I'm not in Provo anymore...

Dear Awesome Family,

I don't have a lot of time today (we have so much to do today! P-days are nuts!), and I get to talk to you on Sunday (yipee!!), so this won't be super long.

I'm doing wonderfully! I finally conquered my flu. It took a few days, and I had a few very frustrated moments that I wasn't better as fast I as I would like, but we're through that now. I'm back on all normal foods (as of Sunday) so we're good to go. I am staying warm, and I do wear my suit jackets sometimes. They are nice. Thank you. :)

I love Christmas time! I'm just having so much fun out here. I am definitely feeling the Christmas spirit. The Winterlight CD that arrived last Thursday definitely helps. :) Thank you so much mom! All of my packages have arrived. They came early this week, so in plenty of time. No stress. I LOVE the pictures of everyone with their letters. We hung whatever-you-call-that above our little Christmas tree. I just love it! It makes me so happy. Everyone was telling me what a cute idea that was, and that I must have an adorable mom. Yep. :) It's funny because all of my Christmas memories and our Christmas traditions are coming to mind, but it is making me happy, not homesick. I have been so blessed! And I am still happy to be out here, even on Christmas. One of the new sisters is really homesick, so we're all trying to help her have a good Christmas.

I'm so excited to talk to you on Sunday! I'm not sure how everything will work out with timing, but it will be between probably be after you call Willie. We will drop a text or a short call to figure out timing on Saturday night. We have three families we are going to see on Sunday, and it depends when our dinner is - she hasn't decided yet. So I will let you know.

I love the pictures of my little nephews! Little Eli has grown so much! I love his red hair and his eyes are such a cool color. Ethan is adorable as always. I loved how he's screaming in his picture with the "R". Hilarious. Best thing ever.

Okay, this week hasn't been super eventful. Little things have happened, but the probably most memorable thing happened on Monday morning. On Mondays we have early morning sports at 6 at the stake center with the other missionaries. So we were leaving our apartment at 6 in the morning, having just rolled out of bed. I lost my key a while ago, so while Sister Dodd was locking the door, I turned around to go open the outside door. See, the front door of our apartment is inside of a building. It's a tiny building, and our door is in a tiny hallway, right across from some other sisters. There are two apartments upstairs and that's it. So our little hallway downstairs has just our two doors, and connects the outside doors on either side. Anyway, so while she was locking the door, I turned around to go open the outside door for her. And there, laying in our little hallway was a homeless man dead asleep with his bike. I wasn't all the way awake yet, and he was right there, so I assumed Sister Dodd had seen him. I jumped, and just stepped back staring at him. Then 5 seconds later she turned around stepped forward, and jumped back gasping. We just stared at him, with his filthy hand flopped out to the side, completely unconscious on the floor.

Not knowing what else to do, we just left out of the door he wasn't blocking and went to sports. I guess we just hoped he would be gone by the time we got back. He wasn't. So we ran into our apartment and locked the door. Sister Dodd called the Zone Leaders as a first option because we didn't really know what to do. We were not freaking out, but we figured we should do something. Meanwhile, I got in the shower. They are very protective, so their response was "We'll be there in two minutes". They really aren't supposed to come to sisters' apartments. Sketchy. Right when they got there, they saw the man get on his bike and ride away. They came down to talk to Sister Dodd. I had just gotten out of the shower, so she quickly knocked on the door to warn me to not come out. So I was standing in the bathroom in a towel, and the Zone Leaders and two other elders (so there were 4 of them) talked to Sister Dodd just for about 30 seconds and left (still sketchy). We were laughing about the whole thing when the Zone Leaders called again and said that they had seen the guy on the road riding his bike, so they stopped to talk to him. One of the elders got out of the car and told him to never sleep there again. The homeless guy was kinda drunk and said his mom used to live there, so he felt comfortable there, or something. Anyway, he said he wouldn't come back.

So that was our adventure of the week. Nothing too exciting, but it was really funny. It's something to remember, anyway. "Remember that one time a homeless man slept in front of our door?" "Yeah, that was hilarious."

We did find a family this week. I'm not really sure it will go anywhere, but we found them. It's funny, because we were looking through the ward directory and didn't recognize the name, so we decided to drop by. It turned out to be the home of two sisters. One has 8 kids and one has 1, and there doesn't seem to be any male head of the home. They also have at least 5 dogs, one of which is a pit bull that was abused when it was younger, so it has a lot of anger for anyone not family. So we didn't go inside. One of the sisters is Methodist, and one is Jehovah's Witness, and neither of them know anything about the church. Only one of them is down as a member (the Methodist), and I am just confused out of my mind how that happened. "I knew a guy named Elder once in your church," she said. And she doesn't really know what the Book of Mormon is. The one sister is newly Jehovah's Witness, which was obvious in how nice she was to us. She actually was the one that wanted to hear more about our church. She was fine taking a pamphlet, which makes it clear she's still learning about being a JW (apparently they aren't allowed to take any materials from other churches). So I'm excited to meet with them again and hear what all that is about. 2 moms, 9 kids, 5 dogs = madness. I don't think either of them have a job, and when we stopped by and the moms weren't home, the oldest sister was very suspicious of us. I think she was afraid we were some government people or child protection people. All of the kids looked filthy. She shut the door quickly and told everyone to stay inside. It was strange.

Anyway, that's my week. I'm sure I forgot something, but I will tell you about it on Sunday.

I have the best family ever!

Love you thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much.

~Sister April Atkin

P.S. I also received a package from "Erilyn H. Jessica B. et. al." and it made me very happy. :)

Mission=Roller Coaster

Dearest Family,

What a week! I love being a missionary sooooooo much! I am just so happy here!! I can't even express it. Alma 26.

Where to begin. Well, last Thursday was transfers, so all of the new sisters are here. I love them so much! I have so many friends here. It is so nice to not be the new one anymore. It was also an amazing opportunity to look back and see how much I've grown in just 6 weeks! I'm so much more confident and really I am much more myself than I was when I started. I belong here, and already I wouldn't trade this for the world.

This Sunday was a crazy good one. It was invitation Sunday, so we were really excited for our investigators to come. Lyric and Selene both came!! I think they enjoyed it. I think it was a little overwhelming, but I think that is inevitable the first time. The lessons and the talks were perfect, and the members were all so friendly. I love our ward.

In Relief Society the lesson was on judgement and exaltation, which is pretty scary, but the teacher decided to just teach the plan of Salvation. She taught the whole second lesson, basically, with a diagram on the board and everything. It was the next step for both Lyric and Selene, really, and it was wonderfully taught! What a blessing! They both seemed to take it well, so it was good.

Right as she introduced the Celestial Kingdom, the Fire Alarm went off, just to add to the craziness of the day. In the chaos, I lost Sister Dodd for a minute, but it all worked out, and we were back in class within five minutes to wrap everything up quickly. Selene promised to come next week, too. :) We left church totally exhausted from juggling investigators, introducing, being friendly, and keeping everyone happy, but it was such a good Sunday. SOOO good. :) Our work is finally paying off.

As far as Tammy's family goes, they didn't show for their appointment, so they might be avoiding us, which is pretty normal. You win some and lose some. We'll keep trying. And Lyric canceled her appointment with us this week, which was really hard on us, but we'll keep trying. We love her so much!

The main events of the week started Tuesday night. There is a family in our ward that is basically falling apart. The mom is what holds everyone together. Her step dad, his girl friend, her brother, his girlfriend, her husband, and her son all lived in the same house. She's the only one to hold a job (she has two and works over time), and everyone else (except her son, Boby) have emotional and mental problems. They are all pretty messed up (I think I told you about them before). It was little Boby's birthday this week, but her family is completely in pieces. Everyone except her step dad moved out in the last week, and Boby is feeling a little abandoned, right before his 4th birthday. So his mom tried to make it special, putting in even more hours to afford Chuck-E-Cheese, and doing everything she can for him. He loves the VC, the missionaries, the temple, and especially the Christus, so she signed up to bring us dinner at the VC for his birthday. We made him cupcakes and helped make it a big deal for him. It was so cute and so worth it. :)

The dinner they broght was Church's Chicken, which is KFC basically. It didn't look really good, but I was really hungry.

The next morning, I woke up at 4 am, very hot, with a huuugge pain in my gut. My stomach has been hurting (pain more than nasuea) for about a week now, and I think fried chicken was enough to push me over the edge. I don't think I got food poisoning, but I was very very sick. I emptied my stomach and went back to bed, hoping it would be gone in the morning. I got sick again right after we woke up at 6:30, but I still didn't tell Sister Dodd (because I'm stubborn) right up until we were walking out the door. Why? Because Wednesday was my first ever Zone Conference! I didn't want to miss it! And I really thought I would get better. The sisters who had had Zone Conference the day before mentioned how amazing it was. I was excited. (by the way, Zone Conference messed up the whole VC schedule, and that is why our P-day is today).

So we went to Zone Conference. They had a big breakfast, which I skipped, and then headed right into things. Honestly, I don't remember much of the day. We had to run out of two of the classes for me to make it to the bathroom. but it was worth it! Really, it was a miracle that I got to stay the whole day. I did manage to drink some water. One of the new sisters wasn't feeling well either, so we all stuck together. It really cheered me up.

As a part of Zone Conference, they give everyone a topic to prepare a five minute talk on, and then randomly pick 2 missionaries of the roughly 80 to give their talks. We aren't allowed to bring any materials up with us, and we have to include one memorized scripture. The topic was the Birth of Our Savior. I had thrown up about 15 minutes before this meeting, but was stubbornly there. None of the leaders knew, though, so of course, they picked me to give it. Somehow I knew they would ask me to give it. Beforehand, Sister Dodd said she would go up for me if they called on me, but I was feeling well enough (in the eye of the storm), that I got up and gave it. I shared 3 Nephi 18:24 and talked about the signs of the savior's birth having to do with light. It went really well (even if that sounds really disjointed right there). I didn't feel sick at all when I was standing up there in front of everyone.

President Keyes liked it enough that he stood up and expounded on my talk. I know it's bad, but I was proud. It made me feel really good to have done well on such a hard day.

The Zone Conference ended at 4ish. I was totally drained. Sister Dodd dropped me off at the VC and took another sister out with her to our area (the nice thing about having the VC). We set up a cot in the guide's room and I slept. I tried to eat two crackers, but they didn't stay down.

Then yesterday, I felt well enough to go to our area! I managed to eat half a bowl of soup (minestrone - no meat and little pasta) and a small cheese sandwich. :) I'm improving. So I'm still not 100%, but I'm doing sooo much better. It makes me so grateful to be healthy! I'm working on adding foods back into my diet. Rich foods, sugars, and meat might not be for a while, but I'm doing so well. I don't feel sick at all, just a little fragile, so I'm trying to take care of myself.

Really, I learned a lot from being sick. First of all, I learned that I could be taking a lot better care of my body. I'm going to watch my diet much more carefully now. If I don't, then I won't be able to be a good missionary. Second of all, you would not believe how excited I was to go to our area the next day! I was still weak, but so excited and we tore it up as far as numbers and lessons go! It was a wonderful day! I do need a nap today. :)

Oh, have Rachel tell you the story of the new sister that I got to cheer up. :) That's a good story.

I loved your email, mom, and I loved your letter dad! Thank you so much for being amazing and for writing me! I've gotten Christmas cards from some families in the ward - the Kellys and the Christensens. So sweet.

 

I'm out of time, but I do love you! Make sure Rachel has a wonderful birthday!!

Love,

Sister April Atkin

The end of my first transfer

Dearest Family,

In the mission field, time is measured in transfers, not in months. A transfer is 6 weeks, as I'm sure you know. Well, I just finished my first transfer, which means I'm officially not a newbie anymore (although I am technically not finished being trained until the end of this transfer). We got a load of new missionaries this morning. I was so excited to meet them! I kept telling Sister Dodd that it was like waiting to meet my new best friends, because I know they will be. We got 7 new VC sisters, and 4 of them are starting at the VC with us, so I will get to know them well. It is SO nice to not be the only new one anymore.

Okay. Last Friday was my miracle day (although, it extended to Monday night). I see miracles every day of my mission (I've told you how I write a "miracle of the day" in my journal, right?), but these were extra big miracles.

Okay, our area has been a little hard recently. We love teaching Lyric, but she was the only investigator we had that we were consistently teaching, and she is moving very slowly. So we had to work hard to not get discouraged, especially with so little time in our area every day. Well, last last Monday Sister Dodd called the number of a potential investigator in our Area Book (our area book has probably 100 potential investigators. We are slowly wading through them). Her name was Tammy, and she not only answered the phone, she said, "sure, you can come over. How's Friday?" We were shocked. That doesn't happen. I almost worried that she had mistaken us for someone else.

So we went over Friday, and she was ready for us, two bibles in hand, and a notebook to take notes. Then I really started wondering if she thought we were someone else. So we explained who we are, and she was like, "yeah, I know. I've met missionaries before. They came over once a few months ago." Sweet! She pulled her oldest two daughters in because she really wants them to know Christ and to have faith. Her daughters are 15 and 17 and they are awesome. Their names are Dommanaiy and D'ashai (did I mention that they are African American? Amy, maybe you should edit names. I dunno. What do you think?). The 17 year old really loves Jesus for reals. She was super nice and I felt like we really connected with her. She asked about youth programs because she thinks it is really important to have faith with other youth. Perfect!

So we taught them the 1st lesson. It went off perfectly, like they do in the MTC or on training movies. They didn't have any problems with anything we said. They are nondenominational Christians, and really love the Bible. They had no problem with our concept of the trinity, or with the idea of a restoration being necessary. They liked it. We gave them each a copy of the Book of Mormon, and they seemed excited about it, especially Dommanaiy (the 17 year old). In fact, she asked if she could have an extra copy to give to her friend. We were like, "um. YES. Let us go get another from the car." :) She said that one time at school she decided that she wanted to call herself Mormon, but one of her friends made fun of her saying that that meant she was a polygamist. We told her that wasn't true, and in fact, we are pretty normal people. We wear dresses as missionaries, but we are pretty mainstream otherwise. And yes, we do date, just not on missions.

The other crazy thing was that we could tell this was a whole family. The dad didn't participate in the lesson, but he was home, and they had 4 kids together. They seemed like a happy family that loved each other. We never see that. There was a whiff of smoke in the air, but that isn't unusual. But can I say GOLDEN. I felt like I had been given a present from God, all pretty with a bow on top. We are meeting with them tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. They seemed cool with the idea of coming to church, so hopefully they will come this Sunday.

We got into our car when we left, a little in shock. We didn't know what to say besides, "WOW."

Then I decided to call a referral we got from Liberty Jail of a lady dating a member (the church texts referrals out to the local missionaries). I called, and she picked up. Her name is Selene (Sell-an- A). I asked if she would like to meet with us. She said, "Oh, yes. I'm excited to meet with you and talk about what I've been reading in the Book of Mormon". She seemed genuinely really excited to meet with us. "Oh, and I am coming to church this Sunday. Is that okay?" Whaaatt??? yes. That is okay. We told her it was stake conference, so she decided to not go, but she is still excited to come next week with us.

The call ended, and I was like, holy cow. We go through a dry spell, then we get 4 new investigators not only in one day, but in about 1 hour? Okay. We'll take it. It really is an amazing opportunity to be doing the Lord's work. He is in control, and the blessings we recieve are from Him. We can't really take any credit, no matter how hard we work. Hard work brings blessings, but those blessings are from Him. We drove home in shock. I think I babbled a bit about how happy I was, but as Alma says, "I cannot say the smallest part of which I feel" (Alma 26:16. In fact, I get that whole chapter now. He's super excited and joyful because of the missionary work he's done. He glories in the Lord).

But, the miracle continues. On Tuesday we went to meet Selene for the first time. We planned to just teach her the first lesson. We buzzed at the front door so she would let us into the apartment building. The door wouldn't open, so she came down to open it for us. As soon as she opened the door, my jaw dropped. "Oh! Hello!!" I had taken her on tour at the VC 2 or 3 weeks ago! Me! The rest of the story unfolded. She had gone to the Liberty Jail VC, and really had a good time, so she self referred, and just happens to be in my area, so now I get to teach her the lessons! The cool thing is, I already basically taught her the first lesson when she came to the VC!!! She's read all the way through Alma and is in Helaman now.

The lesson went wonderfully (well, it was a little scattered because she talked a lot, but it was good because we got to understand her religious background better). She's been searching religiously for a while now, and is excited that what she's learning here fits things that she's come to believe wonderfully. She was raised Baptist, but has kind of left that now. She's dating a member, and he was there. He's solid. He has a deep understanding of the gospel and how to explain it. They fit each other perfectly, but she understands that he won't get married outside of the temple. But she emphasized several times that she is not going to convert for him. She will only convert if it is right. So that's good. Wow. She's wonderful. And we hit it off right away because she already knew me.

In fact, she mentioned that she didn't understand why everyone was asking her what she felt when she went to the VCs. She said she didn't feel anything. Her boyfriend, Orson, corrected her. So she qualified that and said that the one thing she did feel was love. She said that the other sister and I both radiated love to her, and she really enjoyed that. And now I get to teach her. :) She made my day.

So this Sunday, Lyric is coming to church for sure (she has a ride, and she isn't the type to flake ever), Selene is coming for sure, and maybe we can get Tammy's family to come. And this Sunday is Invitation Sunday (they do that outside of Utah every quarter or so. It is a special sunday where members are encouraged to bring their friends to church. All of the talks and lessons are made with nonmembers in mind. So good). So it's perfect! Blessings blessings. :)

In response to your email, we have copies of "Daughters in My Kingdom" here. They made sure all of the sisters had a copy. :) The ward can get me one if I need one.

I LOVE your gingerbread house, mom. It is beautiful. I love the little gingerbread men! You decorated it perfectly. Mom, you have a real talent. Sister Dodd was impressed, too.

The VC is all lit up. They had a lighting ceremony the other week. It was pretty cool. The trees aren't as crazy, though. They just loop lights around the ousides, but it looks good. We have a beautiful tree inside. I'll have to send you a picture. We also found a christmas tree in the closet of our apartment, so we set that up. It's pre lit, and very pretty, about 2 or 3 feet tall. Love it. :) Sister Dodd's mom sent us presents to open every day in December (little things like Pez candy with the scripture about opening our mouths, and stickers and stuff), so they are under the tree. It looks very nice.

We did get to see the Christmas devotional at the VC. SO good. I loved the clip of the new movie! It is so different from what they have done before, and I really like it. I'm excited to see more of those clips. :) Good luck with your Christmas preparations! We are starting to share a lot of Christmas messages, and I really like it. It suddenly has gotten really cold here, so I'm wearing my boots every day. Thanks dad! I love them!

So that's about it.

I love you family. :)

Love,

Sister April Atkin

P.S. I would really love to get a cardigan for Christmas. Just a simple one, in some color. I can't find my purple one, and I really need some more. I haven't had time to go shopping for them yet.

So, updated Christmas list (well, ideas)

1 cardigan

2 garment tops

1 bag with a shoulder strap (a bigger bag, probably)

maybe some scarves

some of the EFY music laying around the house

and I can't remember anything else.

P.P.S. Next week my P Day will be on Friday, so look for my email then.

Eventful week of happiness. :)

Dearest Family!

I love reading all of your emails so much! You make me soooo happy! This Thanksgiving, I was grateful for my family very most of all. One of the main things that we show in the VC is a presentation called God's Plan for His Family about eternal families and temples. You may have seen it before, but they updated it this summer, so you should see it again if you are ever near a Visitors' Center. It reminds me of how blessed I am to be with my family forever! The sister in the movie really really looks like me, everyone says, and her little brother is a red head, so the movie has special significance. But just all around, the temple is amazing! I love that I can be will all of you forever!

Speaking of temples, we have the news about the Kansas City Temple. It will be finished March 1st, and the open house is all of the month of April. The dedication will be in May. We are all getting really excited! I have no idea where I will be then, but I could still be here (our mission president keeps people in the same place for a long time. Sister Dodd has been here for 7 months). Who knows. But I hope I can be a part of the open house and dedication!

My Thanksgiving was a good one, and an interesting one. We had it with Keara's family. I brought a pumpkin crumb cake. It was so different from any other Thanksgiving I have ever been to! I think if they hadn't noticed our pause, they wouldn't have even blessed the food. They would have just dug in and started eating. People ate wherever they wanted in the house (watching Avatar or Lord of the Rings), and there was no really family togetherness. But they were really nice to us. Keara's dad was a little drunk, so he was very friendly. Everything was happy and funny to him. Her family were hesitant at first, but really were kind about us coming. I think it was good to show them that we are nice, normal people, and that Keara is in good hands. Beer was going round, but it was still a good Thanksgiving (except they didn't have rolls. I miss rolls! :) You know me. )

How are my investigators? The only one that is progressing is Lyric, but I just love her to pieces!! She is amazing. She knows what is right, and so now we are just building her desire to do it. On Sunday we had a lesson with her where we brought a member so that she could meet a convert to our church. Mary Kay is very friendly, and kind of loud, so we hoped it would go well. In the end, we kinda lost control of the lesson, but it turned out okay. I learned that I really need to have faith that this is the Lord's work, and if I'm not in control sometimes, He still is. See, Mary Kay dumped Sabbath observance, the 3 hour block Tithing, the Word of Wisdom, and blacks in the church almost all in one breath. We hadn't told Lyric about any of those things -- she's moving slowly. We didn't get to say almost anything the whole time. In an hour and a half, I just remember bearing testimony of church attendance (that was our goal -- to get her to church). Mary Kay also told her that we would tell her to live more strictly than she actually had to. That was frustrating.

So we left the lesson and I was very frustrated. I'm not very good at hiding that, either. I felt justified in being frustrated. Sister Dodd didn't say anything about it, though, so I didn't either. We went to dinner with members, and then headed back to the VC. I had calmed down, so on the way back, I started talking about the lesson, and all of the things that I thought had gone wrong and how frustrated I was about it. Then Sister Dodd said kindly, perfectly, "You just have to be careful to not let Mary Kay or Lyric see. We are the face of the church." And I sat back, and thought about it. I had felt justified in being frustrated, and showing my frustration because any normal person would have in that situation.

But the thing is, I'm not a normal person right now. I'm a missionary, and I represent the church and the Lord. And even if I wasn't, I've been given so much in my life that I can't ever be justified in something like that because a normal person would. I am not a normal person. I'm a member of the Lord's church. I know the truth. And I know better.

So, the Lord is working with me. I'm learning that I can change things about myself that I thought I couldn't. I thought they were things that are "just the way I am". But that is a horrible excuse, and the Lord is showing me how I could be better. It was a really big learning experience, and I won't make that mistake again. I am changing in a good way out here in Missouri. More than I thought was possible. I'm learning to not underestimate the Lord. He always proves me wrong. It's good. :)

Then on Tuesday we had exchanges with the Sister Leaders (they have those, by the way). We didn't know who was being exchanged with whom. So I told Sister Dodd that I would be fine with anything except taking over the area for a day with the Sister Leader's companion. But the call came, and that is exactly what happened. I was super nervous. A day in our area without Sister Dodd, and with a sister that was expecting me to be in charge. I didn't feel ready! And I thought that the people in our area would be disappointed that Sister Dodd wasn't coming. They love her, so I was nervouse to go without her. And I didn't know the sister that was coming with me very well. She is very nice, but a little awkward. So I was nervous.

In the morning we were in the VC together, so it didn't even feel like we were on exchanges. But then the afternoon came and Sister Dodd left. We did comp study, which went well. Then we headed out to our area. We had some confusion over where some car keys were, so we were running late to our dinner. So I called our dinner to tell them we were going to be late. The member said, "Oh, do we have you for dinner tonight?" I freaked out. I thought Sister Dodd had called them to remind them the day before! So I told a white lie that I was looking at the wrong day. Then I went all sorts of awkward, stuttering and stumbling over my words. I made it sound like it was our fault but then said I didn't know what day they did have us, showing my white lie. I told them to not worry about it and hung up. I felt so stupid. I felt like it was my fault - that I should have called them. I shouldn't have assumed that Sister Dodd would! A few embarassed tears leaked out.

But Sister Rupper (the sister I was with) was optimistic and said, "Look at it this way, we get more time in your area." So we went to work. It turned out that we skipped dinner that night because there wasn't any place to eat near where we were. I cheered up, and we went to work.

Then we had an appointment with Lyric. I brought her my cookies, which are her favorites. She says that I should move in and just make her cookies every day. :)

But the lesson went WONDERFULLY. So well. It was almost good to go there without Sister Dodd so that I could build a relationship of my own with Lyric. She's been reading the Book of Mormon (a chapter a day), and I was just there to read a chapter with her. But we did so much more than that.  At the very beginning, she look at me and said, "Oh, I just love your face! It makes me so happy! I was lookin at you the other day and thought, 'I bet she doesn't even know she's gorgeous. You're gorgeous!" And laughed at my discomfort. She laughs a lot. It's good. :) Then we talked about what happiness is. Lyric doesn't think she's ever felt true happiness. She's 70, and bothered by the fact that she hasn't found her life's passion yet. She looks at us and sees that we are happy. She doesn't beleive that we have ever been unhappy. Then we started reading with her, and (an answer to a very specific prayer of mine earlier that day) she was on 1 Nephi chapter 8!! It was a miracle! I had asked for that very chapter earlier, but didn't think she could make it that far. She had read three chapters the day before to get there to answer my prayer that I hadn't even made yet!! We took turns reading, and it was her turn when we got to verse 10 "and it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desireable to make one happy." She paused and chuckled. "Happy. That's what we were just talking about!" We read the whole chapter, and with no explanation, she got it. She guessed that the fruit was salvation, and was shocked to be right. She thought about the people that were ashamed of the fruit, and reflected (on her own) that sometimes some people might be afraid of saying that they were mormon. She felt guilty for saying that, but she is right. Some people are ashamed.

Then we discussed prayer, the atonement's ability to clean her of 70 years of life, prayer, Kingdoms of Glory, prayer, desire, prayer, the Word of Wisdom, prayer, happiness, and prayer. She is having a really hard time praying, and she connected everything we said back to prayer on her own (in a frustrated way). She knows she needs to do it. She just doesn't want to. She knows she should quit smoking and drinking coffee and tea, but she doesn't want to. We talked about how God knows her potential, and He knows how happy she could be. That's why He asks her to do things. Just like a dad would tell his kids to stay out of the street because he knows they will be happier if they don't get hit by a car. But running in the street looks so fun! The spirit was there so strong, and I just felt so much love for her. And I think she loves me, too. :)

Then Sister Rupper asked Lyric hat she was expecting when she prayed. "I want a burning bush!! I'm not joking!!" Then she paused, "I know when you pray, you are supposed to be reverant and close your eyes, but when we pray I'm watching your faces. I want to feel the joy I see in your faces when you pray." wow. I... wow. We couldn't have planned that. She's not feeling answers to her prayers, or so she thinks. But she is happy when we are there! So we pray for her every day.

You better believe I am studying prayer and desire this week. Pray for Lyric! I can't even describe how much I love this woman. I just want to keep her forever. I think even after I get transferred I will write to her. And you know, I can imagine her being baptized now. I couldn't at first, but she is growing. I can see it. And I want her to have that happiness!!

I'm running out of time, but I am very happy here. Things are wonderful! I see miracles every day! You could, too, if you look for it. :) Good luck with your gingerbread house, school, families, and everything. I love you.

 

Love,

Sister April Atkin

 

P.S. We chatted with someone and brought the spirit into his home! He thanked us for the spirit we brought. He thought that there was no way the atonement could clean him of what he's done or that he could change. He felt loved. He's meeting with missionaries already. It was wonderful!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Dear Family,

I am loving my companion. It's funny because we are so different, even though we are from the same home town. I have a lot to learn, but she is patient with me. We are getting along well. I think I must get annoying sometimes with all of my questions, or when I get flustered over how our schedule works, but I try to make up for it by cooking for her (I'm known for it now. I make pancakes on Sundays and my cookies and pumpkin crumb cake are legendary. I squeeze in time to make them right before bed).

I am healthy. I haven't gotten sick. I could be more healthy, though. I spend all of my time sitting --- either in the car or in the VC or at home...it gets old. I really don't want to get fat. So I'm working on being more healthy. It is just hard to exercise in our living room on the days we don't have morning sports. But morning sports aren't always fun either. We are still trying to teach a few of the elders how to chill out. Sister Dodd got a huge goose egg last week from an elder body slamming her into the wall so he could steal her frisbee. So, yeah. They got talked to about that. We'll see if things improve.

I'm not going to be transferred for a long time. President Keyes really likes keeping missionaries in the same place for a long time. What will probably happen is that Sister Dodd will be here with me for my first two transfers, then she will probably go out full pros again. Then I will take over the area with a new companion and stay at least two more transfers. So I probably won't move until early next spring/summerish. I'll keep you updated on that, but really, I'm here for a while.

Okay. About this week. I need to remember to bring my journal when I email you.

We've been working with Lyric, and she's amazing. I don't know how long it will take, but I really think she will be baptized. Last Sunday we went over with the plan to invite her to read the Book of Mormon five minutes every day, and also invite her to baptism. I was worried that that was too much to ask (how many members do we know that struggle doing that much). But Sister Dodd invited her and there was no problem. She didn't seem to think it was that large of a request. She's really honest with us, so if she wasn't going to do it, she would have just told us she wasn't, so I think she actually will (read, that is). As for the baptism invite, she didn't seem that surprised by that either. She said she doesn't know yet, but if she did know, she would be baptized (which is all we ask for, really). She just needs to find out for herself that it is true. She is so open minded and open hearted. She has tried out a lot of religions, and none of them really worked for her. But if she really knew this was true, I think she would stick with it. A big part of that is the ward -- they make or break converts. The sense of community in our church is one of our hugest strengths (and weaknesses at some times, but mostly not). I just love Lyric to pieces. The more I learn about her, the more I am amazed. She is about 70, and is African American. When she was a young mother she went to school and became a hospital lab tech (like Mindy is training to do). She showed us her graduating photo, and the class that started out with 60ish students ended up with 5, and the other 4 were white. I did the math and realized that she went to school during the civil rights movement-- all while she had young kids. She's amazing. Eventually she decided they didn't pay her enough, so now she's doing something for internal revenue for something. She could retire whenever she wanted to.

Anyway, so this week we are just praying our hearts out that she gets her answer as she reads and prays. The Book of Mormon is such a powerful book. I just have to have faith in it. After all, it was the faith of Alma and Amulek, and Nephi and Lehi, and Ammon (some of the greatest missionaries ever) that converted the people (see Ether 12:13-16). Conversion is a miracle, and faith proceeds the miracle. So if no one else is stepping up, I better be working my faith hard. Then these people here in Lee's Summit can build their faith.

Another happy thing this week is that I took the most amazing tour of my life. It was absolutely amazing. When they left, Elder Wells (one of the senior missionaries), commented on how much I was glowing. I seriously walked on clouds for a couple of days because of this one tour.

So what happened was that these two older couples walked into the Visitors' Center. They were nonmembers, so I asked how much they knew about our church. One of the men studied religion at university, but didn't know much about our religion specifically. The others didn't know much either. Although later it came out that one of the women knew a lot about history, and another knew a lot about science. So together, they were a very well educated to group, which, thinking back, should have been intimidating. But it wasn't because they had come to us to learn more about our beliefs.
I told them what we have and asked what they wanted to see. One woman wanted to see the Christus, and the theologian wanted to see the history part. In the end they decided they wanted to see the Scriptures and Revelation room first. The very first kiosk in the room is about temples, so they learned a bit about that. Then they looked at the Book of Mormon kiosk and learned a bit about that. The whole time they were asking me amazing questions. It was clear they all had a sound understanding of religion, and knew the best questions to ask to really come to understand our religion. They asked me about baptism (infant or adult? instructed or uninstructed?), about proxy baptisms, and about the Book of Mormon. It was wonderful. I really felt like I was given the words to say so that I could be simple and short while still really giving a good explanation.

Then we headed downstairs to the history portion of the VC. Obviously I couldn't start with Missouri, so I started with the first vision. I explained how our church was started, and kind of a timeline of how things happened. I was amazed at the words coming out of my mouth. They asked about Moroni's role in instructing Joseph Smith. We talked about Zion a bit (super interesting to hear the theologian's view on what that meant), and they liked the idea. They asked questions about the United Order and whether or not "Zion" was now in SLC. I love questions!
Then we went in the cabin to hear the journal entry audios and I just briefly talked about how having purpose helps us handle all kinds of difficulties. They really liked that.

Then we moved to the printing press room. We ended up staying there for over a half an hour, just talking. I obviously told them the history of W. W. Phelps, but we talked about so many other things. We talked about the nature of our open canon and how the D&C compares to the Bible and the Book of Mormon. We talked about women and the priesthood. We talked about how science and religion work together in our church. One of the women said, "Really, that is something that interests me. You clearly are a believer, but you are studying physics. And as a woman. How does that work?" And I got to go off on my most favorite subject ever. You know how much I love talking about that. We had a wonderful discussion. They seemed really impressed, and agreed with everything I said. Really, the church doesn't need to have an official stand on things that don't pertain to our salvation. Science is another method of searching for truth, and as long as we maintain faith in God, it can be a very valid way of searching for truth.

One of the women seemed bothered that women can't hold the priesthood in our religion. I explained to her that women have a very important role in our church, and how I don't feel like I am less than a man ever. She was amazed that they let women serve missions. Then I explained Relief Society to her, and she really seemed to like it. It satisfied her. And I realized for the first time that that is the ultimate answer to the women in the priesthood question. God clearly loves his daughters, and we have a very important role. Relief Society shows that.
The theologian continued to ask me awesome questions, like if we have seven sacraments like Catholics, and what are our burial practices, and things like that. They also asked a lot of questions about the LDS breakoff groups around here, and were interested to hear that we are the only group that has retained the temple ceremonies. No one else has temples like we do. They were really impressed with the sense of community we have in our religion as well -- that the members here take care of the missionaries.

(I'm sorry this is such a long story. It was amazing!) Really, it was a wonderful experience because I know that it wasn't an accident that I took that tour. God knows my talents, and He is using them to forward his work. In one tour, I used the knowledge I gained from AP US History, AP European History, World Religions at BYU, the History and Philosophy of Science at BYU, and my particular interests in science and religion. Not only was I prepared with the knowledge I needed for that tour, my personality clicked with them perfectly. I loved these people. When they found out that I wasn't going home for Christmas, they were amazed. They said that if I didn't already have someone taking care of me for Christmas, they would have invited me over for Hanuka. At one point they joked about taking me home with them. We just really worked well together.

As they left, they thanked me over and over again. One of the women said she was so impressed with my "poise". They promised that they would go to the Kansas City Temple openhouse in the spring -- they are really excited about it. I offered them a copy of the Book of Mormon. The theologian already had one in his library, but the other couple was excited to get one. They all seemed fairly firm in their beliefs, but they were interested in ours, and seemed open to learn more about it. One of the women really loved the idea of sealing families. So they won't be baptized next week, but I planted seeds. And I felt love for these strangers. We laughed together, we learned together, and "we understood one another and were edified together." I hope to see them in Heaven.
I am also amazed at how much I was led to what to say. A lot of things I have learned through the years were brought to my rememberance so that I could answer their questions and understand what their questions even meant. I was given the words. And I found myself explaining things in simple ways that I had never even thought of before. It was a true miracle.

As for things to look forward to hearing about, my Thanksgiving dinner today is going to be a real tale to tell. Remember Keara, our recent convert that has been through so much? She invited us to dinner with her entire nonmember family. So that is going to be awesome. Talk about a missionary opportunity. Her baptism is recent enough that I think we are going to get a lot of questions. Her family seems fine with us coming, but like I said, it is going to be interesting. Even if we do get drilled, it will be good. :) I'm actually really excited. :)

Well, I better go, but I sure do love you. Thanks for being so amazing. I amazed at how much I am blessed by having a nearly perfect family. I love it.
I might send another email with more pictures, so look for that.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!
Love,
Sister Atkin

P.S. if you can't tell, I'm super happy this week. Life is good. What a blessing it is to be an instrument in the Lord's hands!! It's cool that He allows me to be a part of His work.

The Weekly Adventures of Sister Atkin

 

Hey Family!

I'm so excited to get my conference ensign!! I'm actually excited to get any mail. I guess it is good to start out my mission only getting mail from my family, because then I won't be disappointed later when no one writes. I will take a picture with the A and see if there is another way to get it to you. If all else fails, I will mail it to you next week. sorry.

Mom, I've been thinking a lot about truth this week, too, but for different reasons. Something that we face a lot is people that say, "what I have is true, what you have is true, and as long as we know Jesus, we're good to go." They don't like the idea of there being one true church. To them it sounds self righteous and judgemental. It's frustrating to have people believe in Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and think they don't have to do anything about it. People love to talk to us about Jesus and bless us for "spreading the good word". I've been studying how to answer that with the Bible to show them that there is one true church.

I mean, think about it. If the point of this life is to come to know Christ, we show that we know him by following Him. Following Him is very important, as everyone agrees. But if everyone has different ideas of how best to follow Him, it doesn't make sense that all roads are equally valid. If we are all doing different things to follow Christ, we aren't following the same person at all! We also lose our agency because if all choices are right, then there is no real choice.

Anyway, I'm still stewing about it, and I can't write all of my thoughts here. If you have any ideas for me, that would be great. How can we show that there is absolute truth, and that truth isn't relative? How can I show that authority does matter, and that church organization is important? We can have a personal relationship with God, but church does matter!

This morning we were doing laundry, and this man came up and attacked us, basically. At first he was surprised - he didn't know that there were sister missionaries. Then started attacking us. He said, "It's obvious I know more than the average Joe about you guys. You think I don't know? I've studied you." He was so full of hatred it really surprised me. He would come over and say something rude and horrible -- refusing to let us say anything -- and then walk away to do laundry. He came back 3 different times, saying things like, "If the veil was rent in the temple of Jerusalem, why did Christ appear behind a veil in the Kirtland Temple?" Mom, don't be afraid. I held my tongue. We were nice to him. He kept saying that he was a Christian, but it isn't very Christian to attack anyone else for their beliefs. It was pretty bad, because after he walked away I got the giggles a little bit. It was just so funny! I hear this will happen to me a lot, but it is alright. Everyone else in the laundrymat was on our side. After he walked away one of the times, this guy near us twirled his finger around his ear. Another guy came and talked to us just because that guy attacked us. He was like, "what did you sisters do to him?" and chuckled. He said he would read the Book of Mormon. I just wonder how anyone could have that kind of hate. It makes me sick to think about it. Anyone that thinks that kind of hatred is from God doesn't know Him very well. God is love. When he left, he said he would pray for us so that we would stop preaching blasphamy. Sister Caudel said we would do the same for him. *shrug*

This week we experienced a miracle! Recently I've felt pretty stupid. I keep doing dumb things when I know better. Sometimes I think I must drive Sister Dodd crazy. I'm trying so hard, and then I do stupid things. I get frustrated with myself. a lot. Well, this week we got back to the VC from our area, and realized we didn't have the phone. We searched the car for it, and just couldn't find it. It wasn't there. The phone is my responsibilty because Sister Dodd drives. I was so mad at myself. I couldn't remember what I had done with it. We had only been 3 places, so we decided to go back to those 3 places the next day to look for it. Sister Dodd had the impression that we should go to the first place, which I thought didn't make sense because we had rung the doorbell, and no one had answered. But I agreed to go there first. Then I had a mental image of it falling out of the car when we go there. So it did make sense.

So we drove for a half an hour to Lee's Summit. The whole way I just felt SO stupid. We didn't talk much. And as we pulled up to the house, I could see it. I saw it before the car even stopped. It was sitting there, in the dirt on the side of the road, untouched. Prayers are answered! It must have been on my lap when I got out of the car. It is amazing that we or someone else didn't run over it, and that no one picked it up. It was so obvious! and I'm sure our alarm went off for a long time that morning, but no one heard it or saw it, and we found it! what a relief. Now I just need to find my apartment key and extra name tag.... :)

On Sunday, two of our extremely less actives came to church!!! YAAAYYY!! It is nice to see that something I am doing is working. We did service at one of their homes, and dropped by to visit the other one this week. She didn't answer the door, and her roommate told us to go away, but she came to church and apollogized -- she didn't know it was us that came, and she wanted to meet with us this week! I know that the small things we did for them this week are part of the reason they came. And the ward is so wonderful. I'm sure they felt welcome.

We also met with my favorite of our investigators (the only one that hasn't dropped us, or visa verse). Her name is Lyric, and she is an older African American woman. She loves us a lot. :) She is so funny!! She will tease us about something, wait for our expressions, then burst out laughing, lean back, and kick her feet a little bit. She is wonderful. We are moving slowly with her, because that is what she wants, "baby steps". I think she knows what we are talking about it important, and she wants a better relationship with God, it will just take time. This week we are working on prayer. She has had a hard time with doing it in the past, but I think what we said this time finally clicked with her. She really liked it. "That makes sense. Man, I hate it when you make sense!" haha. She agreed to pray everyday, and asked us to call her everyday to check up and see if she is praying, which is wonderful! We will call her every day. :)

I gave a tour yesterday that was intimidating. Two families that are best friends came in. One of the husbands is not a member, and I think they brought him so that he would feel the spirit. Intimidating!! I think it went well. Young families are hard to herd through the VC, but it was good.

This last week some people came from Utah to help train President Keyes because he's pretty new. There are going to be a lot of changes in how our mission is run, and it is going to be good. Our mission is one of the best missions at finding people and now they want us to translate that into baptisms. One of the trianers named Brother Tanner came through the VC on his way home and talked to us for a while. He basically trained us on how to use planning and goal setting more effectively. He also talked to us about being in the Missouri Independence Mission. He said that usually when they come out after 3 months to see how the mission president is doing, they find him in a panic just trying to survive with a million questions. Not so with President Keyes. His list of questions for them was short and exactly what they had come to talk to him about. He's on top of things, and very much in control. Brother Tanner says that all of the indicators are that our mission is about to explode, and it is not a coincidence that President Keyes is here, and it is not a coincidence that we are here. With the temple being dedicated next year, the work here is going to go crazy. We are all here for a reason -- to be a part of it. I'm so excited!!

On a sadder note, I've noticed a few things while I've been here. It seems that everyone, at some time or another, has tried hard core drugs, and it has permanently damaged them. Our country would be way smarter without drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. They fry people's brains. There are some people that it is nearly pointless to teach because they are so fried that they don't understand what we are saying. They can't really think. Their brains are ruined. They will never be normal again. The sisters here say that there is an unusually high number of people here in Independence with mental disorders that aren't genetic. The kind that happen through drug use, a hard life, or neglect. It makes me think of the poem "What happens to a dream deferred?" That is in the front of the play, A Raisin in the Sun. I've seen it. I think Satan must be working extra hard here because he knows this will be the New Jerusalem someday. But he won't win and the work will still go forward.

Anyway... Sorry for the scatterbrained email. All in all, it hasn't been that eventful of a week, but it has been good.

Thank you for being such a supportive family! Mail makes a huge difference. I love hearing from you.

I love you all!

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister April Atkin

Settled In

Hey Family!

Once again it is P-day, and this one came SO much faster than the last one. I think I am finally settled in here. :) I am very happy.

I will try to answer your questions (even though that is easier when I just reply, but whatever. :) ) Also, I don't think these computers will work with my camera and I forgot my camera cord, so you'll just have to wait for me to figure that out to get pictures in attachment form. I'll try to get pictures of all of those things. Also, we work with several sets of senior missionaries. I love them all. Working in the Visitors' Center is really fun because it is like being surrounded by family all of the time. The sisters here are amazing, and I love the senior couples like grandparents. The Andersons are planning a reunion in July 2013 in Canada, and they want us to all come visit them. I'm already excited.

The elders in the Independence Zone (our adopted Zone) are wonderful. I really like them a lot. We do play games with them, so we all have to be careful, but it makes it more fun. The food out here hasn't been that different so far. We get fed by members almost every night, which is nice. Even when we are in the Visitors' Center they drive the half an hour to bring us food! They are so nice! One lady did bring us ribs from a restaurant out here and they were amazing. I hope to have more BBQ next summer. The black preacher guy promised to invite us over when he makes some. On Thanksgiving the VC is closing at 4 - for the first time ever - and all of the sisters will be out in their areas. We all have at least one dinner appointment. Ours is with Keara and I'm really excited because I really like her. She makes good food, too. She has the missionaries over all the time for dinner. When we taught her a lesson after dinner this week, her whole nonmember family joined in and even participated! It was wonderful. We just talked about faith, and they were all on board. We are building a relationship there. Her dad puts out his cigarette when we walk in, which is super nice of him.

The gospel principles class is taught by the ward mission leader. This last week they actually had a ward member teach it (Ambroa) and it was really good. I'm glad she did it because she needed it, and her whole family is struggling, so they are in that class. I think it was good for them to hear it from her.

So this week. I can't even remember everything that happened this week. (don't worry, I write a lot in my journal.) So this will probably be out of order.

I finally got to give my first solo tour! I would have been comfortable doing it earlier, but there just weren't people coming in the VC. Then one night was randomly busy, and my turn came. My very first tour was 3 nonmembers from Florida. No pressure. haha. There was a guy and a girl that were dating, and their friend, another guy. They were in the area for a wedding, and the friend loves mormons so he dragged them to the VC because they had extra time. They walked in and immediately I saw the girl's eyes drawn to the Christus (I'll send you a picture. It's pretty amazing. The one in SLC is of Christ during the creation, and ours is of Him during the second coming. The mural behind him has the earth and the sun and it is awesome). I talked to them about what we had and asked what they wanted to see. The guy friend wanted to hear the history, but as we headed to the stairs, the girl kept looking at the Christus, so I offered to do that first. I got to know them a little, bore my testimony of Christ (they were all Christian), and played the narration. After it was over, we talked about it. With a lot of the members they hear it and aren't very impressed. When I ask their feelings no one wants to say anything. These three were entirely open to talking about it. I told them my favorite parts, and they told me theirs. When I was bearing my testimony about how much I love Him, I could see and feel them listening. Their hearts were open. It was amazing. They completely connected with me and agreed with me. The spirit was there. I guess sometimes I don't realize how much a shock it would be to be a nonmember and feel the spirit. I have the gift of the Holy Ghost, so it feels good, but I have it all of the time, like a fish in water. But they don't, so it has got to be amazing to walk into the Visitors' Center and feel it.

Then we walked downstairs so I could tell them the history of the Saints in Missouri. The friend knew a shocking amount of our history. As I went on I was more and more impressed. He knew about Adam-ondi-ohman, he knew who W. W. Phelps was, and he knows all of our hymns. But his friends didn't know anything, so it was a little tricky balancing that. I had him teaching them. So, I started at the beginning, with the first vision. Again, I could see the girl's heart being open. She was actually listening to me, learning. I don't know if she believed it, but she actually listened! As I recited the first vision (yay for memorizing!), the spirit was there again. I told them the history of the saints in Missouri, and the whole time they were right there with me. We were having a discussion, not a tour. They asked me questions the whole time, and I answered them. I told them my feelings, and they shared their thoughts. It was awesome. Absolutely amazing.

When we got to the end, I bore my testimony again. I was really hoping they would self refer, so I gave them referral cards. I called them comment cards, and explained that they could leave their comments about their experience, and if they wanted to know more, they could fill out their info. None of them did. But they did leave comments. They were all really nice, and all specifically complimented me. So I taped them in my journal. As we were walking back upstairs, the girl commented that she felt like she really understood our religion better, and she felt like all of her questions about Mormons were answered. The guy that knew so much about us told me that when he was in middle school he discovered MoTab, and has been hooked ever since. He's watched Music and the Spoken Word since then. Then he found out that all of the music from General Conference was archived online, so he downloaded all of it onto his iPod. They had been listening to it on their whole car trip.

Then we wandered around the kiosks upstairs. I kept chatting with him, and he knew so much about us I don't know how he isn't a member! The couple asked about the organization of the church, so I explained it to them. There were pictures on the wall, so I got to show them the apostles. The guy friend knew all of their names (including their middle names), and said his favorite was Boyd K. Packer. Crazy! How is this guy not Mormon?!! Then they had to go. They were all super nice, and left. As soon as they walked out the doors I was kicking myself for not offering them a Book of Mormon. *sigh*

So my first tour was awesome. The spirit was there, and we really connected. Man, I hope they convert someday. If not, they at least have a kind view of us now.

Later this week I had a tour that was almost the complete opposite. It was a man and his 3 sons from Belize (spelling?? -- in central America) and their friend from Texas. They were also in the area for a wedding. They were all members of the Restoration church (they broke off of ours when Joseph Smith died). It was a horrible tour, but there was nothing I could have done differently. I showed them God's Plan for His Family, and then the Christus. When I asked them questions, they wouldn't comment for a bit, and then they would but it would be kinda off topic. It was kinda annoying. Don't get me wrong, they were good people, we just didn't connect at all. I got the feeling that they didn't really want to listen to me. They were trying to teach me, not learn from me. The friend from Texas kept talking about how these guys were Lamanites, and said something like, "now you can say you have met a lamanite. That's something to remember." Maybe I'm prideful, but I wasn't really impressed. Amanda Bates in high school is half Native American, and Yeremy from BYU is from El Salvador, so this wasn't new to me. Actually I did say, "oh, yeah, I have a good friend from El Salvador". Maybe I shouldn't have.

Then I showed them the history part of the tour. Talking about Zion was really interesting with them. Okay, back up. As far as I can tell, they believe a lot of the same things we do, just ending with Joseph Smith. They believe in the Book of Mormon and everything. Anyway, so talking about Zion was interesting, because they do believe in Zion, and that it will be built in Independence. They kept talking about how the Lamanites would be the ones to build it, and how it might scare the locals to have Lamanites pouring in from Central and South America. They also believe that all of the churches that splintered from Joseph Smith will be reunited. I didn't really know what to say.

They also tried to teach me that reading the Book of Mormon was important. They said something like "some people testify this book is true, and they haven't even read it!" It felt directed at me. When I asked if they knew much about the history, the dad kinda chuckled and said, "Yes. I am a Seventy in our church, so I know the history." I don't know if I was supposed to be impressed by that, either, so I just moved on. Oops. The whole tour was just not good. When I tried to bear testimony and bring the spirit, they would make an off topic comment--something good, not bad--but distracting from what I was testifying of. It was annoying.

Then I asked if they knew the story of Mary Elizabeth and her sister. They didn't!! It is the story of the sisters rescuing the pages of the Book of Commandments and hiding in a corn field. I'm sure you know it. That happened here. So I told them the story, and really, that was the only time in the whole tour I felt them listening to me. The spirit came. It was good. Of course they immediately made some random comment about the Lamanites living with dirt floors now, but I had done my best.

The last video of the tour talks about the building of zion now and the growth of our church. It was kinda awkward to tell them that we have 14.5 million members and over 100 translations of the Book of Mormon--how many do you have? I need to work on my pride. But I ended by bearing my testimony of what we have in common. They agreed.

As we left, we talked a little about other church history sites. Kirtland came up, and the dad--the70--mentioned, "oh, yes. That is where I received a revelation for our people and wrote it down." This time he really looked at me, waiting for a reaction. I kinda ignored it. Oops.

So there are my two polar opposite, nonmember tours of the week. Interesting.

As for our area, we really haven't had that much time there this week. We visited 3 former investigators that sounded like they would be awesome, but we had to drop all of them. One of them was an intellectual that really wants to know truth, but doesn't really want to learn religion from anyone. He's on his own journey, and feels like he knows God. His family was adorable. The biggest stumbling block he has to learning is that he believes that everything is cyclical and unorganized religion is just as valid as organized religion--it's just another phase. He thinks Christ gained His authority from His relationship with God, so this guy has a relationship with God, and therefore, authority. He baptized himself. He kept comparing himself to Jesus. He does believe the Book of Mormon is true, but that doesn't do anything for him. I told him to read it straight through. Hopefully he'll see what it testifies of and come around someday.

Another lady will be a member in the afterlife. She expects her granddaughter (she has a lot in common with the Napoli's) to be mormon someday, and is okay with that. She just doesn't believe. Her daughter died a year ago, and it nearly destroyed her. I think she has rebuilt her life around her grand daughter and the belief that God exists, but doesn't answer prayers (she's agnostic). I think she is afraid that if she lets go of either of those things, her life will crumble again. Because how could a God that answers prayers take her daughter away? It was tragic to hear her talk about it. But really, she's a wonderful woman. If I wasn't on a mission, I would want to be friends with her. I could talk to her forever. But she won't progress, so we can't spend very much time with her.

That's pretty much my whole week. I've finished training most of the sisters here on chat, which is funny because I'm the greenie, *ahem*, new missionary. It's been fun getting to know them that way.

I love your letters. Thank you dad for your letter! Thank you mom for your email! Thank you Rachel for your prayers! Thank you Annie for your email! It's good to hear familiar voices, even on paper or a computer screen.

I love you all. :) Know that I am happy here in Missouri. I'm working hard and studying hard (wow! I'm learning a lot! I am 2/3 done with Jesus the Christ now!) and it is wonderful.

Have a fabulous week! I hope to hear from you soon!

 

your sister missionary,

Sister April Atkin

 

P.S. Willie, I sent this to you this week. Send me your family email, too! I will try to write you about missionary stuff, too. :) Love you loads!

In Lee's Summit 2nd Ward

Oh, Mom! Dad! Rachel! Family!

I'm here, I'm here, I'm here.

What a long crazy week. I have so much to say that it's hard to know where to begin.

First of all, my companion. Sister Madi Dodd. It is totally crazy that we are both from Logan. We know a lot of the same people, she just went to Logan High. Her dad owns advanced heating and air. She's studying graphic design at USU. She worked at the chiropracters in Hyram, so I wonder if Rachel ran into her (that's where Rachel went, right?). She's blonde, cute, athletic (did soccer and basketball), and I really like her. Of course it is a hard adjustment because she knows everyone here and I don't, but that will come. We have an apartment to ourselves. It's kinda old, but it works, and we deal with it. It has some pretty ugly wallpaper. Some other sisters live in a neighboring apartment. I'm grateful for all of my bedding because it's been getting cold. I've stayed nice and warm every night. :)

We are in the Independence Visitor's center. We do half days. The schedule is all over the place so that we sometimes have mornings or sometimes evenings in our area. It has been SUPER slow. No one is coming in anymore. I came just in time for the slow season. I haven't given my own tour yet, not because I don't want to, but because there are no tours to take. I've learned the history pretty fast, and I love it. I think the Lord is trying to teach me patience and how to use my time wisely here. The first few days it was really frustrating to just sit on a couch for hours and hours, just staring out the window at the Community of Christ temple out of our front window. I'm learning how to appreciate that time and use it for studying. Needless to say, I am very caught up in my journal. I'm halfway done with this journal already!! I love the senior couples here. They tell us stories and hold study sessions during the slow times. They are wonderful. :)

Anyone that says I have a soft mission is crazy, though. It can be frustrating to not be able to do the work in our area. I think it is way harder to be sitting on a couch than to be out on the streets teaching, contacting (mom, remember your bean experience? okay, it wasn't that bad, but really the first few days were boring.). We do have an area. It's the Lee's Summit 2nd ward. It covers a portion of a town called Lee's Summit and part of Kansas City, so we have a range of people. We have the rich end of Lee's Summit, and the poor end of Kansas City. Our area is 30 minutes away from the Visitors' Center, so we spend a lot of our time driving. It can be very frustrating. If we have the morning shift at the VC,  we have personal study 8-9, VC 9-3, Companion study 3-5 (they have two hours just for the newbies), so we won't get out to our area until 5:30. Then if we have a dinner appointment (hopefully we do, or we'll starve), we have about an hour, maybe two in our area until we have to head back. That happens some days. We are expected to meet the same goals as the other areas that have full time missionaries. So it's hard.

But it's amazing how much the Lord blesses us and helps us get the numbers anyway. We don't usually meet the standards of excellence, but we get surprisingly close. When I got here they had just had 2 baptisms in the ward, so we were starting over from scratch - on the finding stage. But we still had two investigators at church, and we found 3 people this week that invited us to come back. So the work is still progressing.

Okay. About the people I've met. Because honestly, meeting people is the best part of a mission. And the most important part.

One of the first homes I actually got to go in (we don't ever get in through tracting, though we try. I've now been rejected like a true missionary. :)  ) was that of Keara, a new member. She's taking the new member lessons, and I think she really needs the support of the missionaries. It's amazing what the gospel has done for her. She has the saddest background story a person could have. She's been a smoker and a drinker since she was a kid because of her parents. She was married and has two kids, but had to leave when her husband started shooting up on serious drugs. She and her boys lived in domestic violence shelters for a while, and now she lives with her dad and some other random people. She's lost most of the people she was close to. But then, through an inactive member she heard about the church. She thought it was the most romantic sounding church ever - sealed for eternity? so she rode buses all day to get to a library and checked out the Book of Mormon. She couldn't put it down. Long story short, she's now a member. She still struggles staying away from alcohol, but she really wants to go through the temple. She's awesome. I pray for her because the house she lives in is horrible. We went to teach her, and walking in there felt like I was breathing an ashtray. Everyone there smokes and there was beer all over the kitchen. I don't know how she lives with it constantly there, reminding her of her addiction. It was really a dark place. her sister-in-law lives there, and is professionally a stripper. Her poor little boys! I hope she can move out! when we left I smelled like smoke, was lightheaded, and a little sick. My stomach took a while to settle.

what I've noticed a lot out here is that people are in dire need of the gospel. A lot of these people have been through the very worst things. Everyone smokes. everyone drinks. Everyone has tried drugs. It's a little hard for me to imagine teaching about eternal families to people who have horrible families. All the families out here are broken. Satan is trying really hard to destroy families!! I don't think I've seen any nonmembers with a complete family. they've all experienced divorce, abuse, neglect. it is awful.

But it is also amazing what the atonement can do for them. I am starting to see that I had no comprehension of "infinite" atonement before. If He can heal these people of all that they have been through, how can anyone doubt the power of the atonement to heal them and forgive their sins? If he can lift these people's burdens - Keara's - He definitely can lift mine! I would have thought her past repair, past saving, but that is what is so cool about the atonement! It knows NO bounds!!

We did find one non-broken family to teach. I'm excited. Their house isn't dark like most of the homes I've seen. the mother obviously loves her kids. :) they seem ready. I hope so! we're teaching their family on Friday. She said that her 6-year-old daughter asked her what God was, and she didn't know how to answer. She told her about how everyone has different ideas and explained them to her. Then her daughter asked, "but how will I know?" I just want to teach them!!!!

we also visited a referal. It happened to be a guy who is professionally a traveling preacher. sister Dodd had given him a Book of Mormon before, and asked him how he liked it. He loves it. He says it reminds him of the Old Testament, and really bridges the old and the new for him. He thinks Nephi is an awesome guy. But I don't think we'll be teaching him. He's not really the listening kind. He's the talking kind - he teaches other people how to come to Jesus. That's what he does. So he was preachin' to us on his front porch, praisin' Jesus for what we are doing the whole time. And we prayed with him right there, outside, holding hands. we all took turns saying prayers, (him saying "praise Jesus", and "amen" and "mmm-hmmm" the whole time). it was awesome. :) We might visit him again sometime, but really, there would be no way for us to get a word in to teach a lesson. I hope he teaches people from the Book of Mormon as he travels. that would be funny. :) He told us to stay with Jesus and to get people off the streets. We'll try. :)

of all of the sisters at the VC, we are the only ones in a different zone (because our area is so far away), but their zone has adopted us. They are super nice. This is a very unique zone - waaaay more sisters than elders because of the VC. So they only send the very best elders to the Independence Zone because of not only how special of a place it is, but also because only the best elders could handle being with sisters all of the time. The others would get distracted or create drama. So the elders are amazing. they ride bikes. the sisters share cars (nice ones - '11, and '12). Anyway, sometimes we do early morning sports at 6. We've played Quidditch (I'll explain that to you sometime. Amazing!) and ultimate. The problem is that I'm learning how to be a missionary still. this morning I totally ran into an elder when playing Ultimate frisbee, and his face was as if i had slapped him, or maybe kissed him. He kept apollogizing. I need to cool it down and play way less agressive. Oops. I felt kinda dumb. I had just forgotten.

Well, I've got to go email president.

But it has been a good week. I've gotten both of dad's letters - they made my day. :) I love mail!

I don't have my camera cord, but I think I'll print some pictures and mail them to you, so look forward to that. :)

(sorry about my capitalization. This shift key is not good.)

Oh, send letters to the mission office. They bring over my mail every day. That will be my address for at least 4 months or so - two transfers.

I love you! Thank you for writing me! You are the best!

Loooooooooooove,

your favorite Sister with a capital S,

Sister April Atkin

A Quick Note

Hi family!!

I'm here in Independence! I'm just dropping a line to let you know that my p-day won't be until next Thursday. The VC sisters can't have all the same p-day because the VC is open every day, so that's why ours is Thursday.

I'm happy and safe! The VC is awesome! I'm in Independence in the Visitor's Center. I am actually a half an hour away from my area, but that is how it works. We do half days.

My new companion is Sister Dodd from Logan, Utah!! We graduated the same year and just went to different high schools (she went to Logan). I like her a lot already. She is very nice. Crazy! I love the mission president, and I feel very welcome here. I've been rejected already while tracting, and it wasn't even that bad. I'm going to love it here. It's amazing - I don't feel scared of anything. I think it is a blessing, a real tender mercy. Even knocking doors and talking to strangers isn't scary. (macey's may have helped, too).

Anyway, it isn't P-day, so they are just letting us send a short email to let you know to wait until Thursday.

I love you! I feel the blessings from your prayers! You rock my socks!

Talk to you Thursday!

Love,

Sister April Atkin

 

P.S. I just have to wear sweaters in the VC (cardigans). I'm going to need a lot more of those. I'll buy some out here, but keep your eyes peeled!

Week 2 - Halfway!

Editor's note (AKA Amy intervenes): Some of this email was business oriented, just info that her parents need, so I omitted it. It makes the email a lot shorter, but that is just the way it goes when you have limited email time as a missionary. 

Dear Mom and Family,

Today marks the halfway point of my MTC experience. I was going to send pictures today, I brought my camera and everything, and the computer will NOT let me upload them. So I'm sorry, but you might not get any of those until I'm in Missouri.

I'm so proud of you mom. You will give a wonderful lesson on temples. Because nonmembers need to know that everything in our church leads to temples. One reason for that is because the church is all about families. Everything is about families. Yesterday we had a devotional (every Tuesday), and Julie B. Beck spoke. She talked about how everything is about the family - the fall, the atonement, the creation, everything. It was wonderful. You will give a wonderful message. I have faith in you. :) Know that you have a missionary praying for you. :)

I had heard rumor about that pastor saying those things (about Mormons not being Christians), but I'm not worried. The Lord works in mysterious ways, and I really think that there is no such thing as bad publicity for the church (unless someone in it does something bad). This article will get people thinking about the church, and I think it will gain the church some support. I think hundreds of people will be going tomormon.org because of this. What a blessing! And if they believe him, no harm done because they probably believed it anyway. I think this will only do good for the church as people try to find out for themselves.

My district is pretty good. We actually had some district drama this week, but I guess these really are still 19 year old boys. A short version is that some of the elders were breaking rules, so the sisters corrected them (leaving their companion, going back to their room instead of class, etc.). They have been talking bad about us behind our backs ever since, and really ignore us a lot. The Zone Leaders talked to them (one of them was the District Leader), so things are improving. These boys have big hearts, but hard heads, so they will learn to get over that. Exact obedience is important. The DL finally started asking us to pray in class - the first time since our first two days here, so that's improvement. We'll take it. These boys have great potential.

I got a letter from Willie this week and it made my day. What a stud! I look up to him a lot, and these block heads will be lucky if they get him as a companion (I mean that in the nicest way. These boys have great potential, and I love them, it just is difficult sometimes).

We have some progressing investigators that are wonderful. One is Hely Meza, and she is so sweet. She could talk our ears off for hours and hours! The hard thing is getting a word in about the gospel! She asked us about our mothers, and I told her about you, mom. She seemed so impressed to hear us speak kindly of our mothers. She wants her daughter to meet with us. :) (these aren't real investigators, but it is still fun.) Another investigator is Janet, but I don't like her as much. It is frustrating because I am trying everything I know how to do, and I still feel like I am failing. We just can't reach her, even though we are praying our heads off and bearing testimony with our whole hearts. I reached my limit with her on Saturday and when she refused to pray, I said, "Janet, I can't do this for you." almost rudely. I felt awful at first, but it worked! She apparently needed me to be bold, borderline rude to act on anything we said. Anyway, I'm learning a lot.

Another investigator is Ben. We haven't figured out how to tell him he actually wasn't speaking in tongues in his church. We'll get there. He committed to baptism, though.

I'm trying even how to capture this week in an email, and I don't know how. So much has happened, but nothing has happened. It feels like one long day with naps. The days all blend together. I am very happy here. My companions have learned to laugh at my love of milk and how I love to run up stairs, and I am learning to talk less (sometimes I dominate the lessons. They don't mind, but it isn't good for any of us.)

I finally met a sister going to my mission! She is in a district will all Elders going to my mission too!! So we all leave the same day. I won't be flying alone. :) I am the only Visitor's Center sister, and that is why I am alone in my district. The three of us are the only VCs. I'm so excited.

Oh! And we joined the MTC choir! It is amazing. It is 3/4 men, but it sounds good. I'm singing alto. We sang where can I turn for Peace, and I loved it. What a release.

Anyway, I gotta go. I'll send you a letter later today.

I love you all! Thank you for your support! I am very happy here and have learned a lot. :)

Love,

Sister April Atkin

The First Week

Hello All!

I did it! I made it through the first week! It feels like forever since I left home, but it still isn't really real that I'm here at the MTC, and that I'm a missionary. Wow.

The first few days were really not easy, if I'm being honest. I was SOO tired. And I was a little frustrated, because I didn't feel like we were learning anything. The elders in my district seemed pretty immature.

BUT now its is awesome! We are progressing like crazy! I love my companions (it's fun to have a groupie wherever I go, and they are super sweet), and I have learned to love my district. They are like little brothers to me now, which is awesome because they are all going to Willie's mission! It's been so fun to see them learn and mature in one week. I will miss them when they leave us for our Visitor Center Training.

We have already started teaching investigators (well, actors, but you know), and we have shown a great learning curve. The very first lesson we taught bombed. We did horribly. But our most recent went great! And General Conference here was amazing!! I felt like every talk was about missionary work, and was for me. I liked how one guy said that we are learning the foreign language of the spirit. It made me feel better because sometimes I feel out of place speaking English when it feels like everyone else is speaking something else. But, learning the Spirit's language has been soo cool! It's very different here than it has ever been for me in my whole life, but it is so good. It really reminds me of the spirit I feel in the temple. I haven't really cried even though I feel the spirit all the time (you know how unusual that is for me). Chad Lewis came and gave a fireside on Sunday, and it was awesome. SOO good. I'm gonna let my greenie light shine. :)

Overall life, is good! Our roommates are great (not in our zone or anything), and make me laugh super hard. Our elders are goofs. The food is good, but too much, so I'm working on not eating everything they give me. I'm not surprised people get fat here. I'm still drinking a lot of milk. :) (actually, one day I totally dumped milk all over my dress. It was embarrassing. Oh, well. Mom, yes, it was on my flower belt that we wanted to keep clean. Oops.) Also, Sometimes I feel like the Elders think the sisters have a disease. We get ignored a lot. Well, a lot of doors are opened, but besides that and our district, very few guys talk to us. It's actually kinda funny. We are still learning the ropes here, but everything runs like a well oiled machine. It's good.

The other thing is that I LOVE gym time. It is my favorite. I have hated gym my whole life until now, and now it feels like a wonderful release. We have played bocce ball (yep. That's weird) and vollyball. We are making vollyball friends. It's fun. (one of them is 6' 10", so that is less fun unless he is on our team). Running around is amazing! As usual, I did get hit in the face by a ball, but that is normal for me, and I still love Vollyball. I really look forward to it.

This morning we went to the temple and it was soooo good. We were the only sisters, which was crazy, but fun.

I have seen so many people I know here! Amy Beck, Shane Feuz, people from my proofs class, and a bajillion other people. Katie Soh has been my favorite though. She's acted kinda like a big sister to me, giving me tips and advice and optimism. I love her to pieces! She is Sarah's second cousin, a friend from BYU, and is going to Milan Italy (she got me excited about having cod nuggets in the MTC, but that is another story. They are pretty good). Oh, one of the elders in my district is from Vernal and knows all of the Atkin family there, especially Derron and uncle Dennis. his name is Elder Wheeler.

Thank you for the mail! It means a lot. Aunt Laura sent me a package and made my day. :) She will be getting a letter from me soon.

I don't even know how to express everything I'm feeling here! I feel like a new person. I've never prayed so much in my life. Everyone here has gone through something hard and is so strong. I feel so inexperienced and weak sometimes, but I'm growing, so I'm not sad about it. I haven't been homesick yet, but that is not because I don't love you. Letting dad go at the MTC was really hard, but I'm doing the right thing! I know it!! The name tag seems second nature now. I'm lost when it isn't on me. I can't imagine coming home, so I won't worry about that until I have to.

Holy cow, family, the church is true. I can't believe that I've been trusted to be a part of this work! I pray for you, and I hope your missionary experiences are going great - you'll have to tell me about them. I'm praying for you.

I don't have my camera, but next week.

I can't wait to go to Missouri!

I gotta go, but I love you SOOOOO much!! To pieces! More than I can say!

Have an amazing week!

your missionary,

Sister April Atkin