Ah! Family!!!!!
I have missed you this
week :) haha! Can you believe it's been 8 months since I entered the MTC?!
Crazy! Time goes by way too fast! :) I am so grateful though to be a
missionary. I would not trade this time for anything. It has been the greatest
thing of my entire life! And I can't even express how much I love it! I have
learned so much and grown so much. I will never be the same. And sometimes I
imagine not being here and I shudder at the thought because I am grateful for
the lessons I’ve learned, they have helped me become a better person. And we
all know our character is extremely important.
This week has been
GREAT! :) I'll tell you a little about it :) Mom thank you for your package! :)
I have been looking at the pictures and have made some videos for ya'll and
they are funny :) So get excited! And I loved the letter as well! I am so glad
that you love my companion’s parents! Because I love them too! :) I think it's
the greatest thing ever! We will all be friends for forever :) All we have to
do is get the Packard’s to move to Utah! ;) haha but I don't think that'll
happen! I didn't get Neal’s package yet but I'm going to the office after this
:) YAY! :)
So my Tuesday
exchange! I keep forgetting to tell ya'll about this but now I’ll remember!
There are 3 other Sisters in my zone that are from Mapleton! Sister Esplin,
Sister Allred and Sister Graves!!! (Sister of Kaylee Graves that Michele knows)
:) It's crazy because we all have connections! But I got to go on an exchange
with Sister Graves :) She's great! :) I still think it's weird that I know her
family... :) haha It's such a small world when you're a Mormon! :) But it was
way fun! It was stressful for me a little because she came to chambers creek
and EVERY single appointment cancelled except 2! haha so I was praying hard all
day but it worked out! And we had lots of fun! This is only her 2nd transfer,
and she is doing great! :)
I love going on exchanges! It’s so much fun to
get to learn from so many other missionaries :) it's also very humbling! haha
Every time I try to emulate something from them because they help me realize
what I need to work on! :) It's kinda funny, they always come expecting to
learn a lot from me but I always learn so much from them! :) It's awesome! :)
On Wednesday I got the rest of me back!!! (sister Packard) (haha that's what
our ward members say when they only see one of us..."where's the rest of
you?!") And we had district meeting! Our district is great! Sister Packard
and I got the opportunity to give a training this week. All about LOVE! Which
is of course our favorite subject so we went crazy! :) haha It was a lot of
fun! And I learned so much about love. It's funny how, as a missionary you
expect to be teaching when really you are just learning. :) I LOVE being a
missionary! :) But it was fun and we took the stick that Sister Packard got
from our investigator Mo and it was used as the talking stick! Haha we have a
lot of fun at our meetings :)
After that during
tracting we met Racheal and Anna! I'm super excited about them! Racheal is 20
and she's a caretaker for Anna. Anna is deaf and autistic! And I instantly fell
in love with her! She's adorable!!! :) So while Sister Packard talked to
Racheal I got to sign to Anna and she's just awesome she loves going to church
and she is happy :) haha I wish I remembered more sign language though....I’m a
bit rusty! :) We are going back this week to teach them though :) Then we had
our ward meet n greet! We bring investigators and some members of the ward come
and we eat food! It's great! Nicole and Kaale came (our investigators) and then
all our recent converts except Terrance and it was just so much fun! I love
that kind of atmosphere! Food fun and the spirit :) So it was great! and the
investigators loved it too! :)
Thursday was park day!
yay! :) So luckily every park day we have weekly planning so it's not too bad!
:) But I just have to tell you that I am so grateful for Sister Packard :)
because every time we do companionship inventory she makes me cry! bahahaha!
And it's because she helps me grow! and every time i have to grow i cry :P haha
jk but it's always one of my greatest weaknesses :) This week she didn't make
me cry though or last week because she's making me run 5 laps around the
parking lot every morning without stopping! And it takes like 20 minutes! haha
I don't have very good endurance in running :P But it's so funny! She relates
the gospel to running! because you have to endure to the end! So I am building
up my physical and spiritual endurance! :) It's good stuff! haha :) But no, she
is the greatest companion ever! :)
So the rest of the day
was great too! We got some members to drive us around places so that was
awesome! And we had dinner at Sister Baldwin's! She is the sweetest woman on
the face of the entire planet! And I just love her! I will have to take a
picture with her one day because she's just adorable! :) haha she's about 60's
and she is a widow and she absolutely loves the gospel! She's precious! and she
makes great food! :) Then after that we were going knocking so we walk down the
street and these people are pulling the weeds in their lawn so Sister Packard
and I drop down and start helping! So this e-mail has to be continued because I
have to log back on :) brb :)
Alright! Back! :) so
anyways Sister Packard and I pulled their weeds with them for about an hour and
taught them the restoration! They weren't extremely interested, but they did go
over to Sister Baldwins and ask her some questions! :) haha it was great! :) On
Friday we had cleaning checks! haha the couples missionaries go all around the
mission and check the cleanliness of everyone's apartment! And we got to see
Elder and Sister Jones! We were the last ones on their list! So they came and
they brought us some cereal and oranges and apples bless their heart and then
they took us out to lunch!!! They are so precious and I love them oh so much!
:) I didn't really know what couples missionaries do until I came on my mission
and they sacrifice so much to come out here and they support us and do so much
for us! And I am extremely humbled. Sister Packard and I were talking about how
spoiled we are. And we are!!!! We live in an apartment with two bedrooms and we
have a car! And we have the greatest mission president in the world! Ah! We are
so spoiled! They took us to this yummy Mexican restaurant called el torro and
they even ordered us fried ice cream! :) YUM! haha we are so blessed!
Oh! Sister Dean
got her Visa!!! She’s leaving to go to Argentina on the 28th! We haven't had
the chance to talk to her since she went to Olympia but the jones told
us! Then we got to go sing at the nursing home again! It was so much
fun! There’s only one member in the home but there's about 10 other people that
like to come and we sing hymns and the member mouths the words with us and it's
so great! haha we sang "ye elders of Israel" and jazzed it up a
little and then we sang "come follow me" and then we sang another song.
But we also sang nearer my God to thee and Emily (the activities director) gets
out her guitar and comes and sings with us! And Mabel a little old lady sang
along too! :) haha oh man it was so great! :) I feel so bad for those poor
people but I'm glad we get to go and help them feel the spirit :) they all have
such great attitudes!
Friday night was AWESOME!!! I told ya'll about
our investigator Felisha last week. She is great! She has already been taught
all the lessons in Olympia with her mom and her sisters but they got evicted
and lost contact with the missionary’s right before they were going to get
baptized. Well we went over there on Friday and taught her and her husband
Aundre and also 4 month old Aundre jr :) the restoration! :) And it was
awesome! Felisha kept adding her testimony and she started to cry when she
talked about how the gospel blessed her family! It was so precious! She is so
ready to get baptized; we just have to get Aundre on board! but we have
faith!!! :) haha So sister Packard and I are super pumped for them!!! :)
Saturday was also a great day! We got a text
from president and sister weaver that we were invited to come over and carve
some pumpkins!!!!!! So we went over there with all the other missionaries in
the Tacoma area (this is the perks of being in Tacoma :D ) haha and carved some
pumpkins!!! :) And we also got to meet their oldest daughter (the weavers have
5 girls!) and her husband and their 5 children! And they are all so cute!
President and Sister Weaver got to meet their new little grandson! He’s SO
cute! :) When I got there President pulled me aside and told me how much he
appreciated the card from ya'll (you're so sweet to do that!) and told me that
he loved me haha I can't even tell you how much I love President and Sister
Weaver! They are seriously the greatest! And I rely on them for so much. I just
love them to pieces and I'm grateful that you sent them a little note :) They
EAT that stuff up! they love hearing from the parents :) haha I can't wait for
you to meet them one day cuz they're the greatest people ever! :) They come
home before I do though! :( Sad days!
But anyways Sunday was
one of the greatest days of my mission! Saturday night I had a bad dream and I
woke up at 4am in turmoil. So in the morning I told Sister Packard
about it and she helped me out so much. I can't even tell you. We talked about
the Atonement and this will help all of ya'll :) Because I was worried about
something that wasn't even real, and it could've ruined my entire day. That’s
what Satan wanted to do. But the Atonement can't fix something that's imaginary:
P haha but I turned my entire day around! I wish I could tell you what i
learned from it but I just can't put it into words. All I can say is that I
love my Savior and yesterday was one of the most spiritually uplifting days of
my mission! :) Here's some things i learned...Luke 22:32 says
"But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art
converted, strengthen thy brethren" Christ prayed for us, and He is
patiently waiting us to be converted, to love God more than we love ourselves,
then we can strengthen our brethren. I learned that we are called in the
pre-mortal existence to be missionaries! And we promised our friends that we
would find them and help them to go back home, and we are supposed to be
serving those people TODAY! NEVER let a problem to be solved become more
important than a person to be loved. Because Love is our motive. "For
what we love determines what we seek.
What we seek determines what we think and do. What we think and
do determines who we are—and who we will become."
When we pause to help and lift another that's when we find
strength beyond our own :) During tracting on Sunday we met this family with 3
little girls Jade, Amanda and Jonny. They are the cutest little girls! And we
taught them about unconditional love and little Jonny she's 6 and she says
"unconditional love!" it was so adorable! :) haha but anyways this
week was amazing! I loved every second and I have learned how to become more
like my Savior. I am just so grateful. I wish I was better at putting things
into words but i'm not :) haha but you know, it all works out! :) But anyways
times up! I hope ya'll know how much I love you and miss you! I am so grateful
for your continued support and love and I hope that you know how much I
appreciate you. You're always in my prayers. Love you!!!!
Love always
Sister Wilkins :)
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