First Week Training

Dearest Family,

This week has been very different. I don't even know how to describe it. You haven't responded to last weeks email, but I'm sure you will soon. So you know that I'm training now. Like I said last time, her name is Sister Lewis from Highland, Utah. She is excited about being a missionary, which is good. Training is an entirely different experience. Now that I'm actually doing it, it is very different than I expected. Being a trainer is all about finding balance. I'm trying to balance telling her too much, or telling her too little. Taking the lead too much, or taking the lead too little. Letting her try her new ideas, while letting her see how it is done. Showing her that missionary work is not simple or easy, but also that it is wonderful to help her keep her fire alive. I'm gaining a new perspective and appreciation for Sister Dodd because balancing isn't easy. Honestly, this has been a really hard week, although it has been a really good one, too. I just am starting to feel the weight of carrying the load of an area on my own. Sister Lewis is all about being a unified companionship, but for now, she doesn't know everyone and their needs, so it all depends on me. I have to remember the long list of people to take care of. I've made some mistakes, but we've made some progress, too. I'm learning how to discern when I need to speak up and correct her and when I just should stay quiet. It's hard. Parts of my soul are getting tired, but it's P day so I get to bake and write letters and maybe take a nap. It's all good. :)

Happy story. Remember how I have had several miracle tours at the VC? Well, they ask us to type those up to send them to Salt Lake (our boss) to let them know what is happening at the visitors' center. I am pretty good at remembering to do it, so recently they have heard mostly from me.  Sister Adams (the VC's director's wife), got back an email that said, "Thank you for sending these on to us! They are what our jobs are all about. Just so you are aware, we often share these stories with the missionaries we are training and the Brethren." Wow!!! The Brethren? They may have read my experiences? Recognition isn't important, but it feels good to show the church that we are doing good work out here. I'm glad that they got to hear my stories. :)

Selene is wonderful. I love her. That's all. :) She's so amazing!! She just gets the gospel in a way that many members don't. I've seen a change in her countenance recently--she glows. There is a light in her, and she looks happier. The gospel really does change lives. Even for people that are pretty stable by everyone else's standards. There is a change in Selene and it is beautiful.

We had several miracles this week. On Sunday we were running a little late, and when we went out to our car, we discovered that I had left on the lights and killed the battery (sound familiar, dad? I tried so hard to break that habit!). Right in our moment of dismay, Sister Lewis noticed a man getting out of his car. She yelled over, "Sir? Do you have jumper cables?" Within five minutes he had pulled up, jumped our car, and we were good to go. We ran into the chapel just as one of the bishopric stood up to start the meeting. We weren't even late! It was a huge miracle!!

We taught Immaculate from Cameroon, and it was really good. We left late, so we were going to be late to our dinner. As we were walking down her sidewalk, her next door neighbors waved just to say hi. I waved back and kept walking to the car. I paused. Looked at them. Looked at my watch. Looked at them. Looked at Sister Lewis. We both knew we needed to talk to them. So we walked over, knowing we were late. They were working on their car, and Sister Lewis just naturally started a conversation about their car. She has a real talent for street contacting, we discovered. They were really friendly. It was a man and his step-son's best friend. I've seen the boy before because we have visited Immaculate on Sundays, and usually there is a game of street ball going on. This neighborhood is a little ghetto, but it is a really tight community. The young boys all play street ball, and it was clear pretty quickly that this particular house was home to a family made up of random people not related to each other. An old lady leaned out the door yelling, "How much medicine does grandma need for her back?" I thought she would have been the grandma, but I guess she was just the scrawny, grouchy lady that cooks and takes care of everyone in the house. I know she's not married to the man, and probably isn't related to the step-son's best friend either. maybe not even to grandma. Anyway, it was just a cool dynamic family.

We chatted about their car for a bit, then I brought up the fact that we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I asked if they were religious. The boy (keep in mind, he's probably my age), said, "Well, I'm athiest." The man under the car said, "No he's not. He's lyin' to ya." So we started up a discussion about how he had never seen God's hands in his life. The man under the car (I never saw his face, actually) asked, "Hey, are you guys Mormon?" Turns out, they are good friends with a boy down the street that is mormon. He plays street ball with them. "He's a good kid. He's over here all the time." I know who he is, and his family is really good, but he intentionally sleeps through sacrament every week, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't stay for the rest of church. But cool that they had a positive connection with the church. They said that we could come back any time, but we set up a specific appointment anyway. We're going to try to get a young guy team up for that appointment. someone who plays basketball.

It was a miracle conversation. It was pretty cool. It all happened because we were able to start a relaxed conversation with them. If we had just walked up and immediately started talking about the church, they would have totally blown us off. But because we noticed where they were in life, and listened, we got a return appointment. It was cool.

So life is good. I love being a missionary, even though I feel it using every part of me. It's a whole soul workout, you could say. I'm upping my soul strength. The biggest thing I'm working on this week is descovering the different between stubborness and determination to do good. I've been toeing that line this week, and it's something I really could be doing better at.

I love you!

Have a wonderful week!

Your happy Sisiter Missionary,

Sister Atkin

Training? Okay!

Dear Family!!!

First of all, today is the first day of the new transfer and...I'm training! Crazy, huh? I just finished the 12 week program to be trained last week, and now I'm starting it all over again with a new sister. Somehow I just felt it coming. Then we got the call from the APs last week, and it was official. I wasn't nervous at all.

Then I was talking to one of the sisters and she told me how she had a special experience how she knew that she was training and which sister she was training just by reading her name in the Harvester (our mission newsletter). So she told me to go read the names of the new sisters and see if any of them stood out to me. So I did. And I didn't get a burning bosom experience, but I thought, "you know, I think I'll train Sister Lewis". It sounded just like the rest of my thoughts, but I went with it and joked around with the other sisters that I thought I knew who I was training. Then the phone call came to tell me who I was training, and guess what? I'm training Sisiter Lewis! As soon as I knew her name for sure, I got a littler nervous. But now I've met her, and it's gonna be good.

She's from Highland, and she's really excited to go and work hard. She's tall and blond (Another one?? haha, jk. She is beautiful, though. I'll send you a picture in the mail). It's crazy because Sister Dodd is gone :(, but I am excited for this next transfer. It will be a good one.

Sister Dodd got transferred to Hutchinson, Kansas. She's excited to serve full pros again, but I really will miss her. She's amazing!!! I'm really sad that she had to leave. But that is mission life.

The other exciting thing that happened this week was a text we got from Selene. It said, "Sisters, the last of my concerns were laid to rest last night. I have peace and am ready to be baptized on February 25 or thereafter." YAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!! I literally grinned until my eyes were squeezed shut and jumped up and down. I am so happy for her! She's aiming for February 25, which is a long time away, but we'll do it. We'll work towards  it. I'm so happy I can't even tell you!!! "My heart is full of happiness," she said. :D I love her so much and I know this will make her so happy! She will be my first baptism, and I hope to be friends with her forever. I could explode with happiness!

So my week has been crazy, but so good! I'm still growing so much and having the best experiences ever, even though it is really hard. I can't imagine having not gone on a mission. I would be a totally different person! I'm soooo grateful that I got to do this! Thank you for helping me be out here! I know that by supporting me on my mission you are gaining some of the blessings, too. You are a huge part of my mission. Thank you!!

By the way, Selene has the LDS app downloaded on her phone, so she has everything. No worries there. Didn't I tell you that she's been studying Preach My Gospel? Yep. She worried that we were jipping her on the lessons, so she went and studied them herself. She reads the ensign, and they gave her a relief society manual in church on Sunday. We had dinner with her at the Bishop's house and it went wonderfully.

As for sending me stuff for my other investigators, it's okay. The mission office has pretty much everything. Just know that I spent a little money this week to buy a Book of Mormon stories book for one of our investigators. I don't think she knows that we have to buy that kind of thing to give it to her, but that's okay. We won't tell her.

Lyric keeps canceling appointments with us. She still loves us, but I think that she's fizzled out. It makes me super sad, but that's mission life for you.

Really I don't have any stories this week that I want to share beyond those ones. We talked to some crazies, and a less active tried to get our approval for her to be cheating on her husband, but nothing that I probably should email home about. Sorry.

So I'm going to tell you about some of the stuff I've learned this week.

First of all, I was rereading 2 Nephi 4 (Nephi's Psalm), and I noticed that Nephi, when he is lamenting about being a sinner, his main sins are getting mad at his brothers and feeling bad for himself because of his afflictions. And I had a moment where I realized that I have a lot in common with Nephi. I was born of goodly parents (even my patriarchal blessing talks about that), and I've really always know the truth. I always try to do the right thing, and I love the gospel. My biggest fault is that I get frustrated with others easily. I set high expectations for myself, then I expect others to live up to them, too. And when others don't live as well as I think they are capable of, I get frustrated with them. Nephi totally did that with his brothers. He was supposed to be their ruler and teacher, and really, I know that one of my gifts is leading and teaching, but he got "angry because of his enemy". I do the same thing. So I just need to learn to have Nephi's attitude of relying on the Lord. Because that is how he overcomes his weaknesses. He trusts in the Lord.

The second thing I learned was from the Isaiah chapters of 2 Nephi. I usually have a hard time with those, just like everyone, but this time a verse jumped out at me. I don't know if I am misinterpreting it, but what I learned from it is still true. It is from 2 Nephi 8:9. It says. "Awake, awake! Put on strenth, O arm of the Lord; awake as in the ancient daysl Art thou not he that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?" And what I read that to mean was, wake up! Remember who you are! Remember -- you were one of the people who fought against Satan in the War in Heaven! We beat him there, and we can win again! We've already been in the armies to fight against him and defeat him! Remember what you have already done! You can do it again! We were part of the great armies on Christ's side in Heaven. We were the noble and great ones--and we still are! It was a good pep talk.

I'm sorry that I don't have more exciting stories this week. I'm sure I will soon, though. We have a lesson tonight that will determine a lot about our other investigator, Marquita. Pray that she has read the Book of Mormon! And also pray that I will figure out how to teach with Sisiter Lewis (and that I will know how to train!).

I love you all!

"Have a blessed day, everybody." ~ Keara

~Sister April Atkin

Oh, Missouri... :)

Hola Familia!

All of the sisters here are studying to switch to be spanish speaking, so I have a lot of spanish on my brain. :) Don't worry, I thought about it for about 2 seconds, and it feels so wrong for me to switch languages. It's not even a question. Some of the sisters are asking to be switched, and President Keyes doesn't mind switching them. He asked some sisters to switch, but I know he won't ask me. That is not what I am supposed to do. I know it. Which is funny because I wanted to learn a language so badly before I got my call. But really I wanted that for me, and not for the people I would be serving, so there you go.

Why do bad things happen to good people? For several reasons. First of all, we all have agency, so sometimes people make wrong choices that hurt other people. God won't take away their angency, even when they are choosing wrong things. We get to show how we will use that gift of agency in this life, so he can't take that test away from anyone. Secondly, we go through experiences here on earth that try us and teach us. We show how strong we really are when we are placed under pressure. And we learn. We wouldn't really recognize the joy of heaven if we haven't experienced sorrow. The hard things we go through really shape us into who we will become. How we respond to them shows our commitment to Christ and our efforts to choose the right.

Next week is transfers, and Sister Dodd is probably being moved. She's been here for 8 months (5 transfers). Time to go. I might train next transfer, which is a bit nerve racking. It would be really good for me, but it would be hard. I'm excited for Willie to be a District Leader! He'll be good at it. At least he kept his old companion. :) That's great.

This week wasn't really an eventful one. There's not a ton to talk about. Today all of a sudden the weather turned very cold. It snowed and boy was it windy. People are right when they talk about the piercing Missouri winter wind. Brrrr. We're staying warm. :) The roads are a little icy because Missouri doesn't have the resources for this kind of thing like Utah does. So the other sisters asked me to drive today. We've only used our ABS four times so far.... but nothing dangerous, I promise. I know how to drive in snow--slowly, braking early, and just being smart. So don't worry.

oh, question of the day. The Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Testament means covenant, not testimony. So what is the other covenant in the Book of Mormon? We have the Old Testament (the Law of Moses), the New Testament (the Higher Law given by Christ because he fulfilled the old law), and now Another Testament? I have some ideas, but I would love to hear what you think. (peak at D&C 84:57. Maybe you'll understand it better than I do.)

On Sunday we had a really good lesson with Selene. She came to the VC to see the Joseph Smith movie, and really we weren't going to do a lesson afterwards, but we sat and chatted. She is going to be baptized. Really. Under gentle prompting she brought up more of her concerns. One of her major concerns is that she doesn't know if she will fit in in our ward. She's a little bolder and just a bigger personality than she has seen in the other women. She worries that because she is past the stage in her life where she can be a mother and she doesn't make casseroles for funerals, she doesn't really have a purpose in the church. So I told her my story.

One of the main things I've learned on my mission is really what "one heart and one mind" and Zion means. I was afraid to be a VC sister and nearly had a break down in the MTC because I didn't think I fit the mold. I thought that they would make me do things the VC sister way, and that I really wasn't cut out for the job. I'm sure I've told you about this before. I didn't want to be cookie cutter, and I thought I had to be.

But I accepted my call and came here. Now I know that none of these sisters meet that mold. We are all so different with different talents and personalities! They have so much more depth than the stereotype of VC sisters would suggest! And I learned that if I did conform to some mold, I would be missing the point. I was called as a VC sister in Independence Missouri for my unique talents, abilities, and personality. Zion isn't about being one person, one personality, interests, and abilities. Zion is about using our unique and different talents for the same goal--to build the Lord's Kingdom on earth. And that is what we are doing.

So I told Selene about that, and how I struggled with the same idea at first--a girl studying physics in a VC?? yep. I told her what I learned. And she cried. She stood up and gave me a long hug. When she stepped back, she grabbed both of my hands and said, "you were here for me. You were called here for me."

I know it sounds cliche, but I know I was supposed to come here and find Selene. She was prepared for me. We've really clicked and I know I'm going to stay in contact with her forever. I love her so much! I hope that she and Orson get married next year and invite me to their sealing. That would make my life.

We did get to see Lyric this week, but she's not progressing. I don't know if there is anything that really will motivate her to change her life. She doesn't really have the desire to have her prayers answered, so I don't know if there is anything we can do. :(

Oh, at the VC they set up an art display in one of the theathers that will stay up until April. It is a display of Liz Lemon Swindle's paintings of the Savior. Her Liberty Jail paintings are my favorites. She's from around here, and we have her original paintings here at the VC. It's exciting. :) They are beautiful.

That's pretty much my week. I'm becoming really good friends with Sister Thorne and Sister Mindal. Last night when the storm rolled in, no one came to the VC. It was totally dead. So Sister Dodd, Sister Thorne, Sister Minall, and I had a wonderful time talking. I laughed so hard! I love them so much! We will all stay friends after the mish, fo sho.

Here is the random stories section of my email:

A fight broke out outside of our apartment yesterday. I thought someone was going to get murdered or something, but in the end someone just reved their engine and drove off (living behind a cloud of very bad words).

Our upstairs neighbor can always be seen through his blacony door watching TV with his porn calendar in the background.

A member was dropping us off at our car in a random coul de sac, and this guy started taking a ton of pictures of us and our car. I don't know why. He only pretended to be sneaky, but really was overt about it (he used the flash and everything). I wonder what he could do with liscence plate information...

But in spite of the scaryish things that happen every day, I feel so safe and protected out here. It's amazing. Some of the VC sisters had all of the cars in their parking lot broken into, except a few junkers and their brand new, white 2012 Malibou. Really, we are protected.

Welp, that's all folks.

I love you more than a fat kid loves cake!

 

Your silly sister missionary,

Sister April Atkin

 

Broken Heart and Contrite Spirit

Dear Family,

Right now I am just so happy. I can't even explain it. I am just SO happy. I love being a missionary! :)

I'm glad you like my journal so much. :) I thought you might. I knew that there was no way I could tell you everything through letters and emails, so I thought you would like that. Don't judge because there are a few embarrassing things in there, so those parts are just for you. I really wanted you to know what it is like to be a missionary. :) Keep in mind that I've grown a lot since that journal, so some of the things that were hard then aren't anymore. It's amazing to see how much I have grown. I feel like I'm living a mini life out here in Missouri, and so I've lived about 3 years in normal life rather than just 3 months. I love it. I'm also glad that you are learning from what I've been learning. Mom, I learned that from the Holy Ghost as I've studied and thought about it. I don't think anyone taught me that, but I know that it is true. It feels so true to me.

Okay. This week.

So last Thursday after I emailed you, Sister Dodd got sick. She had a fever and a headache. But we had a really important appointment with Selene, so I dropped her off at the Visitors' Center and picked up Sister Thorne to come with me. It was my first time driving in the mission field because I just barely passed off my lessons, and I had to do it without Sister Dodd! I was really nervous to go without her. Sister Thorne is a brand new missionary, so that was nerve racking, too, but of all of the Sisters that I could have taken with me, I just had a good feeling about taking her. On the list, her name just stood out to me. So, as missionaries do, I went against logic and went with it.

We made it to our appointment, and had dinner with her (we actually had two dinner appointments that night, but we thought it would be worth it to let Selene have the opportunity to serve us. I thought it would make her more comfortable and open). Last time we met with her, she gave us homework. She really doesn't like the idea that people have that all good things come from God and the devil made me do any bad things, so basically I have no responsibility for what happens to me. So we studied up on it, and I had a huge list of scriptures on call, but in the end we just stayed in 2 Nephi 2, which is the best chapter ever on the topic. We talked about how we have the power to choose eternal happiness or eternal misery. We are tempted by the devil and the Holy Ghost/Light of Christ prompt us to do good, but we choose which we follow. Blessings come from obedience, and consequences follow sin, but it is our choice. It was a wonderful discussion.

Then she told us that she had a series of questions that would lead to a bigger idea/concern she wanted to talk about. We agreed. She asked us, Why do bad things happen to good people? Do you regret the bad things that have happened to you? What does it mean to have a broken heart and contrite spirit? The first question is a normal investigator question, but it was definitely leading to ground that is less covered by most investigators. I'll let you try to answer those questions on your own, but basically, Selene doesn't regret the bad things she's been through because they made her who she is. She's done wrong things and now recognizes that they didn't bring her happiness, but she learned from them, so she doesn't feel broken up about it. In her baptist upbringing, the whole point of a sermon on Sunday was to bring members of the congregation to realize that they are horrible, worthless sinners, to the point of being absolutely broken up about it, sobbing. They then move to the front of the room and say a prayer in which they accept Jesus into their lives. So that's what she thinks "broken heart and contrite spirit" means. We had a wonderful discussion about it.

I don't have permission to share everything we talked about, so I won't, but that lesson was a miracle. Sister Thorne shared some experiences that were very difficult in her past (not sins, but very hard trials). Selene loved it. She had the very same experiences when she was young. They connected. Sister Thorne bore her testimony of the light the gospel has brought to her life and how it strengthened her through the hard times. The spirit was so strong. I know that Selene was supposed to meet Sister Thorne. It had to happen. I didn't even have to be there for that lesson--it could have easily been Sister Dodd--but Sister Thorne was supposed to go there. Amazing.

Sister Thorne also told me of another miracle that I wasn't even aware of until later. During the lesson she felt prompted to share Nephi's Psalm. It's been very meaningful to her recently, but she didn't really see how it connected to what we were talking about. But she was obedient and talked about it, then started sharing a bit of it. She started reading in a kind of random place (v 32), reading out loud. "May the gates of hell be shut continually before me, because that my heart is broken and my spirit is contrite!" I heard something happen in her voice at this point, but she kept reading until v 34. She had no idea that it talked about broken heart and contrite spirit in those verses. She just was prompted to read them, and she found out the same time as the rest of us that it references it there. Wow.

So we talked about what it really means to have a broken heart and contrite spirit, and what repentence really is. Having regrets isn't what the gospel is about. It is recognizing that we broke eternal laws and that we need to change. It means recognizing that right NOW we need Christ to be whole and being willing to accept His help. The gospel is all about changing. Recognizing that not only can we change, but we have to, and we CAN, through the atonement. I love this gospel so much. :)

It was a miracle lesson. We saw more miracles that night, but that was the main one. Her homework for our next visit was the idea of a submissive wife and our church's view on it. Got it covered. Oh, by the way, she's finished with the Book of Mormon now. She's reading the D&C.

Our next visit with her was on Tuesday. Tuesday was exchanges, so I didn't get to go (I was with Sister Minall, one of my favorite sisters in Independence), but it was another miracle lesson. They taught her the 3rd lesson, but focused on Faith and Baptism. They asked her if she had thought more about baptism since we last talked about it. She said she thinks this is the right path for her and she wants to be baptized!!! She hasn't set a date yet, but she's looking at end of February, beginning of March. YAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!! I am so happy for her! This will make her so happy and fill in all of the wholes in her life that she's dealt with her whole life! It won't be easy to tell her Baptist family about, but I just am so happy about it. It's exciting to see the first real progressing investigator I've helped find move toward baptism. So exciting!!

Saturday was also a day of miracles. We had only one appointment with an widow in our ward that likes us to visit, so we did a lot of contacting. Most of it was not going anywhere, but then Sister Dodd was like, "Hey, I have an idea. Turn here. Okay, turn here. Okay, park there." I was thinking, what on earth are we doing? Okay. I'll go with it.

She told me that she just remembered a former investigator that lived near here, and decided we should go visit her. So we were walking down the stree (it was a beautiful day, probably in the 60's) and there was a woman loading her kids into her car. We stopped and talked to her, and she was super nice! We got a return appointment! She said she knew a member in Odessa (near here). Then we kept walking. The former wasn't home, but it was a beautiful day, so let's try some more doors. There was a woman outside smoking so we went and talked to her. She was nice, too. At first I really thought she wasn't interested, but then she seemed excited to get a pamphlet. She doesn't live there--it's her cousin's house--but she's seen our church before in Lee's Summit, and she's thought about visiting some time. We gave her the address and time of sacrement, and she said she would love to come sometime. She's been looking for a church. Then we kept walking down the street and decided to try one more house. I picked. As we were walking up, a young boy came out the front door. "oh. MOOoom. Someone's here!" She came out. She was super nice, too!! What?! This never happens! Her name was Marquita, and her son's name was Shawndarious. We got a return appointment with her, and she seemed really genuine. "Yeah, whenever my car is here, I'm home and you are welcome to come over." That is not something someone who is going to avoid us later would say. :)

So it was a morning of miracles. Three nice people on one street? That doesn't happen. And they were all women. I've started to notice that our area was really made for sisters. Right now all of the work to be done is with women. How inspired. And Sister Dodd is so inspired to have us go there! I'm always amazed at how inspired she is. She really has a gift for listening to the spirit on where we should go next. It's amazing.

We had a really funny lesson this week with Immaculate (remember her? She's from Cameroon). I don't have a ton of time, so you get the shortened version. We walked in, and there was no way the heater was on. She complained about the cold. She got out a space heater, and the little screen said it was 58 degrees in her house. It was blowing, but the number didn't ever change on the screen. brr. She offered us cake, and we had just eaten a huge meal, but we couldn't say no, so we took the cake. It was homemade, and very gross. It was dry, grainy, dense, and flavorless. Ick. But we choked it down and said thank you. It was actually a really good lesson, but it was getting darker and darker outside, and she didn't turn on any lights. It got to the point where I couldn't even really see her anymore. I mean, her skin is so dark anyway, and then it was SO dark in that room. But we kept teaching (no scriptures were read--there was no way we could read them). She didn't seem to notice. I kept forcing small bites of the dry cake into my mouth. I thought I gag from how dry it was and how full I was. I looked up and noticed that Sister Dodd's cake had suddenly disappeared, but it was so dark I didn't see what had happened to it. Then I realized that she must have snuck it into her pocket! I was so jealous because I knew I couldn't do the same thing with the pockets in my coat. I was laughing my head off internally at everything that was happening. It was hilarious.

Really the only other thing worth talking about that happened this week is that yesterday was District Meeting. It was a crazy day, and our district is awesome, but kind of crazy. After District Meeting we went out to lunch. We were sitting there, just chatting because we are all friends in our district, and one of the elders blatantly started hitting on me. It was so awkward! Everyone just went quiet and started at him. I just said. "wow. That's awkward." He tried to fix it but just dug himself deeper. Everyone was just quietly staring at him. It was pretty clear I was very uncomfortable. That is NOT supposed to happen on a mission. Whatever. Weird.

Anyhoo, that was my week. I'm out of time.

But I love you all very much!

I hope you are having a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister April Atkin

P.S. Mom, don't worry about me exercising anymore. Sister Minall was a boxer before her mission, so now she is acting as our trainer every Wednesday and Saturday morning. I'm sore today and it is wonderful. :)

P.P.S. Dad, I had a very strange moment this week. Sister Dodd and I were just talking about our families, and I talked about you, and suddenly I missed you SO badly. I just cried. It came out of nowhere.  I miss you! That was probably the first time I've been homesick out here. I got back to work and got over it, but just know I love you and miss you a lot!!!

P.P.P.S. There is an amazing senior couple at the VC called the Andersons. They are from Canada and I think of them as adopted grandparents. I love them! So when I have gospel questions, I go to them. I love them! This week we talked about blood. hahah, I know, weird. But I've been thinking about it. Try to piece together these random thoughts: God has a perfect body because He doesn't have blood. He has something else. Christ is the Son of God, and his blood washes us clean and white while other people's blood stains us and cries from the ground against the wicked. So what all is the symbolism of our blood compared to that of God's and Christ's? One stains the other cleans? Christ could have lived forever if he hadn't been killed--was that because of His blood that He inherited from His Father? Just think about it. Interesting.

A Very Merry Week

Dear Family,

It was so good to talk to you this week. :) I feel like I don't have a ton to say since I talked to you so recently. It's also been a slow week because of the Holidays. Everyone is too busy. This email might be a little all over the place, but isn't life that way?

But I want to thank you again for the presents you sent. They were perfect. :) Thank you thank you thank you.

Also, pass along the note that I LOVED the package I got from all of my friends. Thank you to Erilyn and Jessica in particular. That package was perfect. I loved all of the little notes. I laughed and cried over all of the letters and silly thoughts. Mike and Ikes, Hot chocolate, and Peanut Butter M&Ms all made me smile. and the little turtle. nothin' like a good ol' inside joke. :)

Talking to Willie was the best thing ever. I wish I could talk to him at the end of every day. He's growing up so much! What a stud!! I have a rockstar of a brother. BFFs. It's amazing how much is similar and how much is different in our missions. They are totally the same and totally opposite. The VC has a lot to do with that. It's a way bigger part of my call than I realized before my mission. It really is a huge responsibility.

So a couple of things went on in the VC this last week. For December the VC had musical nights around the Christus. The last night of the season was put on by the sisters. They think I can play the piano for some reason, so I accompanied two of the songs. I messed up a bit, but it was alright. I really am improving a lot at the piano out here. I love it. Thanks mom. :) Anyway, without telling me, the sisters in charge decided to make the theme of the night the stuff I talked about in my 5 minute talk at Zone Conference. Apparently it touched a lot of people. We've talked about those ideas a lot since then, and it's amazing to see how the Lord used me as his mouthpiece. I was super sick, but He made it possible for me to get up there because He knew that everyone needed what I had prepared. Crazy. So the theme of the night was 3 Nephi 18:24 and Christ being the Light of the World. It was cool. The spirit was really strong.

Oh, I don't know if I ever told you, but I have a calling at the VC to be over all referral stuff. I had that calling last transfer, too. I train on how to get them, how to call them, and how to use Chat. I call for accountabilities every week, too. It's good for me. Anyway, every Friday morning, the VC has a training for the sisters and I was in charge of the training last week. It went really well. There were a ton of questions. I think it has been a better week for referrals all around. :) This calling is good for me because of anyone, I was the one needing an attitude change about the whole thing. It's helped.

I totally agree with Willie about the day after Christmas being a let down. At the VC, 3 of the sisters had the stomach flu all day. I'm just glad I didn't get it. It sounded a lot like what I had a couple of weeks ago. I'm glad that is over. It doesn't help that it looks like early October out here. We're in the 50s every day. No snow. It definitely does not feel like winter.

I have a couple of cool VC stories this week, though.

First of all, I gave a tour (*ahem* we're supposed to call them 'presentations') to a middle aged couple that were just traveling through. They were members from Utah and were very nice. At the end of the tour I took them to go see God's Plan for His Family. Right as we were walking in one of the FM (Facilities Management) Missionaries came in with an obviously nonmember woman. They joined us to see God's Plan. She lost her dad, who was her best friend, a couple of months ago and is still really struggling with it. He met her at Wendy's so he decided to bring her here. She wasn't all there, and it was clear she was a heavy smoker. Her voice and breathing were very deep and raspy.

I started the movie, and just prayed and prayed that I would be able to say the right things to be able to touch Anna's (that was her name) and the couple's hearts. I wanted to have both of them have a good experience. Watching their faces during the presentation, I think they did. Then at the end, Anna just started talking. At first it sounded like random stories (like I said, she's not all there), but then it came together. She told us the story of how it was just a normal day and her dad fell down and died at her feet. She told us how guilty she felt about the things she had said to him shortly before. She also talked a lot about how she didn't know how much he had been suffering with his heart condition, and how she just wants to know if he's suffering now. I bore simple testimony of the joy of the Gospel, and of Heavenly Father's love for her. I tried to teach some of the plan of Salvation, but she couldn't hear it.

Then we were walking out, and the woman in the back (in the couple) stood up, just crying. She came over and bore her testimony and gave Anna a hug. It was perfect. It was exactly what I had prayed for. I wanted this perfect couple to be able to share their love of the gospel and tell this woman how the gospel has blessed their family. I wanted them to be the ones to talk. And that hug was perfect. They left, holding hands and crying. I think they were grateful to have been there for that moment to help this crazy woman. It was cool.

I took Anna to the Christus and she really liked it a lot. I didn't ask her to meet with missionaries in the end, because it didn't feel right. The FM missionary is in control and I trust him to know if or when she will be ready for it. If it doesn't happen, I honestly believe that after she dies and doesn't have all of the disabilities she's carrying with her now, she will recognize and know the truth.

Another cool thing happened later this week. A young man came in the Visitors' Center. He was alone, so I took Sister Lisonbee with me on the tour. He's studying Art History, and was driving through on his way to school in the east, and "wanted to check out our museum here". Obviously he didn't know what he was in for. He just wanted to look at our art. We showed him around and taught him about the restoration. He only had 15 or 20 minutes, but in those 20 minutes we taught him about the Book of Mormon, the First Vision, Priesthood, Christ, and really, most of the first lesson. By the end of the short time, he asked if we had any literature for him, and he seemed excited to take a Book of Mormon and some pamphlets. We asked if he wanted to learn more from missionaries, and he said yes and gave us his information. He even said, "I came here interested in art, but you know, I would like to learn more about this. I find it very interesting." In those 20 minutes everything changed. It was so perfect!! It's amazing how sometimes people come into the Visitors' Center and they don't even know why they are there. The Lord leads them there because they are ready and they don't even know it. And the other cool thing is that his interest in what we were saying changed when I recited the first vision to him. Those words are so powerful. In the MTC they had us memorize it, and I have used it every time I have taught the first lesson. Every time I recite it the spirit comes in powerfully, bearing testimony. It's amazing. Everything goes quiet and the person pauses to listen to what I'm saying. It's like the world pauses to hear those words. I love it.

After he walked out of the front doors I just stood there like, Wow. Did that just happen? I looked down at the referral card and saw his email address was @yale.edu. Wow! a Yale student! Awesome! So there are some missionaries in Conneticut that are going to get a pretty amazing referral. I wish I could know what happens with him, but it's alright. I did my part.

One thing he mentioned that I thought was interesting was that he had seen missionaries before. He studied abroad in Japan and the only other white guys on the bus had black name tags. It just goes to show that people notice us. We're different, and they see everything we do. And it takes a few encounters with the church to be the right time for most people.

I love being a missionary!

Also, this week I passed off the last of my lessons! I can drive now! I feel like I'm turning 16 all over again. It's cool. It's a little intimidating because we drive really nice cars out here (I might look into buy a Ford Fusion when I get home. It's my favorite of the cars we drive) but I'm ready. And so is Sister Dodd. She's excited to not drive every day.

That was pretty much my week! Hopefully I get some cool stories in my area this week to share with you. :)

I love you all!

Have a wonderful week!

looooooooooooooooove,

Sister April Atkin

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