Happy Thanksgiving!

Dearest Familia,
I love you very much. Today I am grateful for a lot of things, but you are definitely on that list. I am so grateful for you!
This week hasn't been very eventful, so hopefully I have something to say.
We did find a lot of new investigators last week. We were so excited! I broke my personal record! And you know how it happened? We talked to everyone. Preach My Gospel tells us that is what we need to do to find people, but I have never been very good at it. It is scary to approach people in parking lots and stuff. But, Sister Harding is amazing at it. She is pretty shy, but that doesn't scare her for some reason. Before I even notice someone around us, she's talking to them about the Book of Mormon. She's awesome. That's how we found so many new investigators last week. I am learning a lot from her. Hopefully she is learning from me, too. :)
One of the people we talked to was Angela. She has friends in New Jersey that are members, and they sent us to talk to her. We have tried a few times, but she hasn't been home. We went to try her this week, and her dad said she wasn't home again. We went to try a few houses in her neighborhood, and that didn't work, so we were wandering past her house again to get back to our car. She yelled out to us from her long driveway. We were impressed that she would even care enough to get our attention. Then she informed us that she wasn't interested--she's catholic and her daughters are taking their first communion soon. But she was still friendly, so we kept probing a little. It was strange how clear she wanted to be about us not coming back and that she wasn't interested while still wanting to have a conversation with us. Sister Harding asked her if she had a Book of Mormon from her friends. She had lost the copy they had given her, and was happy to accept a new one to replace her old one. Then she said, "If you come back, come in the evenings. It's usually better for me. Or you could call me--do you want my number? Call me this Friday after Thanksgiving." I was so confused. She did or didn't want us to come back? She then offhandedly mentioned that her parents that live with her don't like us coming by--so that is the real concern. We hope to start teaching her under the guise that "we won't come back" but we should this Friday... hm. People are strange.
On a similar note there is this family we have been trying to teach. We first met the dad, and then going back we met the daughter and her boyfriend that lives with her at her parents house. In the background we could hear the mom being very rude. "They have their own beliefs! Why are they talking to them?" (quiet mumbling from someone inside) "I don't WANT to be nice!!!" Oh dear. She sounded awful.
Well, when we went back by this week, she was the only one home. She barely cracked her door open to us and looked angry and suspicious. But as we asked her how she was doing and showed genuine interest in her, she started looking more surprised than angry, and then softer and softer. The door cracked open wider. We were able to bear our testimonies to her and teach her some of our unique message and she listened. She said we can come back Saturday. She still didn't seem to love us, and I am not sure it will go anywhere, but at least I think now she will allow us to talk to her daughter. It was amazing to see how her entire countenance changed as we talked to her. She felt the spirit, I know it.
Remember the lady that asked for a bible? Well, she wasn't home for her appointment, and she didn't respond to our text inviting her to church. A few days later, out of the blue we got a text from her saying that she was sorry--she had just gotten her phone back, and she would have come to church, but she will for sure come this week! We are so excited! We are tired of sitting by ourselves.
Tuesday was Zone Conference. It was awesome as always. I just love Zone Conference. I feel so spiritually fed. They announced the debut of our new Mission Song. It is awesome. It was written by an elder that came out with me that majored in music composition with an emphasis in theater music (I'm sure I mis-titled that, but you get the idea). He's been refining it in his spare time for about a year. President Keyes had him change some things, and now it is official. It's pretty cool. It definitely has a theater feel to it, but I like it. I will have to try to send you a copy of it.
Here are the lyrics:

In the Missouri Independence Mission
We are servants of the Lord.
Our challenge: To preach the Gospel
To all who'll hear it's word.
This Mission: A land of promise.
It's a sacred place of old,
A consecrated choice land.
It's destiny foretold.
We humbly seek for blessings
From God, our captain true.
The Gospel must be spread forth.
There's work enough to do.
We return to Jackson County
Where the early Saints have Trod.
As the eight and three before us,
we are witnesses for God.
As the eight and three before us,
We are witnesses for God.

I especially like the reference to the eight and three witnesses of the Book of Mormon. A lot of their graves are nearby in Richmond, Missouri (where Joseph rebuked the gaurds--remember?), so we have some monuments for them there. We are witnesses!
At Zone Conference they demoed an entire 30-45 minute Lesson 1. It was so beautiful and simple. I feel like I have lot to work on now. I love that feeling. As someone was speaking, the spirit really taught me that great missionaries aren't great because they are super talented and know just what to do. They are just as weak as everyone else. They just give God their hearts and He IS super talented and strong and ALWAYS knows what to do. HE is the great missionary. Who's on His team? They WIN.
President Keyes also gave a great farming analogy. The farmer plants seeds, and with God's help--the rain and sun, they grow. A farmer has a lot of different tools that he can pull behind his tractor to work the field. The disks can handle a lot, and so if he runs over a big rock or a piece of barbed wire, no big deal, it will be fine. The wire will wrap around the disks, and he'll just cut it off later.
But the harvester is a special piece of equipment. It is set apart and only does one job--harvest. If they run into a rock or a big piece of barbed wire, it could ruin the equipment, and there are a ton of places that the equipment could clog or fail. It is a special tool.
That is why missionaries have so many rules and why we are set apart from the world. We are doing a special job and things that aren't a sin for normal people are a sin for us because it could really hamper our ability to harvest. Movies or music that wouldn't harm a normal person and really aren't sinful for them could kill us. That is why we have to be so careful. We are different for now, set apart. It was a cool analogy.
The one other thing that he shared that I loved was about baptism. How special is is that we are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The only other ordinance we use all three names for is the sealing. It is only used for the first and last ordinances--the book ends. How special is baptism! and Sealing!
Then last night we met with a part member family. They agreed to start formally meeting with us! Yay!
And yesterday I had an awesome presentation. It was a group of 6 or 7 people and none of them could hear. They were all deaf. But super nice. And none of the sisters in the center can sign. I actually met one of the men in the group when we had a booth in a fair in Olathe, and he is really nice. He had taught me how to say "physics teacher" in ASL, but I have forgotten. They really wanted a history presentation, so down we went.
One of the teenagers of the group was really good at lip reading, even though she couldn't hear either. So she translated for everyone else. She would watch my mouth closely and then say it in sign. She also had learned how to speak very well for not being able to hear herself. I could understand her, so she could voice everyone else's questions. It was awesome. They were some of the most friendly people I have ever met, and they had a lot of questions. I loved it. I know we all felt the spirit.
It turned out later that one of them had translated the Book of Mormon into ASL. They were a little disappointed that it wasn't in our display around the globe, and I was too. How cool would it be to have a DVD in our display of Book of Mormons?! I would have loved it.
Anyway, I think that is everything. I love y'all!
Love,
Sister Atkin