Newcastle,Oklahoma- Week 23

Hey! 

This week was pretty awesome :) so since there is a lot, I guess we will start with Monday. We had dinner with some members, and it's really cool where they live. You go on a country road for a while then you have to turn into a dense forest tunnel path thing, and travel on that, that is cool, then you get to their house in the middle of the forest. When we pulled up, there was 2 bucks and a few does just hanging out in front of the house, so I thought that was cool to see. We are teaching this guy named Nathan, he is awesome! In our first lesson, we taught the restoration, and told him about the Book of Mormon, he said, "Well that makes since, I have always thought there had to be more" He already had a Book of Mormon, and read it. So we asked him to pray after the lesson, to ask if what we taught was true. He did, was quiet for a while, then stood up, and said, "What you guys say is the truth" So cool! Taught him about the Plan of Salvation in a later lesson, he understands it all and wants to be baptized, just wants to figure out when. And I get a call from the AP's and they are telling me that Marc is getting baptized and wants me to be there, so I'm a little confused... Marc.... Marc..  Oh! Is he from Clinton? Yes. Awesome!!!!!! I knew he would get baptized, just didn't know when. So the baptism was great, it was cool seeing everyone again, it was nice to be back. And I got my camera cord back too. Christmas Eve was good, we had a big dinner that night at a members house. CHRISTMAS!!! We had breakfast at the Batey's, and we talked with them for a while, Brother Batey got a crossbow, and was telling us how he was going to go squirrel hunting now. Then lunch at the Brumlie's house, they are our investigators, so it was really nice of them to invite us over. And then most important part :) Skype! I get on the computer and all I hear is craziness :) I love you guys :) it was great hearing from you! And thank you for the presents, they were all great! But talking with you was the best gift. Remember how I was telling you about missionary apartments have a stuff closet? Well I went through New Castles stuff closet, and found a backpack but the zippers were broken, but I used to fix my school one all the time so I fixed it. Now I have a tracting backpack. It feels a lot better if we are walking a while, not as hard on your shoulders. I still use the side bag, but if I know we are walking a lot that day, I can use the backpack. I also have a new umbrella, my old one broke in Clinton R.I.P. Hahaha! When I get my new companion on the 7th, I will be going back to Blanchard, and I'm not quite sure if I'm considered a new missionary or not, maybe in-between. People will think I am older in the mission if a wear the backpack though, so that is funny, the newer missionary's have side bags- so might try to confuse them sometimes. Hope all of you are having a great week and Happy New Years! 2015, that's crazy, seems like just yesterday it turned 2014. Love you!

Newcastle,Oklahoma- Week 22

Hey!
This week was crazy! On Monday we went over to a members house for dinner and for dessert we made fried Oreos, they were really good. We also had  a little party for the missionaries that have finished their mission and were leaving on Wednesday, that was really fun but it was sad to see them go. Tuesday we had our Christmas conference, that was all day, there were a few trainings, and at the end there was a talent show. I think the first and the last person was the best! The first missionary sang "Through Heavens Eyes" from The Prince of Egypt, and sounded just like the original singer, it was awesome. The last missionary brought his bagpipes, that sounded sooo cool. He was really good at playing them! So Wednesday was transfers :( Elder Hoffman is in Midwest City now, and Blanchard and Newcastle are combined. We are not really staying at one place, we switch off often depending on that we are doing that day, so that has been a little stressful. With all the moving I can't get into a pattern of doing things, and have some things at both places. I love being in the trio and we have seen lots of miracles, but it's the switching and moving around that I'm not liking, but it's only till the 7th so, it's quick at least. And we have a car since I'm with Newcastle, and it is nice to have at times, not that I have driven it yet. :) Friday morning was really funny, we are driving to district meeting, and there was a squirrel in the road, and Elder Llyod said "Look! A squirrel!" Then we feel a little bump under the car.... "Elder Llyod! You just ran over a Squirrel with The Lord's car!" "Am I going to be held accountable for that?" "Probably!" :) It was funny. We got to teach this old guy, his name is Ed, his is an 84 year old Korean war vet. Spent a while in ice caves near the north pole looking for Russians, and helped build Apollo 13, so this guy has done everything, he is soo cool!!! And he is interested in the gospel! Well, we were knocking doors on this one neighborhood, we knock on this door, and after we ring the door bell, I look around, and on his window there are some licence plates, veteran, purple heart, and on a table there is a sign that says leave packages on the table, there is a camera and a alarm sensor above us, and then I realize, great...... I know what door we just knocked on, so I was right. It was a older guy and he answers the door carrying a M14 with a bayonet on it. "Y'all better not be creeping around here when its dark" then slams the door. Definitely that's something we will all remember, hahaha. Also have you heard of Porter Rockwell? Coolest guy ever! He was actually invincible, I can see why Joseph Smith had him as a bodyguard. Love you! See you on Christmas!

I Love Elder Santana! :)

3D Printer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blanchard,Oklahoma- Week 21

Hey!!!!!

So this week, I think was the longest one so far, a pretty crazy week. Monday, we played a lot of basketball with the rest of our zone, so that was really cool. Tuesday we walked around a lot, knocking of peoples doors, we did a entire neighborhood. I got a map of the area and where ever we go, I mark it on the map, and it is starting to get it filled up now, it is pretty cool. Wednesday was one of the best days! We had service at the library then we tried to find a investigator to go with us to the Chickasha lights, we called up three families we had, they all said probably, then throughout the day, they all dropped. Like a hour before we wanted to go, we found a person who wanted to go with us! So we got to go and see the lights, it was sooo cool, I took pictures of it. The investigator was a members girlfriend, his mom told us to follow them around, so it was really funny- us trying to sneak around watching them! So that was the highlight of the week. The next day was actually pretty good too. Brother Brooks took us to lunch and dinner. Brother Brooks is a senior missionary, he is so awesome, he reminds me us Gus from Night at the Museum, and looks like him too! We have gotten a lot of success with missionary work this week, all the hard work finding people is paying off. We found a family and they were really interested, and they already had a Book of Mormon, because a brother of theirs was investigating the church and gave them a copy and told them about it. So we are very excited  that we were able to meet them. Friday, lots of missionaries went to the OU campus and went line dancing, we had "He is the Gift" posters made, so some people held signs, and everyone else gave out cards, we gave out so many cards! So we hope that helped people. Then I got to go on exchanges with Elder Finnie, who finishes up his mission in 2 days, Elder Finnie is awesome, and we are sad that he is leaving, but happy for him too. Saturday is the day Elder Hoffman and I are still trying to figure out. Fun day, got to see a parade, pass out cards had good lessons. Then at 9:00, President Walkenhorst calls, so we are like great..... "hello? Hi congratulations Elder Hoffman, your going Zone leader in Mid West City, Elder Santana, you going into a trio in New Castle so you are now in charge of two areas, bye." Hoffman and I were like "What!!??? nooooooo!!" So Elder Hoffman is leaving :( but I have Elder Llyod and Richardson as a companion now, so that's cool. Interesting to see how all of this is going to work out. It was so funny, the next day we wake up and the first thing Elder Hoffman says is "Please tell me that last night was a bad dream"-"Sorry dude, your going zone leader":) yup, so that's the week. Love you guys! 

We saw this Monday, and we were like what is going on? Did something just explode? It was just steam from a power plant

I bought my self a christmas present :) cant wait till Christmas!!!

The moon was soo cool on Tuesday

Chicksha lights!

Matching Ties!

We saw some deer walk right in front of us, it was really cool.

Mail!

Merry Christmas!

 

Blanchard,Oklahoma- Week 20

Hey!

So this week was good, it did seem really long though. This week was a lot of tracking, us walking around and knocking on doors and sharing He is the Gift with people. We got a few more people to watch it with us, everyone loves it! We got to meet with Jim again, and he is still really cool. He has lots of stories. We got to do some service at the library near our house, we sanded down these wood blocks and then painted them, it was really fun. It has been really foggy here, it’s pretty cool to look at. It gets really dense though, then we can’t ride our bikes because it is not safe. So we did a lot of walking this week. Friday for district meeting, some elders had a birthday so we had a party for them, and someone brought a bunch of mustache stickers, so we were all wearing mustaches when they showed up, it was pretty funny. I went on a short exchange Friday and Saturday, and that was fun, cool to see a new area. Got lots of work done. For most of the week, it just was a lot of walking and tracking. Our ward had a Christmas party! There was lots of food there and it was good :) I really liked how they did everything, they also did the nativity scene at the end of the party. Did you all see the Christmas Devotional? It was great, and only the missionaries were at the church to see it, so we got the whole building to ourselves. Everyone else watched it at home I guess. And I forgot my journal again, so sorry this is shorter, I will remember it next week, had a little bit of a crazy morning trying to get to New Castle for p-day. I’m having an awesome time out here, it’s great to be able to teach people and the time is going by really fast. Love you guys!

I Love the Tree!

Our phone was breaking so we were going to get a new phone- so some poeple from the mission office came over to give us the new phone, and told us how sorry they were, and that they don't get to pick the phone, Sprint just sends them a new one, so this is what we got........

the lights from a volleyball court, they are really bright

Cool Tree

Lots of Fog

 

Blanchard,Oklahoma- Week 19

Hey!

This week was really fun! Ok, on Monday, our whole zone played football for most of the day, so that was fun. There was 40-50 missionaries there, giant game! On Tuesday, one of the missionaries, Elder Byrd,(who got back from his mission 2 months ago and was companions with Elder Hoffman) came back to Oklahoma with his family and took us to lunch, we went to Dakotas, that place is pretty good. It was really cool talking to him, he said that it is still pretty weird after getting back, and that he is still trying to get used to everything. Wednesday was also great! We did service for some members, they have a huge house and backyard, and they have a lot of cool stuff in their house, it looks like a museum in there. In their backyard, they have part of a lake, lots of farm animals, and they have a zip line, that was really fun, we all went on the zip line a few times! :) They have this huge wood pile that they are trying to prepare for winter, so for a few hours we were trying to take the pile apart, sorting it into smaller pieces from the bigger stumpier pieces to be cut. After that, they took us over to a ladies house that lived pretty close. She is now a investigator, her son is a member and a head person for Deseret Books, and always sends her stuff, so she has many LDS books, she also makes blessing and baptismal clothes, she is really cool. We helped her level this pile of dirt, bricks and concrete in her front yard. and as we were doing that a rat jumps out of the pile and starts running toward her house, so Elder Hoffman runs after it throwing bricks and I'm following him with a shovel trying to hit it, eventually we got it. Then we helped her with her farm animals. A cool fact I didn't know about, she got a donkey because it will protect her horse from coyotes, and her chickens from skunks and racoons. After that we went back to the members house and they gave us axes, so we chopped wood for the rest of the time, chopping wood is really fun :) (Sleepy Hollow!) Then they made us pupusa's they are really good, they stuff pork in this dough and cheese then fry them. Ok now for Thanksgiving!! We went to a turkey bowl, Elder Hoffman and I bought some cleats for it, we had a good game :) Then we went to that members house again for Thanksgiving dinner, they had a lot of people over and the food was really good, lots of turkey and mashes potatoes :) We had a lot of fun. On Friday we had a training from the zone leaders, it was weird because they don't usually do them, so we all thought we were finally getting i-pads! Sadly not yet :( but they shared with us, "He is The Gift", have you heard of it yet? Christmas.mormon.org it is soo cool, the church is having a YouTube takeover on the 6 or 7, but for the whole month, they will be the only advertiser on YouTube, and also having advertisements in times square. He is the Gift is a short two min, video all about the true meaning of Christmas, if you haven't seen it, you really need to and show it to others as well. We were sharing "He Is the Gift", I love it! so many miracles from that. Because of that we are teaching two bounty hunters and a treasure hunter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We called one of our investigators asking if we could come over and talk about "He is the Gift" with her, she said maybe later because her parents were not home, they are at work. So we asked where do they work, and she says "Oh, they are bounty hunters". That is the coolest thing ever! And then with the treasure hunter, we were knocking doors and it was really cold outside, so we were going to stop soon, but wanted to knock the whole street, so the very last house, we knock on the door and this old guy opens the door, and tells us to "come inside, it's cold out there", so that was cool because that usually doesn't happen, the last house like that, the wife was going to let us in, but then her husband saw us, and was like, "no, no, get out, your not coming in." But back to the treasure hunter, so we got to go inside and his house was full of art and cool Indian stuff, he has read the whole Book of Mormon before, and said we could come back. :) A few nights ago Elder Hoffman and I were going down this hill at night and were turning. He took it too fast and hit a gravel pit so the bike came out from under him, and he slid. A lot of road rash and his suit pants were covered in blood, luckily this old man saw us and gave us a ride back to our place so we could fix Elder Hoffman up. Hoffman had to clean up his leg and arm so he grabs the music player and a bottle of rubbing alcohol and jumps in the shower, he is blasting the music and all I can hear is a mix of him singing to the music and then starts yelling in pain as he is pouring the alcohol on him self, it was sort of funny, but he is feeling better now, just really sore. The office hours sign from last week is in our study room, so it fits it. I love you guys! 

My New Cleats 

Trees Change Color Here!

Some fun pictures with Elder Hoffmans camera

Blanchard,Oklahoma- Week 18

Hey!
Yup! I'm in Blanchard now, it's a little different than Clinton. It's Elder Hoffman and I, we still don't have a car, and again we really need one- even if I don't want to drive one. Our area covers Blanchard, Cole, Dibble, Washinton, Lindsey, Purcell, part of Norman, part of Alex, and Goldsby. Why don't we have a car for this? There is a lot of missionaries leaving soon so president is going to close 8 areas in the next couple months, we might get New Castle's area too. But that might mean we get there car. Elder Hoffman is pretty awesome, we both love 80's music and so we are always singing songs on our bikes. Still trying to get used to the area, it is not as windy here, but for the last two days Hoffman and I were having to bike around in the storm, lots of wind and rain, so that wasn't that much fun, but we survived it :) We found some new investigators a few days ago, the Elam family, they are from Arizona, so I was talking to them alot about Arizona. I thought that was really cool. For district meetings, we have to get a ride up to Norman, the meeting was really good, and after that we all went to Wendy's. It was really cool, there was a guy there that pulls up in a Polaris Slingshot, have you heard of that before? Apparently they just came out, it looked really cool and there was a crowd of people around it looking at it. Ok, so about the transfers since it was just Clinton and Weatherford transfering, we went with Weatherford to transfers. It was in Moore. Our apartment is on the 2nd floor, so not fun to get our bikes up there everyday. It is just Elder Hoffman and I in our area. Tortilla tally is 2 for this week. Don't know what we are doing for Thanksgiving yet. I love you guys and miss you!
 

My New Home

At Wendy's

Elder Hoffman and I!

Clinton,Oklahoma- Week 17

Hey!!!!!! 

So last p-day was nice, more of a relaxing p-day, got to clean up the apartment and sleep a little bit more. So this week, guess what?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? it snowed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This week was a little crazy, Carlos and Amy sadly didn't get married this week, they didnt get their marriage license in time, but there was another couple in the ward that did so we got to go to that, so that was cool. and Matthew got baptized! Best part of the week, next to the snow. So we are filling up the font, and the water is brownish green..... great. 30min till he gets here, so we are all trying to drain the thing when another room starts flooding, so a few of us (and there are 10 elders there for the baptism) go to that room to try to stop it, the rest of us are all in the font trying to scrub it to get it clean again (4 or 5 of us in the font with brushes) it was pretty funny. Well, by the end when we filled it again, the water looked better, not perfect but ok, so we had it! It was a great baptism and that night we went to the Arnies house for a early Thanksgiving dinner, it was really good. I love going over to the Arnies, we go over there every saturday, and everyone there is soo funny. So yeah it snowed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the work this week slowed down a lot because of the snow, all cars and bikes were grounded, so we had to walk everywhere in the snow. But I was warm, so that was good. Yesterday we went out with Texus, we had lots of fun in the snow with his car, he did a few donuts and was drifting in the snow. So we stayed warm in the car :). It was 17 degrees this morning, I love the cold!! Don't worry I'm staying healthy. Love you guys!

IT SNOWED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Matthew's Baptism

Lots of Missionaries at the Baptism

SNOW!

More Snow!

Well, you wanted to know if i was transferring or not...
I'm going to Blanchard, Oklahoma on Wednesday 

Marty, Ashley, and I 

Carlos, Amy, and I

Texus and I

Elder Jolley gave our district socks!

Clinton,Oklahoma- Week 16

Hey!

This week it's going to start getting colder! Yes! High of 30!! and it might snow, so I can't wait! Last p-day was fun, we went to the city for zone p-day where all the missionaries were playing basketball and mafia all day, then we all went to eat at which wich, that place is soo good, then we had our zone training. I think that one is my favorite so far, I took lots of notes on it, so the training ended at around 9:30pm, which is fine for everyone else because they live in the city so they are close, but Clinton, Elk, and Weatherford are about an hour and a half drive away, so we are driving home, and we are in the middle of a huge storm, after the 3rd time our truck hydroplaned on the road we slowed down a lot, so it was an even longer drive home. The storm was still crazy once we got to Clinton, so the Elder's from Elk City stayed at our place for the night because we didn't think it would be safe for them to drive another 30 min to Elk in the storm and it was 11:30 at night. On another note, it's really funny, I am like the missionary tutor now. I sometimes help this kid in Young Men's with his homework when we go over to see the family, and a few days ago one of the members called us and asked if either one of us were good at math, I am! so I helped him study for some tests he had for his job, and he has the craziest job ever! He is the person who fixes the electrical wire on the really tall poles. He goes in a helicopter to get up there, then he climbs out and hangs onto the poles, it's really cool and insane. I'm not a fan of heights so I will leave that to him. Had a really good lesson with Emmerson on Wednesday. Sadly, he was really drunk at the time so he couldn't really feel the spirit or understand that much, but the spirit was there and taught him the best I could for about a hour mostly by myself, so that is something I thought was amazing for me that I could do that. Saturday is going to be the craziest day in the world for us! 2 baptisms (hopefully 3) and a wedding for our investigators Carlos and Amy all on the same day! Jolley and I are still trying to figure everything out, like I said its going to be a crazy day, but a amazing one as well. We got two new investigators with week, and it's really funny story, sort of- since the day after Halloween everyone in Clinton has been telling us about this guy who was stabbed 12 times on Halloween. Well, 2 days ago we were knocking on doors and we actually met the guy, he was interested in the message so we were able to talk to him for a while and teach him about the restoration. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said that he would read it. We went back the next day to have another lesson, but he wasn't home so we left a card on his door with our number on it- and he actually called us back saying sorry he wasn't home and that that never happens. Elder Jolley said that is the first time ever for him that someone has actually called us back when we leave a note, members don't even do that, that is soo cool. So the rest of the week was baptismal interviews and setting stuff up. Love you guys have a great week!!!

I am ready for winter!!!

I got a spear head, it's pretty cool. I love getting stuff :) It can go in my "stuff" box (no I don't have one yet, just thought of that right now)

The moon that night was really bright!

Clinton,Oklahoma- Week 15

Hey! 

Halloween was pretty fun! Thank you for the candy so we got to go "trick or treating" that night. We also got glow sticks and covered our bikes and helmets with them, then we went out; that is one reason holidays are the best here, you get to do things that we normally can't, like the glow sticks. I got the packages, I love that flyswatter, that is the best! We sometimes get fruit flies in our apartment, and that is perfect for them, thank you! I got the pants you ordered for me, it was funny because I didn't expect them to come in the mail box; they were just rolled up and shoved in there, I thought it was funny. I love Elder Crane, he is still hanging up in our room, its awesome! I think one of the biggest miracles I have and still see here is when we find people that The Lord has prepared for us, that has happened a few times this week and it still amazes me. The work is progressing and I'm glad I'm a part of it! We also got to have a church tour with one of our investigators this week. And he pretty much set it up by himself. Here is how it started- he works at the k-mart here and we go there sometimes for shopping, so we are checking out and were talking to him. He was telling us that he was sad that he wasn't able to see General Conference or go to our church yet and he likes having us over, so he asked us if we could have a lesson with him this week, check out the church and maybe watch some talks from General Conference at the church...Yes!!!! That was awesome, that lesson went really well. Our area has had so much success, I hope I never leave here!! The hard work and prayers are paying off. The ward trunk or treat was really fun, there was like 10 or more investigators or just people that just showed up, so it was awesome. They had a haunted house, so that was cool, they had some one in a harness hanging from the basketball hoop, so that was really cool, and they filled the whole gym up with fog and made a sort of a maze, it was cool. I went on exchanges with Elk City for Wednesday- Friday, that was fun. Elder Lyman and I were at a service project on Thursday. We picked pecans for this lady, and she said she would make us pecan pie, so yeah!! That sounds so good. So Friday was Halloween!! We all wore our most Halloweenish ties that day! That was good. Marty and Ashley are still doing well, we think that they still might need a few weeks, to get everything ready, but it should be soon! We are so excited for them! Hope everyone is doing well,  time is still going by fast, just think, I have only 1 more Halloween here :) Elder Jolley and I think that we will stay here for another transfer (transfers are on the 19th) hopefully we will. We have soo many baptisms to do if we stay here, around 11 baptisms to do next transfer if everything works out :) I love and miss you all! Until next week, May you find caterpillars under every leaf.

In Elk City, Elder Mieru had a box of cars and Legos, what else was I supposed to do with them?

I got mail :)

So many pecans! I think that night I dreamed of pecans.

Jolley liked the candy too

starting to put glow sticks on my bike :)