August 3, 2015

 

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my mission! The work is AMAZING and we are literally on FIRE. We have THREE investigators with baptism dates:

Vincent 

Jonathan

Demond

 

Can I just brag about Demond for a minute? He seriously is the elect (we strive to find the elect -- those who are just ready and waiting to Come unto Christ and accept the Gospel) So we found him while riding bikes. (Biking truly is miracle work!) We got his address and the first time we went over to visit him (make sure we got the right address, sometimes they give us phony ones) he came out to greet us "How y'all doin? I've tried to call you a bunch of times.  I wanted you to come over sooner. I've been reading that book y'all gave me!"

 

He is from Louisiana and currently lives in a trailer in his employer’s backyard. We couldn't teach the lesson inside his trailer since there wasn't another woman there, so we had to have it outside in the hot hot sun. It was actually really cool because there was a bunch of trees around as we taught the Restoration.  It was kind of like we were in our own sacred grove. We both testified of Joseph Smith and the necessity of The Book of Mormon and it was just an awesome lesson. He received it very well and when we asked him to come to church with us on Sunday he said "Well yes! I want to! I'll come EVERY Sunday."

 

He has a super awesome faith in Christ.  He loves reading in his "good book" (the Bible) and has been looking for a new church to go to. He's had his fair share of trials in his life: 1) he's been shot 14 times (one of those was in the head, I'm pretty sure they were gang related gunshots) and 2) was pronounced dead at the hospital but was able to wake up and walk away from it. 3)  He had to relearn how to walk a bit and has serious atrophy in his right side of his body.  4) He lost SIX kids in Hurricane Katrina and right now 5) is struggling with custody of his one-year-old. And through all that he loved God and trusted Him. Anyway, he prayed and asked to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and I KNOW He'll get an answer. That was lesson number one.

 

Lesson number two was the next day and we taught about the Plan of Salvation. He again received it really well, understood it, and loved the part about seeing his family again in heaven. We emphasized the need to be baptized and asked him if he would be baptized. He said he already has been baptized. Both Hermana J and I were a little stumped . . . we don't know how to delicately tell people that their baptisms mean nothing because they weren't by the Priesthood, so we kind of were silent for a second. Luckily we had a member with us (sister Carrasco) and she said, "Well, have you been baptized in THIS church -- the True Church?" and he said, "Oh, I have to get baptized to be a member? Well when can I get baptized? I want to be baptized!"  hahah so so awesome! And Hermana J and I were so relieved haha. We also reminded him about church and he said, "I am coming! I told you I'd go. I'm going to go!"

 

Lesson Three . . . Word of Wisdom. We were really antsy to see how he'd respond to this lesson because he smokes and drinks coffee. So we started out with Moses 1:39 and how everything God does is to make us happy and live wonderful, happy, healthy lives. And he said, "Yeah.  I want to be healthier. I'm trying not to smoke around Isador (that's his 1-year-old).  I really should probably quit." (So amazing that he already was thinking about that.) Then we read from the Word of Wisdom pamphlet and how it's been commanded to abstain from alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, and illegal drugs. You should have seen his face!  hahaha  His eyes got huge, his mouth dropped and he looked at me as if to say, "Girl, you're trippin!'" hahaha  But as we talked about the blessings, he agreed, "Yes, that makes sense.   That makes sense" and he was teaching US by HIS testimony how it's not good and we need to devote ourselves to God and not worldly gods like alcohol or drugs. We asked him if he had any cigarettes in the house.  He pointed to some behind me. I handed them to him.  He bent them in half and threw them away.  Then as we left, he took the trash out to the dumpster so he wouldn't be tempted. AH! I LOVE HIM! He's so amazing!

 

So the next day was church.  He drove with us and Sister Carrasco and Grandma. (Grandma is Sister Carrasco's mom and everyone  calls her Grandma.) Demond got in the car and we looked at Grandma, smiled REAL big, and said "How you doin' Miss Grandma?"

 

Demond is the most respectful freakin' AWESOME black man. Gosh, I just love him. It was fast and testimony meeting and I told him that everyone that wanted to could share their testimony and guess who goes up and bears his testimony? DEMOND. Golly, do you just love him yet or what? In his testimony he shared that God really is there and He loves all of us, "I'm grateful for the sisters and them sharing the word with me. I'm glad I could come to church and I'll be back if y'all accept me."  So he got like NINE shoutouts in other testimonies --  "We accept you."  "We're so glad to see new faces."  "You're always welcome."  Oh it was just SO awesome! 

 

It was also really cool today because Heather got confirmed, Sam (a recent convert) was passing the sacrament, and both Vincent and Demond were there. I just love seeing people progress and come closer to Christ. It was Elder Burdett's last Sunday there, so he bore his testimony and it made me cry – well, it was his testimony AND just how thick and tangible the spirit was. It was just an amazing sacrament meeting.

 

After church Demond said like 3 times how much he enjoyed church.  He also said that the Mormons aren't like other churches -- they accept and love you as you are. They don't look at you crooked, depending on how you look or dress, but they love you.  "I can't wait to go back."  We also talked about his baptism, making covenants with God, and eventually getting to the temple, and he said "Oh I'm ready. I can't wait to get baptized, I'm just so ready to come closer to God" HE’S SO AWESOME!

 

OK, Wow, that was really, really long. I'll try and tell you

everything else about my week in a more condensed way

. . .

 

-We taught this cute girl Chalynn.  We taught her the

Restoration and told her how important it is to know the

truth about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. In her

prayer she said, "Please, please help me to understand

and know about Joseph Smith and The Book of Noman

because I really want to know."  so cute!

 

-Another shirlene-ism: "Oh how the tables have changed!"

hahahah

 

-There's this raccoon that is at our dumpster EVERY night.

I named him Harold but call him Reeko for short (don't

know how that figures). But he's great,.  Love raccoons!

 

-I got the package and LOVED it. Thank you! I was so excited to get it! The Graf cookies aren't quite as amazing when they aren't fresh but were still good. A fun reminder of life at home :) And I really enjoyed dad’s little rhyme to describe everything in the box. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-We met a super creepy scary guy named Rick. He thinks that he is a prophet and has revelation and cannot be killed because he is supposed to lead people out of America when the seventh church falls (People love talking about the Book of Revelations here).  He's tried to kill himself - but he can't. He smokes weed and is a sex offender, but thinks that those are fine because God gave those things to men. He thinks it's great that we are out preaching but "lots of pastors have told me I'm going to hell so don't try and save me.”  He talked to us (it was hard to get any words in) for 45 minutes. So scary and the spirit was NOT there. 

 

-We met an atheist this past week, I tried sharing my testimony with her but she said "I don't go knocking on your doors sharing my belief so I should get the same respect. I believe in evolution because there's proof to it.  If you can prove to me God exists then I'll believe you. But there is no God." It made me so sad that she doesn't have a relationship with God and it made me so mad that she'd say such rude things about God. I really had to hold my tongue and not fight back with a bunch of smart comments and scriptures to prove her wrong, but I held my tongue and we walked away. But it still really bugs me. One day . . . she'll know. One day . . .

 

- Betty, do you remember Betty? She has a hard time believing about Joseph Smith but we went over and retaught her the Restoration and told her pray about it and in her prayer (by the way I LOVE the way people pray here, it's so sincere, it's truly as if they are talking to their father but still in a respective way. They truly are beautiful prayers. I love okie prayers!!) She just pleaded to know and it was just awesome I love prayer!!

 

-Regarding prayer, we are teaching this one lady named Tina (she had lice by the way and it's freaky seeing all bugs crawl in her hair BUT she's a daughter of God so I love her anyway!) and we invited her to pray after our lesson and she seemed really hesitant about it. I had to explain to her how-to-pray a couple of times, and then I realized . . . this was her first time praying EVER. So I told her just to make it super simple - and it really was - but it was so sweet and I could just feel Heavenly Father's love for her as she prayed. Everyone should pray.  It's just wonderful. 

 

-Our tiny, little branch building is just bursting at the seams!  We have so many people attending sacrament meeting that we call it the “sardine meeting.”  We have to broadcast it into the primary room to get more people to hear it. And we had to add another deacon and two more trays for the sacrament. WAHOOO!  We'll be a ward in no time (hopefully).

 

-Elder Burdett goes home this Wednesday -- which is really sad.  We'll miss

him so. But at district meeting we held a “funeral service” for him haha

since he's “dying.”

 

Anyway, I love hearing all about how life is at home. Just know that I'm thriving

here in Oklahoma.  Tell Kaitlyn Lindsey she'll LOVE it here! I know -- absolutely

know -- that Oklahoma is the place I'm supposed to be! The people for me and

me for the people!  I could not do it without the Lord.

 

I want to invite all y'all to rely on Him in EVERYTHING and it truly will be easier.

Being in Oklahoma and seeing and hearing how hard people’s lives are, I can't

help but sing the hymn “Count Your Many Blessings.”  We all really are so

blessed. It's easy to see all the bad around -- but look for the good in everyday! 

It's everywhere!

 

LOVE Y'ALL!

-Sister Dymock