Week 64: Back in Cushing

Work has not been too out of the ordinary. We have been seeing the same people and they are all making small progress. We got a referral this week. He seems like he is going to make progress. His name is Jamaal. He had been taught a little bit before and has had missionaries over for dinner in the past so there is some good potential with him. 

We went over to the Laws this week and they are doing great. The husband who used to be the one who was half interested is now the driving force and the wife who is not a member has slowly been falling back so we need to pick them both up. I love that family so much. We have been trying to hit the part member families hard. There seems to have been some success with that in the past so we are trying that and a lot more door knocking so that has been going well. We also are trying new towns out and seeing what we can do there so that has been good. 

Elder McMinn
  

Week 63: Let's go Outdoors More!

There has been a lot of rain out here and we got about 5 inches of rain in one day so we that was really fun to bike out in that.

Things aren't too bad out here in Cushing. We were able to go fishing this past P day and I caught 3 good bass so that was fun. There is not much in Cushing so we have to do things that are outside and we make our own fun. We spend the majority of our time in Cushing. We were able to go to Chandler one day this week after we came back from Edmond for district council so that was fun to be somewhere new. We had a really good lesson with a guy named Sean and it was a great restoration lesson. My comp didn't say much at all but that is alright because it was a learning experience. He liked it but he wants to be outside for church and not in a building so we are not sure how to tackle that.

I have really been trying to have some fun and work hard. It was a pretty good week but I have some work to do.

We are doing a lot of finding out here now and it has been pretty fun actually so no complaints. 

Elder McMinn 

"The Lord will reward and richly bless you as you humbly and prayerfully serve him. More happiness awaits you than you have ever experienced as you labor among his children." 

-Preach My Gospel

Week 62: Baptism in Cushing

Thomas was baptized this week and it was so awesome to see. He was really excited to see that he was able to have that fresh start. He has been waiting for this for a year and he is doing great. We had a lot of people show up to the baptism. 

We had been doing a lot of finding this week and it was pretty fun actually too. Nothing too crazy happened either but it was a good week.

We are going fishing this week and then we may go bowling too.

We have some good lessons with another Thomas planned and he is really fun to visit with and has some potential too!

Elder McMinn

"When you are tempted to lose patience with God, remember how patient God has been with you."

-LDS Living

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