The Golden Birthday (03/23/2015)

Oklahoma had their Spring Break this past week. Unlike Utah, they get an entire week of vacationing and partying. It wasn't just the schools, the university had theirs as well. Utah should emulate Oklahoma's example. It made missionary work pretty tough this week, but we had some amazing miracles.

We got back in contact with Memery. Apparently Zavior got a virus that made him pass out whenever he stood up. We gave her David A. Bednar's "Come and See" to help her get a better idea of why members of the Church share the gospel. We also had an amazing miracle with our investigator, Mario. He's been working as a manager at a casino/gas station for the past couple months, and he's been swamped with working overtime hours. He can't come to church on Sundays because of it. We can barely meet with him because we have to catch him home at just the right time, and even if we set an appointment he gets called into work sometimes. So our appointment with him on Wednesday was a miracle in and of itself. We taught him the Ten Commandments. Since keeping the Sabbath Day Holy is one of the commandments, we had a good discussion about his work life. In the middle of the lesson, he stopped us and told us that the next time he went to work he would get on his knees and pray about the Book of Mormon and pray to have a good day at work. Our Spirit radars shot way up!!! It was a super powerful lesson. 

Things with Rusty are going well. He's still sober. He went to Book of Mormon class and brought up some concerns about the devil. Those are the best kind of concerns. Everyone should worry about him! But when we apply the steps of the Doctrine of Christ we can overcome those temptations. Rusty pointed out to us that all that is definitely easier said then done. One thing I learned from that lesson is that we always need to be watching ourselves and being careful that we don't fall into Satan's temptations. The phrase that comes to mind is "Watch, therefore, that ye may be ready."

All right. It's time. The birthday: It's almost been like the birthday celebration that never ends! The day of, the day before, and the day after the 21st didn't seem like it was going to end. On Friday I got a birthday card signed by all the Ada missionaries and a gallon box of Goldfish from the sister missionaries. I'm "The Goldfishinator" according to the sisters :) Then after district meeting we went out to lunch to Prairie Kitchen, and afterwards the waiter gave me a chocolate brownie with ice cream and fudge. Gosh it was yummy! And the fudge was BUBBLING hot! On the 21st we went to the church to do some stuff while the other elders took the car to Stratford. After that we got back to our apartment to find balloons taped all over the front door--another surprise from the sisters. We went over to the bishop's house to visit some of his kids while he was in Utah. They found out it was my birthday and they served us sparkling grape juice. Later on we had dinner with the Schuettes, and for dessert they made a massive chocolate ding-dong cake with white filling in the middle and gaunache on the outside. #CheckSpelling. And it was TASTY. We went to a baptism afterwards and on of the counselors in the bishopric got everyone in the ward that was there to sing happy birthday, and then he gave me a cake, which we ate the next day during ward correlation. And the package from mom was amazing!

So the past week has been pretty good. Transfer calls are this Sunday, and President tells us that six areas will be closing this transfer with 7 or 8 more areas closing my going-home transfer. Guess which area in the Oklahoma City Mission has the most sets of missionaries? Ada. So pray that none of us have to close an area! 

Elder Garner

#ThePlotThickens #21AndLegal

How Far's that Airplane? (03/16/2015)

Like, 10 miles? Nope! Anyone that's served a mission has heard this joke. It's a trick question. The airplane isn't measured in distance, it's measured in time! This question kinda got thrown in my face earlier this week when I opened the letter from the Church telling me that I would be flying from Oklahoma to Salt Lake on the morning of May 14th! That news came two months too early!

This week we had a Specialized Training on teaching about our purpose to those we meet. We learned about finding the elect and setting expectations with investigators. Earlier that day we got to go to the Boger's house in Pauls Valley and spend our P-day there as a zone. It was a lot of fun. The next day we got to eat dinner with a less active member. He took us to Chili's. In his own words, he told me "you're learning so much right now, and soon you're going to EXPLODE with knowledge!" So I guess Oklahoma hasn't totally fried my brain yet? But Bro. Johnson made a good point. I'm learning a lot, and it's going to continue to be that way.

We had something come up with a family in the ward. They're struggling financially, and after basically cutting off contact with us and the ward for two months, they're finally ready to have us come by on a more regular basis again. They made some mistakes, and now they recognize the need to get back into church and reading the scriptures and strengthening their family relationships. We got the whole family to church on Sunday, and the bishop is helping them out as well.

On Thursday, I was separated from my companion as he went up to Oklahoma City for a meeting.  I stayed behind to do exchanges in Seminole, a branch just north of Ada. I got to see Elder Faulkner, one of my buddies that I served around while I was in Mustang. He flies home on the airplane with me! I spent the day with Elder Murphy and worked in Seminole and Wewoka. I always love going to new places in Oklahoma. We taught some of their investigators and did some finding in their area. I found out that Wewoka is the black capitol of Oklahoma. Pretty sweet.

Friday it drizzled, then rained, then downpoured. While walking outside, we were stopped by two Indian men, and they asked us for some cash. We gave them something more valuable: the Book of Mormon! We told them what it is about and how it could bless their lives. They were about to leave, but once we gave the book to them and talked about it, they wanted to learn more!

And Sunday was crazy. We got the struggling family in the ward to church, and a few others that hadn't been, came to church. We had a great turnout! Later that day we went to visit a less active member.

I'm so grateful for missionary work and for the gospel. It's a way for each of us to become the best people we can be and a way to recognize all the God has done for us. It's such a blessing to be with the people of Oklahoma. To learn about them, learn with them, and help them receive the gospel of Jesus Christ.


Elder Garner  

Declaring in Sobriety (03/09/2015)

Fellas, we had a breakthrough this week. A couple, actually, but I'll tell you about the Ada gang's little breakthrough we all had on Friday night.

We all got food poisoning...

There was one sister that lucked out, but the other five of us younger missionaries partook a slice of the forbidden pizza (which I ordered, oops!). For Sister Moore's birthday we went to Mazzio's, an Oklahoma pizza joint, and ordered a meat lovers and a chicken alfredo pizza. I ordered the chicken alfredo...ha. Sister Drinkall only ate the meat lovers pizza and avoided the food poisoning completely. So the next day we all felt the effects of it, and you could say that our insides made a breakthrough...on both ends. Poor Sister Moore, she threw up in the waiting room of the ER--in front of elders! But we won't hold it against her :) And just so everyone knows: We didn't go into the ER because of our food poisoning, we went to help minister to someone that needed a blessing :)

So before all that yahooness happened, we had a legit breakthrough with one of our long-time investigators. Rusty is generally drunk and cussing and emotional about his life whenever we come over, so we usually just read a scripture and give him a pep talk about repentance and how he can change his life. One random visit, however, and come to find out he gave up the desire to get drunk. Now we just need him to give up beer and smoking completely. We got him a ride to Book of Mormon class that night, which was on Moroni 7 about charity. He enjoyed the chapter. Afterwards we taught him a lesson in the church on prayer and set a baptismal date for the 18th of April.

Wednesday was once again another snow day. We were able to spend some time with the Walls though before our cars got grounded, since we knew they would be grounded. The Walls are the main fellowshippers for Memery and Zavior. Sister Walls and her kids all got baptized in December of '13, and she does missionary work like crazy. The next day on Sister Moore's birthday they invited us to their house for cupcakes for Sister Moore's birthday. Sister Walls and her daughter-in-law, Ashley (our recent convert) got in a huge cupcake fight and splatted each others' faces with cupcake! So darn entertaining ...

Thursday we focused a lot of our day on finding. We found a few potentials, and afterwards went out with a member to teach Memery. She had some questions about how to handle overly suggestive men her age, so we helped out with that and threw in some gospel advice. That's kinda the most important ingredient. We're plugging along with her and Zavior. Our next goal is to help Zavior get the priesthood and get him up there passing the sacrament with the rest of the deacons.

Friday we had the opportunity to go to Mercy Hospital and give someone a blessing. It was after the blessing that Sister Moore lost it in the ER. Later on we got to teach another recent convert's brother and his fiancee. We taught about the Plan of Salvation since they recently experienced a death in their family. We testified of the importance of God's eternal plan for us and the peace that it brings to all humankind. We received the biggest tender mercy from Heavenly Father that day, because as soon as we got out of that lesson we went straight back to our apartment. After that lesson was when things really started going downhill with the food poisoning. Saturday consisted of us recovering and eating at Bishop's house.

All safe and blessed though! We feel a lot better, and now that the sun's coming out our proselyting shouldn't be hindered anymore :)


Elder Garner

Last Will and Testimony (03/02/2015)

I'm looking outside in the vast expanse of Oklahoma and those winter clouds sure look menacing. Winter decided to hold off on the snow until the last month of winter I guess. This update's going to be pretty short. Monday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were all snow days. The two biggest things that happened this week was our Zone Conference on Thursday and our lesson we had with Memery and Zavior on Wednesday.

On Tuesday we helped a guy named Hugh, who owns a boot and saddle shop in downtown Ada. He's good friends with the bishop and other members of the ward. He and his sister, Carolyn, have started coming to church recently. The bishop introduced him to the sisters, who then introduced them to us. Hugh lives south of Ada in the outer areas of the county. His boot shop is the only shop in all southern Oklahoma, so he stays pretty busy. We've had a couple opportunities to help him around his shop doing service. We're getting to know him better and better and--in his words--"polishing" him up for the discussions.

Wednesday was really neat. The zone leaders from Pauls Valley came to Ada for exchanges. I got to stay in Ada and work with one of the zone leaders. He served in Altus about a year before I was there, so we had a lot to talk about. That brought back a lot of memories. It's interesting to see how a missionary can build on another missionary's work, especially when that missionary was in the area before you. The more I keep hearing about the success stories that are occurring in Altus, I think about how I helped lay the groundwork and helped indirectly contribute to that success. It fills me with a lot of joy to hear the good news of things like that.

Later on that night we visited Memery and Zavior. Some things had happened a few days ago. Zavior's birth father suddenly contacted him for the first time in a few years, and then dropped back off without explanation. Zavior's hurting for his father, and Memery's hurting for her son. We went over there with the intent of teaching the Restoration, but, as led by the Spirit, we addressed some concerns that Memery had. She expressed how she had a "love/hate" relationship with God. She wanted to know why she was going through all the trials she had and why God wasn't stepping in more. Before any of this happened, we gave Aiden, a member friend of Zavior's, a blessing. He's recently experienced increased seizure activity and had to go to the Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City. Memery was able to witness a blessing for the first time. We shared Alma 14 where Alma and Amulek witness the burning of the innocent women and children and explained to her how God helps us no matter what trials we face, even if it happens to be the worst card we're dealt--death. By the end of the discussion, Memery admitted that she'd just had a rough day and thanked us the next day for the visit.

For Zone Conference we discussed the importance of the Book of Mormon and planning. We also received a pleasant visit from a member in Utah who introduced us to.....the Black Boxes. The little devices that are now affixed to our car's windshield and yells "CHECK YOUR SPEED" if you go too fast. The little device also tells you if you brake too hard, turn too sharp, take a bump too fast, or drive too aggressively. It can also tell if your seat belt's not on. Oh my, it's like having a mom in the car with you... ;) Oh, but that's not the best part. The Tiwi (I prefer the term 'Kiwi') has a built-in GPS that knows every speed limit of every road in the WORLD. We have to swipe a card in front of the box to log in, and it sends a report to Salt Lake City and to the mission president if you're driving like a maniac! That's like having Heavenly Father in the car with you! It's a real test of virtue, I'll tell y'all.

Aside from all the fun gadgets our mission is now getting (besides iPads of course), we received some pretty excellent trainings about the topics mentioned above. We now have a challenge to carry a Book of Mormon in hand wherever we go and to keep track of how many Books of Mormon we place in the month of March. It's Book of Mormon shark month! And we also have a challenge to be more aware and to incorporate the five aspects of the Work of Salvation into our everyday planning: Member Missionary Work, Activation, Convert Retention, Temple/Family History Work, and Teaching the Gospel. Our goal is to try to align our vision with the bishop's vision in these five aspects.

And then the testimony meeting. Zone Conference usually happens every three months, and at the end of each one the departing missionaries get to go up and bear their testimony. We have Lawrence Corbridge coming to our mission at the beginning of May, just before I leave. I had just assumed I'd be giving my testimony then, but my MTC group and I were surprised to hear our names getting called up to bear our departing testimonies! It really was quite the rude awakening. I wonder if the Lord is trying to sing to me, "The Time Is Far Spent." Anyway, it's all about enduring the to end, right?

Every other day this week was a snow day, so I'm grateful to finally be out of our apartment long enough to email and get some things done today. Keep Utah pretty while I keep giving everyone in Oklahoma the taste of the gospel. Love ya!


Elder Garner

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