Jan 2, 2012 letter from Sister Christina Gilson in Colorado

Dear Family,

I love you all so much. I constantly think of how blessed I am to have the family that I do. I don't have much time to e-mail so I will try to do my best. Last week was pretty good :) sister Akemon and I are really struggling to find new investigators. The only person we were teaching ( jesse) is on probation for a felony so he can't be baptized until he pays the 7,000$ restitution he owes to get off probation... and he doesn't have a job. So needless to say it will be a while. Please pray for us to be able to find people who are ready and wanting the gospel.

Danny and Michael ( everyone's favorite gay couple :) ha) cancelled on us and rescheduled for this week. I will e-mail more on the subject when it happens ha. I don't know how real their intent is.... but nonetheless they are very kind to us which is always a blessing.

I fell tracting this week..... ripped my tights. and was GUSHING blood from my knee..... what hurt the most was my pride hahaha. it was so embarassing. ha. It still frustrates me how bad I hate contacting and tracting.... its so easy to get discouraged because its SOOOOOOOOO ineffective. BUT... I know the Lord will bless sister Akemon and I for our efforts, I'm trying to be patient, and on the positive note.... I feel more like a missionary spending so much time outside or with non members etc.

we had a neat miracle this week talking to a lady named Nan on her porch. ( you could also include her in your prayers this week.) she opened up that her 15 yr old daughter had committed suicide 2 weeks previous and we all cried on the porch and we hugged her. She accepted a book of mormon and said she was going to read it and took our number.... AND her neighbors across the street are mormon so we are going to go back and have them invite her to read with them etc. Even if nothing happends it was a tender mercy to bare... bear? bair? hahah. testimony of the plan of salvation. i felt very moved and the spirit was so strong. I know she felt peace while we talked to her.

temple jubilee was AMAZING. I saw one of my favorite elders in the whole world from my mtc district who I haven't seen since I got to the mission. so over a year. and we laughed so hard. it was so fun to be around everyone. we got to do 2 sessions back to back and i was surpirsed how much revelation i got in the second session. it seriously was amazing. I felt so much more at peace and recharged and excited than i have in a LONG time. as well as sister akemon and I were able to have a one on one discussion with president Anderson that was so nice. he is so caring and understanding and helpful.... it just makes me sad taht all the elders can't be like him haha.

I love my companion. sister akemon is my best friend. it is going to be really really really hard when we are no longer companions. i'm sure some sort of a change will happen next transfer.

I lvoe this ward so much. I love the people up here. I can't wait for you to come back and meet them. I had several tender mercies this week. quickly 1. we went to debrah's patriarchal blessing on sunday. she is incredible. she was promised her 2 daughters would some day accept the gospel and that she would have grandchildren raised in the faith! 2. Dick speck ( zach's dad) told us over dinner his faith in God was increasing. he accepted a book of mormon and he is totally changing. i can't believe the miracles taht are happening with him. 3. sam and tim texted us this week. first time in months anyones had contact with them. PRAYER IS REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so much to be blessed and thankful for.

i can't believe i go home this year from my mission. I still don't know anythign hahaha. sometimes i feel like the only growth i've had on my mission is around my middle haha. other than taht i've become a whinney emotional female haha. jk. i shouldn't be so down on myself. but i have big plans for this year before i come home. the quote i liked best from goals talking was

" you can have anything you want in this life. but you can't have everything."

its true. I can't perfect and focus on everything. 1 thing at a time. prioritize. :)

Love, Sister Gilson