Happy Halloween everyone!!!
There is so much to say, that I wrote it all out in bullet form before hand....
So
first off, Melanie, Dorothy's niece, who was preparing to be baptized
in January, went off the deep end and was sent to Jail...so that baptism
is postponed....a lot. drat. She was doing so well after moving into
Dorothy's home, but then she got involved with her old friends and
extended family and things went sour. Dorothy was pretty heart broken
over it. We are too. But we just have to carry on.
On Wednesday night we were put in charge of the
YM/YW Mutual Activity. The YM leader wanted the kids to have a tracting
experience. He had them all come in church clothes and bring their
scriptures. They came to the opening exercises room, and had a
missionary badge with their name on it put on their chest, and then they
were escorted into the MTC. Elders on one side, Sisters on the other.
Sister Isaacson and I pretended to be their MTC instructors. When everyone was
in the room, we had an opening song and prayer, but we skipped all the
normal announcements and started talking to them as if they had just
entered the real MTC. We had them all recite the Missionary Purpose and
then started discussing why they are called to serve and how critical
this work is. Then we put them into companionships and had them go
tracting in the corridor They were to knock every door and talk to
every person. There were ward missionaries and youth leaders behind some
of the doors, and they had an assigned personality/routine. The kids
got to experience all sorts of people: kind but busy, grouchy, talking
through the door, crazy families, random pedestrians, and a hidden
Golden investigator. IT was such a neat experience. There were 2 grand
moments. The first was the first companionship to start knocking. It was
a priest and a deacon, and they got to an old lady who was grouchy and
would only talk to them through the door. The lady tried to get them to
go away, and the 12 year old yelled "CAN I AT LEAST TELL YOU MY
TESTIMONY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?" the poor kid was muffled through the door and
his voice cracked a ton as he yelled, but then he proceeded to tell her
anyways. Oh, it made us laugh and smile. The second experience is more
serious and tender. I was testifying to the kids about how critical it
is to share salvation with all of our brothers and sisters, and I
shocked myself with how passionately I felt. I was crying as I testified
and taught and tried to help them see that this is not just an
experience to check off the list, but this is a sacred opportunity to
bring Heavenly Father's children to the Celestial Realm.
We met with Sarah Combs this week, after having
challenging her rather boldly last week to be baptized. We were excited
to see what her answer would be after a week of praying about it. She
said one night she had a peace wash over her as she prayed, and felt
really good about the whole thing, but then the next day went ABSOLUTELY
TERRIBLE. She thought the terrible day was a sign from the universe
that she was not ready...but we jumped on that immediately. Heck no! That miserable day was from Satan, and we helped point out her answer.
After a really powerful lesson, she said she wanted to be baptized and
we would prepare for baptism soon. We were stoked. No date was set, but
she is getting ready. She wants her less active husband to do it, but
there are some complications....and we still need to work out the
details.
There is a photo included here of me wearing a veil
and holding a wedding bouquet. This week Melissa and Donny, Hal
Richman's grandson and girlfriend, are getting married, and they had me
come over to do the flowers. Oh, I was soooooo excited. Melissa had
bought a veil, but was too shy to put it on, and you all know me, I LOVE
weddings, so I volunteered to be the model. What do you think? :) Don't
worry, I know a veil like that is not for me :)
Jennifer McDonald is doing great. She has a
baptismal date of Nov. 17, which is the week after transfers, so I will
probably miss it, but so far she is doing well. She has a Word of Wisdom
issue, but she is actively working through it. She had a blessing on
Sunday to help her through it. Please pray that she is able to fight
the temptations that come her way and that she will be able to be
baptized as planned.
We have a member family that we ABSOLUTELY ADORE,
the Eagar Family. They are the cutest thing. They moved in recently, and
he was put in as YM President They have the most adorable home and the
kids are to die for. I don't think I have ever seen a happier bunch of
children. Their family is full of love and purity and it feel fantastic
to be in their home. They are HUGE fans of the Piano guys, and always
have their music playing when we are there (which is at least every
other week). I LOVE THE PIANO GUYS!! I knew them before m mission, but
they have really taken off recently, and I highly recommend them to
everyone!! I can't wait to buy their CD!!! LOVE IT!!!! oh, and the photo
of us with the whipped cream mustaches is at their house. they do it
with their kids all the time, and we have watched the children multiple
times die with laughter as they try to lick it all off. they finally
invited us to do it to, and it was great, my mustache wasn't so good
because I kept thrashing and laughing as Sister Isaacson tried to put it
on me.
I also include a photo of a pin that an investigator
showed me. It is totally me. The minute Sister Isaacson and I saw it we
nearly fell out of our chairs laughing. Just to defend myself, I am
working on NOT trying to control every aspect of my life and roll with
the punches.
We had a ward Halloween party on Saturday, and we
had SOOO MANY INVESTIGATORS AND LESS ACTIVE FAMILIES COME!!! It was
incredible!! There is a photo of my favorite activity booth. It it a
GIANT Witch nose, and the kids had to put their arm up one of the
nostrils to get either a treat or snot. Sister Isaacson did it and she got
snot. LOVE IT!!!!
The last picture was of Camden Castelli. He is
Ronda's grandson. He is the cutest thing. Well, Sister Isaacson and I had
fun putting her glasses on him, and this is what happened: one happy and
cute kid.
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Well, I love you all very much! have a fantastic week! please remember to pray for Jennifer and Sarah!
Love
Sister Wilkins
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