Week 23

We rock!

Aloha! :) 

Well it's been another week in the life of a missionary :) haha but it's been awesome! Sister Thompson and I are getting along really well and it's been fun! Every p-day we play volleyball at our stake center and I love it! I am getting lots better at not running away from the ball :) we have some very tall and intense Elders and I’ve almost gotten killed a few times, luckily it hasn't happened yet! :)  But it's lots of fun!!! :) So that is what I will be doing today :) after I e-mail. I go to Panera Bread (YUM!) and then the mission office and hang out with Sister Logan! And sometimes I see Sister Hall and Sister Packard which is so much fun! :) Then we go to Wal-Mart and the church to play! And that's our p-day! :) 

         We’re teaching some awesome people right now! We have a baptism this weekend!!! I love baptisms! I've talked about her before :) but her name is G. and she is awesome! She is a very big over achiever and I love it! She already had a testimony of a lot of things before we even taught her! But yes! I am WAY excited! She’s awesome! I will of course send pictures! :) We've also been teaching Belinda Brotherson's children. I've talked about her before too :) She got baptized with Mike and that family takes such good care of us! They feed us EVERY Wednesday and give us everything we need. :) They're the best! Anyways so she has 2 of her children for the summer named D. and B. D. is 10 and B. is 8 and it's so fun to teach them! They’re such funny kids! :) Unfortunately they can't get baptized because their dad has custody of them :( but we are planting the seed for later! :) I definitely think D. will get baptized one day! She’s so cute! She drew a picture of me last night and gave it to me! haha I love that girl! Teaching kids is fun! We're also teaching this couple named J. and J. Sister Phillips and Hall started teaching J., then his girlfriend moved in with their daughter and we kinda started teaching her so we've known them for a while but J. was always busy and J. went out of town but now they're back and J. and A. (their daughter) came to church last week and then last night we taught J. and put her on date for baptism! yay!!! :) We’ve got a lot of people to teach though...sometimes I feel like there's enough work for 12 missionaries here because we have so many people who we never get to because we don't have time! But we are never ever bored which is awesome! The work is booming in Steilacoom! :) haha 

          So this week other than all that stuff going on we got to do a lot of service! On Tuesday night we went to the Hansels’.  We went over to their house and pulled some weeds, which btw I have ALLERGIES so that wasn't a smart idea because I was sneezing up a storm, but it was still fun! It felt SO strange to wear jeans!!!! That’s why I sent you that picture :) haha Thursday was PARK DAY so we walked down to the ferry that morning went to the community center and we sang Come Thou Fount for the ladies at the community center! They love it when we sing to them haha I swear I sing ALL the time! I love it! :) Then when we got back to the mainland we walked for an hour uphill to our dinner appointment. It was HOT! Let me tell you I haven't seen rain for weeks and weeks but I wanted to see rain that day! haha but it was cool to walk around because we got to talk to some people on the side of the road and we got a couple new investigators from it! After dinner the member drove us home so we could drop off some stuff and go tracting I finally gave up on walking and decided we should go borrow some bikes from the Brothersons. So we knocked around their house and I made Sister Thompson get out of her comfort zone and talk at a lot of doors :) haha I'm a great trainer! ;) I also made her put people on date on their doorstep! And we got 2 new on date because of it! :) Then we went and borrowed the Brotherson's bikes and rode them the rest of the night!!! The next morning I woke up SO SORE!!!! :) haha and so we decided to ride our bikes again! Rational thinking?? I think not!!!! haha but it was fun! We rode our bikes until we got to go to the soup kitchen because it's in Lakewood :) haha so at the soup kitchen we got the opportunity to serve the food and it was way awesome! We couldn't proselyte so I just had to be extra extra nice! haha But it was fun to talk to the people there. This week I learned a lot about taking things for granted, which I do way too often. I am SOOOO grateful for the blessings I do have! Saturday morning we got to go to a wedding! The Stowers’ nephew (that lives with them) got married and President Weaver married them and it was awesome! Then afterward we had a PARTY! :) Lots of good Polynesian food! YUM! No I don't know how to spell Polynesian :) haha And they had a little dance party! It was fun! As we left the wedding I found that I had a flat tire!!! Luckily the Elders were in the car with us! (That’s why it popped) but they were able to change it in 10 minutes! So then a good portion of our day was spent in Les Schwab getting 4 new tires! Yay for cars!!! :) We were there for about an hour and a half! Last week we got the challenge by a less active member named Emma to read the whole BOM by the end of the transfer. So at Les Schwab I read the BOM and ended up reading all of first Nephi in one day! Wooo! haha It was intense :) On Sunday we got to go over to Anderson Island! They have a little branch over there and we were called to speak at it. The place is tiny, but the people are awesome and the spirit is strong! I loved it! And yes I cried while giving my talk...thanks for giving me those genes :) But we talked about missionary work! yay! haha It was a way fun experience. We ended the night with A Brotherson Brainstorm, we compared and contrasted Limhi's group of people and Alma's group of people (talked about in chapters 17-27ish of Mosiah) I am learning SO much about the BOM before my mission I had pretty much no idea about any of the stories in it :) haha but now I understand it so much more and I love it! It’s like crazy how much I love reading the Book of Mormon! Most of it is thanks to Book of Mormon made easier part 2 :) haha But I love it! :) It's a great book! You should read it some time :) haha I ended the night with a call to Sister Hall :) I absolutely LOVE talking to her, because you have no idea of the changes that have been made in my life and personality. When I first got to the mission I cried...like every day. haha it was so hard. But because of the Atonement I am a changed person. I can't even tell you...I bet the Mortensens might have told you. P.s. I can't believe you met them!!!!!!! :) haha Brooke was texting me! And she says I have your smile mom..haha but ahhhh!!! That’s so cool! Don’t you just LOVE them?? cuz I do! :) They’re great! :) Anyways so it's fun to talk to her because she knows the person I was at the beginning of my mission and who I am now is a much happier and stronger person. I love the Atonement! I can't even tell you!!! :) Ah! I'm running out of time! The grass is green the sky is blue the gospel is true! I love my mission and I can't even tell you how great I am doing! cuz I am!!!! :) I am enjoying my last moments in Steilacoom and living it up cuz it's such an amazing area! :) So it's awesome! :) I hope ya'll are doing amazing! Have a great week! LOVE ya and MISS ya!!!!! :)

Love always 

Sister Wilkins :)

My tiny piece of Despicable Me :D 

BANANA!!!! :) Thank you McDonald’s Happy Meal! 

Jeans? 

 Park Day 

The wedding :)  

Elders changing our tire.  

Where we went to church yesterday on Anderson Island :)

Week 22

me and my comperero 

So it's been 5 whole months since I left, which I can't even believe! It has FLOWN by! I only have a little over a year left! CRAZY! It seems like just yesterday I was eating my last supper at Milargros! :) Soooo This week has been GREAT!!! :) I got the package ya'll sent me! I jumped up and down about 60 times because it felt like Christmas and I finally don't have to wear the same thing every week! :) YAY!!! haha And I've listened to that cd like a zillion times :) Sister Thompson is getting sick of it but I am In NO way shape or form listening to her bouncy primary songs. That's the only music she brought and it sometimes makes me want to be un-christlike :) haha But other than the horrible taste in music we are doing great! :) haha Also I did get the memory card!!! I haven't been able to watch the videos because it's a different formatting since you recorded them on the cannon so I have to watch them on the computer :) but they make me smile :D Thank you!! I'm also making some videos for you :) Way too many but hey you should get excited :) I also got $109 worth of liquid in my arm! (Hep A shot) and I have a gross wart on my foot so I might have to go to the doctor :P Also! I have great news!!! :) haha you get to meet the Mortensens!!! :) Well hopefully.,..haha they're coming to Utah for Sister Phillips wedding and they said they were going to Provo so I asked them if they would bring some stuff to you that I don't use and want to give to you they said yes :) So I’ll give them mom's number (so you have to answer your phone to unknown numbers) and have them call you when they're there so they can get that to you! They’re the best!!! And they loved that card you sent :) thanks mom :D Alright so random cool things that happened this week: Luckily I didn't witness any accidents or run into any crazy creepy ladies *knock on wood* riding the ferry was so fun this week! I am glad I get to ride it during the summer because you can stand outside and we saw a seal, and some jellyfish and porpoise!!!! My favorite was the seal cuz it was adorable!!!! :) We were like school kids running up and down the ferry trying to get pictures :) it was fun...haha I also met Satan this week! He told me that I was a poor misguided fool! :) haha Oh the joys of tracting! I also played with a Lizard! :) It crawled up my arm and felt really weird! haha Bishop fed us breakfast on Saturday and he made waffles and ice cream! YUM! :) Kalei Agor painted my nails, which hasn't been done for a loooonnnnngggg time (finger nails), and I decided I really like having them painted! haha I made some way cool earrings on Anderson Island that I now wear all the time! They’re guitar picks with charms! They're SWEET! :) haha So story: last Sunday a member of our ward (brother Barclay) brought his girlfriend to church (these people are in their 40's btw) they have been dating for like a year and she's a CNA and always worked on Sunday mornings so she could never come to church with him until now!!! :) haha So she came last week and we got to know each other and it was great! We taught her the restoration and she loved it and it all made perfect sense to her and she went through 85% of mormon.org and we put her on date for this saturday (the 27th) This is what we call a GOLDEN investigator! :) haha So anyways she's doing so awesome! But yesterday we found out that she can't get baptized this weekend because her boyfriend (brother Barclay) told her it's the anniversary of his wife's death.  It was so sad...I don't even think G. knew but it's ok she's getting baptized on the 3rd instead! :) Happy day! She is so solid! yay! haha and we're meeting with her tomorrow! Right now the work in Steilacoom for the sisters is going great! We have 11 progressing investigators, which is the most I’ve had my whole mission! But it's awesome! We are always busy and I love it! We are working hard all day every day and it's awesome! I hate the days when you have no idea what God wants you to do...but we have this whole week planned until Saturday! woohoo! :) hahah so it will be a busy week! I find so much joy in this work! I love the people we are teaching right now! It’s crazy how much you love people when you don't even know them at all! I’ve been so busy I haven't even talked to Sister Logan at all this week cuz we're so tired by the time we get home we fall into bed at like 10! haha God has blessed us sooooooooooo much for some reason he has trusted me with these precious souls and I love them way too much! Missionary work is hard but it's so worth it! :) I have learned that the hardest things in life are usually worth it haha :) I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! :) Oh before I get into my motivational speech I have to tell you that I've been doing some stuff for family history recently and I’ve found that we have quite a few ancestors who need temple work done!!! So your challenge is to do your missionary work and get that done! :) haha because I can't do it even though I really want to :) So that's your job for the next 13 months! :D So this week I was thinking about our investigators, I will explain...So we have potential investigators who are people we've knocked into and haven't had a return appointment with but were interested then we have new investigators who are people who we knock into who we taught a lesson to (on their doorstep) and set a specific return appointment. Then we have other investigators who are people who were progressing and have stopped or people we can't get a hold of. Then we have PROGRESSING INVESTIGATORS!!!! Who are people who are searching and keeping commitments and meeting with us :) So I was thinking this week about all our progressing investigators and how it's so frustrating when they're not keeping their commitments. Then I was thinking about me....and thinking about if I am a progressing investigator for the Lord. This week I’ve been reading in chapters 20-24 of Mosiah and I really love Mosiah haha but Limhi and his people are put into bondage by the Lamanites and they have to give 50% of everything they have to the Lamanites...so basicallly it sucks. Then King Noah's wicked priests come and steal the Lamanites daughters and the Lamanites think it's Limhi and his people (the Nephites) so they go to war against them and long story short they end up finding out that it was King Noah’s priests that stole the daughters and not the Nephites. So they stop the war and go back to their lives but the Lamanites basically torture the Nephites and use unrighteous dominion over them so the Nephites get frustrated and go to war against the Lamanites. They go 3 times and they failed each time and lost a bunch of their people in war (which kinda made me laugh at their sillyness) then they humbled themselves finally and turned to the Lord but the Lord knew that the Nephites needed to have a change of heart, so they "prospered by degrees" So anyways I was thinking about that and how sometimes I feel like I am trying my hardest but the Lord isn't helping me (even though He is) and it isn't because He doesn't love us, but it's because He knows that we need to have a change of heart. So he prospers us by degrees! So we have to be progressing investigators for the Lord. We have to do everything we can to make ourselves better and keep our commitments. go to church read the scriptures, say sincere prayers. It's that easy. But sometimes we get in a roundabout, we forget we are sons and daughters of God, we sin, we get into a funk where we can't decide what to do, and we go in circles. In order for us to keep going and not become a former investigator we HAVE to do those things. So keep going! Keep your head up! This life is about progression, about growth. If you never leave the comfort zone, why do you need the comforter? Leave that comfort zone! Do things that make you cringe! haha Reach out to people, do everything you can to progress in this life. I help my investigators progress towards baptism. We need to help each other progress toward Eternal Salvation and the Celestial Kingdom. We will prosper by degrees which can sometimes not be fun...but "I can do anything through Christ which stregtheneth me" so that's my motivational speech :) haha I know that the Church is true. The people might not be perfect, but the gospel is. And we are all progressing. I know that if we rely on God we can do anything, even the things we don't think we can do. Anyways times up but I hope each of you have an amazing fantastic wonderful week!!! I love you all so much!

Love always 

Sister Wilkins :) 

My lizard friend!

Week 21

This week was the weirdest week of my life! :) 

First of all I got my baby! Her name is Mariah Thompson and she's from Logan, Utah! :) She’s awesome! Transfer meeting was awesome! I love singing and talking with all the missionaries! :) I got to sit by Sister Logan too! haha and Sister Packard sang with Elder Major a song called "Somewhere Beyond the Moon" It was AMAZING! They are going to be famous...just sayin :) haha at the end we sang Amazing Grace (as always) and I cried (as always) but it was funny because President knows how much I love that song so as soon as we stood up to sing it we looked at each other and smiled! haha I love that man! He's amazing! :) He likes to pick on me, which is a good sign! :) haha but yes we got back to Steilacoom and dropped her stuff off and went out tracting! :) We worked really hard that night and had 3 lessons! So we were both exhausted by the end of the night! :) Wednesday was a good day! We have district meeting every Wednesday and this week we talked about BOOM (baptism on our minds) So I've had that song from here comes the boom stuck in my head! :) But after the meeting we went and taught lessons and knocked doors and I asked every person we taught and everyone we gave a BOM to (which was 2 and 5) and 20% of them said yes!!! :) haha It was a fun day! Thursday was awesome too! We had to go to the new missionary meeting and all the greenies got trained while I got to hang out with Sister Logan! She's doing great and loves her new companion, which is good cuz I prayed hard for that to happen :) haha but we have way too much fun together! :) One thing I have found on my mission is how much I feed off of other people's energy's and Sister Logan has lots of energy! haha so we are a little bit crazy :) It's probably fine! haha But it's crazy because we were talking about it and as of Thursday we have only known each other for 6 weeks! haha You know those friends that you meet and you're instantly friends and positive that you knew each other in the pre-existence? Ya that's Sister Logan and I! :) haha I don't know how it happened but we were instant best friends and I love it!!!!! :) At the end of the missionary meeting we all had to bear our testimony about what Christ means to us. So I want all of you to write me a letter and tell me what Christ means to you because I love hearing how Christ affects our lives :) and then I'll tell you my answer :) haha that night we taught Papa Rich and Mike! They are doing SO good! :) I am SO proud of them and it just makes me cry to think how far they have come! They are miracles and proof that anyone can do hard things! Mike has given up smoking! YAY! :) And he's doing SO awesome! :) D&C 18:15 is true! :) haha after we taught Papa Rich and Mike I just HAD to call sister Hall and tell her how much I love her and how grateful I am for her. There's no way I would be the missionary I am without her as my trainer. I had such sacred and precious experiences with her, and I'll never be the same! :) That's another song that I extremely enjoy :) and I actually have it on a cd! Yay! :) It’s called “I'll never be the same" and I listen to it all the time because it's amazing how true it is! "I will never be the same I have felt His love and there's no turning back there's a fire that will remain it's written on my soul it's a witness of my all my faith has taken root and I’ve tasted the truth my heart's forever changed and I'll never be the same!" all ya'll aren't even gonna know me when I come back!!! haha jk I’m still the same Brittany :) I am just stronger in so many ways! :) WOOT! (for Michele :) ) Anyways I have to get to Sunday so I’m gonna go fast! Friday was an interesting day! We taught a lesson to this girl named A. and after we taught her the whole restoration I asked her if she would continue reading the BOM and she said "No I think I’m Jewish" haha! Oh man I am grateful for Sister Thompson cuz I was speechless! She told us earlier that she believed in Christ! I was just appalled. haha it was insane :) That night one of the Elders was being rude so I called Sister Hall and Sister Packard and Sister Hall gave me one of her amazing pep talks and Sister Packard sang my theme song to me (I am His daughter) :) I LOVE those girls! I say that all the time! But it's true. There's no truer friends than the ones who know your weaknesses and try to help you be a better person. And that's Sisters Hall Packard and Logan! :) Anyways they're awesome! :) Saturday we went to the hospital to visit Grandma (an old recent convert in our ward that has a bad heart) and we shared a message with her and her room mate her room mate was not a Mormon so I hope we planted a seed there :) haha Ok now I HAVE to tell you about Sunday. It was THE craziest day of my entire life!!! So it started out normal we went to church and then we went over to bishop's house for lunch and did some stuff in between. But when it came time for 5-7's my world was rocked! haha So we're in the car on the way to the place we had previously chosen to go knocking. And we're on the phone with Mike (I’m driving, Sister Thompson has the phone on speaker) and we get to the light at the bottom of this hill (it's called far west drive if you wanna look it up :) haha) and all of the sudden this kid comes bolting down the hill on his bike and makes a sharp turn and totally biffs it! Rolls off his bike lands right on his head and slides across the gravel. We sat there for a second to see if he would get up and he just laid there. So I was like Mike we have to call you back! So I pull over and we get out of the car and we're trying to talk to him but he's not being very responsive but he tells us he can't feel his legs. So I call 911 and tell them where we are. The kid was lucky he had 2 missionaries CNA and lifeguard trained ;) haha we said a prayer for him and then the fire truck and ambulance came and took him away on a back board. He was getting more responsive the longer he laid there but it was crazy! I think he'll be ok :) Anyways so after that we were in a little bit of shock :P haha so we drove home went to the bathroom got a drink and went back out to go knocking. At this point it was like 5:45 so we called Mike back on the way and said a prayer and went to go knocking (even though neither of us wanted to because we were kind of in shock :P :) ) haha So we go up to this door and it's in a secluded little area surrounded by trees and I knock on the door and it creaks open a little bit so I reach in and pull it closed. And after that I just felt weird...so I stepped to the side and looked through the big glass window and out of nowhere this old lady in a pink nightgown is standing in the hallway CLUTCHING her bible and just staring right through us, and she was slowly inching her way toward us. So we were ya know waving to her trying to get her to do something! But she just kept staring through us. So I was like ok I am freaked out and I felt the spirit telling me to leave so we turned around and ran away! I felt like I was in paranormal activity or something. haha I was seriously freaked out! So we get in the car and I start driving and we drive to the Agor's house and we asked Papa and his sons to give us a blessing. After they did I felt SO much better! haha I felt at peace and comforted and then they gave us ice cream! :) haha anyways the moral of that story is that I know that the Priesthood works. I know that it is God's power on earth and I know if Christ were here He would be doing what those worthy priesthood holders did. I am grateful for the priesthood in my life. I would be lost without it. So think about the priesthood this week and think about how it has or can bless your life and NEVER be to prideful to ask for a blessing. God wants to help us. That’s why He has given us worthy men in our lives to help us feel His power and His comforting hand. I also know that when we try our best God will bless us. After the Agor's we went BACK out and knocked on doors and taught a lesson and we were successful! I know that if we do what God asks He will prepare a way for us to do the thing which He has asked us to do! So that was my crazy week! Luckily Sister Thompson doesn't want to go home yet so we're still doing good! haha and we will continue to work HARD! Because I know the Lord will protect and guide us :) He's always there for us! :) Haha after I got the blessing I got a text message from Sister Logan! She knew exactly when I needed to hear that someone loved me :) haha God provides for us. Never forget to look for the things in life that you can be grateful for! Anyways times up! Love you all so much and yes I’m doing AMAZING!!! :) 

Love always 

Sister Wilkins :) 

Sister Thompson and I at the summer fest! :) 

Free slurpees on 7/11! :)

Sister Logan and I at the new missionary meeting! we matched! :) haha

Transfer meeting :)

My best friends!!!! :) Elder Lemieux and Sister Logan! :) 

Sister Logan and I again! We’re cute! :) haha