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