Dear Family,
Happy Birthday, Dad!! One year older and wiser too, huh? Love ya, man :)
This week was full of little
miracles. We talked to some of the neatest people I've ever met in my
life. The thing that really made a difference was me making the effort
to go out of my way to talk to people that I normally wouldn't have
talked to. Y'all know how much of a door-knocking guy I am. It's what I
do. It's surprised me to realize how many of God's children I pass each
day without so much as a "hi" or a wave. I try to be friendly and I say
hello and wave when I'm thinking about it, but I miss out on so many
opportunities. It usually comes from me saying, "Oh, they're busy," or,
"they probably would reject me." I then drive, bike, or walk right by
them. I'm such a whimp. I still have so much to learn.
Yesterday we were biking the
streets of downtown Bentonville after an appointment fell through. The
town was a little more quiet than usual and we had stopped at a little
park to take a break. While I was trying to figure out where to go next -
probably to tract - I looked across the street and saw a man sitting in
front of the library. He had his laptop out and had his headphones on.
Once again the thought came, "He must be very involved in whatever he's
doing on the computer. Don't mind him." But as the thought came I got a
little mad at myself. Satan would love for me to just skip over this
guy. I decided it was time to change. Without telling Elder H what I was
doing I headed across the street and up to this man. What started out
as a simple interaction about directions to Memorial Park (which I
didn't need, by the way. Just an ice-breaker) led to a 2 hour in-depth
conversation with one of the coolest people. His name is Javier and he's
originally from Mexico. He's lived in a few different states, but is
now here in Arkansas because most people from his hometown in Mexico
seem to congregate here of all places. He has a job at Memorial Park,
probably as some type of groundskeeper. Javier's English is excellent
and he is in love with learning - learning about anything and
everything. He's quite brilliant. He spends hours everyday just
listening to motivational speakers and self-help lectures. He's all
about psycology and philosophy. He knows his history and he studies the
lives of the greatest people to have ever walked the earth. Overall he's
just a very intellectual person who seems to "get it." He loves people
and doesn't judge people wrongly. I learned so much in our seemingly
short interchange and we plan on talking again soon. He let us know he
wasn't really interested in our message, but respected us. We'll work on
him :)
I guess the reason why I
mentioned this guy is 1) because we were blessed for going out of the
way to talk to people and 2) because he was the perfect example of many
things I've learned on my mission that don't necessarily have to do with
faith, but most definitely are connected. Things like emotional
intelligence, the power of decisions, understanding that each of God's
children have something to offer, broadening our "belief window" in the
right ways, removing barriers that would prevent simple and positive
interaction, and so forth. 2 years ago I thought that I would only learn
things strictly having to do with the scriptures. Now I realize that
each day I learn a lot about myself, other people, society, and how the
human mind works. And yet it does all connect back to faith. God's purposes and plans are all based on people.
So anyway. Back to missionary
work :) We picked up this really neat new investigator named Joe
yesterday. He's a religion major at a local school and really wanted to
meet with us. The zone leaders found him while walking in downtown
Rogers the other day. The 4 of us met with him last night and taught
most of the first lesson. The lesson flowed very well because Joe
already has such a great understanding of the scriptures and has an open
mind. By the end he was asking if we could give him the priesthood
right there. We told him he had to wait and that we could prepare him if
he wanted us to. Cool, huh! I was initially a little apprehensive of
this guy because of his field of study, but I think that he's really
interested. Should be legit.
Yesterday had to have been one
of the best days of my mission. It was comparable to April 7th last year
when April gave the young women from my ward in Owasso the tour of the
VC. You see, this weekend there was a big YSA conference down in
Springdale. It was all capped off with a combined sacrament meeting helf
yesterday morning in which YSAs from many of the surrounding states
packed into the chapel. Naturally Elder H and I attended because
Springdale is like 20 minutes away and it would be our sacrament meeting
for the week. I wouldn't have expected what happened as I walked into
the building.
Walking into the chapel, I
looked up on the stand. To my surprise there sat the Joplin YSA branch -
including many people that I knew and loved from my time spent there. A
few of them ran down to greet me. The two guys who were responsible for
my broken pinkie came up and asked how it was doing. I laughed. Amanda
and Emily took pictures with me and sent them to their families. What
meant the most was hearing that they all missed me and that I was their
favorite. I almost cried big ol' tears! I kept shaking their hands and
thanking them. I was speachless. Afterward I saw other YSAs I knew from
Willard and even Owasso. It was like one big reunion.
But the ultimate "cherry on
top" came after the sacrament meeting was over and I had said all my
goodbyes to people from my last 3 areas. Inside the chapel the
Springdale wards were filing in for a combined sacrament meeting. I
began to see families and individuals that I knew and loved from almost 2
years previous in my first area - Springdale 1st ward. The Hornbergers,
the Penningtons, the Smiths, the Lindseys (sitting on the back row like
they normally do), and ...... my heart skipped a beat ...... Nichole
Munts. I nearly ran across the room to greet the 2nd person I taught and
baptized on my mission. So many emotions flooded over. She said hi like
I had never left! We quickly exchanged info and I promised to write a
letter. Words can't express how happy I was to see this wonderful woman
inside the church building where it all started.
You know, sometimes I get
discouraged. Discouraged because I hear that some of my recent converts
are less-active/inactive. It's like a punch to the face knowing that you
taught them and then the ward didn't take care of them or they simply
chose to stop going. It's so hard to join the church. But just seeing
Nichole yesterday made all the difference. I'll never forget the
adversity she went through to join the church. To think that she's still
got a testimony in there is beyond encouraging. I could ramble about
this forever. Let's just say the Lord is good.
So yesterday was special. I'll
never forget the unplanned and unexpected reunion of sorts that happened
on May 19th. Heavenly Father dropped a huge tender mercy right in my
lap. And I sure love him for it! This work is true. I'm still doing
great. Next week should be killer (as in awesome). See you soon.
Love, Elder Atkin
P.S. Here's a picture of me
chillin' in downtown Rogers. I love the old murals and paintings that
are done in old towns like this and these brick walls make a great
picture.
P.P.S. By the way, transfer calls were on Saturday and I'm not moving. I'll finish training my son and get 'er dun.
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