Dear Family,
Holy Hannah, it feels like I just sat at this
computer a few hours ago to email you! Well, I guess it really was a
short week since I last emailed you. That and this week just smoked
right on past. Time flies when you're having fun.
We had a baptism on Saturday!! It was incredible. You know those
days in life that are just absolutely amazing and you want them to last
forever? Saturday was like that. It was all-around the perfect day.
Earlier in the day the Carthage elders had a baptism in the same
building and so we attended that and just stayed afterward to prepare
for ours. Their investigator who was getting baptized was a really nice
Hispanic lady named Sonia. The coolest part about it was that her
baptism would complete her little family because her husband was already
a member. I guess the story is that he (the husband) has had a really
hard life and has struggled with many addictions. At one point in his
life, some members of the church in Carthage took him in and tried to
help him become better. He eventually joined the church, turned his life
around, and then finally met Sonia a few years ago. He still struggles
with some Word of Wisdom problems, but he's working on it so they can go
to the temple in the future and be sealed as a family. Everyone in
attendance cried during the whole thing. The Spirit was so strong! I
can't wait until they can be sealed together forever :)
I have to admit I was a little worried about Alexis' baptism.
Carthage had a lot of people show up and everything went so smoothly. I
was a little bit intimidated and I felt unprepared for some reason. I
was suddenly worried that not very many people would show up. I was
about to panic, but then I remembered that I could pray. This may sound
very simple and kind of funny, but hey - sometimes I forget! I quickly
said a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for the opportunity to have the
baptism, and I asked that everything would go well and that Alexis would
feel loved. Immediately afterward I felt at peace and I knew all would
be well. And guess what? It did go well... and then some! Many people
from the Webb City ward showed up to support Alexis, even though they
didn't know her. We were able to get the program finished and everything
ready just in time. What a miracle! The baptism went very well, and I
was so happy to see Alexis' cousin do his very first baptism as a
priest.
When we finally got home late Saturday night, Elder Nordine and I
collapsed from exhaustion. It was go go go all day, and when we finally
could relax, we were DONE. I sure had a good sleep that night. There's
nothing more satisfying than being exhausted after a long day as a
missionary. Heck, we helped someone move the morning of the baptism. We
even had time to proselyte. It's amazing what you can do in one day!
Heavenly Father has been blessing Elder Nordine and I so much
lately. Sometimes I feel like I don't deserve all of the blessings and
miracles we receive each day. We were so discouraged to see many of our
investigators - including Ashley - drop us recently. I felt hopeless,
especially with Alexis soon getting baptized. We wouldn't have anyone to
teach afterward! But suddenly Kim called us the day of the baptism and
told us that she wanted to meet with us again. We dropped by the Henleys
for the millionth time and they answered! They're still interested! We
picked up a new investigator by visiting a less-active family. We're
teaching him on Thursday. His last name? Adkins! We received a media
referral today for a woman who's a descendant of David Whitmer. So many
miracles!!!
I love the Gospel and I love this work. I can honestly say that I'm
getting "lost" in it. It's part of me. It's who I am. It's all I want to
do. I hope and pray that it can stay that way. I don't ever want it to
end :)
I'm out of time. Have a great week! You should send me a picture of the Wellsvilles with all of the changing colors.
Love, Elder Atkin
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