First week in Hattiesburg

Hey y'all!

 

10/7/14

When we arrived in Hattiesburg, I dropped of my stuff at the apartment and my bike and went to buffalo wild wings for dinner! It was my first time but it wasn't bad. I guess it's half off wings that night. We have Elder Gray, Burningham, Belani and Benson as our other Elders in our district. My comp is Elder Franklin from West Haven, UT. He is a week older then me and he throws javelin for track! After dinner I got groceries and we headed back to the apartment! I got unpacked and settled in mostly and was ready for bed!

 

10/8/14

Woke up early and went to this tiny gym in the apartment complex to work out in. Nothing like Gold's Gym back at home. Made a smoothie for breakfast with our sick blender and then got ready for the day. Today we had district meeting so we got together and discussed investigators and learned about faith. Then for lunch we went to this Chinese Buffet called Super King. The chef cooking the stir frys talked to me and I told him about mongos and how I used to be a grill master. We got his contact info and now Elder Gray and Burningham are going to teach him because he isn't in our area. Then I had my first tracting experience. The first door I knocked on some lady answered and said "not going to happen" and continued to slam the door in our faces. I later learned that usually doesn't happen. haha We met Gary, an investigator, and he seems really interested. After a long day of tracting and trying to find people to teach I was ready to sleep. The next day was even harder, little did I know.

 

10/9/14

Today is "thirsty thursday." Everyone in the mission has to walk or ride bikes and limit their car use. So all day we rode our bikes. It was super hawt and I was sweating like crazy. The best thing that happened today was that we met this lady Elaine that was cleaning her yard of tree clippings. We went up and she immediately said "I don't want to be a mormon." We then offered to help her and she began to soften her heart. After cleaning it up we taught her a lesson and found out she was baptist. We gave her our number and a Book of Mormon and she said she would read it and call us after we were done. She tried paying us but we refused and said it was service. Instead she gave us Mountain Dew haha! One thing that struck me was she said that we have a certain glow about us. Like a glow that christ would have. I also met an old investigator named Trikeshia! We invited her to church and she said yes and she has a baptism date set for Nov 15th! I hope she follow through and gets baptized. She is in her late 20's, lives in a small home and has 6 kids by herself!! I'm excited to teach her more. At the end of this day I was so tired!!

 

10/10/14

 Today I felt wrecked! So tired, we got a new investigator today named Sarah. Red-head from Tenesee and Elder Franklin thinks the only reason she was interested was because she thought I was cute! haha she wouldn't stop staring at and it was awkward! Hopefully she is really interested! We also met with a less active name Randy! It was great teaching him the restoration and he said he would come to church!

 

10/11/14

Met with Trikeshia again and she is loving the gospel! She progressing so much and she is for sure coming to church tomorrow!! The best parts of my day was teaching her and then teaching a Less active named Sis Davis. She has a husband that is missing and tons of problems in her life. Made me so thankful for what I have at home. We brought the spirit with us though and she agreed to come to church!

 

10/12/14

The entries keep getting shorter because of time. But Trikeshia came to church and so did Sis Davis! Trikeshia is bringing the whole family next week. The ward here is tiny, made me appreciate the one I have at home. haha the stake president was there and I met him. He look like carlton off of Fresh Prince. My favorite part of today was teaching a guy named Blue. He is a grandson of a less-active. He smokes and drinks but desires to change. We taught him and as the lesson went on it got even better. I was finally in tune with the spirit. I was pulling scriptures out of nowhere, quoting scripture and testifying with confidence. There was no way those were my words in that lesson. His younger brother was even interested and joined us! They are both awesome and we plan on teaching them on Friday this week.

 

Life is good here but it is hard. I have learned to appreciate so much what I have at home. The homes here look like they could fall but the spirit the people have inside them is amazing. I know now why my dad is always tired. Because he went on a mission. I will hopefully get over it eventually but the time flies when you are working so hard. The members faith here is strong. They have to be with all the opposition here. I am learning to love the people here more and more. I have come to one of the greatest missions ever. I am so excited to see what happens in these next week here. Maybe a baptism or two? We will have to see. I am safe and sound. I love and miss you all so much!

 

Love,

Elder Rankin