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! :)