Note from Dawn: Here is the current week's email. I am caught up and hope to post pictures later today!
March 25, 2013
HOLA EVERYONE!
Okay lets start with a guessing game.
What happened to
Ali January 2011, February 2012, and March
2013........................................
AN ANKLE
INJURY! WOOHOO! I know, right?! How does that happen? Hypermobility or whatever
at its finest. Don't worry. It's no where near as bad as the past two years'.
It's just a little sprain. I was running this morning and my left foot did a
little dip between a cement crack and sprinkler head....if that makes sense.
basically it's exactly what I did last year, only not as bad. Down I went on
Santa Monica Boulevard. "Ouch." "NO. YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME." "NO. NO. NO."
Sister Barney ran to get our car, and I had a moment to myself to freak out. (I
think that's the first time I've been alone in 3 months, haha) All I could think
was "I don't want to go home. Please don't send me home. Don't send me home." I
was in shock and naturally only thought of my previous injuries. I said a prayer
and I have felt very peaceful since. Within a couple hours and some ice, I've
got my brace on and limping a bit. Within the hour, Sister Barney and I were
laughing hysterically about it. I prayed for strength and I can most definitely
feel it. The Lord's strength is physical, emotional, spiritual, etc. etc. etc.
etc. I'm fine. I won't over do it. I hate my ankles though. Can't lie. Prayer
works people. Just saying. But in April 2014, I will be EXTRA careful.
Merciful.
"It's not your fault you have weakles that are ank." -Sister Barney
sometimes struggles speaking words.
"Oh my gosh, I knew we should have turned
back home when we saw that black cat!!" -me trying to blame my clumsiness on a
black cat
"Dear Heavenly Father, we are thankful for the morning we've
had.....*cue laughter*" -my habitual prayer to start to companionship study
didn't seem to sound genuine. Wonder why. I really am grateful though.
Okay! Other fun thing of the week! Last night our investigator
texted us and said we could meet at the visitor's center for her lesson (we are
not visitor's center sisters, but we use the facility to meet people there to
teach. the technology and spirit there is just not like their apartments, haha).
Anyways, we got there a couple minutes early. I look up and who do I see? The
Pingel family! (good family friends). They are in L.A. for spring break and
decided to come to the temple. The senior sister missionary was just about to
call us since we just live down the street and show up there all the time to
teach people, haha. It was so fun to see them! Mom, they said they are
impressed with your facebooking and blog skills. Gracias. They also said that I
look different from when they saw me 6 months ago, haha. Justin said I had that
"missionary mantle", hahaha. Who knows if that is a good thing.
Lets
see, this week was great! We set our goals high, and somehow the Lord provided a
way that we could accomplish almost all of them. Transfers are in a couple of
weeks, and I am praying that we stay. Ah. Megan, Ashley, Kent, Dennis, et. al. are
so close, but they need another month or two. And I love the less actives and
ward members we work with. Obviously, I'll do whatever the Lord wants, but I
just love my people. Dennis is our new investigator who we love! He is 20ish and
grew up in Uzbekistan! He is very shy and has a sweet Russian accent. He is
looking for friends and it has been so rewarding to take him under our wing.
I'll keep you posted on that one.
I feel like I have said this plenty of
times, but I feel like I always need to clarify. We have two wards, the UCLA one
and the L.A. singles one. The singles ward covers an abnormally large boundary
because it is for people 20-31 from all over the stake. Aka, we get from
Westwood to Downtown. So fun. Anyways, this week we were driving to an
appointment and looked over and saw the Hollywood stars on the ground! Like the
ones with the handprints and stuff? Another appointment we looked out their
window and realized we were across the street from the Staples Center downtown,
haha.
This week we met some of the craziest people yet. Oh Los Angeles, how
I love thee.
-We show up to this apartment complex to knock on a door of a
referral. There are homeless people sleeping on the lawn outside. (And by lawn I
mean like the 3 ft of grass between the sidewalk and street). Already we were
thinking we were going to have a good story. Our referral wasn't home, but his
manager came out to talk to us. She started to unlock and open the door to his
apartment (we had to stop her). She was this little old woman named Vicki from
Yugoslavia with some dementia. She asked us why the mail hadn't been coming. And
then she told us her life story and started balling. We started to share a
scripture with her when she got distracted by some noise in one of the
apartments. She went right over and knocked on the door and said, "Hey! why are
you yelling?! Come meet the pretty girls like you!" The lady opened the door as
if she was used to her bizarre manager and took one look at us and said "I'm
well aware of who was behind Proposition 8" and slammed the door. But Vicki took
a Book of Mormon and we referred her to the family ward missionaries in her
area, haha. Oh mercy.
-This old man was walking down the street slapping his
leg. We started to talk to him and he freaked. "Who do you think you are goin
around giving stuff out on the streets?! No I don't need any of your prayers. I
go to the best church in town! What has this world coming to? When I was a kid,
we only had to go to church on Easter!" Hilarious.
-Joel was a homeless man
trying to fix his bike. He dressed like a hippy and had long curly hair. He is
from Guatemala. "God is good. but then religion leads to wars and bloodshed.
Religion is like sports." Got it. OK.
-And then my personal favorite: Sister
Barney and I were getting in to our car when two guys approached us. They were
clearly on something. Like so much more than pot. Like hallucinogens and
alcohol. The one got in my face while the other leaned on the car. They were
very uhm profane. And kept calling God bad names. And the spirit immediately
left the situation. The conversation:
"What white man do you know that could have stood
outside as long as Jesus did?"
"Oh I don't know sir, but Jesus wasn't white.
He was Jewish." (me)
"No. no.. The Jews were the Jew-el makers for the
Egyptians...Jesus was black!"
"Oh okay sir, we need to go."
"Jesus when
through Chicago...Miami...and wherever else, and he ain't have no suntan lotion
on!"
"Yup you're probably right, sir."
"Jesus was Egyptian. *showed us
the Free Mason tattoo he had on his wrist and backed away."
"Oh okay, have a
good day! God loves you!"
Kid you not. I just realized these stories make it
sound like we're in bad neighborhoods. But we're not!! We are always super safe
and I have never ever felt threatened. God protects us in the most literal
sense. I promise. I just wanted to share some hilarious stories!
This week as
always has been full of blessing and miracles. Spiritual note for the week?
Learn to laugh. Elder Wirthlin (a latter-day apostle) once said, "The next time
you’re tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead. It will extend your
life and make the lives of all those around you more enjoyable." It is so so so
true.
I'm happy and well! I hope you all are too! Thanks for the prayers!
Love you!!!
Love, Sister Atkinson
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