Week 6 -- A GREAT Stake Conference

Dad and Mom,

Stake conference was pretty awesome! President and Sister Mckee came up to conference, the mission president and his wife. He seriously has high hopes for me. and the assistant, Elder Adams, he's from Gilbert, AZ too, said that he's heard good news about me and to keep up my hard work. I pray everyday that I can have the strength to give it my all and so far its working. Biscuits and Bluegrass got cancelled.. but hopefully I'll get to serve in Paducah so I can go to that. The members of the stake are awesome they are so nice! I met so many members.

Yeah I've been to Paducah Kentucky like 4 times i think so far. It is so pretty, There definitely are more hillbilly villages out there. The locals call those boonies! HahH.  Next time I'll try to take a picture of the boonies. I was only in Mayfield from last Monday night to about Wednesday afternoon. That is a very small town, but lots of country houses, farms and ranches. And they're really sweet and cheap!

I guess in Kentucky you don't have to have tags to go hunting because a less active member in Mayfield said he killed a deer out in his land. Lots of people have there own ponds. That would be pretty cool if Grandpa got to fill his pond.

Could you call Tami, Rhett's mom, and get his address from him and ask JD's and Jamison's parents for their addresses. That stinks for JD I really hope he recovers fast from his surgery.

Gracie is so awesome! The spirit is so strong that every time we come over.  We all cry.   But for some reason she is holding back. I know that she will come around and want to  be baptized. She actually was interested in coming to church with us this week so I hope she will come!

Elder Barnes was super different. I don't say weird cause you said that was rude to say so i'll say different. He just talked about how he's a ladies man at college and out in the field.  He wants to be a marshal cause he is all bad. He called me to passive and said football was for pansies, while he played a stupid instrument on the field at half times.  But surprisingly I just laughed and said whatever. Sometimes he does get close to crossing that line,  but Elder Tondevold just says some missionaries are just like that and are very prideful.   I'm so lucky to be with Elder Tondevold he teaches me so much everyday.

I got a letter from Conner but not from Scott. There are these flea markets here so I'm gonna look for belt buckles! I don't know what to get Dad for his birthday, I was gonna look at this country home store thing but I don't know. I'm gonna send him something with a Confederate flag wrapped around it!! HaHa. There are confederate flags everywhere and all the missionaries collect different ones. I'm gonna start.

Well I love you so much, and in your letters back tell me some suggestions for his birthday.

Love Elder Vaughn Dee Perkins

Week 5 -- Happy Halloween

Mom and Dad,

I am doing so much better this week! Today we are doing exchanges so hopefully the mail will get to our apartment before i leave! I am going to Mayfield Kentucky for a day or two and will be with Elder Barnes. He definitely is very different, but I know this is going to be a great experience for me. I am really excited to go there cause that's a real small town and the Elders live out in the country with a family. They live in this small apartment above there garage.

Our stake conference is this weekend and its out in Paducah. SSaturday we got invited to go to "biscuits and blue grass" haha. Its the ward mission leader up in Paducah and we will have breakfast while listening to blue grass music. Then we go geo cashing, I'm sure it will be fun.

We are teaching this older lady named Gracie and she is looking for an answer for why her grandson had died so young and that he was so close to Christ. She isn't a member but she knows about the Book of Mormon and other stuff.  Last night we were teaching her and we had decided that she is not going to progress if she doesn't have a goal. Elder Tondevold read Alma 34: the last four verses.  It is talking about the fruit of the tree and that's our goal. We said "Gracie one day you will face Jesus Christ and he will wrap his arms around you then he will step to the side and you will see Miles, her grandson, and you will get to live with him forever."  Now she is a strong, not taking any crap, woman, and she started to cry and the spirit was so strong. to be honest I started to tear up to. That definitely was my favorite lesson so far.

I will definitely pray for Mr. Simms.  You know what you might want to do, invite the missionaries over to his house and have you and dad or Brother and Sister Montgomery go to the lessons with him.  I really think that would help and having a member there makes it more spiritual!

It rains once or twice a week, but it does get cold. BUT I LIKE IT BETTER THAN THE HEAT!!!  I think today I am getting another blanket at the store.  Oh and I hope my stories are entertaining cause everyday I see something very interesting.  HaHa. Well I've got two stories to tell you...

First.. we went to some little backwoods group of houses trying to find a less active person who started going back to church. He lives in this super old trailer but he nailed wood around it so it looks like a house. It was pretty weird. The inside was nuts. There were no lights but a big tv with Dish.  There were posters of mythical creatures and scary things everywhere, next to what I guessed are pictures of his family. We went in and I went to sit on his couch, and my bumm hit the floor; so I bounced right back up.  I looked and there was a huge hole in the couch; it was basically a frame of the couch. But I love Brother Barbeau.  Definitely going to all these crazy places makes me realize how important college and how lucky we are as a family.  

Second... we went to a real small town called Hardin and went tracting. We knocked on this guys house and he came out and after we introduced ourselves he said he has been looking for a church to go to because he's trying to turn his life around.   He was an alcoholic and drug addict, but recently sobered up. He wishes he would have been religious like his family because he knows that Jesus Christ can help him.. so we taught him about the life of Jesus Christ, the Atonement and the Book of Mormon on his front porch.   Then the spirit had told me to tell about Uncle Craig, but I was being dumb and saying that's personal and so I didn't. But in my studies every time we talk of him i get the feeling to tell him. So tomorrow I'm going to bring it up if the spirit tells me too. When you have a personal story to tell the investigator it is so much more powerful and the spirit is so much stronger also. So hopefully it will touch his heart and he will act on our message and accept our invitations to church and baptism.

You are so right.  I am so blessed to have the friends I had through high school.  We had kept each other in line and did our best to do what is right.  Well i hope today I'll get your package! Oh...I took some sweet pictures of places where we walked and knocked doors! I'll print them out today and send them to you with my letter.

I love you so much and thank you for all you do.

Elder Perkins