Monday, July 25, 2016

"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"
 

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