Mother's Day is the Best!

Another week has come and gone, I probably will never understand how fast time flies by but I definitely love being here in this mission. We are having struggles with finding and having our investigators progress, but we strive to keep our heads high. Without the bad, I'd never appreciate the good as much as I do.

We did found one awesome guy this week. His name is D____ and we found him through a less-active member. She has been dating him for sometime and asked if we would come teach him. So, we went over last Monday and had a great lesson with him. Elder Magleby and I taught them the Restoration and invited them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. The spirit was so strong there, He led our discussion and gave us the words that touched their hearts that evening. It was probably one of the best lessons I have taught on my mission. I hope and pray D_____ continues to progress. It awesome to see their interest and understanding of our special message. We meet with them tonight, I can't wait! :)

Tuesday was exchanges with the Slidell Spanish Elders. I went with Elder Holm, from Firth, ID. He is a great elder and we had some fun laughs together. He misses Idaho, like I do. Idahome :) I love having the opportunity to go on exchanges with each of the Elders, they each are awesome. Elder Holm and I got to teach a few people together, a lot of people were home for us to visit. One of the families we visited was the C____ family. We have been working with them for a couple months now and really have been praying that they would come to church. They committed to come and actually did! I love seeing progression, it is the best!

Our other success story with inactive members is a man named Bro A____. He has been less-active for some time now and really hasn't had any interest in coming back anytime soon. I found his number looking through the member list and decided to just call it randomly. He answered, which surprised me, and we had a great chat. This was about a month ago and just still haven't found a time where he could meet up with us. Finally this last week, he met up with us and the Elders Quorum President. We had a great lesson about Faith and how we need to nourish it. We invited him to come back to church and he did!! He told us after how happy he was that he came and that he wanted to become active again. I know he can, we are excited to help him.

So yesterday was Mother's Day and that was just the best day ever! We had some good talks about the Savior and Mother's, reminding me of how grateful I am for my Mother and other Mother figures I have in my life. No other love can compare to the Savior's, then a Mother and her child. Since it was Mother's Day, Sacrament meeting was packed and the Elders Quorum was in charge of teaching primary so the women could go to Relief Society. Elder Magleby and I had a blast, it was so much fun being in there with all the little kiddos. They loved us, I seriously was just being attacked the whole time and they all wanted to sit next to me. At least I am popular among the little kids. :) haha. But when they sang and as we listened, I felt the sweet spirit that they bring. I love kids and I love Mother's Day! I was so happy I got to skype y'all, it made my whole day. I am lucky to have such an amazing family, I couldn't do any of this without them, especially my loving Mother. I love you Mom! :)

Have a great week y'all and keep on smiling. Remember to hug your Mom and tell her that you love her. (After all she was the one that used to wipe your bum:)

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

Early morning P-day fishing with the District

Tie I found for cheap.

Service

Service

Selfie Sunday with our family

Skype call on Mothers Day

Gotta have a goofy one.

"And the rains came down and the Elders held firm"

Yes, there was a lot of rain this past week. It didn't stop the work though, we had a full and fun week!

This last Monday we were able to experience exactly what you want when being a missionary. A member invited us over to her house to have dinner and also invited her non-member friends. It was perfect. We were able to meet V____ and A____. They moved down here after Katrina to help build it back up and have been here ever since. We had a great meal with them and then shared a simple message about the Restoration. We left V_____ with Alma 32 to read. She is a nice lady, has a kind heart and could benefit a lot from hearing the Gospel. A_____ is spanish and I can't understand him very well. (I've been praying for the gift of interpretation of tongues since I can't remember much from High school spanish, haha) We plan to follow-up with them again tomorrow over dinner. Exactly how missionary work should be, it was powerful to be there and teach them. I look forward to teaching them more in the future.

Tuesday we got a call from some members telling us that they need help moving some stuff from a storage unit into a U-haul for a non-member friend. They told us it would only take an hour and a half.. when the truck was finally filled it had all together been 4 and a half hours... Lots of service for us! We loved it though, it was a great experience to talk with this lady we were helping move about the Gospel and why we do so much service. We are in the service of our God.

District meeting was spiritual this last week. We discussed together about "Living what we learn" and how important it is to bear our testimonies while teaching. Our testimonies grow and become strong when we live the principles of the Gospel. That is something I share with everyone. I can read and pray about all of this all day but true conversion comes when we apply what we learn and experience this eternal joy that comes. I can say that God is my Heavenly Father because I have felt his love through obeying the commandments He has given us. I know the Restored Gospel is here because I live it. :)

What experience I would like to share comes from this past Friday. We went to see some in active members in hopes that we could find out why they haven't been coming in awhile. We had a great discussion with them, the spirit was there and I know they did as well. We read from the Book of Mormon about how the small and simple things become great things. As we prayed together before we left, the Brother invited me to pray. As I began, the spirit seemed to light up the whole room and warm us up. We finished and there were tears in his eyes. I felt sincere love for this couple and knew how they felt, God is truly there. Our hopes are to reactivate them in the months to come. I know we can with Gods help.

To finish I just wanted to say yesterday was amazing. We fasted together in hopes that we will find a family/individuals that we can baptize in June and July. Sacrament meeting was full of the Holy Ghost and it continued throughout the rest of our meetings. Even after church, it went with us through out the whole fast Sunday. We didn't get in until late last night because we were so busy. My favorite lesson yesterday was one with the H____ family. We read the story of Enos with them and asked them what they learned from it. They shared with us some ideas and then we set together plans for us to come back each week to have family home evening together and help them build their faith. After we left we received a text from them telling us how glad they were we came by and the spirit they felt when we came. It warmed my heart and reminded me of how happy I am to be here. I am truly thankful for my Heavenly Father and his son  Jesus Christ. Without them, I would be nothing. I pray y'all have a great week full of many blessing and miracles. Keep on smiling and Choose the Right. Love y'all! :)

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

 

Nate

Davis

my district

 

No Worries be Happy!

This last week definitely had it's low points, but we ended with it high. We started Tuesday over in Gulfport for exchanges. There are a quite a few members over there, so it was fun to meet some new people and be companions with some new people for the day. I started with Elder Smith, he is pretty much the best! He is from Calgary, Canada and wait, there's more. He used to be the announcer or sports caster guy for the Calgary flames! What are the chances right? I talked to him about my family up there and how I liked the Flames too! The highlight of the exchanges was teaching this younger part member family. The Dad isn't a member, he has been taught before but he is being taught again. We talked to them a lot about how the Gospel blesses families because they have 4 little kiddos. I shared the experiences I have had with my family and the Gospel. I wouldn't be where I am today without it in my home. Love at home.

After District meeting on Wednesday, I went on another exchange with Elder Davis from Slidell. He was in the MTC with me so it was awesome to teach together again and see how far we have come. We taught some less-actives together and a couple active members. We are hoping to teach a members granddaughter and boyfriend in the near future. We will see what happens. That next morning all 4 of us when to serve a member in our ward. They are the Brown's, I love them. We dug up some stuff, took out some plants and put in a new drain so that his front porch doesn't flood anymore. These palm bushes we took out, took forever. They had some crazy root system and they were hard to cut. We had to grab a pick axe to pull it out. I was sweatin real good and I got a lot of sun. Bro Brown is a big fisherman so he talked to us a lot about fishing. He invited me back after the mission to go out on his boat and catch some big fish with him! Such a great family!

Update on J____... He got a new job!!! But we didn't get to meet with him at all this week because he was busy and we were busy so hopefully we can meet up here soon. Now that he has this new job he can come to church on Sunday! 

The lows for this past week were probably the lack of finding new investigators and everyone being busy. Saturday we went over to this area called Bay Side Park and worked there all day. 5 hours of tracting later... we were able to teach 2 people and give out 1 Book of Mormon. Lots of doors slammed in our face and angry dogs. It's all good though, we are really praying to find someone awesome this next week. I have faith that we will.

Update on H____ and B____... H____ came to church! We were so happy when we found out she was going to come to church since she couldn't meet all week. I hope we can find a time this week to meet up to teach them both. B______ was over in Louisiana working all week so that stunk. He should be coming back this week though. We keep praying he will find a job over here in the Bay.

Our cool experience for the week was on Saturday when we were in Bay Side Park. I had seen this guy walk by us while we were on a door step and he kept looking at us. But couldn't find him after we turned around to go to the next house. Later when we were done for the day, we were driving back and I saw him walking on the side of the road. At first I was like "should I pull over and run him down", but then decided to just wave and pass by. As we began to pass by, the spirit stopped me and we began to talk through the car window. He was actually a really nice guy, so we pulled over, hopped out and taught him on the side of the road next to our car. His name is D____, younger guy and has attended many churches throughout his life. We didn't get to teach him long before we had to go, but we shared with him a simple message and left him with a Book of Mormon to read. We offered a prayer with him and plan to follow-up this next week. Heavenly Father continues to teach me, listen to his promptings.

The District is coming down for P-day so we should have a good day! Lunch on the beach, maybe some games, I am not sure but it should be fun! Have a great week and make sure to keep on smiling! Heavenly Father loves you and so do I! Just another day in Paradise...

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

 

 

Exchanges

Doing Service

W. Rankin street

fried up the catch

 

Happy Birthday Bridger!

This last week had lots of rain. There are literally roads that we can't drive down because there has been so much flooding. It is crazy. Nothing high enough to damage any houses, but it definitely makes a missionary wet when he forgets his jacket at home... :)

Update on B_____ and H____... H____ smoked... We tried our best but she accidentally did it and then gave up after that. We were sad but don't want to give up on her. We care about them too much. She said that before she tries quitting again, she might try some nicotine gum or something to help because she was having a hard time without it. We met with both of them on Monday and read about the Tree of life and holding to the rod. Halfway through the lesson H_____ broke down and began to cry and left the room. She has been going through so much stress and having a hard time with it all, so we finished up our lesson with only B____. The spirit was so strong in that little apartment as we testified and taught B_____ what he needed to do and how to meet those desires he has through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He recognized it and felt it, I love it when the people we teach see that. We are going to be patient with them and help build that foundation a little more. We want conversion, not just a number.

J_____ is doing okay, not progressing as much as he used to. I think he is putting so much focus on finding a new job so he can come to church, that he forget to read this scriptures and make sure to meet with us. We did teach him about the priesthood and the temple this last week. He wants to go there some day and he really wants an eternal family so he loved it. I just hope he can continue to meet with us and makes to time to read his scriptures so he can gain a testimony of all that we teach him.

While out this last week, we found a free hour after some people cancelled on us. We had no clue what to do, so I said a silent prayer in my heart and began to look through my planner. Nothing came, I thought about all the people we had met this last transfer, nothing came. So finally I just grabbed the GPS and looked for some less-active members that were close. I came to Sis Love. I had no clue who she was so we went to find her. We knocked on the door and a younger lady opened the door and said come in. Shocked and thinking, "What the?" , we went inside. We found out she was actually an active member that always sat in the back and snuck out after sacrament. We had a good discussion with her and got to know her a little better. She is a sweet lady. We then found out that her grand-daughter and her boyfriend(both non-members) live in the loft above her house, so I talked to them and asked if we could come back and share our message with them. They said Yes! So hopefully something more will come from that and we can begin teaching them. Led by the spirit.

Again this last Thursday, some appointments fell through so we decided to go to the soup kitchen and serve. We showed up and there were 2 new ladies there trying to get everything ready and they were so happy to see us. We found out that one of them has a friend that is a member in our ward and she had texted her asking if she would call the missionaries to come help them because they were short handed. So they were so happy because we had answered their prayers in showing up to help them. We ended up having a fun time with them and they really enjoyed talking to us! Another answer to prayers.

Last highlight for this week. I have been thinking and pondering on how the Gospel makes people better. It motivates them to act, think and go through out there daily lives doing good. For others it brings them hope in a life that seems to have none, we got to be a light of hope for a man this past weekend. We do service for the G____ family pretty regularly and they also have a guy names R____ that helps them with their landscaping and other projects around their property. First look at R____, you probably wouldn't think to highly of him, but he honestly is a great guy and a hard worker. We found out that he has a young son with a bad lung disease, divorced 2 times and a list of other things. R____ needed the Gospel badly, so Bro G___ invited us to bring a Book of Mormon over when we did service and have a discussion with him. It was such a great discussion and the spirit touched R____'s heart as we spoke. He was so overcome with it that he began to cry. He thanked us and promised he would read and pray about all that we had taught him. What a blessing it has been to give hope to people, when there seems to be none. To help them realize that the Lord is here for them, they are a Child of a Heavenly Father and that he is loved by Him. The Gospel can change lives and I hope we can help R_____'s with it. I know that light will always overcome that darkness. I know this because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has brought that light into my life and I never want to lose it. I know you can have these same feelings as you apply what the Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches, into your lives. I hope y'all know you are loved. I am loving it down here in Waveland, I can't wait to see what to the next week brings. Have a blessed week y'all, keep on smiling! :)

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin

PS. Shout out to Bridger for his Birthday!!!!!! He is the best! I miss ya little man! :)

 

Ice Cream Parlor

built a balance board to help with my physical therapy.

 

 

 

Transfers.... I'm staying.

This week literally was packed, every evening we were rushing to appointments, getting fed multiple times and teaching so much. It is so great to look back and see how far we have come from the first week I was here to now. So much has changed. Progression is real.

Update on H____ and B_____. We taught them a couple times this week, they are getting better and they enjoy learning more. We talked about obedience at the beginning of the week and blessings that come from it, because we are starting to teach them the commandments. Thursday evening, H____ started the stop smoking program. So far she has successfully been smoke free for 4 days! We are so proud of her! They are really coming along, I love them! :)

We also had dinner with the R______ that evening. They are literally my favorite family ever. We couldn't find their house because it is in the middle of nowhere, but it is paradise at their home. They live on 23 acres and have a beautiful home with a lot of land. They fed us some good food and had a great discussion with them. They took us in like family, I loved it. We are going to keep seeing them and helping them. They are awesome.

Friday evening we had dinner with some former investigators, the S______ Family. I don't know if I talked much about them, but they used to be taught by missionaries, they have been taught every lesson, been involved in church, fellowshipped and still haven't joined. So we went there with the goal of finding out why they weren't. We had a spiritual lesson with Sis S______ and found out she can't get baptized because she is deathly afraid of water. So afraid she can barely take showers. I had never heard something like this before, but immediately the spirit guided us. We had a spiritual lesson with her, talked about Peter walking on water and having the faith to follow him in everything. We came to the conclusion we would all fast together on Sunday for her to have the strength to overcome her fear. I hope she can, I pray we can continue to help them. Oh yeah! And they fed us delicious crawfish. I ate so much, it was crazy hot and really good. It was the best!

J_____ came to church yesterday!!!! And he has an interview this next week for a new job!!! I believe things are falling in place for him. He is great and he loved church. He told us afterwards how happy he was that he came and how good he felt. He recognized the spirit and love here. Everyone was really nice to him and the ward members are realizing that Elder Magleby and I are really working hard. The trust is being earned and the help is coming. We got signed up to be fed 5 times this week, that is a new record for us. The Waveland ward is awesome!

Last but not least... Transfers are here! Elder Magleby and I are staying together for another transfer! I am so excited, we are going to kill it here another transfer. He is definitely one of my favorite companions and a brother in my eyes. We get along so well, laugh all the time and work well together. I can't wait to see what the new transfer brings. Fill the font, we are coming! :)

This morning in my studies I read about Alma and Amulek and how they were bound with strong cords, thrown in jail and they were delivered from bondage. In verse 13 of chapter 14 in Alma, Alma tells us that he is willing to follow the will of the Lord, even if that means he will be thrown into the fire with the other believers.Then later in 26, he rises up and calls unto the Lord for strength according to their faith. Key words, "according to our faith which is in Christ,.." Blessings, strength, peace, the spirit, deliverance, etc... all come according to our faith. I ask myself,Is my faith as Alma and Amulek's? Am I willing to follow his will? Do I have the faith to find those being prepared? Do I have faith he will deliver and provide for us? Our faith gives us more hope. Our attitude begins to change as we have more faith. We become as Alma and Amulek: humble, faithful, diligent, obedient and we trust in the Lord. My faith has grown so much as I have looked to these examples, I know yours can too. I know this because mine has grown so much in the last year of my life. I am grateful to be here and I am grateful for y'all. Have a great week and always remember to smile! God loves you and so do I!!! :)

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

 

crawfish boil

flying kites at the beach on P-day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Pancakes

This week flew by, our planners just fill up with appointments and things to do. Everyday it feels great to finish knowing you worked hard that whole day and did all that you could. The spirit is truly amazing as learn to listen and recognize it.

So H____ and B_____ progressed a ton this last week. We set them both with a potential baptism date of May 7th. They feel great about everything we have taught them and know the truth is here. The spirit continues to work with them and help them know what they need to change in their lives. We went over to Nate Hughes' house for dinner and he needed some milk for the pancakes so we ran to the store for him. While there we ran into B_____ and H____, they were so happy to see us. B_____ began to bring up something but H_____ was in a rush so she left to check out. B____ stayed and explained to us how excited he was to get baptized. He had been discussing with H____ earlier about how they needed to live the law of chastity. Elder Magleby and I were scared to bring it up because they weren't married, but the spirit works wonders and taught them for us. H____ told B_____ that they would get married then and they agreed because they want to get baptized and be obedient to God's commandments. They already were engaged but were waiting, so now we might be planning a wedding this month! They even watched all the sessions of General Conference and loved it. They know there is something better for them and they want it in their lives. The Lord truly provides.

J____ continues to do awesome, he is gaining so much confidence in himself. His self-worth continues to grow and he is understanding that he truly is a child of God. Just like what Elder Halstrom talked about in conference, knowing we are a child of God gives us strength and power. J____ was set to get baptized this coming weekend, but he isn't all the way ready yet. So we set him for a date later this month. His biggest hang up is that his job makes him work on Sunday's. We are praying that he can find a new job or that he will be able to get his schedule moved around so he can come to church. J_____ face is brighter, his spirit is stronger and it brings me happiness to see what the Gospel has brought to his life. 

This last Tuesday we went to Slidell for exchanges. My highlight from exchanges was going to Bro Pete's house. He is an old Vietnam vet that lives on the water and fishes a lot. We showed us and he told us to come help him get the crabs. I was like "get the crabs, what?" Elder Holbrook told me that he likes to feed them crab. So we went and cleared the crab trap, boiled them up with some potatoes and we had ourselves some delicious supper. Bro Pete was having fun teaching me how to get all the crab meat out. I think I might starve if I always had to eat crab. :)

Wednesday Elder Magleby and I taught District meeting. It went wonderful We taught about How to recognize and listen to the promptings of the spirit and how important it is in our work. It has been a mission long struggle but as I continue to work at it, the better I get at listening to what he has to say. Very spirit filled discussion. After the meeting, we decided to go get some crawfish. You could say I got my fill of sea food for the week. I had like 4 pounds of crawfish, it was great. My lips were all puffed up from how hot they were, it was funny to see!

Finally, our exciting conference weekend. I enjoyed a lot of it. I loved the quote by Elder Holland, "You can have what you want, or you can have something better." It is so true to see that when we live the Gospel and are obedient to God's commandments, we experience joy that nothing on this earth can bring. Elder Utchdorf said it perfectly we he taught us that obedience isn't bending, twisting or even breaking us into something we aren't. It instead shows us more of who we truly are and how strong we are. The testimony and truth that we are Children of a loving Heavenly Father rang strong in my head through out the conference. We are each his Children, He loves us individually, He loves us as a Heavenly Parent who was wants the best for us. The best is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that has been once again restored to this earth. I know this to be true because I have experienced this and understand that He is there. He makes us better than we ever could be as work hand in hand. We simply have to put forth our best effort. He is there, I know He is.

Thanks again for all the love and support. I challenge each of you to strengthen your faith and relationship with your Father in Heaven. If you don't have faith, start with hope. Have a blessed week, you are each in my prayers. Keep on smiling! :)

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

PS. I caught this sweet Redfish, pretty much the happiest moment ever and the hardest fish I've ever reeled in!

Early Morning P-day sunrise

 

 

38 inches long, 25 lbs. Biggest catch I have ever had.

P-day was awesome!

 

Shout out to Brooklyn!

 

 

 

 

Happy Easter, some Helping Hands and answered prayers!

So this week seemed to fly by. We are getting so busy lately. Elder Magleby and I plan for the week and seem to find our days just full of something. Especially this last week, we had some good surprises come our way.

On Wednesday we went to the Ward Easter Party. There were a ton of members and non-members there. Tell everyone there is a BBQ and you will get every ward member out, it was pretty sweet. It seemed like I was always talking and listening to everyone, my brain was running in circles. B____ and H____ came though. So did J____! They all really enjoyed it, they said. It was great for the ward members to meet them and talk with them. They were all so nice and helped fellowship them.

J_____ continues to progress as well. We only got to meet with him a couple times because of our crazy schedule, but he really wants to get baptized. He is now in 1 Nephi 13. We taught about the Vision of the Tree of life last time, the meaning behind it and also the Law of Chastity. He committed to live it and his faith continue to progress everyday. His prayers are getting so good, I pray he gets baptized! :)

Thursday was Zone Conference in Hattiesburg. I was so happy to go because I got to see so many people I knew. Plus, I love being back in Hattiesburg. It feels like home. We talked a lot about the Atonement and about Planning. President Olson said some things that were perfect for me. Sometimes we hold on to guilt or mistakes me made in the past that don't allow us to move on. When we do this, we are limiting our progression. I just felt the spirit a lot and I received some revelation about how I can become better, get rid of any guilt and continue to build the Waveland area. You should have seen how happy Elder Lesuma was to see me. He picked me up and said "Daddy is the best!" I have some great memories with that kid, love him!

Friday and Saturday all our plans got cancelled so we could go up to Bogalusa to help with the flood cleanup. We made the news, did some great work and had fun while doing it all. I did about 4 house cleanups with my crew and one of the house got stripped to the studs. It is so sad to see some of these people in these rough situations. It is definitely humbling and reminds me to count my many blessings. I always feel the spirit when I do service. I seem to get quieter and think about all the help being done and about my life. The spirit was there the whole time and I felt calm as I sweated and broke down all the flooded sheet rock and walls. Also gave me a testimony of how much good the church does. They gave so much help and service this weekend. The church is so true!!! 

Easter was yesterday and our conference weekend is coming up. I hope that everyone spent sometime to pray and remember the sacrifice our Savior made for us and the blessing it is in our life. The Atonement is truly real. We can not even begin to comprehend it in this mortal life. I am humbled to know that he paid the price for me. It motivates me to work hard and to be better because I owe it all to him. Our Savior truly lives.

On top of our spirit filled Sunday, H_____ texted us during church to let us know that she received an answer to her prayer... She had a dream the night before of getting baptized and we were both there. She recognized it as an answer to her prayers and knows it is something that she needs to do. I was so happy when I read that! I just hope and pray that she can now act upon that answer and progress towards baptism. We planned on teaching her soon and hopefully setting her with a baptism date to work toward. So thankful for the power of prayer!

I hope y'all have a blessed week, I know I continue to draw closer to my Heavenly Father every day. The mission is truly a blessing, I am happy to be here. I wouldn't be here or be the person I am today if it weren't for my Savior and my family. I am eternally grateful. Love y'all! I'm fixin' to sign off for now.. Keep on smiling! 

Love,

Elder Mason Rankin :)

Helping Hands Flood Relief

Rainy Easter Sunday

Easter Egg Hunt

I trained Lesuma then Lesuma trained Schleip