Why do you have an Asian in your protest? / This isn't missionary work! This is missionary FUN!

General conference! AH! GENERAL CONFERENCE!!

'nuff said.

It's like Christmas for missionaries. We were skipping around in excitement all week--inviting everyone and their dog (almost literally) to listen the voice of THE PROPHET OF THE WORLD.  Because it would OBVIOUSLY CHANGE THEIR LIFE.

Just a few life-changing highlights for Sista Wells (with the obvious understanding that the conference as a whole was EXACTLY what I and my investigators needed):

1)Sis Elaine S. Dalton...probably my favorite talk from her. It's through our covenants that we find meaning in our identity and our purpose. My part matters because I matter.

2) Elder Craig A. Cardon...the Savior wants to forgive. Even those most obnoxious, recurring human weaknesses and sins. He never demands immediate perfection, only sincere desire and effort.

3)Elder M. Russell Ballard...AND NOT A TOMATO WAS LOST. My almost-and-maybe-sometimes-kind-of-unhealthy obsession with self-improvement has so often been based in a fear of losing future opportunities to serve, learn, grow, and become.  But there we have it. Because of the light and living water of the Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonemnet, not one tomato need be lost.  Which is good. 'Cause I want MILLIONS, you know?

4) Elder David A. Bednar...the human body allows us to have the amplified and necessary experiences of mortality (beuatiful beautiful beatuiful! My soul  relishes in the beauty of this doctrine). Law of Chastity. No one coulda said it better.

5) Elder Neil L. Anderson...I hope you were ALL listening. :) So inspiring. This is Missionary Fun!

6) Rosemary M. Wixom...pray to know the needs of your children/investigators and speak to those needs.  As the Savior did and does with me.

7) Elder Jeffrey R. Holland...same topic as my farewell talk. Just an FYI: This is what I meant to say. ;)   But really, it was SO GOOD.  Never let what you don't know get in the way of what you do know. MMMMmmm..powerhouse.  I felt chastised in that hopeful way that only Elder Holland can manage.

...and just SO MUCH MORE. I'm literally skimming my notes and getting twitterpated all over again. (remember that MTC/Falling in Love analogy I threw out a while back? The truth of that is being made manifest once again)

And now on to other happy and odd things that happened this week:

MY SISTER HAD A BABY!!! Oh my gosh. I'm still all bubbly about this, Chelsea, and it's been a good hour since I read your e-mail. I'm so SO happy to be an aunt again.

This lady in the street was shocked to find out that Sister P******* and I were not native Spanish-speakers. Like genuinely shocked ('cause I can tell the over-polite fakers, you know?).  Hopefully she'll get baptized. I like her a whole lot.

So, as we were leaving our post-district-meeting, zone lunch, Elder W***** (who is Chinese and SO cool) and Sister P were putting some things in the trunk of our car when this homeless man walks up and goes:

 "Why do you have an Asian in your protest???"  

Sis P: "Um...protest...what?"

Man:  "You have an Asian in your protest!"

Sis. P:  "Well, we're not protesting anything. We're here to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which has been restor---"

Man:  "You should go home to your family!"

Elder W:  "What?..."

Then he walked away. It might have been one of those had-to-be-there moments, but it totally threw us all off. I love California.

Less happy:

We found out that one of our investigators has cancer. The same one who is in the middle of a divorce, just moved into a new apartment, has no money, and can't get work off on Sundays. And the same one who (as soon as she can get work off) is like A-okay lista for Bautismo. Baptismal Date status.

We had to erase ******'s name off our giant whiteboard and I almost cried. Ugh.

...Good things it's our zone goal to find 500 new investigators before May! Yay for goals!  

Love you all so much! I'll try to send pics someday.

-Hermana Wells

Sometimes, when I'm praying, Heavenly Father answers me in David A. Bednar's voice.

Literally. The other night, it came pretty suddenly.  And it was in that so-righteous-and-loving-while-still-making-you-feel-kind-of-silly-for-even-asking voice that he uses (You know the one--it's just shy of Holland's bang-the-fist-on-the-pulpit-"you-shameful-sinner-you" level). 

...In other words, I'm SO STOKED for la conferencia general. Let's joyfully prepare together, shall we?  

In the mean time, let us celebrate another week of Sister Wells' miracles in the field.

I forgot to tell you last week (because I was too busy being deep and reflective), but there's sort of been some crazy big changes here in Lynwood.  Namely, due to some...ahem--"obedience issues" in other parts of mission), the elders' area (South Lynwood--the other half of our branch) was white-washed and handed over to us sisters to care for for "a while".  

I left a space between these paragraphs to give you a second to panic for me. I don't know how to type the whimpering sound effects it caused me to make, but there you go. With a 2-second phone call from our dear AP, Elder Davidson (whose calls we've decided to stop answering), our stewardship doubled. 

So, we spent a lot of last week organizing area books and deciphering Teaching Records and erasing and reorganizing giant white boards (Fun note:  I LOVE giant white boards. Thank you, Home Depot) and maps (Another fun note:  I also love giant maps. Thank you, Staples copy center) and falling in love with investigators M****** and the M***** family. So, by yesterday night, I finally felt like I had a little bit of a handle on our new giant area. So happy. 

Not 5 minutes after having this thought, we get a call from our Zone Leaders (after 13 missed calls that occurred during our lesson--they were panicking), only to find out that they're taking the area back into the custody of the elders. 

In other words...we have to give their giant white board back. But you better believe I'm keeping the map. 

Today was Temple P-Day! Sorry I didn't warn you last week. But you know better than to worry about me too much, right? :)  It was, as always, a glorious experience. Lifted and love-filled and all that it should be. Go to the temple, friends. Best advice I could ever offer you. 

April Fools Day: Cupcakes filled with Dijon Mustard, Aalt, and Thyme and distributed by the Zone Leaders during their monthly apartment visits to all of the elders in the zone. Sister Perry and I were so proud of ourselves :)

Pictures! Ay! So behind. Don't have time now. It's another rushed p-day. 

Love you all! Thanks for the prayers and such. You're in mine :)

And here's to cellulite...

But it's been a significant week for me. I felt like I was going to explode yesterday. So, naturally, I wrote an essay (ish). Please feel free to roll your eyes at any point as you read. I don't have a lot of time to edit cheesy/poorly-worded/inappropriate thoughts...but here goes. 

Sometimes, your investigators don't show up to church--even after they promise you and 3 other members that they will be there. And sometimes, you just want to go in the bathroom and cry about it because you realize in that moment that you really REALLY love them and it literally breaks your heart that they're not exactly where Heavenly Father wants them to be--where He can more fully bless them and help them through all of the hard things in their life. 

And sometimes, your weekly numbers are just dismal and you think, "Oh my gosh. What did we DO with ourselves all this time???"

And then sometimes, you get Dear Janed. (TWICE! Thank you, Marc Johnson. Your "Querida Juana" literally made my week. SO HAPPY for you!). And even though your wiser, more in-tune and level-headed self knows better, part of you kind of thinks, "Man, I really just wasn't ever worth it"...and your heart shrinks into the corner a little.

But then you remember Lesson 2 of Preach My Gospel, and you remember how beautiful it is that you get to experience pain and joy and love and hurt and every emotion across this vast spectrum of mortal existence, and that as you do so, you are becoming just a little more like my Heavenly Father.  

And then I remember that I am a serving a MISSION. Which is obviously just the best thing that's ever happened to me. 

And then I get a priesthood blessing from one of the most Dumbledore-esque human beings I have ever met in real life (namely Elder Shakespeare) in which my Heavenly Father reminds me that He has always and WILL always bless me in the fullest of ways.  And that the greatest blessings have yet to come.

And then I find myself fully enveloped in hearty giggle sessions with my adorable companion about drug-dealing ice cream trucks, throwing pass-along cards into car windows of guys who are halfway cussing-out the car behind them and halfway hitting on us ("Here. This will make you happier." ...You better believe we counted it as a street contact), dogs peeing on me, and the failure of a pumpkin alfredo sauce I attempted to make yesterday (1 tablespoon of Thyme instead of 1/2 tsp...and Alisse Frandsen wasn't even here to fix it. Ay!) 

And then I get a handful of e-mails and letters from some of my favorite human beings in the world and I remember that not only do I get to be alive AND be a missionary, but I also have a ton of incredible friends and family members back home who love me no matter how crazy I am. 

Honestly, I literally don't know that I have ever experienced LIFE this fully and deeply before. I'm just SO HAPPY to be where I'm at. Cheesy/gruesome as it sounds, I feel like a callous got ripped off my heart and that I'm free to feel and experience and BECOME something I haven't even imagined yet. Heavenly Father is in charge, yes. But the best part of His plan, I decided, is that I get to choose. I haven't always loved the gift of agency (as anyone who has spent 2 hours in a grocery store with me knows), but I'm starting to respect it and adore it in an entirely new way here on the mission. 

So, here's the moral of the story and the explanation of the subject line:

Sometimes, I look at my naked body and I see nothing but stretch marks and little uneven craters of cellulite, which I sometimes think is the ugliest part of the human body. 

But then I remember the heaven of every bite of double chocolate caramel cheesecake I've ever eaten. And I think, "Man, I'm beautiful."

...Love you all! Thanks for the support. You're in my prayers!

So...what does that mean FOR YOUR LIFE???

Aka the most generic of all "inspired questions" we missionaries use in our lessons. And the source of one of my favorite giggle sessions during comp study this last week.

I still adore my new companion.  I have no time to express the happenings of this week, but I thought I'd leave you with my quick testimony that Heavenly Father is ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY in charge of our lives. He love us. And the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way.

Love being on my mission to share it!

Next week, remind me to tell you about how all of the ice cream trucks here sell drugs. Another source of giggles.

Love you all!

Sister Wells

Pictures!

How My Low-Budget Horror Film Got Reproduced by Disney.

Dear friends and family,

I adore my new companion. Like, adore her. 

Name: Hermana Perry

From:  Huntington, West Virginia (be excited!)

Age: 19. She knew she wanted to serve a mission the second she found out about the announcement (in part b/c her boyfriend is serving in Italy and will get back just 2 months before her :) They're adorably in love)

Went to BYU before the mission and reminds me a whole lot of my dear cousin, Suzette.  Hard-working, SO sweet, friendly, and out going. But still hilarious in the most adorable way. I have laughed more with her than I have my whole mission I think. (I'm so grateful for that.  I don't think I have laughed enough on my mission. And my last companion told me that I'm starting to get wrinkles on my brow...ay!) She's super down-to-earth and chill, but has an obvious desire to serve and be the best she can be. She has so much light. 

And most importantly, she is a STELLAR missionary. She's discouraged by the Spanish sometimes (even though she's learning it so well!), but she has awesome ideas for our area and is a truly powerful teacher. I'm learning so much from her.  Plus, her Spanish just makes her even more endearing to everyone that we talk to. 

Needless to say, I am relieved. Because I don't actually have to train her, you know? I just have to love her, which I can't really help doing anyway. 

We just had our first real lesson last night with M**** and J***** P*** and M**** now has a baptismal date! Joy!  She said she wants to be baptized, but she wants to know more about what it is and why it's necessary first. And obviously...that's what we do. So it's done business. Pray for them though, yeah?  

G***** is still ignoring us so he can hang w/ his family whose still in town, and yesterday in stake conference, I had a piercing feeling in my heart about him. Like an "he should be here and he isn't and it's my job to tell him that" sort of moment. And then a sort of heart-broken feeling. So...we'll see what that means when I actually get a chance to talk to him. 

Speaking of stake conference...it was awesome. As church always is. But our stake has a handful of Spanish/Samoan branches and wards in it, so there was a plethura of translation headsets and the hymns were all mixed up in their various languages. It was neat stuff. Another one of those "I love serving in California" moments. Though it can't be easy to organize and coordinate all of that. I was super impressed with the leadership and their messages.

And the rest of the week has just been a mess of going stir-crazy sitting at our desk in our apartments for the forever-long transfer-and-weekly planning session and our extra hours of companionship/training study, getting lost on California freeways, and in a wide variety of trainings for new missionaries and their in-over-their-head trainers. We were spiritually, mentally, and physically exhausted by the end, and are now ready to start a normal week of work in the field. 

Anywho, I should go write a letter to my mission president about how marvelous my new companion is. You're all in my prayers, como siempre. And I just love you. So so much. Como siempre. (...which means "like aways"...not, "I eat always". Though that would be true as well. Also, pray for my metabolism yeah?)

So much love and faith,

Sister Abigail Wells

p.s. Peg Moffat! I ran into the Prince family last month and forgot to tel you about it! I even have pictures, which I can't upload... :/  But I mentioned that Kevin (...right? It's Kevin?) was the starting quarterback at UCLA to some of the elders, and they swarmed him a bit. I forgot that's a big deal to guys.  It was hilarious. I took stalker pics. 

One time, I scratched the car with my pencil as I tripped out of it in an attempt to catch the guy walking by that the Spirit told me I needed to talk to. And then he said he was too busy to chat and walked away.

March 5, 2013

Ay. The Lord's ways are higher than ours.

Speaking of...Tomorrow is DUE DAY. 

Aka the day my baby is a-coming. We had our "new trainer" training on Friday, which I equate to Chelsea and Dan's recent birthing classes. In that I would probably leave both classes feeling equally overwhelmed/excited/exhausted/kind of grossed out.  

(The mission/life analogy is just too good, isn't it? I'll try to tone it down a little. Don't want the joke to get old :)  

But of course, I'm excited!  We are leading out the hastening of the Lord's work, and I feel blessed to be here at this time, and I genuinely look forward to meeting my new companion tomorrow. I have full faith that she is exactly what this area/I need right now.  It will be wonderful. Of this I am sure. Regardless, however, I would love some training advice. 

Sister Deskins is leaving tomorrow, which is the only depressing part. She is so loved by the people here, and she knows so much about the area. But of course, I'm happy she gets to see her family, etc. I just love her. I so needed her beautiful, humble self this transfer. She taught me a lot by example.

So, miracles of the week! Are you ready?

1) I felt good about following the prompting to talk to the guy, even if we have an icky scratch on the side of our super cute red Corolla because of it.  Planting seeds, you know? That's part of my purpose.

2) E********! She's been living with a member for the past 6 years, has 2 kids (6 months and 4-yrs-old with autism. So cute!) She shows up at church last month and wants to know when she can get baptized. We're like...you're awesome, but...what? I was curious--maybe to the point of skepticism (ashamed to say). But she wants the lessons. So we start giving them to her and fall in love with her in the process because she's sassy and hilarious and a ZUMBA instructor (win! who doesn't love Zumba, you know?). ...But lo and behold, she's readin' the Book of Mormon. And lo and behold, she has the beginnings of a testimony. And lo and behold, she has a baptismal date. 4/7/13. Gen Conf. It's gonna happen, friends :) And I'm happy 'bout it.

3) My mom is having a birthday this week! And when I say "my mom", I mean my REAL mom. The one that gave literal birth to me and has put up with my nonsense for the past 21 years. The BEST and FAVORITEST of all of my moms. Love you so much. Your card is in the mail :) 

4) etc...there are always miracles. Just can't write them all. 

My NEEDS (I'm feelin' so needy today...):

Advice! Prayers! Love! 

Pray for the members of our branch. That the 100 something inactive families will miraculously reactivate themselves and that visiting teaching and home teaching will be set up and take fire soon. Pray for my new companion, that she'll forgive my weaknesses and that I can be an instrument in Heavenly Father's hands in lifting her. Pray that we'll have the faith and higher understanding to know who and how to drop those of our investigators who need to be given more time to prepare themselves to hear the word.

And...I love you. That's all I got for you today. Just love and gratitude for who you are and the support and prayers you're already giving for me. You, too, are in my prayers. So keep the faith, yeah?

Love ya tons!