Here in Purcell, America (as Brother Fishburn, one of our 80-year-old members, would say) we had a lot of fires. The first thing that burned down was the bridge my companion was trying to build with me after the many incidents that took place. On Monday he put his hands on me again. After making all those promises several weeks ago saying that he wouldn't do such a thing again and pleading me to not tell President Walkenhorst, it happened. Right now things are in limbo. The Zone Leaders, the mission president, and most likely my family is well aware of the situation. Transfers are soon coming up, and we will be told next week if we are staying together or not. There's no telling right now how long this will go on. President Walkenhorst will need to take this into consideration when the decisions are made. Stay tuned on that!
But let's move on to something else... I'm not here to have a pity party. The second thing that burned down was a house on Adams Street. It was struck by lightning.... Incidentally, we were teaching the Hoffmans, our investigator family, the plan of salvation, and they had a friend sit in on the discussion. That person happened to be the owner of the house that burned down. Amanda and her son Skylar were temporarily living with the Hoffmans, so they got just a glimpse of the gospel in their lives. Hopefully we see more of them.... We don't know where they went, other than Amanda went back to her abusive husband. The Hoffmans are being taught wonders and the mysteries of God are being revealed to them. Their 17-year-old son reads on a 3rd grade level (we had no knowledge of this), so when we asked him to read something, he did so willingly. The parents were shocked that he read in front of strangers!! We told them it was the spirit working in their home to help them understand the things we'd been teaching them! We're now starting to teach the commandments with them. They even came to church yesterday and enjoyed it! We've found the perfect fellowshipping family for them, and baptism is looking like a very real possibility!
This past week we also taught the Komers' children. With them we also began teaching them the commandments. Their baptism is scheduled for the 31st, and it's looking promising! Their parents are such good influences on them, and they need that considering everything they've faced with previous families that didn't want them.
Derrel, Terry, and Tucker had life thrown at them this week.... They got evicted from their house. Supposedly Derrel was spending his money at bars and brothels (we don't know if that's actually true though), and Terry wasn't making any progress. She kept smoking and cussing everyone out. Tucker hitchhiked to Norman to try to get a birth certificate to find a job. Not two days later, the third thing burned to the ground. Their house, the one which we brought the spirit, the one where we brought light, burned to rubble. Carol told us about it. Quick FYI, she's doing just great :) We encouraged her to talk to the bishop, and she's making changes in her life as well as in the gospel. Anyway, we drove by Derrel and Terry's old house the other day to have our fears confirmed: Their house was torched. There was caution tape all over it, and there was a sign saying "ARSON" in big red letters. I saddens me to see how some people choose to live...
Other than that, that's basically everything that happened. I appreciate all the updates about the Elders. I hope they're making some progress back at homebase. Glad to hear about the family events going on! I will definitely write Maddie and ask her all about DC. That's gotta be the coolest US mission ever!
As always, I love you guys.
--Elder Garner
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