Olympia Round 2!

So, it's been super weird being so close to my last area! But I LOVE Olympia! It's been so fun being back. I have already seen a few people I knew and I know I'll be seeing a lot more :) It's so so fun being back. 

 

Last night we had a fireside in Elma and we got to carpool with the Oly 3rd sisters (my first area) and I got to see the cottage and all the houses I knocked on and the beauties. Ah. So fun. The only downfall I've seen so far is the spiders are back.. Not super looking forward to that.

 

So anyway! It's also really weird having 2 wards - we spend almost 6 hours at church on Sundays.. and twice as many people to learn but Heavenly Father is definitely helping me. The work in both wards is really super slow right now.. We are going to be doing a ton of finding this transfer but I have complete faith that God really is preparing people and we are going to find them! I love my new companion, Sister Tanner. She is kind of quiet but so sweet and we have fun. Fun fact: she has worn yellow every single day since she was 4. And literally she wears yellow every single day. Yellow everything, in fact. Even her tweezers.

 

We had a fireside last night and it was SO fun to see missionary friends - I got to accompany 2 different musical numbers, which was super fun. One of which I just kind of improv-ed from the hymn book, it was so great. I really miss being able to play more often, but it just makes me appreciate even more the times I do get to play! I LOVE firesides - they are so special. New converts will tell their story and bear their testimony and the missionaries do musical numbers and all of the missionaries will sing "called to serve" and the EFY medley song and "amazing grace" and the spirit is SO strong. I have never felt it so strong as I do when all of us are singing. It is truly one of the most amazing things I've ever felt. There is so much love and strength in those meetings. I love it so much.

 

As is the usual, I'm on computers in Oly again and have approzimately 25 seconds to finish this before I'm logged out so I just will say I LOVE YOU ALL and I hope you have the best week! This work is true! The spirit is real and God loves you!!

 

Sister Wilson

 

 

 Sister Harbaugh and I and Sierra at the temple Friday night!

 also, WA is the most beautiful place ever and I'm sad to leave the country

 

 our district is my favorite

 Diana's baptism! 

 

these are some of the signs outside the library in Downtown Oly... if that gives you a little description of what it's like ;)

There and Back Again!

So, this weekend was probably one of the most busiest weekends of my entire mission thus far. 
 

But first! I found out I'm being transferred this week, and guess what! I'm going back to Olympia!! I'll be in 1st and 5th wards with Sister Tanner, who is going home next transfer so I'll be killing her there and taking over. One of those wards is a YSA ward I think, so it'll be interesting. I got to bear my testimony in church yesterday as a goodbye to Deschutes ward, and it broke my heart. I LOVE this ward, and I'm going to miss them a ton. But I'm super excited to see what this next transfer holds, and see Oly again! 

 

So this weekend we took Sierra to the temple to do baptisms and Diana got baptized and we went to UP to see one of Sis Harbaugh's old people get baptized! And just about everything that could have possibly gone wrong went wrong, haha. It was ridiculous. Sis Harbaugh and I have titled this weekend "Faith Boot Camp" because it really was. But despite the overwhelming odds against us this weekend, everything worked out! :) We even made it to the Seattle temple in an hour and a half during rush hour on a Friday night - which nobody believed it could happen but we had been praying all day and traffic was beautiful the whole way there! (I'll tell you about all the miracles this weekend another day when we're not crunched for time.)

 

Going to the temple with Sierra was so great - even though all her youth friends didn't come we had fun on the drive and it was an awesome experience - she brought her great-gpa's name and she loved the whole thing. And that temple is way beautiful!! I'm SO glad we made it, I've really super missed the temple. 

 

Diana's baptism was a heck of a time, haha. It takes about 2 hours to fill the font so we got there at 7 to start it, and about 30 min later I went to check on it and realized we hadn't plugged it... so it had just been draining. *hits head against the wall* So we fixed it and it started filling for reals, and we'd asked Diana to get to the church around 8:40, and at 8:45 her ride showed up without her... and we were like, um, where's Diana? and right then Diana called us super nervous saying her ride isn't here and she needed to be there and so we sent her ride back to get her. In the meantime, past 9 we didn't have any presiding authority so we called the 1st counselor and he said he told the 2nd counselor to come, so we called him and he was totally in the dark about everything and said he could be there in 30 minutes... So. We started the baptism a lil late, but Diana made it and it all worked out and it was awesome. Her confirmation was fantastic at church yesterday too, and when we all sustained her a member her face just lit up. She is SO happy. I have seen such an amazing change in her since that first night we met her, and she was telling us the past few days "Thank you for coming to my door! Thank you for knocking on my door!" over and over :) It is so humbling and just amazing to be a part of this work. I absolutely LOVE it. I'm glad I could leave this area with a bang and I know Sis Harbaugh will take good care of it :) Well, I have no time to write today because I have to go pack and we have a zone lunch up in Lacey.. so . I love you all so so much and hope you have the greatest week!!

Sister Wilson

 

This is our district. It's a pretty accurate depiction.

 

7 months say what

Illness is hitting this area pretty hard lately - eeeverybody is sick. All our member meals cancelled and we had several lessons fall through, but thankfully we are still going strong.
 

We had a pretty intense explosion in Relief Society yesterday, but thankfully Diana still wants to get baptized this Saturday! :) We are SO excited. We had 4 lessons with her this past week, and on Saturday we were kinda worried because she started to doubt (she had taken herself off her meds but then put herself back on so it was kinda bumpy road) but she walked into church yesterday with this big smile on her face and when I asked how she was feeling she said "I know the Book of Mormon is true!" She has changed so much - that is one of the most amazing things I have been able to see these past 7 months (why yes, today is my 7 month mark) is that the Gospel truly changes people. The light and life and love that has come into Diana's life is remarkable. Since that first night we knocked on her door to now, it's incredible! I absolutely love this work. She is getting baptized this Saturday morning! I showed her the font yesterday and explained to her what will happen and she is nervous and excited :) Prayers her way would be much appreciated this week!!
 

We are hopefully taking Sierra to the temple this Friday night!! We were kind of worried about her getting a family name in time, but her stepmom (Bambi) has apparently done all of Sierra's dad's genealogy!! We're super hoping it works out, I especially miss the temple lately and I can't wait to go! We're taking a mission trip to the temple together in March - I'm stoked :)

 

Transfer calls are this Saturday and I've had the feeling I may be getting transferred.. We'll find out this weekend! I love this ward so much, it would be really hard to leave.
  

I was studying this morning in 1 Nephi 17 where Nephi is commanded to build a ship, and I just love Nephi - he is one of the most amazing examples of faith and trust in God, he is unwavering and I want to be like that. When God told him to build a ship, his response was not "uh, what?" or "why?" or "I don't know how to do that, sorry" it was "where can I find the tools?" Nephi never doubted that God knew what He was doing, and trusted that God would show him the way. And of course, God did - he showed him where he could find things to make tools and how to build the ship. And of course Nephi's brothers were doubtful and said "You don't know what you're doing. You're crazy" There is a quote I like from a talk about missionary work that says "God does not expect immediate perfection, but he does expect immediate progress." Nephi didn't know how to build a ship, and God didn't expect him to have a ship in one day, but he began by asking how it can be done and started building. God commands us to do things sometimes that take time to develop, but He has a plan for you. If we follow His direction and trust in Him, we can become the people He has designed us to become. I know that He knows us individually and we are His children. He wants each of us to return to Him someday as the people we were meant to be. We are given trials in this life to test ourself, become stronger and become those people. More than anything He loves us, and He always will. I'm so grateful for this gospel and for the testimony He has given me of the plan of salvation and that each of us has a purpose here. We can't let ourselves forget who we are and who we are meant to become. Let God shape you and lead you :)

 

I love each of you so much and I can't express how thankful I am for every one of you. I feel so blessed to be so supported and loved. :)

Sister Wilson

some pictures!

 the sisters at zone meeting

and our sleepover last week!

 

 this is us doing some daily planning...

 

and this is me sitting in front of the heater in the bathroom

because it's always so dang cold downstairs

  

 yesterday driving to early church meetings we saw the sunrise coming up behind Rainier (it's been pouring for like 4 days so that was cool) and this does no justice. it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

and this is just the beauty I see every day. It's amazing.

Groundhog Day!

Everybody's been going crazy about the Superbowl - we heard tons of fireworks/guns last night and thought they'd won.. I guess people just wanted to still have fun I suppose.
We got to spend the night in Lacey last night with Sisters Rasmussen and Dunster and had a blast. We had a zone meeting during the superbowl (we played scripture bowl) and instead of driving all the way home and back today we got permission from President to spend the night! We all went home around 6 so we had like all night to have fun and their neighbor brought us tons of leftover superbowl snacks. So much fun.

 

So, we had a Zone Conference this week in Lakewood which was awesome and got me super pumped up. And then our weekend was full of miracles!! That family last week we interrupted during an arugument about Jesus - we went back and taught the Restoration and she told us she'd sincerely pray about it and took us as a sign. I'm so excited for her :) Her name is Lois. THEN... DIANA CALLED US. Yes! Diana! Who had dropped us so violently, she called us Friday morning and when I answered the phone she said "... do you still love me? Will you come back and see me? My family can have their church but I want mine - the Mormons have it" and talked about how she really felt different after her blessing and she came to both the adult session and normal session of stake conference this weekend!! She is back on date to be baptized on Valentines day! :) Woo! I was so happy - I can't even tell you. This gospel brings so much joy - it is true! 

 

Thankfully I was only sick a few days this week and am feeling much better - miraculous recoveries as a missionary :)

 

To all my family members with birthdays this week - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I am sending my love to all the parties!

 

I love you all dearly and hope you have a fantastic week!!

SIster Wilson