Elder Adam Wold's Mission in Oklahoma: Hello Everyone!

Hello Everyone! Man it's weird having Christmas right around the corner! Such a quick couple of months, I feel like I just came out. But I guess it's a good thing, totally losing track of the days means I'm not as overwhelmed as I was when I first came out!

Alright here we go...

P-day, pretty average until we went out and taught a lesson with Brother Long! So much fun! We taught Miranda the Restoration at first and that honestly went nowhere with her 3 year old and her friends 6 year old running around being loud and distracting. This all took place outside, so finally I got them to go and play in the yard with me. It was way fun for me to be with them and just be the inner kid in me and Elder Vogt and Brother Long ended up just teaching to her needs and apparently it went well. We're seeing her again today! I have a funny picture with her 3 year old Micah I'll send in a bit.

We talked with this potential- who we thought wasn't very interested- named Mariah. She is so cool, she's the one that gave Elder Washburn and I honey when we first met her. Anyway, we were able to talk with her and answer a bunch of her questions and clear up the common mistaking of us as Jehovah's Witnesses. She wants to learn more and we are going to go see her tomorrow. She definitely likes the idea of a restored church and we're excited to answer more questions and teach her about this awesome gospel. The ward is super down to meet with her too, so we'll be taking people with us.

Side note, this ward is great for missionary work! So willing to help and to do their part, I've met a lot of people just here in our ward that I look up to a lot. Such a loving and fun church of members who love to magnify their callings.

Probably my favorite thing this week was on Friday. We went to a trailer park to visit a couple potentials we knew there. We started talking to this guy walking down the street when these two 9 year old twins roll up on their bikes and just talk to us like we're their best friends! They loved our bikes and kept trying to ride them. Before we knew it, there were like 10 other kids that showed up between the ages of 7 to 12 and they were just hilarious. We had to go visit a member in our ward so although it was fun talking, we had to get going to another trailer. The kids raced us on our bikes to that trailer and followed us right up to the lawn. We told them we'd be right back as we started to lock up. They all took off, so we headed up the steps. As we knocked, we kept laughing over that whole episode. When Sister Carey opened the door we just started to chat with her. She was asking us a bunch of questions and then she goes, "and who are you?" We look over and one of the twins, Jayden had come up to the door with us and had been standing there since we knocked! It was so funny and he took it like he was just with us! The kid was sharp and loved it. He eventually ran off and we had a quick lesson with her, but it was so funny how he was just like our third companion! I have a picture of him, he;s the twin with the emojis on his shirt.

We also did a church swap this week with this guy named Derek. It was cool, fun music, cool base guitar, Derek was the drummer. I will say there were a couple of songs that made me uncomfortable, like this guy in his 60's singing the "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" song with this super slow romantic beat. Weird. But nice people. Not a lot of doctrine involved, but now Elder Vogt and I understand how people can be socially converted to their church. It was happy, the people were like family, and there was just a lot of fun things. But not a Sunday worship I'm used to. Derek will probably be coming to church with us after the holidays.

Lot's of cool little things this week too! We helped this ladynamed Cassandra in our ward(RC) move and she gave us a pottery from the Navajo. We also had some great experiences of learning by the Spirit with some of the lessons we taught. It's so important to teach to people's needs, otherwise, it can be just some rote presentation.

This week I've been trying to be more happy and to let go of things I can't control, to stop worrying so much! It's been hard, especially when it's something I've always
done from basketball to school to church. But I know the Lord can do much good with me, and if I leave it in His hands, things will work out. I've really seen this in my studies in 1 Nephi as I've started the Book of Mormon over again. I think Nephi had a lot of moments he could have either given up, done his own thing, or followed his older brothers because stuff just didn't seem to look good. But he stayed strong and never gave in, trusting that even when he was smitten by a rod, mocked, hated, bound by chords, and threatened by death, he still trusted in the Lord to deliver him. If he didn't worry when crap hits the fan like that, why should I?

Love you guys, hope everything is well in Gilbert! What's the weather there, like 60's? It's like in the 30's to 40's here some days and this desert kid is dying! Anyway I'm loving it!

Elder Wold