Another Week in Oklahoma!
So I have a few random stories to tell.
For exercise, we walk over to a neighborhood and walk/run on a looped street. So one day as we were crossing the street over to the neighborhood, at about 6:40, a school bus comes up, and a little further down were high school kids waiting for the bus. But the bus stopped for us, two girls in exercise clothes without back packs. It was pretty funny.
On Friday we went on splits, which was a new experience. I went with another couple from the ward to go visit a recent convert named Christine. It went alright, but I'm glad I was with the Mission leader and his wife because they had really good things to say. We met back up at an investigator’s house to give her a blessing of healing, and while we were there her nephew wanted a blessing for his "babymama" (the single mother of his child). We teach a lot in poorer areas of town and that is a very common term here. After the blessing for our investigator, we said that we would put her (the nephew's babymama) name on the prayer roll of the temple but that we could say a prayer for her before we left. So our ward mission leader was kind of choking on the term, but he said it during the prayer, which was pretty funny. (He had asked for her name, but I think he forgot it during the prayer). We've also taught a schizophrenic and some other interesting people. My companion has no fear about talking to or teaching anyone--it's been interesting, but good.
So Oklahoma is infested with flies and mosquitoes. Plus I think one of our investigator's dogs has the fleas. So basically, along with my beautiful bruises, I also look like I have the chicken pox. Sister Goodell says soon it will get colder so they'll be gone and that after a while they stop biting you as much, I really hope she's right.
Ok, so on to more spiritual matters. We had an amazing "greenie" meeting on Wednesday. It was a meeting with all the new missionaries and their trainers and it was wonderful to see Sister Grant and Elder Olsen from my MTC district. President Taylor talked about connecting to our purpose as missionaries and we do that through exact obedience and feeling the spirit, and not relying on the arm of flesh. President Taylor refers to the arm of flesh by wiggling his arm floppily-- it's pretty funny. We talked about the importance of planning and that through planning and "real playing" we can receive inspiration about those we are teaching. “Real playing” is one companion taking on the role of the investigator, and through prayer asking for revelation, and the other companion teaching them. It's hard but I can see that it will really be helpful.
This week we were teaching Rashad (the one with the babymama that we prayed for) And after saying he would be baptized, he told us the next day that he was saying that only to be nice and that he wasn't interested in finding a church right now. When he said that I had this deep sadness. He told us about how he was trying to pull his life together (people in Oklahoma have no problem telling their life stories to complete strangers) and I knew without a doubt of the love the Lord had for him. That the Lord wanted so much for this man to see what was in front of him and take it so that the Lord could more fully bless his life. We were able to talk about his concerns about the Book of Mormon and the church in general and he agreed to read from the Book of Mormon. There are so many things that I can't empathize with and that I don't have the answers to. But I have learned coming here that the gospel really is the answer to any problem. After getting done talking with him, Sister Goodell said, "That was exhausting, this listening and resolving concerns thing is hard." Apparently the mission has changed a lot since she got here. She said that missionary work used to just be about going through the motions, and that if people had concerns, that the attitude was, "well I guess they're just not prepared." I and the new mission president were trained and taught completely differently. The stress is "teach people, not lessons" which is wonderful and I know that attitude will help me a lot to reach people.
I love Preach My Gospel, and it is a wonderful tool. I am learning a lot. I started writing down questions people have that I have a hard time answering and I am finding the answers in the Book of Mormon as part of my study.
Oh, all this week my companion will be at day- long training meetings and I will be in a "tripanionship" with Sisters in southern Oklahoma City, from 8am-5pm Tuesday-Friday. That will be interesting and I'm sure I'll learn a lot from seeing the different ways people teach and contact.
Love all ya'll !!!
Sister Lila Jenson
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