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!