Dear Family,
This has been a wonderful week. I don't have very much time to type today, but I thought I would drop a line and give you a few updates (two days late).
We ended up only having one person at church. Everyone bailed. By Sunday morning we had in narrowed down to three, and then two didn't show. Yay for Jesse, who is brought by his active member foster parents. He doesn't have a choice but to come to church.
We got to go to the temple this last week with Megan to do baptisms. It was a wonderful day. The Kansas City temple is beautiful. She loved it. Then we stayed to do a session with our favorite members. I loved it. I felt like I was going through for the first time again. I felt so much peace and I felt more relaxed than I have in weeks.
Last Wednesday was our day of miracles. We taught 6 lessons in one day, which is unheard of in this area. We had a guy we met on the street call us to tell us he had been reading the Book of Mormon, and could we come over tonight to answer some of his questions? Why yes, we can. We ended up teaching his parents, too (he was 20), and it was wonderful.
We had Zone Conference this last week, too, and it went wonderfully. Halfway to Topeka we realized that there were sisters in Lawrence (which is half way to Topeka) that we could car pool with. So I ended up driving only 2 hours that day instead of 4 (and we had left over miles at the end of the month!)
It rained and rained on Friday, which was wonderful and very needed. I love the rain.
We went to Independence this last Sunday. It was great. We heard the testimony of a man who had been a drug dealer and was in and out of prison for years before he turned his life around. A lot of miracles happened while he was still in prison to help him know that this was the true church. He felt the spirit testify to him just from looking at the church's name on a pass along Bible (no footnotes or index) and he knew it was the right church. Crazy! He was baptized and is married to a member. They are going to be sealed next year. Turns out his experience in selling drugs actually has made him a great salesman and business man ("I had skills, they just weren't right."). The Atonement can reach anyone.
Yesterday I did an exchange to the Kaw River Ward, which is downtown KC, KS. It was an amazing day. Neither of us spoke Spanish (which is a problem), but we went to the black areas and made it work. We got a flat tire, so I got filthy laying on the ground to find a place to jack up the car. It turned out to be a miracle because we were right next to a less active's house that is good at that kind of thing, and happened to be sister to a lady we were trying to contact. It was a great day. They have cockroaches in their apartment, and it was SO HOT. But it was a great day. :) People actually talked to us! We saw miracles!
So anyway, I love you all, family. Sorry that this isn't longer. Next week's email will be much longer. We have some plans in the works that are going to be good. ;)
Love,
Sister Atkin
P.S. President Keyes is thinking about giving each ward their own missionaries. Wouldn't that be crazy?
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Put Your Hands Up and Enjoy the Roller Coaster
Dearest Family,
What a week. We had some awesome days, and we had some really discouraging days. We just have to keep it all in perspective.
Last Tuesday was an awesome day. We met some amazing people. There is one part of our area that has a lot of potential. Tracting actually works there. The thing is, it is the absolute farthest away possible part of our area from where we live, so we don't have the miles to go there every day. Sadly. But we found some really cool people there that we are excited to teach. One is a friend of a young man in our ward, so he's been to church before and he already has a Book of Mormon. His dad is a Pastor, so I don't know how far this will go, but he's excited to learn more about our faith (out of curiosity I think) and his parents are up for it, so we're excited. We also met a man who apparently met with missionaries before. He loves the church and the missionaries. He had never been to church, though, and it sounds like they never really got into teaching him, so we are excited to go back this week. He was really nice. He's excited to come to church. We should have a bajillion people at church next week because of how many people said they couldn't until September 2nd. We should have 8 individuals (not families) coming that Sunday. We'll see what happens (not that many will come, but hope for the best).
We also met some crazy people this week, including a guy that is an alien conspiracy theorist. He thinks there are pyramids on the dark side of the moon, and that God is just our description of a higher intelligence that is flying around somewhere in a UFO. Towards the end of our conversation he starting bouncing up and down and pacing. Finally he walked off saying he had to go have a smoke. Sad life.
I think I told you last week about the atheist we tracted into last week. Well, he had a lot of questions that we couldn't answer via text, so we met with him again this week. I felt like we were being interviewed. He had a pad of paper and a pen and everything, and he used to have a radio show. Anyway, we were able to explain doctrine clearly and bear testimony powerfully. The spirit was definitely there. Our team up was perfect, too. We were lovingly bold. He isn't searching right now, so it isn't going anywhere for now, but I told him that when he comes to a point in his life when he is searching again to remember that prayer is the way that he will know. It was good.
Church was good yesterday. We don't really have a chance to eat before dinner on Sundays, so I started to feel really strange in church. I made it through on mints and granola bars, but we might have to figure out a different solution when we are at church from 7 until 4. It's rough. We have also been having some drama with one of our Ward Mission Leaders (he seems to have a personal problem with me), but we are going to make him cookies today. Hopefully things will improve one way or another (him getting released, or him forgiving us, or just me eventually getting transferred). The problem is that I have a lot of new ideas and I change things around when people are comfortable. I can see that that would be annoying, but I know it was necessary in this case.
We met an awesome Part Member Family yesterday that we are really excited about. They are such nice people! He's been taught before, but the missionaries from then left a note that we should keep trying and gain his trust. We hope to see them again soon. He was so nice. It's cool because at church there were two part member families (including the nonmember spouse) and a youth brought a friend. Now we just need to tap into that!
So life is good as a missionary. Sister Hodson and I are really good friends. I really love her. Some days we don't get along at all, but most of the time, we're best friends.
This week we are having Zone Conference in Topeka, so I get to drive for two hours there, and two hours back. It will be a crazy day, leaving at 5:30 in the morning. Hopefully we can track down some general conference CDs to listen to in the car.
Besides all of that, we have a great week planned. life is good. :)
Family, have a wonderful week! I love you!
Love,
Sister Atkin
What a week. We had some awesome days, and we had some really discouraging days. We just have to keep it all in perspective.
Last Tuesday was an awesome day. We met some amazing people. There is one part of our area that has a lot of potential. Tracting actually works there. The thing is, it is the absolute farthest away possible part of our area from where we live, so we don't have the miles to go there every day. Sadly. But we found some really cool people there that we are excited to teach. One is a friend of a young man in our ward, so he's been to church before and he already has a Book of Mormon. His dad is a Pastor, so I don't know how far this will go, but he's excited to learn more about our faith (out of curiosity I think) and his parents are up for it, so we're excited. We also met a man who apparently met with missionaries before. He loves the church and the missionaries. He had never been to church, though, and it sounds like they never really got into teaching him, so we are excited to go back this week. He was really nice. He's excited to come to church. We should have a bajillion people at church next week because of how many people said they couldn't until September 2nd. We should have 8 individuals (not families) coming that Sunday. We'll see what happens (not that many will come, but hope for the best).
We also met some crazy people this week, including a guy that is an alien conspiracy theorist. He thinks there are pyramids on the dark side of the moon, and that God is just our description of a higher intelligence that is flying around somewhere in a UFO. Towards the end of our conversation he starting bouncing up and down and pacing. Finally he walked off saying he had to go have a smoke. Sad life.
I think I told you last week about the atheist we tracted into last week. Well, he had a lot of questions that we couldn't answer via text, so we met with him again this week. I felt like we were being interviewed. He had a pad of paper and a pen and everything, and he used to have a radio show. Anyway, we were able to explain doctrine clearly and bear testimony powerfully. The spirit was definitely there. Our team up was perfect, too. We were lovingly bold. He isn't searching right now, so it isn't going anywhere for now, but I told him that when he comes to a point in his life when he is searching again to remember that prayer is the way that he will know. It was good.
Church was good yesterday. We don't really have a chance to eat before dinner on Sundays, so I started to feel really strange in church. I made it through on mints and granola bars, but we might have to figure out a different solution when we are at church from 7 until 4. It's rough. We have also been having some drama with one of our Ward Mission Leaders (he seems to have a personal problem with me), but we are going to make him cookies today. Hopefully things will improve one way or another (him getting released, or him forgiving us, or just me eventually getting transferred). The problem is that I have a lot of new ideas and I change things around when people are comfortable. I can see that that would be annoying, but I know it was necessary in this case.
We met an awesome Part Member Family yesterday that we are really excited about. They are such nice people! He's been taught before, but the missionaries from then left a note that we should keep trying and gain his trust. We hope to see them again soon. He was so nice. It's cool because at church there were two part member families (including the nonmember spouse) and a youth brought a friend. Now we just need to tap into that!
So life is good as a missionary. Sister Hodson and I are really good friends. I really love her. Some days we don't get along at all, but most of the time, we're best friends.
This week we are having Zone Conference in Topeka, so I get to drive for two hours there, and two hours back. It will be a crazy day, leaving at 5:30 in the morning. Hopefully we can track down some general conference CDs to listen to in the car.
Besides all of that, we have a great week planned. life is good. :)
Family, have a wonderful week! I love you!
Love,
Sister Atkin
Still in Kansas
Dear Family,
It has been another good week. As you probably gathered from the subject of my email, I am still in the same place! Still in Overland Park for another 6 weeks! I'm glad. I really thought and prayed about it, and I decided that I wanted to stay. And then it happened. Sister Hodson and I aren't done here. There is still things for us to do together. There are still somethings that I want to help her with, and we have some investigators I'm glad to still be here for. It was fun to see how many people celebrated that I stayed. It is nice to be loved. :)
Jesse is for sure being baptized on September 28th. We are very happy he set a solid baptism date that his foster parents would agree to. That is my one year mark, and two days after I probably will really be transferred. If I am sent back to one of the visitors' centers (which is 99% likely) I will be close enough to get a ride to come back for the baptism, so we are planning on that. His foster family will more than likely be willing to come get me (considering that I have the feeling that they want me as a future daughter-in-law intended for their son who was my Zone Leader in the MTC. Maybe we are imagining things, but it sure looks that way....) They are also trying to rig a way for me to go to Iola, but I don't think it will work out. It is close to 2 hours away from here. I don't think President Keyes would give permission.
Megan is doing great. We saw her this week, and she is still glowing. I sure do love her. She wrote me the sweetest letter. We are really really hoping to go to the temple with her soon. I miss the temple so much! It will be great.
Last P-Day we went with her and her cousin to Deanna Rose, the Children's Farmstead (petting zoo) that we volunteer at every week. We hadn't seen the whole thing, so we decided it would be fun. We can go to zoos, so we did. We bottle fed the goats. Sister Hodson got little hoof prints all over her skirt, and some milk slobber. It was hilarious.
We did have a bad night on Wednesday this week. We dropped by an investigator's house to see if we could teach her. Her mom answered the door (as always) so we ended up talking to her instead. It was dark out, and someone upstairs was loudly watching a murder horror movie. You know how I am with scary/intense movies. I can't do it! So I sat there, dying just from hearing it. I mentally shut down, and started humming Joseph's First Prayer and rhythmically petting the cat. Sister Hodson stepped up (not seeming to understand me elbowing her), and calmly, slowly taught a lesson. When we left, I burst into tears. She had no idea what for until I explained it to her. She hadn't even noticed! Anyway, it wasn't fun. I slept badly, and then I was stressed-sick and a little crazy in the morning. A nap at lunch time helped me shake it off, so I was okay. But I don't really look forward to seeing movies at all after my mission. I wasn't even good at it then...now I'll be even worse...
Sister Hodson and I had a few rough patches this week, but I am glad they happened, because we learned from them and will be better missionaries and companions now. I really do love her, and I'm glad I stayed. We work well together and we will be friends when we get home (we joke that we would be better friends than companions).
We tracted into this cool guy named Andrew. First thing, he warned us that he was a hard core atheist. He used to be Baptist, but then he studied about the origins of the Bible and Judaism and now can't believe any of it is true. He was very nice and conversational. he was educated, thought out, and willing to listen. It was nice. It was interesting because we've run into people who do believe in the Bible strictly because of evidence, and he was unconvinced because of evidence. Both groups are basing their faith (or lack of faith) on evidence. They came to opposite conclusions. To me, it just shows that you can't base faith on evidence. People can always find evidence to support what they already believe (we do it too!). That is why real intent is important (a willingness to be wrong in pursuit of the right or true answer). And most of all, that is why we need to ask God what is true. The Holy Ghost is real.
Andrew texted us two days later thanking us for coming over, and mentioned that he had read the three chapters I had recommended! That never happens! So we are staying in texting contact with him, and maybe someday his heart will soften. :)
We had some changes in our Zone. It was a good thing. I really like the new elders that came in. I think it will help our district and zone stay more focused. Good elders make a huge difference.
On Saturday, we had a dinner problem. It was hilarious. We had scheduled two dinners for ourselves--knowingly. They were both Part Member Families, so it was worth the sacrifice of feeling really sick. One of them cancelled that afternoon, which we were disappointed because we really wanted to see them (but she had a migraine). Not 3 minutes after she cancelled, we got a call from a less active that we had scheduled dinner with a month ago--she was expecting to feed us that night! At the very time that the other dinner fell through at! Well, we had just made an opening for her, so it fell into place. When I hung up the phone after saying, "Of course! Yes! It is in our plans to come over tonight!" we laughed and laughed. It was just too perfect. God protected us from having three dinners.
They rescheduled to have us for dinner the next day (so we were going to have two dinners two days in a row), but she still wasn't feeling up to it. But we survived! We practiced portion control, and didn't get sick. I didn't eat very much the next day, but we're doing good. :)
Well, this is taking too long. Life is good. :)
Have a great week! We will, too!
Love,
Sister Atkin
It has been another good week. As you probably gathered from the subject of my email, I am still in the same place! Still in Overland Park for another 6 weeks! I'm glad. I really thought and prayed about it, and I decided that I wanted to stay. And then it happened. Sister Hodson and I aren't done here. There is still things for us to do together. There are still somethings that I want to help her with, and we have some investigators I'm glad to still be here for. It was fun to see how many people celebrated that I stayed. It is nice to be loved. :)
Jesse is for sure being baptized on September 28th. We are very happy he set a solid baptism date that his foster parents would agree to. That is my one year mark, and two days after I probably will really be transferred. If I am sent back to one of the visitors' centers (which is 99% likely) I will be close enough to get a ride to come back for the baptism, so we are planning on that. His foster family will more than likely be willing to come get me (considering that I have the feeling that they want me as a future daughter-in-law intended for their son who was my Zone Leader in the MTC. Maybe we are imagining things, but it sure looks that way....) They are also trying to rig a way for me to go to Iola, but I don't think it will work out. It is close to 2 hours away from here. I don't think President Keyes would give permission.
Megan is doing great. We saw her this week, and she is still glowing. I sure do love her. She wrote me the sweetest letter. We are really really hoping to go to the temple with her soon. I miss the temple so much! It will be great.
Last P-Day we went with her and her cousin to Deanna Rose, the Children's Farmstead (petting zoo) that we volunteer at every week. We hadn't seen the whole thing, so we decided it would be fun. We can go to zoos, so we did. We bottle fed the goats. Sister Hodson got little hoof prints all over her skirt, and some milk slobber. It was hilarious.
We did have a bad night on Wednesday this week. We dropped by an investigator's house to see if we could teach her. Her mom answered the door (as always) so we ended up talking to her instead. It was dark out, and someone upstairs was loudly watching a murder horror movie. You know how I am with scary/intense movies. I can't do it! So I sat there, dying just from hearing it. I mentally shut down, and started humming Joseph's First Prayer and rhythmically petting the cat. Sister Hodson stepped up (not seeming to understand me elbowing her), and calmly, slowly taught a lesson. When we left, I burst into tears. She had no idea what for until I explained it to her. She hadn't even noticed! Anyway, it wasn't fun. I slept badly, and then I was stressed-sick and a little crazy in the morning. A nap at lunch time helped me shake it off, so I was okay. But I don't really look forward to seeing movies at all after my mission. I wasn't even good at it then...now I'll be even worse...
Sister Hodson and I had a few rough patches this week, but I am glad they happened, because we learned from them and will be better missionaries and companions now. I really do love her, and I'm glad I stayed. We work well together and we will be friends when we get home (we joke that we would be better friends than companions).
We tracted into this cool guy named Andrew. First thing, he warned us that he was a hard core atheist. He used to be Baptist, but then he studied about the origins of the Bible and Judaism and now can't believe any of it is true. He was very nice and conversational. he was educated, thought out, and willing to listen. It was nice. It was interesting because we've run into people who do believe in the Bible strictly because of evidence, and he was unconvinced because of evidence. Both groups are basing their faith (or lack of faith) on evidence. They came to opposite conclusions. To me, it just shows that you can't base faith on evidence. People can always find evidence to support what they already believe (we do it too!). That is why real intent is important (a willingness to be wrong in pursuit of the right or true answer). And most of all, that is why we need to ask God what is true. The Holy Ghost is real.
Andrew texted us two days later thanking us for coming over, and mentioned that he had read the three chapters I had recommended! That never happens! So we are staying in texting contact with him, and maybe someday his heart will soften. :)
We had some changes in our Zone. It was a good thing. I really like the new elders that came in. I think it will help our district and zone stay more focused. Good elders make a huge difference.
On Saturday, we had a dinner problem. It was hilarious. We had scheduled two dinners for ourselves--knowingly. They were both Part Member Families, so it was worth the sacrifice of feeling really sick. One of them cancelled that afternoon, which we were disappointed because we really wanted to see them (but she had a migraine). Not 3 minutes after she cancelled, we got a call from a less active that we had scheduled dinner with a month ago--she was expecting to feed us that night! At the very time that the other dinner fell through at! Well, we had just made an opening for her, so it fell into place. When I hung up the phone after saying, "Of course! Yes! It is in our plans to come over tonight!" we laughed and laughed. It was just too perfect. God protected us from having three dinners.
They rescheduled to have us for dinner the next day (so we were going to have two dinners two days in a row), but she still wasn't feeling up to it. But we survived! We practiced portion control, and didn't get sick. I didn't eat very much the next day, but we're doing good. :)
Well, this is taking too long. Life is good. :)
Have a great week! We will, too!
Love,
Sister Atkin
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
I'm a Grandma!
Dearest Family,
What a great week. I am just super happy to be a missionary. We had some fun adventures this week.
First of all, thank you for sending me that medicine. :) I see a difference already.
Last Monday was a fun P-Day. We spent part of it with Megan and Carmen, which was fun. The Christensons (the family I hit it off with), sent Carmen with money to take us out to lunch to their favorite restaurant. I thought, no big deal, but it turned out to be to the nicest restaurant I have ever been to. They specialize in fish from around the world. It was a really pricey, really nice, really yummy lunch. It kind of blew my mind. But then I realized that it was their way of showing Sister Hodson and I that they loved us. I'm beginning to understand wealth in a way I hadn't ever before. I still don't understand showing someone love by spending lots of money on them, but I'm beginning to. I tried to be really overly thankful. What nice people. They said we "deserved it".
This week was the Johnson County Fair. We had a booth, which was really fun. The missionaries that live in the county took shifts manning the booth. We had a ton of materials, a TV playing mormon messages, and handed out free popcorn. We didn't get any referrals when we were on shift (but we were on in the morning when it was slow), but we did plant some seeds. The building our booth was in was right next to the shed with all of the sheep. It brought back some good memories. It was just like home.
We tried to see Ed, the man who we had the miracle lesson with last week, but we haven't been able to get a hold of him. We are sad about it, but we will keep trying. We have hope.
On Wednesday night there was a short crazy storm. We were in a lesson during most of it (the window was behind us, which was very distracting to our teachee), so we weren't out in it. When we went to leave the lesson, we found that one of the streets in the apartment complex was entirely blocked by a huge branch that had been ripped off by the wind (it was partially rotted, which you wouldn't know until it fell). We got some help and moved it and made it home on time.
The next morning we got a phone call from a random number. It was a woman with a thick accent telling us that her mother, who is elderly, had a branch down in her yard, and that she gave her this number to call for someone to help move it. We don't know how she had our number, but we agreed to help. That afternoon we tried to get someone to come with us to help (someone with tools), but everyone was at work, so we decided to put on our jeans and drive over there to see if we could just handle it ourselves. After all, we had just conquered that huge branch the night before.
We got to the house, and the woman there was very happy to see us. It was an elderly Iranian woman. She kept hugging and kissing us and saying, "I love you. I love you." She had us sit down. She LOVED Sister Hodson because she looked just like her grand daughter. She brought out a picture, and you know, if Sister Hodson had black hair and black eyebrows, she really did look just like her!
Anyway, after force feeding us banana bread, she showed us the branch in her back yard.
It was HUGE.
like, GINORMOUS.
She had a very large tree that grew through a cut out hole in her deck. A branch the size of a large three had broken off about 25 feet off the ground, but it still hung there. The rest of the branch had crashed down, breaking parts of the deck (does that give you the image of how large it was?). Here we were, two sister missionaries in jeans with no tools, by ourselves. There was NO WAY we could help. So we went inside and she asked how soon we could get people from our church to come help with tools (she knew all along we couldn't really handle it). I thought about how convenient it would be to have Jessica and her chain saw with us right then.
She then showed us a stack of cards. She had at least three or four pass along cards with Elders' names on them from years ago. There hasn't been elders here for at least two years. They were old cards, but our phone number is the same. It sounds like she was very impressed by them, and she remember that if she needed help, she could call them. So moral of the story, you never know how long your impact will stick around.
We made some phone calls and set up for some of the elders quorum to come help the next day. She was very grateful ("I love you, I love you.") We left, laughing at ourselves that we had thought we could do that by ourselves. It ended up not happening because this woman's daughter was very suspicious of us, and found someone else to do it. Oh, well.
The next day we went on exchanges. I went to Lawrence, Kansas (where KU is. Everyone around here is a Jay Hawk fan.) and spent the day with Sister Lewis. It was so fun to be back together! We teach so well together. We really enjoyed being companions again for the day and catching up. She is really an amazing missionary. I learned a lot from her that day. We saw some miracles, and she rebuilt some of my faith in tracting (which has been totally demolished in Overland Park. I have to admit that knocking on a multi-million dollar home is kind of intimidating. They don't expect people to bother them).
While we were together, she got a phone call from the Assistants. She was called to be a trainer! I was so glad to be there, her mother, for that moment. She will be a great trainer. I'm so proud of her. I'm going to be a grandmother. :) The Elders told me that in the Trainers' meeting, President Keyes said, "Do you know why you are here?" and pointing at Sister Lewis "Because you had a great trainer." I really don't think I did that much for Sister Lewis, but I'm glad that President Keyes trusts me. I do want to train again, but I don't think it will be for a little while. Sister Hodson said he talked me up a lot when she came. It sounds like bragging, but really it is just nice to know I am doing something right sometimes.
Megan's baptism was the highlight of this week. :) We saw her almost every day. It was really exciting. Everything went great, and it was a beautiful day. Her whole family came, including her inactive mom and dad, and her nonmember step dad and siblings. They all came. Megan glowed. Her mom cried. Megan's grandpa (who is the one who baptized her older brothers before they went inactive) was supposed to come, but he isn't in great health, and he fell that morning. It was really sad, but Megan said when she saw him, he was just most happy because she got baptized. He didn't make it to the confirmation, either, which he was supposed to be the one to perform. But Megan took it well and was more worried about him than she was disappointed. They asked her to bear her testimony in Sacrament Meeting, and she made us all cry. It was a beautiful day. I am just so happy for her. This will change the course of her whole life. The Young Women have really accepted her, and the whole ward has been welcoming. I love baptisms. :) She did have to get dunked twice because her knee came up, and Collin (her cousin who baptized her) forgot extra underwear, but it is all good. We are all very happy. :)
I think those are the main highlights of the week. Life is good. :)
Love,
Sister Atkin
What a great week. I am just super happy to be a missionary. We had some fun adventures this week.
First of all, thank you for sending me that medicine. :) I see a difference already.
Last Monday was a fun P-Day. We spent part of it with Megan and Carmen, which was fun. The Christensons (the family I hit it off with), sent Carmen with money to take us out to lunch to their favorite restaurant. I thought, no big deal, but it turned out to be to the nicest restaurant I have ever been to. They specialize in fish from around the world. It was a really pricey, really nice, really yummy lunch. It kind of blew my mind. But then I realized that it was their way of showing Sister Hodson and I that they loved us. I'm beginning to understand wealth in a way I hadn't ever before. I still don't understand showing someone love by spending lots of money on them, but I'm beginning to. I tried to be really overly thankful. What nice people. They said we "deserved it".
This week was the Johnson County Fair. We had a booth, which was really fun. The missionaries that live in the county took shifts manning the booth. We had a ton of materials, a TV playing mormon messages, and handed out free popcorn. We didn't get any referrals when we were on shift (but we were on in the morning when it was slow), but we did plant some seeds. The building our booth was in was right next to the shed with all of the sheep. It brought back some good memories. It was just like home.
We tried to see Ed, the man who we had the miracle lesson with last week, but we haven't been able to get a hold of him. We are sad about it, but we will keep trying. We have hope.
On Wednesday night there was a short crazy storm. We were in a lesson during most of it (the window was behind us, which was very distracting to our teachee), so we weren't out in it. When we went to leave the lesson, we found that one of the streets in the apartment complex was entirely blocked by a huge branch that had been ripped off by the wind (it was partially rotted, which you wouldn't know until it fell). We got some help and moved it and made it home on time.
The next morning we got a phone call from a random number. It was a woman with a thick accent telling us that her mother, who is elderly, had a branch down in her yard, and that she gave her this number to call for someone to help move it. We don't know how she had our number, but we agreed to help. That afternoon we tried to get someone to come with us to help (someone with tools), but everyone was at work, so we decided to put on our jeans and drive over there to see if we could just handle it ourselves. After all, we had just conquered that huge branch the night before.
We got to the house, and the woman there was very happy to see us. It was an elderly Iranian woman. She kept hugging and kissing us and saying, "I love you. I love you." She had us sit down. She LOVED Sister Hodson because she looked just like her grand daughter. She brought out a picture, and you know, if Sister Hodson had black hair and black eyebrows, she really did look just like her!
Anyway, after force feeding us banana bread, she showed us the branch in her back yard.
It was HUGE.
like, GINORMOUS.
She had a very large tree that grew through a cut out hole in her deck. A branch the size of a large three had broken off about 25 feet off the ground, but it still hung there. The rest of the branch had crashed down, breaking parts of the deck (does that give you the image of how large it was?). Here we were, two sister missionaries in jeans with no tools, by ourselves. There was NO WAY we could help. So we went inside and she asked how soon we could get people from our church to come help with tools (she knew all along we couldn't really handle it). I thought about how convenient it would be to have Jessica and her chain saw with us right then.
She then showed us a stack of cards. She had at least three or four pass along cards with Elders' names on them from years ago. There hasn't been elders here for at least two years. They were old cards, but our phone number is the same. It sounds like she was very impressed by them, and she remember that if she needed help, she could call them. So moral of the story, you never know how long your impact will stick around.
We made some phone calls and set up for some of the elders quorum to come help the next day. She was very grateful ("I love you, I love you.") We left, laughing at ourselves that we had thought we could do that by ourselves. It ended up not happening because this woman's daughter was very suspicious of us, and found someone else to do it. Oh, well.
The next day we went on exchanges. I went to Lawrence, Kansas (where KU is. Everyone around here is a Jay Hawk fan.) and spent the day with Sister Lewis. It was so fun to be back together! We teach so well together. We really enjoyed being companions again for the day and catching up. She is really an amazing missionary. I learned a lot from her that day. We saw some miracles, and she rebuilt some of my faith in tracting (which has been totally demolished in Overland Park. I have to admit that knocking on a multi-million dollar home is kind of intimidating. They don't expect people to bother them).
While we were together, she got a phone call from the Assistants. She was called to be a trainer! I was so glad to be there, her mother, for that moment. She will be a great trainer. I'm so proud of her. I'm going to be a grandmother. :) The Elders told me that in the Trainers' meeting, President Keyes said, "Do you know why you are here?" and pointing at Sister Lewis "Because you had a great trainer." I really don't think I did that much for Sister Lewis, but I'm glad that President Keyes trusts me. I do want to train again, but I don't think it will be for a little while. Sister Hodson said he talked me up a lot when she came. It sounds like bragging, but really it is just nice to know I am doing something right sometimes.
Megan's baptism was the highlight of this week. :) We saw her almost every day. It was really exciting. Everything went great, and it was a beautiful day. Her whole family came, including her inactive mom and dad, and her nonmember step dad and siblings. They all came. Megan glowed. Her mom cried. Megan's grandpa (who is the one who baptized her older brothers before they went inactive) was supposed to come, but he isn't in great health, and he fell that morning. It was really sad, but Megan said when she saw him, he was just most happy because she got baptized. He didn't make it to the confirmation, either, which he was supposed to be the one to perform. But Megan took it well and was more worried about him than she was disappointed. They asked her to bear her testimony in Sacrament Meeting, and she made us all cry. It was a beautiful day. I am just so happy for her. This will change the course of her whole life. The Young Women have really accepted her, and the whole ward has been welcoming. I love baptisms. :) She did have to get dunked twice because her knee came up, and Collin (her cousin who baptized her) forgot extra underwear, but it is all good. We are all very happy. :)
I think those are the main highlights of the week. Life is good. :)
Love,
Sister Atkin
The Manner of Happiness
Dear Family,
What a good week. This is one happy missionary. :) You know, being a missionary is such a roller coaster. I'm sure you have noticed in my emails. But it is all worth it. And I am just so happy. So thank you for letting me be here and helping me be here. You are all amazing. :)
First of all, do you remember me telling you about Ed? The one who was praying when we knocked on his door? Well, we taught him this week. It was one of the best first lessons that I have ever taught. The spirit was so strong. The members that we brought with us didn't talk too much or too little, and their testimonies were powerful. Ed had the most amazing questions. He told us how he was baptized when he was little, but he doesn't feel safe and clean like he thinks he should. We then taught him the restoration including the restoration of the priesthood, and then he said, "So that's it! That's why I didn't feel clean! My baptism didn't count. All this time...I thought I was good, but that makes sense. I get it." The restoration just made sense to him. He could see what he had been missing all along. It was so good. We invited him to be baptized and set a date and he said yes. It was great. :)
But then he cancelled his next appointment (which is better than just not being there. He said he was working late) and didn't come to church. So we have a set back, but we have high hopes of seeing him this week and taking him on a tour of the church. We're excited. :)
On Wednesday I did an exchange with the Kaw River Ward sisters. So I went out to downtown Kansas City, Kansas with Sister Thorne, and Sister Sant came to Overland Park with Sister Hodson. It is only 20 or 30 minutes away, but it is a world different. I felt like I was in a different country. Overland Park is full of huge houses and beautiful landscaping. Kaw River ward is dirty, crumbling, and unsafe. We were by far the minority all day (black people and Mexicans). It was so much fun! Sister Thorne carries pepper spray, and dresses plainly, with little makeup and her hair up to avoid cat calls (they still happen, but we tried). We rode the bus system all day (there aren't buses in Overland Park because they "don't look nice"). Everyone was smoking. At the same time, though, everyone was willing to talk to us, and told us that they did need more religion in their lives. We taught an amazing lesson and invited a woman to be baptized. We ran into a ton of less actives that didn't go to church just because they didn't know where it was. We ate authentic Mexican food at a restaurant hooked to a little market. It was an amazing day! I didn't feel scared at all, even though it isn't uncommon for them to hear gun shots. We were so tired by the end of the day, but it was so good. Sister Thorne and I are good friends, and it was fun to catch up anyway. I sure do love her. I did get really hot during the day (which I am bad at). She told me later that I looked like was going to faint, but decided to not say anything because she thought she could carry me home. Good thing we made it. haha. :) (you know how I turn a weird red-white color when I'm really hot.)
Megan is doing great. She is getting baptized this next weekend! We are so excited. We were able to reconnect and see her a lot this last week. All of the plans for the baptism are rolling forward, and everything is great. We took her to the President's Devotional last night at the Visitors' Center (where recent converts share their stories and testimonies), and it was great. God's Plan just made her cry. I felt like I had come home. Her aunt and family (the Christensons) are the best. I love them. When I come back to visit my mission, I will visit them for sure. They have really taken us in. I can't even describe my love for their family. I have so much in common with both parents that I really could just fit in (of course, I'll take my real family, but I think you will like them).
Jesse is also doing well. Every time we see him things are getting better. What a great kid! He will be baptized. It is just a matter of time and him realizing that he is ready to make a life time commitment (he wants to be baptized, but we just want him to want this for the rest of his life, and make the so-called "sacrifices" to continue to live it).
On Friday I had a meeting in Independence. Every time I go back there, it really recharges me. President Keyes is amazing. It was good to see everyone and catch up and feel a part of the whole picture again. It was really good.
This Sunday was a really good day for us. James, a recent convert who hasn't come to church for a while, finally came!! He said his mom (who is not a member) wants to start coming with him, too. Yay!
Then, in sacrament meeting both Megan and Jesse shared beautiful testimonies. It was amazing! We were smiling like proud parents. Jesse is a bit of a showman and a goof ball, so his foster parents were really nervous what he would say. They didn't allow him to get up until this week. They think he finally understands what a testimony is, but they were still really nervous. It was fun to see the happiness and relief on their faces when he bore a wonderful testimony (he wants to be a missionary someday. :) ) and sat down. Megan's testimony was great, too. I will love these people for my whole life. :)
When we visited the Visitors' Center (twice--because of my meeting) this week, everyone asked me if I was coming back yet. I don't feel done with my time full proselyting, so it kind of surprised me. I don't know. I have a few ideas of what will happen, but I really don't know. I honestly hope to stay one more transfer. We'll see. That isn't until next week, but it has come too quickly. It's crazy to think about. This time is going too fast!
Matt, one of the investigators I taught in Lee's Summit, was baptized last Saturday. It's good to know that the seeds I planted are still growing and that it isn't over yet. I decided to stay in my area rather than go, but I am very happy for him. :)
I think that is all of my stories for the week. Just know I am very happy.
I love you all!
Love,
Sister Atkin
What a good week. This is one happy missionary. :) You know, being a missionary is such a roller coaster. I'm sure you have noticed in my emails. But it is all worth it. And I am just so happy. So thank you for letting me be here and helping me be here. You are all amazing. :)
First of all, do you remember me telling you about Ed? The one who was praying when we knocked on his door? Well, we taught him this week. It was one of the best first lessons that I have ever taught. The spirit was so strong. The members that we brought with us didn't talk too much or too little, and their testimonies were powerful. Ed had the most amazing questions. He told us how he was baptized when he was little, but he doesn't feel safe and clean like he thinks he should. We then taught him the restoration including the restoration of the priesthood, and then he said, "So that's it! That's why I didn't feel clean! My baptism didn't count. All this time...I thought I was good, but that makes sense. I get it." The restoration just made sense to him. He could see what he had been missing all along. It was so good. We invited him to be baptized and set a date and he said yes. It was great. :)
But then he cancelled his next appointment (which is better than just not being there. He said he was working late) and didn't come to church. So we have a set back, but we have high hopes of seeing him this week and taking him on a tour of the church. We're excited. :)
On Wednesday I did an exchange with the Kaw River Ward sisters. So I went out to downtown Kansas City, Kansas with Sister Thorne, and Sister Sant came to Overland Park with Sister Hodson. It is only 20 or 30 minutes away, but it is a world different. I felt like I was in a different country. Overland Park is full of huge houses and beautiful landscaping. Kaw River ward is dirty, crumbling, and unsafe. We were by far the minority all day (black people and Mexicans). It was so much fun! Sister Thorne carries pepper spray, and dresses plainly, with little makeup and her hair up to avoid cat calls (they still happen, but we tried). We rode the bus system all day (there aren't buses in Overland Park because they "don't look nice"). Everyone was smoking. At the same time, though, everyone was willing to talk to us, and told us that they did need more religion in their lives. We taught an amazing lesson and invited a woman to be baptized. We ran into a ton of less actives that didn't go to church just because they didn't know where it was. We ate authentic Mexican food at a restaurant hooked to a little market. It was an amazing day! I didn't feel scared at all, even though it isn't uncommon for them to hear gun shots. We were so tired by the end of the day, but it was so good. Sister Thorne and I are good friends, and it was fun to catch up anyway. I sure do love her. I did get really hot during the day (which I am bad at). She told me later that I looked like was going to faint, but decided to not say anything because she thought she could carry me home. Good thing we made it. haha. :) (you know how I turn a weird red-white color when I'm really hot.)
Megan is doing great. She is getting baptized this next weekend! We are so excited. We were able to reconnect and see her a lot this last week. All of the plans for the baptism are rolling forward, and everything is great. We took her to the President's Devotional last night at the Visitors' Center (where recent converts share their stories and testimonies), and it was great. God's Plan just made her cry. I felt like I had come home. Her aunt and family (the Christensons) are the best. I love them. When I come back to visit my mission, I will visit them for sure. They have really taken us in. I can't even describe my love for their family. I have so much in common with both parents that I really could just fit in (of course, I'll take my real family, but I think you will like them).
Jesse is also doing well. Every time we see him things are getting better. What a great kid! He will be baptized. It is just a matter of time and him realizing that he is ready to make a life time commitment (he wants to be baptized, but we just want him to want this for the rest of his life, and make the so-called "sacrifices" to continue to live it).
On Friday I had a meeting in Independence. Every time I go back there, it really recharges me. President Keyes is amazing. It was good to see everyone and catch up and feel a part of the whole picture again. It was really good.
This Sunday was a really good day for us. James, a recent convert who hasn't come to church for a while, finally came!! He said his mom (who is not a member) wants to start coming with him, too. Yay!
Then, in sacrament meeting both Megan and Jesse shared beautiful testimonies. It was amazing! We were smiling like proud parents. Jesse is a bit of a showman and a goof ball, so his foster parents were really nervous what he would say. They didn't allow him to get up until this week. They think he finally understands what a testimony is, but they were still really nervous. It was fun to see the happiness and relief on their faces when he bore a wonderful testimony (he wants to be a missionary someday. :) ) and sat down. Megan's testimony was great, too. I will love these people for my whole life. :)
When we visited the Visitors' Center (twice--because of my meeting) this week, everyone asked me if I was coming back yet. I don't feel done with my time full proselyting, so it kind of surprised me. I don't know. I have a few ideas of what will happen, but I really don't know. I honestly hope to stay one more transfer. We'll see. That isn't until next week, but it has come too quickly. It's crazy to think about. This time is going too fast!
Matt, one of the investigators I taught in Lee's Summit, was baptized last Saturday. It's good to know that the seeds I planted are still growing and that it isn't over yet. I decided to stay in my area rather than go, but I am very happy for him. :)
I think that is all of my stories for the week. Just know I am very happy.
I love you all!
Love,
Sister Atkin
One Happy Missionary
Dearest Family,
It has been a wonderful week. Where to even begin. :)
Well, first of all, we are coming to love the people here more and more. They are just wonderful. We live in the Stanly Ward, and so we have unintentionally grown extra close with that ward. They are so willing to help and take care of us. We have a list of four or five families that are begging us to let them feed us when something falls through because our meal calendars are full up to September. I am very happy here.
This week we were able to meet with our investigator Jesse a lot. Do you remember me telling you about him? He's 15 and has been in foster care since he was 3. Well, we taught him three times this week, and he is doing great. What a good kid. He has really opened up to us and shared some things that were really hard that he's been through. Things that no person should go through, let alone a person as young as he was (is). He was able to talk to us about the things that are hard for him, and I really think that we were able to see what his hurdles are that he will have to overcome to be baptized. The spirit has been so strong in our lessons with him. We were able to bear testimony of God's plan for us (and love for us), and the power of the Atonement to help us heal. He has some healing to do, but his heart is soft. He agreed to pray about it.
On Thursday we had a pretty solid appointment with a part member family. They called us and set it up. We had some back ups, but we didn't really want to visit them, so we were hoping they would follow through. Well, they weren't there. So we had to do our back ups. One of them was a man named Ed. I had met him before to invite him to the open house, but he wasn't really excited to see us then, so I didn't really want to go back. But we did need to eventually follow up, and he was closer than the other back up, so we decided to visit anyway. Well, when he opened the door, he looked surprised, and then he said, "Oh! I recognize you." I asked about the open house, but he hadn't gone. There was an awkward pause.
Then he said, you know, I'm really going through a hard time right now. I don't really want to talk about it (he was on the verge of tears), but," he said, "I will take anything you have. I need it. Sometimes I am mad at God, but things are always better when I'm close to him. Where do I meet you? What do I need to do?"
jaw drop.
We explained what we do as missionaries, set up an appointment and talked for a minute, but he was about to lose control so he didn't really want to talk to us that minute. Then he said, "I believe in signs. I was praying for help when you knocked on my door." wow.
God really does have a plan. We weren't supposed to go to our other appointment. We needed to be there for Ed. It was the miracle of our week, too. It's crazy because I didn't even recognize that I was being led by the spirit to take us there, but God was directing it, and we were led.
We got a new mini-missionary on Friday. She was just 16, too, but she was our favorite of the three. She was so willing to do everything, and wasn't afraid to do it. She was excited to be there. She was super pretty, and we might tell the Liberty Stake to help their missionaries to dress like missionaries, but she was great. She was adopted from Russia when she was 8, so technically she was a convert baptism. It was cool because she got to teach Jesse with us twice. I don't think it was a coincidence that we had two mini-missionaries that were adopted out of hard circumstances to come to those lessons with us.
On Saturday morning we went with a bunch of other missionaries to help with an event at Deanna Rose. It was a Chicken Run (a race). Normally we don't do service on weekends, but the mission likes us to help with these events. There are a lot of people. Our job was to help sort the kids by age and gender into lines to wait their turns to run. We were standing at the bottom of the hill that had the Commentator on top. There were speakers blasting the most popular music of right now. It was killing me. I thought I was going to melt into a puddle. A lot of it I don't recognize anymore. Some of the elders looked more and more grouchy the longer the music was on, and others were singing every word and dancing. It was embarrassing. They said they knew all of the words to the brand new song because they went to Walmart a lot. I believe them, but singing along like that was probably a bad choice.
The event was okay after they turned off the music for the race. They didn't have enough adults enter, so a lot of the missionaries ran and some placed in their jeans (it was a really short race). I didn't run.
On Sunday we were a little disappointed because the two less actives that had promised very convincingly to be there didn't come. But it was alright. We taught Sharing Time about the Articles of Faith, which was fun. It went much better in the senior primary. They love any kind of game that includes candy, so we were good to go (although some of them actually noticed that our candy was kind of old. Oops. It was left over from other sisters).
We think Megan is doing okay, but we weren't able to see her this week because she had family in town. Then she didn't come to church, and her phone was off later so we weren't able to see her. We are a little worried, so pray for her! She has only two weeks left to baptism!
Sister Hodson and I are getting along wonderfully. I sure do love her. She has had a rough start to her mission (MTC companion, her grandmother died, and other bad news from home) and I really believe that we are companions so that I can help her. It's humbling. She's amazing. Sometimes I wonder why my life has been so good. I really have been so blessed and I just don't understand why. But I think I'm here to show people that it is possible. It is possible to have the fulness of the gospel and the fulness of the happiness and a fulness of the standards, and the fulness. It's not just a fairy tale. It's real. Now I have a responsibility to show that to others. What a responsibility! I know that I've said that to you before, but it hit me again this week. I am supposed to be a light on a hill to show that the light is real. The light that Christ offers is real and unlimited. It's a lot to digest.
Scripture chase of the week: Read 2 Nephi 3 (especially verse 12), JST Genesis 50:24-38 (in the appendix. Especially v. 31), and Ezekial 3716-17 (and maybe to the end of the chapter from there). The Book of Mormon and the Bible support each other!
I love you all.
Love,
Sister April Atkin
So there you go. Another good week. I love being a missionary!
It has been a wonderful week. Where to even begin. :)
Well, first of all, we are coming to love the people here more and more. They are just wonderful. We live in the Stanly Ward, and so we have unintentionally grown extra close with that ward. They are so willing to help and take care of us. We have a list of four or five families that are begging us to let them feed us when something falls through because our meal calendars are full up to September. I am very happy here.
This week we were able to meet with our investigator Jesse a lot. Do you remember me telling you about him? He's 15 and has been in foster care since he was 3. Well, we taught him three times this week, and he is doing great. What a good kid. He has really opened up to us and shared some things that were really hard that he's been through. Things that no person should go through, let alone a person as young as he was (is). He was able to talk to us about the things that are hard for him, and I really think that we were able to see what his hurdles are that he will have to overcome to be baptized. The spirit has been so strong in our lessons with him. We were able to bear testimony of God's plan for us (and love for us), and the power of the Atonement to help us heal. He has some healing to do, but his heart is soft. He agreed to pray about it.
On Thursday we had a pretty solid appointment with a part member family. They called us and set it up. We had some back ups, but we didn't really want to visit them, so we were hoping they would follow through. Well, they weren't there. So we had to do our back ups. One of them was a man named Ed. I had met him before to invite him to the open house, but he wasn't really excited to see us then, so I didn't really want to go back. But we did need to eventually follow up, and he was closer than the other back up, so we decided to visit anyway. Well, when he opened the door, he looked surprised, and then he said, "Oh! I recognize you." I asked about the open house, but he hadn't gone. There was an awkward pause.
Then he said, you know, I'm really going through a hard time right now. I don't really want to talk about it (he was on the verge of tears), but," he said, "I will take anything you have. I need it. Sometimes I am mad at God, but things are always better when I'm close to him. Where do I meet you? What do I need to do?"
jaw drop.
We explained what we do as missionaries, set up an appointment and talked for a minute, but he was about to lose control so he didn't really want to talk to us that minute. Then he said, "I believe in signs. I was praying for help when you knocked on my door." wow.
God really does have a plan. We weren't supposed to go to our other appointment. We needed to be there for Ed. It was the miracle of our week, too. It's crazy because I didn't even recognize that I was being led by the spirit to take us there, but God was directing it, and we were led.
We got a new mini-missionary on Friday. She was just 16, too, but she was our favorite of the three. She was so willing to do everything, and wasn't afraid to do it. She was excited to be there. She was super pretty, and we might tell the Liberty Stake to help their missionaries to dress like missionaries, but she was great. She was adopted from Russia when she was 8, so technically she was a convert baptism. It was cool because she got to teach Jesse with us twice. I don't think it was a coincidence that we had two mini-missionaries that were adopted out of hard circumstances to come to those lessons with us.
On Saturday morning we went with a bunch of other missionaries to help with an event at Deanna Rose. It was a Chicken Run (a race). Normally we don't do service on weekends, but the mission likes us to help with these events. There are a lot of people. Our job was to help sort the kids by age and gender into lines to wait their turns to run. We were standing at the bottom of the hill that had the Commentator on top. There were speakers blasting the most popular music of right now. It was killing me. I thought I was going to melt into a puddle. A lot of it I don't recognize anymore. Some of the elders looked more and more grouchy the longer the music was on, and others were singing every word and dancing. It was embarrassing. They said they knew all of the words to the brand new song because they went to Walmart a lot. I believe them, but singing along like that was probably a bad choice.
The event was okay after they turned off the music for the race. They didn't have enough adults enter, so a lot of the missionaries ran and some placed in their jeans (it was a really short race). I didn't run.
On Sunday we were a little disappointed because the two less actives that had promised very convincingly to be there didn't come. But it was alright. We taught Sharing Time about the Articles of Faith, which was fun. It went much better in the senior primary. They love any kind of game that includes candy, so we were good to go (although some of them actually noticed that our candy was kind of old. Oops. It was left over from other sisters).
We think Megan is doing okay, but we weren't able to see her this week because she had family in town. Then she didn't come to church, and her phone was off later so we weren't able to see her. We are a little worried, so pray for her! She has only two weeks left to baptism!
Sister Hodson and I are getting along wonderfully. I sure do love her. She has had a rough start to her mission (MTC companion, her grandmother died, and other bad news from home) and I really believe that we are companions so that I can help her. It's humbling. She's amazing. Sometimes I wonder why my life has been so good. I really have been so blessed and I just don't understand why. But I think I'm here to show people that it is possible. It is possible to have the fulness of the gospel and the fulness of the happiness and a fulness of the standards, and the fulness. It's not just a fairy tale. It's real. Now I have a responsibility to show that to others. What a responsibility! I know that I've said that to you before, but it hit me again this week. I am supposed to be a light on a hill to show that the light is real. The light that Christ offers is real and unlimited. It's a lot to digest.
Scripture chase of the week: Read 2 Nephi 3 (especially verse 12), JST Genesis 50:24-38 (in the appendix. Especially v. 31), and Ezekial 3716-17 (and maybe to the end of the chapter from there). The Book of Mormon and the Bible support each other!
I love you all.
Love,
Sister April Atkin
So there you go. Another good week. I love being a missionary!
Heat Wave
Dear Family,
It has been another boiling hot week here in Kansas. but a good one. :)
So, we volunteered at Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead on Tuesday instead of Friday last week because we had interviews with President Keyes on Friday. Because it was a different day, we weren't in the ticket booth. We were in the pigmy goat pen! It was fun, but SO HOT. We got to help children bottle feed the goats. A lot of the children cried because the goats would crowd around them and fight for the bottle (unless I helped. I knew how to keep the goats off). But it was fun. :)
That was also the day that we got our second mini-missionary. This one was 19 instead of 16. It was actually really hard to have her along. She didn't really want to go on a mission. She did the mini mission because everyone was doing it, and she didn't really care to try. So it was a rough couple of days trying to make her be a missionary at all. Most of the time she was a quiet shadow, unless we were alone, and then she would loudly tell us distracting stories about High School and the "funny" things her friends did. Sister Hodson and I learned a lot from it, and we'll see what our third one is like this week. She's coming for the weekend, which will be interesting because then she will be with us for our 7 hours of church and meetings. We're still excited.
I don't know if I told you last week about our one new investigator we found Sunday night. Well, we went to the appointment time we had set up...and he was home! And expecting us! We taught him the second lesson and it went well. It was the most animated I have ever seen Sister Hodson because she was so excited to teach him. We need that to happen more often. He said no to coming to church, but we have another appointment with him next week, so we'll see how that goes.
It was a good week, but honestly most of the days we were struggling to find things to do in the heat. No one was outside, and no one was answering their doors. We were super grateful for the car. It is supposed to be over 100 for three weeks here. I just want some rain! There have been 4 sick missionaries and one in the hospital from the heat. We are being careful. Our mission president has given us permission to do our studies in the heat of the day and head out early (at 8) when it is still cool. We'll try it (and not visit the people we know sleep late).
I guess the only weird thing that happened this week was a street contact we made. We felt strongly that there was someone we needed to talk to before we headed home, and we almost accidentally started talking to a guy smoking on his porch. When he found out who we were he said "well I'm Baptist," in a way that implied that he knew all about us. He said he wasn't going to change, but he was willing to talk to us for a minute. We started talking, but then it became more and more clear that this guy was a little crazy. Not diagnosably crazy, but socially crazy. He asked us questions like "Do you believe in Jesus Christ?" and "Well, do you believe He is your Savior?" And then looked a little puzzled when our beliefs matched up with his. I told him about prophets and restoration, but I don't know if he heard/understood, because he kept asking questions. He also informed us (three times) that he hated Catholic weddings because of how long they are. The only thing he could find that we believed differently than him was our concept of the trinity as separate people, so he latched onto that. He went into a strange rant. It went something like this:
"You just have to believe in the trinity. The three. Three in one, one in three. You just have to believe in the trinity. You just have to believe it. You just have to believe in it. You just have to believe in the trinity. You just have to believe in a mustard seed."
He looked very intense about it, so I asked,
"Faith like a mustard seed?"
"Yes, faith like a mustard seed in the trinity. I mean I have seen things. I know. I know it is true. My dad, he had half of his intestines removed. Half. Guts gone. I know there is a trinity. You just gotta believe in it. He wasn't supposed to live. You've gotta believe in the trinity--I can speak in tongues!"(he stood up)" I don't know what it is or why I have it, but you've just gotta listen to me" (he started doing fake looking sign language with his hands) "You just have to listen. I have the ability. to speak in tongues. I have the ability...to speak in tongues. I have the ability...to speak in tongues..." His hands moved jerkily, making the same crazy motions for the same words. Repeating himself over and over. Then he pinned his hands behind his back as if he had lost control of them for a little while, and was trying to reign them in.
The conversation ended up being an okay one. For some strange reason, I felt led by the spirit about what I should say to this crazy man. I felt the spirit testifying of my words, and I was able to recite the first vision and bear testimony of it. It was neat. He tried to get us to talk about politics and homosexuality, and informed us that we couldn't win an argument because he was a psych major, but we remained (mostly) in control, and it went well in the end. Sister Hodson is convinced that I will be able to teach him the gospel in the next life. Maybe so. :) Then we went home.
Well, that's all folks. I love you all. :)
Love,
Sister Atkin
It has been another boiling hot week here in Kansas. but a good one. :)
So, we volunteered at Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead on Tuesday instead of Friday last week because we had interviews with President Keyes on Friday. Because it was a different day, we weren't in the ticket booth. We were in the pigmy goat pen! It was fun, but SO HOT. We got to help children bottle feed the goats. A lot of the children cried because the goats would crowd around them and fight for the bottle (unless I helped. I knew how to keep the goats off). But it was fun. :)
That was also the day that we got our second mini-missionary. This one was 19 instead of 16. It was actually really hard to have her along. She didn't really want to go on a mission. She did the mini mission because everyone was doing it, and she didn't really care to try. So it was a rough couple of days trying to make her be a missionary at all. Most of the time she was a quiet shadow, unless we were alone, and then she would loudly tell us distracting stories about High School and the "funny" things her friends did. Sister Hodson and I learned a lot from it, and we'll see what our third one is like this week. She's coming for the weekend, which will be interesting because then she will be with us for our 7 hours of church and meetings. We're still excited.
I don't know if I told you last week about our one new investigator we found Sunday night. Well, we went to the appointment time we had set up...and he was home! And expecting us! We taught him the second lesson and it went well. It was the most animated I have ever seen Sister Hodson because she was so excited to teach him. We need that to happen more often. He said no to coming to church, but we have another appointment with him next week, so we'll see how that goes.
It was a good week, but honestly most of the days we were struggling to find things to do in the heat. No one was outside, and no one was answering their doors. We were super grateful for the car. It is supposed to be over 100 for three weeks here. I just want some rain! There have been 4 sick missionaries and one in the hospital from the heat. We are being careful. Our mission president has given us permission to do our studies in the heat of the day and head out early (at 8) when it is still cool. We'll try it (and not visit the people we know sleep late).
I guess the only weird thing that happened this week was a street contact we made. We felt strongly that there was someone we needed to talk to before we headed home, and we almost accidentally started talking to a guy smoking on his porch. When he found out who we were he said "well I'm Baptist," in a way that implied that he knew all about us. He said he wasn't going to change, but he was willing to talk to us for a minute. We started talking, but then it became more and more clear that this guy was a little crazy. Not diagnosably crazy, but socially crazy. He asked us questions like "Do you believe in Jesus Christ?" and "Well, do you believe He is your Savior?" And then looked a little puzzled when our beliefs matched up with his. I told him about prophets and restoration, but I don't know if he heard/understood, because he kept asking questions. He also informed us (three times) that he hated Catholic weddings because of how long they are. The only thing he could find that we believed differently than him was our concept of the trinity as separate people, so he latched onto that. He went into a strange rant. It went something like this:
"You just have to believe in the trinity. The three. Three in one, one in three. You just have to believe in the trinity. You just have to believe it. You just have to believe in it. You just have to believe in the trinity. You just have to believe in a mustard seed."
He looked very intense about it, so I asked,
"Faith like a mustard seed?"
"Yes, faith like a mustard seed in the trinity. I mean I have seen things. I know. I know it is true. My dad, he had half of his intestines removed. Half. Guts gone. I know there is a trinity. You just gotta believe in it. He wasn't supposed to live. You've gotta believe in the trinity--I can speak in tongues!"(he stood up)" I don't know what it is or why I have it, but you've just gotta listen to me" (he started doing fake looking sign language with his hands) "You just have to listen. I have the ability. to speak in tongues. I have the ability...to speak in tongues. I have the ability...to speak in tongues..." His hands moved jerkily, making the same crazy motions for the same words. Repeating himself over and over. Then he pinned his hands behind his back as if he had lost control of them for a little while, and was trying to reign them in.
The conversation ended up being an okay one. For some strange reason, I felt led by the spirit about what I should say to this crazy man. I felt the spirit testifying of my words, and I was able to recite the first vision and bear testimony of it. It was neat. He tried to get us to talk about politics and homosexuality, and informed us that we couldn't win an argument because he was a psych major, but we remained (mostly) in control, and it went well in the end. Sister Hodson is convinced that I will be able to teach him the gospel in the next life. Maybe so. :) Then we went home.
Well, that's all folks. I love you all. :)
Love,
Sister Atkin
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