Letter 5/26/2015 - 8 months!

Holy Ghost! I have been out for 8 months now, is that crazy or what?! Seems like yesterday I was stepping off the plane. It has been a fun and crazy adventure. I can't wait what else the Lord has in store for me.

We started the week with an exchange with Coushatta. I went with Elder Chase up here in Stonewall and it was pretty good. We started out Monday by going out with Bro Terry to see some less-actives. We found one man that was... kind of a cross dresser... He came out wearing fish-net tights, pink fingernail polish, woman's clothes, lipstick and I could see the lines where his wig used to be. Bro Terry didn't know what to say so I had to carry the conversation. It was pretty funny to see both Elder Chase and Bro Terry's faces when this man came out! Hahaha, another story for the books...

Elder Ross and I went over Wednesday to teach Dennis and we got some bad news... he doesn't want to be taught anymore. He went and chatted with his baptist preacher and has decided to stay there. It kind of stuck a lot but we are still doing alright. Seems like we are back to square one with investigators. Just lots of potentials! We did find a young boy we might be able to teach though. The Sander's in our ward, had their grandkids over while we were helping them move and they brought a friend that was really interested in our church. His name is Will and it 13 years old. I'll let you know how that goes, hopefully we can teach him more in the future!

We did have some little success though this week. I was totally down after Dennis dropped us but I continued to work and tract. We went to go visit some of the former investigators in the area book. We came to one man's house and he wasn't there, so we decided to tract a little bit. 2 doors down, we met Cherrie and her family! She has 4 kids and she is a single mother. We taught her a little bit about the BoM and talked to her about her faith. We have a return appointment for this week, so hopefully it goes well :)

As we were walking back to the car, a couple of teenage boys were taunting us and asking us to come play basketball with them. So Elder Ross and I challenged them and gave them a run for their money :) They didn't think we were any good at all and we ended up stomping on them! It was only a 9.5 foot hoop but we did pretty good for being in full proselyting clothes. Our winning point was a reverse dunk alley-oop to me! It was so sweet! Definitely made the day better to play a little basketball. :)

This past Saturday was "service Saturday." We started at 7:30 am at Sis Fedatov's house to help her move. Then we had to go to the other house in Northern Shreveport to unload it. After finishing at her house, we went over to the Sander's to move some of their heavier boxes and furniture out into the moving POD. After that, the Glass' took us out to Subway for lunch and then had us come help them move new furniture into their house. We didn't get back to the apartment till late that night and we were all tired out from moving boxes to couches to beds! Lots and lots of service :)

Sunday was great! The ward really loves us a lot and I can feel their love. Everyone continues to sign up to feed us and come to their houses! Hopefully we can turn these meal appointments into some referrals :) For 3rd hour, the Primary asked us to come in a teach a little bit. The kids asked us all sorts of questions and we got to answer them. We were then going to leave back to our class and all the kids asked for us to stay and having singing time with them! It was so fun to sing and do all the actions :) Brought me back to my Primary days! Love it!

Yesterday was Memorial Day! What a fabulous day! Elder Ross and I had a great time. We started at the Ward craw fish boil and I had a whole ton of craw fish. It was a good experience, plus they are funky looking but pretty good :) After we played softball, ultimate frisbee and basketball with all the kids and adults. It was fun! I got a little sun so I look tan today, but Elder Ross and I bought some sweet shirts and everyone like them. You'll have to check out the pictures. Then last night we had a tornado warning so we had to go to the Adams house and all jam into the center of the house with pillow and blankets. Luckily it didn't hit close to us, and we even got some homemade vanilla ice cream afterwards. Overall a great day! :) Thanks to all those who serve! Land of the free, because of the Brave :)

Thanks y'all for all the support and love. I hope your week was as good as mine. Definitely had my ups and downs, but wouldn't have the good without the bad. Have a great day y'all and keep on smiling :)! I miss and love y'all!

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin

Pictures 5/26/2015

Crawfish Boil on Memorial Day!

Tornado Warnings with our district.

Letter 5/18/2015 - Interviews, new faces, rain and even more rain...

This week was a good one, we worked hard, saw some blessings and had some more rain...

Elder Ross and I have been getting up and playing tennis in the mornings when there is no rain! It has been way fun. It reminds me from back when I used to play. We are getting better, I still can play alright. I have to work on my serve a little bit though... :)

Tuesday we had interviews with President McDonough and it was great to see that man. Probably one of the most Christ-like men I will ever know. My District was taught by the Zone Leaders about the Doctrine of Christ. Reflecting upon each point of it and why we teach it. It all starts with faith. President and I had a great interview. I was just happy. I didn't have anything bad to say, or really too many questions like before. I just kept telling him how happy I was. My companion and I are getting along great, my district is amazing and I was just so happy with how everything around me was. I saw no problems with anyone in my district and I just knew this transfer would be a good one! After my interview, I had to ask President one last question :) I asked him "if you could have any condiment come out of your belly button the rest of your life, what would it be?" He looked at me, chuckled a little and was just so surprised by the question. After he finished laughing, he told me that it would be ketchup. We have a ketchup man :)

Later on in the week, we went to tract in a new area. We found an awesome middle-class neighborhood with lots of people in it! We were guided by the spirit as we tracted and were able to find someone to teach. As we came up to this door, we had no luck so far so we were a little down. We knocked once and a big black lady came to the door. She opened the door and just smiled! Her first words were, "Wow, y'all are looking fly!" We laughed and instantly made a friend. Her name is Monet. She said she was in a spiritually open time in her life so she would listen to what we had to say. We answered all of her many questions, gave her a Book of Mormon and she committed to read a chapter of it before we came back and checked on her. She was so happy that we gave her one, she treated it like it was a million bucks! What a great lady! Hopefully it continues to go well with her. :)

Just an update on Dennis! We met with him Tuesday and had a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation with him. He really seemed to understand it and grasp the idea of knowing where he came from, what he is doing here and where he is going. When I asked him where he thought he was going after this life, he responded with "I hopefully will go to a kingdom where God is." I was so shocked that this man really believed it was a Kingdom, most just say heaven but he didn't. So it was great when we got to teach him about each of the kingdoms. Dennis was invited to church but I guess he was busy so hopefully this next week we can get him to join us, that would be great! Plus next Monday we are having a crawfish boil at the church, so hopefully he can make it to that as well.

This last Sunday was another good one. Elder Ross spoke on the Priesthood and he did a great job. Bro Campbell taught a great Gospel Doctrine class and we were studying in Luke about the parable of the lost sheep. Some people may think that the 'lost sheep' are only the people that haven't been baptized, but really we have lots of lost sheep all around us. Many member become inactive or less-active and they are our 'lost sheep' that we need to go help come back, just as Jesus would. for the value of one is great in the sight of our Heavenly Father. Elder Ross and I taught the High Priests about the Book of Mormon. They were investigators and we role played for a little bit. Some of the member thought it would be funny and try to ask really hard questions but each time we came back with a great answer and were very bold with them. I think they were a little shocked by it. Most of them served missionaries, "way back when", so they were used to memorized discussions not the lessons that we have today. It's crazy to see how much it has changed with Preach My Gospel.

My last highlight of the week was going over to the Elliot's for dinner. Sariah, their daughter, has decided that I am her 4th favorite missionary of all time! Elder Ross kept asking her if he was one of her favorites. She already had 3 top favorites she said, and then she told him "Elder Rankin is my 4th favorite, but I am going to have to think about you..." hahaha I was laughing pretty hard, seeing Elder Ross get shot down a little :) She is a funny little girl, definitely loves her frozen stuff. The Elliot's are always so nice to us and we had a great little lesson with them about member missionary work.

I hope y'all always are trying and looking for missionary opportunities because there are a lot of "lost sheep" out there and we need to help them. After all is said and done, one of the most important things we need to do, is to preach his Gospel. You may be nervous, it may be awkward, or even a little scary. Don't worry, the Holy Ghost will help you know what to say as long as you have faith and your just open your mouth. Think about your favorite aspect of the church or His gospel. How much joy does that give you to know that? or know the truth of it? Now since it gives us that joy, don't we desire to share it with everyone? so they can have that joy as well? Yes! As members of the church, we are truly blessed to have the fullness of the everlasting gospel. May we always seek missionary opportunities and live so that the Holy Ghost can work through us to bless those lost sheep. Thanks y'all for the love and support! Have a great week, and know Heavenly Father loves you! :)

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

Pictures 5/18/2015

Pink house!

Tired of Tracting

Rain... and more rain!

Found the border!

Letter 5/11/2015

So this past week we had a lot of changes in Stonewall! As I talked about before, I became the District leader and I also got to train again! :) Tuesday night my boy showed up on the T-van and I finally got to meet him! I was worried all day that I got some terrible kid, or someone I would never get along with, but actually I got blessed with an awesome companion! His name is Elder Ross. Elder Ross is from Tuscan, AZ. He is #6 of 10 kids, he loves sports like football, track, basketball and even ultimate Frisbee. He loves music, he can play the guitar really well and he also can sing really well. He did choir all through high school and he loves to hangout with friends. He is a great guy and I am excited for what this transfer brings us! He also loves to laugh, so we get along great :)

This past week, we spent a lot of our time tracting. We need to find some new investigators. We had some good experiences with people that were just open to talk about Jesus, others were kind of crazy and they invited us in to listen to a sermon that their preacher gave. It was an interesting sermon, I don't know how you can feel the spirit when they preach like that but I guess everyone is different!

We had one experience with tracting that I would like to share. Elder Ross and I came up to a door, knocked once and a young boy opened the door. We asked if his parents were home and he went to grab his Mom. His Mom came to the door, just woken up from a nap, so I was afraid she might have been cranky. She actually was really nice and understanding. Her name is Dionne and we scheduled to come back when she was feeling better! So we come back the next couple of days. We are walking down the road and we see her pull into her garage. She just literally saw us and now we know she is home and she knows we are coming. We give her a minute to get inside and then we knock. And knock... And knock... No answer at all... So we leave and continue to tract a couple streets over. Then a couple hours later we come by her house to go back to the car and we find her outside talking to some guy. So we wait on the corner until they are done and then walk over to her house. Her young boy is outside playing, Jordan, and we ask him to go get his Mom. She comes out and we talk to her. At first it seemed like she didn't want to talk to us, but it ended up being a great lesson. We taught her to Restoration and she really understood what we were saying. At the end we introduced the Book of Mormon to her and she loved it! I am still amazed at people's faith in young missionaries like us handing her a book that they have never heard of and are willing to pray and read about it. I love people like that! She accepted to read and pray about it and we have a return appt later this week :) Pray it goes well!

I already told y'all about Dennis, he didn't come to church yesterday because he was with family all day, but we still have a return appt tomorrow! I am excited :) Pray that it goes well and that he understands the Plan of Salvation!

Well the best part of this past week was Mother's Day!! I got the blessing of speaking in sacrament meeting. I always enjoy talking about my Momma so it wasn't to hard to write a talk. I talked about the importance of a mother. She is first our friend, our example, she teaches us everything including spritually, she provides for us, sacrifices for us and finally she loves us! A mother's love for her child, is the closest we will ever get to the Savior's love for us. They love us so much!! I loved talking about my mom, from giving me matchbox cars to always giving her the biggest hugs :) My Mother is truly amazing, I know each of ours are special to us. Not to brag, but I have one of the best mother's ever ;) I loved skyping with my family and see each of their faces! It was fun to have some laughs, it makes missionary work better to have those tender mercies :) We spent time at the Campbell's and then we went to the Glass' house and spent some time with them as well! I loved spending time with their families, playing games and talking. My families away from home :) I hope y'all show you mom love not only yesterday, but everyday!! They deserve it :) Give her a hug and always say "I love you Mom!" 

Hope y'all have a great week! Thanks for all the support and love! Keep pushing forward with faith and smiling :) The church is absolutely true y'all, find out for yourself! I miss and love y'all so much!! Talk to y'all next week!

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

Pictures 5/11/2015

Mother's Day Skype Call

Me and my missionary!

rabbit ears!

Him and his new companion

Still goofy!

Yes, very Goofy!

It was a wonderful Mother's Day to talk with him and see him in good spirits. 

It makes it easier knowing he is happy!

Letter 5/5/2015

So a lot has happened this last week! We started out last P-day by shopping around the Boardwalk in Bossier and I got myself some new Haggar pants at the Haggar store! Luckily Sister Campbell works there, they were having a sale and she even gave me a discounted price because she likes me! :) We walked around the Bass Pro Shop, it was huge! It feels like a 2 story Cabela's and it is an outdoors mans dream store!

Later that week, we went on exchanges again. I was with Elder....... and it felt like I was dragging him around all day. He doesn't have too much motivation right now and doesn't want to do anything so I was trying to help him the whole time and talk to him. Overall it was a good exchange, other than tracting for 4 1/2 hours. We didn't have any appointments and some fell through so we spent the majority of the day knocking on doors. A few people were nice and I had a great experience with this lady named Ramona. Ramona goes to Word of God ministries and at first wasn't too open to reading the Book of Mormon, but I ignored what she said, bore my testimony to her, invited the spirit, helped her understand the importance of it to her, related it to her own life and invited her to pray and read about it again. She gladly accepted and we have a return appt this week! Hopefully it goes well with her again :) It was such an awesome experience and the spirit flowed the lesson so well!

Saturday I got the call we were waiting for all week, transfer calls... Elder Meyer is headed to Laurel, MS to be companions with Elder Castrejon. His District Leader is actually Elder Scottie Beckstrom if you remember him from Eagle, ID. He just got put in! For me, I am training and also becoming a District Leader. President started by saying "Elder Rankin, let my start by telling you about YOUR district!" It was crazy to hear and I am excited for the opportunity to serve as a leader and also help another new missionary into the mission. I was sad to see Elder Meyer but it is good for me to continue to grow and continue on my mission journey! :)

All weekend we spent running around saying good-bye to members and getting him all packed-up! Yesterday though, we got our final lesson together. We got a referral from a member in our ward, their neighbor was interested in taking the discussions so we planned on teaching him about the Resto. Dennis Boddie is a older man, he used to have congestive heart failure and almost died a few years ago. He currently is doing a lot better, but still has knee problems and has to always be on a strict diet. At least he gets to live at home though. So the lesson went really well!! The spirit allowed the lesson to become so great, and Dennis really understood what we were saying and believed it as well. I know it is a lot for someone to take in at a time but it didn't even phase him. At the end of the lesson, he committed to read and pray and then I invited him to be baptized. He accepted and is working toward June 13!!! It felt so great to just smile and see that someone has enough faith to say yes. The spirit can work wonders and "teach us all things."

Today I am happy! We sent off everyone early this morning at 6 am. We then went to chick fil a for breakfast as a zone. I am hanging out with Elder Scaife today and Elder Nelson. They are great guys! Later we plan to play some sports and maybe do some shopping! I got my text this morning letting me know that I will be training Elder Ross. I don't know anything yet, I texted a few people at T-point in Jackson so maybe they can tell me a little about him before he gets here. I am excited everyone and grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve a mission. I really have seen the blessing it has been in my own life and how I can be a blessing to others. I am truly thankful for all y'all's support and love. Keep me updated, I love to hear from y'all! I will let y'all know how this next week goes. A new adventure awaits Elder Rankin :) Keep on smiling err'body :) Have a blessed week!

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin

Pictures 5/5/2015

District

They are awesome.

Bass Pro Shop

Coca-Cola

Tie Burning

Awesome District