I love you all so much! I know that I say that all the time, but I genuinely feel so much love for you! You are one the greatest blessings in my life!
I am grateful and happy that you were all able to be together this past weekend. It was hard not being there, but the Lord truly strengthened me through this week, as I know He strengthened you. On Tuesday, I woke up with this amazing sense of peace and joy. I kept wondering why I felt so happy, and then I knew that Christ' Atonement was truly working in my life. It felt like He truly took my burden, and He strengthened me through it. It felt similar to when I had my struggles in high school. I knew the Atonement healed me then, and I knew it healed me this past week. He helped me to do His work fully, and I truly saw miracles happen.
First piece of news: Effective today, you can now send mail directly to my apartment! The address is:
Sister Chelsea Marie Akin
1717 S 26th St. #3
Arlington, Virginia 22206
Second piece of news: The stake here is doing and stake musical and guess what they chose for it (Hint: Mom did it in Omaha)...Saturdays' Warrior. I was so happy and excited when I found that out and I couldn't wait to tell you all!
Third tidbit: I don't know if you read these Nate, but thank you so much for the birthday cupcakes in the MTC! I think about that every week, but I keep forgetting to say thank you! This was a huge blessing and tender mercy!!!
Now here is a rundown of the past two weeks!
Last week - We had our first interviews with President! I seriously love our mission president so much! We talked about 1 Nephi 22:26, which talks about giving the adversary no power over us through our righteousness. I desire this so much! He also talked about how Moroni fortified the weak parts of the land, and how this similar to how we need to fortify the weak parts in ourselves, so that when the enemy comes back, he is astonished by how strong these things are. My daily goal is to astonish the adversary!
Speaking of weaknesses, your weaknesses are at the forefront on your mission! I have realized so many things about myself that I need to change! I am also grateful that I didn't get married before my mission, for my husband would have been miserable living with me! I have realized that I need to be less controlling and a lot more patient, along with a myriad of other things. I am just so grateful for this experience for a multitude of reasons, one reason being that it's preparing me for my future marriage.
We also had zone meeting last Saturday and received our announcement that our mission was starting a 40 day fast the next day. We fasted on Sunday to know what things we need to change, stop, or start doing, and then we made a list of all those things. Each day we pray for strength in the morning to do these things, and at night we report to the Lord how we did and what we will do better tomorrow. It has been a really powerful experience already. There is a real power in our mission since we started it. There is this synergy that I can't describe. We are working on all becoming truly consecrated, so that we can truly be a force to be reckoned with. At the end of the 40 day fast, the WHOLE MISSION is going to....a Nationals Baseball Game!!!! Weird right? That's not even a joke. I'm excited for it, and it will be really powerful to have all of these consecrated missionaries there. I guess the team that we'll be cheering for that night is really lucky :)
Last week we also helped a Chinese family in our ward clean their apartment and move out. She is a recent convert and her name is Sister Kuang. She is absolutely amazing!! She, her husband and her little boy have to move back to China! We walked into their apartment on Wednesday night and they were leaving the next morning at 6 a.m. We walked in and they had done absolutely nothing to get ready to go. I got really anxious for them, but they both seemed really relaxed. He was just sitting at the table and she was cooking dinner. The husband had me call Verizon for him, and then we started cleaning up and moving things. We did this until dinner, and then we had an authentic Chinese feast! We had rice with squid and liver, liver and vegetables, these white dumpling things that oozed dirt, salmon, eggs with liver, frozen pizza and fruit :) It was so much fun to have a cultural experience, but unfortunately I didn't think my stomach was strong enough to handle some of it so I stuck with the frozen pizza and fruit. We then stayed til8:50 and cleaned their kitchen. It was actually really fun and my companion had a lot of fun doing it. I pray that everything worked out for them and they're safely back in China!
Last Sunday was also incredible! We had dinner with a woman in our ward, and she had two members over who were not members. One of them seemed really interested, and there was just something about him. After dinner, she had a friend over who was less active and his girlfriend who used to be married to a member. We talked and got to know all of them and had a really good lesson with them, about temples and eternal families. It was a really powerful evening and a true miracle. The woman was from Thailand, which made me really excited and I told her all about you and what you were doing in Thailand Ashley. Her name is Nattacha!
Onto this week: Our President received revelation that we needed to completely change the way we did street contacting and that we needed to skip almost all introductions and testify immediately. Now when we street contact or tract we pretty much say, "Hi, how are you, we testify..." We have seen true miracles since we started this! We taught 8 lessons this week on the street alone, all with Baptismal invites, a Book of Mormon given and we have a return appointment or at least a phone number for all of them. There has been true power in this! It has truly been amazing! We even had one man named Jacob in our parking lot approach us, and we had a 45 minute lesson! At first I was really nervous to give a baptismal invite on the street, but I found that there is true power in it. I was able to give the baptismal invite with two people we taught on the street this week, Mike and Millie. I am working on looking people in the eye and being more bold, so I tried to do this as I extended the invite. As soon as I started saying it, I could feel the Spirit so strongly, and when I finished they both just looked at us, not knowing what to say. I cannot even describe it fully, but you knew that they felt the Spirit so strongly. I receive so much joy from this and I am so grateful for all the people I have been able to meet and talk to. I genuinely love them all so much, even those I just meet.
We are still teaching our Jewish investigator named Keren, and that has been really interesting. I am so fascinated by Israel now, and all the prophecies about Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, Christ' life, etc. I have started reading Jesus the Christ and it is absolutely amazing. I pray constantly to know what she needs and how to help strengthen her faith and even belief in Jesus Christ. She has asked frequently why Christ didn't establish peace among the Jews the first time He came, and she doesn't understand why it has to be the second time. I have truly never studied so much about this in my life, and I am passionate about learning all that I can about it. I have also grown so much closer to my Savior Jesus Christ through this experience, and am growing in my understanding of His Character.
So my companion has been sick for the past two weeks. We went to urgent care last Saturday and she started taking some antibiotics for what she had. Her symptoms got worse this week though, so she is going to the doctor again tomorrow. Last night she got really light headed and dizzy and almost passed out. She has received two priesthood blessings from the elders, which have both been really powerful. While I don't like her being sick at all, the Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to serve her. I cannot wait to be a mom when I get to take care of all my little children and even serve my husband. I just find so much joy from it.
What motivated me greatly this week, was that I wouldn't want to live a life without knowing I have a Father in Heaven and that Jesus Christ is truly my Savior. I want to share this everyone, and for them to fill His love and to feel whole. I know that my Heavenly Father lives, and I cannot deny that.
Time is slipping away quickly and I have to go e-mail President. There is so much I could always tell you but just know that I am happy-happier than I have ever been! I love you all so much and pray for you always!
Love,
Sister Chelsea Marie Akin
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