Onward, ever onward as we glory in His name...

hello all!

I'm emailing early today, because we're trying to get everything done before leaving super early tomorrow. I apologize if you blessed souls who have written me don't get responses until next week. My few hours I have to write letters are also my few hours I have to pack...THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL THE LETTERS!

CONGRATULATIONS TAYLOR, FOR WINNING THE CONCERTO COMPETION !!!!! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU! SEND ME A RECORDING!!!!!!!!!!

What a week! Lets start out with the negative first: STOMACH FLU. I got sick on Wed. at lunch and was in my room (really the bathroom...too many details? my bad) until mid morning Thursday. I was weak and tired Thursday, but I was able to go to class and do everything. Friday was In-Field orientation where we were...oriented...about leaving for the field(what we call our actual mission areas), working with members, how to find people to teach, talking to everyone we see, etc. I felt great and full of energy so I ate a normal meal. oops. Friday in the middle of the night I got supah sick again.I planned on going to class late Saturday, but my teacher quarantined me for the morning, so I wouldn't give everyone else this awful plague. Frustrating, but completely understandable. I almost went crazy in my room staring at a wall, but I was able to get a lot done and I tried to make the most of it. It taught me to never waste a moment of good health, haha. And lots of patience.I prayed for strength and comfort, because lets be serious, it's not easy being sick in the middle of public bathrooms away from home. But the Lord most definitely gave me perspective, strength, loving people around me, and comfort. I got a Priesthood blessing and part of it said "know that your family is praying for you." It came as a huge comfort. Thank you for your prayers. My digestive system seems to be almost normal now, haha.

I am pleased to announce that I have only been super sassy once-ish...A group of elders behind us at a devotional were being immature and forgetting that they were representatives of Jesus Christ as they were talking about attractive sister missionaries. As they stood up to check one out I turned around and said, "Hey elders, whatchya lookin at?....Remember we are your SISTERS and we deserve your respect." Oops. (I'm working on it. :)

Yes, Mom, we did have an ice storm this week. They put up caution tape everywhere which, of course, most elders ignored, haha. As long as I make it out of here safely tomorrow (and it's actually pretty snowy and icy today, so fingers crossed), I can proudly say I've survive my first winter in Provo without an ankle injury (nevermind that I was only here 21 days, haha). what's that? no more snow for 18 months? HOLLA.

Speaking of tomorrow---I'M GOING TO L.A. TOMORROW!!!!!!! I'm so excited! I'm so pumped to dive in to the Lord's work with everything I can to find people the Lord is preparing to hear the joyous news of His gospel. My MTC experience has been a great one, even when I was sick haha, but I'm so glad I'm English speaking and only have to be here 3 weeks. To sum up the past 3 weeks, I have to quote Britt when she wrote in my journal some advice, "Your Heavenly Father loves you, but He wants to teach you. Don't fight the Lord's tutoring hand." It all has been one giant learning experience in which I am beginning to recognize miracle after miracle. The Lord's hand is in ALL of our lives. We just need to recognize Him.

Each day, I need to ask how, through the enabling atonement of Jesus Christ, can I become closer to my potential as a daughter of God? Repentance doesn't mean just saying sorry to God that we're not perfect, but means having faith to rely on Jesus Christ to CHANGE each day.The world teaches us to settle and just be ourselves. But my friend told me last semester (and I've said this a hundred times since), "Don't just be yourself, become yourself." Why should we settle for who we are now if we have the potential to become so much more through Christ? The Lord humbles us so He can teach us, bless us, and help us change until that glorious day when we all become perfect in Him. We watched a legendary MTC talk from Elder Bednar from last year on the Character of Christ. Any time the natural man would turn in and focus on the self, He would turn out and focus on others. As we turn out and focus on others and on our Savior, Christ will empower us and take care of the inner concerns.

Thanks for reading my emails everyone. It means a lot to me. If you leave comments, my mom forwards them along to me. (mom I hear you're tagging some of my random friends from high school in your facebook posts, hahaha. oh mercyyy.) I'd love to hear from any and all of you! Please let me know if you have any questions. Especially if you ever have any questions about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Check out mormon.org/faq, get a Book of Mormon, ask me/my fambam, or better yet---ASK THE LOCAL MISSIONARIES. :)

I love you all so much! Find reasons to smile each day!

Make it a great week,

Sister Atkinson

P.S.--I'll have an hour to email once I get to the field so my emailing should improve, haha. And I'm sending one of my SD cards home this week so Mom can post pictures so I don't have to waste computer time.

Note from Dawn: I do not even know what 'tagging' is so sorry to the facebook readers, I am obviously doing that inadvertently.