Fast Sunday and a Fast Week

Spiritual: I never really believed in the stories about praying at every street, but on Saturday we were about 30 minutes away from the main city of Arkadelphia and we were really worried about whether we should try one more person or go home. Usually this would be obvious, but some Arkansas rain had rolled in and it was fast and furious. We prayed about it in our car on the side of this ghetto dirt road and Sister Decker and i both felt like we should go home. It was a pretty crazy experience. I know now that praying in harmony will give harmonious answers to all involved.

Funny: So we were trying to find our way to this member's house and we are on bikes and we've already been pedaling hard for like 3 miles up and down hills. So we come to an intersection and choose to go straight because our technology told us there were two ways to get to that house. So we go down one hill and are in the process of huffing and puffing up the other side when we realize that we have crossed onto the nearby Baptist college campus. Whoops. The campus is currently full of summer camp kids and they literally stopped in their tracks and stared at us. We really were just trying not to die on the hill and it was so embarrassing. We sped right out of the hostile territory. They don't really like the Mormon missionaries over there.

Where I'm at: I just finished up my second week in Arkadelphia Arkansas. We are finally free from bike week (#RIPbikeweek) and life is so good! The food has been great so far and we have one really solid investigator who has a baptismal date set for next week. Time has already started flying by and i am thriving in my own rights. My companion and i laugh together a lot and I am pretty competent at talking to strangers, but not yet great at chasing after cars. I'm working on it :) #literallyagoal

Have a blessed day!

Sister Emma Black

I have also included a couple of answers to questions I asked her about miscellaneous things in her life:
~How are your clothes holding up? Most of my clothes are doing great, but I've learned that some of the skirts are really hard to bike in. Specifically straight skirts. I did not bring as many outfit variations, but I think people here don't really care about appearances. It's been crazy to see that most people of any religion wear normal modest clothes. I think I had this assumption that non-Mormon=immodest. 
~What is your biggest surprise so far? Probably my capacity to ride a bike. I'm even faster than my companion currently. We can get up to 25 mph on hills. I'm strong and can endure so I promote biking. 
My other biggest surprise is that I don't think the fact that I'm on a mission has hit me yet. It just feels like another good part of my life, but I think I expected that I would feel this integrated piece of natural understanding and this authority because of my calling and setting apart.
~What has been your happiest moment? Today after we cleaned the house Sister Decker painted my toenails. They are now black and yellow and awesome. Did I mention that she is like a perfect match for me?  🙂
Another happiest moment was when I got to go to companionship inventory and I didn't have and feelings of faults that I had. We were able to come to the conclusion that we treat each other as equals and so we are very unified. I think the Branch can see it too and so they are already beginning to trust us more and we can see miracles happening.
~What do you think of the fireflies, especially since you are just looking at them and not eating them? Fireflies are so pretty! I like how they come out early enough that i can see them before i have to be in.
~What do you think of being in a branch? The branch is a little more challenging than i expected because we don't want to use the same people time and time again, but it is a big temptation. Summertime is helping us branch out more.

~What is your favorite food you have eaten?  I really enjoy all food, but I think my favorite has been chicken n' dumplings from cracker barrel. Most people take us out to eat because they don't have much free time.