Elder Mason Rankin: Fishermen and Fishers of Men (2nd week back)

What a wonderful week!

Week 2 of being back and I couldn't be better. Heavenly Father has blessed me with a great companion, a nice ward and a great area. I continue to count my blessings every single day.

Since our area was fairly dead, we spent most of our week finding. We went through former investigators, put our name in as clergy in hospital, knocked on some doors and asked for referrals. We ended up finding a few people and having some success by the end of the week. I want to tell y'all about some great friends that I got to teach this week. There a many more, but these were my top few people that we had some great experiences with.

We got to teach _____ and _____ again this last Wednesday. They are awesome! _____had her son their though, which made it a little distracting but the overall lesson was great. We read 3 Nephi 11 with them to help them understand it better and ended by discussing the priesthood and gospel of Jesus Christ because both are discussed in the chapter. _____was soaking it all up and wanted to hear more and more. _____was trying to multi task with her crying baby but she still managed to retain some of it. The spirit was strong through out, but even more so at the end where we both testified of knowing these things were true. We invited them to pray and read, and they even did it! We checked up with them on Saturday. We actually went to help _____with her bake sale for breast cancer support. It gave us a great opportunity to teach/talk to _____some more but we even handed out some cards, pamphlets and a Book of Mormon to people that walked by our booth and that came to buy goodies. It was awesome!

Next is _____. He is friends of a member here and is interested in learning more about the church. We taught him last Wednesday while his kids went to mutual. He already knew some of it, so we reviewed what he knew and then taught him the Restoration. It went really well and he understood a lot of it. He said that he believes the Book of Mormon is true, he would never doubt it. We invited to read and pray about it all and also come to church with his family. And guess what!? He really came and it was great. He said he loved church when we called him after. He made some new friends and told us that he felt better already. We meet again with him this Wednesday, I pray he continues to progress.

Our last investigator I wanted to share is _____. He is like 31, works at the casino here and is interested in joining the church. We found him in Wal-mart, I guess he was taught by missionaries in the past. We taught him a couple times this last week and he really opened up with us. He told us some of his struggles and we helped him understand how the Gospel blesses lives and it could bless his too. We re-taught him the Restoration because he didn't remember much and also about faith and exercising faith. He is understanding a lot and told us that it makes a lot of sense to him. We meet with him again tonight and I am happy to report he has read and even prayed with us and by himself about it all. He is progressing great, now we are just working on getting him to church because he works on Sunday.

We also met one other less-active family this week. They haven't come to church with us in forever, but Bro Cuevas took us to meet them hoping they would let us in. They let us in and we actually had a great visit. They liked us a lot, the mom even fed me some of her gumbo. After hearing that I hadn't cooked it before, she invited us to come back in a couple of weeks to cook some with her and learn how to make it so I can cook it for my family when I get home! I can't wait, it'll be awesome! I was happy they liked us and even invited us back.

Church was amazing y'all, I love it a lot. I got to bear my testimony and help out teach some of the classes and it was just a great Sunday. I starting to get names and faces finally, I'll get them all eventually. They are friendly and loving people, always love that southern hospitality. My scripture for this week is Alma 7:11-13. I wondered how Jesus Christ could relate to how I was feeling and immediately I was answered, I already knew the answer. The Atonement, he suffered pains and afflictions or every kind. Even sorrow and pain that we have all felt. My love for my Savior grows daily, I wouldn't have the happiness I have today without him. For that, I will always love him. I know that my Redeemer lives.

Now I told y'all about fishing last week and it went great this last week and early this morning! So far I've caught 3 catfish, 1 croaker and 1 white trout of some sort, I don't know. 1 of the catfish I caught was huge so we cut it up and now have some catfish meat to fry up later. I want to catch a red drum, I hope I will catch one eventually. I love it though, Elder Magleby have a great time with it. I love being on the coast, y'all will have to check out the pictures!

Anyways, y'all have a good week. Continue to search for others missing out on the truth and always remember God loves you and so do I! Have a blessed one!

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)