Weeks 9 & 10

Just a reminder on Britt's address.  She is still at

Sister Brittany Ann Wilkins 
135 View Road Appt. A
Steilacoom, WA 98388

Write her lots of letters!! She loves getting them and they brighten her days so much!! Thank you to those of you that have taken the time to write her.  She loves every-single-letter!!!

Week 9

Hello all!!! :) Another long week has gone by and I feel like it's been forever since I’ve talked to all of you! I've only gotten 3 letters this week and they were from sis O’Connor haha which I’m not complaining cuz I just sent out a bunch of letters last Tuesday, it just feels like forever!!! :) This week has been so awesome! I am still LOVING everything about my mission :) I am breaking this e-mail up into sub-categories 

First we will talk about transfer meeting:

TRANSFER MEETING!!!! It was awesome! I got to see my whole district from the MTC and I have missed them so much! The girls and I used to sing every day and now I just have to sing by myself :) haha Sister Hall doesn't like singing with me :P and the elders are such studs!!! I have like 8 little brothers that I just love to death!!! :) It was so good to see them and it reminded me of how much fun I had in the MTC and also the things that I learned!! I loved it!!! I talked to a bunch of the missionaries! It's so fun to get together with everyone! :) We sang "amazing grace" which is my favorite song that we sing! It’s amazingly powerful and spiritual when a whole bunch of missionaries get together and sing!!! Ah! I love it! Starting this month we get to do some firesides!!! YAY! I love it :) this is some of the reason why I got sent to this mission cuz I love to sing!!! :) It was sad to see the missionaries leaving, one of them was an elder in my district Elder Cox! He’s pretty cool, we became pretty good friends :) I always LOVE see president and sister weaver!!! I just love them to death!!! They have such a light in their eyes and they're so loving and supportive! I love it! President came up to me and Sister Hall afterwards and said he had us split up at one time then he put us back together! I told him it was a good thing because I don't know what I would do without Sister Hall! haha so yes I know I am exactly where I need to be! AND I LOVE IT!!! :) Did you know that in July there will only be 6 missionaries out longer than 4 transfers in my mission? AKA next transfer I will most likely be training. PRAY FOR ME! haha :)

Elders In Steilacoom

We now have elders in our area as well!!! :) Elder Torres and Hamblin! Torres has been out about 6 months and Hamblin is a Greenie fresh from the MTC! :) They tract pretty much all day because they are starting from ground Zero! They’re good missionaries though! I know MIRACLES are going to happen in Steilacoom with 2 sets of missionaries! They are bike elders too! I feel so bad for them but we can't give them rides anywhere :P 

Sister Hall 

Sister Hall has become one of my dearest friends! It should be that way when you spend 24/7 with someone for 7 weeks straight!! :) haha but I just love her! She's an amazing missionary and I look up to her so much! She is hilarious too! She told me "the world should know the weird crap that comes out of my mouth" so I'm telling the world! haha we had a lot of fun this week and have grown even closer :) I came up with a list of random questions since I already knew all the basic things about her and it was really fun to get to know her even more! she has some pretty crazy and funny stories! I love it! I have laughed so much this week :) Funny story...about 3 days ago we were tracting on 107th st sw to be exact :) and this guy opens his door and starts yelling at us because he has a no soliciting sign on his door and Sister Hall goes "we're not selling anything" and the man says "you're selling your religion!" and Sister Hall said "no we're not we are inviting" and the man says "well I don't want to be invited that's why I put the sign up" and Sister Hall says "well maybe next time if there's a no inviting sign we won't come!" and the man slammed his door! My heart dropped at first at her boldness haha but then I laughed for like 10 minutes straight. I thought it was pretty clever! But yes I LOVE Sister Hall! She knows exactly what I need to be a better missionary! It great!!! :)

J.

J. is one of our investigators! He's in his 60's! How we met him was pretty cool, I think I already told you about it but I’ll tell you again :) We were driving to a potentials house and all the sudden Sister Hall stops the car and this guy (J.) literally walks towards our car! So we roll down the window and start talking to him. We find that he has just gotten a divorce and has a lot of sorrow and hard times in his life! So we got his information and started teaching him! Well J. got addicted to drugs when he was 12, he stopped in his early 20's but he also got addicted to smoking and drinking. He also drinks coffee. Man, if there is one thing that's hard to let go of its addictions. But! J. is so great and he knows that this is where he needs to be! So he committed to stop :) So Saturday night we go over to his house and watch his pour ALL of his alcohol down the sink and he got rid of all his "smokes"!!! We were SO proud of him!!! We just called him and he still hasn't drank or smoked but he drank a cup of coffee. But he's doing so good! I can't even believe what I have seen the Atonement of Christ do for people! It changes people's entire lives! And it's so amazing! AH! I love it!!!! :) I'm such a proud missionary :D because he relies on his Heavenly Father to help him get rid of his pain and sorrow! And that's all you can do in this life! He loved the plan of salvation, because it's the "why" of the way we live. We live righteously because we want to receive Celestial glory! :) he loved it! :)

Papa R.

Oh papa R.!!! :) I just love him! :) haha papa R. is 71 and he is a manager of a company that cleans military clothes...or something haha :) but he's pretty busy! I know I’ve told you about him before but he is so great! He still doesn't have a baptismal date but he is progressing towards one, he just wants to make sure he's committed which is very admirable. I know that when R. gets baptized he will be in it for the long haul! Which is the greatest thing you can know as a missionary! :) I just love papa R! :)

M./D.

M. and D. are doing pretty good! :) We went over to their house for dinner on Thursday and M. cooked the biggest roast I’ve ever seen in my life!!! It was sooooo good! He’s such a good cook I love it!!! But he told me that he thinks I was a skater chick in HS! Everyone makes fun of me for it now :P and sister hall thinks I’m like Chukie off Rugrats cuz I’m paranoid :) IT FINE!!!  :) I'm just safe :) haha

I have grown in my love for people even more in the past week! I just LOVE these people! And that's what missionary work is all about, love. Because I love them I can rely on my Heavenly Father to work through me to help them :) And I can know through the spirit what they need :) It's so cool. I love being a missionary!!! :) Like I said this week has been so great! and i can't even wait for next week! :) I'm ready! haha I hope all of you are doing well! :) I love you and pray for you all the time!!! :) Remember "Faith in God includes faith in His timing" that was my motto yesterday :) because we had ZERO investigators come to church yesterday, which made like 6 of them fall off date for baptism. It was lame, but I trust God has a plan for them :) haha I know this gospel is true, I love the Book of Mormon, I love preach my gospel! I think all of you should read it! :) I LOVE YOU!!! and miss you :) 

Love always 

Sister Brittany Ann Wilkins

P.s. I’m gonna be 21 in 2 weeks!!!!!! crazier things have happened....but I think it's pretty crazy...! :) 

Week 10

Well hello again family!! :)

Well this week has been...interesting to say the least! Honestly I don't really remember much about it because I've been on pain pills since Tuesday! :P Yes I hurt my shoulder AGAIN! Playing basketball and working out...Probably dislocated my shoulder blade again! It’s pretty painful but I didn't even have to pay to go to the doctor because my bishop (bishop Mortensen) is the best ever and he is a doctor! :) haha so he checked it out and put me on some tramidol or something like that for the pain and then I take some vikiden at night to sleep :P my stake president is also a surgeon so he checked it out and said to put it in a sling but not all day and ice it and rest it and he's going to check it again in a week :) Prayers sent my way would be nice! :) At first it was really hard for me to want to get up and go out because the medicine makes me tired and I have been in a lot of pain. It was hard to focus on the work and not on myself. But I have an amazing companion who doesn't allow me to be a baby! :) I have been so humbled and grown so much this week! I have been able to do everything I’m supposed to and work through the pain! I have learned how to rely on the Lord more and how to forget myself even when it's extremely hard! Sister Hall pushes me and stretches me to be my best and doesn't let me be a slacker ;) haha I love her so much! She is such an amazing example to me! We have become best friends!!! :D I got a blessing from the Elders last night (Torres and Hamblin) and it was exactly what I needed! I am just truckin along! Doing alright! Don't worry about me though! I'm doing great!!! :) So funny story...last night we went to a potentials house and knocked on the door and her husband whom we haven't met yet answered so we started talking to him and he was being super prideful and saying how he didn't wanna go to church cuz he didn't want to have to dress up and he wasn't willing to do what God wants him to do! so Sister Hall tells him he's being prideful! haha and then we talked to him about church and he was just denying it and such and Sister Hall says ok if you ask your child to do something and he doesn't do it because he doesn't want to you're gonna think he's being a pain in the butt! and then she says "you are being such a pain in the butt child of God right now!!!" hahha! I just busted out laughing! it was hilarious :) We're going back on Friday to teach him the plan of salvation :) hahaha! Oh Sister Hall and her boldness :) I love it! So Sister Hall has a story about everything. I give her any topic and she has a story about it from her life! so i was trying to find something that she didn't have a story about! And the only thing i've found so far was a chimney! so 2 nights ago while sister hall was saying mighty prayer (our companion prayer at the end of the day) or fire place makes a HUGE boom noise! it scared both of us half to death! so now she has a story about a chimney! haha I am so gonna miss her stories when one of us gets transferred :/ IT HAS BEEN SO BRIGHT AND SUNNY!!! I love the sunny days here because every sunny day counts! And it's warm and so nice to be outside! I love it! So this week Janice Kapp Perry came to our ward! she did a fireside on Friday that we got to go to and it was SO good! we all sang a medley of her primary songs and her and her husband spoke and at the end we sang As Sisters in Zion and Army of Heleman together (boys and girls like a medley) IT was SO spiritual! I loved it! Her and her family also wrote a family song! Look it up! It’s adorable and I decided when I get home we are writing a family song!!! :) Sister Hall and I have decided to go on a cave man diet! no dairy or grain! It's gonna be interesting :) I have a health nut of a companion :) she makes me do stuff like this all the time! And she makes me wake up at 6 to watch her work out since I can't do anything cuz of my shoulder! So we go down to the gym at the church and I lay on the stage with my pillow and blanket and she works out with the 2 other girls in our district Sister Langi and Sister Peruch! They’re way fun! It’s awesome to have girls in our district! We didn't have any other girls in our zone last transfer! It was sad! haha but anyways TOMORROW! is going to be amazing! guess why?!! WE'RE GOING TO THE TEMPLE!!! awh yea :) I'm so excited! this is our once a year temple trip! I have missed the temple so much! I'm excited to go!!! We've been talking a ton about temple work in our stake lately and I just wanna go! But I’m doing work for the living :) SO my challenge to all of you is to go and do work for the dead!! go to the temple! At least once a month! And do the work for those in spirit prison just waiting to be baptized and receive and make those eternal covenants with God! What a wonderful way we can build God's kingdom on the earth! and what a wonderful place to be! I promise if you will go to the temple you will have a greater peace in your life than you do now :) A scripture that I read during personal study this week really hit me and I have shared it with all of my investigators this week :) it's 1 Corinthians 10:13! Read it! :) I hope all of you are doing good! I know that life is hard, but God will provide a way for you to get through it. Life is but a small moment and it's meant to be enjoyed! Alma 36:27 (I think that's what it is) Is a really good scripture about trials :) Sometimes in life we go through trials and we don't always get what we want and we get into a funk where we just wanna be unhappy for some strange reason...but then we are humbled and decide that maybe we should turn to God and that's when we can receive blessings! If we are following God's commandments He HAS to bless us! He is bound when we do what He says. (D&C 82:10) and if we do what He says and follow Jesus Christ although we will still go through hard times we will be able to withstand the storms because God will lift us up and shower us with blessings! Yay! :) well this next week is going to be wonderful! Jessica-I hope you had an amazing birthday! I was going to write you a letter this week but it didn't happen..I suck :/ But I’m going to write you an e-mail after this :D Kiersten is getting married on Saturday! Don’t forget! Because you have to send me pictures and give her a HUGE hug from me! :) and tell her I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!! and I'm turning 21! I feel old...haha! I am so excited! I love being a missionary so much! and I am so grateful for how much I have learned and grown! I hope all of you are doing the same and exercising your faith! :) I love you all so very much!!! have a wonderful week and remember you are wonderful children of a loving Heavenly Father! :) Love you!

Love Always

Sister Brittany Ann Wilkins :)

sorry if this is short and jumbled, it's hard to type with my shoulder and I’m on drugs :) 

Week 8

I'M STAYING IN STEILACOOM WITH SISTER HALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!! i couldn't be more excited! this whole week I was dreading the transfer call because I had a feeling that I was going to leave, which was actually good because i really realized how much I love these amazing people!!! which is A TON!!! During companionship inventory Sister Hall and I were both bawling haha :) I bet every girl in the mission was crying too :P hahaha anyways, this week was crazy! I'm going start on saturday (4/13) Saturday was amazing!!!! probably the best day ever. We had companionship inventory in the morning and that was good :) then we had a church tour with these guys in their late 40's named Jim and Tavo. When we were in the chapel you could really feel the spirit so strongly. I testified of the holy ghost and was crying. Jim and tavo were tearing up! (ha! I got them!) but we put BOTH of them on date for 4/27 but it will probably take longer than that because Jim is a smoker and Tavo's whole family is catholic and would kill him he says :) But i'm way excited to start teaching them the lessons this week! Jim came to the BAPTISM we had at 3 on saturday! Mike (our recent convert) his son was baptized on saturday! His name is doug he's 16 and it was such a miracle that he was baptized! the first time we met with Doug alone he was so prideful and thought mormonism would "cramp his style" and also thought that God was an entity. NOW he's a full fledged Mormon and proud of it! I was so excited! there's nothing better than seeing one soul come into the fold of God! It was AWSOME!!! :) I love baptisms :) that night we had a ward luau! I dunno if i've told you but one whole side of our chapel fills up with Hawiians and Saamoans (who knows how to spell these things? not me!) but it was SOOOO amazing! the relief society and the young men and women and primary all did a dance! and there was SO MUCH FOOD! of course... :P haha yummy pulled pork and rice and every dessert and side dish you could imagine! :) Jim came to that too and had a lot of fun! During the primary dance we got our dreaded transfer call. Sister Hall and I were jumping up and down and hugging we were SO excited! :D we went around and told a bunch of people and they were excited too! This ward LOVES the sisters :) This transfer something new is happening in steilacoom too! we are getting elders! there's 30 missionaries COMING from the MTC this tuesday 11 are sisters the rest are elders and one of those Elders is coming to steilacoom! along with Elder Torres. I haven't met him yet. But they are poor little bike elders! haha so we got a lecture about giving them rides (WE CAN'T) haha the ward isn't very excited because they LOVE the sisters so much. But I know the Lord has something great in store for the Steilacoom ward! So we're gonna have 4 missionaries in one ward! crazy stuff is going to happen!!! :) Anyways Sunday was a long day because we were so exhausted from the day before, Jim and Tavo came to church and really liked it! yay! :) then we went tracting and it dragged on haha i think we said like 5 words to each other because we were so tired :P But we went to the Brotherson's (they're awesome and we go over there the most, Belinda got baptized last month) and ate some food! It had tofu...I can honestly say it didn't bother me :) haha after that we were a little more energized. So we went to go see some people and this thing darted out from nowhere and started bolting down the road, My opinion was that it was a puny deer but sister Hall didn't agree with me :( she just laughed! haha so this dog that looked like a puny deer was on a mission. So we followed it! and it led us to a new investigators house!!! hahahah! that was the highlight of my day :) We are still teaching Rich, I think i've told you about him but he's about 71 and he's SO AWESOME! The first time we met him we didn't think he would ever start progressing but now he's getting baptized!!!! :) he has so much faith! he's read all of D&C and is in 2 nephi! This guy is dedicated! He also owns his own business and is soooo busy but still finds time to read the word of God and meet with us! We haven't set a date for his baptism because he wants to call and talk to his family about it first so they can have a chance to be there because this is really important to him! He is so solid! I can't wait for his baptism!!! :) We call him Papa Rich :P haha cuz he's like our grandpa :) he's the best :) Can I just tell you that God knows exactly the type of person sister hall and I need to teach!? Mike and Rich and Jim are all so similar it's insane! sometimes they even say the same things! it makes us laugh so hard! :) So Sister Hall has discovered how bad I am at making decisions so she's been making me make so many decisions it's driving me crazy!!! haha but it's good for me! Belinda (brotherson) told me about her "get better book" every week or so she writes down something that she can do to get better that week and works on it! So I started a get better book this morning! I feel like it will be really helpful! because there's always so many things we can work on and make better but if we write one down every once in a while and work on just that for the day or week than we can eventually get better at that thing! So I encourage you all to start a get better book :) literally write down something you want to work on that week and date it. So that when you look back on it you can realize how much you've progressed! because most of the time we don't recognize it! I learned something really cool from sister hall. I wish i could write it down maybe i'll send it to you...but I will explain it :)

All I can do + God's Grace (atonement) = Eternal Life! 

So God's Grace is infinite and so is eternal life! right? so all we have left in the equation is all we can do. Ok so lets say that my "all I can do" is a 27. What is 27 plus infinity? INFINITY! so my all i can do plus gods grace which is infinity equals infinity or eternal life. k? so lets say that president Monson's "all he can do" is 6,000! What is 6,000 plus infinity? INFINITY!!! so the moral of the story is that no matter what, if we are doing all that we can do to follow Jesus Christ, we WILL receive grace and we WILL receive eternal life! SO don't compare yourself to others! because we are all on an equal playing field. If YOU are doing all that you can do you are going to receive eternal life. It doesn't matter what the person next to you is doing! SO STOP COMPARING! :D isn't that cool? Sister Hall is pretty smart :P haha but time is running out so I must go! I love you all so much and hope you are doing all that you can do! Don't get stressed with the things of the world and don't get stressed if you feel like you aren't doing enough, the Lord knows the intents of you heart! MUCH LOVE!!! 

Love always

Sister Brittany Ann Wilkins :)

Week 7

Well another week has passed by. And Man have I learned and grown SO much! This next week is the last week of the transfer so my companion and I are working our booties off! :) We're both convinced (as well as the rest of the ward) that we're staying in Steilacoom. But I find out on Saturday! The transfer is on Tuesday so you will know before I move :) The whole ward is praying that we both stay here! haha they love us :) We're actually going to have elders and sisters here next transfer. So I believe I'll stay here because I'm good at locking my heart and being mature around Elders haha President Weaver told my companion and I all about how we have to be mature :) SO I hope that I get to stay here! The work is progressing so well! This week we went back to the home of a family we’re teaching and I learned how to knit a scarf! It was way fun I will have to teach you ladies how to do it when I get home because they'd be so cute for Morgan and other future nieces of mine! (hint hint..get on that! ;D ) We also watched as they did their family worship. It was intense! This family is like the family from sound of music only better! haha I can't even tell you. I have learned a lot from them.  We also started teaching this other guy, he's in his late 60's and he was a professional golfer so he still loves to golf, he also owns his own business so he's busy a lot. We have taught him the restoration and plan of salvation, he is so responsive to the lessons, after the first lesson he stopped drinking even though we didn't tell him to and he started reading the BOM he's already almost done with 1 Nephi! This guy is super intelligent too!  He's on date for baptism on the 20th!!! YAY! He's way awesome and as I said he's intelligent and the gospel makes sense! Of course it does because it's true! haha I've found a greater testimony of that out here. The gospel is true. I'm 100% positive. We also have visited a guy that is really old and has cancer, he won't let us teach him but he is so sweet! The other day he says "live every moment of your life to it's fullest, you don't wanna get old like me and have regrets" Aint that the truth! Always remember to live your life to it's fullest potential! :) One of the guys that we’ve been teaching that was baptized has a son.  We taught them together but unlike the father, the son was not so sure about being baptized so we started teaching them separate. The son was convinced that being a Mormon would cramp his style, but we talked to him about the blessings and happiness you receive and he committed to being baptize this weekend!!! (13th!) :) This all happened tues & wed! :) Thursday we went to Anderson Island! yay! I finished the head of the penguin and started the body! :) woot! :) haha  A Sister drove us over to her house and took us on the roller coaster! haha it's this part in the road that goes really far up and really far down a few times and she goes like 70mph on this thing! It legitly feels like a roller coaster. I think I lost my stomach,... :P haha Later that day we went and saw another woman, I don't remember if I told you about her, but the first time we took her to church she yelled "congratulations" to one of our converts when it was announced he was getting the priesthood. I am still laughing about it! But she is moving :( She's got a ton of health problems and is going to get help, she really needs friends and people who care about her so my companion and I gave her our home addresses (like in utah) so we could keep in touch so mom you may or may not get a letter from her! She's so awesome and I just love her to death and am praying she can get her health problems in check! 

So a little miracle happened this week, I woke up Saturday morning in pain, dying on the floor :) (i bet that comforts you i probably shouldn't say these things... but alas i'm still alive!) feeling sooooo sick. My companion wasn't having it. haha She needs me :P :) So we knelt down and said a looooong prayer. And I decided that I was going to keep working and put my faith and trust in God and He would support me. So I did, as soon as the prayer was over I started feeling better. It was a miracle because I felt my Heavenly Father putting His hand on my shoulder and could picture Him saying "let me handle this" So I did and he handled it! haha Miracles happen more than you realize! I've been in the field for over a month now! CRAZY! We have some other new investigators!  One is 14 and walked an hour and a half to get to our first appointment! He's really smart and dedicated to learning more about Jesus Christ, He is on date for baptism on the 14th! :) Another woman we are teaching has got a little Texan accent! She’s funny, but like Joseph Smith she has this inward battle of knowing which church is true, so we gave her the first lesson and she cried and cried when we talked about the first vision. She believes it, already. So we told her to pray about it and she is on date for baptism on the 20th! I tell you about all of these people because they all have so much faith! I meet people who don't think they can change because they're "too old" or whatever. We always make excuses for ourselves. But these are people who want to align their will with the Lords! And it is so amazing to see them progress in that faith and believe even more that this church is true. I KNOW this is Jesus Christ's church restored on the earth. And I am so grateful that I have that knowledge. We met a couple of women about a week ago, they're like....born again Christians pretty much, but we went to their house Saturday night and they tried and tried and tried to anti us. They were trying to prove the BOM wasn't true, they tried to prove that their religion was right. What they were saying did not portray the true nature of God. God is Love. God is Mercy. God is truth. And this was not what they were explaining to me. The whole time they were speaking I couldn't feel the spirit, there was a distinctly different spirit of contention. There was a point in our discussion where there was a momentary pause. And I just sat there and bore my testimony to them, a completely new and distinct spirit entered the room and I spoke with all my might. But they just kept trying to prove us wrong. Ha :P when we left I just started sobbing, it is so sad to see people with such hard hearts, DO NOT harden your heart, because you will put a pavillion between you and God. And this is how precious testimonies are lost. When we don't listen to the Spirit and our Heavenly Father. My companion was asking me if I was ok because we had just been around serious anti-Mormon people. And I just said. "of course, I know this church is true, I don't care what anyone says because God told me it was true., I won't take mans word over Gods" And that was that. IT WAS SUCH A POWERFUL NIGHT!!! :)  haha along with that night at midnight I hear my companion exclaiming "sister wilkins! we have to go teach an appointment!!!" and I grunted and looked at my clock to find it was midnight. And she goes "oh it's only midnight, we have a few more hours of sleep." So I just went back to sleep ignoring her :) haha The next morning I asked her what it was all about, she didn't remember any of it! HAHA oh man so yes, my nights are still VERY entertaining :) I've only got 2 minutes left so I’ll hopefully log back on and talk about conference but, I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! It’s the only time i have to consecrate my life to the Lords and I love it with all my heart! And I LOVE YOU!!!! :) :) Hope all of you had a wonderful uplifting conference weekend!

Love, Sister Wilkins :D

I'm back! :) haha I wanted to talk about conference! Man was it AMAZING! I loved every second! AHH!! :) haha I hope you loved it just as much as I did! Because these aren't words of men they're words of GOD!!! :) And all of us are doing our best to get back to our Heavenly Father. So we have a prophet to help us do that so we should probably maybe listen to him... :P :) haha anyways, This conference I went in with a few questions and concerns and it's amazing how well they were all addressed in multiple ways! To start YAY FOR NEW TEMPLES!!! :) and holy missionaries! I almost cried knowing I was one out of 65,634 other people dedicating 24/7 to building Gods kingdom AND I also almost cried knowing I was one out of 14,782,473 other random people all across the earth living their lives trying to follow Jesus and be an example of the believers! We are all building Gods kingdom! And I think we're doing a pretty good job :) My favorite talk if I could choose a favorite would have to be Jeffrey R. Holland’s. I challenge you to watch it again and read Alma 32 and Matthew 17:20! :) I think my biggest take away from conference was to REMEMBER. So often we forget to pray or read the scriptures or go to church or our testimonies. The only reason we sin is because we forget our testimony and relationship with Heavenly Father! That's why the most repeated word in the scriptures is "remember". If we can do that, everything else with fall into place. Remember what the prophet and apostles said to us, go back over the talks! so often we say "that talk seemed like it was just for me" and that's because it is! :) God knows what His children need and we apparently all struggle with the same thing! :) I learned something from every single talk haha but yes, conference was amazing! I want to watch it again and again :) Anyways it's time for me to go, but I love you all and hope you have an amazing week! :) I'm still doing amazingly so don't you even worry about me! :) I LOVE YOU!!! :) 

Love always

Sister Wilkins! :)

Weeks 5 & 6

I'm a total slacker and never posted Britt's letters from last week!  So here is last week's letter as well as this weeks.  

Keep those letters coming! Britt LOVES getting letters!!

Week 5 Letter:

Hi again! Holy crap I have no time because I read your long e-mails and don't have time to type! So write me letters! You can still type them but it's easier to get them in the mail and read them before I come to the library. Ok update time! this week was the best most amazing week yet! I have grown so much and am really getting a hang of this missionary thing! I also found that it's ok to send packages to my abode :) Tell Morgan and Alisha congrats! Their baby is adorable! I have totally given BOMs to the hobos! We also give them brownies! My companion and I are trying to stay away from sweets except at members homes! :) Besides 5-7s we visit people go see less actives or recent converts and teach lessons to investigators or take new investigators on church tours! We stay busy all the time! :) It luckily hasn't snowed here in Steilacoom! There have actually been like 3-4 days that it's been SUNNY and it hasn't rained for the last 5-6 days!!! WOOOT! :) hahaha This week... has been crazy! On Tuesday I woke up not feeling good and my companion decided she wanted to fast so that day I was kind of irritable so I gave it over to the Lord and it ended up being an amazing day! We taught M., during the opening prayer he said it and he started crying. He was so touched by the spirit! Then we were talking and something we said really hit him. and he just came out and said " I know this church is true!" We were all crying it was such a spiritual moment! I'll tell you more about him later :) We have started teaching his son D. separately, he's afraid Mormonism will cramp his style so we're working on him! Then we got a call from J. who is an alcoholic and he said he's been reading the Book of Mormon and had some questions! Then we taught cute little C. and got her on date for next weekend! Wednesday was my month-a-versary! woot... haha! It feels like yesterday you were dropping me off at the MTC! We also had a kind of crazy experience! We were invited by a member of our ward to teach the first lesson to a Unitarian church...they are interesting people I will tell you that! So we taught the restoration to about 20 people that night. The spirit there was so strong especially when we quoted the first vision. MY companion and I were both crying. And afterwards a lot of people wanted a BOM or mormon.org card. We are hoping to go back and teach them again! Thursday was a crazy day! Sister Phillips (sister halls trainer who went home the transfer I came) came into town! So Thursday morning she came to see us off at the ferry since we were supposed to go to Anderson Island! She's super cute and way nice! So we go to get on the ferry and find out that it's broken down and they won't be running it til 12. So we got to go to breakfast with Sister Phillips and her parents and her parents paid for us! They're so sweet! You'll probably get something from them her mom asked for our address to send you pictures! They're form vernal UT! Anyways we went to this place called Carrs and oh my goodness! it is SOOO good! Their pancakes are like flying saucers! I loved it. We'll have to come back and go there one day! We got on the 12pm ferry and went and taught Jackie but I didn't get to work on my penguin :/ so he's still just a little circle! That night we taught Mike again! It was really awesome! We talked about temples and he's so excited to go do baptisms in the temple! haha Friday was a great day! We taught the P. family again (11 from heaven) we taught them the gospel of Jesus Christ and they said they learned more this time than any other time! It was my first time teaching them cuz last time I just listened and I was a little intimidated, but it went so good! :) Then we had a lunch with the whole family! All 15 of us at one table! And they're 3 youngest (4,2,5) sang us the CUTEST little song! As I said before I am in love with this family!!!! :) We also taught C! oh C.....she is a perfectionist! haha So her goals before baptism are to be a scriptorian and to stop thinking about boys all the time. She's 17...we're working on her.! haha! but she moved her baptismal date back to December...we're working on that too :) Friday was also park day! So I got A LOT of walking in :) And it was very warm and sunny! I loved it! The Lord blessed us! That night we had a ward party for Sister Phillips! She was in Steilacoom for the last 6 months of her mission! But it was SO fun! My ward is so amazing and I love all the people in it! We are one big ohana! (the Agor family tree makes up half of our ward and they're Samoan :) ) Then Saturday! Oh my goodness it was such a wonderful day!!! :) M. & B.'s baptism! Just a little background on M.: when Sis Phillips and Hall knocked on his door they NEVER though he would be baptized. He has tattoos and smoked like a chimney and didn't believe in organized religion. NOW he stopped smoking and drinking coffee and has more faith than I’ve ever seen in one man! B.: She is an excommunicated member who has made her LONG journey back and got baptized on Saturday! So the baptism was so nice! M. had to get dunked twice cuz he put his leg up the first time haha. Then I got to give the missionary message. Ok I was scared out of my mind to do this. I haven't taught the first lesson since the MTC and my whole ward was gonna be there and some investigators! I was freakin out. So I got up and at that moment I felt the spirit more than I have my whole mission. Talking about the Restoration, quoting the first vision, I just know it's true with all my soul. We have the fullness of the gospel! YAY!!! :) Afterwards the bishop told me it was the best missionary message he had ever heard at a baptism * Alma 26: 11-12! Of course I was bawling at this point. Then we did something rare, we had B. and M. share their testimonies. B.'s was so sweet and simple and lovely and M. shared 2 Nephi 1:15 which I shared every day in the MTC. He talked about how Jesus has walked with him his whole life and now he's here embracing him. And how he knew this church is true and Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God. It was so amazing. The whole room was crying. Even our investigators. It was truly so amazing. It was the best spiritual experience I've had thus far and I’ve had a lot of them. But in that moment I figured out truly why I am on a mission and what my purpose is. That day was so amazing! The rest of the day we did a ton of tracting because it was a bright and sunny day! That night we took a BOM and cookie brownies to ferry dude Doug cuz he had surgery on his foot and wasn't at the ferry on Thursday, and now we get to go back and teach him this week! :) Sunday was a really good day too! Only 2 of our investigators came to church but it was so spiritual! Saturday was a good day for our ward we had 2 baptisms and a family sealing and it was also stake temple night! So the spirit of that carried over into Sunday. M. got confirmed and he was crying (such a softy!) and then the Lenz's spoke they're the military relations missionaries and their talks were so spiritual and uplifting. They talked about baptism and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then In Sunday school we talked about the scriptures and some of us shared our favorite scriptures. Sister Phillips shared Matthew 14. And I just lost it. I had read Matthew 14 during my personal study. And verses 30-31 really hit me and then in Sunday school it hit me again! I realized how much God knows exactly what each of us needs at exactly what time. He is so merciful and loving and I’ve seen SO many tender mercies. In relief society we talked about Elder Eyrings talk "where is the pavilion" I encourage you all to read it and figure out what you pavilions are. Then decide to follow Christ! :) It's a powerful talk! Over all this week was so amazing! Like I said I have grown so much and I have really come to know with a surety that this church is true and we have the fullness of the gospel. I don't know where I’d be without it. Something that I’ve been pondering on lately is Faith hope and charity. Because those are the most important attributes to have at the last day, especially Charity. Faith: There are so many instances in the scriptures where Christ says "go thy way, thy faith had made thee whole" and I’ve read that line a zillion and a half times but i never really applied it to my life. When we think of faith we know we have it. one of my favorite scripture chapters on faith is Alma 32. When I think of this sentence "go thy way thy faith had made thee whole" I realize that Faith is truly powerful. These people in the scriptures are healed because of their faith. Their Faith has made them whole. If we can just have enough faith, we can be whole. Think about it. :)

Charity: charity is the pure love of Christ, this is something I had to learn with my companion in the MTC. haha I'll tell you about that when I get home...but! Charity is the only thing that cannot fail! Crazy right? When everything else in life fails, charity will not. I have found that it's SO important to view people with the pure love of Christ. because we are here on this earth to really emulate Christ and Charity is one of his greatest attributes. If we have Charity for others we in turn have charity for ourselves and truly achieve the love of Christ.

Hope: this is something we all struggle with. Having a hope that we can all make it to the celestial kingdom. There are so many days where all of us don't feel good enough, but if there's one thing I've learned it's that God is SO merciful to His children, he won't let you fall. Something I learned in the MTC is that because Christ didn't fail if we become like Him we cannot fail. The biggest thing we have to do is try our best. And that's all God asks of us! Ether 12:27 he gives us weaknesses to help us and make us humble. But we still have strengths! and if we humble ourselves before God our weaknesses will be made strong through Him!!!! another aspect of hope is to hope for things which are not seen which are true. That's pretty self explanatory.

Anyways, I am so glad to hear from all of you and happy I had time to write this e-mail I was freaking out a little bit! :) haha I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

I love Steilacoom, I love being a missionary, I love my companion, I love the people, I love my weaknesses, I love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and I LOVE YOU! :)

Love always

Sister Brittany Ann Wilkins

Oh something else..this morning i met the real Jesus. No joke. We got up at 6 and went running and this guy starts talking to us when we were walking back. His name is Real Jesus. No joke...kinda crazy! Also I am sending pictures!!!! Get excited :) Also all the missionaries love me, only because I dated Elder Beach :P jk not only because of that but EVERYONE knows about it...that's the first thing my mission president said to me when I got off the plane. I thought I was doomed. oh another thing is that on st pattys day Mike made us corn beef and cabbage and the corn beef is SOOOOO GOOOOD!!! Oh my goodness I am obsessed with it. That is all :) LOVE YOU!

Week 6 Letter:

Hello Family! And Happy late Easter!!! And Happy April Fools day! Don’t forget to prank your loved ones! :) haha Mom you sent me the wrong camera cord...the usb is too big for my camera :P but thanks for the package! I've officially gained like 3 pounds! Yuck! :P So this week has felt like centuries! haha but it has been good! On Tuesday we went to the P.'s home and taught them the last lesson. It went good and me and Sister Hall were both crying along with the mom and grandpa. They are the nicest people you could ever meet.  Real intent something I have learned a lot about out here on my mission. This is where we have to let go of the natural man and not doubt. We have to be 100% willing to ACT on whatever revelation we receive. That's why we have the restored gospel. Because Joseph Smith was willing to ACT on whatever God told him to do. If God told him to be a Methodist he would've if God told him to be a Baptist he would've that's why God knew that Joseph Smith would be the perfect prophet of the restoration, because he was humble and willing to do the Lords will. No he wasn't a perfect human being because all of us are fallen, but we "know them by their fruits" and the fruits that Joseph Smith produced are pretty miraculous if I do say so myself...I was talking to a lady in my ward about how the world was in such a dark place before the restoration. And as soon as the restoration began the world took off. If the P's will have a broken heart and a contrite spirit they will receive the fullness of the gospel and have everlasting life. I love this family so much! We are still going to work with them as long as they invite us to do so. This week we get to make dinner with them and knit scarves! Ya I'm learning how to knit and crochet now! haha I really just wanna yell out to the world "the grass is green the sky is blue the gospel is true!!!!" Because it's so true. There is no way that it's not. it's so simple. If we can just open our hearts to Christ we can receive eternal life and salvation. Anyways, Wednesday we had zone conference. Hooray! It was fun and I like to see all the missionaries in my zone. :) At the end we found out that we're going to do some firesides! so we sang some songs. One of my favorite songs that my mission sings every time we get together and I cry every time is amazing grace. If you get on the mission blog you can listen to it. But it really is such an amazing song! My favorite part is "my chains are gone, I’ve been set free, my God my Savior has ransomed me, and like a flood His mercy reigns, unending love, amazing grace. Just think about that :) it was a really great conference. Thursday we went to Anderson Island! and I've gotten so far on my little penguin! I’m almost done with the head! yay! :) I feel pretty proud of myself :) haha We also taught J. of course and we read Alma 36 you should go read it. It's a really good chapter! it's about Alma the younger, who was the worst of the worst sinners and it's about how he broke free of the chains of Satan.It's waaaay good. Go read it and ponder on it. I've been praying every night that my conscience will crush me, because Alma the younger was crushed by his guilt. I want that to happen to me with every wrong I do so that I can be more repentant of the mistakes I make so that I can over come the natural man and be an exact follower of Christ. We also talked about how we have all this knowledge on the gospel and all we have to do is act on it to receive eternal life. All we have to do is ACT. Crazy right? If we act on what we know God will let us know more line upon line because He knows He can trust us. God will not give you more knowledge if you aren't acting on the knowledge you already have. It was such a powerful lesson and I learned a ton through the spirit! so go read Alma 36! Haha on Friday I read Alma 32 in personal study which is also an amazing chapter. It talks all about faith. And Faith is something that I work on every single day. Faith is so simple! and by Small and simple things are great things brought to pass!!!!! It's so true though...when you think about it. By the smallest and simplest things the greatest things are brought to pass. Like for example if we are nice to people, that's pretty simple right, but it's so important because we allow the light of Christ to shine through us. Crazy...if we are nice to people we are being Christ like. It's one of the simplest things God has asked of us yet we act like it's so hard to do. And we always have the light of Christ in us, but in the MOMENTS when we let the adversary take hold of us and let the natural man come out we are choosing to follow Satan and he is pulling you down chain link by chain link. Because of something so simple. So make sure that the simple things in your life are made important. Because we are never held so captive as when we free the natural man. On Saturday night a miracle happened! We had some extra time so I told sister hall we should go finish tracting a street we'd been on before. So we finished the street and then I thought of a lady that we met that lived up the street and was interested in learning more so I was like we should go see T. So we walk up the street and we get to the end of tina's little road and we heard fighting and then T. comes running to us. Her boyfriend had been yelling at her. She said that if we hadn't shown up she probably would've ended up in the hospital, cuz her boyfriend is abusive. That is what happens when you listen to the spirit. By small and simple things are great things brought to pass. You can witness miracles in your life!!! in our mission they tell us every day to expect miracles! And I am going to extend the same challenge to you! EXPECT MIRACLES are going to happen in your life every day! Put your trust in the Lord and if you are willing to do His will He promises that you will see miracles. Now i get to the juicy stuff! haha in light of Easter I thought I’d talk about the Atonement. I have never felt the spirit so much on Easter as I did yesterday. But first I have to tell you about church we of course had an amazing program and lessons on the atonement. M. (our recent convert) bore his testimony in sacrament! It was SO GOOD! and he received the Aaronic priesthood yesterday! He’s super solid! He's going to be such an amazing Disciple of Christ then for dinner we went over to this old couples house in our ward and it was so good! we had ham and potato salad and oranges and homemade rolls and ASPARAGUS! YUM! anyways after dinner we went to The Lamb of God. You all need to listen to the music. I bawled my eyes out the whole time. It was about the Saviors Atonement. I am going to tell you what I wrote in my journal:

I am so eternally grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending His only Begotten Son. To live a perfect life so we can model our lives after His. Then He suffered for me in Gethsemane, He felt all of MY trials pains weaknesses flaws, everything. Everything I have experienced and everything I will experience He felt all of it. Jesus Christ knows me with perfection and exactness. But that wasn't all He did for me, he was mocked and scorned, spit on and whipped, the forced a crown of thorns on His head and nails into His hands, wrists, and feet and hung Him on a cross. Tortured, defeated, and Exhausted the Savior was still willing to die for ME, and willing to do the will of the Father. On day 3 he rose as a resurrected being so that I could overcome death. He did ALL of this for ME. and how have I thanked him? Not enough. I am a fallen imperfect mortal, but He still loves me and He performed the Atonement so my imperfections could be made perfect through Him. He overcame spiritual and physical death so I could rise again and live with my family for eternity and also my Heavenly Father. He walked completely alone so that I would NEVER have to. I love Him so much and want to do my very best to access His atonement and not make what He did for me be in vain.

I hope you all had an amazing Easter! and if I can get back on I will write more! But time's up!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!

Sister Wilkins :)

I'm back! The library is busy today so I was worried I wouldn't be able to get back on! But alas I was :) I wanted to tell you that it has been SO SUNNY!!! I think it has only rained like twice in the last 2 weeks! ah the joys of springtime! :) Something else I wanted to write about is my loving companion.... :) who likes to play pranks on me! the other day she shoved one of those Whising flowers in my mouth, I don't remember what they are called but just FYI they DON'T taste good! :P Also I'm still having entertaining nights, Sister Hall does missionary work in her sleep. She's very dedicated. Like last night she was teaching a lesson. and the other night she said a prayer out loud in the middle of the night. and she likes to play with the phone in her sleep too! It's kind of creepy, haha last night she picked up the phone and was pressing buttons but her eyes were closed! I was kinda creeped out but I’ve learned to just go back to sleep. haha and I think I'm going to start putting ear plugs in at night! Crazy child...haha I love my companion though! We haven't had any contention at all. we're completely different but we get along really well. It's good :) Oh! Dad! Remember that song that we used to sing? I think it was called I'll find you my friend? You should send me the lyrics! haha the tune has been stuck in my head but i don't know the lyrics and it's driving me bonkers! Also will someone get me Allyson and Shauntelles addresses? Maybe just make me my own ward directory haha jk. :)

Another thing I wanted to point out about the Atonement is this: the fall of Adam made it so we could choose to be the worst of the worst sinners, but the Atonement of Christ made it so we could be the best of the best! we just have to CHOOSE to follow Christ :) I hope this letter has been uplifting and though provoking. If we could just realize our full potential and achieve it, we could proudly and comfortably stand in the presence of God. I strive for that every day, and it's a long ladder and I have to take it rung by rung but eventually through the grace of God I can make it to the top of that ladder and out of the fallen pit of mortality. I challenge all of you to read the Book of Mormon EVERY DAY. If you make God a priority in your life I promise  everything else will fall into place. I know this to be true. If we can fully put our life in the Lords hands we will receive eternal life. We must look unto Him in EVERY thought and not doubt nor fear. I know that scripture to be true. and it is a commandment from God to look unto Him in every thought doubt not fear not. And if we follow the commandments we can reap great and amazing rewards! Though hard to you this journey may appear grace shall be as your day. I know this to be true. Through our best efforts and the Grace and mercy of God, we can know all is well. I love you all sooooooooooooo etc much! And I think about and pray for you every day. If we can make God our #1 priority we can become perfected. And don't forget that Jesus Christ knows EXACTLY what you are going through. Rely on Him and He will never let you down. He promises that he will not let you fall. (matthew 14:30-31) And He can't break His promises!

(D&C 10:5) anyways...I LOVE YOU! I hope you all have a wonderful week! until Monday, all my love!

Sister Brittany Ann Wilkins! :)