This week was full of ups and downs. Thankfully, there were more ups. Last Monday we had an amazing day with one of our members. Just some quick background information, Bro. Komers was baptized a member in 2010 after rescuing himself from 18 years of meth and drug abuse. He recently adopted 5 kids!! He's had 2 boys since about May--around when I showed up--and he just barely adopted the rest of the family--3 girls--a few weeks ago. They've been coming to church, but of course none of them know about the gospel. He's a solid member of the church and desires to find missionary opportunities! Last Monday he picked us up for a dinner appointment (our Chevy Malibu already had too many miles, HA). We drove across the bridge into Lexington and around the bend to highway 77 and noticed a lady walking pretty briskly on the side of the road. We barely noticed her, but the spirit kept poking all of us to ask her if she needed help. So we flipped around and picked her up. We came to find out she was released from the McClain County jail after spending 2 days in there for a speeding ticket. She thought she had paid it, but apparently there was one she hadn't paid for in McClain County. She happened to be carrying a Bible with her... Once she finished her story we introduced ourselves, Bro. Komers shared a little bit of his conversion story, and we got her introduced to the gospel! Her husband was coming from Wetumka to pick her up. So eventually we dropped her off at Pizza Hut, Bro. Komers gave her $20 for some food, and we gave her a Book of Mormon! The best part? She said, "I had no idea there were still people out there like you guys." Wow. Incredible, right? Unfortunately, she doesn't live in our mission--she's barely in the Tulsa mission--but a seed was planted! And we will refer her to the Tulsa missionaries that live near her.
When we arrived we had dinner, and Bro. Komers decided to drop a bomb on us and told us to "get down to the nitty and gritty." And by that he meant teach his kids the missionary discussions! We taught them the Plan of Salvation on Monday, the Restoration on Friday, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ yesterday! The three of them that are old enough to be baptized are being baptized on the 23rd and 24th! We could potentially fulfill 3 out of 100 baptisms this month for the OKC mission! Anyway, it was a super-spiritual lesson--Elder Evans even cried. I've never seen that one before! The oldest one who's 13 said at the end of the lesson, "I just want to be saved." It was amazing... So while we were still thick with the spirit, we took Bro. Komers out with us to visit another family, the Hoffman family, we ran into last week. They're a family that live in a trailer park just north of our apartment complex. Just use Google Maps if you need a visual ;) So there's 5 out of 6 members eligible for baptism, so pray that this happens!! We taught them the Book of Mormon and part of the Restoration! So the best part of the day? 2 member-presents and 8 new investigators!!! That's a record for the both of us. I went to bed with a smile on my face.
Tuesday was one of those days... Again, I won't go into detail, but basically we didn't do anything that day. We spent the whole day (other than our dinner appointment) having a companionship inventory (that's the nice way of putting it). He called the Zone Leaders for help, but they sided with me. Even after he hung up with the Zone Leaders he kept fighting me on what we were to do. Anyway, it was basically a day wasted. Wednesday mulled things over though. We had our Temple Conference that day. The drive to OKC was amazing! It was like driving from Tremonton to Salt Lake. There were skyscrapers! Anyway, we had a wonderful day at the temple. Our zone, the OKC South zone, and the OKC zone all got to hang out, which brought some relief! We learned some great things from President Walkenhorst and discussed more about his vision for getting 100 baptisms this month. Turns out we had 28 in the month of July. It's going to take a lot of work to do this, but I know the Lord's opening up a way for us! Maybe these new families we've begun teaching will be part of that 100? The OKC temple is tiny! I don't you if you've gone to the temple to do endowments lately, but there's a surprise for you if you haven't seen it already ;) We basically spent the entire day doing that. We came home and had another great lesson with the Hoffmans. We'll be teaching them the Plan of Salvation in a few days.
Thursday was when we began our 48-hour exchange. Elder Evans enjoys doing 3-day exchanges now. After our emergency exchange with our zone leaders last week, he wanted to do it again this week. I got to go over to Blanchard Thursday afternoon and spend time with one of the new missionaries and drive. his. CAR. Those 2013 Ford Fusions handle rather nicely. ;) Anyway, our exchange was awesome, and I learned so much from this new elder! He in no way appears to be only 3 weeks into the mission. It was fantastic. We exchanged back Saturday afternoon and finished off the day by planning for the next week. FastSunday was awesome. We fasted for member missionary work to increase and for our Ward Mission Leader to have his faith increased in member missionary work. I had a couple other personal things I fasted for! Anyway, we had a great Sabbath day. We got to visit Carol yesterday. She's still struggling financially--her car isn't working now... She is so bent on helping out other people that she doesn't remember to help herself out! That's how incredible of a convert she is. Anyway, we committed her to calling the bishop and talking with him about her situation. She gladly accepted. And here we are!
As of right now the transfer is halfway over. This Saturday we get informed if either Elder Evans or I will be training next transfer (which runs from August 26th to about October 6th). Training seems like a scary thought considering I will have just finished up being trained! But it seems so exciting at the same time!! We'll see what Saturday brings.
I absolutely loved your missionary experiences. I'm proud of you for being so gusty with the Basses! Member missionary work is on the rise even in Utah! I love it. Anyway, it's good to hear from you guys. Make sure you slap me if I ever say "y'all" or "fixin to" or anything like that. I'm determined not to come home saying those things! Haha, anyway, have a wonderful week!
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