Sister Brittany Ann Wilkins: Week 42

Well Hello my wonderful family!!!

Holy cow! you guys flippin spoil me!!! Thank you SO much for your thoughtfulness! I got the package on Tuesday and I opened it and just the letter made me cry! y'all are so sweet! Yes it made sense and It is officially day 4 of the 12 days of Christmas! My nails are painted, my breath was first minty and now fruity AND my ears are squeaky clean!!! :) hahaha you seriously have no idea how much y'all mean to me. And not just because of the presents (although that's a bonus) but because you are thoughtful and so loving. I am so grateful for you! and I wish I had money/time to do something special for you! But I am working on something...I’m not sure it will get there by Christmas because I haven't finished it yet, but I am working on it! I'm going to work on something else today though! Get excited :) It's not much, but I just want y'all to know how much I love you! :) And I'm so grateful for your support. I am extremely humbled and blessed! So the probing question must be what the transfer calls? Well I thought that they weren't supposed to be til the new year but I was wrong! They're on Tuesday! And I wasn't nervous at all for them because president told us our call about the 2nd week of this transfer. We are both staying in Chambers Creek!!!! Yep...that's 2 areas in about 11 months!!!! :) I'm going places guys! :) haha Nah I love it here. I would cry if I had to leave. My favorite part about this area is probably the recent converts :) they are SO precious! And it brings me SO much joy to see them progress and learn and ahhsdkfjahjdkfshakjldasfhdlsk it's awesome :) They are miracles to me and I have had such precious experiences in this area with all of them. And I get to have 7 more weeks with them!!! :) I think the next transfers aren't til Feb. 4th :) Crazy how time flies by SO fast! Sister Chipman and I freak out about it pretty much every day. This transfer has seemed like it's been ages long! haha The weirdest things are I’ve been out almost 10 months now....I'm turning 22 in less than 6 months....CRAZINESS!!!! haha I’m just freaking out about how fast it goes! you know that song "you're gonna miss this"? ya! That's my feelings :) haha anyways, enough reminiscing....I’ll get to the week! :) OH MY GOODNESS!!!! Tuesday was the funnest/craziest/awesomest day ever! :) haha well Monday night we had a little sleep over because it snowed! So the people in the Port Angeles Zone came and stayed with people in Tacoma. I didn't know the sisters that came and stayed with us but they were sweet. Sister Muto and Sister Frandsen. It was fun :) But me being my boring self went to sleep :) haha But Tuesday...First of all we went to the church and met in the chapel and I saw sister Hall and oh my goodness, she is hilarious! She pulls out a stocking that says "baby's first Christmas" on it! SO funny! :) Even though it's her first Christmas too :) haha and inside it had a little princess flashlight because I'm a little obsessed with the whole "I am a daughter of a king" thing :) I enjoy that fact that I am a daughter of God :) haha and then a toilet with snowman poop in it :) .....that's one of those you had to have been there things :D But it was so funny!:) Then we had an opening prayer and then we did some white elephant stuff! and It was SO funny! I got a rock and a balloon and pin the tail on the donkey! :D Pure awesomeness. :) Then we went in the gym and watched a picture slideshow from the past year, it was weird because I didn't expect to be in a lot of them and then I realized I’ve been here for a while...haha! eeeeeh..... :) Then we sang some Christmas songs and then all the zones did skits, and Sister Weaver gave us all Santa hats so we wore those like all day, then we ate lunch and it was so good! and we took zone pictures :) And I got to hang out with all of my best friends and talk and it was just SO much fun! I gotta say, get 220 missionaries together and you get craziness! :) haha We sang the 12 days of Christmas missionary style (1-baptism on Christmas day 2-UBC's (unbaptized children) 3-miracles 4-member meals 5- new on date etc...) And we got crazy! Everyone tried to out do each other but my zone was day 5 and we won :) in my opinion :) haha but we just had way too much fun. I slept like a baby that night :) But at the end we went back into the chapel and we watched a video of Christ that made me cry and then we read Moroni 10..The mission (I am included in accomplishing this :) ) read the entire book of Mormon together over the past couple months, and we read 5 pages a day and then at the Christmas party we read the end. It was SO good! Afterwards we had a short little testimony session. It was so awesome. Guys! The book of Mormon is so true! There's not even a question about it. It is our "letters from Heavenly Father" and it's amazing! That book has changed my life! And you better be reading and applying it!!! :) Because that book is what saves lives. Literally, it gets us back to our Father in Heaven. After that President and Sister Weaver bore their testimonies and then we all sang "amazing grace." I am going to melt!!! I have THE BEST Mission in the whole world! And it starts with President and Sister Weaver. They are seriously amazing! haha I have to tell you a funny story :) On Wednesday President called us and I answered the phone and he was going to ask us if a Sister could come with us on Friday while her companion went to the temple (we get to go to the temple before we leave the mission) but then he figured out another sister's companion was going also so he figured it out over the phone and then he proceeds to tell us about this T-shirt that an Elder had that says "President Weaver's Favorite" and how he wanted to make some of those T-shirts and hand them out but he thought it would be too discriminatory so he says "well the purpose of this phone call is to tell you about a t-shirt that I can never give you!" Haha he is literally the funniest man. I just love him to death! :) Wednesday we went around and saw a lot of our investigators :) It is hard at this time of year to get everyone at home but we had 8 lessons so it was a full day! On Thursday morning we went to Mountain View and did a surprise study with the Cambodian Sisters! They are awesome :) Sister Walker, Mcquivey, and Dunster. don't tell but sister dunster is one of my favorite missionaries. :) haha but it was a lot of fun :) They are amazing. They are the only Cambodian sisters in this area and they are making history! There is a huge Cambodian population here and so they have lots to do. Most of them are members but they don't have a ward to go to. That's one of the hardest things as a missionary, finding people who speak a different language and wouldn't be able to go to church with you and understand. haha it's horrible! but I just think they're awesome! Sister Walker and Dunster have only been here for 6 weeks so they're still working at it but I think they're awesome :) Then we went back and did weekly planning and then we did exchanges with Sister Brady and Sister Jenkins. I went to Skyline with Sister Jenkins and it was way fun. Guess what?! I got bit by a squirrel! :) haha Sister Jenkins is a funny sister. :) She's very reserved, but at the same time she's hilarious! So we had a lot of fun :) It was only like a 5 hour exchange because Sister Brady got really sick and had to come home. but it was fun :) This is my last transfer as an STL :( sad days! But hey maybe I’ll just go to being a normal missionary...that'll be weird! haha I was trained and follow up trained and then I trained twice and then became an STL so I haven't been just an normal Joe yet :D haha but I know no matter what I'm doing it will still be fun and awesome :) haha I'm just sayin...it'll be interesting :) haha! Friday I got to paint my nails! YAY!!! I had the dumb song that Jessica and Michele made up stuck in my head you know the one...."Christmas colors...Christmas colors..." rrrrrrggggg :P Then we went to the nursing home and sang Christmas songs! haha I just love going there! I love the people! I think my favorite guy is George. He laughs and sings along and is just hilarious :) Then that night we went knocking and a miracle happened (they happen quite a bit actually :) ) we were knocking this apartment and we accidentally knocked on the managers door and she told us she wasn't going to kick us out but told us we should leave, so we went to the other side of the complex and met these people named Liz and Anthony. They have been through a ton and Liz just poured her heart out to us, she needs the gospel so badly in her life, she's miserable without it! And so we taught them for a little while and it was just so apparent to me how blessed we are to have the gospel and not have to worry about so much crap :P haha why are we so blessed?! that's what I want to know... Then we went and stopped by Anthony's house and it was so precious! He had bought us Peppermint hot chocolate from Starbucks (My favorite, it's SO good!) and cookies! but we didn't bring any fellowship with us because we were just going to stop by! But he brought out his furniture onto his porch! haha so we drank hot chocolate and ate cookies and looked at baby pictures of him and had a lesson :) haha it was awesome! :) Then Saturday came!!! And Anthony was baptized! It was SUCH a great baptism! He was so excited! :) I got to sing with an Elder named Elder Hughs (he's my district leader) because Packard couldn't come :( But he played the guitar and we sang "Joseph smith's first prayer" it was so fun! :) But the baptism went really well :) It was so spiritual! President Weaver came to it and Bishop had him bear his testimony and he just makes me cry every time. He has the sweetest testimony! And Anthony was just SO happy! It was funny after he got out of the water all we could hear was him laughing! it was sweet! He is a miracle and he has SO much faith! 1 Nephi 2:19 reminds me of him. He has a ton of faith and he is diligent, for example the day after we taught him about the word of wisdom he quit smoking and drinking coffee and will most likely never do it again! WOOT! :) and he is very lowly of heart. He is teachable and meek and I just love him so much!!! It was so cool to see an Atheist become a Christian and even a Mormon!!! :) haha it was seriously amazing. The feelings in my heart cannot be expressed. I just know this church is true. After the baptism we had some lunch with Anthony, he is a chef! He cooked for a king and shaqueil o neal I dunno how to spell his name, but he's a fancy cooker. :) We had Risotto with asparagus and pork with crab and apple bacon chutney. I have no idea what that is, but it was good! Even with the crab! haha You guys need to meet this guy! :) He's awesome! No joke! :) Then that night we had our ward Christmas party! It was so fun! They made me sing for them. :) haha it was fun and there were lots of investigators and good food and Santa Claus and all of our recent converts!!! :D yay!!! :) It was a blast :) All I have to say is I love being a missionary! It's just the greatest thing in the whole world! :) I especially love it at Christmas time :) I get to remember all I’m grateful for while serving the Lord and loving other people :) Y'all need to read this talk cuz it's awesome :)

http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/christmas-devotional/2010/12/seeing-christmas-through-new-eyes

I'm so grateful for this time of year, we not only remember the Savior and His birth but EVERYONE does (except Jehovah's witnesses) even the atheists we meet are celebrating Christmas and giving gifts! It's awesome! This is Christ's month! This is the month where we see tender mercies happen to us and to others! :) I am SO grateful for Christ's birth, that small baby lying in a manger became my Savior and Redeemer. Because of Him I can have joy! I am eternally grateful for all He did for me. He is my best friend. And I know that everything will always be ok because I can rely on Him. I love Him so much. And I love all of you!!! :) Stay safe and be happy! I get to talk to you in 9 days over Skype! GET EXCITED!!!! :D anyways...just know I love you and miss you lots and hope that y'all are getting in the spirit of Christmas! :)

Love always

Sister Wilkins :)

Sidney Webb and Tayler Stann :) in the ward! I love all my little buddies! :) I'm just a 6 year old at heart :)

Chloe and Ellie call :) I love these little girls! they are so adorable!!! :) They're in the ward :)

Q-tips!!!! :) don't judge my non-makeuped face :)

i'd like to thank my mom and my dad and my siblings for this award i couldn't do it without them... :D

I just thought this was funny so i took a picture :)

Presents under the christmas tree!!! :)


	This is the squirrel that bit me :)

painted my nails :D

Anthony's doorstep lesson! haha

Anthony was baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D:D :D :D:D:D::D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D: D:D :D :D :D

Recent converts and investigator :) (Travis is our investigator in the back :) )

All of my Favorite people! :) from left to right Terrance's son Miles, Terrance, me, top: Travis middle:Kyle Bottom:sis Chipman Jon, Juan and Anthony!