Week 20: Happy Thanksgiving

It was a really good Thanksgiving out here! We started the week off with our P-day activity. We made Indian flutes with a Native American man. It was so much fun!

Making a Native American flute

The next few days we have been working with part member families and trying to see if the spouse or family is interested in taking the discussions. It has actually been really successful. We picked up two new investigators from it. One of the investigators is the boyfriend of my first baptism here on the mission. His name is Kaleb. It was so much fun teaching him because his answer to almost everything was, "Wow, this all makes so much sense." It is so awesome! The next one is named Jayme and she is the fiance of a recent convert who is looking to have Jesus Christ in their relationship and he said that there is no other church that he will attend because he has been involved with the spirit too strong and he WILL NOT go anywhere else. Go Clifton!!

Thanksgiving with Elder Munns

Our Thanksgiving was super awesome! We started the day off with having pancakes at a members house and then going to play some football with the ward. It is was cool because there is a member here who grew up in Pocatello so it is way fun to talk to him. At noon we went to the Drury's home to help them cook Thanksgiving dinner. This family feeds us every Thursday and they pride themselves on their cooking so the food was incredible even though I helped make some of it.

Dinner with the Drury family

The work out here is awesome and plus the weather is so nice! It is actually 70 degrees outside right now so I still get to wear short sleeves most of the time!

One of our investigator's name is Rady. She is from Bolivia and she has been coming to church and taking missionary lessons for the past year and a half! The only thing holding her back is her husband who is Lutheran. She is the sweetest lady ever. We also have been doing work with two part member families. We picked up 2 more investigators from them. Jasmine, my first baptism of my mission has now introduced her boyfriend to the church and we taught the first lesson to him and he loved it. The common answer for him was, "This just makes sense to me." You can't imagine how pumped I was for that! We have been working with a guy named Joe and he loves the church and he wants to become a member so bad but he is getting held up by drugs. I never thought that I would care about someone so much who was hooked on drugs. The amount of love that I actually have in me surprised me. It is so awesome. I love it out here in Oklahoma.

The only thing that I can think of for a Christmas present is a guitar. I really don't know why but I have been wanting to learn how to play one really really bad. I was thinking maybe I should just wait until after the mission too. There really isn't anything that I need out here. I have been taken care of pretty well. (It is amazing to me to see the change in our missionary in just 4 short months!)

 Elder McMinn

Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God's love.

-President Thomas S. Monson

Week 19: More People in Moore

This week has been a pretty good week. We did A LOT of finding during the week and now have 7 potential investigators we are meeting this week and 2 part member families that want us to come back after the holidays are over. 

This week is bike week so we were not able to use the car at all. So every day we had no option but to bike and I loved it! It feels so much better to be biking an finding that to be in a car driving to areas. My companion doesn't agree sadly but I am pretty sure he is going to have to hop on my bandwagon of the bikes haha. Our area now is really organized and we have split areas up into small 2x3 mile areas so it is a lot easier to work in one area and we also have all the names of active members, part members, and less actives divided up into those small areas as well so we are working a lot smarter than harder now. Moore really is a blessed area with a lot of people and it seems like the weeks that we struggle finding people are when I am focused on myself and not on finding because there really is a lot of people here.

This week on Thanksgiving we have another all day P-day but on this one I can't email. The ward is having a turkey bowl at 8:00am at one of the high school stadiums (which looks and feels as big as a college stadium). We then are going to see part member families and less active members to deliver cookies and thank you cards. Its been a great week and is going to be another great week.

Elder McMinn

I apologize for no pictures, I totally forgot.

Week 18: Times are slow

It has been a pretty good week. We have been trying to do a lot of finding but not very many people are interested at all but that is how it work. We have been trying to work a lot with less active members and that has been pretty good. We have had a little success with them recognizing why the church is so important and we are helping them bring back the memories and thoughts of the truth that is here! It is tough sometimes but it is worth it all in the end. Today for P day we are going to see an investigator who is Native American and he is teaching us how to make Indian flutes and then helping us find our spirit animals! Have a great week. I apologize for lack of pictures but someone stole the SD card for my camera. 

Have a great week.

Elder McMinn

Week 17: Elder McMinn's Birthday

 Happy Birthday Elder McMinn

JT and his wife made a cake to celebrate!

This week has been really good. I have come home exhausted every day and I like it that way. We are slowly figuring things out as a companionship but it's going to take time.

My comp and I are organizing our new area. We have been doing a lot of finding as well. We actually found a super solid guy named Marcos. We found him while he was playing on the putting green in Dick's Sporting Goods Store. There has been a lot of walking and knocking and not much finding that way. 

We have been working a lot with less active members. We have had a lot of success with that which means we need to balance it out with more finding. 

Our P days have been so awesome! Last P day we went to a church building, had a nerf gun war for 3 hours, ate Chinese food, and did finger painting! This week a member took us out mountain biking to Lake Thunderbird! We put in about 20 miles. It was such beautiful riding with the fall colors and a thick layer of fog over the lake. That is why I am emailing so late, because we barely just got back! Such a great week. Oklahoma is so beautiful. 

Thunderbird Lake

Love, Elder McMinn

Whoever you are and wherever you may be, you hold in your hands the happiness of more people than you can imagine.

- Elder Henry B. Eyring

We become what we want to be become by consistently being what we want to become each day.

-Richard G. Scott

Week 16: Happy Halloween

Transfers

This week has been an interesting one. We went and saw all of our recent converts and said goodbye to them since Elder Bowman is leaving. In the process we found a recent convert's boyfriend who is interested in the church. So with transfers this week I am staying in my original area and Elder Munns is coming here. The first night we were together we ran into a less active who hasn't been to church in 2 years and was baptized 4 years ago. He wants to come back to church but didn't feel ready. We told him no matter what he is ready and he will be accepted. At the end of the conversation he told us about how his fiance and him want to find a common church and the only church that he will attend is the church he was baptized into, which is our church, so he wants his fiance to take the lessons from us! The next few days were regular missionary days with walking and knocking. We actually found another less active who has not been to church in 4 years and now wants to come back. She has the strongest testimony and loves the church she just needed some motivation to come back! Bringing a less active member back is almost as exciting as a baptism!

This week we had district council and while I was out walking and talking on Wednesday we tracted into a man who was growing ghost peppers and tons of other really hot peppers. He gave me a ghost pepper and a whole Winco bag filled with peppers. I took them back to District council on Thursday and one of the Elders ate the ghost pepper. It was one of the funniest things! You could tell Elder Hales was in pain but it was still really funny. In all it was a great week.

Today is an all day p day and we are coming together as districts and having a Nerf gun war!! I am going to get pictures from that. It is going to be really fun. After the Nerf war, we are going to have a movie night and we are watching the movie The Best Two Years. 

My new companion is Elder Munns. We were in the MTC together. I am the senior companion since I am staying in my area. It is really tough to take over an area when you are only 2 transfers out and barely have an idea about what you are doing but work is actually still getting done so that is good! I don't know what i am doing half the time but "faith it until you make it" right? I have been trying to go by the Spirit as much as I can but man that is tough.

Love,

Elder McMinn

"The Lord has more in mind for you than you have in mind for yourself! You have been reserved and preserved for this time and place... The lord needs you to change the world. As you accept and follow His will for you, you will find yourself accomplishing the impossible!"

- Russell M. Nelson

Week 15: Staying in Moore!

Mountain Biking on P-day

My week has been really stellar!! It started of with the mountain biking with Tim who is in my ward and used to race mountain bikes. I loved it! So I got transfer doctrine this morning on the trail and I found out that I am staying in Moore!!!! My companion is going to be an elder who was in my MTC district.

Kyle is loving the trails.

On Tuesday we had Greenie Graduation. That is where we role play the first three lessons we teach and then combine the word of wisdom, law of chastity, and polygamy(which is talked about more than I thought would be). 

We have had a lot of opportunities to go finding and it has been a lot of fun because you run into some of the coolest people around and everyone is down to talk but it is hard to get people interested because they already have their faith. The rest of the week we have been just running around trying to keep our heads straight. Friday we had one of the most incredible lessons we have ever taught with our investigator named Rady. We taught her about the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost that you receive after you are baptized and that is something that she really desires in her life but her husband keeps holding her back and doesn't want her to join. I am trying to work with him because he loves fishing so I am trying to get a member to come fishing on a Monday hopefully to get a friend in the church. 

We had a little tornado scare on Saturday. So all we have to listen to is a little weather radio that is in our bedroom and we happen to be home at that time and our alarm goes off.... Turns out there was a tornado warning right in our area. Not 30 seconds later we get a text from our ward mission leader saying, "I'm coming to get you." Turns out there was a potential for a tornado to less than a mile from where we live. By the time we got to our ward mission leaders home, the tornado swell moved direction away from us. That was a super fun experience!! It has been such a great week. 

Elder McMinn

Those who move forward with a happy spirit will find that things always work out.

- President Gordon B. Hinckley

Week 14: Temple Days

This week has been such a great week. We were able to go to the temple two times. The first one was just for us because we had our interviews with president there on Monday. Then we did a session. The second time we went with a recent convert who has not been to the temple yet so we went and took her to do baptisms. It was awesome to see the happiness that she had after being in the temple and then we talked about how happy the people in the spirit world must be now that some of their work has been completed. 

Oklahoma City Temple closed on Saturday for  a year and half so Kyle was lucky enough to go twice last week.

We went to breakfast with a non-member whose son is a member. Jim took us to breakfast at a hole in the wall restaurant that was next to a private airfield. You could see all the private jets lined up by our table. 

Breakfast with Jim.

It was a busy week and we did a lot of walking and knocking again but this time we found a new investigator. She is the girlfriend of a less active member who has come back to church recently. It all started with us inviting him to come play basketball with us on Saturday morning. The miracles of church ball!

It is getting soooooo cold here! It got down into the mid 50s when I woke up... hahaha

Love,

Elder McMinn

Mountain Biking on P-day

(I am sure that Kyle is in heaven!)

"Every time you turn your hearts to God in humble prayer, on your knees, at home, in church, in private places, you experience His light. Every time you see His word and will in the scriptures, in the Book of Mormon, in everything the Lord has given us, the light grows in brightness. Every time you notice someone in need and sacrifice your own comfort to reach out in love, the light expands and swells. Every time you reject temptation and choose purity, every time you seek or extend forgiveness, every time you courageously testify of truth--through deed and through words--the light chases away darkness and attracts others who are also seeking light and truth." - President Dieter Uchtdorf