The REAL Ada, Oklahoma!

Home Teachers at work, Carl and Clint.  They seldom wear a white shirt and tie, but they will do anything for anyone at anytime. They know how to truly serve.

Our good friends, Butch and Linda.

This is the weather app on our phone.  We have seen these storms coming right at us for a very long time now, say three weeks, with more on the way!  We've had over 13 inches of rain in May already, with more on the way! Maybe we will float back to Mesa! (Seattle is looking pretty good right now)

Memorial Day 2015

 The cemetery had so many beautiful American flags everywhere. Along with the flags down Main Street, it was a wonderful sight to see the flags. We love our country and are grateful for all of those who gave their service and their lives so we can enjoy our freedom.

The missionaries came over to play a rousing game of Wizard, along with eating homemade bread and ice cream. 

Sister Lemmert is the winner of the game!

 Memorial Day picnic at Sister Gray's and J.D's -- ate in the garage to stay out of the weather!

Weather this past week in Ada. OK

 Every city has its name printed on a water tower. This is how you know through what city you travel.

Our tornado warning on Saturday, May 23, 2015. The orange cone shows the tornado area near Ada. We were caught in a torrential downpour of hail and rain, could hardly see to drive, as we headed to a member's shelter in the area. We stayed inside for about 45 minutes.  The kids were playing games on my Ipad to keep them occupied. We think the tornado was spotted about five miles from us. We heard an alarm on our phone, then the tornado sirens in the city as we hurried to the shelter. Quite exciting!

Storm clouds gathering on Memorial Day. 

This is a picture of our friend's ranch south of Ada. They sandbagged the patio area near the house. This "pond" is now a lake and the dock has been underwater for two weeks. Notice how high the water is on the trees. This is the largest amount o rainfall for more than 100 years here, and the most rain in May that has ever been recorded. The ground is saturated and there is flooding in the low lands. The weather has been stormy all through the Midwest, Texas and Colorado. There is not a drought anymore!

Transfers, May 13 in Moore, OK

We drove the Elders to Moore for transfers and who did I spy in the parking lot?  Karli Englebrecht, one of my 6th grade students in my first 6th grade class at Cottage Lake Elementary. She was one of two LDS students in my class. Can you believe it?  Sister Englebrecht, a missionary in the Oklahoma Oklahoma City Mission, and I ran into her!  What a delight!

Our traditional transfer breakfast. Sister Moore (left front0 and Elder Runolfson (center back) are the only two that were left in Ada. We ate bacon, German pancakes, and smoothies.

The Ada full time and Ward missionaries. We had T-shirts made for our Ada mission, but we didn't get the message to wear them for the pictures!

Elders Burdett and Halls, our Zone Leaders. Elder Halls completed his mission and went home. 

Elders Runolfson, Swenson, Tanner, Garner
Sisters Moore and Drinkall - May 2015, Ada, OK

The "Lamb of God" was a presentation of the All Saints Choir and orchestra from Oklahoma City.  It is the musical presentation of the last year of Christ's life through music. We were so touched with the emotional and spiritual effect of this presentation at East Central University Concert Hall.

Bishop Niblett welcomed the audience to the concert

        Yesterday we attended a Mission Tour in Norman at our Stake Center. A mission tour is when a General Authority (a Seventy) tours different missions and teaches us how to be better missionaries. Our General Authority was Elder Lawrence E.  Corbridge and his wife.  He shook everyone's hand and what a wonderful man when you look into his eyes.  His wife, and our mission president and his wife spoke also.
        The most important thing for us to know is that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can be forgiven of our sins and inherit eternal life by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel; which include faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  These ordinances are performed by priesthood authority restored to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith.  You can know this is true by reading and praying about the Book of Mormon.

 Since it was Cinqo de Mayo, our lunch was a "Cafe Rio" style lunch with Mexican decor.

Golf Day with the Zone Leaders

Finally, Elder Lemmert broke his six month streak of "no golf."  Elder Halls, the Zone Leader and master golfer himself,  invited Elder Lemmert to play golf in Purcell with him, Elder Burdett, Elder Ott, and Elder Nibley. Sister Lemmert drove the golf cart and coached Elder Lemmert.  Elder Halls was the best golfer, but guess who had the lowest score on the first nine?  That's right.....Elder Lemmert! He earned his bragging rights.  We enjoyed a great day!

Elders Lemmert & Halls

Elders Lemmert, Burdett, Halls, Nibley, and Ott (Zone leaders in Norman)

Miscellaneous PhotosCowboy

Cowboy Lemmert

We took the Elders to do some calving, then went visiting members, then back to watch them. These are the bulls.

Buffalo on the side of the road on our way to Pauls Valley

Trying to tag the calves.

Just a creative looking dog

Deer in a member's yard 

This was a beautiful home with a gorgeous harvest moon peeking over the trees.  On evenings like this, Oklahoma is very beautiful!

Our Spring flowersThe Elders

We had beautiful iris blooming in our yard this spring.

The Elders came over and planted a garden for us.  We are beginning to see sprouts popping out. We've had lots of sun and rain lately.

Ada Ward Talent Show

 The missionaries put on a talent show for our Ward. We decided to have the show outside in the parking lot and it turned out great. Many people signed up to perform, Elder Lemmert was the MC, and we ate lots of food -- hot dogs, veggies, fruit, and desserts. The Bishop donated a huge tub so we could fill it with ice and bottled water.  This huge tub of water proved to be a real treat for the kids, both during and after the show!  They played in the water and threw ice. Really, the best part of the whole show was that we had some less active people attend, plus a few investigators. Also, people hung around afterwards and just talked, played, and had fun together.

The Elders are always a hit when they perform! They were performing a workout for girls, I think!