August 19th Letter

Dearest Family and Friends,

I love you all so much and am so grateful for your e-mails and letters!! I hope you are all doing well! I pray for each of you daily by name and I know that the Lord is watching over you and taking care of you!

First order of business - As mentioned last week, here is the address of my actual apartment! You can actually send letters directly to me now! Whoever uses this address this week, first, gets a mystery prize!

Sister Chelsea Marie Akin

1717 S 26th St. #3

Arlington, VA 22206

Second order of business - Transfers are this week! Isn't it crazy that I have already been out here one whole transfer, almost! I am almost positive I am not getting transferred, but we shall see! I will be able to e-mail you Friday to let you know for sure (double e-mail day this week!), but transfers aren't until Thursday, so don't let that hinder you from writing a letter!

Third announcement - I like shrimp. I never thought I would say that but it's true. I had it TWICE this week - that's more than I have ever had it in my life! I had it Tuesday with a ward member, and it was the really little kind (I will eventually learn the names of the different varieties) that you don't have to de-skin (is it called skin?). I then had dinner with a Chinese couple last night (now progressing investigators!!! They are incredible people, and will talk about more later on, so stay tuned) and we had the big shrimp that has the skin/crust, little legs and tail. Once I got past the little legs and didn't think about them, I took the crust off, took a small bite and actually liked it! It didn't taste like seafood. Do you know what that means Dad!? Red Lobster date in 2015!?

Here is the rundown of everything else this week, which is actually more important than all of that, so I should've put it first:

Monday - PDay! Great day! My companion is still sick, so she laid down/slept the whole day. I cleaned like there was no tomorrow and loved it! The highlight was the evening though! We took a little note and care package to out Jewish investigator who was sick, and she loved it. She said it was the sweetest thing that anyone had every done for her, and she kept saying that! It was so great! Then we went and visited a man who is less active in our ward. We had a really good visit with him. He is so easy to talk to, and I think he will come back to church sometime! He says that he knows it's all true - he just doesn't see a need to come to church. I love them all so much!

Tuesday - First companion exchange of my mission! I went with Sister O's, old companion, Sister Woodbury. I went to her area, which is huge! It is Northern Arlington and it felt massive compared to Crystal City. I loved it so much! We taught 3 member present lessons, and truly saw miracles. At 8:50 pm, we went to the library parking lot, because she felt prompted to, and as I prayed, I felt prompted to ask to find someone, make a return apt, and give them a Book of Mormon. Guess what, that is exacltly what happened! It was amazing!

Wednesday - Return from companion exchanges! Hard for some reason, but good to be back. We stayed in all day and contacted potentials because Sister O was feeling terrible. That night we went on a member exchange, and I went out with a single women named Sister Romney. It was exaclty what I needed. We did a lot of street contacting and tracting, and she told me about experiences and things that she learned on her mission (Rome Italy mission!)

Thursday - Return and Report in Centreville! This is where all the trainers and trainees come and meet with our President, his wife, and the Ap's. We talk about thing we wish we could tell our companion, anonymously, and they share those things with the groups of trainers or trainees. It was so great, and I loved seeing all of my MTC district. They are like my mission family, and I feel at home when I see them. Also, I got to drive to this, in DC morning traffic! It was crazy but great! I actually love driving, and especially here! It is crazy, but is an adrenaline rush! That night, we went on another member exchange so Sister O could rest, and I went with Nate. We had a lesson with our Jewish investigator and it was great! We talked about Joseph Smith, and as I said the first vision, the Spirit was so strong. You could tell she felt it too! I just love her so much, and desire so much to know what she needs and what we can do to help build her belief and faith in Christ.

Friday - Another member exchange! Our ward members are fantastic! We did some street contacting and visited a woman who lives downtown. Hard day but good.

Saturday - Good day! We went to the Potomac Care Center and visited sweet Alma. I love her so much. She makes me laugh my real laugh and she is a gem. Then we went to the ward luau!, and then we visited a member of our ward, who is really sick with Lupus. I love her and feel so sad that she is always in pain.

Sunday - Church was good, but one of those days where you go to church and keep going because you love the Lord and know you should go! Of course, we would never not go, but anyhow. We did have an investigator come! He is a new Chinese investigator named Hong Bin and he has already come to church 3 times in a row. Our gospel principles instructor didn't show so we had to go to gospel doctrine with him where the topic was...plural marriage! I was so nervous for him, especially with the language barrier, but there was a man translating for him and said he didn't seemed bothered or anything by it. I'm so grateful he came to church - such a tender mercy! That night we had dinner with Nate in our ward, then I went on another member exchange where we taught the Chinese family I mentioned earlier (props on making it this far!). Their names are Jody and Chenj, and she is expecting a baby in January, which they just found out is a boy!! He made us that big shrimp I mentioned, okra, and tofu, so every dish was a new experience. I actually liked it all! We then taught them the restoration and it went really well! The member mentioned afterwards that they are really prepared people! They agreed to come to church next Sunday as well. The only downside is that they are moving to Alexandria in a week, but we will just pass them off, and they will continue to progress! We love them so much and they are so kind and generous. 

That leads me to now! I hope you are all doing so well! I appreciate your prayers and e-mails so much! All my love to you!

Love,

Sister Chelsea Marie Akin

P.S. I am terrible at taking pictures but here are a couple. I will do better at this picture taking thing slowly!!!