August 24th, 2015

That's awesome that Thurman is getting baptized tell him congrats for me! I'm glad to hear that yall are surviving school too. Dad is going to have to start drinking some more Dew if Kally and Jessa both left him. In fact transfers are this week maybe he could come over here for a little while and be my next companion. :) The baptism went really well! It was so awesome to watch him get baptized after getting the chance to teach him for so long! He taught me so many things. He is just a good ol boy. We had brought the tv in to show a Mormon Message while he was changing and he asked if we could just turn on a Johm Wayne movie for him instead of listening to the talks and stuff haha he is my kind of guy. We also had Stake Conference this week and it was awesome! Probably the most informal one I have ever been too, but their hearts are in the right place :) It also was good to see so many of the missionaries. We had 10 of them sleep over at our apartment and it still stood at the end so I know that their was some divine help. I am learning so much. I am grateful for the Touch of the Masters hand in my life even though sometimes it is a touch upside the head telling me to shape up a little bit. It is always a loving smack like the ones dad gives :) I am so grateful that I get to be a missionary and just try my best to help other people all of the time. Thanks for being such an awesome family and for always taking such great care of me. I miss you but I know that I am where I am supposed to be right now. I hope that you have an awesome week!! Love Mud :) I am doing pretty good with everything, I might could use another missionary journal sometime the getting pretty close to full. But life is good. Hope you have a great week!!

August 17th, 2015

Oh my family! I love yall so much! I hope that dad had an awesome birthday! It sounds like the Reunion was a success too. And that's awesome that Jessa made the team!! Ms. McArthur better take good care of my jessa or me and her will have to fight :) That sounds like a good fishing crew I hope they caught a few for me. This week has been a pretty good one! I definitely went through the refiners fire this week but I am very grateful cause I need to start being refined like my mama and well read like my dad so i'll keep on working on it haha Brother Lacour is getting baptized on Saturday at 11!! I am so excited!!!!!!! I'm not quite sure why the people that I get to teach and baptize are always 71 but he is another 71 year old. He is a good ol country boy that is always in a pair of overalls unless he is at church. Before our lessons me and him always talk some smack and then Elder Brimhall reins us in to start with the lesson haha I'm very grateful that all of the Louisiana's can talk some trash so I won't get out of practice from dad and jake and grandpa and Darin. I love our ward so much! Things don't always run perfect or even pretty at church but we just do the best that we can and everyone just honestly is there cause they love the Savior. It's ok that people are spitting tobacco in the back row of Gospel Principles and it's ok that some of them don't have a lot of teeth or that they need a refresher course on the Word of Wisdom and keeping the Sabbath day holy haha because God really does look on the heart. He can tell if we truly are trying or not and he has so much more mercy than we give him credit for I truly believe that. He just wants us to be happy and be the best us's that we can be! God is good. :) Love Mud :) Thanks for all of your love and prayers and for raising me to be a good boy. I will forever be grateful!

August 3rd, 2015

Hey my awesome family it sounds like yall had quite the week again this week!! Thanks so much for the package it is awesome! I didn't share my cinnamon rolls very well with people...they were awesome haha but I have been sharing quotes from my awesome quote book! This week has been quite the adventure! I finally ate alligator!! It was cut up into pieces and fried and it was awesome. I feel like I am a real Louisiana missionary now that I have finally eaten gator. We went on Exchanges with some missionaries down in Eunice and this excommunicated member that we are really good friends with gave us a ride so we could save some miles. His name is Drake Vermillion, he is super awesome but he talks like nobody's business it is crazy! He talked the whole way up and back and he kept pulling over to check his phone and to buy a watermelon and then I asked him what a rice plant looked like so he pulled over into someones field and yanked one out to show me hahaha I love Louisiana so much! Yesterday at church we had an investigator come to church, his name is Terrell and he is a big black guy. Anyway we only have one other black person in our ward and she wasn't there so he got up to bare his Testimony and I was terrified, we have only taught him like 3 times and he is a little bit on the crazy side so I was praying that we could keep things under control but he got up there and preached like was made for it. He was cracking jokes and talking some smack on me and my companion and he wouldn't sit down haha so finally with a lot of silent prayers offed be me and probably others he started to wrap things up, but he didn't know how to close it so he just said yall say a prayer with me so he bowed his head and said the lords prayers and the rest of the ward was really good sports about it. and then he turned around and shook everyone in the bishoprics hand and then sat down hahah it was awesome. Only in Louisiana I hope yall have an awesome week!!! I love you so much!! 1 year down and 1 to go! Love Mud :)

July 27th, 2015

Just so happy to be talking to you today! I've been going through the refiners fire this week and am so glad that I made it to the best time of the week. Talking with you!! :) How about you?It's mostly just me being impatient with myself in trying to be better. I just need to drink some more dew, I am pretty sure the dew from the mountains grows patience. :) yall are the best! It sounds like you have had a pretty good week! This week has been a pretty mellow one for me just a lot of planning and teaching. My companion always tells me that I am like a Catholic because I always have to stand up and sit back down during our studies. I know how important that planning and our studies our but I just have so much Dye in me sometimes that I can't just sit there and talk about doing things for another minute I just want to go and do it! But Heavenly Father is teaching me some patience. I was driving some missionaries in our sweet new Colorado back to their area after transfers and one of them was brand new and was asking me some questions and it just hit me that I wasn't the youngest one any more. I can't believe that it has gone by so fast and is almost half over! I really wish that I could be better about writing yall but things have just been crazy lately. But it's not because I don't love your and not because I don't love to talk to you and hear from you. So pretty much I love your letters but I am kind of a slug and it is hard to have time to write back haha We went and saw one of our investigators and his name is Charles Bordelon he is an awesome guy! He was in a lot of pain and he just started cussin me out and putting together some wicked combinations and it made me laugh really hard. It made me not miss Steve, Don, Judy, and Tammy so much (James and Becky never really swore at me but I miss them to) haha Louisiana is exactly where I need to be haha Things are going good! I am happy and healthy so I really can't complain, the work is slow but we will just keep trying our best and keep learning patience :) Alright I will shape up and he us right. I had a really cool experience the other day though. I was getting frustrated about something and I was fixin to have to say some bad words and throw some things if you know what I mean. and just before I was ready to blow I got the very strong thought and impression "Sister Dutson has been praying for you, and has given you the strength to not get mad if you will accept it." It was crazy so I mellowed out and was very grateful for Sister Dutson. Would you please tell her thanks for me? I love and miss yall so much!! Love mud

July 21, 2015

My amazing family! I love yall so much! I am so glad to hear that things are still going good for you! I am staying in Pineville for another transfer! It is going to be a good time. We are getting another truck so I am sold haha This week has been a really good one! The people hear in Louisiana are crazy but so am I a little bit so we fit in together well. :) We were eating dinner with a struggling member her name is Sister Williams and her 8 year old grandson really wanted to drive his lawn mower around the yard but it wouldn't start so he snuck and got his grandmas truck keys and hooked up the jumper cables to jump the lawn mower while we were eating. But he hooked them up backwards on accident so he comes running in screaming and we go outside and there is smoke everywhere and the rubber is melting off of the cables like crazy. So I just reach to grab one of the cables but my companion rebukes me and tells me that it will be to hot. and the next thing I know somebody through a baby at me and told me to hold it (don't tell my mission president) haha and she grabbed them with a towel so that it didn't burn her fingers off. The south is just awesome! They also found their pet pig again so they were really excited. I love Louisiana!! Love Mud :)

July 13th, 2015

My wonderful family!!! I sure love yall! It sounds like you have had quite the week! I'm glad that girls camp went well and that everyone is feeling a little bit better now! This week has been a really good one! I went on two exchanges this week, one in Leesville and the other in Marksville and it was a good time. I went with Elder Forbush first in Leesville and we had a lot of fun and worked hard. We helped somebody move for a few hours and it was a huge move. We filled up a whole semi truck trailer with some pretty impressive packing if you as me. He is a good ol Cowboy Rodeo guy from Draper Utah so we got along really well. Maybe if I'm lucky we'll get to be companions some time. Then we I went to Marksville with Elder Taylor and we ate a bunch of cinnamon rolls so you know that I was happy haha I sure love being a missionary here! I hope that yall have an awesome week!!!