To say that this week has been anything less than a miracle would be a complete and absolute UNDERSTATEMENT!!! Looking back on this week, I am filled with gratitude to our Father in Heaven for how mindful He is of His children, and of His missionaries. The miracles we have experienced these past few days have been amazing, and all of them have been answers to prayers. I know, with a greater surety than ever before, that God is in this work, and He is truly preparing the hearts of the people all around us, especially in ALTUS, OKLAHOMA!!!! 

Before I tell you about the miracles that happened this week, I want to tell you about a more personal miracle that occurred this past week during my Interview with President Walkenhorst. How grateful I am for a Mission President who is called by God. First, to put everything into perspective, I want to start off with a quote from the Bible Dictionary that I found under the topic “knowledge.” It reads: 

One progresses only as fast as he gains knowledge. 

This statement is a powerful one, and one that is very important to understand. I have been pondering lately about the enabling power of the Atonement and during my interview with President Walkenhorst, I asked him about this subject. His two minute response has not only increased my knowledge, but changed my perspective and built my faith and testimony. I always thought that the enabling power of the Atonement was all about the strength to continue on. There are many examples of this in the Book of Mormon and the Bible. In response to my question, however, President Walkenhorst opened my eyes to another aspect of this enabling power. He said the following: 

"The enabling power of the Atonement comes as we receive a vision of what we can accomplish and become, and then the direction on how to do it." 

What an incredible statement that is, and with that statement in mind, I have come to realize that I have been enabled (in that way) my entire life. It is part of this earthly experience to exercise our agency in the process of becoming. True, the Savior is there all the time coaching us and helping us along the way, but we have to “act” in order to become what He knows we can become. To quote from Elder Christofferson: 

"It is His plan and His will that we have the principal decision-making role in our own life’s drama. God will not live our lives for us nor control us as if we were His puppets, as Lucifer once proposed to do."  

So that leads perfectly into this week and the miracles that happened. Stepping into Altus has helped me to realize again Christ’s enabling power in my life. It took only a few days here to figure out what the Lord wanted us to do. It is pretty simple; Become “one” with the members in all aspects of the work, especially in the rescuing of the "Lost Sheep" in the Altus Ward. Working with the less-active members may be one of my favorite things to do as a missionary, because there are so many ways to “hasten the work” of salvation through it. I think the best way to explain what I am talking about is by sharing some stories. In these stories, look for the way that working with the less-active members helped us in all other aspects, especially in finding those whose hearts were open, so God could prepare them to hear His gospel. 

Story #1 Last Tuesday afternoon, we decided to try to find a couple of less-active members who hadn''t been contacted in awhile. Elder Neil identified some individuals he and his former companion hadn''t met yet, and so we went to work. At our first stop, we walked up to the front door and knocked a couple times but no one seemed to be home. Instead of just hopping back into the truck, we decided to knock some other doors and see if anyone knew the family we were looking for. As I turned around, my eyes wandered across the street to a home with a big Ford truck in the drive-way. The impression came to my mind, "knock on that door." We crossed the street and a man named "J" answered the door. After some casual conversation, we asked him if he knew his neighbor across the street and he answered that he did not. We started talking to him about who we were and what church we were from when he said, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? I have a good friend from medical school who went to that church. We were actually roommates in college and I went to church with him all the time. Recently, I have actually been talking to my wife about visiting your church. Is there one around here?” For the next 30 minutes we talked to Josh all about his experiences with the Church and what his desires were for his family. "J" invited us back to visit his family and committed to come to church this next week. He commented about how God works with his children; sending us over right when he was thinking about coming to church. What a miracle!  

Story #2 Tuesday evening, we had an appointment with one of our potential investigators. The day before, we had stopped by the home of one of the sisters in the ward to ask her to come with us to the lesson the next night. Her name is Sister McClain and she is a total “member missionary.” We walked into the appointment we had with "A" and "E," and Sister McClain took over! At first, I was a little frustrated because it seemed like we were just visiting and not teaching. I was sitting on the floor blowing bubbles with their son, who is almost three, when all of a sudden, I realized what was happening. Sister McClain was doing exactly what this family needed. By the end of the meeting, she had invited "A" and "E" to a baptism and a church tour, and had committed them to come to church on Sunday. She also helped "A" say the closing prayer. It was incredible. I think I said a total of three sentences the entire time we were there. In her closing prayer, "A" poured out her heart to Heavenly Father in gratitude for sending people who really cared about her and her family. Sunday morning, in the pew behind us sat "A", "E", their two kids, and one of their friends. Now that is some member-missionary work! 

Story #3 I was on exchanges with one of the elders in our district, Elder Thomas. After dinner, we set out to find another less-active member. This particular member lived on a street called “Gettysburg.” On the way over to this address, we were making all sorts of “Abraham Lincoln jokes.” Again, the less-active member wasn''t home. As we walked down the drive-way, I asked Elder Thomas to pick a door that he wanted to knock. He pointed at a home that had a "Lincoln" parked in the drive-way. After laughing a little at the irony of the situation, we walked up to the home and knocked on the door. A lady named "D" answered and we started talking to her and her sister, "D." After a wonderful 30 minute discussion, "D" invited us back to her home this next Thursday to share our message with her and her mother, who will be visiting from out of town. 

Story #4 Because Altus is quite small and in the middle of no-where, we also cover several outlying towns, like when I was serving in Cushing. There are several less-active members who live in a town called Mangum. It is about 30 miles from Altus, with a population of about 6,000. We knocked on the door of a less-active member, and yet again, there was no response. As we were walking back to the truck, we passed by a house that looked like a church of some sort. That familiar feeling came into my heart that we should knock on the door, so we did. A man named "E" answered. We explained who we were and asked if we could share a message with him about Jesus Christ. After pausing a moment, he let us into his home. His house had actually been a church at one time, and he gave us a tour of it. Then we sat down and started talking to him about his life. "E" had moved from Illinios to Oklahoma to get away from a bad situation. Now… before I go on with this story, I have to interject something…About a month ago, when I was serving in Texas, Elder Wilcox and I watched the Church video “Labor of Love" after doing our nightly planning. At one point in the video, two missionaries knock on a door and get turned away. A few seconds later, the man calls out to the missionaries and tells them to come back. Inside the home, his wife tells the missionaries that she asked her husband to call them back because of a feeling she had while they were talking to her husband. She asks the question, "Could you tell me what that feeling was?" Elder Wilcox and I laughed at that a little and I said something like, “Man, I wish missionary work was really that easy." Okay now, back to "E." 

As we continued to talk with him, he turned to us and said, "I am going to be really honest with you guys. I never let missionaries into my home. In fact, when I first saw you guys on my doorstep, in my mind I was already thinking of a way to get you off my porch. At almost the same instant, I had a feeling in my heart that I could not deny. It was an impression to let you into my home." At that point, the Spirit came in and hit us like a ton of bricks. We explained to "E" that the impression he had felt was from the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. He then told us this. "I have been looking and searching for 50 years for someone to tell me what that feeling is. I thought God wasn’t with me, but after listening to what you are saying, I realize that God has been with me all along.” What followed was one of the most incredible lessons about the Restoration that I’ve ever had on my mission. Elder Neil and I shared our testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Spirit was so thick, it is hard to describe. I think my favorite moment of the lesson was when my humble companion shared the Joseph Smith Story. Elder Neil, in powerful but humble words, taught true doctrine, and because he was willing to listen, "E" felt and experienced the Spirit testifying to his heart of the truthfulness of our message. We closed with a prayer offered by "E," himself. What an incredible experience to be a part of. I love being a missionary! 

Story #5 After leaving "E''s" home, we still had a couple hours left to try to find some of our less-active members. We went over to a nursing home to find a woman there who was 24. It seemed a bit strange, but we went in anyway. After entering the front door, we were approached by a nurse and we asked her about the individual. She said she didn’t know her. As we started to leave, the nurse said, “You guys don''t know who I am, do you?" She then told us that she was a member and hadn’t been to church for a long time. What are the chances of running into someone in the middle of Mangum, Oklahoma like that?? We left the rest home almost in shock because of the miracles that were happening all around us.  

We tried to find another less-active member there in Mangum, and that person wasn''t home, so we walked down the street towards a couple of individuals who were pulling weeds in their front yard. Are you seeing a pattern here? After introducing ourselves, we asked if we could help them pull weeds. "D," the lady we were talking to, said, “Sure,” and so dressed in our shirts and ties, we pulled weeds with "D" and her boyfriend for about an hour. After we finished, we set up an appointment to come back and see "D" and her family of 6. It was absolutely incredible! 

I have a testimony of not only seeking the Lord’s will and vision, but acting upon revelation. As we do the Lord''s work His way, doors begin to open and miracles occur. Because Altus was one of the areas of the zone that Elder Wilcox and I covered when I lived in Texas, I came here knowing a lot more about what I was getting into than in any of my previous transfers. The member and missionary relationship is a little strained here, but after this week and a huge effort on the part of all of the missionaries here in Altus, we are seeing incredible things happen already. One of those miracles is transpiring tomorrow. We are having lunch with our Bishop, which hasn''t happened in a very long time. This upcoming week we are also going to be meeting with the Elders Quorum President and the High Priest Group Leader to go over the ward roster. Also, this next Sunday we are having a family home evening and dinner with one of our investigators at a member’s home. The work is moving forward!  

Man, this e-mail has been a very long one, but I have really enjoyed remembering some of the incredible experiences we have had. I am so grateful for a mission that has taught me more about relying on God, and not myself. When we truly forget ourselves and go to work, miracles will and do occur. One of the main reasons why I shared so many experiences was because I want all of you to know and see the evidence that God is not only real, but completely involved in this work. We can all have experiences like these as we pray and then work hard to make things happen. The Lord is eager for all of us to join in this harvest of souls. What a blessing it is to be involved in such a great cause, not only for the 2 years of my mission, but for the rest of my life. With Mormon I want to say that “God has not ceased to be a God of miracles!” (Mormon 9:15,18-21) This past week is evidence of that.