Sister Brittany Ann Wilkins: Week 34

Hello Again Family! :)

I hope ya'll had a wonderful week! To explain the title of this e-mail this transfer has felt like YEARS! :) hahaha but I am still loving it :) I just don't really remember much about this week because It feels like Wednesday was months ago :) but I'll tell you what I can remember :) And I'll answer your question mom and tell you about chambers creek :) Chambers Creek is great! It's very much Tacoma :) haha we have a lot of stores and fast food restaurants in our area and a lot of traffic :) and a lot of ghetto areas! woot! :) haha Every week for p-day we go over to Chambers Bay and you can see the sound from there! It's not as pretty and scenic as Steilacoom in my opinion but I still love it :)

The ward is great! I haven't really gotten super close with anyone yet but they are all great and I enjoy them! They are really good at missionary work especially with recent converts and retention :) We don't get dinners very often so I don't get to know them as much as I would if we were able to go to their house and sit down with them. But that's about to change because we are working really hard to get the members involved! :) Obviously it's what God wants because conference was focused on that a lot :) haha side note this guy just came up and asked me if I had the Melchizedek priesthood! haha it was pretty fun to explain to him about it :) Anyways but the ward is great! It’s very strong! We have the patriarch in our ward and we have people who have been mission presidents and we have elder calls nephew or something! So we have a lot of very converted people and its way awesome! They definitely bring the spirit :)

It's funny that you asked if we had any investigators because last week we had 4 progressing and this week we have 11! :) So the work has picked up A TON this week! I'll tell ya'll about some of them :) First of all we are still teaching George and Alice :) We've been teaching them for a while now :) George decided he wanted something new so they've been coming to church and paying tithing and reading the Book of Mormon and they watched all of general conference! So they're really awesome! George says he's almost convinced but he needs to learn more! :) haha we have only taught them one lesson :) all the other times we've had to answer a bunch of questions :) but they came to all 3 hours of church yesterday and loved it! So all of our other investigators we have just started teaching this transfer. :) but I’ll tell you about some of them :)

Someone else cool that we are teaching is Felicia :) We found her last week and she has been looking for a church, her and her mom and siblings have been taught all the lessons before down in Olympia and they were about to be baptized but they moved and lost contact with the missionaries and she had no idea there was another church where she lives now! She's 21 and is married and they have a little 4 month old baby! So she will get baptized, but she wants it to be a family thing so we are going to have to get her husband in on it, and he doesn't seem to be too interested so pray! :) But I'm really excited for her! I think I've told you about Kaale and Kaalee :) kaale is 30 and kaalee is 6, They are still coming to church, but Kaale is struggling with his faith in Christ, he says he likes the story...haha so we're working on him :)

We also have been teaching this part member family Aaron and Nicole. They have a 3 year old who is full of energy and they have a 3 month old baby. Aaron has been a member his whole life, but he hasn't been active for a long while, so it's like we're teaching both of them :) But they're great! keep them in your prayers because they need to be baptized! everyone needs to be baptized but you know... :) haha we're also teaching this girl named Maranda, she's married to Reece they're 21 and they have a 3 year old named Killian. :) They are hilarious! We met Maranda on Friday and found out that they had just moved here but they had been taught back in Lakewood by my very good friends Elder Dudchus and Elder Steed :)

Other than that we are still working with Myk our little 16 year old whose mom won't let her get baptized and Grace our little 13 year old whose mom won't let her get baptized. I love these girls so much! Their testimonies are SOLID grace is already planning her temple wedding! haha it's so precious! We’ve found a lot of cool new people this week so I’ll let you know how it's working out next week :)

To answer your last question I go on exchanges every Tuesday :) most of the time...haha it depends on the circumstances and we don't go on one the first week. We just have to go on 5 exchanges this transfer and we can pretty much choose when, but the best days are Tuesday and Friday because we have district meeting on Wednesday and weekly planning on Thursday. :) So we go on exchanges with the sisters in the Tacoma west and the Tacoma east zones. I'm in Tacoma west :) haha this week I actually got to go on an exchange! With Sister Casselle! She is so awesome! :) haha we had a ton of fun together and I learned so much from her! She’s from Utah, she's 20, and this is her 4th transfer. :) She's great! :) I learned so much from her! She still has her "greenie faith" and teaches things simply :) I think the longer you are out and the more you learn about the doctrine the more you want to share everything you know about one principle on the doorstep! haha but then people don't understand what you're saying....so you have to be simple! one thing that I thought was precious was that she said every morning she wakes up and takes a deep breath of relief because she's still a missionary! :) haha I thought it was so precious! It's true though, we talked about how it would be the end of the world if we hadn't come on our missions (ok that's a little dramatic I know...) but really! I would not be who I am today if I had not come to Washington. And I like who I am today a lot more than I liked who I was 8 months ago :) haha But it was a really fun exchange!

On Wednesday it was Sister Packard’s half way mark! (That’s why you got a picture text from sister Pryor with us and half a cake :) ) haha It was a really fun day :) We both thought a lot about who we wanted to be when we got home! :) So she wrote hers down and I’m going to write mine down in a month on my half way mark :) but I chose a scripture that I wanted to use to remind me who i want to be and I memorized it! So I'll tell you don't hurt me if I mess up :) but it's Mosiah 18:8-10 "and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God and to be called his people and are willing to bear one another’s burdens that they may be light, yea and are willing to mourn with those that mourn, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and stand as a witness of God at all times and in all things and in all places that ye may be in even until death. That ye may be redeemed of God and be numbered with those of the first resurrection that ye may have eternal life" When I come home I want to be someone who serves others. Service is the substance to our souls! :) I have found that every time I get upset or discouraged, as soon as I turned outward it's like someone flipped a switch and I'm happy again! :) It's so easy to turn inward, but that's not Christ-like at all and of course makes us un-happy. But when we keep the first and great commandment to love God and the second which is like unto it to love our fellow men then we will be happy! "Consider the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God" I don't remember where in the BOM that is but its there and it's true! :) haha

Oh I can tell you about another investigator, well she's more like a potential. :) But Sister McClemmeant just moved into our ward, she's 70 and her 50 year old daughter Maureen lives with her and is not a member. Mo is great! Think of the lady who predicts the future with the magic ball things (what are they called?) (I swear a veil comes over missionaries minds and they can't remember anything about the world sometimes :) ) on harry potter but with shorter hair and that's Mo :) haha she's hilarious :) And she loves to create things. Sister Packard is HUGE on creation, she loves it. Actually she pretty much loves everything but she has been very passionate about creation recently. :) And Mo comes out with this stick that she painted and shows it to us and Sister Packard gets extremely excited and talks about how creation is godly and brings out her passion for creation and so Mo decides to give her the stick! haha it has made Sister Packard’s entire week! It's so funny :) But she cherishes her stick and Mo just loves how much she loves it. :) We went back over last night and read her the book "the remarkable soul of a woman" that Aunt Lori sent me for my birthday and she loved it! :) But Mo is great....I just love her! haha :)

I don't really remember much about Thursday except for weekly planning and going to see Terrance. :) Terrance is doing SO well!!! :) I love that man! :) He's going to get the priesthood next week! EEEEEEEE!!!!! :) but he told me that he can tell that I have been a lot happier recently in his words he said "it's like going from Tim Burton Land to Disney Land" haha Terrance is a little dramatic but I have felt that this transfer since I’ve been able to focus on my relationship with God more I have had more energy and more happiness than last transfer! So that's great! I just wish that you could meet Terrance! He is the funniest man I have ever met in my entire life! And he is my good friend! :)

On Friday we had MLC (mission leadership council) and that took up a lot of the day! But it was GREAT! I got to see Sister Hall again and all my friends! It was great! :) One cool thing that I can tell you is that President wants us all to ride the bus this month! haha it's like a trap...someone gets on a bus and they're trapped until their stop comes and then you sneak up on them and tell them all about the gospel! :) haha So we're excited about that :) we talked about how it's going to get VERY cold soon...aka I might need to go buy some sweaters or something...President says after daylight savings time it gets midnight dark at 4pm so it will get cold fast...and we also talked a lot about safety :) you don't have to worry about me because all of my companions have made fun of me for how careful I am :) But hey, it keeps us safe! :) MLC is a lot like Zone conference but it's only the zone leaders and STL's so we learn about the gospel so we can teach it to everyone else! :) We also get fed lunch :) haha

So I have to tell you about this encounter we had during tracting...I felt a little like Aaron and his brethren :) we ran into 5 girls and started talking to them, I won't go into the details, but I will say that we talked to them for about 40 minutes and they weren't very nice at all. the day before we had met one of them and she opened her door and starred at us, wouldn't answer our questions and then just closed the door...when we left she said "ah the Mormons are leaving! Finally!" The reason I tell you this is because it SO applies to the BOM :) and I found strength in this circumstance from what I had been reading in it :) I have been reading in Alma, and that morning I had read about Aaron and his brethren who are missionaries who are trying to convert the Lamanites at this time :) the part I was at is where Aaron and his brethren had been delivered out of prison by Lamoni and Ammon. And they were naked and had been treated poorly their wrists and their ankles were swollen and sore. And then they went back out and started teaching again!!!! I found much comfort and peace after this encounter with these girls because I had read that the same morning.

I didn't have to get cast into prison, I just had to take some harsh words haha :) But If Aaron and his brethren could go back out after being tortured and teach the gospel I could endure a few harsh words :) The scripture that popped into my head was Alma 26:27 "now when our hearts were depressed and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the lamanites and bear with patience thine afflictions and I will give unto you success." I was strengthened by scriptures. :) The reason I tell you this is because I learned some very valuable lessons from this...even though this isn't the first time it's happened :P First of all I learned that God is mindful and knows exactly what I need. He knew that I needed to read that part in the book of Mormon that morning so that I could apply the scripture into my life. I cannot tell you how much love and appreciation I have for the scriptures. They are GOLDEN! :) I also learned that the merciful obtain mercy :)

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/the-merciful-obtain-mercy

I could not hold a grudge against these girls....Christ said something around the lines of "you that is without sin cast the first stone" If I want to be forgiven, I must also forgive. And I also learned to just brush things off and move on! :) haha Anyways I just thought I would share that because it made a big impact on my week and such :) so it was good and awesome and I am doing so well! We don't have a lot of time because we have some things to do today...We're teaching this cool girl named Sagan at 1 and then we have a referral to go see at 6. So I gotta end this! But I hope ya'll are doing great! Keep reading the scriptures because they are GOLD! :) haha and they will help you :) It's been really cool because I memorize a scripture every day and the ones I have memorized have come up over and over and over :) the scriptures are great :) And I love ya'll very much! and hope you have an amazing week! :)

Love Always

Sister Wilkins :)