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

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