Deep in the heart of....Oaklahoma???? And Quaid Is The Man

Dang straight haha the title is true! This past week I was able to go on exchanges and check out how the work is doing out in Idabel Oaklahoma!!! It was pretty crazy because on the way out there after our Zone Conference (which was pretty baller by the way) we had to leave THE MISSION BOUNDARIES for like 15 minutes as the freeway wound back into our territory and we approached Texarkana. So on we went until we passed the Red River and wow is it quite the change. It felt really weird for a second when you're confined to a certain amount of land every transfer and then all of the sudden you're in a different State?! It was pretty crazy and the Oaklahoma people are pretty backwards. There's Casinos all around, along with tons of other Gas Stations/Firework shops run by Choctaw Inc. The American dream..."let's take the 'Trail of Tears' and see how much money we can get out of it!" There's definitely a lot of work to do in convincing the Laminates of the "wicked alcoholic traditions of their fathers", but out in Idabel and Broken Bow we're just stacked with tons and tons of Marshalese people from the Marshall Islands and a ton of other little islands around there and it was so sick!!! I got to start learning Marshalese and some other language (can't even remember what it's called) but it's a new culture full of tons of humble, but way good people. Apparently the factory for Tyson Chicken (yup...the ones in your freezer come straight from Broken Bow, Oaklahoma) fly them out and pay for their first year in the states to get them on their feet and give them a steadier income than they had back home. 

They're still super poor and live in the slums of all slums, but as terrible as it looks on the outside, they keep the inside super clean with tons of seashell art and just all sorts of Islander decorations everywhere! So before you ever go in you always have to take your shoes off which is a real pain and they can understand a little bit of English, but still need a translator pretty often. It was way fun getting to know these people and their crazy kids that just run around the house screaming all day. There's definitely some cultural no-no's as far as the commandments go, but it turned out to be a cool experience up there and I learned "Yapweh" means "Hello/Hey/Howdy", and "Yahmon" means "Good", but I made sure that you can use it to mean "Sick/Sweet/Legit/Tight/Baller/Sweet Action/Money/Classic/Bank/Classy/Child's Play"...because I had to make sure they could understand me somehow haha. And the Elders also have a truck up there just for security purposes out in all the mud so we just cruised around like a couple true Okies (except we were just missing about 6 people with overalls and a couple banjos and fiddles riding in the truck bed...) 

We finally got back in Texas and I felt like I was back at home (kinda weird to say that I feel at home in Texas), and whenever you hear about the "Red River Shootout", just know it's a real deal. There's tons of bullet holes in the "Welcome To Texas" sign from a bunch of Okies, but at least Texans actually get the job done and because of them the "Welcome To Oaklahoma" sign got completely destroyed and doesn't even exist anymore haha. 

This past week I killed off another missionary as Elder Browning finished his two years and I think is on the plane right now. So for now I'm companionless and just kick it with the other Gilmer Elders and Milk the Young Men's program for all their worth so that we can cover all the three Gilmer wards with more than just one companionship. I'll be out with someone different every day and night so it looks like another crazy yet exciting week ahead. 

This last week we were also able to have an awesome baptismal service for my main man Quaid Wilburn (such a stud, and finally got his mowhawk cut for such an occasion). We've been working with him for about 6 weeks now and to see him get baptized was such a fantastic outro for Elder Browning's mission. His Grandparents are way active in the church, but are super shy and the rest of his family is either super inactive or super Anti (other than his Sister that got baptized about 9 months ago.) So it's another one of those great experiences that with him comes his family, and not only was he able to make a covenant with his Heavenly Father, but it pushes his Family to renew the one's they've made a long time ago (and I also got his Grandma to speak!! She's probably the shyest lady I've ever met, and when I asked her to give a talk, she just about had an emotional breakdown and said that she couldn't, but after a little persuasion, she said she'd try her best. So the talk that we told her was supposed to be a max of 3 minutes turned into 20 and she was just a pro up there! It was pretty funny though before it all started because the whole family has anxiety issues and they were all super super nervous, so as we went down the line to shake their hands we shook the sweatiest hands ever haha it was too good.) We went out to dinner with his family after and then we all started talking about missions and how Quaid's getting right at that age (going to turn 18 next year)! He was pretty stoked about it so all we've gotta do is just keep that fire burning and he'll start preaching up a storm! He wants to be a Congressman, so we all concluded that the only way to prepare yourself is by serving a mission-- soooooooo stoked to see where he'll go! 

I also keep getting updates on my old areas and they're still going...still baptizing like it's nothin but a G thang!!! One of the people we taught out in Garland got baptized last week and another one of my best friends will be getting baptized at the end of August out in Plano! Shout out to Ryan Primmer and Waldo Gonzalez!!! Dang I just can't stop getting stoked for all these people!!!!!! It just gets too good to be true....so I must be living the dream!

Les Quiero Tantisimo!

Elder Wilson

By the way....EVERY companionship in our Zone has a Baptismal date (some haven't had one all year!) and everyone got an investigator to church again! We don't take breaks...we just break records!!!