March 25, 2013

Dear Family,

I always love hearing about the talks that are being shared in church back home. It sounds like the story about the turkey wandering along the road must've been pretty funny :) And I'm sure April gave a really good talk in the Mendon 1st ward. I wish I could have heard it. You're right Mom, missions are an excellent opportunity to learn about the doctrines of the Gospel. While I'm really not that knowledgeable myself (I'm reminded of this every day as Elder Heindel corrects my crazy opinions on the spirit world, celestial glory, etc.), I can at least recognize that my understanding of Gospel principles has grown in the past couple of years. And judging by how intelligent April is I just know that her talks must be awesome!

One source of doctrine that I've gained the most knowledge from is - you guessed it - the Book of Mormon. I recently finished Mosiah and started Alma and it's been a blast to learn things that I never noticed in previous readings of the same book. As I started Alma chapter 1 I read about the people of the church who were "steadfast and immovable" and the priests who labored to "impart the word of God unto the people," but didn't do it for money. In verse 27 it mentions that the people helped each other out and imparted their substance to those in need. At the end of the verse it reads that "they did not wear costly apparel, yet they were neat and comely." When I read that, I thought to myself that that perfectly describes members of the church. People who aren't too fancy or wild in their appearance, but a people who like to look neat and nice. My definition of "neat and comely" is this: righteously classy. Take for instance Deiter F. Uchtdorf. This man always has fantastic ties and has the most wonderful hair. He's not in-your-face with his style, but yet he is righteously classy. What a stallion of a man! Just a thought :)

Anyways, on to the work. This week was a good one for us. We picked up 5 new investigators (all from tracting) and we taught 23 lessons - the best since I've been here. We're still struggling to set baptismal dates with our investigators, but both Elder Heindel and I feel impressed that we'll be able to set 2 dates by the end of this coming week. Our zone is equally doing just as well. We reached 130 lessons, which breaks any previous record for the Springfield zone. It's about an average of 14-15 lessons per area, which is near the best in the mission. Sometimes I get so frustrated with the elders in our zone, but I'm happy to see that they're actually working hard for the most part. I think that our zone meeting this last Monday was a real help to everyone. We talked about being in the moment and trusting in the Lord that you won't fail. We reminded our elders that no effort is wasted. I know the Lord will continue to bless this zone if we are obedient and are working hard. And we've been able to see that as we've jumped from 55 to 130 in just a couple of months. Cool stuff!

I also know that numbers aren't everything. I still have my frustrations because I want to see real growth. The kind of growth that is seen in progressing investigators, baptismal dates, church attendance, and most of all - baptisms. Elder Heindel and I have about 50 potential investigators (no lie) from our diligent hard work, but it's a struggle to get them from point A to point Z. Sorry if I've said this same stuff before, but I want to see it improve. But I'm still positive. I try to "rejoice" in the little miracles that happen each day. One little miracle is that Bro. Gould is doing awesome. He'd the one that's married to a member, comes to church every week, says he'll be baptized, but doesn't want to be pushed. We've been trying not to push him too much, but I just want the guy to get baptized already!! While I'm not able to say that we set a date with him this week, I'm able to say that we've had some great lessons with him recently. Yesterday we had a little miracle in our Gospel Principles class as we watched "Safety for the Soul" by Jeffrey R. Holland. Bro. Gould seemed to really liked it and he even recognized the scripture 2 Nephi 33:10-11 about the words of Christ because we had read it with him previously. He really opened up to us and even kind of bore his testimony to us. Baby steps...

Other little miracles include really good exchanges with some of the priests in our ward. We have some awesome priests, but they seem a little disinterested sometimes. They don't realize what a crucial period of time it is right now. Most of them have girlfriends. A few of them talk about missions like it's an afterthought. But this week we went with Slade and Joe on separate occasions and they had a blast. I pray and pray every time that we'll get into doors and that they'll have a good experience and the Lord came through for us. Slade even got to see us teach a first lesson to Karissa and Todd. Joe came up to us at church and said that he wanted to go with us again this week. I've never seen that from him before. Little miracles!

So life is wonderful. It's been as cold as all get out this week and we've gotten tons of snow. I'm about ready for spring, but you know how I love the winter wasteland. I'm still working my guts out. I'm still loving my companion. What else could I ask for than this wonderful experience! I'm very blessed.

Love, Elder Atkin