We Are All Enlisted Til the Conflict Is O'er, Happy Are We! Happy Are We!

Hi guys, I still have no pictures but Brittany is going to help me this week so if all goes well you can see what she did while in Provo at the MTC and then if she sends more next week, we will be up to date! Thanks for your support of her.  Dawn

hello all!
Today the sun is shining and is just one of those days you can't help but smile!
A big shout out to those who have written me letters and who commented on the ol' blog posts. Thanks! (my mom even forwarded me the zorz from Colton. Scotts-love you and hope you're doing well! Sar-love you! Write me!) Taylor is your competition this week? Good luck! Kel-heard you asked mom what to send me, haha--Gum! We chew it during our studies. Thanks so much! Love and miss you all!
I forgot my journal at home, so lets see what I can remember from this week!
-yes mom, our apartment is furnished. and yes we get fed almost every night :) we pass around that meal calendar at church until it's full, haha. We get a lot of pizza and soups and spaghetti from the young singles and lots of creative dishes from the young marrieds. We even have gotten swiped into the cafeteria at the dorms :) Sis. Barney is a health nut and she is keeping me healthy. Except she never eats the candy we get....aka more for me. haha, just kidding--we give candy to everyone! we leave it on doorsteps, give it to investigators, hand it out on campus, etc. Candy is the way to people's hearts. Also, Sis. Barney let me graduate to running out in the real world. The (c)ankles are really holding up, haha and I actually enjoy running now. (#miracleshappen. oh and yes, I still make my bed every morning :D ) We see so many homeless people. This one homeless guy we run past every morning, we need to be friends because we see him every day. It is hilarious to watch people's reactions as two tall white girls run past them at 6:30 in the morning and quite cheerfully say hello or good morning. People think that people in L.A. are mean, but really they just are too passionate with the car horn. People are generally really nice to us. One woman in the laundromat this morning randomly told me I had beautiful complexion, haha...and I have rosatia!
-we had another young woman serve as a mini missionary this weekend! She may or may not have taught some false doctrine in one of our lessons, haha, but it was so fun to have her!
-we spoke in church yesterday, haha. missionary work was the topic. obviously. I talked about how "every member a missionary" really means every member is a disciple of Christ. Part of our covenant or promise we make at baptism is to stand as a witness of God at all times, in all things, and in all places. I might have Christ's name literally written on the bottom of my name badge but when we are baptized we all promise to write His name on our hearts. We are disciples or learners of Him. We are all learning and trying to become like Him and to say, do, invite, serve and testify as He would.
I feel like I haven't really told you much about Sister Barney. We get along so well. We love working and we love people and we love teaching and we love laughing and we love the LDS singer, Alex Boye. "This companionship really is a trio--me, you, and Al." Remember how I found that 90s pop cd of Alex Boye doing hymn covers like he was a Backstreet Boy? All day. Everyday.
Yesterday in the UCLA ward council, it was so fulfilling to see their surprised faces by how much work we are doing. I love working on campus.
-Ashley is doing well! We met with her a couple of times anddddd she came to church! My favorite lesson we had this week with her was when we addressed her concerns about baptism and watched lots of Mormon Messages videos and talked a lot about faith. I love that girl so much. She is telling her Mom tonight about being baptized on March 9 or 10 so keep her (and her Mom) in your prayers!
-Allan. Oh Allan. I get so passionate about the gospel in our lessons with him. Sister Barney said after one of our lessons with him this week that all of my experiences in life help me with teach him and explain things to him. (shout out to growing up in the Bible Belt ;) ) We talked about the Book of Mormon a lot in our two lessons this week. We talked about the Book of Mormon logically (using that "essay assignment" thing Dad did once? It was in a book Mom gave me. It basically talks about how it's impossible that it was made up by Joseph Smith) and then how we have to understand it spiritually and watched the Restoration dvd. I basically tell him in every lesson that I refuse to give up on him, haha. He asks deep questions and I love studying in the mornings so I can be super prepared for our lessons with him.
-Kent! Kent is a new investigator who is from Salt Lake (go figure), but he never took the lessons from the missionaries. He has Aspergers (sp?) and is super smart and super sweet. He is really dedicated to school and struggles making time, but he has felt the Spirit and keeps saying "it all makes sense". Love him.
-Kelly. Have I told you about her before? She is a sweetheart whose best friend is Mormon. She comes to church almost every week and basically lives a Mormon life, but doesn't want to be baptized because she thinks that confirmation will come naturally rather then really working for it. She's a tough one. :)
Is that too much information about some of our investigators? I hope that isn't too much. We talk about having that desire to know all the time. Lots of the time people don't know what they are missing.
We are struggling finding people to teach in the Young Single Adult Ward. Some of our UCLA students can go to the YSA ward instead. It's hard to place people. We are doing lots and lots of work with less actives in the YSA ward which I definitely love, but we are praying that we can finally contact one of our several referrals for that ward (nobody picks up the phone and nobody is ever home. we even leave sweet notes and chocolate. :) )
-this week was the first time I have knocked on the door and knew the person saw us and hid in the back so she didn't have to answer, hahaha. Oh mercy.
-oh oh oh 58 new missions world wide?! HOW EXCITING.
-I love working hard and I'm determined to make better use of all of our time. The days when we are so tired we crawl into bed are my favorite. The other days where we have to sit in meetings and only can have a couple of appointments I get anxious.
-I'm particularly grateful for the Priesthood this week. And the Gospel Principles book explains things so well
-I didn't see any celebrities from the Oscars, haha We stayed away from that part of town yesterday.
I'm just so happy and grateful today! I love you all so much! Remember to smile and to pray :)
Thanks for everything!
Make it a great week!
Love,
Sister Atkinson :)
p.s. lots of pictures will be sent home on my card next week. stay tuned :) Mom did you ever figure out how to post them? I left instructions on that page... Oh and tell Ashley thanks so much for her package!!!!!!!!!

'O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever."

Sorry guys, I have not yet been taught how to post her pictures. Hopefully I will learn soon. Dawn

HELLO ALL!!!!!
Time flew this week.
The scripture in my subject line is one of my new favorites (2 Nephi 4:34) and it goes along with Isaiah 26:4 and Proverbs 3:4-6. New life motto. Trust in the Lord. It will all work out. :)

Sorry if I came off preachy last week, I'll be much more reserved this week, haha.
-Picture of Dad walking across Summers Street in the rain in newspaper was hilarious.
-The other day I was standing on the street waiting to get in the car and this giant white van speedily drove past us. The sliding door was open and this girl was hanging out of the door and called to us , "we ain't on crack." when she saw my surprised expression, she gave out the funniest cackle I have ever heard. "HEH. HEH. HEH." At that moment, I thought, "this is real life. this is not a youtube video. this is my life. ohhh mercy, my life stinkin rocks." yeah. never a dull moment in L.A. :)
-Eclipse gum car cup? Helped Sister Barney and I survive our studies and plannings the past two weeks. (we only chew gum in our apartment).
-This is way late, but can anyone tell me how Taylor's recital went?! I'm sure you did great Tay!
-Thanks Zack Long for commenting on the ol' blog! Mom forwarded it to me. Can't wait to hear from ya :)
-Loved the WVU Mountaineer on top of Seneca during fall picture you sent me Mom. go 'eers. And loved the Elder Holland quote from October 2012 General Conference typed all artsy. During that talk is when I got my 100% going on a mission prompting. I've been able to read it or watch it and the announcement about lower missionary age a few times since I've been out. I haven't cried much at all since I've been out, but I always tear up when I hear/read those two things. Changed my life!
-Okie dokie, Mom you won't get new pictures until you post the old ones and send me the card back, haha..Then I'll send this card home.
-Julianne Hough (famous dancer/actress in the new Footloose? less active Mormon?) ON MY CHURCH YSA WARD LIST. I freaked out when I saw it. No address or number listed, so I can't go knocking on her door. But I did find her childhood email address on an older list, hahaha. Dr. 90210? some plastic surgery reality show? He was in Sister Barney's old ward (Beverly Hills). Maybe I'll get to meet him. Almost everyone we meet has a close connection to a Mormon. It's surprising. We ran into a Korean guy yesterday who went to BYU for 6 months and some of his dad's friends translated the Book of Mormon into Korean. The Church is growing and the knowledge of it is rolling forth to all the world! Speaking of, mormon.org rocks. It's our favorite pass along card. It even has fancy QR code so we're tyring to get people to pull out their iphones and watch a video with us right there on the street or on campus.
-Sister Barney gave me a calendar my first day in the field and we write down a tender mercy or how we have seen the hand of the Lord that day. I have started to write down something I can improve or change for the next day. It really has helped me grow. I recognize how much I rely on the Lord, how much I need to stay humble, and to improve each day through the strength of the Lord.
-Mom asked about Allan. He's still meeting with us. This week we are going to have a lesson with him on feeling and recognizing the Spirit. Hopefully that will help.
-Ashley is doing well. Her friend at BYU is coming home the second week in March so we are really hoping that she'll keep her baptismal date of March 10. She has the faith and the testimony, but a few things are scaring her (family opposition and perfect knowledge and some other things). She is like a younger sister to me. She has progressed so much, and I just know that she'll continue to do so. I have decided that a reason my sister Brittany and I served on campuses/ young adult wards is because we have a Mom who joined the church at that age. We know what effect it can have on a person's life to join the church in the young adult years. I have found myself sharing Mom's story time and time again. Because my mom made that decision, she has an eternal marriage and family. I wouldn't be on a mission right now if my mom didn't have the courage to act on promptings. from the Lord. I love working with people this age!
Valentine's day was one of my favorites yet on my mission. This might sound super cheesy, but I recognized that I feel God's love for people that day. I meet people from all over the world, from all walks of life. Within a few hours the other day, I met an Italian, a Korean, a Lithuanian, a Iranian, etc. I met a homeless man and a professional ghost writer for how-to books. I met a Jewish person, a Muslim, a Southern Baptist who lived in Utah for a long time and was worried about converting us to her beliefs (hahaha, we killed her with kindness and we at least got her to giggle), an Agnostic, and an Atheist. I mean, literally everyone. But every time I meet someone I feel this overwhelming love for them. I have the desire to sit down for hours with them and hear their story and where they came from. I have this overwhelming desire to share what I know to be true with them. That God loves them. That God is their literal Father in Heaven. That He will answer our prayers if we ask. How do I care so much for people that I've known 2 1/2 weeks, 2 days, or 2 minutes? When they tell me a tragedy from their lives, I feel so much sorrow and pain for them. I could type for hours about the individuals I have met and how their trials and stories have effected me. The other night we had a lesson with someone who has been struggling. It broke my heart to hear about her trials in life, but I was overwhelmed when she shared a very sacred and personal experience she had with her Savior. I could feel God's love for her. God loved her so much that he sent His only Begotten Son to this earth. For her. And for me. And for you.

I love working with less actives. People who think this work is all about baptism are a little confused. It's about bringing others, all others, to come closer to Christ. Whether that's my companion, the man I talk to on the street for 25 seconds, to an investigator (someone taking the lessons), the ward I'm working in, and members who are struggling. Don't get me wrong I love extending the baptismal invitation and teaching the Restoration and I cannot wait to see Ashley baptized, but helping people set their sights on the temple? So rewarding as well. Baptism is a hugeeee first step, but eternal life is the end goal. If we can help anyone and everyone get closer to that end goal, that goal of eternal perfection and happiness with God and with our families? happy happy, joy joy. That's not just the purpose of missionaries, that's the purpose for each of us!

I truly love you all so much. Thanks for reading. Thanks for the prayers and support.
Make it a great week,
Sister Atkinson :)
p.s. check out some of the mormon messages and mormon.org videos. love them. share them.
p.p.s.- if anyone wants to email my mom and attach a document with his/her testimony of the Book of Mormon, I would love you forever. Do it landscape so you can fit two on a page. I'll make copies and slip them in the Book of Mormons we give out. Makes a great family home evening activity ;)

lead me, guide me, walk beside me

Hi all, Here is her latest post. She seems a little fired up this week!  Dawn

 

February 11, 2013 

Hello Hello!

Where to begin?  Sister Barney and I have been working so hard. We have met with so many members this week and have been doing a 20 minute referral activity with them and are leaving simple assignments for them. "An invitation makes a successful member missionary." All we can do is invite and testify. If we open our mouths, the spirit will fill it. I have such a strong belief that is no accident where we are at specific times in our lives. Heavenly Father is in the details. The people we associate with, we associate with for a reason. We must open our mouths!

 I have decided that locked apartment complexes (where you have to buzz in to even get in the building?) come from Satan. J Our entire area is like that. It makes it hard to contact less actives or referrals/potentials because you have to call first. People are much more likely to open their door if someone is standing there, than to return a call. I don't understand why people set up appointments with us and then don't show up. Or why they don't just say they aren't interested from the get-go, but I'm already getting used to it. :) I hate wasting time.... I'm working on patience, haha.

 I realized I passed my 1st month mark already! The time has flown, yet I feel like I have been a missionary for months. I have learned so much about this gospel and myself in such a short amount of time.

 

Oh, Oh, Oh! CONGRATS CAROLINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU AND SKYE!!! Engaged!!!!! My mom saw it on facebook  I guess. Someone please tell that girl to write me a letter with details, in all of her free time (which is none, I'm sure, haha). I can't wait to hear all about it!

 

The Satre family, who used to be in our Chas 1^st Ward at church and are now in the Clarksburg Stake? One of their sons is in my zone. John-Mark knows him from WVU. Haha, small world!

 

I loved in my Valentine's package from mom (thanks again mom--you're the best!) the stuff she sent about putting on the armor of God. Thanks for the Joan of Arc pic, Dad and for the Captain Moroni picture, mom. I just read about Captain Moroni a couple of weeks ago. I started the Book of Mormon over again a few days into the MTC and am now at the end of 3rd Nephi. It has been such a power in my life the past month. In the MTC we talked a lot about revelation through the Book of Mormon. Before I read now, I ask a question whether it be "how can I become a better missionary?" or something more specific. I start and end the reading with a prayer. We can't read scriptures like they are novels. The Book of Mormon, especially, is so much more than a story. It's the word of God. It was written for our day. It is another Testament of Jesus Christ. It PROMISES that if we read it and then pray to know if it's true with an open heart, with faith, with sincerity, with real intent to follow what the Holy Ghost directs, then WE WILL get a witness that it is true, that is comes from God. There is nothing more frustrating than people who won't just TRY IT. You'll never know if it's all true, or all a lie, until you read and pray about it with that attitude. MERCY PEOPLE. TRY IT. IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. I have received that witness. I cannot deny it. I don't blindly or naively follow a man, but I have asked God and He has told me in my mind and in my heart. That's why I'm wearing skirts all day, everyday, walking around the streets of Los Angeles. Because I cannot deny the truthfulness of this message. Sorry to preach, but it's so sad that people won't just try it. And we as members, must not take it for granted. I have learned and grown so much as I have changed my way of reading the scriptures. :)

 

I wish I could give you more details of all the work we are trying to do! I have 6 mInutes left, so let’s see what I can come up with, haha.

-street contacting is harder for me than I thought it would be. Sister Barney is very bold and I admire the way she talks to anybody and everybody on the street or in the store. I'm praying for confidence on that one. One thing I love that we have been doing on campus (to people sitting down outside eating lunch so they can't run away, haha) is we say "Hey do you have 2 minutes to take a survey for some candy?" What college kid doesn't want to eat candy? The questions are about their views on family, God, scriptures, prophets, prayer, where did we come from, what's our purpose, where are we going, stuff like that. UCLA students are so open with their opinions, so it's really fun to listen to people. It's effective because it at least gets their thoughts turned toward God and we gain a better understanding of what their needs are and how we can effectively give a 1 minute spiritual thought.

-we had a young woman come to serve a ‘mini-mission’ with us last weekend. She is 16 and painfully shy, but I think she loved it and learned a lot. Sis. Barney and I are a bit nuts and outgoing. Oh,   and Sis. Barney is 5' 9". Hallelujah! She spent Friday night-Sunday afternoon with us. Bless her heart. It was a crazy day Saturday. I wish I could give you more details but I will say we started out the day by teaching a Jamaican who is trying to make it in LA doing Rastafarian music.  I meet the coolest people in LA and it's so nice to actually sit down with the people you meet on the street and hear their stories.

-Ashley (I talked about her last week) is progressing well! We are teaching her about the atonement this week hoping she will gain confidence and get rid of her need for perfection. Allan is a new investigator we met on campus when we were at a booth with some members. He was at the Christian booth next to ours. A member started talking to him and by the time we showed up he had a Book of Mormon in his hands! He converted to Christianity when he came to school. He is very nice and very open. We're worried he won't actually read and pray about it. Hopefully he'll rely on God's witness, not man’s. He wouldn't come to church with us this weekend and went to his. That's okay. Baby steps, haha.

 

Welp, time's up! All is well!!! Thanks for all the love and prayers! Ask me questions and I can maybe answer more effectively!    Love to all, Sister Atkinson

"Hopped off the plane at LAX with my dream and my cardigan..."

Hello All!
I'M IN L.A.!!!!!!!!!!!!
First of all, BEAUTIFUL WEATHER. 70S AND SUNNY ALL DAY, EVERYDAY.
So much to say! I can't believe I've only been here a few days! Thanks to everyone who leaves comments on my blog/facebook! My mom forwards them along to me. I get mail once a week (Thursday) from the mission home but not allowed to read it until p-days, which is on Mondays, so sorry if it takes a while for me to respond to letters and such. Thanks so much for all the mail and love! Love you all!
Got the package Mom! YOU'RE THE BEST! It was full of green stuff because I'm a "greenie" (what we call new missionaries in the mission field :) ). Luckily my companion's mom is a super missionary mom like you, so she understood. LOVE IT! THANKS!
Where do I even start?
My companion/trainer is Sister Barney! Her first name is Jazzy and that perfectly sums up her personality. She is a bubbly and athletic 21 yr old from Cedar City, Utah. She's been out since mid-June. She was called to work in the LA Temple Visitor's Center, but is now working full-field. Which leads me to our area. We are kind of opening an area! We have the LA Singles Ward (18-31yr olds from ALL over LA--so our boundaries are huge) and the UCLA Student Ward (some singles, mostly young marrieds with kids). These two wards had missionaries in them before, but they were Visitors Center sisters who only spend 6 hours a day not at the VC and had one of these wards plus a big family ward. Sister Barney served in the UCLA ward, a family ward, and the VC last transfer. So she knows some people in UCLA. These two wards have never had full-time sisters and it's a big deal that they do now! We had a meeting with the bishops and the mission president in which he talked about this being a trial run. We are getting SO MANY more missionaries soon and it sounds like he'll be putting them in areas like this if we do well/our wards use us. No pressure. So it's all new to Sis. Barney too, but we are ready to do this! We have spent the last few days working SO HARD organizing and planning so our numbers were low, but we have already seen the blessings and miracles from our hard work. I am here to work so hard on the Lord's time and gratefully, so is Sister Barney. LETS DO THIS!
Our wards are AMAZING. We met with the ward mission leaders on Saturday and then of course we had church yesterday. The bishops announced the change in sacrament meeting, had us stand up, etc. They realize the importance of missionary work and we are so grateful to have them. Bishop Thomas (Young Single Adult ward) even quoted Elder Perry who said "A bishop's top priority is the missionary work in his ward." Can we get any luckier?
It's impossible to effectively tract at UCLA and the YSA ward boundaries cover all of Beverly Hills, LA, West Hollywood, etc. so that is also impossible. We are relying so heavily on members, and we are getting the ball rolling.
The YSA ward is so unique and cool. We have people from all over the world in it and from all walks of life. Students, fashion designers (one of them is a guy and has sold stuff to actual big shots. WHADDUP), teachers, lawyers, you name it. All in that ward. UCLA has such a fancy campus! I guess I'm a Bruin fan now. :)
We got lost the other day in Beverly Hills and oh my lanta, the money there. The man walking down the street just screamed billionaire. I have met a lot of Athiests, Catholics, Jews, and Muslims. Surprisingly, no Protestants. It is so interesting to hear all types of views and find comfort that we rely on the Holy Spirit to testify of truth.
I can't begin to tell you all the miracles I have witnessed this week as we have recognized the hand of the Lord in our lives. Some favorite moments this week: our investigator Ashley (bubbly freshman at UCLA) came to church!, talking to 3 Muslim guys from all over the middle east for 20 minutes on campus, and meeting Kelly and Forough, two women who are so in tune with the Spirit, the VC sisters brought them over to our ward for the last hour of Church. Hopefully we'll meet with them this week :)
Oh, since we in a new area, we have a new car and a super nice apartment (usually mission apartments are rough, haha). I'm so spoiled and so blessed. We live a block from the L.A. temple which is HUGE and beautiful. We meet in the ward building directly behind it and we run there in the parking lot every morning. Seeing the sun rise on the temple is one of my favorite moments of everyday.
Tell Mama Virgo (Heather's Mom) that Sister Baker (mission president' wife) gave me a hug from her and that I greatly appreciate it :)
Sorry if this was so scatterbrained, there is just so much to say. All is well. Sister Barney is great. This is the Lord's work. It's great to be a missionary. I have no dobut that I was called to L.A. at this time for a reason. I get that confirmation each day as I talk to the unique people here and testify of Jesus Christ. I still feel all of your love and prayers. Thank you so much!
Make it a great and happy week!
All my love,
Sister Atkinson
IF ANYONE HAS ANY IDEAS ABOUT WORKING IN STUDENT/SINGLE WARDS PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
Brittany, John-Mark, Micah, etc. So excited to be working with this age group! I've always wanted to!

Onward, ever onward as we glory in His name...

hello all!

I'm emailing early today, because we're trying to get everything done before leaving super early tomorrow. I apologize if you blessed souls who have written me don't get responses until next week. My few hours I have to write letters are also my few hours I have to pack...THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL THE LETTERS!

CONGRATULATIONS TAYLOR, FOR WINNING THE CONCERTO COMPETION !!!!! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU! SEND ME A RECORDING!!!!!!!!!!

What a week! Lets start out with the negative first: STOMACH FLU. I got sick on Wed. at lunch and was in my room (really the bathroom...too many details? my bad) until mid morning Thursday. I was weak and tired Thursday, but I was able to go to class and do everything. Friday was In-Field orientation where we were...oriented...about leaving for the field(what we call our actual mission areas), working with members, how to find people to teach, talking to everyone we see, etc. I felt great and full of energy so I ate a normal meal. oops. Friday in the middle of the night I got supah sick again.I planned on going to class late Saturday, but my teacher quarantined me for the morning, so I wouldn't give everyone else this awful plague. Frustrating, but completely understandable. I almost went crazy in my room staring at a wall, but I was able to get a lot done and I tried to make the most of it. It taught me to never waste a moment of good health, haha. And lots of patience.I prayed for strength and comfort, because lets be serious, it's not easy being sick in the middle of public bathrooms away from home. But the Lord most definitely gave me perspective, strength, loving people around me, and comfort. I got a Priesthood blessing and part of it said "know that your family is praying for you." It came as a huge comfort. Thank you for your prayers. My digestive system seems to be almost normal now, haha.

I am pleased to announce that I have only been super sassy once-ish...A group of elders behind us at a devotional were being immature and forgetting that they were representatives of Jesus Christ as they were talking about attractive sister missionaries. As they stood up to check one out I turned around and said, "Hey elders, whatchya lookin at?....Remember we are your SISTERS and we deserve your respect." Oops. (I'm working on it. :)

Yes, Mom, we did have an ice storm this week. They put up caution tape everywhere which, of course, most elders ignored, haha. As long as I make it out of here safely tomorrow (and it's actually pretty snowy and icy today, so fingers crossed), I can proudly say I've survive my first winter in Provo without an ankle injury (nevermind that I was only here 21 days, haha). what's that? no more snow for 18 months? HOLLA.

Speaking of tomorrow---I'M GOING TO L.A. TOMORROW!!!!!!! I'm so excited! I'm so pumped to dive in to the Lord's work with everything I can to find people the Lord is preparing to hear the joyous news of His gospel. My MTC experience has been a great one, even when I was sick haha, but I'm so glad I'm English speaking and only have to be here 3 weeks. To sum up the past 3 weeks, I have to quote Britt when she wrote in my journal some advice, "Your Heavenly Father loves you, but He wants to teach you. Don't fight the Lord's tutoring hand." It all has been one giant learning experience in which I am beginning to recognize miracle after miracle. The Lord's hand is in ALL of our lives. We just need to recognize Him.

Each day, I need to ask how, through the enabling atonement of Jesus Christ, can I become closer to my potential as a daughter of God? Repentance doesn't mean just saying sorry to God that we're not perfect, but means having faith to rely on Jesus Christ to CHANGE each day.The world teaches us to settle and just be ourselves. But my friend told me last semester (and I've said this a hundred times since), "Don't just be yourself, become yourself." Why should we settle for who we are now if we have the potential to become so much more through Christ? The Lord humbles us so He can teach us, bless us, and help us change until that glorious day when we all become perfect in Him. We watched a legendary MTC talk from Elder Bednar from last year on the Character of Christ. Any time the natural man would turn in and focus on the self, He would turn out and focus on others. As we turn out and focus on others and on our Savior, Christ will empower us and take care of the inner concerns.

Thanks for reading my emails everyone. It means a lot to me. If you leave comments, my mom forwards them along to me. (mom I hear you're tagging some of my random friends from high school in your facebook posts, hahaha. oh mercyyy.) I'd love to hear from any and all of you! Please let me know if you have any questions. Especially if you ever have any questions about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Check out mormon.org/faq, get a Book of Mormon, ask me/my fambam, or better yet---ASK THE LOCAL MISSIONARIES. :)

I love you all so much! Find reasons to smile each day!

Make it a great week,

Sister Atkinson

P.S.--I'll have an hour to email once I get to the field so my emailing should improve, haha. And I'm sending one of my SD cards home this week so Mom can post pictures so I don't have to waste computer time.

Note from Dawn: I do not even know what 'tagging' is so sorry to the facebook readers, I am obviously doing that inadvertently.

"I'm glad they called me on a mission...now that I have grown a foot or two!"

Hola errybody!

That is the extent of my Spanish. I was upset I couldn't give more details last week , so I'm going to do my best to type fast and straight from a few journal entries, so sorry if it's so scatterbrained.

What an incredible week!

-My district rocks. WE each have our own little quirks, but we are all here for the right reasons. They are hilarious and teach me a lot. Love them all. I'll try to attach a dysfunctional picture of us and a picture I took of everyone in our classroom. If we're not in the cafeteria, gym, teaching, or in a special meeting, we are in our classroom studying or having class. We only spend time in our rooms to get ready after gym, to sleep, and on P-days. We have two teachers that trade shifts and then 3 zone teachers that hop in and out. They are all BYU students who returned from their missions in the past couple years and I love them each for different reasons.

-Sister Ostler and I are doing great! We have very different personalities, but we work well together. The other 2 sisters in our district (Sisters Bonrostro and Rackleff) also stay in our room, so I feel like I have 3 companions. They are all so sweet, hilarious, and I learn so much from them. (P.S. the theme song from Sister, Sister is like alwayssss stuck in my head).

-Mom would be SO proud to know that I almost always get up before 6:30 and I try to make my bed everyday. #miracleshappen. I think a big factor to me not oversleeping is because I jump (aka fall) off the top bunk every morning to try and shut off my extra loud alarm. No surprise there.

-Tuesday night we had our weekly devotional. the speaker? ELDER JEFFREY R. HOLLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! here's an excerpt from my journal from that night:

"The Spirit was so strong as he bore an apostolic witness of these glorious latter-days. We live in the last dispensation. We live in the time when the Gospel will not leave, it will not fail. We live in the age of preparing the world for our Savior's rightful return. For whatever reasons I was born at this time to serve a mission at this time in January 2013 when the Lord is hastening His work to the children of God. There is no where I would rather be than where I am right now. We are moving forward with work unprecedented by any dispensation. One thing he said that I loved was that previous prophets and missionaries in previous dispensations knew they would fail, but continued strong because they saw our day. He also said "what institution would trust its future to a bunch of escapees from the Aaronic Priesthood? Only the living and true God would have faith in 18-20 year olds."

Okay I'm already running out of time, so I better skip ahead and type some highlights. :(

"The words are Preach MY Gospel, not Ali's Gospel. this came as a tender mercy to me after a week of humility of trying to remove my will from the equation as a missionary."

The last main point to me was his powerful testimony that "THIS. GOSPEL. MEANS. EVERYTHING. TO. ME." I remembered the feelings I had a few hours before in the temple as "my heart, soul and marrow of my bone" was filled with His Spirit. I thought what the Gospel means to me- EVERYTHING. It means everything to any and every child of God if they understood what it is. I wants to "declare it from the housetops" as Elder Holland eloquently stated in the dedicatory prayer (he rededicated 3 buildings at the MTC. and announced our new MTC president).

Okay I need to hurry and try to sum up one the most incredible experiences I have ever had. Saturday, Sister Ostler and I got to work with TRC volunteers where we practice our teaching skills. The volunteer is actuallyyyyyy a less active member of the Church (not just a fake investigator) who wanted to talk to somebody that he didn't know, so his friend suggested he come to the TRC so he wouldn't be judged and wouldn't have to see us again if he didn't want to. Parker is an 18 year old who has been less active since he was 15 after he felt utterly alone as he tried to overcome a problem and just couldn't. The Holy Ghost completely led the lesson as he opened up to us, as we testified of the healing and enabling power of the atonement of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father's individual plan for Parker. I felt like I should have him read Isaiah 53:3-5 rather than my usual go-to atonement scripture. As he read it, his countenance changed, he trembled, and sobbed. It was the only scripture mastery he ever memorized. Coincidence? I think not. Our heavenly Father cares so much about the details of our lives. Parker gave the most sincere prayer I have ever heard to his Father in Heaven. We were all in tears by the end, full of the peace. He knew he is not alone and that as he applies the atonement in his life, Christ can help him overcome and become his potential. I pray for him as he is to act on his faith. I feel this account does not accurately describe the power in the room. I have never felt that much love for someone I barely knew, and I know it is a very special blessing of my calling as a missionary. I know that this is the Lord's work. I'm so grateful I had the timely blessing of that experience with Parker. I know the power of the atonement has the power to change each of us. We are never alone. We cannot do it alone. We need Him everyday. This is His gospel and I cannot express the joy that comes from it as we accept it DAILY in our lives.

Thanks for all the love, support, letters, and prayers.

Make it a great week!!

Love,

Sister Atkinson

 

Notes from Dawn (her mom)

Sorry to say she ran out of time to send any pictures.

A 'scripture mastery' is verses of scriptures students learn when they are in seminary class while high school aged. Isaiah 53:3-5 says: He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and aquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chasetisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Sister Atkinson's email after Week One in the MTC

HELLO ALL!

I'M A MISSIONARY. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN! It has been fun to look back to a little over three months ago and remember that this is NOT what I was planning to do right now, but I am so grateful to be here.

I can't believe I've been at the MTC for a week already!
My companion said to me this morning as I opened a package from Mom, "Wow, you are loved." It is so true. I can feel the love and prayers from friends, family, and church members all over the world. I am so blessed. THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE SUPPORT! A big shout out to those who sent me letters this week! They each made my night as I read them. I am trying to respond to all of them, but time is so limited so be patient with me!

The first 24 hours at the MTC I was most definitely in shock and information overload. But I promise I am doing great!!

Every minute of everyday from 6am to 10:30 is planned out. Even then, I don't feel like there is ever enough time to get everything done I would like to. Ah 14 minutes of computer time left. I CAN DO THIS. Okay:

-My companion's name is Sister Ostler. She is from American Fork, Utah and we were friends on Facebook before we came through that Sister Missionary group. (so Lizzie Ostler if you want to creep Mom). She is great! She is very determined, very bold, very smar, and very hardworking. I'm so grateful to have a companion who has simliar goals at me and it is so fun to work with her!

-I spend most of my day in my classroom with my district. There are 10 missionaries total, 4 sister and 6 elders. (5 companionships). We are all going to L.A. except Sister Bonrostro who is going to the Hawaii Visitor's center. We have 3 districts in our zone or branch. We spend some time each day with our zone. My branch presidency is great! My friend from BYU's dad is actually our Branch president! I have actually run into quite of few people I know and I'm sure I'll see more in the next two weeks. It's great!

-I'm so surprised by how much we get to teach in the MTC. Our teachers role play as investigators (people that they know) and are surprisingly very convincing, plus there are role plays within our zone (I'm pretending to be Taylor, haha. tell her, she'll be surprised), and we work with MTC volunteers.

-My district is so great. It is humbling to work with 18-19 year old Elders, haha. (actually we have a 26 year old elder. so much respect for him.) Everyone is super quirky, but everyone has a great attitude. One of the Elders is from South Carolina and reminds me a lot of the West Virginia culture. I try to keep track of all of his random quotes, but I'll share one with you today. "Oh C.S. stands for coordinating sister? I thought it stood for the Confederate States." yeah. it's pretty fantastic.

-IT IS SO COLD. I don't ever remember Provo being this bitter, but I'm staying very warm. (Mom-you asked if I need my peacoat--don't worry about it!) We haven't gone to the temple yet, but I'm so excited because we're goign in 20 minutes. AH 5 MINUTES LEFT.

The big thing I wanted to say is that I have learned SO much in only a week. It has all been very very very humbling. But as I am being humbled by the Lord, I realize I am able to be taught by Him. I have learned so much and grown so much already. I'm really focusing on Doctrine and Covenants 4:5-6 as who I need to become to be able to accomplish all the Lord wants me to. The word become has had such a huge impact on my life the past 6 months, and now I'm realizing it is ALL over this Gospel. We have the potential to become like our Father in Heaven. HOW GREAT IS THAT? I have had so many moments the past few days where I get so excited about this gospel that I just want to burst (kind of like when my niece Brooklyn puts her fists in the air and grunts--that kind of enthusiasm). I'm learning how to be patient. My companion told me I was so laid back and go with the flow. (What?! I'm already different, haha). But it's true--I have been very introverted in a way as I have tried to take everything in. This is the Lord's gospel, not mine, and I am learning how to put all of my efforts (including my will and way of doing things) over to Him. Well I have 30 seconds left and I could type for another hour. I'll try to write a letter home and Mom can include that. I love you all soo so so much!

Love,

SisterAtkinson