Miracles.

     Hello again, already? I'm pretty sure I was on here about a day ago. Maybe two? I dunno, days slip by like minutes. Time is a measurement of man anyways, right?

     Things are great in Owasso! Unfortunately I've used up all the time I have today already so this will have to be brief. It's been raining a lot, which is awesome. We had some majorly dark, foreboding skies yesterday which excited me but only yielded a little rain haha. Elder Durrant and I have been pumping the iron everyday at the YMC, its actually kind of amazing how much every facet of our lives affects the other. As my physical strength and endurance increases, I find my emotional and spiritual capacities being boosted similarly. Spiritually yoked, you might say. We've been really busy and went on splits twice this week because we just have more appointments than we do man power. Also because sometimes we aren't the best schedulers haha.

     We've seen miracles this week. We've prayed so hard for brother Kress and his wife. Last week he told us he was done, he couldn't make it, he was too weak, too sinful in the past, he was walking away from the light. We saw him for what we thought might be the last time on Tuesday, but we took with us a recent convert couple named Harold and Sally Moore. They are some of the sweetest most genuine people around. They were baptized a few months ago, and their budding testimonies of the gospel are so simple and powerful. They're close to the same age as the Kress's. Brother and Sister Moore were angels from Jesus Christ that day. Literally, by definition they were angels. They bore powerful witness of the fruits of the gospel, and the light, joy, renewal, and purpose found within. Brother Kress could see what the gospel does for them, and it helped to drag him out of his downward spiral a bit. He said the sweetest words I heard all week: "I'm going to ignore this voice in the back of my head that is telling me these things, and just come to church and try it out." I could have leapt. Then he leans forward with an excited look and says, "On an unrelated note, I've really been wanting to do my family history, can you help me with that?" Music to a missionary's ears. It was great! So we did some family history with him on Fridaywhich he loved, and then when he came to church on Sunday it was one of the best Sabbath's of my life. After sacrament he was just beaming, I'd never seen him so happy. He was so stoked to stay for the rest of the meetings, and afterward he was like, "I'm ready for another 3 hours!". He kept telling us all the things he liked about it, there were no graven images or crosses (he said that like 4 times), he loved the genuine people, and the talks, and the teachers, and even told us he liked the crying babies and noisy kids in sacrament hahaha. It was a miraculous answer to my prayers, that this humble man could just shake of his chains and see for himself the fruits of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was skeptical because of his religious experiences in the past with Catholics and Baptists and Lutherans. But he immediately recognized the true church of Jesus Christ when he saw it. I'm excited to keep teaching him, our lessons are going to have a whole new spirit now, his fire is lit and he's hungry for more! It truly is amazing what this gospel can do for even the most downtrodden among us. In fact, especially for them. He's happier and more talkative than I've ever seen him, there's just a new light there that wasn't there before! Our Lord is so merciful.

     Well that's been the highlight of my week. We've had a lot of other good experiences, and some struggles to learn from too, but mostly we're just blessed. I love how people treat me as a missionary, all the kids somehow recognize that we're different, and not just because we wear slacks all the time. We really are the chosen messengers of our Savior Jesus Christ. And it's not a boastful thing, its a humbling and very privileged experience.

     See ya'll in a few days! Remember too look for the miracles and blessings that are truly all around us.

Elder Hakes