Week 39 - Faith Over Fear

Yeah, We are staying together
 for another transfer!

First off, exciting news! I’m staying in Noble, fourth transfer, I’m so excited. Lets go!!!  We’ve been waiting for a few days for TDOCS (transfer documents) and usually they come on Saturday night but the District Leader Elders said they didn’t come this time. So, we were on the edge of our seats and then they finally told us they were messing with us and that I was staying in Noble and with Sister Jenkins! So this music proselyting is still happening. This place has my heart and I hope I never leave, but we’ll see about that.

Sister Walker & Gentry sprinting
 after someone to talk to
 in the ice storm

"When it starts freezing rain so they shut down campus and 8 missionaries
 get stuck at OU because President grounded cars"
At Normon LDS Institute  (Thanks Ruth for the text!!!)

I have a question?  Have you ever wondered what an ice storm is like? What it looks like? and what you do when it happens?  We were in an ice storm starting last Tuesday and ended the beginning of Thursday so our cars were grounded for almost 3 days. We could go places in the mornings when there was nothing on the roads but when it started raining and snowing or ice storming (I don’t even know what to call itJ) we couldn’t do anything. I think it was just slush falling from the sky and then it would freeze when it landed on things. So pretty much the whole entire state of Oklahoma got this and was covered in ice. The trees and bushes were solid ice. You could brush your hand across it and it was just an icicle. The roads were absolutely horrible and we had a couple of days that we had to walk or do productive things in our apartment. The farthest we could walk was the neighborhood right next door and Walmart which is right there & our apartment complex. So we had some fun with these days. We have some members that live in our complex so our goal was to go and try to visit them. Every single school including OU campus was closed. We were on exchanges on OU campus, making 8 missionaries, when we got the text that grounded our cars. It was quite the adventure to try and split campus with absolutely no one on campus.  We wish there had been a weather prediction before we scheduled exchanges. So we brainstormed and decided that there were people somewhere on campus and we were going to find them. Sister Gentry and I had a lesson but the other sisters found people in the Student Union Building and started talking and actually got some phone numbers for return appointments. Talk about miracles. So Sister Gentry and I went out and fast walked after a guy about 100 yards away until we caught up with him. He was literally the only one out. He was a super awesome guy and we got to talk to him. We thought it was really funny that we were so desperate that we were sprinting after one specific guy, not creepy at all. We had a great conversation about Jesus Christ and it turned out to be one of my favorite exchanges and also one of the craziest days of my life.

Sister Gentry, Lewis, Jenkins, & Walker

So the next day the rain stopped but it was just super icy and we decided we had to get back to our apartment or we’d be stuck on campus for a few days because we knew another storm was coming in. We went back to our apartment and did what we could, did some visits in the apartment complex. The next morning , Pres. Mansell texted us that we could go out in the morning but we weren’t to go out after the storm hit. When it started raining we had to get back to our apartments and cars were grounded.  We were supposed to have interviews in Edmond that day and they were cancelled. We got home after our follow up lesson and it was a downpour of not rain, but ice. It was so scary! All the trees were caked with ice. We ended up walking to Walmart for someone who couldn’t drive (we did some service).  We took that opportunity to talk to a lot of people in Walmart because a lot of people were getting stuff to prepare for the ice storm.

Luckily, a member happened to be there and decided to take us home so we didn’t have to walk back with all of our stuff. That was so nice of them. The next day wasn’t quite dry yet, and  it was supposed to storm all night and into the next day, so our Mission President texted us and we had a mission wide cleaning day. We deep cleaned our whole entire apartment and didn’t even get through it because it was so bad. Believe it or not it was bad!  Finally, on Friday we were able to go out again and we happily made lots of visits. So that’s the life of a missionary during an ice storm.

SOLID Iced Car!!
 Photo bombed by the Ward Mission leader 

We didn’t necessarily find anyone to teach this week but we did see amazing miracles and we even got 2 church swaps going. We went to go see a potential, and actually met her husband, Vance, and when we went back we met Drinda. She commented that we should really come to their church and we said, “that would be so much fun, you should come to ours.” So we decided to do a church swap in the next couple of weeks. We’re so excited and hope we can plant some seeds there with her. We also texted our investigator Sharon and asked her if we could do a church swap and she would love to, so she’s excited to come to church next week and we’re excited to go to her church.  She goes to a church called Life Church. In Oklahoma, in the bible belt, there is literally a church on every corner and this church is huge. Not a cathedral but it is humongous. It’s a little different than our services and we are nervously excited to go.  We’ve heard both good things and bad but we are excited especially for Sharon to be able to come to church with us. She wants to know truth really bad and is not sure where to find it.  She’s still questioning things, like we all do.  Is the Book of Mormon true?  Was Joseph Smith a prophet of God. But, she wants to know. She just has to make an effort to read and pray. Hopefully this Sunday it will be really awesome to see her change as she feels the Spirit at Church. We’re excited for her to go.

My awesome district

This week I have been really focusing on having more faith than fear, and I think I have done this so many times on my mission. I find myself fearing more than I’m having faith in the Lord that everything will be OK. As a missionary we’re trying to bring others closer to Jesus Christ.  That is our ultimate purpose. In Oklahoma a lot of people have Jesus Christ in their lives but we’re introducing and helping them see an amazing side to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, more importantly. So I’ve had to have a lot of faith in sharing the gospel the past couple of weeks. This week as we’ve had a couple of days grounded, I’ve been really focusing on how I am going to improve having more faith. I‘ve spent a good amount of time on my knees, praying to my Heavenly Father to know how I’m going to do that. Some times it’s scary when you go up to a door and it looks sketchy, and you don’t know what you are going to say when they open the door. My goal is to be a lot more confident in it and oh my goodness, Satan just knows how to get to me.  I was reading a talk yesterday that really motivated me to read my scriptures more and be more positive, and you get all pumped up and then Satan throws something at you and you begin to have doubts about wanting to go out today, or maybe I don’t want to read the scriptures today. Satan knows exactly when you go through trials because he targets you and tries to get you to doubt your purpose. My purpose right now is being a missionary. You guys have a different purpose right now. Know your purpose and have the faith that Heavenly Father can help you fulfill it because Satan is right there ready to take that and turn it into a fear, something negative, because he doesn’t want happiness ruling the earth. He doesn’t want anything good and of God ruling the earth. He wants to take all of that away. 

I think that would be my CHALLENGE to you:  develop greater faith in Christ so that you can overcome and kick out that fear that Satan throws at you.

Thanks Jodi Callister for takingthe time to
see me and take Sister Jenkins and I to lunch.
Love you so much!

I had an experience this week where I had to really have faith that I would be able to get and answer from the Spirit because it was something that was really, really hard for me to do. We were trying to make a decision about one of our investigators and in the back of my mind I knew exactly what needed to happen but in the front I had developed such a love for this person and I didn’t want to say anything or do anything that would ruin that. I truly was the only one holding out after 3 others felt the same as what was in the back of my mind. Then as I was praying the Lord rebuked me and asked me if I really wanted to know or did I just have my own opinion about it. I had to come to know that I just had an opinion about it and what these other 3 missionaries were proposing was the best thing for this investigator. So I prayed that night and I truly saw myself give my will to the Lord, just like Christ said, “Thy will be done.”  It is the Lord’s will in everything that we do and I’ve realized that because you see so many good things come about once you give up your stubbornness and give it to the Lord and say, “OK help me. Give me an answer. You take over now, I’m going to listen.”  So once I got the answer that it was supposed to happen, we prayed and prayed and prayed and then we approached the situation and it went so well and I felt peace. I can’t describe how good it felt, but I was so peaceful and it just comes to show that the Lord’s way is the right way and I am going to work this week on always listening to the Spirit and doing it.  Even though I may not want to do that one thing because it’s scary, or I have an opinion about it, or it may seem better my way, it’s always the Lords way that is the right way. You just have to listen to the Spirit and He will guide you. Sometimes you might have to do something uncomfortable for it to happen, but it ends up turning out truly amazing and you see the blessings from it and see other’s lives be blessed from it. I’ve seen that this week, and it’s been so rewarding spiritually.

So this letter has been way too long. I hope you have a wonderful week!.  I love you all and thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. I love getting your letters and emails and hearing about the experiences you have been having in life, how you are being able to come closer to Christ. I’d love to hear how ya’ll are doing that. You are all so amazing!

Love, Sister Walker

Paint balling as a zone.  I didn't get too many bruises😁

Week 38 - Don't Fear That Which Is Good

I hope this week strengthens you as much as it strengthened me. A little bit crazy, so hold on, but it was a lot of fun with so many lessons learned. We were trying to decide where to go this week and decided to go tracting out in the boonies, way out there on 180^th and beyond. We started driving the 45 minutes it would take to get out there and had the craziest experiences of our lives. We met the most amazing people, the crazy weird people, the drunk Oakies, the no trespassing signs with guns, and the sketch trailers that are vacant…but not…and all the other craziness out there, it was the most rewarding and I want to go back! I loved the Boonies.  They’re so humble out there.  We decided to tract a trailer park in the middle of nowhere on 120^th and started knocking some trailer doors, met some cool people. Some people we probably won’t go back cuz they were a little bit weird. Long story made short, we went to a member’s home and she said we can’t go there any more. It’s not the best place to go. Not the best people live there, so if we are teaching someone from there they have to be met somewhere else. She warned us, told us the situation, well we had already scheduled a lesson with one of the investigators so we said a prayer knowing that Heavenly Father would tell us to get out of this situation if we needed to and went back on Friday with one of the members. When we knocked on the door she wasn’t even there, but the real lesson to that story is that we tried it and we felt peace. It’s a testimony to us that Heavenly Father is looking out for us even if it is in the sketchiest situation. He is there watching and protecting us and we needed to go there, and if we would have felt strongly about leaving, we would have left.  So, I am so grateful for the Spirit.

 

A miracle out of that tracting experience . . . we went to go see a member of our ward who hadn’t been to church for a while.  When we knocked on the door we asked for Sister Poole and they said no one by that name lived there so we met Brandy instead and she was actually super interested in the gospel of Jesus Christ. She’s so nice, has 2 kids, and that’s who we were going to see Friday. Unfortunately, it fell through but hopefully we are going to be able to visit them again, preferably at a member’s home for the visit.  I’ll let you know how that one goes.

Some of our investigators keep getting the flu, it goes away and then comes back again. It is the worst thing ever. So,we’ve been meeting with our investigator, Marilyn, a lot, and she is doing so good. She’s finally decided and made the step to move forward and get baptized. We are so proud of her and so excited. I wish you could have been in on that lesson because she was beaming. We don’t have a date set yet but that will soon happen after we work out some little details. She is so ready, so prepared. She came to a baptism the other day and told us that is how she wants to feel one day. She was so excited!

The other day I was studying in Alma.  Our mission president had given us the challenge to read Alma 1-42  then be prepared to give a 7 minute talk for Zone Conference about what the Spirit teaches us as we read these verses in Alma.  As I was reading, this impression came to me that there is opposition in all things, and it can be overcome with the gospel of Jesus Christ, faith in Jesus Christ, and the atonement of Jesus Christ. I have a firm testimony that the Lord allows things to happen for a reason and puts things in your path so that you are prepared for something that’s coming up. 

Well, tonight we had a pretty tough experience. Someone called us that we love dearly and ripped on the Church and it was the hardest 45 minutes of our lives because we listened to them just talk horribly. We were about ready to snap and tell them that they were hurting us. They needed to consider that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and remember that they’ve felt that it’s true, and that they know that everything we’ve taught them is true. We had to show a lot of patience and a lot of love towards them and just let them talk. They were going through a lot and this was probably them getting it out. It was tough to hear and we spent the majority of that phone call crying. It was really sad for us and it was hard. It tried our faith a little bit but it was also a testimony builder that we know everything will work out. I’m grateful that my testimony is strong and I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. We needed to have that experience because that was the opposition, “there is opposition in all things.” Satan is trying to pull this person down and they don’t understand that it’s Satan. 

So this “opposition” allowed us to help an investigator of the Elders in Norman. We had just had the conversation with the person on the phone and were bawling. After we calmed down and talked it through and said a prayer, the Elder’s investigator called and told us her family is being hard on her for going to church and reading the Book of Mormon. She recognizes that it makes her feel happy and she loves reading the Book of Mormon and doing all these things, but when people reject her it hurts. We were able to talk with her, share a scripture and help bring comfort to her. It was this hard experience that helped us know what to say to her. It is my testimony that the Lord gives us hard experiences,so we can be better prepared for the future.  That was a pretty cool experience and I’ll never forget this week. I think I’ve grown so much more over the last week and I’m so grateful for the experiences I’ve had, even though they were tough and I fell short, but I was able to get back up with the atonement of Jesus Christ. It is an ongoing process, it doesn’t stop. We have to be continually repenting and going to the Lord because no one on this earth is perfect no matter what religion you are, background you’ve had, your nationality, etc. Everyone has flaws. Everyone has the chance to get back up again. That’s why God sent His son to earth to die for us, to suffer for our sins. He knows what it feels like when we fall short and we need to get back up. He descended below all things so that He can help bring us back up. He didn’t just reach his hand out, He went into the darkness with us so that He can help us step by step climb up and get out of that darkness. That analogy has always stuck with me. I love that analogy and I’m so grateful I can turn to my Savior.

Your Challenge:  Don’t fear that which is good. It may look scary but always know that God has your back and that if it’s a bad situation, He’s going to get you out of it. So don’t fear experiences (oppositions), He is trying to help you become better, because God will help you out of the situation. This can apply to all situations. This week it applied to us in the Boonies, it might have looked sketchy on the outside but on the inside there were many amazing, genuine, prepared people that we were able to meet. Have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Sarah Walker

Week 37 - Tracting and "Drivers"

Hey Y’all,

This week has been a week of getting back up after being sick. Sis. Jenkins and I had a cold and kinda lost our voices but we’re a little bit better now. We’re able to get out now and teach and find people. All the members here and most of our investigators are finally getting better too. The flu hit Oklahoma like the plague and knocked everyone out for a week. People are still We’re excited this week that we are getting to teach lessons. We’re so grateful that we didn’t get the flu and it has definitely been a better week.

We have been doing a lot more tracting since we haven’t been able to teach a whole lot due to our investigators being sick. So we’ve been knocking doors and I’ll be 100 % honest, that’s not my favorite thing to do, but I’m pushing myself and if I do I end up loving it in the end. We see miracles when we sacrifice something we don’t like to do. One of my biggest fears in tracting is coming across a door and finding someone with a personality that we call “driver” where they just open the door and say, “Can I help you?”  Then you have to quickly answer them since you think they want an answer super fast. I just have to go back to what my MTC teacher taught us, and that’s to have more faith than fear. Faith over Fear! Is your faith higher or is your fear higher. I definitely want to work on getting my faith up because, yes, they might seem scary, but you have to just say it and if they accept it they accept it, if they don’t they don’t. And you have to go away thinking, it’s OK, next one. Gotta get the next one. So that’s something I’ve been working on and Sis. Jenkins is amazing at being so patient with that. She’s so good at it and I’ve been learning so much from her. She’s awesome!

I want to tell you how awesome and amazing our District, the Norman District, is. All the missionaries are dedicated to the work and work really hard to teach and every District Council is so productive and it goes real well. We all learn from each other and push each other. It’s just been so awesome to have supportive missionaries around you. One thing they had us do in District Council is role play knocking on a “drivers” door. We were a little hesitant at first but it actually helped us because the next day we ran into a few “drivers” and we were able to face it.  It still was hard but we faced it. I just want to say how much I love my district. They are amazing missionaries! I just love this mission so much and I’m so blessed to be in a mission like this. I think it’s so cool that you’re called to a place for a reason. Every mission out there is amazing but it’s amazing to the missionary because they connect with it so well and it’s honestly a calling from the Lord because He knows who you are and He knows what you need. So I’m grateful to be in Oklahoma.

Even though we didn’t meet any potential investigators while tracting, I have a strong testimony that tracting is like sacrifice. (Something that you don’t necessarily want to do, but for me miracles come out of that sacrifice even if they don’t come directly from tracting or knocking doors.) We got a referral the day we went tracting and it was from the Temple Square Sisters. (They are the sweetest!) They gave us a referral for Steven Graham. I guess he’s meet with missionaries before and we are going to go over there this week. He says he wants to get back into religion and get closer to God and Jesus Christ. We are so excited to go teach him!   Another miracle we saw, she’s not going to be our investigator because she doesn’t live in our boundaries, but she came to church today and it was super unexpected. Her name is Laquita.  When we talked to her during Sunday School she said her brother is investigating the Church and he and her dad encouraged her to go to church, so she decided to go this week. We called the Elders and told them about their new investigator. So miracles have definitely been seen this week. It’s been a good week.

So we are writing another song, it’s not done yet but it’s coming. It’s all about new beginnings and taking that heart of stone or maybe a not completely formed heart, that Christ has molded and shaped and made whole, making it a heart of gold. This is what Jesus Christ has been able to do for an investigator that the Sisters in OU have. We are writing the song for her as she is getting baptized this week. We are so excited for her!  We’re excited to send it to you guys when it’s done.

Music definitely touches hearts. The challenge this week relates to a brother in our ward. We didn’t know him well when we first got to Noble but through events that have happened in his life and us going over a few times to help him out, we’ve been able to get to know his strength and testimony, which is incredible. I can’t begin to tell you all that he’s gone through. He recently lost his wife and then this past Monday his trailer burned to the ground. He’s trying to overcome smoking and he’s still holding strong to the gospel and his story is pretty incredible. He had a rough life before he moved to Oklahoma and it was here that he got his life together and got baptized. His wife was a lifelong member and then he ended up joining later. But through losing his wife suddenly and unexpectedly, and having his trailer burn down, he’s still coming to church every Sunday without fail. He has such strength and faith and it’s such a testimony builder to know that you can go through the worst things in your life and still have no excuse but to come to church. He comes to church to partake of the sacrament, to come closer to Jesus Christ, who understands exactly what he’s going through. He has taught me a valuable lesson and I’m so grateful to be in a ward that is so supportive of his situation. There are a lot of people like him out there where I’m serving. It makes me humble, I am truly humbled.

Weekly CHALLENGE:  I guess your challenge for this week is kind of wide and broad but I’d like you to ponder and pray how you want to accomplish this challenge.  It’s to not let your challenges and trials get in the way of the gospel of Jesus Christ, because in all reality it is the gospel of Jesus Christ that is going to get you back up on your feet.  Jesus Christ is going to get you back up on your feet. So don’t put Him second in overcoming something. Always put Him first.  Whatever it is that you’re struggling with and even if you aren’t, put the Savior first by praying and reading the scriptures, going to church and partaking of the sacrament, and doing those things to draw closer to Him. I want to hear how it goes. I want you to know that I love you and I hope you are having a wonderful week and see wonderful miracles. Write them down! They are so fun to remember.

Love, Sister Walker

Week 36 - Promptings and Miracles

Hello from Noble.

Sister Jenkins & Walker

My companion and I have been sick this week. First time getting sick for both of us on the mission, no fun.😒 It’s not that bad it’s just a cold, but my companion got it worse. The flu is going around right now and it is hitting everyone like a plague. Noble is down and the week has been so slow. A lot of the members of the ward have been sick, so dinners have canceled and investigators have canceled lessons. It’s just been crazy! People say that it’s the weather change here from freezing cold in the 20’s and then today it is 76 degrees. We’ve been in our apartment for a few days, and are praying that it doesn’t turn into anything more than just the cold. We’ve got faith we can do this! Even though the whole town is sick, we saw miracles because we always see miracles.😊

Loving life & seeing miracles!

I went on exchanges with Sis Lewis and it was so much fun.  We got together with sisters on the OU campus, and can I just tell you that the OU campus is absolutely beautiful and I love it. We studied on OU campus and there is this room in a really old library called the Harry Potter Room. No joke, legit. It looks like the big hall in the movie where they have classes and study and have lunch and such. I’m not a huge Harry Potter guru but I do know a few things and it was so cool to study there. You can’t even unzip your coat or backpack without it echoing through the whole hall and have someone look at you from like 100 yards away. After studies, we took off to our areas. Sis Jenkins went to OU, which was really fun for her to be on campus again. (She had just come from UCO which is another college campus in Edmond)

Exchanges with Sister Lewis

Since Sis. Lewis and I didn’t have many lessons, because so many were sick, we just started visiting with people and had a prompting that we needed to drive to Lexington about 25 minutes away. We visited a lady in the ward and took her cookies. We then went to another member, Brother & Sister Bitseedy, but they weren’t home so we went to their son’s home. The kids were home from school early and when their dad came in he said, “Did they call you? Why are you here? Who told you?” As it turns out Bro. Bitseedy’s father had been admitted to the hospital that day because he caught the flu and wasn’t doing good at all. We were prompted by the Spirit to show up since something very bad and tragic was happening in their family.  The Sisters showing up with the simple plate of cookies made their day. It was a testimony builder that the Spirit does prompt us to do things that we might not think are very important in the moment, even if we never find out the reason. MY CHALLENGE to you today:  Listen to the Spirit!  Sister Lewis asked if we could say a prayer with them so we did. It was a beautiful prayer about the plan of happiness and it was a good testimony builder that families are forever. I’m so grateful to have that knowledge. I don’t think I would be content or even have peace here on my mission if I didn’t know families are forever. I’d be so homesick and it would not be good. I am so grateful that I have a family.  I love them so much and all that they have taught me and all that I have learned from them.

When you leave your phone with the
OU sisters they write you
"Missionary closet Notes" and you don't
even realize it until frantically looking
through the institute...

Hurts Donut & the Emergency Donut Vehicle

So, that is one of the miracles we saw and as far as we know he’s doing better and that’s good.  All this is happening in one trailer park….so we’re going to call it our trailer park of miracles. 😄 We began looking for a former investigator and trying to find his trailer 153.  We found 156, 157, 158, 155, 154, 152….but no 153! (Note: They can move their trailers around within the park).  So, we just parked the car and there was one trailer that didn’t have a number. We knock, and a guy answers as we stood there with a plate of cookies and asked if this is 153?  He says, no it’s 160 but he knew who we were and he’d just moved here from Vegas and he said, “Oh, I know you Mormons.” Sister Lewis asked if he had any allergies, and he said, “Nope”, so we gave him the plate of cookies.  He said he’d love for us to come back and that he’d gone to church with our missionary friends but didn’t like it very much. He was willing to hear us out and learn, so we’re going back. What a miracle!  His name is Tony and the coolest guy ever.  So we found 160, but not 153😂.   Apparently, 153 just got up and left.  Hopefully missionaries catch them in another trailer park.

Smurf Turf in OKLAHOMA!
#wannabe

At the end of the night Sister Lewis and I were feeling like ice cream. We were about to go back to our apartment and get some workbook things done when we decided to go get ice cream and we didn’t know why we were feeling this but it was just an ice cream night. We went into the store and passed this family in the ice cream aisle and smiled at the two girls & their dad. At the self-checkout line they were also there. While I’m checking out, Sis. Lewis starts talking to him and learns that he knows about Mormon missionaries and has talked to some before, but never had  an interest in taking the lessons. His conversation with Sis Lewis was a good one and at the end she asked if he would be willing to hear the lessons sometime and he said, “Yea, definitely.  I’m super interested in your religion and the Book of Mormon and John Smith or something.”  His name is Roy.  We texted him and hopefully will get a lesson sometime and teach his family. We decided that’s why we went and had the feeling to get ice cream at Walmart. The Lord was blessing us with ice cream and a potential investigator. 😃

WEEKLY CHALLENGE: Listen to the promptings.  No second thoughts.  I know we’ve had this challenge before but it is the most important thing ever, because you’re going to have the most random thought.  You have to just act on it because you have no idea what will come of it. You have to follow the prompting or you’ll never find out what it is. So, no second thoughts and even if you don’t find out what it is, it’s still going to be cool because it will lead up to something or effect someone or something that you have no idea about. However, God always  knows why. Have a great week. I love you all!

Sister Walker