Well I've left the MTC and now I'm in the field. Only five people from my branch left to Oklahoma, so it was a little sad saying goodbye to the other elders and sisters in our branch.
MTC Branch 159
It was pretty awesome on the airplane from Dallas to Oklahoma, I was able to sit next to a young African American woman and talk to her about the gospel. When I first sat next to her I noticed she was playing Ruzzle on her iPhone. I told her that I was terrible at that game and we quickly started to talk. She told me that she once had a Mormon boyfriend, but she dumped him because he was "crazy" (he was pushy on baptism and marriage in the temple). She asked me a lot of questions about the LDS church, and I did the best I could at answering them. At one point she asked me, "Well, if you never met me, what would you teach me first?" After that point I went into the first discussion and taught her the Restoration. After that she said, "In our church we know that we are from heaven, but after we die we still aren't sure." From there I gave her a brief summary of the plan of salvation. When our 55-minute flight was over I was privileged to hand her a Book of Mormon and invited her to find out for herself if what I taught her was true. It was a pretty cool experience.
Me and my bro Skippy/Elder Corbin
My first area that I've been assigned to is a town called Shawnee which is located south of OKC. I cover the southern part of the town which is a little ghetto, but the people here are awesome. Me and my companion Elder Bushman have one of the nicest cars in the zone, but we have been biking quite a bit the past couple of days. Shawnee feels like a town off the coast of the Mississippi river. It's like I'm living in a Mark Twain book, and it's awesome. Everything here is Bible themed. It's crazy, Shawnee has every christian denomination you can think of.
Shawnee
Last Friday me and my companion felt prompted to visit one of our recent converts in the area. N~ was recently baptized and is a recovering alcoholic. We met with his family and talked about some of the things that he'd recently read in the Book of Mormon. After we finished our lesson we felt prompted to ask if N~ would like to come with us to our next appointment with a young man named D~. We explained to N~ that D~ was also a struggling alcoholic and was close to death and becoming homeless. N~ said yes and we left to D~'s.
N~'s dogs
N~ wasn't sure what to talk to D~ about and we told him to just listen to the promptings of the Spirit. When we got to D~'s house, and when we met him he was shirtless and depressed at the door. He invited us in and we sat in the living room. D~ and N~ hit it off so well that me and my companion didn't say anything until 25 minutes into the visit. N~ shared his story of being homeless growing up and going through divorce, alcoholism, and other difficult challenges.
He bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it helped him with his challenges and to become closer to God. The Spirit was so strong and I could tell D~ could feel it too. We told D~ that we loved him and that are there to help him over come his struggles. He thanked us and N~ then invited him to church! It was awesome we barely did anything haha. D~ said yes and N~ offered to give him a ride. I know this gospel is true and that the love it brings can change our lives.
I'd love to hear from more of you! Please e-mail me at: russell.watkins@myldsmail.net
Thank you for all of you that have written me it means a lot. Anyways, me and my district are leaving to go play basketball inside a Baptist church. Praise the Lord! Amen!
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