Sister Brittany Ann Wilkins: Week 46

Hello Family! :)

Well it was a great week as always! :) I feel a little sad today for some reason....I think I’m realizing how much I love Chambers Creek! It's always so sad to leave after 6 months of being somewhere. Especially when you love the people here! I never thought there would be another place I loved as much as I loved Steilacoom..Steilacoom is where I gained my testimony and really grew and stuff and the people there became like family to me. But Chambers is different, and just as special. It's where I've become a leader, and really fortified my character etc. and people here have also become like family to me. Both areas will mean something to me forever! I can't even express it. I literally want to cry right now even thinking of leaving! Which, I have like 3 weeks left, but it will go by so fast! haha I guess I’m just in a reminiscing mood at the moment :) It's probably because I always write a letter to President Weaver before I come to e-mail y'all and I was talking about the exchanges we went on this week and how much I just love being an STL because I just care about these sisters so much and get to be able to help them at least a little bit, but that will all change in 3 weeks! It's so crazy. I still don't like change, or surprises haha but I do trust that God knows what's best for me. But I think it just hit me while I was writing to President that I am leaving this place in 3 weeks. Man oh man! I am just emotional today :) haha But anyways I also would like to point out that in 39 days I’ll have been gone for a whole year! CRAZINESS! time flies so fast...But enough reminiscing and I'll get to the week now :) So this week was the week where I almost got eaten by dogs like every night during tracting! haha I hate dogs...I have never been so irritated by them in my life :D But sister chipman is like deathly afraid of animals haha so it's actually quite funny :) Monday night we were tracting and it gets very dark around 5 here still, so we had our flashlights and I was walking down this driveway and at the end of the driveway there was something big and black and it scared the living daylights out of me (who even really knows what that means? ) and I jumped back and sister chipman screamed and ran away :) haha It was SO funny! And it was circling around us and growling and I just stood there laughing my head off while Chipman prayed and cried :) haha it was pretty funny :) On Tuesday we did exchanges with Sister Esplin and Sister Everett in highland hills. HH is not a very fruitful area. There are a lot of less actives and a lot of old people...haha :) But I got to go there with Sister Everett. She's way cute! :) I love her and it was a lot of fun :) We saw a lot of formers and less actives and stuff :) It was just good :) She had some way good music though! It was way good. A song called "the hardest thing i ever loved to do" SO good! It made me cry :) here are the lyrics :)

The hardest thing I ever loved to do

was letting go of everything I ever knew

nineteen years of dreams left in my room

as I buttoned up the jacket of my suit

The hardest word I’ve ever loved to say

was goodbye to my mom and walk away

choking on my tie and on my tears

as I walked down the hall into those years

the sweetest song I’ve ever loved to sing

filled the MTC on angel’s wings

the chorus filled my soul 5000 strong

and I wished it would just go on and on

the firmest hand I’ve ever loved to shake

was my trainer’s with that big grin on his face

he grabbed my bag and put his arm ‘round me

and whispered

"I’m gonna work those Mr. Macs right off your feet"

The hardest words I’ve ever anguished for

came just before some lady slammed her door

my trainer left me hanging out to dry

and a minute of painful silence rolled right by

but the hardest tears I ever loved to cry

fell as I opened up my mouth and testified

between the tiny walls of a stranger’s living room

the Spirit told their hearts my words were true

the most wonderful sound I’ve ever heard

is the sound of water running in the church

as someone I’d come to love got dressed in white

my eyes saw their first glimpse of Heaven’s light

the hardest thing I’ve ever come to see

is a man down on his knees in agony

a drop of blood falls down on olive leaves

and for a moment he suffers there for me

the hardest thing I’ve ever loved to do

was getting on this plane and coming home to you

in a million ways completely torn apart

as a land so far away still owns my heart

in the most sincere prayer I’ve ever prayed

I thank my God for each and every day

for the blessing of the man I’ve come to be

as I walk up and kiss my mama’s cheek.

Ah! It just sums up missionary work so well! I haven't come home yet, but I am going to feel the same way! I have just become a different person, so much stronger, and happier. I Just love this gospel.

Anyways on Wednesday I went back to Chambers with Chipman :) We had Zone meeting this week and President and Sister Weaver came and they talked about us keeping an eye single to the glory of God. Haha President said "the rumor around the mission is that if you're in Tacoma I like you, well I want you to believe that while you're here." haha he's so funny! But they just talked about how we are at the heart of the mission and we have the responsibility to kind of set the standard for the rest of the mission and so he challenged us to focus on our area. That's probably why I have all of the sudden realized how much I love it here. This transfer my goal was to make this place my home. And i think I’ve accomplished that :) That night Sister Chipman and I had a lot of fun during tracting. It has been SO rainy and SO windy and miserable so we embraced it and made up a rap during knocking :) haha! It goes like this:

The missionaries at your door we wanna tell you a little more about the gospel of Jesus Christ that will bring that peace into your life. we'll tell you about the love of God and lead you to the iron rod. we'll start with a story about a boy named Joe what church to join is what he wanted to know. he read in the Epistle of James 1:5 and the scripture just came alive. He went out to a grove of trees knelt down and said "Lord, help me please!" what happened next is in the books you'll find out if you take a look. The book of Mormon will help you see the person God wants you to be. If you read and pray and ponder too, God will help you know all this is true. The next step is to have desire to be baptized by water and fire! This will bring you more joy than ever before so please don't slam your door! :)

I thought it was pretty clever :) haha I think I'll sing it the next time we have to do skits. :) We also during tracting found someone who had the largest pet pig! It was nasty!!! haha we also got attacked by a dog again :) It started running toward us and for some reason my natural inclination was to run toward him and then he ran away :) Oh! I also found out when I came back that Luis and Timothy are on date for the 18th!!! YAY!!! we'll get back to that in a moment :) Thursday we had weekly planning. And during weekly planning I got a call from a sister who was struggling and my heart is just wrenching. I never realized that anyone looked up to me for help, but these sisters just struggle sometimes and for some reason they come to me...haha but I just feel so bad when they're struggling! I want to hug them and make them realize how amazing they are! I love being an STL though, because I really do care about the sisters here. :) Haha we also got the chance to finally teach an investigator named Jessica and it was the craziest lesson. She has a 5 year old who has a ton of energy. So basically I babysat while Chipman taught the Restoration, haha :) but at the end Kailub (the 5 year old) said the sweetest prayer! :) It was so sweet! Recently we've been reading the New Testament as a mission and I love how in Matthew you see so many instances where Christ talks about the little children or helps the little children or whatever. There's a song that says "When he had a world to save, he had a world of time to stop and hold a little child." Children, no matter how crazy they are, are angels! :) And I love them so much! :) haha oh man so for our relief society activity we did Zumba!!!! And we got to go and now my nickname is "Sister Shake it Wilkins" bahahaha! :) I haven't done it my whole mission and I miss it :) It was a lot of fun though :) On Friday we got to teach this kid named Elijah and it was way cool we knocked into him like a week ago and then we went back and taught him the Restoration and it was super spiritual even though he doesn't know what he believes. I promised him boldly that if he would read the book of Mormon he would know that this message was true. And he said that he had already kinda received an answer because before we knocked on his door he was praying for help, and then we showed up that night. CRAZY right?! It is literally amazing how mindful God is of all His children. sad thing is that Elijah is 19 so we had to give him to the YSA elders :P but he went to church yesterday so that's sweet! :) We also got to go to the nursing home and sing again :) I love those people there :) It's great! Then we got to go see Luis and Timothy and we taught them the commandments and they committed to all of them! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D I'm so excited they're totally going to get baptize this Saturday! Sister Chipman and I have a goal of 3 baptisms this weekend so this week will be a busy week! :) I"M SO EXCITED! :) We have Luis and Timothy and they're going to have their interview on Tuesday and then Michael Brandon is finally committing! and he's having his interview on Thursday! So keep them in your prayers :) It's so cool because Sister Packard and I found Luis the very first day of our transfer together, he was agnostic and looked sad, and then his wife got back from Afghanistan (who knows how to spell that) and left him :( so sad...but then he opened up his house for other people to come live and that's how we found Timothy! :) Timothy is a Chaplin’s assistant in the army! So he wanted to learn more, and now they're hopefully going to be baptized on Saturday! :) YAY!!! :) Michael Brandon referred himself onmormon.org and so we got it back when Packard and I were companions and now he's finally ready! :) I'm just so excited! :) It's fun to see how many people have come so far in the last 6 months and changed so much. It's amazing. On Saturday morning we got a call from President saying that half the mission had lost power and some had trees fallen down in front of their apartments, but we were just perfectly fine :) But he called to check up on us! ain't that sweet? :) I love him! :) it was a hard work day because everyone was going to or watching the Seahawks game! But Juan invited us to his house and we had a little dinner with Juan Jon and Kyle! I love them so much! I could've stayed there forever because they're my best friends! They asked a bunch of questions about the gospel and it was awesome! Ajsahgjkeyruewahfrksjahfuieyrfeuwhafj dsaI I just love them so much! I wish i could explain it. We also met this little family that the YSA Elders knocked into and found for us! Nicole and Daja! Daja is the cutest little 9 year old of my whole life! She loves church, she loves the bible and she's so smart and sweet! She's very mature too. I love love love her! :) Sunday was an AWESOME day! :) we had 6 investigators at church :) Daja came and loved it! Then Myk was there as always :) I love her :) Luis and Timothy came and Michael Brandon with his boys again and then an investigator named Faith with her 4 year old grandson! and we also got a less active (he hasn't been to church for 10 years) to come! :) so it was so busy! We were running around trying to get everyone to class and it was amazing! :) I think that's why I realized I love this area so much. I seriously love these Investigators and Recent converts with my whole heart! :) Also yesterday was the day when I have 40 days left until my year mark. So I started this thing called the 40 day fast. Where the first day you fast and pray about things that poke at the spirit and God helps you know what you need to get rid of to help you feel the spirit more! And at the end of the 40 days I’ll hopefully have different habits and be more worthy and effective servant of the Lord. I've decided this 7 months of my mission are going to be the greatest of my young life!!! :) Which will be hard because I’ve had a pretty amazing mission so far! :) But I really just want to grow, I really just want to change. And I want these amazing miracles to continue to happen. Because living the gospel is the most intelligent thing to do. You don't have to be upset or not know who you are or whatever. I seriously wish that I could just give everyone my heart and help them see how amazing your life can be when you live the gospel! My heart is sick when I think of people who do dumb things because they don't know who they are or they just don't know who God is when it's SO easy to learn and to follow. Sink this scripture in your hearts! 28 ¶^aCome unto me, all ye that ^blabour and are heavy laden, and I will give you ^crest.

29 Take my ^ayoke upon you, and ^blearn of me; for I am ^cmeek and^dlowly in ^eheart: and ye shall find ^frest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is ^aeasy, and my burden is light.

Come unto Christ. Learn of Him. And you will have rest unto your souls. I wish everyone understood how true this is. Not just this scripture, but this gospel. At the center of the gospel is the Atonement. All that is wrong or unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement. We just have to keep going, we have to keep enduring

20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a ^asteadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of ^bhope, and a ^clove of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and ^dendure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have ^eeternal life.

This week Sister Chipman and I gave a training on hope. and I wanted to share my thoughts with you. Hope is to desire with expectation of fulfillment. And Ultimately we should hope for eternal life. God's purpose is to bring to pass "the immortality and eternal life of man" Aka we are in God's hands! There was a story from the relief society broadcast this past conference that I loved by Linda S Reeves:

Almost three years ago a devastating fire gutted the interior of the beloved, historic tabernacle in Provo, Utah. Its loss was deemed a great tragedy by both the community and Church members. Many wondered, “Why did the Lord let this happen? Surely He could have prevented the fire or stopped its destruction.”

Ten months later, during the October 2011 general conference, there was an audible gasp when President Thomas S. Monson announced that the nearly destroyed tabernacle was to become a holy temple—a house of the Lord! Suddenly we could see what the Lord had always known! He didn’t cause the fire, but He allowed the fire to strip away the interior. He saw the tabernacle as a magnificent temple—a permanent home for making sacred, eternal covenants.⁴

My dear sisters, the Lord allows us to be tried and tested, sometimes to our maximum capacity. We have seen the lives of loved ones—and maybe our own—figuratively burned to the ground and have wondered why a loving and caring Heavenly Father would allow such things to happen. But He does not leave us in the ashes; He stands with open arms, eagerly inviting us to come to Him. He is building our lives into magnificent temples where His Spirit can dwell eternally.

In Doctrine and Covenants 58:3–4, the Lord tells us:

“Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.

“For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory.”

Sisters, I testify that the Lord has a plan for each of our lives. Nothing that happens is a shock or a surprise to Him. He is all-knowing and all-loving. He is eager to help us, to comfort us, and to ease our pain as we rely on the power of the Atonement and honor our covenants. The trials and tribulation that we experience may be the very things that guide us to come unto Him and cling to our covenants so that we might return to His presence and receive all that the Father hath

Sometimes we are refined, and sometimes those refining fires are hot and we lose our way and we don't know why we have to go through these hard things, but God is just helping us fill the measure of our creation. He is turning us into temples. He is helping prepare us for immortality and eternal life. D&C 136:31

31 My people must be ^atried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the ^bglory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not ^cbear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom.

The Lord knows better than we do, but we must endure these things well!

7 My son, ^apeace be unto thy soul; thine ^badversity and thine afflictions shall be but a ^csmall moment;

8 And then, if thou ^aendure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy ^bfoes.

So have hope! The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now! So live the gospel, do what's right, and trust in God. He will direct you paths. You can succeed, you can have immortality and eternal life!

41 But that ye have ^apatience, and bear with those ^bafflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.

I Testify that Christ lives. I know that His Gospel is true and it is the way we can make it back safely and happily to our Heavenly Father. No this life is not for us to be completely miserable. We have much reason to REJOICE! So count your blessings :) And remember that I love you very very much! :) times up! gotta go! Love you so much! :)

Love always

Sister Wilkins :)