Osage Beach

This week was pretty good a lot has happened well we have officially two baptisms set up for November second. J who is the man and DJ we are teaching Dj's daughter N but she is still not sure she just needs to read. I have a pretty funny story for you this week at least its funny to me I hope you guys enjoy it. So I was on exchanges with our District Leader Elder Montano and we were teaching J the Word of Wisdom because he has a few minor problems with it. He was pretty ecstatic about the whole thing; I told him the first step is to remove all temptations and right then and there he got up in the middle of me saying that got all the beer from his fridge and gave me his tobacco and said here you go. After we said a prayer and finished up he was looking at his Busch Lite and was like "oh s___ what have I done" but we comforted him and then we went outside and opened it all up and dumped it in a dumpster. He was doing pretty good for the first couple of days and then Saturday his mom was getting married and at the reception he drank...a lot he showed up at our door a little after 6:30 A.M. on Sunday right as we were getting up and was like, "yep I turned into bad J last night" We said that it was most likely gonna happen and that he could still overcome it; well after talking to him he took us to the diner close by and bought us Biscuits and Gravy it was sweet then he went home got dressed and came with us to church. As for other news elder Horlacher is getting transferred and I am getting Elder Archibald who I know a little. As far as other people we are seeing DJ and N are pretty good it is going to suck getting her to quit smoking she goes through a pack when we are teaching her not to smoke, I guess it is better than crack. N just needs to read and she will commit to baptism and DJ's oldest daughter who has gone through a lot actually wants to talk too. This last week she was free from work and school so we taught her the Restoration and if we keep meeting her consistently then she will be baptized too. So good things are happening. Again why is everybody dying the news about Jake is a bummer. I swear I don't think I am getting that old why is everybody dying it is strange. So Brother Howell keeps me updated College football wise he is a bigtime fan so He knows that he needs to give me an ASU update. I am glad about Wisconsin and I had a little more hope for Stanford I predicted the loss but not by that much that stinks. Seems like they had a really rough game I hope they bounce back though I still have hope. Yes! everybody in Missouri smokes, drinks, and has awesome beards. Brother Stokes in our ward has a glorious beard it goes down past his chest. I am going to have one just like it. Jesus had a beard so can I. Sorry for emailing on Monday again we are hanging out with Camdenton elders again. Elder Heywood

Osage Beach

What up family okay I am sorry I told you guys I would never email Mondays but I am in Camdenton for the day so I have the oppurtunity to email on Mondays because their Library is open on Mondays. The baptism went really good I'll send you a picture it was a good bunch that are in it with me. To be honest this week was a little crazy first part of the week we had exchanges with district leader then a day later we had the Assistants over for an exchange and then two days after that the Zone Leaders came out with us for an exchange so a lot of running around but it was all good. So J is going to be baptized Nov. 2 he one of our investigators he is a really cool guy later this week we are going to go hiking with him. He is doing good just needs some time he needs to be married and stop drinking both easy things just have to get the deal done and all that stuff. Dj and N are our other investigators who are going to be baptized they are both girls one is a mom (DJ) and the other is her daughter. They are pretty set to go the mom just needs to give up smoking which will take some time, but all is goods in the woods. Notice I didn't say hood because we don't have hoods up here just woods. This last week I went to a Jamaican restaurant with my companion and one of our zone leaders elder tateouli (not quite sure if I spelled it right) we had a good time they had a few legit jamaican chefs that came out and talked to us. The dude was straight out from Jamaica and his favorite artist was Boys II Men and Backstreet Boys. Nothing wrong with either band but it caught me off guard I thought he was going to be reggae all the way but I was wrong. Another interesting thing is that we had the Laurie Hillbilly fair this last weekend not going to lie it was pretty lame it was like the Houston Carnival but for an entire town and I am pretty sure more people show up for the Houston Carnival. My companion Elder Horlacher bought a cane he is kind of like Chris when Chris was really obsessed with brief cases but he buys canes and hats and some other stuff, but that makes it all the more better being with Elder Horlacher. So I haven't told you the last couple of weeks I keep forgetting but something awesome and amazing happens about once a week. We have this guy in the Ward named Bro. H just a normal down to earth guy and he has had surgery so we go and visit him and what not. Well the guy and his wife have five monkeys and we go in and teach then we say whats up to the monkeys. They are capuchin (not sure if I spelled that right) but they are sweet and only one of them is mean. The most of them wear diapers and a few sleep with them. Oh man it is crazy but their house is really nice though it smells a bit like..... Well I think that is all I have for now. Peace

Osage Beach

Hi there Momma Bear everything is going good our baptism for T is this Saturday I'll send you a picture you'll see what a true Missiourian looks like. Yeah Logan is in the MTC I got a small message from him and he seems to be doing good. He told me that the Gospel is true and like every other MTC missionary that means that he is enjoying for reelz. He said his companion is a little odd but we are all kind of odd. I was so sad to hear about Katie I read her email before yours and I was excited beyond all reason then very sad but I can assure you that all my prayers are going to be focused for that little baby. If it Gods will that it will live,it will live. And Kimberlee now that is weird where do these random weird illnesses come from and why do they keep happening in my stomping grounds? Well I wish the best for her. Things are starting to wind down season wise here in Missouri it is still green and warm but I can feel it in my bones and to be honest even though I hate the cold this will be the first time I ever live in snow so I am kind of excited but two weeks into winter and I'll probably be complaining. Trees are not really turning yet but it sound like near the end of September they all fall victim I can't believe we are in September and almost halfway through by the end of this week. So things are going good in Laurie I have the feeling that I will be here for a long time but anything can happen. Most of our investigators are pretty non-committal so we are at the pivotal moment of dropping the lot of them and finding newbies in a town of 900 which can be hard. Only few are progressing. T will be baptized and confirmed the only problem with him and his wife (who is already baptized) is that they live about 50-60 miles from church and their car is a piece, and all the members on this side of the lake aren't the kind of people who have the time or money to pick them up so we run into problems there. Others are J who is a nice guy and he likes to learn but I don't think he has a real desire to be baptized I think he is learning just to learn. Then we have DJ and N. DJ is a girl and Naomi is her daughter and they are doing good and probably our best chance of joining but DJ has a very bad habit of smoking and I think it will be hard to crack her habit. I personally think if the daughter goes through with it that will be the best chance we have so wish us luck on that. But those are all the ones who we are keeping as investigators. So talk about the biggest miracle of the week Dad watching a TV show I never thought I would see the day. The end is surely coming soon! haha Jokes! Jokes! but really that is strange. Oh and the dude you are thinking of with the limp is Dickie Bennett he is also Daniel Faraday on lost but his role as Dickie was better. Well that is all that is happening with myself, the church is true and peace out!

Osage Beach

So I am sorry I am writing Tuesday but tomorrow is very busy so we chose to write today. Basically I will write any day of the week except for Sunday and Monday those are the days the Library is closed.

Well this week is good we have a baptism coming up for the fourteenth and his name is T he is the one who lives in the shack and has all the dogs and goats and cats and whatever else. He is a very quiet but nice fellow and it will be cool to see him baptized. We have just been visiting a lot of people and trying to do our best. This last week was the only week where I would have agreed that is was hot, but it wasn't AZ hot. I just hated the feeling of being sticky especially dressed up in Missionary attire it bothered me but oh well. So this last week since I wrote... we had a Zone Conference Elder Ellis the area seventy spoke and it was very good and as always very inspirational; missionaries need that every one in a while.

After the Zone Conference we ran out of miles to drive the truck so we were forced to walk to where ever we went and it just happened to be the hottest week in the year. So we walked and visited our peeps. There are a few people that are pretty promising and hopefully will be baptized soon. We have the P's who are a young couple that are really nice. S the girl is very nice but shy and J is a real character he reminds me of someone but I can't seem to remember who it is... Well they are doing good they are just busy like a young couple always is and we need to get them married and all the good stuff like that. Piece of cake, the good thing is that they don't have terrible word of wisdom problems like the other 98% of Missouri. Whhhoooo Hoooo. Well the other Investigator is DJ who is a girl and N her daughter they are pretty promising just encouraging them to read. She unfortunately has a smoking problem but we will work with that. Also we have to find them a ride to church because they don't have a car so a lot of work to do but it is easier then getting the gopher out of his hole.

With the holiday the lake was crowded yesterday just as it is on the weekend, we tried fishing but had no luck. But on the weekdays especially early morning the lake is calm and just trying to torment me. Well it has been good. I'll catch you guys later. Logan goes to the MTC tomorrow. I think Colton gets his call this week. Well lot going on. Peace.

Osage Beach

Well this new area is pretty crazy everybody around is pretty nice even though they don't talk to us. Within weeks you can meet everybody in the town because there is only like 900 people. I though my last two places were small towns. Well the boat races were pretty sweet I wish I took pictures of all the boats they were crazy awesome. The most expensive boat was like 5 million dollars 250,000 of that was strictly in the paint job, it also had two helicopter engines that powered it. I know Dad would have liked to been there to check out the boats and all their hardware.

Well everything is going good like I said we have 5 active members on our side of the lake so we are desperately trying to get less actives and investigators baptized. We have a few promising investigators and investigators. Nobody wants to drive into Osage Beach to go to church. They don't realize the blessings that they are missing out on and they honestly don't care so the fun begins.

Some crazy things happened this week we cut down a tree for service at an investigators house, but the problem was they didn't have an chainsaw, axe, saw or anything. All they had was a blunt hatchet that we couldn't sharpen, some wedges, and a hammer that you pound nails in around the house and the tree was good size. So we found a rope tied it to the top and I had Elder Horlacher bounce up and down on the rope while with I small hammer tried to pound these wedges in. It sucked and after two hours it came down. This week I also caught 8 roosters with two little kids, because one of the members in the area wanted them so he could eat them. It took us a long while to get those buggers. I will also be participating in the slaughtering of these roosters. Also we had a recent convert who wanted the sacrament at her house so we brought it to her, and we did it outside because their shack was too small. Outside they have eight dogs, numberless amount of cats, and 3 goats. So while I was kneeled down blessing the water. I had Goats coming up sniffing my face, cats trying to steal the leftover bread, and two dogs sniffing my back end and the other six barking. They were thankful and I guess they felt the spirit somehow because it was nuts.

Elder Horlacher is good just kind of quiet but he is a nice guy and I am enjoying my time working with him. Once you get him talking he is pretty funny. Well I sent you a letter yesterday. These older people in our ward are kind of obsessed with me because I am from AZ and it turns out that I am related to them and they invited us over and showed how we were related. It turns out I am also distantly related to Elder Horlacher and the Prophet Joseph Smith. The letter explains it better, but they are nice and they helped us out with the genealogy.

Well that is mostly it for this week I do love this area it is a pretty sweet place and I am having some good fun. Well Peace. Can't wait to slaughter those roosters it is going to be a good chicken fry

Osage Beach

Bass Pro Shop Deluxe



Luke & Logan in Lebanon Missouri



View of Lake of the Ozarks from Mission Leaders House



Osage Beach

Well hey howdy hey what is up everybody? Okay so a pretty big change. The library up here is closed on Monday's so I will be writing either Tuesdays or Wednesdays, most likely Wednesdays, Tuesdays are kind of busy. I am only writing today on Thursday because we ran into some trouble yesterday. One of the lady's they just baptized up here; her and her husband have been having car trouble the registration is three years expired, it has a leaking brake line, and the road to their house is so rough that a tire gets flat about once a month. So we helped them almost all day yesterday. Sorry I wish I could have come and said I'll email you tomorrow or something I know how you freak out about these things. Well Leaving Lebanon was a bummer things were going good and me and elder Babb were just having a blast. But all things must come to an end. I'll send you pictures of our departure they were pretty good. Well so transfers I met up with Horlacher he is a very nice kid. He loves yu-gi-oh and vanguard and stuff like that. He wants to be a video game designer. He has flaming orange hair. And he is awesome he is easy going and you can work with because he is fun to talk to. So I like him a lot and we will have fun. So about the area it is pronounced exactly like it is spelled O, Sage people in Missouri aren't the smartest so everything is pronounced exactly how it is spelled, one town near by is Versailles and they pronounce it Ver Sales silly right? Well we live in Laurie so not in Osage we have one big ward and we have four elders that share it. The Camdenton Elders, and the Laurie Elders, Us or Laurie is the more beaten down redneck side of the lake. We have 4 active members on this side of the lake and a lot of work to do. That is why they split it up is because the Osage elders wouldn't venture up into our neck of the woods unless they had too. We live about 30-40 miles away from the church building so that kind of stinks, but oh well I love it up here and Yes! it stinks looking at the lake every single day but awesome. By the way, look at Lake of the Ozarks Shootout its like the biggest boat race in North America and it is happening Saturday everything is getting pretty crazy all these rich guys are coming in from out of town with these huge speed boats all ready to race in the shootout. So crazy story I am at church meeting everybody and then some guy comes up and says I heard one of you is from AZ. Every ward I have been in there has been people from AZ but no one that I ever knew or knew someone they knew. He comes up tells me he lives in Mesa and then I start to talk to him a bit about AZ then he looks at my tag and says Heywood. HuH? Are you related to a Parker and I said Yep! that man is as mean as a snake! not really I said he is my brother then he said that Parker was in Montana and he had Filibertos with him a few weeks previous. I guess he originally comes from Missouri but he lives in AZ currently. So that was pretty cool and then he got a pic with me and that is where that comes from. I really like it up here it is beautiful our ward mission leader, Brother Howell is a cool guy, and he has like my dream house I'll show you a pic. It is up on a hill overlooking the lake and you walk down like 50 yards and you are on his dock on the lake. That lucky dog. Well it awesome. So we got a lot of work to do getting members active working with the investigators. The one lady that we helped with her car her and her husband live in a shack, probably the size of our family room, they have goats that live in a beat up mobile home behind their shack and they have twelve dogs that bark every time you drive up, and one that as you walk nips at your heels I hate that thing. Well she has a hurt leg because one of her Male goats rammed her and broke it a while back so it is kind of messed up. it is interesting on this side of the lake. But I love it here, I love Horlacher, and everything is good except for the fact that I am not with the Babb. Well I'll send pictures now and don't call Pres. I will email most likely Wednesday of next week. Your Son