Mmm, Mold.

Ok, so I'm excited for this coming transfer! Sister Tanner goes home in just like 2 days and tomorrow at transfer meeting I'll be getting a new companion - Sister Loy! She is from Cambodia, and was called to speak Cambodian in the WA-TAC and this is her first time leaving Tacoma to speak something other than Cambodian. So, this will be exciting and maybe I will even learn a lil bit :) She's super sweet and cute. I'm excited.

 

Also, I discovered this week that my camelback water bottle I've been drinking out of forever was growing mold in the little spout for who knows how long. So we texted out missionary-medical sister lady and she said my stomach acid should've been killing any spores I've been ingesting. So I mean, I'm alive. Apparently. (Mold grows in and on absolutely everything here, if you didn't know that previously.)

 

SO, we had a miracle baptism this week! :) Kelly Walker got baptized on Saturday and he is so amazing. His wife told us he didn't sleep the night before, he kept rolling over and poking her saying, "hey... I'm excited." haha! He has been so prepared and has changed SO much, and it was so cool to see him finally make that big step of baptism! It was such a great service, AND his nonmember son Cody was at his lesson on Wednesday and came to the baptism! He snuck out before we could talk to him but we'll be seeing him again I'm sure :) He has seen a huge change in his dad and told them "you know, you feel kind of good when you go to church." Why yes, yes you do. 

 

Ryan also came to the baptism!! That was so great - his parents are super opposed to the church and he has been kind of afraid to talk to them about being baptism, but after Kelly's baptism he told me "This was so awesome, I'm going to talk to them today!" When we talked to him at church yesterday, they didn't take it as well as we'd hoped, but he had a really cool experience of personal revelation at church and he will be baptized someday :) 

 

We got to watch the General Women's Meeting on Saturday night which was SO good, I didn't want it to end! I had a lot of answers that night :) I encourage everybody to watch it again!! I am SO excited for General Conference this weekend!!!

 

I love this work more than anything in the world. I hope to waste and wear out my life in the service of my God. There is no where else I would rather be right now than right here sharing the gospel with the people here in Olympia! We got to pop by Avery Neeley's farewell-open house party thing last night and his mom sikked us on his nonmember friends ;) it was pretty fun. I LOVE being a missionary and I can't believe that this transfer marks my halfway point.. It goes WAY too fast. I love you all so much and hope you have the greatest week!! 

 

All my love from the overcast skies of Washington,

Sister Wilson 

PS- I have a pretty wicked callus on my knocking-knuckle that I'm pretty proud of. 

 

 

Bella's baptism

 

Skeleton leaf! Look at this mama I found!!

 

 Touring the capitol last week with our zone!

 Good ol' Washington

 Kelly's baptism!!

 

Good Stuff

So much happened this week I don't think I can fit it all, but it was AMAZING.

So Tuesday we woke up with one progressing investigator, and we went to bed that night with THREE progressing investigators and one person on date to be baptized!! It was miracle after miracle.  That night we had a pass-off lesson with a guy Kelly Walker (to make a long story short our ZL's were teaching him for a bit) and in our lesson he is SO golden and SO ready, he was bearing his testimony the whole time to US and is so excited to take his family to the temple in a year and so we put him on date to be baptized this Satruday the 28th! :) We are so excited for him! He's been coming to our ward and has been super prepared. He has changed so much and it's so cool to see how far he's come. SO excited for him!

Then we went back to see Levi and John (our 6:59 miracle lesson from Friday) and John was a lil too tipsy but Levi was coherent and we brought another sister with us who was perfect fellowship and he had read a little of the Book of Mormon and had tons of good questions and had just signed his divorce papers that day so after a while he told us he wanted to keep "self-medicating" that night and we could come back next week. So we're going back to see him again earlier in the day this week :) We're way excited about him, he is honestly seeking for something and I know he will find his answer when he is sincerely seeking. 

Then Wednesday we got to go to the TEMPLE <3 I think 4 zones went with us that day and it was the greatest day, oh man. We had a meeting beforehand at the stake center next to the Seattle temple and afterwards had lunch and a testimony meeting. It was seriously so special and one the greatest experiences. SUCH a good day.

We had another lesson on Thursday with the Lacey sisters who are teaching YSA-age guy Scott and he came to church with us yesterday and is planning on coming to FHE tonight! He is pretty skeptical about a lot of things but is a good guy.

Fun story - while we were knocking one day we got to this lady Peggy's house and she was like "oh girls! I'm so sorry I'm on my way out the door and I can't find my keys -" and we were like can we help? and she was already pulling us in like here look you can hear them! and she had this beeper thing to find them and it sounded like they were RIGHT there but we couldn't find them anywhere.. so I was like "hey can we say a prayer?" and she was like ok sure, so I said a prayer and not even 30 seconds later we found them like right there in a drawer I'm sure she had looked in. She was super surprised and I know that was no accident ;)

Oh, also. We got to our knocking spot one night at like 5:04 so we were kind of late and then I realized I had forgotten my nametag. Our apartment was about 5 minutes away but that would take like 10 minutes out of knocking so as Sis Tanner started driving away I just said a prayer for a miracle to please just let me find my tag under my seat. And then I was like alright that's kind of silly. but then I thought of the children in Israel (I think) who just had to look to be healed and I was like ok, just look. So I looked around under my seat for a sec and lo and behold I pulled out a nametag. Miracles are real.

I LOVE being a missionary. I got to go back to Deschutes last night for the baptism of Bella! It seriously felt like I was going home - I LOVE that place. It was also Sis Tanner's birthplace, so it was a super fun reminisce for her before she dies :) But really, going back to that ward and those people I love so much felt like I was coming home to my family. It was the best thing and the spirit is always so strong at baptisms. It was just the best week :) I absolutely love this work and being in the service of my God. He is so good. I am So forever thankful to be here and I don't ever ever ever want to leave!!! I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I know He died for each of us individually and personally. He loves us so much. I love this Gospel more than life. I love each of you and I am so thankful for your love and support! Thank you for everything, and have the most amazing week!

Sister Wilson

We got to go to the temple as a mission on Wednesday! (4 zones went with us on Wed) and it was SO GOOD. This is our little Olympia zone :) I LOVE

This week we saw some pretty great things. 

 

First of all, I believe in miracles, ok? 

 

So on Friday night we were knocking as we usually do from 5-7 (it's much nicer in the sunshine lemme tell ya) and we looked at our phone at 6:59 and said "ok, one more door" and so we debated which one to go to and walked up to this kind of hidden in the backwoods house to these 2 guys outside drinking and smoking, so we kind of called out "hiii!" and introduced ourselves and what we were doing and one of them said, Ok. I'll listen to ya. SO we walked up closer and started talking to them - Levi and John - and basically taught them the whole restoration and gave them a Book of Mormon and they had tons of honest questions and we cleared up a lot of misconceptions and we were there about 45 minutes teaching them and at the end they said we could come back and share more! So we're going back Tuesday night :) Woopwoop!

 

We had a lesson with James (who we found last week and was super excited to see us) Monday night and he was super into everything and we had a recently RM Lindsey come with us (she's amazing) and the lesson went super well and at the end I invited him to be baptized and he was like "I am baptized" and we were like "...in this church?" and he was like "yeah, I mean in Tacoma but yeah" and so come to find out he was baptized when he was 9 but didn't learn anything and never went to church so he knows next to nothing but wants to learn! So that's always a fun awkward moment. But it was way good. He didn't come to church yesterday though which was a bummer. 

 

Our 40 day fast in YSA is going awesome - we had 2 referrals this week! Yay! We haven't been able to contact them despite our almost-stalker efforts.. But we're excited. The ward is doing good. We had a girl bring her friend to church yesterday and after I had talked to her for a while and me and Sis Tanner were going to invite her to take the lessons she came up to us and said "ok I can't lie to the sister missionaries anymore - she's not an investigator. she's a RM too and she just wanted to know what it would be like to be an investigator" and it was way funny. We almost had a new investigator.. haha. 

I guess eventually living in WA the rain would come, especially after so much sunny beauty, so the past few days the heavens opened and poured us out a blessing of rain on rain on rain. I love it. But our plans for street contacting all day Saturday didn't work out the way we'd hoped they would, so it just helps you to remember to have good backup plans and include the spirit! There's always something to be doing :)

 

This week as a mission we get to go to the TEMPLE!! I AM SO EXCITED. We get to go as a mission once a year. I haven't been (except for baptisms with Sierra) since the MTC and it's kinda cool how it's almost at my halfway point :) 

 

I got to go on exchange with Sister Rasmussen on Tuesday and it was the complete opposite of last time.. haha. Last time we had like 5-6 lessons while knocking, amazing things, etc, and this time everybody was just angry and everything fell through so we just laughed at the end of the night. It was a super good thing for both of us though - I love exchanges. 

 

At church yesterday we had a farewell and a homecoming the same day! And then a homecoming in YSA! It was so so good. And then last night we had another "I Believe" fireside in Lacey and all of my living companions were there and some people from Oly 3! It was so fun to see everybody and the spirit was so strong - I LOVE those firesides. Being there is one of the strongest feelings of love and the spirit you could ever feel. I LOVE MISSIONARIES. I love being a missionary!!! Things are going great and I love each of you so much and hope you have the greatest week! 

 

Sister Wilson

 

 Oh and this is from our zone activity on Monday - we went to Tumwater falls!

 So we finally got rid of the Christmas tree that's been sitting in our apartment since who knows when

 And this is just what I see everyday here in Washington <3 LOVE

 Dutch came to the fireside! We took a picture of all of us who love him :)

 Dutch came to the fireside! We took a picture of all of us who love him :)

I got to see Sister Harbaugh again!! <3

Also, on a quick note, I wanted to attach this quote that I heard in Avery Neeley's farewell talk at church yesterday because I thought it was super good and wanted to share and hopefully someone can benefit from it the way I did:

 

"Well, my dear sisters, the gospel is the good news that can free us from guilt. We know that Jesus experienced the totality of mortal existence in Gethsemane. It's our faith that he experienced everything- absolutely everything. Sometimes we don't think through the implications of that belief. We talk in great generalities about the sins of all humankind, about the suffering of the entire human family. But we don't experience pain in generalities. We experience it individually. That means he knows what it felt like when your mother died of cancer- how it was for your mother, how it still is for you. He knows what it felt like to lose the student body election. He knows that moment when the brakes locked and the car started to skid. He experienced the slave ship sailing from Ghana toward Virginia. He experienced the gas chambers at Dachau. He experienced Napalm in Vietnam. He knows about drug addiction and alcoholism.
Let me go further. There is nothing you have experienced as a woman that he does not also know and recognize. On a profound level, he understands the hunger to hold your baby that sustains you through pregnancy. He understands both the physical pain of giving birth and the immense joy. He knows about PMS and cramps and menopause. He understands about rape and infertility and abortion. His last recorded words to his disciples were, "And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." (Matthew 28:20) He understands your mother-pain when your five-year-old leaves for kindergarten, when a bully picks on your fifth-grader, when your daughter calls to say that the new baby has Down syndrome. He knows your mother-rage when a trusted babysitter sexually abuses your two-year-old, when someone gives your thirteen-year-old drugs, when someone seduces your seventeen-year-old. He knows the pain you live with when you come home to a quiet apartment where the only children are visitors, when you hear that your former husband and his new wife were sealed in the temple last week, when your fiftieth wedding anniversary rolls around and your husband has been dead for two years. He knows all that. He's been there. He's been lower than all that. He's not waiting for us to be perfect. Perfect people don't need a Savior. He came to save his people in their imperfections. He is the Lord of the living, and the living make mistakes. He's not embarrassed by us, angry at us, or shocked. He wants us in our brokenness, in our unhappiness, in our guilt and our grief.
You know that people who live above a certain latitude and experience very long winter nights can become depressed and even suicidal, because something in our bodies requires whole spectrum light for a certain number of hours a day. Our spiritual requirement for light is just as desperate and as deep as our physical need for light. Jesus is the light of the world. We know that this world is a dark place sometimes, but we need not walk in darkness. The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, and the people who walk in darkness can have a bright companion. We need him, and He is ready to come to us, if we'll open the door and let him"  Sister Cheiko Okazaki

:) The Atonement is real.

Why Daylight Savings

I don't understand daylight savings. It's silly.

 

This week was a major roller coaster but in a nutshell I live in the most fun most beautiful place in the whole world and I am part of the greatest mission in the whole world and I want to be a missionary forever and ever!!

 

Our YSA branch (have I told you there's like average 30 people every week) is doing a 40 day fast for missionary work and since that's started we have seen some amazing things. The work was null in the branch and since then we've received referrals and potentials from other wards this past week more than this whole transfer! God answers prayers - if you can't find people he brings them to you :) I have the biggest testimony of that.

Tuesday our STL's came over for a surprise study which was fun - we get to go on exchange tomorrow and I get to go with Sister Rasmussen again!! Woo! So stoked. 

 

This past Saturday we got to go up to Tacoma as a mission and meet with Elder Maynes (president of the 70) and that was a super cool experience. He talked about faith over fear, setting goals, and some really cool things. I took a lot away from that and started applying it to myself and yesterday I talked to more people on the side of the road street-contacting-while-knocking than I ever have before :) It is so exciting to learn and grow!!

In preparation for the meeting with Elder Maynes (and the other 2 that came with him) each missionary was asked to prepare a 5 minute talk on the Atonement. I don't know how I could fit my feelings on the Atonement in a 5 minute talk but I did it, and I'd been working on it for the past few weeks. I have been really praying for a deeper understanding of it and I want to study it forever - I love the Atonement. I can't express my feelings deep enough of it, but I am forever grateful for it. Because of Jesus Christ we can live forever and inherit eternal life and be forgiven of everyday things we do wrong. We really can be made "at one" and be reconciled to God. He lives and he lives to silence our fears and dry our tears as one of my favorite hymns says. He loves us more than we will ever be able to comprehend and everything that happens to us in this life is to help us grow and learn to rely on Him and His Atonement. Everything we teach is just an appendage to His sacrifice. "Jesus wept" isn't the only 2-worded scripture: 2 Thess says "Rejoice evermore" :) Because He wept in the Garden of Gethsemane, we are able to rejoice evermore. We can overcome even the hardest of trials, feel relief from the guilt of our past, and feel the peace that He and His gospel brings. I LOVE this Gospel. I LOVE this Church, and I LOVE my Savior Jesus Christ. I LOVE being a missionary - it is the most amazing thing I have ever done and I don't ever want it to end. 

 

This past week we found 2 super amazing people!! We knocked on this one door and these 2 little girls answered and went and got their dad, who when we introduced ourselves and what we were doing he looked down and his daughter and said, "what do you think? should we listen to them?" and she looked at me and back at her dad and smiled and nodded and so he looked at us and sighed and said, "ok - come on in." and we were like "...WHAT" and so excited and we taught them the Restoration and he wanted a Book of Mormon! It was so awesome and they've got a crazy schedule so we didn't get an exact return apt but he told us "when you come by if we're here we'll let you in!" The spirit was so strong :) If you could pray for Alan Riley (8) and Maddy (5) that would be awesome!

 

Then on Saturday we knocked into this guy James who when he saw us before we could say anything was like "oh! hey! one sec lemme get my shoes on!" and disappeared back into his house.. and when he came out was like "wait, you're not the ones I know" and we were like what and apparently he had tried to meet with sisters before but they didn't make it to his appointment (the sister had been really sick and ended up going home:( ) and he kinda slipped through the cracks, and when we asked if he was still interested he said "yeah totally!" so we have an appt with him tonight!! :) Pray for James if ya could! We are so excited for him.

 

We had a lesson with Ryan Clark who is dating a girl in the ward between 1st and 5th wards and it was way good. He just turned 18 so he can be baptized!.. except his parents are still anti and he may have to move out first which may be a while, so if you could send some prayers his way that would be awesome, he could use a lot of support. The spirit was so strong in his lesson and with all the anti and crazy things people are telling him in every reason why he shouldn't be doing this he is still trying to search out for himself. He's awesome.

 

The work is picking up and there's a few other people we're trying to get progressing and I know that everything happens for a reason and God is on our side:) I love you all so so much and wish you the best of weeks!!

 

Sister Wilson

 Look at my study desk so cute ! :D

 "you better hurry sister tanner cause it's gonna take it without you" HA

 we go contacting on the Chehalis trail sometimes

 bright sunshiney days this week! woo!

 you can still see Rainier sometimes - a little different view but still so pretty :) 

 #olympia

 Phoenix street <3 we drive on it pretty often :) (there's also Wilson street - hehe)

 And my good friend Dutch from Oly3 came to see me at church yesterday

and it made my WHOLE day!!!

skeleton leaves - they're intense

March 2

Well, my friends. This week has definitely been an interesting one. 

 

The persecution was pretty heavy, I won't go into details but it got a little tough. On Friday night after a particularly difficult day we asked for blessings from the Elders and that helped - I have such a testimony of the Priesthood. One thing I have definitely been learning through all of this is that Christ really is the only one we can truly rely on. This past week I have been backed up to the wall of faith and had to take my stand on many occasions - I think we had more Anti in the past 3 days than I have the past 3 transfers. At the end of the day I had no where to go but to my Heavenly Father. That is one of the biggest things I have learned thus far (and I still need to be reminded quite often) is that God is our only constant source of help, comfort, strength, and everything it is that we need. He is ALWAYS there, always aware, and always listening. Even and especially in our darkest moments. 

 

I know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. I have had my faith tested again and again and whenever it is that I have to ask myself, "is this right?" I always have that affirmation that it is, and nothing else will ever make me as happy as this Gospel does, and as this work does! I have been studying the Atonement and praying for a deeper understanding, and there's a part in Elder Holland's talk "Missionary Work and the Atonement" that stood out to me - he talks about how in doing the work of Christ it is not and should not be easy, because it was never easy for him. I love that it is hard, because it helps me to grow and he helps me become all that I can become and want to become. I still have a long way to go but I know He will be with me every step of the way. 

 

This week I have been pushing our companionship harder than I ever have before, and in our mass amounts of finding efforts we were able to find 3 1/2 new investigators!! We still have a ton of work to do, but things are ever so slowly moving forward. Most of our numbers doubled or tripled this week, so things are improving! Thank you so much for your love and support - you all are amazing and I love you SO MUCH. 

 

Have the best week!

Sister Wilson

 

and here's a pic of me and Sister Tanner and my new found love: Seattle Chocolates