Shiprock never gets rain... not!! (email)

August 22, 2011
Hi everyone! So this last week was really great and really terrible at the same time.

It has been miserably hot, but we have our lovely truck to keep us cool. We rarely go tracting because we have lots of appointments and it takes forever to drive there. We go from cool car to warmer houses and back to the cold car. nice. ...until we realized we were short on miles for the month, and started walking everywhere. less work got done, we looked horendous from the heat, and it was back breaking with a 20 lb bag.

we had 2 really productive days, and had 2 people commit to baptism (which is a big deal because in the last 6 months there have only been 2 baptisms). we currently have 6 people with dates set! its absolutely amazing. ...but...Sis. Tsosie and I may be letting it get to our heads because we had some really unproductive days. and we skipped companionship study to do service. service is good, but heavenly father definitely let us know he wanted us studying. we changed things around and life is looking up now.

I feel more confident with my teaching and ability to listen to the spirit. Sis. Ts is surprised how bold I already am. She is courageous with the things she says, and she thought it would take me a while, but I jumped in feet first. Yesterday we went to visit an investigator and got to her door at the exact same moment as some other crazy missionaries. They just wanted to bible bash and it was miserable. We felt as if the spirit was being sucked from our beings. You know what a fish looks like trying to breath out of water...that was us, gasping for the spirit. I was able to keep calm, ignore the desire to haul off and hit them, and calmly dismissed them. Sis. Ts was really impressed. Woot. 2 spirit points for me.

As for the subject line, we were told it NEVER rains in shiprock. if it does, it is just a sprinkle. We walked to the store and saw a "sand storm" coming and were thankful to go inside. when we came out we thought we missed it. nope. we got out of the parking lot and started home. oh, its only a couple drops and a couple blocks. nope. down pour and 1 whole mile of mud. did we have arms to hold everything? nope. so we walked in the rain, for a mile home (this was also one of the days we didn't study long enough, so we got the picture pretty quickly)

I included pictures from the MTC. Katy andrews always told me about her family "surfing" on the ironing board and I couldn't resist. Then sis. Laneir and her new shirt (we liked the secret identity). Me and sis. Lanier (she went to atlanta. she was my best friend there). My last photo with sis. kost. our district with my favorite teacher. our messy back seat from the truck (yes that is an ax...we chop wood for people). then of me soaked and a mess from our rain disaster. you should put these up on the blog.

love you lots!!!

I'm Here - email

August 15, 2011

Hello everyone!! Well, I'm sorry it took over a week to contact you. We missed P day in the field by 1 day, so its been a while. I'm here! I'm in New Mexico! Drum Roll Please......I'm in Shiprock, NM. (which is about an hour west of Farmington). The Farmington Mission should be called the Navajo Nation Mission, but that probably isn't the most politically correct name. Shiprock is Reservation through and through. We are the ONLY sis. on a res, but to keep us safe, we have elders who also serve in the ward (the boundaries are huge!!!) blessing number 1: the elders are the district leader, and my favorite elder from my mtc district! elder munns. They are going to be great.

As for the area, things are slow. not the work being slow, but the people. no one drives fast, talks fast, walks fast, or even moves quickly. I'm going to certainly learn patience.

When we left the MTC and got to the airport, the E's got their feathers ruffled because I wasn't going to sit around and wait for them to unload the luggage. I jumped into the cargo hold, and started throwing bags out to them. they protested, but never did anything about it. yes, I am here to work, and I'm too stubborn to wait for any of you! We got picked up by the Mission pres. and his wife. Pres. Jones reminds me of Uncle Allen (its been a while since I've seen him in person, but I think there are definite similarities) and his wife is just like my boss April from Brick Oven. I love them already. The mission home is in a golf course development and is AMAZING!! and that's coming from me, the interior designer! It was beautiful. I found out they don't have sisters in Ramah, but they do have them in Gallup. They put me out on the res, which means we have a TRUCK!!!! actually, most missionaries here have trucks. big beasty things. LOVE IT!!!! Pres. Jones says we have the best fleat of cars in the world.

I met my companion, Sis. Tsosie (so-see) who has been in shiprock since january. she is navajo herself, and really get's us in with the people. We went to walmart in farmington, and bought food for a month. litterally. the cart was heaping ovetr the top. we only go into town once a month. there is a store like Smith's, but its expensive. We started right away with appointments. We have 3 bap dates from before I got here, but alot of our work is reactivation. Our ward has 1400 members!!! but only 150 come to church. oye. most of the older members were in the lamanite placement program. it gets me kinda upset because these people were baptized and had amazing experiences, but they didn't go to church when they came back to live on the res. ugh! ...see, i need to work on patience!

WE had an amazing experience with a recent convert, Lisa. I love her with all my heart. She came on exchanges with us, and we were going to read the BoM with her for a couple min and stayed for 2 hours. she told us about going to do bap for the dead for the first time and it reminded her of some dreams she had had. she proceeded to tell us about her dreams and sis. tsosie and i gaped at one another. This woman has seen the inside of the temple. she has looked in the mirrors. she has seen her family in white. it was amazing! we gushed our excitement as she told us about her dream, and we explained what we could about the temple. oh, she is just awesome.!!

we also had a service project where we drove an hour out with the elders to put plaster up on a less active member's house. when we got there it wasn't stucco, but cement. it didn't work so swell to get it to stay with the rocks, so I had the idea to sift them out. that worked, but it was still cement. to make matters worse, we had to use our hands...so the cement sucked the water out of our hands, and it started to eat the skin. i rubbed them raw and then got the rocks in it. they are a mess!

well, I'm running out of time! if you want to send any letters or packages, send them to the mission office address. I'm not allowed to give out our po box. if you send a package, send it priority so that the office can forward it to me. otherwise it sits in the office until someone drives out here to the middle of nowhere.

love you all

Sis. Wilkins (the new white missionary)

Arrived at the mission home

President Jones sent a letter and this photo reporting that Sister Wilkins arrived. We hope to hear from her soon.

Photos

Proof, it's real.

MTC companions.


Sisters in her MTC district.

Week 2 (email)

Hello Everyone!! well, week 2 feels just like week one. LONG days. Short weeks. I really got in the groove of everything. My companion, Sis. Kost (who's going to Farmington) and I have really figured out how we teach best. I have finally figured out how to teach simply. The elders make fun of me constantly for being too complicated. They keep mentioning the KISS Formula: Keep It Simple Stupid!!! Ok. ok. its coming. I just have to constantly think how I would teach Della about the different topics.

Personal study time is one of my favorite parts of the day: Its just me and doctrine and covenants. There are so many inspiring scriptures about missionary work, holding out, and enduring with joy and singing praises. My companion and I have been memorizing all sorts of scriptures, lesson parts, and missionary mottos. We are really starting to feel confident in ourselves. Our disaster appointment from the first week has become a great testimony builder for us. We have really struggled to connect with Radleigh but this week he finally believes in God and said a BEAUTIFUL prayer. We came out and cried we were so happy (we also think this hard skinned investigator was trying not to cry!! woot!)

It feels like I've been here forever, and yet no time at all. We ship out on Monday at o' dark hundred. We are supposed to report to the travel office at 4am. We have a flight from Salt

Lake to Phoenix at 7:10 and then from Phoenix to Durango, Co at 11:50. It will be a long drive from Durango to Farmington. As for getting everything to fit, I hope I can do it. I think I will disperse the weight better than when I came to the MTC, and I'll ship a box of medicine and office supplies to the Mission Home and hopefully pick them up when I get there. My family made fun of me for having so much stuff, but when the Elders or Sisters in my district need something, they come right to me. I've already fixed a couple elder's clothing and had all the supplies sisters could need. As for clothes, I thought I had too much, but I have the least out of all the sisters in my apartment!! seriously! I don't know how they are going to get everything to fit.

The food is still good, but as much as I thought I was restricting myself, I wasn't. I can tell clothing is tighter. ugh. I'm working on it....like by going to the gym and running my body into the ground. I've been really working on flexibility and distance, and I feel pretty good about where I'm at.

Love you all!

Sis. Wilkins