Tranferring to Lawton!

Dear Friends and Family,


Sorry to all whose letters I haven't responded to; I've been a slacker, but I am calling myself to repentance! I promise letters in the next two weeks since this week I have to pack because guess what?! I'm getting transferred to Lawton, Oklahoma!

So far I have served 1/3 of my mission in Oklahoma City and 1/3 in the small town of Woodward in the NW of Oklahoma. I have a feeling I will spend the rest of my mission in Lawton! From what I know it's a military town with lots of people moving in and out.

Every week we have a scripture study class on Thursday evenings and last week we had two of our investigators show up. For the sake of the story we will call them Justin and Matthew. We have been teaching Matthew for a while and he has a very logical mindset and wants to ask everything and have proof of everything, but he has a strong faith in Jesus Christ. Justin we had just taught one other time and he has attended a Methodist church all his life, but has a very agnostic point of view. We decided to teach the Plan of Salvation at our scripture study class and while Justin was asking questions, Matthew started bearing his testimony of the principles we were teaching and saying that although he isn't sure about everything, he knows that what we were teaching made sense and had the Spirit of Truth and that everything he has read in the Book of Mormon has the Spirit of Truth and has answered questions about Christianity that he had in the past when he was agnostic. It was perfect. The Spirit was there and it was amazing to see the progress that Matthew has been making.

Matthew was saying that he now has to re-learn how to have fun without drugs, cigarettes and alcohol. That was something I hadn't considered. Mormons are excellent at having wholesome fun! I would say that we have more true fun then anyone who uses any substance to alter their brain chemistry. He asked us what we do for fun and we listed off things like board games, card games, ultimate Frisbee, social dances, rock climbing, hiking, etc. There are so many wholesome ways to enjoy nature and other people's company.

We taught a lot of people that are less-active in the church this week and it's amazing to me how many of these people still have testimonies. They will even quote General Conference talks to you, but yet they are completely breaking the promises they have made to Heavenly Father. It is very sad to me to see how one degree off course really does affect a person’s life. I never really thought about how absolutely essential the Sacrament is before I was a missionary. But I see that our actions really are an outward sign of our inner commitment to God. I know that God loves each of us! I now can testify as do the Apostles every General Conference that God loves us and wants each of us to return to him. As a missionary I invite people to take the steps that will allows them to bring their lives in closer harmony with His teachings and I love that! I love being able to be a tool in God's hands!

Love

Sister Lila Jenson