Miracles Happen !!!!!

In the short time I have been in the Mission Field, people have been telling me that I can do miracles. It's not that I didn't believe it could happen, but parts of me doubted it. I know, I know, FAITH Hermana Atkinson, never doubt the power of God. 

I have been struggling as of late... I am not going to lie. THIS IS HARD!!!!!  But worth it (see the atonement and missionary work on youtube as a reference). I am still struggling with the language, I'm not sure what I am saying. This leads me to struggle with the spirit, because I can't use the words I want to use. 

But here is what I want to share:

ANY THING IS POSSIBLE!!!!!!! ANYTHING!!!!! 

For Christmas a member (Jorge) gave all the missionaries in our ward gift cards to Chipotle (there are 9 of us.... super sweet). All 5 of the Hermanas went to Chipotle together, with Jorge and his cousin (Junior). We had such a large group, we had to split into 2 tables. Hermana Christensen and I sat at a different table. Junior isn't a member, the other Hermanas were talking about baptism and giving him a hard time. I guess he had enough, he came and sat down with us.  

MIRACLE #1 ... He was talking, Hermana Christensen and I were replying. Amazingly enough we had a complete conversation in Spanish.... I will get back to Junior in another miracle.

MIRACLE #2 ...   Jorge is really involved with missionary work, and  goes out with us a lot. Saturday morning he went to the temple. Unfortunately, he fainted and had a heart attack right in the temple. He was rushed to the ER. We got frantic calls from his sister, brother and mom.  He was able to go home later that day.  There was a baptism Saturday night, he tried to go, but just couldn't get up the energy. After the baptism, we went to check on him. Something was wrong, he was struggling. You could tell he just wasn't feeling well. He said his arm felt funny again, his leg was hurting and he was struggling to breathe. His brother Juan called 911. The ambulance arrived, and off he went to the ER.  We followed the ambulance. 

I called the Elders and quickly explained to them what was going on.  Immediately, the Elders headed for the hospital and upon arriving promptly gave Jorge a blessing. It was quite miraculous!  Jorge's heart went right back to normal, he could breathe again! The doctor came in and said it was like he wasn't having a heart attack at all. I have never in my life witnessed anything like that.  As we left the hospital and headed home I felt extremely peaceful for the rest of the evening.

For MIRACLE #3 ..... back to Junior. Junior has been through all lessons a couple years ago.  He enjoyed going to church but continues to say he likes our message,  but he never felt right about being baptized. We had dinner with him on Friday and talked about so many things, and of course the gospel came up a few times.  I purposely didn't really teach a principle as I just wanted to know his feelings.  Saturday we taught Junior a little but then the Jorge thing happened and of course we had to stop teaching to go to the Hospital  We decided to go over on Sunday (yesterday) and Junior was anxious to hear a message ..... so we talked about prayer, the comfort we can receive from the Holy Ghost and the fruits of the spirit.  Right at that time I felt I should ask him how he felt and he said he wanted to write it down.  Of course I gave him a pen and paper and he wrote,"me voy a bauptizar"! Even I know what that means! "I am going to be baptized".   Junior is going to be baptized this Saturday! My first baptism But more importantly salvation and blessings to Junior. I have shed tears on my mission for many reasons, but last night my tears were for Junior because it was amazing! 

Sorry I don't have any funny stories to tell this week but I love you all and hope you each can find your own miracles during this New Year!

Love,

Hermana Atkinson

Missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Washington D.C. South Mission

Almost Christmas

Life is GREAT!!!!!

Just in case you are wondering what a Missionary does all day, my daily schedule is as follows:

Up by 6:20 AM, exercise, shower, breakfast,study alone, study with my companions, study language, lunch, then teaching, teaching, teaching, dinner, more teaching, planning for the next day and finally sleep( if we are lucky). This may seem like a lot, but it is really tons of fun. I LOVE IT OUT HERE!!!!!! 

Still no snow but I am praying for some before Christmas.

We had a very eventful week. We are teaching 2 new families. Both families came to church and the ward Christmas party. We were also able to go to the Temple and see the lights with one of the families. YES ... I will send pictures. Last Monday I went to go see the National Christmas Tree. YES ... I will also send pictures of that.

Spanish is slowly coming along. When members come up and tell me their problems, I can reply. I also can understand them. MIRACLES ARE HAPPENING! 

I went to my first Quinceanera this week. When a girl turns 15 in Hispanic culture, they believe this is the age that marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. They have a big party, organized dances and lots of cool traditions.... 

As far as food this week ...  we went to a sisters house, she is amazingly cool. I was extremely grateful for the whole chicken, plate of rice potatoes, salad and the fruit cake. I took it home, it was just enough for 3 or 4 meals. One of my companions decided to put some of her chicken in her pocket. She then asked if she could use the bathroom. She tried to flush the chicken down the toilet, but you can't flush chicken down the toilet. No more food in our pockets, lesson learned. One other thing, don't ever offer to make food for a Hispanic family. I made some French fries for a family. I told them if they made some quesadillas I would bring French Fries. I made my French Fries, put a ton of Chile Powder on them, they loved them. Now the Mother of the family just keeps saying, "You can get married, because you know how to cook"....... AWKWARD!

Oh, one more thing. The scary part of the week, I had to go to the hospital. We were at the Quinceanera and I had an allergic reaction to something. I was having a hard time breathing. The Mission President was called and off to the ER I went. I have to carry Benadryl and an inhaler with me. But everything is great. 

So yeah that was my week. I hope that you have a great week, a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Love,

Hermana Karlie Atkinson

Missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Washington D.C. South Mission

Mexican Jumping Beans

Mexican Jumping Beans!!!

Soooooo this week has been going great! I am finally starting to feel comfortable around people and I am beginning to talk to them in Spanish!. I am learning the language slowly, but surely. The learning curve is steep, but worth it.

Yesterday we had 8 investigators at church! We have one with a baptismal date and 6 that want to be baptized, but have to have permission from parents or are still progressing through the lessons. So that's awesome! We have one prospect that is 7 years old and he is determined to be baptized next month as soon as he turns 8.

We also had a very fruitful week proselyting,surely, as we met with 9 new investigators and it seems like everything is going great in our area. Being so new to this whole missionary thing, I seem to have this dreadful feeling that I am doing everything wrong! I feel that I need to learn so much and that I might say or do something that I shouldn't. But yeah, other then that I love it out here! It seems that almost all of our members and investigators are illegal immigrants, but hey, I just love them anyway. It seem that they are super hard workers and amazing people with fascinating stories ….. and by the way, it is super funny how many illegal immigrants work cleaning government officials offices!!

So yeah I know the title sounds really racist but it is kinda true for this week. We were invited to attend some of the churches of our investigators, and we think it is always a good idea to attend other churches since we ask so many to attend ours! So off we go on Sunday to another Church's worship service ….. and honestly it wasn't terrible, it was just different compared to what I am used to. There was a sermon which I don't understand much of because its all in Spanish ….. and you know how good my Spanish is …... There were a lot of AMENs in Spanish! They also love to sing and dance and are cheering to loud music ... needless to say it was a learning experience for me, and a fun one!

Other then that, food wise we had one appointment this week and I asked the members if we could have quesadillas ….. so that was good and I offered to make some fries, hoping that they would approve .... now remember they are from Mexico and they like everything hot, really HOT! This is the family feeds us every Thursday ..... so any way I put enough chili powder to kill a cat on these fries, and then I made a couple of batches that didn't have any chili powder for all the missionaries. I didn't want the members to think we were skipping the hot stuff, so I put paprika on our fries so they looked hot!! I give the members my really hot fries …. and they were all in tears! Then you look at all 5 Hermanas and we are all eating the fries just fine.... which would have been great had the members not put more fries on my plate! I thought I was going to die.... tears were shed...

But I love your logo... Nice design and mom is looking good! I am so happy I have the opportunity to be out here. I don't want you to think I don't but, it is hard.... Harder then then I ever thought it was going to be, but I know I can get through it. Sorry about my complaining.

So cool things I have noticed this week is that there is always joy. I Love being here around the holidays! Emotionally this week has been a roller coaster, but on the other hand I have seen miracles.I love seeing the smiles on people's faces and how people want to give to others around this time of year. Any way, thank you so much for all the pictures, I love them and I hope your week will be fantastic.

But other then that I had a great week this week, all in all, life is great....

Until next week,

Hermana Atkinson
Missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Washington D.C. South Mission

Thanksgiving and life in D.C.

Thanksgiving and life in D.C.

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was amazing! Mine was great, we did a lot of visiting different people and helping out with so many different things …... mostly cooking and cleaning. So many of the people here have so little that it is truly humbling to remember how much I am blessed with. I am starting to understand more Spanish which is cool and now I get to hear some crazy insane stories about how people got here and what they are thankful for. They have so little and they are thankful for so much. It makes me think …...

I hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving! An addition to my “things I have learned file”, if someone asks if you want more food at dinner, just say,” yes please” and they will give you a little bit more food, if you say “no” they just put a LOT more on your plate and say that, “she doesn't know what she needs!”.

I don't mean to be rude, but I have eaten at least 5 lbs of cilantro with cabbage and onions at every meal with a smile on my face, pretending it is the best salad EVER ... So, other then that I have had some really interesting food selections already. I have found out that purple potato salad isn't bad... not sure why it was purple though, and turkey and a lot of hot sauce taste better then turkey without hot sauce for some reason, but the grass hoppers taste better then the turkey? But the Turkey is definitely better than the nasty soup with pig skin in it and sometimes I am grateful when I don't get meal appointments because while I don't mind most of the food it gets old after a bit.

It is still a little hard to be myself because I cant joke in Spanish. This week I am planning a language fast for one day. That means I wont speak any English for a full day .... wish me luck.

Thanks for all the pictues! The puppies are growing so fast. I have a new slogan for your puppy website,”life is better with a Dane!”. I was telling someone why I liked our dogs and that is the only real reason I had. Soooooooo, life is great here! We were having dinner with some ward members the other night and this is a great family ….. they feed us every week. Anyway, the Father dared me (the GREENIE) to eat a whole pepper. I'm not really sure what kind of pepper this is, but I just thought “What the heck”, and that's right, I ate it, the whole thing! Well, much to my surprise and especially to everyone around me, It wasn't that hot! And after I am done eating this thing I am told it was suppose to be an insanely hot pepper.... But I liked it! I guess my taste buds didn't get the memo that the pepper was suppose to be hot or maybe I am starting to fit in better already.

So we are teaching a lesser active family and they have a beautiful little girl named Nichole. She is absolutely the cutest thing ever. Her dad calls us,The Hermanitas, so when we come in to her house she just runs around and yells mis hermanitas mis hermanitas, then she runs and gives us hugs. When we sit down she always sits by me and asks if I have any stickers, she is adorable! All in all, I am better friends with the kids then with the adults because I have MANY stickers to share with them. So advice for others who are on missions or going on missions, ALWAYS HAVE STICKERS! I think if you get to know the kids, well the parents have to talk to you!

I bore my testimony in Spanish this Sunday because I had this great idea that if we all went up and bore our testimonies about our missions that maybe it would get the ward excited to help with missionary work. Out of the 9 missionaries in this ward, 3 of us went up and talked, My hands were shaking and my voice was cracking and I thought I said everything right. After the meeting a member here that went on his mission to Ecuador came up to me and offered to give me Spanish lessons ..... sooooooo I guess it wasn't as good as I thought. Oh well, I will learn more each and everyday. Until next week.

Hermana Atkinson
Missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Washington D.C. South Mission

I Made it to Washington D.C.

I MADE IT TO D.C. ... The plane ride coming back to the states was amazing!  I will miss Mexico but I am so happy to be back in the States.  I was traveling with a large group of missionaries, but my seat assignment had me sitting FAR away from the rest of the group.  This seating arrangement left me a lot of missionary opportunities,  which probably would have been better if I actually knew how to speak Spanish..... oh well. The first night in D.C., we went to the mission home and ate lasagna and salad. BOXED LASAGNA has never tasted so good. The food at the MTC wasn't horrible, it was just ..... well, different.  In fact I kind of miss the verde enchiladas.....

We slept in a motel (never thought a motel bed would be soooooo comfortable) but it was amazing.  We had a transfer meeting and I met my training sisters... I AM IN ANOTHER TRIO!!!!!!! They are both super cool. I must need a lot of help because I keep ending up in trios.

We live in Alexandria, VA. The members here are awesome. My first night, we went to the Castanetas. They are super sweet. They tried to help me understand Spanish by speaking VERY slow.  They invited us to stay for dinner at their house. INTERESTING MEAL!  When we sat down at the dinner table, Jorge (he is 31) put a bowl of grasshoppers down on the table... GRASSHOPPERS! So I ate some...  Surprisingly, they weren't that bad. I am in a new environment, and figured, Hey, I will try something new. I won't be eating them again aanytime soon, but it was fun to try. I am not sure if that was a "you are a new missionary" meal or if they actually eat grasshoppers on a regular basis? .

I am really bad at telling people I am full, and find that the members get offended if you don't eat enough. I finally offered to take some of the food home. This made her feel better,  and I did eat it later. The Spanish Speaking people in this mission are so loving. They are always trying to feed you, give you stuff and love to hug. I have hugged more people this week then I did at my high school graduation.

Maribell, one of my investigators, is so sweet.  She tries to speak in English, I try to speak Spanish and somehow we understand each other.  I know that the power of God is helping us communicate. I am sooo excited to be here and to learn Spanish and to do everything that this short period in my life has to offer.

Since I have two Companions, I don't talk a lot (I know, hard to believe). I am slightly afraid to say something wrong. I know in time, with the Lord's help, I will learn the Spanish Language. I talk to the member's, they understand that I am just learning. I am very good at saying, "I am trying to learn Spanish". 

Life is Great ...

Love all of you,

Hermana Atkinson

Missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Washington D.C. South Mission

Random Thoughts ...

My training sisters are CRAZY.

When we are in SCARY Neighborhoods, I repeat 2 Timothy 1:7 "For god hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of love and of power and of a sound mind."

I have an iPad, and will have a Facebook Account in two months.

I am about 8 miles from the White House. I can go to D.C. once every Transfer. (Every 6 weeks)

My P-Day activity this week is Going to the Masonic Temple.

GOOD BYE MEXICO!!

GOOD BYE MEXICO!!

Soooooo the time has come to say goodbye to Mexico :( and hello Washington D.C. :)!! In the past few days I have had to say a lot of goodbyes, which in many ways was hard but I WILL SURVIVE
( totally just sang that in my head)!

There were tears during those good byes, but they were tears of joy! I got to know so many missionaries here and I know that they all have amazing testimonies and are going to go out and do some amazingly good deeds in this world.

So this week has been a little bit weird. My teacher Hermano Hernadez is such an eccentric fellow! He decided it was necessary to tell me the difference between MONO and MANO, which is monkey and hand... so he was doing this in his broken English and he kept saying monkeys have hands but hands don't have monkeys... which I got the first time but I kept saying “ I don't understand”, so he kept explaining.... It was kinda funny or maybe I am a little twisted? I am really going to miss that guy. So all in all ….. a very good week.

I don't remember if I told you this but there was another tripanionship here in the CCM , a group of elders, and we called ourselves the Eldonahood.... that what happens when Elders name your friendship. Anyway because all of us were leaving we had to do workshops that were set up for companionship s(two) and since there were two trios yours truly was partnered with an Elder... don't worry my companions were within sight and sound but I have never felt so uncomfortable being near a boy before... (they have cooties) hahahaha! Well at least for 16 and ½ more months anyway!

Soooooo I have to say this, if someone in the CCM offers you an orange Popsicle TAKE IT!!!! best thing ever, it was mango and guava flavored and I have been craving one EVER since!! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Well besides the fact that the newer districts think I speak really good Spanish (haahaaahahaha jokes on them) and not understanding Spanish grammar to save my life, life is going great. I am not confident in the language but with time everything will get better... hopefully, if not those poor people I teach will be mighty confused.

So during my last few days here I finally have this food thing down ... This is my advice for anyone reading this that ends up here in the Mexico City CCM. Only get cantaloupe and honey dew for fruit, when they have the good salad stuff eat it! Don't eat the eggs and always get a Nutella and peanut butter sandwich at breakfast and REMEMBER if all else fails Tuesday night is Costco pizza night!!

Tomorrow I leave and I can't wait. I will miss the palm trees and parrots and the heat. I am always outside and there are birds everywhere, big beautifully colored rare Birds! It makes me kinda sad to leave because there are lots of flowers blooming here ….. but I am not sure what kind. It is a big compound and after today it wont be mine anymore. I am so excited to meet and talk to more people in Washington D.C.! So farewell from Mexico, my next letter will be from our Nations Capital, Washington D.C.!! (I wonder if there is snow??)

Hermana Atkinson
Missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Washington D.C. South Mission

One more GLORIOUS week in Mexico!

It is soooooo insane to think that this is going to be my last week in Mexico! We are always so busy here, and it seems that there is always something special going on. I have been practicing to sing in a trio with 2 elders, and it is my favorite song, “How great thou art”, and yes I am singing tenor an octave up..... It is coming along very well and should be very nice. One of the Elders is from Minnesota, Elder Gross and then there is Elder Denton from Mesa Arizona. We practice every day and we will be singing on Sunday. Also, my district is singing “Come thou font” on Sunday, and we haven't practiced even one time! Well me being who I am and spending so much time singing in choir, I just feel the need to practice …..... right now! Oh well, I am sure it will sound beautiful anyway.

Only one more P Day left here in Mexico. The elders in my District keep getting stains in their shirts so we keep washing them for the Elders! I think I have done more loads of laundry here in Mexico than I have done all the rest of my life! We play this game and we call it ultimate ping pong! It is a trio of elders against our trio of sisters …. So picture this, playing basket ball with ping pond paddles and a ping pong ball! WILD and CRAZY fun. It is important to have a little fun mixed in with all the learning we do here. Spanish is getting easier everyday.

I just LOVE being a training sister, it is the best thing ever! I feel that it really causes you to forget about yourself and focus with everyone else. Everyday I have experiences to help others. There is a Sister here whose grandma passed away last week, and because of the strong feelings involved we have talked a lot this week! Recently, she asked for a blessing for comfort and asked me to be there for the blessing. May I just say that the priesthood is the greatest thing ever! I could see the peace come over my friend as she got the blessing and what a difference in her emotions and attitude since!

So I have noticed that Satan really tries to get in your head here. He really tries to make you feel worthless and like you aren't worthy of the blessings that Heavenly Father has given you, to the point even constructive criticism seems harsh and it really brings you down. I was having a rough time this week and was having a hard time controlling my emotions so I finally let my pride go and asked for a blessing. In that blessing I was promised that I was forgiven and an overwhelming feeling of peace came over me. I have never felt that peaceful in my life and then there was so much more that was said during the blessing, all I could feel was love, love from the lord, love for my district and zone and for what I am doing here! It was absolutely amazing.

Life here is finally starting to feel normal JUST IN TIME for us to prepare to leave! I just hope that I will be able to stay in contact with so many of the people that I have gotten to know here. I have learned to love them, I seriously can't imagine not interacting with them any more .... but so many new people and experiences are waiting for me in Washington D.C.!

As you can probably tell, it has been an emotional roller coaster week, but right now I couldn't be happier.

Until next week,
Hermana Atkinson
Missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Washington D.C. South Mission

Hermana Atkinson

Out with the old and in with ME!

Soooooo my training sisters left to go to Peru (Training Sisters are like a Zone Leader, but for Sisters.).  BITTER SWEET!!!!  Whenever training sisters leave for their various missions, it is necessary to call new Training Sisters, someone new to help train and comfort GREENIES, and guess who they called...... That's right folks! Our cute little trio is now a cute little trio of SISTER TRAINING LEADERS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Because my Training sisters left,  I had a rough day yesterday.  I know that the Lord breaks you down so he can build you up.  I have been asking in my prayers to be moldable.  I find that each day I am humbled and then I grow. 

I came to the sudden realization, with my training sisters leaving,  that soon I to will have to leave! I have learned to love it here in this crazy and insane and amazing place.  I have made such good friends in my district and with so many others and I realize it is going to be terrible saying goodbye..... in 2 WEEKS!

In other news ....... Spanish is getting easier. Last night in my personal prayers, before I went to sleep, I realized I was praying in Spanish, in my head!  Kinda cool and kinda scary. During sacrament last Sunday, I gave a talk in Spanish..... crazy, cool and insane. Anyway, we have two Spanish teachers and quite honestly, now this may sound amazing, but, I can talk with them in Spanish now!  I actually understand most of what the are saying..... it must be the GIFT OF TONGUES. Speaking of Spanish, I have a STORY! We were learning imperfect which is a form of past tense and it is VERY confusing.  Tenses are CRAZY hard! I asked my Teacher Hermano Hernandez when I should use imperfect and his answer was "when its not perfect"........... WOW SO INSIGHTFUL!!!!!

Other then that nothing crazy with food this week, maybe I am just getting used to it. The Elders in my district think it is funny to put bananas in my purse! Sooooo I happen to have a lot of bananas..... Like a good 15 from this past week... YIPPEE!!!!! 

So other then that, here is my scripture of the week.....

Helaman 5:12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Hermana Atkinson

Missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Washington D.C. South Mission

Out Of The Compound ...

So the joke around here is that we are in a compound. We are surrounded by gates and we can never leave. 
BUT EXCITEMENT!!!!!!!! Today we were allowed to leave!!!!!!!! 
We went to the temple. It is about a 40 minute drive. If you look it up on the internet it says we are right next to the Temple, but that was the old CCM. The visitors center was awesome. I loved it. First we took a tour , then went shopping. I bought a cute shirt and a HLJ - Haz Lo Justo (Choose The Right) ring. The day was very uplifting.
I LOVE IT HERE IN MEXICO!!!!! Everyone is so nice, little kids are always so happy, people smile and wave. Don´t get me wrong there are some scary things here as well... Like the driving. Cars get like 2 inches away from the bus, in my head I am thinking oh my, oh my, oh my.... WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!! 

 I think everyone would love my teacher In the morning, Hermana Arnaud. (Arnó is how it sounds) she is super great. She is always telling my companions and I that we need to stop stressing out. 

I am in a district with 9 people. 6 elders, 2 companions and myself. The girls and one of the Elders are going to D.C. when we leave....  I think it is super wrong that they put all of us together and we become a FAMILY and then they just tear our family apart.... So My companions and I decided that we are going to keep in contact with each other. We are going to have a district 12c meeting in 2 years here in Mexico... 

Other Stuff:

We were having a bad day, some girls in our house heart attacked our door. Yippee for companions eh?

The temple here is absolutely gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today we have a devotional, no one will tell us who it is. I have to sing at it.... super scary. We have a super small choir. Someone told the director that I could sing and now I HAVE to be there... oh well its not that I don't want to sing its just that I have so much on my plate. And I have to sing in Spanish.

Learning to Speak Spanish is GREAT but also super hard... our teacher says we need to work on our unity... so that is what we are trying to do.

The CCM is AWESOME. The weather is perfect, the people are super sweet, and the food is spicy.

We play volley ball everyday. Tonight we are playing in the dark... it will be fun

I hope all of you have an amazing week.
Hermana Karlie Atkinson
Missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Washington D.C. South Mission

Life In The CCM (Centro De Capacitacion Misional Mexico)

So it is pretty great here... it rains all the time... but it is super fun... I love it. 

Life is pretty simple it starts at 5:30, because getting 3 girls up and ready is kinda hard.... So we get ready and walk to class, most of the time 1-2 minutes late. We eat at 7:45, which honestly the rule for my companions and I is if it doesn't look edible we don't eat it...  so most mornings the food doesn't look great, so we eat fruit... We found this one fruit and it was so pretty and red.... and juicy and cut like a cantaloupe and we thought it looks good so we ate it... Papaya is nasty guys... it looks amazing it doesn't even smell to bad but it is like eating rotten eggs or something even worse..... it makes me sick to my stomach..... so after that nasty experience we were hesitant about eating lunch but we went and saw spaghetti noodles with some deep red sauce next to it and we were all so excited that we hurriedly got some and got our salad and sat down to eat. Expecting the first and most delicious bite of food I had eaten since I had got here and was immediately crying and my companions thought it was because it was so good.... not it was pure hot sauce that we had liberally lathered on out noodles.... so mouth on fire eyes watering we ate some more fruit... but not papaya.... So normally we try to eat one new food from the store everyday and we were pretty sure that trying a food wouldn't be a good Idea but the elders in our district said that this thing called a milch bar was good so we went to trying and we open it and its chocolaty and so I take a bite and it was horrible... it had ciles in it and it tasted like a protein bar so we gave the rest to the elders..... all in all though the food isn't too bad. 

So on another funny note Our district plays volley ball together 2 a week so we were playing and I was being super competitive and jumped to tip a ball at the net and completely ran into an elder and we both backed away quickly and it was super awkward....... he backed up and kept saying I AM SOOO SORRY! it was super funny and weird....

But on a Spiritual note elder Neil L Anderson,  Elder Maynes and Elder Piper came to have a devotional and shook all of our hands... they had such good talks and they were super uplifting....

so all in all it was a good week we finished teaching our first investigator. who then became our teacher. we have had lots of friends leave but we are still happy for them because now they are out in the real world. we and ate some really good food. Tuesday is pizza night... we have ate some really bad food. we have laughed and goofed off we have built a pyramid of chairs we have danced in the rain. we have fallen in the rain we have butchered  talks and prayers in Spanish... btw they make you prepare a talk in Spanish every Sunday and you have sacrament with your zone and they randomly call on people to give their talk. My companions have decided to buy a second water bottle to they can put hot water in it to keep their hands warm... they are both going to freeze in Washington D.C. One is from Arizona and the other is from Utah... I feel bad for them but on the bright side is that we get to be with each other our whole mission. The hardest part  of being here is that you get to know and love so many people and then you have to say goodbye but at the same time it is also a really happy thing because you know that they are going to go out and change lives.... But for my uplifting thought today is what Elder Neil L Anderson told us.... Love yourself because you are going to have to live with yourself forever... well I love you all 

Hermana Atkinson.

Missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Washington D.C. South Mission

GOSH, I love it here! It is amazing! The weather is perfect and I love that it rains every night between 6 and 8 just like clock work. Mexico City is such a big party town, we can hear all the parties at night, spanish music so many people. The drive from the airport was the scariest experience of my life! I have never seen so many crazy drivers all in one place. But seriously, Mom there are some gorgeous birds here. I love watching them and when I see a super colorful one, I think of you. I will try to get the birds in pictures, but we are only allowed to take pics on our p day. My district leader gets our mail and he left it in his room :( ..... but I have read your funny letters, they really made me laugh mom. Thank you so much! You would be so proud of me mom my closet is completely organized and all my clothes are clean...

The flight to Atlanta was hard and when I got to my terminal, there was a big group of missionaries all waiting for the flight to Mexico City. When I first saw them and walked away because I was crying. After I got myself under control it was so good to have so many other Missionaries to travel with, in fact I haven't cried since …..... until right now!

I love my district and my zone, I really do. There are so many Missionaries here! They separate us into branches and the first counselor in my branch interviewed me this past Sunday, he talks sooooo much my interview lasted about 3 times as long as my companions.

I miss home but I am the senior companion in my trio and the other girls are so home sick that I don't want to make them sad. So I try not to be homesick or at least not to show how homesick I feel. Today was the first time I have cried since meeting up with all the Missionaries while getting on the plane to Mexico. I have been way to busy to get too homesick and I as the senior companion, I try to focus on my companions' needs more then my own.

Teaching in Spanish is super hard, but my teacher says, “Practice makes a teacher”, He says that is a popular Mexican saying so I just have to believe that. :) Spanish is coming along, teaching in Spanish is quite tricky and sometimes embarrassing. We get to teach real discussions with investigators, and I was asked to say the opening prayer for the discussion. WELL when I started praying, I mispronounced a word and accidentally said something not so nice... but I have learned so much. We get to go to the temple visitors center while we are here....

Seriously, it is so hard and part of me wants to come home. I know I have so much I can gain and to share with others and that keeps me excited to learn more. It is just so different here, the fruit is different! The salad... different, all the food... different! BTW, bolognese (yes, that is how its spelled) lasagna is the grossest thing ever! Today we had oatmeal and I know it sounds weird, but it just made me sooo sad because it reminded me of home. I have learned so much already. HEY, they have Japanese peanuts here! I guess that makes sense since they are really a Spanish thing. I will buy some and send them when I get to Washington D.C..

On Sunday we watch videos and it reminds me of home and how we would always watch Saturdays Warrior and some of those other silly Mormon movies ...

I miss you all so much, but I memorized this scripture and I feel like it really helps. I only know it in Spanish, Philippine 4:13 Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece, it pretty much says in Christ I have strength... Well I will write next week I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!

Hermana Atkinson
Missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Washington D.C. South Mission