As I read all of your e-mails this morning, I couldn't help but to cry. As I started writing you, I again started to cry. This is actually the first time I have cried on my mission, but they're not tears of sadness because this week was incredible. I just feel so close to all of you right now and I feel so much love for you, in a way that I can't fully express. I love you all, and I am so happy. I don't think I have ever been this happy in my whole life. I feel joy. I feel as if my joy is full. I know that this is not the end, and there is still so much work to do. I just know that He is with me and that I'm not alone. I know that you are not alone, for we are no different. We are all His children, in a very tender and real way. Oh how I love Him. I desire so much to give Him my all, and to return to Him again and live with Him forever. I know that this is a reality and not just a nice thought. I was reading Lesson 1: The Restoration in Preach My Gospel today, and I tried to read it as if I had never known any of those things before. It was so powerful to read that God is Our Loving Heavenly Father. How amazing is that!? How incredible and how comforting that knowledge is.
This week was a week of extremes. I feel like I hit my lowest lows in the beginning of the week, but my highest highs at the end. Each week seems to go that way though, and each week seems very very long. It feels like I haven't e-mailed all of you in a month or more. I want to start with describing yesterday first, and then I'll go back to last Monday.
SUNDAY - We saw miracles upon miracles yesterday!! Sister Orrock and I decided to fast for one of our investigators and to find those who are prepared for the gospel. We saw the blessings from our fast immediately. We forgot to make a meal calendar, but three different members randomly came up to us, asking if they could feed us that week. My comp said that never happens, even when they had forgotten the meal calendar in the past. That was a nice tender mercy, but it was only the beginning...fast forward to 6:00 p.m. We parked our car at the church that is kind of located downtown and decided to street contact until a Chinese fireside that night at 7:00. We first talked to a Hispanic woman who didn't speak any English, but we have a little card that we read in Spanish for situations like that. We had to use it a lot in this conversation. She did give us her phone number though, so we got a referral for the Spanish sisters. Quick sidenote, it has been so much to practice my little bit of Spanish out here. I would say that a majority of the people we run into here are Hispanic. While most of them speak quite a bit of English, there are a lot that we get to speak Spanish with.
We then ran into two more Hispanic man (separate occasions), and they both wanted to learn more. They also gave us their numbers, so that's two more referrals for the Spanish sisters. With the second one we met, I felt prompted to give Him a Spanish Book of Mormon, that I had felt prompted to put in my bag that morning. What was also interesting about this man, was that He was almost walking right behind the first Hispanic man. Instead of going around us, he just stood on the sidewalk and waited for us to finish talking with the first man and then he came up to us. Even though there was a slight language barrier, we could feel the Spirit so strongly as we testified to him.
After speaking to these men, we then ran into a Chinese Father and Daughter named Ping (father) and Yao (daughter). We learned that they are doing a tour of different universities in the United States for the daughter's graduate school. They drove in from New York City that morning, and were staying in the area for 3 days, before they continue on to Chicago. It was really easy to talk to them, and as we started testifying of the restoration, and specifically of eternal families, you could see something click as we spoke to them. My comp then felt prompted to invite them to the Chinese fireside that was happening in 10 minutes, just a block down the road. They happily obliged, so we all walked to the fireside together. The fireside was all in Chinese, and it was over an hour and a half. I was so worried that they were getting bored, and that it was too long for them. At the end though, Ping said that he was surprised that the hour and a half went by so quickly. He said he enjoyed every minute of it. Yao said that she also really enjoyed it, and she said she thought that everything they said was true. They then stayed for another 40 minutes. I felt prompted to give them The Book of Mormon, so I gave them the Chinese copy of it, which I had been prompted to put in my bag before we left the car. They also wanted an English one to read, and they wanted me to sign inside the front cover of it. I wrote my testimony in it and then signed it. They then said they had an odd question to ask me, and they asked if I believed in psychics. They said that they had tried to go this psychic right before they saw us, but she was on her dinner break and wouldn't be back for an hour. They then continued to walk down the street, when they ran into us. They still were interested to learn more, so we said that we could meet them Monday or Tuesday night and visit if they'd like. They were really happy about this and they said they'd take us out to dinner on Monday. One other quick sidenote, they taught me some Chinese phrases, and the girl, Yao says that I have a gift for learning Chinese! This made me so excited! They said I should go to Beijing, China after my mission and teach English, while learning Chinese. Wouldn't that be incredible!" (Maybe Kelly doesn't agree (: ) How amazing is all of that though!? It was a true miracle!!! My companion and I commented later that if felt as if we knew them already, as if they seemed familiar to us. I truly believe that I was supposed to meet them on my mission, and introduce the gospel into their lives. Even just introduce God and Jesus Christ into their lives. I feel like last night was divinely orchestrated.
Also about that night, we also had another set of investigators come to the fireside (husband and wife), who are from China. Another set of missionairies found them but gave them to us because they are moving to our area. They taught them one lesson, and the man came to church the next day! These people are prepared for the gospel. I have come to know that this is truly the Lord's work, and we are instruments in His hands.
MONDAY - Monday's P Day was excellent, and I cleaned and organized a lot of the day. I thought I liked to clean before my mission, but for some reason, I have grown to love it on my mission! Monday night was a hard night though for some reason, and it was my low night.
TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY - From here on out, the week was incredible! We were blessed with so many tender mercies today, and we had an incredible lesson with our investigator Reacha. We had a member present at the lesson, and they connected really well. She has so much sass and is so much fun to teach. She is also very strong and has a lot of faith. We also saw a recent convert, Alma on this day. She is 80 and lives in the care center here. She is the sweetest lady, and I love her so much. Wednesday was also pioneer day so that was great! We walked almost everywhere we went that day in honor of it!
THURSDAY - Another top notch day! We did weekly planning today, which always takes quite a while. I still struggle with things taking a long time here, and not going as quickly as I'd like. I am learning patience though, and hopefully it's becoming a part of me! We went to dinner that night with a member, and she was great! We then visited a family who used to investigate the church, but who said they didn't want lessons anymore. They still love the missionairies though, and they feed us dinner often. They always let us share a spiritual thought at the end, and I shared the thought this time. It was one of those experiences, where you can feel the Spirit speaking through you. I testified of Jesus Christ and His Atonement, and I talked about how my MTC teacher told us how Christ should be our best friend. I don't remember all that I said, but it was so powerful. I am so grateful for experiences like that. My faith in Jesus Christ has grown so much since I have been here, and is continuing to grow.
FRIDAY and SATURDAY - There are two experiences that I want to share about these days. The first one is with our investigator Keren. I have talked a little about her before, but she is from Israel and only came here three months ago. She was devout in the Jewish religion up to 2 years ago. She still believes it, just doesn't practice everything. It has been fascinating to teach her. On Friday, she asked how Christ could be the Messiah when the prophecy said that there would be peace among the Jews, but there was so much destruction among the Jews after Christ left. We talked a little about the spiritual gathering of Israel that is occuring right now and the physical gathering that will occur at the second coming. We talked about His purpose in coming the first time and the Atonement. I even read my mission plaque scripture with her, 1 Nephi 21:12 - 16. She then asked why He didn't completely fulfill the prophecy the first time He came - why does it have to be the second time. It has been so interesting to study the gathering of Israel, the Abrahamic covenant, the prophecies about Jesus Christ, etc. On Saturday morning, that's all I wanted to do. I realized that I didn't really understand these things at all, and I still have a very shallow understanding. It is so fascinating to read about them though, and I hunger to know more. It is also amazing to think that this gathering is happening right now. It is no coincidence that there is a huge army of missionaries right now. We are assisting in the gathering of Israel. We are representatives of Jesus Christ, fulfilling the covenant that He made. He has not forgotten them. He has not forgotten any of us. I get good shivers just thinking about this!!
One last story! My companion and I were trying to go to a stake picnic on Saturday that was on George Washington Memorial Parkway in Alexandria. The GPS didn't recognize the actual address, so we just decided to have it take us to the parkway, and we would find it from there. We got on the freeway and realized that it was taking us right into D.C.! We started freaking out because our mission ends right at the Potomac River on the Virginia side, and the Potomac kept getting closer and closer with no exit in sight. Finally an exit came, and it was the last one before crossing the Potomac! We felt relieved as we thought we were heading back home, but then we accidentally took a wrong turn, and ended up crossing the Potomac into D.C.!! We were both screaming and laughing uncontrollably because of the situation. We eventually got turned around and crossed the Potomac again, into our mission. While we were probably only out of our mission for about 3 - 5 minutes, it was horrifying!! :)
I'm sorry this was crazy long today! I hope you are all doing so well! I pray for each of you morning and night by name. I love you so much!!!!!
Love,
Sister Chelsea Marie Akin
P.S. Here is picture of my companion and I! Sorry it's a selfie, but that's the best I have right now. I'm going to send another one from last night!
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