Elder Mason Rankin: "Get in the door"....Don't be discouraged.

Y'all! What a wonderful week it has been. At the end of each day I felt so deserving of that pillow. We didn't have tons of success finding this week but we did help each of our investigators progress some more. I had some really spiritual experiences this week with my investigators and even in my own studies.

So this new YSA guy moved into our ward, his name is Nate Hughes. He is a return missionary from Chile and is such a stud. He moved here from South Carolina after going through the naval academy and is now working at the base here. He has been a valuable asset to add to our teaching and helping investigators. He came to help us teach J____ and B______ this week it was great!

We will start with J____ this week. I've gotten to know J____ a lot better this week and he has opened up even more. He is beginning to recognize the spirit in his life, he feels it at work when he wants to get angry at someone but instead loves them and his faith continues to increase. We finished teaching him the Plan of Salvation yesterday and talked about prayer earlier this last week. The Plan of Salvation made sense to him and he wants to go to the Celestial Kingdom one day. We then discussed baptism and set him with a date of April 9th! I really pray he makes that date, he needs a new job so that he doesn't have to work on Sunday or his boss to let him have Sundays off. Either way, the Lord will provide a way. I know he will! :)

For B______ and H____, I just love them. They are so nice and sweet us. They fed us dinner this last Wednesday and we started the Plan of Salvation with them. They took it all so well and it answered all their questions about Adam and Eve and the creation. We also discussed with H_____ the stop-smoking program we teach and we are going to try and start that within the next 2 weeks. She has the desire, so I believe Heavenly Father will help her get rid of her addiction. The next day we taught B______ with Bro Hughes and had a great lesson about the last half of the Plan of Salvation. He understood everything that we taught him and said he knew that it was true. The spirit has been working so strong with him, he even asked me at the end of the lesson what he needed to change in his life to go to the Celestial Kingdom. We went through some different things and said that he would be willing to give all those things up, if he found all of this to be true. So far, he believes it all to be true! The spirit is amazing, it makes people want to change their lives, like it has in my own life. :)

We did find one family this last week. We were going to visit less-active members with Bro Hughes and came to an apartment where a lady answered. She seemed a little flustered and looked like she had some stress. The less-active that used to live there had moved out and she had just moved in the night before. We offered our help in moving anything for her. She declined. We began to say good-bye but something told me "get in that door." I then offered to come in and share a spiritual thought with them. At first she was a little hesitant, but then something changed in her persona and she let us in. We shared a scripture out of John 15, one of my favorite chapters. After we were done, she told us how glad she was that we stopped by. She had recently gone through a divorce and moved here to get away with her 2 kids. When she first answered, she was all flustered. At the moment, she was smiling and seemed to feel loved. I was happy Heavenly Father guided us to their home that evening. We have a return appointment for tonight, so I pray that all goes well! :)

Last highlight of the week. I had the blessing of speaking yesterday in church. My third week here and I am already speaking! It went really well though. My topic was on repentance, forgiveness and not becoming discouraged when we feel like it is too late. As I studied, prayed and prepared for this talk, my love for the Atonement grew. We are taught in Hebrews that the Lord will "be merciful to our unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."(Hebrews 8:12)
I know that to be true. Sin brings feeling of pain, sorrow and even discouragement. It allows us to know we have done wrong and we must correct it or it will continue. These feelings cannot be relieved without repentance and forgiveness. We can be fully cleansed through the Atonement of Christ. No matter where you are at, how far from the path you may be, it is never too late. The Atonement is for each of us and invited everyone to use it within their lives. The spirit will re-enter your lives, allowing you to know you have been forgiven. There is no greater feeling than that. I know that my Redeemer lives.

I hope y'all have a wonderful week. I miss all y'all, but I know I am in the right place doing the right things. Continue to seek after the spirit. Heavenly Father loves you and so do I! God Bless! :)

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)