Miracle of the week: the temperature has been so much cooler here lately. So much cooler, in fact, that it's just plain ridiculous! It's been in the 70's and the 80's for most of the past week now and I'm just loving it. There's nothing like a cool breeze and cloud cover after weeks of 100+ degree days.
Good news: Elder Nordine is so awesome! He's very very very different from me, but we're already really good friends. He's from Las Vegas, so I was kind of jealous when ward members would "ooh" and "ahh" at church when they found out he wasn't from Utah. Gosh, I'm sick of people hating on Utah! I can't help but feel embarrassed that I grew up there sometimes. I just think it would be so cool to say that I'm from Vegas. But anyways, Elder Nordine has one younger brother and he was born and raised in the church. He's been out on his mission for almost 19 months now, so he doesn't have too much longer left. This is his first time being a zone leader too. He's was really into theater back home, and he was even a theater major at Dixie State. We get along great because we both like to laugh and joke around a lot. We're definitely going to have a good time.
Sad to say that this week was sort of a slow one. Having transfers shouldn't be any excuse to have a slow week, but that's sorta what happened. The day before Elder Quinn left he made sure to say goodbye to all of his favorite members and friends. I really wanted to work, but I didn't want to ruin the good feelings between us. Thus I let him just do his thing. But hey, I can't complain about the 5 meal appointments that we had on Wednesday. I'm pretty sure I gained 100 pounds that day. Man, there's some really good BBQ here in Joplin. It was sad to see Elder Quinn go, but I knew we'd see each other at ZLC and such. Change is just hard sometimes, ya know what I mean? Even if it's a good change and I get a sweet companion, it just kind of throws me off. I'm in this weird funk right now. Hopefully it doesn't last long...
2nd Miracle of the week: Elder Nordine and I were at church yesterday and the Joplin 1st ward had just finished its meetings. We found our way through the crowd back to the chapel because the Webb City ward's sacrament meeting had just ended and we wanted to find Bishop Westwood. As we were walking up to the door, a lady walked out and stopped us. She asked, "are you our missionaries?" We replied in the affirmative. She then said, "Good. I'm Sis. Decker and I have a niece that's 16 and has been attending church with us for a few weeks now. She wants to take the discussions and get baptized." After picking up our jaws off the ground, we proceeded to follow Sis. Decker back into the chapel where we met Alexis, her niece. Suddenly it clicked in my mind. A few weeks previous, Sis. Decker's husband called us out of nowhere and informed us of the same thing, just without the details of her wanting to be baptized. All we knew was that they had a niece that might be interested. They said they'd try to set something up and they'd call us in the next week. Well, that never happened, and we totally forgot about it. But lo and behold, Alexis plopped right into our laps. Even cooler is the fact that her mother is returning to church after 8 years of inactivity. That's the reason why Alexis never got baptized in the first place. But either way, Alexis is stoked to learn about the Gospel and set a date with us. And it will be super easy because she's already been attending church regularly. Ka-ching! So yeah, the Lord is truly blessing us. If we hadn't been looking for Bishop Westwood, we wouldn't have talked to Sis. Decker. I'm sure they would've eventually got things lined up and called us, but it just made everything 10 times easier to meet her there, give Alexis a Book of Mormon and a homework assignment, and set up a time this Tuesday.
I've told you a bit about Rachel and Dakota previously. Well, Rachel is our other investigator with a date set for the 8th. We couldn't get a hold of them this week, so we're going to try real hard and teach her this week a couple times. We're a bit worried about Rachel making it to the 8th because they haven't come to church 2 weeks in a row now. I'm sure she's still interested, but I really just wanted it to happen soon. Gosh, I'm so impatient sometimes. But I'm really praying that things work out and we can keep the fire lit. Pray that Rachel will progress!
Sadly, Ashley couldn't make it to church either. She's really been struggling with her beliefs lately, which doesn't help. She absolutely loves the ward and loves our meetings, but she told us (before Elder Quinn left) that she doesn't believe that this is the true church. She claims that her beliefs most align with that of "Messianic Jews." It's okay if she doesn't believe that the church is true (yet), but I just get frustrated because she hasn't put in enough effort to find out if the BOM is true and such. When we met with her on Wednesday, we had somewhat of a "bash" with her and it got us nowhere. She's just so confused! I just wish she would get an answer that it's all true. But I know it won't come if she doesn't have "real intent." I'm sad to say that I kinda lost my cool in our lesson with her. I told her that if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is not the Kingdom of God established on the earth, and if she's knows that with a perfect knowledge, then she should look elsewhere. I told her that she should search her whole life, no matter how long it took, to find Christ's true church. If this isn't it, then don't waste your time attending ours! If we don't have the truth, then we're just another one of those bajillions of nice Christian churches out there. I had to repent after that one... But we're meeting with her on Thursday, so at least she's still seeing us. Just pray that your son doesn't lose his cool again.
Well, all in all life is good here in Joplin. I can't wait for the stake center to be finished, and I'm excited for autumn to come. Elder Nordine and I are going to work our tails off, so I'm happy. I know I'm at my peak of happiness when I'm workin' hard. Have a great week, family. I sure miss you a lot sometimes. Dad, the pictures you sent me were absolutely beautiful. I miss the mountains! I miss fly fishing! Golly, you know how to make Elder Atkin homesick. But don't worry, it's a good homesick. I just love y'all so much :)
Love, Elder Atkin
P.S. Here's some pics. First one is of Elder Quinn and I lookin' like champs in the car. The second is of a $40 steak I had the day before Elder Quinn left. It has bleu cheese crumbles on top and it was served on a 500 degree plate. Isn't that awesome?! And thirdly is of Elder Nordine posing all awkward-like. I love this guy :) Hooray!
P.P.S. I'm totally jealous that you get to go to education week. Do you know what I miss? BYU. I miss it so much that it hurts. No matter how bad I did my first year of college there, I just ache to be there.
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