"Cast not therefore away your confidence"

This week was a mountain and we are still climbing. It was one of the hardest weeks of my mission but I didn't think I could learn so much in one week. It seems to me that each time I feel like I am just beginning to scratch the surface of understanding what Faith is, Heavenly Father brings me to a whole new level and I have to start from my foundation. And that's where everything rests. Our foundation of faith must be centered in Christ and His promises, or else our power to endure trials will slowly crumble.

We were rejected this week like I have never seen, we were mocked, we were laughed at, we couldn't get in anywhere to teach and everyone of our baptismal dates dropped out of nowhere. It was pretty classic. BUT, we were happy. :) And in the midst of all the hard times, we had the Spirit with us and in those times where we have the Spirit with us and feel God's love, it matters very little what each one of us suffers, "compared to the glory that awaits us" (Romans 8).

So where do we start? As missionaries, as parents, as sons and daughters, as bros? Where do we need to go back to when doubts arise? Where do we need to look to when times get hard? Life is about doing hard things that make us uncomfortable, otherwise, there could be no growth. Heavenly Father provided a solid base though to which we an all start. "And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they FIRST believed IN the Son of God". Once we come to a knowledge (of the truth) of Christ as the Savior of the world and His divine role as the Son of God, then we will have a sure foundation to which we can then refer to no matter what we go through. Then we can begin to believe Christ and His promises which will be a process of coming to know Him which will then enable us to access the power of His atonement to help us endure anything. Then comes the hope. No matter what, we KNOW that what we go through, Christ went through. No matter how hard life gets, we KNOW that Christ can provide rest. When we lose loved ones, we KNOW that through Christ, we will see each other again and be resurrected. When doubts arise that test our faith, we KNOW that Christ lives and that "He will come to (us) He will not leave (us) comfortless" (John 14). That's where everything rests. Our foundation of faith must be centered in Christ and His promises, then we will have "power to (overcome) whatsoever thing is expedient in Me" (Moroni 7:33).

So even though it was hard and it was hot, we knew through prayer and the Holy Spirit, that God still loves all of His children. He will never forsake us. That's His promise and we have faith that it is true, therefore we will continue to "cheerfully do all things that lie within our power"...

Be happy!! We are loved by a God. #legit

Oklahoma is dope, faith in Christ is necessary, prayer is powerful, and God loves you all and so do I. Write me!!

Love, 

Elder Cutler

Over The Hump

This week had to have been one of the most legit weeks ever. God showed His power for sure!! So the focus has been finding the elect. We have been finding way to many people to teach and seriously it was becoming a problem because everyone we would talk to in the store, in the elevator, on the street and even in the bathrooms would want us to come back. A lot of them though are not willing to do what it takes to sacrifice and change their lives to become closer to God, so those are the people we have been praying for recently and God definitely answered prayers. People out there are searching for truth. So it all started with an Elephant and a poem about 3 blind men. We took an elephant and cut it into pieces and asked people to pretend that it was a real elephant and asked them to describe what each piece of the elephant felt like. When handling the trunk, people described it as "snakelike" when describing the ear the described it as "flat" when describing the foot they said "thick". Each person was describing truth, but what does an elephant really feel like? No one will ever know unless you have the whole elephant to look at and to describe. Thus, a restoration of Christ's church had to be had and all truths had to be restored. It has been a huge success around here.

First story, we were visiting some less actives and they bailed so we talked to all their friends and we met this lady on her doorstep who expressed interest after talking about prophets. Long story short, SHE HAS NEVER BEEN BAPTIZED and she has lived in Oklahoma her whole life. That was a first. She said she had been waiting for a restoration. She believed in prophets. We taught her on her doorstep and she is now set to be baptized. Pretty cool.

Next story, me and Elder White have been going on splits alot lately because we have had to many apoointments to cover. So I went with the Elders Quorum President on thursday and we went to visit some formers. Well we found out that she had died and didn't live there. The lady we talked to was about to shut the door, but we asked if we could say a prayer for her. We asked if there was anything specifically in her life we could pray for and she said her son. We prayed and it was a spiritual prayer. I said some pretty weird things that just kinda accidentally came out. We looked up and she was crying. We told her that she was feeling God's love for her through His spirit. We then asked if we could come share a message with her and she said "i would love that". Well we went back on Saturday and she accepted everything. God knows and loves all His children.

Third story goes back to the beginning of my mission. My first week with Elder Hanes we were biking to an appointment that was about 15 miles away and it was pretty hot. We just decided to stop at a random blue house on the side of the road and ask for water. Turns out that they were members that were moving soon. They hadn't been to church for 30 years. Well long story short, one of their sons moved in and this family's name was the Sharps. I thought nothing of that blue house for the first 5 months of my mission and for good reason too I just found out. Well anyways, the day right before I left Edmond the little Blue House on Danforth Rd. popped into my head. So I took Elder Byrd to the house and introduced him to the kid that answered the door. That was the last I heard of it until this week. That family was baptized this past Saturday. 5 of them. During the 5 months that I had thought nothing about that family, they had been to Utah and back and had been meeting with missionaries over the phone who were preparing them for the missionaries in Oklahoma. They were being prepared for Elder Byrd and Elder Nelson, and my job was not to teach them. The Lord knew that. What a miracle!! I attached a picture of them. I finally met the parents for the first time this week. The Lord is so powerful and works so mysteriously. We gain little insights into His work as we are patient and trust Him.

There are so man other stories from this week but I don't have time to write them. All i know is that FAITH is key to everything we do. It is the principle of action and power that is mostly  dormant within each of us. Everything we do in this life is propelled from faith. If we did not believe that we would reap, we would never sow. If we did not believe the light would come on, we would never flip the switch. Why can't we make it that easy with God, even if you can no more then desire to believe, let that desire work in you. Have faith and YE SHALL have POWER to do WHATSOEVER thing is expedient in Christ. God showed us that this week. This ward is on FIRE. We taught 12 lessons in 12 different members homes with 12 different investigators and taught 23 lessons with a member present. We found 10 new investigators and set 4 more baptismal dates. Faith is building and this ward has taken the Lords challenge to raise the bar. Miracles are resulting.

I love you all!! Be happy and have faith!! If there was anyone to put trust in,  I would put it in a perfectly loving, perfectly knowing, perfectly perfect being who is our Father...in heaven.

Love,

Elder Dallin Cutler :)

we like to fish. 

the man himself.

daily lunch reading sessions with elder white.... ;)

#missionaryMode

#"baptismal"dates

#CutlerWhite

Baptizing the "hell" outta Oklahoma.

So this past weekend the highlight had to have been Rob's baptism. He is THE MAN!! I wish I could describe to you in detail how much change has taken place. The power of the priesthood and fasting has been manifested through this guys conversion. He has smoked his whole life, drank his whole life and just lived a life outside of the gospel for sure. Well we went to him Saturday after receiving an extremely strong prompting and said "Rob, we know it is Heavenly Fathers will that you quit smoking tonight so you can be baptized in a week". That was last Saturday. We gave him a blessing on Sunday and he did it. He was baptized on Saturday and brought his whole family to the baptism and then to church the next day. Truly we witnessed a miracle. Faith was built in all aspects. We asked our ward mission leader to Baptize and confirm him and that was the first time he was able to do that. It was such a cool experience!! He is now moving towards the temple and we will hopefully be teaching his family soon. God is a god of miracles. Who would have thought?

So much has been happening out here in Stillwater. We are working hard and it is really hot always. Our Zone is now the youngest zone in the mission. Almost every companionship in our zone has a new missionary that is being trained. So much faith and love from these young missionaries.

My mind has been on the power of making and especially keeping covenants. We are a covenant people. It takes sacrifice to build strong faith. It has given me a new perspective on life. Life was never meant to be easy. Christ never had it easy. He sacrificed His all. Why wouldn't we be willing to do the same? What is holding us back? If we are not willing to sacrifice and consecrate our ALL, we will NEVER be able to produce the faith in Christ that is necessary for our salvation. Sacrifice and covenants are crucial. We must remember them.

Well, life goes on. One more year and I will be home. Its scary to think how fast time has gone, but its humbling to see what the Lord has done with so little time. Our "time" is irrelevant to God, He has His own timing, and its perfect.

Keep on enduring.

Love,

Elder Cutler

p.s this is rob and his family.

Pictures

 this is a picture of our Zone or part of it...and our new president. and then the picture of a little kid who came up to us with his dads little badge and asked how he could be a missionary in the library. :) 

CLASSSSIc

Hashtags and juice.

,It's a cool subject so I thought I'd just do it. Whatever.

This week has been legit. It has been frustrating, exciting, stressful, hot, busy, funny, spiritual, and full of miracles...normal. I have hit a point on my mission where it would be impossible to be more tired. I have accepted the fact that I will be this way for another year, and it will probably get worse when I have a family of my own. I wish I would have slept more when i was younger.

We had a baptism this past weekend for Lonnie Olive. He is the man. He is such a funny guy and is always joking around with us. He has had 3 strokes in his life so its hard for him to speak, which is why I feel so humbled everytime he chooses to pray to His Heavenly Father. The Lord has strengthened this man so much. He is an inspiration to me about what it takes to do the Lords will even if we have difficulties doing it. He is about 50 years old and a member named Brother Ross ran into him. Ever since that we had been teaching him and now he is the newest member of the Stillwater 1st ward. I know that the Lord has big things in mind for this man. The baptism was really spiritual...shocking i know...and i will attach a picture of it.

The other miracle that I want to tell you about was a lesson we taught this week. One of the most spiritual lessons I have ever been involved in. We are teaching a guy named Rob. He is a really really cool guy...sometimes too cool. Anyways, he is extremely busy and works really hard for his family. This week we asked if he had been reading in the Book of Mormon and the Bible and been praying... (i've come to realize how truly important those things really are). He said no because he didn't have time to do it. The Spirit taught us all an important lesson after that. We were straight up with him. I told him about a story in my life where I forgot God and "didn't have time for him" and then made the statement, "Do not EVER be too busy for God". We talked about what that meant and read out of Mosiah 2. The Spirit was tangible and we were all emotional by the end of it. Well the miracle part comes next. He wasn't planning on coming to church this sunday because he was leaving out of town on sunday and had to get his whole family ready for the trip. Well we get to church on Sunday and Rob walks in. He comes up to us and says "You know, i have been thinking alot about what we talked about the other day about sacrifice and making time for God, and I want you to know that I do not have time to be here right now, but I am here." I was shocked once again at the dedication he had showed God. He taught me a huge lesson that day.

Even in times where we "don't have time for God" are we "there". Are
we there where God has asked us to be even when we don't have the time? Are we there doing what God has asked us to do even if we don't have the time? Are we there feeling what God wants us to feel even if we don't have the time? How much do we love God? Do we trust Him enough to sacrifice the things of the world that lull us into carnal security? I hope I do. Its a process that I am striving everyday to become better at by yielding to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and allowing the Atonement to strengthen me. i hope you will too. We ALWAYS have time for God.

Well I love you all. There have been some pretty amazing things happening around here. I wish I could tell you all about them but I know you are experiencing you're own tender mercies wherever you are. I pray that you will continue to recognize them :)

Remember the Gospel is true, but apostasy reigns. ;) #presGardner

Love,

Elder Cutler 

                                                      It's cool though.

    is this a National geographic picture or an "Elder Cutler and White productions" picture?

                                                                   lonnie again