Week 74 - Happy Halloween!

Hey Y'all!!

Exchanges!! Me, sister Gwynn, J., and Hansen

This week was pretty awesome! Us and the Lawton sisters went on exchanges twice! Whoot whoot! I love those sisters to death! First exchange in Anadarko with Sister Hansen, we met Oscar. This cute 89 yr. old is our adopted grandpa and now calls us his granddaughters:) He took us on his pride and joy (aka golf cart) and talked our ears off! But mostly about his wife, who sadly passed away 2 years ago:( but kept calling her his perfect sweetheart. As we went in a circle around his yard 30 times. It was awesome 

From text letting us know p-day
was changed to Halloween:)

Chalk notes

We invited him to our ward trunk or treat Saturday night and he came!! He even came to church, and felt the spirit so strong as the primary children sang, and shared there testimonies. This is one of my favorite days of the year because the simple truths of the Gospel are taught by the sweet spirit of children 

Sister Gwynn and J. even found a family that is looking for a new church to attend, and loved the way they felt even around the ward at the trunk or treat Saturday night. They couldn't make it to church, but we are hoping for next Sunday!

The next exchange we had was in Lawton. At the end of the day we realized the importance of not giving up and relying on prayer and the Spirit to get us where we need to be. Well we met Josey, and knew we needed to climb every hill, and make every turn for her to find her. We definetly realized the importance of not doing this work on our own. 

Oh by the way, the only way to cure sore legs from biking hills is to smile, wave at every car, and remember you are on the Lord's errand. It works every time 

We had interviews this week, and I am so grateful for our mission president, President Mansell and Sister Mansell. The truly care about every single Sister and Elder, and find so much joy in getting to know all of us. I love them alot and know they are inspired for this mission.

Aaron is getting baptized Thursday!!! We are so excited for him. And he is also so excited to make this promise with his Father in Heaven. He is so prepared, and we know this will change his families life forever. 

Anyways, I hope y'all have the greatest week, and Happy Halloween!! Wow that came crazy fast! Love Y'all alot!

Sister Walker 

Roasting starbursts with Summer 

You can never start them too young;)
Sage

Biking selfie attempt...sorta worked

Prayer Teepee

Us and Sage (aka Owlette)

Our Favorite Underwoods

Me and Gwynn

Our little goober Calvin

Hailey won 1st place at the costume
contest as a Southern Bell Zombie
Now thats cool!!!

Alex wanted to be a missionary for Halloween!
LETS GOOOO!!!

Look at those eyes!

Week 73 - Loving Anadarko!

Hey Ya'll!!,

Ready for this week? Let's go! 

This is actually pretty sad:( Monday we went to a trampoline park with the Zone and President and Sister Mansell , that was so much fun! But as we were having fun, our Zone leader dislocated his knee by landing on it weird. It was so bad he had to go home and have surgery:( we had a Zone fast for him the other day, and just pray he is doing good. If y'all could keep him in your prayers that would be so awesome! 

On a happier note! Aaron and Ralfina got married!!!!!!! It was so sweet to see them both take a closer step to one day being sealed in the temple. They were so cute! Especially with their little daughter by their side the whole night (pics coming soon:)

Also Aaron is still getting Baptized November 1st! We are so excited for him! 

Can I just say that the Spirit is so amazing. My companion is so in tune all the time! Multiple times this week she had several impressions to visit Summer, the sweetest women you will ever meet! We learned that the rule of "no second thoughts" is the most important rule to follow. Each time we called, texted, or visited Summer it was always needed by her. She is the greatest example to us of hope and relying on the Savior to help us in our times of need. She has been through so much, but that does not stop her from getting up over and over again. She is the strongest person we have met! We love her a lot❣

Sister Blanchard <3

We are having so much fun here in Anadarko!! The people here are worth everything to Sister Gywnn and I. She has taught me the purpose of love, and striving to love them as the Savior would. He would love them, but would be devastated if they refused to follow him. We have learned that our love for God's Children should include our deep desire for them to keep commitments. Elder Holland said to be devastated if they don't read the Book of Mormon, and we are devastated because we love them and want them to grow closer to their Savior through His Gospel. 

We also were reminded that we need to keep commitments as missionaries or those who invite others, or we can't expect anyone to keep an invitation we extend. 

I immediately think about the prophet's invitations to us; to Read the Book of Mormon everyday, to not waste time on Social media, to attend the Temple often,  to use the name of our Savior Jesus Christ in every reference to His church, and to daily seek for personal revelation. There is so much more asked of us. It is a lot, but they are amazing commitments given to us by our Prophet. 

Love my Sistas <3
Sister Secratin, Sister J. Sister Cronin
Sister Gwynn and Sister Walker

Why so much? Well, these are the last days, and by doing these things we are shielding ourselves from the temptations of this world. We are preparing ourselves for the second coming of the Savior. It is all worth it. My challenge for me and you this week is to Ponder in our hearts the message of our dear Prophet President Russel M. Nelson. How can we follow the prophet and his council? Will we? 

I know that what he says is from our Father in Heaven. I know God loves us and wants us to endure through these turbulent times, the great blessing is living with Him and our Savior again. I want this more than anything. 

He doesn't expect any of what he asks us to be easy, but he will help us along the way. He loves you a lot! 

I hope y'all have a great week and see miracles

Sister Walker

Urban Air with the Zone

I feel 5 again😃

Beautiful Storms on the horizon!

Yes that's a snake.
Rebecca & Jim want to get a
 Black Mamba next... 

Week 72 - Very Crazy Week!

Hey y'all!!

So as missionaries, some weeks are just crazy. Very crazy!

Comp bonding and Gift basket making <3

Actually, Zone Conference was pretty awesome. Everyone got a flu shot, and we got to hear some trainings from some amazing missionaries, and sister Gwynn and I gave one on change. It stretched each of us to ask good questions, and to be engaging. It's hard! But I hope to do this again cause I want to get better

Alright, so here's when the week got crazy. We got home after zone conference, and I was not feeling super good. I told Sister Gwynn that I was probably just tired because I havn't and wont get sick on my mission. Well....

I got the 24 hour flu bug...and The whole day I was running on the Spirit.  Literally.  But none of that stopped us from having 2 amazing lessons with Tawee, and Aaron and Ralfina. Its pretty amazing the strength the Lord can give you if you just ask. I did not feel good at all, but as soon as we were in lessons I felt a boost of energy from the Lord. I struggled that day with just wanting to go home and sleep, which was valid, but I'm so glad we stayed out. Tawee has been taught for almost a year, and we are being patient but helping him recognize an answer from the Lord that the Church of Jesus Christ is true. He is so prepared but he needs to sacrifice a little more. He works on Sundays and hasn't been able to come to church. We are going to promise blessings that will come, a lot better with him this upcoming week. We definitely needed to be there that day though. 

Sister Walker gets pretty stressed
when driving through an insane thunderstorm,
especially in the middle of the night
on the way to the police station😁

Aaron and Ralfina are getting married Wednesday! And we have seen them grow closer together as we have had lessons with them. Aaron is beyond excited to get baptized, and he will definitely not be the recent convert that goes to church once after and never comes back. He is solid and he wants the gospel to bless his family even more than it already has. They have a goal to be sealed in the temple in a year! We are so so excited!!!!

Ok, but then.....Thursday night we got home from dinner. We went to sleep and at 1 am we got woken up by our CO alarm! It was so loud our hearts jumped out of our chests trying to figure out how to turn it off! We got it off  but then started thinking...it probably went off for a reason. So we call a member of our congregation who happened to be at her Dispatch job that night. She sent the police and a few fire men to come check. While they were in our house the officer stayed outside with us. We talked about what we do as missionaries. He asked lots of good questions too! (Future member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) 

So they found nothing, and we did our best to fall back to sleep. Which we both couldn't do. Good thing because it went off a 2nd time! We called Jerry (at dispatch) again, and she told us to take it out of our room. We did and it turned off. We slept in our living room for 20 min until it went off again!! We drove to the police station at 4am and got our members key and slept at her house that night (morning). That was our adventure and we found out that it was just an old alarm that was malfunctioning but we now have a good story to tell!

CO scare night....We were dead tired

Our land Lord and the maintenance guy came to check our apartment after the CO alarm scare. They said there was no gas leak, and everything was fine. We were a little upset we lost sleep over it, but we were grateful they came and helped us figure it all out. Also our maintenance guy is super creepy. So y'all, we are healthy and not going to die from CO poisoning:)

After all of that I still Love Anadarko!!! Oh and especially Sister Gwynn We are working hard at being exactly obedient, and not the least being a minute late for anything. We have seen this change the work in the last few days. And my attitude of being a few minutes late has changed dramatically. This is helping me, honestly in the long run, with never justifying anything. When you do it 100% you see 100%. And Exact Obedience brings blessings.

Cleaning the Baptismal Font 

Your challenge is to eliminate excuses and justification from something you do this week, and then develop a habit of eliminating it. Sometimes we can make excuses for our actions. Sometimes it's not your fault completely, but going the extra mile will prevent you from even going there. As Lynn G. Robbins would say, "Be 100% responsible". I love Y'all a lot! Thank you for the thoughts and prayers for the work here in Oklahoma! Have a fantastic week!!

Sister Walker

Sister Gwynn was making a point
that I have too many oils