I know that my Redeemer lives. What comfort this sweet sentence gives!

Here is her weekly email. AND she hits her half-way mark Wednesday! I am so excited about that. Thank you for your prayers in her behalf. Dawn

On Mon, Oct 7, 2013 at 1:46 PM, Alexandra Atkinson <alexandra.atkinson7@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hello everyone!

Whew what a week!

I remembered that I still have to tell the legs buckling story, so I'll start with that. Like two weeks ago when we were in a trio and post-'man outside our apartment' we were coming home late at night. Always extra cautious at night, I was a little jumpy. As Sister Jones opened the door in front of me, she just stopped in her tracks and said "oh..no." I looked up and see our whiteboard off the wall and our apartment in disarray. I have never been so scared in my entire life. I was speechless and my legs straight up buckled in fear. I thought for sure we had been robbed and that my life was over, hahahaha. Then I realized that the stuff holding up the whiteboard had just given out and the mess in our living room was from us being in an emergency-transferred-trio and shoving three people's stuff onto 3 desks and such. -_-. Sister Jones just said 'oh no' because we would have to re-put-up the whiteboard. My thighs were numb for a good 15 minutes. I whimpered on my bed, while my companions pointed and laughed at me. Merciful.

Sister Perry is so great!!! West Virginian through and through. It's so funny that Heavenly Father put us together. She's a Marshall fan, so I think that pretty much sums up the differences between us, hahaha. Just kidding. She's still in a bit of shock from how different our area is (young single adults are just a whole different ball game). These are some of my favorite quotes she has said:

"I can't wait to tell my Mom I feel like I'm camping every night." (but I can't lie, it has been miraculous how many less bugs we have seen this week. God loves her. We are Sister Jones' sister training leaders so I still get to talk to her occasionally. Something she said this week "I have not seen a single bug since I have been here [she's in a richer Jewish area by the Visitor's Center], except of course for the fly buzzing around the poor Aussie's face today in General Conference." )

"It just smells here...all the time." :) #loveit #usedtoit #shouldn'tbeusedtoit

"Sister Atkinson..I want you to know how different your mission has been from most people's..." (hahaha, I love my ysa's.)

I think my humor and work ethic and the branch is a lot to take in right now, but we're doing great!

If people could respect the Lord, that'd be great, haha. We've had more rejection than usual his week, which I'm honestly not that used to. Our strongest investigator (one of my favorite people from my mission) dropped us on Wednesday and was baptized in her Mom's church on Friday. A less active was on his way out the door, so I asked if we could have 20 seconds to share a scripture. He said we could walk with him to his car. So obviously, I tried to start reading Helaman 5:12 to him. He then proceeded to BOOK it to his car. I tried to keep up but then realized how ridiculous I looked to his sister who was in the car waiting for him, and laughing at me. Can he respect me? Hilarious? Yes. Before yesterday, I had never had 4 chihuahuas try to attack me all at once, but there's a first time for everything.
But really, this week was great. Full of miracles as always. I'm so grateful to be where I am and I am SO grateful to be a missionary. I can't believe I hit my 9-month mark.[Note from Dawn - YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!] I get a little anxious thinking I haven't done enough, but I know that as I take it one day at a time and just give everything to Him with an eye single to His glory, it'll all be just fine. :)

We are focusing on finding through less actives right now. And basically just finding. We don't have anyone really who is choosing to be elect right now. But I have to respect people's agency or ability to choose for themselves. But! I am developing lots of faith to find right now, or at least trying to, so that's good. But if you want to send up some extra prayers for me, my companion, and us finding people who are prepared, I wouldn't reject that idea :) Prayer really is a powerful resource. I remember the first day as being a missionary thinking "why do i feel so strong today?" and then remembering how my siblings told me before I left "never again in your life, will you have this many people around the world praying for you." That is very true. Thank you so much for every prayer. Heavenly Father really lets me feel your love. :)

Oh I better tell you a super cool miracle that happened! We cover all the ysa's in a stake (or bigger area/multiple congregations). Sister Perry served the first 6 weeks in L.A. (which was over 6 months ago) in part of our stake in a place called South Gate. Since we cover such a big area, I had never really spent much time in that area before. But we had an appointment in South Gate, so we decided to stop by a less active down the street before going to the appointment. The less active wasn't home, so we headed back to our car. But there was one girl on the street and she even happened to be a ysa, so of course I talked to her! After a promising first few minutes I asked "Okay cool! Maddie, which house is yours?"

"Actually it's Pattie.." to which Sister Perry kinda yelled in joy "I knew it! I have met you before! You're Pattie!" She met her 6 months ago on the street. NOT NORMAL to run into the same people again on your mission. I mean there are tons of people in South Gate, and we are rarely there and we were going to only be there for a few minutes. Not to mention, Sister Perry says she can barely remember details about people's lives (which she remembered some things about Pattie), especially if she had met them for 5 minutes 6 months earlier and they apparently look very different. Patty said "I guess God is trying to tell me something". Obviously, we testified about how important our message is, how rare the situation was, and how important it was for her to meet with us. Sadly, she bailed on our return appointment, but we'll give her another chance. Either way, it was a cool experience for us :)

Okie dokie, I will close with some of my favorite thoughts from general conference [The semi-annual world-wide satellite broadcast from Salt Lake City]. IT WAS SO GOOD. Seriously, General Conference is a missionary holiday. I got so much revelation and comfort. I loved how specific a lot of the talks were (tithing, 3 hours, etc.). Here are some of my favorite thoughts:

-We all need ordinances and covenants. -Progress and change everyday. -"I gave him to you because I knew you could and would love him no matter what he chooses to do." - Don't compromise the Lord's way for your way or the world's way. - God should always be your first priority. - Become more meek and gentle and kind. - Speak what and how Christ would speak to the people who speak with. - The sacrament renews alllll of our covenants each week. - Doubt your doubts before you ever doubt your faith. - Be grateful for and utilize the power of the Priesthood in your life. - Remember your divine role as a woman. - Be patient, courageous, and diligent in the small things and you can get through anything. - It is a privilege to be a missionary, and every single member is a missionary. - We must center our homes on Christ for protection and peace. - Christ has said time and time again "I will not fail thee. I will not forsake thee." - Remember that Heavenly Father has been so so so good to you.

There are so many more things we could talk about. I'm just so humbled and grateful for the priesthood in my life, the knowledge we have of a prophet, the opportunity to live in this day, and obviously for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, haha. (seriously, so good this weekend). I really loved how they talked about how members and missionaries need to be equally-yoked. For all of those (even my people in Utah) who are wondering some ways we can do that:

-Get to know everyone on your ward list. Visit those who are less active even if you're not their home or visiting teacher. Include people in your social life. .
-Be more than a 15-minute-a-month visiting/home teacher. I met someone this week who said her visiting teacher came regularly for years and years, even leaving cookies in the mailbox, without any response from her. She was in a major car accident in 2007. That same visiting teacher called that same night as the crash and felt like she really needed to visit her. Through those experiences and because of the ministering of her visiting teacher, that woman hasn't missed a sacrament meeting since 2007 :)

-Never come alone to church or to a church activity. Always invite a less active, a nonmember, or a more shy active member.

-Ask for what you want. "Would you like to take some lessons from our missionaries?"

-If you invite always slip in a testimony.

-Use pass along cards. Leave them with your receipt at a restaurant or to your bus driver. Simply write a 2 sentence testimony on the back.

We live in such an exciting time. But we have to be apart of it. We can't exclude ourselves from our prophet's call to be a missionary.

I love you all so much! Make it a great week!

Sister Atkinson

OH MY GOSH. I FORGOT TO INCLUDE THE CRAZIEST PART OF MY WEEK.

death comes unexpectedly:
1. we turned left in the car because I HAD A GREEN ARROW and this car just charged at us, running his red light. seriously, I have no idea how we weren't t-boned.

2. we were going down the alley trying to find the car washing place (I passed it like 4 times....don't ask me how) and this car zoomed around the corner and was an inch from hitting us head on.
3. on the interstate I guess I was in a car's blind sight, because they decided to just merge right into our lane. once again, I seriously have no idea how we weren't completely side-swiped.
4. I drove down the wrong side of the street the other night (okay......this one was my fault..........)
I think this can accurately describe my week, hahaha.
Sister Perry said it was very much like the Knight bus from the Harry Potter movie. But for reals, Heavenly Father is very much protecting us, and I swear I'm being super careful. Love you all!!

Savior Redeemer of my soul...whose mighty hand hath made me whole:)

This is today's new email. I have faith that she is watched over and that she IS SAFE. Dawn

 

October 1, 2013

Hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So many updates from this week! I'll try to type fast and make it comprehendable. Oh apparently that's not a word, haha.
I'm choosing to tell you some stories because 1. I feel 100% safe now 2. It is hilarious and such good writing material 3. I don't have time to catch up on everything in my journal 4. I have good faith that you won't freak out mom! 5. I PROMISE WE ARE 150% SAFE.
Last Monday we drove home from family home evening with the branch and got home at 9pm like every night. Sister Pillar and Sister Jones got out of the car (we park our car in an alley and go through a back gate that is almost always locked to our apt/house thing). I'm still laughing about who knows what in the car while they are getting their stuff out of the trunk. As I get out of the car, they say in a strained voice "Yeah, I think we left something at the church." "Yeah, let's go back there." My nonchalant manner as always responded "Whattya mean we left something...*looks around our creepy alley* ohhh!" and get back in the car. A man was standing on the walk outside of our apt. behind a tree. He peered around the tree, stared at my companions, then went back, and then stared again. So obvi, we drove away and circled around the front of our group of apt/houses thing on the main road. I made eye contact with him as we drove past and he did not drop my gaze. CREEPO? YES. Of course we circled again (our zone leaders chastised us for doing that, haha) and saw him walk back in to our alley. He never came out. So obviously we did not return home! We just started driving to who knows where. Our zone leaders were a little freaked out when they saw they had 17 missed calls from us. Can they respect us? :) Luckily, Sister Pillar still had the keys to her empty apt (which was empty for the last two weeks of the transfer since we're in a trio), so we went and stayed there. Our zone leaders practically busted down the apt door to bring us a third mattress and bedding. We have been super cautious recently and our neighbor Pascual (aka my hero) is keeping an extra eye out for us. Oh it was hilarious, president sent a trio of elders over to our apt an hour and half after the incident to make sure no creepers were there. Not sure what they would have done if there was someone there. -_-.

I mean we are the only white people in our town, but Heavenly Father has very much protected us multiple times. We feel so so so safe. We love Bell Gardens (our town) and I would have balled my eyes out if they would have asked us to leave our nasty, yet dear to my heart, apartment and cute neighbors, but we prayed about it and feel super safe!
We had a few experiences where I felt so frustrated with people's choices. Then I caught a small glimpse into how Heavenly Father must feel. He must be so sad when we as His kids, just don't get it. He has given us everything, even His son Jesus Christ, to make it back home to Him and even become like Him, but all we have to do is reach out and grab those things. But we just more often than not, don't. Yet He still loves us and His arm is always still outstretched.
Fall! It finally started cooling down! Aka, we have been freezing in the low 70's in the mornings :) I do miss the color of the WV Hills. I can't believe it's October!!!!!!!! Ah!!!!!!
Ernest was confirmed on Sunday and was ordained to the Priesthood. SO HAPPY. He is so happy! We have a hilarious story with him this week. We were sitting at this park teaching him when all of a sudden this man on a bike and his girlfriend (also on a bike) came over to talk to us. He started asking us if we were having a Bible study and asking genuine questions about what differences our religion has (we thought he was golden for .5 seconds and then I realized his visit was very much premeditated), and then he started yelling at us about how wrong we were and tried to Bible bash with us. He figured out Ernest was a recent convert and started telling him how stupid he was and how deceived he was. We could barely say two words when he told us it was an abomination for us women to be preaching to a man. Just imagine my facial expression on that one. We told him very kindly we had to leave. All of a sudden, Ernest started testifying! it was awesome. Ernest told him how he was being so aggressive and how that's not how God works and how he couldn't feel the Spirit around him. YES. SO MUCH WIN. I told them we loved them as we left and made the "I love you" sign in sign language. He thought it was a devil horn sign. Merciful. Ernest then bought us churros. Did I think of Even Stevens? Yes. Was it a huge testimony to hear Ernest testify how He knew what is God's word and what is not? YES.
Sister Jones ran to the bathroom and threw up in the middle of one of our Spanish lessons this week. So that was nice.
We had some very special moments with Dayssi. It was a bit of a wake up call to me to know how black and white our choices are. There really are only two paths and they lead to very different types of happiness.
It was cool for us to be with Sister Pillar the past two weeks. She gained so much confidence in herself and boldness with her invitations. I think her area is going to have so much work next transfer. Pretty sure she thinks Sister Jones and I are completely nuts. Which we are. But we have all laughed SO hard the past couple weeks. One of my favorite things I realized this week; "my whole life I have always thought everyone around me was nuts. Then I came on a mission. And now I realize that I am the one that is completely psychotic."

Elder Richards of the Quorum of the 70 [a church leader] and his wife (she was on the Young Women board with Sis. Dalton, Tanner, and Beck for 5 years and totally reminds me of them. [they were church leaders for the teen-age girls] She was so cool) came and did a mission tour this past week. We had a few leadership meetings with him and a zone conference. Basically he humbled us as teachers. (We all thought we were good teachers...and then his training happened...) I'm going to focus on shorter statements and just simple truths. He said we should focus on the 4 essential truths of the gospel: 1. The Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. 2. The First Vision 3. The Book of Mormon is true 4. The priesthood has been restored.
He said he would only make one invitation of the conference. It was to write down each investigator and prayerfully decide which truth he/she does not understand and focus on it. IT will be interesting to see how our teaching changes.
A drunk homeless guy who looked like Sirius Black right out of Askaban blew a kiss at us as he crossed a crosswalk. When we drove around the corner he jumped off of the sidewalk and almost hit our car. He was hilarious.
The Relief Society broadcast was SO GOOD. It is interesting that everyone is focusing on the work of salvation, aka our ordinances and covenants. I'm so excited for general conference! [our semi-annual world wide church conference] I can't believe it has been a year since I decided to come on a mission. Watch general conference with a question and I promise it will be answered. Last year my question was "Heavenly Father, I have decided to not serve a mission. Is that what you want me to do?" The no I got from Him was pretty loud and clear, hahaha. There is a prophet on the earth today. He is speaking to the world. Aren't you curious to know what he has to say? What Heavenly Father wants us to know? Watch it this Saturday and Sunday on lds.org. It will change your life. It always changes mine. :)
Saturday night the assistants called. We knew that meant that one of us was going to be a trainer, so obviously we were super sad to call him back. I called him. "Can I talk to Sister Jones?" It hit me that we would be split up. so naturally, I yelled at my leader -_- 'NOOOO. YOU MAY NOT. YOU CAN'T TAKE HER AWAY FROM HERE.' Not my best. Obviously, it was more hilarious than anything. I'm super happy for her though. She is whitewash[meaning that both sister missionaries will be new in the area] training back at the Visitor's Center for her last transfer. Super happy. She is one of my best friends and changed the branch, so it is a little hard for everyone for her to leave, but I'm super excited for next transfer. I'm staying here, and I'm still a sister training leader. Sister Perry is coming here! She is one less transfer than me [came into the mission one transfer after me], but is Spanish speaking. Drum rollllll SHE IS FROM HUNTINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA and our parents know each other :) WIN. So that's super happy. [and quite unusual to be companions from the same home area]
For a few weeks I have felt like someone has been holding my head and I have been swinging punches. Sister Jones and I very much wanted to work 100%, but were never really given the opportunity. We just had to do a lot of preparation and problem solving in this area. I very much feel that right now that Heavenly Father wants me to work harder than I ever have before. So that is my promise. I am super excited. I have such a good feeling about it.

Love you all so much!

Make it a great week!
Love, Sister Atkinson
P.S--two more good stories in 3 minutes.

We were sitting in the dark church parking lot after the broadcast. We had just hung up a call with our assistants, so emotions were a little high and we were all sitting in the backseat from the phone call. All of a sudden we see this old man in sweat pants and crocs (#don'twearcrocs) coming towards our car. Scared, Sister Jones leaned up and locked the front door. We think he thought she unlocked it for him. All of a sudden, he tries to open our car door! He then yells through the door that he wants to know if people are still inside. 2 minutes later we leave. Sister Jones accidentally hit the button to make the windows roll down and, startled, Sister Pillar LOST IT. Never heard her scream so loud. Hilarious.
Oh dang it, remind me to tell the legs buckling story next week. I'm out of time. Love you all!

"Let us all press on in the work of the Lord...an unseen power will aid me and you."

Sorry this is late. I have been super busy and just running behind. new email should come tomorrow, due to this being transfer week/p-day being on Tuesday. Dawn

Written Monday, September 23, 2013

HELLO ALL!

I didn't make a post-it of bullet points before coming to email, so this email will be even more scattered than usual. I just thought about everything that happened this week and was too overwhelmed to make a post-it, hahaha.

ERNEST GOT BAPTIZED YESTERDAY!!!! So that's happy!! He bore his testimony at the end about how clean and happy he felt. It was so exciting.
We just have a lot of...characters...that we work with. Which is why I just love this place. When our people say random things (like at a baptismal service or in a meeting), I have learned to just laugh. AKA I laugh....a lot. My face is always an open book though, so you can always tell when I'm... a bit confused...at our people. Oh mercy. This quote from Elder Holland humbles me all the time:"So be kind regarding human frailty—your own as well as that of those who serve with you in a Church led by volunteer, mortal men and women. Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we..."

We are in a trio! Sister Pillar AKA SistahPillahofLight is so great!!!! She is from North Carolina and full of energy. We'll only be in a trio until the end of the transfer (which is next week). Trios are always a party and a half (definitely because I love rocking the back seat), so we are laughing lots and having fun.

It is really hard to cover two areas and two wards. We all felt like our areas were on the brink of exploding and we had huge plans (and very different plans) for the last two weeks of the transfer. But we now have 50% less time in each area (we split each day to work in the two areas), and we all had to take a few steps backward. We are being positive and patient though. :) And Heavenly Father is definitely consecrating our efforts. I am a bit anxious to just go work because I feel like I was at a perfect opportunity with all the changes we have made in this area, with Sister Jones, and just with how perfect this area. But Heavenly Father has very much asked me to not go full speed ahead. I just can't. Earlier this week I secretly felt like we were working at 60% effectiveness (just because of a few situations--no one's fault at all), and I was just asking why we weren't given the opportunity (because we finally feel like we have the tools and means) to work at 100%, to become the show-how missionaries we want to be. Obviously, Heavenly Father humbled me as always.
This time through Doctrine &Covenants 35:
8 For I am God, and mine arm is not shortened; and I will show miracles, signs, and wonders, unto all those who believe on my name. 10 And the time speedily cometh that great things are to be shown forth unto the children of men; 11 But without faith shall not anything be shown forth 13 Wherefore, I call upon the weak things of the world, those who are unlearned and despised, to thresh the nations by the power of my Spirit; 14 And their arm shall be my arm, and I will be their shield and their buckler; and I will gird up their loins, and they shall fight manfully for me; 24 Keep all the commandments and covenants by which ye are bound; and I will cause the heavens to shake for your good, and Satan shall tremble and Zion shall rejoice upon the hills and flourish; 25 And Israel shall be saved in mine own due time; and by the keys which I have given shall they be led, and no more be confounded at all. 26 Lift up your hearts and be glad, your redemption draweth nigh. 27 Fear not, little flock, the kingdom is yours until I come. Behold, I come quickly. Even so. Amen.

I just felt like He was saying that His arm is not shortened---He is still working miracles and preparing souls. He is always working at 100% capacity. He just understands the plan so much better. All I can do is trust in Him, be more humble, and do my part. Even when our desires are righteous, they don't always match up with His plans. So just be patient and trust in Him.

My biggest trial right now is staying awake during the Spanish lessons. Their Spanish is so lulling, haha. But naturally I have mastered the phrase "puedo usar su bano por favor?"

We have met with a lot of people this week, but if they aren't willing to meet a few times a week or seem elect, we testify of Christ, add them to our email groups, and don't meet with them again. It's getting easier though. Just having lots of faith :)

The phone way of getting referrals is still effective! We just don't have much time to call everyone, let alone to meet with them, haha. My favorite people we got referrals from this week:

-a 17 yr old kid driving his red Camaro out of his driveway gave us the phone number of his cousin who is struggling

-this 20 yr old kid wasn't willing to meet with us the next day, but more than willing to give us the phone numbers of all of his friends. "My phone is full of sinners... this one steals money from his mom...this one deals...etc." "Is everything okay with this one?" "No. His sin is he overweight and depressed." OH MERCIFUL. People are nuts.

My sassy side came out again in a street contact. Sister Jones and Sister Pillar started talking to this kid about baptism. They looked at me to continue, but I just couldn't invite someone who was high to be baptized. I just couldn't. It was hilarious. I waved my Book of Mormon up and down in front of his face and he didn't blink. He told me he was happy to which I replied "Chris! It's not true happiness if it comes from a plant." He just got out of Juvee, had a broken collar bone but wasn't wearing a sling, and his mom was just deported to Mexico. Bless his heart. I just show my love a little differently. AKA don't be stupid.

We have some great things planned for this week! So I'm excited! Also, next week is transfers, so P-day will be on Tuesday. Who knows what will happen. I really hope Sister Jones and I stay together for her last transfer, but there's a good chance she'll go back to the Visitor's Center. This is His work, and His kids. So we just need to trust Him. Oh another favorite scripture from the week is in 1 Nephi 13:40-41. Christ is the only way to be truly happy, but we have to learn to do things HIS way. That's the only way. He has given us as many road signs and tools to figure out what His way really is. I promise if you read The Book of Mormon and ask God if it is true, it will change your life. You'll figure out what really is His way. You won't just know about Him, but you will get so much closer to knowing Him personally. I love this Gospel and I just love you all. I hope you all know how happy I really am. One of the greatest lessons I have learned is if we aren't happy or aren't satisfied with the way something is working out or the way we feel about something, we need to stop doing things the exact same way. If we make a small tweak, we can get where we want and need to be. We just have to experiment and study to see which tweaks are the right ones to make.
Love you all! Make it a great week!

Sister Atkinson

Hi all,

Sometimes I am just glad that I know this girl... And if I could, I would call an exterminator to her ant, roach and spider infested apartment! I guess I am just her mom. Dawn

"Take my heart, oh take and seal it! Seal it for thy courts above":)

Hello everyone!!!
As always, this week was nuts. this morning started out...wonderfully.... At 6:20 AM I started to stagger to the bathroom when all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I see a GIANT SHADOW of some creature. Paralyzed by fear I just yell at Sister Jones "Lights! Lights! Turn on the lights!!" And there it was. The cockroach LITERALLY THE SIZE OF MY FIST. I'M NOT KIDDING ABOUT ITS SIZE. Trying to run under my bed. Obviously I jumped on my bed. Sister Jones, bless her heart, courageously grabbed her tennis shoe and smashed it. From my bed I jumped to the top bunk of the bunk bed and there I sat hyperventilating until 6:25. I wish I could say I was exaggerating...Merciful, it was awful. The ants are....the same. Earlier this week, a colony decided to attack my laundry basket full of clean clothes that I still had to put away. You just reach the point where you can't stand the smell of Raid anymore that you just close your closet door and go eat an otterpop. haha, I realize how dramatic I sound. Meh. #reallife #mypoorcompanion But we're buying 4 cans of Raid today and are attacking the edges of all the walls and such and then doing a deep clean.
We got a call from President right before coming in to email that we are getting a 3rd companion again! Sister Pillar!! I love her! But we're covering a Spanish area again, so I've got to learn more than "I know God lives" in Spanish. Scheduling has been insane enough in our area this past week, so it'll be a little bit of a sacrifice, but we know that this is God's work, so we'll just trust that this is all happening for a reason :)

Okay! Lets see! Oh I realized I attached the wrong scripture two weeks ago.. I meant to quote Hebrews 6:10: "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. " Heavenly Father is fully aware of all that we do for His kiddos. Even if we don't get recognition from the world for it. So keep serving. Keep loving. Keep ministering :)

I got to see Denis last week! I ran into him at the visitor's center when we were meeting there to exchange with some sisters! It was SO GOOD to see you Denis!!! He really has changed so much from living the gospel of Jesus Christ and having the permanent gift of the Holy Ghost. So proud of him.

We finished exchanges! So that's good!

This week, as always, was a week of miracles!

On average our mission gets 30 referrals a week per zone (which is for like 13 companionships). A referral is when someone gives you the number or address of someone they think might be interested in. Well Sister Jones and I got zapped again this week. (Heavenly Father is so patient with us, haha). When you ask for one referral.... you get one referral. When you ask for 15 referrals from someone, you get anywhere from 4-17 referrals!! So what we've been doing is having everyone (members, people on the streets, less actives, etc.) pull out their phones. We ask them to go to their contacts and we ask "Will you give us the names and numbers of 15 people from your contacts that need to know God loves them? We'll just call them and say we're your friend and ask if we can drop by a free dvd of Christ (the Finding Faith in Christ dvd), show them a Mormon message, or give them a picture of Jesus." It has been so cool! People just give them to you! We got 110 referrals! Now we just have to find time to call them all..........

Remember last week how I said we have developed the mentality of dropping people who aren't prepared to act now? This week we still had to drop our man Earnest. Remember him? Starting in August we just taught him every other week and saw him at church..But we put a huge emphasis on the Book of Mormon back then. HE has read it everyday! He sends us a Bible scripture and a Book of Mormon scripture every night. He's reading in Mosiah! But he still wasn't committing. So as painful as it was we went in to drop him this week. We re-taught the Restoration boldly, stated our purpose as missionaries, and our member present testified like a boss. We said we couldn't work with him anymore until he was ready to be baptized.... DID HE DECIDE HE'S READY NOW? AND WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED NEXT SUNDAY? YES. YES HE DID. We laughed, I teared up, Sister Jones put her head on the table... we were shocked, haha. Anyways! Earnest is getting baptized next Sunday! The Book of Mormon really did change his heart the past month. It was so cool. He is so cool. We are so proud of Him. The mission as a whole started over reading in the Book of Mormon together this week and we are following a schedule to all finish it together by Christmas. We are reading it focusing it on our missionary purpose. So fun. It's just a true book, you know? :)

We taught a lot of less actives this week and it was so cool to see how many came to church yesterday!!!
We had a mini-missionary this weekend! She was from Heather's ward and was so adorable.

Something I have learned about myself on my mission: I am a nuts-o planner. I mean, we all always knew that. I had written out 5 life plans and I can't go to an amusement park without my schedule. But I've also realized that that's why I would go skydiving and not scuba diving. I know exactly what will happen in the first one and I would go diving into the unknown, haha. I have a million 1-minute lesson plans for a street contact, so I'm not scared to do them. I just have to follow the spirit to figure out which one I need to do. Anyways, I realized how nuts I am about my plans. But I have learned to be flexible. But still, God says "if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear" haha, I just like to be prepared :) Also, I have learned from the Preach My Gospel manual that it is so important to "set goals and make plans". Anyone can show their faith and make a goal. But real faith comes when we show God we are committed to working hard to make our plans help us reach our goals. I probably already ranted all of this to you all like a month ago, haha. But there it is..

Something President said in our zone conference this week that I really loved was "Christ doesn't expect you to be perfect. He just wants your heart. He just wants you to want to become like Him." Which reminded me of the quote I put in the subject line from the hymn Come Thou Fount. Take it and seal it <3

Here is a lesson that we have been sharing with a lot of our less actives, so I'll share a summarized version with all of you:

When Christ is fasting for 40 days in the wilderness, Satan comes and tempts Him face to face. The very first thing he says to Christ is "IF thou be the Son of God, do this..." aka the very first thing He attacks is His identity as a son of God. Why did he do that? If Satan can convince us to forget that we are sons and daughters of God, then he can convince us to do anything. For example if I know that I am literally a daughter of God, then all of a sudden the decision to not be addicted to a substance becomes instinctive. Or all of a sudden my confidence shoots through the roof. If I understand I'm a daughter of God then I will never fall asleep in my prayers or be late to church, etc. Anyways, there are 3 things that God has given us to help us remember who we are and to give us that protection we need to deny Satan's temptations (just like Moses in Moses 1:6,12-13,16 [in The Pearl of Great Price Book] --he is a stinkin' boss). Those three things that literally keep us alive and are the key to being truly happy are: CPR. Church, pray, and read! Every day. Every week. He wants us to be filled with joy and purpose every day. Not just a verse a week, but filled everyday. Maybe somedays it's just a column we can read or a page, but it's worth it to feel filled. Don't get me started on the difference in my prayers pre-mish to now. IT's worth it to talk to Him the exact same way I talked to my mom everyday walking home from school. And then church. Oh mercy. Would you ever skip out on the day of your baptism? No! Taking the sacrament is jsut as important as the day of your baptism. So don't you dare miss out on that feeling of being just as clean as the day of your baptsim

Ah! Gotta go! Out of time! But know that I am so happy here. I can see that this is His work. The field really is white here, already to harvest. I feel like I am finally becoming the missionary and person I have always wanted to become. I love you all so much! Thanks for your support, prayers, and love. It really means a lot to me.! Make it agreat week!
love,

Sister Atkinson :)

We'll love one another and never dissemble, but cease to do evil ande ever be one:)

We got back from vacation this evening so I am sending this along, a little late, as her next p-day is tomorrow. (Well, actually today, as I notice the time!) As usual she is as bold as ever! Thank you for you love and support of her. Dawn

September 9, 2013

Hello!!

Everyone sounds so busy with school back in session and such! Time means nothing to me here, haha. Especially since the past few weeks have been the hottest it's been since I got here. We just need our DFE (daily fan exposure). After running every morning, we just lay in our dirty floor in front of the fan. #best10minutesoftheday

GOOD LUCK THIS WEEK MICAH! OBVI, I AM THERE IN SPIRIT! [Note from Dawn: Micah's Senior Recital was Saturday night.] 

Lets see this week was a good one!

We went on 3 exchanges, so that was nuts. But I got to be with Sister Barney (my trainer)!! It was so fun to catch up and see how much we've grown in the past few months. Oh my gosh, I just realized today is my 8 month mark. Can time respect me? Oh. I say "can you respect..." all the time now. Sister Jones' Korean companion said it, so now she says it, and now I say it, and now our whole branch says it. Like if you accidentally drop the Book of Mormon you're carrying you say "can you respect the word of God?" or when sister Jones got sick yesterday I asked "Can you respect your health?" I know, I'm nuts. Also, I have so many people in this mission saying merciful, mercy, and nuts. Haha, I think I'm done with my lingo binge.

I went to two bike areas this week! My butt, excuse me, booty, hurt so bad. It was awful. I totes got honked at. I almost yelled "Can you respect the share the road signs?" but then I remembered Christ's name was on my chest. [Note from Dawn: her name badge says The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on it] So not my best. Bikes are actually fun because you get to talk to more people. But lets just say Heavenly Father knows my lack of balance well enough to not send me to a bike area (fingers crossed).

On one of the exchanges I got proposed to by this old man. Obviously I told him yes. He gave us these teddy bears he had as a sign of his gratitude (he had a garage sale on Saturday). I put it in my backpack. The next day I opened my backpack at the library and Sister Jones was like "what is that awful smell?" We then realized the fumes were coming from my backpack! *cue typical Ali reaction* The bear smelled like skunk. I accidentally left it in there for our district meeting. We had to give a training, so obviously I apologized to everyone for smelling like skunk. Naturally the elders informed me that some drugs smell exactly like that and that I should throw the bear away asap. Welcome to my life. :) But we got that man (aka my future husband) to commit to a baptismal date, so I count it all as a giant win.

The other bike exchange also produced a hilarious story. The sister I was with had to stop at a restaurant to use the bathroom at night. We were locking our bikes up to a street sign when this 20 yr old Hispanic kid approached us. His boxers were very much exposed and his shirt was very much off and he was very much intoxicated. He couldn't remember his number or address. He practically gave us his wallet. Not his best. It was hilarious though. My true sassy side came out. Like no reservations sassy side. #itfeltright "Kevin. If you throw up in my bike, I will kill you." "Kevin. Drinking is stupid. Do you feel stupid?" "Yes." "Are you going to do this again?" "No" "If you get drunk like this again, I will come find you in heaven and ask you why you were stupid." Don't worry, we only talked to him long enough to give him a picture of Jesus and point him to the closest bus stop.

Exchanges are great! Love my sisters. We have sisters from all over! (even Fiji and the Marshall Islands---one of them, her family doesn't even know she's on a mission). It's such a neat opportunity to serve and learn from the other sisters. They are all so different with very unique circumstances. But it helps me realize how aware of the individual Heavenly Father really is. I still struggle with not being able to help people the way I want to. But I recognize that I can't save everyone. These are His kids, so it'll be okay.

Sad news---Sidney's parents did not react well...at all...to her baptism. And she decided to not get baptized yesterday. We haven't seen her since she told her parents :(

We got lots of referrals this week from members. #righton

The work is moving along surely enough. Sister Jones got sick the past day and a half, so I probably made 200 phone calls and texts at least and caught up on the past month. But we have lots of appointments with new people this week, so that's good!

We got zapped again this week with a new way to change and to progress the way we work. I realized I have spent a lot of my mission trying to pull some people along--trying to force them to meet with us, devoting so much time to them, trying to change. I am now developing the faith to drop those who aren't ready right now to find those who are prepared now. In Doctrine and Covenants 29:7, it talks about how we are called to gather the elect, or those who are prepared. The elect will hear the message and act on it. We have changed our way of contacting. If people aren't sketchy fools and try to schedule an appointment with us a week later (they are never there a week later), then we drop them. We now say "We will meet tomorrow. What works best for you: morning, afternoon, or night". We have a no potentials rule. Either our street contact is a new investigator (they have to have a set return appointment) or we give them a card, testify, and give them back to the Lord. It is insane how different our contacting is now. Even when I was in a wealthier, non-multicultural area on exchanges, we found 4 new investigators in 2 hours. With the mind set of, this is their only chance to accept it (because we won't call them later), my testifying becomes even more bold and passionate. It has been hard to drop people, but Sister Jones told me we are just turning them back to the Lord. Oh, hang on one second. Some lady just yelled at my companion about using her computer [they are at the library]. Bless her heart. She got her flight plans for when she goes home today and she's sick and people are nuts. Mercy. Okay I'm back. Anyways, I finally feel like we are working effectively. I just want to see the fruits of the past 8 months effort, but I need to not be so selfish and impatient :) I'm very happy where I am. I pray for you all! I love you all! make it a great week!

All my love,

Sister Atkinson

Press forward saints with steadfast faith in Christ:)

September 2, 2013

Hello everyone!!!

Merciful. Do every one of my emails say "this week was nuts"? Well, this week was nuts. And it has only been since Wednesday that I last wrote, haha. I actually did a pretty good job writing in my journal this week! So I'll try to just write from there this week :) obvi, I will be more personal than I probably should with you all. Got to keep my emails home interesting ;)

Some moments were pretty exhausting, haha. I think it's because we had deadlines. We never have deadlines, haha. Some mornings we say it's a "school tired" when we woke up. #donotmisscollegerightnow And then we had to change our logo on our website because we can't have Angel Moroni on it (no official affiliation with the church). But it turned out okay! Excerpt from Friday "No time to write, but I'm watching (the sister I went on exchanges with) skateboard on her stomach across our bedroom. That basically sums it today, hahaha".

Saturday was just kind of a nightmare honestly, haha. We were on exchanges. I get a call at 10:09 from one of the assistants to the el presidente.

"Are you coming to the meeting?"

"The one at 12:30 for sister training leaders? Yup!"

"No...the one that started at 10 for all of the YSA missionaries."

"Uhm...no...?"

"Did you not know about it?"

"When can you get here?"

..............-_- (we live an hour away).

I go to my bathroom to brush my teeth super fast to find a TON of ants on my toothbrush. Lets just say it went down hill from there, hahaha. Of course Sister Jones and I laugh-cried (when you cry from laughing so hard...or just are so frazzled you let out the tears...) our way through that day. We lost the keys for 45 minutes and ran over a curb and almost ran out of gas on the highway in 95 degree heat, etc. etc. etc. hahaha.

But I just felt frustrated with some missionaries and some circumstances and my weaknesses and the ants, etc. I remember just looking at Sister Jones with tears in my eyes just saying "All I want to do is teach and baptize." But God asks us to do His to-do list. Not our own.

I can't remember if I shared this insight with you all before. So obviously I will share it again. 3 Nephi 17 is one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon (probably because it's my mom's, haha). Anyways, Christ just finished visiting and teaching the people in America. He basically says 'Heavenly Father has some things for me to do, so I gotta go, but I'll be back later.' But...He looked at the people. They had tears in their eyes. They wanted Him to stay. Obviously if God needed him to do something it was very important. But did He leave to go do that? No. He stayed. He ministered. He healed. He helped. He loved. Sometimes Heavenly Father asks us to delay one of His to-do lists for us, so we can do a more important to-do list for Him.

Anywaysssssssss----Sister Jones is a champ and half and obviously gave me a bajillion otter pops and a bajillion feel-good scriptures. This one was my favorite in Doctrine and Covenants Section 78:

" 17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;

18 And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours."

From my journal "It felt good to let it all out even if it was completelyyyyyy against my nature, haha. Remember that God knows I'm trying. Have faith. press forward. It will all work out-just trust Him. I'm not here on this mission or here in this life to be recognized for the work I do. I'm here to do His to-do list. Not my own. Be humble. Love Him. Love His children."

And that what happened? OBVIOUSLY, SUNDAY WAS A DAY OF MIRACLES.

I'll just write from my journal again.

"We had 26 new people at the branch today!! (nonmembers, less actives, and active members from the stake who should be coming...including 13 Samoans :) :) :) ) We taught a combined Sunday school were we "launched" our website, taught about our true identity as children of God, and member missionary work. SIDNEY PASSED HER BAPTISMAL INTERVIEW. We "mobilized" our branch missionaries (members whose calling it is to help the missionaries, aka help us find, teach, baptize, reactive, and encourage member missionary work---lets be serious: have we ever met a ward missionary who ever did that? Who knew that it was all in the church handbook?). Each of them is assigned 1 unknown name from the ward list to call each week. They can follow a script we made if they want to, so it is so simple. It will help us clean up our ward list and find and teach inactive members. They are also assigend 1 active member to call each week. With the referral activity we did last transfer (3 amigos), we have tons of potential member referrals, but following-up has been awful. So our branch missionary will call the member (once again they can follow a very simple script) and follow-up on each of the member's 3 amigos. The goals is for us to have them set up 1 appointment with a less active each week for us and 1 appointment with a member's nonmember friend each week. And there are 6 branch missionaries.

Operation #sos or save our singles with our zone is going super well!!!

We FINALLYYYYYYYYYYYY planned for our people!! It was a huge relief for me. From #sos (stake, less actives and actives), our investigators, our potentials and referrals from the past few weeks that we haven't been able to contact since we have been planning and organizing and ministering SO much, we have well over 100 people to contact ASAP..... What?!?!?! But it is more exciting than anything.----Sister Jones just leaned over to me and said. "Sister. God wants us to teach and baptize this month. I can just feel it." I'm so excited.---- Also, the stake president gave us two less active YSA's info from the stake that he and his counselor went and viisted. And from those visits we got a legit referral! Now if the stake president is taking time to do this.........SO cool! And I know I already mentioned it, but Sidney's getting baptized next Sunday!!!!!! She cried in her prayer yesterday as she said "Thank you so much for sending the sisters into my life...I am so eager to get baptized." Happy Happy! Joy Joy! We are just praying her parents will be understanding. Whew, September 2013 is about to be the best month of my life. The past month took a lot of faith to drop the sickle and build tools and organize everything. But it is so evident to me that God is consecrating our efforts. But this is His work, so whatever happens is going to be just fine. Love my Savior! Love you all!    Sister Atkinson

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Hello everyone!!

Merciful, where do I begin?

Lets see this week it felt like Sister Jones and I finally got our act together, haha. It all started with a deep clean of our apartment (I mopped the ceilings, haha). We reorganized our living room. We got a giant dry erase board from Home Depot for $13 and hung it up. And then we put our desks next to each other facing the wall---obviously we feel like we are working at a NASA command station or something. And we put lots of Jesus pictures up, so it is much better.

We didn't see an ant inside for a good 72 hours. But then we didn't clean up the Otter Pop cutting station (the tops of the wrappers and the paper towel), so that was that. We did have some traumatic bug experiences. There was a giant. GIANT. giant spider on our gate. gnarly picture to be sent home today. The worst was the other night. We had just gotten home. I went to put my hair up in a bun on top of my head (like every night) while Sister Jones made a call outside in our front gated dirt area (because we ain't got no service in our apartment). Then all of a sudden she yells at me "sister. bring your flashlight. and your camera. and the raid." that is never what you want, haha. I come out to find a literally 3-inch thick trail of ants. DISGUSTING. It was pitch black so we followed (and video-d) the trail with my very small flashlight. Followed it ALL AROUND THE OUTSIDE OF OUR APARTMENT. Like the entire thing. Like 100ft long trail. Those nasty creatures are so organized. It was fascinatingly awful. We could only see a few inches of teh trail at a time because of the size of the flashlight, so obviously the video is very dramatic when we randomly shine the light on a giant spiderweb and spider. Or when the ants would randomly shoot up the side wall of our apartment. Sister Jones tried to suppress my screams. It was impossible. The worst was in the back of our house (aka sketchville) we hit the light on a HUGE cockroach. That was the end of teh adventure. I refused to go any further. We used our entire can of Raid and didn't get 'em all. The bugs in this area are equal to the parallel parking anxiety of my last, hahaha.

The days this week have completely blurred together.

Oh my gosh, everyone of the others sisters are done writing their email but me. My bad. Okay this is going to be all over the place.

-operation #s.o.s. saveeeeee our singlessssssssss is in full force! Yay!!! well we are training our branch/stake people this sunday. But everything is scheduled out on how we're doing it (what we spent most of our week doing). We trained our zone last week! All the companionships are assigned 6 singles a week in their area. They are awesome! And setting up appointments for us like nuts! We are already seeing the miracles! We got our first real taste of it yesterday. Hearts are softening.

It is so nice to be back to teaching. After Sunday, we should be able to get back to purely teaching (which I have missed so much). But the past 6 weeks, Heavenly Father has asked us to necessarily do a different type of missionary work. We kind of felt like we were doing 45 peoples' jobs, but now it is all delegated out and we are just doing our part! yay! What changed my life is the following process: we would take any category (such as: our companionship, our branch, our investigators, our branch mission leader, how we find, how we baptize, visiting teaching, etc) and think about what the perfect world situation would be in great detail (for example: our branch mission leaders sets every appointment for us, we only teach members' friends, we outreach to all 800 less actives, etc). And then we would write out the 'now'. And then we would pray lots, study lots (in the online church handbook, etc) on the 'HOW' we get from where we are 'now' to the perfect situation. My new favorite phrase is "we all just need a to-do list!" And it is so true. Then you just have to 'inception' everyone into thinking their to-do list is their own idea. That's how we've gotten where we are right now. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it has completely changed my life on how I think about things. We have a very specific to-do list on how to improve and we are just shooting for it. I am sure it is not the perfect way to get to the "perfect world" situation, but it is fascinating how Heavenly Father is literally consecrating (or making holy) our efforts. One of the biggest realizations I have had since I have been on my mission is this: I thought I was coming here to help people, etc. But God could have done my work so easily himself. So why did He entrust part of His work to a very prideful imperfect 20 yr old girl? When He could do it so much better and so much more effectively Himself? Because He loves me. He wants me to learn and to grow. I thought Heavenly Father sent me here to help others, but He sent me here so He could help me. And that He could have the others here help me.

On Saturday we had a super cool experience! Elder Richards of the 70 came! He only met with the zone leaders and the sister training leaders. It was very intimate setting and a very special opportunity. He taught us about the word 'minister' and how Christ ministers. I do not have time right now to do it justice. But it was so cool. And he taught us about how it is all one work---the work of salvation #holla. I'm trying so hard. And Heavenly Father really is consecrating my efforts.

Loved the temple today. So much. Everything always comes back to Christ. Always.

I'm so happy! I love you all so much! And obviously go check out www.theysabranch.com! :)

Make it a great week!

Love, Sister Atkinson