Field trip to Tulsa

This last week was really gooder. We had some cool things happen. Monday night we had dinner at a member's house and they had their friend and her mom over. Her mom, Tina, is very into the Bible. She's like a born-again Christian. Anyways, we taught the Restoration and it went really well. Then we asked Tina if she would read and pray about the Book of Mormon and she was like: Rev 22:18! And so we talked about it for a little bit and she wouldn't budge, BUT then her daughter, Joyce, was like: I've read the Book of Mormon, and prayed about it and I know it's true. Keep in mind that Joyce is a really quiet girl. So Tina was like: ok maybe I'll read it. So we saw them again on Thursday and taught the Plan of Salvation and Tina agreed with everything that we were teaching, which is actually strange because, if I'm not mistaken, there is no other Christian church that teaches that the pre-mortal existence is true doctrine and she believes in it so that was cool. The only thing that she didn't quite accept was when we were teaching about how the spirits in spirit prison will have a chance to be taught the gospel, and she was like: where does it say that in the Bible? Luckily, having anticipated this question I already had my scriptures open to 1 Peter 3:19 and 4:6. She tried to bring up the parable about the rich man and Lazarus but she couldn't find it, and I didn't want to tell her where it was at because I didn't want to argue a moot point. Anyways, she's fine with Joyce coming to church but she won't let her get baptized even though Joyce wants to get baptized, but we hear from our members through Joyce, that her mom loved our visit and Tina herself told us that she could see the spirit of Jesus in us. So we asked her if she'd read, and she was like nah, but then our member asked her what she was afraid of and she was like it might be of the devil, but then she was like, but I've read the Koran, so we were like ? Anyways enough of these run on sentences, as soon as we can get her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, she'll be asking us to join the church and then everybody will be happy, and then she'll go to the temple and then she'll go on a mission and then Joyce will go on a mission too, and then sealed in the temple too and all the other good things that come from joining the church. :) Anyways, Saturday we got to go to Tulsa for Elder Christofferson, Elder Robbins and Elder Southward. It was a sweet meeting. One thing that really struck me was how humble Elder Christofferson was. In like general conference and stuff, he's always super intelligent and serious, but in real life, he's super down to earth and chill. I just got the feeling that he was super humble, and it was cool because the general authorities are just normal people in the end. Anyways, the Oklahoma City mission was there as well, and they're mission president is super tall. In the middle of Elder Robbins remarks I was talking to my boy Elder Chapman about how tall he was and I said: I bet he can dunk. And while I said that I put my hand in the air like I was dunking. So everybody on the stand probably saw me doing that. Super embarrassing. But it was a great experience, super spiritual and there were some really good pointers that were given. And I got to see a bunch of my really good missionary buds, so that's always a blast. To finish off the week, Tanner got baptized and it was the best baptism I've had on my mission so far! Super spiritual and Tanner said he's never felt so good in his entire life before! We've even heard the rumors that he might go on a mission. His whole family is reactivating which is a miracle because before, they wouldn't even let home teachers into their home, plus the dad is going to baptize their 11 year old either this Saturday or next so things are going pretty swell. This morning we went to the Sam's Club headquarters and got a little tour of some of their kitchens and we got to taste test some foods that they may put on their shelves. We also got transfer calls and our whole zone is staying the same so nothing crazy there. Also, this happened a while ago, but one of our ward mission leaders grew up in Chilicothe Missouri and he knows my grandparents and some of my aunts and uncles so that was crazy.

Love, Elder Naegle

Mountain Biking

Man, this last week was super quick. We had some crazy things happen. Not really, but kinda. Anyways, we had zone training meeting and interviews with President. That was pretty sweet. Then we found some new investigators who live pretty out there. We had a referral for them but when we called them they said they didn't order anything so we asked them if they wanted a Bible and they said sure so we drove out there and gave them a Bible and then gave them a Book of Mormon so we'll be seeing them again this week. My companion almost offended one of our investigators by pushing him too hard for baptism. That was interesting. Then one day we decided to go mountain biking for our morning exercise because out here there's tons of trails everywhere. And there's one right behind our church which is not even a mile from our house. So we went biking on this trail and I totally ate it and now my hands and legs are kinda scratched up but not that badly. Then  we kept riding and my chain broke, so yeah. Then this morning Elder Fish was like 'let's go run that trail', and I was like 'nah bro' and he was like 'yeah bro' and so I was like 'fine'. So we went and ran it and it was actually pretty fun. I felt a little like George of the Jungle running through the trees and up and down hills and stuff. We're probably gonna be doing that a bunch more now. In other news, Tanner is getting baptized this Saturday! His younger brother Zach isn't gonna get baptized yet though, he's not quite ready, which is mostly our fault for teaching him the Restoration in a way that probably went over his head. Then last night, the Lovelands had a special dinner at their house for all the missionaries in the area and that was pretty fun. Then we got a text from a member telling us to come over to their house to teach their son's girlfriend a lesson and so we did, actually Elder Fish and one of our zone leaders did, we had to do emergency exchanges because we had a dinner that night and I felt bad cancelling on the members. Anyways they went over there and it went really well and she's a new investigator! Then last night our dinner for tonight, called us and was like 'hey, our son's friend wants to start coming to church with us so we invited her and her mom over for dinner so you can teach them' it was pretty solid. So things are going pretty good. We've got some pretty solid people to teach and some baptisms coming up and hopefully some more baptisms coming up so things are good. Also this Saturday we get to go to Tulsa and meet Elder Christofferson and he's gonna teach us the ways of the Lord. So that's pretty exciting.

Love,

Elder Naegle

Party in Pea Ridge

This last week was good. We had a lady refer herself to us from the internet. We dropped by and gave her the Book of Mormon she ordered. We haven't been able to have a real lesson with her yet because of extenuating circumstances. In fact three of our investigators have missed out on blessings because of extenuating circumstances. Two of our investigators didn't come to church, one of them because a work thing came up. Then the other was writing valentine cards with his grand-kids... which is a dumb reason to not come to church. We moved Tanner's baptism back to the 20th because his younger brother is going to get baptized to and his dad (who's been inactive for years) wants to baptize him. Hopefully his dad can work everything he needs to work out before then so we don't have to move the date back. Tanner is super solid, he loves church and he's been talking about serving a mission too! We're starting to teach two children who's mother just got custody of them and she re-activated like a year ago I think. So potentially we could have like 6 baptisms in Pea Ridge if every thing goes to plan. And we could have one in Metfield too so we'll see what happens. One thing that I have learned though, is that the Lord can do his own work, because all of these blessings that we've been receiving haven't come from our own labors. That's something I've been able to see on my mission, because there have been times when I have worked my rear off and we didn't get anything and there have been times where everybody we talk to just turns into an investigator. Really, the Lord could do all the missionary work by himself but because he is so merciful he lets us come along for the ride so that he can mold us and shape us and lift us up. I've also learned about how important it is to be humble, I feel like the majority of my mission, the Lord has been trying to teach me how to be humble, but I'm really stubborn and it has taken me a while to learn these things. I still have a long ways to go but hopefully I'll be able to get there. Things are just so much more uncomplicated and less contentious when you strive to be humble. Also family is so important. You see so many people who, because they have sought their own pleasures, are sad, they don't know they are sad, but when you are able to look at their situation you know that they're not as happy as they can be. So it has given me so much more of an appreciation for my family. Bitterness and hate only lead to sadness and loneliness. Just imagine, how much better the world would be if everybody in the whole world forgave those who had trespassed against them. Ether 12:4 I've had some trials on my mission that have really tested me, in fact I'm going through some of my hardest trials of my whole mission right now but it gives me hope to know that there is still good in the world and that there is a Savior who can take it all away and replace the bad with the good. Matthew 11:28-30. If this church isn't true, then there is no hope at all in the world. And that is something I have a testimony of.

I love you all and wish you all the best,

Elder Naegle

Pretty Good Week

This last week was pretty good. We had two eternigators show up to church and one of them really enjoyed it. We also got two pretty solid referrals. We also met a lot of people who we've been trying to meet so things are setting up pretty solid for next week. Once while we were tracting we knocked on a door and this 20-something year old looking guy wearing a hoodie and a backwards hat and he had a goatee and a bunch of tattoos. We thought he was like a skater but it turns out, that he is actually a Lutheran Minister! He was really nice and he asked us about our beliefs and stuff and we had a really good discussion. Then he gave us his number and told us we could come back. He did a lot of searching in his life for which church to belong to and I guess he came up with the Lutheran church somehow. So we'll see. Tanner is still going strong to be baptized on the 13th so that's pretty exciting. We have a lesson Elder Nau taught me using a whiteboard that we're gonna start using on stubborn investigators. We're gonna be using it tomorrow so that will be fun. I've never really used it before so I'm curious to see how this lady will accept it. She believes that you can't add or subtract from the Bible so yeah... Also there's this really funny story. I will tell it in dialogue mode. We went to dinner one night and this is what happened:

*ding dong

member: hey Elders, how's it going?

me: it's going pretty good, how are you doing?

*shakes hand

member: your fly is down

me: oh dear

that's the end of the story. 

We also went to Crystal Bridges which is an art museum and it was pretty cool actually. There were some naked statues but I guess if you go to an art museum then you should probably expect that. The modern art was really dumb though but I really liked the old art. There were some really neat paintings of George Washington and some nice landscape pictures that I really liked. Then there was this little room that all it had in it was a typical fluorescent light with different colored light bulbs in it and that was it... Also last night there was an armadillo in our backyard and it went under our porch and I tried to poke it with a stick but the stick was too big to fit between the boards. Also apparently there's a panther that lives in the hills where we live. 

Love,

Elder Naegle