I hope this letter finds you all happy and well!! I know it finds two of you in the same time zone as me, which makes me feel so close to you!
Fun little things that happened this week and then onto the really good stuff:
*I bought Super Chill at the new grocery store, Shoppers, that we shop at. It's the really cheap brand of pop that IGA in Powell sells! It instantly made me think of you, Kelli!
*Fall is here! There is officially frost on the cars in the mornings and I can see my breath walking to the gym!
*Our ward had their primary program yesterday which was so great and so fun! It brought back so many good memories!!
*SATURDAY'S WARRIOR - I don't know why this one isn't first. A couple of missionaries were asked to usher at the show, and we were blessed to be one of them! We were only able to watch the first act, which ends at the point that Todd and Julie are both in angst. It was so great and it made me so happy. I am so excited to watch that movie again someday!
There is so much more, but I will detail it all throughout the rest of the letter!
This week Heavenly Father reminded me that this work will be done His way and not my way, since it is not my work. He is continually teaching me patience and humility. I need to more fully rely on Him, and also have more confidence in Him. I was studying Alma 5 this morning and I love that chapter so much! It led me to study humility in PMG, which gives a really good explanation of humility. It said that humility is trusting that you can do whatever God requires of you, if you rely on Him. It also talked about how keeping the commandments is an act of humility because it is trusting in God's power and knowledge. There are so many people we meet and talk with, who think the commandments are a burden or something forced upon us. In reality, they are for our benefit and our growth! I think I forget this sometimes, and I get nervous that people won't want to join the church because of all the commandments. I think that if we really understood them though, and why we have them, we would all willingly follow them! We had a class this week where we talked about how if everyone really understood the gospel and the church, they would all want to join it. Satan just gives man distractions, that cause them to settle for fake trinkets rather than true, eternal happiness!! By the way, the talk, "You Can Do it Now" by President Utchdorf was amazing!!!
In talking about commandments though, I have been thinking about this and exact obedience this week. I think it is so easy to get overly concerned about the letter of the law, and to forget about the spirit of the law. I love exact obedience. It is exhilarating and it is something I can be perfect at. I realized this week, that my relationship with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ has not been as meaningful recently though, for I am so focused on the letter of the law. Exact obedience is important, but I feel like the way I do it, has actually made me move farther away from Him. I can see a little bit of where the Pharisees and Saducees went wrong, and how they got to that point. Those little things like getting up at 6:30 and going to bed by 10:30 are measurable and it's easy to see if you are succeeding at them or not. When being so focused on them though, it is easy to forget to truly love and serve people. I don't know if any of this makes sense, and I feel like I am just rambling. I am just trying to figure out how to balance all of this. I am grateful that Heavenly Father gave me many experiences this week though that helped me focus on the one.
Lunes - Robert took us to dinner on Monday night and we had an amazing lesson with him, sitting at California Pizza Kitchen. He came with a lot of questions, and he answered most of them himself. We gave him a short answer to his questions, and he then talked through what we said and his question until he resolved it. We focused a lot on Jesus Christ and His Atonement, the Priesthood and baptism. We felt like his faith and understanding of each of these grew so much. For the past lessons, he hasn't understood why baptism is so important - he simply saw it as just getting really wet one day. We explained it more, and read scriptures about it with him, and the Spirit taught truly taught him. We gave him Alma 7 to read, and during the week he sent us a text saying that he had read it and he wanted another chapter to read. We are having a lesson with him again tonight!
We also went street contacting that night, and talked to a girl who was putting up the letters on the sign of the movie theater. We had a really good visit with her, and we are planning to swing by there again this week!
Martes - We were prompted to visit a young couple in our ward, so we texted them and asked if we could come over that night. The husband was out of town, but he said that she had been really lonely, so it would be great if we could visit her. We saw her that evening and had such a good visit with her! She is 5 months pregnant, and he travels a lot for work, and she was feeling really down. I am so grateful for the Spirit that prompted us to see her!
We also visited our ward mission leader that night, and talked about what we can do to move the work forward! We are trying to figure out how we can work more with the members, and help them get passionate about the work! He was just called a couple of weeks ago, and he is incredible! We had a meeting with him and bishop yesterday, and I'm excited to see what comes of it. He wants both the elders and sisters in this ward to teach 20 lessons with week and get 16 referrals! What are your wards doing to move the work forward, and how are the members getting involved?
Miercoles - A long, patience-teaching day! We were blessed to have a lesson with Sandra and Ignacio that evening, and Ignacio bore powerful testimony to Sandra that the Book of Mormon is true and how he knows it true! It is amazing to see him progress, as he bears testimony to her and participate in the lessons with her.
We also saw a woman in our ward named Mary Bell, who has been really sick. I love her so much, and she has been so great to us! We talked about the talk, "Drawing Closer to God," from the last conference, which is also an amazing talk!
Hueves (Thursday?) - Exchange day! We got to go on exchange with the sister training leaders, Sister Roper and Stones. I went with Sister Roper to Fort Belvoir! It was so great and she is such an incredible missionary. I saw a lot of the ghetto on my exchange, and it was a whole new experience from Crystal City! It was really fun and I learned so much! She helped me to feel passionate about the work again! This truly is the most important message one can ever hear, and it can and will change their life, if they let it! On this exchange, I learned that I need to be more bold, and to not shy away from the message or from the truths! She talked a lot about how she realized that she was living a life of mediocrity before her mission. She was doing good things, but putting so much in front of God and her divine destiny! I don't ever want to live a life of mediocrity or be a mediocre missionary. I want to give my Heavenly Father everything!
Viernes - We exchanged back, had launching leaders (an amazing class taught by a senior couple), and had the best weekly planning I have ever had. We were sitting in our apartment with 20 minutes left of lunch, when we decided to go get frozen yogurt! We have a frozen yogurt shop, Sweet Frog, that is literally 2 minutes away, so we hurried and drove over there and brought fro yo back. Weekly Planning was also just so great, and I felt like it was very productive and we accomplished so much! That night, we quickly saw Alma and then went to Saturdays Warrior!
Sabado - Such a great day!! It started with a neighborhood service project at the local park. The neighbord gets together biannually to trim away the invasive species and pick up trash. We got to meet so many people and do physical labor! It was so much fun! Our job was picking up trash and then hauling all the branches that the men cut, to the trash bin. It felt so amazing, and then we got to stay for lunch afterwards and meet a lot of people in the neighborhood! One observation that one of the elders made afterwards, is that no one knows anyone's name, but they know everyones dog's name. It is so true here. They were all great people though and they have great dogs! Sidenote, my companion is a dog expert, and she has helped me decide what dog I want when I get home from my mission. I am still deciding, but I think I want a Rodician Ridgeback! They are beautiful!
That day we tried to visit a lot of people and find new investigators, with no success. However, we had a really good visit with a member in our ward that night and a lesson with a girl who works at the front desk of the nursing home that we go to all the time! The Lord puts people in your path in ways that you don't expect!
Domingo - Church day and as you know, primary program day! We had a meeting with the bishop afterwards and then drove to have lunch with a new couple in our ward. Driving there was so stressful and our GPS couldn't find their address, so we were really late, which I felt awful about. Driving is fun and exhilarating here but also really stressful sometimes! They were so nice about it though, and they are such a good couple! We then had a lesson with Sandra and Ignacio, and the Lord truly directed it! We brought a member, and she and Sandra hit it off instantly! Sandra is currently praying about baptism! We then saw a recent convert, Wu Biao, and then visited the Chamber (former investigators who still like us to visit occasionally). We then had dinner with the Lopez family and Rob, a less active we are working with, and then we saw sweet Alma!
Our Heavenly Father loves His Children so much, and He never leaves us. I know that, and I am so grateful to be a missionary, and for all the people I get to love! I am striving always and still trying to figure out how to fully "forget myself and get to work."
I love you all! I hope you all have a great week!!!
Love,
Sister Chelsea Akin
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