Dear Family,
Mom,
I think that it would be beneficial for me to inform you that I
copy/paste your emails into the email I'm composing so I can remember
what was said and reply to your questions. But, sadly, I often fail at
answering every question and keeping you 100% updated on my mission
experience. You asked a lot of questions in the first paragraph of you
email, so I'm just going to leave the questions in and answer them as I
go.
Did you survive transfers?! Yes. It was quite uneventful actually... Where are you? I'm still in Elm Creek!! Yay!! I really would love to stay here forever. Do you have a new companion?! Nope. I still got my pal Elder Ivie :) What a champ. Did you just love conference?! Holy moley I LOVED every bit of conference! I'll tell you more about it in a bit. Did you see Frank and David Archuletta singing in the choir? I saw Frank and totally flipped out with excitement! And Elder Archuletta - what a man. I totes saw him too. How's all your clothes holding up? My
clothes are still in great shape... Besides a couple of shirts... Don't
worry, they're fixable. I just do stupid things like rip off my pocket
on accident and such. No big deal :) Do you even get scared anymore about approaching people or big changes like transfers?
I do have to admit that I still tense up a tiny bit when I approach
people, but surely not as much as when I was green. Boy, was I green! I
don't really get super nervous about transfer calls anymore either. They
come quicker and quicker each time. But Elder Ivie, on the other hand,
was kinda freakin out. Haha I love him so much! I loved the
Christ like example that they talked about in conference when the Elder
comforted his companion and the guy had a change of heart when he saw
their example. I loved that too. That actually really hit me
hard because I often laugh it off when someone's not interested. I guess
it's my way with coping... I don't need to cry each time someone
rejects me, but do I care enough about their salvation that I'm
devastated when they don't accept our message? Big time lesson learned
there. What's the biggest thing you learned this week? That
was one big lesson I learned this week, but there were many others. Too
many to narrow it down to one. Lets just say that conference changed my
life. Again. What was your favorite conference talk? It was all so good! I really liked Henry B. Eyring's Saturday talk. I wish I had brought my notes to the library, darn it!!! Thanks for the pictures! You're welcome :) isn't Tulsa cool lookin'? How's your spirits? Is there anything I can do for you? Your Mom and Dad sure love you!!!! Don't
worry, dear parents. I can feel your love from 1,200 miles away. There
were times in conference where they briefly mentioned the support that
missionaries have back home. It's in moments like these that I really
feel connected to home and can just imagine y'all thinking about me as I
think about you. My spirits are often all over the place, but they are
always on a steady trend upward. Missions are good spiritual exercize.
Boy, does it feel great! The most important thing you can do for me is
to pray for my investigators and for Owasso. There are people that
desperately need our message. Pray for me that I might be inspired to
find them. I need the confidence to talk to everybody and anybody. I
believe that prayer is powerful.
Well, as to inform you about my week, things have been
going well. Sis. Hanna was able to attend conference with us at the
Gaylord's home and she really loved it. She was so touched by the
messages, and she felt that it was totally for her. Many of our leaders
talked about returning to activity and the blessings of coming back into
the fold. It is never too late for someone to return and receive the
blessings of fellowship and the atonement. She desperately wants to
return to church and be rebaptized. We all agree that she's still alive
and sane (partly sane haha) because she needs to take that step of faith
and rejoin the church. I've been wondering if she should really count
as an investigator for us because of her interesting predicament, but
that's not what really matters. She has the desire. She knows what's
right. And she wants us (Elder Ivie and I) to help her get there. I love
her so much! Nobody ever wants to see her more than once because she
can talk your ear off, but she has such a sweet spirit. She wants me to
baptize her when the time comes. Hopefully I'm still here.
I'm really beginning to love elderly people more and
more. I'm so sad that Gladys Johnson died :( She was always so nice and
sweet when I dropped off fast offerings to her. I can't help but get a
little teary-eyed when I think about the little conversations we had
each month. I didn't really appreciate it at the time, but I appreciate
it now. We meet regularly with older people. Some are active, some are
less-active, and some are non-members. Some can't attend church because
of their failing health. They wish so badly to be there, but they just
simply cannot go. Martha is waiting to have another surgery pretty soon,
and she looks very very tired when we go over sometimes. Bro. Butler is
manfully fighting his Parkinson's, but he can barely talk. A couple of
fast sundays ago he stood up out of his wheel chair and bore one of the
most powerful testimonies I've heard. You could barely hear him, but
there wasn't a dry eye in the congregation. There is something special
about those whose mortal bodies are failing them. They are getting
closer and closer to returning to "that God who gave them life," as
referred to by Alma in chapter 40. Gladys Johnson is in a state of
happiness and rest. She's returned home :)
The gospel is true!
The Holy Ghost testifies of it's truthfulness to me each day. We were
able to get Tom and Belinda over to the Mawby's for lunch yesterday.
They didn't stay for conference, but we had a great lesson on charity
and not casting the first stone with them. Tom helped us out. When I
thought we were done, and as I was about to close with my testimony, Tom
then fired the big guns at the Mawbys. "I believe that God and Jesus
are the same person. What do you believe?" We were all taken off guard.
Luckily, the spirit was still able to dwell with us as we shared our
differences and bantered lightly. We were arguing in the Lord :) After
all was said and done, Sis. Mawby bore a powerful witness about the
gospel and the Restoration through Joseph Smith. The Spirit was almost
tangible. I know that Tom and Belinda felt it. But once again, did they
recognize it? Only time will tell.
I'm almost out of time again, but I hope you know that I
love each one of you very much. I'm so greatful for our family
relationships and for the gospel in our lives. Where would we be without
it? Where would we look to in times such as these?
Have a great week!
Love, Elder Atkin
P.S.
You can probably tell that I didn't nearly get to finish what I wanted
to say, but that's okay. I could talk your collective ears off all day
about General Conference. I will say this about it: Amen.
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