Dear Family,
Guess what? This week I met a nice Jehovah's Witness lady while we were tracting... Did you catch that? A nice Jehovah's
Witness. Elder Richards and I were tracting on Saturday and we knocked
her door up in Carl Junction. We introduced ourselves and told her that
we were out spreading a little Christmas joy in her neighborhood. She
informed us that she was a Jehovah's Witness, but that she respected
what we did and was very cordial about it. We had a very intelligent
conversation about our religions and some of the differences and
similarities that we have. I was so impressed by how respectful she was
that I just had to ask her why some JW's were so hostile toward us. She
said that they weren't taught to be mean to Mormons at church and she
didn't really know why. We came to the conclusion that maybe it was
because of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. As we left her house we
wished her a Merry Christmas, then laughed as we realized that they
don't celebrate Christmas. Good thing her door was closed...
I've come to realize that whenever we ask for respect for our beliefs,
we should be just as quick to love and understand those of other faiths.
I'll admit that I still don't know a lot about other religions and that
I often make jokes about "gettin' saved." I'm not going to be perfect,
and I still think that the performance of being saved is ridiculous, but
it's opened my eyes to the way people think. Jehovah's Witnesses are
good people who are trying to get to heaven too! (too bad only 144,000
of them will make it) I just wish we could reach a better understanding
so that they don't act so weird around us.
Anyway. Elder Nordine got shipped off to Willard on Thursday and now I'm
with Elder Richards. We've already hit it off quite nicely :) He
replaced me in Springdale, so it was nice to get an update on the area
that I was raised in. Sadly, none of the investigators I taught made it
to baptism - including Betty (my first BoM placed), Dawn, Haydee, and
such. Elder Richards is from Ririe, Idaho (near Rexburg, Rigby, and
Idaho Falls) and he's been out just as long as April has. He actually
remembered April from the MTC because he was in the neighboring district
(same as Elder Ivie). He played football and wrestling in high school
and he has 2 older sisters and a younger brother. He's considerably
shorter than me, but that's not a problem. Honestly, I was excited to
get a new companion. I loved Elder Nordine, but we needed something new
because we were too good of friends. I was about ready to rip off his
head. We spent the last 3 days together saying goodbye to his favorite
people, which is one of my BIGGEST pet peeves. Not to sound like Mr.
Perfect, but I hate wasting time saying goodbye to people. If I really
loved them enough, I'll come back and visit them someday. I'm sure
they'd understand.
So when I got Elder Richards on Thursday, we hit the streets hard right
away. We prayerfully selected streets in Carl Junction to tract (similar
to that other experience I shared a while back) and did our best to
spread the Christmas joy. On each street we picked, we gave away a Book
of Mormon to someone who said they'd read it and pray about it. Heavenly
Father is still 100% for every time we do this. Now I know to never
pick a street at random without praying first. I've had way too much
success to do otherwise. We always find somebody. Now I've been praying
to find that person who's ready to get baptized. Recently I've felt so
strongly that there is someone in our area ready to be baptized that I
just haven't found yet. We've been fasting and praying to find that
person. It's only a matter of time now.
Erin and Ruben are still doing well. They came to the ward Christmas
party on Saturday and had a great time. They're starting to feel really
comfortable with the church. The only problem is that we're not sure if
they're going to reach the 29th for baptism because we're having a hard
time teaching them. They've been really busy. When we do see them, they
get really distracted and it's hard to teach principles. Yesterday I had
to cool off in the car after our lesson because I tried to start
teaching the Plan of Salvation like 5 times and they got distracted
after 5 seconds each time. We'll try teaching in a different way next
time. Dawn and Jason are doing well, but we received a very discouraging
text from Dawn a few days ago. They moved! And even worse? It's in
Joplin 2nd ward. They are so close to us, and yet they aren't in our
area so we won't be teaching them. I'm so tired of giving Joplin 2nd our
investigators, referrals, less-actives, and favorite members! Our
investigators are dwindling away one by one... But at least Elder
Richards likes to tract. Elder Nordine didn't like to tract and so I had
to drag him along. Now I got a tracting machine. We'll be finding a lot
more investigators soon enough.
Honestly,
I'm so happy to still be in Joplin. Whether I'm here for only 6 weeks
or even longer, I'm excited to still work in this decrepit little city. A
man named Tony put it best when he said, "It's the crotch of America.
Everything just kind of sinks into this area (sinking motion with his
hands)." I always feel good when members come up and say, "Elder Atkin,
I'm so glad you're still around." Besides the many reasons for wanting
to stay here, I really want to help this man named Bro. Everett get to
the temple. We started teaching him recently after Bro. Green gave us
his baptismal program from 2008 and his address. Bro. Everett was active
for about a year after his baptism but then returned to his old ways.
When we found him, he was at an extreme low and very depressed. Since
then (2 weeks ago), he's come to the Christmas party and to church
yesterday. And he loved it! We're slowly helping him find his faith
again and help him gain friends in the church. I love Brother Everett.
He reminds me of Mr. Kruger from the movie :)
Well, have a great week and be safe. Spread some Christmas joy!!!!
Love, Elder Atkin
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