Hello all!!!
First off, I am SO SORRY it has taken me so long to get this out. I will tell you most of my justifications and excuses in just a second, but mostly I am just so sorry. It has been 6 weeks since I finished my mission. WHAT! I can’t believe it. I want to give you the Reader’s Digest version of the past month and a half of my life. My goal is to send out updates much faster than this one, so hopefully they won’t be as long. Bear with me! (or feel free to just skim). Sorry! (Also I apologize in advance if I don’t use proper English and if I use a plethora of hashtags. In these journal-type updates, I’m all about conveying it as a 22-yr old girl would [because I am one]. It drives my Dad nuts. #nevertoomanyhashtags #sorrydad
Where do I even begin? The last week in Los Angeles and the first week back in West Virginia are seriously a blur. It ripped my heart out to leave life as a missionary and so many people I loved in LA, but I have no doubt that I am where the Lord wants me to be right now. The girl sitting next to me on the final flight home kept commenting on how jittery and excited I seemed to be. And then it happened. I saw my crowd of people, cameras flashing, signs waving…and then I saw my mom. I instinctively forgot about everything else around me and just ran straight into her arms. And then my Dad’s. Many more hugs followed. I was overwhelmed by how complete I felt and how good it felt to be home. That night, I got a small taste of how it will feel to run into our Heavenly Father’s arms and return to our celestial home. It will all be worth it.
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| Hugging my mom for the first time in a year and a half! |
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| Reunited with my parents! |
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| Not all of my siblings/nieces/nephews had made it in town yet, so they printed out all their faces and put them on balloons for me! |
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| Some friends and family that came to greet me at our tiny West Virginia airport! |
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| Micah literally put welcome home signs ALL over the house. |
The next day I visited my stake president and was released as a missionary. Everything everyone told me about being released was true. I could feel the mantle of my calling leave me. I felt lighter but colder, even a little empty. The sobs came and I almost felt like my spirit inside of me was screaming ‘no!’. I know that all sounds dramatic, but it’s true. How could I take off my name tag? It was what had defined me for a year and a half. The comfort and peace from the Spirit came and assured me that it was the right thing to do. I needed to move forward with the next step. The next few days I was super distracted by being a bridesmaid in one of my best friend’s wedding, cleaning out my room, and trying to learn how to use an iPhone.
Funny story: the night before Kellie’s wedding most of the bridesmaids met at Kellie’s house to drive over to the rehearsal. West Virginia weather is never predictable and sure enough a thunderstorm and flash flood hit just as we were piling in to her minivan to drive over. We looked over the mountainside and saw the road we were supposed to be taking to the site of the wedding - IT WAS COVERED IN WATER. The pic on the left is the road flooded out. The next picture is me being the worst bridesmaid ever as I freaked out in the backseat. The bride to be, however, was so calm and collected. We all waited the storm out a bit and made it to the flooded out field they were supposed to get married in. They moved the wedding under a pavilion and it turned out to be PERFECT the next day.
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| Some friends from high school at Kel's wedding! #nerdherd4life |
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| I get tears just looking at the beautiful bride!! |
Then my whole family came in town! In my house there was my two parents, my older four siblings and me, my three in-laws, and my eight nieces and nephews. We each have our own unique and...sparkling personalities. My Mom always calls the time we get together “celestial chaos”. Everyone was together for the first week. Then for two weeks after different people were in and out. The week in the middle was mostly me + mom + 7 kids = #qualitybabysittingbonding. Anywho, it is always an adventure when we Atkinsons get together and this time was no different.
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| We are family! |
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| The 'single' siblings with the 'rents! |
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| My siblings! |
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| Please note that the girls I'm sitting with are smiling, while the boys my brother is with have either disappeared or are crying. |
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| I think this picture perfectly describes their personalities. |
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| My niece and two nephews that were born while I was gone! |
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| Micah and I "scandalously" showing our bloomers! |
Also, a tradition we have had the past few years is to celebrate some holidays during our week together that we don’t get to spend together when they actually occur during the year. The favorite is always trick or treat night. We take 5 minutes and pick out an outfit from all the dress up clothes. Each of the adults pick a room in the house and the kids go door-to-door and get candy. Once again, #totallynormal....right?
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| Most 22 year olds' favorite birthday present are Superman pajamas. |
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| I finally gained enough courage to watch my first movie back. Disney's Frozen with the kiddos! #letitgoooooo |
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| Luke got his head stuck in between the bars. We had to push his body through to get him out. We really do need our own tv show. |
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| Our best attempt at a California t-shirt picture. Please note that my sister Brittany is "hiding" behind me to try to get her daughter to smile... #soeffective |
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| Ice cream adventures at our favorite place downtown - Ellen's! |
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| Only in WV will you find a Miss Roadkill queen in a Fourth of July parade. #murrica |
Since coming home, I have had to face some events that occurred while I was gone - in particular the passing of both of my grandmas. One of the hardest parts of being gone for the funerals was feeling like I was missing family time/being there for family members. In the past few weeks, I have been able to spend time with some cousins from both sides. I can’t explain it. I feel a stronger connection to them than ever before. I feel so close to both of my grandmas and other close family friends that passed away while I was gone. I just feel so grateful. I know it was part of Heavenly Father’s plan for me to be gone at their passings. We hosted the annual concert on the lawn where my Dad and Micah play and sing. They invited my brother and me to join in for the last couple songs. The last song was “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” I knew it was the song my brother led the congregation in singing at my grandma’s funeral. Before we sang it, Dad introduced it by saying “this is a song that has come to mean a lot to us in the past year.” As I looked in to tearful eyes of so many friends and family in the audience that I love, the Spirit just washed over me. I am so blessed to have such a strong heritage and have an understanding of how vital the family is in God’s eternal plan of happiness.
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| The ol' annual concert on the lawn! |
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| Some Atkinson cousins! |
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| My Gibson cousins! |
I gave my homecoming talk! My favorite part was the musical number before I spoke. It was “Savior Redeemer of my Soul”. It was a song that I listened to almost everyday on my mission. It always helped me push forward. (My sister Micah sang, my cousin Liz played piano, and my friend Taylor played violin). Since then, I have had the cool opportunity to give my talk in other wards/branches in our stake. It has been so hard to try to sum up and convey the past year and a half of my life. The worst question I get asked is “how was your mission?” My reaction is something like this:
How could I be expected to sum up the most sacred time so far in my life in a couple words? So what I did in my talk was testify of the gospel of Jesus Christ and share a few experiences I had on my mission that changed me. If you want to read it, let me know and I can send you a copy, or you can read it at sisteratkinson.blogspot.com
That cute kid is my nephew Benson. While sorting through my grandma’s well-known and very large Santa collection, Benson shows me that he found Santa in the outhouse. #soclassy I got so excited, because I felt like it’s the perfect Christmas decoration to remind me of my backwoods West Virginia roots and of my grandma’s collection. Well Benson was pretty offended that I claimed it. He even wrote a note to me in sidewalk chalk in our driveway about how desperately he wanted it for his “office”. So mom and I looked on amazon and amazingly there was another ‘Santa in an outhouse’ that we could find, order, and give to him. His mom was just...thrilled...with us.
This domestic pic is of my mom and me baking in preparation for a visit from Elder Bednar, a modern day apostle of Jesus Christ! #bigdeal He and a member of the seventy and their wives came to Charleston to speak to the youth in seven stakes in our region. 12-18 year olds from as far as 6 hours away drove to hear counsel from an apostle! The gym was packed with youth and the adults sat in adjacent rooms. Before the fireside, mom and I (with a huge help from her two best friends) made some refreshments for our guests, the 7 stake presidents and their wives, and the mission president and his wife. Elder Bednar and co. were only in the room for a few minutes, but we got to shake their hands and listen to him counsel with the regional leaders as we “monitored the food”. The spirit pierced my heart. This is clearly the work of the Lord. As the fireside began, mom and I cleaned up the food and got to listen to it from the kitchen. The youth were able to ask questions and he answered. I was so impressed by the kids' questions! I felt like when I was their age there was more of a focus on living the standards and being spiritually clean, but now I feel like the focus for them is on their own conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. So much deeper. Some favorite highlights that I jotted down on my phone while I was cleaning:
- you are a dual person. your spirit animates your physical body.
-Seeing is NOT believing. I know Christ is real in a way that transcends the five senses.
-It's not about having confidence in yourself. It's about having confidence that the Lord will make you the person you can become.
-You can only find out who you really are when you lose yourself in the work. (similar to his turn out talk in the MTC)
-living the gospel=pure intelligence
-there is nothing more needed than missionaries who know how to work.
-you SHOULD be an awkward returned missionary. #nailingit
-Nothing on the armor of God covers your back. The minute you turn your back on the fight, you aren't protected. Don't be scared. Press forward. Be on the front lines of the battle.
-"Doing illegal drugs is absolutely stupid." haha. It is energizing to stand for truth and righteousness.
-When someone asks you a question about the church: 1. do not be defensive. be grateful. 2. give a simple answer 3. soft testimony 4. invitation
-Living the gospel is not hard. Not living the gospel is what is hard.
Anywho, the spirit was so strong of course. He really is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That little creature is a deer in my backyard. We live on a property in the middle of nowhere so our dogs run wild. Well they attacked this faun this week. Long story short it. was. so. sad. We stopped them before they killed the poor thing but it was injured and bleeding and wouldn't move for a while. So obviously I sat by the little thing in the rain for moral support. At one point it had enough energy to lift its head up, so I stood up to try to encourage it to stand up. It did! So I started to walk away so it wouldn't be scared and it would walk off in to the woods. But instead, it followed me. She came right over to me and then collapsed right at my feet. #WHAT Obviously, I collapsed as well with tears running down my face, haha. She let me pet her for a while. She later had enough energy to run into the woods. We hope she made it. :( #wildnwonderfulWV
I have to say 2014 is the first year that I have made new year’s resolutions, actually remembered what they actually were in July, and have made legitimate progress on them! One of those resolutions was to exercise regularly and become healthier (don’t worry my actual goal was more specific, haha #missionDIDteachmehowtomakegoals). So the two pictures above are of two of my best friends and exercise pals - my cousin Kaelyn and my sister Brittany. #pinkleggingsgiveyouenergy I included these...just beautiful...pictures because exercising really has been a huge part of the last 6 weeks of my life. One motto I knew I had to keep this summer is one my Dad taught me “you just do what you have to do each day”. This summer there are three things I feel like I have to do everyday: pray/study my scriptures, exercise (except on Sundays), and practice trumpet. It’s all a work in progress, but I definitely am making progress! Speaking of the trumpet, it has been easier in some ways and harder in others to try to play again after 18 months. My professor at BYU and my teacher here in WV have helped a lot. Patience is the key! (The video below is my first "performance" back. Luckily, I had the motivation of this 3 year old. #Istillsoundlikea5thgrader #isn'tsheadorable?)
I went on a quick road trip to Morgantown, West Virginia with one of my best friends from high school, Sarah, to see another best friend Taylor and her boyfriend Kenneth (and we got to see Sydney!)! We spent a day and a half up there. We went down to the boonies to a water hole in a river and jumped off rocks and hiked some. This adventure is a perfect example of how I feel like nothing has changed while I was on my mission despite how so many things actually did change. I have been able to pick up relationships with so many people just where they left off. I didn’t know it was possible to feel a strong connection and love for so many people, even the people I haven’t been able to catch up with yet. I am so blessed!
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| Isn't WV water so...clear? |
This fine WV citizen pictured approached us as we were walking down the mountain to the river. In his thick West Virginia accent he asked “is that your red car parked on the top of the mountain?” “Yes!” “Well just so you know somebody blew up a jeep up there last week.” Welcome to my beautiful home state where rednecks set cars on fire. The creeper shot I took of him was as he sipped his Budweiser on his four-wheeler on the bridge and just stared at everyone swimming. #LOVEMYLIFE.
Yes, this is a picture of the biggest spider I have EVER seen (and I have seen a lot). I put my hands on the rock to climb up it to jump off and screamed when I noticed that sneaky guy an inch from my pointer finger. *cue arachnophobia panic attack*.
One of my dearest missionary companions got married!! Sister Madison Perry grew up 45 minutes away from me (it was so funny to be companions. our families knew each other!), so I got to attend her bridal shower and wedding reception in WV. She got married in Palmyra, New York (where her and her husband met), so my mom and I got to drive up for that. Here are some pictures of her festivities! She made a beautiful bride of course!!! (the 3rd picture down is a “quilt” of letters she and her husband wrote to each other while they were on their missions)
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| Kiss the miss goodbye bridal shower! |
My road trip with Mom was so fun! Palmyra is such a special place; it’s the land of the Restoration! It’s where Joseph Smith’s humble prayer was answered! It’s where Moroni buried the golden plates hundreds of years ago! We visited the Hill Cumorah pageant (every year hundreds of participants travel to be in the cast. The church puts on the production about the Book of Mormon on the hill where it was found), the Sacred Grove, the Smith farm, did a session at the temple, went to the Book of Mormon publication site, etc. It has been one of my favorite places to go since I was a child. Too often we take for granted the time we live in. DO WE REALIZE WHAT WE HAVE?! Yay for living in the time of the Restoration. So happy. One of my favorite moments was when I went running up there. Here's my facebook status about it: "Once upon a time, I go running almost everyday now (I know, I know#miracleshappen). Some days you just have a perfect run, you know? Well you could call this morning's run something along the lines of perfect. It started on a quiet gravel road from the little inn we're staying at in a rural community called Palmyra, NY. Deer were jumping across the road in front of me and of course the sweet birds were singing. I passed a special temple and thought about a sacred hill close by. I ended with a walk with my sweet mom in a sacred grove of trees. What occurred in that grove almost 200 years ago was miraculous and is a huge part of who I am. Click here to check out a 2 minute video to learn what happened there. #bestrunever"
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| ROAD TRIP! |
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| The pageant! |
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| Mom trying to learn how to take a selfie. #hilarious |
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| The first Book of Mormon publishing site! |
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| Beautiful fields at the Smith farm! |
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| Moroni's monument! |
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| The Sacred Grove! |
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| The Visitor's center! |
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| Oh how I LOVE the temple! |
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| This is one of my favorite Palmyra traditions. It is my favorite place to eat for obvious reasons... THAT'S THE SMALL! |
The picture above is of a “text stop” sign on the interstate in NY. Yes, the government is paying for concrete slabs on the side of the road (there aren’t even bathrooms) to discourage texting while driving. (#whatisoursocietycomingto). The rest of the pictures are from our pitstop on the way home at the beautiful Niagara Falls! We took the Maid of the Mist boat ride right down to the Falls.
Obviously, I loved the free ponchos.
And that leads me to now. Reality is setting in, and I am trying to accomplish many goals. I think the biggest spiritual growth I have had in the past six weeks is learning to be patient with myself. Our Savior is so merciful and patient with us. #thankheavens We must do the same for ourselves and recognize our progress, no matter how gradual it is. “Adjusting” (whatever that’s supposed to mean) to life not as a missionary is definitely hard, but it has been rewarding. I still give out Book of Mormon pass along cards in the grocery store, am a little terrified to drive by myself, and just introduced myself to someone this past Sunday as “Sister...I mean Ali” #itsbeen6weeks. It’s all a work in progress and mostly, I am just overwhelmed with gratitude and humility.
I simply love each of you, the Lord, and life.
MAKE IT A GREAT DAY!
