August 29, 2011

Yokwe family!

Yokwe means hello in Marshallese. Elder Latrik has been teaching me all kinds of Marshallese words, and I've actually spent a little bit of time in the English-Marshallese dictionary looking up funny words. What a crazy language! But Elder Latrik says I have excellent language skills, and he thinks I'll be his next companion serving in the Springdale Marshallese branch. Now wouldn't that be interesting! That would totally change my mission. Elder Latrik says he's going to tell President Merkley about how good I am at Marshallese, but I just laugh it off. But hey, maybe I could get back from my mission and have a great conversation with Elder Jensen!

Haha :)

Holy frijoles your trip sounds like it was a ton of fun! Sacred Grove twice?! Awesome! I totally agree, mom - I already had a testimony before going there, but hey, it certainly doesn't hurt to get it strengthened like crazy. That experience, as well as my mission have given me a profound love and respect for the prophet Joseph Smith. It brings a tear to my eye to think that my family was able to feel that spirit and have such an amazing time. The church is true! Hallelujah and Amen!

Anyways. Last week went by very quickly. We didn't get as much done as I would've hoped, but I think we get more done when we have a car anyway. This week we have the car, so hopefully we'll get a lot done so I don't feel like a slacker. Elder Navratil is really starting to get anxious to go home (he goes home in 7 weeks), and so it wears on me a little sometimes. We still work hard, but sometimes I have to do the motivating. It's all good though.

Ashley has been doing great. We were able to meet at her house this week and have a lesson on Tithing and Fast offerings. I thought it would go well, but her children were very distracting and naughty. It was a complete disaster to be quite honest. But I guess the good thing is that she is happy and is ready to become a full-fledged member. She just needs encouragement and good examples. I still pray for her because she could go inactive in a jiffy. I think I need a lot more faith...

Nichole is still paving trails like always. She's been in a LOT of pain lately (back issues, stomach problems, hospital visits), but she still came to church yesterday and took notes and asked questions like a mad woman. Yeah, that's how golden she is. On Tuesday we met with her and went over the baptismal interview questions. She asked if she could meet the bishop and talk about her past problems. How legit is that?! We were going to meet with her on Thursday, but she called us on Wednesday to give her a blessing. We showed up with Bro. Garner (my favorite member ever ever everrrrrrrrr) and I was able to give her a blessing. Man, I could go on and on, but hopefully you can tell that Nichole is just fantastic. We're gonna baptize this woman Yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaah!!

Church is probably my favoritest thing to look forward to each week. There's nothing like doing missionary work for a full week and then just relaxing in a beautiful sacrament meeting. Yesterday I helped out with the primary program during sacrament meeting. I sat on the floor on the stand and used a flipbook with pictures and words. I also mouthed the words so the kids could follow along. Talk about hilarious! I about died watching all the adorable sunbeams try their hardest to sing. What a good time :) Elders quorum is a hoot every week. Every weeek, without fail, Bro. Lindsey falls asleep with his head thrown back and he snores like there's no tomorrow. We have to tap his leg like every five minutes and I have to keep myself from laughing my head off. Bro. Lindsey's the man! Funniest. Thing. Evar.

Yesterday we taught a woman named Caroline at the Sutton's home. We meet with her every Sunday for "Bible Study" and try to teach her. Notice how I said "try". She has a bajillion questions and she reads too many other sources, which causes her to believe in pretty much anything you can think of. It's really frustrating actually. She read some guy's book that suggests that there is no Devil and that evil is something that is man's fault. We tried to tell her that Satan wants her to believe there is no devil, but she loves the thought that he doesn't exist. We'll go into the lessons with a plan, only to try to answer all of her quesitons. We end up arguing sometimes because we get so frustrated. Man, I pray all the time that we'll know what to teach her to not end in an argument. She loves meeting with us, so I guess she's progressing... We made huge progress when she at least agreed with the Plan of Salvation. Pray for Caroline!

Mom I thought you'd appreciate this. We were in the car with Bro. Garner the other day and we passed a Spanish church with an awesome sign. I wasn't able to take a picture, but the sign said something in Spanish, and the background was Simon Dewey's (spelling?) "Oh Jerusalem" with Jesus overlooking the city. I wonder if they realize who made that picture haha :) All the time we'll pass churches with the funniest signs. I'll include one with this email.

The members out here are so amazing! Even if they're inactive, they are so nice and very hospitable. We gave a blessing to a man at the hosptial going in for heart surgery on Thursday. Him and his wife were the cutest couple ever, and they talked about their temple marriage with such a fondness that I'll never forget. I totally want to be like that... We've already met like 5 people who have super strong testimonies, they read scriptures every day, they pray, and yet they don't come to church. I just don't understand it. Hopefully we can get them coming again.

April, before I forget. I thought I'd warn you that Elder Rodriguez is going to be sending you a letter. He is girl crazy and he begged me for your address once I told him about you. Just be nice, okay? Haha

Well, I hope you have a great week family! I love you soooooo much! Life is great out in the OTM, so don't worry about me too much. Maybe today I'll meet another Born Again at Walmarts (everyone calls it Walmarts out here. Haha, oh Arkansas how I love you...) today.

Talk to you soon!

Love, Elder Atkin

 

P.S. Included pictures: 1. Church of Christ's sign. Haha all of the signs are like that out here. 2. We just had to pull over to take a picture of this liquor store's sign. There are a lot of liquor stores and tobacco shops.