OKLAHOMA!!!!!
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| The new "Greenies" |
I's here!! Finally!! I will always miss the MTC, but its is so good to be here! 16 elders and sisters boarded the plane and man did everyone want to know who we were and where we were going. I sat next to this really sweet lady who is a member, but doesn't go to church anymore. We had a really good conversation, and she explained she was just too busy for church. Well I just simply bore my testimony of how important church was to me, and then handed her a Book of Mormon. She already had one, but I had a feeling I needed to give her one. She thanked me, and I pray and hope she opens it up again. Ahhh.... I totally wouldn't have done this a month ago!
So when we stepped off the plane we were all consumed with the Oklahoma humidity. The weather here reminds me of Idaho (minus the humidity) its changes every 7 hours literally! It will be windy at 9 and cloudy, and by 12 there is no cloud in the sky and its humid and hot. Its quite an adventure.
President Mansel is so AWESOME! He's hilarious and alot of fun! We stayed at the mission home (his home) Tuesday night, and we had our interviews with him. I swear he knows me better than I know myself. In just 5 minutes he had figured out my personality, and when I told him I was more quiet, he laughed and said I don't think so! (he was right haha). He is one cool president!
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| Sister Karauria & Sister Walker |
The next morning we went to meet our companions and see where we were going! My companion Is Sister Karauria (Sister K)...try saying here name...its really hard! but fun:) Well she is absolutely incredible! I LOVE her so much! Cool fact though she was born in New Zealand, and is from Australia! (ps. dont call her an Aussie, cause she'd rather be a kiwi;) Her accent though! Everyone can listen to all day, haha! We are both shotgunning the OKC 7th area and ward. I absolutely love OKC 7th! The members here are so driven to do missionary work, so they are our "go to" all the time. I guess knocking doors isn't very effective here, so we have the members give us referrals, or we go out on the street and talk to people (OYMing). There are so many acronyms I have to learn! But The work out here is a BLAST, and Sister K is so driven. She's seriously the best trainer!
This week has been really good, but kind of slow. We are shotgunning, which means both of us have not been to this area before, and we are both learning the best way to further the work. This has taken a lot of reorganization. And since we are the first set of sisters in this area since 2014, we've had to introduce ourselves to a lot of former investigators, and members. Our main focus for the next couple of weeks is getting to know all of the members, and letting them know we want their help to fellowship the investigators. They are already so willing. I just love this Ward so much! We have a car, and since sister K's license has expired I was thrown out onto the road the first day! whooo it was quite the ride! Also our area is huge!!! The ward is made up of several towns in OKC, and about 2 hours from one side to the other. This is gonna be a crazy adventure!!!
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| Waltman Family |
This is a very big ward but an even smaller world! The Waltmans and the Christensens are the families out here all related to each other. Haha, Hmm sounds like the Walkers to me:) Also the Waltmans lived in Middleton, and know us Walkers. Last night we spent 20 minutes making all of the connections.
Something pretty cool, is that We have a baptism in a few weeks!!! Her name is Jordan, and she has been meeting with the elders before us. Fun fact! Elder Waltman from my district at the MTC is her boyfriend! told you this is a small world! She is the sweetest, most courageous girl I have ever met! She recently got permission from her mom and dad to be baptized, and we are all so excited for her!!! Can I just say how much fellowshipping is so important. The members that take these investigators and become their friend, change their life forever! This helps them be around better examples, and invites the spirit to be with them alot more than having them convert on their own.
We have a few investigators right now, and each of them are pretty incredible people! Blake had been meeting with the missionaries for a while, and has come to church a few times. He didn't show up yesterday, but we are hoping he comes next week:)! We hope to also teach his sister Julia. Taylor we just picked up again after a month of not seeing the elders. He is very interested, and we can't wait to teach him again tomorrow! The Cardinez family is our family we are teaching. We met with the dad, George, a couple days ago, and he told us his story. To make it short he said that God found him at the lowest point of his life, and he said he has been a changed man ever since. We can't wait to meet with the whole family next Saturday and teach them the plan of happiness!
So one last thing I wanted to talk about is the man we met at Walmart. He actually stopped us as we were making a quick trip to get toilet paper. He said "hey you're sister missionaries!?" and we both ran over pretty excited to talk to someone! He isn't a member, but has studied the church front and back, and wanted us to answer his questions. He's a very strong believer in Christ. Well we were willing, and he asked us why didn't God just come down and give the priesthood to our prophets and Christ, when its ordained from priesthood holder to priesthood holder. oh man he had me stumped (I didn't understand at first), but my companion as patient as she is, let him rant and talk, and she chimed in with a scripture here and there. He wasn't technically bible bashing, but he wanted to stump us. I guess past missionaries he's talked to just gave him a scripture and said "we have to go" or "find out for yourself". Well Sister K was not leaving, and I realized that this might have been what he needed. He even thanked us, and said that no one had ever continued the conversation as long as we did. I'm sure we could have done something better, but I hope he reads 3rd Nephi, as we felt prompted to ask him. All we could do was testify, and I hope his heart is softened today.
The first week in OKC has been AMAZING!! Thank you for your letters, and I hope you have a fabulous week. Your challenge this week is to be a member missionary, and invite someone to church:) I love you all!!
Sister Walker:)
PS - Good luck Makayla and Jacob!! (Sarah's cousins leave this week for their missions)
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| You know the elders love you...when they leave cheesecake in the fridge!! |
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| Such an Aussie..oh sorry, Kiwi ;) |
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