What shall we give to the boy in the manger/ MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Well, this email came today as many of you will guess I cried through the whole thing, It would be hard to move this close to Christmas but she will be fine. I made a couple of comments that area in [brackets]. Merry Christmas Everybody! and thank you so much for your support and love and prayers. Dawn

 

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

    I know it's Christmas and you all are super busy, but this email is going to be so nuts. SO KEEP READING. 

    First off, Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

    So Tuesday morning, Sister Perry transferred out (miss my friend!) and Sister Oakes came!! 

    I can't tell you how much I just love Sister Oakes!

She and I are complete opposites. She is 5' tall, so yes I am 9" taller than her. People ask her if she is 14 years old and then realize she acts much older (she's 19) whereas people think I'm 21 but after getting to know me ask if I'm 14... She hung out with the rebels in high school and my high school friend's group was called the Nerd Herd... She speaks in a whisper sometimes and I'm pretty sure you can hear me speak all the way in WV....She goes off of feelings and I have to logically plan out every detail...I think people are idiots if they don't choose the right choice and she is understanding...etc. etc. etc.

BUT. We instantly connected. She is just genuine and made me feel like a million bucks.

We have so much daily time in our area because I was no longer a sister training leader, no extra language study, no extra companionship study...I have been in the area since July, so we pretty much have a daily system. We laugh all the time... We have deep conversations all the time...Our area is booming...

    I was driving on Thursday night thinking "Why in the world am I so comfortable? This is the least stressed I have ever been on my mission and  I didn't even know I was stressed before. Why is God letting me be so happy? This is going to be the easiest transfer ever?"

Then what happens?  

PRESIDENT CALLS. As soon as I saw it, I flipped. 

"Hi Sister Atkinson."

 Hi President..."

 "THere are some changes going on in the mission and they are going to effect you.."

 "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

    So here's the deal there is a sister training leader going home for medical reasons (my daughter mission wise? Sister Oldham? LOVE HER. Her hips that literally crunch when she walks have gotten a lot worse and she has to go home to get surgery :( :( ) , so Sister Morgan (a sister traning leader) is taking SIster Oldham's spot. I am being called to be a sister training leader again and am now Sister Rackleff's companion!! (Sister Rackleff was my roommate in the MTC! I love her so much!!!!) We are in a Santa Monica family ward. Another sister is going home for medical issues as well, so SIster Oakes also left our area to go take that sister's spot. Our area is technically closed for two weeks. 

"President... we have baptisms in those two weeks. And other investigators. What would you like us to do?"

"Sister Atkinson you have great organizational skills (I think Mom would say otherwise), so I'm sure you'll figure it out." WHAT! 

    SIster Oakes will be back in this Young Single Adult area in 2 weeks with a new companion (there are new sisters coming in early in 2 weeks, so he'll rearrange more people). So basically he is whitewashing my beloved area with two new people. And I honestly think it is one of the best but one of the hardest areas in the mission. It's just a bit overwhelming.

    Anyways, so he told us this and we hung up. And I lost it. Duh. I have never asked for a Priesthood blessing on my mission and I have actually never had a blessing of comfort before (I don't think) unless it was for medical things or annual Dad blessings. SO I was surprised when I almost immediately looked at Sister Oakes and the words came out "We need blessings. Now." 

    We got them from our district leader. It was so powerful. This 19 yr old kids put their hands on our heads and gave us completely different blessings. They don't really know us or our personalities but our blessings were very unique for our personalities. I know without a doubt in my mind that that blessing was given by the restored Priesthood authority of God and it was from my Heavenly Father. Here are some sporadic highlights from my blessing (it might be too personal for the blog, you can decide Mom ), [Mom decided to include this on the blog] "Trust your Heavenly Father. This is His work. This are His children. He'll take care of them. You have proved to Him multiple times before that He can rely on you. He needs you right now. Lose yourself in focusing and helping others. The Lord wants to refine you. Let your light shine. Have faith in your Savior."

I went from about to have full-on panic attack to the most peaceful and calm feeling. I KNOW it was the Spirit. I didn't just calm myself down. I didn't use psychology on myself. It was my Heavenly Father reaching out in love to me. Since then, I have been so calm. So peaceful. About everything! I kind of beat myself up a little bit for doubting in those 20 minutes between the phone call and the district leader's apartment that everything would work out. God has shown me so many times before that if I just trust Him, it will work out. This whole emergency transfer makes absolutely no sense, especially for my YSA area. But it has been unreal how it has worked out. Every detail is for the best for everyone involved (our members, our investigators, us, etc.) 

    So Sister Oakes has the phone for our area and has permission to be communicating with everyone from a distance. Joyce is set for her baptism next Sunday!! But we'll have to push Chris' back because he is struggling a little bit. I gave Sister Oakes literally 10 pages of notes about the area, and she is going to be SO good. She is exactly what that area needs right now. I left a little bit of my heart in that area. I thought about how much of a different person I am from when I arrived in July there. SO different. I'm so grateful. It ripped my heart out to say bye to Pascual, my branch, Ernest, Joyce, Chris, Adriana..Everyone. But they'll be in my life forever. They really will. And I'll go back for baptisms! Especially since we are planning Joyce's baptism miles and miles away from her, hahaha.
    ONE MORE NUTS NUTS NUTS MIRACLE. 

Who here remembers Megan? If someone asked me if there was one person I was meant to meet on my mission, I honestly would say Megan. I taught her Feb-March with Sister Barney and SIster Oldham for a few weeks. She was GOLDEN. Beverly Hills attorney? Cried and told us it was true? Was COMPLETELY solid for baptism and then she literally disappeared? I called her every week for weeks with no response. She wouldn't respond to our members, even Nicole who had become one of her dearest friends. It was the hardest heart break of my mission. 

    So we all came up to the temple/mission office last night to do our mass transfer. I needed to go to the bathroom so I asked Sister Oakes if we could run into the temple's visitor's center for a few minutes. Please note, I should not have been there. I rarely went there while I served in the area I have been in the HPYSA. Okay okay okay, I walked in and I see our member Nicole from my first area. She screams and points at me. Then who do I see peer around behind her? MEGAN. I screamed (whoops), ran, hugged that girl so tight, and cried. #noshame WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! Then who comes around the corner? SISTER BARNEY!!!! [Sister Barney completed her mission and was released in October and has been at her home in Utah] She is back in town visiting her mission people with her family!!!!!!!! WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. None of us should have been there at the same time. It was nuts! It was Megan's first time at the visitor's center since our last lesson there in March. Nicole hadn't thought about her in a while, but really felt prompted to text her and invite her to a Christmas concert at the visitor's center (despite the fact that mMgan hadn't responded to Nicole's texts in months). Megan has been praying a lot recently. She said she was particularly praying hard one day for direction when she got the text from Nicole. She thought, "Why not?!" Then we were all there. She even saw Sister Oldham for a second while there. I can't tell you how happy I was. We were all crying. I can't tell you how much of a miracle and gift that was to me. I really do think it was Heavenly Father's miracle and Christmas present for me. Well lets be serious, there are so many miracles going on. I am so blessed. I am emailing Megan today for details on the past 9 months of her life and asking her when is she getting baptized #thatsarealthing, so I'll keep you posted. God just loves me.

    SIster Rackleff!!!!!!!!! AH! So fun! we will celebrate Christmas, New Years, our one year mark [from entering the Mission Training Center], her birthday, and our one year mark in LA together all in the next transfer. She said this area is awesome! And I believe it! It is one of the smallest in the mission. We are in the Santa Monica ward. She said it is mostly young families. I'm in culture shock a little bit (our apt is the celestial kingdom compared to my last apartment). We cover the Santa Monica pier and promenade!!!!!!!!!!! #dream And the beach. I am very happy and God has given me so much strength. [As a missionary she is not allowed to enjoy the beach, however]

    I have received so much love here, from the Branch, and from home for this Christmas. I'm in shock a little that I will get to skype my family on Christmas! Sorry in advance if I'm awkward, nuts, cry, or in shock. 

Know how much I just love each of you and am grateful to be spending Christmas sharing the best gift of all!

All my love, SIster Atkinson :)

Sorry I don't have as much email time as usual so I don't get to include all the hialrious things that also happened this week in South Central. Oh I'm giognto miss da ghetto. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!