Tuesday June 5, 2012-
A guy in our ward was selling pest
control on Monday. He started talking to this lady who wasn't super
interested in it. So he started talking to her about the Book of
Mormon and she said she would like a copy. She said we could come
back but that she wasn't going to let us in the house. Well we took
her a Book of Mormon today and with in 30 seconds she was letting us
into her home. Her name is [Name withheld 1]. She isn't a student...
she's an older lady but boy oh boy is she incredible! She doesn't
want us coming and telling her our beliefs. She wants to figure it
out on her own by reading the Book of Mormon. She doesn't want to be
influence by anybody. However, she really really liked the three of
us and wants us to come back to just visit. Before we left we ended
with a prayer. As I was praying she interjected her own things. She
said she was grateful God had sent us to her because we gave her hope
for the rising generation. One thing I will miss about Oklahoma when
I am home is how people interject their own things into prayers. I
love it! :)
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| Sister Christensen, Sister Record and Sister Nelson with the oily birthday cake. |
Wednesday June 6, 2012-
Today was Sister Christensen's
birthday. I attempted to make her a cake....but read the directions
on the cake mix box wrong. Instead of water I put oil in the cake...
oops. We baked it anyway. It smelled like a ritz cracker. We tried a
little bit... it was more or less edible. We took the cake to the
institute building and had cake and played games with the Elders for
a little while. We had a little piece of the cake, but didn't tell
the Elders what was wrong with it. They all kept mentioning that the
cake with really good. We couldn't help but laugh. We had an
incredible lesson with our solid progressing investigator. He is
amazing! He is going to have such an incredible conversion story when
he is baptized. He signed up for institute (without us asking him
to), he not only reads the scriptures-he is studying all the standard
works and he is going to church every week. He didn't have to work
today so we got to meet with him. He told us about how he was
studying and read from the teachings of the living prophets manual
that faith is built by hearing the testimony of the servants of the
Lord. So he wanted us to tell him personal stories of how we each
came to know that God is there. It was a fantastic lesson and the
Spirit was so strong. :D
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| Pooh Bear ready to work! |
We went out tracting today and met a
lot of great people who let us give them the Heavenly Gift. ( I need
to explain what this to y'all. Heavenly Gift; noun; the most amazing
door approach known to missionaries in the Oklahoma Oklahoma City
Mission. In a nutshell, instead of your normal door approach "we
are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints....." you say "We are representatives of Jesus
Christ." then something along the lines of we are out sharing
the gift of prayer. You learn about the person and their needs and
then pray with them. After the prayer you ask if you can come back to
share more and then you leave. It is SO EFFECTIVE!) So we were out
giving people the Heavenly Gift and the first 5 doors we knocked on
people let us pray with them! Not all of them were interested in us
coming back to share more, but they were all thankful for the prayer
and it was always a positive experience. We were able to find four
new investigators as we shared the Heavenly Gift with people.
Saturday June 9, 2012-
We met with [Name withheld 1] again
today. What an amazing woman she is! She was feeling really sick when
we first came over. She said she wouldn't be much company, but
allowed us in. She told us about her husband who passed away a few
years ago. She told us about all the times she has seen God's hand in
her life. The spirit was so strong as we spoke. Sister Christensen
finally asked [Name withheld 1] if we could come back and just share
some things about what we believe. She told [Name withheld 1] that
she already knows so much, but there are just a few pieces we have
that we'd love to share with her. [Name withheld 1] was a little
apprehensive at first. She doesn't want anybody preaching to her. We
assured her we wouldn't and she has agreed to start taking the
lessons. She got really excited about it actually. She is so anxious
to find out the pieces she is missing. She told us to come back and
tell her what she doesn't know. She doesn't want to talk about the
things she already knows. haha! She told us as we were leaving that
she didn't feel good when we first got there but as we visited with
her she felt better. It was incredible to actually be able to see
the difference of when we first got there to when we were leaving.
There was an actual physical change in her. I know it was the Spirit
that was there as we talked with her about Christ and about families.
Sunday June 10, 2012
Elder Hansen, our district leader, told
us that if we were to knock on every single door at Campus Lodge (one
of the huge apartment complexes with a whole bunch of students) we
would get five new investigators this week. We didn't start knocking
on those doors until Thursday. We knocked on almost all the doors
there in four days. It was AMAZING! We were able to give so many
people the heavenly gift and meet so many great people! We were able
to find much more than five new investigators. I am so thankful for
my companions these last couple days. I'm thankful for Sister
Christensen's fun and upbeat attitude. I'm thankful for Sister
Nelson's diligence. None of this would have happened without them and
of course the Lord.
Yesterday Sister Nelson and I went to
teach one of the girls we met the other day. Her name is [Name
withheld 2]. Sister Nelson and I went with a member while Sister
Christensen and another member went out and knocked on more of the
doors in Campus Lodge. Sister Christensen and the ward member (who I
discovered I'm related to! Her last name is Haws and is related to
William Wallace Haws and a bunch of Rowleys.) were able to find a new
investigator and have a member present lesson while Sister Nelson and
I taught [Name withheld 2] with a member and set a baptismal date
with her. Oh boy was it exciting! The lesson with [Name withheld 2]
was very much guided by the spirit. As we shared with [Name withheld
2] the first vision I could tell she was feeling something. Sister
Nelson asked what she was feeling. [Name withheld 2] told us she got
chills and wanted us to tell more of the story. :) We were able to
explain to her that what she felt was the Holy Ghost. We invited her
to be baptized on July 21. I really feel like teaching that lesson
with Sister Nelson deepened my love for her, something I've been
praying for. It was incredible to meet back with Sister Christensen
and hear about the young lady they met. As we told each other our
stories the spirit was so strong. We were all so excited for the
other person(s). I feel like that experience really unified our
companionship.
As I was sitting here typing this, I
was reminded of when Alma met back up with the sons of Mosiah after
going their separate ways to preach the Gospel. When they met up
again Alma was so happy to see them and I'm sure to hear about what
they had been doing. I feel like that is how I felt as Sister Nelson
and I met back up with Sister Christensen. I was so excited to hear
what had happened with Sister Christensen and the member who went out
with her.
Well.... I don't know how to express
how thankful I am for the opportunity I have to be a missionary. I
love it more than words can express! Sometimes I feel like bouncing
off the walls I love it so much. I am thankful for all the people
I've been able to meet, for all the prayers I've been able to say
with people. I am thankful for the person God is shaping me to be. I
have felt my capacity to love people grow so much! I know that he
loves me and that each one of us is a son or daughter of God. I love
teaching people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I also love to
learn about it! I am so thrilled that I have my whole life a head of
me and more to study and learn the Gospel. I love you so much!
I
hope all is going well with funeral arrangements for Grandpa. More
importantly, I hope you all are doing okay at this time. Especially
mom, Aunt Rebecca, Aunt Darlynn, Uncle Gary, Uncle Richard, Uncle
David and Uncle Gene. I wish I could be there, but I know this is
where I need to be.
I hope all goes well this week!
Love, Sister Record
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