Dear Family,
Why yes, Mom. The weeks sure are flying by! It's like we always say
as missionaries: the days are long (very very VERY long), but the weeks
are short. Gosh, it's seems like I just got to Joplin, but there are
some days that just last forever. We had one of those the other day. We
had a lot of good plans and even backup plans, but in the end nobody was
home. I mean NOBODY. Our plans and backup plans quickly went out the
window so we tried by less actives on the ward list. Still nothing. In
the end the only option we had left was to tract, but we decided that it
wouldn't be good for me to walk too much because of my in-grown
toenail. Yes, I have another in-grown toenail. Darn it! I know y'all are
probably disgusted, but it happens. Especially to missionaries, because
we walk a lot. I'm so sick of in-grown toenails!!! But I'm getting it
taken care of so things should be okay.
Anyways. Before I tell you about the baptism, I need to update you
on transfers. Boy did that come quickly! After the baptism on Saturday
night we had two appointments with investigators at 8:00. Luckily we had
the 2nd ward elders with us, so we just split up - Elder Quinn taught
David and I taught Rachel. Rachel is our new investigator who's married
to a recent convert named Dakota. They showed up at church out of
nowhere last Sunday and Bro. Blake set up an appointment with them on
Tuesday night. We taught the Restoration and invited her to be baptized
if she came to know that what we were teaching was true. We left her
with Alma 32 to read and the Introduction to the Book of Mormon. When
Elder Pope and I walked into their house on Saturday night, I was
pleasantly surprised to see that not only had Rachel read the chapter,
she had taken notes and written down questions. Now how often does that
happen!? We then commenced with a discussion about faith, being "poor in
spirit", and such. It was totally awesome and she was soaking it up
like a sponge. After about 15 minutes, the discussion slowed down a bit.
I was about to go right on into our lesson on the Word of Wisdom (they
requested that we teach the Word of Wisdom after our lesson on Tuesday).
Suddenly Dakota raised his hand and said in a quiet voice, "Hey. We
should start with a prayer." I about keeled over and died. How had I
forgotten to open with a prayer?! Totally not cool! But at the same time
it was flippin' awesome that Dakota would even think of it. Man, was I
humbled. Even though Dakota is kind of less-active and struggles with
smoking, he knew the power that prayer has. After that, we taught an
excellent lesson on the Word of Wisdom. Both Dakota and Rachel are
breaking the Word of Wisdom, but after discussing D&C 89, they were
able to see the blessings from obeying the Lord's commandments. With a
bit of reluctance, they agreed to live the Word of Wisdom for a week and
see what would come of it. I specifically promised them that if they
lived the Word of Wisdom for a week, they'd gain a testimony of it and
that Rachel's prayers regarding the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith
would be answered. Before we left, we set a baptismal date for the 8th
of September. Legit! Meanwhile, in Webb City, Elder Quinn had a
fantastic lesson with David. It's the first time in over month that
we've been able to see him, and Elder Quinn was able to set a date with
him for the 1st of September. Even more legit! Gosh, it was a night of
miracles, I'm telling you. I had no idea that we'd have such success
right after a baptism! The Lord is truly blessing us.
Oh yeah, I was going to tell you about transfers! As we were
driving back up to Webb City to pick up Elder Quinn and Elder Lund, I
got a call from the Mission Home. I looked at the time and realized that
it was after 9 - transfer call time! I started freaking out, but I
calmly answered the phone. It was Elder Treasure, the assistant. He
informed me that Elder Quinn would be getting transferred to St. Robert
to be a zone leader with Elder Urban (who was in my MTC district). My
heart immediately sunk. Elder Quinn would be leaving :( Elder Treasure
then told me that my new companion is Elder Nordine. Crazy! Just when
Elder Quinn and I were becoming the best of friends, he has to leave :(
You see, Elder Quinn and I have been pretty good friends for these past 2
transfers, but it seemed like there was something missing. A couple of
weeks ago I realized that the missing puzzle piece was trust. We just
simply didn't trust each other! No matter how good of friends you are
with someone, it doesn't matter if you don't completely trust each
other. That's why Elder Quinn would take over in lessons and
instruction. He didn't trust me. And the same goes for me - I didn't
trust him. The lack of trust was really building up and the pressure was
increasing more and more until it finally exploded and then we were pals again. And man was it a
good week! And now I'm totally gonna miss the guy! Doesn't that stink??
Wow, the life of a missionary...
So I don't know much about Elder
Nordine, but I've heard good things. Either way we're going to work our
tails off. Nothing gets me pumped to work like a baptism. Oh yeah, the
baptism!! It was awesome :) Shelby's family came and we had a few
members of the ward council show up. I was a little disappointed with
the turnout, but it still went well. The Spirit was so strong as Cody
immersed her in the water. I looked over at Shelby's Mom and she was
crying. I knew that she felt the Spirit touch her heart. It was just too
perfect! Haha it was funny - Shelby's dad looked really up-tight and
nervous at the beginning of the baptism, but by the end he looked happy
and satisfied. I think he was expecting those crazy Mormons to do
something to his daughter :) We were joking afterwards that it would've
been hilarious if Bishop got up and said something like, "Alright.
Present the sacrifice!" Yeah, we're a little irreverent sometimes. But
there was nothing irreverent about fast and testimony meeting yesterday.
Cody confirmed Shelby and she also bore her testimony in front of her
family. She gave the most heartfelt testimony about the "gift" that the
Hoffman family has given her. I couldn't help but cry. No... I wept. Men
don't cry, they weep ;)
It was just an amazing week, that's all. I love being a missionary
more and more each day and I can't wait to teach more lessons and set
more baptismal dates. If I had more time, I would've told you about our
lessons with Ashley and with Ladonna. Let's just say that the Lord is
preparing some really cool people.
Have a great week and stay cool! Guess what?? It's rained a few times lately!! Everyone is super happy 'round here.
Love, Elder Atkin
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