Missionaries on the News!

We (missionaries) helped this week with the flood relief. The helping hands effort made the news.
 
 

St. Patty's Day.....Lucky Sunday!

This last week was full and it just seemed to fly by. I would wake up, blink and suddenly I was already to that afternoon in the middle of a lesson. Blink again and I was back at home heading to bed. Time certain flies when you are working hard and having a blast while doing it. Elder Magleby and I are doing so great!

The weather this week was all over the place. It started out really hot and humid. Next day it is pouring rain and thundering our whole house. Then yesterday and this morning it was cold. The south is crazy... Can't figure out what it wants.

So last week for P-day, we had fun over at the Ginn's house. They let us come play pool and enjoy the sun at their house. They are just so nice to us and always try to help us.

Our investigators are doing well, we tried finding a lot this last week. We have a few potentials but not really any solid ones. 

That one family we found last week, the B____ family. (The one with the divorced single mom). We taught her on Monday night about the Book of Mormon and invited her to read it. Her life is still crazy, so I really prayed that she would read it. We came back on Thursday to check up with her, she was too busy to meet but guess what!?! She read! She was so happy to see us to. I think the spirit is working with her and I could see her progress in the near future. We are meeting up with them tonight so I'm praying we keep moving forward with them.

J_____ continues to progress everyday. His faith is getting stronger, he is learning how to pray more and he even is seeing a change in his life. We started teaching him the commandments this past week and we just finished the Word of Wisdom. Luckily he didn't have any issues and he is gaining a testimony of everything we have taught him so far. We discussed a lot on Nephi and how he was a great example of obedience and faith. Like he says in the scriptures and primary song.. "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commandeth.." We are still working on getting him a new job or even Sunday's off, but I could see him getting baptized in this next month. He is great and I love seeing the Gospel bless his life. 

Yesterday was our "Lucky Sunday" or just a great Sunday! H_____ came to church!!! She hasn't gone to church in 3 years and with Heavenly Father's help, she made it yesterday. Earlier in the week, we taught her and she couldn't come because she had her son and didn't want to bring him because he won't sit still and cries a lot. (B_____ is still in New Orleans for work so he couldn't meet all week). She then texted us Saturday and told us she would be at church because W______'s Dad is going to have him for the weekend. It was awesome! The lessons were exactly what she needed. She even had the whole Relief Society laughing I guess, they all loved her. 

Then after church we went out with Bro Cuevas to see some people. We ended up teaching 8 different families. It was awesome. Non-member, members and even part member families. We got a lot done and it was just a day full of the spirit. It helped us a lot because we are really working on gaining the trust of our members. Without them on our side, we can never get anywhere. Having them see H____ and then visiting a few as well, I think it's helping a lot. Waveland continues to move forward. :)

While studying this week, I continued to learn about Alma and Amulek. A duo or companionship that spoke boldly to the people and examples to me. They weren't afraid to share their testimonies and opposition didn't phase them. I desire to be like them and not allow opposition to turn me away from what is right or what needs to be done. Not just on my mission, but in life. Sometimes we may become discouraged, but we can receive help from on high. I saw in numerous times this week as he helped us get H____ to church, got us in doors and led us to homes of those that needed to hear our message at that time. I know he can do the same for you in your life. It all starts with prayer. Alma 38:5, replace your name with Shiblon's. I know this to be true and I know God loves each of us. I hope and pray y'all have a good week. Keep on smiling and pray always. Love y'all! :)

Just another day in paradise!

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

 

P-day pool!

bigger Catfish

St. Patty's day!

 

"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 :)

 

Mr. Crab

Can't wait to hear if it was yummy or not...

500 year old Friendship tree.

 

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 :)

 

P-day fishing.

Beautiful being so close to the gulf.

Yard work service.

Pizza afterwards

biggest catch so far... Catfish

 

1st week back!

Hey y'all!

So first week back in the mission and it feels so good. As soon as I hit Jackson, it felt real again. It was great to see President and Sis Olson again. Sis Olson was so excited to see me back. A lot of people did actually. I got to spend that first day in the Brandon area with Elder Rigby and that was way fun. We taught a few of their investigators and one less active member. I loved every minute of it, I was smiling the whole time. Elder Rigby said "Man, I think you got your greenie fire back, maybe I should go home too!" :) I don't know about that, but I definitely am excited to be here. 

I saw a ton of people on transfer day. A lot of my old friends. Elder Lesuma got some tears when he saw me again.. "Daddy is the best" is all he could say. Just everyone was excited. President took me aside the night before and showed me where I was going a day early so I knew. I am currently serving in the Waveland Area, near the coast of MS. I am in the Gulfport stake and the Slidell, LA District. My new companion is Elder Magleby from Lindon, UT. I guess it is near Provo. He is a stud and I can tell this will be a good companionship. We laugh a lot and it's great. Serving in my ward again is Sis Uffens from Greenville, she was excited to see me too. She said she had full faith I would come back!

For the Area, it is a good ward. Bigger ward than my usual ones. A lot of them love fishing, which I was pretty excited about! So we are gonna go fishing today, I hope we catch something sweet. I guess some elders pulled a shark out of the ocean once! I doubt we will catch one though.

My first lesson here was with our new investigators, _______. They are a couple that live together in Waveland that we found through a referrall. _______ is 20 and is a sweet guy. We connected really well and talked a lot about everything. I can tell we will get along. _____ is this little southern bell, 24 and has the thickest southern accent. Plus, she loves to talk so she can talk to you forever. They made us a sweet shrimp and Alfredo dinner. I don't know what it is called, but I liked it. After we helped with the dishes and actually answered a few of their questions about the Word of Wisdom and Prophets. We then taught them a little bit about the value of scripture reading and prayer. We left them with a chapter from the Book of Mormon and we are checking up this next Wednesday. I hope it all goes well and that we can help them draw closer to Jesus Christ.

I also got to meet the _____ family. They are a sweet family that had us over for steak and potatoes one night. We were supposed to have chicken and dumplings she said, but forgot to thaw the chicken. So we get to go over tonight and try it. She says they are the best in the South, so I bet they'll be tasty. I get along with both their sons_____and _____ really well. ____ loves guitar and relaxing, and ____ is a big fisherman. They also have this younger sister named _____ and she loves to give us so much sass. She treats us like her brothers. :)

Last part for today, we found this soup kitchen to do service in each week. It was fun to go there and help serve the people that are in need. I met a lot of nice people and got to here some of their stories. Reminded me to count my many blessing everyday. I am truly blessed. 

My scripture for this week is Matthew 11:29. "Learn of me.. and ye shall find rest unto your souls." I liked it a lot as I read it. I know that I have gained a lot of rest from my worries and doubts as I have thought and learned from the Savior. I know that we can all do the same and also help others find that same rest from all worries of the world. No matter the circumstances anyone is in. My Redeemer lives and He loves us. Have a great week y'all, it is great to be back. Thank you for all the prayers, couldn't be here without any of it. Heavenly Father has truly blessed me..

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

First Day

first night from the beach

pier

our little house

Gulf Coast

Beach Houses

I'm BACK!!

 Hey y'all,

I don't have much time today, but I just wanted to shoot y'all a quick email telling where I am and stuff from transfers.

I met up with the greenie's in Atlanta after my layover there. There were 9 sisters and 4 elders. They didn't understand why I wasn't coming from the MTC, it was funny. Guess who else I saw? Bro Hilton! He was traveling to Rhode Island and didn't recognize me at first when he saw me. It was funny. When I got there we had an early dinner with everyone and then I got to serve in Brandon with the Zone Leader, Elder Rigby. We had a fun time, taught a few lessons and laughed so hard. He came out from the MTC with me and it was good to catch up. The next day was transfer day and it was crazy to see everyone. Elder Ross, Elder Lesuma, Elder Beckstrom, Sis Mitchell, Sis Kelly, Elder Boehme, Elder Nuku.... I saw so many people! They were so happy I was back! After one long day of being on the T-van, I made it to..... Gulfport, MS! I am going to be serving in the Waveland area with an Elder Magleby. He's been out about 7 months and is from Lindon, UT. We already get along so great and are excited to work hard. Plus, Sis Uffens is serving in the same ward again. She was so excited to see me. Waveland is pretty awesome so far. It flooded our yard last night, from all the rain. Another part that is awesome is that we get to go fishing here on P-days! I'm going to try and catch a shark  or something. I don't know, but I am excited. Don't worry Mom, my knee is doing good, the flights went okay and I am all safe. You can breathe now :) Anyways, I better get going because we got a full day. Supposedly  this area hasn't been worked in a while because some stuff happened, so we are starting from scratch. We need to find some investigators. So pray we find some and have a great day. I love y'all and appreciate all the support. I wouldn't be here without y'all, I am always reminded how lucky I truly am. Thanks again, I love y'all so much!!!!

Love,
Elder Mason Rankin

**********************************************
Mason flew out on Monday the 22nd at 5:30am.
It was bitter sweet.... but we are excited he is back in the field.

After an all day flight he met up with the other missionaries in Atlanta.

Greenies at the Airport

Transfer day!