation and drew him a diagram of it. Yesterday he had some questions about it so he brought out the drawing and we talked some more. Then, he asked about the parable in Luke 16. About Lazarus and the Rich Man. It was so cool. When you read that parable in the context of thinking about Redemption for the Dead, it takes on a whole new meaning. I learned so much in that short lesson because of that. It was awesome. :)

The weather has been great this last week. Yesterday morning we had to give the car back to the Carthage Elders, and guess what! It started raining! On our car week it was beautiful, on our bike week it is raining. haha. That's just how life goes for me I suppose.

Tomorrow is Zone Conference. I am excited for that. It's always fun.

I heard something sad recently. I was one of 9 Elders to come out in May. That was our "travel group." 3 of them have since gone home. :( That's so sad! I don't know the details about 2 of them, but one messed up his ankle and he can't come back until he can walk 3 miles without his foot swelling up. Crazy.

I'm excited for Thanksgiving. It is well on it's way! I hope it is a good day for all of you. We're gonna have fun. :)

Well, I've gotta get going now. It was great to hear from you, as always. Tell everyone Hi for me!

Love,
Elder Bracken

So, I've been in Webb City for about 3 days now. Very different from my previous areas. It's a small town. 10,000 people or so. Then there a couple even smaller towns that we cover. This might be the smallest area, geographically that I've had. Definitely the lowest in population. I mean, just the city Sapulpa had 20,000 and we covered two areas then. Also, I am in Missouri. And Oklahoman's, Arkansans, and Missouri... ans(?) are all very different people. There are some hicks out here, I tell you what.

My companion is interesting. He was in my Zone 2 transfers ago, so I've met him before. He is a large man, a little taller than me. He is also an Opera Singer. He is going home a week before Christmas.(so I will probably be here with a new companion over christmas) The only thing I don't like is that since he's been out so long he doesn't really value my opinion. He still considers me to be pretty green, so he doesn't fully appreciate my opinion. But that's okay. We'll make it work one way or the other.

We had the Ward Primary Program on Sunday. That was nice. I enjoyed it. :) In our Gospel Principles class we used the new manuals. They are so cool! I really want one for Christmas(hint hint mom).

Transfers are simple. They send the "Bull" (the 15 seater van) with a trailer in one direction, and they send the 3 pick-ups in the other direction and they go around to designated "transfer points" picking up and dropping off missionaries. They both circle around they mission and end up back in Tulsa around 4 p.m.

Looks like you all had fun at Halloween. That's good. :) I'm glad. :)

Oh yeah. So the Razorback Stadium was cool. My camera battery died halfway through though, so I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted. Oh well. But yeah, they have a nice field. That was my first time walking on Turf ever. They also have 2 outdoor practice fields which are immediately next to each other. They have a weight room that spans 110 yards. And they have an indoor practice field. It was pretty cool. I enjoyed it.

Oh. Our house is so cool. Yes, I said house. It is nicknamed "The Hut." It's so awesome. We have a bedroom, a living room, a study room, and a kitchen. Everything shakes when you walk across the floor. It's so fun. :) I would totally live in this house while going to college. It'd be the best bachelor pad ever.

We are in a car-share, so we have the car every other week. We have it this week, which is great.

Well, I hope you get feeling better soon, Dad! I'll keep you in my prayers! And make sure you get a blessing, if you haven't had one yet.

Well, I've gotta get going. I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,
Elder Bracken

So, the big news is, I'm cuttin' out of Dodge. I'm headed to Webb City, Missouri. Here is my new address:
618 N Elliott
Webb City, MO 64870

I will be serving with Elder Stapley. He is exceedingly large in stature. An opera singer. He goes home in the middle of December. Should be fun. :) It will motivate me to work very hard to prevent him from becoming "trunky." For anyone who doesn't know what trunky means, it's kind of like home-sickness. You are just very eager to go home and you can't focus on the work at all. I hope he's not like that, but I know it must be hard not to be when you're about to go home AND it's the holidays. So we will just work really really really hard. :)

The area is a car-share. So I will be in a car every other week. On a bike for the others. That'll be good. I'll stay in shape AND be warm haha. Also, another note dad, when you send me a DearElder, could you put my name on it in stead of "Hermana Analey Yeates?" If one of those gets sent here when I'm not here, no one will know who it's for.

Please tell Grammy and Aunt Vicky thank you for their kind gifts! I really do appreciate it! :)

We had our Trunk-or-Treat on the 30th. That was fun. Lots of really good chili. Today we are getting a private tour of the Arkansas Razorback Stadium. So that will be a lot of fun. :)

Well I must get going. It was great to hear from you all. I'm very glad that you had a Happy Birthday Mom!

Love,
Elder Bracken

Hey mi familia!

(living with Spanish Elders is starting to rub off on me).

Well, this week has been pretty slow, sadly. The worst news is that our family, the Hayes, are moving to the other side of Springdale into the Springdale 1st Ward. Like, within the next week. That really stinketh.

Cool highlight of the past week: Marina Lemos was baptized in the Spanish Branch. We attended the Baptism. The cool thing was that I was there when the Spanish Elders found her. We tracted into her and she sat us down for a Lesson. Now, a couple months later, she's baptized. :)

Well, Transfer Awareness Night(as my trainer called it) is on Saturday. Halloween. That's kinda crazy. Either Elder Thomas or I will be leaving, pretty much guaranteed. I think I'll leave, and he thinks that he'll leave. We will see.

The ward Halloween Party/Trunk or Treat is on Friday. There will be a Chili cook-off, so that will be fun. Then on Saturday we will be hanging out with the Morris's. They are awesome people. They have called dibs on us for Thanksgiving. Of course, from what I understand, most missionaries here end up eating 2 3 or 4 thanksgiving dinners. That's a LOT of turkey.

I got the Halloween package today. Much to my chagrin, it was not just for me. But everyone else was very appreciative haha. Thank you!

BTW, the new rule on music in our mission is Hymns only. So, if you send me music, make sure it's a Hymn.(I'm hoping for a Christmas Manheim Steamroller CD...hint hint). haha.

So, I ended up spending 70 bucks at Wal-Mart the other day. I bought a 50 dollar pair of in-soles, because those other Dr Scholl's ones I bought already fell apart. So I decided to spend more money in hopes that they would last a lot longer and be a lot more comfortable. They're pretty nice so far. I also bought a bunch of socks to replace my holy ones. I bought 2 pair of the coolest Argyle socks ever. I'm only going to wear them to Interviews with the Mission President, Baptisms, and Zone Conference. It's gonna be amazing :)

So, the couple that bought us the bikes are Alex and Roberta Simon. They were married 4 or 5 years ago. (they both had previous marriages) They met online. They are in their 60's. Bro. Simon is from the Philippines. He's hilarious, and an amazing cook. Sister Simon is white and American. She's just a real sweet dignified lady. She sells insurance now, but until the last couple years was an interior decorator. Bro. Simon was an Engineer for Wal-Mart but got ousted by some shady business politics. So now he's retired and delivers newspapers for extra cash. Their address is: 4570 Stonecrest Circle, Springdale, AR 72762.

Well I've gotta get going now. Have a wonderful week everybody!

Love,

Elder Bracken

Hey!

Well, it's been another good week! I love it here still!(believe it or not, haha). And to answer your question dad, yes, everyone in our apartment gets along great. Although Elder Chidister's greenie, Elder Lloyd, is kind of annoying. He'll get over it though. He's still new. :)

So let me tell you about a neat little miracle we saw yesterday. After Stake Conference, Elder Thomas and I walked around the neighborhood and visited a couple members at their homes. One of the families we visited were the Maits. They are awesome people. Well, Brother Maits was struggling to help his 13 year old son with his math homework. He hasn't done that kind of math in so long, he just couldn't remember how. We shared a message about Prayer and committed the Maits family to Pray that the Nations of the World would be opened to missionary work. Later that day, Brother Maits called us. He thanked us for the message we shared. He told us that after we left he went and prayed about the homework and he remembered how to do it. He later got stuck on another part. So he went and prayed again, and he remembered how to do that part of the math. So he was grateful to us for reminding him about the power of prayer. I thought that was a wonderful miracle to hear about. :)

I can't believe Jason is about to get his papers in! That's so cool! That makes me very happy! I need to know where he's going ASAP. I'll be praying for the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission haha.

Ya know, I was thinking about my mission call the other day. We were having dinner with Brother Myers. He was a Bishop here that Elder Bednar called and set apart when he was the Stake President of the Rogers stake(which was prior to the existence of the Springdale stake, which we are currently in). So he knows Elder Bednar fairly well. He was telling us that Elder Bednar said that a few times as a Stake President he was prompted to wait to submit a missionary's papers for a week or more. That's what happened to mine, remember? Well, the reason that matters is that every week there is only a certain amount of missions where missionary's are called to. So, if your papers were processed this week, you have no chance of going to missions that arent having missionaries called to them until next week. They day that your papers are put in is a factor. When I heard about this, is just increased the testimony that I already have that I am supposed to be here in this mission at this time. :)

I did get my package. And that is a very nice coat, actually. The gloves too, are very nice. And the thermals are very nice and toasty warm. :)

Transfers are November 6. Which means transfer calls are Halloween Night. That'll be crazy. I can't believe this transfer is half over already!

Speaking of the Halloween Party. We invited a Less-Active, Part-Member family to it. I think they're going to go. That makes me so glad. Elder Thomas and I have a very good feeling about them. We think that if we just get the husband going back to church, then the wife will come right along and will be baptized in no time. :) Only hard part is getting them to church. But the Ward party is definitely a good start. :)

Well, I've gotta go. It was great to hear from you! Thanks for everything(especially the coat)!:)

Love,
Elder Bracken

Another week gone by! Pretty Crazy!

Life is pretty good here. Latest news on the Hayes Family. Well, they were supposed to come to church yesterday. But another friend invited them to their church, so they went there. Which sucks. But we fasted and prayed that they would notice the lack of the Spirit there at the other church. We saw them last night and they set up a return appointment with us, so thats good. I don't think we've lost them :)

Thank you for getting the coat. I can't wait to get it. It's like, really cold. Elder Thomas lets me use his trenchcoat, which is nice. But it will be much better when I have my own. We are not allowed to wear beanies, so don't worry about that. I do have a really nice pair of ear-muffs that Elder Perry(shockingly enough) gave to me. So that's good.

We had Zone Conference on Saturday. That was pretty nice. I enjoyed it. President Merkley(being a retired Navy and FedEx Pilot) started to explain to us all this really complicated stuff that pilot's learn about Air-foils and things like that. Then he read a quote in Preach My Gospel about how True Intelligence is the ability to take something very complicated and make is so that a child can understand it. He then said, "I'm going to show you just how intelligent your mission president is. When you pull back on the stick, the houses get smaller. When you push forward on the stick, the houses get bigger." It was pretty funny. :)

It would be nice to do SOMETHING for the Simon's. Like, a gift basket or something. I dunno. I do want to thank them in some way.

What did Manda and Scott think of the Camaro? I need details! And if Dillon is out of work, tell him to go on a mission, by golly! He's almost 19! It's time for him to get ready. Out of curiosity, who did Lindsey Lambert finally marry? I know she was waiting for a missionary. Is it him or someone else? haha.

Well, I just printed out Elder Holland's talk and I am way stoked to start reading it with people. I hope I get a chance to soon. :)

I'm sorry for the brief email. There just isn't THAT much to talk about this week. Thanks for everything!

Love,
Elder Bracken

Hey!

What a week! General Conference! :D

I LOVED General Conference! I learned so much! I watched all 5 sessions at the church, front and center(well, second row, actually, but no one sat in front of us). It is really cool to watch it at church. No distractions. It was very peaceful. The Spirit was very strong. I loved it.

There were so many wonderful talks. I only fell asleep for two, haha. They were by Seventies who had super thick accents so I couldn't understand them anyways. :P

I greatly enjoyed President Uchtdorf's talk Saturday Morning about God's Love. I also loved the talk in the Saturday Afternoon session by... was it Elder Callister? It was the talk all about Joseph Smith. I loved how he compared him to Peter. Peter made horrible mistakes, but he was still a prophet. So did Joseph Smith. He was still a prophet. They're human. They are not any stronger than we are. We make plenty of mistakes. The only difference between them and us is the level of responsibility God has placed upon them.

My FAVORITE talk, by a long shot, was Elder Holland's. That was marvelous. He laid down everything that he is and has in defense of the Book of Mormon. Perhaps my favorite part of his talk was when he spoke about how anyone who leaves the church must crawl over, under, or around the Book of Mormon. No matter how weak our testimony gets, if we REALLY want to know if the Church is true, the Book of Mormon will answer that question. If we will just read it and apply it's teachings, all our worries will be done away. I love that truth, and I add my testimony to that of Elder Holland. I know that the Book of Mormon is the Word of God. I know that the truths it contains can and will bring us back into our Heavenly Father's presence. I know that it is the most correct book of any book on Earth, and that anyone who reads it will come to that same knowledge. As a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is my greatest privilege and responsibility to share this message with the world. I am so very grateful for this opportunity I have to do that. My personal challenge to all who read this is to pick up your copy of the Book of Mormon and read 3 Nephi 17. I promise you that as you do so, you will feel the Spirit and your testimony of and love for the Savior will increase.

Not much else is new on my end. Life is just wonderful. I hope you all enjoyed General Conference as much as I did. By the way, Mom & Dad, when the November Ensign comes out, can you buy me a copy and send it to me? I really want to have my own personal one to study and share with others. I would also like a CD of it like you made of last Conference's, if at all possible. :)

I really would like the Missionary Mall coat. I think that would be the best choice for my circumstances here. :) Thank you. :)

As far as my pictures are concerned.... I've been slacking a little bit. I have taken pictures, but probably not as many as I should. I will try to do better. Thank you for the reminder :)

Well I must get going. Thank you for everything! You are all wonderful!

Love,
Elder Bracken