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
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