If you want Mom, go ahead and send that package to my Fort Smith 

address. Also, I was able to find a computer with some front-side USB 

ports, so I'll be sending some pictures today! Quick suggestion for 

you, Mom. Instead of waiting for your non-member friend to ask where 

to find out about the afterlife, just show it to her. Just tell her 

that you've noticed that she's been asking a lot of questions, and 

that the Book of Mormon, and the missionaries, can help answer her 

questions. Go ahead and give her a Book of Momon, bear her your 

testimony, and invite her to read it. Invite her to talk to the 

missionaries. If she agrees, have her come over and be taught in your 

home (or else go with the missionaries, but remember that they need 

another male in order to receive a ride or to teach in a home, 

otherwise they'll have to sit on the porch). Member referrals are 

great, but the baptismal rate of investigators taught in member homes 

is about 500 times that of baptisms found by tracting, and the 

retention rate is higher.

I'll tell you my garment size next week. We can hold off on the 

thermal garments: it's so freaking hot here! It's been in the 70's 

for the past three or four days! Last night I slept on my blanket, it 

was so hot! A week 'till Christmas, and I'm sweating while we're 

knocking on doors. It's nuts! Elder Morrill sad last Christmas it was 

about 20º (he was in Springfield, Missouri though).

So, you haven't let me know what Angie and Heather want, and I don't 

really have time to go Christmas shopping, so if you can, just send 

them some money. I'll be calling at about 9 AM Central (that'll be 10 

AM for you guys, enough time to get everyone together, open presents, 

and get over the excitement of getting not only what you wanted, but 

the odd things you didn't expect to get. Just kidding. Be sure to 

include me on the Christmas card you send to all the relatives. And 

if Grandma and Grandpa still send out the Bradshaw Quarterly, or 

whatever it is, be sure to have them send me one.

Yeah, I wished Susie a happy birthday. No, I haven't heard from her, 

but she might be following the blog. I don't know. I send her a 

letter along with one to Heather, I hope you got them to Heather, 

because I have no clue how to get a hold of Susie.

Elder Morrill said that this was an excellent week. We taught 8 

lessons with a member present (the most he had done on his mission), 

and we taught 8 other lessons. The really great part was that we had 

four invesigators show up for church! Finally!

The first was April. Her grandfather was a Baptist minister, and he 

taught her the correct version of the Joseph Smith story. She said 

that she really enjoyed church. She said that she'll be moving to 

Texarkana, Texas (south of Fort Smith, just in the Texas border) 

because of some issues with her husband or something (I don't know 

the details of the drama), but that she'll be up every weekend to 

visit her daughter, so she'll be at church. Yes!

The second was Bob Owens. He's engaged to a member, and he's really 

smart and really solid, a major potential bishop. At our last lesson 

with him, he implied that we're going to be setting a baptismal date 

with him when we meet, which will be the 27th. Sweet!

Third is a girl named Tabitha. She had live in Forth Smith and came 

to church about 6 months ago, then moved to Missouri, and has since 

moved back here. She said she's probably going to move back to Texas 

some time in the near future, but until then, we'll keep teaching her.

Fourth is Glenn Allan. His wife is a member, but he isn't. He's 

having trouble getting over smoking (he rolls his own smokes), which 

is about the only thing keeping him from being baptized. His faith 

seems to be increasing lately. He's been listening to the Book of 

Mormon tapes (he can't read), and I've noticed a change in him: he 

seemes happier, and more humble.

We had dinner last night with a really young couple, the Turnipseeds. 

Keith is 24, I'm not sure how old Candice is, but they have a 

daughter (4) and two sons (about 2 and 5 months or so). They're a 

really solid family, and really enjoy having us around. They said 

that they notice their home is more peaceful during the weeks in 

which we come and visit (it's been difficult to catch them around the 

holidays), and they even gave us a Christmas card!

We taught this really cool guy named David. We taught him about the 

Restoration, and everything just really seemed to click with him. He 

really appreciates having us around, he says it really provides him 

with peace and comfort (well, he said that our lessons "relax" him, 

but we all know why...).

I think that's about it, mostly. On Friday, Elder Morrill and I 

couldn't think of anybody to really visit, so we went finding 

(tracting) for about 6 hours. We were able to help an 87-year-old 

lady rake her leaves. She gave us a tin of cookies (yeah, that's a 

tin, not a ton, as in "a tin box of cookies").