1st week back!

Hey y'all!

So first week back in the mission and it feels so good. As soon as I hit Jackson, it felt real again. It was great to see President and Sis Olson again. Sis Olson was so excited to see me back. A lot of people did actually. I got to spend that first day in the Brandon area with Elder Rigby and that was way fun. We taught a few of their investigators and one less active member. I loved every minute of it, I was smiling the whole time. Elder Rigby said "Man, I think you got your greenie fire back, maybe I should go home too!" :) I don't know about that, but I definitely am excited to be here. 

I saw a ton of people on transfer day. A lot of my old friends. Elder Lesuma got some tears when he saw me again.. "Daddy is the best" is all he could say. Just everyone was excited. President took me aside the night before and showed me where I was going a day early so I knew. I am currently serving in the Waveland Area, near the coast of MS. I am in the Gulfport stake and the Slidell, LA District. My new companion is Elder Magleby from Lindon, UT. I guess it is near Provo. He is a stud and I can tell this will be a good companionship. We laugh a lot and it's great. Serving in my ward again is Sis Uffens from Greenville, she was excited to see me too. She said she had full faith I would come back!

For the Area, it is a good ward. Bigger ward than my usual ones. A lot of them love fishing, which I was pretty excited about! So we are gonna go fishing today, I hope we catch something sweet. I guess some elders pulled a shark out of the ocean once! I doubt we will catch one though.

My first lesson here was with our new investigators, _______. They are a couple that live together in Waveland that we found through a referrall. _______ is 20 and is a sweet guy. We connected really well and talked a lot about everything. I can tell we will get along. _____ is this little southern bell, 24 and has the thickest southern accent. Plus, she loves to talk so she can talk to you forever. They made us a sweet shrimp and Alfredo dinner. I don't know what it is called, but I liked it. After we helped with the dishes and actually answered a few of their questions about the Word of Wisdom and Prophets. We then taught them a little bit about the value of scripture reading and prayer. We left them with a chapter from the Book of Mormon and we are checking up this next Wednesday. I hope it all goes well and that we can help them draw closer to Jesus Christ.

I also got to meet the _____ family. They are a sweet family that had us over for steak and potatoes one night. We were supposed to have chicken and dumplings she said, but forgot to thaw the chicken. So we get to go over tonight and try it. She says they are the best in the South, so I bet they'll be tasty. I get along with both their sons_____and _____ really well. ____ loves guitar and relaxing, and ____ is a big fisherman. They also have this younger sister named _____ and she loves to give us so much sass. She treats us like her brothers. :)

Last part for today, we found this soup kitchen to do service in each week. It was fun to go there and help serve the people that are in need. I met a lot of nice people and got to here some of their stories. Reminded me to count my many blessing everyday. I am truly blessed. 

My scripture for this week is Matthew 11:29. "Learn of me.. and ye shall find rest unto your souls." I liked it a lot as I read it. I know that I have gained a lot of rest from my worries and doubts as I have thought and learned from the Savior. I know that we can all do the same and also help others find that same rest from all worries of the world. No matter the circumstances anyone is in. My Redeemer lives and He loves us. Have a great week y'all, it is great to be back. Thank you for all the prayers, couldn't be here without any of it. Heavenly Father has truly blessed me..

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

First Day

first night from the beach

pier

our little house

Gulf Coast

Beach Houses