I'm going home!!!

I'm going home tomorrow, everyone. I would write more, but we're a little busy today. Hahaha. I love y'all! SEE you soon! :)

(I'm off to lunch...) :)

Love,

Elder Mendenhall

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Not My Last Email :)

Hey Everyone!

Just another beautiful day here in Crossett! Happy December to everyone too! Though at 74 degrees outside it doesn't exactly feel like it. The 39 degrees back home would probably feel a little more like December and the upcoming holiday.

We plan on washing the car and going shopping. Exciting I know. Maybe swinging by the bowling alley a little later. Also, I am frying up some chicken for dinner (we have almost a whole bag of chicken breasts in the fridge that need using, and last time I fried up some chicken, it was REALLY good...which was two weeks ago I think.) That's pretty much our p-day for the day.

My last p-day.

It's weird to think that this is coming to a close. I wont deny that it is. I know President Uchtdorf said that you should always be in the "middle of your mission". Forgive me for what may be considered by some a "negative" attitude towards the end of my mission and by acknowledging the close of my mission (I have to pack sometime after all). It's not the end though, it is really only the beginning. The beginning of an eternity of service to my Heavenly Father and service to my Savior, Jesus Christ. Serving a mission and being a missionary has better led me and trained me to do that. To become whom he would have me be.

What are my feelings this last week of my mission? Excitement. Sadness. Nervousness. Calmness. Knowledge.

I may not know what the future might hold or what I may be doing in life, but I know that I will press forward and always be anxiously engaged in a good cause.

Maybe after a day of rest. Because I am also tired, oh so tired. :)

Exchanges went well this last week. We had a very successful day out in Oak Grove, LA. We contacted a referral we had which turned out to be a part member family, who was really excited to come to church yesterday! Only they didn't. None of our investigators did. A member did bring a friend of his to church with him who had never been before. He fit right in. The branch does a pretty good job of that (for the most part).

I will be speaking in church next week for about 5 minutes or so, just about my mission. Elder Durrant and I are also singing with the young men (Hymn #202). Then I am speaking in church the following week too. Only it will be in a different ward, a different stake, a different state, a different world.

I love the people here. I truly, truly do. I love the South. It is a second home to me. I have family here now. I know I can always come back and there will be open arms to receive me.

No matter where I go though, no matter where life takes me, I believe that Mt Pleasant, Utah (even as small as it is) will always hold a place in my heart. I will always love it there. But I've come to realize something. The place doesn't make the home. It's the people. And I know several people that I will get to see a week from Wednesday that will ALWAYS be home. Don't worry, I'll bring tissues. :)

Speaking of that! Oh! I almost forgot. I leave the Jackson airport at 10:10 AM on December 12th. I have about a three hour layover in Dallas, and then my plan lands at 5:00 PM in the SLC airport. I kind of wish it was earlier. Oh well.

I will talk to y'all probably next Tuesday (at which point I will be in Clinton, MS). Until then, I love y'all :)

Love,
Elder
Dwight
Mendenhall

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Miss me much?

Hey Everyone!

Did you miss me? It's been a whole week since you heard from me. :D

Sooooo! I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving! I know I did. We ate and played basketball and actually went to WalMart that night to check out the Black Friday craziness that started early this year! Crazy stuff. Let's just spend a day being thankful for what we have and then go kill each other over stuff that we don't have and want.
I'm just glad they didn't really have anything that I wanted. Other then movies.... I couldn't resist. I bought myself some early Christmas presents. Come on, when you can buy the entire Harry Potter collection (all 8 movies) for $16, you jump on it. Hahaha

We are going on exchanges today. Elder Durrant is going to Greenville again and Elder Arthur is coming to Crossett with me. We are driving out to Greenville this time, so we need to get going soon, as it is a two hour drive.

I am excited for this week though. :)

Landon and Rachel went to OK for Thanksgiving, and when they were gone, we raked all the leaves in their yard (it had been about two weeks since we had helped him do it the last time..this was the third time) and I have never raked sooooooo many leaves in my life! And then are STILL more on the trees. The cool thing here though is that you rake them to the side of the road and the city comes by and sucks them all up and hauls them off. Pretty nice. With the back yard though, we'll just burn them later. :)

OH! And Landon and I were talking today about burning a suit coat on my 2 year mark (don't worry, one from a thrift store!) and we're probably going to start the fire with his flare gun! I am pretty excited. Hahaha he has a big field that we can go and do it in. :)

Anyway, I am off to email President McDonough and then to clean some and then it's off to Greenville!

Love y'all muchly! :)

Love,
Elder Mendenhall

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Just Another Day In Paradise!

Hey Everyone!

It's just another beautiful Monday here in southern Arkansas and I am loving life! :)

We had interviews this past Friday in Monroe with President McDonough. I enjoyed them, though it ended up taking our whole day. After I sent the email about me being sick, we went and gathered the things we need to take down, and then we went to Monroe. We didn't get back until about 8pm that night.

President McDonough asked me an interesting question that I didn't have an answer for. He asked who I thought would be a good replacement for me here in Crossett to serve with Elder Durrant. I had never thought about it and it gave me a little insight into him and his responsibilities as a mission president. I do not envy him in the slightest, that's for sure.

We had our Thanksgiving dinner at the church yesterday following church services. Landon and Brooke and Blaine were all at church. It was really neat to have them all there. Landon and co stayed for all of church this time. They brought three different desserts too. And we are actually supposed to be eating chili at his house right now (though no scone strips and I really want some! hahaha)

Thanksgiving will mainly be spent here in Crossett with the Rice family and the Stephensons. I am looking forward to it. We'll be able to teach Brooke and Blaine, which we haven't really been able to do in a few weeks.

I am feeling better this week, but still coughing and blowing my nose (in case you were wondering!). It's only every now and then though, instead of constantly. :D

I love you all and hope you have an awesome Thanksgiving week! Remember to be thankful always for what Heavenly Father has given you and most importantly, make sure you tell Him how grateful you are every day for the blessings you have. Life is so sweet and short and precious. Everything you have can be gone in an instant. Make the most of today, as it's a gift (that's why they call it the present)/

Until we meet again next week!

Love,
Elder Dwight Mendenhall

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Ooops!

Hey Everyone,

 

The library was closed on Monday, and that is also the day I caught a nasty cold. I've been pretty sick the last couple of days. Anyway, I just wanted to shoot a quick email saying I am alive and will email on Monday. Love you all!

 

-Elder Mendenhall

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Family History

Hey Everyone!

Family history is pretty cool and amazing. I love looking at the church's website (https://familysearch.org/tree) and just seeing who I am related to and when they lived. It's fun tracking where they were born, when they died, and imagining what happened in between. :)

Well, I was all smiles at church on Sunday. Brooke and Blaine weren't there, as they were staying with their nonmember grandparents. So that was a bummer... The reason I was all smiles though is that Landon and Rachel came to church! They were a little late for Sacrament meeting, but they were there. They stayed for Sunday School as well. Rachel has been in at least several months (everyone was really happy to see her) and this was Landon's first time going. They had their kids with them as well. We are going over there today, so we will get to see what he thought about church. I couldn't stop smiling though after they came in. :D One step at a time. :)

I'm thinking a lot this morning and not too interested in writing a lot. Life is great though :) We enjoyed the Fall Festival at the church on Wednesday. We actually ended up helping set up and everything right after we emailed. We went back to the church where our bikes and bags were and we didn't leave there until 8:00 that night. Too bad people there don't count as being in church :D

We taught our devotional on Thursday at the nursing home, and that went well. I was looking at the piano and one of the ladies asked me if I played. I then played a couple of hymns for her and told her I would play more this week. Wish me luck! ;)

I love you all! I hope all is well with you and that this week is amazing! :)

Love,
Elder Dwight Mendenhall

Happy Halloween!

Hey Everyone!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable day. :)

Yesterday was transfers, and we went down to Monroe to spend the day, as I needed to send something on the transfer van to a missionary that went home (and is probably flying home as we speak). We also got haircuts down there, and played some basketball with the other Elders. I also said goodbye to some missionaries that I am going to miss dearly who were transfered. It's weird to think that I wont see them again, unless it's back home. Pretty trippy. 

Elder Durrant and I are staying together for one more in Crossett. We're both excited. This past week wasn't the best week for us though. This week will be better though :) I already know this to be true :) We were at least able to teach Brooke and Blaine last week. Not so much this week, sadly enough. Brooke has dance classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays now, and we haven't been able to recoordinate our schedules. We will see them tonight at the Fall Festival at the church.

Speaking of which, we have about 4 miles left for the month. I am not sure if I mentioned it, but last month the entire mission went over our allotment of miles for a first in our mission history. Missionaries were going hundreds over. They ended up cutting everyone's miles (our zone actually didn't go over last month.) Our allotment went from 1025 to 900. Which is not too many for such a large area. We make it work though. Today, Brother Oden picked us up on his way home from his graveyard shift at the paper mill in Crossett. He picked us up at about 7:10 and drove us to the church in Bastrop. We had our studies and then district meeting. We are biking around Bastrop today until 5:30, which is when the Fall Festival at the church is. We are then putting our bikes in the back of Brother Oden's truck and he will drop them off tonight on his way to work, around 10 or so. We will get a ride back with the Rices or Dyes. The Branch generally takes really good care of us. 

We helped Landon (the guy with the donut shop) put together a swing set on Monday. It's pretty legit. It has swings, a slide, monkey bars, tire swing, and a rock wall. It took us about three-four hours to put it together. It was fun though. :) His kids love it, and are really warming up to us. It was a lot of fun to hear Tanner (their son) call out to us Monday, Look Elders! Hahaha kids are too cute :)

I hope y'all have a good week. I know we will. :) I love y'all and I will write more on Monday with more stories and hopefully pictures! :)

Love,

Elder Dwight Mendenhall