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"