The light of faith is in our hearts, our guiding star.

This is her email from today. More amazing stories. It is getting closer to her coming home! Dawn

 

Hello friends!

    WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN?
    Once upon a time Shay 'Tard' Butler is a famous youtuber. He is Mormon. He and his family live in our stake here. They decided to do a 'why I believe' type fireside and since they were expecting a ton of his fans, they called in the troops to help (aka, we missionaries had tables with copies of the Book of Mormon, cards, etc.). Then they asked Sister Black because she is a bo$$ singer if she would sing a solo. Then a few days later the following conversation happened, "Sister Black. Shay has a good friend who is a singer and is coming to the fireside. Would you mind changing the solo into a duet?" "Sure!" "Okay great. Well, we are trying to keep it on the down low, but you'll be singing a duet with David Archuleta. Thanks!" WHY DID I NOT TAKE A PICTURE OF HER FACE WHEN SHE REALIZED WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?

    Before we could text Gina (David's manager that I taught the Restoration to 6 weeks ago) about the coincidence, we get a text from her inviting us to the fireside. Hah, little did she know. I called her.

"GINA! This fireside he's singing at? You know how one of his songs will be a duet with a sister missionary?"

"Yeah..."

"GINA. THAT'S MY NEW COMPANION. What do you think God is trying to tell you?! Obviously, He just loves me and is letting me see you again."

She just died laughing.

    Sure enough Saturday night we met in a high council room at the church with a fruit bowl and water bottles and I listened to David Archuleta warm-up/rehearse for two hours. #dreamscometrue

Funny fact? He doesn't really read music. But the way he harmonized on the spot was seriously unreal. My companion? Gave him a run for his money. Seriously, she is so talented and blew it out of the park.

    Honestly? I was more excited to see Gina. (God seriously just loves her so much). David saw me and just laughed and said "Well this is funny." Gina asked what the chances were that the singer would be my companion and I told her we have like 250 missionaries in LA. She couldn't deny it. Shay walked in and just jokingly told her to get baptized #jokingnotjoking. The blonde girl from the show iCarly also comes strolling in. Here I am in the corner chatting with Gina just chomping on grapes surrounded by celebs. Don't worry Dad, I'm still your WV redneck daughter. :)

    Sister Black and Dah-veed (I still get distracted when I say David :) ) sang my favorite song from my mission "Savior Redeemer of My Soul" for the opening hymn. It was flawless and so touching. The Spirit was SO strong. Shay gave an awesome fireside and "Brother Archuleta" closed with his testimony and a version of "If the Savior Stood Beside Me". He is so gracious and classy. Everything was focused on the Savior and it was such a powerful night for everyone who attended.

    My companion was in shock for a while (still might be, haha...President texted us and asked us how it went and all she could say was "It was a nice experience." To which he replied "Is that it?" hahaha). But I loved that after it was all over all she could say was "Eh, I don't really want to be famous." We've talked a lot about how we should use our gifts for what's most important----the salvation of souls. We shouldn't use our gifts (from music to making paper cranes to calculus) to receive self-recognition or praise from others but to share the light of Christ through them. Her humble example has made such an impression on me.

    We actually got to witness one example (other than Gina) of how God used everyone who selflessly used their talents that night to help one of his children find truth and love. We got a referral yesterday and went and knocked on her door. Her name was Alyssa. She is 20 and is a huge fan of the Shaytard show. She came to the fireside Saturday night and was so impressed that she called her friend in the area who is Mormon and asked if she could come to church with him. She went to all 3 hours of church and loved it. We knocked on her door a few hours later. She has done so much research on the church and the gospel. She said that her Mom was Jewish and her Dad was Catholic, but she has found God in her own way. She said that it's amazing how her beliefs match up a lot with "the Mormon way". She is YSA so we referred her off to the YSA missionaries, but she is amazing.

    I jokingly told Sister Black that all I want are good stories for first dates and for the grandkids. #thankyouHeavenlyFather #nailingit But really, I just love God. So much.

    We went on a ton of exchanges this week. I just love sister missionaries so much. And I just am trying to soak in every moment I can. It's still selfishly fun to bring Spanish-speaking sisters to our area for them to be thrown off by the lack of reception we receive in Santa Monica. I called another sister this week who we're going on another exchange with to see if she wanted to come to our area or stay in hers. "Do you want to come here?" "No." "Why not?" "You work too hard." Hahahaha, best compliment of my mission.

    You know, I've had a fair share of negative comments from people on the streets before. I'm pretty used to people saying awful things about us, the Church, Jesus, Joseph Smith, etc. but this week, I can confidently say I met the meanest man of my mission. His attacks were more personal attacks to me and my companion at the time. Anyways, I can't describe how much his words stung. I tried to brush it off, but it bothered me for a while after. The next day as I was reading the Book of Mormon, I got distracted by his hatred. Within 10 seconds of saying a silent prayer "Heavenly Father, please help me forgive this man and stop thinking about him." I read the following verse in 3 Nephi 21, "But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil." It was a sweet answer to my plea as I could feel his love and protection fill me.

    Sister Weidman joined us for some lessons last week. It was unreal how much light one person can have and bring.

    Someone told me I should go in politics. Do you still need a VP for 2024, Tristan?

    The other night we woke up to the sound of POURING rain. We both were in and out of sleep because of it thinking 1. how strange 2. good! CA needs the rain. When we actually got up the next day we realized it was still gushing water outside our bedroom window, but it wasn't raining. Sure enough the water heater out back was freaking out and spewing water. Problem? It's a 3day weekend and all our neighbors and manager are out of town and the gate to get to the back was locked. So we heroically climb out of our window in our raincoats and turn the water off. It was much more dramatic at the time. Hmph. :)

    Our investigators are doing alright. Slowly but surely pressing forward. We are having a really hard time finding the elect, but we're still doing all we can. :) One night we had 18 conversations, and I was just done. I was so worn out and annoyed at people rejecting us. Our parking time was up so we ran back to the parking garage to validate our ticket. It said we had 20 minutes before we had to exit the garage. I knew it would only take 5 minutes to exit, so we looked at each other and said, "Lets go get two more conversations." We said a prayer and off we went. Who do I see across the street? ROBERT. The guy I wrote about two weeks ago? Obvi, I ran to him. He didn't have his new address two weeks ago, because he was finally getting a place last week. So! This! time! we were able to get his address and testify our guts out that he needed to talk to the missionaries that would be showing up to his door soon. 

    As always, I'm just so grateful and love God so much. Make it a great week everyone!!

Sister Atkinson