hola!

Its been a cah-RAY-zee week!!  First off, the day after transfers, sister Sellers and I got approval to go to Sacramento (1 hour north) to do a BOOTH for our church with the other ASL sisters!!!  It was really fun for the 4 of us to work together.  There was an ASL convention at the capitol building, which turned out to kind of be a protest, but we got approval to go so...I dont feel bad.  The Deaf people were all taking a stand because California is trying to take out all foreign languages from the school system, and ASL will be first to go.

  Anyway, we spent the day on the front lawn of the capitol talking to Deafies about the gospel.  I had a bunch of UVU flashbacks and my fire against hearing people came back.  I started to remind myself again about how passionate I am when it comes to Audism.  I love Deaf people so much and I have such strong opinions about the politics of it all, I had to calm myself down a few times.  haha.  Its a good thing we refrain from things like that in the mission.  My favorite quote that I saw said "Stop noise pollution, use ASL." 

 We cant seem to contact Lynda.  She was supposed to get baptized on Saturday but she still hasnt quit smoking.  The last time we taught her, she went to a member's home with us for a FHE. These members live in a fancy part of Stockton, and to get inside, you have to go through a special toll-booth to get a parking pass.  Lynda accidentally drove her car through one of those crossing-arm things to get in and broke it off completely.  The members later told us that they were going to have to pay $500 because she was their guest, and they DIDNT tell her.  Lynda asked over and over if she had to pay for it, but they just kept saying "oh no, Lynda, its fine.  Really.  You wont have to pay a thing!"  But what they didnt tell her was that even though SHE didnt have to pay, they DID. Talk about sacrifice.  I was so overwhelmed with love for that couple I wanted to cry.  They did it all for her. 

We had a ward party on Saturday night.  The whole thing was basically organized by our mission team.  We had the idea of having a dinner and a movie night, and we watched 17 miracles, it was really fun.  The whole night was a terrible mess.  Come to find out, there were 2 baptisms scheduled during our activity (even though we reserved the building) but dont get me wrong, I am NOT going to stop convert baptisms!  They were in the other room, while we had the cultural hall.  Brother Kroff, our bishopric member, set up his projector and we had the big screen set up with popcorn and licorice.  We even stole the couches and soft chairs from the foyers.   Our only problem was people.  Nobody came.  The elders quorum was supposed to set up at 4:30.  None of them came.  We did it all ourselves, all the round tables and chairs, tablecloths...ect.  We picked up the couches and hauled them in and set up more chairs.  I was really disappointed in our ward.  I love this ward a lot, but the members are struggling to be missionary-minded.

  My one success from the night was our beloved Kathy.  Kathy came late, but she was able to watch the whole movie.  Afterwards, we asked her what she thought and she replied simply "I cant imagine being in love with someone THAT much like that pioneer couple!"  Its all about love with Kathy.  She wants to be loved.  She was amazed that they were able to be sealed together in the temple a hundred years after they both died.  She wants to see the temple. 

 I interpreted for 3 hours at church yesterday.  3 hours of interpreting will always cause a 3 hour nap aftewards.  Its amazing how exhausting it is.  I couldnt even think straight, and by the time we got home I ate lunch and fell over.  It doesnt help that I have a cold, too.  Nevertheless, its been a good week.  Me and Sister Sellers did our best to be happy and make it through all these crazy days.  We have been sooo busy we didnt even have time to think! 

 these are my cool tan lines.....

Love all of you!

 Sister Wilson

transfers

I'm staying here in my beloved town of Stockton!!  I love it here!  BUT!  I get a new companion.  My MTC companion, Sister Sellers (shes the Deaf one)!  Its going to be a really....interesting transfer.  Especially since she is going to be teaching all the hearing investigators we have, but maybe she can help the Deaf work pick up down here!  I am very sad my baby Sister Oliphant is leaving me and going up to the Deaf branch, but I know it will be great for her.  I'm just a little stressed about having to interpret EVERYTHING we do.  Now I will have to sign all the hymns I sing, all of my companionship studies and all the district meetings.  I have to sign the correlations we have with the ward and the Wednesday night meetings.  I'm going to be signing all the time.  Which will be good for me, but really stressful.  Hopefully I can just keep getting better and better at ASL I guess!  

 You know what's crazy about Deaf people?  Lots of them dont understand anything about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They don't understand how to pray.  Most of them think that because Heavenly Father is "hearing," He doesn't know ASL, so He cant understand them!  We have to explain over and over that God knows and understands ALL languages, even ASL.  Its hard for them to comprehend since they can't SEE Him watching their sign language.  Most of the time we dont even get to the Restoration lessons because they mean nothing unless these people understand who God is and what He set up for the commandments and prayer.  Some Deaf people don't even know that Jesus was born of Mary, a virgin.  

I sang a musical number on Sunday.  The whole 3rd row clapped for me at the end.  oops.  Dominick, Mickey, Zina, and one of the less actives were all on that row.  I think the black people want to change our quiet LDS culture and spice our services up a bit.  It was definitely funny and I laughed for 10 minutes after I sat down.  I think it will be the only time I'll get applause during a sacrament musical number!  We went to the temple today.  Its the first time Ive been since December and I really miss it.  I think that's what I'll do when I get home.  I'll just go to the temple every day and catch up for lost time.  (lost time that is not really "lost" by any means! Totally worth it!!)  We took pictures of the four roommates for this transfer, so I'll send those.  

Ooooh!!!  One of our less actives owns a Book of Mormon that was a 3rd publication!  Its from 1891!!!  I got to hold it and take a picture of my favorite scripture!  Soo cool.  Speaking about the Book of Mormon, Kathy is really enjoying reading from it!  She's slowly progressing and she can recognize the peace and joy that comes from reading and learning with us!  Apparently, Wiccans and Mormons believe a lot of the same things!  (wierd?) but she agrees to most everything we teach and says "well yeah, I already knew that!"  Its amazing just to watch the gospel take root in her and to have it make sense.  She told us last week that she has basically never had anybody love her before.  Not even her own Mother.  In fact, on her Mom's death-bed letter, her first sentence was "Sorry I never loved you..."  Kathy thinks that we have a "glow" about us and she says our auras are bright.  Man, I wish I could see auras.  Its trippy to think about, though, but hey!  Whatever floats her boat and keeps her learning, I'm fine with it.   

Love you all!!

Sister Wilson

 
We taught a super drunk guy named Craig last week.  He hasnt been sober for 30 years so we're gonna see if we can get him to come to the addict recovery class the church offers.  Drunk people are really funny.  

this is Ylang.  He is our deaf investigator and is learning how to pray.

 This is temple day with my roomies (sister missionaries)

hola

So, the mission nurse decided I might benefit from some physical therapy since I dont have chiropractic here.  Lucky for me, alls I have to pay is a $10 co-pay.  We'll see if it helps the back!  According to the therapist, I have some "weakness."  (Whatever that means...)  So, my back muscles are really weak and so are my leg muscles.  I'm doing special exercizes to work on strengthening.  joy. 

This is a picture of my favorite street in Stockton, lined with palm trees.  So Cali.  Sister Landon told me the other day that I only have 3 transfers left, I about keeled over.  When it's put into transfers, it seems so soon!!  I hope all of you are bored with nothing to do when I come home so I can stay busy with friends and family lest I go crazy!!  No more spanish speaking this week.  But we did have some other crazy stuff. 

 

Crazy stuff: We had two stray tabby cats rip into our garbage out back last night.  One of them had her head stuck in an empty can of Campbell's soup so we named her Campbell.  It took a good minute to get it off her, but she let us.  We made the mistake of feeding them some extra chicken we had in the fridge and some warm milk and now they won't leave.  hmmm....so...we kind of have two cats. 

 Other crazy stuff: Remember how Dianne had her uncle and her daughter die last week?  Her Nephew was murdered on Friday.  Three deaths in her family within a 2-week period of time.  She was crying on the VP and my heart just breaks for her.  I cant wait to teach the plan of salvation again to remind her where these people are.  She still says she wants to be baptized, but I just hope she can come back soon.  She's flying away to attend her nephew's funeral and then she will be back in two weeks. 

More other crazy stuff: we found a less-active Deaf who should be coming to our ward, too!  Except, he's homosexual!  BUT...he was baptized knowing nothing about what was taught.  He was really young and nobody signed to him, so he just did what his family did.  Hopefully we can teach him more truth about the church and the Lord.  He has a boyfriend, so it will be interesting to deal with this issue since I never have on my mission.  Good thing the gospel is for everybody!

Our investigators are doing well!  Lynda is still going strong and she really wants to be baptized, so we hope she can keep away from the cigarettes until then!  Zina gave a talk in church for the first time ever in her life and the bishop had to move the podium up and down and up and down to tell her to stop talking.  We all laughed pretty hard.  Kathy, the Wiccan, actually really enjoyed church.  She was too scared to do more than 1 hour, but I saw her tear up sitting next to me.  I KNOW she felt the holy ghost.  She texted us that night and said that she was moved by the talks and that next week she'll come for two hours.  I love being a missionary.   

Sister Wink

I love September

I love September, its my favorite month.  Except in California its too hot, so REALLY I'll love October here.  This week had ups and downs like they all do.  The downs: We went to stop in on our investigators, Dominick and Mickey.  He was really upset because we "just showed up" and didn't set up an appointment.  We knew why when we got blasted by the smell of Marijuana.  The strange thing is, we've always "just stopped by" and its never been a problem for them, they are flaky with appointments anyway.  I'm pretty sure he didn't want us to know he was doing illegal drugs because he knows its wrong even though we haven't taught the Word of Wisdom yet.  I now totally understand the Word of Wisdom.  You really CANT feel the spirit when there's drugs or any kind of substance being abused.  Its so offencive to God for us to abuse our bodies.  It wasn't even worth it for me and Sister Oliphant to try to teach anything, because I just felt so gross and dead when we sat down on the couch.  We stayed for a few minutes and tried to calm Mickey down before we left.  I had a headache for the rest of the day.  Anyone know if you can experience 2nd-hand Marijuana damage?  Would it be like 2nd-hand smoke? They didn't come to church yesterday, either... 

My light and joy: Lynda.  She's set to be baptized on September 22nd.  She's been WITHOUT CIGARETTES FOR 4 DAYS!!!!! She's doing SO well and she cant wait to be baptized!  Lynda told us last week in one of our lessons that she's so excited to pay her tithing.  She did it on Sunday, even though she doesn't have enough to make ends meet.  She said "I will NOT be ashamed to be a Mormon!  THIS is what I believe!!"  She's soooo converted and she has so much faith.  I love it. 

Kathy, the Wicca, showed us last week how she prays.  She doesn't pray, really.  She "casts."  To the Goddess of the Night, Diana.  She sets up 2 candles, one of them white and the other one red.  The white one was Diana and the red one was the Great-horned God.  She didn't light them, she just knelt down on the floor and prayed.  So okay, we need to teach a little more about Heavenly Father, but she is truly curious about our beliefs!  Actually, even though that prayer-cast was to the wrong God, it was one of the most beautiful prayers I have ever heard on my mission.  So sincere.  Kathy plead for Diana to help her become a better Kathy, she also asked Diana if she should keep learning from us missionaries.  By the end of the cast, she was crying.  Its strange, but the Holy Ghost was so strong during the whole lesson and her prayer. She's just a bit confused on some basic truths, but she has such a good heart and I feel a lot of peace in her home.  I think she is mistaking the holy ghost for a goddess.  She talks a lot about feeling peace and hours of meditation, trying to get answers.  Its close to what we encourage all people to do as they invite the spirit.  So, Kathy is basically praying to the Holy Ghost.  haha.  She is coming to Relief Society this Thursday and church on Sunday, so we'll see how she likes it!  (you know what else? I found the goddess Diana in the bible this morning while I was reading...crazy....If anyone is curious, just read Acts 19.  She's also in the bible dictionary! )

This week, because Sister Landon is the new coordinating sister, I got to do some work in espanol!  3 whole days!  And guess what?!  I said a whole prayer in Spanish!  Granted, it was a simple one, but a prayer nonetheless.  I am amazed how much I was able to remember from 7th grade Spanish class, I can understand about 30% of what the Mexicans said.  Pretty good for being terrible at Spanish.   I think the Lord blessed me with the ability to understand.  Anyway, it was cool.  We also did some service for a thrift store, I will send a picture of the before.  There is no after picture, its still a mess every time we sort through stuff.  But who bought a real cashmiere sweater for $2.14?  yup. Me.

Deafie Dianne called last night with the most sad news I've ever heard.  Her uncle died last week.  Then, her daughter died on Saturday, so she is taking custody of her grandchildren.  (Dianne is 54, so I think her daughter was in her 20's.)  Lani, our deaf member, called her on the VP and they talked and Lani later told me that she still wants to be baptized once she feels better.  Its just this whole crazy brain surgery thing, takes forever to heal from.  And now this.  She has to raise children again...I don't think they know ASL either.  I was so sad to hear that but I know the gospel can bless her and her current situation.  Hopefully she can be baptized in September or October! 

 I love all of you!  Keep up the testimonies!

Love,

Sister Wilson

summer is almost over

The heat is calming down, which has been soooo nice.  We had a crazy awesome week with funny stuff, and I still love being a missionary.  Sister Oliphant and I had to get a flu shot at our mission conference.  They make us do it.  She doesnt like needles.  She cried.  Y'know what Ive learned a lot more about on my mission??  Drugs.  Im becoming a drug professional.  Okay, not really, but we hear about them a LOT.  And they're like no big deal here, because everyone does them.  Drugs are causing so much damage to these people down here, I now have a better perspective on why they're so dumb to do.
We have one investigator named Joanna who is in a wheelchair because she weighs 600 pounds.  She cant really do much because her stomach is so big it hits her knees when she walks, so she's considered handicapped.  Anyway, we went to visit her the other day, and when we walked in we were blasted by the smell of urine.  She'd had an accident on the floor, and she was lying in her bed without clothes on under just a sheet.  There were a few times when we were talking with her that she twisted a bit too much and the sheet slipped off of her and we saw way more than we ever cared to see, but the poor lady must have just given up on having any dignity in herself because of her situation.  Its so sad to see people who live like that.  She doesnt really listen when we come over to teach, shes always asking us to clean something for her or take out her garbage full of diapers.  Joanna DOES have caregivers who come in everyday and help her, not sure why she wants us to help her too.  We will probably stop going by because her heart isn't in it.

 On the other hand, we added a new investigator last week, Kathy, who is a Wiccan!  She's really sweet and no, she doesn't call herself a "witch."  I'm very curious what the Wicca religion really believes, but it's apparently a very peaceful, loving culture and people really love it.  Kathy has already read like 20 pages from the book of mormon and she says she has a lot of questions for us.  We teach her again tomorrow, so it should be fun!!  

 Here in California, they have these terrible metal screen doors that you cant see though. They have itty bitty holes in the metal, but I hate it when someone opens the wood door but NOT the metal one because you don't know where to look!  You dont even know if they're really there because you cant see them.   Anyway, we just stand and present ourselves and try to not be awkward.  So the other day, sister Oliphant and I were at a door asking for a specific man who had met with missionaries before.  The lady opened up her screen door and we could see her figure vaguely, but not clearly.  She told us that the man wasnt home so we thanked her.  Then, out of the middle of nowhere, Sister Oliphant asks her "Are you a painter?"  I was so confused.  I looked at her, then at the lady, who replied "uhhh...no?" I tried to understand where sister Oliphant got that question and I asked her "does it smell like paint?"  She got really awkward and just said "no."  Then she looked up at the ceiling of their front porch at something and it was soo weird.  The poor lady was just bothered at us and all three of us kind of stood there for a second in confusion.  Then sister Oliphant explained "Well, isnt that a paintbrush in your hand?"  "No, this is a shishkabob skewer."  Stupid screen doors.  Sister O just said "oh, I thought you were holding a paintbrush.  Well, you have a good day!"  And we left.   hahaha.  We laughed our heads off when we got in the car and now I randomly ask sister Oliphant if she's a painter.  She's getting better at talking to people, but its still awkward for her at times.  It makes me realize how far I've really come on my mission, I remember all those awkward conversations I tried to start and all the times I didn't know what to do.  

 I had a spout of Sadness yesterday that lasted for a few hours.  I will explain: Lani went to to the Deaf branch on Sunday to give a talk up there, so I didnt have to interpret for Relief Society.  We had 5 people tell us they would be at church yesterday, but Dan was the only one to actually come.  So, we sit in the back of the Relief Society room, and for once, I could just sit there and enjoy the lesson.  I was very relieved that there was no stress of worrying about false doctrine being taught to my investigators or if they had friends, but I was also sad that they didn't make it.

 

We decided to sit near the back, which I havent done in a long long time, near a new lady.  Bad decision.  I remembered why I dont like sitting in the back row of church.  There were women in the back chatting and laughing in the middle of the lesson.  I couldn't focus!  Now, I can't judge those women, because there have been many weeks when I used to do that myself.  But I kind of became overwhelmed with a feeling of sadness.  I was sad my investigators didn't come.  I was sad that they women in the back weren't listening to a really good lesson.  I was sad as I looked around the room and half of them haven't made it through the temple yet.  I came home from church and my heart hurt.  A slight pain in my chest, for these people who I care about so much.

 I look forward to having Sundays when I don't have to be so worried about interpreting or false doctrine or everyone feeling welcomed.  I think when we're at church each week at home, we take advantage of what a wonderful opportunity it is to go and be overwhelmed by the spirit and personal revelation.  Sundays are a time when we can bask in the presence of the holy ghost.  I am reminded of two scriptures I read a month ago.  Ecclesiastes 1:18 "For in much wisdom, is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow."  Ecclesiastes 7:3 "Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better."  Sometimes when we love people so much, they hurt us more than if we didn't love them at all.  But I believe this to be a good thing, a Christlike thing.  I love being a missionary, it just definitely has its ups and downs.  Sister Oliphant is doing well, and I can see how much different I have become here in the past year.  

 I love all of you!

 Sister Wilson

progress

This was a pretty good week, no room for complaining.  Mostly because Lynda wants to BE BAPTIZED ON SEPTEMBER 22ND!!!  Well, she has to stop smoking, but she can totally do it.  I know she can, she quit on her own far before we ever met her, so she's already done it once!  Dominick and Mickey are thinking about getting married, too.  We'll see if we can get that goin!

 On Tuesday, we went to contact this single boy in his 20's and the wind was a bit rambunctious that day.  This guy just happened to be outside with his friend.  Yup.  You guessed it.  My skirt caught a current and I flashed both of them with my garments.  Then we left and I laughed hysterically.  Oh, life.
 You know what is crazy to me?  People switch churches a lot!  I think I grew up thinking that everyone had one church that their parents took them to and they stayed with it most their lives.  Nope.  Not here.  People go to whatever church is closest to them, which is really sad.  I often hear "oh yeah, we just started going to this other church 2 weeks ago" or "Ive just started going to the one down the street."  Lucky for me, these people are actually SEARCHING for a church to go to, so when we come along its easy to challenge them to try ours. 

 Here's a cool miracle that happened to us this week!  We had about 10 minutes so we decided to go down to the park and talk with people.  As we got out of the car, I felt prompted to grab a DVD from our trunk, so I did.  The park we went to was kind of far from our area, so it was kinda' risky to meet people there that actually live in our teaching boundaries, but we didnt car.  Park contacting is difficult at times because you have to pick your people.  You can walk in any direction and you just pray that you're not skipping the person you are supposed to find!  Sister Oliphant and I felt inspired to talk with the first woman we saw who was a young black mother watching her son play.  We walked over and the whole conversation was so natural with her.  She actually asked US which church we were from before we could bring it up.  She said she was looking for a church!  Come to find out, she actually lives across the street from our church building, like, she could walk there if she needed to.  We gave her the DVD and she was so excited!  Her name is Shatavia and we teach her again tomorrow.  YAY! 

Random:
My car has bluetooth to our phone, so when people call us, our radio shuts off and the people speak to us through the car system.  Ive never been this high-tech in my life.  Strange that it should happen on my mission!  Then again, the church just came out with some new Mormon.org cards that have the little scanny thing for the iPhones.  I'm happy our church is staying up with the times, I just wish they would focus more on the DEAF technology and translation that we need. 

We went to the Delta on Friday night to eat dinner and see the boats and docks.  I love boats and docks, I'll send pictures.

My favorite Zina quote from the week: "God said Adam and Eve, NOT STEVE AND STEVE AND EVE AND EVE!"  She understands well.  That Zina says some crazy funny stuff. 

I love all of you! 

 Sister Wilson

New Companion

Sister Oliphant is amazing.  Yes, Oliphant, like elephant with an O. She's from Madison, Wisconsin and she isnt 5'2"!  When I picked her up from the office, she was just so bubbly and happy to be here.  She's had 5 years of ASL and helped me interpret on Sunday.  Yesterday when we went to contact a Deaf person, this way angry guy threw the door open before we even got to the front step.  He yelled at us to go away and that we were bothering him at home when he didnt want us there.  He slammed the door shut.  We get in the car.  Sister Oliphant yells "MY FIRST DOOR SLAMMED IN MY FACE!!  YES!!"  and she laughs.  I love her.  She's so enthusiastic and she has all these new fresh ideas and its good for me to remember everything I've forgotten from the MTC!  Dan was sick this past week so we asked him if he needed anything and he just answered "soup."  So directly after church, me and Sister Oliphant came home and she made Tomato Basil soup that was surprisingly good for the lack of ingredients we had.  (But naturally, it wasn't as good as Stacey's!)

 Lynda is so ready to be baptized!!  She just has to stop smoking.  She's now cut back to 2 cigarettes a day, and honestly, she only has 2 left.  She says that she 'aint buyin' no mo'.  We were talking with her about the Word of Wisdom and she had a testimony of it far before she met us.  She's like "Smoking isnt Godly!  I shouldnt be doing it!"  Then we taught the other substances that were harmful and she told us that drinking isnt going to be a problem to give up cuz she doesnt drink often and that coffee is no biggie either.  So if we can just get her to quit smoking we'll be good to go for her baptism!!   I'm so excited!!  We still need to teach the law of chastity, but in the last lesson she said "Fornication!  fornication, fornication.  I need to call my friend and tell him its over!"  So, pretty sure that wont be a problem either, she already knows it's a sin.  I LOVE LYNDA!!!! 

I love being a missionary.  I've grown so much since the MTC.  Sister Oliphant gives me flash backs to my first few weeks and my fears of being a new missionary.  I remember being scared to talk to strangers, feeling nervous and stuttering on my sentences while Sister Williams did most the talking.  I have come far and I realized that I'm now comfortable here.  Not comfortable in a "I dont need to improve" kind of way, but comfortable like...at peace.  I am at peace as a missionary, answering questions people ask and resolving concerns they have.  The gospel is amazing!!!

Love you all!                           these are all the deaf sister missionaries in my mission

 Sister Wilson

Last night, there was a man playing a trumpet outside our window.