Dearest Family,
That's right, we moved, but we weren't transferred. I'm still in Overland Park with Sister Hodson, and I am glad. I like her a lot. I hope I get to stay here a little while longer, but we'll see. Actually, our whole district stayed the same, which was nice.
But we did move! I think I told you before that we live with members out here. It's really nice. Well, we lived with the Andersons (the stake Patriarch), but their 22 year old son is moving home this week, so out the sister missionaries go. Actually, the stake out here likes the missionaries to move every four months anyway. I think to make it less overwhelming to agree to house the missionaries, and also to spread around the blessings. So on Saturday we moved to the Gassin's. They are a cute young family. They have 3 kids ages 7, 5, and 2, and he is an anesthesiologist. They are very kind and generous, and their house is HUGE. It is very nice. We live in the basement, where we have our own room, walk in closet, bathroom, kitchenette with fridge and microwave, and a fireplace open area (it isn't furnished yet) with our folding chairs and card table in it. We feel totally spoiled. I'll send you a picture of their house. It is really nice. I haven't played on their Steinway baby grand yet, but I'm planning on it.
Sister Gassin is so nice and completely cute. The parents both look younger than they are. Their kids are fun and well behaved (well, Jake is a two year old. So still a little crazy, but cute.) I can't even count how many times they have urged us to ask for anything we need. She's willing to do our laundry (I think we will still do our own) and feed us whenever. She's a stay at home mom. I really do like them. They are such kind, fun, people, and she is crafty and cute (and can afford it. :) ).
Last week was a good one. We really have hit it off with a less active couple, especially the wife (I think I told you that last week), and we saw her a lot this week while she was on "vacation". She fed us dinner and gave us banana bread and gave us rides. It was wonderful. I think I will write her. I really do like her. She and her husband were sweethearts in high school, but the school was so big (1000 people in her class!) that they went separate ways and got married and had lives and things. He joined the church. Then they met up again in their fifties, both divorced, and got back together. Then she joined the church. They are married and they are so cute. She showed us her yearbook. I think it is adorable.
The Fourth of July was actually a pretty rough day. Well, it was a roller coaster, really. We found out Tuesday night that I was staying in the area (yay! I like Sister Hodson, and I don't feel done here! We texted Megan, our investigator, right away, and she was super excited, too). Then Wednesday morning we got the car back, which was a relief. We could drive! We then got a phone call from the Zone Leaders (we have a strange friendship with them. I don't know if they think I'm annoying or really like us. But whatever) saying that we are going to get a full time car. They are the types to pull jokes on us, so he had to tell me five times before I actually believed them. Yay! We are going to have a car!!! I was so glad. We're still waiting for it to arrive from Independence, but it is coming. We will have to be careful because we have a small miles allotment, but it will be great.
Then we had a ward breakfast, which was good, and then a ward lunch, which was also good (two wards=two meals). None of the people we invited came. :( And I thought we were going to get pulled over, which would mean that we would have no car for a month, which sent me into a state of high stress. but we didn't, and I slowly recovered.
We tried to talk to people that day, but I wasn't feeling well, it was over a hundred degrees, and no one was home or wanting anyone to knock on their door. It was a rough day. We didn't get permission to go to fireworks to meet Megan's mom, and I was glad. I was pretty worn out. Dinner was BBQ at a member's home, but some of the people there were comparing home locations and prices as compared to social status, which is lame. Most people aren't like that out here.
Anyway, the rest of the week was pretty good. It was really slow as far as lessons and new investigators go. We worked hard, but life happened.
Saturday we moved. Man, it wore us out. It was hot.
On Sunday I gave a youth talk in church. I was proud of the fact that I stayed within my 5-7 minute time limit. It was on 'the Essential Role of Member Missionary Work' by M. Russell Ballard. I feel like it went well. I used Alma 20 and about how people have to meet the church in the right way and right time in order for conversion to happen, so we have to pray and rely on the spirit, and God will help us. I think it went well.
We had dinner with a family that adopted 3 kids from Russia (well, Kazakhstan). They have 6 kids now, ages 12 to 6. Crazy. So much fun, though. :)
Then last night we taught Megan again. We keep feeling that there is something missing for her. She is so really to go that nothing has been difficult for her. And usually conversion comes when we have to exercise our faith. Well, we talked about faith last night. She told us that she prayed about it and picked July 28th as her baptismal date. We were so glad because that was the day we picked, too! We all felt really good about it. She just had to run it past her less active mom. Well, she did. And her mom said yes to baptism, and no to the day. Megan was crushed. This is probably the trial of her faith. Please pray that her mom's heart will be softened! Megan is ready!
So that was my week. Nothing too exciting. Sister Hodson and I are working together better and better. We still run into dead ends sometimes, but we work through it, and no disagreement or hard feelings last more than a few minutes. I can honestly say we haven't gone to bed with hard feelings. She forgives me so easily, because I really think that it's usually my fault for pushing her too hard. I really like her. We are getting along well, and I feel like I'm learning so much from her. I just hope she learns things from me!
Yesterday there was finally a break in the weather. It is a little nicer today (probably only in the 90s! It was over 100 all last week!). So life is good.
Oh, one other story. We got pulled over. We were driving and I was going the speed limit and everything. I saw a cop on a side road, and I smiled because I knew I was doing everything right. But I still got the distinct impression to be very careful and exact in my driving. A few turns later I looked in my rear view and there was the cop. She turned on her lights and pulled me over. She came and asked for my license and registration and all of that. She told us that the reason we were pulled over was because the tags on the car were expired. Our Zone Leaders keep forgetting to give the stickers to us, but it is up to date online, so she was able to look it up and see that we were legal. Anyway, so we were good to go. I just know that if I hadn't been careful, she would have found something to give me a ticket for anyway. But I was exactly obedient, and we were okay. And we get to keep our car. She heard we were missionaries and started asking a lot of questions about what we were doing and where we were going, and then informed us that soliciting is illegal in Leawood (one of our little cities), and unless we wanted the cops called on us, we couldn't go door to door. We were headed to an appointment, so it was all good. She was nice, but I know she wasn't super happy about us being missionaries, and if we hadn't been kind and good, she would have found something to give us a ticket for. The cops in this area get bored sometimes. Can you find out for me if we are technically soliciting? I don't think we are, but you should find out for me. I don't want the cops called on us, but we probably will have to knock a couple of doors there at some point...
Anyway, answers: I'm happy, staying cool, we don't have problems with dogs (everyone has them, but they are usually well trained), we do go right up and knock on doors, and our wards are nice and helpful, but need some missionary nudging.
I love all of you. :) Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister April Atkin
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