Thank you so much for the package! The companions loved the brownies! It was way good!
Dang mom! A lot of stuff happened this week. A lot of sad stuff - what's the deal?
I'm a little sad about Clint. (Cody was Clint's home teacher. Clint passed away on Sunday) He was really one of my best friends. Could you please go up and see Margene? Tell her that I love her and I hope that she's doing alright. :) Same with Brother Adams (Cody's HT Companion), go give him a hug for me. I know how close those two were. But like you said, it's probably ok for him to pass on, I'm happy that he's not in pain anymore.
I'll keep Lane (our young neighbor who had a heart attack this week) in my prayers too. Holy cow.
It seems like things are a little crazy back home. Maybe even as crazy as Anadarko! Nahhh . . .
This week was so sick!!!
So last Monday after we emailed, we drove up to Chichasha and then to Blanchard to play some basketball with the district and I don't know what it is, but ever since I became a missionary, I'm all of a sudden MJ out on the court! No joke. I NEVER miss. So we played for a bit and then came home and had dinner with our neighbors and then went out and did some tracting. We met a guy named Drake and gave him a Book of Mormon. He's interesting in learning about churches and so we gave him a little run down of what ours is about. We also met with him and taught him a few other lessons this week.
Next we met with some more neighbors Catherine and Star. They go to the Pentacostal Church and believe in speaking in tongues or something. So like always we asked to pray with them and while I was offering the prayer she was whispering the whole time. It was really strange. Anyway, they also asked us why we have to back the car out, why we always wear helmets when we bike and so on. They were really nice and offered to cut our hair for us so we got haircuts on Friday. Star also invited us to their youth activity at the Pentacostal Church.
Tuesday: Our new investigator, Mary is a recovering alcoholic who is trying to find religion. She is friends with another less active member from our branch. Jamie is a sweet Indian lady who has these vivid dreams. For example - she had a dream of the temple before she knew anything about the church. She would ask Pastors to explain it and nobody could until she met a missionary. Jamie and Mary are homies so when Mary wanted to meet with us, Jamie came along too. So we taught Mary about the Book of Mormon and how it WILL change her life. She shared with us that she felt like "the Spirit was telling her that it was true." SO BAM! Then when we taught her about the restoration she had those same feeling of the spirit telling her of it's truthfulness.
Later that day, we met with Lloyd another less active member. He's probably about grandpa's age and trying to quit smoking. He has gone down from 6 packs a day to a half of a pack! We also met another man named Charlie. He is seriously like 5'5" and 220 lbs. He round kicked over my head! He's the biggest G! The best part about Tuesday was that since we're out of miles on our car, we have to ride our bikes everywhere. The problem is that my bike has a wobbly back tire, the handle bars won't stay in place, and the whole thing just shakes when I drive it! I look very uncoordinated - but apparently Elder Curry's last companion didn't even know how to ride a bike and fell off like 6 times last transfer. Anadarko is completely flat - so I just can't figure out how that happened. Imagine what it might have been like if there were hills! hahaha
Wendesday: We saw our Spanish investigators Jesus and Bico again and they made us food! REAL Mexican food and yes, when I said I was full - she yelled at me in Spanish and basically told me to eat it all. Soooo . . . I somehow ate 8 taco after we already had lunch. Bico is just the best - plus we were able to talk for about in hour in Spanish!
Then we went to see Sister Spence. She has some major heart issues and needs to have a pace maker put in. I gave her a blessing that the surgery would go well and we hear that she is feeling a bit better. While we were walking home, we ran into these 12 year old boys who were playing basketball on the street so obviously we played with them. E. Nelson is about 5'4" tall and all those little boys were taller than him. They all wanted to just play one on one with him. It was hilarious.
One of the boys is Joey and he's my boy. We balled with them for a few minutes and took off. That night we went to the Pentacostal Mutual. When we walked in with suits and name tags every one was looking at us like we were absolutely nuts! The preacher that night started off by asking "Who reads their bible every day?" The only 3 hands that went up were those of the missionaries. :) Every one was laughing at us the whole time because we were answering all the questions. Then he asked "What's keeping you from being closer to Christ?" The kids responded with answers like friends, school and stuff like that. I wanted to point out that it would be courageous to stand up for Jesus in front of their friends - but I didn't want to offend anyone so I just kept my big, bold mouth shut. :)
Later that night after we went tracting for a bit, we went to thank Catherine and Star for inviting us to their activity. After talking for a while, E. Nelson ripped a huge fart right there on her porch! It was super awkward because nobody wanted to admit that it was them, so we all just started to laugh. So now, everytime she sees us, she makes a farting noise. I sure wish I had that on video . . . . :)
Friday: We knocked doors all day on the East side of town. We met a bunch of people out there but the one that is really promising is this lady named Leah. She is about 55-60 and is going through a really rough time. She lives in this little shack and E. Nelson was scared to knock it but I told him that these doors are where memories are made! He finally knocked and look where it got us! We have a set plan for her this week.
Later that day, we were in the nicer part of town by Walmart and I yelled out at this man as we rode passed and he said no thanks. So went around the block trying to "find by faith". Then E. Curry sees this house and thinks that we need to knock that door - and guess who answers? Yup. Him! So we take off and while riding our bikes back to our house guess who we see? Yup. Him! :) We're starting to think it's a sign, so we're going to go back again next week.
The biggest news of all! On Friday night - we had ourselves a TORNADO! It was amazing! The storm seriously came in so fast. If you think that the weather changes fast in Utah - you've never been to Oklahoma! So it was like 80 degrees, the sweat was running down our faces and the next thing we know, we're on tornado warning! The lit up the sky and the thunder was as loud as drums and the rain poured down harder than a shower. It was just crazy how fast it came in! Everything is fine.
Saturday we tracted all day since our plans fell through. So we were riding on the east side of down where the tonado hit and we saw this tree that broke this gate. We picked up all the branches on the road and tried to clean it up the best we could. We also went around asking people if they needed help cleaning things up. The tornado up-rooted a few massive trees and even took a roof off of a house. The sad part is that the tornado hit the really poor part of town and most of these people don't have insurance - but they do have missionaries! :) I'm pumped about putting on a roof!
While we were out that day we ran into this girl who lives with another less active member. Their house is kind of a party place - there are always people in and out of there. Who know what they do but they also have a bunch of little kids running around half naked, dogs and lots of drunk adults all the time. It's kinda bad and we are hoping to help them shape up and take care of their kids a little better. She has the cutest little boy and I just feel so bad for him but we're going to try to help her get back to church and drag a couple of her friends along too.
While we were there talking to her, this drunk guy yelled over to us and said "Hey! Come over here! I need to be saved!" So we went over and talked to him and he was telling us how great we are and how he's so messed up and then he started asking all these questions like "Why do people think that Christopher Columbus discovered America when there were already Indians here?" So I gave him a Book of Mormon and told him that his answer was inside. Since he was so drunk, we didn't stay very long - but he did have a prosthetic leg so that was kinda cool!
The very best part of the week was when we were out riding our biked and we passed some teenagers who asked us if they could have a pamphlet about our church. So we just rode on past and then I stopped and smiled at my companions and told them that we should give them a pamphlet. So we rolled up in our shirts and ties and said, "So who all wants a pamphlet?" They all backed down and we talked to them for a bit and we ended up going over to the elementary school with them to play some basketball. I felt like I was walking into a prison movie with all the thugs who play ball. This kids Lucius said that the 3 of us along with him and his brother would be a team against these other big guys. So we were playing 5 x 5 and we're down 17-9 (we're still in our shirts and ties btw) when I looked at Lucius and said, "Alright, let's start playing . . . " And that's when MJ came out and I dropped this HUGE 3 pointer. We came back to a 29-28 game (playing to 30) and I get the ball and hit a DEEP three for the win! I ended up with 12 points - can you say MVP? or MJ :)
On Sunday we had 91 people at the branch! There was this family of 8 that was moving this week so we had this little luncheon thing after church and everyone just brought their own food and we ate together. It was kinda different, but fun. After that we went back to visit with Melissa, Justina and Drew and we were talking to them about the Book of Mormon when this hugedrunk black guy came and cussed us out so we left. The best part was when Melissa got all up in his face and told him that we were representatives of Jesus Christ and that he shouldn't mess with us! It was hilarious.
On the way home, we met this guy named Brian. He's a free mason and he told us all about how he came to be a mason. He also showed us some of the clothing that they wear and his ring. I've got more to tell you about him but I don't have time. Maybe another day.
So for my birthday, I don't really care what you send me. Please celebrate like I'm home though with chocolate cake. I'll be calling you on Mother's day so let me know which number I should call.
Anyway, all is well in Anadarko! I really wouldn't mind serving my whole mission here in Oklahoma!
I love you all and I hope you're all doing good. Keep the faith back home.
Love you!!
-Elder Harris
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