"Get off my property"

Birthday week has finally come! I can't believe it's already here!

The Squad is all ready for baptism. B____, K____ and A___ are just the best. They got their interviews on Saturday and passed with flying colors. Yesterday we planned out who's speaking and praying and such so we can get the whole program together. The ward is really helping out as well, I think we will have a good turnout for the baptismal service and it will be full of the spirit. They are elect individuals and blessings for us to have the opportunity of teaching. So baptisms this Saturday, it will be grand. :)

Bro F____ has successfully finished the stop-smoking program and is still going stronger! So tonight we are going to celebrate together and have dinner. It is so happy to see someone make such a change in their life. I know I never had to deal with that struggle but we each have our own that we can overcome with the Lord's help.

District meeting was also a highlight of the week. We discussed "changing our nature, not just behavior." I learned a lot from it and felt the spirit as I directed our discussion together and taught. Alma asks us "can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?" (Alma 5:19) As we change our "nature", putting off the natural man, we begin to reach the potential God sees for us. By changing our nature, we change our thoughts, action and influence we have on other. The only way we can change our nature is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. If we allow him, our hearts and lives will be molded after Christ's and other's will begin to see him in our countenance.

We started teaching a member's husband this last week, the H____ family. He is a non-member, but has been coming to church for awhile. We have tried the last couple of weeks to meet up and finally were successful in finding a time that would work. We taught them the Restoration and he essentially told us he will get baptized when he gets the answer. Whether it's in a week or in 5 years, he's willing. We are praying it's sooner than later, but it was really great to meet with him. Elder Crisp and I bounced right off one another and this brother was listening intently to what we had to say. We hope we can continue to help him progress in finding that answer. Another tender mercy from the Lord. :)

Pioneer Day was another highlight of the week. The whole stake got together at McLeod Park and had lots of fun. From Hay rides to good music, games, frisbee, water, horse rides and lots of food! It was a blast, we had a good turn out for it. We may have gotten a lot of sun and were tired the rest of the day, it was definitely a good time.

The last story from this week comes from our tracting. Elder Crisp and I had some extra time to fill so we spent some time knocking doors trying to find more people to teach. We started down this road and immediately no one wanted to talk to us. People would purposely go from their porch to inside their house so they didn't have to talk us. On top of it, you could hear the dead bolt lock after they closed the door. It was actually pretty amusing to us. We then came to this one humble abode and tried knocking. After a few seconds, a lady come out the side door and as soon as she saw us started yelling "Get off my property!!" I couldn't believe what was going on. I tried asking her "what's wrong?" because she was so mad and being rude but she just continued to yell at us, so we made our way down the street. It made me sad to think she reacted in that way to us, but I figure if Jesus Christ received rejection, why not us? Not everyone will listen, all we can do is invite.

Well this next week shall be spectacular. I am going to just savor the moments, because this week will be done and gone before I know it. I hope y'all keep praying and keep trying.  We do our best and God makes up the rest. The Lord has provided and we are sooo happy! I hope and pray y'all have a great week, keep on smiling! Love y'all!!

Another day in Paradise.... #baptismandbirthdayweek

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

 

Ward Pioneer celebration

"The District"

 

".. then is my soul filled with joy.."

Are we really half way through July?... wow... half way through birthday and baptism month.

To start the week off, Elder Stokes and I got to go on exchanges here in Waveland. Elder Stokes and I used to serve around each other in Hattiesburg so it was awesome to join back up and remember all the good times back in the Burg. He is an awesome guy from New Jersey. With me now returning home in December, we both go home together, so we will have a party in the mission home together! One of the biggest highlights was being able to help a family that was moving. A member in the ward called asking for us to go help, luckily we had a spare couple of hours, so we went and helped. The family had recently experienced a death in the family and the house was all over the place, but they were so happy when we showed up. The kept calling us "blessings from God." It is always so great to see peoples face light up when we show up to help them.

A new family just moved into our ward recently. The Fife family, and they are awesome! They live way out in the Kiln, but they still had us over for dinner. The most exciting part of the whole dinner though, was when their dog almost threw up all over my shoe.... It had already thrown up twice before I realized what had happened. So that was pretty gross and exciting. But on a happier note, Bro Fife did the stop smoking workshop with us and he is so far 4 days without smoking! So that is awesome! We are praying he can make the week!

We also met another family up in Diamondhead, a less active family. It is the T____ family and they are some of the coolest people I have met. Diamondhead is a little nicer area, so if you can imagine this big cabin in the middle of tons of green trees, that's what their house looks like. They both work for the Navy, Bro T_____ is retired though so he is usually working around the house most of the time. The first time we knocked, he invited us right in and fed us dinner. It was so awesome, plus they are hilarious! They are like this treasure in Diamonhead for us, no wonder the sisters didn't talk about them much.. they wanted them all to themselves! haha

B_____, A____ and K____ are all doing awesome. K_____ is finally back from Florida so she was able to join us this past week. We discussed "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" one night with them and also had them teach us the Plan of Salvation. They did so good, it was awesome! They continue to bring me happiness when we teach them, they are so prepared. Only 2 weeks left and they'll be members of the church!

One cool tracting story from this past week.... So Elder Crisp and I embarked with no clue where to go. I just drove and turned a few times and then I saw a good place to park and something in my head said "park there." So I did. Then we started knocking doors and the first door we came to, we met T____! T____ and her family used to be taught by missionaries in the past but eventually they got to busy and stopped meeting. She couldn't remember much of what they taught because she was younger, so we shared with her a brief lesson and left with her a Book of Mormon to read a chapter from. We went back the next day and she had actually read! We are hoping we can teach her and her family again and maybe help them progress this time. The funny thing was, we walked away from that home wondering, "was it a coincidence that was the first house." I believe Heavenly Father guided us there. The second thought was, "we may have 2 more hours of tracting left and we may find no one, but finding them makes it all worth it."

My last thought for this week comes from my studies last week. I was reading in Alma 29 of the Book of Mormon and came across some things I really liked. Alma first starts by telling us his desires and then he begins to share with us how much joy he has. As I reflect upon the last months of being able to return to the field, I felt as if Alma explains it perfectly. "I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy."(v9) "then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extends towards me."(v10) Then later he even describes that his joy is so full that his soul separates from his body, as it were. It truly makes me happy and I know that God has heard my many prayers. I know that He does love me.

Well I hope y'all are doing well. My birthday is only 2 weeks away and missionaries love to receive stuff on their birthday... just sayin'... haha :) July has been awesome and I am happy. Are y'all happy? I hope so. Keep on praying and smiling, there is nothing better than the Gospel.

Just another day in paradise... #Wavelandwarriors

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

Waveland Forever!

Us with Jacob

4th of July glasses.... thanks Mom!

Shark Bait... oo ha ha

Man.. this past week just flew by. The Waveland warriors are doing great, it's been a little stressful trying to take over the whole ward but I think we will have fun with it! Plus the new members of the District are awesome. We are going to be solid this transfer. We had a few highlights from this past week.

We got to teach L____ and D____ on Thursday. They are awesome, D___ wants to get baptized but he isn't willing to make the full commitment yet to prepare for it. We spent time talking about how the "milk comes before the meat" (1 Cor. 3:2) We each have to do the simple things before we get to the great things so our foundation doesn't crumble or not make sense to us. They are just so sweet though, it was powerful to just read the scriptures with them and feel the Holy Ghost together. They were out of town this weekend but plan to come next week to church!

The WBSquad aka B____ and A_____ are doing so good. We got to meet with them earlier on in the week and talk about Nephi and his family. Tuesday evening we actually had them teach us the Restoration, to help them review. They did really well, they are so awesome! Wednesday we went over Lehi's Dream and drew it out together. It really helped them understand the deeper meaning behind it, we each need to hold to the rod.. the iron rod. A____ also went to youth conference up in Jackson this weekend, she loved it! The spirit continues to work with them and prepare them for baptism. They will be ready on the 30th for sure!

Saturday was interviews with President and we also met up with J____. J____ is preparing to pass the sacrament, he is going to pass it with us next week. We got him a white shirt and tie and everything. He continues to tell us how grateful he was to get baptized and the difference it has made in his life. He finds himself happier and more patient with everyone, it's so great to hear. J____ is the best! Interviews were also really good, I left very uplifted. It's just good to talk with him and get to know him better. I was just happy the whole time, telling him of all the success we are having, how great it is to serve with Elder Crisp and the happiness I get from serving the Lord! President is awesome, Waveland is awesome and life is awesome.

Yesterday was a good Sunday. I had to give a surprise talk that I found out about a couple days before. Since our days have just been jam packed, I had to prepare it the night before and the morning of. The Holy Ghost really helped me though, it turned out really good. I felt like everyone was actually listening, for the most part the kids were quiet and the spirit was being brought unto their hearts. One of the sisters in our ward came up afterwards and said, "I heard a future general authority speak today." I just laughed and said, "that wasn't me, that was just the Holy Ghost helping me. " :) After church, we decided to venture over to Pass Christian and work over there for the day. We met some nice people and had a great lesson with a less-active member. She was so happy we came and brought the spirit into her home. We were able to clear up a lot of her concerns and doubts. After a hot and sweaty day out in the humidity, we ended the night at the Naylor's. It was so great, they are the best family! They help us out a lot and it feels like being with family, we love them. :)

Lots more happened, we have been busy but those are some of our highlights. July continues to be awesome, birthday and baptisms! Elder Crisp and I are doing great, the work is moving forward here in Waveland. We are really trying to find someone to baptize in August, want to keep the train rolling! I hope y'all have a blessed week and continue to pray always... with the Lord, y'all can do ALL things! Keep on smiling! I love y'all so much! Another week in Paradise...

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

PS.. Totally caught a shark this morning... in fact I caught 2!! 

catfish

white trout

yep! that's right.... a shark #1!

shark #2

ouch don't try to bite me!

33 inches

Baptisms, 4th of July and another transfer in Paradise.

Hey y'all! This past week was so awesome, probably one of the best ones since being back. I'm just going to have to jump right into all the highlights!

First highlight was going on exchanges with Elder Davis (blonde one) on Tuesday. We had a blast together in Slidell and we accomplished a lot together. My favorite from the exchange was probably when we tracted into this lady R______. She is a young single mother, with one daughter. I was just so happy/loopy from being out in the sun so she probably wondered why I was so excited and happy when she opened the door. Regardless, we had a fantastic lesson with her where we explained out purpose, shared the Book of Mormon with her and invited her to read it. The Elders are going back to check up on her this week, I hope it goes well. She was so sweet and sincere. The whole exchange was really great. We reminisced on the good times in the MTC and back when we first came out. Crazy to see how far we have come.

Jacob got baptized!!!!! Saturday was a great day for us here in Waveland. There were a lot of people that showed up to support and Jacob's parents even came. It was a great service and full of the spirit. Elder Crisp spoke on baptism and I spoke on the Holy Ghost at his baptism. Pres. Naylor, the Elder's Quorum President, baptized him and all was well. He said he felt so happy and loved. It was a long time coming but the day finally came. I am so happy I was here to witness it. On Sunday, Bro. Sones confirmed him in sacrament and later Bro. Ginn conferred the Aaronic Priesthood on him. Jacob was happy, the ward made him feel welcome and it made for a great weekend. It is so great to see how much he has grown spiritually and God has blessed me in being able to teach him and see this growth in one of his amazing children. Jacob is awesome, we are so happy! :)

Meeting with B______ and A______ is still going great! (k_____ is out of town with her Dad for 2 weeks) This past week we started reading the Book of Mormon together with them. It was so great to see how they were able to apply Nephi's struggles and experiences to their own lives. The scriptures can help us in our day to day lives. Whether we are reading about some brother's that don't like their younger brother or the struggles a family faces as they leave their home land. The spirit can teach us individually. 

The 4th of July was yesterday and we got our transfer calls. Elder Crisp and I are staying together in the 'Promised Land' one more transfer together. We were pretty happy to here that. The Sister's that are in our ward are leaving though and so we will be taking over their area We now will cover the whole ward... lots of work, lots of area and lots of fun! It'll be sad to see them go. It was a good 4th of July though. We helped the sisters's move some stuff out of their apartment in the morning, went fishing with Brittany and Angel in the afternoon (we got lots of sun), had a blast at the Sones' house for dinnner and ended the night at the Naylor's with B_____ and A____. The Sones' had all their kids at the house, so it was tons of fun. Reminded me of home with all the cousins and family gatherings. We even had a little water balloon fight, Elder Crisp and I got em good. At the Naylor's, we had a good lesson with B______ and A____. We watched a short movie on Jesus Christ with them. Elder Crisp and I had been prompted earlier to give them blessings, so we also decided to offer those. It ended up being a testimony builder for us because later they texted us and told us how much it helped them. So grateful we had listened to that prompting and were able to help them. :)

With the 4th of July, Baptisms and Birthdays, July is going to be such a great month!! Birthday month is underway. I am excited to be staying with Elder Crisp another transfer and to be able to witness these baptisms that we have coming up. I continue to count my many blessing: Knee surgery success, coming back to the field, getting sent to Waveland, having such great companions, catching a red fish, being able to help my District members, seeing Jacob get baptized, baptisms to come... the list continues to go on. And probably the biggest blessing, besides my Savior, is my Family. I love y'all, thanks so much for supporting me here. I am truly happy and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Even though I may want to just pick up the phone and call y'all, I know I am where I am supposed to be and doing the things the Lord would have me do as one of his disciples. Have a great week y'all! Can't wait for another transfer in Paradise! :)

Love,

Elder Rankin :)