Week 45: Staying in Guthrie for Round 3

 

Saving Turtles!

I am staying in the Guthrie wards another transfer and so is Elder Mazzarelli.

This week has been really really fun. On P-day we went to a park in OKC and played Spikeball. I lost to President Mansell. We had dinner with our stake president, President Bowman. We learned that he has memorized between 1800-1900 scriptures. Also, I am a legend because I saved a turtle from getting crushed on the road so go me!

OU Basketball Coach

Tuesday during our daily planning we felt another earthquake! That was my second earthquake of the whole mission! We went and did service at a place called the Hope Center. It is like a DI but also has a food section in it.

Storms

Wednesday we went to Stillwater for our interviews and we did role plays. Then we went and volunteered at the Special Olympics. It is the largest Special Olympics in the USA. It was the most fun thing ever. We started working on the inflatable toys and then Elder Sosa, my DL, went and helped with the bocce ball and the powerlifting. In the powerlifting, we met a guy who is interested in the church so we have a referral for the Catoosa Elders. It was the coolest thing ever. At the Special Olympics, we were able to get pictures with the OU basketball head coach too!!!!

Special Olympics

The rest of the week we were in Edmond and we did a lot of finding. Sadly no lessons this week but there are a lot of potentials that we can now go see! It is picking up now.

Zone P-day

Saturday I went and helped with an eagle scout project and I was assigned to paint and somehow I got it all over my hands. That night we went to a place called Herd on Hurd where there is a bunch of food trucks, street vendors, and live music. It is like the college/high school hang out and plus we have people that buy us free food. We hang out and talk to the students and just show them that we are normal and throw little hints about what we do and try and get them to catch what we are throwing to them. I think missionary work is the easier when you are having fun. People are fun and cars are fun so that makes it easy to do the work.

Getting dirty and working hard!

I want to do some hiking while I am here but there really is not much that you can do here in Edmond but there are other areas of the mission that we can. 

Hey guess what... At the end of this transfer, I will be a week away from a year. 7 weeks away from my halfway mark. It has gone by so incredibly fast!

Have a great week! I love you so much!

Elder McMinn

"In this work there must be commitment. There must be devotion. We are engaged in a great eternal struggle that concerns the very should of the sons and daughters of God. We are not losing. We are winning. We will continue to win if we will be faithful and true. We can do it. We must do it. We will do it. There is nothing the Lord has asked us that in faith we cannot accomplish."

- Gordon B. Hinckley

Week 44: Mother's Day

We got to facetime Kyle this week. It was the best Mother's Day gift that this mom could have asked for. It was so good seeing his face and hearing his voice. He is loving his mission. Oklahoma is a great place to be but he says that it is getting hot. He saw his first big midwest storm last week with the tornado warnings and all! Yikes. He said he didn't have any desire to go chase it. That made me feel much better about having him there. He has seen lots of storms but this was really the first with tornado danger near him. We sure love him and his desire to serve. He has now been out 10 months! Sometimes it seems like time is going by fast but other times it seems like time is standing still. We miss him but know that he is where he needs to be right now.

Mom

"Go and serve knowing that you do not go alone."

Henry B. Eyring

 

 Oklahoma City Zoo for P-day

This week was a good one. We did a lot of work in the Edmond area but there isn't much to report on. We went around trying a lot of formers and did a lot of finding. 

It's hot in Oklahoma!

Thursday I went on exchanges to Cushing with my district leader, Elder Sosa. We were able to sit down and have a lesson there with a guy named Tim who is a recovering drug addict. After hearing our message he really wants to change up his ways and come clean so he is admitting himself to an inpatient rehab!

Saturday we made a goal that we were not going to be satisfied with our day until we had 3 potential investigators. We found one who is a former named Sandee. She is a Catholic who believes in the Book of Mormon. We are doing a church swap with her later this week too!

Another is Jason who is a correctional officer and he was really interested in what we had to say so we are going back on Wednesday to teach the restoration to him.

The last was a new Book of Mormon referral named Nina who really wants to learn about it and learn about how it compares to the bible.

We have a lot of potential for this week, I am pumped.

Back Roads

Elder McMinn

Week 43: Cars, Jeeps, and Teaching the Gospel

This week was a really great week!

We started it off by going to Stillwater for our Zone P day! We went bowling and then went to the OSU campus to play volleyball and Spike ball! Sister Wright and I went up against President Mansell and Sister Larsen. President Mansell completely destroyed us the first game. We were close the second but still lost.

The middle of the week we were knocking a lot of doors and had a few visits with people. Thursday we had a really good lesson with Irene. She opened up about her concerns and we were able to share what we think will help but also told her that the answers don't come from us just telling her and she needs to find out for herself. 

This weekend was a crazy weekend. We attend an art festival! There were so many people there and a lot of local art vendors. I didn't buy any, thank goodness. We had really good conversations with people there and also with the people selling their product.

Saturday was insane. We were out the door at 7:45 for Cars and Coffee. That is a car show where anyone can bring their car and show it off! There was 7 Lamborghinis, 2 Ferraris, and 1 Mclaren. We also found a few people that were interested in learning more about our beliefs but they don't live in our area so we gave two lessons to two different areas.

After the Car show, we went to a jeep show! That's crazy! Jeep was showing off all their new vehicles and a ton of different aftermarket parts companies were there showing off their stuff! We were able to have a lot of really great conversations with people there and we also found these two girls who offered to take us on the off-road course there in their Jeep! It was so much fun!

Love, 

Elder McMinn

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart: and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct they paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6