This is her email from August 4th...a travel day for me followed by a significantly busy week.
HOWDY Y'ALL!!
Well this week was another jam-packed week of missionary fun! I'm lovin' city life a lot. There's a lot more people, much more cultural diversity than anywhere else in Oklahoma, and I think that it might be the first place that actually has decent Asian food! (that's still pending though. I haven't tried any yet... alls I know is that there's a "build your own stir-fry" place that I'm dying to try) I feel like I'm starting to get to know people, but Heavenly Father might just leave me here for 6 months so I can learn the area.
We are working with some pretty amazing people though. There's Amanda and Chance, and we taught them about the Doctrine of Christ on Tuesday. They were super excited to get baptized and go to church and we set baptismal dates for September 5th! Unfortunately two days later they texted us and said they already had Jesus in their hearts so they didn't need us anymore (that hurt) but right after they dropped us we had another amazing Doctrine of Christ lesson with Comesha (less-active) and Elijah (her non-member son). Elijah expressed a desire to learn more and be baptized, and his mother, who had never really acted like she even knew anything about the church before, started bearing a powerful and sincere testimony about baptism and the Priesthood. It was intense! So even though we lost 2 investigators, we were able to set a baptismal date with Elijah and he is really excited about it.
The we got to do service for Sis. Goelz, who is Mrs. Oklahoma 2012 and won her house in a game show. Pretty much she has an awesome life. You should google her. But she also has chronic tennis elbow in her dominant arm, which was making painting her closet pretty much impossible so we helped her out because she does a lot for us. She's also a health nut and is helping Sis. Adair and I eat as naturally as we can on our missions, and even gave me this hippie green veggie drink that I almost couldn't get down because it was so disgusting! It did make me feel good, though, which was the goal. You should be proud, mom :)
And then on Wednesday it rained pretty much all day. We had a meeting in the morning/afternoon then had an early dinner after, so we had the evening to do missionary work. It was still raining, but we had no miles so driving was not an option. So, like pioneer children, we walked and walked and walked. Soon the rain turned from a gentle shower to a flash flood. With faith (or foolishness) in every footstep we carried on, knowing that no unhallowed moisture could stop the work from progressing! In little time, however, we were so drenched that we looked like we had jumped into a swimming pool fully clothed and decided that nobody would want to let 2 wet people into their house anyway, so we began the long trudge home. By this time the water was a river that was higher than the curb and even began to form small rapids. I realized that we were ill-prepared to deal with such a storm, as we should have brought a small vessel or an air mattress to take full advantage of the situation and float home. Alas. I don't really know what the point of this story is... but it was a fun evening and taught me a lot about the importance of being forewarned about the weather. But that also requires technology, which we do not have.
Also my planner got wet and is now all wrinkly :(
I also went on my first exchange as an STL! It was super fun. Basically during the exchange I try to observe and help the sister in all phases of missionary work, help her set goals, and give a report to the mission president. I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing (both in the area and as an STL) but the best part is that I don't have to! I just need to be humble, teachable, and spiritually prepared to let God use me to bless others. I think it's the same with any calling in the church. Do you know enough to be a bishop or a Relief Society President or even a nursery leader? Of course not! That's why God calls the ordinary, unlearned, and weak to do His work. If He used those that "knew" everything about Him, then they would want to do their will not His. So if you ever feel like you're given a task that is above your abilities, that's exactly how you're supposed to feel! God keeps pushing us because He knows our potential. So humbly and faithfully accept the call, then spend a lot of time on your knees and be prepared to be an instrument.
I love you all! I hope you have a wonderful week and I know I will!
~Hermana Holloway
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