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!