3/21/2016

Dad and others

So I have to relate to you a conversation, but first I need to point out that NOBODY wants to get calls from the assistants the Friday before transfers. So just assume as you're reading that there is a lot of anxiety going on in this situation.

"Oh look we missed a call from the AP's." - Sister Shober (level of panic: 3/10) 

"Hi this is Elder Ashton" - Elder Ashton 

"Hi Elder Ashton this is Sister Shober!" -Sister Shober 

"Hi Sister Shober is Sister Atchley there?" -Elder Ashton (level of panic 8.5/10) 

"Hi this is Sister Atchley" -Me 

"Hi Sister Atchley! How are you doing?" -Elder Ashton 

"Good!" -me

"Great! I'm calling in behalf of President Orgill who wants to know if you would be willing to be a trainer this next transfer!" -Elder Ashton 

"I would LOVE to!" -me (level of panic: dead/10) 

So yeah Sister Shober's outta here and I'm TRAINING APPARENTLY!!! Her name is Sister Peterson and she gets here tomorrow. 

Needless to say I have a lot of mixed emotions about this. Sister Shober said that when they were considering trainers I was the first person that came to mind. After I finished being totally shocked I realized that the spirit has been telling me this was going to happen forever. When I say forever I mean since thanksgiving when everyone was like "oh so you're going to be a trainer like this time next year?" and I was like "mehhh I dunno about that. I'm probably just gonna be a reeeegular missionary...." and the spirit was like "not so Sister Atchley" 

Then I was reading my scriptures and thinking about how It's crazy that I haven't even been a member of the church for 2 years and I'm on a mission and I'm about to be training. I was thinking about how I don't deserve all this trust my Heavenly Father places in me. Then the spirit reminded me of a lesson that I was in one time where whoever was teaching brought up D&C 124:143 and said something to the effect of "We as Latter-day Saints often focus on the work of the ministry and neglect the perfecting of the saints." Then I just kept remembering times when I felt like I was going to be a missionary to other missionaries.  

I got a blessing from Elder Dayton yesterday and it was probably the coolest blessing I've ever received. Elder Dayton is not afraid to be quiet during a blessing and listen to the spirit. So he would say something and then pause, and when he paused I would ask a question to Heavenly Father in my heart. Then Elder Dayton would address the thing that I was thinking about. I know Elder Dayton is just a regular human being and not a secret mind reader, so it really showed me that I do have a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of my thoughts and feelings, and the priesthood is real and amazing. Afterwards Elder Dayton said that whenever he's around me he feels an overwhelming sense of destiny. Also this is a really powerful scripture about blessings and the words of prophets and missionaries: D&C1:38 

Elder Dayton is becoming a real life Spanish Elder which means I'll probably never see him again. 

So anyway all that is pretty cool, but I don't know if it's going to help anyone since it's just basically a bunch of personal revelation. 

We had a window at a park the other day and we sat there for the entire hour with nobody showing up. Then at the very end this lady came in and we introduced ourselves to her like awkward missionaries do. She was like "yeah I already know you're the missionaries, I used to meet with some missionaries they would read the book with me, but then I stopped working here so I stopped meeting with them. I actually met them in this park." 

And thus we see that it is super important to give people's information to the missionaries that cover the area where they actually live no matter how badly you want investigators. So we gave her stuff to the Anaheim mission to figure it out. 

I was getting down on us the other day because we never have anyone to teach and everyone ignores us, but then I realized that we've given SO MANY referrals to other missionaries. I was sad because  I felt like we weren't doing the work, but then I realized that it's all the same work no matter what boundaries you cover, or if you're doing the finding part or the teaching part. 

I have not been able to sleep for the past couple of nights. I think I'm just nervous and/or stressed. 

Here's some funny stuffs: 

Elder Dayton said that I'm NOT SASSY I'm just dramatic! 

"If you think Sister Atchley isn't sassy you just don't know her." -Sister Shober 

"If you give me an example I'll believe it." -Elder Dayton 

"Just all the time" -Sister Shober 

"That's not a good enough example. You have to give me a specific example of a time when Sister Atchley was sassy then I'll believe that she's a sassy person. She's not though I know her pretty well." -Elder Dayton 

So yeah I'm not sassy. 

"I pounce on things, you know, like a falcon. Wait falcons don't pounce that's raccoon stuff. Dangit! I'm a raccoon." -Elder Dayton 

"If I'm a 10 then what's your brother?" -Elder Center

"Sister Atchley, what's my brother on a scale of 1 to Elder Center?" -Sister Shober 

(I had no comment) 

"You're an old seasoned oak now." -Brother Turner 

"I still feel like a young sapling." -Elder Center 

"who's the brown haired scout? He's kind of a bigger kid..." -Sister Tenney about non member scouts 

"That's my son, Ryan" -Bishop Henderson 

"We all know what happened next, lets just say those robbers would never again lay a hand on the kings sheep."  - the youth speaker at sacrament meeting

btw I was laughing about this all day. I'm still laughing about this actually. 

So for the reading assignment: 

Read Romans 12 and prayerfully seek council on which of these things you can improve. Remember the Lord only expects you to do your best, but you don't even know what your best is. 

Then read Romans13:9-10 and think about that for a minute. 

Love Y'all!

Sister Atchley 

P.S. Please email me if you read my blog and are helped by it in any way. Reading stories about other people feeling the spirit helps me feel the spirit. I've heard it gets read and discussed, but I want to know about the discussions too!