Week of August 26, 2013

Que Paso????

Think that means what's up... I dunno. Haha so I've been emailing back and forth with Elder Larsen! He's going to be one stud of a missionary! I also started emailing Elder Stoker! I wish I had more of these guys email addresses because I want to see how they're doing!

Alright this week was another great one! This Branch is ready to splode! That's how our branch mission leader says it. He's from El Salvador so he's got a pretty good accent. But the branch is working! We have a lot of referrals coming our way, and a couple of pretty solid investigators we found through our own efforts. We'll be teaching 2 referrals with members present this week, which will be so great!

Just a couple of the cooler stories this week. So Elder Owen and I LOVE going to Washington! Every time we go there we have great experiences! We went and visited with an older guy named Oliver. We talked to him a while ago and he keeps telling us we're 2 of the nicest people he's ever met. He loves how we live such clean lives, and just is so impressed by us. He also played basketball in college back in his day. He's from Missouri, he's a huge Cardinals fan, and he's just an awesome guy! He brought out his wife and we just talked for a while. He asked us if we've heard about the Amish Mafia.... It was a joke but still it was weird and really funny! But they want to take us to dinner so we're excited. They're just the coolest people!

After that we stopped by Chuck's house. Chuck is a nice guy too. He's been going through an extremely tough time, and he's searching for the calm, peace and love that comes from the Holy Ghost! He said he felt it when he "got saved" but hasn't felt it since. He was praying for that feeling to come back a couple of weeks ago, and that's about the time we knocked on his door. We're going to have to help him realize that it's all connected, but he's someone that the gospel can help so much! The gift of the Holy Ghost will give him exactly what he, and everyone in this world, is looking for. It brings such a sense of peace, joy, and sense of love to your life. We're really excited to continue to help him with that!

After that (this is all on the same day in Washington) we had an appointment with a less active (who's working her way back to activity) and her daughter. She wants to take the lessons again because she's been less active for so long and her daughter wants to turn her life away from all drinking and smoking and drugs. She wants something positive in her life. She set a baptism date for September 28, and she's working toward it. We know she can do it, but she's going to have to really want it!

So one of our investigators was doing some research on the church... When we walked in to meet with him he had a 47 page Wikipedia article about Joseph Smith... He said, "I wanted to go back to the source of all this," so that's how he did it. He was blown away by the stuff it said. He actually gave it to us and told us to read it. It was a lot of facts, but they were written in a very slanderous way. The funny thing is looking through the sources almost every source was the same guy. But anyways back to the lesson. He said he could never believe a book written by that man was true. I asked him, "Do you believe the Book of Mormon isn't true because of the chapter you read out of it, or because of this article you read?" He said it was because of the article, and that he wants to read from the beginning all the way through! It was cool to see how he was willing to put aside all the garbage he read on Joseph Smith and to read the book and to pray about it to know if it was true! He said there's a 0% chance he'll be a Mormon, and that the Book of Mormon isn't going to change him, but we'll leave that between him and God.

That's about it. We had a really cool chat with Buddhist guy John. That's what we call him haha. We have John the Baptist, John the Beloved, and John the Buddhist! He's such a great guy! And we love talking with him!

Well, the Church is true! We're seeing a lot of really cool miracles here. I appreciate the prayers so much! I'm so thankful for the members around the world for all the support the offer us as missionaries!

Week of August 19, 2013

So we had a pretty great week this week! Not a ton of special things, but there were a couple cool things I learned and a new game I'm addicted to!

We taught a really cool lesson to a guy named Burl. He had a ton of questions and we were able to answer almost all of them. One that we didn't really have time to answer was, "Do you guys believe in a Heaven and Hell? Because I believe that Jesus loves us way to much to cast someone into an eternal hell." Which is a valid point. Well yesterday in my personal study I read Alma 42. It's Alma speaking to his son Corianton. In the very first verse he says something along the lines of,  "I know that you are concerned that Christ will cast people into hell." That's not exactly what it says, but it's the exact question that Burl has. It resolves that concern through explaining justice. It was so perfect! We now know how to teach Burl!

Other than that not a ton happened. We taught a family which was cool! They cancelled their return appointment so we're hoping that doesn't mean that they are dropping us... We'll see!

Ok so this game that we play is called Book of Mormon baseball. Love it! So my companion will start flipping through the pages until I say stop. I say left or right for the page, then left or right for the column. He says all the verses on that column (the number has to be on that column- not a partial verse) and then I'll pick a number. He reads the verse, then I have to tell him the book and chapter. You get 3 strikes. If you get it right first try you hit a home run, second try is a double, third try is a single, if you get it wrong it's an out. 3 outs in an inning just like baseball. It's so fun! It's a great game to play when you're just out walking! Anyways we had fun with that one.

Well I'm doing a mini exchange with my district leader because he's getting transferred and one of his investigators wants to go play frisbee golf and his companion doesn't want to go. So here we go! I get to play some frolf!

Hope all is well with you guys. The church is true, the restored gospel is what brings true and everlasting happiness, and President Monson is a true, inspired, and living prophet that helps guide us through this crazy world we live in. And even though he's the president of the church, he isn't the head of the church. Christ truly is the head of this church, and what a blessing it is to be a part of it!

Week of August 12, 2013

So this week was a great one! The week started off really slow because all of our appointments were dropped and everyone is getting ready for school. Almost everyone was on vacation. But it was still good. We got to talk to a lot of interesting people, and we have some appointments this week so we're excited! We find out if we're getting transferred next Sunday, so if you're going to send something to me either Friday or Saturday be sure to send it to the mission office. That way if I get transferred it won't get sent to where I'm not. I don't think I'll get transferred- just a heads up.

 

But anyways the last couple of days were amazing! We had one creepy, yet very cool experience. We were out in Washington (every time we go to Washington something amazing happens I swear) meeting with a former investigator. Previous missionaries had lost contact with her when they left the area, and they said she is pretty much golden. So we had the appointment scheduled, but we were standing outside a member's house talking with them just for a second so we could wait for her to get home (her car was gone). We were talking and this lady comes from across the street completely intoxicated, and tells us that her mom was threatening to commit suicide and she needed our help. Her mom is less active in our ward. We go in with the members that were there talking with us (both were high priests) and talked with her. She was intoxicated herself. Well they were getting kicked out of the house by the owner and had no where to go, and she's older and is on oxygen and she just was so lost and didn't know what to do so she turned to drinking. We talked to her and calmed her down. The daughter isn't a member. She was worrying too and while the members were talking to her Elder Owen was very strongly prompted to give her a Book of Mormon. He dug through my backpack and gave it to her, and she promised she would read the entire thing. We're going back tomorrow hoping she's read some and that she's sober. She was very serious though when she said she would read it! We really might be able to work with her!

 

Well that happened for like a half hour, and so we walked down the street to knock on Alice's door (the one who we had scheduled to go see) and her car wasn't there. We had written her a note and were just about to walk away when she pulled up! So if that whole thing above wouldn't have happened then we would have missed her! We had an amazing lesson with her! She was a referral from a family in our branch (one of the high priests who was there with us right before) from a couple years ago. Well Alice is the most prepared person for the gospel I could ever imagine. She said she just feels like half of her is missing, she's been depressed for the last while, she had been reading the Book of Mormon that she had been given by the previous missionaries, she was marking it up and everything, she recognized that she felt the spirit when the missionaries were over before and while we were there, she recognized she was feeling the spirit when she went to church with the family that referred her, she's just been ready! But she was looking for a purpose in life so we started teaching her the Plan of Salvation. We talked about where we were from, and our purpose here is to have joy. Well she said, "How can I have that joy? I want that joy so badly!" We immediately felt we needed to change gears and teach the Doctrine of Christ. We shared with her that true joy that she had felt when the missionaries were there before came from the spirit, and she recognized that. She kept saying throughout the lesson she wanted to be baptized and when we explained that when we are baptized and keep the covenants we make with God then God is bound to bless us with the Holy Spirit, and that is the joy and peace she was looking for. She wants to be baptized and she's scheduled for September 7th! She's just the nicest lady and she is so loving!

 

Well that's basically all that happened this week. Like I said before we do have some return appointments and we are going to have some good experiences this week! Oh! We ran into a Buddhist guy the other day, the most Christ-like man ever! He loves missionaries and wants us to come over! He probably won't progress too much, he's had missionaries over a ton before, but he's just such a nice guy and will be fun to talk to!

 

Ok well I hope you all have a great week! Good luck in school! Love you guys!

Wee 6- August 5, 2013

Hello from the campus here at Oklahoma University! Yes, Uncle Craig, I am in enemy territory... Haha I keep my mouth shut around here that I prefer Texas over OU, but I dunno- this place isn't all that bad. There's Longhorn logos upside-down everywhere around here! I knew they didn't like each other but DANG! Like they're buying Longhorn logos just so they can put them upside-down! Haha just kinda funny.

So I learned a ton this week! There was a lot of good that happened! It was a tough week. None of our investigators will set a return appointment, our baptism dates dropped and they aren't sure anymore, and yeah. It's a busy time of year though with school starting up so we'll keep working!

One quick thing that they do out here that Utah needs to adopt. They do "Tax Free weekend" where all clothes and shoes are tax free for back to school shopping! That would be nice!

So one more thing before I get into what I learned I'll share some quick experiences. We had one great teaching experience out in Washington. I was on an exchange with Elder Garner from South Jordan and we felt like we needed to get out there and see him. We drove out there and he was standing outside his house. We talked to him and we just began teaching. Preach my Gospel says, "Instead of asking if they have a minute so you can share a message, immediately start teaching," so that's what we did! We taught him the restoration. He said he likes learning about different religions, and was telling us about what he knows. Anyways he said, "I just hope the spirit was with those who were on the council compiling the Bible. Who's to say they didn't leave something out that they should have kept in?" We got so excited when we heard that! We gave him a Book of Mormon and explained how we got it and why it's important! He said he'll read it and pray about it. His name is Tracy. He's the husband of Janette, the lady that we talked to last week. He let us pray with him a while ago and he said something along the lines of "I already go to a church but I guess you can come back." We get that a ton. "If you guys can catch me then you can come back I guess." Then we'll go back like 5 times and they'll finally tell us they aren't interested. That darn Okie Hospitality!

The other cool experience was this morning we had the opportunity to do some service. The Spanish family that I think I've written about, well, we finally got contact with them. Turns out their house is basically empty and they have almost nothing, so we had a member in our ward who had a bunch of stuff from a garage sale that he didn't sell (things like pillows, blankets, plates, cups, knives, etc...) that we went and gave them! It was really cool and so much fun to see how thankful they were for it! They're such a nice family!

Ok last one which is more funny. So remember that lady who stood up for us to her husband? Well we went and knocked on their door and her husband was sitting there and we could see him and he's like shewing us away. Well Elder Owen and I both just started looking around. Like anywhere but at him so he finally came to the door and started cursing us out and we just stood there, wait for him to finish then said, "Is Carolyn here?" He wasn't too happy. Well anyways we tried back a couple days later and he has some bounce in his step! He hopped right out of his chair to come curse us out! So we just waited, asked if Carolyn was there, then left. It was pretty funny how fired up he is about us not teaching Carolyn! We might just send him a letter asking for his permission to teach Carolyn. I dunno just to show respect toward him. We'll see how that goes I guess.

So this week was temple conference! The temple here is really really small. But it was so sweet! President Walkenhorst and I talked a ton. We talked a ton about basketball, all the experiences and places he got to go and fun things he got to do then all the things I got to do. He really wants to come back and watch me play I guess! That will be really fun! He's such a cool guy though! I learned something amazing from him. He read 2 Nephi 2:4 to us and told us what he thought Lehi was telling Jacob. His interpretation was, "Jacob, I know you didn't see all those miracles we had. And you won't see Jesus either. But the spirit is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The spirit will testify of these truths, and you will feel the same feelings as the people who will walk beside Jesus, touch him, and witness the miracles he performs. That same spirit will testify to you. So you don't need to see Christ. You don't need to see Joseph Smith or the Gold Plates. The spirit you feel testifying of it's truth will feel the same as if you are seeing it." I thought that was really cool!

The next thing I learned was that people really don't know our purpose here.  In Ecclesiastes there's a verse that says, "Our spirits will return to God." That's not exactly the wording, but it says return. Question. How can we return somewhere we've never been? Boom. Pre-earth life! Ok but hold up. What's our purpose here? Well let's see. If it's just to be with God and Christ, then why did we come here in the first place? Analogy time!

You have $100. You worked hard for this money, and you love this money. Would you give it to me hoping that you'd get the same $100 back, but knowing that most likely you're going to get maybe $70 back if you're lucky? That doesn't sound like a smart business deal... Isn't God supposed to be smart?

Now would you give me that same $100 knowing that you were going to get some jewels, and some diamonds, and some gold out of it? That seems smarter to me.

Ok so why would we have come here if our goal is to confess Christ and be satisfied with life? Don't get me wrong, that's part of our purpose, but why would we want to go back to live with our Heavenly Father the same way we came? Shouldn't we want to go back with a body, having done everything that we can to improve, gaining as much knowledge as we can, becoming LIKE Him? Why would he send the children He loves so much down here, knowing that some wouldn't make it back. I think that there's a really really good reason for it.... The only reason I can think of that would be good enough is if we came back able to have all He has. That's the only thing worth the risk!

Next thing is I've been wondering a ton about what it means to be saved. Everyone here "got saved when I was 13" or "I was saved when I was 25". Saved from what? Well thanks to True to the Faith I know! So confessing Christ does mean we're saved. But we are saved from 6 things and not all of them can be done just by confessing Christ.

1) We are saved from sin. Not saved IN sin, but FROM sin. That means that we can't just keep sinning. The girls we were teaching know repentance to be ABC. Admit, Believe, Confess. Well when I heard that I was like, "Ok can we put a D in there?" They were confused, not knowing what the D could stand for. I said "Don't do it again!" Haha but yes confessing Christ does save us from sin. However we are never fully done with being saved from sin until we become perfect or die. Most of us will die first.

2) We are saved from death. This means that because of Christ's atonement, and because of the resurrection we will be reunited with our bodies. Everyone on earth gets that gift.

3) We are saved from a second death. This means that if we confess Christ we won't experience a spiritual death after the resurrection. Almost everyone will be saved from this.

4) We are born again. I didn't really understand this prior to this morning. We are, as Jesus and the Book of Mormon teach, born again when we are baptized BY THE PRIESTHOOD AUTHORITY OF GOD. That part gets overlooked out here. Everyone must do this, or else you cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. (It's like being pulled over by an ice cream truck vs being pulled over by a policeman. One you won't pay the ticket because he doesn't have the authority to give you a ticket. The other is one you are going to pay because they had that authority given to them. Same thing with the priesthood.  We believe that authority has been physically given to us through Joseph Smith by Peter, James, and John, who received it from Christ himself.)

5) We are saved from ignorance. We are saved from not knowing the truth because we know, and accept the full restored gospel. Because of all this knowledge we are saved from ignorance.

6) We can inherit the kingdom of God (aka the Celestial Kingdom or Heaven). We cannot obtain this until the judgement day. No mortal can obtain this. So yeah, no one on this planet is saved like this. 

So these are the 6 ways we are "saved" (see Salvation in True to the Faith). So yes a lot of people out here are partially right. Most everyone has already been saved in at least 2 ways, and 3 ways if they're Christian. But the blessing the Church gives to us is the opportunity to be saved the other 3 ways. THAT'S WHY PEOPLE SHOULD LISTEN TO US!!!!! Hahaha but oh well. 

Well I hope that you guys learned something from all this. A lot of this is just thoughts and I guess personal revelation I received this week. And I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget it!

Well the work that we've been doing has been great- it truly has! But we in the Oklahoma City mission believe the Lord has a greater work for us to do! (D&C 35:3) Sorry I wish I had my scriptures with me so I could give you guys more references so you didn't think I was making all this up. But I pulled them out and replaced them with shorts, a shirt, and my shoes! We about to go hoop! Haha but I love you all! I get so fired up about this stuff because I want everyone to have these blessings, and I don't see why people turn them down. It's not that I want everyone to be a Mormon. I want everyone to be baptized into our church so they can truly be saved! And all the blessings of family and love and all that other stuff that I didn't even begin to touch on in this email. I'm sure you all have heard Dad's thoughts on love! If not ask him about it because it will give you quite the perspective on life! Haha

Well we gotta get going. Just know I'm being taken care of very well out here! The people here are amazing! I love being here and I'm excited to see what this week brings! Like one of the apostles once said, "Come what may, and LOVE IT!" 2 Nephi 2:27 "Adam fell that man might be, and men are that they might have joy." Everything in this life is for our joy! Things that are hard and sorrowful only teach us how to be more happy. So be happy! That's why everything happens to us!

Love you guys!

Week 5- July 29, 2013

So first off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBY!!!! Can't believe you're already 10! ;) Haha no I'm jokin. But a teenager now huh? Crazy!

 

Second, thank you Grandma for the pictures! They're great! And thank you Aunt Bev for the wedding announcement! I never really got one for Adam and Stef, but it's all good. I can wait.

 

So a little more about my companion. I don't know how much I explained about him. He's from Meridian, Idaho. He's one of 7 children. His family goes boy, girl, boy, girl, boy, girl, boy. What are the odds! Just kidding I already know because I got a B in stats! Haha but he plays the guitar, he crochets a blanket every day during lunch and after planning. He's a really cool guy! He gets me out and running every morning. We're now running close to 4 miles a day. It sucks! Haha but it's good for me. And I make sure I sprint as much of it as I can at the end so that I don't come back slow. Haha but he's a really hard worker and he knows the scriptures really well! He's been out for 5 months now. Lets see.... Oh he loves to eat healthy! So when we go over to members houses they usually have really healthy things for us. Even the pizza is veggie haha but it's good! He really is such a great guy!

 

So Monday we had a lesson with Daniel Griffin. We were hoping his wife would sit in on it too, but she stayed with the kids so we only taught Daniel. A family in our branch, the Carnegies who owned the Brick Oven pizza place in St. George for a while, came with us and did an amazing job at fellowshipping them and helping us teach the lesson! The Griffins really seem to like them so they'll be coming back with us tonight to teach the plan of salvation. We're really hoping his wife, Austin, sits in on it with us! He's Baptist and she's Methodist. I can't remember if I told you guys, but there are 13 Baptist churches here in Blanchard, and Blanchard isn't very big at all. Google Earth it and see for yourself! Haha so it's fun working with them!

 

Tuesday we had a lesson with Danny and Laura Lee. They live with their grandpa, David, who isn't active. He's a great guy and has a testimony, but he chose to let the girls choose where to go to church, so he took them to a bunch of different churches and they chose the Baptist church with a bunch of their friends. But we taught the restoration and it went ok. They're twins and they're 13.  Saturday we taught the Plan of Salvation. We had the pieces that we lay out to kinda help show them. We taught them that their spirits lived with God before they came here, that they're on this earth to learn, grow, and prepare to meet God, about the spirit world and how that's the place we go before we are judged, and how people who haven't had a chance to hear the gospel can be taught there. Then we talked about the degrees of glory from 1 Corinthians 15:40-42. We taught them more about baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. We explained that having the gift of the Holy Ghost was like having that really good warm feeling you get when you do something good all the time. They said they would be baptized on August 31st! So we're going to work with them to get to that date so that can happen!

 

Wednesday we met with the Pitmans again. Time was cut short so we didn't get to do much, but they fed us on Saturday. We had a much better opportunity to talk to them then too. They understand the priesthood, and it's the power and authority given to man to act in God's name, and to do things such as baptism. They know that it's necessary, but they don't know who has it. We're trying to get them to understand that it's passed down to those in our church, but they think that anyone who is trying to preach the word of God can have it. So we showed them Hebrews 5:4 "No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God as was Aaron." I've been doing some research in personal study about how Aaron was called. In Exodus, I can't remember the chapter and verse off the top of my head right now, but it talks about how God told Moses to ordain Aaron to the office of Priest, and gave him the everlasting priesthood. We showed all of this to them, and I showed them my line of authority.  We'll keep working with them!

 

Thursday we did some tornado cleanup for a member. We used sludge hammers to knock out their deck behind their house, and we hope that we can get back out there to help build a new one! It was really fun though, and we had a really good lesson with them.

 

Friday was quite the day! So we get to district meeting and President Walkenhorst was there! We did personal interviews and he gave me so much council on how we can better get the members excited about sharing the gospel! We had a good district meeting as well. Then we saw some miracles! So we went out to Washington, Oklahoma. It's really really small. We had planned to meet with Michael and Tim, who we had met last time we went out there and set a return appointment, but weren't there when we tried them. Then we were going to go to another house that was right by theirs that we prayed with, then to another person we prayed with who was a ways away, and wasn't too interested. Then we were going to go to a less actives house and talk with them. So this was the plan.

 

What ended up happening was we parked our car at the member's house we were going to go to after the less active. They weren't home, so we went to Chuck's house (next to Michael and Tim). He was sick so we went to the less active's house. We had a great conversation with him, and he's working with a friend trying to get them ready for the discussions! We decided to try one more less active, and we talked to her and she gave us some raw honey from Daytona Beach, because they just got back from there. Then after that we went and caught Tim pulling out of his driveway. We flagged down his car and talked to him and set a return appointment. Next we walked right by our car and all the way out to that house that didn't seem too interested. We got about half way and we thought, "If we get the car we can just drive home after this," but we didn't. So we walk up and the car wasn't there. If we would have had the car we would have driven home and that would have been that. Instead because we walked all that way we knocked, and a lady named Jannette answered. We prayed with her and then she asked for the church's address and meeting time and for our number, and is letting us come back! We almost missed that blessing but because we knocked anyways we were blessed!

So on the way back to the car these guys, from about 100 yards away, wave and yell "Y'all Mormons?" So we decided to walk down and talk to them. There were 4 guys who were drinking and talking. We started talking to them and the asked us about the Word of Wisdom. We explained what we don't drink and why. One asked where we're from and when I said Utah and he said, "Aren't Normons big out there? The ones with more than one wife?" All his friends started laughing and said, "Who are Normans? It's the Mormons that do that!" So we cleared that up. The same guy said, "So if this were the door, show us what you would normally do." So we prayed with them, and we had a great prayer. Then they asked us what the difference between us and the Baptists are. We taught them the entire restoration! 3 of them asked for a Book of Mormon, and they all had us put our number down in it, and then they gave us their number and they want to meet with us again!

We had one more cool experience. So there's these people that Elder Owen had talked to before I got here and they told us that if the gate was opened then they were home and we could go see them, but if not then they weren't home or they didn't want to be bothered. So yeah the gate has been closed ever since I guess. Well we went to check it out because we were in the area (dropping off a couple Books of Mormon to a couple who are Penticostle preachers and they wanted one!!) and so we went to see if it was open. Well it was so we went back and we had a pretty good lesson with them! We'll keep on trying back but it was really cool!

Well hope all your weeks were as good as mine! I'll talk to you guys next week!

Week 4- July 22, 2013

I don't even know where to start....

 

So I guess we can start by saying Friday marks my 1 month mark! Crazy huh?

 

Next order of business is to say congratz to Adam and Stefani (Yup I remember her name now!)! She's going to be a wonderful addition to the family and I'm glad to have her! I can't believe its already happened! I was actually out with a temple sealer on Friday and I asked if he had any advice I could tell them to sound smart. He said, "Tell them once they get back from their honeymoon to go back to the temple ASAP! If they do sealings 4 or 5 times right after the wedding then they'll really understand what they're getting into. They don't pay attention the first time because they're so focused on having a new spouse! When they understand what they're getting into they'll have a great marriage." So there ya go! That's what I got for them. Haha 

 

Ok well this next part might kill you (it almost killed me!) and I might have Elder Owen send you an email to attest to this, but I ATE AN OMELET!!! That's what one of the members was having for dinner last night, so that's what I ate! It was actually a testimony builder for me! I prayed like 10 times that our loving Heavenly Father would help me finish it, and that the taste wouldn't be too bad. I put salsa, bbq sauce, salt and pepper on it and I had her put everything in it so that the egg wouldn't taste. Didn't work. But yeah there ya go. I ate an omelet. It was probably a 2 egg one too.

 

There have been a couple of other cool things that happened. I dunno if I told you about last week but we were eating breakfast at Tiffany's (I dunno if its the same place thats in St. George, but it was really good!) and it was after district meeting so there were 8 of us there. Well some guy paid for our meal! And we asked if it was a member from our church and they said it wasn't.  They think he goes to the Baptist church right there. That saved us some money! There are a lot of really good people here that really respect what we do, and are even supportive. There's also some who aren't though.... Haha I had a hilarious experience. So I went on the exchange with our District Leader and it was about 8:40 and we were standing outside their place. He asked me what I wanted to do and I said we might as well knock some doors. He told me there was a house that had a mormon.org card taped to the window with a circle around it and a slash through it. He said he's wanted to try that house so we did! Haha We knock and the peep hole goes dark, then light again. Like right after it went light and we didn't hear the door being opened Elder Evans knocked again. This really old guy opens the door and we ask "How are you today?" He said "Fine. Get out of here!"  He went to slam the door but because of his old age the door didn't make it all the way shut. We were both laughing at that point because that's what we expected. Anyway he started hitting and banging on the door so that it would shut and after it was shut he hit the door like 3 more times.

 

But I should probably tell you about our good experiences and what's going on. So on that exchange I wanted to work on OYMing (Opening your mouth, or talking to everyone you see). We saw an older guy sitting out in his lawn and we walked up and started talking to him. He told us he had a preacher come over and save him a while ago, but he said we could pray with him. We prayed with him and just started talking to him, and asked if missionaries could come visit him (he lived out of the area, he was just visiting). He said he was already saved and so it was ok. We kept talking to him though and he was telling us about the tv show called The Bible and how he and his wife loved that show. We talked about the Bible and then he just randomly said, "I've always wondered if there was a waiting period between death and heaven." We looked at each other and said "We can answer that!" We read out of Alma to him and showed him the map of the plan of salvation. It was a really cool talk! He asked us if we believed we had to be baptized and we told him a little about that. Anyway by the end of the conversation he took a Book of Mormon, gave us his address and phone number, and told us to send some missionaries his way! It was a really cool experience!

 

Another little finding thing was we were out Saturday night at about 8:30. It was another situation where we could have just went in for the night but instead we went looking for an 8:59 miracle. We were out walking and we saw a kid shooting around. I told him I was a college basketball player and he says he thinks he remembers watching us playing OSU. We played one on one and we invited him to come play with us on P-day today! We told him about what we do and who we are and he was very interested. He's only 14, but he and his 18 year old brother might be interested! We're going to talk to them more today if they show up, but we're hoping something will come of it! 

 

We have a really cool opportunity tonight as well. Elder Owen and his last companion found a family out tracting, and they asked if they could say a kneeling prayer with her family. Long story short they wanted to, but they cancelled their appointment and haven't really set up an appointment since. Well on the exchange Elder Owen and Elder Garner knocked on their door. Their whole family was there (they're a younger couple. They have a 5 year old and a 3 year old is our guess) and they let them in to say a kneeling prayer. Elder Owen said that hasn't happened yet to him and it was an awesome experience. I've been with him to their place once to see if we could pray with them and this lady looks like she's already Mormon. She just has that look about her ya know? Anyway I guess their home is very family centered and very Mormon looking is how Elder Owen puts it. Well they prayed and had an amazing experience, and they wanted to set an appointment so we're going back tonight! We're honestly so excited to go over there!

 

We have a couple of other people who are real close to letting us teach them. We've had a lot of appointments this week but almost every single one fell through. We're finding that the branch is starting to be very missionary minded, and within the next while we should have a lot of people to teach! We're really  excited for that! Things here are progressing pretty slowly, but it's going to be big when it happens!

 

So we did have a baptism on Saturday of an 8 year old boy named Ryan. His parents are less active and so they had the missionaries teach him. It was really cool because I got to be one of the witnesses and one of the people who got to take part in giving him the Holy Ghost! That was such an awesome experience as well! There's another youth baptism this week and so we're going to see if we can get a couple investigators out to see it.

 

Well, it's been a great week, and a way busy week. This week will be a handful as well, but we're lovin it and we can't wait! Hope all is well back home, and that ya'll have a good week! I love hearing how the ward is really been missionary minded lately, and is working with the youth- that's awesome! Teaching can be awkward and hard sometimes, but my companion and I always say "Embrace the awkward!" It's actually helped a ton and we've met a ton of great people because we were willing to be a little awkward. Oh and be sure to tell the Hanks and their Primary class thanks for the letters! They were great and I really enjoyed them!

 

Well have a good one! Love all ya'll and hope you guys have a great week!