ACL Surgery!

Elder Rankin is currently undergoing pre/post ACL surgery and working on getting back to 100% and back to the mission field.  More blog posts to come soon...... Please pray for him!

Letter 11/16/2015

So this past week I got in a little bike crash and ended up having to go to the doctor last Monday. I busted my knee and now have to go to a knee specialist tomorrow to get it checked out. For the time being I am on crutches and continuing the work of salvation. It has been kind of crazy adjusting to it, but the Lord has truly blessed Elder Davis and I for our labors. Don't worry! I am taking it easy, but nothing stops Elder Rankin.

Melissa is doing great, she continues to progress and learn more each time we teach her. We taught her a few more of the commandments this last week and we are starting the stop smoking workshop with her tonight, in the Turley's home. She doesn't know if she can do it, but deep down she knows she has the will power to stop. She came to church yesterday too and enjoyed that as well. The ward members are really being nice to her and she is making more friends. I just pray that she can stop smoking and make her baptismal date. She is a very spiritual lady with lots of questions and the spirit is working with her. I just hope she can recognize it. 

On Thursday we had a zone meeting in Clinton and we had the pleasure of being taught by President Olson. Him and his wife are great people. I have gotten closer with them through this whole knee injury but they are really starting to adjust and figure it all out. He made a few new changes and I think they will be good for the mission. We talked a lot about our missions and the sacredness of our calling. It helped me continue my focus, know where I can improve and be taught by the spirit. It was wonderful! After the Zone meeting, we also got interviews with President. This was my second one with him. It was very spiritual and I enjoyed talking with him. I left there with a new fire and a even great desire to serve.

So what did I do with this desire? I went out that next day and tracted with my wonderful crutches. I was a little hesitant at first and didn't know how it would go, but went for it anyway. As I drove around a part of our area, I was trying to find where we wanted to tract. I finally found a street that seemed right and then drove up and down it trying to see where we should start. I tried listening to the spirit and I had the weirdest thought to start in the middle. I was so used to starting at the ends, but I just went for it. After parking, I again tried to decide where to go. Right or left? Finally I decided left. Then I had to decide where to start... I start on the right side of the street. So I hobbled over to the first door and we began our tracting. Elder Davis knocked and I had little hope anyone was home. The house looked dark. Suddenly the door opened and out came a younger lady. We told her who we were and that we were sharing a message. To our surprise, she let us right in and we got to teach her and her cousin! Their names are Anna and Shay. We taught them about the Restoration and they were so interested in learning more. We scheduled to come back the next day to check on their reading. We came back and they read, they had questions and they even prayed about it! It was so great! We then talked about the Holy Ghost, more about the B.o.M. and receiving answers to prayers. At the end of our lesson, we each offered kneeling prayer where we each individually prayed about the B.o.M. Such a spiritual experience and another witness of how the Lord truly guides us. If I had not listened, we would have never found them that day. We even found out the next lesson that Anna had been praying to God, telling him she wanted to go back to church. An answer to prayers for her. Such a great experience, the Lord does bless you for your labors. Even when you are on crutches. :) We had a similar experience the next day where we taught a whole family, again the very first door we 

knocked on. Truly blessed!

Last thought for the day. I was reading in Isaiah, and I came across two scriptures that I enjoyed. Isaiah 53:5-6. Jesus Christ was wounded, he was hurt, he was bruised and sacrificed for us. We each are sheep that have gone astray in different ways. As we each turn to him, our love for him deepens. He suffered for me, the perfect one, the only Begotten one. Take some time and think about what he did. It is truly amazing! My love for him grows deeper each day and I want to show him my love through my actions. He is there, we are his sheep and He truly does live. The Savior loves you and so does Elder Rankin! Don't forget it! Have a great week and keep on smiling! :)

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :) #Gameon

Pictures 11/16/2015

Crutches with my messed up knee... hopefully more picts next week.

Letter 11/09/2015 - Listen to the still small voice

Hey everyone! Hope y'all had a drier week then I did. It just kept on raining for a couple days this week. The yard next to our apartment became a river, if that tells you how much it rained. We made the best of it and had a great week.

We had exchanges at the beginning of this week. I first went with Elder Reisner on Monday night and then with Elder Meyer on Tuesday. I always love exchanges because you get to teach with someone different and you both can learn something from each other. Every time it is a good experience.

We got to teach Melissa a few times this week. She is doing really great! Elder Meyer and I started on Tuesday by teaching her about the sacrament and more on the Priesthood because she had some questions from Sunday when she came to church. Later on in the week, we talked about the Word of Wisdom, following the Prophet and being obedient. After talking about the W.o.W, she had a few things that she has to work on but I know with the Lord's help, she can overcome any challenges. So hopefully we can help her with that! Her daughter, Rebeckah, also started sitting in on the lessons. She is 24, was baptized in a baptist church last year and wants to draw closer to God. She is taking it all well and she doesn't want to get baptized right now but maybe in the future. She is praying about it. After a few good lessons this last week, Melissa and Rebeckah both came to Church on Sunday!!! It was awesome!! They liked it a lot and enjoyed the service. Melissa is progressing well, I pray that she makes baptism at the end of this month. I know that she can!

In District meeting, I taught about confidence in the spirit. I really enjoyed talking and studying about this topic. As missionaries and as members, we may struggle in being confident. Whether we are scared to offend someone, or not know what to say or even say the wrong thing. Nephi was a man that stood in confidence because he trusted in the Lord. I know that as we trust in the Lord and keep his commandments, the spirit will be with us. If we have the spirit, we will be confident and we will help others know of God and his love. Don't be scared, pray for opportunities to share your testimony and watch as the Spirit works through you. We cannot do this work without him and the joy that comes from it is greater than anything I have ever felt. Try it, exercise a particle of faith.

So yesterday, Elder Davis and I were finishing up some tracting hours. We were both done for the day, tired and I know I was kind of dragging my feet. We passed by this house with a man raking some leaves, I heard something tell me to stop and help him rake his leaves. I looked around for an extra rake, couldn't find it so I simply waved and passed on by. After no success tracting and trying to contact people, we walked back by the man raking and again we just passed on by and headed to our locked bikes. I heard something tell me "Help him rake his leaves." I told myself again, "there is no rake, plus I doubt he wants my help. He will probably just say no." We got on our bikes and started to head home. Again, we passed the man and I heard the voice again. So I stopped, leaned up my bike against a post and asked the man if I could help him rake his yard. Elder Davis was already biking ahead and had to stop and come back. Then man at first, said "No, I would have to pay you." I persisted more, found a rake I hadn't seen before and helped the man rake his yard. While raking, I started talking to him about who we were, asking him about himself and then asking him about his beliefs. His name is Mike, he is 22, lives with his girlfriend, drives a tractor for a living and is Christian. He told me that he still has faith but he needs to get back into church. I invited him to ours and he was interested in coming. After we finished the yard, we started to talk to him about the Gospel and the Book of Mormon. We now have a return appointment on Tuesday with him and his girlfriend and I am humbled. I know that it is important to listen to the still small voice. Sometimes we may not think it is the spirit, try it and you will find out. If it is successful, you will know it was the right thing to do. Exercise a particle of faith, you will be blessed for it.

Thanks for the love and support. I hope y'all have a good week. Keep on smiling! With Thanksgiving coming up, remember what you are thankful for. Share thanks with those you love, it is a great time of the years. I love this Holiday season. Remember God loves you and so do I! 

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :) #Gameon

Pictures 11/09/2015

lunch with the District

The great Mississippi River

The ward boundary goes into Arkansas

Bridge over the Mississippi

Boat in the Great Mississippi

Yes Elder Rankin I am a BSU fan!

Letter 11/02/2015- Why didn't the skeleton cross the road?... Because he had no guts!

This week was another good one. The rain was off and on but it didn't stop us here in Greenville. We continued to work and we had some good success this past week.

I'll start with our awesome day we had on Thursday. We had tons of success finding and teaching our investigators. Last Sunday we tracted into this lady and she told us to come back a different day. After a few reschedules, we finally got in Thursday to teach her and her fiance. They have a few kids and are just a great couple. We started off introducing ourselves and our purpose as missionaries. We got into the lesson a little bit, but the wife had to leave early to go get her kids so we continued to teach her fiance, Will. He was really understanding, he asked good questions and the spirit was there backing up and giving us the words to say. It all made sense to him, we even recapped at the end and he practically told me the Restoration lesson by himself only hearing it once. He wants to read it all as fast as he can and wants to know more about it. We invited him to pray and discussed the Holy Ghost. I think Will and his wife could get baptized here in the next months, they are awesome and were prepared to hear our message. Another thing that was cool, I had prayed specifically to find a young family to teach and we found them within days. I pray our upcoming lessons go well. 

Later that day we went to visit some less-actives, the Davis family. As we taught and discussed with them about their conversion, the spirit told me to ask them to come to our next lesson with this young family. They would be perfect! They both are young, they both have young kids and I could see them getting along great. I asked them and they happily agreed to join us this next week at their lesson. I can't wait! I really pray that it all goes well! 

Of course, this last weekend was Halloween! We had a trunk or treat at the church and it went great. We had a few non members there, lots of candy, games and fun! We were in charge of the donut on the string game. It was funny to watch all the little kids try to eat a donut without their hands. There was some rain on Halloween but we still had a good day. We went to Greenwood so we could go on an exchange with the Elders. It was fun! Elder Meyer showed us some places where the movie "The Help was filmed" and took us around the small town. We finished off the day at the Turley's for some chili and games! It was fun! :)

Last thing, we have this awesome investigator name Melissa we have been teaching for a little bit. She is very spiritual, has studied a lot of different religions and has a great relationship with God. She believes that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith saw what he saw and that she needs to be baptized by the Priesthood. She knows this because she prayed and asked got and he told her through the spirit! We are shooting for her to get baptized at the end of this month! I pray that it goes through and it continues to go well as we teach her the rest of the lessons and more about the gospel. She came to church yesterday and liked it a lot. She was so interested in the sacrament, she loved it. After church she asked Elder Davis and I, "can you baptize me?" I really have high hopes and faith that she can make it! I hope we continue to have success with her.

Something that stood out to me in my studies this week is this quote by Elder Ballard, "True conversion comes through the power of the spirit.... experiences with the Spirit follow naturally when a person is willing to experiment upon the word." I know this to be true. I have seen as the spirit has worked with me and others to bring about conversion. For instance, we have this member in our ward named Eric Motton. When I first got here, he was barely coming to church. After working with him some, he is now blessing the sacrament every week, going out with us to see people and is always early to church. As he shared his testimony, the other day in a lesson, I was overcome with joy at how far he had come! The Spirit changes lives. Pray for it, seek it and enjoy it. True happiness comes through this Gospel! Have a great week y'all, continue to be awesome! I love and miss y'all! Keep on smiling! :)

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin  #Gameon

Pictures - 11/02/2015

See ya Eric, I love this guy!

Carving with the District

Greenville

Yep Greenville, is in Mississippi!

Missionaries in charge of the Donut from a String station at the trunk o treat

kids loving it

Mason as the donut eating champion

the sign from the movie "the Help"

and the Bridge from the movie "The Help"

Letter 10/26/2015- Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Hey y'all! Sorry I didn't write a full email last week! I was busy at transfer point and just didn't get enough time! It was great to see some old pals and talk with them. I have definitely made some good friends while being out here on the mission.

Just to update you on some things that happened last week:

-We went to a tamale festival here in Greenville

-Had a Zone Development meeting on conversion that was way spiritual

-Larenda and her family came to church!!! They all want to be baptized at the end of November, so hopefully we can help them make their date.

-Eric Smith is leaving this next week to Nashville to live with his family. Happy he is back with his family but sad he is leaving me! He has grown so much!

Now for this week. We were on bikes so we were always running everywhere. We didn't have tons of success but we did our best! One of my favorite lessons we had, was with Jermichael and his family. Jermichael was running in and out so we focused on the 2 young boys that were there. It helped that we had the Young Mens president there as well. They are his brother-in-laws. Their names are Treyvian and Vante. Vante is 12 and Treyvian is 10. We discussed putting God in everything in our life and prayer. We taught very simply and were able to read some scriptures with them and help them understand them. At the end we had a spiritual experience with them, we had them each say a prayer after I gave an example prayer. We wanted to help them know how to pray and try it out for themselves. As these two 10 and 12 years olds spoke, I felt the spirit so strong as they offered such a simple prayer. I hope we can continue to help this family draw closer to the Savior and bring more light into their home.

Yesterday was rainy, and we got way wet riding our bikes. I still was happy though and tried my best to help people feel the spirit. We had some positive experiences and then a couple rejections. It was funny though, I enjoy talking to people. One guy we talked to pulled out his Qu'ran and started to preach to us about how we aren't brothers, we are brothers in faith. There was a ton of people walking around the house, of all ages, and we wanted to teach them all. Finally I stopped this guy, Sidney, from talking and I started to just testify of what I knew was true. All the kids stopped, the adults looked over and listened. It was the craziest thing, I felt the spirit and I couldn't deny that he was there helping us. It may have been short and we didn't get to teach very much but what we shared allowed them to feel of God's love. Maybe we will have success with them later. We did find a few potentials though, so that was good. We even had a member bring his friend to church the last 2 weeks. His friend then shared with him that he wanted to become a member and be baptized! We are going to hopefully start teaching him this week and see how interested he is! The Lord provides. 

Besides the rain, my spirits are high. Many times throughout my day, I feel the spirit so much. I know that he is there and that he loves me personally. I was studying a little bit in Mosiah and came across a verse in chapter 23 verse 10. As I read I felt that it spoke about me, and about my missionary work. I pray to God to help me help others, know what to say and help as many people as I can. I am an instrument in his hands in helping others come unto him. I am grateful for this Gospel and the opportunity I have to better myself each day. Pray to God, ask him for strength, tell him your desires, align your will with his and you will find true happiness. He will lift you up and make you the best you can be. He has with me and I know he can with you because He loves you. Have a great week y'all, keep on smiling! Enjoy your Halloween weekend and don't eat too much candy! Love y'all!

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

Pictures 10/26/2015

Baptist church

Service work

see the toads?!

This isn't as fun as I thought it was going to be.

Rain

Rain Rain Go Away!

Letter 10/19/2015- Transfer Day!

No time to write the weekly summary letter.... Transfer Day! Will write more next week. I have some pictures I will send.
Love you,
Mason

Pictures from Transfer Day 10/19/2015

Raj and I

Gangsta

Transfer Day Distirct

Sister Kelly

Sister Washington... she makes the best southern food!

Tamale Festival in the small town of Greenville.

Transfer Day with these guys!

Letter- 10/12/2015 Some craziness and some baptisms!

This week was a full week. Every hour and minute was full. It was great! Just continuing to help others come closer to Christ! It would of helped if the weather stayed cooler, but of course it warmed up again. Welcome to Miss'ippi.

We started the week with exchanges with the Greenwood Elders. We had fun working and learning from one another. My favorite experience happened late Monday night. Elder Meyer and I were walking back to the car and we came up to a street with a guy yelling in the middle of it. He was smoking something and yelling at the top of his lungs. He turned around, saw us and said "police!" We told him no, we were missionaries for our Church. He immediately asked for a Book of Mormon and if he could take some pictures with us. So we got some pictures with him, talked to him a little bit about the Book of Mormon and had a good discussion. He may have not known where he was or what he was saying, but it was a good time. Elder Meyer and I had a good laugh.

This weekend was also full of hard work and the spirit as well. We finally got in contact with Jermichael. He had moved into a little home and finally wasn't busy. We shopped up on Saturday and talked for a few minutes before we were interrupted by the neighbor. It was some old guy that came storming across his lawn to talk to us. He ended up just verbally attacking us. Saying we weren't old enough to be Elders, not qualified to teach and some other junk. I shut down a lot of what I was saying, trying to help him understand and correct what he was saying. Jermichael was happy we knew what we were talking about, but this man just continued to attack us. We finally ended it and left, hoping it didn't effect Jermichael at all. He called 5 minutes after we left, telling us he didn't believe that guy and that he would be at church tomorrow. So I was happy it didn't effect him. It is hard when people are rude like that, to just lash out and get mad back. But that doesn't get anywhere, you cannot invite the spirit in that environment. I am glad I have a sound understanding and have a strong testimony. I will not be shaken, my roots are too strong, my faith is too deep. Darkness doesn't comprehend light and light will always overcome darkness.

Then for Sunday! It was so great yesterday, I constantly felt the peace and love of the Holy Ghost. A couple big things happened. First, Raj came to church! He finally got back in touch with us Saturday and said sorry he has been so busy and also sick. Jermichael and his family also came. All of their faith is building. Second, Eric Smith (recent convert) got the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday. He got up after being ordained a priest to shake everyone's hands. He went for the hand shake but I just went in for the big bear hug. He started laughing and smiling great big! He is so great, I love him! And then finally, the sister's had their baptisms yesterday. Rozenna(grandma) and Za-keria(granddaughter). Earlier this week, Za-keria called me and asked me if I would baptize her. I jumped for joy and felt so privileged. She is 9 years old, loves to laugh, smile, giggle, is always full or energy and is just a sweetheart. So of course, we get along great! I felt the spirit through the whole service. I am so thankful for having the opportunity to be here. I am blessed. God knows and loves each of us. As it says in John 14:18, he will not leave us comfortless. He is there, he is knocking, we just need to let him in. Truly a spiritual weekend, full of lots of good feeling and love. I hope y'all feel the same. Continue in faith, he will comfort and help you. Thank you for the love and support. Keep on smiling!!!

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :) #Gameon

Pictures - 10/12/2015

Za-keria and Rozenna

Letter 10-05-2015 - General Conference is always a good time

Our week was good, it ended great with General Conference. We had a lot of investigators that fell through, but we made the best of what we had and made it a good week.

Our first miracle of the week started Tuesday night. We had gotten home late from visiting less-actives with Bro Turley. We didn't have much success so we were kind of down. We started to plan for the next day when Elder Davis realized he had left our phone in the back seat of Bro Turley's car. How were we going to call him without another phone? I told him "well you are going to have to go knock on our neighbors door." So we started knocking. Surprisingly no one was home until the last door on the opposite end of the hall. A nice lady named Hope answered the door. Elder Davis was able to borrow her phone and then call Bro Turley. I took this opportunity to start getting to know her and maybe teach her a little bit about what we share. It feels second nature, I just have to talk to people and get to know them. I found out she was in her early 30's, had a 13 years old son named Sebastian and works at the hospital here in Greenville. After some discussion, we were able to give her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read some of it. We hopefully will be able to meet with her this coming week. She is a really nice person and considers herself spiritual. I pray we can help her find the restored gospel. Maybe there was a reason Elder Davis forgot the phone? Coincidence? I think not :)

Later in the week, we had some potential investigators fall through. Our backup plan was tracting, we weren't to excited to go and knock on doors. Before we began, a lady yelled from across the busy road "hey! can I have one of those mormon bibles?" She came over to us and we met her and her husband. Sabrina and Sam. They are sweet people. We were able to share a short Restoration lesson with them right before they headed home. They were walking home from the store and we happened to catch them in passing. The Lord provided, he allowed us to meet them, share our testimonies and bring more truth to their lives. Another mercy from our father in heaven. Right when we were down and discouraged, the Lord lifted us and gave us a great opportunity. We pray that we can continue to teach them and help their young marriage. 

This weekend was of course General Conference. I hope you all enjoyed the wonderful talks and messages that were shared. I don't know if I can pin point anything that was the general things but I did find they shared a lot of the same truths. The Plan of Salvation, the Atonement of Christ, keeping the sabbath day holy, LOVE, following the commandments and many others were shared. I successfully stayed awake for all the sessions, y'all should be proud of me. I almost fell asleep in the last session, but I held it together to finish off strong. The spirit was strong. Some of the things they shared felt like they knew what I was feeling and what I needed to hear. How exciting to have 3 new apostles also! I am sad not to see Packer, Scott and Perry on the stand. But they continue their service on the other side. They were great men! I don't know if I had one favorite talk, I loved all of them. I really reflected upon the Atonement and offering our whole souls to Christ, throughout the weekend. Like Elder Durrant shared, I will be "ponderizing" the verse of Omni 1:26 this week. The Atonement enables us to become better, feel relief from the past and find peace on our lives. I know this to be true and I know that as we offer our whole souls to Christ, as it says in this verse, the Lord will bless us and we will find that eternal joy that cannot be found anywhere else. I invite you to "ponderize" as well and offer your soul to him. It will bring the joy and light to your life, that no other person or substance or thing can bring. The Lord knows you and loves you.... and so does Elder Rankin! :) Have a great week y'all! Keep on smiling! 

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

Photos 10-05-2015

Morning Tennis!

Look what I found Papa and Grandma Pickett!

Letter 9/29/2015 - Have you ever had a spirit baby? Wait..What?!

This last week was a good one. Greenville is starting to cool down. Today isn't that humid, there is some overcast and not to hot outside. So I am happy! I hope it is finally for fall to come, I love the cooler weather in the fall.

So we started the week so strong and just kept it going throughout the whole week. On Tuesday, we had our "Miracle Day." We just kept teaching and teaching and finding... it was so great! Early in the afternoon we taught Cory Hodge because he had cancelled the night before. Y'all should've seen this lesson, you could've put it on "The District" videos about missionary work. We kept bouncing off of each other, perfect scriptures, we were saying the perfect stuff and the spirit was so strong. Cory finally understood and gave a solid commitment to be baptized this next month. The only thing he had to do was go and talk to his pastor... We talked about what to say and not allowing him to change his mind. We came back on Friday and found out what happened. Cory got dropped... Whether it was because he didn't have the courage or his pastor said something, we aren't teaching him anymore. It was kind of sad, but the day got better. I had taught him for so long and really loved him and wanted the best for him. He just couldn't commit. We will probably go see him in a couple of weeks and see if he notices a difference in his life. I pray Heavenly Father helps him find the courage and see the difference.

Jermichael is doing well. (Found out this last week I was spelling it wrong this whole time..) He continues to progress and still wants to be baptized. I just hope he is ready. We might also teach his fiance in the future as well. Right now she is really busy, but in the future we definitely will. They read and pray together and their faith is growing. Heavenly Father is working in their lives.

Some fun stuff happened this weekend. We met this Grandma named Yvonne and her daughter Ebaney. They are such nice people and they accepted us well. We did have an interesting lesson with them though. We started to talk about the Holy Ghost, I wanted to help them understand how they can recognize truth. They then took the lesson and ran with it, to sort of speak. Ebaney started to talk about seeing Jesus' face in the water, not too crazy right? Then Yvonne started talking about her spirit leaving her body and her feeling it. She laid down with a headache, told God to relieve the pain and her spirit left her body and went to the ceiling. I chuckled a little, not expecting it. She was dead serious. Then she started exclaiming about having a spirit baby. I was like "What the?" in my head. She continued to tell us about having this spirit baby in the middle of church on the ground. She had tons of agony, but could feel a spirit baby coming out of her. Elder Davis had no clue what to say, so I just started telling them about Joseph Smith and the first vision. After all these experiences they had gone through, I knew his vision wouldn't even phase them. They actually loved it! We left them with a Book of Mormon and may be able to teach them more in the future. It was a crazy lesson, didn't know you could have a spirit baby?...

President Olson came up to Greenville this weekend. He taught a third hour lesson about missionary work to help the ward get more involved, I think it will help them. The spirit was strong all through church, I loved it. It even carried over to yesterday. We went to Clinton to have a "specialized training" meeting. All the new missionaries in the past 6 months had to go, so I took Elder Davis. It was great to learn from everyone and just share what I knew. I looked around and realized I was one of the oldest in the meeting. Crazy to think how far I have come.

I wanted to share one last thing before I head out. I was reading in Jacob 5 this past week. If you haven't read it, read it. It talks about the Lord working in his vineyard. He says a question in there that really stuck to me. "What could I have done more in my vineyard?" This next year I want to leave saying, "I could not have done more in my vineyard." As we look at our own lives, in our vineyards that we are in. Are we actively "nourishing" the people around us? Are we helping the Lord in this great work? In versus 49-50, The Lord is ready to get rid of all the bad in the vineyard and cast them into the fire. His servant than says "Spare it a little longer". We do not want to lose any of the "trees" or "branches" or the Children of God that surround us. As a servant, I am happy to have this time to help the Lord in this great work and find the joy in his eternal vision. May we each find that joy, through the spirit, in simply sharing what we know.

Thanks y'all for all the love and support, have a great week! Keep on smiling!

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

Photos - 9/29/2015

another cool cotton field

Zone Conference

1 year mark ice cream sundae

Letter 9/21/2015- Is it really one year already?

This past week has been a pretty good one. It got a little hot again later in the week and we are both ready for the fall weather. We survived summer in the south, I can check that off my bucket list. One down, one to go.

Jamicheal is doing well, he is just having a lot of stress trying to find a job. We were able to bring the spirit into our lessons this past week and really try to help him lift his burdens off his shoulder by increasing his faith. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation a lot this last week. He already had a basic understanding of it, but we went into a little more detail about eternal families. He is getting married soon and has a young family, so it was perfect for him. I love talking about the plan because I am happy that I have this knowledge of where I am from, what I am doing here and where I am going. We tracted into a man this last week that was an Atheist and I asked him where we went after this life. He said nowhere. It made me sad to think that people believe we are here just for this short life and then we are done. I want to share the Plan of Happiness with everyone, because it brings me happiness! :)

We found a new family to teach this last week! They are the Green family. We met them just walking down the road. We saw a mom sitting out in the yard with a ton of kids running around the yard, so we went up and talked to her. We gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read a chapter and pray about it. We then came back a couple days later and discussed the chapter. The chapter was Alma 32, a lot on faith. Through our discussion, baptism was brought up. We invited her and her family to be baptized. She said "yes, I want Jesus Christ in my family. I want my kids to know him." I pray that I can help them work towards baptism and make their home into a safe haven for that family. A place where they can feel safe, feel God's love and the holy spirit. Especially in this city, where so much darkness surrounds them.

On Tuesday night, our Catholic friends invited us to come to a big spaghetti feed at their high school. Free food? Of course the Elder's are there! We showed up and instantly stuck out from the rest of the people. It was really funny because they were all thinking "who invited them?"... "why are they here?" It was fun though! They had a little carnival thing, live music and of course some spaghetti. We talked to a lot of nice people and it ended up being really good. I told Elder Davis I was going to go on top of the school and start preaching the Restoration, like Samuel the Lamanite. I think their arrows would hit me though :) haha

One last awesome person we found was Shenita. Elder Nuku and I tracted into her a while ago but could never get in contact with her. We came back and actually got to teach her again. We discussed Alma 32 with her as well. She expressed how she used to be active in her church, read her bible and pray everyday. Now she wasn't doing any of those things. So we asked her, "do you think we were sent from God to help you and your family find the truth?" She immediately said "Yes! I feel great when y'all come over." We helped her recognize that it was the spirit and that she could have that in her home everyday if she began to do these simple things we were inviting her to do. I pray that we can help Shenita and her young family as well. She has 3 young kids: 2 girls and one little boy. The little boy is named Gary and he loves to see us. He always wants to play with me when we come over. I pray that we can continue to help this family as well. They said yes to come to church, so hopefully they really do!!

Last thing for this week... We had Stake Conference yesterday. We are in the Monroe, LA stake so we had to drive 2 hours with the Turley's to get there. It was great to feel the spirit there and hear as Elder Hymas, of the seventy, talked about missionary work, the sacrament and sabbath day observance. He invited a new convert and a re-activated member to come up and share their testimonies. Both of their testimonies really were spiritual. I knew what they were sharing was true and I felt just great! It was a good sabbath day. Lots of sitting and riding in the car, but it was worth it.

Well y'all, am I really already at one year? Doesn't feel like it here, but it really has been that long. It is great to look at how much I have grown and all that I have learned. I am grateful to be here and grateful for the man that I am becoming. I will never deny what I feel and what I know. The Gospel is true, the Atonement is real and my Savior lives. I know this because I have prayed about it and have received a witness. I am excited to see what this next year brings and how much more I can learn and grow. In Alma 32, it talks about nourishing our faith and planting a seed of faith. I want to continue to nourish my faith and become like a large tree that stands immovable because my roots are too large. Continue to nourish your faith y'all and it will grow into something great. Thank you for all the love and support. Have a good week y'all. God lives, loves you.. and so do I :)

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

Pictures 9/21/2015

Cotton fields

Amazing stuff!

My new District.

Letter 9/14/2015- Ever been bit by a dog?

So this last week was fast, fun, crazy, busy and hard. We had lots of success and found some new people to teach. My new companion Elder Davis and I are getting along well. He is from Aurora in Colorado. He played lacrosse all through high school so I like talking about that with someone. We get along pretty well. He also loves Captain America, so he is pretty legit.

Our top investigator right now is Jamichael. He came up to me last Sunday and told me he wanted to be taught the lessons again. He had been taught in the past but never made it to baptism. We taught him on Wednesday and committed him to start reading the Book of Mormon again. We also committed him to baptism on the first lesson. We are working toward October 18th after he gets married on the 11th. We may teach his fiance in the future so hopefully that works out!

Cory is doing well. Still waiting for an answer to his prayers. We had a great lesson on the spirit and how to pray to our heavenly father. He knows the church is true, just needs God to tell him to go this path before he decides to be baptized. We keep bringing the spirit to everyone lesson and trying to help him receive the answer that he needs. I think he knows, just needs to recognize his answer. Maybe in the future he will have a baptism date too. 

This week it rained hard on us and we didn't appreciate it with our bikes and now rain coats. Luckily our investigator Anna let us in and we were able to teach her and her daughter. Bike areas can be hard but I like it. Give you the chance to talk and see everyone on the streets.

So you are probably wondering what the caption is for?.. Well we knocked on this door and a young girl answered. She opened the door wide and suddenly a dog ran out and jumped for my ankle. The dog nipped at my ankle as I tried to kick it away. The young girl then ran after the dog, caught it, went back inside and wouldn't open the door again. I then looked at my ankle and there was a bruise from where the dog had bit me. Luckily it didn't puncture the skin, but it left a good little mark on my leg. I can mark that off my mission check list, "get bit by a dog."

I pray that we continue to have success and joy this next week. We have some good plans and ideas for this area. Greenville won't know what hit it. I really have been grateful for prayer this last week. I spend a lot of time on my knees as a missionary. Prayer is a sign of faith, that you are humble and it helps us grow our relationship with our Heavenly Father. He is there for us and he wants to hear about our days. I pray that each of us openly and honestly speak with him throughout our days. Heavenly Father loves you and so do I. Have a great week y'all, keep on smiling!

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

Pictures 9/14/2015

My new Companion Elder Davis!

Cory and I

Sister Hill and Elder Meyers! How I missed them! It was good to see them again.

Elder Boehme (my MTC companion)

Great to see him again!