Hello my family and friends, I sure do love
each of you. Thank you for all you do:)
Elder Stevens is stunning! He is doing such a great job and we have been able to see his confidence and even his ability to teach and testify powerfully and simply and to understanding increase so much in the short time we have been together. He said something really profound that I admired - "I don't want to go home and say 'I went and served on a mission." I want to go home and say 'I served my God with all I could give and will forever do so.'" He sincerely desires to do what is right and to be the best that he can possibly be. I have learned so much from him and his humility. I am grateful the Lord and you have entrusted me and allowed me the opportunity to learn from such a noble and virtuous soul.
Elder Stevens is stunning! He is doing such a great job and we have been able to see his confidence and even his ability to teach and testify powerfully and simply and to understanding increase so much in the short time we have been together. He said something really profound that I admired - "I don't want to go home and say 'I went and served on a mission." I want to go home and say 'I served my God with all I could give and will forever do so.'" He sincerely desires to do what is right and to be the best that he can possibly be. I have learned so much from him and his humility. I am grateful the Lord and you have entrusted me and allowed me the opportunity to learn from such a noble and virtuous soul.
Miracle 1: Kristy (and Rueben)--->
We fasted and prayed last week that we
would be able to find a family that we could teach and baptize. Since doing
that, we have been looking for and striving to talk to families and to this
point we have talked to many families, found 3 families, taught 2 of them, and
one is showing incredible potential to be baptized - Here's their story - Just
yesterday morning, we were on our way to see some of our less actives before
church and there was this lady sitting on a bench under a pavilion things while
we were driving. We said "Hey, let's go talk to her!" So we pulled
over walked up to her and she thought it was weird at first but we connected so
well and then started asking her about her relationship with God. She told us
how she just lost both parents, and that she had a dream of her mom taking her
up into heaven and then waking up and her son telling her he had a dream of his
grandma taking him up into heaven. that opened so many doors for us to testify
of eternal families an the Book of Mormon. As we testified I could feel so much
love for her and she was so happy. We left her to read Lehi's dream and Nephi's
same dream. She was also so excited to know that we have a prophet and he is on
the earth today being led and inspired by Jesus Christ. She, and her 11 year
old son, Rueben, is also coming to a meeting tonight to be taught by all of the
other missionaries in the zone I am in for real plays (to let us practice our
teaching). She is wonderful and we are so grateful and excited for the
privilege to meet and teach her and befriend her as Brothers and Sister of our
Heavenly Father's family.
Miracle 2: Chris and Dan--->
Miracle 2: Chris and Dan--->
Back in Lawton, I got to go on exchanges
with Elder Munson. We had been trying some different people from their ward
roster and tracted some doors around their homes but nobody was answering. We
hopped in the truck to go try some other folks before our next appointment and
as we were driving we saw a group of four or five people sitting in a circle on
a porch. We looked at each other and said "We need to go talk to
them." So we pulled over right away kind of dramatically and went to talk
with them. We didn't want them to feel worried about us pulling over like that
or feel awkward so we knocked two doors, no one answered either door, before we
made our way to them. As we were walking to them they got in the car to drive
away! Elder Munson and I were kind of stunned and looked at each other somewhat
frantically like "wow we just missed our opportunity. The Spirit
definitely touched us to go talk with them and teach them and out of fear we
delayed the impression." They pull over in front of the house we had just
knocked and a daughter and a mother get out and start walking for the house, we
go talk to them immediately. After a few minutes of talking with the mom, the
dad stepped out of the house with his gun in his hand and waved it at us saying
"Is everything okay out here sweetheart?".
Elder Munson and I are thinking we are probably going to get shot here and she says "Yes everything is okay, we are just having a good conversation!" He tucked the gun back in his pants and went inside. The mom and the daughter had to go to the store so they left a few minutes later but prior to them leaving, the husband came out and started talking with us too. They left and we stayed, talking with the dad, Dan, he served in the Army as a field artillery man in several deployments in the middle east and he has some crazy stories for us (he was one of the guys that would have to walk through the streets and enter homes and clear them and find specific targets and things like that.)
We talked with him for about a half hour before the mom and daughter got back from the store. They went off though and the daughter came back with one of her friends, Chris. We started talking now with all three of them and after just a couple of minutes the daughter said "Wow, this is boring." as we were talking about cars and how Dan had been teaching Chris for a couple years about mechanics and how to fix, restore, and work on vehicles. We correlated that with the restoration and the conversation just didn't seem to appeal to the dauhgter but Chris was soaking it in and we could tell Dan liked talking about mechanics and stuff but not as much the gospel so Elder Munson and I kind of just naturally split so he kept talking with Dan and I got to talk with Chris. We had a really spiritual conversation and experience and by the end he was excited to take the Book of Mormon in his hand home to read and study and pray about. I am happy to report that Chris has studied, pondered, prayed and knows the Book of Mormon is true, the Church is Christ's and is guided by Him through a prophet on the earth. He has quit smoking completely and miraculously and is one of the best young man I have ever met. He is excited about family history work and is planning to be baptized this weekend. Through exchanges and the Book of Mormon class we held in Lawton I was able to teach Chris another 3 or times and he holds a very dear place in my heart. I know we were inspired that day and through the Lord's timing and mercy we were led to Chris and he was led to us.
Furthermore, the week before I left Lawton, Chris pulled me aside after the Book of Mormon class and told me one of his friends had shot himself in the head and it had just been really hard on him. I received the call that I would be going back to Oklahoma City right next to one of my former areas, Edmond 2nd. He asked the Elders in Lawton to send me and my companions to OU medical to give his friend a blessing. We went and tried to see his friend but the name/records couldn't be found when we got there. We tried and just couldn't find his friend at the hospital.
A couple days later we got a call from Elder Maughn saying that there was a member from one of the Norman wards that would be giving us a call to go give her friend a blessing who had just been in a terrible car accident. (The hospital is actually out of our area, in Edmond 2nd's area, so they should have been the ones called to go give the blessing but Elder Maughn didn't know that and thought it was in our area so he called us). She called us and we set up a time that day to go give her friend a blessing. We ended up getting to the hospital a half our later than we had scheduled with her and as we were walking in a lady on the bench near the entrance stopped me and said "Hey, are you from Lawton?". I got excited and told her that I had just served there for over four months. Lo and behold, she was the wife of Dan, Chris's friend. We talked for a minute and she told me that Dan had gotten drunk one night and accidentally shot himself in the head with his gun (the same one that he had waved at Elder Munson and I) and had just been moved out of ICU the day before and that was why we couldn't find his records or get access to see him when we had tried coming several days earlier. She gave me his room number and said she would love for us to give him a blessing.
So we went and gave the young man a blessing first and I have no doubt that he will investigate the Church and join through baptism and confirmation someday, probably sooner than later. He was incredible and Elder Thompson bestowed a beautiful blessing over him.
We walked out of there and started looking for Dan's room now so we could give him a blessing and to our astonishment he was literally the next room over. We had been in room 516 to give the young man a blessing first and Dan's room was room 518. We went over, he recognized me immediately and plead with us to give him a blessing, read a scripture, and pray with him. He has had to undergo complete facial reconstruction but he is still alive and will recover. He is now in a very humble position and wants us to go back to talk with him and teach him more.
Elder Munson and I are thinking we are probably going to get shot here and she says "Yes everything is okay, we are just having a good conversation!" He tucked the gun back in his pants and went inside. The mom and the daughter had to go to the store so they left a few minutes later but prior to them leaving, the husband came out and started talking with us too. They left and we stayed, talking with the dad, Dan, he served in the Army as a field artillery man in several deployments in the middle east and he has some crazy stories for us (he was one of the guys that would have to walk through the streets and enter homes and clear them and find specific targets and things like that.)
We talked with him for about a half hour before the mom and daughter got back from the store. They went off though and the daughter came back with one of her friends, Chris. We started talking now with all three of them and after just a couple of minutes the daughter said "Wow, this is boring." as we were talking about cars and how Dan had been teaching Chris for a couple years about mechanics and how to fix, restore, and work on vehicles. We correlated that with the restoration and the conversation just didn't seem to appeal to the dauhgter but Chris was soaking it in and we could tell Dan liked talking about mechanics and stuff but not as much the gospel so Elder Munson and I kind of just naturally split so he kept talking with Dan and I got to talk with Chris. We had a really spiritual conversation and experience and by the end he was excited to take the Book of Mormon in his hand home to read and study and pray about. I am happy to report that Chris has studied, pondered, prayed and knows the Book of Mormon is true, the Church is Christ's and is guided by Him through a prophet on the earth. He has quit smoking completely and miraculously and is one of the best young man I have ever met. He is excited about family history work and is planning to be baptized this weekend. Through exchanges and the Book of Mormon class we held in Lawton I was able to teach Chris another 3 or times and he holds a very dear place in my heart. I know we were inspired that day and through the Lord's timing and mercy we were led to Chris and he was led to us.
Furthermore, the week before I left Lawton, Chris pulled me aside after the Book of Mormon class and told me one of his friends had shot himself in the head and it had just been really hard on him. I received the call that I would be going back to Oklahoma City right next to one of my former areas, Edmond 2nd. He asked the Elders in Lawton to send me and my companions to OU medical to give his friend a blessing. We went and tried to see his friend but the name/records couldn't be found when we got there. We tried and just couldn't find his friend at the hospital.
A couple days later we got a call from Elder Maughn saying that there was a member from one of the Norman wards that would be giving us a call to go give her friend a blessing who had just been in a terrible car accident. (The hospital is actually out of our area, in Edmond 2nd's area, so they should have been the ones called to go give the blessing but Elder Maughn didn't know that and thought it was in our area so he called us). She called us and we set up a time that day to go give her friend a blessing. We ended up getting to the hospital a half our later than we had scheduled with her and as we were walking in a lady on the bench near the entrance stopped me and said "Hey, are you from Lawton?". I got excited and told her that I had just served there for over four months. Lo and behold, she was the wife of Dan, Chris's friend. We talked for a minute and she told me that Dan had gotten drunk one night and accidentally shot himself in the head with his gun (the same one that he had waved at Elder Munson and I) and had just been moved out of ICU the day before and that was why we couldn't find his records or get access to see him when we had tried coming several days earlier. She gave me his room number and said she would love for us to give him a blessing.
So we went and gave the young man a blessing first and I have no doubt that he will investigate the Church and join through baptism and confirmation someday, probably sooner than later. He was incredible and Elder Thompson bestowed a beautiful blessing over him.
We walked out of there and started looking for Dan's room now so we could give him a blessing and to our astonishment he was literally the next room over. We had been in room 516 to give the young man a blessing first and Dan's room was room 518. We went over, he recognized me immediately and plead with us to give him a blessing, read a scripture, and pray with him. He has had to undergo complete facial reconstruction but he is still alive and will recover. He is now in a very humble position and wants us to go back to talk with him and teach him more.
He is just so grateful for Jesus Christ and
it was amazing to see the complete change of heart. It was absolutely
miraculous. I will never forget how great our God is and his perfect timing in
all things. This ended up being a 3 month endeavor but line upon line and bit
by bit, God prepared every little thing to fall into place for it to all work
out just perfectly in the very moment all of these things needed to take place.
His ways truly are higher than our ways and His love and mercy extend and cover
every single one of us.
Miracle 3: David, Johny, and Shannon--->
We were going to see a recent convert in
the ward, David, and he is amazing. He has completely changed his entire life
in a matter of weeks and months and he is so happy and grateful for Christ and
for the restored gospel. David is living in the home of a member who actually
has a lot of people living in his home. Lela, who is also a recent convert,
lives there as well and as we went to see them, there are three new people that
just moved in there. We met Johny and Shannon and immediately began to teach
them. They soaked in our testimonies and said they would really like to come to
church and joyfully accepted a Book of Mormon each and were excited to read it.
God is so good and provides us with so many opportunities!!
WHAT A GLORIOUS WORK TO BE APART OF!
Keep the faith,
Elder Ricks
WHAT A GLORIOUS WORK TO BE APART OF!
Keep the faith,
Elder Ricks
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