Letter 8/31/2015 - I wear your Grand Dad's clothes, I look incredible?

This week was an alright one, excited to see what this new one brings.

We taught Raj a couple times this week. We taught him all about the Plan of Salvation. I love the Plan of Salvation. It makes me sad to think that so many people in the world have no clue about it. We had to teach it very simply because he has very little knowledge of the bible and Jesus Christ. It went really well both times we taught. This last time we taught him in the Turley's home after dinner and it was so great for him to hear everyone's testimony of the Plan of Salvation. At the end when I finished, I literally felt a swarm of the spirit just hit me. I knew that Raj knew what I was saying is true. The Plan of Salvation is a big part of my testimony so I got a little emotional. I pray that Raj gets baptized in the future. 

We also taught a less active in our ward named Poppy Jimerson. He is in his 20s and is working on becoming a famous rapper. He says he has music on youtube and itunes, and it was cool to talk about his plans and things for the future. We got to also discuss with him the importance of church because he hasn't come in over a year. At the end of the lesson, we didn't even need to invite him, he knew what he needed to do. He said that because we came over and talked with him, he would come to church this next Sunday! It is so great when the spirit touches others and they know what they need to do to draw closer to him.

Wednesday we went to Greenwood on exchanges. I went with Elder Kirk. We went to their nicer part of town and did a ton of tracting because I wanted to help them find some new investigators. For a couple of hours we literally had no luck, then as we passed a house I saw a man sitting on his porch. I immediately stopped and walked up to talk to him. Found out his name was Cory and it was kind of funny because we taught him as we walked up and down the road. We had great lesson talking about our faith and the holy ghost. So, now the Greenwood Elder's have a new investigator. It was a good exchange!

Friday was Zone conference and it was a good time! We won the cleanest car award, no shocker because Elder Nuku and I are the best! haha The Car Fleet coordinator asked how I always win. I learned from the best, my mom! :) I also got to see tons of friends at Zone conference. Elder Beckstrom and I talked for a while. We both miss Idaho and he heard some stuff about BSU. He keeps asking for my BSU tie because his family won't send him one. It was really funny! Overall is was a good day, fed spiritually and physically with some good food.

Last thing for this week, you are probably wondering why I wrote "I wear your Grand Dad's clothes, I look incredible?." Well we visited a less active named Bro Steivater. He is dying of cancer and was getting rid of some old stuff for a yard sale the young women are doing. He was saying "I had these nice suits and I don't want to put them in the yard sale, plus I don't know if anyone would fit into them." He is a big man and as he said the sizes I was like, "those are my sizes!" He went and got them for me, you will have to check them out!

I hope y'all had a good week and you know God love you... And so does Elder Rankin :) Keep being awesome, say your prayers and smile :) Sending my love from the MJM!

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

Pictures - 8/31/2015

Beckstrom and I

Corbin and I

Cleanest car award again!

Sweet Birthday Shirt from my Bro! (Elder Goff currently serving in Detroit Mission).

Grand-Dad suits!

Black Pin Stripe!

Nuku and Raj at the Tulley house.

Letter 8/24/2015

Today, if you didn't already know, is my 11 month mark! Woohoo! Crazy to see how far I've come. I was looking back on some goals I set for myself at the beginning of the mission and I almost met them all. Now I gotta make some new ones for my last 13 months. I am excited to see how much more I can grow!

This week had a couple rough hours but we made it through alright. The first highlight of the week was teaching Cory. He still doesn't want to get baptized because he thinks he has to take the B.o.M. to his church and teach it to them. So I pondered how I may help him this last Sunday and what to teach him next. He had some questions about the Kingdoms of Glory so I used that the best I could. We went through each level of Glory and discussed it's nature. We talked about how we desired to entire the highest Celestial glory and also wanted him to join us there. As I testified about the Kingdoms of Glory, the spirit overcame me and I got a little emotional with him. He could feel the spirit as well and knew what I was sharing was true. He committed to pray again about baptism and the Kingdoms of Glory, because the gate to eternal life is baptism by the proper authority. I also gave him the talk "What is the Blueprint of Christ's Church?" by Tad R Callister to read before we came back. We are meeting with him this Tuesday so I pray everything went good with the praying and the reading. I hope that he received the answer that he needed! :)

Another one of my favorite discussions was with a lady named Nikki. She has had 3 loved ones pass away in the last month and a half. She was planning one the funeral arrangements when we showed up at her home. We shared with her a short message about the Plan of Salvation, helping her know where her loved ones were at. She said "thanks y'all so much for coming by, I really needed that." The spirit was there and I know it gave her peace. Hopefully after the funeral we can continue to teach her and help her learn about the full Plan and the restored Gospel.

Last highlight was going out to visit people with a guy in our ward named Bro Martin. He is super funny! He is a retired race car driver and used to race against some of the current nascar drivers. He is super good! His house if full of collector model cars and trophies and awards that he received. Plus his stories are way awesome from living in Greenville his whole life. From multiple car crashes to even shooting someone that tried robbing his house. It was hilarious and a good time. He also was a great help at the lessons because of his testimony. He is a convert to the church of about 5 years and he could relate to a lot of our investigators. Bro Martin is the best! :)

Well this week definitely has been cooler than the last. We had light rain for a couple of days and it was good for us because we were on the bikes all week. People are saying it may stay cool the rest of the summer, but it may get hot again for another week. You never know! Last thing before I go! Between the Sisters and us, we had 5 investigators in church! It was so awesome! All the ward members were really nice and took them in well. The sister's investigator, Aaron, really liked me. He have me a hug after church and said "thanks brother Rankin, you really made me feel welcome. I'll be sure comin' back again." It is really awesome to be here and to help these people come closer to Christ. My testimony continues to grow each week. Like it says in 2 Nephi 31, it's not me talking it is my "tongue of angels." In other words, it is the spirit that makes it all so good. I pray that we each take our Gift of the Holy Ghost and use it to help other feel the love of God. Keep being amazing and keep on smiling :) I miss and love y'all!

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin

Pictures 8/24/2015

New Hair cut!

Cooking fried chicken.

Letter 8/17/2015

So this week started out with some exchanges with the Greenwood Elders. Elder Kirk and Reisner. Kirk is training Reisner right now, he just came out at the beginning of this transfer. I got the pleasure of working with Reisner for the day. He is from Utah and is a swell guy. :) We did a lot of tracting and visiting people. It was a good teaching experience, it allowed me to help him and his teaching. I remember being in his shoes and I loved the help I got from my leaders and older missionaries that helped me become better. So I tried my best and he said that he had a great day with me! So that is all that matters, we had a good time and helped some people come closer to Christ.

Interviews were on Wednesday. President Olson is a good guy, I enjoyed speaking with him. He is a very spiritual man and I think he is leading the mission in the right direction. That night we spend the night with the Zone Leaders so we could go on exchanges the next day. It took us 2 hours to drive to interviews that morning, so I was so ready for bed. I went with Elder Creger for the day. He is a short guy from Utah (I am not just saying that because I am tall ;) and he is in the Air Force. We had some good success. Their area is hard to work, so they were happy that we found some people to teach. We taught 2 people and they both became new investigators. Elder Creger was happy and we had a good day. Some good laughs and it was good to learn from each other. 

Friday we taught this young mother named Anna. After sharing a lesson with her, we played out front with her 3 year old daughter. You can imagine the looks we got, a tongan and a big white missionary playing with a little black girl :) It was great :) The mother really expressed how grateful she was that we took time out of our days to visit her and her daughter. Made me feel grateful that I am serving a mission :)

Saturday we taught our investigator from India. His name Raj. He is so awesome! He fed us indian food and everything. He told us that he believes in God and Jesus Christ, he just wants to learn more about the Bible, BoM and Christ. He has an arranged marriage waiting for him back in India. I guess it is tradition or culture that the parents choose your spouse or something. I was thinking "I hope they picked good." :) Glad we don't have that here, I can't imagine never meeting your wife and then just marrying her. We taught him about the Restoration, invited him to read and pray. We also invited him to baptism, he would if his father would let him. I guess it is way disrespectful in his culture or something and the wedding is part of their traditions. But he would if he could he said! So we are going to keep working with him and see how we can help him! :)

Church was good. We had Raj there and another investigator there named Dorothy. She is the grandma to one of the families in our ward, so we were happy to have them both there. The talks were centered around revelation, I thought they were great. Revelation is an important part of the church and my life. A lady came up to us after church to tell us about her cousin. Last Sunday we gave her a blessing because she has stage 4 breast cancer and it was so amazing. The spirit was there, she felt it, she cried a lot and gave us big hugs afterwards telling us how much better she felt. This Sister in our ward told us that her cousin went to the doctors and they were shocked how well she was doing. It was a miracle they said! She called her cousin right after the appointment and told her how grateful she was for the blessing. Everything I had said in the blessing was exactly what she needed to hear and was praying for, she said. Truly a testimony builder and blessing! So thankful :) She is even going to start taking the lesson now!

I hope y'all had a good week and have an even better one this next week! I am grateful for all of you and your love. I am doing well and Elder Nuku and I are getting along great! Remember that God loves you and so does Elder Rankin. :) 

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

Picture 8/17/2015

Sonic Run on Exchanges

My eyes explain the Yum!

Selfie Sunday

Letter 8/10/2015

This week was a good one but definitely a hot one. I don't know what the reports said for Greenville but I know this weekend was 104 degrees without humidity so it felt like 115 outside... Imagine that in dress clothes... and on bikes... not so fun! It is good though, we keep hydrated and you would think more people would let us in when it is so hot. Not really, they still can be stubborn. :)

So early on in the week, one of our investigators invited us over for some dinner. She said that we both needed to try some REAL "Southern Cookin' ." She cooked us some Chicken, gravy and rice! Wow! It was soo good. She made sure we had 2 big plates of it before we left. Crazy to me how willing she was to just have us come eat in her home and she had only met us a few times. Complete strangers to her, but she still showed us so much love. Just like Christ would! :)

Sometimes when we tract and it is hot, we begin to seem "out of it." Elder Nuku and I just crack jokes with each other and it is just a good time. We knocked on this door and a young lady came out and we got to teach her. I just remember us acting goofy and she liked us a lot. Her name is Keirica. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and she accepted to read and pray about it. We have a return appointment for this week so hopefully that goes well. Even when you are tracting and the sun can seem unbearable, you can still have a good laugh and even teach people too!

One of our top investigators named Cory kind of dropped this week. We came back with a member to teach him and told us that he didn't want to be baptized. We invited him before and told him to pray about it. He thinks that we were sent to him to teach him about the Book of Mormon and then he needed to take it to his church and teach it there. He is a youth pastor there and teaches a class every week and was actually preparing a sermon using Alma 5 to give this next week. So maybe in the future something good will come out of that, you never know! Have you ever heard of something like that?

Saturday Eric Smith got baptized! What a great day! His family was there, a lot of the members were there and even his non-member mom came to support him. It was a great service and it is always great to see another person take that next step towards Christ. His father-in-law baptized him and I felt bad because he was old and had to redo it a couple of times because he wasn't strong enough to bring him down and out of the water. He got it though and everything went great! His family was so happy for him and now he is even preparing to receive the Priesthood so he can have it in his home and bless his family. I pray he stays active the rest of his life as we continue to teach him and help him learn more! It happened y'all! Blessing come from nowhere and I give so much thanks :)

Last thing for this week! Elder Nuku and I got to go out with a member in our ward today to see some real wild alligators! It was so cool. They are nesting right now and there is a park that has a lot of them in it. We got to hike to actually 2 different nests where we got to see them right up close. I promise I was safe and kept me distance Mom! It was a really cool experience though and we got some good pictures and video! :)

Thank you all for everything you do. Keep looking for missionary opportunities and keep on smiling! I hope you each have a good week and recognize the blessing we have in our lives. I know I find more each day. Miss and love y'all!!! :)

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

Pictures 8/10/2015

Eric Smith

Farms to the left and right

No swimming!

Gator park

selfie hiking in to Gator park

protecting the nest

little closer

going for a dip

this is probably too close for my Mom!

Letter 8/3/2015

So I am all settled in here in Greenville, still learning the area and stuff but I love it hear. Elder Nuku and I are having a blast and working hard together. We teach a ton of people each day and it is so great. Plus, biking isn't even that bad. I like it, but don't like when I get flat tires... we had to walk home a couple miles the other day because of a flat tire... on my birthday! So that was fun!

So my first lesson here was with a lady named Cherryl. She is a young mother and we taught her about the Restoration and how it can bless her family and her own life. It felt kind of weird for her to say yes and teach her. I was so used to rejection in Stonewall, so it is so great here where lots of people will listen to you. We would not survive without them too. People give us cold water bottles all the time, I was so grateful the other day when it was 100 degrees and super humid. I felt like I was melting.

Our top investigator right now is Eric Smith. He is a father of a part member family. His wife and kids are all members but he has never been baptized. He has been taught off and on for the past 15 years but never wanted to commit to baptism until now! He wants to get baptized next Sunday! His interview is tomorrow to make sure he is ready but I really think it is going to happen. 1 week here and we already have a progressing investigator. I have only taught him a few times, but his testimony is getting strong and I think he really wants to support his family and has found the truth. We had an amazing lesson with him on Friday. We talked about fasting, the prophet and obeying the law. The spirit was there and it felt great to testify and teach about what I knew to be true. I felt the spirit work through me as I spoke to this father and related it right him. Wouldn't have been able to do it without the spirit. He said that he felt great after the lesson and he likes us! So pray that it happens this next Sunday! I am so excited! :)

So my birthday was last Friday and we had a ton of fun. It seemed like everyone wanted to listen to us and it was funny because we taught a couple of 19 year olds that day. Of course I had to tell them that it was my birthday. They didn't believe me, they thought I was at least turning 21. Nope, 19!  We had a great day and we ended it with some cake and ice cream. So good! Thank you for all the birthday wishes! It was a great day! Elder Nuku even sang to me in his deep Tongan voice. I loved it :) A ton of members from Stonewall even called me and texted me on my birthday! They miss me, feels good that I left a good impression there. They are the best :)

Yesterday I met the whole ward. It wasn't too hard because there were probably less than 50 of them. We are considered a ward but the size of a branch. They are all really nice and I liked meeting them. I want to help bring the numbers up for attendance! Elder Nuku and I want to get it above 70 by the end of the transfer. So hopefully as we work with less-actives and members we will bring it up :) The area here has a lot of nice people. I am  thankful for my home, my family and where I was raised. I am constantly reminded of it. I love the people though, good southern hospitality :)

Yesterday we had probably one of my favorite lessons of the week. We met with this 20 year old girl named Laquita. She is a sweet girl and we taught her the full Restoration. She understood everything that we taught. She wants to know which church is true and wants to know how to find out for herself. So it was perfect to share with her the Resto. I taught a lot about the Holy ghost and the Book of Mormon being the keystone of our religion. She has committed to read and pray about it, so pray that it goes well! We meet with her again later this week! :)

Well y'all, thanks so much for all the love and support. I am loving it here in Greenville, it is a lot different from Stonewall and I miss it a lot. But I know that we are going to do some good work here and help a lot of people come unto Christ. He knows us, listens to us and understands us. His hand reaching out, He is knocking on the door. We just need to take the leap of faith, grab a hold and open the door. What a blessing it has been in my life. Keep being awesome, look for those missionary opportunities and smile :) Have a great week, I miss and love y'all! :)

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

Pictures from August 3rd

Nuku and I