First miracle; on the first day we got here, Elder Buckmiller and I decided
to drop by Billy's house. He's a younger guy who's learning to be a police
officer in Bakersfield. At any rate, we'd tracted into him with Elder Johnson,
but he was ALWAYS busy every time we came by. This time, I guess it was just
time, because they let us in, and we proceeded to teach him and Chloe (his wife)
the most awesome restoration lesson ever. He was asking all kinds of questions
that we hope and practice for, but no-one ever asks. For example; when we
taught that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet, he said "Yeah, that could be
true; I mean, I believe there could be prophets and stuff, but how do you find
out if he was a prophet?" So, we
taught him about the Book of Mormon, why it's important, and how it'll change
his families lives. Unfortunately, when we reached in our backpacks, we
realized that neither of us had an English Book of Mormon. He still wanted one
though, so we told him to wait a minute and booked it down the road to where our
car was parked. Alas, there was only spanish in there too! So we ran into the
Morrow's home which we were parked outside of; and begged them rather
dramatically for a pass-along copy of the book of mormon, which they thankfully
had at hand. So hopefully, they'll read and pray and be baptized and be sealed
and be awesome.
Later, we went to teach Cami (I think I've mentioned her before; reading
the Book of Mormon for the first time in 2 years and stuff like that.) We
decided to teach them the plan of Salvation, and in order to capture her
boyfriend Josh's attention; we devised the single coolest way to present the
plan of Salvation. Since he plays Magic:the Gathering (a card game like Pokemon
mixed with Dungeons and Dragons) a lot, we made a set of cards, out of cardboard
and in color and everything. We called it Magic: the Plan of Salvation. The lesson
was pretty good, but the discussion afterwards was just miraculous. Cami and
Josh and his mom Tana have all agreed to be baptized! It was absolutely
mind-blowing to be part of it; and the whole poor Morrow family was bawling to
pieces.
Things took a turn for the worse later on though. During our studies
Thursday, Elder Buckmiller noticed helicopters flying over Taft. (Which
is ridiculously unusual.) So, since what was going on seemed pretty close, we
hopped up through the skylight to get a look at what was happening from the
roof. There was a TON of police cars, three helicopters, a house was
caution-taped off, and something was going on at the High School. We found out
later that a young man had walked in with a shot gun, walked into brother Ryan
Heber's class, and asked for a young man. When the other boy stood up, he shot
him, and then Ryan Heber got grazed in another shot. He convinced the boy to
give him the gun, though, and after that the police showed up. Brother Savea
(the older one) had seen the boy walk into the school while trying to hide the
gun, so he ran and called the police. Last I heard, the victim is in the
hospital, in critical condition, but alive. It's VERY good it wasn't worse than
it was; there was 20-something students he was after. It's really shaken up Taft
though; it's not a very big place and EVERYONE knows everyone involved.
Especially the youth in the church are having a rough time with it, but things
are getting better. I still can't imagine it happened HERE of all places. Taft
is one of the friendliest places I've ever been.
So; on a lighter note; Yesterday we set Cami and Josh both have a baptism
date of the 13th of February! She's committed to follow the commandments
now; and Josh's commitment to step up and follow Cami in regards to her faith is
a great insight into the depth of his character. Tana is progressing REALLY
well; and we're praying for more miracles to come on down.
In the meantime I love you all! Keep on keepin' on; Rock that lesson Mom,
and I'll talk to ya in a bit!
Love,
Elder Matthew David Clough
