Weekly Letter - 22 Nov. 2010

Dear Everyone,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SARA/SISTER DONAKEY!!! For those of you don't know who I'm talking about, I hope you get to meet her someday! She is an incredible missionary!!! :)

Transfers are this week and.... I'm staying in Lawton!!!!! God bless America :)

This past week has been fun! Elder Norman (and some others) went home a week early to beat the Thanksgiving travel rush, so I got to spend the last week of this transfer with Elder Keil! He's originally from Samoa, but he has lived in St. George, UT since he was 9. He's been a lot of fun and we have a lot of fun experiences!

In fact, here's one! We were tracting and talked with a woman named Barb. She wasn't interested or too open about accepting the message, but we talked with her for a few minutes. Before we left we asked if we could say a prayer. She told us her name was Barb but then said, "My grandkids call me Granny, so you could pray for 'Granny' and then that would cover all the other Grannies our there too." I was going to say the prayer and was confused about what to call her, so I just started praying! As I prayed, I asked Heavenly Father to "Please bless Granny Barb" and then had to pause because she almost started laughing (well, we all almost started laughing) and then kept praying and ended it. She was smiling and was more open after the prayer and we talked a little longer. It was a great experience! All Elder Keil or I have to do is say "Granny Barb" and we start laughing. Oh, Granny Barb. Haha!

Over the weekend we went to visit another investigator, Brother Johnson. He wasn't home, but someone who was driving by stopped and said, "Hey! Are you Mormon?!" "YEAH!" we replied. As we talked, he stayed in his car which was parked in the middle of the road (it wasn't a busy road anyway). He said he just wanted to know more and wanted to get right with God. We talked a little, then tried setting up an appointment (he said he had to go soon), and then he ended up saying, "You on bikes or car?" We replied, "On car" (which I am still EXTREMELY grateful for :) He told us, "I'll give you 30 minutes. Follow me." We got in the car and followed him to his house.

As we got in and started talking, he vented about how sick of Satan he was. He was angry at himself for always falling back into drugs, alcohol, and women, and how much he wants to get everything right with God again. He pounded his fists on the ground as he kept saying over and over, "I'm so sick of him! I'm sick of that guy!" Elder Keil and I spent most of the time listening. This man (we'll call him John) expressed that he always goes to God in prayer when he needs to repent but he never thanks Him much for anything and he knows he should. We asked, "Can we do that right now?" "Yeah, let's do it," he replied. We got on our knees and he prayed. He prayed. It was so sincere. We talked a little longer and promised him that reading from the Book of Mormon everyday and praying everyday will help him gain strength to resist Satan's temptations. He was very grateful for our visit and is excited to read and pray. We were all edified and rejoiced together. :)

That's all for this week. Thanks for the Thanksgiving wishes and I hope the Donakeys are having a blast in Hawaii! P.S. Dad/Mom -- what do "Lani" and "Ashkii" and "Kalienuemanomano" (?) mean?

Have a great week! I love all of you very much! :)

Love,
Elder Woolley :)