I've gotten several emails wanting to know which mission I'm
officially in the......GILBERT MISSION! Shocker I know. I've only served
in Gilbert my entire mission. I'm in a newly created zone. The Temple
View Zone. I'm right back by the Gilbert Temple. My area is three sqaure
miles and we're on bikes. Fun times for sure. It takes 30 minutes to
get from on side of our area to the other. We also don't live right in
the middle of our area either. We cover three wards. The Assistants to
the President are in my zone. It's kind of weird to see them now more
than just at transfers and training. So the new mission home is going to
be in my zone and I'll probably be seeing the new President a lot more
than I did President Howes. My new area borders my old area, so I moved a
whopping 2 minutes away. This transfer will be crazy. It's only going
to be three weeks long because of the new mission officially starting on
July 1st.
There's a rumor going around that there are EIGHTEEN new sisters coming
in this next transfer for the Gilbert Mission alone. EIGHTEEN. That's
only sisters. There's like double the amount of Elders. It seems like
all any of us are going to be doing for the rest of our missions is
train new missionaries. Who knows. I really don't mind. I actually love
training and I really did love whitewashing into another area. If I
whitewash in and train the rest of my mission, I would be happy. I love
seeing the area go from nothing to something.
I'm second half training. My new companion's name is Sister Pooley.
She's from Colorado and is very sweet and kind of shy. Kind of the
complete opposite of me, but we're making it work. :) I was having
withdrawals from my old area since I really loved everyone there. It was
sad goodbye to everyone, but it was sweet to know I could come back
after my mission and see them all again. I'm also hoping to be able to
go to the sealing on a less-active family we had been working with
getting them to the Temple. I'm excited to see how the people I left
will progress and to hear how the area is doing. I'm excited though for
this area and how much potential it has. It should be interesting to see
which of us stays in this area since I'm sure we're all going to be
training. I may only be here in this area for three weeks.
We had our last transfer with President and Sister
Howes. It was sad to see them and to know that it was our last time
while on the mission. We watched a video, took pictures, and said our
goodbyes. It's crazy to not see those missionaries that I've been
serving with ever while I'm on my mission. After transfers was all
figured out, they had us group together in our new missions and take
pictures. Weird to do that while we're still the Tempe Mission. We're
making history. We're the first missionaries in the new Gilbert Mission.
It's exciting times! The work is definitely hastening. We all feel it.
Especially with the Gilbert Temple almost being completed and now I'm so
close to it. I can feel the Lord's hand in everything.
I loved the broadcast that was shown last night. If you
missed it- Go watch it. It was FANTASTIC! The entire time, I just kept
on getting the chills because the Spirit was so strong. The prophet and
apostles are so inspired. I really believe missionary work will just
explode. It's been working up momentum and the ball is just about to not
stop rolling. I'm so happy to be a missionary at this time. I really
hope the members start to catch the vision and will start to act.
We had miracles this week! While we were weekly
planning we called an investigator who the sisters hadn't been able to
get into contact with the whole 6 weeks Sister Pooley's been here and we
got a lesson set up! She's so close to being baptized, but her dad is
against it. We're hoping to have her dad's heart be softened soon. We
also finally contacted a referral from a member the sisters before I
came. His name is David and he's hit rock bottom. He's separated from
his wife and he can't see his kids. He's a mess right now. We taught him
a lesson when we contacted him with the members who referred us to him.
We set up a lesson for the next day. Unfortunately, the members who
referred him (and are his friends and neighbor) were going out of town
the next day. So we had to bring another member with us to the
lesson. We taught David the Restoration and he just really got it. He
said a very sincere prayer at the end and he committed to coming to
church and reading the Book of Mormon. He just needs to recognize the
Holy Ghost and he will be golden. It's very apparent to us how much the
Lord has been preparing him and he really doesn't know it. I'm very
excited to see how the next lesson will go with David this week. He did
also accept a soft commitment to baptism if he knew this was which
church he was to join. He has a lot of the same questions as Joseph
Smith had when he was trying to find which church to join.
It's a fantastic time to be a missionary!!! I love it. I
love it. I love it. If I didn't know the Gospel was true, I wouldn't be
out on my mission. I know without a doubt that this is Christ's church
restored on the earth again. The Book of Mormon is the word of God,
another testimony of Jesus Christ.
Love,
Sister Collins
NEW ADDRESS:
2723 E. Hobart St.
Gilbert, AZ 85296