Monday, October 29, 2012

Halo, Happy Ween!

Monday, October 29, 2012 (email)

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.

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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