Grand Tours of the Sooner (05/27/2014)

This week was seriously the crowning week of this transfer in Mustang. So many great experiences I'd love to repeat. I would not be upset if President kept me here for a while longer. I hope I stay here till September! 

Monday. WOW. Brother Hulsey, a non-member from a part-member family, took us to dinner in downtown Oklahoma City. My first time there! Oklahoma City, the heart of my mission. Elder Bolan and I experienced OKC for the first time. We ate at a restaurant converted from a garage port to a burger joint! It was epic, and we had a great visit with Brother Hulsey and got to know him better. Afterwards he took us on a tour of all the sites in Oklahoma City. He took us to the Devon Tower, the Capitol building, Bricktown, Deep Deuce, the Arts District, the Boathouse District, and the old mansions north of the capitol. Oh my goodness... so much to see. It reminded me so much of Salt Lake. A temple would make it all complete! I will definitely take my parents to visit there one day.

Wednesday was our apartment touring day with the OKC mission housing couple. We spent the morning and part of the afternoon looking at apartments getting ready for the sisters to come into the ward. After touring all the apartments we wanted to look at we put it to a vote, and at the beginning of June we will be moving to The Park at Westpointe in Yukon. The apartments are seriously so classy. We will be living in 5-star luxury! With a pool and everything...oh just kidding missionaries can't use the pool ;) Me and my new companion (if Elder Bolan leaves) will be moving up to the new apartments just before transfers in two weeks while the new sisters stay in our old apartment to run out the lease. Once the lease is up (about three weeks after transfers) they will move up to the new apartments with us--in a different apartment of course! In any case, look for a change of address in about two weeks. 

Friday was when the torrents came. We're supposed to be getting rain for a solid week. It's even raining right now. Our stake is doing a fast next Sunday for the drought in Oklahoma, and it seems as if our prayers will be answered early! The Tuttle elders happened to be up in Mustang and while they were driving their power steering on their Ford Fusion died! So Elder Bolan and I had to rescue them and shelter them from the rain. Later on that night we had our ward game night! The Bennetts came! And the ward fellowshipped the absolute daylights out of them! They loved the game night! Success! 

And to top off the week we had some great lessons with our investigators this week. We met with Brother Bennett and his less-active wife on Thursday and Sunday. His growth is incredible. He loves meeting with us, and he always asks what we'll be talking about next! His wife's even taken an interest in listening to us! We had a great connection with Brother Bennett in the last lesson, and he's making some progress in the gospel! We also met with Whitney and taught her son, Wyatt, the plan of salvation. So far so good. He seems to understand everything. She even came to church on Sunday, but just not our ward... :/ We even got to meet with Alex and got back into contact with Sister Griffin, who had went to Utah for a few weeks. We taught Alex the Word of Wisdom and the 10 Commandments. Elder Bolan and I got somewhere with our investigators this week, which pleased us greatly :)

And yesterday. Since we couldn't email at the library with it being Memorial Day, the four of us went to member's house and played a game called "Killer Bunnies." Anyone here heard of that game?? That game is the most hilarious and aggravating game I've ever played... It's insane. We played that for six hours....ya. But after that we got dropped off at the Park at Westpointe to do some contacting. We visited our recent convert, Sister Taylor, and found out she's smoking again... :/ sad day. But then the biggest miracle happened. Seriously it was so inspired. We walked around the apartment complex--our future home--and tried a referral named Ashley. She knew a family from Utah that's been here since March. She said we was interested in wanting to meet with us and wanted to throw a surprise barbeque for the Utah family for when they leave. We got invited, and we've on board to meet with her and her husband! Heck yeah! Then she dropped like five referrals for us to go try! While trying them a kid named Caleb walked by us, called us "elders," and then we found out he was from Utah! Boom. Sweet miracles.

The Park at Westpointe is hopping with Latter-day Saints. And soon it'll be hopping with missionary moments of sharing the gospel! Y'all can bet you'll have that to look forward to in the next few months! 

Elder Garner

Crossing the Line (05/19/2014)

I don't think I've ever done so much service in one week! Other than tornado cleanup last year, of course. We had several opportunities this week to help out the community and ward members with individual needs. We get called upon almost everyday this past week to help out with one project or another. We helped shovel dirt, move sheetrock, move a family out of the ward, and give blessings to the sick. 

On Monday we had an incredible specialized training from our zone leaders about the costs of discipleship in reference to Elder Holland's talk this past General Conference. The sister training leaders gave a training about Alma and how the Anti-Nephi-Lehies chose to bury their weapons on war. Earlier on, they had merely set them on the shelf with the thought in the back of their minds they could potentially wield them again at a moment's notice. They eventually chose to bury their weapons altogether. It made me think about things I had that needed to be moved from the shelf to the ground. The sisters gave us a challenge to find something we as missionaries were holding onto and to burying that thing--abstract or concrete. It sure can be tough making sacrifices, but it's all out of love for the Lord.

Tuesday was a little unusual for a missionary. We spent most of the day apartment hunting... That just gave me a scope into the future! *Scary* The housing couple at the mission office told us to start looking for apartments to make way for the sister missionaries that are coming in to Mustang 1st this summer. This Wednesday the housing couple will come out with us and tour apartments with us and talk about the options. Our niche of living with three other elders will soon come to end... 

On Wednesday we met our "baptismal referral's" mother, Whitney. Wyatt is her 8-year old son that she wants baptized. She is very less-active and does not intend to give up smoking, although she loves the teachings of the church and the gospel. She very much wants her son to be baptized. The real test for commitment, however, is getting her to come church with her son. We had a lengthy chat with Bishop Robertson, the bishop of the Mustang 2nd ward, who told us everything to watch out for with Whitney and Wyatt. Whitney's mother lives in 2nd ward, and Whitney insists on going to 2nd ward so she can be with her mom...even though they live in 1st ward. So now there could potentially be a feud between the Mustang 1st and 2nd wards... It's been a rather interesting situation. The members tell us one thing about Whitney and Wyatt, but then when we teach Wyatt they act totally different than what everyone else is telling Elder Bolan and I... Everyone says Wyatt is "special needs with a capital 'S'" and that Whitney is "non-committal and hot and cold." On Saturday we taught the Restoration, and they seemed opposite of everything people told us about them. 

So now we hold our breath and proceed. We are praying for the power to handle Whitney and Wyatt's situation gracefully! Thursdaycame and went. One year came and went just like that. We "celebrated" by going to a Japanese Hibachi restaurant called Wasabi. Ha. It was all I could do not to choose McDonald's or Wendy's yet stay on the cheap side! Anyway, great day of remembering my first day in the MTC, meeting Elder Hoddy for the first time, saying goodbye to mom and dad... 

Friday was pretty sweet! We left our area and went to five different areas! With permission, of course... We helped a member get stuff from his grandparents' house over in the Moore 1st ward area (1). To do that we had to jut across the OKC 2nd ward (2). Later on that day we went out with Brother Tonay, our 2nd Counselor in the bishopric to see Brother Wray, and member that lives clear out in the middle of nowhere! So of course we drove through Mustang 2nd ward boundaries (3), then we had to cut through the corner of Anadarko branch's boundaries (4) to get to Brother Wray's house. We had a really spiritual visit with him and gave his mom a blessing! Afterwards we drove over the boundary and went through OKC 5th ward boundaries (5!) and got on I-40 to get home. We saw some of the damage from the tornado that hit in El Reno almost a year ago. Tornadoes seem to be hiding out this year.

Elder Bolan and I love this area! And we love this work! Have a fantastic week y'all!

Elder Garner   

The Month of Nostalgia (05/12/2014)

This week I approach the top of hill: my year mark is this Thursday the 15th. This past month I've kept thinking about everything I was doing a year ago: finishing finals at BYU, moving back into the house (for only three weeks!), going down to St. George to visit Kayla, giving my farewell talk (a year ago today), getting set apart, and of course, entering the MTC in Provo. For the first time on my mission I am starting to see the end, which scares me!

So I'll tell you about my week and make the most of it before I no longer have the chance! So Tuesday was pretty...interesting. We got the go-ahead to take our mission car into the dealership. The 2013 Chevy Cruzes have a massive recall because of issues with the front axle. So we took our car in for inspection, and pop goes the weasel, our car gets replaced! So the dealership had to provide us with a rental car. We waited for a couple hours before they had one available. They gave us the first thing that arrived: A tiny, hot-red Chevy Sonic! Raise your hand if you are familiar with what those cars look like. Yeah, we pretty much drive around a Hot Wheels car now. Not sure when we get our normal Chevy Cruze back, but I miss it already. 

On Thursday we went on a quickie exchange with the zone leaders for a few hours. Both sets of us had some cool miracles! We had an amazing visit with a couple inactive members that needed help figuring out their purpose in life, and we had a very spiritual discussion with them. The other set found some great potential investigators for us to visit. On Saturday I got to meet "Terrible" Terry. He's an Okie talker! We spent two hours with him talking about the Restoration! He has so much kindness in his heart and has so much to give to others. He really has little to learn about the gospel--because he lives it so well already. Elder Bolan and I continue to pray for miracles to happen with our investigators and for opportunities to meet new people and share with them the gospel. 

And of course, Sunday. Mother's Day. What a great time to remember all that my mom has done for me. For helping get to this point in my life. She deserved nothing less when I skyped her and the rest of my family last night. It was so much fun seeing my family for the first time in a year. I'm excited to reunite with them and my friends, but for the time being, it's back to serving the Lord for the latter half of my mission! Have an epic week!

Elder Garner  

The Personification of Death (05/05/2014)

The moral of this week: Wash your hands with soap and sanitize your hands with hand sanitizer or else you will get SICK! 

Why? Because if you don't you will get wrecked by sickness and affliction. 

Okay, obviously there's a backstory behind all this so I'll just say right now that I had strep throat this past week. So yes, wash your hands and take care of yourself so you don't get plagued like I did. 

Thank goodness for connections though. Elder Bolan knows an ENT doctor from the Edmond 3rd ward. The doctor prescribed antibiotics, and they definitely did the trick. I was out the whole week. Sunday was my first day back to the full swing of things. 

In other news, we had Stake Conference this week! We had an area 70 come speak, Elder Hansen. We also heard from President Bean, our Stake President as well as President Walkenhorst and Sister Walkenhorst. All the talks were geared towards temple and missionary work. It sure was a great conference. We also had transfers earlier this week. In hindsight I'm really glad I didn't have to go to transfers, because I didn't want to meet a new companion looking and feeling like death.

Good things will happen this week. I know it! Next week should have more exciting and interesting stuff. Just don't get sick...if you can help it. Thank you for your prayers and support. Time to conquer Mustang!

Elder Garner