Pictures from August 3rd

Nuku and I

Letter 7/28/2015 New Town... Greenville!

Hey y'all! This is going to be a quick email this week just wanted to let y'all know where I am going and how I am doing.

Today I am at t-point in Clinton, MS. I am headed to Greenville, MS and really excited. My new comp is Elder Faingaanuku. Yeah, don't even bother trying to say that... I still don't even know how to say it. He is from Tonga, is very funny and I think we are going to have a great time together. I saw tons of friends today and it was so great. I was sad to leave my district, my boy Ross and all the great people in the Stonewall Ward. We spent a lot of the weekend saying goodbye to people and packing. It was sad to say goodbye to some of the families like the Glass',the Campbells, and Williams. What a blessing it was to meet them and get to know them. Last night we went over to the Campbells and had our last dinner together. We had some delicious gumbo, I taught a lesson on the "Armor of God" and had to finish the night with some Uno. After many hours of packing, we made it early this morning to T-point in Shreveport and I was off to Clinton. This new area brings lots of new experiences and I am excited to see what it brings.

Well, I will probably write more next week and let you know how I like the area. Supposedly it is an "all-bike" area. That will be good to lose some more weight! This week is my birthday too so that will be sweet! I'll be partying here in Mississippi, have a great week y'all. Thanks for everything, think of me and my smiling face on the 31st, because it's my day! :) Keep on smiling!

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin

Don't worry I have lots of pictures to send.

Pictures from leaving Shreveport 7/28/2015

Campbell Family

Soccer with the Squad

Terry Family

Glass Family

Elliot Family

Landon

Kaye Storrs

The District

Young Men of Stonewall

Williams

haircut

Saying goodbye to Dee

Elder Nabulivula

Transfer point

Franklin, and Grey

Elder Guiterrez

Letter 7/20/2015

Another fast, hot and good week. Continual trials, challenges, successes and smiles :)

We started this week with exchanges with the Zone Leader's. I got to go to Bossier with Elder Steffenson. He is a brand new zone leader and I met him back when I was in Hattiesburg. We had a great day knocking on doors, teaching some of their investigators, members and less-active members. My favorite was probably Derryl. He is an older black guy and he knows a lot about the bible and the scriptures. At first Elder Steffenson planned to teach him the Plan of Salvation, but as the discussion went on, we answered questions and helped resolve his concerns. I wouldn't have been able to teach him if it weren't for the spirit. I was able to remember scriptures, answer his questions and testify as I knew that what I was sharing was true. After I finished sharing a part of my testimony, he shouted 'amen! I agree with everything you just shared.' Overall, it was a great time and I enjoyed being with Elder Steffenson.

So Dee... She has been our main investigator for a couple of weeks now. I just wanted to give an update! This last Tuesday, Elder Ross and Nelson taught a great lesson to her and committed her to pray about baptism again on July 25th. The following day, we went back and taught her the law of chastity. That one is always fun to teach... especially to a teenage girl :) She committed to live it though! She honestly has been taught almost all the lessons, just needs to take that step of faith and be baptized. Just as Peter did when he walked on the water. Thursday it went downhill.. Elder Ross texted her that morning and she got scared, talked to her mom and still feels good about her baptism and all that she is doing. Elder Ross got mad, deleted the text and told Dee that she had to call me and tell me personally. She knows the truth and it is just hard to see someone be so close and then not take that step... So I got a surprise call and we ended up talking/teaching her over the phone for about an hour because we were way across town. It went well though, we clarified everything, answered her questions, we were very bold and testified of what we know to be the truth. So for now, we are giving Dee time because that is what she asked for. I pray that in the future she can experience that "prick in the heart" and come to a realization of what she needs to do. She is really great though, I am happy that I met her and got to know her regardless. :)

Now that we were sad with what she had decided, it made it hard to want to go out in the hot sun and tract. We did it though and were blessed because of it. We had 30 minutes before our dinner appointment and were wondering what to do with this extra time. We pulled our low hearts and decided to tract instead of sitting around. We had time to do one door by the time we made it to the street. We picked a good looking house and went for it! We ended up meeting a family that was so nice and invited us to teach them and they even accepted a Book of Mormon. The Mom's name is Ticora and she said that she had seen us before and was wondering when we were going to come through her neighborhood. She loved the message and we have a return appointment for this Saturday! Hopefully it goes well! Blessings of being diligent :)

The last highlight of this week was Andrew's farewell yesterday. It was so great! In sacrament meeting, Landon (recent convert) spoke on his conversion story. He talked about Elder Meyer, reading the Book of Mormon, praying about it and finding that it all made sense. He also had to tell about when I helped him paint and was so happy to meet me and learn from me. He said I was just so happy, funny and always smiling. Made me feel good that I left a good impact on him :) Sis Richards then spoke about the apostasy and the organization of the original church and the need for a Restoration. Andrew then spoke about Joseph Smith, the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. It was great for all the non-member friends he had there. Just a solid sacrament meeting. Later they had a big party/open house and it was great as well! Brought me back to when I was doing all that. Is it crazy to think that was almost a year ago? Anyways, Andrew is going to be a great missionary! I am so glad I got to meet him and his awesome family :)

So this is the last week before transfer, I am pretty sure I am leaving but you never know with President! If I do end up leaving, I will have a lot of people to say goodbye to. I have made so many friends in this ward, I love it! I hope y'all had a good week! Keep looking for missionary experiences, always thank him and keep on smiling :) Thanks for all the love and support, as always. The prayers really do help, I appreciate. The heat here is getting crazy, but we continue to endure. Remember God loves you and so does Elder Rankin :)

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

Pictures 7/20/2015

Dee came to church!

4th of July

cockroach

the Bayou

early morning tennis

Andrew's Farewell!

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Letter 7/13/2015- Flat tire, Andrew's Birthday and Dee came to church!!!

This week was a great one! Lots of highlights, success and fun :)

We have a sand volleyball pit not too far from our apartment. Last P-day we were driving by and saw some college kids playing, so we decided to stop and see if we could join. It ended up being way fun and they all thought I was 22-21. They were shocked when they heard 18. It was fun explaining my name to a bunch of baptist college kids. "What's your name?.... Elder Rankin... Elder? What kind of first name is that? Wait do you both have the same first name?"... Anyways, we made some friends, had a ball and even got to teach them a little bit about what we believe.

Wednesday after ZDM, we were driving home from a Zone meeting and a piece of metal flew out of a truck that was driving in front of me. We were in construction on the freeway so I either had to hit the barrier or run over the metal. So we ran it over and got a flat tire. Luckily we found a place not too far ahead where we could turn off and change the tire. So in the middle of construction, on a hot summer day, in full proselyting clothes... I got to change a flat tire. The Lord blesses you with "faith building" situations :)

Saturday was Andrew's 18th Birthday! We played football with him early that morning, then came back for dinner and games. I really love the Campbell family. Make me feel like I am back at home and are so loving. His parent gave him the same camera I have for his mission, so I was teaching him how to use it. We had pizza, ate cake, played some uno, talked and ended with a game of monopoly! Overall, such a great night!

So Dee had some progression this week. On Tuesday, we took Andrew to a lesson and talked about being obedient to God's commandments. Thursday, we brought Kaye Storrs (an RM) to a lesson and talked about Dee's reading assignment of King Benjamin's speech. We also discussed the Water's of Mormon and Abinadi. Kaye invited her to church and.... Dee accepted!!! Finally!!!

Dee came to church and it was so great. I got almost every member to come introduce themselves and she just loved it. She thought everyone was so nice and it went really well. She hopefully will get off work next week to come to Andrew's farewell talk, but overall it was fantastic. Everything went great. She didn't have too many questions, everyone was nice and I really think she felt the spirit it brings. Elder Ross and Nelson are meeting with her tomorrow because of exchanges with the ZL's. So, I will be in Bossier for the day I pray it goes well and we can continue to help her. She is reading, praying and doing well. Keep her in your prayer's y'all. We need all the help we can get! :)

What a great week y'all! What a blessing it is to live, have the gospel in my life and know that Christ truly lives. We are blessed to have this knowledge. Many don't know, or die without the knowledge of knowing. Do all you can to spread the Gospel and allow others to feel the Holy Spirit. We should always be looking for missionary experiences. Whether we are at work, in school or even shopping at the grocery store. 

17 more days till my Birthday! Ain't that crazy y'all? 19 here I come. Thanks for the love, the support and the prayers. Have a great week y'all. I think and pray for you often. Keep on smiling, life is better that way :) 

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin

Pictures 7/13/2015

That is an ugly bug!

Yep pretty ugly!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

New Hair cut!

Changing a flat tire.

What would we do without Mason!?