Week 97: Weekly!

Hey Y'all!! 

I hope you all had a great mother's day :) My mother is the BEST!!! I love my family :)

We had some really amazing experiences this week. 

To start off, I ran over a groundhog while riding my bike!! I was going fast down a hill, and there was a strip of grass between the road and the sidewalk. In half a second, I saw the groundhog and guessed its intentions to kill itself. Sure enough, it tried to dart to safety away from the road and sidewalk. Unfortunately, my back tire had other plans and squashed it. I am very very lucky it didn't hit my front tire, in which case I would be in the same state as the groundhog. The Lord definitely allowed me to follow promptings to keep my helmet buckled (which I don't usually do) and keep my hands on the handlebars instead of getting a drink like I thought to do. God is good!! (all the time)

I sang at the "House of Prayer Full Gospel" church in Huntsville, AR on exchanges! I sang Come, Follow Me and one other song that I can't remember right now. My companion for the day, Elder Rex, played the piano. It was very odd! I haven't every sang in public before but I think I'm at the point in my life where I can fail at something like that and be fine with it, dust myself of, and get back to work. It was a small congregation, but it was a fun experience!! They definitely PREACH the word there hahahaha

We had some really great lessons this week, as well as some good finding time and service. 

It was Elder Broadhead's birthday on Friday!! We threw a surprise birthday party for him at our Bishop's house, and it was lots and lots of fun!! He's a great companion and a stellar missionary. I found out that he doesn't like surprises too much, though.. :(

We are making some good progress here in Fayetteville!! It's an amazing area with some amazing people. I love it!

Love,

Elder Eliason

 Rainy valley in Huntsville, AR

 Elder Broadhead and some cool shades he found at church

Me on a fence

Week 96: Following His Path

Hey y'all! This week has been really good. We have done lots of service, cleaning out an abandoned school, volunteering at the habitat for humanity, removing invasive plants from a nature preserve, just to name a few!! 

We also had some really cool spiritual experiences. One is with Jonathan. We were coming home one day, and I had the thought to tract an area we had already passed on our way home. We turned around and headed back that way. We went to a certain parking lot, but it was full so we went to a different lot and parked. I saw a man standing outside on the sidewalk and we went up and talked to him. His heart was softened to the Book of Mormon, and we were able to teach him a little about the Restoration of the Gospel. I have seen the fruits of the Gospel in my life. I know it is true. As we testified to him, I really felt the spirit testify to me that I am doing the Lord's work. I know that we can all follow the spirit, not even knowing beforehand what to say or what to do, and the Lord will use us as tools to harvest in His vineyard. I love the Lord!! He is so so good to me. His gospel is wonderful to me :)

I love you all! Have a great week! :)

Elder Eliason

Elders Anderson and Eliason

Elders Broadhead, Anderson and Eliason

Elders Anderson, Eliason and Broadhead

Week 95: T Minus 11 Weeklys

Hey y'all! Sorry I didn't write last week.. It's been hectic. Things have been going well here, though!!

Fayetteville is amazing! I love it here. So many amazing people and so much to do!

We have been doing tons of service this week, at the Fayetteville Library, at the Habitat for Humanity "restore" (a thrift shop lowes), at the Mt. Sequoyah Woods Trail removing invasive plants, and doing random acts of service for people. We have had lots of cool lessons. 

One family has not been to the church for about 4 years, since they were baptized. They have committed to come back to church, and this last week we invited them to pray about a date to go to the temple and get sealed as husband and wife. They are amazing!! 

Another lady we just started teaching last night. We took a young couple from our ward with us, and we had a really good time talking with her. The couple we took parked at the back of their driveway, which was shaped like a hockey stick, with the curve towards the road. In the middle of the lesson, which was outside on a picnic table, a young woman walked out of the house and got in a car. She started backing out, and we thought she had enough room. We continued talking, until we heard a *SSHRHSSHRRRRRRR* and looked back to see the girl turning too early, and pulling the back bumper of the couple's new car a bit off. 30 minutes later, after lots of insurance company phone calls and a police officer visit, we were able to finish our lesson with a prayer. Moral of the story? Always have a backer!

One time we set up an appointment with a middle aged man that we hadn't seen at church in a while. He was baptized a year or two ago. It was set up for a Monday night at 7. When we got there, his mother let us in and he was sleeping on the couch. His mother tried to wake him up, but he was unresponsive. He was a little stiff and had a hard time breathing. Long story short his mother called 911 and the paramedics came and treated him for super low blood sugar. They took him to the hospital and afterwards, his mother, who isn't a member, thanked us for being there. She said she would've left him there because she thought he was sleeping. The Lord definitely had a part in that experience. 

I love being a missionary. I always try, every single day, to "go about doing good." Most of the time I don't know the effect of everything I do. I sometimes don't even know if the things I do have an effect on those I try to reach. But I know the Lord knows. He leads me. He is in charge.

Love ya!

Elder Eliason 

 Elders Anderson, Eliason, Broadhead and Rogers

Elders Rogers, Broadhead, Anderson and Eliason

 Nice Home

My Next Ride

Week 94: No letter. :(

Week 93: Fayette(chill)ville :)

Hey y'all!!

This week I'm writing to you from Fayetteville, Arkansas. This is only the second time I've served in Arkansas. I'm serving with Elder Broadhead. He's been out for about 8 months. He has been here for a couple of transfers, and knows the area well. It's a great place!!

We are doing lots of missionary work here. I'm ready to get into gear and gooooooooo!!!!!

Not much out of the ordinary. Knocking doors, teaching people, eating, studying, etc. 

One family we are working with hasn't been to church much since they were baptized. We taught them about faith, and how sometimes you have to take a step before the next step appears on the path. We also talked about how some people just hold onto the rod of iron in the scriptures, but don't walk forward. It was very cool to see that they recognized where they were spiritually. The wife figuratively put her foot down and said "we are GOING to get sealed in the temple!" I have faith that they will. One night we were sleeping and all of a sudden we heard a "BOOMM!!!!" that woke me up. Our whole apartment shook for a couple of seconds. It was a lightning strike somewhere really really close. Then we went back to bed :)

I can really see the hand of the Lord in this area!! It's great to be here :)

Thanks for all of the support and love that you give me!! 

Thanks :)

Love,

Elder Eliason

 I trained Elder Johnson in Parsons a little bit ago, and this is me with Elder Johnson and the Elder that he's training!!! It was super cool to see them on the transfer loop. 

Springtime in Fayetteville

Week 92: Mountains

I think my mountain is finishing my mission strong, loving my companion and other missionaries, and opening my mouth always. I need to rely on the strength the Lord gives me to overcome these mountains :)

I loved all of the conference talks!! Especially Elder Uchtdorf's, and President Nelson's.

Week 91: Weekly :)

This week was so cool!!

We had tons of great experiences. We started off pretty slow, but the weekend was crazy busy. Elder Williams plays piano at an expert level, and one day we were volunteering at a senior center, not an old folks home but more like a community lunch and activity center for senior citizens. I was washing dishes, and he was playing piano when a lady came up to him. She asked if we could teach her husband, she explained that she was an ex-communicated member that wants to get back into things, and she wants her husband to come with her!! She's from the ranch. We had a lesson with them this week and it was a beautiful experience. 

We did lots of service this week, from helping assemble a tin barn to helping a recent convert recover move some truck tires and other car parts. 

Every 5th Sunday, all the different break-offs in the Ranch get together along with members from our church, and have a 2 hour long meeting. Each church gets a chance to conduct the meeting, and they call on different people from the crowd, led by the Spirit, to come up and speak. I can honestly say that I felt the Holy Spirit so strong there. I have learned on my mission, and especially in Stockton, that no matter where I am there are good people. There were lots of good people there. Elder Williams and I were called upon to be the last speakers. It was an honor to address all that were in attendance. I shared some of Christ's teachings about unity and talked about how our goal in life should be to come to the unity of the faith, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Even though we are different in the execution of our faith, we all believe in Christ, we all try to help others, and we all want to be better. I learned so much from that meeting, not only in what was said, but what I felt and what I was able to take from it. I hope that I will be able to share the Spirit that I felt there as I try to go about my Heavenly Father's will.

I love revelation! I love the Book of Mormon. I love Jesus Christ.

I love you!

Elder Eliason

Pictures: (they're older, I don't have my camera with me)

Elders, from left to right

Me, Elder Plummer, Elder Hansen, Elder Barber, Elder Hartley

Elder Plummer and I