Week 78

Hello!

Well I don't think this will be my last e-mail, but we will see :) So I guess I’ll tell you what is going to happen since I just assume you know, but you probably don't :) On Tuesday we'll have transfer day, the meeting starts at 1:30. After the meeting I will be staying at the Blatter's home that night and then fly out on Wednesday morning. :) Being at the end of my mission is the hardest thing, I don't want to leave, but I am excited to come home and be with all of you. It's hard for me because all I want to do is focus on the work! Which I do my best to do, but I also have to think about my final report (which is pretty much finished) and packing and all that jazz! So that is a little difficult for me, I just want to be a missionary!!! haha but it's all good :) I am doing my best and that's all that matters! :) God told me to just love and be cheerful! so that's what I'm doing!! :) This week was good; we are really struggling with finding new investigators! But the work still goes on! I am at peace with it because I feel like we are working really hard and being obedient! So God is going to let miracles happen here! The bishop is really pumped about getting the members involved here, so I see that in the future the work will be booming here in Yelm! :) *fact: Deschutes River is not a city, it's just a river :) haha but it's a pretty river!! :) It took me like 2 weeks to figure that one out :D Anywho I am excited for the work that is going to happen here, even though I won't be here. :) I just love this ward and want them to prosper! :) Mary didn't get baptized this week, she had a heart attack, and just didn't feel good...and so she's on date for this Saturday! So we are hoping and praying that she'll get baptized! I am really hoping she will, I love her so much!!! :) And she lives on a compound of her grandchildren and great grandchildren and great great grandchildren! :) This could be converting generations!!!! I know that she will get baptized, but I am not 100% positive it will be before I leave...which is sad, but hey! As long as she gets baptized I am happy! :) She's awesome though :) The rest of our investigators are moving slowly but surely...everyone likes to go out of town in the summer...how weird is that?! This weekend we had a ward BBQ and it was really fun! I really like this ward, especially the Jackson family :) they are awesome! and they feed us dinner like...ALL the time.. :) Whenever we don't have a dinner we just go over there! Because, well funny story..my companion is allergic to milk! and so is half of the Jackson family! so it's good to go over there, it's healthy and it doesn't make Sister Stevens sick! she's been kinda bad about not eating anything with milk in it until about a week ago...BOTH of us went on a milk free diet. Because I was not going to let her get really sick! I feel like I've had like 60 strange diets on my mission, you're not even going to know what I like to eat anymore! haha I like everything...except fish and mushrooms, still don't like those! :D and I still don't drink milk. unless it's vanilla almond milk :D but it's fun! I like to test my self-control I guess...but funny story! We tell this family the day before we go to their house for dinner that Stevens was allergic to milk. So we go to their house and what do they have?! KFC!!! Everything in that place has milk in it! haha and then they were like "so no milk huh?" hahahahaha oh how we need to understand the things we are putting into our bodies! :) But anyways, I love this ward it's awesome! I wish I could spend more time here! But I guess that's not in God's plans... The goal of the mission is to open our mouths! so I've been doing some crazy things recently, like tracking people down or running after them, or yelling at them from afar :) haha it's quite fun! Everyone needs the gospel! and I feel like I'm doing something missionary-like at all times of the day! :) instead of just driving from appointment to appointment :) I am quite excited for this week! I get to go to the temple on Friday! Which I have been waiting for since August 9th :) hahaha I am super excited! I love the temple! And I have a lot of things I want to talk to God about :) Something that I've really internalized this transfer is what I call "Looking through heavens eyes" I learned about it when I was with Sister Packard, but I have really internalized it! (I decided that missions are great for internalizing cliché statements :) ) There have been many circumstances in which I have had to do my best to see things through another's perspective. Such as the Mackenna Elders are teaching an investigator from our area. Which is totally illegal! And not cool at all :P But I have had to see things through their eyes and try to understand why they do such things :P but anyways! Life is awesome! :) I am just so grateful for the opportunity I've had to be a missionary it's THE best thing EVER! I love it! :) I am very grateful for Sister Stevens; she is like, the greatest friend ever! :) On Sunday I was feeling pretty sick, so she cooked me lunch and took care of me!!! :) haha she's a true friend because she cares, and she helps me to be a better person. That's what a true friend is, someone who helps you to be better! :) I cannot believe that my mission has gone SO fast! But I am grateful for EVERY second. I have cherished and loved it all. I have come to a greater knowledge of my Redeemer. I am NOT by any means a perfect person, and I don't profess to be. But I am trying and I am changing every day! and That's what this life is all about. I am so grateful for the opportunity I've had to witness many lives transform! It's so amazing to see people come closer to their Savior, I love with all my heart all the Recent converts, investigators, members and companions I have had the opportunity to work with. The Wa-Tac will always be very sacred ground to me. I have learned and grown more than any other time in my life. And it's all because when you take everything away, all the distractions and such, and focus on Christ, you are changed through His atonement. I have been able to rely on Him SO much and He has been there all along. He is truly my very best friend. I am eternally grateful for Him, and I am grateful that God has a plan for me and my life. I trust in His plan and His timing, I know He knows better than I do. I know that Christ's church has been restored. That the young boy Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in a grove a trees In New York, because God though it important enough to call him to be a prophet personally. In the words of Sister Hall "If Joseph Smith is good enough for Jesus, then he's good enough for me" I know that Joseph Smith was truly a prophet, and that we have a living prophet today! Thomas S. Monson. He is truly God's servant, and He has the power and inspiration to help each of us in our lives. I hope that we can all heed his words. I know that going to church every Sunday is VERY important. We NEED the sacrament. We need that spiritual boost. Not going to church is like not eating! ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!! :) I know that this work is God's work and He has let me be a missionary in His vineyard for 18 months. I am eternally grateful to Him for that. It has been so sacred. I can't even express how amazing it is. It has not been a sacrifice, but a GIANT blessing! The church is true my dear brothers and sisters :) I am excited to come and see you shortly!!! :) Love you tons and tons!

Love Always

Sister Wilkins :)