Dear Family,
We have to write tonight since tomorrow is already very full. We work our shift at the Seniors, then come home and do a little housework and laundry then get ready for our adventure in Jonesboro. All the missionaries in our District are excited that there something new planned for them. Our fear is that someone will do something stupid and become offensive but we are hoping that they will be on their best behavior. They are going to learn about rice. Now that doesn't sound very exciting but I think that they are just happy to do something different.
Dad lost his bet, gas in Jonesboro is now $1.94. Since that is under the $2.04 that gas was last week, he had to pay up. He decided that the bet was off for the new year but on the last day of Dec. the price dropped. It makes filling the tank full of gas a lot more enjoyable meaning the price of gas of course.
We had a wonderful holiday season. For New Years we were invited by the manager of Farm Credit to his home for a traditional southern New Years dinner. We had the blackeyed peas, hog jawl, ham, turnip greens, sweet potatoes, cabbage cooked with bacon, butternut squash, corn bread, cornbread stuffing,and dill pickles that had chili peppers in it. The dill pickles did not taste like dill they were so hot from the pepper that my tongue was burning. I seemed to be the only one that was having a hard time. The food was very good and most of it I could eat, Dad of course could eat all of the dishes and enjoyed it all. Mr. Holifield introduced us to everyone that was there. There were two ladies that would not talk to us or have anything to do with us. I got the feeling that they wondered what the Holifieds were thinking about to invite Mormon missionaries into their home. Grandma tried to engage me in a religious discussion about baptism but since we were guests in the home I didn't feel that it would be proper thing to do. Now if she were to invite us to her home that would be another matter. We would take one set of missionaries with us. She is a Nazarine they do not smoke, drink, or even serve coffee. But they like sweet tea. They are a very nice family and we enjoyed our time there. They invited us to stay longer but we felt that we had stayed long enough and truth to be told I did not want to face a bunch of people talking about what they thought about the church.
I didn't realize how many non-member friends that we have. I am hoping that we have been able to influence them so that they will listen when they are approached by the missionaries. All of them know that we are Mormon missionaries and they accept us without any problem. During the Christmas holidays we spent a lot of time with our less active couple and the nonmembers.
We are sending you a card in the mail that President Howard W. Hunter said at the Christmas Devotional. We want you to read it and ponder what he said. This will help you to become a better person if you will do what he has outlined. When I first heard him say that in his talk I was so impressed and have never forgotten what he said. So when I found it in the Ensign I wanted to share it with all of you.
Dad Here: Sunday was long here, I woke at 4:30 and listened to a session of conference then went back to bed. Got up got ready for meetings starting a 8:00. We had meetings after church and then went and helped a sister of the branch move to another apartment, we got home about 4:40 pm. As mom said tomorrow is going to be a big day so since we have a little time tonight we thought we had better get a letter off tonight. As I have mentioned to some of you already we have invited Miss Arkansas Rice 2014-2014 to speak to our Paragould Missionary District. There are 6 Elders, 4 Sisters and mom and me. We will meet at the Riceland Facility in Jonesboro which is the largest rice facility in the world(I think). Riceland has given to us their conference room for the meeting. Miss Arkansas Rice is a Senior in high school and her family has agreed to come from Hickory Ridge, Arkansas to speak to us. Her name is Jenna Martin. She spoke last year at the Annual Meeting of Farm Credit Midsouth in Jonesboro, which Mom and I attended. This could be a great experience or a bad experience. Tomorrow night we will know.
Love Mom and Dad
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