What a beautiful week! Sister Dobbins and I worked our tails off :) Shawn, the man we are teaching and helping to beat alcoholism is doing miraculously well. He looked different last Monday. He had made the decision to change and was more willing than ever to learn about and apply Christ's Atonement to his life. I can't wait to see him tonight!
I spent a lot of time doing more flood cleanup this week, too! It's crazy how much work there is to be done even two months after the flood. Especially for the single mom we were helping this week! She hadn't even gotten all of the walls down, she and her 15 year old son have been doing all the work themselves. I'm not sure how she found the missionaries, but all of us in the area are taking turns helping.
The best thing about this week is that everyone is back from summer vacations! I swear, our ward was teeny tiny last week, and overflowing this week! Members are coming out to teach with us, those who we thought had completely disappeared are back, AND the weather is finally calming down. Last night a guy on the street said "ohhhh now, now, when dos leafs start to blowin like dis, you know it's 'bout to get coooold" (cue BIG gusts of wind and leaves and a little rain) It was cool and informative in an eerie sort of way. But you could say I am excited for it to cool down around here!
Sunny is feeling much better since last week and is in Oklahoma right now! She is from Enid. She says "Enid. It's Dine spelled backwards because someone shot the sign and turned it around. (...) Really! It really happened!!" HA. The South is real. Anyways, she went to the Enid ward and had to call us and share how exciting it was. I love her so much.
In other news, Don brought his sons and brother to church yesterday! He and his brother were baptized when they were eight but stopped going to church when they were 10. Now they are in their 60's! We knocked on Don's door about a month ago, and he has been an absolute joy in my life ever since. I was pretty happy to see them :)
Anyways, to summarize my experience out here, an exerpt from my letter to my family: Down here Sweet Tea is pretty much water, "bless your heart' is like the meanest thing to say to someone, full sets of teeth are not necessary to anyone, water bottles (Manna from heaven) are given freely, everyone is "already saved" but they appreciate what we are doing, grass, shrubs, and trees mean a slow and painful death from chigger bites, there's like 14 varieties/colours of wasps, no one likes where this country is going, if you say something out loud about Jesus you'll hear an "AMEN" or "HALLELUJAH" come from somewhere, cornbread is everywhere, Tony's seasoning is used on everything, "battered and fried" isn't written on the menu because I guess it's just implied, and some days I really could swear this place is a different country. But I've adjusted fairly well, I think!
2 Corinthians 5:7
(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
I believe the smiley face is NOT a coincidence. Check your Bibles.
Have a blessed week!
Love,
Sister Bartsch
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