After-Christmas Blues (12/30/2013)

Some people think that spending time with their families is far more important than visiting with missionaries. Well I am here to tell you that that is FALSE! 

I promise that last statement was a joke...

 

But that pretty much sums up our week. We've had numerous cancelled appointments from investigators, and it makes us wants to curl up in the corner of our apartment and cry ;( Our holidays were crazy fantastic though! We got fed TWICE on Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and even BOXING day! But the food caught up to us and made us verrrrrrrryyyy sleepy... We spent lots of time with members and got to hang out with them. I had an AMAZING visit with my family on Christmas morning! I even got to hear my dad say a blessing over the breakfast that I didn't get to eat! I really enjoyed hearing from them... 

 

My companions and I are continuing to plug along with our energetic enthusiasm to make it through this holiday season! My 2014 will be entirely consumed with missionary work! Can't think of anything more exciting than that! I'm excited to see what comes, and I'm looking forward to a fresh new year!

Happy New Year,

Elder Garner

The Methodical Methods of the Methodists (12/23/2013)

This week was plagued with sickness and affliction! Turns out my cold didn't go away... It came back just before Christmas to spite me. Luckily it's going away, and I hope to feel 100% better by Christmas. Is anyone happy that it's Christmas Adam today???? 

 

Last Monday I got to go with the Zone Leaders to Ada, which believe it or not was actually pretty exciting. It costs an arm and a leg on our miles to go somewhere outside our area, so exploring a new town was lots of fun. Plus Ada is four times the population of Sulphur, so there's an actual civilization over there. We did some window shopping at Hibbett Sports and later on went to Ada's LDS building to hang out with the Ada missionaries. Ada's church building used to be a Methodist building, and the layout is very different from a usual LDS building! It's got two floors, and the handicap bathrooms are upstairs.... I wonder whose brilliant idea that was!  

 

Wednesday we got to go watch one of Tammy's middle school concerts! That was fun, and it was a good way to break up our usual morning routine. It kind of reminded me of my middle school days.... Ha, those were some awkward days. The students weren't Bingham High School Madrigals or Jazz Choir by any means, but they still did a good job :) We confirmed Tammy yesterday, and the branch sustained her as a new member of the church! Her parents were pretty excited for her! 

 

Thursday was when the sickness started setting in... bleeehhhhh but on Friday we had our Christmas Conference up in Norman! Like all other conferences, this one was awesome. We had an awesome lunch AND dinner made by the Relief Society of the Norman Stake! We had some good representation from Pauls Valley up there! It was good to see some missionary friends up there. We even had a singing portion where we sang Christmas hymns and heard other missionaries sing solos! Great spiritual atmosphere!

 

Sunday was by far the most entertaining day this week. The other elders in Pauls Valley had one of their investigators get baptized yesterday, which was good for them. Later on that evening we went to a Methodist church in Sulphur that a lady we know invited us to. Since our church conveniently starts at the same time as her's, she invited us to one of her "healing sessions" later on that night since we couldn't go to her service. Needless to say it was an interesting experience... hahaha. We were the only guys there, and the rest of them were old ladies! SWEET old ladies! Hahaha. They were super friendly though, and very sincere people. I've heard that Methodists have very similar beliefs to the LDS church. For their healing session they brought oil and even laid their hands on people! The lady that invited us, Bobby, even let us pray a couple times for people in the congregation. Kinda exciting and scary at the same time! It was interesting to see how these people practice their beliefs. They praised us for the work that we as missionaries have done, and they even prayed for us! I definitely hope our example brought down some barriers and let them know that we're good people spreading a good word! 

I hope all y'all have a wonderful Christmas. I'm sure looking forward to mine! Always remember what the Savior's done for us and His atoning sacrifice, and the precious gift that God has given to all His children. 

 

Elder Garner

Seven Months for Six Baptisms (12/16/2013)

This title would be SO much cooler if it was seven baptisms! Oh well.... You theater people will hopefully understand this reference. This week was a lot more productive than last week! Our weather's been much more favorable, and all the ice has been melting throughout the week! Everyone is looking forward to Christmas and the holiday season! But not the ice storms....

On Tuesday we went exploring in a new town called Dougherty (pronounced Darty) several miles south of Davis. I'd never gone there before with Elder Kahawaii, so the three of us decided to check it out. We did some tracting there and found some awesome people just living the secluded life down in no man's land! The drive down there reminded me a lot of Utah for some reason.... Lots of hills—something pretty uncommon in Oklahoma! On Wednesday we got to go caroling with a couple members at the Veteran's Hospital just south of Sulphur--another place I'd never visited before. It was SWEET! The nurses and the patients were so grateful for having us there singing to them. Some of them even got emotional! Awesome experience....

The big events of the week happened over the weekend. We had our branch Christmas party on Saturday. The turnout was astounding! There were less active members I'd never even met before! Tammy and her family showed up, and they had an awesome time there. Elder Fairbourn even got the branch to stand up and play Simon Says. Now mind you, he's a retired school teacher, so he knew ALL the ways to stump his students and end up making them lose! Guys, get this, I WAS THE LAST PERSON STANDING. AND HE EVEN GAVE UP ON ME BECAUSE I DID EVERYTHING SIMON SAID TO DO! I basically felt like a boss. 

But here's the moral of the story: When we do the things that Simon (the Lord) tells us to do and not the things He says not to, we will not fall. If we remain obedient, we will stand tall and not have to sit down in shame from messing up. The best part? Simon's commands are simple, so it makes it possible for everyone to obey them! The Lord doesn't give us more than we can handle! 

Last of all, Tammy's baptism was incredible. At seven months of serving a mission, this was definitely the best way of "celebrating" it. We cleared several hurdles that her mom had. Through the spirit we were able to resolve conflicts with her family as well as help build their faith. It was an incredible experience for the whole family to be there and to watch her. Tammy will be such a light to her family.... Her mom is changing and wanting to be more of an inspiration for Tammy. And this time, the water was filled up enough, so I didn't have to perform the baptism twice like I did with Carol back in July! Haha, for real though, there's nothing like watching people changing their lives to seek the blessings of the gospel.

I hope y'all have the BEST holiday season ever!

—Elder Garner

With Santa at the branch Christmas party!

With Tammy, their investigator that was baptized this past Sunday.

Elder Linam (left), Tammy, and Elder Zeyer.  The three elders are in a threesome companionship right now.

BORED Games (12/09/2013)

We're all having a holly jolly Christmas in Sulphur,Oklahoma! We just passed "Trainer Call Saturday" to find out that none of us will be training this next transfer. You know what that means, right? Transfer calls come this Sunday! Out of the five full-time missionaries serving in Pauls Valley Branch, I've been here the longest, so we're all thinking I'm getting transferred. You'll find out next week what the results will be. For now I've held off on giving friends my mailing address because I don't want letters to get sent only to have to possibly move out on the 18th! This transfer, like every other transfer, has gone by super fast—partially because it's only 5 weeks long! 

 

This week was kind of a flop due to all the weather we've gotten. We had a fantastic zone p-day in Ardmore with everyone before the snowstorms hit us. We got to play Ultimate and flag football! On Tuesday we had an awesome miracle! We went tracting in the north part of town and ran into a guy who let us pray with him and even teach the Restoration! Whenever we go tracting we usually just pray with people and set a return appointment, but this was the first time in my mission I'd ever knocked on someone's door and taught them the Restoration in their home on the spot! The guy, Joseph, was already so happy with what we taught him and invited us back to teach his family! He told us how much joy he'd felt from us being there and teaching him! Probably the best miracle of the week....

 

Later on that night we got to eat with Tammy's family and help them set up their Christmas tree! Her baptism is this Sunday on the 15th and WE'RE SO FLIPPIN STOKED!!!!!! I'm performing the baptism! We're super excited for her and for her family. Tammy's faith's gotten so strong. She's gotten everything thrown at her, yet her testimony's super strong! As long as Tammy's baptized, I won't feel too about leaving Sulphur if and when it happens. 

Thursday was when the storms hit us.... All the cars in the OKC mission got grounded, and the zone leaders told us to stay inside since the roads were really bad. Friday wasn't much better... Our district meeting got cancelled, and we were confined to our apartment for most of the day. We were only allowed to set appointments with people if they were within walking distance. Luckily the Vineyards, our investigator family, lives close to us! So we got to spend time with them/teach a discussion to them. They gave us Monopoly and Battleship to curb our boredom. Sooooooo what did we do once we waddled like penguins back to our apartment? You got it. Saturdaywe got permission to go to one of Elder Linam's old investigator's baptism up in Seminole. Probably not the best idea... The roads were COVERED with ice. Luckily our Corolla survived the roads and we made it back safely! Later on that day we went to a member's home and taught her granddaughter and made wreaths out of hangers and garbage bag shreds! Trust me, it's more entertaining than it sounds, especially when you have nothing to do in your apartment. Church was cancelled on Sunday--or so we thought--and all of our appointments fell through, sooooo what did we do?

 

We played 138 rounds of Uno for almost 8 hours. 

From sunup to sundown. It was RIDICULOUS! We even forgot to eat dinner! We calculated 18 rounds of Uno per hour... We even took a tally of how many times we won, and we came to find out that there is little strategy in Uno, because all three of us won nearly the same amount of games. Look at us statisticians! Anyway, that's our week. The car ban has been lifted only for driving on main roads, which doesn't really make much of a difference in our area. We've heard more storms are coming in, so we'll see what happens! Stay tuned for transfer calls next week!

Elder Garner

 

P.S. Oklahomans cancel school whenever it snows... K, Utah didn't even cancel school when there were BLIZZARDS. Oklahoma snow is nothing compared to Utah snow! 

Okie Thanksgiving (12/02/2013)

Sulphur is covered in fog today. Kinda cool but kinda sketchy at the same time. This fog is perfect timing, because I really feel that we missionaries just need to hide from everyone in Sulphur right now. We had an interesting week...

Shortly after I emailed last week, I was approached by a man named Jeffrey, who's supposedly a member and hasn't been to church in years. He was desparate for company. He talked to me like he was on the run or something! He sounded pretty emotionally unstable. We gave him the church address so he could come on Sunday (which he didn't). He said he wanted us to "be [his] witnesses..." Interesting stuff. We tried visiting him yesterday, but his neighborhood is gated, and we don't have an access code. We haven't seen him since.

Tuesday was another interesting day... Remember the member I told you about that fed us Pizza Hut??? The awkward dinner date??? Well, his son and daughter-in-law, named Mark and Lori, also happen to live in Sulphur. They are both less active. Last Saturday we visited them and talked about eternal marriage with them. They've been working on quitting bad habits and going to the temple to become sealed--and honestly it was the most progress I'd ever seen with them since I've been here in Sulphur. So the three of us were SUPER excited for them! Then three days later, this past Tuesday, things took a nosedive. We were done for the day, in our apartment, and changed into regular clothes when Mark's dad, Charles, called us and asked us to call his son. Apparently Mark and Lori got in a HUGE fight and didn't want to get sealed anymore. We called Mark, and he told us to go to the Shell Gas Station (where Lori works) and talk to her. Okay, we aren't supposed to get involved with personal issues like that. We told Mark that it wasn't right for us to get involved with their marriage. Long story short, he got super upset with us and hung up. He called us three more times complaining about how he's never treated right by the church and how "missionaries tried to choke him" and yada yada yada. He yacked and yacked for 15 solid minutes and wouldn't give us a chance to speak. See the correlation here??? So at 9:45 we disdainfully put our proselyting clothes back on and went over to Shell to talk to Lori. When we got there she seemed really upset and didn't want to open up. We tried comforting her and helping her out as best we could. After that we went home and went to bed!

The next day was a little better... Lori called us and wanted to talk to us, and she told us everything. We listened to her (something we hope Mark will do too!), and we came to find out Mark was drunk when he kept calling us... He even went over to our apartment to try to talk to us! Except we weren't there at the time... Anyway, long story short this place is full of drama, but it's full of people needing the gospel! On Wednesday before we talked to Lori the five of us sang at a funeral for a member that had passed away last week. None of us knew her, but the funeral was good. 

So now Thanksgiving... It's kinda weird that I did less on Thanksgiving than I did on Tuesday and Wednesday... For Thanksgiving we ate at the Fairbourns and had turkey, rolls, mashed potatoes, and the like. It was so good... Closest thing to home, that's for sure. We couldn't proselyte, so we played board games all day at the Fairbourn's. It was a super fun day!

Sunday was of course fast and testimony meeting. Tammy and her parents came. Her mom got up and bore her testimony in who knows how long, but she has come SUCH a long way since we've been meeting with her family. She was in tears, and I almost did too! It felt so amazing to hear her testimony and how much she loves us and her family! Probably the best thing that's happened this week! 

Today, I'm just coming off a cold I've had for a few days that started just before Thanksgiving. It's not fun being sniffly and sore throaty while being a missionary! But the Lord provides, and He watches out for us. We have zone P-day in Ardmore today. It's going to be a great week!

Love, 

Elder Garner

PS— You can NO LONGER send me letters and packages to the mission office address. You can still write to that address, but the mission office can't forward mail anymore. The only way to have anything sent to me is if the zone leaders pick it up. SO, effective IMMEDIATELY you must now send stuff to my apartment address in Sulphur, so here is the address:

 

Elder Chad Garner

1826 W. Muskogee Ave. Apt. 7

Sulphur, OK 73086

. . .  at least until the next transfer - haha!

Master, the Ice Storm is Raging (11/25/2013)

We definitely hit winter in Oklahoma, and it's NOT fun. The temperatures have plummeted down to the 20s! I've put that winter coat to good use and plan to use it some more!! 

 

Crazy news this week... We had our mission tour this week with Craig A. Cardon of the Seventy. We had a training by him and President Walkenhorst on Thursday for most of the day. I had to privilege to see a ton of missionaries and visit with them about their areas. Very few people haven't left the areas they served when I first showed up in the mission. Most missionaries have moved on to different areas and different companions and have a whole bunch of new stories. A lot of people in my first zone are gone now. It's now been six months! As tradition requires, you have to burn a tie to honor six months in the mission. So Elder Zeyer and I, both being at six months, burned one of our ties. Don't worry mom, it wasn't a good tie anyway! Back to mission tour. Elder Cardon shared a ton of insights and taught us how to invite investigators to pray without asking them to pray hoping they'll say yes. He talked a lot about being bold when teaching investigators, and he discussed training yourself to feel the spirit and differentiating between your thoughts and what the spirit is telling you. It was an excellent meeting! 

 

On Saturday we rode up to Norman with the Zone Leaders and attended the adult session of Stake Conference. Again, Elder Cardon was there. This time he emphasized member missionary work and gave special notice to the fact that missionaries were invited to attend the adult session this year when they normally aren't invited to do so! There were some excellent talks given and some amazing stories shared. If I had more time I would share some of them! It was lots of fun to see people from the Noble ward, and I even got to see Brother and Sister Komers, the parents of the three kids we got baptized in August and September! Good stuff... That night we had another sleepover in Pauls Valley so we wouldn't have to use miles. We were iced in on Sunday morning! And all the missionaries in the mission were grounded from using the cars! So the five of us got picked up by a member, and all five of us got stuffed in his tiny Ford Focus hatchback! At least we didn't have to worry about sliding all over the road from everybody's weight holding the car down! We made it to church at 10:30, and only 15 people were there. Not very many people braved the ice storm. Norman got a new stake president, President Saturthwaite (?) I can barely pronounce his name, much less spell it. Anyway, that was exciting. Luckily the mission president gave us permission to drive back to our area when all the ice had melted so we could get back to work. 

 

Those have been the main events of the week. The trio is working out fantastically. So far, the benefits are far outweighing the burdens. Lots of good things are getting done here. The Vineyards love us, and they're filled with questions about what we do and teach. Tammy is finished with her lessons, so we're reading out of the Book of Mormon with her and getting her ready. She is totally stoked for baptism. And I'm totally stoked for this transfer. Bomb. Diggity.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love, Elder Garner

Me and Elder Hale just before he went home! 

Our beds all pushed together...pretty ridiculous!

Elder Zeyer and I burned ties for our 6-month anniversary...haha

Passive Aggressive Punks (11/18/2013)

Transfers were AMAZING. So many changes took place this past Wednesday! Lots of missionaries going home, and lots more coming out. One of my buddies named Elder Hale went home, which was kinda sad. He was in my first district out here. We had a ton of visa-waiters come into the mission. Only two new areas opened up, so there are now several trio companionships throughout the mission—mine being one of them! Elder Hoddy finally left his first area and got transferred to Choctaw and replaced Elder Hale. The new elder that replaced me in Purcell three months ago is now going to Edmond. Lots of crazy stuff going on.... Much to my dismay (and at times relief) I am no longer the designated driver of the Foxy Wagg... Elder Zeyer is.... At least I don't have to be in charge of miles anymore! We've had to rearrange a lot of furniture to fit three guys. We had a get a bed set, a table, a chair, yada yada. Our bedroom looks so ridiculous... our beds make a U shape, Elder Zeyer can't even open his closet door all the way, Elder's Zeyer's left arm practically touches my head when we're asleep, and Elder Linam's feet almost touch my right leg. We had to move all the study desks out into the main room and put all the recliners in the other bedroom. It's really squishy in there, but it's lots of fun with three of us. 

 

Lately we've been doing lots and lots of tracting. On Thursday we knocked into five Spanish-speaking houses in a row! They all kinda looked at us and just smiled because they didn't understand anything we were saying, but at least they seem to like Jesus... haha. We've picked up a former investigator named Brian. His girlfriend got anti'd, but when we called him and taught him earlier this week we found out he wasn't with her anymore! He told us he wasn't interested in changing his ways, but then he told us later on that he wanted to be baptized. Jackpot! So we'll see where that goes. Tammy and her parents came to church yesterday!!! That was the best part of our Sunday. It's about time they did! A few days ago we tracted into an awesome family! It's a soon-to-be-single mom with three kids named the Vineyard family. Pretty appropriate name for such a Christian town.... Lots of doors slammed in our faces and lots of prayers said with the people of Sulphur.

 

On Sunday we got cussed out by this guy because our bikes were locked up at the street sign on his street corner, and he totally tried to pick a fight with us. He thought we were trying to steal stuff from his house.... Luckily nothing happened, but dude, come on... you'd go three against one? Please... just put that cranky attitude away and go play with your legos. When we left his yard—without any confrontation—he started following us in his car and waited at the gas station and watched us! He was totally creeping on us! Pretty sure that's more wrong than us locking our bikes to the street sign! If you even consider locking our bikes up wrong at all! Anyway, nothing bad happened to us.

But the guy doesn't know I memorize license plate numbers ;)

Love, 

Elder Stalker Elder Garner

The Three Stooges (11/11/2013)

Since we have transfers coming up this week I'll just give you all the news right now! I have now hit six months on my mission. I'm one-fourth of the way done. It's so weird to think about... And it's really weird that I've been in Sulphur just as long as I've been in Purcell. But here it is: Elder Kahawaii is going one whole area over to Duncan! He's opening up an area with a newer missionary, and he's in a bike area (SUCKA!). I will be staying in Sulphur and going into my third transfer there. I am now getting my third... and fourth companion. That's right. I'm in a TRIO! Words cannot express my excitement for next transfer. Trios are so AWESOME. Trio companionships get things DONE! Their names are Elder Zeyer (ZIE-urr) and Elder Linam (LINE-um). I know a little bit about Elder Zeyer, but not much about Elder Linam. Elder Zeyer actually came out with me in May, and he did a year at BYU kinda like I did. Some of my friends at BYU actually know him and told me about him before I came out. Elder Linam's been out for three months, so he's a newer guy. This next transfer is only going to be five weeks instead of the usual six! Other than that there's been a lot of changes! With last transfer staying pretty much the same, lots of changes needed to take place. Another newsflash is that Pauls Valley is now the Zone Leader area! The three of us now share a ward/branch with the Zone Leaders! That makes 7 missionaries serving in the Pauls Valley Branch! I'm telling ya, guys, this work is GROWING! 

 

So here's a little tally of my mission so far:

Transfer Date:         Area:                             Companion:

(1) June 3rd-             Noble South                    Elder Evans

July 14th                  (Purcell)          

 

(2) July 15th-            Noble South                    Elder Evans

August 26th             (Purcell)

 

(3) August 27th-        Pauls Valley South          Elder Kahawaii

October 6th              (Sulphur)

 

(4) October 7th-        Pauls Valley South          Elder Kahawaii

November 17th         (Sulphur)  

 

(5) November 18th-  Pauls Valley South          Elder Zeyer & Elder Linam

December 22nd        (Sulphur)

Now for the regular exciting stuff about missionary work... We've been getting fed TONS this week by members! Like almost everyday! It's made for some very happy missionaries in the Pauls Valley and Sulphur area :) We had our primary program this Sunday. Super cool. Super adorable. Our primary is all of seven kids. It's awesome. Our investigators are making progress, and we've had some awesome lessons with them. Tammy unfortunately didn't make it to church this Sunday, so her baptismal date's dropped... BUT. That's going to be changed. Michelle is going to have a COW when she finds out Elder Kahawaii's leaving, so we're kinda scared about that... Tammy is really solid though. Thomas is loving church. He was ordained a deacon last Sunday, and his Grandma is so happy for him to have the priesthood! 

 

This transfer has flown by so quickly... but I'm excited for next transfer! Especially for Thanksgiving and CHRISTMAS!

 

Over and out, 

Elder Garner

Trick or Testaments (11/04/2013)

This week was EPIC! The four of us had an amazing Halloween and a really productive week! I dressed up as a missionary. Hoohah. Elder Beus did exchanges with me and Elder Kahawaii from Thursday to Saturday. I was with him on Thursday and Friday, and he was with Elder Kahawaii on Friday and Saturday. We got a lot of things done in our area, and we even picked up a new investigator! A 13-year-old. She's awesome. Her name's Chynna. She's the daughter of a less-active member and the granddaughter of a member--kinda like Thomas. Elder Kahawaii and I are basically recruiting the young mens and young womens in the branch... Tammy's doing really well too. She has a date for the first of December, so we hope that goes through. Her mom, Michelle, told us we were the best missionaries she's ever had, and she loves having us around and feels super comfortable with us! Elder Kahawaii and I both agreed that we're really starting to gain their trust. Michelle, the less-active mom, had a cow when Elder Beus came to teach them. She thought I got transferred! She flipped out and almost started yelling at Elder Kahawaii and Elder Beus for not telling her that I'd 'left!' Luckily that all got sorted out without anyone's head getting cut off. It was really touching at the same time... I've really enjoyed being with this family and the chance I've had to be able to help them out. 

The trip to Ardmore on Monday was AWESOME! I got to wear a sumo wrestler suit! If I get fed enough here I could be as big as the suit without having to wear the suit! The ten of us missionaries had an awesome day. During this week the Pauls Valley elders and the two of us got to have SLEEPOVERS! With permission from President Walkenhorst of course. We had one on Thursday night and Saturday night! It'sreally unfortunate that the Pauls Valley elders don't have a car... It really forces us to be together all the time. On Halloween night we had a branch trunk or treat, which was super fun! I took seven containers of Play-doh! I even got to go from car to car and get candy! Holidays as a missionary are so much fun. I'm really excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The trunk or treat turnout was really awesome. We had tons of families and less-actives from both our areas show up. We had to stay over at the Pauls Valley elders' apartment since all the mission cars had to be parked at 6:00. We didn't have a way of getting home, so we had a movie night and watched... THE TESTAMENTS! Halloween night was awesome... Missionaries just need to let go sometimes. 

Well, things have settled down now that Halloween's over. We're getting in as many lessons as we can with Tammy before one of us potentially gets transferred. The news comes next Sunday, so stay tuned! I love you all very much :)

Elder Garner

The missionary math equation:

Active grandma + less-active mom + non-member teenager = A HAPPY FAMILY!

Awkward Dinner Dates (10/28/2013)

Everybody can let their baited breath out now. I didn't actually go on a date! I'm going to try really hard not to sound like a meanie in this update, because the experience I had was funny more than anything. For TL;DR readers, it's in the fifth paragraph.

Well let's start with everything that's happened so far. Last Monday was really fun. We went up to Pauls Valley to hang out with the elders up there, and afterwards we had dinner at the Hines' home. Sister Hines is a convert of about three years and LOVES to share the gospel! She used to live in the Ada Ward, but moved into Pauls Valley just around the time I showed up there. We've had dinner at her house a couple times, and last Monday was her "housewarming" where she invited friends and members from Pauls Valley as well as Ada. Okay, so THAT was a good dinner date. Not awkward! 

On Wednesday we had our Zone Conference up in Norman. That was exciting! It was Duncan Zone and Norman Zone there. President Walkenhorst and the APs were there and gave a really good training. I absolutely loved seeing people from my old zone! I got to catch up with Sister PFister and all the other missionaries that are serving in the Noble ward. They've had a couple baptisms since we've left, and the elders in Purcell are still working on some of the people that we picked up while I was there! In other news, Norman Stake had a huge boundary change. Blanchard branch became a ward (the elders serving there were in my district when I was in Noble/Purcell), and the Norman ward boundaries got shuffled around, and some of the elders/sisters serving up there have gotten swapped around, so that's been a mess. I hear the Noble ward gained members! Pauls Valley actually lost members, but luckily none of them were in me and Elder Kahawaii's proselyting area ;) Norman Zone is huge now. When I started there we had 17 missionaries. Now there are 27! Crazy. But the work is growing! 

We're still working with Tammy. We were supposed to see her an Tuesday, but she cancelled. We're encouraging them to have us come over more often so Tammy can start really progressing! We've invited her to church, so hopefully she can make it. Hopefully her mom as well! They're a great family, and we've really enjoyed working with them through all their struggles and challenges. Our area is definitely a roughneck area, that's for sure. Other than that things are as slow-going as ever. We are working with a member that lives in a nursing home named Teresa. She's got a couple friends she's working on. Teresa and her friends are a whole nother story in and of itself, so maybe next week I'll get to that story.

Thursday was interesting. That's when the awkward dinner date happened. We were taken to Pizza Hut by a member named Bro. Hill. He's an older guy that reeeeeeeaaaallllyyy needs company. Unfortunately he's single and not......close to getting remarried. He's had an interesting past with women. Regardless, we love him. He's desperately trying to get out of Sulphur and move to Moore or even Utah if he can. He tells us a lot of interesting stories about him in his youth before he was a member. Most of the stories are about women, so they aren't exactly appropriate to share with this audience ;) He's really knowledgeable in the gospel, but man he can talk your ear off!

When we were waiting for our food he kept yacking and yacking about fishing and women and the gospel and Hawaii and yodda yodda yodda. He really admires Elder Kahawaii because he's from Hawaii, and Bro. Hill used to live there. So whenever we visit him most of our conversations are about Hawaii and how much he misses it. Everytime we visit him, he always asks me, "Elder, have you ever been to Hawaii?" "Elder, have you ever gone fishing?" "Have you ever gone hunting?" "Do you know who [so-and-so] is?" I usually answer no to all his questions. You can tell we were raised in different generations. "Nope, never been to Hawaii," "I went fishing...once," "Never gone hunting, but I've shot clay pigeons," "Nope, I don't know who that is." Is my answer. Whenever I haven't done something he's done, he just frowns at me. He's asked me like, three different times if I've been to Hawaii, and when I tell him no, he says "Oh, you don't know what you're missing." Well GUESS WHAT. IT WASN'T MY DECISION TO MAKE. I didn't actually say that, but I wanted to! So I listened intently to his other stories about Hawaii, and at random he says to me "Elder, tell us about where you're from!" 

My reply was a little snarky... "Oh! You want to hear about Utah?!" 

"Well haven't you gone hunting there?"

"...No."

"But every guy in Utah goes hunting!" .......HUH?

"Not all the guys I know."

"What part of Utah are you from?"

"South Jordan, by Salt Lake."

On and on and on.... I love Bro. Hill, I really do. And I really appreciate the fact that he took us out to eat. I take it he really needed someone to talk to. We really were raised in different generations... but Pizza Hut was good!

Hahaha, well that's life. We get trainer calls this Saturday!

Love, Elder Garner

P.S. Please don't allow your next dinner date to be awkward, even if the food is delicious.

10/21/2013

Not much of an update... This week's been kind of a drag... But at least it started well and ended well. We had an AMAZING zone P-day in Ardmore. I got to meet the sisters in our zone, which was pretty cool. One of them is Sister Anderson, who was in Norman Zone with me in the July-August transfer. It was pretty cool to see her again. Our weekdays were the worst... Elder Kahawaii's been sick again. Not just that, but he hasn't been the most proactive about missionary work. I won't go into detail, but now that Thomas is baptized we really just have Tammy to teach.  It looks like she's gonna get somewhere, so I'm excited about that. We had our 2nd lesson with her yesterday, which turned out well. Hopefully that will keep us going some more. Elder Kahawaii actually said a couple things in the lesson this time! I usually teach 95% of the lesson when it comes to teaching people. Again, love his personality, just not his idleness.

LUCKILY

 

President Walkenhorst surprised all of us by coming to Pauls Valley for church yesterday!! I immediately requested an interview. President Walkenhorst must've been guided by the spirit to come down to Pauls Valley. He talked with President Burnett and all the missionaries about what we could do to get the work moving along in the branch. It was what the branch needed. It was what I needed.

 

Anyway, that's that. Hopefully some more interesting stuff happens this coming week. We tried a less active yesterday named Brian. THAT'S an interesting story! I'll have to tell you about it sometime. I found Buckle last week, but it was CLOSED. So we're gonna hopefully go down to Ardmore next Monday if we've got the miles for it. Anyway, I love you and miss you guys. 

 

Love, 

Elder Garner

I Feel Like a Zoo Animal! (10/14/2013)

After one month of working with and teaching Thomas he was baptized yesterday! We had an awesome baptismal service for him with lots of support from the branch. He had a lot of goofy things to say, like "I FEEL LIKE A ZOO ANIMAL!" when he got into the font...haha. You can tell that not very many baptisms take place here in Pauls Valley. The branch presidency basically left the whole thing to us, so we had to call people for the program and get it all put together by Sunday. It's kinda aggravating not having an active branch mission leader. I think the branch president is starting to realize that the missionaries here do exist and that we're doing something. He actually had no idea we were having a baptism until the day of.  We had a testimony meeting that day, and I decided to get up and share my testimony. The wards and branches in the Norman Stake are getting a boundary change, and we're actually losing people. None of it affects our area, but one town is going to another branch that's becoming a ward. I told the branch how grateful I was to be serving them and that the boundary change was the Lord's way of hastening his work! At least I think I said that . . . I don't know. I was kinda spluttering words by the end, hahaha. 

We had a slow week, but it picked up more towards the weekend. With the baptism and everything we've been swamped. You know that way less active lady named Michelle? The one we ran into at Walmart? We had dinner with her last night and taught part of the Restoration to her 15-year-old daughter! Her name is Tammy, and she even asked us in a previous visit that week if we could teach her about the gospel! She's looked around at other churches and wants to know which one has the truth! Those investigators are always the best ones. Getting her to church might be a hurdle, considering her parents would have to take her. Not really sure how keen they are on taking her to church. The mom's probably worried she might have to become active again. But we can fix that. ;)

 

We have our Zone P-day today down in Ardmore, so that'll be fun. The Pauls Valley elders got in a wreck on Saturday! Some drunk guy rear-ended them! It's pretty funny because that day their car hit 50,000 miles, and when a missionary car hits 50,000 miles it gets sold and the area gets a new car! But now they get a rental car until the mission gets them a new car. We've had to cart them around everywhere when we're up in Pauls Valley, so that's been crazy.

But here we are. It's raining/flooding a ton today. Let's pray a drunk guy doesn't come up and rear-end us in all this rain!

Love,

Elder Garner

People of Walmart (10/07/2013)

There was this funny video on Youtube I remember watching when I was a junior or senior in high school called "The People of Walmart." It's pretty hilarious! It basically shows people from all walks of life going in and out of Walmart. Not that that has anything to do with the people of Oklahoma or anything.....*cough* 

 

This week cooled down a ton temperature-wise. It's amazing how much the temperatures have plunged this past week! We've got lows of about 50 degrees, and now we have to wear suits in the evenings because it usually dips below 60 degrees. I hear Provo got hit with snow... Lucky I'm in Oklahoma! Regardless, I think Oklahoma's revving its winter engines. 

 

Transfers came and went. Lots of new areas opened, and a lot of companionships stayed the same--not just in our zone but in the whole mission as well. We got a new elder (who just so happened to be in the Worldwide Broadcast!) in our branch who came from Edmond, the place where they shot the broadcast. He said to us, "Sooo, I came from the most functional ward in the mission to the most dysfunctional branch in the mission..." Poor guy...haha. 

 

So the crazy story of the week comes from...Walmart. We went there this past Tuesday since we couldn't go on Monday. We were in there for a good couple hours getting our stuff and searching for the elusive HAND SOAP. Eventually we found it in the shampoo section...hahaha. While we were there we walked past someone that kept stealing glances at us. I saw her out of the corner of my eye and continued to walk past her with that usual antsy feeling a missionary gets when people stare at you. Then she spoke up and said, "so how long do you guys have left?" So Elder Kahawaii and I stopped in our tracks a little startled. We began talking to this lady, who introduced herself as Michelle. We came to find out she was a less active member in Davis whom we thought had fallen off the face of the earth. In every area you've got less actives that only have a P.O. box address or a bad number, so usually you can never find these people. That's what we thought about Michelle. Fortunately the spirit guided us to run around Walmart like chickens with our heads cut off looking for the hand soap long enough for us to run into this lady! We had a good conversation with her about why she fell inactive, and she even took us out to lunch afterwards! We had a great spiritual conversation, and she even gave us her address and told us to come by! We encouraged her to watch conference and told her that we love and care about her.

So speaking of conference, holy cow that was epic! I thought they would lower the missionary age to 17 and 18, but I guess not... *Sigh...* Oh well. The talks were pretty awesome, huh?! It's amazing how fast conference goes when you're a missionary! You surprisingly stay awake and don't want it to end! Probably one of my favorite things said was from Dieter F. Uchtdorf, who said, "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith." Ahhhhhh man if only all the less actives could have heard that!!! It was pretty incredible, to say the least.

Thomas and his mom and grandma even watched conference!! Thomas fell asleep through part of it, like most 13-year-olds would. Sharon and Wendy agreed that the talks were meant specifically for them, but they loved it nonetheless. Right now we're getting ready for Thomas' baptism next Sunday. I'm performing the confirmation the following Sunday, and Elder Kahawaii is baptizing him! I'm looking forward to it! 

I love you and all the Utah Walmarts,

Elder Garner

Shifting Seasons (09/30/2013)

Everyone can wake up now, September has ended! Sorry, I couldn't pass up that opportunity to make a musical reference being it's the last day of September. Sorry for the lack of an update last week. We really didn't have much going on. This past week hasn't been any better... I've been pretty sick, and we went a day and a half without proselyting because we didn't have any clean proselyting clothes! That was a boring day.....

 

Luckily, there's news to be heard this week. So what's been happening here in Sulphur? Ohhhhh goodnessssss let's see..... Our transfer calls came last night. Probably the most boring transfer doctrine I've gotten so far on my mission. Not very many changes. Elder Kahawaii and I are both staying in Sulphur, and one of the Pauls Valley missionaries is leaving. One of our Zone Leaders is going to Norman Zone, my old zone. Ada and Ardmore are both getting sister missionaries, so that's cool for them. Other than that, nothing's changing in our zone. My mom is certain that with nine new areas being opened up (two of them being in our zone) President Walkenhorst isn't feeling the need to move us around if things are already going okay in our areas, and that's probably correct! It's hard to believe how fast this past transfer's gone, though I have a feeling I'll be in Sulphur for a long time... I can see myself entering 2014 in Sulphur, Oklahoma.

 

It's gotten a little chilly here! Nothing below 60 degrees yet, but once that happens we gotta wear our suitcoats! My winter jacket also arrived, so I'm all prepared for winter! This next transfer goes until the 13th of November, so it'll cool down by then. Elder Kahawaii and I are hoping we'll be up in the city the transfer after this upcoming transfer so we can spend Thanksgiving and Christmas up in the city! Both holidays fall in the same transfer, so we're hoping to be in a good area for that! We'll see what comes of that.

 

Missionary work wise we're slowly but surely moving along. We might pick up another 13 year old named China (yes, like the country) whose mom and grandma are both members, but the mom is very less active. Kinda like Thomas' family... President Burnett wants China to get started on the discussions, so we'll try to negotiate that with her mom! Thomas himself is getting along pretty well. We've taught most all of the lessons to him, and we're working on getting a baptism program for him when he gets baptized on the 13th of October! So that's looking fine. We got to do some service at his house on Thursday. We did some lawn-mowing (my favorite!) and yardwork to help them prepare for winter. They were really grateful for that, and we've really got something going with Thomas and his family! It'll definitely be hard saying goodbye when the time comes.

 

I supposedly was going to speak this past Sunday, but I never did... That's happened twice now! I'm not too upset, though ;) The branch is moving along as well. We had six less actives at church last Sunday! That was definitely the highlight of the week. Our branch is making some progress, that's for sure. For conference weekend we'll be watching it at a member's home in Sulphur out in the middle of nowhere. Okay, Sulphur itself is in the middle of nowhere, but that's neither here nor there! I'm super excited for it! Lots of news on hastening the work and follow-up from the missionary age change announcements! Can you believe it's been a year since that announcement came out?!

 

That's it for now. I miss all of you very dearly ;) Hope you guys have a wonderful conference weekend!

Elder Garner

Sprakenzie Deutsche? (09/16/2013)

Or however you spell it... that's "do you speak German?"

It's been a good week this week! Things are picking up slightly in the Sulphur area of the Pauls Valley Branch. We haven't seen Lisa all too much lately. We're hoping to see her today though. We had a miracle on Wednesday! In Branch Council last Sunday we were given a list of people that had recently moved into the area. We noticed a lady had moved into the Sulphur area, so we decided to try her out. Her name's Sharon, and she moved into the area a couple weeks ago. She lives with her daughter, Wendy, and her grandson, Thomas. Both Sharon and Wendy are divorced. Sharon is big into family history and is related to a lot of royalty and other famous figures! She's a little bit of a linguist, and she can even whistle through the gap of her teeth. She's got some spice for being in her sixties! She surprised Elder Kahawaii when she asked me "sprakenzie deutsche?" I obviously said no, but now that's all Elder Kahawaii says to me!! It's pretty funny! She's definitely is full of knowledge, and she looks out for her family. 

Right before we left we asked her if there was anything we could do for her. She asked us if we could give her daughter and her grandson priesthood blessings. Both of them were feeling pretty sick, and Wendy (who's less active) wanted to get back into church so she could set a good example for her son. Now that the three of them are living together Sharon and Wendy want her (grand)son to be taught the missionary discussions and become baptized!! We gladly obliged, and we're teaching him the third lesson today after we have dinner at their house! We've finally been able to get some member-presents! All three of them even came to church yesterday and got lots of welcome from the branch!

That's the big news. We also got to go to Norman to see Bro. and Sis. Komers have two more of their adopted kids get baptized on Saturday!! Once again it was amazing to see some people in my old area where I served. Lots of missionaries were there to support. 

Trainer calls come this Saturday... we'll find out in a few days.

Love you guys,

Elder Garner

P.S. Hope you like the picture. Elder Kahawaii and I had a watermelon chopping project. ;)