Good Morning, family!
To start, I would like to ask each of you a favor. Would you mind praying with Sister Garner and I that we will be able to find, teach and prepare for baptism 2 new families? That is our goal! We've been fasting and praying for it. Our ward is quite small here in OKC and we have two families moving out during the summer, two families that are a huge asset to our ward, which is always sad, so we've been praying to be able to replace them. :)
We've actually seen a lot of success with this goal, though. On Friday, we were getting ready to visit with a family we've been struggling to sit down with recently. As we were in our car, we prayed mightily to be able to find a family who was prepared, then we knocked on their door, and we heard the Mom whisper to her kids, "tell them we're on our way out or something". Ha. Got it. So we walked back to the car and Sister Garner said, "Let's go check on our Media Referral." Media Referrals are people who have referred themselves on the internet to receive a Book of Mormon or meet with missionaries. If they request a Book of Mormon, the missionaries come with it. ;) That's how Conor was found, so I guess you could say they're usually pretty promising.
So we went to visit her, her name is Vania, and we pulled up to this beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood. It's a part of our area that we don't frequently spend time in unless we're eating dinner at a member's house because we haven't had much success up there in the past. And to be honest, big house are intimidating as a missionary. So we prayed for faith and strength and then we knocked on the door. Her husband opened the door and welcomed us with a smile and invited us in. He was followed by four of the world's most adorable children who ran up to us and started hugging us and showing us all their toys and awards and things. Vania walked in holding a fifth kid and she lit up. She said they had just gotten back from their family walk and then she introduced her kids and started showing us around. We were confused. This looked like a typical Mormon family, their decor was even pretty Pinteresty and they had a sign above their fireplace that said, "There is Sunshine in My Soul Today". I think the confusion showed across our faces because she looked at us and said, "Oh! By the way. We just moved here from Utah from Hill Air Force Base because my husband is in the military and there we made some friends who were LDS and we fell in love with them! They were the sweetest people! And so I wanted to get to know more about your church and have you over for cookies and to hang out with me and my family."
What.
That never happens.
She was just getting ready to put her kids to bed, but she invited as back so we have an appointment with them this evening and we're taking the Bishop's wife. Sister Garner and I are just anxious to go back. This P-day kind of feels like a burden. ;)
This is the second family we've started teaching. The first, we found on Monday. We had had an appointment with a man we met knocking doors named David, but we accidentally went at the wrong time, and then we just never showed up afterwards because we got distracted with something else. But when we went back the next week, he said "Where were you? I waited for you!" We felt so bad! We scheduled another appointment and promised to keep it.
This Monday, we went to their house and he invited us inside where he, David, and his wife/girlfriend Kimiko sat on the couch and listened intently as we taught them about the Book of Mormon and how the Gospel blesses families. They have a couple little kiddos and their faces got brighter and brighter as we talked and as we learned about them and about their experiences. We explained the priesthood and it made so much sense to them, so we extended a commitment to them to be baptized by the priesthood and they accepted! June 20th should be the day!
It was a really good week. We saw a lot of miracles on top of those ones, and it's just an overall blessing to work with Sister Garner. Because working with her doesn't feel like work, it just feels like fun. But we definitely do work. We were talking about how this is the most successful, hardest working, and fun we've been or had on our missions so far. And the nice thing is that it's pretty likely that she'll be my companion until I'm finished. :)
This email is long. Forgive me. I just wanted to share some miracles. I'll leave you with this thought:
God is in the details, so we don't need to be. We don't need to be engulfed in every tiny detail because they all make up one perfect picture. And if we're obedient, God' in control anyway. If we look too closely at the little things, we miss the big picture, and then we spend our time just squinting and getting a headache instead of enjoying the process.
I love you guys. I didn't take many pictures this week because it was hectic, but here was a pretty priceless Oklahoma shot. We have to watch the weather if we're under Tornado watch, which we definitely were on Saturday, and this was a picture that was sent in of a tornado in a city called Elmer. And what the sky looks like on tornado-esque days.
Love You Mucho!
Love,
Sister Best
This week was, once again, so interesting.. There's no other way to describe it.
On Monday, we had P-day and were able to work that evening, then on Tuesday, Elder Corbridge of the quorum of the seventy came and spoke to us, then we were able to do work that evening.
But Wednesday through Saturday, we were on Tornado Watch and we had to be careful not to go too far from our shelter. On Wednesday, about six tornadoes came through Oklahoma. Oklahoma City is pretty central, a little to the West of the center of the state, but that means that whenever tornadoes come up from Texas, they almost always pass right over us. Luckily, they usually barely hit us and hit surrounding cities instead. Which isn't that lucky, it's actually pretty devastating for the cities they hit, but the houses in those cities are much more spread out so there isn't as much damage as there could be in a city like this one.
On Wednesday, we went back and forth from watching the weather to ducking in the storm shelter. From about 3 o'clock to about 11 o'clock at night, we had to make sure we knew what was going on because the sirens kept going off. And the poor weather man, Mike Morgan, was on the screen for about nine hours and his eyes started getting bloodshot, and we all started to get delirious, so at 9:00 when he said, "Listen up, a tiger has escaped from the Tuttle Wild Life Safari" we all just bust up laughing and started making "Tigernado" jokes. The biggest problem we faced was street flooding. We've been on flood watch for days because all the rivers are overflowing from all the rain we've been receiving, which meant Wednesday night we had to stay at a member's house instead of going home. It was disorienting as a missionary and made us feel like.. not missionaries. Especially from the amount of time we were in jeans doing clean up in a devastated little city called Bridge Creek. But the crazy week gave us time to study and reflect on the things that we learned during Mission Tour, which was a lot.
Takeaway:
A good attitude produces good results, and ultimately, we shape our own lives. Everybody has hard things they go through, every single person, but it is the way we choose to respond to it that ultimately determines what kinds of life that we live. If we see that good and choose to remain positive, it will effect the outcome of our entire lives. I loved that because it connected really heavily to something I've had on my mind recently, in order for us to do anything, we have to understand why we do it. I think about a rebelling teenager, if you tell them to do something, they're not likely to be too happy about it, they'll probably do the opposite, just out of spite. But if you explain the why behind it, if you explain the ways it will benefit them or protect them, they will be more apt to do it.
Elder Corbridge once said something along the lines of that we cannot be happy if we do not want to do the things that bring happiness, even if we do those very things.
Our attitude means everything. Because life is tough, and it's always going to be tough. If it weren't, we wouldn't learn anything, but growth comes from choosing to be positive in tough situations.
Elder Corbridge listed 3 things we need in order to have faith:
1) An idea of God's existence
2) A correct knowledge of God's attributes, characterisitcs, and perfections
3) Understanding the the course that you are pursuing is acceptable to God.
Then he stated that most people who struggle with their faith believe in God but don't believe in themselves. I know that's true. I have seen it time and time again. People refuse to fully live the Gospel because they are fearful that they aren't cut out for it, or that they can't do it because they've already strayed too far away from it and they can't get back on their feet. Or that it's too hard to change.
Those people are exactly right and they're exactly wrong.
They're right because they can't do it. Neither can I. Neither can you. None of us are capable of being anywhere near living with our Heavenly Father on our own. But that's why we need to be dependent on our Savior. It's only through Him that we gain anything. It's only through HIM that we CAN be like Him and live to see God and be with Him again.
Which is why they're wrong, the Atonement is for everybody. Being able to access it is as easy as inviting the spirit into your life. It's done by reading the scriptures, praying, and going to church. Every Sunday. Man, I sound like a broken record, but it's because it's SO true! There's no way to reinvent the wheel, there's no way to do it your own way. So be anxiously engaged, not overly anxious and under engaged. ;)
"When we forget about ourselves, there becomes so much more of us to find!" -President Walkenhorst
I love you folks with my whole heart!
Pictures:
Coming home from Tornado clean up.
Sweeping flood water away from our ward mission leader's house.
Playing monopoly in the shelter.
There was a lot of spiritual insight this week that came from 3 main events.
1) Interviews with our mission president
2) Stake Conference with Elder Corbridge
3) Going to a temple sealing with a recent convert and her husband
But first, I want to talk about something that doesn't happen every day in missionary life! Grandma Margaret came to visit me! Hahah, we got permission, don't you fret, but it was so fun to see her. The day she came, it was a torrential downpour, but it didn't make the day less sun-shiney. We had a ball! I'm sure she's told most of you this story by now, but she is an incredible missionary! She tried to pay some guys at Jimmy Johns to go get her key for her, because we locked ourselves outside of the car, but they wouldn't take her money. They went to get the key, came back, and refused to take her money. We put it in a Book of Mormon and told her to give it to the man, and so she said, "These girls are missionaries, and it would make them very happy if you would take this book." He promised he would take it, but not the money, and she told them she would only take the money out if he would promise to read it. He agreed, and then they left.
My favorite part of this interaction was watching her face light up as we walked away. She was so excited to have given out the Book of Mormon, and it reminded me how abnormal it is to share the Gospel. It feels relatively normal for us, but to see her celebrate the mini-success reminded me to look for the joy in spreading this message, no matter how small the interaction may be. I love Grandma, it was such a special treat to see her. And, luckily, it didn't make me too homesick ;) Especially because the next day we had interviews with President Walkenhorst. And he has a knack for helping us get back on track just by being a spiritual motivator. He shared this scripture with me in D&c 43:34, which says, "Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Treasure these things up in your hearts and let the solemnities of eternity rest upon your minds." It tied in to something I've had on my mind a lot lately this week which is the law of Consecration. How can we give everything that we have and are to God? It's a lot of work!
But something Elder Corbridge said really stuck with me. He shared a scripture about serving God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. And he said, "In that, there's good news and there's bad news. The bad news is that we have to give Him everything we've got. The good news is that we only have to give Him everything we've got." Then he pointed out how God doens't require anything of us more than we have to offer. He only wants what we're willing to give, until that will expands, and we're willing to give Him more. He also pointed out that life is easier when we do give him more. "Life is hard enough under the BEST of circumstances, without up making it any harder than it needs to be." When we keep God's commandments, and do what we can to surrender all that we are to become all that He wants us to become, we avoid a lot of human drama that accompanies being stubborn. I'm learning that in a very real way. :)
The theme of conference was centered around participating in Family Councils, and there's only so much I could glean out of that as a missionary, but something that really stuck out to me was the ability we have to constantly teach one another using Gospel principles, without really sounding too preachy. When we apply the fundamentals principles and doctrines of the church and the Gospel to every day situations, and when we advise others to do the same, it is possible to solve our worldly problems. that was a powerful lesson to learn. We can serve and teach people who don't share our beliefs just by privately helping them live the Gospel. :)
Being in the temple with the Wilsons was a special experience, indeed. It's always special to see families be sealed to one another. And our lacking frequency of Temple-attendance made it an especially potent spirit that was present. I'm so grateful for the restored truths we have on the Earth that make it possible for us to feel the spirit more abundantly in our day to day lives!
Read this: Proverbs 17:22
I love you guys! Happy Mother's Day! Hopefully I'll get to see some of you via Skype on Sunday. :)
Happy Birthday Christie!
Love,
Sister Best
Pictures: Dinner with Grandma Maggie and Conor and the wonderful people that GM lives with. :)
This week we had the glorious experience of taking four recent converts to the temple, and it was incredible. Our ward has been on fire with missionary work these past couple transfers and I feel so blessed to be a part of it! Being in the temple was a special experience. It always is, but only having the opportunity to go once every six months makes it indescribably stark against the day to day routine. The spirit abounds and exceeds any other fear or worldly emotion. Only peace, joy, and understanding exist. I love the temple. I was struck with the realization that, despite its beautiful interior, it really is plain. It uses simple geometric shapes, most everything is white or neutral, and while there are a few paintings of the savior in each room, the beauty of the temple comes from the pure light and spirit of Christ the radiates in all that transpires there.
Sister Garner and I are doing really well. I love her so much, she is one of the most positive people I have ever met, and she really helps me see a more eternal perspective of things. When there are bumps in our schedule, she's always calms and ties up loose ends by finding the positive in each individual circumstance. I'm grateful for her, she's teaching me a lot.
This week was a smidge discouraging, just because we spent so much time trying to find new investigators in every single way we knew how, and we weren't having any success. At least not in that area, but we did meet a lot of people and at least try to share the Gospel. Sometimes I feel like God's just building our characters. :) Last night, at 7:30 pm, we both felt impressed to go visit a family that we've been trying to get in contact with for months. Sister Hirschi and I found them when we were looking for a less active member named Alicia. The mom's name was also Alicia and she seemed really confused when we asked if Alicia was home because they had just barely moved in a couple of days before. They seemed promising so we kept trying over and over again, when I'm sure normally we would have given up and assumed they weren't interested.
But last night, the Dad, Kyle, and their two kids came outside and set up chairs for us and we taught them the basics. None of them have any religious background, but they said they've been looking for it. They have been craving church for their family. So for the first time on my mission, we were able to teach somebody about God, about Jesus Christ, about Adam and Eve, things they had never heard much about. Seeing their faces transform from inquisitive to ecstatic made my heart melt. As we began talking about our need for a Savior, Alicia came home from work and immediately joined us, so we were able to teach their whole family about what it means to have Faith in Christ, and how we show that Faith. It was amazing. It was the answer to so many prayers to be able to teach such a powerful lesson to a family that is in such dire need of the Gospel. Watching it transform lives always reaffirms our faith of its truth.
One more thing before I take off, I hope everyone I know in my life knows that I am grateful to know them and that I love them. I am constantly reminded that we are a sum total of the experiences we've had, and people have such a large influence on us as a whole. So thanks for being part of my life. :)
I LOVE YOU FOLKS.
Bye!
Sister Best
Good Morning, Good Morning!
This week flew by, but it was jam-packed with goodness. Sister Garner and I were able to give the training to the Zone on sin vs. weakness, and it was incredibly helpful. But then the need to refresh my mind with that training was perpetuated throughout that week. Because just as I was starting to get a grasp on being positive through our weaknesses, I was attacked by Satan; just shoving every weakness in my face. And it was partially debilitating because I knew what I needed to do to overcome that weakness, I knew what it would take, and I knew what was making me feel so crummy, but I still felt like I had little control. It was affecting my prayers! And it was diminishing my ability to work as hard as I wanted to and to be selfless because my brain was so foggy.
One night, after we turned out the lights, my companion said,
"Do you want to talk about something?"
I definitely didn't.
But I also didn't want her to think it was anything she had done, because I adore Sister Garner. She's one of my best friends. So I just started talking and words fell out of my mouth, issues I hardly knew I was having because I had never communicated them. Then she started to laugh.
"Why are you laughing?!"
"Because all the things you just listed as weakness are your strengths."
Ha. We can never really see ourselves clearly. We look at ourselves through a dark glass; it's transparent, but obscure. That's why eternal perspective is so vital. It's humbling. It forces us to step outside of ourselves and determine what our purpose is and what our potential is. Our capabilities feel unattainable because they are! Until we can accept that we require divine help, we will struggle to reach anywhere near our potential.
Something that really stuck out to me this week was the idea of "If ye love me, keep my commandments." It doesn't say "obey", nor does it say "do". We are to keep them! Hold onto them! Defend them! When we keep something, and we don't throw it away, it's usually because it has some type of significant, sentimental value for us. When we obey the commandments of God, there is room to do so begrudgingly, but when we keep the commandments of God, we cherish our ability to obey because they have personal significance to us.
"Yea, I will keep thy commandments with all my heart." -Alma 45:7
Which coincides with something that was brought up in church yesterday. The idea of being a disciple of Jesus Christ means that you follow Him. You don't just walk the walk, you must walk it with your heart invested. What makes us missionaries? What makes us worthy? is it just that I wear a name tag and wake up at 6:30, or is it that I am truly striving to serve the Lord by bringing His children to Christ?" Positive, hopeful diligence will help us find more peace, faster.
It was a good week! One with a strange set of struggles, and every single one of our investigators was sick or out of town, but still it was effective and we worked our tail ends off!
This week:
We drew the Plan of Salvation in chalk at the park again! Then we got talk walk back with our cute lil' friends Lana and Meredith and teach them the Plan of Salvation using our chalk drawing. (Then the rain came and swept it away). But we handed out 2 Book of Mormons because of it! And Meredith is getting baptized soon! Yay!
Here's a cute picture of us all looking really professional, Elder Karr, Quijada, Sister Garner and myself! These are the missionaries in the OKC 2nd ward.
Another 10/10 week. Dah, I think I'm sounding redundant, but it just keeps being true. And this week especially did we see God just put people in our laps to teach. They fell out of the sky. Solid, hungry-for-the-Gospel people. Every night, we opened up our planners, and we already had plans for every hour of the next day, usually forgetting to plan time to eat or breathe. It's been good. Good busy. Good stress.
This week, much revelation was received. We had a lesson with a member in our ward, Brother Kunkel, and we were trying to address his concerns. I sat there racking my brain trying to propose a solution to his problem, but I couldn't. I just wanted to say the one sentence that would fix his problem, but it was at that point when I realized: we learn in the scriptures that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; our interactions with people are no different. We almost never just spout off that which is the cure to someone else's concern, because solutions come through a process, just like testimonies do. People need to solve their own problems. All we can do is encourage and ingrain the truth in others until they learn it for themselves. Until they hear your words in their subconscious when they finally come to the realization that what they're doing isn't working and they try to draw upon what they've been told to develop a new plan of attack. We see it all the time. It's particularly evident in this video: The Hope of God's Light . He has several people who made a huge impact, but it wasn't until he really felt the spirit that he drew upon all his past experiences and connected the dots. No wonder patience is a virtue. It's exhausting to wait for other people to fix their own problems! But, when they do, it is rewarding.
There's a woman in our ward who has been working with one of her friends for YEARS. The member, Sister Brown, has given Pamela a Book of Mormon, which she's already read twice, she's brought her to church, they've watched conference together, the whole shebang, yet she's NEVER talked with missionaries before! We finally got the opportunity to go over to Sister Brown's house and have another lesson with her, and she is... solid. She said she already tells the Jehovah's Witnesses that she's a Mormon when they come to her door. We laughed when she told us that and asked her what was holding her back. We'll have to help her work through a few of her trials, but it's so incredible to see how the Lord prepares his children. It's another example of small and simple means, but over time, they prepare people to make life-changing decisions.
Sister Garner and I have been preparing a training on helping people recognize that becoming like Christ is a lifelong pursuit. As we were gathering ideas, we stumbled across this chart, and it helped me out a lot.
SIN
Definition: Willful disobedience to God.
Source: Encouraged by Satan.
Example: Knowingly breaking God's commandments, believing Satan.
Did Jesus Have?: No.
Our Response Should Be: Repentance.
God's Response Will Be: Forgiveness.
Result: Cleansed from sin.
WEAKNESS
Definition: Human limitation, infirmity.
Source: Part of our human nature.
Example: Susceptibility to temptation, emotion, fatigue, physical of mental illness, ignorance, trauma, or death.
Did Jesus Have?: YES
Our Response Should Be: Humility, faith in Christ, effort to overcome.
God's Response Will Be: Grace-enabling power.
Result: Acquiring holiness, strength.
I love that so much. I think sometimes I, and most human beings, think of my weaknesses as sins. When I have a weakness, I think it is because I am so imperfect and there's something wrong with me. My friends, that's not the case at all. Sins are us yielding to our weaknesses, but being weak is not a sin. In fact, being weak isn't even a bad thing. It's part of our human nature. Jorg Klebingat said we need to "acknowledge our weaknesses, but not be immobilized by them". President Walkenhorst explained this pretty well earlier this week. He said that he always admired how well his daughter played the piano, even though he couldn't play the piano to save his life. "It's a better use of my time to focus on something I'm already good at and improve in that area instead of getting all bent out of shape over something I'm no good at."
That's a funny thing we do as people. We pick out the strengths of every other person and we create a mental wishlist of all that we wish that we were, but then we compare ourselves against that made-up person that we have formulated in our minds, and we never live up to our unrealistic expectations! But our Heavenly Father has a perfect idea of what he wants us to become. And in order to get there, he needs to make us aware of our faults so that we can look at them and fix them ourselves. Then we progress onward from there.
I know that right now, we are all exactly where we're supposed to be. We can't comprehend why we're in the mental/physical/financial/sinful predicament that we're in, but God expects us to rely on him. It's a commandment to ask for help!!! "...be diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all time; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive." -Alma 7:23. I know He will help us as we request His help, He would never give a commandment He doesn't intend to reward.
He's so merciful. His job isn't to condemn us, only Satan does that, he has clear intentions of helping us feel good about ourselves and be successful. And I know that to be true!
I stinking love you guys. Good things are happening out there, it sounds like. Keep filling me in on all the good news!
Love you!
Love,
Sister Best
Oops. I'm failing at taking pictures. Elder Quijada, our District Leader, gave a training using Mario as an analogy and I have a picture of that... want to see it? Alright, here:
This week was sooo good. Sister Hirschi did, indeed, go home. She finished her mission with valor! She's awesome and she will surely be missed. But my new companion is Sister Garner whom I LOVE. We were able to serve around each other in Stillwater, so we already knew each other pretty well, and now it's been an easy transition. It feels like an extended exchange to serve with her. But she is hardworking and diligent and so stinking loving. I think we're having too much fun, but I guess I won't complain. However, I forgot to take any pictures this week... so you'll have to settle for this one that I took just now of her emailing her family.
Today my brain is working in a jumbled mess of thoughts so here...hopefully this can somewhat be cohesive:
Last night, after conference and a few appointments, we pulled into our parking lot and were grabbing our bags out of the trunk when a man approached us and asked us if he could talk to us about something. You mission eliminates any remaining instinct to "not talk to strangers", so naturally, our response was,
"Of course!"
"I'm baptist, and my Mom is religious, but not terribly. She prays, but she doesn't pray in the name of Jesus Christ. She just prays straight to God. Does he still hear her prayers?"
Sister Garner and I both got these massive smiles on our faces. Maybe it was the spirit we had felt over week, but we both were able to say with conviction, "Yes. Of course." I know that our Heavenly Father LOVES His children. He knows that we're all learning, and that none of us are perfect, nor anywhere close to perfection of knowledge. But that's why it's important to constantly evaluate ourselves. It's easy to look at religion from a general standpoint and think, "the commandments exist, but they're not particularly relevant to me." Sometimes we have to pause and evaluate what we individually could be doing to strengthen our relationship with our Heavenly Father. And how that would benefit us. No matter WHAT we believe or who we are, it is important for each of us to have a personal relationship with God. What are you willing to do to get that for yourself?
I've been asking myself that question. I've been devoting myself more fully to personal prayer. How much of my heart, might, and mind am I willing to put on the altar to offer up to God. How much of yours are you?
I really appreciated all of the talks given at General Conference, but something that stuck out to me was by Elder Sitati, when he said that we become fruitful when we serve God and when we serve others. Then he quoted the scripture in Matthew that declares, "by their fruits, ye shall know them." People identify us by the fruit that we produce. It matters very little who we are if it does not reflect what we do. So I've been trying to determine what type of fruit I bring forth. Are the things I do a reflection of the type of person that I think I am or that I want to be?
Lastly, I've had this scripture on my mind all week in Alma 37: 44-45
"It is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land....for behold... the words of Christ, if we follow their course, [shall] carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise."
I know that heeding the word of Christ (the things we learned in General Conference this week, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, living the commandments, et cetera...) are 100% integral in giving us the only true and lasting happiness that exists. And there is NOTHING we can do to imitate the joy or happiness that God has prepared for us.
I love you guys.
Love,
Hermana Best!
As promised, a pic. of my beloved companion, Sister Garner
