The Road to Tulsa: January 23, 2012- 20 Stinkin' Lessons

Dear Family,

This week has lasted forever! It seemed like so many things happened but barely anything happened at the same time. But first of all, I'm happy to report that we were successful in our attempt at 20 lessons. We had to work our tails off (I'll tell you more about that in a minute), but it was worth it. As explained in the past, some of them were taught to active members, but more than half (11) were normal lessons. Those are the best numbers I've gotten since Springdale! I really feel like things are turning around for the better.

And being District Leader so far? It's great! I was nervous for district meeting on Wednesday, but it all turned out well. Currently we are going through the addiction recovery manual put out by the church, one lesson after another. This last week we studied Lesson 6 - "A Change of Heart", which talks all about how one can continue to stay away from their past addictions. President really wants us to incorporate the lessons into our own missionary lives, and I thought that lesson 6 was perfect for me at this time. Lessons 1-5 are really good at helping someone quit their addictions, but lessons 6 is all about keeping from going back. Often times people will try to quit an addiction, but they turn right back once they face a trial or sadness. A true change of heart comes when one focuses on the teachings of Jesus Christ and is willing to let His atonement change them. Pride is often the biggest issue someone faces in this process, but focusing on Christlike attributes can help turn that pride into a strength. Anyways, I could talk about this all day, but I would suggest you order one for yourselves. Great stuff! I think that every member should read it and go through the steps. Besides, we all have bad habits and addictions in our everyday lives. Just a thought...

Back to the 20 lessons thing. It's awesome! It's like somebody switched on the missionary lightswitch. I could feel a difference at church yesterday. Ever since Bishop Carroll got on his soap box in Priesthood Meeting last Sunday and told the brethren about the plan of attack, ward members have been increasingly interested in the work in the area. Last week I mentioned that we had a really good meeting with the ward council about the ward mission plan and such. We decided that we'd make a calendar on the ward's website so people can log on and see what Elder Jensen and I are doing every day. I thought it would take a while to put it up, but sure enough a couple hours later we heard that Bro. Sudweeks (ward clerk) had already made one. And our schedule was already up. I never thought that being an accountable missionary would gain so much trust from ward members. I've heard about past disobedient Elm Creek elders, and so I think that the ward finds it refreshing. Most of our plans so far have just been talk. But it's funny to see how just a little bit of talking can change everything. I've learned that it's so vital to communicate with the ward mission leader and ward missionaries every day. That's how it's supposed to work.

But it really was a successful week. We met with a bunch of less-actives and cool member families to teach the Restoration. Everyone has been positive so far. But throughout all of our hard work in getting these lessons, one name sticks out to me: David. David is a less-active that I had only met with once before this week. It was near the beginning of last transfer, and I felt like he was never going to come back to church. After that, we sort of forgot him for the longest time. But we thought we try him this week to get our 20. It was so amazing! David had lost his job recently, and he was really happy to see us. So many negative things are happening in his life right now, and he's sort of at a cross-roads. We showed up at the perfect time. It was the most spiritual lesson I've been in my whole mission. He said that he wanted to come back to church and change his life. How were we to know?!! I feel like the Lord led us to David that day. He needed us. And we needed him more than we realized. We met with him two more times last week and he came to church for all three hours. I'll be sure to keep you updated on how that goes.

I love you so much and I know the gospel's true! Have a great week.

Love, Elder Atkin

P.S. I included some pictures today! The first two are of a really random whale dock thingy off the side of the road in Catoosa. Little did I know that Route 66 runs through Catoosa and that like 40 years ago this whale was quite the happening place. It juts out into a small lake and has a couple of slides on it and a place to dive off of. It may have been fun for the local residents in the past, but now the water is all murky and the whale looks like it's falling apart. We just had to take a few pictures each of us getting eaten though :) The third one is of the snow we received a couple of weeks ago. It was so exciting! I was flippin' out. Oklahoma weather has been crazy. Some days it is super cold and windy and other days it gets up into the 70's. Either way there hasn't been too many storms lately, just good ol' sunshine.

P.P.S. I totally loved Floyd's letters! I haven't been to Harrison, Arkansas, but I have heard all about it from Elder Capitan. It's weird how Floyd's letters make Harrison sound pretty tame compared to nowadays. People out there are quite racist and they hate Mormons. It's fun to make comparisons with his mission experience. I sure haven't gotten chiggers that bad yet (knock on wood)! I kinda miss the rolling hills of northwestern Arkansas. Oklahoma is way too flat.

P.P.P.S. Bye bye Frank! Good luck! And tell the Grandparents hi for me!