Thursday, January 9, 2014

Week 44

Hello Family!!!!!! 
Oh my goodness! It was so awesome to talk to you on Christmas! I have been telling everyone how much I loved it! :) It was great! I miss y'all so much and it was fun to get to see your faces and actually realize you're all still alive! :) So that's awesome! :) haha And I'm not sure how much you heard but I am so grateful for the wonderful gifts you gave me! I have worn pretty much everything already! :) and I love it! :) I am especially grateful for your continued love and support. I just love you so much!!! :D I can't even express it! :) Only 5 more months til I can see you again! :) Oh wow, I am just amazed by how quickly time flies! I am most definitely enjoying my mission while I can! :) I am also quite enjoying the "book of Mormon made easier" books! they're great! :) I love personal study and those vamp it up even more! I have found myself studying during lunch, dinner, and decomp time at night! :) haha I love to study the scriptures! :) Ok so I will get to the week and talk more in depth about these things! :) Yay! :) haha So first of all Monday night we got to go caroling again with our zone which is always fun! :) We just walk around and sing like crazy people.... :) haha missionaries are so weird! :) But it was super fun! Tuesday aka Christmas Eve was pretty laid back during the day, we visited a lot of our Recent Converts. We First went to Juan's house! I love him! :) And he loves us to come over! And Kyle lives right next door to him so he came out too! :) haha and we just talked and laughed on his doorstep and we sang "Breath of Heaven" for him, he loves to make us sing and I love to sing so I make Chipman do it with me :) haha! But we stayed there for like an hour! It's so fun to go to Juan's house! It is like the place to be! :) I love that man so much. He is my angel! :) Then we stopped by Darlene and Annette and Yassi our Guamanians :) And they are so sweet, they were happy to see us, they didn't get much of a Christmas, poor Annette can't really do much, she's had some strokes and her whole right side is messed up so she can't use her hand and it's hard for her to walk, she has to wear a brace because her leg just bends at the bottom. And she takes care of 4 year old Yassi all the time while Darlene goes to work every day. So we like to go over there and help. We made yassi some mac n cheese which I haven't made in ages! haha :) But it was fun to be able to cheer them up a little and give them a Christmas Card! :) Then we went and saw Anthony! That guy is hilarious! He makes me laugh like every time I see him, same with Terrance, they are just the funniest human beings I’ve ever met in my life! I love them! :) We also stopped by Myk's house I know I’ve mentioned her before, but she was dating this kid in our ward named Spencer and she took all the lessons and was about to be baptized until her mom said that she couldn't, so Spencer is on his mission and she is just waiting to be baptized! She still comes to church every week and goes to young womens :) She is my favorite! I love Myk so much! :) She is just so sweet and has a way strong testimony. But we stopped and talked to her as well. :) We did some other things in between but to tell you the truth I don't remember what... :D haha but then that night we went to the Lundquist's house in our ward and we had yummy food and talked and sang songs and played carols with chimes and did a gift exchange. There was probably about 15 people there and only 7 of them were members! So it was a great missionary opportunity! And it was so fun! All of them were very sweet and very nice, and at the end of the night Sister Chipman and I both had the opportunity to bear our testimonies of the Savior to them all. It was very sweet. And a lot of fun :) We felt like part of the family! :) That night we opened our jammies and of course read Luke chapter 2! :) Then Christmas day was Finally here! You pretty much know what happened but I'll give you a recap of the day :) First we slept in til 7:30!!! :) Yay! :) then we woke up and opened our presents! Sister Chipman took FOREVER. She made me take a picture of everything she got haha it was pretty funny so that took about an hour and then we studied got ready and went to the Hartzell's. They are so awesome! :) We had a brunch with Anthony and this German lady from our ward named Ingrid and the Hartzell's and their daughter and her 5 year old son. :) We had Homemade sourdough French toast, and Anthony's special hot chocolate :) It was delicious! And then we sang some Christmas songs and then The Hartzell's gave  Sister Chipman and I both a Scarf! :) and then we went and Caroled to 2 ladies in our ward. One just had surgery and one is in a nursing home. So it was fun and then it was time to go Skype!!! That was awesome! My Heart was beating through my chest! I'm just so happy! You know what happened there. :) Afterwards we had dinner at the Pryor's and we just hung out with them. They gave us some approved cd's! You have to look up this one song :) It's on the cd called especially for missionaries and it's the first one..i have no idea what it's called...but it's so good! It's like my testimony! haha It starts off with "I've never been the kind to testify" I don't remember the rest of it at this moment in time...but it's awesome! :) Then we decided to stop by President and Sister Weavers! and it just so happened that the Zone leaders of Tacoma West and The Ap's showed up at the same exact time! haha So we knocked on the door and sang jingle bells to them! and 2 of their daughters were there with their families! One has a little baby and the other has a little 2 year old. And they were all in their pajamas! haha :) So President actually had us all bear our testimonies of Christ and we said a prayer all together and their little 2 year old granddaughter Liza quoted articles of faith for us and then we all sang "once there was a snowman" and "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam" Liza loved it! haha it was way fun! :) Then we went home and went to bed! We were Exhausted! :) haha Christmas as a missionary is actually way fun! :) haha I learned a lot about the Savior, and His sacrifice for us. He is my everything. Thursday we had zone meeting and we just visited a bunch of people then that night we went back and saw this girl we had found about a week prior. Her name is Kendra! :) first of all she told us she was pregnant and emotional! haha it was funny:) but we taught her about the restoration and she just ate it up! And she cried during the lesson she was loving it! And then we out her on date! :) These are miracles that happen when you are a missionary. Haha I remember one time President told us he went to a lesson where the missionaries taught the first lesson and put someone on date and he said "I couldn't believe it! they actually said yes!" haha some people are prepared to say yes to baptism. For some they never get that far, but just to see that they are willing is way cool! And that doesn't happen every day! :) But I LOVE Kendra! She is way cool! and we're going back on Wednesday! She said she was excited to see us then! :) It was a good day to Celebrate Kyson's first birthday! :) haha :) Tell him I love him lots and give him lots of hugs and kisses for me! :) Friday was a lot of fun too! :) We got a text to go to the Mullinex building at 2 for a FHE with the Weaver family! So I got to see all my buddies again! Yay! :) And it was so fun! We sang songs! Each zone did a last minute skit about a scripture story! All of the Weavers Daughters and Grandchildren were there, and It was so fun! :) Some of the kids shared a talent with us and we just had a little FHE! and then we had a training about who we are. Thinking about who we are going to be In this new year. President talked about Jacob 5:75 and how the vineyard had no more corruption. and How we can also have no more corruption and experience joy NOW! :) I keep thinking about that Rascal Flatts song "I’m gonna stop lookin back and start moving on learn how to face my fears love with all of my heart make my mark I wanna leave something here go out on a ledge without any net that's what I wanna be about yeah I wanna be running til the sand runs out." And that's what I want to do this next year! Because it's my last year of my mission! :) and I want to grow and learn as much as I possibly can! :) Something else that I've been thinking about is Virtuous Charity. Christ is a perfect example of this.  I learned a little about this from Sister Packard she said He was Virtuous because of his never ending positive, kind, forgiving, patient, and sober thoughts. And we know His mind because of His deeds which demonstrated charity! And that caught my attention real fast! I want to be virtuous! :) haha and I want to have charity! :) So that's what I want to focus on :) I haven't exactly set goals yet...I've been studying like crazy the Christ like attributes and stuff like that :) it has been fun! but an hour is not long enough! :) Anyways that was Friday :) Saturday was a good day! we saw a lot of our investigators and handed out some cookies :) haha I had a lot of energy that day and it was just fun! Nothing too exciting and praiseworthy happened! But I have to tell you about our miracle on Sunday! :) So after church Sister Call came up to us and asked if we had anywhere to go for dinner and we didn't so she invited us over for dinner with her :) Her husband is in Alaska doing 70's stuff so she was just going to cook some burgers for herself and they were SO good! probably one of the best burgers that I've had in a long time! :) And the spirit that's in their house is so cool! So afterward I felt so happy and energized! and ready to go knocking! :) So we decided to go around her neighborhood for knocking since we were going to be late. we were going to go somewhere else, but just decided to stay there and we knocked a few doors and they were all very nice people but no one wanted to listen, and Sister Chipman got a little frustrated and so I said "no worries we will find the Elect! They are here somewhere!" and then we knocked on the next door and this lady opens the door and tells us her husband used to be a Mormon, but they were Episcopalian (no idea how to spell that :) ) But then she said ya know I've had some questions, can I go ask my husband if I can ask you guys? and we were like of course! so she lets us in and I’m playing with her little dog and then she comes back with a few children and they sit down and we start talking. She loves that we believe that families can be together forever because in her church they believe that when you die and go to heaven you're all different people and your husband won't even be your husband anymore and we were like no way you can totally be with your family forever! :) and she liked that because she has 7 children!!!! A FAMILY!!!! and then we taught her and her whole family the Restoration and they loved it and took a Book of Mormon!!! Ahfjskhajkfhdjshabfsjdharuihcreyqwubbuiqyrweumuiroyw afterwards Sister Chipman and I did a dance in the street :) haha but their family is so sweet! I felt comfortable around them and excited to share my testimony! I'm So excited!!! :) So instead of the 11 from heaven in Steilacoom we have the 7 from Heaven in Chambers Creek! and they are so going to get baptized! :) They have Kellyn who's 8 months Megan is 5 Merriam is 8 Matthew is 10 Audrey is 13 Hannah is 17 and Nathan is 19! The Rodney family! :) I love them already! :) And I'm so excited to teach them!!! :) So Sunday was a good way to end the week! :) I'm excited for this week! and don't worry we'll be locked in our apartment on new year’s eve :) so that'll be fun! :P but I'm excited because I get to set new goals for this coming year that will help me become a better person! :) And more like my Savior! :) I hope ya'll have a wonderful week and a happy new year! :) I can't believe its 2014!!! It seemed so far away back in February and now it's suddenly here!!! CRAZY! So I challenge ya'll to write down and make a plan to make 1 or 2 goals that will help you become more like the Savior. And then when you make the goal do it right then! (so if your goal is to be better at reading scriptures pull them out now! :) ) I know that if you do this you will become a better disciple of Jesus Christ. And we can become better because of His Atonement! :) which we can each take part of individually. I think of 3 Nephi 11 where Christ let’s all 2,500 of the Nephites there come and feel the wound in his side and prints in His hands and feet. That must've taken hours! But every soul is great in the sight of God! :) YOU are great! :) I love you so much and I’m running out of time so I've got to go!!! :) LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!
Love always

Sister Wilkins :)
Caroling fun :)

After caroling most of my zone :)

The girls :)

My gingerbread house :) I made it all by myself :)

sister chipman and I in our Christmas Eve Pajama's

Santa came!

Made out like a bandit! :)

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