November 5, 2012

Dear Family,

You know what I was thinking about recently? Only a few years ago, our little family was all together in Cache Valley, UT. Now we are all so far apart. Annie and Neal are in North Carolina, April and I are in Missouri, Rachel's been in Provo, Amy and Marc have been all over the place in Utah... When I thought about all this, naturally I was a little sad about the distance between us all, but at the same time it is pretty cool. The Atkin family is spreading abroad! Our amazingly awesome influence is being felt across the world :) And yet, I feel very close to everyone at times. I think that it's not only because we love each other so much, but because we all share something beautiful in common: our testimonies of the Gospel. I asked Elder Nordine the other day, "What did I do to deserve to be born in the covenant into an amazing family that is all active in the church?" There are answers to this question, but I still wonder. Out of billions of people in the world, I got to be an Atkin! Wow...

So how is everyone doing? I know I'm not always the best at writing emails and letters, but it should be obvious (based on the first paragraph) that I think about y'all often. I blame it on the mission. Not due to homesickness, but because of the the experiences that I've been a part of. For example, I've been in situations where I think to myself, "What would ______ do right now?" (insert your name in the blank) All of you are so much more patient, loving, friendly, etc. than me! Patience is actually something that I've been struggling with lately. As mentioned last week, it just seems like Satan has been working extra hard lately. Not only on our investigators, but on myself. I've been really snappy, easily angered, and kind of mean. It makes me sick just thinking about it. Luckily I'm companions with a very fun-loving and patient elder, but I really want to improve. I should always be happy, but that hasn't always been the case lately. Today we're going to ZLC in Tulsa, so I'm hoping that President Shumway shares some things that will give me a good spiritual kick in the pants. Any suggestions on how to help me become more kind and patient? I really need it.

This week was a somewhat rough week. We taught some really good lessons to the Coxes and the Sands, but our efforts didn't really show number-wise. We had about 6 or 7 appointments cancel throughout the week, which is always frustrating. Nobody showed up at church :( On Thursday we had a lesson with Ashley in which she stormed out. We were meeting with her in the first place because she came to church last week. As we started the lesson, the Spirit was obviously not there and it was really awkward the whole time. She wasn't really paying attention very much so I interrupted Elder Nordine's thought and asked her what we could do for her. She started crying and said something about her family's recent troubles. We tried to comfort her and we talked a little bit about the Holy Ghost and it's purpose. That's when she stood up and exclaimed, "Just because I'm going through a hard time doesn't mean I don't have the Spirit!" She grabbed her daughter's arm and ran out of the room, leaving Elder Nordine and I with shocked looks on our faces. We drove home in silence. Oh well, another week with Ashley :)

The Stills (Bri included) are especially going through a tough time right now. Branden ran away from home and walked all the way to his dad's place in Carthage. They didn't make it to church yesterday because they just have had too much to deal with lately. Last night we went over and gave them each priesthood blessings to help them have the strength to keep going. It's just been one thing after another. The good news is that this morning Kim sent us a text, telling us that the blessing helped her out tremendously and that she knows that God is there. It was truly an answer to many prayers.

So, yeah. A lot of junk has happened recently, but things are still going well in our area. We still have the Stills and the Coxes set for baptism, so that's encouraging. The Coxes didn't make it to church, but they are definitely progressing. The youth helped us with a service project on Saturday putting up the roofing on their house. It's been fun to see the Coxes meet more and more people in the church and receive the fellowship that they need.

Well, I've got to get going, but it's sure good to hear from y'all. I'm doing pretty good nowadays, but I want to be better. Pray that your son will have the strength and courage to do some tracting and street contacting this week. We need more new investigators and I've been kind of a wimp lately. I'll admit that it's been a while since we've gone finding. Time to man up!

Love, Elder Atkin
P.S. Here's a picture  it's of Elder Nordine and I in our Halloween costumes acting like goofs in the car. Yeah, we're weird :)

October 29, 2012 - Crazy times

Dear Family,

Guess what?? I didn't get transferred!! Surprise, surprise! I thought for sure that I was out of here. Elder Nordine and I have already been together two transfers and it's not too common for missionaries to serve together for 3. Y'all have no idea how happy I am right now :) Elder Nordine and I are best buds and we have a lot of awesome things going on right now in our area. We have 5 baptisms lined up for the end of this month and we have a couple more that I could see us setting in the next couple of weeks. We also picked up 3 new investigators last night. The work is exploding!

When we got our transfer calls on Saturday, I actually had kind of a neat experience. Within the last couple of weeks, I'll admit that I've been praying really hard that I would get to stay here one more transfer. In each of my prayers, I'd thank Heavenly Father for how long he's kept me in Joplin, but then plead for him to keep me here so I could be with Elder Nordine, see the Coxes and the Stills get baptized, etc. Looking back, I can't help but laugh at my logic. But hey, I would always tell Him that I would go where he wants me and that it's all up to his will. I wanted to stay so bad for such selfish reasons! When Saturday rolled around, I was so nervous the whole day that I could barely work. We met with the Coxes and saw a few other people, but that didn't help because I realized how much I love them. At 9:00, we received a call from the assistants and they told us where everyone in the zone was going. When Elder Treasure went through everyone except for Elder Nordine and I, I sheepishly asked, "Is that it?? Are you done??" Elder Treasure replied in the affirmative. I hung up the phone and shouted for joy. 6 more weeks! That night as I was saying my prayers, I thanked the Lord for answering my prayers. Despite my selfish reasons for wanting to stay, the Lord saw it fit that I stay in Joplin for a little longer. It meant so much to me that he would answer my prayers. I figure that I'll know why in the future. But it sure does give me motivation to work my hardest these next 6 weeks! Not that I haven't been, but I'm going to raise the bar even further. Now if only Heavenly Father could grant my plea to train someday....

This week actually went quite well. Ashley is back on the radar again (surprise) because she decided to randomly show up at church yesterday. Afterward, she told us that she really enjoyed it and that she wanted to meet with us on Thursday. Hooray! What really made me the most happy was after Gospel Principles class, I pulled her aside real quick and apologized. I had been so worried that I had offended her last week over the phone, so I told her that I was sorry if I said anything mean. She assured me that I didn't do anything wrong and that she was just unhappy because of her family situations. Whew! Burden lifted.

The Coxes also made it to church yesterday after us seeing them every other day this week. This was the first time they've attended church and they both really liked it. Will (yeah, he has the same name as you and I, Dad. Will-power!) admitted that he felt a little "lost" in the crowd of people, but last night we assured him that things would definitely improve. With all of the recent changes, everyone is running around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. On Friday we were able to set a date with them for December 1st, and they're super excited about that. They're actually becoming some of my favorite people that I've met so far on my mission. They told me last night that they were so happy and releived that I was staying in Joplin for a little longer. It made me feel loved :) Elder Nordine and I have grown to love serving these people who need so much. This week alone we carpeted their home, we moved a load of stuff from a storage unit into their house, we went to Galena and picked up roofing for them... I feel like their run-down house has become my project. This coming Saturday we're going to get some of the youth to come out and help us put up the roofing.

Sadly, the Stills couldn't make it to church because of another emergency. We received a text in church from Kim, informing us that Branden had run away and it had been over 24 hours. That's 2 weeks in a row now that something crazy has prevented them from coming to church. Both Elder Nordine and I looked at each other in disbelief. The devil is working so hard on our investigators sometimes that it makes me angry. I just get so tired of his influence! He's doing everything he can to prevent people from entering the waters of baptism. That's why I'm so pumped that more missionaries are going to be coming out now. More missionaries = stronger influence for good.

On Wednesday we actually had some leaders from Salt Lake come and instruct us in the Joplin Stake center. In a way, it was similar to zone conference, but it had a totally different feel. One of the reasons why they came out here is to talk about some of the changes that are coming in the future and how we'll deal with them. If you haven't realized already, the whole face of the church's missionary effort has changed dramatically. Usually the church receives between 600 and 700 missionary applications weekly. Since General Conference, the church has received about 4,000 applications each week, if not more! President Shumway informed us that the way that affects our mission is that the total number of missionaries the OTM can handle will go from 190 to 250. That's 60 new missionaries, 30 new areas, and 60 trainers!! I'm really starting to believe it when church leaders say that the Lord is "hastening" his work. I'm witnessing it each day. I feel so blessed to be a missionary at such an exciting time! There's so much happening in the world right now that you can't help but get that feeling of urgency. I can almost feel it in the air every day.

Well, have a great week! I'm guessing that it's getting cold over there, too. I love it :) Yes, Mom. Please send me the article about the Joplin Stake Center.

"Who's on the Lord's side, who? Now is the time to show!"

Love, Elder Atkin

P.S. I'm glad to hear that Annie and Neal are safe and sound so far. Everyone's been telling me about this "storm of the century."
P.P.S. Here's some recent pictures. Sorry, the first one's kind of blurry, but it's of me carving pumpkins with the YSA here in Joplin. The second one is of me making funny faces while Elder Nordine is taking a nap last preparation day :)

October 22, 2012

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

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

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

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 :)

September 24, 2012 - The ups and downs

Dear Family,

Well, another week on the roller coaster ride, folks. Just when you think everything is great and perfect, weird things happen. Don't worry, nothing horrible happened. Just another week as a missionary happened, that's all. We just ride the ups and downs...

Just when we thought Ashley was coming back around again, she flipped out on us. We taught her like normal on Tuesday and Thursday, and they were both great lessons. She gets really frustrated with her addiction to smoking, but both Elder Nordine and I felt like our lessons were very positive and that they were really helping her out. On Thursday we talked a lot about being excited about the little victories in life. Ashley gets so angry with herself even though she's smoking less and less. We encouraged her to reward herself for the little things that she does well and to be happy about her progress. She's not going to stop in just a day. As we left the lesson, she promised to read her scriptures more faithfully and to call/text us any and every time she's tempted to smoke. We also promised her that we'd text a scripture every morning to help her stay focused. I felt good about it. Elder Nordine felt good about it.

We worked the rest of the afternoon, had dinner, and then went on our exchange with Bro. Blake. We visited the Duekers (Sis. Dueker is a recent convert) and we talked about building our testimonies in Jesus Christ. I love the scripture in Matthew 16 that mentions Christ asking Peter and the apostles who they think he is. Peter replies (and I might be butchering this), "Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God." Jesus praises him because "flesh and blood" hadn't revealed it to him, but his Father in Heaven. Anyway, we talked about how it's more important for us to learn from the Spirit than from "flesh and blood," or the world. It was an awesome lesson and the Spirit was really strong. We were feeling very good about ourselves, but as we got into Bro. Blake's car, a series of texts flooded in from Ashley. Our happiness quickly turned to confusion and disappointment as Ashley told us that she was tired of trying to be something she wasn't, for the way people talked to her, and such. Basically, she was done with us once again. She was tired of being mistreated. Usually in a situation like this I would be okay, but I was really angry. I was the one that felt mistreated. I was the one that felt like I had been wronged. She had called us earlier in the week to fully investigate the church, but now she was dropping us again. We texted her back and told her that we would give her some space until she figured things out. Elder Nordine and I didn't have a good sleep that night. A couple of days later, Ashley called us and apologized for freaking out. She explained that she was just getting so upset about her addiction that it causes her to do weird things. So that's where we are right now. Kind of in-between good and bad. She doesn't hate us, but we're still giving her some space. Gosh, it's always a crazy day with Ashley around...

Kim and her family are still doing well. They didn't show up last night to the stake center dedication (sad day. It was amazing!), but they are still meeting with us. Now it's just a waiting game for when Dustin gets his divorce finalized and him and Pete quit smoking. We're prayin' for them... So many people smoke out here!! I'm convinced that life would be so much better for a lot of people if they just didn't smoke. My testimony of the Word of Wisdom is ROCK SOLID. I've seen too many blessings that come from living it, and too many problems that come from the opposite. Heavenly Father sure is smart.

Funny story of the week: Elder Nordine and I were reading scriptures in the park downtown the other day and street-contacting people. As we were sitting there, a homeless guy walked past us and up next to the road, like he was about to cross it. He didn't look very happy, and as he let a string of choice cuss words fly out of his mouth, he plainly and quite simply did the unthinkable - he raised his fist to the sky and flipped off God. Now I know that might sound horrible, but that's really what he did! And I totally laughed! It was sad, but soooooo ridiculously hilarious! Man, he must've been having quite the bad day to give the bird to the heavens. Poor homeless guy :( He ended up coming back to the park and spent a good 15 minutes blatantly littering the ground in front of us and shouting racial slurs. This guy was NUTS. I'm kind of wondering if he has some mental problems... Nevertheless our park experience ended on a high note as a man that looked just like Santa Claus walked past us and said hello. I mean, this guy was the #1 Santa Claus look-alike of ALL TIME. He even had a pipe he was smoking! This guy was legit. Oh, the good ol' days of proselyting in Joplin, Missouri :) It's always an adventure street-contacting here, even if barely anybody is interested.

Sorry I don't have much time to write about much else today, but life is still great. Webb City officially has its own elders now, so Elder Nordine and I are just covering the Joplin 1st ward now. We move into the new building on the 14th of October, so that will be fun. No more having to drive to Carthage for church. Yay! Sorry, Mom. I still don't have the address for the member that worked on my toe. I promise that I'll remember next week.

I love you so much! Have a great week.

Love, Elder Atkin

P.S. Included is a picture of our district after district meeting a couple of weeks ago. Elder Nordine and I are in the middle sportin' cowboy hats. Yeehaw!!
P.P.S. I heard about the heart-breaker in Boise, Dad :( But win or lose............... Go Cougars!!!