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 :)
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