Week 77

Well this week has been quite eventful :) I am so happy that baby Benson is finally here! Lucrecia did show me the pictures and I was on cloud 9! :) He is the most adorable thing I've ever seen! I am very excited to meet him :) just tell him not to grow until I come home k? :) I am glad to hear it all went well and such since I've been stressing over it since Christmas! haha <3 I am very grateful for our eternal family and all the little people coming into it! :) So since last week a lot of crazy things have happened! I'll tell you about them when I get home :D haha But Mary Bird is still doing pretty good! She was on date to be baptized this Saturday, but she doesn't feel quite ready yet. We are still having faith that it will happen, so keep her in your prayers :)  she had a congestive heart attack this week, the poor lady is just so old and falling apart...But her heart is as big as ever! This ward needs a person like Mary to influence it. The ward is CRAZY ok let me rephrase that, the people individually are awesome but once we step into relief society it's like an intense group therapy that I swear will eventually turn into a brawl. It's insane! haha so we are really working on ward unity. I think the problem is that these people don't love themselves enough. They don't realize their true potential which is horrid. So Sister Stevens and I are really praying and working a lot to repair the ward. It's just crazy :) I think I'm here because I don't get caught up in drama and I am just innocent to such things and so I can just love everyone :) haha and I do! I absolutely LOVE this ward...I will be sad to have to leave it. But it's got its weaknesses just like everything else. The people aren't perfect, but the gospel is! :) Something else that I learned about this week was the power of prayer. On Wednesday we were in a hurry but Sister Steven's GPS wasn't working...so I just said a quick prayer, and as soon as I said amen it worked! haha miracles happen :) The most powerful prayer was last night. We were at our bishop’s house and Sister Stevens was into a topic and when she gets into her stories its intense haha but she said something that kind of hurt my feelings, and she knew it. So when we left I was just mad, well more hurt than mad and I just started crying. Sister Stevens is such a repentant soul and said she was sorry right away. The whole car ride home was pretty silent and I was just praying that I could handle things in a Christ like way. When we got home Sister Stevens sincerely apologized and she felt so bad. And I was seriously just filled with so much Charity. I forgave her and we both felt the power of the atonement wash everything away. God used me as an instrument to help both of us learn about Christ. The spirit was so very strong and we hugged and everything was fine. The Atonement is truly amazing and can heal all things. Because of Jesus Christ we can truly be healed. Regrets become relief, Sorrow becomes hope, and we can have clean slates because of Him. This is just a small instance in where the Atonement worked. But I know it works for all things, both large and small. I truly have a testimony of these things. And it’s something that I've really learned a lot about as I've been a missionary. My Savior Jesus Christ is amazing. He can truly heal all things. So this week we had Zone conference and Stake conference! It was the Blatter's first zone conference and it was pretty good :) They focused primarily on us opening our mouths and we had some breakout sessions where we rotated around and did some different things. It was fun :) I learned that we really just need to open our mouths everywhere we go! Even when I come home, I can still talk to people about the gospel everywhere I go! :) it's only awkward if you think it is :) haha so Sister Stevens and I are really working on that :) It's been fun! But right before Stake conference on Saturday night I had the opportunity to have my final interview with President Blatter :) It still really hasn't hit me that I'm coming home...haha I'm not sure when it will. I'll probably proclaim I've been kidnapped when I got on the airplane! haha just kidding :) But it was a really good interview. He asked me about what I was going to do when I got home and I just said "I dunno I haven't even thought about it yet.." he just laughed at me. :) He's happy that I'm not a trunky missionary :) It was just really good. He gave me a lot of advice and he told me that Heavenly Father wanted me to know that He was proud of me and that I could go home with no regrets. which was really a big answer to my prayers. He of course talked about going to the temple every week, scripture study, and praying. And of course marriage. Haha! He told me that the Holy Ghost would testify to both me and my future husband that we were supposed to be together which I never thought about before but why would God tell me what to do in the most important decision in my life?!?!! haha so it was really good :) I appreciate President Blatter a lot. After stake conference they took us out for ice cream!!! it was fun and awesome! :) I am very grateful for them. :) I get to spend my last night at their house so I’m excited to get to know them better :) So the sketchy stuff that I wasn't going to tell you til I got home, well I will just tell you cuz I have time :) haha! So it was August 15th and that morning we did weekly planning and then we went over to this family that we had found the day before the Greggersons. Well they had just moved into this house, but they were actually living in a bus because the house was trashed! So we took Lucrecia over and we did some service with them. Well the whole house was filled with drugs and syringes and cigarettes. It was DIGUSTING! We only stayed for a short while when the mom came out and told us she didn't feel comfortable with us being there, but she would call us when she felt it was safe. So that was sketchy. Then we went to Mary's and found out she had had her heart attack and then we went to go and visit Leon. Earlier that day Leon's friend Andy called Lucrecia and told her that Leon was mission and he didn't know where he was. Well Andy is a liar so we thought we'd go and check things out. So we get to Leon’s house at like 8:15 and it's pretty dark outside. We knocked on the door and no one answered but Summer their dog came out and was growling and barking. Which she NEVER does she knows us and is always really sweet so I knew something was wrong. Dogs only act like that when there's a disaster! haha so we follow her and she is just backing up and growling and we find that the back door is open. So me feeling like something was really wrong and that Leon was hurt decided to go into the house! haha Stevens thought I was crazy! but I had to see if Leon was ok. Well we got to a certain point and decided to turn around. No one was there even though there were lights on. Leon is still missing :( so please keep him in your prayers. But it was seriously the sketchiest day! :) haha but it was fun :) Don't worry I won't die before I come home :) I'll see you soon :) Anyways, Sister Stevens and I are still best friends and we still have a ton of fun, we work hard and are obedient. And it's just amazing! I am SO grateful for this time I have to be a missionary! :) It's the greatest thing in the WHOLE world! :)I know that the Gospel is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is a true book written with the words of God to help us in our day. It has such an amazing power in our lives. Prayer works. I am so grateful I can converse with my Father in heaven. I am especially grateful for my Savior, and His sacrifice for me. I couldn't ask for a better best friend. He cares SO much about each of us and really wants to help us. and He CAN!!! :) if we let Him :) I love Him so very much. I love all of you and miss you lots :)

Love always

Sister Wilkins :)

Some Sisters in Sister Wilkins' Zone