Hello!

I can't believe it's Monday again! I feel like the fast forward button has been on the past few months. Time is going by much too quickly! It sounds like everyone is doing well:) It makes my heart so happy! We are also happily trucking along here in the CMM. This week was beautiful and eventful and equally disappointing and trying. 

We had a really really really hard time getting our investigators to keep appointments, follow through with commitments, etc. Something to do with the nice weather I think. I felt like we were being sufficiently humbled after an incredible four weeks of back to back appointments. But the Lord in His wisdom knows best and I will continue to strive to be humble enough to accept His will. 

On Tuesday after getting smurfed( i.e. our investigators didn't show up for their appts) 3 times in a row, my comp and I were walking through the park and there was this cool hippie guy sitting on a park bench. We watched him and realized that he was feeding squirrels on his lap!!! Squirrels don't normally sit on your lap so we thought this was pretty epic. We sauntered over and started up a conversation with him about his ability to feed squirrels, at which point he said, "it's easy. Sit down." So we sat down and he said, "Put your leg out." My immediate reaction was to think "Excuse me hippie man!". But he looked serious so I did. He handed me an almond and said, "Show the squirrel." So I did and he was right this little squirrel came scampering up my leg sat on my lap and ate the almond. This went on for about 30 minutes and I just wanted to squish these little guys they were so cute. And then I felt like a Disney princess and then I felt like a weirdo because I realized people were walking by and pointing. I was super happy because one time Elder Meza told a story about how he got to shake a squirrels hand, now I can tell a squirrel story too:) Long story short, that is how our worst day turned into the best day ever;)

This week my comp and I were invited to attend Zone Leader Council in Montreal. I felt so cool;) Until we got to Montreal. Then I felt like a greenie all over again. I used to think Ottawa was big, but in comparison to Montreal, Ottawa is a little postage stamp. Side note: I pretty much can navigate around Ottawa in my sleep now, which is crazy because before my mission I didn't have a clue where north was. Now I'm like a regular Magellan. Anyway, ZLC was really cool! I felt like it was a good experience for me to have because it really put into perspective a lot of the why behind the administrative stuff we have in the mission. It also was a cool experience to spend time with the Cannons, who I adore. President and Sister Cannon as usual had really awesome advice and fed us well:)

Last night we had a really cool lesson with Leah, the little chica we met on the bus last week. She was absolutely floored by the Book of Mormon and I could see so much happiness in her eyes when we gave her a copy of her own. As we explained the experience of the first vision she let out multiple gasps as if everything we were telling her was so wildly incredible. Before we left she told us that she wants us to teach her whole family! We were so happy and quickly jumped on the opportunity. It was such a blessing to be given an amazing investigator like Leah after the crazy week we had. It was a tender mercy of the Lord that reminded me that he is there. 

This week I was studying in Mormon 9. It's a chapter about miracles and the Christ and is probably one of my favorites in the BOM. I really love verses 9-11 which read: 

9 For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing?

10 And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles.

 11 But behold, I will show unto you a God of  miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are.

We live in a world of miracles. The very fact that we are here upon the Earth is a miracle. Each day all day we are surrounded by all of the Lord's miracles. That's one thing a lot of people we teach struggle with. They don't understand how much their Father in Heaven loves them because everything he has done and continues to do for them becomes something of entitlement and less of the miracle it truly is. In John 9 there is a incident when Jesus heals a blind man on the Sabbath which causes an uproar amongst His accusers. They tell the man that it's not possible because Jesus sinned by healing him on the Sabbath at which point the man says "Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." I can't explain the miracles that I've seen, but I do know they happened and I do know that they came to pass by the power of the Savior. I know that our God is a God of miracles and that each day he sends us miracles to show us how much he cares. my challenge to you this week is to look for the miracles the Lord has blessed you with:)

I hope your week is happy! That you feed a squirrel an Almond. That you get to feel the rays of the sun. That you eat a snow cone. That you smell lilacs(they are in abundance here). That no matter what life hands you, you can like the brother of Jared, praise the Lord in your afflictions, because he loves you and he does care. 

I love you!

Sister Perkins

P.s. I wanted to send pictures, but alas we are not able to send pictures form the family history center:( I'll try to make it to a library next week:)

Hola!!! Como estan todos!!!

First of all, FELIZ CUMPLEANOS MAMITA! I hope you have the happiest birthday ever! I'm so grateful for you and everything you taught me. Eat lots of cake and ice cream!

So, the title of this email comes from my new favorite song that Sister Chadburn and I listen to to  promote companionship unity. We are probably going to do a training next Zone Conference with this song as our inspiration;). Don't worry I've attached it so you can all listen to it and think of me dancing in my car with Sister C:) Si un amigo en miiiiiiiii!

This week was really good we had Zone Conference on Tuesday and it was just so great to see President and Sister Cannon. I love them! We also got a new phone at ZC  which sounded like a really cool idea until we saw it.....You know how when you watch movies from the 90's and they have those huge cell phones and everybody says "Cell phones used to be so big!" Well... we got pretty much the cousin of the phones from 1990. It's mortifying when you have to pull it out in public and everyone says "Whoa is that a walkie talkie!!?" It's gigantic! What can I say we live a very glamorous life:)

Yesterday we had the great opportunity to see Jeffrey baptize Steve! It was one of the most tender moments in my mission. Jeffrey was super nervous even though we told him a million times that it would be fine and wouldn't you know it, he did AMAZING!  I'm so proud of that little guy. He's such a rock star! (Sister Pace taught me to say rock star, such a good mission mama!) I love baptisms! It always reminds me of how many blessings I've been given because of this gospel. I'm so excited for both Jeffrey and Steve as they continue to make changes and learn in the gospel. It's such a blessing!

This week Sister C and I did a lot of busing around the city. We were busing home on Tuesday night and I met the cutest girl named Leah. We talked about the whole 2012 thing. She had a lot of questions, but then had to get off abruptly and so I gave her a card with our number. The very next day we were leaving an area about 25 minutes away from our house and we got on another bus and guess who was on the bus? The same girl. We talked to her again about families and the importance of prayer. On Thursday we were riding a bus to an area that is 20 minutes away from our house in a completely different direction and ran into the same girl again. We all started laughing and she said "You know I told my mom about you guys and she said that it's probably a sign. She wants me to come to your church." We were so happy to see her again and hope that we will get to see her at church one day if not on the bus again. The whole experience taught me that the Lord is truly in the details of our lives, and even when we think the insignificant things in our lives don't matter, they most certainly do to Him. 

This week I was able to experience a miracle with the gift of tongues. My companion and I taught 3 lessons in French and I was able to speak fluidly with really not much hesitation. It made me really happy! Though my French is super basic, I know that the Lord has blessed me with the ability to speak when I need it:)  

A few weeks ago President and Sister Cannon were here for a visit and President shared Matthew 11:28-30 " 28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." This week this scripture has really been on my mind. As missionaries we labor a lot and most days are heavy laden with concerns for investigators, family, friends. There is a lot to labor and worry over. But the Lord promises us, if we do His will, if we are meek and lowly in heart we will find rest to our souls. Not to our physical exhaustions, but our souls will find rest. This week my feet were tired, my body was limp, but my soul felt so rested and that to me makes any physical exhaustion worth it. I testify that as you put the Lord first in your busy lives he will give you rest and your burdens will become light. 

I hope you all have a beautiful week and remember how much I  love you all! 

Love your amiga,

Sister Perkins

Hello everyone! 

I'm not going to lie I don't have much to say today. Maybe it's because I talked all of the words right out of my system yesterday:) This week was also good! We are doing really well here and are so excited for the coming weeks!!! Tomorrow we have Zone Conference and next week Sister Chadburn and I get to go to Montreal for Zone Leader Council. We're the new zone leaders:) Kidding! We were just invited to go:) AND our recent convert Jeffrey is going to be baptizing a man named Steve this weekend!!!

Sister C and I found Steve while knocking and we passed him off to the Riverside elders (i.e. Elder Meza (my best friend) and Elder Shaver (my other best friend). We passed him off at church and in Gospel principles Steve raised his hand and said "My only question is when can I get baptized?" Ask and ye shall receive, right? The Riverside Elders eyes were as big as saucers. It. Was. Epic. And then Steve met Jeffrey at the bus stop and thought he was the cats pajamas, so now Jeffrey get's to baptize him. In Jeffrey's words "It's super sweet!"

I don't know if I mentioned this...but each week we do service at the Ottawa Mission. We get to prep and prepare food for the shelter. It's one of the highlights of our week. It always makes us feel so grateful for what we have. This week I was feel a little grumpy and possibly a littler irritated with some Elders. There is an older man who lives at the Mission, he always has the same outfit on and is obviously very ill, but he walked in with the biggest grin on his face. "HELLO everybody!!!! Hello girls! No sugar for you, because you are already too sweet." (He says this every week and it always makes me laugh). But this last week he looked at me and said "LIFE is BEAUTIFUL!" I felt so grateful for this little guy and his example. Clearly I have been blessed with more than this man and he is telling me (indirectly) to enjoy my blessings. It was such a tender mercy from the Lord. 

This week I was studying in 3 Nephi 13 and I really loved the end of verse 25 which says, "Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink: nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" I LOVE  this question. We are more than just a body and raiment we are literal spirit children of the most powerful being in the universe. There is so much more to our lives than the material things we seem to get so easily caught up in. I have been realizing more and more that after we leave this life we only get to take our covenants and our testimony. So it only seems fitting that we put our time and energy to developing these aspects of our lives. 

I hope you all have a great week! Remember read your scriptures and say your prayers:) I love you!

Love,

Sister Perkins

Hello everybody!!!

First of all HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my DADDY! I can't believe you're turnng 35....again!!!:)  I wish you the happiest birthday and hope you get to eat Benja's and yummy cake with the family. I love you, dad!

 

We had transfers this week and I am staying here!!! this will be my 4th in Dows Lake...I must be doing something right?

This week was really, really, really good! We double our goals!!! It was amazing and I feel like the lord is really blessing us with new investigators and even better the confidence to do this work. It has been a great week and I feel we're finally making the progress we've been praying for. This week we did a TON of knocking! So much so that by Saturday my language skills were pretty much diminished. On Saturday we knocked on a door and a grumpy looking guy answered. I started, "Hi we're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of United States. We're from Latter-day Saints. uhh." It was really sad. And then of course you know me I just died of laughter right there on his doorstep. He thought I was pretty funny but he wasn't interested:(

 

This week we had to go pay a ticket on Friday that my companion got for turning left....yeah so in Canada they have signs on randoms streets where you can't turn left between the hours of 8-5:30. They aren't even busy streets literally just random ones. Anyway so we wen to the provincial courthouse to see if they could at least lower the fine. So while my comp was standing in line I was reading my scriptures in the waiting area. I was just minding my own business when this man and his father walk in they were going off wildly in some crazy language and I tried really hard not to stare. Well the older one came towards me and put a paper on the chair next to me and sat down at the end of the row.....well...you know me. I tried to casually look at the note without actually looking at the note and it was written in Hebrew so I had no idea what it said. So of course my instant thought is that this is a bomb threat. Yes. You can roll your eyes now, but I start panicking inside. So then I did what any self-respecting missionary would do....I followed my companion to meet the judge. Well they are in the same area and the guy hands Sister C the same note. His son said "Oh I am so sorry! He gives those letter to people he likes." Then he told us that if we mailed money to the address on the note we could get free cotton products....Uh random. So no it wasn't a bomb threat and yes I did feel stupid afterwards:)

 

Yesterday was a really great day! We had three investigators at church including our little rockstar, Chris!!! As you are aware it was fast and testimony meeting and at the very end he stood up and bore a powerful testimony about how the gospel has helped him through this difficult time. It was incredible and my heart was brimming with happiness. It was too perfect. Also, it was Jeffrey's birthday which made the day even better! (so we made him brownies,that's for you who were wondering about the picture he posted on FB:).

 

This week I was studying in the Book of Helaman and while I was reading the story about Samuel the Lamanite verse 3-5 really stood out to me:3 But behold, the ^avoice of the Lord came unto him, that he should return again, and prophesy unto the people whatsoever things should come into his ^bheart.
4 And it came to pass that they would not suffer that he should enter into the city; therefore he went and got upon the ^awall thereof, and stretched forth his hand and cried with a loud voice, and^bprophesied unto the people whatsoever things the Lord put into his heart.
5 And he said unto them: Behold, I, Samuel, a Lamanite, do speak the words of the Lord which he doth put into my heart; and behold he hath put it into my heart to say unto this people that the ^aswordof justice hangeth over this people; and four hundred years pass not away save the sword of justice falleth upon this people.
What really stood out to me was that through the spirit Samuel preached to them from his heart. It really hit me that missionary work really isn't about tell people what you know it's about telling people about how you feel because of what you know. Everything we do in the church should be done with our heart. If we only use our heads than there really isn't a point. I hope that makes sense...it did in my head....heart:)
I hope everyone has an amazing week! I love you all!
Love,
Sister Perkins

Hello! Hello!

Can you believe that tomorrow it will be May 1st!!!!? I can't believe it at all, in fact it's making me a little sad. It's really going by fast. Things have been picking up here in Dows Lake which makes me a happy camper. That and we finally got our sunshine back!!! Finally! Oh my goodness does Canada know cloudy dreary weather. But Hallelujah for the sun and slightly blue skies today:)

 

This week we did a lot of contacting and even more knocking. Last night nearly ever person we knocked into was not wearing real clothes it was ridiculous. We knocked into so many people in their bathrobes or pajamas and even the occasional person who had questionable modesty standards. It was pretty bizarre. On Saturday Sister C and I went on member splits for the full day. There are two girls in our ward who have been considering putting in their papers so we did a full day of missionary work with them to help them understand a little bit about what we do on a normal day. Both girls did really well and seemed to really enjoy it. During our companionship studies I told my little companion "Okay so we're going to be doing knocking and bus contacting." "Are we allowed to do that?" "Not technically...you have to be uh sneaky." She looked mortified when I told her that, but it was fine:) In fact she was a champ! It was so fun to work with someone who has that greenie fire. It actually really helped me remember how much fun missions are and how blessed I am to be serving a mission.

 

On Friday Sister C made me this black bean soup, she's been talking about it for a while and said, "You're going to think it looks disgusting, but I promise it's good." Well, she started throwing things in our blender and it didn't super appetizing. We also grilled up some tortillas and cut up an avocado. Sidenote: For New Year's Elder's Leon and Meza gave me a calender of Orphans from Peru, because they know I love all the orphans in the whole world. So, we're sitting there eating our blended black bean soup and tortillas and I'm looking at the Orphans so I say to Sister C "Why can't we ever just have like a salad or something?" I really did feel like an orphan from Nacho Libre eating my bean stew and tortilla. It was awesome. I don't even know if that will be funny or just weird:) Maybe you had to be there.

 

The best news of this whole week was that we were able to see Chris!!!! I don't know if any of you remember him or why seeing him merits four exclamation points. Chris was someone I found with my companion in January and he was AMAZING! Then in February his parents passed away in a car accident. Ever since then he's been really hard to get into contact with (as you can imagine, right?). This week we texted him and said, "So what day are we going to see you this week?" And he actually set up an appointment. Well, we were running a little late to the appointment so I called to tell him we would be a few minutes late and he said he totally forgot we were coming and left his house to go to the grocery store, but he told us to wait because he would be back soon. So we waited and waited and about 50 minutes after our appointment was supposed to start he got home. He apologized profusely and then told us that he has been forgetting EVERYTHING lately. He said he actually has a friend who comes and helps him cook because he forgets to eat, and turn off the oven, etc. I think because the whole thing with his parents has been so traumatic, it's like he has zero short term memory. He couldn't really even remember anything we taught him before except for the Celestial Kingdom. So, we started from ground zero with him. He told us that he has been working around 60 hour weeks since his parents passed away so he took his BOM to work. He said his co-workers would always ask, "what is that?" and he told them it was his "bible". Well one day he said he came back to his desk and his book mark had been moved and his co-worker told him, "I'm so sorry! I was reading your Bible and I couldn't remember where your bookmark was." He told us that since then another person has started reading it too! So now he has 3 bookmarks in his work copy of the BOM. How cool is that?We also set up a return appointment already and he told us to call him like two hours before to remind him. Please pray for him.

 

Yesterday in church someone was giving a talk on the temple and she used Alma 34:32 " For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." It really hit me that this scripture isn't talking about going to school or landing our dream job or cleaning our house every saturday (mom and dad...kidding!) But it's about making sure that we are doing the work required of each of us to enter back into the presence of our Father in Heaven. Their labors means temple ordinances. I literally dream about  the day when I can enter into the Lord's house again and do that work for those who have passed on. This is the time for us to prepare to meet our God and we can only do so by going to the Temple often enough that can understand who we are. .I hope that you are making temple attendance a priority. I have a strong testimony that the temple can help us overcome anything. We can't expect the help of our Father without first going to His house. Yesterday we taught Jeffrey about the Temple and I showed him my recommend and he said, "I want that recommend! What do I have to do to get that one?" I hope you view your temple recommend as something that you would do anything for and even better I hope you're using it. I testify that if you make temple attendance a priority no challenge will be to great, because in the eternal scheme of things tout ira bien:)

 

Thank you so much for your love and support. Your letters and your packages! Your examples and advice. I love you all and I can't believe how time is slipping away! I hope you have a great week and a happy May 1st!

 

Bisous Bisous!

Sister Perkins

 

Image 2375: Sista Perkins and Sista Jenn:)

Image 2374: Sista Chadburn and Sista Morgan

Image 2367: Orphans Meal

2358: Last week for P-day we went to the Canadian Museum of Civilization. We had a ton of fun...in the Childrens museum:)

2313: Elder Meza wearing and Aboriginal luchador mask

2327: Sista C and I modeling with our scary Aboriginal friend. I was so scared one of these guys was going to come to life and grab me

No this title is not a fluke! We woke up this morning to about two inches of snow! I couldn't believe my eyes! Snow! In April! We haven't even had snow here in over a month and now it's everywhere! Oh my goodness...snow. It's actually been really pretty but don't tell anyone I said that, my reputation is at stake here.

 

This week was better! Thank you so much for your prayers and your words of encouragement. I feel like things are certainly turning around. Well, they have to you can't get any worse than zero progressing investigators:) Yay! I feel like things are really going to turn around this week. We're going to have an Alma experience:)

 

Last week I went on splits with Sister Ariiotima in Gatineau. It was so nice to be back in my old greenie area! I was so happy to see that little city and visit some of the old members We decided that are whole split we were only going to talk in French/Spanish. It actually went really well I learned a lot more French and realized my Spanish isn't half bad either. Sister Ariiotima is probably one of the funniest Sisters in the entire mission we had a blast together. As soon as my companion and her companion left she turned to me and said "Okay Sister Perkins, let's go swimming." Obviously we didn't go swimming, but we did go knocking and we even found an old contact that I had knocked into when I was in Gatineau 5 months ago. She instantly recognized me and gave me a huge hug. I wish I could tell you she wanted to hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ this time, but she didn't. However, we did have a good contact and she said she would read the restoration pamphlet.  Planting seeds. It was good to be in Gatineau. Almost as good as being home...Almost.

 

I don't know if I mentioned this before but Sister Chadburn is from Colorado and as you well know I'm from Utah. Sooo, for some reason a lot of Canadians think that my companion and I are from the wild west. Like John Wayne wild west. Candians have this crazy idea that we walk around in the states waving guns in the air. These are the things we hear: "I heard that in Colorado you can shoot anyone who walks onto your property." "They just barely made it illegal to wave a gun in the banks in the states." "Did you know there are more guns in the state of Texas, than there are people in the United States." "I heard everyone has a gun in the states." "My parents won't let me go to the states, they said it's not safe there." We were at breakfast the morning with our less active and his dad and I jokingly said, "Yeah, Colorado and Utah are right out of a Clint Eastwood movie." He looked at me with horror, "Really!? I've heard that." So, I think that I'm going to start telling people crazy things like that my dad is a sheriff and that my family owns a saloon. Also, if you could send me a cowboy hat  and a holster, I think that would help. Really? Really?! Oh Canada.

 

In other news...our little Shu-ling went back to China this week:( It was terribly sad. I think that's one of the worst parts of being on a mission, saying good-bye to all of our friends. But don't worry we already planned a trip for her Jeffrey, and William to come visit in Utah:)

 

I hope all is well back home, because apprently you could easily get shot there with the amount of guns floating around in the states. Make sure to stay away from all stagecoaches and make sure to wear your spurs. Okay, okay. Seriously have a really great week. Remember that I love you and that I'm praying for each of you individually.

 

Giddy up little doggies!

 

Love,

Sister Perkins

 

Spring is here!

Hello everybody!

How has your week been? I can't believe another week has flown by! I also can't believe we're this far through the month of April. Time is flying at such a rapid rate that every now and then I get a little dizzy just thinking about it. This week again has been interesting with enough ups and downs to make you feel like you're on a rollercoaster. But we carry on. Everyday and with a smile:)

The weather here is getting warm and happy again. I feel so lucky, I love good weather and we finally have some to rave about here in Canada. Oh my goodness it is so nice to go outside without a coat/scarf/gloves/boots/7 layers of clothes. I feel slightly liberated:) It's been nice to feel warm rays and know that spring has finally made it's little debut. I've been watching the buds on the trees and the little flowers popping their little heads out and it makes me so happy. There really isn't anything better than a beautiful spring day!

This week we had a lesson with Robert and we decided to give him three options of different lessons. One of them being the movie "Mountain of the Lord". I can honestly tell you that I was convinced that I had seen this movie. I even told everyone in the room, "This is a really good movie!" With enthusiasm. Well about 15 minutes in, a bad Joseph Smith wig and 3 bad special effects later I can tell you I was feeling pretty ridiculous. I realized that no where in my life had I ever seen this movie and now that I had, I never wanted to see it again. I know that I should probably say that all church movies are good, but let me tell you something this one was bad. It was like the Book of Mormon movie all over again. Not only was it terrible but it was so incredibly boring that our poor member (Shu-ling) was nearly comatose by the end. Needless to say we will not be showing that one again:)

Yesterday we had a lesson with Jeffrey the new and improved recently baptized version. He's so incredible! We reviewed the Plan of Salvation with him and talked a little bit about temples. There are so many moments as a missionary while teaching that I feel like I'm the one being taught. My mission has been a tender mercy in helping me really understand the plan of Salvation. Yesterday I felt so grateful to remember that the Plan of Salvation is individual. I watched as Jeffrey told us the importance of going to the Celestial kingdom and how we will be able to be with our family for the eternities because of Jesus Christ. Every person no matter their circumstance, who they've been or who they are have the ability to repent because as it says in Alma 42 "this time is granted unto men to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God". It's truly a gift to repent and it's always possible to change through and only through the power of the Atonement. Never forget you are loved and even more so you are watched over. Because the Lord paid the price He will never forsake you even when you feel you've strayed too far. Remember you are precious in His sight.

Thank you for your love and your continued support. I couldn't do this without you. All of you.

Love,

Sister Perkins