Dear Family,
So how's life? How's
the presidential race? With November coming up quick, more and more
people are asking us questions about Romney and such. It's ALL people
talk about these days! I don't even watch the news, but yet I usually
get a play-by-play of the latest debate, etc. For some reason I get the
feeling that this election is more important than elections in the past.
Some people I've met are legitimately worried about the future of their
families. It gets me all worried in return. It's sure a sign of the
times. There is more increasingly good things said about the church
these days. Same goes for the bad. Crazy... By the way, I know I
should've brought this up like 3 months ago, but is it too late for
someone like me to vote with an absentee ballot? I don't even know if I
registered back home, but everyone keeps asking me about it. Just
curious.
Meanwhile, in Joplin, Missouri - Elder Atkin is in his little
missionary bubble. Thoughts of future life and presidential races and
football are swept away by thoughts of baptismal dates and what tie
he'll wear for the day. Hmmm... Today I think I'll wear my plaid,
multi-colored tie that was made from imported wool from Scotland. I
found it at the D.A.V. Thrift store for $1!!! D.A.V. Thrift is probably
one of my favorite places on the planet. Goodwill comes in at a close
2nd, and then the Salvation Army after that. That's where I found a suit
for only $6. Cha-ching!
Anyway. Most of our investigators are doing pretty good. Kim and her
family weren't able to make it to church yesterday, but they're still
on their way towards their baptisms on November 24th. I don't remember
if I told you this already, but Dustin moved out (Kim's boyfriend), Pete
moved out (Bri's boyfriend), and Cameron moved back in (Bri's husband
who ran away a few months ago). It's been one crazy mess, but things are
slowly falling in to place as Kim, Bri, and Brandon have decided to
live the gospel. It was going to be really difficult to worry about Kim
and Dustin getting married and Bri and Pete getting married, but we
don't have to worry about that anymore. And since Cameron came back,
he's decided that he wants to learn and get baptized. When he showed up,
Bri quickly forgave him and let him back in. He decided to come back
because he knew he needed to be in his two sons' lives. Both Kim and Bri
have talked about how they know that they need to live the Gospel and
keep the commandments, and that they couldn't do it with Dustin and Pete
around. That's what can happen when people keep their commitments and
read their scriptures! This family has figured out something that many
investigators can't do. It's awesome :)
Sadly, Ashley is back on the downward slope again :( We met with her
on Thursday and had an amazing lesson with her. She even told us that
she wants to be baptized! We left the lesson on cloud 9, only to get a
tearful call from her Friday morning telling us that she can't meet with
us anymore. She didn't even give us a reason why. Before I could ask
her anything she hung up. I was super depressed for the rest of the day.
I didn't even want to go outside. I'm just so sick of getting my hopes
up and then having them shattered into pieces! Ashley's dropped us like 3
times before, but this time was different. I could barely understand
her because she was crying so much. We figure it's because of pressure
from her family this time. Her uncle isn't the biggest fan of Mormonism.
Maybe she'll call us in a few weeks. Sigh...........
On a brighter note, we had a few miracles this week. This weekend
there was an open house in the new stake center for anybody and
everybody to come and see what a Mormon church looks like. It was a
really enjoyable three days as we were able to talk to people, give
tours, and answer questions. We didn't get quite the turnout that we
were hoping for, but some cool people came through. A few older couples
who live nearby came in and said that they watched the building go up
for the past year and couldn't wait to go inside. A lot of members
brought their friends. I spent most of the time just sitting at a desk
with a guest book, directing people to different places. On Saturday,
during a slow period I was able to give a tour to a Methodist couple.
They attend church very actively at the Methodist church in downtown
Joplin, but they couldn't pass up on seeing what "candidate Romney's
church" looked like. I'm sure you can guess who they were voting for :)
Anyway, they both asked really good questions and planned on coming back
to do genealogy in the family history center. Afterward, the wife (I
wish I could remember her name) told me that she was a music teacher and
that she LOVED MOTAB with all her heart. To quote her, "There's all the
good choirs on this earth, and then there's the Mormon Tabernacle
Choir." She enjoyed my comments and answers to her questions so much
that she invited Elder Nordine and I to come to her church in the
future. She's going to fire up the pipe organ for us! I'm both excited
to go to her church, and to answer more of her questions. She's really,
really interested. It was a miracle for me because I felt like April for
a brief second. She gets to give tours all the time, but this was
something new to me. And I loved it so much! There's nothing more
exciting than bearing your testimony in your own church to honest, good
people who are seeking Christ.
While I don't have time to write about the other miracles we saw, I
do want y'all to know that I believe in a God of miracles. He's
preparing people everyday to receive the Gospel. I love witnessing His
work. Keep your chins up! The Lord loves you :)
Love, Elder Atkin
Monday, October 22, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
October 15, 2012
Dear Family,
Gee, I really don't know how to start an email these days... Umm, let's see........ the weather... Yeah, the weather!! How's the weather of there in Utah? It's sure been really nice here lately. Last week was actually kind of cold. It's fun to see the change in seasons. The trees here are starting to change colors and it's absolutely beautiful. I have a feeling that Elder Nordine and I are going to spend a lot of time raking up leaves for people. But I'm okay with that. I love doing service!
So yesterday was kind of a crazy day. It was our first day back in the new Stake Center and all of us were really excited. The meeting was planned to last 2 hours and the 2 Joplin wards would be combined. We were expecting a full house. As the meeting began, President Jones got up and began to talk about the effects of the tornado last year. He mentioned that as a result, Joplin 1st ward was "leadership rich" and that there was an imbalance of members between the two wards due to people moving out and such. At that point, I knew exactly what was coming. He then announced that the wards would be realigning boundaries. A collective gasp came from the congregation and everyone sat there with their mouths wide open. The boundary between 1st ward and 2nd ward would be changing for the first time in decades! You have to realize how big of a deal this is. There's been somewhat of a rivalry between the two wards for a very long time now. Kind of immature if you ask me. This has been a long time coming.
Well, Elder Nordine and I need to move now. Our current address is now in the 2nd ward boundaries, so we'll need to go apartment hunting in the next couple of days. It's such a bummer! I love the apartment we live in now, and I'm not excited to move all of our stuff - especially since I'll most likely get transferred in a couple of weeks. So is life. The worst part about all of this is that we lose a ton of investigators and less-actives we were working with to the 2nd ward elders. Those 5 new investigators that I mentioned last week? 3 of them are now in the other ward. Sigh....... Since yesterday, all of our plans are jumbled up. Elder Nordine and I have no idea what to do now.
We do keep some of my favorite investigators though, so it isn't that bad. We'll still be teaching Ashley and Kim and her family, as well as the Cox family (who we picked up last week). Kim and her family came to the sacrament meeting yesterday, so we were happy about that. It was the first time they attended church since I've been here. Kim has a baptismal date for the 22nd of December, and Bree and Brandon have their dates set for the 10th of November. Kim has to wait until then because that's when she'll get married to Dustin. Technically Dustin would also get baptized on the 22nd, but he hasn't fully agreed to it yet. He's still not sure about setting a date. He'll come around, though. Dustin's such an awesome guy! He's been off of smoking for over a month now. You should hear him pray. He talks to God like he would talk to a buddy of his. Disrespectful at times? Yes. Funny? Yes.
Ashley has been doing pretty good lately. She really enjoyed Conference last week, but she's been super busy with school so we haven't met in a while. Elder Nordine and I were a little sad yesterday because she didn't show up at church. We texted her and asked her why and she just responded that she didn't have a good reason. I guess sometimes people don't come just because they don't want to. At least she was honest with us. We're still trying to figure out what to do next. I'm pretty sure she's still smoking, but at least she's reading the scriptures that we send her each morning. Any ideas, family? We don't want to push her because we've come this far, but we need to take the next step. I just wish I could see her get baptized before I left Joplin. Boy would that be great!
I have to tell y'all about 2 of the 5 new investigators we picked up last week. They are so awesome! Their names are Bob and Kasey, and they were a media referral we received a long time ago. Over the past few months, I've tried by their place a few times, but they never answered. I had kind of given up on them and I wasn't really planning on going back. On Thursday we had an exchange with the assistants. Elder Treasure and I split off for the day, and we taught a couple of lessons and had a pretty effective day. But near the end of the day, we ran out of people to see. It was 8:40 and our only options were to either go in for the night, tract, or - you guessed it - try by Bob and Kasey 1 more time. I was really tempted to just go in for the night, but something told me to just try by. As we pulled up to the old double-wide trailer, I was hoping that nobody would be home. Call me a wimp, but everything about their place is creepy. But sure enough, there was a light on. I groaned as I stepped out of the car and walked up to the door with Elder Treasure. I just knew that someone would answer the door with a shotgun.
I knocked softly and stepped back bit. After a few seconds, the porch light flickered on and the door slowly creaked open. To my surprise, a really nice young lady opened the door, smiled, and pleasantly asked how we were doing. Shortly thereafter her husband (who also looked nice) came to the door and invited us right in. Come to find out, they had gotten the Book of Mormon that they requested, but nobody had ever come back. We asked them if they were interested in learning more about it and they happily agreed. We informed them of the open house coming up and they said they would attend. To add to my amazement, they invited us over for dinner the next week and thanked us profusely for coming. Before we left the house, Bob stopped us and said, "I would never turn down men of God. Thank you." Miracles! Just talking to someone who's nice is a miracle for me these days :)
So, tomorrow we're going to eat dinner with Bob and Kasey. I'm absolutely crushed because they are now Joplin 2nd's investigators, but I know that they'll be taken care of. I wish I could teach them in the future, but at least I was able to be there when we found them. That night I thanked Heavenly Father for prompting me to stop by one more time and for blessing me with the courage to be diligent. It's so worth it!
Well, y'all have a great week! I'll let you know if we get a new address soon.
Love, Elder Atkin
Gee, I really don't know how to start an email these days... Umm, let's see........ the weather... Yeah, the weather!! How's the weather of there in Utah? It's sure been really nice here lately. Last week was actually kind of cold. It's fun to see the change in seasons. The trees here are starting to change colors and it's absolutely beautiful. I have a feeling that Elder Nordine and I are going to spend a lot of time raking up leaves for people. But I'm okay with that. I love doing service!
So yesterday was kind of a crazy day. It was our first day back in the new Stake Center and all of us were really excited. The meeting was planned to last 2 hours and the 2 Joplin wards would be combined. We were expecting a full house. As the meeting began, President Jones got up and began to talk about the effects of the tornado last year. He mentioned that as a result, Joplin 1st ward was "leadership rich" and that there was an imbalance of members between the two wards due to people moving out and such. At that point, I knew exactly what was coming. He then announced that the wards would be realigning boundaries. A collective gasp came from the congregation and everyone sat there with their mouths wide open. The boundary between 1st ward and 2nd ward would be changing for the first time in decades! You have to realize how big of a deal this is. There's been somewhat of a rivalry between the two wards for a very long time now. Kind of immature if you ask me. This has been a long time coming.
Well, Elder Nordine and I need to move now. Our current address is now in the 2nd ward boundaries, so we'll need to go apartment hunting in the next couple of days. It's such a bummer! I love the apartment we live in now, and I'm not excited to move all of our stuff - especially since I'll most likely get transferred in a couple of weeks. So is life. The worst part about all of this is that we lose a ton of investigators and less-actives we were working with to the 2nd ward elders. Those 5 new investigators that I mentioned last week? 3 of them are now in the other ward. Sigh....... Since yesterday, all of our plans are jumbled up. Elder Nordine and I have no idea what to do now.
We do keep some of my favorite investigators though, so it isn't that bad. We'll still be teaching Ashley and Kim and her family, as well as the Cox family (who we picked up last week). Kim and her family came to the sacrament meeting yesterday, so we were happy about that. It was the first time they attended church since I've been here. Kim has a baptismal date for the 22nd of December, and Bree and Brandon have their dates set for the 10th of November. Kim has to wait until then because that's when she'll get married to Dustin. Technically Dustin would also get baptized on the 22nd, but he hasn't fully agreed to it yet. He's still not sure about setting a date. He'll come around, though. Dustin's such an awesome guy! He's been off of smoking for over a month now. You should hear him pray. He talks to God like he would talk to a buddy of his. Disrespectful at times? Yes. Funny? Yes.
Ashley has been doing pretty good lately. She really enjoyed Conference last week, but she's been super busy with school so we haven't met in a while. Elder Nordine and I were a little sad yesterday because she didn't show up at church. We texted her and asked her why and she just responded that she didn't have a good reason. I guess sometimes people don't come just because they don't want to. At least she was honest with us. We're still trying to figure out what to do next. I'm pretty sure she's still smoking, but at least she's reading the scriptures that we send her each morning. Any ideas, family? We don't want to push her because we've come this far, but we need to take the next step. I just wish I could see her get baptized before I left Joplin. Boy would that be great!
I have to tell y'all about 2 of the 5 new investigators we picked up last week. They are so awesome! Their names are Bob and Kasey, and they were a media referral we received a long time ago. Over the past few months, I've tried by their place a few times, but they never answered. I had kind of given up on them and I wasn't really planning on going back. On Thursday we had an exchange with the assistants. Elder Treasure and I split off for the day, and we taught a couple of lessons and had a pretty effective day. But near the end of the day, we ran out of people to see. It was 8:40 and our only options were to either go in for the night, tract, or - you guessed it - try by Bob and Kasey 1 more time. I was really tempted to just go in for the night, but something told me to just try by. As we pulled up to the old double-wide trailer, I was hoping that nobody would be home. Call me a wimp, but everything about their place is creepy. But sure enough, there was a light on. I groaned as I stepped out of the car and walked up to the door with Elder Treasure. I just knew that someone would answer the door with a shotgun.
I knocked softly and stepped back bit. After a few seconds, the porch light flickered on and the door slowly creaked open. To my surprise, a really nice young lady opened the door, smiled, and pleasantly asked how we were doing. Shortly thereafter her husband (who also looked nice) came to the door and invited us right in. Come to find out, they had gotten the Book of Mormon that they requested, but nobody had ever come back. We asked them if they were interested in learning more about it and they happily agreed. We informed them of the open house coming up and they said they would attend. To add to my amazement, they invited us over for dinner the next week and thanked us profusely for coming. Before we left the house, Bob stopped us and said, "I would never turn down men of God. Thank you." Miracles! Just talking to someone who's nice is a miracle for me these days :)
So, tomorrow we're going to eat dinner with Bob and Kasey. I'm absolutely crushed because they are now Joplin 2nd's investigators, but I know that they'll be taken care of. I wish I could teach them in the future, but at least I was able to be there when we found them. That night I thanked Heavenly Father for prompting me to stop by one more time and for blessing me with the courage to be diligent. It's so worth it!
Well, y'all have a great week! I'll let you know if we get a new address soon.
Love, Elder Atkin
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
October 8, 2012 - Conference!
Dear Family,
What a great week! Elder Nordine and I picked up 5 new investigators, set 3 baptismal dates, and had 7 investigators watch General Conference. Yeehaw! Heavenly Father has truly blessed us. Sometimes I really wonder why, but we must be doing something right.
This General Conference has got to be the best conference I've ever seen in my whole life!! I loved every single talk and I took notes like a mad man. My favorite talk? Jeffrey R. Holland's talk. Us missionaries have nicknamed him "The Bulldog" because of 1) how epic his talks are and 2) because he even looks like a bulldog :) Either way his talk really spoke to me and made me want to be better. The Bulldog never fails. My second favorite talk? President Monson's announcement about lowering the age of new full-time missionaries. CRAZY! Our whole district was watching conference at the Carthage building and it took everything we had to not jump up and shout. You see, we were in the chapel. Afterward, we couldn't help but talk about all of the possibilities for the future. Here are some of my thoughts:
-I think that the church is prepping to open China to missionary work. This rumor has been going on since Pres. Monson was a child (jk I don't know), I really think that it will happen soon. Membership is going to skyrocket!
-This one's obvious, but the number of missionaries is going to double within the next few years.
-There's going to be A TON more sister missionaries. It will be more and more common for church members to have sisters covering their wards.
-Twice as many elders are now going to marry Sister RM's. Heck, triple. It's going to be tough for someone like me to get married :)
-Church schools like BYU will have barely any 18-year-old freshmen.
I'm just super excited! It'll be fun to see how things changed.
Okay, so this is super random, but the librarian is kicking me off of the computer right now. I don't really have time to explain. Sorry! Maybe I'll send you a short email tomorrow. Just know that I'm doing great and so is our area. Love you all!
Love, Elder Atkin
What a great week! Elder Nordine and I picked up 5 new investigators, set 3 baptismal dates, and had 7 investigators watch General Conference. Yeehaw! Heavenly Father has truly blessed us. Sometimes I really wonder why, but we must be doing something right.
This General Conference has got to be the best conference I've ever seen in my whole life!! I loved every single talk and I took notes like a mad man. My favorite talk? Jeffrey R. Holland's talk. Us missionaries have nicknamed him "The Bulldog" because of 1) how epic his talks are and 2) because he even looks like a bulldog :) Either way his talk really spoke to me and made me want to be better. The Bulldog never fails. My second favorite talk? President Monson's announcement about lowering the age of new full-time missionaries. CRAZY! Our whole district was watching conference at the Carthage building and it took everything we had to not jump up and shout. You see, we were in the chapel. Afterward, we couldn't help but talk about all of the possibilities for the future. Here are some of my thoughts:
-I think that the church is prepping to open China to missionary work. This rumor has been going on since Pres. Monson was a child (jk I don't know), I really think that it will happen soon. Membership is going to skyrocket!
-This one's obvious, but the number of missionaries is going to double within the next few years.
-There's going to be A TON more sister missionaries. It will be more and more common for church members to have sisters covering their wards.
-Twice as many elders are now going to marry Sister RM's. Heck, triple. It's going to be tough for someone like me to get married :)
-Church schools like BYU will have barely any 18-year-old freshmen.
I'm just super excited! It'll be fun to see how things changed.
Okay, so this is super random, but the librarian is kicking me off of the computer right now. I don't really have time to explain. Sorry! Maybe I'll send you a short email tomorrow. Just know that I'm doing great and so is our area. Love you all!
Love, Elder Atkin
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
October 1, 2012
Dear Family,
Today is a great day! Do you know why it is a great day?? Because it's Monday!! And it's a new month, which means we have a fresh $130 on our cards and a fresh allotment of 1,600 miles to use on the car. The possibilities are endless! The world is mine to conquer :) I have to admit that I didn't budget very well the past couple of months and so that's why I had to use my home debit card a few times for random purchases. I'm super determined this month that I'll use my money wisely and not have to do that again. Haha we'll see what I have to say on the subject 3 weeks from now...
But really, today is an excellent day. Probably partly due to the fact that yesterday was an excellent day. I just flippin' LOVE Sundays! I think I used to say that I loved Sundays in the past because I wanted to look like a good boy and to impress (I don't know who). But I can honestly and sincerely say that Sundays are what I live for. They're what keep me goin'. They're my spiritual "fix." Haha okay that sounded a little weird, but you catch my drift. Anyway, I guess the best part about yesterday is that it was fast and testimony meeting in church. Yesterday was the last Sunday we'd be spending in the Carthage building, so everyone was extra excited. But surprisingly, nobody really talked about it too much in their testimonies. Instead, most of the testimonies were just heartfelt and sincere witnesses of the Savior. For some crazy reason my eyes really enjoyed leaking during the meeting. I realized that so often I come to church thinking about my investigators and everything like that so I forget about myself. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I concluded that sometimes a full-time missionary for the church needs to be fed once in a while, too. I was really bummed that we didn't have any investigators at sacrament meeting, but it gave me time to really focus on everything around me. As each person got up and bore their testimonies (many of which were very emotional), I just felt wonderful. I felt so at peace, and I literally felt like I had been filled. Every now and then the Lord gives me a little reminder that he loves me! Something I've been trying to get in the habit of is to write down each of these instances in my study journal I carry with me. It's kind of cool to look back and realize how many times the Spirit has touched my heart in only the past few months.
Before church yesterday, I was able to go to another church because we were invited. The man who invited us is named Keith, and we met him here at the University. To make a long story short - he was really interested in what we had to say. We made a deal with him that we'd come to his church if he came to ours. He wholeheartedly agreed and expressed his desire to attend services in the new building. So after a few weeks, we finally called him up. The church Keith goes to is the Park Plaza Christian church, which is a non-denominational, family-oriented church. In other words, just another average feel-good local church. Sorry, I know that may sound harsh of me, but there are so many of these churches that I just don't even bother. The services were at 10:30, but we went to the Sunday school beforehand at 9:30. I was actually super excited because Keith had hyped us all up about his teacher who would be teaching from Isaiah. Apparently the guy has a Th.D. and has been doing this for 40 years. I was sincerely pumped for this! We showed up yesterday morning and Keith was right there at the doors waiting for us. As we walked in, he shook our hands and gave each of us a program. We then sat down and the class started. Keith introduced us real quick-like, and then the teacher began. The lesson ended up being quite boring and confusing. The teacher mixed in a lot of his own firey opinion and he never asked what anyone else thought. It wasn't a Bible study, it was a Bible lecture. My excitement faded to disappointment and confusion. The hype was not met. I didn't feel the Spirit. I felt like I had walked in with an open mind, but in the end I wasn't satisfied. If I had more time, I'd talk about the specifics of the doctrine, but just know that the guy was totally off. I think that's another reason why I felt so good at church (which was right afterward). Our church is so amazing! I'll never be able to deny the difference in feelings that I felt between our churches. Anyway, enough about that. I must say that it was kinda cool to go to a different church though.
While we didn't have any investigators in sacrament meeting, Ashley did show up for Gospel Principles. I was stoked beyond belief! She's been doing a lot better lately, and she ended up really enjoying church. We talked about the coming forth of scripture in Gospel Principles and then we had a combined fifth Sunday lesson on the new Strength of Youth pamphlet. Ashley loved it! She told us that it's probably the best church services she attended so far. Touchdown! I know that we'll still see ups and downs with Ashley, but at least she's doing good right now. She still wants us to text her scriptures each day to help her out. She even told us that she's starting to agree with our beliefs. The Spirit's workin' on her :)
Well, that's all from this elder for now. The work is going great and I get to head to Tulsa today for ZLC. Have a good one!
Love, Elder Atkin
P.S. I just realized that this whole email was about just Sunday... Don't worry, the rest of the week was good too :)
Today is a great day! Do you know why it is a great day?? Because it's Monday!! And it's a new month, which means we have a fresh $130 on our cards and a fresh allotment of 1,600 miles to use on the car. The possibilities are endless! The world is mine to conquer :) I have to admit that I didn't budget very well the past couple of months and so that's why I had to use my home debit card a few times for random purchases. I'm super determined this month that I'll use my money wisely and not have to do that again. Haha we'll see what I have to say on the subject 3 weeks from now...
But really, today is an excellent day. Probably partly due to the fact that yesterday was an excellent day. I just flippin' LOVE Sundays! I think I used to say that I loved Sundays in the past because I wanted to look like a good boy and to impress (I don't know who). But I can honestly and sincerely say that Sundays are what I live for. They're what keep me goin'. They're my spiritual "fix." Haha okay that sounded a little weird, but you catch my drift. Anyway, I guess the best part about yesterday is that it was fast and testimony meeting in church. Yesterday was the last Sunday we'd be spending in the Carthage building, so everyone was extra excited. But surprisingly, nobody really talked about it too much in their testimonies. Instead, most of the testimonies were just heartfelt and sincere witnesses of the Savior. For some crazy reason my eyes really enjoyed leaking during the meeting. I realized that so often I come to church thinking about my investigators and everything like that so I forget about myself. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I concluded that sometimes a full-time missionary for the church needs to be fed once in a while, too. I was really bummed that we didn't have any investigators at sacrament meeting, but it gave me time to really focus on everything around me. As each person got up and bore their testimonies (many of which were very emotional), I just felt wonderful. I felt so at peace, and I literally felt like I had been filled. Every now and then the Lord gives me a little reminder that he loves me! Something I've been trying to get in the habit of is to write down each of these instances in my study journal I carry with me. It's kind of cool to look back and realize how many times the Spirit has touched my heart in only the past few months.
Before church yesterday, I was able to go to another church because we were invited. The man who invited us is named Keith, and we met him here at the University. To make a long story short - he was really interested in what we had to say. We made a deal with him that we'd come to his church if he came to ours. He wholeheartedly agreed and expressed his desire to attend services in the new building. So after a few weeks, we finally called him up. The church Keith goes to is the Park Plaza Christian church, which is a non-denominational, family-oriented church. In other words, just another average feel-good local church. Sorry, I know that may sound harsh of me, but there are so many of these churches that I just don't even bother. The services were at 10:30, but we went to the Sunday school beforehand at 9:30. I was actually super excited because Keith had hyped us all up about his teacher who would be teaching from Isaiah. Apparently the guy has a Th.D. and has been doing this for 40 years. I was sincerely pumped for this! We showed up yesterday morning and Keith was right there at the doors waiting for us. As we walked in, he shook our hands and gave each of us a program. We then sat down and the class started. Keith introduced us real quick-like, and then the teacher began. The lesson ended up being quite boring and confusing. The teacher mixed in a lot of his own firey opinion and he never asked what anyone else thought. It wasn't a Bible study, it was a Bible lecture. My excitement faded to disappointment and confusion. The hype was not met. I didn't feel the Spirit. I felt like I had walked in with an open mind, but in the end I wasn't satisfied. If I had more time, I'd talk about the specifics of the doctrine, but just know that the guy was totally off. I think that's another reason why I felt so good at church (which was right afterward). Our church is so amazing! I'll never be able to deny the difference in feelings that I felt between our churches. Anyway, enough about that. I must say that it was kinda cool to go to a different church though.
While we didn't have any investigators in sacrament meeting, Ashley did show up for Gospel Principles. I was stoked beyond belief! She's been doing a lot better lately, and she ended up really enjoying church. We talked about the coming forth of scripture in Gospel Principles and then we had a combined fifth Sunday lesson on the new Strength of Youth pamphlet. Ashley loved it! She told us that it's probably the best church services she attended so far. Touchdown! I know that we'll still see ups and downs with Ashley, but at least she's doing good right now. She still wants us to text her scriptures each day to help her out. She even told us that she's starting to agree with our beliefs. The Spirit's workin' on her :)
Well, that's all from this elder for now. The work is going great and I get to head to Tulsa today for ZLC. Have a good one!
Love, Elder Atkin
P.S. I just realized that this whole email was about just Sunday... Don't worry, the rest of the week was good too :)
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