Splits, NBA (Week 58)

I neglected to mention last week that we live in a house. Say, "Hello House".

It's a pretty nice place... missionaries have just been living in it, haha. It needs some cleaning and rearranging, but over all it's great environment! We have 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room, dining room, kitchen, a back yard, and a basketball hoop in the front! All of our neighbors love us and we talk to them all of the time. In fact a couple of days ago our dinner appointment fell through so we ate a quick meal and shot a few hoops (Elder Taunteang will probably play for BYU and then go into the NBA and play for the Thunder after his mission, he is ridiculous). Anyways our neighbor came outside and came over to us and started shooting hoops with us (he was pretty good for being intoxicated). We talked to him about the gospel and our purpose as missionaries. He opened up a little and told us about his life. We encouraged him to pray and read the scriptures for guidance. He told us he would try, and then we promised him blessings.

Yesterday we were biking down Highland and we heard someone ask "Hey! are y'all Jehovah Witness?" We stopped our bikes and pulled up onto to the sidewalk to these two men. We replied, "No, we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints." We of course got a look of confusion, "We are Mormon missionaries" in unison. "OOH, Okay". We got talking to them, and they told us their stories. Both of them lived at the Ponca City halfway house as prisoners. We asked them if they were allowed to read. The younger one replied, "Yes, do you have a book we can read?". We pulled out two copies of the Book of Mormon, and gave them a summary and went through the pictures at the beginning of the book. We left them with the copies and gave them the promise that the Book of Mormon would help them get back on their feet and give them direction towards their Savior. The spirit was so strong as me and Elder T powerfully bore our testimonies of the Savior's Atonement, and the Restoration of the Gospel. After we biked away to our next appointment I was left with a feeling of peace. This work is so rewarding.

Later that night we taught Z~ and N~ the Plan of Salvation. This was Z~'s first time hearing from the missionaries and he's known as not being very religious. They are a young couple with 3 little kids. We taught the message and the entire time Z~ was listening and asking questions. The spirit was powerful as we talked out eternal families and temples. Temples caught N~'s attention and she began to ask questions. We told them that after baptism they would be able to prepare for their family to go to the temple and be sealed for time and all eternity. I could tell that the spirit was testifying to N~. We left them with the commitment to come to church and read the Book of Mormon. Z~ loved the whole message and told us it made 100% sense to him, and that he was impressed. He is excited to start reading the Book of Mormon, they even said they are going to try to make it to the Book of Mormon class this Wednesday. So cool!

Anyways, time's up! I hope this week has treated you well! You are in my prayers! Keep me posted.

Sincerely, Elder Watkins

P.S. S~'s baptism date got dropped but we are working on getting her ready and prepared for baptism.