Week 61: Another Week in Cushing

The week has been good! We had an awesome zone p-day where we went down to Edmond. We went bowling. Then we went to the church to play Spike Ball and watch the movie The Best 2 Years. I pretty much just played Spike Ball the whole time!  It was pretty fun to be in the city again and to be around other missionaries!

There was also a mid transfer this week so I have a new companion and his name is Elder Blocker. He is from Utah and has been out for 19 months now.

We had a baptismal interview with Thomas Brown and he is so pumped to be baptized. There is a new girl that moved into the ward and her mom is a member but she is not. She is friends with 2 girls who are not members of the church. Their mom is going to be baptized in January after she has her large wedding that she has been waiting to have so we are working with Brother Lefthand in the ward to start teaching those 3 girls together and that would be awesome! We had a lot of good lessons this week too. 

There is a lot of work here in Cushing right now. It was a great week!

Elder McMinn

“Keep going and the Lord will help you.”

D. Todd Christofferson

Week 60: Labor Day

This was an interesting week. Monday we were in Cushing for P day and just hung out around the house and didn't do much but it wasn't bad to relax. We had dinner in Perkins so we had a little drive there and back then spent the night finding and visiting potentials.

Tuesday I was on exchanges with Elder Hymer, my district leader, in Cushing and on the UCO campus in Edmond. Elder Hymer and I were in the MTC together so it was really awesome to spend the day with someone I started the mission with. We had a blast in Cushing that day and found quite a few potentials and taught a really good lesson with our investigator, Thomas, who has a baptism date. We were able to help him understand the meaning behind his baptism and help him prepare more fully for that special day. 

Wednesday we went back to work with Elder Tirrell. 

We had zone conference on Thursday in Edmond. It was a really great conference. The main point of it for me was a training on how to redefine the definition of success and how to truly obtain it. In just the past few days it has really helped me out actually. 

Friday we had another exchange with the district leaders. We were on the UCO campus! I really love serving on a campus. It is really fun because all you do is talk to people and relate to them and also teach short 20-30 minute lessons, plus everyone on campus, for the most part, is really cool to talk to and there are fun activities to do with the students. 

Saturday we were back in Cushing and were able to have a lesson with Anthony (a 9-year-old recent convert), Thomas Brown (the one with a baptism date), and then went to see a part member family, the Laws, out in Glencoe and helped them on their property, caught an armadillo, and had a really good discussion with them after on the importance of the sacrament. They were able to make it to church on Sunday along with Thomas Brown. The rest of Sunday we went out finding and tried visiting potentials.

Sorry, but I will not have weekly emails like this one often. This week I prepared it
beforehand because of the little amount of time that I had to email this week.

Hope the Labor day weekend was fun!
Elder McMinn

"You are doing God's work. You are doing it well. He is blessing you, and He will bless you especially when your days and your nights may be the most challenging."

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Week 59: Cushing Life

This week was really good! We had quite a few lessons to go too. We had Tim who really is working on how to know that God is there for him. We are working with a recent convert family and we are trying to teach their son Donovan Watkins. They are really fun and love having us over and listen. We also taught a part member family who are so awesome! It is the Law family and they came to church for the first time in 6 years! 

Cushing is really good. We have a few investigators like Tim Garrett, Thomas Brown, Mike Pierce, Shirley Maxwell, Sammy Law, and the Karl family. Those are the main people that we are teaching and they are so cool. They are hard to teach because they are so set in their ideas. Some are not necessarily their religious ways but ways of thinking so we are trying to convey a message in a way that logically makes sense to them. I love it because my studies have been so great but conveying the important information is harder.

We have a lot of appointments scheduled for this week with the people we found and a lot of other new people too. Cushing is really moving and I love it here.

It seems like everyone likes to ride their lawn mower around the streets instead of the car though. One day I counted and there were 6 lawn mowers all throughout the day just driving down the road.

P-days in rural Oklahoma are hard. There isn't a lot to do. We are planning on going fishing at some point out here. We have a few people that have stocked ponds so we may do that someday. I haven't thought of any ideas either.

I love being a missionary.
Elder McMinn

Believe in the power of prayer -- it is real, it is wonderful, it is tremendous.

Gordon B. Hinckley

Week 58: Life in Cushing

Elder Tirrell and McMinn

Cushing, Oklahoma

My new address is:

719 E Broadway St.
Cushing, OK 74023

I was a little surprised to hear that I was leaving Clinton but they brought in a Spanish elder and that is something that the area needs to help the Spanish group grow. Yeah, there is really nothing that is in Cushing. There is a lot of oil tanks but that is pretty much all. There are a lot of oil tanks but that is pretty much all. We are far from other missionaries too so we do P day on our own again here but this time there are no members who invite us over to hang out with them. We are 100% on our own so if you have any ideas on what we could do, please let me know because I might go crazy haha. It is a really rural area. There are a lot of ranchers in the ward actually too. It is a big outdoors community so I may try and find a spot that we can go fishing or do something like that.

My companion is Elder Tirrell from West Valley City Utah. He has been on his mission for 6 months. He is a REALLY hard worker so I am thankful for that! The ward here is not huge. There are about 80 active members. 

This week we have already found 2 new investigators and have quite a few return appointments from people that were taught by missionaries in the past. It is looking good out here.

It's been a good a week!

Elder McMinn

 “May we see the light of Christ in others constantly and help them see it in themselves.” 

Mark A. Bragg

Week 57: Clinton to Cushing

I am getting transferred to Cushing, OK. I have been there before on exchanges actually and I am so pumped to go there! It is going to be really fun! My new companions name is Elder Tirrell.

This week was really good. We got 4 new investigators. Their names are Bobby, Anne, Jason, and Sabrina. Two of them are recovering from substance abuse and the others are the parents. They are so awesome and sincere! We shared the restoration with them and it was like nothing else was possible at distracting them. It was really fun because they were so involved.

We had one of the recent converts that hadn't been at church in 6 weeks show up this week! It was Milton! It was so great!

This week we had our ward party too. It was a back to school bash where we had slip n slide kickball, corn hole (which is one of my hidden skills now), and a giant bounce house! After a few hours of the party, a flash flood came in and hit hard. We all ran under canopies and also inside the church. The wind picked up and started to blow away the bounce house so 7 of us made a mad dash towards it a tried to stop it before it hit the cars in the parking lot or blew away. It was so funny.

My favorite part of being a missionary is being able to see the change in people once they have accepted the gospel and are now working towards changing their lives. My advice is don't be worried that you don't know enough to be a missionary because no matter what you do and what you study you will never know all that will fully prepare you to do missionary work. It is a skill that is acquired through immersion in the work. My favorite scripture right now I am not sure because I really like the whole Book of Mormon. I am on my fourth time through it on my mission. I will have to get back to you on that one!

Loving Oklahoma!

 

Elder McMinn

“Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of Him to declare His word among His people, that they might have everlasting life.” 

3 Nephi 5:13

Week 56: Mondays in Weatherford

So on Mondays out here in Weatherford, we go over to a members house who we play board games with his kids and then have dinner over there. After we left their house we drove past a home here who had a Toyota Supra and a Nissan GT-R in the driveway so we went and knocked on his door. He was really cool but not too interested in hearing our message.

Tuesday we went to the city for interviews with our mission president. We focused a lot on the training of teaching to the needs of people and not making sure that we go through the lessons with them.

We spent the rest of the week going and visiting the people that we have been working with the past few weeks. Nothing too far that has been crazy but we have had some really good lessons. We were having a really good lesson with Mindy this week and we were halfway through the plan of salvation lesson and it was probably one of the best ones I have been in. Her husband calls from prison in the middle of the lesson and she has to leave to go see him asap. She was able to make it to church on Sunday and we are going over tomorrow to see her as well!

I actually kinda miss mowing lawns because it is really easy work and it is fun and relaxing. We had a service project for members of our ward who have both been really sick and we mowed their lawn for them and did a bunch of other yard work and it was fun. 

My week was good. We are still teaching all of the same people that we were before. We actually had something cool happen. We went to knock on the door of a referral from a member in our ward but it turns out that we had the absolutely wrong address. It all worked out though because the person that lives there is actually a member who hasn't come to church in a long time and wasn't on our records. After we left from visiting his place we saw these kids outside playing basketball so we went and played ball with them. Turns out that 2 of the kids that we were playing ball with were actually former investigators. Sadly, Spanish formers but President Mansell said that he is going to do something about the Spanish work in our area.

It's been another good week.
Elder McMinn

Week 55: Bike Week in the Country

Bike week out here is different. Since there is such a massive area that we cover, we throw the bikes on the back of the car and then go to the small towns and bike from there! I learned this past Sunday that our area is 8400 sq miles and that we are the 4th largest ward in North America!

This week we had quite a few lessons. We had one at a park with a recent convert and then played basketball with the kid. His little brother came up to us and told us that he wants to get baptized as well. The mom said that he just needs to take the lessons and then he can if he still wants to! The little kid's name is Isaiah! We are teaching about 5 people. Mindy and Memphis, Isaiah Dustman, Juan Galendo, and Sherrie. They are all progressing so it is fun to visit with them. 

I gave a talk this past Sunday on the scripture in Galatians 5:25. I talked primarily on the living in the spirit portion of the scripture! It went really well and was a lot of fun to give!

It's been a good week.

Elder McMinn

"If for a while the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart, so it has been with the best people who have ever lived."

- Jeffrey R Holland