FUN...FUN...FUN...

August 10, 2015

Hey so this week was pretty awesome, as you can tell from my title. This week was transfers, as much as I love Hermana Evans, It was time for a change. 

On Monday we spent out last pday together just Chillin. Nothing super extravagant, just stayed in the house. It was super nice. After that we had a "Finding Fest" as a zone. We partnered off,  I was with a cute girl from Africa who doesn't know any Spanish. We went to my area and I just talked a lot... Which I know most of you are thinking well you always talked a lot, but not like this. It is a lot harder then it seems, to talk about the gospel. With random people that you have never met before. All in all it was a lot of fun. We found some really cool people to teach, which is SUPER EXCITING.

Tuesday and Wednesday ... Good-Bye days for Hermana Evans. These days are always the worst.

On Thursday we went to transfer meeting, and I am now companions with my old companion from the MTC, Hermana Christensen... Isnt that funny...  Any way I love her to bits and pieces. and we are going to have an awesome transfer! Legit the best! I cant wait ....

Ok, so here is the super exciting fun stuff. Are you all ready? It is so amazing that it is going to blow your mind and  none of you will believe it. drum roll........................................................🎵🎶🎧🎤🎹🎻🎼📼🎧🎤🎺🎷🎹🎻🎼🎼🎸〽〽🎸🎺🎷🎹🎻🎼🎤🎧📼.... they don't have a drum............ 

We went to a Washington Nationals Game on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

That's right be jealous... It was so much fun other then the fact that we didn't get home till 1 but its ok... The Nats won, It was fun to just be out doing something..... I loved it. Plus Bryce Harper probably liked his Mormon cheering section..... lol Any way I will be sending like 100 pictures or something like that. so I should get started Love you all have a fantastic week!!!!!!!!

Hermana Atkinson

Transfers

August 3, 2015

Hey Everyone how are you all this week?  I am fantastic!

These past two weeks have been really slow, but its ok because this week is transfers. I know most of the time I am not super excited about transfers, but 18 weeks living with someone is hard I love Hermana Evans but I think we are both ready for a change. One thing I am beyond happy about is that now I have a friend for life. Hermana Evans is literally amazing and she has helped me see who I want to be. 

That is one amazing this I have realized on my mission is that I have a potential to be a lot greater then I currently am. But another thing I have learned to welcome change. I am sad to see my companion go and honestly I am a bit nervous for a new companion. But at the same time I am excited for a new perspective and a new way to work.

So everyone has told me that a mission would help prepare me for life. which in a lot of ways is true it helps you use money wisely and to wake up on time and all of that is true beyond a doubt. I am extremely grateful for the time I have to prepare for a mission and in that process prepare for life. No my life wont be exactly like a mission but I am going to have to manage money and time and get things done and still find time to have fun

For that I am grateful...

Love all of you

Hermana Atkinson

No Letter

July 27, 2015

No letter this week ... Just lots of pictures.

Pranks

July 20, 2015

Hey everyone so this week was kinda whatever. I mean yes we worked but that was pretty much it.  I spent a lot of time just thinking this week and I have realized that I need to change a lot. Not in any major ways just small things but mostly in the way  Ivlook at people  I tend to be pretty cynical which in all reality is not a good thing. I just need to find a balance of being kind and charitable and protecting myself. I tend to be a very defensive person.  I realize that not everyone is attacking me by giving them the benefit of the doubt. Then other then that I have really been thinking about something that President Riggs told me before he left. He said what's so bad with being taken advantage of? With that quote I am not saying that I want to be a doormat but I have realized that there really isn't anything wrong with people taking advantage of me. It means I have the opportunity to serve others and  to show them how Christ would treat them. Which is with love, lets be honest isn't that what life is all about.  Sorry to tell you but this is a pretty short email

Oh but as for things concerning food. we ate these things that were awesome... I may have out ate the elders and that is what the picture is of and then I don't have a picture of the Mexican quesadillas but let me tell you they are better then any quesadilla you have ever had. Mexicans eat quesadillas different. So just as a warning if a Mexican offers you  a hot dog don't eat it because it will have mayo with it... unless you like that kind of thing then go ahead and then if a Mexican offers you a quesadilla take it. Just say yes and let them prepare it for you. needless to say I ate 5 of them in one sitting..... I like Mexican food... and Salvadorian food... and Peruvian food... and Bolivian food. oh speaking of Bolivian food,  I ate these fried cauliflower and carrot patty things,  they were soooo good.  I could live off them.

Oh and my companion and I may have started pranking the elders that live below us and we may have filled like 100 balloons with glitter and threw them in the elders apartment and then a couple of days later they threw tomatoes at our porch..... lol things missionaries find fun and entertaining. as long as no one gets hurt.

Any way I love you all and miss you ...

Los quiero

Karlie Atkinson

A New Beginning

July 13, 2015

Hey everyone! I am writing this on the metro on my way into DC. We are going to the Natural History museum today! Woo Hoo! So this week was different in a lot of ways. I have learned more about myself this week then I think I wanted to know but I needed to know. I am going to try and explain the best I can. But honestly this has been a LIFE changing week. It has been unbelievable. So where to start. Most of you who read this know me pretty well, but if you don't I am going to describe myself the way I see myself.

I am the kind of person that doesn't smile often. I don't express emotions well. But despite that when I care about someone I would do anything for them. I can either be really nice or down right nasty and nowhere in between. Well at least that is who I was before my mission. Out here I have learned to fake it till you make it. I would fake and deal with the people I didn't like until I wasn't with them anymore. And that is what I have done my whole mission and a lot of my life, but then this past week I realized something. I realized I have been very judgmental of people out here. Even though I am in America, I live in a different culture then I am used to and I resented it. I had the mind set of they are in America they should be trying to adapt. But then I realized this week that they are people who are trying. Yes some of them maybe trying harder then others. But everyone of us, we are all humans with human natures and feelings and wants and desires and needs. And since we are all human we will make mistakes. And once I started to think like this then I realized I have been a hypocrite I have been wanting others to change without first changing myself. Which lets be honest we all in some way or another need to change and become better.

This week we went to go visit a member and she has swimmers ear and she was complaining about it and she had taken a lot of headache medicine to try and solve it. When we got to her house she was on a lot of medicine and went and was throwing up so she decided to go to the hospital and I called President Huntsman to see if we
could take her. He said yes and that we could stay with her as long as needed.  So at first I was slightly irritated that I had to take her to the hospital because she took too much medicine and then we got to the Hospital and due to an escaped patient only one of us could go in with the member we were with. and they only allowed that because she doesn't know English and we could translate for her. Which my companion did. So not knowing what to do I sat in the waiting room and then President Huntsman called me and he told me that it was amazing that we had been there at her house at that time and that I was brave enough to ask to break rules to get her the help she needed. Then it hit me. Like a giant boulder. I do care about the member we were with and yes I was frustrated with the situation she put herself in and then I started looking at it from her perspective. She is a single mom of 4 who didn't understand what was happening to her. all she knew was that she was in pain and to continue providing for her children the pain had to stop. She took medicine in hopes that it would help. Needless to say I felt terrible after that call. I had just regarded someone as a problem that was impeding me. it was truly sad. After that I really started to look at my life and I noticed I regarded many people in my life as simple objects. the PEOPLE that I teach are referred to as investigators and it  is recorded weekly. I teach lessons everyday. But that wasn't why I came on a mission. so I went out into the parking lot while I was waiting for the other Hermanas to come pick me up because my companion had permission to stay the night in the hospital with the member so she wasn't alone. and as I waited I started to look around and it hit me it really hit me as to why I am out here. I am not out here to change  other people I am here to change myself, to be better and become an advocate for Jesus Christ. So if you want to know what happened this week it is pretty simple I found ways to improve and I am excited to become a better person. The member is doing fine now we go over once a day to check on her and do her dishes and make sure her kids have food to eat for dinner. So this week is my new beginning to start to treat people as they really are. as humans that have feelings and desires and needs and wants that are no greater then mine. After all if Christ were thinking about his needs and wants and desires he wouldn't have died for us. I love you all and I hope everyone realizes that. I don't have to know your name. I don't have to recognize you in the store. But I love you.

Hermana Karlie Atkinson