Many are cold, but few are frozen

ALOOOOOOOHA OHANA Y AMIGOS!!!!

Well, just another week in the life of this Okie missionary! We had transfers, of course, and I bid farewell to Sis. Stokes and greeted Sis. Boulter! It was actually kind of a sad moment, because a lot of the missionaries that went home were good friends of mine and as they were all driving away in the big white van we sang "God be With You til We Meet Again". It was kind of hard to not cry!

But the work must move forward, right? Sis. Boulter and I are really focusing a lot on finding, as well as taking care of the people we have. Here are some of the main ones:

THE BORCHERS: Trey just got baptized, but his twin brother, Hayden did not. We're trying to help Hayden understand the doctrine and feel the Spirit so that he can make the same decision as well. There's a lot of patience in the Lord's timing involved there, but the whole family is ultimately progressing towards the temple!

PAULA: She's our investigator that is extremely well-versed in the Bible and has a hard time accepting the Book of Mormon. However, she has enough faith to read and pray about it and I know that God will give her the answer she needs, in His own way and in His own timing.

STEPHANIE: Stephanie's brother got baptized about 2 years ago and is now on a mission. She has been reading the Book of Mormon with us and she really loves what it teaches. I can tell that her faith in Christ grows as she reads it!

JOSEPH: He's our miracle find from a couple weeks ago. He came to church this past Sunday and really loved it and loved the Spirit. He has a great relationship with God and is trying to make some changes right now so he can continue to grow closer to his Father and do His will. He's just amazing and SO prepared!

Those are some of the main people we're working with. Heavenly Father has blessed us with a lot of people that are prepared for the Gospel, and I'm so grateful for that. And even though winter has finally come and the Oklahoma wind seems to chill to the bone, we're excited for the upcoming transfer! LIFE IS GOOD!!

This Sunday every single lesson was about prayer. In Relief Society we read from this talk by Tad R. Callister, and I particularly loved this quote:

As parents, we can teach our children to pray for things of eternal consequence—to pray for the strength to be morally clean in a very challenging world, to be obedient, and to have the courage to stand for the right.

No doubt most of our youth have their evening prayers, but perhaps many of them struggle with the habit of personal morning prayer. As parents, as their prime gospel teachers, we can correct this. Which parent in Book of Mormon times would have let their sons march out to the front of battle without a breastplate and shield and sword to protect them against the potentially mortal blows of the enemy? But how many of us let our children march out the front door each morning to the most dangerous of all battlefields, to face Satan and his myriad of temptations, without their spiritual breastplate and shield and sword that come from the protective power of prayer? The Lord said, “Pray always, … that you may conquer Satan” (D&C 10:5). As parents, we can help instill within our children the habit and power of morning prayer.

 

This reminded me of my seminary years, and every morning before we left the house at 5:50 my parents would make me and Trevor (when he started seminary) pause and say a prayer with them. At the time I honestly sometimes tried to see if we could make it out the door before they came down the stairs so we wouldn't have to say a prayer, but looking back I'm grateful that they loved us enough to give us the protection of family prayer before we went out into the world. It's such a simple thing that has a profound impact.

I love you all! Take care and have a week full of milagros!

~Hermana Bethani Holloway