Ordinance Jackpot (02/23/2015)

The suspense is over y'all, Zavior got baptized this week! We were pretty worried about the baptism going through after last week's throwdown, but Memery checked and double checked with her mother to make sure she would be there. They both enjoyed his baptism a lot. One of the sister missionaries sang a solo for Zavior, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me," and both his mom and his grandma starting sobbing! What a moment. Elder Tanner did a great job baptizing him, and Zavior was ready to jump in there. That same day we got to go up to the Oklahoma City Temple and watch one of Ada's recent converts go through the temple for the first time. She had family out from Utah and several sets of missionaries that served in Ada in attendance--something like 20-30 missionaries. It was almost like a zone conference! We spent all of Saturday going to the temple and then watching one of our investigators getting baptized. It was quite the day of seeing the fruits of our labors. It was fantastic.

On Monday we spent most of the day driving around looking at different shops in Ada. Elder Owen wanted one last look at Ada before he left. That night we drove up to Seminole to have dinner with a family that used to live in the ward one last time before Elder Owen went home. Their house is incredibly nice, oh my... the house tour was pretty amazing. Their tacos were super delicious :)

Tuesday, Elder Tanner and I taught the Book of Mormon class on Helaman 5, which talked about the words and advice that Helaman gave to his sons, Nephi and Lehi. He told them to remember to keep the Lord's commandments, the words that King Benjamin spoke during the first few chapters of Mosiah, and the words that Amulek spoke to Zeezrom pertaining to God's mercy and His salvation. He also told them to remember the names of their families and forefathers and their works. Sound like family history to anyone? Later on the chapter talked about the feelings of the Holy Spirit and how he whispers to us. This was key for Memery and Zavior, who, thankfully, both showed up for the class. Memery learned a lot from that class, so we were both grateful that we were the ones teaching the class that night! 

Wednesday was transfer day. We went up with Elder Owen and said goodbye to him. Sister Chappell took us there, and afterwards we went out to Golden Corral. I miss food from the city. We picked up Elder Owen's replacement, drove back to Ada, and afterwards gave a blessing to a member over at the hospital. Bishop told us a little bit about her. She's been living in Ada all these years and doesn't have her records in the ward. Once she starts feeling better we'll be able to learn more about her story. 

Thursday we taught Anna the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson. We drew it out all nice and neat for her to understand. The next day we taught her the 10 commandments out of Mosiah 13. She got a kick out of that. We're starting to think that we're preparing her for the spirit world. We'll see how it goes with her. Elder Tanner also gave Zavior a haircut because Memery wanted him to get one before his baptism. He looks much older than he did before. Then we got his baptismal program figured out again all in preparation for Saturday.

Sunday got shut down for us. It started snowing over here, so bishop called off church. Tender mercy though: Zavior was able to make it to church and I got to confirm him before all the snow hit! But after church our cars got grounded...and the four of us elders were stuck inside. Thank goodness for church buildings that are so close to our apartment. It really has been quite the week. Much better than the setbacks we were having a couple weeks back. Next step: Teaching Memery her discussions along with teaching Zavior his recent convert discussions along with teaching Zeffa, Zavior's grandmother. Have an awesome week!

Elder Garner 

Breaking the Bands of Death (02/16/2015)

This is a pretty good quote: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." 

Our mission is seeing a lot of death right now. Starting with transfers news: Elder Tanner and I are staying in Ada! Which basically means I'm finishing up in Ada! Until then though we have lots of work to get done. This was the news I'd been anticipating for a while now, so my worries have now been alleviated. We're getting a new elder in Ada that goes home six weeks after I do. Ada's going to be a burial ground for "dying" missionaries. There's me in three months, then this new elder goes home six weeks after I do, then Elder Tanner goes home six weeks after that. In district meeting on Friday we had the Noble Sister Training Leaders and the Pauls Valley Zone Leaders come to our district meeting in Ada. Since it was their last district meeting, two elders and a sister had their "funerals" and they had eulogies written for them. Pretty hilarious. 

It's been an interesting week. Zavior was supposed to be baptized this Saturday, but Memery cancelled the baptism an hour and a half before it happened. We were about to fill the font and everything. We tried talking with her and convincing her to change her mind, but she wouldn't go through with it until Zavior's grandma could be there. Zavior was pretty bummed about it. At least we only have to wait a week for it to go through. And now that Elder Tanner and I are staying together there's no worry about one of us leaving before he gets baptized. Memery talked with her mom and made sure she would be there this Saturday, so everyone pray that this baptism happens this Saturday!  

Last Monday was out of this world crazy. A couple months back all eight of us missionaries went to dinner at a member's house in Latta. While walking up to his door, a man came up to us and starting talking to us about Mormonism. Come to find out he lived just across the street from the member and found out he was baptized at age eight in Ada! But his records were elsewhere, so we got his info and got his name in the roster. Fast forward to Monday, we went to Prairie Kitchen (Ada's equivalent to iHop) with Brother Chiles, the less active. Remember the story last week with the sisters regifting the dessert we left at their apartment? Well, the plot thickens. During dinner this member just so happened to be talking about the pranks he'd pulled, and so we asked him if he had any ideas on how to get back at the sisters, and one thing led to another, and we ended up going to his brand-new consignment shop in downtown Ada that he opened that day. We got a three-foot diameter smiley face balloon, a bunch of flowers, a couple bottles of bubble-bath mix (because the sisters need to take baths ;) a brand-new cake that hadn't been eaten at all, and a Valentine's Card that said: #SorryYoureIt! Oh my, best charity war. The best part? The trust level with this less active skyrocketed that night. We have an appointment with him to help him change some things that are going on in his life right now. He even wants to take us to downtown OKC for a P-day, so we may take him up on that offer. So we're planning to visit with him and help him make the steps to come back to church and get active again!

Tuesday was a little on the sad side. Ashley, our recent convert, had a miscarriage. It's got her down pretty good, but she's doing a lot better now because of her knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. We did service for a guy named Hugh. He owns a saddle and boot shop on Main Street Ada, pretty close to Bro. Chiles' consignment shop. We may start teaching him pretty soon. For Wednesday night FHE we read in 1st Nephi and played Powergrid. Awesome game. That night we finished up all of the laws and ordinances with Zavior. Marnie, his friend's mother, bore a powerful testimony to him. He said he would pray before he went to bed and that he would even fast! This 12-year old's amazing!

Thursday was our temple trip with our zone. I absolutely loved it. We even got to drive past my old area in Mustang #ThrowbackThursday. On our way home we took the Shawnee exit off of I-40 and on the exit was this car completely stopped in the middle of the exit! So we pulled up next to him, got him to roll down his window, and told him to pull off the side of the road so he wouldn't get it. When he responded there came the smell: alcohol. He was drunk as a skunk. We made it home safely with no other mishaps.

With all that happened with Zavior, we're sure grateful that the baptism isn't getting pushed off too much. He's ready, and he's excited. Memery's ready to start making changes in her life as well. This week should be good!

Elder Garner

Pictures: 

1) Companions... Too bad it's not our eternal companions. Kidding

2) Y'all should know who's taking this picture.

3) Ada District... Minus the Lemmerts. They had to go shopping I guess

4) The bear rug! Taken at Sister Chappell's house in Ada

5) The missionary funeral. They will be amazing in the Spirit World ;)

6) The zebra room! Also at Sister Chappell's

02/09/2015

I really don't have one word or phrase to sum up the things that happened this week, so this week will have multiple titles I think... Yeah, let's go with it:

Battle Scars

That's a GREAT title. Mom it's okay, I'm alive. I'll just put it like this, we had a tough week! The Lord was definitely testing us and seeing if Elder Tanner and I could get out alive. Our wheels kept spinning and spinning as people kept getting sick and telling us they couldn't meet. This lasted for a few days, but the week got better as the days passed. But the battle scars! Here's what happened: On Wednesday the sisters enlisted our help (the two skinny elders, of course) to help one of their investigators uproot the tree roots in his front yard. We got to use an ax, a pickax, and a shovel. The pickax was so fun, I truly represented Bingham High School. We should be going back there some time, and when we do I'm getting pictures! Anyways, we hacked and pulled out those roots for two or three hours! I got blisters! And the investigator accidentally swung the ax and hit Elder Tanner's leg! Good thing it wasn't chopped off. Anyway, nothing hospital worthy at least.

Go Tigers... I Mean Cougars

On Tuesday we went with the sisters inside one of the dorms over at East Central University. MAN, it reminded me so much of Heritage Halls at BYU. My thoughts were spinning everywhere! The sisters are starting up a club/institution over at ECU and need signatures and officers for their club. Elder Tanner happened to know a college student going to ECU from one of his old areas, so he got the sisters hooked up with the signature and they got their club all squared away. The Norman Stake wants to show The Lamb of God at the Kerr Center at ECU, and having the club there will get that up and going come Easter time. 

On Friday we took a road trip with the Lemmerts to Roff, a little town just southwest of Ada. It was my second time going there in four months. We met a couple people we hadn't met before, but we probably won't go back there for another four months. We were exceedingly Roff...ha.

Dumpster Burning

So even though the middle of the week wasn't that grand, Saturday was glorious! We got called by four or five people that legitimately wanted us to see them! No one just does that! I guess a lot of the excitement was stacking up for the weekend. It started with the Buckmasters asking us to help them clean up their front yard. Their trash services got turned off...so they're been burning their trash in their dumpster. We helped them get rid of bunches of garbage. We watched a lot of random objects burn. They had a little Tow Mater toy truck that we watched burn. It was sad, but kinda funny to watch at the same time. Watching his teeth and eyes and truck bed melt... It reminded me of scout camp. I have the Church to thank for that! After that we helped with: interpreting someone's dreams, installing a car stereo system, reminding people about church, and giving a blessing to someone ready to move to Utah.

Sunday was amazing. We had a great turnout and Zavior came! He even stayed for the potluck afterwards! He's set for getting baptized this Saturday on Valentine's Day! So this next week we'll be working feverishly with him to get him prepared for baptism this Saturday. He bore his testimony again in Deacons Quorum. He talked about how he'd been praying to find answers to the Book of Mormon and about the church. His mom helped him recognize the answer! She told him, "haven't you noticed the missionaries coming over more to try to help you out?" and that was the game changer. Thanks, Zavior's mom. A little update with Zavior's mom, Memory. She got a job at AutoZone and got Sundays off! Yes! And she's expressed a desire to be baptized, so that should happen sometime within the next month of two. 

And that was our week. This week should be crazy and fun. We get transfer news this Sunday. Pretty confident I'm staying in Ada. However, rumor has it I may be getting moved to another proselyting area in Ada, which never happens hardly. The new elder that just came in has only been in the area for two weeks, and his companion is finishing his mission next week. President's thinking about sending me to the other area to help out the new elder in learning the area. I'll be sad to leave Elder Tanner if that's the case. We'll know by next week. Anyway, love y'all, and have an awesome week!

Elder Garner

"Moving Swiftly" Warfare (02/02/2015)

We've had so much happen this week, it was wild. On one particular day while waiting for someone to answer their door, I buried my face in my arms and leaned it on the support beam of the person's house and said sarcastically, "these really are the best two years!" Elder and Sister Lemmert laughed. To them it's just the best eighteen months.

There's a quote in Preach My Gospel where the Lord is talking to Joseph Smith that goes, "It is not needful for...mine elders to be moving swiftly...whilst the inhabitants on either side are perishing in unbelief." --D&C 61:3. Basically, that quote was us this week. Luckily, a guy named Gary that we found on the street won't be perishing in unbelief because we stopped to talk to him! On Sunday (everything that happened this week is going to be very shuffled and not chronological) we taught Gary and his friend Deanna the Restoration. They both are very receptive and seem to love learning about the gospel. We set a baptismal date for the 21st of March. Haha, that's my 21st birthday, go figure. Their spiritual birth is on the day of my physical birth! That should be a good birthday present. If not them, then someone else will be baptized that day. I'll make it happen.

On Thursday we had five appointments back to back to back... I don't know how I made it through that day because we were running around in different member's cars all day and calling up people to confirm appointments and rides and meals, down to the wire! We took a huge breath once that day was over. Things are still doing well with Zavior. We taught him the Law of Chastity to him. It seems like I always teach that lesson to pre-teens. That was a rather interesting lesson because the people in that household weren't always the most...chaste people, so we heard ALL kinds of stories of their past lives that we had never heard until then! Zavior should be well prepared for the evils of this world.

Anna, our 83-year old investigator, already claims us as her grandchildren. She's a riot. She forgets things a lot. We taught her the Plan of Salvation this week, and we spent a whole lesson just on reading the introduction to the Book of Mormon. We had to explain to her on three different visits the purpose of the Book of Mormon and why we have it. We had an amazing miracle with her though. She asked us this question, which induced the following conversation:

—Anna: "Now do you boys ever get that lovely, peaceful feeling right in here (she points to her chest)?"
—Us: "Yeah! That's the Holy Ghost!"
—Anna: "Well I get that feelin whenever I do what's right!"
—Us: "That's right, Anna, that's the Holy Ghost! You can feel that as you read the Book of Mormon!"
—Anna: "Well I think I already have."
—Us: "Did you pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true?"
—Anna: "Why yes."
—Us: "And what did you feel?"
—Anna: "Oh I already know it's true!"

And there you have it. No matter how many times we have to explain to her a certain concept, she can at least recall the feelings she's felt in her heart. On Friday we got to do some service for her. We raked her leaves--in January, haha.

We had an elder from our district go home early... He'd been fighting anxiety and depression for a while now. It was sad, but on Thursday we got a new elder to work alongside with. He's awesome and he'll mesh well with the rest of the Ada group. That threw everyone's schedule through a loop. It was craziness that added to what we already had. But we pulled through and made it.

On Wednesday for FHE we played Castle of Mad King Ludwig with the Buckmasters. The game's all about designing your own floorplan for a castle! That's my kind of game. It was pretty fun.

On Saturday we went with the Lemmerts to try some people in the outlying town of Stonewall. We met one of our investigators, Jolynda, for the first time. Elder Fuller and I had tried her a few times, but to no success. We finally met her and have an appointment for Tuesday! We'll see how that goes. More of the puzzle pieces of outer Pontotoc County are coming together it seems like.

And with that, that was our week. I'm so grateful for the downpour of blessings we've been receiving in this area. It sure makes Elder Tanner and I grateful for what we have and for the blessing that it is to serve a mission. We should hopefully be seeing some fruit this coming month and hopefully for the next few!


Elder Garner