Week 25 You Can Do Anything with the Lord's Help

Hey Yall,

Sister Walker & Sister Kresge

This week was pretty fantastic!  It was another bike week meaning we can’t use our car. We have to try really really hard not to use our car, so pretty much not use our car. Here in Noble the situation is a little different because Sis. Kresge can’t bike, so we were either walking or getting rides from members. It was so cool. We had members calling us and signing up like crazy. They were so willing to help us. This ward, the Noble Ward is incredible!  I just love it.  We saw several miracles from bike week. The purpose isn’t just to make us suffer in the weather or whatever, even though it was super nice this week, but is to get out and be seen. You could totally just be in your car all day and not get anything out of anything. There were times this week when we had to be in our car but it all worked out because we were doing what we could. I just love the concept of bike week and it was inspiration from our Mission President.

Molly (Stephanie's dog)
She loves the missionaries. If you're
not petting her she yelps at you

One really cool miracle took place with our investigator Stephanie. She is so diligent in her reading and praying, and is so faithful. Sis Kresge and I went over and had a lesson with her and were ready to ask her to set a date for baptism. Then she told us that she struggled with something that’s super hard to overcome, smoking. She’s been smoking since she was 13 years old and said she wouldn’t commit to anything until she stopped her addictions. There are a few others like coffee and tea. She wanted to be completely done with all of it. There’s an amazing Stop Smoking workshop that a lot of the missionaries use. We decided to use this with her and we told her about it and her face just lit up. I wish you were there to see her face. It was like, “There’s something else?” Because she had tried other things and they just didn’t work for her. But the difference with this workshop is that it focuses on the atonement of Jesus Christ and how we can change. We can repent and be different because He experienced everything that we have gone through. Explaining this to investigators and seeing their faces when we tell them about the atonement is just incredible. When we told her about it she wanted to start right then. 

Such beautiful Sunsets here!

We met at one of the member’s homes, the Homen’s, and introduced the program to her. I love the Homen’s. They are perfect for Stephanie. Stephanie brought her three girls who are so cute!  I love her girls. You can see the light in their eyes and they just want to know more and want to go to church. We began telling Stephanie about the program and how you have to read word for word this script. It supposed to help them feel motivated. You could go off the script if you want to help explain but there are 15 steps that you have to follow and if you break one of those steps, it’s like taking a short cut and you don’t get the full benefits from it. Stephanie was on the edge of her seat the whole time that we were going through this program with her. It’s a 7-day program and you follow these 15 steps for 7 days and she was so excited to do this. I can tell you that the Spirit was felt so strongly as we looked into her eyes and saw the desire and the want to change.

We love the fall! (Sisters Walker, Williams, Kresge)

 Her whole family is rooting her on. Her husband wants her to quit. Her kids want her to quit. She is ready and she was just willing to just give it up right then and there. There is a part in the program where you have to take your cigarettes and crush them and throw all of your lighters away. She was so excited she ran to her car, grabbed the pack of cigarettes and crushed them right there.  We could feel the presence of the Spirit of our Heavenly Father because she was making the decision to come closer to Christ. I just think that is amazing because addiction is such a hard thing. We see this in a lot of our investigators. They have to overcome addictions and that is one of the hardest steps towards conversion. So to see them want to change that badly so that they can be baptized makes us so happy and it makes us want to be better. Oh my goodness, I have so many little faults that I need to change. I just want to change. We’re all human, we’re going to make mistakes and we’re going to be dumb sometimes but the most important thing is that you are willing to bury that weapon. We talked to her about burying your weapons of rebellion. It can be different for everyone. You can’t just throw them on the ground and throw some dirt on it. You have to bury them deep in the earth so you can’t get to them anymore. You can’t even think about them. If you are going over to where you buried them, you won’t even remember them.  And then you have to keep them there, you can’t dig them back up. That’s why they are deep.
We were explaining this to Stephanie and she loved it. “That’s what I’m going to do!”  The Spirit was just overwhelming and we were bearing our testimonies, and her girls were participating and saying how much they wanted their mom to quit and how much they were going to help. She started the 7 days and through this she’s having constant support. We’re calling her, and going over there to check on her. The Homen family was calling her and checking on her too. She is on day 4 and came to church today with her 3 girls. It was super cool to see that whole family there. It was just amazing!  She’s getting through it. She’s had some hard days but that is just Satan wanting to ruin this, yet she has been so strong and so faithful. She knows that she can do this.  We are keeping her in our prayers every day and then she will be a non-smoker and we are so excited. 

Norman YSA Face to face thank you Ruth McDougall:)

Today was the face to face with Elder Oaks and Elder Ballard. It was so good and one of the things that really stood out to me was that Satan’s desire and want for you, is for you to label yourself, and to feel defeated and different. Elder Oaks explained how Satan wants you to put these labels on yourself and get down on yourself, like  “I’m so different, I’m not like my roommate or my best friend.  I need to be better. They’re so spiritual. I’m not spiritual”. When we label ourselves with all these different things, then we are not realizing who we truly are.  We’re putting ourselves down and that is not what Heavenly Father wants for us. That’s not what our Savior would want for us. Then Elder Oaks said, “You are a child of God.” Sister Sarah Walker is a child of God (put your name in there too).  We have differences because God created us to be different, to have different abilities and talents and great things about us. But it doesn’t mean that God looks at us differently than other people.  In His eyes we are all sons and daughters of our Heavenly Parents. We can’t look at ourselves as lesser than or better than another, because God doesn’t look at you that way.  He says, “all of you are unique in your own special way and I love you for that.”

The challenge for this week is to not label yourself or other people. Sometimes we label other people but instead we need to think of ourselves as special and of other people as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Parents. So if you ever have that bad thought or begin doubting or thinking, like “Why am I so dumb sometimes? STOP. We’re human. I challenge you to open your scriptures and to pray to be reassured that you are a child of God. Today that was just a reminder for me and probably for a lot of other people.

Sister Walker

I’ll just bear my testimony that I know that the Lord loves each and every one of us and that we can be different. People could label Stephanie as a “smoker” and have no idea of what she is going through, but she knows that she is a child of God. Heavenly Father knows that she is His daughter and nothing is going to change that.  He is so proud of her.  He is so proud of everyone who is willing to change and to be better. I know that there is an atonement of Jesus Christ and if we use it we can be better and we can change. I know this gospel is true and I am so happy I get to share it with all of these people in Oklahoma. It just makes me so happy. I love every single one of you guys and I hope you have a wonderful week. Don’t forget to smile, and don’t forget to remember that you are a son or daughter of God.

Love you guys!
Sister Sarah Walker

Rose Stone - Noble is the "Rose Rock Capital of the World."