Dearest family,
Hello! Sorry to email you 3 hours later than I normally do, but that's just how it's going to be today. Our zone had a super fun zone outing at the Renfroe's house today and last night (Bro. Renfroe is in the mission presidency and he lives in Fayetteville). We just barely got done and we decided to go straight to the library on our way back to Springdale. So yeah, here I am emailing :)
Today is one of those lazy days that seem to just last forever and make me very sleepy. It's sunny outside with a few clouds rolling by, and the temperature is in the 70's or 80's. It definitely is starting to feel like autumn around here. The past few days it has rained like crazy and so everything is so green and fresh. It makes it very humid, but I like the humidity when it is cooler. It is absolutely beautiful out here! I'm starting to love the many trees and the sprawling Ozark landscape more and more each day. And the thunderstorms lately have been AWESOME. Torrential downpours and lightning igniting the sky = epicness. But enough about nature... I'm just feeling very nostalgic and pensive today.
I don't have too much to tell you about, but that's alright. Maybe I can write a good letter to Pres. Merkley for once haha :) Thanks so much for the cookies Mom!! You were right- I was very surprised to get a package, and so great was my joy when I saw the still-fresh cookies inside. The other Elders were VERY jealous when they saw me bite into a few soft cookies. Thank you thank you thank you! Oh and your letter to me with the Colbert Report... hahahaha you know me too well, Mom! I totally read it out loud in a news reporter voice to the other Elders before I even read where you told me to. Hilarious! Oh boy, I hope y'all know how much I appreciate getting mail from you. I seriously can't explain how happy it makes me to see letters in the mail from each of you. I love you (all of you)!!!
Mom, I'm sure you'll do great on your talk. Don't worry about it too much, just speak from your heart. I'm not any expert on missionary work, but thanks for asking me for advice. The best way I can think of you presenting a talk on temples to non-members is just the way a missionary like me in the OTM would teach it. Invite the spirit with a prayer (that shouldn't be too weird), teach the basics of what goes on inside, and spend a large majority just bearing testimony of the importance of the temple and of your feelings of the temple. I haven't taught too many lessons on the temple yet, but I find that it is very effective when I look an investigator in the eye and tell them how I feel about the temple from the depths of my heart. Just last week before her baptism, we taught Nichole about the temple. We watched the video "Between Heaven and Earth" (you might use that) and explained what she could look forward to. Elder Navratil and I both bore our testimonies of the temple. I just told her how I felt when I walked into the Celestial Room and saw my parents and grandparents sitting and waiting for me. When investigators realize that the temple isn't some crazy ritual palace, and that it's mostly just a place for us to feel closer to Heavenly Father, it's really helpful. Anyways, I know you'll do great :) I'm very jealous that you could go do sealings with April. I feel like a kid all over again - dreaming of going to the temple someday!
I wish I could've seen the primary program! Haha I looooooooove primary programs. Aren't little kids just so adorable?! You can only imagine how fun it is that I've been able to go to primary the past couple Sundays and talk about missionary work to the little kids. I have to be all animated and loud so they'll pay attention, so it's pretty hilarious :) I'm actually going to be singing in a ward men's choir sorta thingy in a couple weeks. We practiced yesterday after church and we actually sounded pretty good for only 7 guys! I thought it would be a disaster. I had to volunteer Elder Navratil and I so there would be enough singers. He wasn't to happy.... tee hee
Oooh I almost forgot! (not really, I was just saving it for last) Nichole's baptism was amazing! I'll have to apologize right now because I forgot my camera, but just know I'll send a couple pics next week. Nichole has been having a lot of back pain lately, and so she came with a cane. But when it came time for Elder Navratil to baptize her, she went right into the water and came right out with the happiest look on her face. The program was very sweet and I know that each of the few people that showed up felt the spirit, including her husband. We're confident that he'll eventually come back to church. It was truly a perfect day :) I was just so happy for Nichole! On Sunday she was confirmed by Bro. Hornberger (the ward mission leader). She looked so happy :) I don't really know what else to say because it was just so perfect!!
I'm going to miss having an investigator like Nichole. You can't really plan on having a "golden investigator", but we try to approach each lesson like they are golden. Besides Nichole's baptism, we actually had kind of a rough week. Caroline is more confused than ever. She likes meeting with us because she's searching for the truth, but that also means she has a lot of other influences. Lately she's been attending something called "Science of the Mind", which teaches a bunch of junk - the kind of stuff Caroline thrives on. It's getting to the point where she doesn't believe in the Atonement of Jesus Christ, as well as other things. I could spend forever talking about all of the other stuff that she believes, but it just makes me really sad. Her husband doesn't really want her to meet with us anymore, and so we just had to leave our last visit with encouragment to read, study, and pray about the BOM. I basically begged her to at least believe that Jesus Christ is her Savior. Man.....
But I'm happy :) I'm doing great! I love attending church and being edified by the members and missionaries around me, and I love the gospel. I love my mother's cookies, I love the rain, my name is Willie Atkin, and I'm a Mormon. Haha jk :)
I'm sure I have much more to say, but I'm out of time. But I'm not too worried because I have a plan, and a few more hours of prep time. Y'all can be expectin' some letters in the mail this week. Hooray! I love you so much!
Love,
Elder Atkin
P.S. I found my nametag!
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