11/21/16

Hello Adoring Fans,

I'm just coming at you with some spiritual experiences this week. We didn't get a lot done in terms of teaching our investigators, but I learned a lot and felt the spirit a lot. Sister Baker had all her going home stuff this week, so we've been doing a lot of busy things. So ok, I just need to make a list.

Sister Baker's departing dinner was this week. It was really cool because all the missionaries who are going home and their companions get together and have dinner with the Clarks. Then we sit around and bear testimony and say nice things about eachother. Sister Baker said a lot of really nice things about me and I just sobbed aggressively because I <3 Sister Baker, but we had a really rough 3 transfers before this really good transfer. This transfer has been really cool because it's like all the progression we've been supposed to be doing in the last 6 months all crammed in to the last 6 weeks. Whatever works I guess.

At the very same departing dinner I saw Sister Dinning. She asked if I knew Matt Johnston, because apparently he recently moved into her ward. Brother Johnston was a ward missionary in my first ward and we really only ever saw him in church because he's recently married and works 50000 hours a week. So I was like yeah why? Sister Dinning said "He love you so much. As soon as he moved into the ward he was like 'do you guys know Sister Atchley? She's my FAVORITE. She's like a powerhouse man. She's a really great teacher!' He talks about you literally all the time." I was SUPER flattered but mostly SUPER SURPRISED because I didn't even know I had been around Brother Johnston enough to like even influence him in any way. In fact, the only time I was ever around him was in gospel principles. So that just goes to show that WE NEVER KNOW who we are going to touch very powerfully. That's why it's so important for you to not only always be in your church classes, but always participate because if you do Heavenly Father will use you to bless the lives of others. 

I gave a training in district meeting this week. Basically I went through all the chapters between Mosiah 27 and Alma 36 and picked out all the bad/hard things that happened to Alma on his mission. I wrote it down on a timeline on the board of these basically 20 years that he's having really difficult experiences. We talked about all the negative words he uses to describe how he feels. Then I was like "So Alma sits his son down and tells him 'my mission was sooo hard and missions suck and all my converts got thrown into a fire and Ammon is a way better missionary than me' right? WRONG!?" and we read Alma 36: 

24 Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

 25 Yea, and now behold, O my son, the Lord doth give me exceedingly great joy in the fruit of my labors;

Then we talked about how even though Alma's mission is really hard and he wasn't happy for a lot of it he still found joy through bringing souls unto Christ and having the companionship of the Holy Ghost, because those are the things that bring you joy. Later Elder Kennedy came up to me and told me that he really needed that training.

Then later this week we were visiting people in Sister Baker's old ward so she could say goodbye. We were in Nellie Gail all day. If you don't know about Nellie Gail it's basically a huge neighborhood of houses that I'm too poor to even look at in a magazine. So we were walking up the steps to this huge McMansion and I was thinkin to myself like "man all these members of the church how dare they use all their money to buy a house. If I was this rich I would live in Nebraska and pay for people's missions or something man... wast of money... man" and the spirit was like "Settle down Judas!" and I was like "... oh my bad whats up?" and the spirit was like "If nobody lived in Nellie Gail, who would share the gospel in Nellie Gail." My testimony was strengthened of the fact that Heavenly Father puts you in specific places around specific people to fulfill his purposes. Basically I learned that like 50 times this week. So I would say it was a good week. 

Here's some quotes: 

"Ok new number between one and ten." -Elder Heiner

*everyone guessing*

"ELDER HEINER! IT'S NOT FAIR IF IT'S NOT A WHOLE NUMBER!" -me 

"I used to know Pi really far." -Elder Kennedy

"I'm not surprised." -me 

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" -Elder Kennedy

"What's the derivative of x^2" -Elder Heiner

"2x duh" -Me and Elder Kennedy in unison 

"Yeah I'm gonna major in art."-me 

"mmm You seem like that kind of person." -Elder Kennedy

"We picked up a new investigator!" -Sister Baker

"How did you do that?" -Elder Blue

"uh... by teaching a lesson and setting a specific return appointment." -me 

"We dropped your stuff off... we didn't come here just to tell you that." -Elder Heiner

"We just found out taht there's an Outback in the mission and we were talking about how good Outback would be etc. etc." - Sister Baker

"Hear that! sounds like they're fishing for dinner." -Brother DeGraw

"I don't know anything about makeup! Except eyeliner... I only had that for like.... a week.... with my.... green Mohawk...." -Elder Foutz

"Secret agent man!" -Elder Foutz

"Secret Asian man? what?" -me 

"I thought we all agreed that was Sister Baker" -Elder Foutz

"Now that I'm companions with Elder Boggess we can utilize all the cupboards, even the ones over the microwave." -Elder Everett 

"My closest relative in the mission is my 5th cousin, Elder Burk." -me 

"hahaha I can definitely see the resemblance." -Elder Everett 

"because I'm so hairy right?" -me 

"How tall even are you?" -Sister Baker

"6' 5"" -Elder Boggess

"People just think you're way taller because you're like 6 feet legs 5 inches torso." -Sister Baker

"ahah true" -Elder Boggess

"How many ants would it take to lift this couch?" -Sister Ward

"SEVEN." -Sister Baker

"Guess what guys! My fourth great grandparents are Jewish!" -me 

"Ah really? Shalom!" -Elder Vaipulu 

"Me and Tyler became best friends when I started ignoring him" -Katie (they're siblings) 

"We gotta check out just swerve . org" -Sister Baker

"Did you have a my little pony phase Sister Atchley...... are you still in it........ is it not a phase?" -Elder Kennedy

"Sister Baker you look good with a cheese beard." -Brother DeGraw

"I have space for like 4 feelings at a time but when my bladder is full it takes up all 4 spaces." -me 

"Hey how's it going?" -Sister Baker 

"FULL BLADDER" -me 

"God made America the promised land and then he remembered every body needs a rectum so he made California." -Brother Betty 

"Of all the His and Hers items out there refrigerator is a new one." -sister Baker

Reading Assignment: 

Go to the index and look up Joy. Read all the scriptures in Alma under Joy and learn how people have Joy in tough situations. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sister Atchley

 I saw the Ocean for the first time this week. Have some pictures.