September 23rd Letter

Dearest Family and Friends,

There is a little teaser of this fantastic week! We had a lot of ups and downs, but we were very blessed and we were the recipients of many tender mercies! Our Heavenly Father truly is aware of us and He will never forsake us. Two pick-me-up scriptures that really helped me this week- D&C 61:36 and Alma 26:30 (I believe-it's the last verse of that chapter).  Also, on my mission, I am coming to be less frustrated with my weaknesses and to almost appreciate them (or I guess I am trying to get to that point!). Through my weaknesses, I have had to draw closer to my Heavenly Father and my Savior I have learned to rely on them. They have led me to be more humble, to exercise greater faith in Them, and to work with greater diligence, all of which help us to access the grace of Jesus Christ.  I am so grateful for this experience and for how much it is changing me. I still do not know a lot, but I do know this is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and that Heavenly Father lives, He is our Father and He loves us. I love what it says in the Bible about how the Spirit witnesses to our Spirit that we are the children of God. I know this is true!

I am also so grateful that Heavenly Father still speaks to His children today. It is so sad to me that so many people in the world don't know this. I was reading in Joseph Smith History today, about how when Joseph Smith told a minister about his vision. The minister said it was of the devil and that all revelation had ended with the apostles of Christ, and that revelation didn't nor would it happen anymore. In "Our Search for Happiness", Elder Talmage says how presumptuous it is of man to put limits on God or on if He can or cannot speak to His children.  We are all His children - He wants to speak to all of us, and He desires our joy. He desires us to return to live with Him again, and to find peace in this life. Sister O and I were talking this morning about how our parents didn't give just give counsel or advice to the older children in our families. They didn't just tell all the younger kids that they had already said all they needed to say to the older children, and so they weren't going to give the younger kids any more of their counsel. They didn't just make the younger kids rely on counsel that they had written down for the older kids.  I don't know if that makes sense, but I am so grateful for the scriptures that we have, that record the counsel and the dealings of God with the ancient inhabitants of the earth, and that still apply to us and were written for us. I am also so grateful for continuing revelation from God-for continuing counsel to us. It is just such an amazing blessing to be a member of this restored gospel. I have been given so much and have been so blessed, that I want to give my Heavenly Father everything. Anyway, I just love this gospel so much and I feel so passionate about it!

I am so happy today! I cannot fully express why I am this happy, or how I feel, but I love being here. I love serving a mission, and I am grateful that I was called to the Washington D.C. South Mission. I hope that you are all doing well and that you are happy! I pray for you often and I know that Heavenly Father is watching over you always. I am grateful for this comfort. I just love you all like crazy!!

Here is a quick rundown of this past week:

Monday - We had family home evening on Monday night with our Jewish investigator, Keren, and her husband and a couple in our ward, named the Babitz. They are fantastic people and are hilarious, and Keren got along really well with Sister Babitz. We first got frozen yogurt at a place called Sweet Frog. I was talking to Keren's husband, and he started telling me about one of his past transgressions that was very serious. He is one of those people who just talks and talks and you don't really get a word in, and he started telling me about it out of the blue. It was really disconcerting and shocking. We called president and told him about it, and he said, "So someone mistook you for a catholic priest, Sister Akin..." He gave us help in what to do, and how to handle the situation. He also helped me to feel less guilty, for I was worrying that I had pried too much and that I had made him tell me, and I kept replaying the conversation in my head. Anyway, Monday night was a very very interesting night to say the least.

Tuesday - District Meeting day! Always a fun day! We also visited Keren which was great! She is going back to Israel in two weeks, and she just found out that she had been cleared to go back. Also, she was cleared to go back on Saturday, the day of Yom Kippur! She did Yom Kippur exactly as they are told to, meaning she fasted from Friday night until Saturday night. She did not eat, drink water, use electricity, bath, brush her teeth, etc.- they have from everything. She said that on Saturday she prayed about being cleared to leave for Israel, and her prayer was answered! She has so much faith and so much love for her God!

Wednesday - We met a man named Burd! He is from Thailand and he walks dogs for his work! He was so nice and we had short lesson with him while he was walking a dog! We also visited sweet Alma, whom I sent a picture of last week! Then we met a nice man from Ghana at a bus stop. His name was Elliott and he had met with missionaries in the past, but just fell out of contact with them. Hopefully we are able to meet with him again, and teach him!  I then tried making this special pasta dish that Keren had showed us how to make, but it didn't turn out the way it did when she made it. It was fun to make it though, and I have thoroughly grown to love cooking so much more since I have been out here! (I promise I don't spend exuberant amounts of time cooking-only the time we have for dinner and lunch and on P-Day.) We then visited two members that night and went street contacting!

Thursday - Exchange day! I got to go on an exchange with a sister trainer leader, Sister Goates. It was so incredible and it changed my whole perspective of the mission. I am learning that this mission is not about me or about what I want. It is not my work, so it is not going to go my way. It is His work and it is going to be done His way. I am simply an instrument in His hands!  I also want to work so that this gospel becomes a part of me-I don't just tell people about it, but I live it. I desire this so much! I always feel like you see miracles on exchanges (based on my extensive experience of 2 exchanges thus far (: ) and that's what happened this time! We had a great member visit, then we had dinner with two members and we were blessed to be fed kalua pork again! We then tried to visit a former investigator, and we ended up having a long visit with her son and his girlfriend instead, since the former investigator wasn't home. The son invited us in, and said that his girlfriend had a lot of questions about God and religion. He is an atheist and she is agnostic. We had a really good discussion with them, and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. They welcomed us back anytime! We then went street contacting for the rest of the evening and met a lot of great people. We met a Chinese boy named Phil and he gave us hid address so that we could visit him this week!

Friday - Weekly Planning Day!! We also had a lesson with Keren, that a member came to us with. We then went street contacting and met...you guessed it...the ambassador of Iraq! It was so much fun to talk to him and his family. We had a good visit with them and talked for about 30 minutes! We also met a man that night named Jim Stewart who is in the process of trying to find his church. We taught him a quick lesson and gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and restoration pamphlet. He was so great and very open and interested in learning more! We also went to dinner that night with Keren at the Pentagon City Mall. This mall is huge btw, and it looks like it has everything!

Saturday - Saturday began with a weeding service project that our ward was doing with the Catholic church. It took us forever to find the park that they were weeding at, and by the time we got there, I think I pulled only about 10 weeds, until we were done. There was a ton of poison ivy around and I was so so afraid of ticks, so I wasn't super torn up about not being there very long. I love service and normally would love pulling weeds, but ticks have become almost more scary to me than spiders. 

We also met a super nice woman named Shalom, who lives at our same apartment complex. We talked to her for an hour, and she said that we could come over at anytime!  That night we visited our Chinese investigator, Pei, and we had a quick visit with him and his roommate. He said that he couldn't go to church because he had a paper to write the next day. We tried to explain to him that he would be blessed for going to church, and we taught him more about it using scriptures. 

We had a huge rainstorm that night-we're talking sheets of rain! It was a little scary driving home that night because it was hard to see anything, but gratefully we got home safely!

Sunday - Ward Conference Day! It was a great church day, but none of our investigators who said they would come to church, came. We taught gospel principles and it was really fun! After church, we had a lesson with Pei at a member's home, and they fed us lunch. Pei also brought his roommate to this lesson, so we have a new investigator. They both committed to read the Book of Mormon and to come to church. We went to a ward friendship dinner that evening, which was so much fun! We then visited a recent convert in our ward named Wu Biao, and he is just the sweetest man! His wife just had a new baby, and he was walking with the baby when we got there. We then went street contacting and met a scary man, but then met tons of other great people! We met a man named Elvin from Honduras and had a lesson with him. We have an apt with him this Wednesday!!

Theme of this week - Blessings, blessings and more blessings! I am so grateful for the Lord's tender mercies and blessings. I am so excited to see what this next week brings!!

I love you all!!!

Love,

Sister Chelsea Marie Akin