July 30, 2012

Dear Family,

Mom, I'm so proud of your missionary moment! Doesn't it just feel great?? I flippin' love sharing the gospel these days. Gosh, if you were out here you would wonder what happened to your son (in a good way of course). I still having my flaws and I still get nervous, but I just itch to talk to people about God and religion. It's the thing to do around here. Especially in the Tulsa area. It's "cool" to invite your friends to church. We spent a lot of time talking about that in my last area because if you say it in the right way, inviting your friend to church is very smooth and easy. It's like, "Oh, I'm sad to hear that you don't like what your preacher said last Sunday. Ya know what? You should just come to my church this Sunday and see what it's like. You'd love it!" I'm really good at what I do :)

It's true, Mom. There is a lot of junk about our church on the internet. Have you heard about the Bloomberg Business article yet? If you haven't, I'm sure you will. Apparently the article is all about how our church is a wealthy business and is taking over the world. What a bunch of junk! I'm so sick and tired of the anti that's out there. Of course, there needs to be an opposition to what is good, but you'd think that the anti could just cool off a bit. This last week we met with a recent convert who left the church because she got offended. She knows it's still true, but she thinks everyone hates her at church (not true, by the way). And just the other day her brother showed her a bunch of Google anti. She was going to come to church, but instead she sent us texts during church meetings citing the Doctrines of Salvation and the Journal of Discourses. She's really doubting what she knows. It's so sad! She hasn't answered our calls for a while :( And what's worse is we looked up each reference and they were totally misquoted or taken out of context. Anti = stupid.

But anyways. Good news! Shelby's ready for baptism this Saturday! We went over the baptismal interview questions with her this week and then Elder Lund interviewed her on Saturday. We'll meet with her one more time before this Saturday and watch "On the Lord's Errand" and talk about prophets. I'm just so stoked :) She's so ready. I can just see it in her eyes. Sadly, we can't get her to pray yet, but she promised that she would after her baptism. I'll try to send pictures of the baptism next Monday.

This week we went on exchanges with President Shumway. I have to admit that Elder Quinn and I were very nervous. We tried our best to set up an amazing dinner and an appointment with Ashley. Result? Miracles! We had a wonderful dinner with the Buells and our appointment with Ashley went very well. Although she missed church, she is progressing and is reading the Book of Mormon. Our 40-day fast continues to bless us.

Have a great week and stay cool. It's like 111 right now... Love ya loads!

Love, Elder Atkin

July 23, 2012 - Great Week!

Dear Family,

 

How's life for you? Life is good for this elder!

 

Miracle of the week: Ashley came to church!!! It was so unexpected that we almost didn't even know what to do with ourselves. She's been kinda flakey in the past, so when she said that she'd come to church eventually, we kinda lost faith. When you hear something like that a million times and it doesn't happen, then it's hard to have faith. But out of nowhere a few days before church, Ashley texted us and said, "Hey elders. I'll see you on Sunday :)" We knew immediately that it was a direct cause of our 40-day missionary fast in the ward. Man, it was one of the best Sundays of my mission! It was one of those Sundays where you feel exhausted after church because you do everything to make them feel happy and welcomed and involved at all 3 hours of the block. And that's exactly what happened. There were awesome talks in sacrament meeting, Bro. Blake taught an awesome Gospel Principles class, and Relief Society was... awesome, I guess haha. The ward did everything perfect when it came to fellowshipping - everyone said hi and shook Ashley's hand. After church she looked so happy! She thanked us and set up an appointment with us at the Richins's house on Wednesday (Sis. Richins is her new best friend). She said that though she still has tons of questions and praying to do, it was the best church service she's ever attended. Hooray! Elder Quinn and I are planning on extending the baptismal commitment on Wednesday.

 

Shelby is getting really close to her baptism, so we're pumped. We've taught her most of the lessons now, so all we have to do is prepare her for her interview this Saturday. I just can't say enough how golden she is! She accepts every commitment we extend without hesitation. She has such faith. It's been cool to see how much she has changed since we began teaching her not that long ago. She looks more and more happy each time, as if something is clicking in her life. At our lesson on Thursday, she invited her older sister to attend and see what it was like. We had planned to teach the Word of Wisdom, but we wondered if it was still the lesson we should teach since Ashley (her sister) would be there. After a little bit of thought and prayer, we realized that we were fearing that Ashley would be weirded out by our lesson. We were worried that the lesson would scare her off. But we felt prompted to go ahead with the lesson despite it being her first. It ended up being the best Word of Wisdom lesson I've ever taught, and we were able to commit Ashley to live the Word of Wisdom for a week. We don't know if she'll want to be taught in the future, but the Spirit was there and it wasn't awkward at all. Afterward I realized that I was fearing man more than God when we wanted to change the lesson. So what if it's on the Word of Wisdom? The Spirit can still be there! And it definitely was. I've learned that we could teach any principle to anybody if the Spirit is there.

 

There have been so many miracles lately, I just can't even begin to share them all! After rescheduling about 5-6 times with us, the Loftons finally set up a lunch/lesson appointment with us. Looking back at it, I think Satan was doing everything he could to prevent us from meeting. He knew that good would come out of it. We ended up staying for 2 hours teaching the Plan of Salvation to Challes and her mom. We answered tons of Sis. Lofton's questions and helped her understand that we aren't some crazy cult. She was so drawn in to what we were teaching. She told us that everything made so much sense to her - more than anything she'd been taught in the Baptist church before. Before we could even ask her to consider baptism, she explained that she felt that this would be the church for her to get baptized in. I about leapt of the coach and moon-walked :) Challes is more eager than ever to get baptized as well. She has a date for the 4th, but she needs to attend our ward first. She's been going to 2nd ward because her boyfriend goes there, but she has to be baptized into the 1st ward. It's kinda complicated, but we have faith that it will work out.

 

Besides that, we've been picking up at least 1 new investigator each week. Once again, it's all thanks to the fast. Of course, not all of our new investigators get baptized, let alone even progress. But the more new investies we get, the more investies we get to help progress towards eventual baptism. We have a few follow-up appointments with new investigators this week, so we'll see how that goes. Totally righteous!

 

I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I love you! Thanks for everything and have a great Pioneer Day.

 

3 Nephi 5:13 - Y'all should memorize this.

 

Love, Elder Atkin

 

July 16, 2012 - I'm all out of subjects to use...

Dear Family,

 

What's up, champs??  Sorry, but this email's going to be another short one. Busy preparation day today.

 

I'm doing great! It's been scorchin' hot lately, but it doesn't bother me as much these days. I just wish that the clouds would unleash some rain on us these days. Gee whizz! I'm truly greatful that we have a car to use so we don't have to walk and bike everywhere. Sure, we still walk a ton, but it's nice to go back to the car and get a little cool air. Did you know that Elder Quinn's been in car areas his whole mission? He hasn't had to use his bike at all! The OTM is very much a car mission because of how big the areas are. Usually the only bike areas are in the cities, in the which the OTM has very few large ones.

 

It was an okay week for us. Well... I guess it was more of a week of extremes, I should say. Bummer of the week: Elder Quinn was sick for the 3rd week in a row with a really nasty cold. It's just starting to get a little ridiculous how often he's getting sick. Talk about a really bad immune system! Our numbers continue to suffer because of a lot of time spent sitting in the apartment. But hey, at least I got to write some letters, read my scriptures, and clean the apartment. I just want to get out there and work! It seems like we haven't had the time to work our tails off for a full week in forever.

 

Great news of the week: We picked up a new investigator named Barbara. She's actually a former investigator that - like many other investigators - had their records lost in the tornado. Her neighbors (the Pagans) are members and they told us to stop by. Elder Quinn stopped by with Elder Pope on an exchange and then I went over to teach her the Restoration a few days later with Elder Pope because Elder Quinn was sick. She's really nice, but she's had a lot of problems to deal with. She has a rough past and is a single mom, so life is pretty tough sometimes. Add to the load her son who has infinity health problems and she just doesn't know what to do. As we taught her the first lesson she just cried and cried because the Spirit was so strong. Our exchange was able to bear testimony and comfort her. Having a member with us was the best thing we could've ever done! He saved the lesson and he helped her feel the Spirit. We'll see how things go in the future.

 

Darn! I have to go, but I have some more things to say to y'all. I think I'll write you a letter. Have a great week!

 

Love, Elder Atkin

 

July 9, 2012 - Hooray for Rain!

Dear Family,

It rained this week! From what I hear, pretty much every state in the country has been in desperate need of rain. I've always found it quite interesting and touching when people pray for rain in church, in lessons, at dinner, etc. It didn't rain for days and days, but it was enough to lift peoples' spirits here in Missouri. It has been getting so hot! But because of the rain, today is a bit cooler. What a nice break from the heat. Too bad it won't last forever...

I love the article you sent me, Mom. Every time I hear about the subject of Mormonism being brought up on a national stage it makes me giddy with excitement. Any news is good news! Sure, there are a lot of negative views on our church out there, but that just causes people to ask questions. We aren't teaching like crazy here in Joplin (though we will be next week), but people sure are asking questions. Walmart, gas stations, Subway... You name it, we get asked some pretty good questions. Some of them are quite funny :) Do you REALLY believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers?!?! Why yes, I do. hahahaha! So yes, Mom, I love those kinds of articles. Anything else going on in the world that has to do with the church? I'd love to hear what's going on.

It's been another good week. Elder Quinn was sick again for a couple of days, but we still taught some great lessons. Gosh, I worry about the guy's health sometimes... Luckily, he was healthy enough when it was game-time though. We had a really fun 4th of July in which we spent most of the day golfing and then doing service. We did a little bit of proselyting, but as I've said before, nobody really likes to see us on holidays. President Merkley would always tell us that it's a great opportunity to meet families and teach a lot of lessons, but from my experience holidays are some of the worst days to knock on a door. But don't worry, that doesn't stop us. We just try to be more effective and smart in our work on holidays. Service is definitely one of those ways. We helped some people move into their new house and in return they took us to get some BBQ. Score! Golfing was a lot of fun, but we definitely weren't very good. Bro. Kartchner and Bro. Tucker were nice enough to invite us to the Briarbrook Community 4th of July Scramble (if you don't know what a scramble is, google it), but in the end I think they were expecting us to be a little better than we were. It's okay though, we all had fun, but we sure didn't win the competition.

On Friday, we met President Shumway and his wife for the first time in Springfield. We were all wondering beforehand we he was going to be like. Some elders were worried that he was going to be a stickler for the rules. Isn't that ridiculously funny and ironic?? But as zone conference started and the both of them spoke, I instantly was a big fan of the Shumways. I thought that I was going to be comparing him to President Merkley the whole time, but in the end there was no comparison at all. There didn't need to be! P Merk and P Shum are two totally different people, but both are powerful and spiritually in-tune. I already trust President Shumway with all I've got. He's quite the intense guy, if you ask me. He laid down the law on obedience and such, but he touched our hearts with his testimony of the Savior and of this work. One minute he'd blaze our eyebrows right off, and the next he'd have us tearing up with feelings that come through the Spirit. What a man! He's got me even more pumped to just hit it hard every single day from 10am to 9:30pm. Here are some of my favorite quotes from President Shumway already:

-"Be fanatically obedient. Irritate your companion with your obedience!"
-"Nobody likes a dull, disillusioned cry baby."
-"Praise Allah. You bet. I'm ready" <--- This one's probably my fave. This was taken from when he was talking about how he wants us to put him to work as a mission president. He wants us to set up appointments at universities, clubs, events, etc. for him to talk about our faith and to answer questions. Isn't that legit?! He's utterly brilliant, I can tell. Somebody mentioned something about him going to a mosque or something, and that's when he said that quote. Hahahaha

So, yeah. I like the new guy. You can tell that Sis. Shumway is totally a greenie, but hey, she reminds me of Mom with her kindness and happiness.

This week we taught Shelby twice in Bishop Hoffman's home. Both lessons were fantastic! She is so so so ready to be baptized. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and everything just clicked into place. She always thought that there was more than just Heaven and Hell, so the kindoms of glory were no problem. Last night we ate dinner with the Hoffmans and then taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so perfect! Sis. Hoffman was able to bear her testimony and Shelby totally cried. She knows it's true :) Just imagine a super classy and attractive woman breaking down into tears because of a simple testimony. Gosh, I love the Gospel! The coolest part of the lesson for me though, came near the end as I was bearing my testimony. I suddenly had the strongest confirmation in my heart that our family could be forever. It was so short and so simple, but it was so strong. I know that I already have a testimony, but it was right there in that happy moment with Shelby and the Hoffmans that I knew without a doubt that I could never ever deny this Gospel. It's kind of intimidating to think about the consequences of that, but at the same time it was very satisfying to know that I've come to that point in my life where I just simply can't deny it. Hot diggety!!!

We picked up a new family this week named the Loftons. They should be pretty solid in the future because they were so nice and have a ton of questions. Yessssssss (Kip fist pump). We also had an excellent lesson with Ashley (who I mentioned texted us out of nowhere and wanted to meet. 40-day fast miracle!). She'd been anti'd recently, but we helped resolve her concerns and she said she's come to church. Bingo!!!

Golly, I'm sure loving Joplin right now. I can't wait to tell you more stories from this week. We're going to work harder than ever! And this week we don't have to worry about zone conferences and such. Hopefully Elder Quinn doesn't get sick again... Have a good one, y'all!

Love, Elder Atkin

July 2, 2012 - 4th of July

Dear Family,

First of all, Mom I love how you referred to my year mark as my "hump day." Send me a camel, will you? I can't believe I'm almost halfway done! But at the same time I can't believe I'm only halfway done. Sheesh.

So what are y'all up to this 4th of July? This Wednesday should be a good one for us. We'll start off the day by going golfing with a nonmember at 7:30 in the morning. If it weren't such a long story, I'd tell you why this former member of the church who was married in the temple, went on a mission, has kids at BYU, etc. had his name removed from the church. Sad, huh?! But he's awesome and he attends church each week and really likes us. We feel like he'll get rebaptized someday in the near future because he totally knows it's true. For now we're fellowshipping him like crazy. Golf is an excellent way to do that and it was HIS idea!! Win win. We'll also be helping someone move and eating enough BBQ to make ourselves sick. Don't worry parents, I won't get fat.

This week was kind of a tough one because Elder Quinn was really sick. We think that he got heatstroke really bad. For like 3 days in a row he slept in until afternoon. It was bad news. But he's totally okay now and as happy as ever. Missionaries get sick. It happens. But we still taught some great lessons!

Best news of the day? We set a date with Shelby for the 4th of August!!!!!!! Shelby - with the help of Cody (Bishop's son who's her boyfriend. Return missionary) agreed to meet with us on Thursday for the first time and receive the discussions. Cody informed us beforehand that she was very nervous and didn't want to have to answer too many questions. But as the lesson started, she totally relaxed as she realized that we weren't going to drill her for answers. Elder Quinn taught about the Restoration excellently and I talked about how the gospel is for us and for our happiness. It was so perfect! We both instantly knew that we needed to invite her to be baptized on a specific date (we talked about it afterwards). Elder Quinn asked her if she'd be baptized on the 4th and I immediately knew that it was right. And guess what she said?? "That's the plan. Time is irrelevant. I know this is for me." *Angels singing* We're meeting with her tomorrow. She's already asking awesome questions about the priesthood and the temple and stuff. Oh yeah, baby!!!!!!!!!!

I know that the 40-day fast that we're holding with the ward is already blessing us tremendously. Shelby totally fell into our laps. An investigator that 2nd ward is teaching actually lives in our area and has a date for the 4th as well. Ashley texted us out of nowhere and wants to meet tomorrow. Every member who's fasted so far has had a missionary experience. SO many miracles!! I'm just beside myself with happiness. It's not like I lack faith big-time, but I never knew that a flippin' 40-day fast could do so much in just a week! We're not even 1/4 the way done! I know for a fact that fasting works and that the Lord blesses us with opportunities when we put forth our effort. What an awesome experience.

Every day just keeps getting better and better. Well, we still have our slow days, but we just have an urgency that I've never felt before. I want to just shout to everyone in Joplin! But sadly, there is someone who's still struggling. Remember my old pal Elder Jensen? He's been out almost a year now and still hasn't had a baptism. Their most recent heart break happened when an investie with a date for the 7th (this Saturday) just flipped out and dropped them. Just like that. Elder Jensen is kinda struggling because he thinks he's doing wrong. I just feel so depressed because if there's anyone who deserves a baptism, it's him. He's a hard worker and a great guy! Pray for Elder Jensen. He needs it. I remind him that numbers don't matter, but it still stinks. Missions are tuff!

Well, I love y'all very much and wish you the best. Thanks for your support!

Love, Elder Atkin

P.S. Here's some pics (finally). There's one of me and Elder Doxey, who is now home. He sang in Magic with me, so maybe you'll recognize him. The picture was taken at transfer points as he was on his way to the mission home after 2 years of dedicated service. I love that man!  Then there's one of Elder Quinn, Ryan, and I after eating lunch one day. Ryan is the son of a member from the Stockton ward who is best friends with Elder Quinn. Haha he's kinda nerdy but he's totally my favorite!

Elder Atkin and Elder Doxey

Elder Atkin, Ryan, and Elder Quinn