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!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment