Week 32

I’M STAYING IN CHAMBERS CREEK WITH SISTER PACKARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AH! I am so pumped!!!! We are still STL's too :) I have gotten so spoiled my whole mission! I feel like pretty much every transfer call I've been able to deal with :) haha I was SO worried I was going to be abandoned and have to take over an area that I don't know very well I was stressin’! But, my stress is relieved and I am SO happy! :) I'm sad sister Dean is leaving though :( She is going to Olympia 4th and she's training! Crazy! She's still not going to Argentina. :( She doesn't have her visa STILL. It's ridiculous! The FBI is involved with the whole process now and she has to get her fingerprints redone and everything so it's a PAIN!!! (that's why I'm e-mailing so late) and the poor girl just wants to go to her mission and speak Spanish! It's crazy how much she loves Spanish...but she does! haha But yes, I am so excited to be with Sister Packard still :) We are going to work SO hard! I will miss sister dean like CRAZY! Oh! Also, Sister Hall is going to stay with her companion as an STL but they're getting doubled into Kitsap Lake in Bremerton! Sister Thompson is still in Steilacoom and Sister Baird is still on Bambridge Island I think! :) There's the DL on my mission family :) haha

But enough about transfers, I want to tell you about my week! :) TERRANCE GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! Ah I am SO happy! Ya'll don't understand how much I love this man! He's my favorite! haha His baptism was so sweet! I was nervous! haha First of all, it's a baptism and I always get nervous cuz I'm a perfectionist, and second I had to give the missionary message, and third my companions and I decided to do a musical number and sing "where can I turn for peace" because that's what Terrance has been looking for, peace! :) So, last minute Sister Packard picked up a violin from the bishop's daughter and Sister Dean played the piano and since I have no other talents I got stuck with singing all by myself. I don't do these things....haha! But, It turned out good so that's great! :) haha The baptism went really good and afterwards Patriarch Coleman (he's in our ward and he gave Terrance a ride to the church he's the sweetest man of my life) told us that when he went to go pick Terrance up he asked him if he was sure about this and Terrance said "I've never been more sure about anything in my life" AH!!!!! It made my heart a puddle!!! It was SO great! Then yesterday he received the Holy Ghost! It was SO amazing! :) I am so happy for him! And he's a lot happier too! :) After his baptism we had a lesson (with pizza and cake and ice cream.... :) ) with all our recent converts! Juan, Jon, Kyle and Terrance!!! It was awesome! I have pictures but I forgot the thing this week....so you'll have to wait til’ next week...oops :) haha

Fall is here! It rains SO hard! It's been crazy the last couple of days! It's so fun but very cold...haha :) Oh! On Wednesday I was the happiest girl in the world! The area 70 Elder Bussey came and talked to all the ward councils and the missionaries about D&C 88:73 "Behold I will hasten my work in its time" and how NOW is the time when God is hastening His work, and how we need to work together as ward and missionary in helping God accomplish His purposes! It was so cool, and it made me pumped and, guess what else?! It was combined with Lakewood stake! Aka STEILACOOM!!!! :) haha so I got to see Bishop Mortensen and Papa and Dawn and some other people from the ward! It made me so happy! Steilacoom will always have such a tender place in my heart :) I just love it SO much! :) There are about 85,000 missionaries all over the world RIGHT NOW! How sweet is that!? But God doesn't want 85,000 missionaries...he wants 15,000,000 missionaries! (Aka every member of the church :) ) So be missionaries! Be a light! Share that religious thing on Facebook! Spread the good word! haha :) But anyways I was so happy!

 Afterwards, bishop Mortensen and President Marchant (the stake president in Lakewood) asked president if they could have me back :) haha I felt so loved! :) Awh! And president and sister Weaver did the sweetest thing for my companions and I! they got us some hot chocolate after the meeting! :) and man was it GOOD! :) haha I'm trying to get everything in that I want to tell you! sometimes I feel like these e-mails don't make sense....or adequately cover what I am trying to say, but I just love everything that's all :) haha

So one random fact: every single Thursday during weekly planning we eat an artichoke :) and it's good! haha Oh! Another random thing! I was so touched! Sister Packard's mom is so precious! She sent sister Packard a package and in it she had the coolest thing for all 3 of us! She made this little book for general conference! It has the prophet and all the apostle’s names and pictures in it! Oh my goodness it's adorable! I am going to cherish it forever! But man am I SO excited for general conference! I don't think you know (except matt you might know) of my excitement! General conference is like Christmas for a missionary! Can you believe it was a year ago that the age change was made?!!!? It seems like just yesterday! I still remember everything that happened in those few minutes after he made the announcement! haha good times :) And the relief society broadcast was AWESOME!!! I was freezing and soaked the entire time but it was so fantastic I didn't even care at all! :) haha The prophet is so precious! I loved his talk especially! He misses his wife so much :( It's the saddest thing! But he's such a good man! I just love him! :) If ya'll didn't watch the broadcast you better get on LDS.org Right NOW :) haha cuz it was awesome :)

So we had a miracle this week! On Friday at 6:57pm we were walking up to our last door when sister Dean says "alright last door, miracle door!" and it was! Behind the door was a man named Kaale (like the veggie but with an extra A :) ) And his cute daughter Kaalee :) Kaale has been investigating the church for a while, and he's pretty much already a Mormon, he just needs to get baptized so we're going to baptize him! :) He and his daughter came to church and he brought his mom Miss Debbie Jackson who we found out is actually a non-active member. She hasn't been to church for 35 years and she came yesterday!!! She sat out in the foyer for 3 hours, but baby steps right?! :) It was Legit! :) And Jon got the Priesthood! Ah Jon! I am so proud of that boy! I love all of our recent converts in this ward and they are all doing so good! :) It makes me so happy! :) haha after Terrance received the gift of the Holy Ghost I asked him how he felt now that he was an official Mormon and he answered "taller!" haha! Oh man that man is hilarious! :) Last night was sweet too :) we went to Juan's house (he's an amazing cook!) and we has SUCH good food with all our best friends! :) It was precious :) 

 I just wanted to talk about what I've learned this transfer. :) First of all, I learned a ton about love. I have never been in a companionship with so much love and service for each other! It has been great! I have found that if there's ever a time when you're feeling down, serve someone and you will feel SO much better! :) And that's the truth :)

 I have also learned a LOT about my relationship with my Heavenly Father. As you know I have recently been working on that :) there's always room to improve :) haha but it's been really cool to be able to work on that relationship. I feel the spirit more every day...I feel happy more every day when I focus on that relationship! Sister Packard gave me this great quote! (ya'll know I love quotes :) ) It says "men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that he can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whosoever will lose his life to God will find he has eternal life." I have recently found that this is totally true...I have been feeling even happier (if that's possible?) I feel like I understand the gospel more, Ah! I am just so blessed to be a missionary! My favorite things about being a missionary are seeing people change, and realize that it's true, the gospel is true! It’s as simple as that! I know that with all my soul! It’s awesome :) haha

But I am out of time :( so know that I know that my Savior loves me and I love Him too. I know that He is going to take care of ya'll no matter what :) I trust in Him and will always keep Him near :) I'm grateful I can be so close to Him because His gospel was restored to the earth! We have a wonderful prophet who God works through, and He's going to speak to us THIS weekend! I am PUMPED and you should be too. :) Go into General conference prepared with questions for God and I promise you will find your answers. I love you all very much!

Have an AMAZING week! I know I will! :) haha

Love always,

Sister Wilkins :)  

Week 31

Hello family! :)

It has been an amazing week! I'm excited I get to tell ya'll all about it! :) I feel like I can never adequately cover the feelings that I feel...but I can tell you that I LOVE being a missionary and that I am SO happy! I love my Savior so much, and I love you!!! :)

So, let’s see...where do I start?! Well we went on exchanges this week with Sister Elton and Sister K! Sister Elton came to Chambers Creek with Dean and I, and Packard went to Lincoln with Sister K (her name is really long...she's thai and she's adorable! :) so we just call her sister K ) Sister Elton is going home in December! She's from Oregon and she's 23. Her and Sister K have been struggling a bit so we knew this would be an important exchange. It was not easy. haha! But it was very, very good. I can't really tell you a whole lot of details but I can tell you that I love Sister Elton very much. :) I learned a lot from her! She gave me a lot of advice on how to be a good missionary at the end of my mission :) And Sister Elton read 2 timothy 2:1-10,21 which says:

1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to^ateach others also.

3 Thou therefore endure ^ahardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

5 And if a man also ^astrive for ^bmasteries, yet is he not ^ccrowned, except he strive lawfully.

6 The husbandman that laboureth must be first ^apartaker of the fruits.

7 Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.

8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was ^araised from the dead according to my ^bgospel:

9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a ^avessel unto honour, ^bsanctified, and ^cmeet for the master’s use, andprepared unto every good work.

and she read 4:7 with me! :):

7 I have fought a good ^afight, I have ^bfinished my course, I have kept the faith.

I love these scriptures. :) I'll let you take what you want from them, but they have great meaning to me :) It was really fun! I love learning things from the other Sisters :) It's crazy, I love being an STL, I get to serve my Sisters! It's awesome!

 I am learning a lot about selflessness this transfer, and a lot about how selfish I am. It's very hard to have balance because you can't be 100% selfless because you will die. You have to take care of yourself! haha :) But it is extremely important to help others. Serving others, is loving others! The 2 greatest Commandments is to love God and to love your fellow men. :) I have been learning a lot about that this transfer too. :) How loving God is the most important thing that we can do :) Because If we are strengthening our relationship with God everything else will fall into place :) So that is what I am working on right now! I think I told you about it last week, but I am working very hard to come closer to Christ! :) That's why the title of this e-mail is "more holiness give me." That has been my theme song this week...that is what I am working on! :) In Matthew 19:16-26 talks about a man who comes to Jesus and asks him how he can inherit eternal life and Jesus tells him to keep the commandments and the man says in vs 20 "all these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" So Jesus tells him to go and sell everything that he has, and the man went away being sorrowful. In Jeremiah 7:24 it talks about how we need to continue to move forward! Living the gospel is like walking up a down escalator, you have to keep moving forward, or you will go backward, I promise you. So I am trying to continue my growth, by asking Heavenly Father "what lack I yet?" it has been a very good experience for me. The first night I asked was Thursday night, that night I was an emotional wreck, it had been a spiritually draining day! I loved it! But I also felt very humbled by my weaknesses.

Let’s talk about Ether 12:27, "If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness" I have learned how true that statement is! haha...The closer we come to God the more we realize our own nothingness, and how weak we truly are. Then it says "I give unto men weakness that they may be humble" God GIVES us weakness so that we can be humble, because truthfully, we are pretty awesome! We are made of the stuff that God is made of! We are His spirit offspring! We're awesome! But we must be meek and lowly in heart. That is a Christ-like attribute! Which means that we must know of our nothingness and not be discouraged but rather, we must become humbled by it.  Thus we become more like Christ! Then it says "my grace is sufficient for those who humble themselves before me and have faith in me, and if they have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them" (I'm paraphrasing because I don't have my scriptures with me) So Christ's grace is amazing! He has the desire and ability to save us! SWEET! :) and it is sufficient, it is ENOUGH. We don't need anything else. Then we have to have faith in that. I have learned about this a lot on my mission, The atonement. It is able to cover us completely. I think one of the hardest parts about the repentance process is forgiving ourselves.

I have also learned about how if we come unto Christ our weaknesses CAN and WILL be made strengths. Which reminds me of Alma 26:12 (i think that's what it is...) " Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." Which brings me back to Thursday night when I felt very humbled by my many weaknesses :) And I knelt down and asked God "what lack I yet?" And the very next morning I received an answer! I opened up the binder that all the new missionaries get and it has some talks in it. which I never open up to...but I felt that I should this day. I opened up to a talk I had never read before. It's called "settle this in your hearts" by Neal A. Maxwell. It talks a lot about consecration and it talks a lot about not "keeping back part" in Acts chapter 5 it says:

1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, ^asold a possession,

2 And ^akept back ^bpart of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain ^cpart, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to ^alie to the Holy Ghost, and to ^bkeep back part of the price of the land?

4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not ^alied unto men, but unto ^bGod.

5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and ^agave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.

7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.

8 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.

9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to ^atempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

10 Then fell she down ^astraightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband."

This is a very intense story :) And it won't happen to you :) haha but I figured out that I need to give more of myself :) It's very very easy to be in the background in a tri-panionship :) which, I don't let happen often, I hold my ground and share my testimony...but there are a select few times that I don't give it my best. Days that I feel sick, days that I feel tired (which is every day ;) ) I am not giving it all, I am keeping back part! And the more we do that the more we slowly spiritually die! I don't know about you, but I never want that to happen :) Consecration is very important! So that's what I am working on right now :) I also read my patriarchal blessing which told me "be of good cheer!" haha which ya'll already know I am working on :) The gospel is so cool! Because it's true! I love truth! John 8:32 says "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" The truth is not relative, it is going to be true over and over and over again. No matter what. And the truth sets us free! And the gospel Is true as I said...the gospel includes Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the gift of the Holy ghost and Enduring to the end. It's that simple. It's simple, but by all means it's not easy....but every day we have to build our faith and repent! We have to take the sacrament every week! We have to receive the Holy Ghost into our lives and let Him change our hearts. We have to Endure and build up our endurance! :) Then that is when we will find our joy :) that is when we will find rest in God's eternal kingdom! Joy is wonderful! I am going to attach a talk about joy :)

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1986/10/joy-cometh-in-the-morning?lang=eng

Read it cuz it's great!

Anyways moving on! I have a lot to talk about! :) haha Also on Thursday half of the mission got to go up to Zion's camp! IT WAS AMAZING!!! I love being an STL because I had the opportunity to sit back and watch the sisters build their testimonies. It was the coolest thing ever! I will tell ya'll about some of my favorite parts :) The trust fall...Sister Fowkes was so afraid to fall! She didn't want to do it. But Sister Olsen (the coordinator) had her get up on the log and just stand there with the Sisters behind her encouraging her and ready to catch her. She was crying, I was crying..haha and it was so precious. Those sisters were just standing there and telling her how much they loved her and how she could do it. Then we started to sing "amazing grace" and tears filled everyone's eye's. And then she fell. This happened over the space of probably about 20 minutes or so...I’m not sure because it felt like hours! haha But it was so sacred! We all took away what it really means to rely on Christ. Sometimes we have to let go of ourselves, our fears, our feelings of inadequacy etc. and just fall, let Christ help you, His grace IS sufficient! Wonderfully, amazingly completely enough! :) And He will always be there to catch you. ALWAYS. It is our choice to fall! SO FALL! I am telling you this in part to share my testimony but I’m only giving part of it because I want you to think about it and do with it what you will :) I want you to think! And go away from reading this e-mail determined to be a better person. :) I think my favorite part about the entire day is watching those beautiful sisters come closer to their Savior. With tear filled eyes and dirt all over themselves, they gained testimonies of eternal principles. That is probably my favorite part about missionary work, watching people gain and grow their testimony. Watching people change and become. I LOVE IT! At the end of the night we had a little testimony meeting. Sister Weaver bore her testimony last and she talked about this scripture: Alma 23:7:

7 For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren.

So each of us thought about "our weapons of rebellion" or the sins that hold us back from being converted to the Lord and we wrote them down on a piece of paper and we burned them. Never to be seen again. It was very very cool. I know that each of us can lay down the "weapons" which chain us down and hold us back. I have an example of that, Terrance! TERRANCE IS GETTING BAPTIZED TODAY!!!!!! It's a miracle! We’ve been workin on him for 3 months now, and he is finally willing to fall. He is finally willing to lay down his weapons of war, his sins, his weaknesses and forgive himself. That's what he really struggles with. Terrance has accessed a part of the Atonement by laying down the things in his life and letting God help him. It took him a while but he's doing it today! I AM SO EXCITED and SO PROUD of him! :) He is ready to fall! :)

I also wanted to tell you again how much I have learned about love from my companions! I just love them so much! :) haha I am pleading that we can stay together next transfer but I think that Sister Packard has run out of time in chambers creek :( I have enjoyed every second though! AH! I never have enough time to adequately tell you how amazing my life is :) haha but I think you get the picture!

I want to attempt to express to you how much I love my Savior, He is everything good. When I think of Him I think of infinite love, I know that He would do anything for me, and I also know that He has the power to help me. I Know that He loves ME and is there for me. I know that He lives. I know that if I let Him he will catch me, He will make my weaknesses become strong. He is there always caring always loving. I love Him very much! He is my best friend! I am eternally grateful for Him.

Time’s up! gotta jet!

Love you all SOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!! have a great week!

Love always,

Sister Wilkins :)

Exchange with Elton

<3 <3 <3

My favorite people

Week 30

Well hello again family!!! :) 

How is your grateful journal going? I expect updates :) because I'm serious about it :D haha mine is going great! And it really has helped me stay positive! :) I am convinced that attitude is everything! So why not work on it? :)

Lets see now....a lot has happened this week but it all kind of seems like a blurr :P all I know is that I am stressing about transfers already and it's just now week 5! (Transfers are 6 weeks) But I am praying and praying that Sister Packard doesn't leave me! We are pretty sure that Dean is getting her visa soon so she'll probably be going to Argentina next week! So it's pretty much inevitable that she leaves but Packard can't leave me!!! haha I keep having dreams about it and it's not even funny :) But in one of my dreams president told me we would be staying together! haha I pick that one to be right :) I have never dreamt so much in my life as i have on my mission....strange...anyways! haha Oh! I have a great quote for you this week "take your problems---and eat them for breakfast!!!!"

Ah! So this week I went on exchange #2! It was super fun! I left my area and went to Skyline (still in Tacoma I'm over the sisters in the Tacoma west and east zones) with Sister Brady! She's from Utah and is a dancer as well and we had a ton of fun together! I didn't really know her at all before Tuesday but we got along really well...we had quite a bit in common! She got out here the transfer after me. but anyways that was a lot of fun! I love being an STL because I get to know sisters that I probably wouldn't have known otherwise! So it's super fun! I love the sisters of this mission so much! I don't know like any of them that much though! On the exchange I met a lot of cool people! :) We did a service project (jeans!) for a part member family and we cut down their giant tree and dragged branches all over the place! it was fun! I felt like the hulk! haha I also met this lady named Bo! She’s so sweet! and she has the strongest testimony! She’s a convert, she has been through just about everything bad in her life and she has overcome it all! It is so cool! She is a fashion designer too and she gave me a sweet purse! I'll probably send it home soon cuz I don't have anything to do with it...it's funky! I like it! Random note: my taste in music has changed drastically! I like motab and byu mens chorus and such things now! haha it's Sister Packard’s fault because she loves that music. I never hated it but I wouldn't listen to it on a day to day basis but now i love it! our theme songs for this transfer are "Called to serve" it's a cool one by the byu men's chorus and then "I need thee every hour" (that's why we do our grateful journal's every hour) I don't know who it's by...it's a single artist...but anyways it's SO good! :) I enjoy gospel music! haha Anyways I also realized something on this exchange...I was pondering on the day and I just thought of how much I rely on people and relationships. I really do need my people :) haha and I focus so much on them, but sometimes i forget to focus on Heavenly Father and Christ. So! I made some goals! I am trying to strengthen my relationship with God! :) haha it's great! So on Thursday during weekly planning I made goals to do so: I sing in the shower every morning (hehehe) and give myself pep talks in the mirror (to improve my attitude) then during study (I get 2 hours of personal study because Hermana Dean has language study) for the first hour I read the Book of Mormon and PMG and the second hour I read the new testament and Jesus the Christ! Then on Sunday I write my testimony and then do a Christ like attribute check up from PMG and it's awesome!!!! :) I have been loving it so much so far! :) I have learned a lot about Christ, and it has really helped me in my work! :) So one of the highlights of my week was Friday! Oh it was so fun! So every month we have Jedi council (otherwise known as mission leadership council :) ) and this next week the mission is going up to Zion's camp! So for MLC (mission leadership council) all the zone leaders and STL's got to go up to Zion's camp to prepare! So what we are doing at Zion's camp is the ropes course! So we go up there on Friday and none of us knew what we were doing all we knew was that we were wearing jeans haha so they take us sisters out to the woods and we come to this wall...my heart SUNK. This was like the wall that I dislocated my shoulder at for the first time at girl’s camp so long ago! I couldn't do it! what if I hurt myself? I have a duty to serve God! These were the thoughts running through my head...so I turn to Sister Falkner, poor Sister Falkner has a stress fracture in her foot :( and we both just decided we were going to sit this one out :) But the sisters insisted that we were going to get everyone over that wall! The Lamanites were after us! ;) haha So they came up with a plan to get both of us up and over the wall in safety...and guess what?! I did it! and I didn't hurt myself! Ah! It was so liberating! :) Afterwards we talked about take aways and I just broke down in tears! I conquered a fear! And as all ya'll know I am very accident-prone and my body is just dumb and I feel like sometimes it holds me back...but not anymore! haha I feel empowered to overcome my stupid pain :) haha even the dumb endometriosis that i can't control, I can however control how much I react to the pain I am in! and sister hall taught me a lot about overcoming the fact that I want to curl up in a ball and die every time and now it is not going to bother me! so yes...anyways :) I felt very good about it! haha Then after that we went to the rope swing, (the elders joined us at this point) where you have 2 matts on either side of the rope and all of you have to stand on one mat and get to the other side which is pretty easy..if you don't have someone with a broken foot....she tried to get across twice and it just didn't work...and President and Sister weaver were so worried that she was going to hurt herself so they told us that she couldn't use the rope anymore...so all of us were racking our brains trying to figure out how in the world we were going to get her across.  Then one of the Elders suggested that someone go in proxy for her so Sister Bevan swung across the rope for Sister Falkner. Then we had to all get through a tire hanging in the air without touching it and then we had to go across 2 wires standing on them and the companions push against each other to get to the other side (the one camille and I rocked at girls camp) and then we ended with the trust fall. Wow! All of these things are so much cooler as a missionary! Especially the rope swing! a ton of us were crying because we were relating it to the Atonement...there was no other way, Christ had to do it for us. I am getting the chills right now just remembering how spiritual this experience was...up in the beautiful mountains of WA with a bunch of missionaries learning spiritual lessons while working together physically. Man it's cool! I learned a lot about Christ this day...I can't even explain it...but I know that Christ is my Savior, I know that He feels everything that I feel. I know He is always there; we just have to reach for Him. I know He loves me, I have felt of His amazing Grace. He truly is my best friend. 

Sunday was a cool testimony-building day too. The day started out with me writing my testimony and checking my Christ-like attributes.....I have a lot to work on :) haha I feel very humbled, :) but it was extremely thought provoking! Then I got to take the Sacrament. Oh how I long each week to take the sacrament! What a wonderful thing it is! I love it so much...every Sunday I check how I’m doing on the goals I have. In Luke 2:52 it talks about Christ's growth, He grew mentally, socially, physically and spiritually over the course of His life! So that is what I focus on! I started this at my 6 month mark. My mental goal is to memorize a scripture verse every day. My social goal is to listen and speak :) kind of contradictory but both are extremely important :) and also to serve my companions :) which that one is easy! My physical goal is to work out every day and drink at least 2 bottles of water a day. I have a lot of spiritual goals :) haha I read the Book of Mormon every day and then I am working on sincere prayers and reading the bible and Jesus the Christ and then I listen to celestial music in the morning :) haha So I did all of that and ah! Yesterday was a very sacred Sunday :) I quite enjoyed it :) So I have to tell you all about George and Alice Twiggs...these people are awesome! So my very first week in Chambers Creek a member Brother Jarvis comes up to me and tells me that he's bringing his friend to church next week so I’m like sweet, and I run and tell my companions :) Brother Jarvis works with this guy and he's been answering questions for years for him and finally he decided he wanted to check it out! So the next Sunday George and Alice come and it's fast and testimony meeting. So it's great and spiritual. And they loved it! We ran and talked to them afterward and found that George was a minister for some other church that doesn't have a paid ministry and he liked that about our church too. So then he hands us $40 for fast offerings, and we haven't even talked about that with them yet! Then they skipped last Sunday because it was stake conference and Alice has anxiety so she has to build up to things. Then they came yesterday, and we got to give them a church tour before the meeting and they paid tithing again!!! Goodness gracious these people are prepared! So we actually get to go over to their house on Friday AND Saturday and they're feeding us and we're having lessons! I AM PUMPED! These people are solid! :) haha we finally went from 2 progressing to 5 this week so the work is moving forth! Terrance still isn't getting baptized, but we're hoping this will be the week! So PRAY! haha :) man I love missionary work! It’s just the greatest thing ever! Anyways I hope all ya'll are doing fantastic! I was happy to see some e-mails for me! haha :) anyways, I love you all so very much! The gospel is true! :)

Love always

Sister Wilkins :) 

 I ran that this morning...the whole thing! It’s 2 miles just in case you were wondering :) haha it's beautiful, and right over the sound :) 

 Sister Brady and I :) 

 President getting ready for the trust fall! :)

 Studying :)

 My best friends :)

 Up at Zions camp :) Packard is trying to have dimples :P