Hey Mom. I'm still breathing. haha
I have had some really bad allergies here, but they seem to be dying down now. I'm not sure what I'm allergic to, but it's alright. :)
This week was a very exciting one. Yes, you heard right - a tornado did hit about 15 miles from here. What's funny is that we were out walking around about 20 minutes before it hit. It was slightly raining so we didn't really mind it - but we started running back to our house when it started DUMPING rain on us. When we got to the house, a few of the neighbors came over and wanted to use our storm shelter. We actually have two. One in the front yard and another one in the back which is underneath the house. The storm shelter can fit about 8 people in it. We had 6 people and 2 dogs in there comfortably. It's just a metal door with stairs going down to a little cement room. Not too exciting :) So we sat on the porch and watched the rain fall for a while - then once the hail came we got down into the shelter. The tornado warning sirens started going off just as we were getting situated down there so we just stayed for a bit. Thankfully, Anadarko was untouched. :)
Am I ever scared of the tornados?!? Mom! I ain't never scrrd! It's just fun being in the action of it. The way I look at it - it just makes for some really good stories for my homecoming talk! :) The Lord has my back - plus kickin' it in the storm shelter is always fun! hahaI spend most of my time just being a normal missionary. We did go do some clean up service on Saturday but other groups have been working in their service clothes the whole week - especially those in the city since they don't have any power.
Don't let watching the weather on TV drive you insane. A lot of people here don't know how to do any BUT watch the weather. If anything does happen, I have a cell phone with me at all times and we stay in constant contact with the mission president. The Lord's got my back!
There are a lot of really sad things that have been happening lately. We hear all the stories from the families that have lost their houses. So so sad. On Saturday we finally drove up and helped in Moore and Norman. I have a few pictures and a funny story about the Warren Theatre. So apparently during the tornado they paused all the movies and told everyone to go in the hallways. Then they just returned to their movie after the tornado had passed. So ya, when they walked out of the movie, their car was gone - but hey! Nobody was hurt! :) So I guess the moral of the story is: If you're in a tornado - go see a movie! haha
It seems like LP baseball drama is non-stop. No big surprise. I just think that life would be so much easier for everyone if we would all just follow the commandments. :)
E. Tripp is the man! He's from Bountiful and went to Viewmont. He's super funny and the 3 of us get along. He's been out for 5 months today - so we pretty much have 3 super young missionaries taking care of Anadarko. He's also the DL.
We've just seen a TON of miracles this week. It all started last Monday when we said good-bye to everyone with Elder Curry. We drove up to the city on Tuesday and picked up E Tripp then brought him back and introduced him to some people in town. We also met about 6 potentials.
We were rained in part of the day on Wednesday. The storm has been coming in and out for what seems like forever. The best part about Wednesday was we met a man named Jim. We were actually walking the streets and just felt like we needed to turn left. So we did and ran into this guy. He's about 60 years old and has a huge beard and really long hair. He was drunk and told us that he was a sinner and that we needed to come over. So we were talking to him as he was limping back to his house with his cane. We followed him through this alleyway to his little shack that he actually does live in. He told us that he'd been out all night looking for some girls but couldn't find any. Then he told us that he had a couple of girls waiting for him at home.
We weren't too sure about this whole thing since he told us that they were hookers. But we went in and there was this lady sitting on the couch. No joke - she was like 50 years old and weighed no more than 70 pounds. I've never seen a lady so thin in my whole life. We started talking to her - just small talk about who we were, where we're from, what we're doing here. I got around to talking to her about the plan of salvation - all the while E Nelson is rebuking Jim - but that's another story. We originally planned on just going in and saying a prayer with them but this lady and I sat and cried together for about 30 minutes. She has lost her husband and her mother within 3 years - so I explained to her how she will be able to see them again. Those two really made an impact on us. We are all just so grateful that we have parents that love us, a family to turn to when things are hard. We found out that Jim has 5 daughters - all with different mamas. Gotta love the side effects of alcohol. There should be a warning on the bottle that says: "Caution: Might bring you into a situation that you will one day regret . . . . "
On Thursday we met this girl named Chawntae. She had previously been taking the discussions, but didn't belive the Joseph Smith story. So we had to explain it to her again and help her understand the authority. She told us to come back and that she wanted to read the Book of Mormon.
We also met with Cindy three times this week! She even came to church! We invited her to get baptized on May 23rd and we hope that she will be baptized within this transfer. She told us that she has already received an answer that the Book of Mormon is true and has already read 15 chapters and can't wait for the day of her baptism! The craziest thing that she told us is that after our lesson on the restoration she heard something tell her that she needed to quit smoking - that it was poisoning her body. She even told us that she hasn't smoked since!
If I had to hand out an award for "Golden Investigator" it would definately go to her. She just loves the gospel so much and has already seen the healing power of Christ. Her only problem is that her mom who lives a couple doors away HATES US. :) It just more of a reason to love her.
Thank you so much for all of your love and support. I appreciate it!
Love you!!
-Elder Harris
No comments:
Post a Comment