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

Week 42: I got a brand new Tacoma

My week this week has been fun. On Monday, I got a haircut and the older lady in the picture is named Bonnie. She was the sweetest lady and we had a really good talk. By the end of the visit she wanted to get a picture with me and she also wanted to set me up with her granddaughter. Well, I only went for the picture. 

We started the week off by meeting a less active family who is really, really nice and wants to have us over for dinner. The daughters of the family aren't members either so that is going to be good. They want to have us over for a cookout. 

On Wednesday, we had another zone conference! This one was about how to help members with ministering and how we will now try to go out and minister with different partners in the ward. We are now also marking all the Book of Mormons that we pass out. We go through it spending about 15 minutes marking our favorite scriptures and then writing our testimony in them. 

Thursday we had exchanges with our district leader. I was up in Guthrie with the DL companion. We had some really good conversations with people but not much too exciting. Friday, the vehicle coordinator needed some help picking up some brand new Toyota Tacomas. He called us and asked me if I would take the lead again and lead the convoy of vehicles back to the church in Edmond. This is the 3rd time he has asked me to do this so I got pretty pumped! I got to drive a brand new truck and also got to see how the mission leaders trust me! 

On Saturday we went back up to Guthrie and had 3 sit down lessons with people and were able to share the Book of Mormon with a mom and her son.

 

This week after Zone Conference ended I had a really cool experience. So we carpooled with the sisters over to the church building and they drove. When we were about to leave, one of the sisters realized that the keys were missing. We searched everywhere!!! The chapel, the gym, and the lawn. We had no idea where they were. We ended up going to the chapel and the sister was so shaken by losing the keys. We all decided to say a group prayer. After the prayer, the sister's companion put her arm around her to give her a hug and felt something in the hood of her jacket! Somehow the keys slipped into the lining of the jacket and made their way to the hood!! I had never had an instant answer to a prayer so that was really awesome to see.  

Mission life is good!

Elder McMinn

"Because it is His Church, we as His servants will minister to the one, just as He did. We will minister in His name, with His power and authority, and with His loving kindness."

-President Russell M. Nelson

Week 41: We didn't escape

It's raining in Oklahoma!

This past Monday for our P day we went and joined the OKC zone and went to the escape rooms. Our room was an Egyptian theme. If we got out in under an hour and didn't use any clues then we would get free t-shirts. We failed at that one.

Escape Room

We went on exchanges with our zone leaders this week. I was with Elder Turner from Heber City, Utah. We ended up going to Guthrie and found a new potential named Corahn. The next morning we went out to breakfast and found this really good bagel restaurant. I had a french toast bagel.

Bagel Cafe

Elder Turner

This week was the 89er Days in Guthrie. The town was established in 1889 so they have a party around this time every year with street vendors, food trucks, and an amusement park. On Friday they have a car show. We found a potential investigator named Destiny who lives in Guthrie and works at a nursing home. She drives a brand new Camaro so obviously, I went to talk to her. There were so many people there. We had really good conversations with a lot of people.

Lake Arcadia

Saturday was the 89er Days parade, supposedly it is the largest parade in OK. On that day it dumped rain on us. It made it a lot more fun and people just laughed about the rain. We were drenched by the end of the day.

POPS

This morning we went to take pictures for the sisters in our area and ended up at a lake called Lake Arcadia! It was the coolest lake. We also stopped at a soda place called POPS. They sell all random sodas. This afternoon we are going to play volleyball and tennis.

Love, 
Elder McMinn
  

Week 40: Staying in Guthrie with a New Companion

Working hard

I have a new missionary with me. His name is Elder Mazzarelli. He is from Newport Beach California. He has been on his mission for 15 months now. 

This was a fun week. On Wednesday, we were able to go over to inactive member's home and were able to give her a blessing. After sitting down with her and getting to know her we were able to extend the invitation to have her retake the lessons to try and feel the spirit again and rekindle the fire that she once had.

Pet Chicks

We spent some time in Guthrie too. We met a woman named Brandy who we have talked to in the past. It had been a rough week for her and she may have to move. We ended up talking and walking around town with her and taught about our loving Heavenly Father. It was so awesome to see her mood of sadness change to hope and happiness.

It's not all hard work sometimes you get to play at the Park! 

We were able to have a lesson with John this week. He has a fairly agnostic belief so we were teaching him about the importance of prayer and how he is able to know truth through that. John committed to read the Book of Mormon and also to try and pray again. He too ended up coming out of the lesson a lot happier than he was when he came into it.

There is a lot happening in both wards now and it is getting me really excited! Have a great week.

Elder McMinn
  

Some things never change...we are constantly getting pictures of cars that he loves!

"We can have a positive influence on everyone with whom we come in contact with...we need to radiate the happiness we have found in the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Joanne B. Doxey

Week 39: Chicks for sale...but really they are ducks

Chicks for sale...but really they are ducks!

This was a really cool week. The first half of the week we were in our area and were able to meet with a lot of potential investigators and a few part member families so that was really good.
Thursday we had interviews with our mission president in Stillwater. Zone Conference and Interviews are my favorite part of the transfer. 

After that, we went over to Cushing Oklahoma. Our District leader is there and he is a ways away from us so we decided to split the area. Cushing is a small oil town but everyone in the small towns seem to be a tiny bit nicer. On Saturday we went up to Guthrie to see some investigators and it turns out that at the Mason Temple there, they were having their semi-annual reunion so we walked around and got to talk to a lot of people. 

We had a really cool miracle happen this week too. We were going to visit a potential investigator to set up a time to come by and teach him and his family. While we were talking to him, his neighbor, Jesus, came up to us and was like "Hey church people, Mormons right? Huh, I have been looking for a church to baptize my son into and for a church for us to attend."  My jaw dropped... It was the coolest thing ever. We are going over tonight after P-day ends to go and see Douglas and Arlene. Hopefully, it goes well. 

We have been working with a lot of less active members too. We have a meeting with a part member family on Wednesday night. The son of that family is 12 and the dad (non-member) said that he wants his son to have the priesthood. We are going over to teach him about it on Wednesday.

There is a lot going on now! I am pumped about it. So transfers are this week and I am staying in my area!!!!! I really like this place.

PS: One of the pictures explains the subject. Haha

Elder McMinn

Kneel down to pray. Step up to serve. Reach out to rescue.

-President Thomas S. Monson