Week 70

Hello Family! :)

I have to tell the truth, this week has been a hard one for me...but I am continuing to endure to the end! :) I told you how I had a headache last week? Well it still hasn't gone away...my whole back hurts and my neck and it causes my head to hurt too. I was also sick this week, haha! I am falling apart! :-P I think I just caught a little bug, but I felt like I was going to puke on most days. We got to see Gary this week, he is doing ok :) He had to go to Oklahoma on Saturday to say goodbye to his dad. Poor guy has so much going on in his life, I just wish he would let God help him and accept the gospel. But it was really good to see him. I'm sure you are all waiting to hear about my new mission President and my feelings about the Weavers leaving. Well on Wednesday we had a mini zone conference. President told us some exciting news! They changed the way we teach now, instead of teaching 4 lessons before baptism we are going to teach all 5 before baptism and then instead of members being in charge of the new member lessons (aka teaching them those 5 lessons again) we are in charge! They are encouraging us to keep close contact with them for a year after baptism. So our new focus is not only getting them to baptism, but also getting them to the temple! Which is really really awesome :) I am excited! I don't remember if I told you, but Papa Rich is going to the Temple on August 9th! Sister Hall will be in WA with her family at that time, so it was perfect timing :) The rest of the meeting was just testimonies. They talked about how the quorum of the 12 apostles all bore their testimonies of Christ in a minute or less and it was super powerful! And so we tried to do that, and it was so powerful. I was blubbering the whole time. At the end they had us each one by one come and say goodbye, they gave us a Washington quarter and hugged us. I was last haha and I just hugged them both for the longest time! I have given up on trying to hold my tears in :) haha I can't even express to you the affect that the Weavers have had on my life. They were so supportive and for some reason, they believed in me and trusted me. If I ever asked President something he treated it with such importance. They are the most caring and loving people and I will forever cherish them in my life. They loved so much, and it motivated me to be a better person, and a much better missionary. Words cannot express how much I love them or how much I will miss them. But I am so grateful for their example and the way they brought me closer to my Savior, Jesus Christ. He is real. He lives! We have such an amazing opportunity to access His love and Atonement. Do you realize the power that we have because of the gospel of Jesus Christ?! It's absolutely amazing! and it's real. Saying goodbye to the weavers was hard, but because of Jesus Christ, we have the sacred opportunity to be with our loved ones forever! There is no such thing as endings because of Him! I have not met the Blatters yet, we have another mini zone conference tomorrow in which we will meet them. We had a conference call last night and President Blatter seemed to be really enthusiastic and loving. He told us this mission is the greatest (of course he has to say that ;) ) and he's excited to be here. :) I have a good feeling about them. So I'm excited to see what is in store! :) I feel like he is going to have us focus on PMG even more even though we already do a ton! :) I honestly don't even know what to tell you about this week! haha I don't really remember much, my head is hurting and for some reason that gives me amnesia:-P haha I think the most important thing this week are the lessons I learned. In the Ensign from this month there's a talk about being perfect in Christ. And it talks about how we are not going to be prefect in this life and we need to stop putting ourselves down because we aren't perfect. :) Sister Boone proceeded to tell me that I was a perfectionist. :) Yesterday in church we talked about "chronic guilt" where we are doing our best but for some reason we feel like it's not enough, like it's never going to be enough. This is something that I have always struggled with, I always felt like what I do will never be good enough. And that's because it won't! :) haha last night I got a blessing from Brother Falter to help me feel better. The blessing told me a lot of great things I needed to hear. such as the fact that Heavenly Father is aware of my intentions, stresses, concerns and heart. And he also expressed that Heavenly Father is proud of me and has an abundant love for me. I have been pondering on that a lot. I think that one of the most important things that we can learn is that we matter to Him! I read a talk this morning by president Ucthdorf that really touched me it's called "you matter to Him" from the 2011 conference here's a little part:

My dear brothers and sisters, it may be true that man is nothing in comparison to the greatness of the universe. At times we may even feel insignificant, invisible, alone, or forgotten. But always remember—you matter to Him! If you ever doubt that, consider these four divine principles:

First, God loves the humble and meek, for they are “greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”¹⁷

Second, the Lord entrusts “the fullness of [His] gospel [to] be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world.”¹⁸ He has chosen “the weak things of the world [to] come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones”¹⁹ and to put to shame “the things which are mighty.”²⁰

Third, no matter where you live, no matter how humble your circumstances, how meager your employment, how limited your abilities, how ordinary your appearance, or how little your calling in the Church may appear to you, you are not invisible to your Heavenly Father. He loves you. He knows your humble heart and your acts of love and kindness. Together, they form a lasting testimony of your fidelity and faith.

Fourth and finally, please understand that what you see and experience now is not what forever will be. You will not feel loneliness, sorrow, pain, or discouragement forever. We have the faithful promise of God that He will neither forget nor forsake those who incline their hearts to Him.²¹ Have hope and faith in that promise. Learn to love your Heavenly Father and become His disciple in word and in deed.

Be assured that if you but hold on, believe in Him, and remain faithful in keeping the commandments, one day you will experience for yourselves the promises revealed to the Apostle Paul: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”²²

Brothers and sisters, the most powerful Being in the universe is the Father of your spirit. He knows you. He loves you with a perfect love.

God sees you not only as a mortal being on a small planet who lives for a brief season—He sees you as His child. He sees you as the being you are capable and designed to become. He wants you to know that you matter to Him.

I learned this week that no matter how sick we are, how incapable we feel, how much we can't get done because there's not enough time in the day, we still matter to Him. We are enough because we are trying. "men are that they might have joy"! In this life I believe we are meant to have joy, and although saying goodbye to the Weavers and tonight Jesus and Crystal are leaving to Texas, investigators and people we meet don't always want to learn about the gospel, we all go through discouragement and disappointment. But "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" I testify to each of you that we are made to be a joyful and delightsome people! We are made to smile! :) I think that because of my mission I will have a permanent smile on my heart. It is such a sacred thing to preach the gospel. It is truly wonderful. I am grateful that this week I still went out every day all day to preach the gospel. Because it is supposed to be preached by the simple, and weak. I continually ponder the scripture in Mosiah 4

11 And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.

 12 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.

We do not have to have "chronic guilt" because of our weaknesses, because we have the Savior, Jesus Christ! and His gospel which is so important that He himself came to the earth to Restore it. and it truly "causes such exceedingly great joy in [our] souls" And if we are humble, meek, submissive and full of love, becoming as a little child, we will be filled with the love of God and retain a remission of our sins! :) and always rejoice and grow in a knowledge of our loving Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for Him. I am joyful because of Him! I am so happy! Because this gospel is so wonderful and true! :)

I also really liked this video:

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/reclaimed?lang=eng

 

I know that each of us can be made clean and while and complete and perfect through the Atonement of Christ. We do NOT have to be perfect now and how merciful God is to us to send a Savior to make it so. I am so grateful for my mission and all the things that it teaches me. I am grateful for this gospel because it's true. I have faith that it works, and I have hope that it works for me! :)

Other than that everything is going well, Sister Boone and I still are getting along ok :) It's like literally having a little sister. She is like a sour patch kid! Sour, then sweet! hahaha But I love her :) and am learning a lot from her. Our investigator pool is slowly dwindling in unbelief (haha not really I just like that phrase from the scriptures) but it is dwindling! Summertime is hard for a lot of people, but we are working hard to find new people to teach and coming up with good ways to work to find them, especially working with members! Oh how I love the members here! I have been so spoiled with wonderful ward members my entire mission! I am so spoiled. God really does bless us way more than we deserve! There is no way I could ever repay Him. Another part of my blessing last night talked about the joy I will feel when I literally come unto Christ (aka stand in His presence) which I loved because I've been obsessed with the "Come unto Christ" song! :) But I am positive that I will feel an abundance of joy when I come into the Savior's presence. And I can't even wait for that day when I can see Him and my Heavenly Father again. I love the feeling I get in the temple, because it makes me remember and feel of my homesickness for heaven. I can't wait to come home and go as often as I want! :) I am so excited! We are so blessed with wonderful resources to help us feel of the wonderful power of the gospel and of our Heavenly Father's love, such as the temple, prayer, church, and scriptures! I hope you each are taking advantage of the things God has blessed us with to help us in our lives! :) I know that if we do, we can always remember Him and always have His spirit to be with us! :) And oh what joy and what glory we will experience when we have those things in our lives (you know you've been on a mission for a while when you type certain lines of the scriptures to describe your thoughts :) :D) Anyways, I hope y'all are doing wonderfully! :) I love each of you more than you know. You are always in my prayers and thoughts. Have a wonderful 4th of July week! :) Love you!

Love always

Sister Wilkins :)

READ THIS! :)

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/07/young-adults/becoming-perfect-in-christ?lang=eng

Week 69

Hello Family!

Can you say exhaustion?! haha I am just so overwhelmed and tired! Because this week was SO amazing! :) I don't even know where to start! Sister Boone and I just worked SO hard! Every morning we'd wake up exercise, study then at 10 we'd go out and just hit the pavement and wouldn't be back until 9:30! (which is not breaking the rules cuz we had appointments :) ) Then we'd plan and pray and go to bed! It was absolutely insane! :) haha And I am so tired....aint no tired like a mission tired! It’s the best feeling in the world! :) I can't even put this week into words; I wish you could just feel what I feel. Which is absolute gratitude for my Heavenly Father and humility for the many blessings that He gives to me. I can't even tell you how full my heart is. I am going to start this e-mail with what happened yesterday. :) Nyah and Alaisa were baptized!!!!! It was so cute! They had permanent smiles on their faces and they were so excited! For the program I had the little activity day’s girls come and sing "when I am baptized" with me for the girls. They loved it and their mom, Trudy was crying. It was so sweet! I haven't ever seen her smile that big! I think she was just grateful for the support for her daughters. It was so sweet. Then when they went to be baptized I went to the side of the font with them and Alaisa went first. She was so excited! :) then Nyah was so scared! haha she didn't want all those people watching her! haha but she did it! Afterwards I took the girls into the bathroom and Trudy comes in and Alaisa says "mom I wanna do it again!" hahaha! It was SO sweet! :) Ah! :) I can't even tell you how amazing baptisms are! :) The spirit is just SO strong and it testifies to me that this truly is the Lord's work. They were also confirmed yesterday and they said they felt amazing! :) haha it was the cutest little thing! :) I love seeing the little ones get baptized, they are already so clean and pure and they have this spirit of pure excitement and love for Jesus Christ. It is so special. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father let me stay in Olympia to be there when these beautiful girls were dressed in white and promised they would follow Christ. It is such a sacred thing. It was a crazy day though!!! right after the baptism we had to walk down the hall to the fireside! haha and we practiced a bit and then it began. Papa Rich and his granddaughter Emerald, and Juan, Jon, and Anthony all came!!!! It was one of the most spiritual firesides of my mission. I got to sing in ""be still my soul" as always, which always reminds me of Grandpa, and I also had the wonderful opportunity to bear my testimony! When sister weaver called and asked me I thought I was going to die! I was already running around like a chicken with my head cut off that day AND I was going to have to get up in front of not only members of the stake, but missionaries! I don't know why but I was so scared! haha so I was sitting there, hands sweating, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to say, but I just got up and I felt the reality of the spirit's guidance as I stood there and bore my testimony of Jesus Christ. It felt like the spirit was taking over and I was just standing there moving my mouth. I know that the Spirit was there helping me, I know that Jesus Christ lives! and I know he loves us. One of my favorite accounts of the Savior in the book of Mormon is when Christ comes to the America's and He takes the time to individually let every person come and feel his wounds to know of a surety that it was in fact their Savior. There were about 2,500 people in that crowd. If Christ took just 10 seconds with each person it would have taken 7 hours! But He did it, because He loves us so much individually. Another account that always touches my heart is in the Bible in john when the woman is caught in adultery and the people come condemning her for her sin and throw her before Christ and expect Him to tell them to stone her, and Christ says "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone" and they all leave. Then Christ speaks to the woman asking where her accusers are, "hath no man condemned thee" he says and the woman replies "no man Lord" Then Christ says to the woman "neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more" I know that through the Atonement of Christ we can be freed from the guilt and shame that we feel because of our sins, weaknesses, pains, shortcomings etc. we can overcome all things, because Christ does not condemn us. He loves us with such a perfect and pure love. He is my Savior, my Redeemer, my rock, and my very best friend. I am grateful that I have the sacred opportunity to bear testimony of Him daily! I know He lives! and I know that through Him we can return to our Father in Heaven. I can just tell you right now, I couldn't keep it together! I kept it together til I bore my testimony and sang in my group and then I just lost it! I couldn't even stand how bitter sweet that moment was! There were so many missionaries so I got to sit in the pews and look up at them and 4 of my best friends sisters Hall, Packard, Stucki, Esplin and President and Sister Weaver were all sitting on the front row of the stand. All of them are leaving within a month and they were crying. and then when we got up to sing amazing grace I lost it even more! Especially when I looked at papa Rich singing it with us! He loves that song, I just looked out into the audience at people I love so much and remembered the amazing people behind me and I just couldn't help but cry out of gratitude for how much love this mission has. I love these people SO much! :) It truly is amazing, how much our heavenly Father cares for us. Afterwards I went up to President and Sister Weaver and just hugged them tight!!! I am going to miss them so much. It is insane. There are so many goodbyes on a mission, as well as anticipated and special reunions! Because of the Savior, Jesus Christ there are no endings. We will all be together forever one day. :) Life does not end at the end of my mission. I'm not literally dying! haha I've got all of eternity before me! :) I got the new EFY cd from Austin falter and one of the songs is "when I’m gone" and it made me cry it says "every smile every laugh all the memories we've had that's what I’m taking with me, stronger faith, no more fear ya we've started something here that will grow, that's what I'm taking with me when I go" I will always keep these sacred memories in my heart. Another absolutely amazing thing happened! Sister Rea who you met in Chambers is now serving in Steilacoom! haha and she told me of 2 people that I worked with that they are working with again! One of them is Marissa. Marissa I found with Sister Baird and we taught her and her husband, but they were just kind of difficult to get ahold of, and they basically dropped us. So we stopped going by after a while. But Sister Rea went back and Marissa said "where have you guys been I've been waiting for you for a year!" she left her husband who wasn't interested and she had always wondered what her life would've been like if she would've joined the church, now she's going to church and taking the lessons again. It is absolutely amazing and humbling to know that no effort is ever wasted! It brings me to tears to know that the people that I love so much, but because of circumstances couldn't accept the gospel are now accepting it!!! I will never know of some of the people I have taught, but I am grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord in letting me know about a choice few that were touched by the things I did. I am sincerely humbled by how much God blesses me. It's not about the numbers, or convincing people to join the church I know is true, it's about eternal life. It’s about love, it's everything. This work is so amazing! And I love it with all my heart! I am so grateful for the support and love I have gotten from you; you have no idea how much it means to have that as I go throughout my days. I know I always have my sweet amazing family's love to hold onto at the end of each day. And my Heavenly Father's love. It was a special day yesterday. My brain was on spiritual overload! I was just so exceedingly joyful!!! :) and as you can see this whole e-mail is about ONE day of the week, the rest of the week was pure awesomeness too! Sunday just topped it off. I love this gospel, and I know it's true. I know that it's easy and worth it to follow. It makes me so happy. It brings me to tears. I am grateful to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. I have been called of Him to declare His word among His people that they might have everlasting life. It’s the greatest calling I've ever had. and I hope each of you reflect on your testimonies of the Savior, and of His gospel. And the tender mercies of the Lord. He loves each of you more than you know. And I testify to you that this is His church. This is His way. And if we follow, we will have everlasting life, and joy. We do NOT have to be perfect, we only have to try to learn and to grow and to follow our Savior who set the perfect example for each of us. Remember that Faith is only true faith if we act on it. So stop your blubbering and go do something amazing! :) (like I’m about to do :) hehe ) I love you all so much!!!

Love always

Sister Wilkins :)

Beautiful girls! Nyah and alaisa! They had unremovable giant smiles on their faces all day! <3 so cute! :)

I am so grateful for these amazingly wonderful people. I love them SO much and they have made such a huge effect on my life. I am grateful I have the sacred blessing of knowing them. last night after the fireside I just went and gave them both the biggest hugs of my life! :) <3 I am sure going to miss them :)

Week 68

Hello Family!

I feel like I have so much to tell you!!! :) This week was a good one :) It was kind of a huge relief for last transfer to be over. It's like the Atonement, you just get a clean slate and can start all over :) It's wonderful! New transfers are like a big BOOST! haha Sister Boone is great, she's just a sweet child, but she has a sarcastic and snappy side too haha she's 19, an only child and she is smart. She went to George Washington for a few years and her goal is Yale for law school. It's a little different to be with a 19 year old because I hear about a lot of drama! Haha but I just ignore it and focus on what's good. I have heard all week about how some of the sisters in the mission hate STL's. Haha oh the drama! And I don't even care :) One thing that I really appreciate is her submissiveness and desire to be obedient. It is such a wonderful thing to have a companion who is trying to be better every day. I tell her she always reminds me of the scripture "becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." It is going well. I think we'll get along :) Hopefully. Haha I just feel a big load coming off my back and it's wonderful. I made a few mistakes last transfer by becoming angry, frustrated or inpatient with the struggles I was dealing with. But yesterday when I took the sacrament I felt so much better. Repentance is a wonderful thing. :) And I just feel somewhat renewed. :) So I am grateful for that. This week I learned so much! First of all Transfer Meeting was wonderful! I got to sing a song called "Come unto Christ" with a group of people. It has a video to it and you should look it up! It has officially become my favorite song, I wish I had it to listen to, but I just sing it constantly instead :) haha It was a great meeting, but I couldn't help but cry almost the entire time thinking about President and Sister Weaver leaving. It was such a spiritual meeting I felt it so much. On the way home the GPS took us through Chambers and Steilacoom and my heart ached to be there again. I love and miss those people so much! :) I was screaming and jumping up and down while driving through :) It was probably bad to have me driving...oh well! We survived! :) hahaha That night we got home at like almost 7 and we went straight to work. I had overbooked ourselves so we had 3 lessons that night that were short. But miracles happened! We got 4 people on date for baptism! :) N and A are a couple with 3 little boys that were found by the Spanish elders. N used to go to church with his grandparents. And so he knew a little about it. But all we did was "how to begin teaching" where we tell them our expectations and ask them theirs and they said that they would be baptized on the 12th of July. Then we went to Ks. HE has a lot of addictions he has to overcome and so he has to go away to a treatment center for 60 days. He's on date for September 1st :) haha and that may or may not be because I leave 2 days later :D then we stopped at D's house our little 11 year old. And he FINALLY said he would be willing to be baptized! We are shooting for the 8th of July. :) We just have to be able to get him to church! :) haha so we'll see. It was wonderful though It was such a spiritual night, In K's lesson we used some scriptures and it was so powerful, the effect the scriptures had on his understanding. The scriptures are so important! :) On Wednesday we got to meet with S again, she is amazing! She literally prayed a blue night gown into existence, she has so much faith! haha It is so cool to see her changing and coming to church! She makes me think so much, there is so much in life that I don't even begin to understand. I am not much of a deep thinker, except for when we're at S's house. I think deeply about the gospel most of the time, but she just makes you ponder so much! haha I love having lessons with her. We just basically went over there to bear testimony and pray :) it was great! Faith and patience are so key to life. I can't even tell you how much easier they make life. Miracles are wrought by faith, I know that's true. I also learned that I have a huge reputation in the mission, haha for being obedient! Which was as good as getting a gold medal! I think obedience to God is one of the most important things we can do in life. And learning how we can do better and follow His will helps us reach our full potential. I have learned a lot about obedience on my mission. It's not always easy. Sometimes I really want to call my friends, especially when I know they're struggling. But I can't and I know God blesses me for it. Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. I full heartedly believe that, because I have seen the evidence of that in my life as I strive to live in harmony with God's will miracles continually happen in my life. I feel that my confidence and happiness has grown and being obedient has contributed to it so much. On Thursday we got to go to S's house. She has a lot of things she is healing from. And we taught her about repentance. She told us of her experience when Sister Flanigan and I first showed up at her house and told her to pray and ask God for forgiveness of the mistakes she had made, they were holding her back so much. And she told us on Thursday that when she did that she immediately started to overcome those mistakes and she feels SO much better about them. Repentance is seriously so powerful in our lives. It’s amazing. This Sunday we are having N and A's baptism!!!! I am so excited! :) It is also the day of the last fireside with the Weavers and it's in Olympia! :) So it will be a great day! :) I can't wait to see those little girls all dressed in white! They are just the sweetest things! I am so grateful I have been able to get to teach them and see them learn and understand the gospel. They are already changing and being great little members of the church, it is such a wonderful thing to be able to see. I am so excited. This week I have thought a lot about President and Sister Weaver. I can't even express how sad I am going to be on the 26th. I might need you to send me some chocolate. haha I seriously love them so much! I was texting President last night and he was telling us how much he loves us and will never forget us. It has been so sad to see things that are normal become their lasts. They have affected my life in numerous ways and I will be forever grateful for them. I love them so much and I am not really sure what I'm going to do when they leave. But I can talk more about that next week :) haha But I really want to tell you about T C. So mom received a letter in the mail from T. And I received it this week It made me cry. I learned that in my mission, no effort is ever wasted. We met T in Steilacoom my first transfer. She was so skinny and a little eccentric! :) ok a lot! :) haha and she wanted to learn about the Holy Ghost. But we could never catch her at home. One day Sister Hall and I were walking to our car and I just felt like we should go see T. We were close to her house so we just walked over there. When we got there we found her shoving things into her car sobbing while a man screamed at her. As soon as she saw us she ran as fast as she could into our arms. We went around the corner and the man left. As we talked with her and calmed her down we found out the man was her boyfriend and he had been hitting her a threatened to kill her. And then we got there. She told us if we hadn't been there she might have died. I learned an important lesson that night to always follow the spirit as well as the fact that God is so mindful of all of His children. The next day was Easter Sunday of 2013. and T came to church. She was so excited, she proclaimed in a loud voice "congratulations" as M N stood as one worthy to receive the Aaronic priesthood. Everyone laughed. She sobbed during the sacrament and afterwards she got a bloody nose and with a terrified look she ran out. We found out later that she was going to go to a hospital to get herself taken care of. WE gave her our home addresses so we could maybe someday know that she was still alive. Over a year later she wrote! After several broken ribs and being on life support she has overcome her struggles of domestic violence situations. And speaks to audiences about it. She feels like she is worth something and reads her scriptures every day. She is still broken, but slowly recovering. She is going to meet with the missionaries :) I love T so much. She taught me a lot of things, but most especially she taught me how much God loves each of us so much. She is an inspiration to me, and I am so grateful to be a part of her life. I now know that even if I don't know what happens to any of these people that I talk to, my efforts are not wasted. I am so grateful to be a missionary and have the sacred opportunity to let God's love show and be an instrument in His hands. I am grateful and humbled by His trust and love for me. I am eternally grateful for every single person I have talked to in the last 16 months. Because they are all children of God. And I love them. I love the true gospel I get to share with them that changes and transforms them. I love you so much and am grateful for your prayers and support. You are missed, but never forgotten. I hope you all have a wonderful week and keep a positive attitude! I love you!

Love always

Sister Wilkins :)

Week 67

Well it’s been another week! I am exhausted! :) haha I honestly just want to go into hibernation for a few days! This transfer literally took it out of me! :) It was interesting, because when I got my blessing from President Weaver he said Heavenly Father is aware of the load you are carrying and will make you strong and capable to bear it. That's why I've been so obsessed with Elder Bednar's talk as well as Matthew 11:28-30 and Mosiah 24: 14-15 I have felt that the events of the past transfer have for some reason been hard for me, but I am SO grateful for this sacred transfer. I have learned and grown a lot. I have a lot of things that I want to work on next transfer and I am excited to start a new adventure! Transfer Calls were not exactly what I was expecting! But I am excited :) I am staying here in Olympia 1/5!!! Which I am so so so happy about! And my new companion will be Sister Boone! She was born in Olympia with Sister Horgesheimer and trained by Sister Logan. all I really know about her is that she's way super intelligent, bold and an only child haha it's been a while and I didn't get to know her super well while she was here. I was hoping to have a companion that was a little older that I knew I would get along with, but I know God knows what is best for me and what will be perfect for me :) I trust Him! :) Plus I am just way happy I get to stay here in Olympia. I just love the people here so much! :) By tomorrow Sister Jensen will have as many areas as I have my whole mission! She got the best transfer call ever! haha She is going to Bremerton with Sister Packard! I hope that will be good. It's Sister Packard’s last transfer! :( along with everyone else haha Sister Hall is staying here! (yay!) Sister Thompson and Baird are going to be companions Elder Genereux is staying in PA and his best friend is coming to oly to be my ZL. I am sad Elder pierce is leaving. He's the only one I really liked and there are 2 elders in my district that are quite rude. I'm not excited about staying with them haha. But I will try to make the best of it! :) Horge is also staying in PA I haven't talked to Flanigan or Chipman yet. so that's about all I know :) I am excited to see what this transfer will hold! This week has been pretty great! On Monday we just hung out with the sisters and it was awesome :) and that night we taught Kelly and Juliene :) They decided they wanted to make a goal to come to church! They didn't come though, haha but we talked about the Atonement. They are just funny :) I Iearned that day how important it is to learn from every companion. I really feel like I have, but I can always improve. I think I didn't do as well as I could have this transfer. Tuesday was a good day :) It was my 3 month left mark...we went to this burger shack called "big toms" I heard it was like in-n-out but it wasn't as good :) haha but fast food kinda makes me sick now :P Then we taught our investigator Sabrina. She is seriously the most interesting person I've ever met. She is a way cool spiritualist and she has so many intriguing thoughts! haha I swear her life could totally be a mystery novel! and the language she uses just pulls you in. It's astonishing! haha I want to read her novels when she publishes them :) We taught her the gospel and she basically already figured out the first 2 principles! She told us she wants to be baptized and we are hoping for the 21st! :) but we will see :) She's awesome I love her! :) Then during tracting I saved a baby mole!!! It was so tiny! I thought of mom and how I could have completely freaked her out with that thing :) it was so cute! :) Then we ran into Gary! He is surprisingly still reading the BOM! I think we'll go back in a few weeks and just challenge him to be baptized, but who knows what will happen? Only
God! :) I was way happy that day I had so much energy and that night I got a text telling me that I was going to get to go back to MLC!!!! I was literally bouncing off the walls excited!!! :) and Running around the house! haha I was stoked! :) Wednesday I had a great adventure of trying to be cool and figure out how to check the tire pressure and put air in them. Well that didn't work out too well because the gauge at the gas station was super weird! haha so the worker guy had to come help us :) Then we took it to Les Schwab to make sure there wasn't a hole in the tire and while we were waiting we walked around and I met a guy named Bryan Pierce that was from Vancouver and knew Doug and Mel! haha it was pretty cool :) During finding we knocked into a guy that was seriously shocked about the fact we were girls. He kept saying "you're females!" haha it was pretty darn funny :) It was a fun day :) Thursday was absolutely AWESOME!!! I got to go up To Tacoma with Sister Hall and Sister Beven. They had a special MLC where all the old, current and new Zl's and STL's came. It was absolutely amazing!!! The spirit there was SO strong. I can't even explain it to you. They basically brought us all together so we could set a good culture for the mission when the Blatter's come in I don't know how to spell their name! haha and also for us to be able to bear our testimonies. At the end we sang Amazing Grace and everyone was just sobbing; there was a in sync sniffle between lines. We are all going to miss the Weavers so so dearly. I can't even express the way they have affected my life. I love them so much and I am eternally grateful for the way they have affected my life. I feel like tomorrow's transfer meeting is going to be a sob fest :) haha and there's also a fireside in Olympia the 22nd that will be a sob fest :) haha I am going to be so sad to see them leave, but I am excited to have the new ones come in and see the way they change the culture of the mission. I have a feeling I am going to be training my last transfer though, there's 28 sisters coming in! craziness! That night though I had a way cool experience! We went to our Brazilian sister's house to teach their friend Viki from China! It was such a sacred experience to be able to teach someone that had never heard about God loving her or Jesus Christ's sacrifice for her. It was seriously SO cool! :) Friday was a chill day except for the fact that Brooklyn finally got her MISSION CALL!!! :) We went over to the Falter's and there was a bazillion people there :) haha but she’s going to Perth Australia and she's leaving December 3rd! So I can come back for her farewell! :) haha It was really cool to see someone open their call, it brought back so many memories! :) On Friday we finally got to teach Jesus and Crystal! :) It was good! They also had a friend there that wanted to learn! :) Randy. It was awesome :) haha I love those people :) Then we got our transfer calls. I don't even know what to say about it still. Haha I am just trying to have a positive attitude! I am just praying that Sister Boone and I will get along because I just want to work hard! That was such a great thing about Sister Packard and Chipman. We got along so well and were a little older and knew what we were doing so we just worked hard and didn't have to worry about our relationship so much! I miss that and hope it works that way this transfer! :) There's a song from last years EFY cd. It's called "the girl I am" and there's a part that says "he knows I'm strong enough and he has a plan for the girl I am" It's like my favorite song and it just gives me so much comfort to know God knows I am strong enough to handle what He gives me and He just has a specific plan for me and my eternal salvation. Sunday was awesome :) our building is actually being renovated so we are combined with the oly 4th ward for church. It's like a Utah ward! there's so many people! haha it's crazy! it was also Brooklyn's b-day and graduation on Saturday so we got to go to the Falter's for a celebration dinner on Sunday :)  I seriously love that family so much! :) You should look for this drink mix stuff called "yolli" It's in Utah and the Falter's started the company! haha It's really good :) They give us some sometimes :) haha anyways I am so out of time! But I want you to know I love you all so much and miss you tons! I am so happy and doing awesome! I trust in God and His plan for me.

Love always Sister Wilkins :)

 

 

The Brazilian Sisters Iduana and Karini and their Chinese friend Viki :)

Me and Brooklyn Falter :)

Have I mentioned that I love them? :)

Milo the mole :)

This is Nyah and Alaisa! :) It goes me, Alaisa, Nyah and Jensen I love these little girls and they are still getting baptized on the 22nd! :)

 

Week 66

Hello Family!

Well this week was better, haha I love my mission so much and even when there are hard times it doesn't matter because I have so much hope and faith that it will all work out! :) Not a whole ton and a half happened this week, because we were working a lot on finding new people! :) But I'll give you an update on what has happened! :) First of all Jesus is finally home! Crystal is so happy haha she has a different light in her eyes! We had dinner with her on Tuesday night and it was way fun and he came home Thursday night! . They're so cute! :) We stopped by last night to set up an appointment and Sister Jensen finally got to meet Jesus. I love them!  A family showed up with 3 plates of food on our doorstep one day and so we gave the 3rd plate to a homeless guy named Chris :) Nyah and Alaisa are going to get BAPTIZED! We’ve taught them all the lessons and set up their baptism for the 22nd! That was a big fiasco...it was supposed to be the 9th but it didn't work out :( They're getting baptized 2 weeks later now! But that's ok because they're getting baptized :) they are the sweetest little girls! :) I need to take a picture and send it! They are the cutest little girls ever! I really like teaching children haha :) we haven't seen Gary at all. or Maria. We are praying for them lots though. I still have faith that one day when Gary's life is in line he will accept the gospel. I know he knows it's true. He is planning to move to Oklahoma though to take care of his parents. Brooklyn Falter decided that she was going to go to Oklahoma on her mission! That’d be funny! :) She still hasn't gotten her call yet :( we're hoping for this week though! :) She's been the best missionary this week! We are teaching 2 of her friends and hopefully one more! It is amazing! :)  Transfer calls are this Saturday Btw. Sister Jensen feels strongly that she'll leave and I feel like I’ll stay again. :) But we will see what God has in store! I would be really sad if I had to leave Olympia :( but God knows what's best! :) President Weaver is pretty awesome! :) On Tuesday night he called up Sister Jensen and me and decided he wanted to take us out to Grandpa's ice cream! haha It's this amazing ice cream shop down town that's owned by the stake patriarch! :) I love it! :) I am surely going to miss them a lot. They are leaving on the 27th of this month and I will probably cry for days! But only 9ish short weeks after that I will be coming home as well. It seriously blows my mind how fast my mission has flown by! What happened?  We actually have been having a lot of success in the YSA branch this week! It’s been weird :P haha Our main investigator is a girl named Sabrina. She is like Olympia Washington in a person according to Brooklyn! But she's so awesome! She goes to Evergreen College and is a writer. She is 21 and has the most amazing vocabulary I've ever heard of! She has come to church 2 times already and yesterday she got up and bore her testimony in sacrament!!! It was so awesome! She just said that she was grateful for us teaching her the gospel and that she feels she is more open to it right now and that she is grateful for the community of people supporting her!  It was amazing :) I was so tired yesterday there were no investigators at the 1st ward and that bummed me out so much. It really is such a vulnerable thing to sit in the chapel waiting for someone to show up and just praying and praying that they'll come and then they don't and it's devastating but nevertheless it was a good day! :) I just read that sweet Brother Moody had passed away, give his family my love! Ever since I was able to receive my patriarchal blessing from him I felt such a great connection with him and even secretly wished he would be my grandpa haha I will keep his family in my prayers! :) Saturday was awesome! it was such a chill day! We had breakfast with bishop, then we went to a ysa ward bbq with Sabrina and it was way fun! Priest Point Park is great :) then that night we had a pizza party with the ward missionaries! It was supposed to be for new members and a few investigators too but no one came. One of them, Brother Murray has a pizza company and it's made in a brick oven and it's SO good! :) So we were fed for all 3 meals!  I have been reflecting a lot this week about temptation. And how Satan loves to tempt us! I'm not going to lie, sometimes people get on my nerves and I just wanna be like "SERIOUSLY?!" and sometimes, in my weakness it comes out  but I have been praying that God would help me withstand the temptations of the adversary! and it has been working quite well :) But I know God has been helping me a lot with Patience and Charity and Kindness and Understanding :) I'm about out of time; I just want to tell you that I love to struggle. Because it makes me grow and I have a lot of hope that soon we will just be so happy! I know that God brings us low before he can bring us higher, sometimes we have to be compelled to be humble so that we are grateful for the outcome of our trial. I am so grateful for the power of prayer. My night time prayers just keep getting longer and longer, but I am so grateful I have the opportunity to converse with the most powerful being as my Father. I know that prayer works. And that through such channels we can receive great revelations and blessings for our lives! :) So I challenge all of you to pray every day! I am running out of time, but just know I am happy and doing awesome! :) I am just trying to work hard and put my heart into it! :) I pray for you every day! And I love and miss you more than you know! :) The gospel is true! And it works! :)

Love always

Sister Wilkins :)

These are my boys! Domonic, Denari and Keenan! The littlest one has a crush on me haha he's always wanting to sit by me :)