Hold the Wheel and Drive (11/24/2014)

All eight hungry missionaries are ready for Thanksgiving! And Ada is ready for Christmas! Driving down Main Street in Ada and seeing all the street lamps decorated with lit-up Christmas bells reminds of driving down 104th in South Jordan and seeing all the Christmas decorations the city lined up going up and down the street. It's the holidays!

So on Monday we went around and did some pre-Christmas window shopping for P-day, and later that day we had FHE put on by the sisters with some church members over at the church building and played the Holy Ghost game! We blindfolded one of the recent convert families and had them walk through an obstacle course. They had to listen to the 'Holy Ghost' while trying to block out the 'noises of the adversary.' Sometimes they'd listen to another voice that wasn't the 'Holy Ghost,' and when they did, they ran into a wall. It was a good lesson for everyone.

On Tuesday we had to help jump the sister's car. Our Chevy Cruze against their Chevy Malibu...their engine in bigger than ours. It didn't work. Then we saw a Dodge Ram 2500 pull up and asked them for help. Seeing their truck trying to jump their car kinda put our car to shame...haha. But their truck couldn't start it either. So we had Elder Williams, the car coordinator, take care of it, and lo and behold they needed a new battery. In spite of all that, I'm so grateful we even get cars in our mission. It really is such a blessing to this work. 

And speaking of cars, the Lemmerts took us out to Roff, Oklahoma, a town that's tucked right in between Ada and Sulphur. We asked a random guy if he knew one of the members in town--the member's address only had a P.O. Box. And miracle! The guy knew who he was and where he lived! So in the most Okie fashion you can imagine, he gave us directions to his house: "Right at the corner where the post office is, past the second block, then take a left..." THOSE kind of directions! And we found him! And he was really nice to us! And we have plans to go back! Man, I love small towns and the fact that everyone knows everyone. 

On Wednesday we had another FHE with the Buckmaster family, a recent convert family. They can't do Mondays, so we got President's permission to do Wednesdays. We had a good discussion on Alma 32 about faith and humility. We're trying to help him gain a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon, because that's what he needs in his life. They've been going through a lot, and their living circumstances aren't easy for them. 

Friday... We literally drove and drove and drove. We went to District Meeting and then afterwards made our way to ALTUS! Jack, a guy Elder Garcia and I found the Saturday before I got transferred, got baptized! So we made the three-hour trip to Altus and witnessed his coming unto Christ. Elder Chavez is training a new missionary...super cool. Elder Garcia and my replacement are doing some fine work there. After the baptism we drove and got turned around while we were in Lawton and drove 15 miles the other way... That's really embarrassing for a Geography major. Anyway, we got back at 11 that night. Total, it was seven hours of driving. Ouch!

Saturday it rained all day. We had a Thanksgiving lunch at a member's house! But when we pulled up to her driveway we had to park on her grass and when we did our tires started spinning and we got stuck in the mud! So since I was driving the car the other three elders helped push the car out of the mud. Later on that day I went on my first legitimate split ever! I went with the High Priests Group Leader to make some visits to some people on his home teaching list. 

And yesterday we had a miracle happen! We took one of the ward recent converts out with us, Brother Bunner. We took him to see our investigator, Rusty. We caught him on his 51st birthday...drunk. Luckily he had two other friends there that were sober and really nice to us. So while we were trying to teach, Rusty kept interrupting and being rowdy, so eventually we all sort of just implicitly started teaching each person separately! Elder Fuller taught Jamie, one of the friends there, Brother Bunner taught and bore his testimony to Tony, the other friend. I basically gave a pep-talk to Rusty about reaching his goals in life by quitting his smoking and drinking, and in the process setting a baptismal date. Hopefully he doesn't forget that. Aside from all that, we got his two friends interested in meeting with us! 

That's a lot of stuff to be grateful for! We had a pretty fantastic week, I'd have to say. So as you're stuffing yourself with turkey, remember to stuff yourself with the word of God! Happy Thanksgiving!

Elder Garner

The 18-Month Feast (11/17/2014)

It smells like holidays and festivities up in here! Oklahoma had it's first snowfall of the season, and mission cars are already getting grounded! Luckily it's starting to melt. It's just been grand this week, and lately I've been able to feast on the word of God, particularly in reading 3rd Nephi about Jesus Christs' ministry. I didn't even realize how absorbed I was all throughout 3rd Nephi. I finished it before I knew it, and now I'm in Mormon!  

Monday we took a journey to Pauls Valley and went to the Bogers house and got to play games in their poolhouse. They'd moved into Pauls Valley two weeks before I got transferred, so I didn't really get to know them. I saw a couple other branch members there, so that was neat to catch up and visit. Have I ever mentioned how much I love being just around the corner from Sulphur and Purcell? 

Tuesday we made our weekly visit to Bro. Harjo, a recent convert. He's very quiet. He's wheelchair bound and missing a leg, so getting him to church is tough. Earlier this week though we found some great fellowshippers and a ride for him, so he made it to church this Sunday. After Elders Quorum he volunteered to say the closing prayer! Being the quiet guy he is, that was really neat to see. Later on that Tuesday we had a spur-of-the-moment dinner at another recent convert's house. They made chicken drumsticks marinated in Canola oil. Oh my goodness, the chicken was delicious, but the oil (pronounced "ole" in Oklahoma) made all of our suits smell rank with oil! Oh my, everyone noticed...haha. #Febreze #DryCleaners Probably shouldn't use hashtags in a missionary update...haha.

Anyway, on Wednesday we helped move the church's family history center into the mother's room. They turned the old family history center into a classroom and did away with the mother's room. Sorry expectant and nursing mothers! There was a green chair in there and it's just sitting in storage...so I think Elder Fuller and I are going to cart it to our apartment one of these days :)

We had an incredibly spiritual day on Thursday. That morning we gave a blessing to the bishop, who'd been feeling sick and needed all the energy he could get for his work and his calling. He felt better the next day! Later on that morning we helped an older member winterize his yard while his wife was in the hospital up at OU Medical. After lunch we went to the Chickasaw hospital in Ada and visited with a less active member who's 1-year old got a staff infection. Then we gave another blessing to a member's friend who hit rock-bottom. She seemed to show interest in learning more about the gospel, and the other elders should start teaching her soon. Neat ministering experiences all around!

Saturday was HAM! Crazy day! I hit 18-months! I have officially served a sister mission! And the best part was that we had our ward Thanksgiving dinner that day, so I got to pig out on turkey and blue raspberry jello and rolls! Then we're having another Thanksgiving dinner this Saturday and another the day of! Hahaha 'tis the season! "Eat, drink, and be merry...for in six months you leave the mission field..." Sounds appropriate!  

My prayers have been going out to all my friends soon to finish their missions that they can remain powerful and serve like they've never served before. Lately that's been my biggest goal. It surprised me to realize that I've been in Ada for a month now and how much progress Elder Fuller and I have made in getting to know the people in this area. We're on the lookout for people with whom to share the gospel, especially out in this cold weather. Pray for me!

Love,

Elder Garner 

Walks Down Nostalgia Avenue (11/10/2014)

I thought "Memory Lane" was way too overused...so I went with Nostalgia Avenue. It's an English vocabulary thing combined with an urban planner thing I suppose.

And speaking of which, that starts off this update. We made several trips to East Central University this week, the local university in Ada. The sisters are working on getting a club started there to get the gospel spreading throughout the university. On Mondayall six of us went with an investigator that's a student there to the student center and played Pool there. Since we can't proselyte on campus we were fortunate enough to have people stop and talk to us about our beliefs, which was pretty cool. It threw me right back into my BYU days. Haha, ECU's a playpen next to BYU though! Awe man...funny. 

During Pool we got invited to the Baptist Student Union lunch that next day, so we went to that on Tuesday. The food was so good! And they feed lunch to everyone! So we might make that a weekly thing, hopefully. Earlier that day we were knocking doors in the rain and it was so cold! Winter's creeping...guh. And it's supposed to snow sometime this week. Luckily, Mercy Hospital had a nice shelter for us to sit under while we waited for our ride to the college. It's called Mercy Hospital for a reason!

On Wednesday we helped the Lemmerts, the new senior couple, buy a new couch! We went with the Gatchells, the housing couple, and the Lemmerts to Ashley Furniture and got to test out all the mattresses and sofas! All the fun aside, we even had one of the workers ask us about our church! So we had a good discussion with him for about 45 minutes! Seeds planted in the furniture store! It was a neat experience. 

Thursday we helped out the sisters with their booth, which lasted for a while. The sisters and the other elders got in a bash with one of the students. Elder Fuller and I were waiting in the car, so we didn't see any of it happen. The LDS club will definitely be an item of hot topic for people at the university. Later that day we had a good discussion with one of our investigators about humility and prayer, reading out of 3rd Nephi 3. It talks about the change that the Nephites had to make in order to stand up against the Gadianton robbers to protect their rights and liberties. This investigator in particular talked about his need to pay off physical and spiritual debts and his need for the word of God. He's got a ways to go, but we're continuing to work with him.

On Friday we got to spend some time with the Pauls Valley Zone Leaders. We even had to make a trip to their area in a town called Stratford, which I used to cover while I was in Sulphur. We met up with the Zone Leaders at a member's house, and OH I wanted to say hi to the member! The temptation was so strong...man. And today we're going to Pauls Valley for zone p-day, meaning, more walks down Nostalgia Avenue! 

It's interesting how much the gospel blesses other people, even if it's in the most roundabout way. As one such as our investigator tries to pays off physical and spiritual debts, he learns that he can accomplish both by learning about the gospel and about Jesus Christ. Got problems? Remember the gospel! 

Elder Garner 

From Six to Eight (11/03/2014)

The work of salvation is hastening in the Ada, Oklahoma ward! We recently just welcomed a new senior couple into the ward! From the short time we've known them they seem really awesome and ready to engage in the work.

This week we spent a lot of time with the Buckmasters, a recent convert family in our area. We taught them a little bit about the Plan of Salvation, specifically the Spirit world. We helped them with some challenges they're currently facing, and they seemed receptive to the spirit in our visit. President Walkenhorst gave us permission to play board games with Bro. Buckmaster on Halloween night. His favorite hobby is playing board games. We got to play Seven Wonders and get to know him better. On Saturday we went over to their house to pull a dead animal out from under their house, but luckily there wasn't one there! 

Wednesday was the ward Trunk or Treat. I hardly knew anyone, especially since they were all dressed up. I have to say it brought back some wonderful memories of watching the Testaments and having a sleepover at the Pauls Valley elders' apartment last year. I grabbed some candy for the Walls family, the relatives of the recent convert Elder Fuller and the elder I replaced just baptized my first weekend in Ada. We're currently teaching her cousin and boyfriend, Nana and Jared.

On Thursday we got to do service in a town called Coalgate near the eastern edge of the mission. Going from west to east! Lemme tell ya! We helped a member from OKC move some stuff into a storage unit. He will be living in Coalgate for a while to take care of his dad. 

On Saturday we took the Lemmerts to see a couple investigators all living together. They got broadsided by the infamous Okie talking! Nonetheless we had a good discussion with them and got to set some expectations for us coming by and sharing messages with them. They hadn't been taught by missionaries for a while now, so hopefully things will start to pick up with them.

And yesterday was Fast Sunday, of course. The Norman Stake is doing a 30-day fast where someone in the Norman fast for a day, then the next day someone else fasts, and so on. The stake is fasting for missionary work to increase in all the wards and branches. With Ada growing the way it is, they are on track to get a brand-new building sometime next year/early 2016. Sounds like I have two destinations to visit: Pauls Valley becoming a ward, and Ada getting a new building! All because of the hastening of the work of salvation... Love it.

Elder Garner