Hey y'all!
This last week has been fun and hard work! I will try to hit as many of my highlights as possible :)
So
last Monday I talked about how we got to give our investigator, Gary
Gordon, a priesthood blessing. Well late Monday night, I get a call from
Gary and he is so happy on the other line. He wasn't even supposed to
be released until Wednesday and was at home, still not fully recovered
but feeling so much better. He said that as soon as we gave him the
blessing he started feeling better. He started bearing his testimony
over the phone knowing that we represent the lord, that Jesus is real
and God knows him personally. I responded with my testimony and "Gary, I
think the lord is telling you something." Gary has been investigating
the church for 3 years now but never gotten close to baptism. He is
still stuck on his old church. Hopefully this experience helps him know
that we truly have the restored priesthood and Gary even responded to me
saying, "Yes, Elder Rankin, I think he is too."
Tuesday
was Zone Conference! Another fabulous time together as a zone, being
spiritually fed. We practiced a few different teaching situations,
talked a lot on the blessings of being obedient and the power of have
the spirit with us. President related sin and disobedience to a shot of
anesthetic. A few drops of it can numb your whole arm. Someone could
literally cut off your arm and you would still be smiling and wouldn't
even know. That relates to us when we aren't keeping the commandments.
Over time, we may not even realize the effect disobedience gives. One
day we will realize it and a chunk of us will be missing. We also won
the cleanest car award so that was pretty sweet! It was great to feel
the spirit through the whole day and enjoy the time we had together.
Wednesday
we took one of the youth out with us and went tracting. We were having
no luck for about an hour. We came across a house and an older lady
walked out to her garbage can to dump some trash. Elder Lesuma had
passed their house and just kept on walking. I was about to pass as well
seeing that she looked busy, but I stopped immediately in my tracks and
asked her if we could share a message with her. She invited us in where
we met her husband and a couple of their grandchildren. I went around
and introduced myself and went up to one of the grandchildren and asked
"What is your name little man?" He said "Little man." Jokingly I played
along. I thought he was joking with me but later I found out that they
really nicknamed him "little man!" We taught their family about the Book
of Mormon and invited them to read it and pray about it. Talk to
everyone, don't pass up any opportunities.
Friday
was awesome! We came back to teach that family we taught on Wednesday.
They are the Crosby family. They read the chapter we left them with and
enjoyed it a lot. "Little man" remembered everything that he read! It
was so awesome. He was a smart little kid. He told us about how Jesus
came down from heaven to talk to the people. It was pretty awesome and
it even got better. We taught them the full Restoration and told them
about where the Book of Mormon came from. They really liked it and we
plan on teaching them again! Hopefully we can get them to church soon, I
know they are kind of stuck on their baptist church. That night we went
to Sis Woodard's house! She is great. She fed us krab cakes, and potato
wedges and shrimp and gave us lemon meringue pie for dessert! So good!
She is always so nice to us, she is my grandma away from home. :)
Sunday
was also a highlight for me. We talked a lot about a mighty change of
heart and how we can repent to come closer to our Savior. At times, we
may think that the call to repentance is chastisement and just mean. But
if we truly understand it, we learn that it is an act of love.
Prophet's, apostle's, bishop's, mission president's, leaders and even
parents. They love us and know the blessing from it. We also learn that a
person can have 'clean hands' but still have an 'impure heart'. Through
the Atonement of Christ we can fully be cleansed and have a mighty
change of heart. As it says in Alma 5:14,
"Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?" It even talks
about it in Mosiah 5:2. Once we have this mighty change in our hearts,
we will cease to do evil and strive to do good continually.
What
a great week and what great blessings we have received. I pray that we
continue to find more and new people to teach. For the worth of souls is
great in the sight of God and I really hope we find some new people to
help come closer to Christ. Thanks for all your love and support. I know
this church is TRUE! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love,
Elder Mason Rankin :)
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