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

"Then let my lips proclaim it still, and all my life reflect thy will."

She sent this today - wild stories, as always. I think I am still laughing at some of them. Love, Dawn 

Hi!

    So many updates and not enough time! We want to go to the alley downtown so I can load up on cheap California t-shirts. [Note from Dawn: Souvenirs! She is coming home soon!] 

This week was seriously all over the place. Exciting, depressing, hilarious, spiritual, you name an emotion and we felt it this week. Above all, I am just so grateful. God is so good.

    God loves me so much that He let me be exchange companions with two of my past companions in the areas I served with them this week.

-Sister Rackleff came back to Santa Monica!! We show up to exchange and we are in matching outfits. #nailedit Some people will always be one heart, one mind, you know? She got a bee sting and I got a parking ticket all within 90 seconds (yes, it was my second parking ticket in a week. THE WORST. I hadn't had any in over a year! Street cleaning is the most genius scam ever.), but other than that it was such a tender mercy.

-Sister Perry is back in the HPYSA area with Sister Oakes (she and I were companions there for a week). Awesome? Yes. Sister Oakes and SIster Black had doctor's appointments so we went on a short exchange and I got to go street contacting in my ghetto of South Central for a few hours. The dream? YES. We were talking to a man outside of his house and we said a prayer together. In the MIDDLE of my prayer (#respecttheLord), someone walks up and starts talking to the man we were praying with. Man we were praying with goes inside for a minute and comes back and whispers in my ear "It looks like there may be some trouble, so ya'll should prolly get out of here." I immediately said "Okay everyone! God bless ya and have a great day!" Oh how I love that area. (Don't worry Mom, it was just some baby mama drama :( ) And we found a WV sticker on the back of a truck, so God loves us even more. (Remember that she is from WV too :) )

-On another exchange with this hilarious sister from Tahiti (she is learning English and just says "blah blah blah" like every other sentence) we were in mid city LA and watched someone throw a dollar bill out the window at a vendor and the vendor threw his popsicle back at him through the window. Hahahaha, what the people in LA will do when it gets over 100 degrees. (Were those few days miserable? Yes. But it's back to our perfect beach weather, so thank heavens).

    We found a golden investigator who had every plan to be baptized the weekend before I go home, but then he got into anti-mormon literature and broke our hearts and God's. I've realized that every time someone disappoints me on the mission (not coming to church or drops us or whatever), the scene from the 3rd episode of Star Wars plays in my head where prego Padma says "Anakin! you're breaking my heart!" Yeah. It was an interesting self-realization that I do that. 

    Sister Black is amazing and I am so grateful I had her during this crazy week. We had a lot of random things go down (giant cockroach, emergency exchanges and such with sisters who are struggling, giant spider, broken fridge, three of our strongest investigators say they don't want to meet anymore, skirt tucked into underwear, etc) and then we had the following experience which I will entitle "The things we do to reach 20 conversations". Our mission has really been pushing for 20 conversations every day, but this day we were running low because of all the craziness. Sister Black really needed to go to the bathroom, so I asked her if we could just run home since we were literally 2 blocks from home. She says "No. We need convos." Then she said the words you never want your companion to say "Lets go bathroom tracting". It's where you knock on doors and use as an excuse that you need to use their bathroom to start the conversation. Have I ever done it before? OF COURSE NOT. But I am so excited to tell you how it went. I, like the awful companion that I am, stood behind and observed the following:

Door #1:  

"Hi! How are you? What is your name?" 

"Why do you want to know?"

"Well we are missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I know this is random, but I really need to use the bathroom."

"Not interested." She then proceeded to SLAM her door 3 times.

Door #2:

I started talking first this time to a 21 yr old guy, wearing only swimming trunks with wavy beach hair down to his shoulders aka total Santa Monica hippy, 

"Hi! We are missionaries....AH!"

He tried to hug me. I screamed and cringed. Nailed it. Tried to apologize and explain our mission rules. We ended up having a spiritual conversation and getting his contact info, there definitely wasn't a 3rd female in the house and I couldn't even bear to ask. [about the bathroom]

Door #3

Sister Black this time in desperation,

"Hi! I'm sorry. I know this is super random, but can I use your bathroom?"

Man in broken English, "Uh sure."

"Also, I know this is super awkward as well, but is there another female that lives here?"

Once again in broken English "Yea. this is awkward, but yes. Come in."

We proceed to go to the bathroom off the kitchen while he disappears downstairs. My companion is finally in the bathroom when he comes around the corner to me carrying something. What is it?  A box of tampons. WHAT. I awkwardly take them and then realize that 1. he thought she was asking for feminine products instead of an actual 3rd female. 2. we were currently breaking rules by being in a house alone with a man by accident.

I proceed to knock on the bathroom door and says "Uhm. sister? I have something for you."

She just takes the box without a word. After she closed the door, I just lose it. I haven't lost it before on my mission, but I just start snorting and crying trying to suppress my laughter so the poor guy couldn't hear me. She still had the energy somehow to try and offer him a passalong card on our hurried exit, but he told us he was Jewish and I just walked out of the house because I was still crying from laughing.

Bathroom tracting at its finest. 

    I also got hugged by a male investigator at church in front of everyone and had to explain the rule. It will be SO awkward when I go home, hahaha. 

    Other highlights  include climbing on a man's roof to see the sunset (and to get a return appointment out of him) and fulfilling my mission dream to climb over a fence in my skirt to make sure an investigator was awake for church.

    Keep praying that our investigators quit smoking! 

    All is well! Lots more miracles to share but I'm out of time!!!

Make it a great week! Love you all!

Sister Atkinson

"He answers privately, reaches my reaching."

Hi everyone!!!

This week was great! 

-Our investigators are slowly but surely moving forward. The biggest hurdle seems to be quitting smoking for almost all of them. Mom sent me a cutesy quote from general conference and we put it in our investigator's dashboard and every time she is tempted she quotes it. It says "You have the Savior of the world on your side...how can you fail?"    I've learned a lot about having hope and faith in people; never doubting their potential. If God never gives up on me, how in the world could I give up on someone else? 

-Sister Black is just a powerhouse and it's really fun to be her companion. This week was her birthday and we celebrated by going to Tender Greens (welcome to healthy Santa Monica) and I threw balloons at her when she woke up.

-One of our sweet investigators talked about how his life started changing when he came to church and how he can feel the light that has come in to his life. #heartmelted #lovehim

-Fruit just always tastes better in Cali. This week Sister Black looked at this weird looking fruit and decided to buy it. It was like green jello seed pods and cactus-y yellow on the outside. That's about as exotic as it gets on my mission, haha.

-Tracted in to this one woman who started telling us about aliens and conspiracy theories with a giant cockatoo bird on her shoulder. The bird proceeded to climb onto our shoulders and eat the eraser off of my pencil. I always think I've experienced it all and then things like that happen.

-Good to go on exchanges again!! And we went to the ghetto of mid-city. I realized how much I miss the ghetto. 20/25 people you contact will actually talk to you. 20/50 on a good day in our area will have a conversation with you, haha. Took a paparazzi picture of the house from the tv show The Bachelor, so that was fun.

-We talked to Flo's counterpart from the Progressive Commercials on the street this week. Super nice guy. Knew a ton about church history and our doctrine and tried to completely destroy our faith in a loving way. I hate experiences like that and I've had one too many in my life, haha. But my testimony never fails me. Respectfully, I was able to just bear a simple testimony of my faith in Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's simply just true.

-We met a guy on the street last night who was one of Clay Christensen's students and then one of his coworkers. As in Elder Christensen of the 70? [an LDS general authority and author of the awesome member missionary book? Harvard bigwig? Yeah. Him. Of course, Elder Christensen had him over for a first lesson with missionaries before. Once again: NOT. A. COINCIDENCE. Come on people, just face it---the church is true. Okay? Okay.

-A woman fell asleep ON my companion during a lesson this week. In our defense, she is in her 90s and has dementia.

-We ask everyone for referrals. We asked someone we tracted into if there was anyone in her complex that could use an uplifting song? She told us about her neighbor around the corner. We knocked on his door. He lives all alone and had just started his second round of chemotherapy that morning. We sang him the hymn "Where Can I Turn for Peace?", and I am telling you there were angels singing with us. It was one of those sacred moments where you know you are exactly where God needs you to be at an exact moment. 

-We had our leadership meeting and zone conference this week on diligence. You better believe we're working working working! 

-A lot of you have asked me how I'm feeling about going home. Honestly, I'm so busy I don't spend too much time thinking about it. And when people ask I just tell them I go home 'later this summer'. :) Yesterday, it did hit me though. Talking to the fambam on skype was so nice!   [Note from Dawn: Yay! She got to talk to us for Mother's Day.]   I love you all so much and I am excited to see you and move forward. My mission isn't supposed to be the best year and a half of my life; it is supposed to be the best year and a half for my life. I did get emotional yesterday for different reasons. I do honestly feel sick about leaving my mission, missionary mode, and the people here. Of course the feelings of inadequacy or nervousness, etc. are all mixed in there, but I want to reassure you all I really am in a good place. President called us last night about something sister training leader related but I asked him, "President. what would you say to a missionary who has some anxiety about going home?" He just laughed and knew I was talking about myself. He reassured me how normal the feelings I have are and how everything will be just fine. So for now, I'll just keep taking everything one day at a time and continue to give the Lord all I have.

MAKE IT A GREAT WEEK! LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Sister Atkinson

I believe in Christ, so come what may:)

Her is her letter from Monday, May 5th! I get to talk to her in just 3 days!!!!  Happy Mother's Day to me!!!!!! As always, I appreciate your support and love.    Love, Dawn

Hi everyone!

Whew what a week!

Sister Black is amazing and is an answer to a prayer I didn't even realize I had. (God knows what we need.) Honestly we have had just a very consecrated week. We are working so hard to have at least 20 conversations a day, and we are seeing miracles.

-A less active I worked with in a past area ran me down at the transfer meeting to give me a hug and tell me she wants to go on a mission.

-We have been working on talking with everyone, but we were super late to an appointment and walking to the car with purpose. Then there was this older woman powerwalking by in her work out clothes with headphones on and we thought it was too awkward to stop her. Then! She turns around about 20 feet past us and yells "You Mormons?" "Yes!" She looked completely dumbfounded at herself. I asked if she saw our tags and she said "No! I have no idea why I thought you were Mormons or even asked you if you were Mormons." She was embarrassed, but we were excited. We talked to her for just a minute (she got antsy for exercise), but it was a solid minute contact. Then we stopped to talk to another man by our car and talked to him and she powerwalked past us again, held the visitor's center card in her hand, and called out to us "I will come!!" Must. Talk. To. Everyone.

-Sister Black is adjusting to the...prideful...people in our area and is experimenting with different ways to get their attention.

"Hi! can we ask you a question?"

Grumpy old man just stops and stares at her.

"What gets you through hard times?"

In the rudest voice possible he says "myself" and stomps off.

That seems to be working for ya there buddy.

-I tried to warn Sister Black that Santa Monica is where everyone who is homeless or has special needs comes because there are so many good government programs here. But no amount of warning can really prepare someone for the streets of Santa Monica. Sister Black studied some clinical psychology and such at school and tries to diagnose everyone we meet. It is highly entertaining to watch her.

-Saw a woman reading Of Mice and Men on the street corner, so obviously I had to stop to talk to her about how that book taught me about friendship and how God is my best friend. Her name is Linde and we met with her the next day and here is how part of the conversation went,

"Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized?"

"Is that where you go backwards in the water?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh yeah. I can do that. I'm a good swimmer."

Nailed it.

-One of the people we tracted into last week that let us in, called us this week and she said she didn't really know why... She is looking for a sense of spirituality right now. God knows where we need to be at every moment. It was an awesome conversation.

-Can I just say God is real? Merciful!

-We met a kid on the street about a month ago. He didn't live in our area so we referred him through the system to the LA YSA sisters without thinking twice about it. They told us yesterday that he is already reading in 2 Nephi and is getting baptized at the end of this month. WHAT. God's timing is so unreal.

-I hate cigarettes. They are addicting and are destroying some of our people's progression. Plus way too many young people in Santa Monica smoke. So please just don't ever start. Okay? Okay.

-My testimony was strengthened this week that God calls the weak and simple (holla at me) to do His work. Not because He needs us. But because if we listen and obey, He lets us participate in this marvelous work and a wonder that is going on right now.

-We had some great lessons with our investigators this week. They are slowly but surely progressing and teaching me a lot about patience and faith and hope. Thanks so much for your prayers!!

-I can't believe it's been a year since Sister Oldham and I volunteered at that children's carnival, but they asked us to do it again this year. Did we get to wear Asian farming hats and cheer on kids as they blew through straws to race sailboats? Yes. Hilarious? Yes. Was pop music playing in the background? Yes. Good to know I haven't missed much quality music in the past year and a half.

-A few couples from our ward and us (plus the elders in our ward) had a fireside at President and Sister Weidmans home on member missionary work. IT was incredible and mostly I just love this work and being a member missionary is going to be so fun.

-Sometimes it's really hard to do God's will. We needed to stop teaching someone because the environment and her personality were hostile along with so many other things (never towards us. But to other people. Plus her home. Can't explain it right). Anyways, we needed to stop teaching her. It broke my heart, but I knew I could rely on God as we spent so much time knelt in prayer begging for guidance. Sometimes God asks us to do hard things, but if we just trust Him, it will all work out. I know I'll be able to teach her in the spirit world when she is in a much better situation mentally and emotionally, so all is well.

-So for the first 6 months of my mission I ran every morning near the temple on Santa Monica Blvd. Almost every morning I would run past this homeless man, Robert. Sometimes he was awake and I would shout hello as I ran past or sometimes he was curled up in a doorway asleep. I seriously have had multiple thoughts since I left that area that I should go back sometime and look for him and give him a pillow. Interesting how some people just always stick in your mind. Anyways, yesterday in downtown Santa Monica, Sister Black starts talking to a man at the stoplight. I interrupt, "Hi!!! Do you remember me?!?!" I barely recognized him, but IT WAS ROBERT!!! He looked completely different and is in a much better place in his life. It was such an incredible moment.

All is well and I am working working working. I love this work and I simply love the Lord.

Make it a great week!! Love you all!!!

Sister Atkinson

0 Savior, if thou wilt be my guide, Tho dark and rugged the way

I'm running behind this week. By the way, her return home date is June 11th!!!!

Written Monday April 28, 2014

Hi everyone!!

What a week! Transfers! 

I am staying in Santa Monica!!!!! Yay!!! That means I will have had 3 areas on my mission, 4 transfers time periods in each, so I'm really grateful about that. 

Mi princessa, Sister Lopez, is leaving but is staying close in Santa Monica Young Single Adult!

I got a call from President yesterday, "I feel like the Lord wants you to serve as a sister training leader.....again." Both president and I just laughed. I guess I didn't learn my lesson the first or second time as one, but I really am so humbled and grateful. #theLorddoeswhateverHewants #pleaseblessthatthethirdtimeisthecharm

Sister Black is coming here! She served near me when I was in Huntington Park YSA and we drove her around on p-days and everything, so I'm super excited! Plus she is a voice major, so I'll just let her do a solo every morning in companionship study.

Do you ever have those weeks where you just stop and want to yell "Satan. back off of me and back off of my people." Yeah. #canherespectus

All is well in our area. We were low in miles that we are allowed to use on the car for the month so we got back on the bikes a lot this week. #neededfreshair (well as fresh as smoggy LA can be). 

We tracted and street contacted a lot this week. Are people as nuts or drunk as ever? Yes. Did two people actually let us in to their homes? Miracles. Did I overhear a preacher at a bible study yelling about placenta and  have 2 Jehovah witnesses come to our door this morning and talk to us about how we were wrong (we didn't say anything) for a good 15 minutes? Nailed it. Did someone give us a 5 minute lecture on how a giant earthquake is coming and we're all going to die? Don't worry, we have our 72 hour emergency supply kits, haha. Anyways, we did have a lot of good conversations with people. But mostly, I was so sad that they wouldn't accept the restored gospel. I love listening to people's stories and gaining a perspective of why they believe what they believe and I totally get it! But, the restored gospel is either true or it's not---and I know it's true. This video that we showed to give hope to an investigator who told us she was afraid of being able to overcome addictions was on my mind all week as we talked to people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S3TI4bYerU 

We had Mormon Helping Hands on Saturday at the high school where the movie 'Grease' was filmed! So that was the dream. [Note from Dawn: Mormon Helping Hands is an annual service day where Mormons state-wide participate in community service.] 

Sunday afternoon we got a third companion! My good friend, Sister Schvanveldt in the Santa Monica YSA came with us for the two days because a missionary got her visa to Russia and left. So Sister Schvan's companion had to go be the driver for the missionaries the Russian missionary was with. Anyways, love her and it has been fun. But I had an eyeopening experience with it: Sundays are so hard for missionaries. You are so stressed running around making sure all of your people are taken care of at church as such. After our church, we met the YSA sisters at their church, stayed so they could take the sacrament, and then left. It was the first time I had been in a sacrament meeting in over a year where I wasn't the ward assigned missionaries. I felt so light as I sat there in peace as the sacred ordinance was performed. It was really special.

We have an investigator that is super sweet and in desperate need of the gospel But she is also a little bit of the type of old lady that belongs in a movie. Like we did service for her and helped her go to a store that she needed to go to on the bus and such (she's in a wheelchair). We had to leave apology notes with pass along cards to everyone she talked to. And I woke up twice this week from nightmares of not knowing how to best help her. But the love I have for her is definitely a gift from God and she needs the gospel and I love her a lot. Hilarious adventures.

Quote from a fireside this week, "You need a testimony that the gospel is true, but you also need a testimony that the gospel works. The first comes from the Spirit, the second comes from personal experiences."

I have seen too many miracles to not believe that the gospel is true and it really does work.

I know it, I live it, I love it.

I just laid awake last night for a couple hours with my mind just racing at all the people that I have met in my life. I just am so grateful. 

Make it a great week everyone!

Love,

Sister Atkinson