Week 7 Chico/Orland CA

Hey Mom!!

This week was a crazy week!! It was so awesome!! It was definitely one of those weeks where it just felt amazing to be a missionary!! We worked hard and did a lot and visited a lot of people, but it was just so fulfilling!! Missionary work really is the best work!

But to start out, THE PROPHET CAME!!! He came for a special stake conference in Chico, so we were lucky enough to be a part of that! But it was so awesome!! President Nelson just has such a great spirit about him and just being around him you can feel his love! He is so awesome! I was so thankful for the privilege it was to listen to a living prophet speak, specifically to the victims of the Paradise fires. What he said that I really liked though was about the Book of Mormon. I guess not necessarily what he said, but what I felt. I had a question going in, and that was how I could help people see the importance of the Book of Mormon. My answer came as he was bearing his testimony on it. I want to have such a strong testimony that others can feel my testimony like I felt his. so my answer was that I need to study it more and do more of my part to really gain that testimony of the Book of Mormon. Because that honestly is the most powerful thing in this world!

Another cool thing I really liked about when the prophet came was when he was leaving. There was such a strong spirit, and it was great. As he walked out, he seemed to make it a point to say hi and to wave at all the kids he could. This reminded me of Christ. Christ always went about blessing the children. I could see President Nelson's love for Christ as he strives to be more like Christ. This is a great example for me, because as I strive to show my love for Christ, I will be more like him. :)

But yeah that was awesome. Probably a highlight of the week. We also had some pretty awesome lessons and found a ton of cool people! love just being able to go up and talk to random people and get to know them and share something that is so close to my heart! It's awesome!

But now I have some funny stories for the week... the first happened a week ago on Monday night. We were visiting Rodolfo and Angelica, two people we are teaching. they are so awesome! We love them so much! but they made us some hot chocolate (abuelita to be exact) and as we drank it, we realized it had a different texture. then she said how since milk hurts her stomach, she uses water and evaporated milk (in the can) instead... it was so thick... it was really kinda super gross, but i drank it all... the things we do for the people we love... but hopefully i won't have to do that particular thing again...

the next funny story comes from Tuesday night. first off, it was SUPER rainy that whole day. and we were in willows searching for a house that we had received a referral from. so it just took us to a trailer park, with no house number.... so we went to turn around, but then the car stopped moving... we got stuck in a mud pit... I thought it was road, but apparently it was not... so we tried to put some sticks under to give it traction, but that didn't work... so we called someone from the ward to come help us out. Luckily they said they could come and help! But we had to wait outside in the rain for like 20 minutes. Some neighbor guy yelled "You know that's not a road right?" so I responded "yeah, we found that out the hard way..." and then he cursed us out... so that was fun... but apparently lots of people just drive donuts there, so they thought we were doing that... but then a nice little lady who's house we were standing outside of walked outside. she tried to speak English to us, but luckily we spoke Spanish! But she invited us in to wait not in the rain and to stay warm, and she sad she called her son to help us get out. It was so sweet of her! This lady we did not even know! I love Mexicans for that purpose! But also, we got our car out, so don't worry! We were where we needed to be at the right time!

The third story is just from Saturday. we were driving around trying to contact a few people, and we saw a sign that said "we sell pinatas" and so we were like, let's go for it! So we got to the door, and the lady said she doesn't speak English, and we were like "que bien! hablamos espanol!" and then she was like "soy catolica. no estoy interesada" and we were like "querremos una pinata!" and so then we got to talking with her and she was super nice. she makes these awesome pinatas and it was so cool!! she is so good! so we got a cool donkey pinata for only $10!! it was super exciting. so basically we just impulse bought pinata. and they were like " how old is the child it is for?" and we were just like, it's for us... haha whoops! children at heart. but he is so cute!! best buy of my life.

Also, with this new calling of being a sister training leader, I am in charge of helping the sisters in the zone. It hasn't been very long like a week, since I've been doing it, but it has been a cool experience. the sisters we are living next to are having some troubles, which is sad. But I think it is cool to see that they both just trust me to talk with me. Cause I do love them both. That is the coolest part about leadership, is learning to love those who you serve. So while I am often bad with giving advice (my advice is to usually just ignore it and keep going), it has been good to be able to share my love with these sisters and help them in any way that can!

But it has been a great week! It was up in the 60s this week and it was super nice! I only needed a sweater!! But I hope you have a great week and that all is well. I love hearing from you! Love and miss you!

Kiley

Hermana Atkinson