Tornado Shelter in the Backyard is a Good Thing :D

Hello!!

It has been a week FULL of miracles. I do not know where to start. I was so excited to write you yesterday and tell y'all about what has been happening. First off... I am thankful for my safety and for the safety of all the missionaries in the mission. Stillwater usually doesn't get much... but Friday evening we got put on tornado watch and then it went to a tornado warning. President Taylor told all missionaries in the mission to get to their underground shelters. That was the first time I got to use a tornado shelter for reals. We were only in there for about 20 minutes. Nothing touched down in Stillwater. I'm sure you know a lot more than I do about what has been going on in the weather. I want to assure you that we are safe though and when the next wave of storms come we will be safe. :) Here is a video clip of what has been going on with the tornado clean up. I'm not in it... but missionaries I know are. They interview Elder Fee. He is the AP and we were in the MTC at the same time. 

We got to teach our amazing investigator, Sister H, three times this week. SHE IS SO READY FOR THE GOSPEL! We finished teaching the plan of salvation and when we asked when we could come back she said "tomorrow". So many miracles have happened with Sister H and with the members we have taken to teach her with us. The other day we invited her to be baptized after teaching about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. We taught her the difference between the power of the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost. You could see that when we described it to her it made so much sense. When we told her that the power of the Holy Ghost comes in and out. She said that is how she feels. When we described the Gift of the Holy Ghost she got really excited.

Picture of clean up in Carney, OK on 5-25-2013

She didn't say yes when we invited her... she asked a question about the priesthood. She told us it made sense. Then in her prayer at the end she prayed that she would be able to get baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. :D I wish you could meet this woman. She is so sweet. She has been through a lot, but has AMAZING faith in Christ. She told us she feels hungry for the things we have to teach her. Over and over she has told us that she wants to be humble and learn about all these things. Last fast Sunday Sister Loveland fasted and prayed that we would find those who are PREPARED and who are ready to get baptized.

Well... Sister H has been an answer to that prayer! Sister H told us how thankful she was that we came back (she's been taught by missionaries before) and how much of a burden has been lifted from her as we taught her the Plan of Salvation. We have told her how much we love her and how much of an answer to our prayers she is.

Another miracle that happened this week is actually kind of funny. We were preparing to go to a lesson with our investigator from mainland China. She has been taught EVERYTHING multiple times. She has such a desire to know if all of this is true. I've been teaching her for 6 months and don't really know what to do anymore. We feel like we should keep working with her and just helping her recognize the hand of God in her life.

Now we are reading the Book of Mormon with her. We are in 2 Nephi 12... an Isaiah chapter. I was telling Sister Loveland (I regret it now...but the Spirit taught me a good lesson.) that we should just skip the Isaiah chapters because the person we're teaching wouldn't understand and I barely understand it. I won't be able to answer all the questions she had. Sister Loveland (being the awesome missionary she is) told me that even though the Isaiah chapters are hard to understand they are in the Book of Mormon for a reason.

Playing in the rain (don't worry... there was
no severe weather warnings when this picture was taken)

So... we went into the lesson praying that we'd be able to answer her questions. We read 2 Nephi 12 and the Spirit was very strong! We got to a verse 10 which says, "O ye wicked ones, enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for the fear of the Lord and the glory of his majesty shall smite thee." Our investigator just started laughing because the verse reminded her of a parent getting after their child. (I must admit, her enthusiasm about the verse surprised me.) After we finished the chapter she told us that the verse made her feel like God was more human than she had felt before. (She wasn't trying to demean God, but to say he seemed more personable than He had before.) She told us that as she read that chapter she really felt that God was close to her. WOW! That was definitely the Spirit working with her! :D Lesson I learned: Everything in the Book of Mormon is there for a reason, even the Isaiah chapters. :)

On Saturday the whole mission went down to Moore to do tornado clean up. Before that Elder Rasband of the 70 came and spoke to us. It was very powerful. He told us that President Monson wanted us to know three things. 1- He loves us 2- He is Praying for us 3- He thanks us for our service over the past couple weeks. It was very inspiring and very touching!

Us and our wonderful ward missionary who came looking
for a family with us. We ended up not being able to find
the address. so we just took a picture.

Yesterday we tried to go find an inactive family. We had an address and vague directions, but they were not on the map. We took one of our members out with us. Well... we never found the address. We just ended up in the middle of nowhere, OK. It was very pretty.... just nothing there. So what do we do... we took a picture of course. :) The member we had with us was a trooper!

On June 23 2013 there is going to be a worldwide training by Elder Andersen. Elder Andersen sent a film crew to our mission to film a couple missionaries and the work they did in the Edmond 3rd ward in the Stillwater stake. They filmed Elder Byrd and Elder Cutler. Elder Cutler is my current Zone Leader. Elder Andersen was impressed with all the work done in this ward over the last couple years to turn it from a non baptizing area to a baptizing area. It is kind of cool. :)

http://www.lds.org/church/events/the-work-of-salvation-missionary-broadcast?lang=eng

I love you! Have a great week! I will talk to you next week.

Love, Sister Record

Questions: 7 May 2012

Eric: How is the weather, and do you like it?

The weather here the past few days has been HOT AND HUMID. It feels like summer time in Utah, just add humidity. I'm not looking forward to summer. Last summer the heat was pretty intense. It was 115-120 degrees outside for 3 weeks straight. I guess July and August here are pretty brutal. haha! People keep telling me that even at night it doesn't cool off. I will be drinking quite a lot of water! :D

Dad: What is Sister Buckley's first name and where is she from?

Taryn from Kaysville, UT

Dad: Did you here any tornado sirens during the storms?

A few weeks ago the sirens went off at 2am. Every Saturday the siren go off at noon as a test, so I hear the siren once a week.

Dad: Please tell Sister Buckley I think she is a wonderful artist.

I think so too. I will tell her that :)

Dad: Does Sister Buckley have a blog?

No

Dad: What are Sister Buckley's greatest qualities?

Oh where should I start! Sister Buckley is so much fun to be around and always makes me laugh. She is a very powerful teacher. She loves to learn new things. She calls herself a "scripture nerd" she loves the scriptures. She loves to talk about the gospel. Our companion studies are always great! :D

Dad: I posted the 50 questions to your blog and challenged everyone to read the Book of Mormon and find the answers.

AWESOME!!!! I love it! Thanks so much dad! Will you also find on YouTube the song Come See the Light by Freddie Ashby and post the link. Sister Buckley showed this song to me and I LOVE it! It is beautiful!

Dad: Will you please share one of your own defining moments?

I feel like have had quite a few defining moments in my life. The biggest one is kind of personal, so I will share another defining moment for me in my life. I would have to say my decision to move out and go to Snow College was a defining moment. I had to choose for myself if I wanted to keep doing the things I had been taught all my life. I had to choose for myself if I wanted to strengthen and develop my own testimony of the Gospel.

Nobody was around to tell me to go to church, to read my scriptures, etc. When I chose to do all those things because I wanted to and because I loved the Lord. I started to CHOOSE to become the woman God needs me to be. I'm still on that path, and will be my whole life. There isn't going to be an end to learning and growth. Life would be horrible if we weren't growing and learning all the time. I think thats why I love a mission. It is helping me learn so much about myself, about family, about my Savior, about Heavenly Father, about life. Things I wouldn't have learned by staying home. I love y'all so much! Thank for all your support and love! I love you!

Love, Sister Record