There is sunshine in my soul today! --beach p-day!

Hello all!

We just spent 3 hours (well 2---I got lost on the way. oops.) at the beach with 2 other zones playing volleyball and such! So fun! (we get to go once a year with President and Sister Baker. So fun.) I'm finally getting to know more and more missionaries in the mission, and the friendships you form on the mission are so fun. Love California's sunshine, but when Mom told me there are already lightning bugs back home I remembered why nothing compares to my WV green hills.

This week was great! Thursday night, Sister Oldham got sick and then Friday almost all of our appointments fell through :( but when you keep pressing forwarddddd---the miracle is around the corner!!!

Saturday night we meant to knock on a member's door in the UCLA married housing, but accidentally knocked on the wrong one. Low and behold, we met Shaelynn. She is a nonmember but grew up in Draper, Utah and her husband is a less active. She has tried to read the Book of Mormon a couple times, but said we can come back and talk more. COINCIDENCE? OBVIOUSLY NOT. These frequent moments are when I KNOW that this is the Lord's work and He is very aware of me individually in ol' Los Angeles, CA.

Other miracles---
Megan. Megan is always a miracle. She's praying about a baptismal date. And she's bringing her new boyfriend to a lesson this week.

Brian and Tiffany. Have I told you about them before? His girlfriend Tiffany started coming back to church a while back and he has been taking the lessons. We finallllly had a breakthrough last night! He said "I'm definitely moving towards yes." We've seen a transformation in Tiffany the past couple months. They have been through so many awful trials recently, but she prays on her knees every morning (I could've cried when she told us) and receives personal revelation through the Book of Mormon. ah, so good.

Oscar. He's a newer investigator who has been struggling with the concept of prayer. He texted us yesterday and wondered why he's getting this calm feeling after he's trying to pray. AH. YES.

UCLA ward had their open house yesterday!!! 15 nonmembers came!!! It was a great experience for everyone. We have lessons scheduled from a few of them!!!!! And some of them said they are coming again next week!

Patrick. He's someone we have been working with since my first week. He started coming back to church a month before we got here. He gave a talk yesterday!! Another less active we have been working with is teaching at family home evening tonight. And another went and did baptisms in the temple last week.

These small miracles are worth everything! I find myself getting impatient wanting to see baptisms from all the work we are doing. But I need to be patient and trust that this is the Lord's work. I'm learning SO much about myself and from the Lord from training. There's a lot of pressure to get everything done and to explain everything and teach every little thing, but I keep reminding myself to laugh and have fun. Oh oh oh, we had a mini missionary [Note from Dawn: a local young woman who stays with them and lives like a missionary for a weekend] this weekend from Inglewood Stake (I want to serve in Inglewood so badly. I went to Capital. I can handle it, right?). She's only been a member 3 months! She was hilarious. She taught us a cheer. She accidentally broke our showerhead (it's now a waterfall that mats my hair down, hahaha. I really shouldn't complain. I could be in the Philippines or something.) [Note: Philippines: where her brother John-Mark served without a running water shower or hot water for many months. He used a bucket for a shower head] She said, "I didn't realize how much work ya'll do." Win. Oh and Mormon helping Hands was this weekend! (Mormons all over California do service.) We worked at an innercity school. I painted a classroom. We attempted to.... It was fun though! Got a yellow vest. SO MUCH WIN.

I'm legitimately so happy. Yes there are frustrating and hard moments, but I am spending 18 months of my life telling God's children about His eternal plan of happiness. I can't believe it's May. LOVE YOU ALL SO SO SO MUCH! THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO!

Sister Atkinson

We'll singgggg and we'll shout with the armies of heaven, Hosanna! Hosanna to God and the Lamb :)

HELLO HELLO HELLO!
CONGRATS HANNAH! BEAUTIFUL BABY BOY! My mom forwarded me some pics!
Heather---the Chinese elders said that you said hello :) love you!
We got temporary companions on Wednesday until President Baker could finish all the interviews. Mine was an innocent little 19 year old lamb from Kentucky, Sister Harrison. She's super sweet, but to my surprise I got a different permanent companion on Thursday!
My new companion is Sister Oldham! She turned 19 two weeks after the announcement was made in October. She graduated in '12 and did one semester at BYU. Her Dad is in the Air Force so she has moved all over the world, but they currently live in Alaska. She was assigned Spanish speaking, so it is pretty weird that they put her in an English area with an English-speaking companion for her first area. She teaches me a new phrase everyday, haha. No me gusta el mundo is what I say when I accidentally hit the radio button instead of the church music ipod or when we drive past the naughty stores in Hollywood. She has to do an extra hour of studies for language study, but I don't mind because I make calls and update our area books and stuff during that hour. Quite convenient. She is very young and very much a chatterbox and she has so much energy and is here to work! Yay! We made our transfer goals and her 'greenie fire' is pushing me. YES. Lets be serious, I still feel like a greenie. Training has been very humbling and very good for me so far. It requires a lot of patience and love and excitement. So much fun. In the MTC she only introduced herself as Hermana Oldham because she is Spanish speaking, but in this area she has to introduce herself as Sister Oldham. She isn't used to it. Her first name is Cisalee and so it starts the same as Sister. Lets just say she has introduced herself as Cisalee a couple times. Bless her heart, it is hilarious.

Our area is booming and we're pumped. Kent came to church FINALLY and is praying about baptism! Dennis is seriously considering baptism rather than saying "don't push me" in his thick Uzbekistanian accent.) He also said in our Word of Wisdom lesson, "so I'll only have bread and water." He's hilarious. He always gets confused about when and where we are supposed to meet. We'll text and call him 2 hours before, an hour before, 10 minutes before and he'll still be confused. We are sending missionaries to his mom this week. so excited.) Sister Barney and I had a final lesson together that was one of our favorites! (I'll miss Sister Barney of course.:) ) It was with Megan and I am so so so happy that she is back on track. We received quite a few referrals this week. A couple new investigators. A couple dropped of course :(. A less active we have been working with is going to do baptisms in the temple this week. YES. I don't know, I'm just so grateful to be where I am. This transfer is going to be all about work. We reorganized everything and I'm excited.

Driving is a hot mess. But I'm getting used to the parallel parking. Sort of. Uhmmmm lets see. Last p-day we went to "The Alley' downtown. basically a mile of gaaaahetto stores. But super bueno. I got a sweet California baseball tee. I'll be sending a bunch of pictures home today.
Did I tell you all I'm getting over my picky-ness?

We talked a lot about happiness in our lessons this week. Pray. Read the scriptures. Come to church. Keep the commandments. = BEING HAPPY. It's a full-proof formula. Everything we do in this life is us trying to find happiness. Lasting true joy can only be found in the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I see this day after day. The evidence is all around us. This scripture comes from one of my favorite parts in the Book of Mormon, "I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it." I promise that this is true.

LOVE YOU ALL! THANKS FOR THE PRAYERS. KEEP WRITING. MAKE IT A HAPPY WEEK! CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY!
Love, Sister Atkinson

I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go, Dear Lord, I'll ....Stay....Where You Want Me to Stay!

Note from Dawn: sorry, this week's email is a little late getting posted, again. She used some missionary lingo that is not familiar to everyone and refers to a couple of things that also required explantions so I have [inserted] explantions throughout, surrounded by brackets. I hope this helps! Oh, and transfers are when missionaries are reassigned to live and serve in new areas with new companions. She has not been transfered yet. Thanks again to all of you.   

April 16, 2013
Hello, hello all!
Yes, I'm staying in UCLA and in the LA stake's single's ward!! Sadly, Sister Barney is leaving. But I'm so happy that she is not going back to serve only in the Visitor's Center---she's training and whitewashing [insert from Dawn; That means newly opening an area to have missionaries assigned to those specific wards] the Santa Monica stake's Young Single Adult ward! Basically, President was pleased with our trial run in our wards that they're opening YSA wards in Santa Monica and in the Huntington stakes with full-field sisters! Woohoo!! Also, I am training! AHHHH. [insert: She will be training a sister missionary who just arrived from the MTC] I'm now more excited, than freaking out, which is good. The 12-week program that missions started using last year (an extra hour of companionship study for the first 12 weeks in the field to help the trainee review doctrine and the teaching fundamentals and such) makes training a lot easier apparently. But! I'm excited. I have to go buy a gps today though. [insert: She will be the one driving (in LA) now and Ali will definately need a GPS!] Keep me and my new companion (that I'll meet tomorrow!) in your prayers! What's mind blowing is that this is the date when I originally was supposed to come out, this transfer with these new missionaries. Trust in the Lord's timing :)
I got Alex Heywood's wedding announcement! Congrats! SO CUTE. so excited for you!!
I got lots of emails today which seriously MADE MY DAY. Thanks everyone!
We have a lot to do today (like move Sis. Barney out, etc), so this will probably be a quick one.
We went on a hike in Malibu last p-day! Mom should post pics soon. So fun! Except the snake I almost stepped on. Sister Barney swears she saw a rattle. I love the wards we are in so much. The UCLA ward is having an open house church service in two weeks that will be a very non-member friendly day. Everyone is supposed to bring a friend. There are fancy invitations and everything. So exciting.
Larry Kump, West Virginia State Legislative sent me "a thank-you for your service" card today. No idea who that is or how he knows I'm on a mission. Let alone how he got my address. But! That was nice of him. I thought I would mention it in my email so you all will vote for him. #larrykump2013. [insert: Larry is a member of our church from the Eastern Panhandle. He attends our church in Sissonville when the legislature is in town. Her contact info is posted in the church bulletin.]
We have lots of people to work with this week! We had a ton of lessons planned this past week and...most of them... didn't happen for the lots of crazy reasons. But if there is one thing I have learned thus far, when things don't work out--they do! We had a lesson cancel, and then we randomly ran into someone we've been working with who desperately needed us at that exact moment. There are no coincidences!
I just spent 5 minutes of my time talking to one of my favorite sisters who is going home. Oops. No time. Last thing!
I'm sad to hear about Grandma Atkinson and Grandma Gibson's health, but I'm really not worried (and I usually worry). I'm at peace and I know that they are in good hands. The beauty of this gospel is the perspective we have of the resurrection (we will allllll be made perfect--spirits and bodies reunited). Send them my love and testimony of that. [Insert from Dawn: Grandma Gibson was in the hospital with pneumonia and very ill but she is finally getting better and is at home now. Grandma Atkinson is living with us and her dementia has gotten much worse in the month she has been here. Last week was rough for me so I still have not posted pictures....sorry. I hope to soon...]
Family. I stinking love my family. We are all part of an eternal family and God is our Father. Recognizing that all of these people I have been working with are literally children of God and my brothers and sisters makes it so eternal and so worth it. The first thing we teach in every lesson is that we are children of God and then, that we are sent here in families to learn and grow together. The Family: A Proclamation to the World (from the modern day prophet and apostes) says something to the effect 'Happiness in family life is most likely to achieved when founded upon the teachings of Christ.' I see evidence of this, and the opposite, of this everyday. And I'm even in a student ward.
Oh! We taught my first family! An Asian couple! He is doing a PhD research program at UCLA and they have a little boy. Yayyyy!
There is an old lady sitting across from me at the Family History Library who is getting SUPER excited about family history. I'm dying trying to hold my giggles in. [insert: that must be the library where the computer is located that she uses.]
Love you! Choose to be happy!!!
Make it a great week!
Love, Sister Atkinson

fear not, though the ememy deride, courage! for the Lord is on our side :)

April 8, 2013
Hello everyone!
This week was great! Our numbers were up and we got to reconnect with some of our investigators and less actives who we haven't been able to.
General Conference was obviously my highlight. We attended sessions at member's house watching parties with a couple of our investigators. We are getting a new member of our singles ward! Julie will be baptized this weekend. The Chinese elders have been teaching her (for only a few weeks!) and she will be coming to our ward. We are so excited. It all started by her friend messaging her a Mormon Message video on facebook. Speaking of member missionary work, Elder Anderson's talk was (obviously) one of my favorites. All we have to do is invite. "Come and see" is what the Savior said. I loved that he said we can expect miracles in this day. Miracles are happening everyday, even in our little single's and student wards in LA. We just have to recognize them. I have to always remember that this work is not about me. This is the Lord's work, and I have to trust in His timing. I constantly need to be trying to improve and to work harder. So much of it is working effectively and not wasting any time. I am trying to strengthen my faith in the Lord so we can see more miracles in this area. :) Other favorites included President Monson's, President Uchtorf's, Sister Dalton's, and Elder Holland's. Actually, I loved them all. I felt right at home as I listened to the familiar voices teach simply, directly, powerfully and with love. Ah, how can you listen to them and not feel the Spirit testify of truth? The theme of conference seemed to be happiness comes from obedience and within the family. It is so so so true! We are given commandments to bless us and our families. There were a couple of people in particular that we met with this week who have struggled in the obedience department. One looked completely different from when we saw her 6 weeks ago. It was heartbreaking. But! Our Savior is there. With His outstretched hand ALWAYS. We just have to choose to grab it. Faith is an action word. Small everyday acts of obedience brings true, eternal happiness.
Hmm, I for some reason am drawing a blank for this week's email. It was all a busy blur to be honest. Sorry it's a short one!
This work is steadily moving forward :) I'm so humbled by the blessings in my life.
I miss each of you but there is nowhere I'd rather be right now than here. Thanks for your emails, letters, prayers, and love. I truly appreciate any and all of the support.
Pray. Read. Serve others. Have faith. Miracles happen, we just need to look for them.
LOVE YOU!
Sister Atkinson
PS Note from Dawn
Sorry this is late. I am going to add pictures today! If any if you would like to check out the General Conference messages of the church that Sister Atkinson referenced, they can be found at lds.org.

"All Creatures of Our God and King, Lift Up Your Voice and With Us Sing"

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

"help me find thy lambs who wander; help me bring them to thy keep" - hymn #281

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

"Fear not, I am with thee oh be not dismayed. For I am thy God and will still give thee aide. I'll strength thee, help thee and cause thee to stand."

Note from Dawn: This is last week's email. I am sorry I didn't get it posted. With my sudden and quick trip to Utah to move Grandma Atkinson out of her apartment and fly her home to live with us and all that involved I just didn't get this done. I will be posting the current week's email in the morning.

March 18, 2013
Hola everyone!
So glad anyone and everyone can email me now! I'll try to respond to the couple of you who did email me this week :) I'm so behind on the letters/cards, but I promise I will respond to everyone!
Shout out to Sydney---seriously, one of my favorite letters I have gotten. Love you so much! Will respond in the next couple weeks!
Congrats Camilla!!!!!! Roseville! My sister lives there! And I bet Amy is freaking out. Seriously, California missions are the best. Just saying. Ah, so happy for you!
Micah--email me. Congrats on Les Mis! Heard is was a great show! And thanks for cleaning out part of my room :D
Praying for Grandma and Dougarino. (Grandma's husband)

I can't believe it was only Wednesday when I emailed you last week. That feels like ages ago. Lets just say the past few days have seriously been a roller coaster...but! That's just part of being a missionary. And you just pray hard, have faith, find something to laugh about and keep working.

Ashley did not get baptized this weekend, but she said "I have a testimony. I will never deny that. I just can't do it this weekend." I have a lot of faith in her. Baptism is the first step. It's the gate. She just needs to make the decision on her own.
This week is finals week for UCLA and then it's spring break, so we'll probably be doing a lot of work in the Single's ward.
We did a ton of less active work this past week for both wards. Too many young adults leave home for school and realize that they don't have a testimony of their own and are going to church for the social aspect. When they stop coming, no one seems to sit down and just talk to them about their testimony. That is the core of it. While yes we should be inviting people to dodgeball nights and institute, we should be helping them recognize that they can gain their own testimony of Jesus Christ, of the Book of Mormon, of going to church to take the sacrament to renew the covenants we made at baptism, etc. We just sit down with these individuals (love them so much) and ask them one question about their relationship with God. Almost every time, Sister Barney and I just sit there and listen while that person opens up and tells us everything. We're not there to boost church statistics, we are there because we genuinely love them and want to help them figure it out for themselves. We are there as representatives of Jesus Christ to help them come unto Him. If we could all always have that attitude when we sit down with people and be genuine listeners...
"True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. the study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior." -President Packer
Preach My Gospel (our missionary manual) says "You should not become discouraged; discouragement will weaken your faith. If you lower your expectations, your effectiveness will decrease, your desire will weaken, and you will have greater difficulty following the Spirit." Once again "fear not, I am with thee oh be not dismayed." :)

I feel like this email is going to be very scatterbrained with poor grammar. My bad.

-Tomato basil humus from Trader Joe's is my new favorite thing.
-Sister Barney asked if Michael McClean was a Mormon and I died. Oh Utah girls. (Note from Dawn: he is a very well known LDS musician)
-We took Megan to a baptism yesterday of an 82 year old woman (so precious). Megan made us journals. WHAT. LOVE HER.
-After the baptism we saw this man and knew we recognized him from tv. Sure enough, his name is Larry Bagby. He is LDS (whaddup). His mom is from West Virginia and is also LDS---Nancy Moore, I think? Anyone? Oh and yes, Mom that new sister missionary in my missiona is from Huntington. Small world! Oh right, back to Larry. He was the bass player in Walk the Line (Johnny Cash movie), was the guy who always asked for a smoke in Saints and Soldiers, and was an assistant coach in Forever Strong. We asked for one picture that turned into a 20 minute schpiel of going to his mini van ( I kid you not) so he could give us his business cards and free cds. Yes. This is my life. Just wait for the pictures. OH and Chelsea Hightower? She danced on So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With the Stars? Moved in to my ward. Gotta love Los Angeles. Except when you get a parking ticket....what.... -_-
-I realized I speak in 3rd person all the time. Only when I do a sassy or ghetto voice in front of Sister Barney though. But still. I think it helps me realize my name is "Sister Atkinson" instead of Ali. Then again I say "Sista Akkisehn."
-Satan is so dang real. He knows us so well and he makes me so so so mad when I can see him attacking the people that I love. But the Atonement is real. And Jesus Christ knows us even better. Someone said last week, "The game is already won, we just have to decide if we want to partake in the victory." 
"The Savior can wipe away our tears of regret and remove the burden of our sins. His Atonement allows us to leave the past behind and move forward with clean hands, a pure heart, and a determination to do better and especially to become better." -President Uchtdorf
I testify that it's true! I witness this everyday! Say your prayers and make good choices. And email me. I love you all!
Love,
Sister Atkinson