The Year of the Mission: Accomplished (01/05/2015)

I always referred to the year 2014 as "the year of the mission" because I would literally spend the whole year preaching the gospel, and that's what happened! 2014 was just an incredible year to sum it up. There was the final weeks in Sulphur, getting to serve in the metro in Mustang in the southwest Oklahoma City area. Then moving from Mustang in the middle of the humid summer to Altus right into the desert. Trainings, temple trips, zone conferences, transfers, and all kinds of missionary memories.

It's sad to think that with 2015 here the end is in sight more than ever. We have transfers this week. Elder Fuller's going up to the city in Edmond. I'm getting an Elder Tanner. He will possibly be my last companion. From the moment I left Altus, I was convinced that Ada would be my final area and would seal my fate for the rest of my mission.

So without trying to think about the remaining weeks of the mission, allow me now to report on the events of the week with the mindset of many more weeks to come! Our usual Monday and Wednesday FHEs were great. At the Buckmasters we played Evolution, and on New Year's Day (since we couldn't really proselyte) we played Small World. Both really fun games. By the way, I should make everyone aware that we always make sure to teach a lesson and share a scripture before we play any board games with the Buckmasters! Just so there's no confusion there...

Tuesday was pretty interesting. Another random fact about Ada: it's a train station hub. LOTS of trains go in and out of Ada. In fact, there's a four-way stop in Ada on Mississippi and Arlington called "crazy corner," and there's a train track that run right in the middle of it! So there are at least one or two accidents a day that happen there, and it's the most accident-prone intersection in the entire state of Oklahoma. We've almost gotten in a couple of those since I've been here! Anyway, that day we were walking and trying a less active near the train tracks, and the crossing guards kept going up and down! And cars would weave in and out of the crossing guard arms! It was quite the sight.

Our 12-year old investigator, Zavior Willis, is doing well. He's progressing quickly and learning a lot and asking a lot of good questions. He has a baptismal date for the 31st of January. We also picked up a family of three this past week. They had some very intellectual questions about doctrine coming from the Bible. It was a very interesting visit. It certainly kept me on my toes. Luckily we had the bishop there with us, so he had the opportunity to testify of the importance of a modern-day prophet and about receiving revelation.

I left 2014 exhausted, and woke up in 2015 feeling sick! But fortunately we had enough appointments and plans to keep my mind occupied on other things besides my sickness. Friday was scary. President came to our district meeting, and I gave part of the training! I haven't done a training since Altus, but I hardly felt rusty. With President there I could feel the pressure, but I just made sure not to look at him :) Nahhh it was all good.

On Saturday we had plans to go to a sealing for the Schuette family (pronounced "Shooty"), but it postponed due to family adoption complications. We ended up doing service for Bro. Ryan down in Coalgate. We shoveled gravel onto his driveway. It's a loooonnnnggg driveway. Later on we got to watch one of the sisters' investigators get baptized. Really neat stuff. Then Sunday night was our transfer news! The new year's starting off well (besides feeling sick, of course)! I hope y'all had a fantastic New Year's Day!


Elder Garner

Open the Gift (12/29/2014)

Monday was our Specialized Training over in Pauls Valley. We talked about teaching our investigators had to have more meaningful prayers, more insightful scripture study, and more spiritual Sabbath days. Doing all those things together is so essential for building a testimony of the gospel. If you leave one of them out, your testimony crumbles.

Tuesday was fantastic. We found several potential investigators that day and invited them to watch He Is The Gift and the share it with others. Later on we went to Book of Mormon class, and no one besides the missionaries had shown up! So we all decided to go caroling instead. The Lemmerts decided to go home and make cookies instead. Boo! We went around to different members of the ward and sang to them to brighten their Christmas season. We also did it because we all sang in sacrament on Sunday! Good thing there were 10 other people to cover up my voice... ;)  

And then the holiday festivities began. On Christmas Eve we had two dinners and spent most of the day with the Buckmasters playing board games. We promised them we'd spend some time with them during the holidays since we couldn't proselyte both the 24th and the 25th. Christmas Day was a repeat of the 24th: more food, more board games, more time with members, it was fantastic. But of course, I can't forget the nice chat I had with my family over Skype. We went over to the Lemmert's apartment to skype. We also got to eat breakfast there as well. We were definitely showered with gifts and blessings!

Saturday was super busy! Probably the busiest day out here in Ada. I felt like a missionary in Utah running from appointment to appointment and worrying about the time. We taught Levi, the 8-year old the asked for the Bible. We taught him the Restoration, and he wants to be baptized! After that we ate at Rib Crib for lunch. Then afterwards we went to another appointment for Ashley, our recent convert. Our plan was to teach her the commandments, but we instead ended up teaching one of Ashley's brother-in-law's friends, who's 12-years old. His grandparents are LDS, and he had a lot of questions. He's very smart for 12-years old, and he wants to be baptized and serve a mission! Get this: his name is Zavior. Sound like "Savior" to anyone? We thought that was sweet. He's prepared. We made it up to Ashley and taught her the commandments the next day.  

Church was pretty great. We sang and stuff. I think I did okay. I hope we sang loud enough, but then again I wouldn't be upset if no one heard me :) So basically... I hope each of you had a very Merry Christmas. Finish the year off with joy in your heart for the things you accomplished in 2014, and have a happy New Year!


Elder Garner

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  

Hold the Wheel and Drive (11/24/2014)

All eight hungry missionaries are ready for Thanksgiving! And Ada is ready for Christmas! Driving down Main Street in Ada and seeing all the street lamps decorated with lit-up Christmas bells reminds of driving down 104th in South Jordan and seeing all the Christmas decorations the city lined up going up and down the street. It's the holidays!

So on Monday we went around and did some pre-Christmas window shopping for P-day, and later that day we had FHE put on by the sisters with some church members over at the church building and played the Holy Ghost game! We blindfolded one of the recent convert families and had them walk through an obstacle course. They had to listen to the 'Holy Ghost' while trying to block out the 'noises of the adversary.' Sometimes they'd listen to another voice that wasn't the 'Holy Ghost,' and when they did, they ran into a wall. It was a good lesson for everyone.

On Tuesday we had to help jump the sister's car. Our Chevy Cruze against their Chevy Malibu...their engine in bigger than ours. It didn't work. Then we saw a Dodge Ram 2500 pull up and asked them for help. Seeing their truck trying to jump their car kinda put our car to shame...haha. But their truck couldn't start it either. So we had Elder Williams, the car coordinator, take care of it, and lo and behold they needed a new battery. In spite of all that, I'm so grateful we even get cars in our mission. It really is such a blessing to this work. 

And speaking of cars, the Lemmerts took us out to Roff, Oklahoma, a town that's tucked right in between Ada and Sulphur. We asked a random guy if he knew one of the members in town--the member's address only had a P.O. Box. And miracle! The guy knew who he was and where he lived! So in the most Okie fashion you can imagine, he gave us directions to his house: "Right at the corner where the post office is, past the second block, then take a left..." THOSE kind of directions! And we found him! And he was really nice to us! And we have plans to go back! Man, I love small towns and the fact that everyone knows everyone. 

On Wednesday we had another FHE with the Buckmaster family, a recent convert family. They can't do Mondays, so we got President's permission to do Wednesdays. We had a good discussion on Alma 32 about faith and humility. We're trying to help him gain a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon, because that's what he needs in his life. They've been going through a lot, and their living circumstances aren't easy for them. 

Friday... We literally drove and drove and drove. We went to District Meeting and then afterwards made our way to ALTUS! Jack, a guy Elder Garcia and I found the Saturday before I got transferred, got baptized! So we made the three-hour trip to Altus and witnessed his coming unto Christ. Elder Chavez is training a new missionary...super cool. Elder Garcia and my replacement are doing some fine work there. After the baptism we drove and got turned around while we were in Lawton and drove 15 miles the other way... That's really embarrassing for a Geography major. Anyway, we got back at 11 that night. Total, it was seven hours of driving. Ouch!

Saturday it rained all day. We had a Thanksgiving lunch at a member's house! But when we pulled up to her driveway we had to park on her grass and when we did our tires started spinning and we got stuck in the mud! So since I was driving the car the other three elders helped push the car out of the mud. Later on that day I went on my first legitimate split ever! I went with the High Priests Group Leader to make some visits to some people on his home teaching list. 

And yesterday we had a miracle happen! We took one of the ward recent converts out with us, Brother Bunner. We took him to see our investigator, Rusty. We caught him on his 51st birthday...drunk. Luckily he had two other friends there that were sober and really nice to us. So while we were trying to teach, Rusty kept interrupting and being rowdy, so eventually we all sort of just implicitly started teaching each person separately! Elder Fuller taught Jamie, one of the friends there, Brother Bunner taught and bore his testimony to Tony, the other friend. I basically gave a pep-talk to Rusty about reaching his goals in life by quitting his smoking and drinking, and in the process setting a baptismal date. Hopefully he doesn't forget that. Aside from all that, we got his two friends interested in meeting with us! 

That's a lot of stuff to be grateful for! We had a pretty fantastic week, I'd have to say. So as you're stuffing yourself with turkey, remember to stuff yourself with the word of God! Happy Thanksgiving!

Elder Garner