Biking the Hills of Kansas

Dearest Family,

What a week. It's been good one, though!

Things are going well out here. My spirits are still high. :) This area is much harder, though. It is very wealthy, and we have no real investigators anymore. But we'll keep going and we'll find them. This temple open house has got to do something for the area. People out here are active in their own churches, and they know why they are attending their particular church, which makes things very difficult. But we keep going.

We did have a baptism this week, which was cool. I only met Edith once before she was baptized, but it was still wonderful. She's the nicest lady. Her daughter, son-in-law, grand-daughters, and grandson-in-law are all members, so it was a very happy day for them. Can you imagine watching grandma getting baptized? They all cried. She'll be an amazing member. I like her already. Her husband wasn't super happy about the idea (in fact, he's the reason she's waited so long. Apparently this has been 30 years in the making, although she only started meeting with missionaries this winter), but he let her be baptized. Everything went wonderfully. :)

One thing I forgot to tell you last week is that we are part time bike. That means every Wednesday we trade off the car with our district leader. They have it for a week, and then we have it for a week. When we don't have a car, we walk, bike, and get rides as much as possible. Honestly I thought I would never ride a bike on my mission. Silly me.

Last Wednesday we had an appointment with Edith. We couldn't find anyone to come with us or give us a ride, so I asked Sister Hinckley how far of a bike ride it was. She said it was about 3 miles. So I thought, "okay, we can handle that. We could do that in 40 minutes, even with hills". What I had forgotten was that Sister Hinckley is a horrible judge of distance. What she said was a block last Monday turned out to be nearly a mile, and we were very late. So we headed out. It was hot and my skirt was blowing all over the place, so eventually I gave up and let people see the basketball shorts I had on underneath. It turned out to be 6.5 miles, and it took us an hour (who knew there were so many hills in this part of Kansas). Edith felt horrible that we had ridden that far, and Sister Hinckley didn't feel well, so she drove us home, which was nice. We didn't have to ride our bikes for the rest of the day.

But, we are back on the bikes today. I checked the GPS to make sure it was only 3 miles to the library. Sister Hinckley still feels sick, so I don't know what we are going to do. I will be in very good shape by the end of the summer, though. Don't worry about me gaining the normal 30 pounds. And Wednesday can't come fast enough. :)

I really do like Sister Hinckley. Some things have been harder to work through, but she is very loving and works hard, so things will go well for us. She has her quirks, but we all do.

Mom, I'm not sure who Angela Sorensen's mom is. I've met so many people in the last few days that I don't remember! It sounds familiar that that did happen, but it is all a blur. That is also super sad about the Napoli's moving! Man, temple open houses are the best. You should be brave and invite them to meet with missionaries sometime. They are really ready, and if you did it "naturally and normally", they won't be offended even if they aren't interested. You and dad could even do practices like we do as missionaries. One of you could pretend to be Bill, and the other one could pretend to ask him to meet with missionaries. Or to just have dinner with you and the missionaries. It could be good. :) You guys are awesome.

We are inviting everyone to the open house--investigators, members, tracting contacts, everyone. They don't really check for tickets, so we invite people to go with us, or go on their own, or just go! It's basically all we talk about these days. The wealthy people who would never let missionaries in their homes are super interested in the open house, so it is our main approach right now. I'm sad that there is only a week left! I talked to a man about scouting yesterday because that is how he knows members, but he was still only interested in going to the open house, not meeting with us.

Exciting news is that one of my investigators in Lee's Summit is getting baptized this weekend! I have permission to go, so I just have to find a ride. I am so happy! It's the one that was saved on April 28th. His wife found me at the open house and was happy to the point of tears when she was telling me about it. Apparently the night they said goodbye to me was the night he told her that he was sure that he was getting baptized. She asked why, and he said he wanted to be baptized because he felt like it would make God happy. I am so happy! She also said that me and Sister Lewis were the perfect fit for him and that the time was right. He had met with two or three sets of missionaries before us, but somehow when we taught him, it clicked. The Lord prepared him and the Lord prepared us. :)

This week I have been studying Hebrews again. I love it! I've been learning a lot about the priesthood, and it is really starting to click for me. I have had to reread Hebrews 7 four or five times to try to make sense of it. I think (and you'll have to read it to understand) that the oath it talks about is that Christ would be a high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec (v 21 in the JST appendix) and then, the reason that His atonement is perfect is because of that Oath. V. 25 says that He is able to save us to the uttermost because "he ever liveth to make intercession for them". So the oath in addition to the resurrection were essential for Him to be able to cleanse us from sin. And it was all through the priesthood. I hope that makes sense, because it was cool for me.

Then, if you have time to study what I studied (I know I have more study time than most people do), cross reference these three sections: D&C 84:19-22, D&C 107:19-20,30-31, D&C 121:26-46. The idea is how cool the priesthood is. I don't know if this makes any sense at all. Really, knowledge, power, priesthood, and righteousness (or obedience to laws, which comes from knowledge of laws) are all connected.

Sorry, that makes no sense, but the priesthood is cool!

Anyway, I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister April Atkin

Transferred to Kansas!

Dear Family,

What a week! I have a lot to write about.

 

First of all, I was transferred for the first time ever! Now I am in Overland Park, Kansas, which is basically a suburb of KC. It is about 30 minutes away from Independence and Lee's Summit, so I didn't get moved very far (which is nice in some ways because it means I still get to help a lot with the Temple Open house. In fact, we are there 3 times a week for a five hour shift. It is exhausting and wonderful!). My new companion is Sister Hinckley from Fontana, California. Yes, she is a relative of Gordon B. Hinckley. We cover two wards, the Redbridge and Stanley Wards.

Honestly, when the call came last Tuesday night, I cried. I cried and cried. I have really grown to Lee's Summit, and Sister Lewis and I had figured out how to work well together. I love her a lot! I also love the VC SOOO much, and I was really sad to leave it. Sister Minall and Sister Thorne are going to be my friends for life, and it was sad to leave them.

Sister Dodd served in those wards before she came to Lee's Summit. Overland Park is where she started her mission. Whenever she talked about it, it sounded like the worst place in the mission to be sent. It was her personal refiner's fire, and it was the hardest part of her mission. Overland Park is in Johnson County. The rumor is that it is the wealthiest county in the country. She said she had only taught a handful of lessons in her three months there.

 

So add all of those things together, and after I sat in shock for a moment, I realized that going to Overland Park with Sister Hinckley was probably the hardest thing God could ask me to do. I didn't want to go.

But then after I mourned it for a moment, I got over it. If God called me there, then there were people waiting for me there. He would provide the way, and it didn't have to be a miserable time of my mission. If God thought I could handle it, I will take it as a compliment, and know that He will provide a way for everything to be possible. He's just kicking me up to the next level, just like He has for my whole mission. So bring it on.

The next day I mourned what I was leaving. I love the VC so much. But after I said my good byes, I knew it was time to go. I had gotten comfortable there, so it was time for a new learning experience. Whenever we get comfortable in life (especially in missions) is when something changes so that we can learn. So I got over it, and I left.

The Andersons, my favorite senior couple, were mad that I was leaving. I didn't get to say good bye to them, which makes me sad, but I will write them, and I'm sure I will see them again before the end of their mission. And they have promised a mission reunion in Canada August of 2013. So I'll look forward to seeing them again.

I did get to say goodbye to Selene. She is so wonderful. Her parting comment was, "If God called you to Overland Park, there is someone waiting there for you. Someone that needs your unique talents, just like I did. Stay in touch--we'll be friends for life. Don't cry. Love it. I'll see you again." I did cry.

Since Overland Park was so close, a member came to pick me up. Sister Hinckley is very sweet. I don't think this will be as hard as I had envisioned. All of the members I have met have been very wonderful. I've clicked with every member I've met almost instantly. I do feel like I belong here. :)
For the first couple of days I didn't feel like a missionary anymore because life is so different being full proselyting. We did service hours at a local petting zoo, which was really fun. We moved on my second day in the area, so I lived out of my suitcase for a couple of days. We're still settling in, but I like the new place. We live with members, and they are wonderful. The Andersons. He's the stake Patriarch, so that's cool.

On Sunday we have 5 hours of church because we go to all of the meetings of both wards. They overlap for an hour, so we split for the middle hour. I didn't feel that long. I really love church. Everyone has been very welcoming.

 

The Temple Open house is still wonderful! It is really long, though. For some reason my back hurts really bad by the time we are done, so I'm trying to wear different shoes. I may have hurt my back my first day at the open house, so I'm being very careful with it. It only hurts when I stand for more than an hour. Or bend weird. So I'll take care of it.

I didn't get to serve during the VIP days, but some of the sisters did. They really enjoyed it. They did take through a large group of Joseph Smith's descendents. It was neat to talk to them. Only a few were members. The church presented them with an amazing painting of Joseph and Emma inviting their descendents through the veil after death. They both are beckoning their descendents to follow them forward. It was beautiful. I didn't get a picture. :(

 

Oh, and after I left, two of our investigators in Lee's Summit set baptismal dates. Good thing I am close enough to go when they get baptized. One of them is Jason. He will be a bishop someday. I'm so excited for him! The other is Kesha, the lady we took to church those two times. Crazy how the work is going forward!

I love you all!
Love,

Sister April Atkin

A Beautiful Birthday

Hollah!

 

What a wonderful week. It's just been crazy. So hopefully I remember everything I want to tell you about!

 

Matt, our 17 year-old investigator is progressing well. We've decided to not teach him any lessons outside of a member's home (or the Visitors' Center, of course). So we met with him twice this week and things went well! He's so good. We're hoping to take him to the temple openhouse tomorrow.

 

Then we got a new investigator John on Tuesday. He married a member last weekend, and we've been trying to meet with him for a while now, but it finally worked out. We taught him in a member's home, too, and it was perfect. He's so golden! The only thing holding him back is that his wife, who is a convert, but isn't really excited about the church. She just doesn't really care that he's wanting to learn more. Which puts a damper on things. But we keep trying. Maybe in the end he'll convert her. He said yes to baptism. :) He recognizes that God has sent him a lot of hints recently, and he loves the temple already. I'm excited for them to go.

 

Then last Wednesday we finally got trained on the temple openhouse stuff. Elder Walker of the Seventy, the man over the temple board, came and spoke to us. It was amazing to see all 42 of the sisters in the mission in one place all at the same time. Sister Power! It was crazy to see Sister Dodd again. It feels like a lifetime ago that we were companions. I've changed and grown SO much since then. I just feel like an entirely different person. We got our own tour through the temple. It is beautiful. Just absolutely beautiful. I felt like I was home again when I was inside. At one point it was like I could almost feel the long white dress around my ankles. I just am so excited to be able to go back. I think I'm spiritually in a place where there is a lot more I can learn there. I just love the temple so much!!!

 

Then on Friday, Sister Lewis and I acted as substitute travelling preachers. It was pretty cool. A woman in our ward lives in an old person apartment complex. They have "chapel" every Friday and ask preachers in the area to come. Well, around Easter and Christmas everyone is so busy with their own congregations that they can never find anyone to come out. This member of our ward is in charge of scheduling the preachers, so she asked us to come and speak on Good Friday. What an opportunity!!! So Sister Lewis and I gave our sermons. They were really short, (together a total of 15 minutes), but they were powerful, and well recieved. These people were so nice! We got to mingle with them afterwards and talk to them. Hopefully all of them will go to the temple open house. Don't get me wrong, there was only about 15 people there, but it was still a cool opportunity. They loved us. So if this sister invites any of them to meet with missionaries, they won't be afraid because they already know who we are and that we are those "young sweet girls".

 

My sermon was about how "It isn't over". After Christ died and declared, "It is finished," His followers thought that this amazing adventure they had all been on for the last three years was over. Mary Magdalene was heart broken. Thomas wouldn't believe what anyone told him. And Peter returned to fishing, his prior employment. They thought it was over. But then Christ showed himself to Mary to help her stop weeping and showed Himself to doubting Thomas so that he would believe. After the miracle of the fishes, Christ asked Peter if he loved Him "more than these", meaning the fish, his employment. Peter, who had thrice denied the Savior, now had a chance to declare his love for Him three times. Because of that love, his call was now to "Feed my sheep", and continue the work of the Savior. Because it wasn't over, Because Christ rose from the dead, Because He did all that He promised to do, the work goes forward and now it is up to us to make sure the whole world knows about it. The message of Easter is that it isn't over! And we need to live up to it!

I was proud of my first sermon. I learned a lot in writing it. :)

 

Then Saturday was my birthday. The Best Birthday EVER.

So first thing we woke up and went walking. There is a cemetary nearby that opens at sunrise, and for the first time, it opened in time for us to go walking in it. It is really old and really cool. It was fun to find the tombstones that date back to when the saints were here in Independence. It is the coolest cemetary I've ever seen. And the sunrise was beautiful.

 

Then I hurriedly made my own birthday cake. :) It's so fun to back that it was really a gift to see everyone love the pumpkin crumb cake. :) We were on shift at the VC in the morning, so I opened my package there. What a fun package!

 

Then we were on shift at the VC. It was a crazy day because everyone that was going to the temple open house came to the VC, too. We were very busy. We were on our feet for the whole 6 hours. Just when I would finish with one group, I would get another one. So I finished one tour, and then Elder Wells ushered me over to another group. "This is Sister Atkin," he said,"she will be your sister missionary today." It was a young women's group. One of the leaders said, "Sister Atkin? Do you have a brother in Oklahoma?" Come to find out, the group of young women were from the Elm Creek ward in Owasso Oklahoma!!! The odds that I would see them and be their sister missionary are absolutely zero (if we're rounding decimals, anyway). We were all so excited and got a picture together. One of the girl's dad is the ward mission leader, so she sees "Elder Atkin" nearly every day. I took them through the God's Plan for His Family presentation, and cried through the whole thing, thinking about Willie and how much I miss him, and how much this meant to me. One of the leaders gave me a big hug from him (she's never hugged him. She'll just shake his hand firmly). At the end of the presentation I talked about family. I told them how close Willie and I are, and how important temples are for keeping families together forever. I encouraged them all to stay temple worthy to receive those blessings. I just cried. Then I said, "I just have to let you all know that you are part of a miracle today. Today is my birthday. You are my gift from my brother and from God today. So thank you." We all cried. I think that was the best gift I could have ever received for my birthday. They all know Willie! "He doesn't look a thing like you. Tall, red hair." We laughed about what a goof he is. They really like him (the leaders. Don't worry about the young women). :)

I took several amazing tours that day. The spirit was there. I love the Visitors' Center!

 

Then we were off to spend the rest of our day at the opening night of the Temple Openhouse. For the first bit we preset the movie at the beginning (in the stake center), introducing their hosts and the comment cards we hoped they would fill out at the end. That was alright. My feet and back started to get really sore.

 

Then we switched it up and we were in the reception area after the tour. It's in the cultural hall of the stake center. There were cookies and some more displays about the temple. We wandered around and talked to everyone, especially non-members, answering questions. It was wonderful. The first people I talked to were rude (saying that it was all "man made") but everyone else was really kind. Some major seeds were planted in some hearts. I met a nonmember couple that had lived in Logan for a few years. They were the kindest people and I accidentally assumed they were members at first. Someday they will join the church. They have a ton of member friends, and they loved the temple. They had driven from clear out in Kansas to come. I talked to a lot of people who were nonmembers but came because they have family that are members. It was a wonderful night.

 

We didn't get to leave the temple until 10, so we didn't get home until 10:30. It felt so weird! President Keyes said "Just do your best", so we rushed and got to bed fast and planned the next day. What a wonderful, exhuasting day!! Oh, the final miracle was that we had to park a half a mile from the temple, and at 10, walking that far sounded awful. We got a little ways, then a man with a golf cart gave us all a ride back to our car!

 

The next day was Easter. We were still SO tired, but it was a good day. :) We had dinner with the Hatt family. The husband is not a member, but he's the one we set for a date for when he was saved. They fed us some good BBQ. I am definitely excited for that part of summer. YUM. In class today he was asking questions like, "so what if someone was baptized? How would they get the priesthood?" So the bishop ran through some hypothetical situations about a man named "Jason" (that's his first name). He's totally getting baptized.

 

Well, that's pretty much what has happened this week. Life is good. :)

This morning in my studies I learned another cool thing. Hopefully I can make it make sense. I was reading in Alma 41 about the law of restoration. It talks about how we are restored to good if we do good. It is justice (v.3). We are our own judges (v. 7) to do good or evil, because according to justice that will be what is restored to us. If we live in a "state of nature" (v. 11) we are living contrary to the nature of God, and thus the nature of happiness. So where is the atonement in this process? Well, we learn in Mosiah 3:19 that the natural man is an enemy to God, so we have to put off the natural man and become a saint. So we have to change our natures until, as Moroni 7:48 "when he shall appear we4 shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure." So back to the law of restoration. The idea is that in this life our goal is to change our natures. We must change until we are like him. That is how we can justly be restored to him. Isn't that awesome? So the atonement pays for our mistakes, but we must be judged according to who we are. We must change our natures through His grace. Awesome.

Well, I gotta go. I'll try to send pictures, but I'm out of time. I love you!!

Love,

Sister Atkin

 

Temple Preparations Begin!

Dearest Family,

 

General Conference was so good! We got to see all of the sessions. :) We were in the VC for one of the sessions, but it wasn't busy, so they let us watch it until someone came in and wanted a tour. So we got to see the whole thing. :) Overall take away message: be kinder. I haven't been the perfect companion recently (well, probably ever), no matter how hard I try. This was the kick in the pants I needed to keep trying. I did see Frank in the choir. We were all so jealous of the missionaries that got to sing! What an opportunity!

 

Selene is still wonderful. :) She really liked conference. I wish you could be her visiting teacher, too! You would be soo good. I really wish the two of you could be in correspondance, mom. I just love her so much. We haven't gotten to see her much recently. She hasn't connected super well with anyone in the ward, although she likes everyone and they like her. Hopefully we can find a best friend for her. :)

 

As for my week, it was a pretty good one. It was a downer week for numbers because a lot of things happened so we didn't get a lot of time in our area. The Visitors' Center was good. I hope the Tolman's from Young Ward show you the picture they took with me the other day. :) They didn't know I was serving here, and were very shocked to see me when they walked in the door. I haven't been called April out loud for a long time, but I was really glad to see them. It was fun to show the Visitors' Center to them. You'll get to see it someday. :)

 

Did I ever tell you about the amazing part member family we are teaching? Well, we had a wonderful lesson with them this week. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ (lesson 3) by reading 2 Nephi 31 together. The husband isn't a member, but is really an amazing person. He is very spiritual, and a wonderful father. He was raised Baptist, and has been a substitute preacher in churches before. He's really been a spiritual leader. They come to church regularly, and he says that he agrees with 80-90% of everything he hears. So we're working through the kinks, and it is going great! We asked him to pray about April 28th as a baptismal date. He readily agreed, and then chuckled a little bit. "You are going to think this is funny, but that is the day I was saved when I was younger." His wife got very excited. "It's a sign!" she said, "You'll get baptized on that date, and then we'll get sealed April 28th 2013! Oooh, is the Paris Temple going to be done by then? We could get sealed in Paris!" So basically she's planning out their future now. She's very excited. He laughed and said he would pray about it, but maybe they should aim for a closer temple like the Kansas City Temple, and they could travel to Paris later. hahaha! He's so getting baptized. I just love them so much! I know this will bless their family. They have two adorable daughters. One is 4 (I think) with adorable pig-tails and big eyes. The other is 8 months and adorable, too. I'm so excited for them to be sealed. :) I hope I get to go.

 

Matt, the 17 year old, is doing well, too. We've started involving the priests in teaching him. They love it, their moms love it, the young men leaders love it, and it is good for Matt, too. We're hopefully teaching him at an FHE tonight.

 

We went on exchanges this week and it was fun. I really like Sister Minall. She's one of my best friends out here. She's 25 and converted when she was 20 in DC (that's where she's from). I just love her! Anyway, so we had a fun day together. We taught the first lesson to one of their investigators. Last last Sunday, he just showed up at church saying that he used to drop off his friends there, so he decided to come. That's how they found him. So he liked the first lesson, and we invited him to be baptized. He said yes and set a date and everything! He said that he met with elders in '83 and really liked them. He wanted to join the church back then, but then he didn't know what happened to them. So he decided to go back to the church where he had dropped them off before. Crazy! He wanted to join the church nearly 30 years ago! Since then he's kicked a drinking problem, so he's even more ready. He watched all sessions of general conference and came to a baptism. What a cool old guy. And he brought us a bag of gifts--deoderant, anti-wrinkle cream, sparkling water, a hat for a doll and a map of France. He's good. :)

 

On last Friday we had a ward party--a Temple Celebration. It was really well put together. We were glad to see less actives and partmember families come. It was so fun!

 

Then on Saturday was General Conference. It was a wonderful day! Our best friends, Sister Sawyer and Sister Minall had a baptism of a 19 year-old young man. His name is Branden, and he's amazing. Sister Minall really was sent here specifically for him. A lot of his conversion has happened at the Visitors' Center, so all of the sisters are friends with him. So we all got to go and be a part of his day. I played the piano (I play a lot out here, by the way). It was so wondeful! He will go on a mission. I'm sure of it. He's a cool football player kid, and he's really giving up a lot to join the church, but it's right, so there you go. One of his music heroes is a member of the ward, so Alo Key got to baptize him and sang a beautiful musical number with Sister Sawyer as a surprise. It was a beautiful day. baptisms always are.

 

General Conference was good. I especially liked Jeffry R. Holland (I always do. He's my favorite. :) ) and Richard G. Scott. Did you see David F. Evans? He was the one that came here to speak to us about Alma 17-42.

 

So it has been a good week. I really feel like a mission is the best of times and the worst of times. It's the best thing ever. I love it. We get to see miracles every day. We are on the front lines of the battle, so we get to see the work going forward. But it means we also get to feel the brunt of the attack of Satan. His firey darts are relentless. This week has been rough keeping his lies away. I feel like all of my weaknesses are magnified out here. So I have to constantly remind myself that I am not alone out here, and that the Lord gives us weaknesses that we may be humble. And if we bring those weaknesses to Him and allow Him to help us, His grace is sufficient to turn those weaknesses to strengths. It is all through His grace. My mission is really forcing me to rely on His grace. Sometimes I feel like I am full of weaknesses, full of holes, and His grace is the scaffolding that is keeping me standing and moving foward. I just need to rely on Him to help me be better. I have to have the humility to accept His help.

 

So life is good. :) This week begins the Temple Openhouse madness and I am so excited. The first night, April 7th, is the first shift we have there. My birthday gift from heaven. :)

 

We aren't going to be getting much sleep. The morning shift starts at 7:15, and the night shift ends at 9:45. And it is a half-an-hour away. So, yeah.

 

Know that I love you all very much, and I hope you have a wonderful week. Thank you for your prayers. I have felt them helping me. Know that I'm praying for you, too. :)

Love,

Sister April Atkin