OOOOO-KLAHOMA~!: 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