Hello all!
HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a beautiful holiday. The
hymn I quoted is an Easter hymn that we love and Eclipse (Mormon male acapella
group) does a version of it that has become Sister Barney and my car jam.
#missionaryjam #embarrassing
Easter was so great! Sister Barney's Mom sent me
a little goody bag which we opened yesterday and then I opened my package from
Mom this morning. THANKS SO MUCH MOM!!! Seriously, my favorite package yet. I'm
so grateful for all you do. Ah, THANKS. Church was great! We focused on the
atonement of Jesus Christ of course, and the spirit was so strong. I read a
quote from Joseph Smith yesterday morning that said something like "Our message
is that Jesus Christ lives. Everything else is an appendage to that truth." It's
true!! Jesus Christ is our personal Savior. He understands. He heals. He
lives.
All of our UCLA investigators and such were out of town for Easter,
but in the middle of the service a member came and got us because someone had
wandered in to the building. His name was George (pronounced Hor-hay) and he saw
Jesus Christ on the sign by the temple and said he felt in his heart drawn to
the building. The visitor center sisters sent him over to church :) He felt the
spirit so strongly during the first hour and cried his way through it. He was
such a cool 19 year old kid and it really was an Easter miracle for me. We
taught him the first lesson after Sacrament meeting. He doesn't live in our
boundaries, so we have to refer him to other missionaries which is a bummer, but
there is no doubt in my mind that he was led by the Spirit of God yesterday.
Things like this just happen all the time. I wish I could tell you everything.
The ankle is great and healing miraculously fast. :)
Oh back to Easter,
then for the singles ward we had SO many nonmembers at church! Our work with
members is finally paying off. We are getting referrals from them all over the
place and missionary work in that ward is exploding! It is so exciting. They are
just praying we don't get transferred out, haha. We are trying not to think
about it too much, because one of us is most likely leaving in two weeks. So!
We're going to make the next two weeks two of the best yet. We are trying to
fill every minute with productive work and lessons. So excited for UCLA to be
back in session this week!
Whoever thinks that I got sent to an
un-international mission is very confused. One day alone this week we had a
lesson with someone from Iceland, from Turkey, from China, and Uzbekistan. We
meet people from all over the world everyday and it so fun to recognize that God
loves all of His children equally. So many of the people we teach are amazed and
grateful that we are unique in that we teach that ALL of God's children will
have the opportunity to accept the restored gospel in this life or in the life
to come. I take for granted the truths we hold dear. The man from Turkey is a
genius doing research at UCLA, but he doesn't speak English very well. At all.
We brought him a Turkish Book of Mormon and anything we could find in Turkish,
haha. I would point at the sky and say "God" then make a heart with my hands and
say "loves" and then point all around us and say "everyone." It was so cool that
we could feel the spirit even though we were proclaiming simple simple simple
truth. He said he would read the "Mormon book" if we read the Quran. We had to
explain that we can't read other religious books while we are on our mission and
that we can't get emails from him, but we don't think he understood because we
got in our car a few hours later and I looked at the phone and flipped. "SISTER.
WE HAVE 92 TEXTS. OH MY GOSH. HE TEXTED US THE QUR'AN. WE BASICALLY HAVE A QURAN
APP ON OUR PHONE." We laughed so so so hard from shock. We sent him an
explanation and had to call President Baker. Whew. Great times.
Lets see
what else. We went on exchanges this week again, only I stayed in the area both
times this time. I was really nervous about taking the lead and actually driving
in L.A. (champion parallel parker now. okay not really.), but it was really good
for me. Highlight? Both dear Hermana Burr and Hermana Snyder said that I was a
confident street contacter. Remember how 6 weeks ago I said I was struggling
with that? It still is really hard, but the Lord truly blesses us if we just
open our mouths.
This week is general conference!!!!!! SO EXCITED. Twice a
year the prophet and apostles speak to the world. Check out lds.org for details! You can
watch it online for free. Have you ever wondered what our prophet teaches us?
Check it out! I can't believe it has been 6 months since the last general
conference. My life changed forever with the announcement of the missionary age change, and
I know now more than ever that Thomas S. Monson is called to be a prophet of God
in these days. We have a modern day Moses to help lead and guide us. Christ's
church is restored in its fulness! God is the same, yesterday, and forever. He
loves all of His children. We can all know this for ourselves if we simply read
a couple pages of the Book of Mormon ANDDDD pray sincerely with faith and real
intent about it. God wants to answer our questions... We just need to ask
them.
As we hand our lives over to the will of the Lord, He makes a whole lot
more of them than we could on our own. Have faith. Be happy. Become our
potential as children of divinity. Watch general conference. Ask a question when
you watch it. I love all of you and am so grateful for the influence you each
have had in my life.
All my love,
Sister Atkinson
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