Well, everyone this is it. Her last email as a missionary! It made me
cry....well actually I have been crying for 2 weeks! I am so excited to see my
baby girl! If you want to come to the airport and be part of the welcoming
committee she is due to arrive at Yeager Airport about 9:50 pm Wednesday, June
11th!, arriving from Atlanta. If the flight is on time they usually get in a
little early from Atlanta so I am planning on being there at 9:30. But tis the
season of scattered thunderstorms so hopefully weather won't be an issue. There
will also be the welcome home party/concert on the lawn at our house on
Saturday, June 21st at 6:00 pm. and she is speaking in church Sunday, June 22nd
at 9:00 am (at the church in Sissonville). Our whole family will be together for
one week beginning June 20th. This is one happy mom! I cannot thank you all
enough for all of your love, prayers and support for her and me these past long
months. Hope to see all of you soon! Love, Dawn
Hello everyone!!
I just cannot believe that today is here. I really am not quite aware
of anything that is going on around me. Everything is a blur...Like I have a ton
of energy and I know soon enough I'll crash and it will all hit me sometime in
the next 4 days, but I have no idea when. So until then I'll just keep running
around smiling. I will do my best to say something coherent...
So I've already had my last MLC, endowment session with the departing
missionaries and President/Sister Weidman at the temple, my last interview with
president, and my departing missionary fireside. I've said good-bye to all of my
investigators/members/etc. except the two we will see tonight. Ah. In about 45
minutes, Sister Black and I get to go street contact for a few hours with the
brand new missionaries that just got off the plane. Then we have a couple hours
in our area tonight. First thing tomorrow morning, we are going to the transfer
meeting where I will say good bye to all my missionaries that I love so much.
I'll get to bear my testimony to the precious new missionaries and then we will
spend the day in the temple doing initiatories and sealings. Then we will have a
dinner with President and Sister Weidman and a final testimony meeting. Then I
will sleep at the temple patron apts. Then we will fly off on Wednesday morning.
I have a solid 4 hour layover in Atlanta (plenty of time to hand out pass along
cards) and then I'm home. Like I said, it still hasn't really hit me.
A few comments about the week:
-I got to go on exchanges with Sister Son (one of my past companions)!! She
is now speaking Korean in Koreatown biking her little heart away, so YES I got
to serve Korean speaking for 24 hours. Since you bow your head when you say
hello to Koreans, I kept bowing my head when I said hi to people for a good 48
hours after I left Ktown. It was so fun to be with her. We haven't been
companions for a year, and it was so special to see how much we've grown. I love
her a lot. Plus, she took me to a Korean bbq place #holla. Oh and two men tried
to kiss us. #nailedit
-I have prayed hard for miracles this week and they happened! Just a few of
them include an investigator getting a very STRONG impression from the Spirit to
"believe the sisters"!!!!! 3 formers wanting to meet with us again!!!!!!!!!
Vicky passing her baptismal interview!!!!!!!!!!! Ted wearing a white shirt and
tie to church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And many more. It has been a very special week
for me. Plus Sister Black is awesome.
-The temple was a sacred experience as always. It was interesting. The
first part of it was really hard. I was exhausted and starving (long day) and
just felt like I was working so hard (even though I was sitting, haha). I was
sitting in a room and then I prayed to God. I went through the past year and a
half. I went through each companion, each area, and many of the people I got to
work with. Once again the weight and the exhaustion hit me. Then I got to go
into my favorite room in the temple. I walked in and embraced Sister Weidman and
shook hands with President Weidman (I love them so much..President said "I think
it should be legal to hug sister missionaries in the temple" hahahaha). I hugged
the other sister missionaries going home. One of them, a good friend, asked me
how I felt. I felt light. I felt fulfilled. I felt peace. I felt so much love.
She said "This just feels like a giant family reunion". I responded, "I think
that is exactly what it's supposed to feel like...hey sister, I think God wants
us to be happy that we're going home." I felt like the first part was working my
way through my mission and the last part was how I'm supposed to feel about
going home. It was really special and as always I can't convey it the way I want
to. I then sat in the temple and read Doctrine and Covenants. I read in section
128 which is just where I was in reading it (I'm trying to finish it before I
head home). It was amazing how much it answered so many of the questions I had
for God. The following verses really hit home:
22 Brethren,
shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage,
brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly
glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems
of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was,
that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners
shall go free.
23 Let
the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and
dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and
rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field
praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and
the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And
let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say,
how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory,
and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms,
principalities, and powers!
Shall I not go on in so great a cause? The back of my planner this
transfer has a quote from President Uchtdorf, it says: "In His plan, there are
no true endings, only everlasting beginnings." This is the work of salvation
people. It is the happiest cause that I have ever devoted so much. And you
better believe this is not the end. I'm just moving forward to the next stage.
Praying for courage, haha.
My last interview with President was really special as well. I love that man. The Spirit was so strong and was able to once again answer so many of my questions. But for a good 5 minutes of it he told me why I need to go into HR (he is one of the most influential CEO's in the world and the most humble one too). So I have no idea what I'm doing with my life.
My last interview with President was really special as well. I love that man. The Spirit was so strong and was able to once again answer so many of my questions. But for a good 5 minutes of it he told me why I need to go into HR (he is one of the most influential CEO's in the world and the most humble one too). So I have no idea what I'm doing with my life.
And then last night was my departing missionary fireside. It was really
special for me to see so many of the people that I have been blessed to know the
past year and a half (plus the surprise visit from my BYU/LA native friend,
Heather, was so fun!). Just calling everyone to invite then was overwhelming
enough. I just am so so so grateful. My testimony at the fireside meeting went
something like this:
"Hello my friends!
God IS real. He is our loving Heavenly Father. He knows us perfectly and
loves us individually. My whole life I have been overwhelmed by the way he has
blessed me and given me so many gifts. So when I sacrificed a year and a half of
my education, family, friends and life as I knew it, I thought I was finally
able to give a gift back to God. But I was wrong and very naive. Because a year
and a half later, especially as I look in to the faces of so many individuals
who have changed my life, I know that my mission has been a gift from God to
me.
This is the Lord's work, not mine. He could do a much better job of it than
me. So why did He ask me to come? Why did He let me participate? Because He knew
how the experiences I would have in Los Angeles would change my life. And they
have.
The greatest gift God has ever given us is His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
Through Him we can have eternal life. Not only do we have the opportunity to
live with God, but we have the chance to be like Him!! But how do we accept this
gift? We must have faith, we must repent, we must be baptized, we must receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost, and we must endure to the end. A complete
understanding of these steps to accepting this gift and this path were gone from
the earth for hundreds of years. But they have been restored to the earth
through the prophet Joseph Smith.
Do we realized what we have?!
The Church of Jesus Christ is back! The priesthood, the power of God, is
back! Baptism, sacrament, temples, all of it is back! The path way home to our
loving Heavenly Father is back!
This is a big deal. And the evidence of that is in the Book of Mormon. We
can read it and ask God if it is all real and true. It is. I know that.
We must not let anything get in the way of us progressing on this path home
to God. Don't let any substances, doubts, or fears get in your way. We must
press forward with faith. We must repent daily. We must read the scriptures and
pray every day. We must take the sacrament worthily every week. If you haven't
been baptized yet, please please please follow the example of Jesus Christ. Come
unto Him. This is the work of Jesus Christ and I know it's all true."
I am so overwhelmed by all the love and support I have received from all of
you from home. I am sure that I could not have had these experiences in the past
year and a half without you all. I am excited to be reunited with you! Love you
all! make it the greatest week ever!!
Sister Atkinson
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