December 17, 2012

Dear Family,

Guess what? This week I met a nice Jehovah's Witness lady while we were tracting... Did you catch that? A nice Jehovah's Witness. Elder Richards and I were tracting on Saturday and we knocked her door up in Carl Junction. We introduced ourselves and told her that we were out spreading a little Christmas joy in her neighborhood. She informed us that she was a Jehovah's Witness, but that she respected what we did and was very cordial about it. We had a very intelligent conversation about our religions and some of the differences and similarities that we have. I was so impressed by how respectful she was that I just had to ask her why some JW's were so hostile toward us. She said that they weren't taught to be mean to Mormons at church and she didn't really know why. We came to the conclusion that maybe it was because of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. As we left her house we wished her a Merry Christmas, then laughed as we realized that they don't celebrate Christmas. Good thing her door was closed...

I've come to realize that whenever we ask for respect for our beliefs, we should be just as quick to love and understand those of other faiths. I'll admit that I still don't know a lot about other religions and that I often make jokes about "gettin' saved." I'm not going to be perfect, and I still think that the performance of being saved is ridiculous, but it's opened my eyes to the way people think. Jehovah's Witnesses are good people who are trying to get to heaven too! (too bad only 144,000 of them will make it) I just wish we could reach a better understanding so that they don't act so weird around us.

Anyway. Elder Nordine got shipped off to Willard on Thursday and now I'm with Elder Richards. We've already hit it off quite nicely :) He replaced me in Springdale, so it was nice to get an update on the area that I was raised in. Sadly, none of the investigators I taught made it to baptism - including Betty (my first BoM placed), Dawn, Haydee, and such. Elder Richards is from Ririe, Idaho (near Rexburg, Rigby, and Idaho Falls) and he's been out just as long as April has. He actually remembered April from the MTC because he was in the neighboring district (same as Elder Ivie). He played football and wrestling in high school and he has 2 older sisters and a younger brother. He's considerably shorter than me, but that's not a problem. Honestly, I was excited to get a new companion. I loved Elder Nordine, but we needed something new because we were too good of friends. I was about ready to rip off his head. We spent the last 3 days together saying goodbye to his favorite people, which is one of my BIGGEST pet peeves. Not to sound like Mr. Perfect, but I hate wasting time saying goodbye to people. If I really loved them enough, I'll come back and visit them someday. I'm sure they'd understand.

So when I got Elder Richards on Thursday, we hit the streets hard right away. We prayerfully selected streets in Carl Junction to tract (similar to that other experience I shared a while back) and did our best to spread the Christmas joy. On each street we picked, we gave away a Book of Mormon to someone who said they'd read it and pray about it. Heavenly Father is still 100% for every time we do this. Now I know to never pick a street at random without praying first. I've had way too much success to do otherwise. We always find somebody. Now I've been praying to find that person who's ready to get baptized. Recently I've felt so strongly that there is someone in our area ready to be baptized that I just haven't found yet. We've been fasting and praying to find that person. It's only a matter of time now.

Erin and Ruben are still doing well. They came to the ward Christmas party on Saturday and had a great time. They're starting to feel really comfortable with the church. The only problem is that we're not sure if they're going to reach the 29th for baptism because we're having a hard time teaching them. They've been really busy. When we do see them, they get really distracted and it's hard to teach principles. Yesterday I had to cool off in the car after our lesson because I tried to start teaching the Plan of Salvation like 5 times and they got distracted after 5 seconds each time. We'll try teaching in a different way next time. Dawn and Jason are doing well, but we received a very discouraging text from Dawn a few days ago. They moved! And even worse? It's in Joplin 2nd ward. They are so close to us, and yet they aren't in our area so we won't be teaching them. I'm so tired of giving Joplin 2nd our investigators, referrals, less-actives, and favorite members! Our investigators are dwindling away one by one... But at least Elder Richards likes to tract. Elder Nordine didn't like to tract and so I had to drag him along. Now I got a tracting machine. We'll be finding a lot more investigators soon enough.

Honestly, I'm so happy to still be in Joplin. Whether I'm here for only 6 weeks or even longer, I'm excited to still work in this decrepit little city. A man named Tony put it best when he said, "It's the crotch of America. Everything just kind of sinks into this area (sinking motion with his hands)." I always feel good when members come up and say, "Elder Atkin, I'm so glad you're still around." Besides the many reasons for wanting to stay here, I really want to help this man named Bro. Everett get to the temple. We started teaching him recently after Bro. Green gave us his baptismal program from 2008 and his address. Bro. Everett was active for about a year after his baptism but then returned to his old ways. When we found him, he was at an extreme low and very depressed. Since then (2 weeks ago), he's come to the Christmas party and to church yesterday. And he loved it! We're slowly helping him find his faith again and help him gain friends in the church. I love Brother Everett. He reminds me of Mr. Kruger from the movie :)

Well, have a great week and be safe. Spread some Christmas joy!!!!

Love, Elder Atkin