Bainbridge Island

So transfer meeting was super great this week and I got my new companion Sister Jones! She came out with me and we're having a good time. Bainbridge Island is SUPER nice, lots of mansions and super modern fancy things. The relief society room has a baby grand and the foyers have original paintings of some popular artwork. But it's nice knowing your boundaries all the time and not having to worry about leaving your area, haha. We live with a member - the sweetest lady - Marla Vail, who we call Grandma. :) She lives on the water so all along the backside of the house you can see the Seattle skyline, which is always suuuper pretty. Plus! The Ogdens (my old stake president) are in my ward! Who knew?!

The sisters have been teaching a lady, Jesse, who is amazing. She got baptized on Saturday! We saw her several times this past week and she is SO prepared - she was so excited for her baptism. The most excited I've ever seen anyone. And she just glowed afterwards! It was so sweet. She has the cutest little boy, Dameon, too who is a firecracker. After the end of every prayer he will scream "AMEN!" and everybody always laughs. It's a good ward. The bishop is super awesome and his "motto" so to speak is "ministering outside the box" and so they have all sorts of awesome ideas of not-your-average-Mormon activites. It's fun! I like it.

On Halloween we got to go to Silverdale to be with our zone and have a little party. We played gadianton robbers (mafia missionary style) and the elders bought pizza with money from President and we watched "17 Miracles" It was super fun! I'm a pro at being a detective, btw. 

I'm happy to say that I have lived through my last daylight savings! I like the side of gaining an hour of sleep though, that's nice.

We're working on finding new people to teach and trying to think of new ways to do so. The people here are pretty satisfied with their million-dollar lifestyle, and it's very different than the humble boonies I've been serving in most of my mission. But I'm excited for what lays ahead!

Time is flying by. The biggest emotion I feel in contemplating the time I've been able to serve is just gratitude. I am so grateful for the experiences I've had and the amazing people I've met and the things I've learned. With daylight savings, it's super dark again all through our knocking 5-7s, and I'd forgotten what that really feels like. I know I'll be growing a lot more in the next couple months and I'm looking forward to learning and coming closer to my Savior. 

We'll be starting our exchanges this week and that will be interesting! I hear "exchange-overs" are a real thing (exchange hangovers) But to be honest I really don't think it's possible to be any more tired than we are, haha. But life is good and God leads the way, so it's ok.

I love you all so very much and I'm so grateful for the love and support!! :) 

Love, 
Sister Wilson

 therrrre is beautyyy all aroundddd

 saying goodbye to the little blue house in Shelton

 some of my favorite people I worked with in the ward in Shelton

 I don't remember if I told you I think I accidentally put a virus on the computer [it went blue and started yelling at me consistently for like 4 minutes] in Shelton and called some Indian man who couldn't help me. It was a very stressful situation and Stirling was just laughing at me forever.

 Vivian made us crepes every transfer tuesday with the elders. (Shelton)

 this is an aircraft carrier we drove past in Bremerton. I wish the pic was better, but... yeah. It was way cool

 There's always little boats or the ferry or whatnot out on the water. It's such a pretty view, I wish the camera did justice

 Me and my new companion Sister Jones!

 SO MANY LEAVES. Since it's been raining their not crunchy and fun anymore, but they're still fun to kick around if they're not soggy yet.

 I couldn't get a good quality cause of the dark and my old camera, but this is what it looks like at night. Over on the left side you can see the Seattle Space Needle!

 a girl here on bainbridge drew us this picture like it was nothing... WHAT. she's amazing.

 The view from our kitchen window: the Seattle skyline. It's pretty awesome.

 

 I left behind several of my shoes but I took pictures so you could see how wore out they got :)

 you could peel the sole almost completely off the top

 pictures dont ever really do justice.. maybe I shouldve kept them. but they were pretty good.

Who puts the leaves back on the trees in the spring?

the re-leaf society.

HA.   

 

Tender mercies are a real thing. 

Our scripture study class that nobody came to last week had 4 people this week! :) #praises AND they said they'll all come back and bring friends! Happy day! The AP's showed up to our district meeting which made it way too fun, haha. They're working on hopefully importing me for the Tacoma fireside this Sunday. Here's hoping! We're also going to climb the nuclear towers in Elma today (they used in filming Transformers supposedly) so fun things are ahead. 

General Conference is always such a blessing! How lucky we are to be able to watch/listen live to the inspired people called by God to address us and help us. I'm so thankful for their counsel. I need it haha. I could go on for hours about everything I loved and inspiration I received, but nobody got time for that today. But I did really like was Elder Oaks' talk on the Atonement and Pres Uchtdorf's talk. And Elder Lawrence's talk on becoming better. and "ponderize-ing" and a ton of other things. I think this week my scripture is going to be 1 Nephi 17:13 :

And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led.

It's funny how often I forget that the Lord really is still leading me, even when I so often don't realize that it is Him and He is still in charge and He does still love me. It's hard to remember sometimes. But I'm so grateful that He is always there and He does see all that we are worth and all that we can become. I'm grateful for His guidance in my life and for allowing me the opportunity and privilege to serve a mission. It is the greatest thing I have ever experienced and it's taught me so much. 

I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father and all they do for me. 

I love you all and I'm grateful for all your support and everything you do for me! You're the best!

Sister Wilson

 

 we love fall!

 for reals, I love fall. 

 Massive slugs are everywhere. I'll spare you the close-ups.

  some pretty views of Hartstine Island while we were out knocking doors.

 

"bloody moon!"

Hello!

It was a pretty average week this week. The usual. Knocking and trying to find new people to teach! Our teaching pool has shrunk quite a bit with everybody dropping us, but we're doing our best to find the elect! We went by the Carters and sticky-noted their door with scriptures and uplifting notes hoping to let her know we still care and we're still here for her but we haven't heard from her and she didn't answer Bishop's or their friend's calls either. So. We will likely be going to Jeremy's memorial service in a couple weeks so if nothing else we'll talk to her there. 

 

Our ward mission leader is being released so we've lost contact with him but thankfully his assistant is super awesome and helps us so much. Blessings!

 

Friday night was a ward party themed "medieval dinner" with only finger foods and jousting competitions and such, it was super fun! it's nice to experience something a little different :)

Last night we went up to Hoodsport to visit a recent convert Ernie (he's the greatest) and he invited his friend over and we had a little dinner together and watched the super moon/blood moon. It was way cold but way awesome! It's definitely fall.. it's pretty darn cold all the sudden. Love it!

The Women's Conference on Saturday night was so good and (as usual) came at a perfect time. Some of my favorite parts:

- Once you see the divinity within yourself, it will be easier to see it in others

- “I do not know why we have the many trials that we have, but it is my personal feeling, that the reward is so great, so eternal and everlasting, so joyful and beyond our understanding that in that day of reward, we may feel to say to our merciful, loving Father, ‘Was that all that was required?’”

- ‘this life is the time … to prepare to meet God,’ not to receive all of our blessings.

-We don’t know everything. We don’t know why bad things happen. We don’t know which promises will be fulfilled here on earth and which will be granted in heaven. But we do know that “men [and women] are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25). God didn’t design us to be sad.

-Happiness comes as we trust God and see our blessings, even in the middle of our storms. Joy comes as we see the good in others and ourselves. Peace comes as we look through God’s window and not just at our own mirror. Trust in God and believe in good things to come :)

God loves us. Inspiration is real. I love you all so much and hope you're having a wonderful Monday! Thanks for all you do!

Sister Wilson

 

 just some beautiful Washington views to make yall jealous

 the spiders are relentless

 Washington mountains are the best mountains

 we were tracting and adoring the waterfront view and turned the corner and it was like BOOM - Mt Rainier. Pic does no justice for how beautiful it was

 

I'll skin it if you kill it

Hello!

So, this week we were knocking and walked down a driveway to this guy who was in the middle of skinning a bull. He wasn't interested, and usually I'd ask if there's any way we can help them, but decided we'd leave that one alone. My comp was happy about that. 

Kris didn't get baptized this week, she is still working on quitting smoking :( She didn't come to church yesterday and we're not sure why.. we think she's getting discouraged. We haven't been able to contact her in the past couple days so we may drive out to her house tonight and swing by. Prayers for her are super appreciated! 

Our scripture study class was pretty good. Kris was the only one who came, but we had a really good lesson on faith with her, and she told us it was just what she needed that day :) We also announced on Sunday that we're bringing refreshments to the class, so we're hoping members show up. Mormons love food, right?

 

We got permission to go to transfer meeting on Tuesday even though we weren't being transferred, which was way fun. My favorite part is just seeing my friends! I love missionaries!

 

Last night we went to the Elma stake youth mission prep thing because they needed a pianist. :) It was a good meeting and very honest about the difficulties of a mission. Our zone leaders and President and Sister Blatter spoke, and President asked Sis Stirling to come up and say what she wish she'd have known or done before her mission since she's experiencing the change now. She did so good being impromptu and being so sincere. She's awesome and I love her so much.

As a quick thought, I thought a bit more about the sacrament yesterday. It's sometimes just something we do and it's easy to get distracted by other things. I was reading through the prayer:  

 

O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it; that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

and one part that stood out to me was that we "are willing" to take upon us the name of Christ and always remember Him and keep His commandments... it doesn't say we're ready or perfectly worthy, because we're not. But we are willing to try, and that is what He asks of us. He asks that we remember Him, and by so doing we'll remember that we can rely on Him when we do fall short and need extra help. We don't have to do anything alone unless we choose to- He's always there. He asks that we are willing and that we do our best. He doesn't expect us to be perfect, but He expects us to progress. Take what we've learned and use it to build us :)

I love the gospel! I love you all so much! Have the best week!

Sister Wilson

 

 Transfer meeting: Where's Wilson?

Sorry I failed and didn't take any pictures this week. 

But here's a flashback for ya to my first day in the mission field. It was only yesterday.

Transfer #11

Fall is on its way! The trees are changing colors and it's getting cooler. It's my favorite time of year :)

Transfer calls came and President called us Saturday afternoon. (It's usually the AP's, President only calls if you're training or going STL or something) So we were driving back from Lilliwaup and saw President had called and we panicked. So I hurried and pulled over and we called him back and he said we will be staying together another transfer! It was actually funny, because he said he was planning on transferring me (even to the central/north part of the mission - I've been in the south the whole time and he keeps reminding me that he'll get me out soon haha) and had it all ready to go but got a strong feeling that Stirling and I should stay together another transfer. And then he said we can still come to transfer meeting :) YAY! So it'll be a fun day tomorrow, and no packing for me yet! (thank heaven)

Kris came to church yesterday with Adrik! She loved it. She wasn't able to stay, but she is getting baptized this Friday night! Prayers her way would be much appreciated. She needs to quit smoking before then, and she got a super powerful priesthood blessing before church, but she'll need all the strength she can get. She's such an amazing lady. She (and her daughter!) came to our scripture study class this Thursday. We had *ahem 1 person show up BUT it's going to get better. Kris and her daughter showed up as we were ending but we re-taught a shorter version for them and showed "Because of Him" video (my fav)

This week we got to go on exchange with Sister Bigley and Sister Jones, and I got to go to Elma with Bigley while Jones came to Shelton with Stirling. It was pretty much the best day ever, we had so much fun. We'll be companions someday. 

 

We drove all the way up to the tippy corner of our area even past Lilliwaup (driving almost an hour) because a guy Steven had requested a Book of Mormon on mormon.org! Thank goodness he had a phone number so we made sure he'd be home and drove up there and he didn't want us to teach him more yet.. but, we still have his information and he took the Book! So, that's good. 

 

We've been working with a few other neat new people that we can hopefully get progressing soon! I'm excited to see what this transfer brings. Don't have too much time because of zone activity today but I hope you all know that I love you tons! I hope you have the best week!

 

Sister Wilson

 

 Boonie knocking with Bigley in Elma we got tired of all the gates.

 Christmas tree farm! 

 We've been finding excess amounts of snakes and spiders the past couple weeks.

 blog pictures from our labor day picnic! (way fun btw)

 I LOVE this woman.

 someone was out to get me in a water balloon fight.

T10W6 (Transfer10 Week6)

I'm not quite sure what last I said about the Carters. But with Brother Carter, Adrik's dad passing away, we went and saw them this past week. Kris, the mom, (not a member) told us "Someone told me that I could be sealed to Jeremy forever in the temple when I've been baptized for a year, and I want that to happen as soon as possible" [insert my overwhelming happiness here]. So she was going to get baptized this coming Saturday, and she has to come to church twice (she was planning on coming yesterday), but on Saturday night Adrik fell out of a tree and broke both bones in his arm and they didn't make it :( So, she'll get baptized in the coming weeks! We are so excited for them - this means so much to her and I love their family so much! I have never felt so much love for people.
 

We're teaching a new lady, Sarah, and had another awesome lesson with her this week. We met her at the harstine island clubhouse and at the end she asked if we could kneel and pray again - no shame in public. It was awesome. She is so sweet, and she came to all 3 hours of church yesterday and loved it! We're pumped for her. She's still learning to understand the need for priesthood in being baptized and we gave her a picture BoM that's easier to understand :) She loves it. 

 

We're starting up a weekly Thursday night scripture study class this week that I'm super pumped about - a few members told us they'd bring their friends! I'm like, really super excited for it. I love teaching and studying, they're like my favorite things to do! go figure.

 

So just a quick thought. I've been reading in 3 Nephi where Christ is ministering to the Nephites. At the end of the day Christ leaves and says he'll be back tomorrow and before it even got dark "an exceedingly great number of people did labor exceedingly all that night that they might be on the morrow in the place where Jesus should show himself unto the multitude." For a moment I thought of how we often would say "well of course I would do that too!" but I had the impression that there had to have been sacrifices made. Of course Satan would be on the move as well, doing all he can to keep these people from being there, but even with that these people "did labor exceedingly." There is always sacrifice and difficult circumstances involved when we are trying to do the best we can or doing what we should, and this was probably no different. The thought then came to me that though we would also "labor exceedingly" to be where Christ would physically present himself, we are also striving now to be where He is spiritually. We labor every day to try to become more like Him, and hopefully that will lead us someday to be able to be where He is physically. This life is similar to that night, where we need to labor exceedingly to be able to make it to our Heavenly home where Christ dwells. I've been learning a lot about the importance of hard work on a mission and I have come to love that it truly does make us better and help us become who we are meant to be. And it always takes some form of sacrifice. Sacrifice is the highest form of love, and I love my Savior, therefore I am here to serve Him and sacrifice for Him. I am so grateful to be here!

 

We've got a fun day ahead for Labor day meeting in Olympia (I really do love how often I get to go back there haha) for a picnic with the southern half of the mission and President! yay! 

 

I love you all so very much! Have the best week!

Sister Wilson

 PS it rained every day this week and got super cold out of nowhere.

 It got cold enough that we broke out jackets and boots and tights all in the same day. It's only September?

 One day it was blue skies on one side and completely impending-doom-dark-clouds on the other and they just rolled on in

 We were getting in the car after checking a referral and one by one these racoons just walked out of nowhere. There were 6 of them!

 Washington is my favorite place.

 Some pictures from our mini zone conference!