Week 58 - Clinton, Oklahoma - August 12, 2013

Mi querida familia, Que semana hermosa! We had a great time this week. It's been a little slow, but I've had to privilege of seeing quite a few miracles. The first miracle: The internet capabilities at the church aren't working. Usually, we do all of our emailing at the church but this past week we've had to use the library. So on wednesday, we were taking our "mormon.org" time for 30 minutes, and while we were finishing up, my companion and I sat down at a table in the library to run over our plans real quick. As we sat down, a young man from Guatamala came up. He said he recognized who we were because he had a friend who was a mormon as was serving a mission in Peru. He introduced himself, and said he wanted to take English classes. So we set up a time and today we are going to teach him English. I have no idea how to teach English, but I think we are mainly just going to practice doing a job interview with him. We'll see how this works. Hopefully he can turn into an investigator soon. He's very friendly is living here with his whole family. Then today, we came to library again to do email, and literally just an hour ago, we met a man who knew who the missionaries were from Texas. He lives in an apartment complex close to the Church and he said we could come by and visit him and his wife. That appointment is for to tomorrow. Who'd of thought? This library is turning into a great place. This week I also got to conduct a few baptismal interviews for a companionship up in Woodaward. What a neat experience to here the testimonies of 3 baptismal candidates. They were all ready, and two of them were baptized on saturday. They were a middle age couple that had been married for 44 years. Two of their kids were members of the church. As I interviewed them, I could see the Lord's hand in preparing them their entire lives for this moment. Both had grown up in different churches, but gradually their hearts softened to accpeting the Gospel, mainly with support from their family. They mentioned the last name of some of their kids was Despain and they were from Sandy, UT. If I remember right, I thought we some Despains in our ward, but I'm not sure. It's an interesting experience to interview people for baptism. The spirit is super strong, and it's basically a huge tesimony session. I'm so glad I got to meet them. Then I interviewed this young man from Haiti. What a treat! He was a little hard to understand, but his knowledge and understanding of the gospel was so incredible. He liked to use analogies a lot. One thing I found interesting was how he rarely looked me in the eye. I think I might have intimidated him, because when I'm talking to someone I look at them dead in the face. He must have noticed because he mentioned how in Haiti, his mom taught him to never look people in the eye because the eyes can decieve. He taught me how when you don't look at someone in the eye, it forces you to listen to what they are actually saying and listen with your heart. That's their culture. And it makes pretty good sense. He has a solid tesimony too. He literally prayed for God to send him a message about which church to join and then the missionaries showed up. Miracle!!! Things are great here in Western Oklahoma. I got a call from the APs a few days back and President wants me to train this next transfer!!! Wahoo!!! I love training! New missionaries have so much faith and desire to learn and it's always a rewarding experience. It also helps me stay motivated to be a little more diligent and a little more obedient then perhaps i was before. That's all for today. Our investigators are still progressing. Oh one more miracle...on wednesday we found a new investigator who committed to be baptized on the first lesson. We actually contacted her 1 month and half ago and have been trying to see here ever since. Just this last week we met and taught her. The lord's timing is never what we expect, we just have to willing to put ourselves out there, excercise faith, and then the Lord can use us to accomplish his work. I love you all! Keep up the Spirit out there at home. The gospel is true and the spirit really does teach the humble in heart to accept the message of the Restoration. Con Amor, Elder Powley