12/22/2014

Well ho ho ho to y'all in the west! I hope your winter wonderland is whiter than our winter foggyland over here in Ada! 

So here's the lowdown of the week: We had FHE with the Ingrams, a family with a 9-year old son that's a recent convert. Their family's been going through some stuff, and live in humble circumstances. They always try to do whatever they can to feed us or help us out. They even insisted on getting us Christmas presents. The gratitude I have for them and the humility they have is enormous.

Tuesday was our 2014 OKC Mission Christmas Conference! And guess what? We are NOT getting iPads(yet)! This lack of news was totally expected and not thrilling! YAY! Did that sound sarcastic enough? I really should repent. We're all trying to work on our sarcasm, and I've got a long way to go, ladies and gents. Anyway, the food was great, and the trainings even better. We had a fantastic talent portion. Elder Fuller and Sister Drinkall in my district sang together! And one of my zone leaders played the bagpipes!--but not in the chapel, of course! We had another group of missionaries go home the next day, and so they each got to bear their final testimonies. It's always neat hearing their final and departing testimonies. There aren't very many groups out on the mission older than me... In fact, next Zone Conference in March is when I get to bear my departing testimony. Scary. Time to spiritually prepare! 

This week we got to teach Levi, the 8-year old that asked for the Bible. Such a neat experience! He told us about the play he was in at his school. They did the nativity scene for their school play, so when we read Luke 2 with him, he knew exactly what the chapter was talking about. Elder Fuller and I are really excited to teach him and reactivate his grandpa Larry. 

And then church. Ahhhhh talking in sacrament is always exciting. It had been a while since I spoke last, so preparing for this talk kept me on my toes. I learned a lot about the foretellings of the Savior's birth all throughout the Old Testament and Book of Mormon and about the Savior's second coming. Of all the things I've witnessed and learned this holiday season, I would have to say that the celebration of the birth of the Savior is accompanied by a constant celebration of His marvelous example throughout the entire year. It is to keep in remembrance all that He has done for us each and every day. In such a strange place, I feel so close to home this holiday season. 


Happy Holidays from
Elder Garner

12/15/2014

The Gift continues to be shared! All throughout the streets of Ada, Oklahoma and all around the world! We had a couple neat miracles come about from sharing the gift! We found a lady a while back but couldn't get in to meet with her for random reasons. One day we finally did and sharing the He Is The Gift with her. When we did, she teared up and desired to have the rest of family see this and feel of the true meaning of Christmas this holiday season. I went on exchanges on Thursday and met a 15-year old and got her to have her and the other five people in her house share the gift! Being able to bring up Facebook and Twitter and relate to so many people has brought so many miracles! We also shared it with some Methodist family that's good friends with the missionaries. They invited us to help at a diner on Christmas day to help feed the homeless! They also showed us a video called the "Sainsbury Christmas Ad." I would watch it! It's pretty neat. 

Anyway, the events of this week as follows: On Monday we had dinner at the bishop's house. We shared the He Is The Gift video and then we role-played with them afterwards. I got to role play with their 18-year old daughter, Alyssa. She tool a trip to Vegas with another member, so I pretended to be a random dude on the airplane that she could possibly meet. Alyssa had no idea what to say, so it was pretty funny. Their family is helping another less-fortunate family in the ward help pay for their Christmas, which is super humble and generous of them. 

The next day we had a great lesson with Mario about the Book of Mormon. He hadn't picked it up once, so when we finally got to read it with him, he felt the spirit and was intrigued by it! We promised him we'd answer some questions using the Book of Mormon, including how to get along with your spouse, the purpose of life, etc. 

Every Wednesday we get to have FHE with a recent convert family (since he was to work late on Monday evenings) and after the lesson it's tradition that we play a board game with them (it's okay with President, I promise!) and this week I learned how to play Lifeboats. Game's pretty fun! It brings out the same emotions that Risk and Killer Bunnies do, so you can probably imagine what that was like. But we all had a good time and enjoyed one another's company.

Friday was our Ward Christmas Party! And it there was so much FOOD! And we had a less active come that never comes to anything! That was epic. Then we got to sing the Twelve Days of Christmas! The senior couple had "2 testaments," referring to the Bible and the Book of Mormon. The sisters did "six ugly skirts." They actually copied us...because ours was "twelve ugly ties!" Fun stuff.

Last miracle! A few days back we got a media referral for someone wanting a Bible. Turns out that someone is an 8-year old named Levi! An 8-year old wants to read the Bible! Such solid faith... I love it. You won't believe how inspired this was, but we asked how they came in contact with the mormon.org website, and Levi's grandma said that her husband is a member and knew about it. Guess what? That member had NO address on the ward roster, so we got a couple sweet potentials and a discovered less-active! That's the second one we've located! And there's a third on the way pretty soon! Oh my, miracles all around! 

So I'm speaking next Sunday. I haven't done it in a while, so cross your fingers I'll make it through. Thanks for your prayers and all your support! 

Elder Garner

12/08/2014

Christmas is going to be here before I know it! And then it's 2015! In Oklahoma the fog is setting in with not a whole lot of snow! We could be having a winter foggy land this Christmas. 

Well, this update's going to be pretty short. I got hit with wintertime sickness, so I got to spend a couple days looking at the ceiling. Not that looking at the fog outside would have been much more helpful anyway. Fortunately I recovered pretty quick. We spent a lot of time finding using the He Is The Gift Initiative. The Youtube takeover started yesterday! Publicity all over youtube! We've also gotten to see a lot of our recent converts this week. Amazingly enough, Rusty, one of our investigators, called us and wanted to meet with us. He's getting close to rock-bottom. His job doesn't have anything left to do, so he could be moving out of his house and looking for a place to live. He wasn't there, so we didn't see him. We tried him throughout the week, but to no avail. 

We had an amazing finding miracle in the glitzy ritzy neighborhoods of Ada! We found a guy while knocking on doors the other day, who we found out works for one of the local radio stations in Ada. We gave him a He Is The Gift card and asked him to share a message. Though he was not interested, he told us the next time he went in the the radio station he would mention the He Is The Gift initiative for us!  

Thursday was pretty wild. It was super foggy that day. We went out with a member and I thought we were going to die! We had a couple appointments that we had planned, but they fell through. Something else was calling for our attention, however. There was a struggling family in the ward in need of some guidance. The bishop called us and the sister missionaries and asked us to see to the family's needs. When we got there, we gathered up everyone in the family and one by one gave each of them a priesthood blessing, totalling 7 blessings and 1 anointing. I am so filled with thanks for being prepared for that moment! There's no doubt the Lord had other plans for us that night.

And as everyone knows, we had the Christmas Devotional on Sunday. We met as a ward an hour beforehand and had desserts. The devotional was so powerful! I especially loved D. Todd Christofferson's talk. Next week we have our ward Christmas party and then our Mission Christmas Conference a few days later, both of which we are very excited for. Christmas is getting nearer!

Elder Garner  

He Is the Gift (12/01/2014)

Guys, Mormon Oklahomans cook the best Thanksgiving meals ever! Turkey and pie for days! But of course it's nothing like good old home cooking...mom... ;) Haha, anyway who knows what the true meaning of Christmas is??? If you're a member of the Church or really any other Christian religion you know what Christmas is all about. If not, you really should look atchristmas.mormon.org or if you just happen to be curious :)

Just some last-minute Thanksgiving spirituality. It was really kinda ironic, because I read Ether 6 the day of Thanksgiving, which, if anyone knows what that chapter's about it talks about Jared and the brother of Jared's family traveling to the promised land in barges. Kinda reminds you of the pilgrims traveling on the Mayflower, yeah?? In verse 11 it says that they traveled for 344 days! In wooden ball that was tight like unto a dish! How appropriate to be studying such a chapter on the day of Thanksgiving. It reminded me of all that I have for which to be grateful.The Lord always happens to have me study the most relevant topics pertaining to whatever day it is or whatever I'm going through. 

So on Monday I learned how to play Risk Legacy. Bro. Buckmaster in the ward has gotten all of us so addicted to board games--but only for FHE and P-day! Then on Tuesday Elder Fuller and I got to teach the Book of Mormon class on Ether 2 and 3, which is the story of the brother of Jared assembling the barges. I seem to love the book of Ether lately. So many great ways for us receive answers to our prayers. Sometimes the Lord gives us specific instructions, He'll tell us what to avoid, or He'll simply ask that you turn everything over to Him. Prayer and scripture study are some great ways that we can learn knowledge and answers for ourselves! 

On Wednesday we went out with the Lemmerts and drove around and around and around looking for members of the church scattered in Pontotoc county, Oklahoma. We found the lost sheep! But they hid from us, so next time we'll have to knock a little louder. Of course, the next day was Thanksgiving, so all we were able to do was visit members. We ate at the Draper's home. Sister Drapers brother lives in the Mustang 1st ward, my old area about six months ago. It was really neat seeing his family again and catching up on all the things that are happening in that ward. I sure miss that ward... Dinner was fantastic. I ate several rolls and pieces of pie, for sure. We got to spend time with some other members and dabble here and there with their dinners, so we basically ate all day. I loved it. 

The next day we went to Pauls Valley and had a Specialized Training on "He Is The Gift" - which starts getting publicized in Times Square today! The missionaries will be having so much involvement in the initiative, and miracles are going to come out of it! All of the missionaries around the mission are crazy-excited for it, and miracles are happening everyday throughout the mission! 

On Saturday we helped some people in the ward move some outdoor equipment around. We helped winterize their yard a couple weeks back. Then on Sunday we got to have another Thanksgiving dinner at the Buckmasters. Their rolls were so good! That same day we gave three blessings to people! Another day of ministering to others! It was amazing to have been able to help them feel the guiding and healing influence of the Spirit. And at the end of the night we finally got in with Mario, our investigator. We taught him about the importance of prayer, scripture study, and keep the Sabbath Day holy. He really does want to learn more. 

December is pretty much the best time to do missionary work, no doubt. I hope each of y'all had an awesome Thanksgiving! 

Elder Garner