I've been Brainwashed ?!

We just had the craziest weekend ever!!

On Saturday we had a good lesson, everything went smoothly and we taught really well together. We got out of the lesson and that's when things got weird….

We went across the street to ask this lady if we could help her with her garden and she looked at us in our skirts and was like, "really? in your skirts?.. you don't want to ask that, because this black women will put you to work!"  Ha Ha…she was great. So, we had this long conversation with her about, well, …I don't even know what... But I remember her telling us we needed a sign that said "VIOLATION" and "STOP, DONT COME ANY CLOSER!"

Well, then this old man came up and was talking to her and gave her a hug and then looked at us and asked us what we do. We of course say we are missionaries! He was like, "Oh you are LDS. Your church believes in shunning don't you?" I have no clue what this man is talking about... so we say no. He goes on telling us that we shun people and he could never be a member of our church for that reason. Then, a girl from like 20 feet away yelled that she has been shunned. He went on to tell us that we have been brainwashed and we need to get out of this cult now while we had the chance. Whoa people, slow down… 

All we could do is try to bear our testimonies to him. But he ended up just walking away telling us we were crazy. After this fun moment in time, the woman with the garden was like..” Sisters, you are so strong I am sorry you had to go through that. When he comes back he will suffer the wrath of Robin!” So crazy…

Later that afternoon as we were walking along we stopped and talked to someone. While we were talking with him he told us that he was intoxicated about 5 times. But he wanted to learn more about the church! 

And, to end the Night… we knocked on a less-actives door, it ended up that she doesn't live there anymore but the person there was really nice! He gave us his tomato plants! He also told us that he doesn't have a name.. that he is just borrowing it. That none of us own names. Hmmm…Okay… He also taught us a lot about the law. And that he found Christ through studying law. Which was truly a cool story.

There is so many people in the world and we don't even get to meet like one millionth of them! It is so important for us to tell everyone we know about the gospel. Even if you are not a missionary. The gospel is part of your life. Share it with your friends, they do have the right to know.

Shout out to all the Daddies out there! Hope you had a wonderful fathers day!!

Shout out to Colten on his mission call! I am so excited for you!! Missions Rule!

Love ya's!

-Sister Gillins 

Sister Wanlass dropped her tweezers down the toilet
and had to go fishing!

Sister Perreira, the BEST WARD MISSIONARY EVER !!
She comes teaching with us like everyday!

TRANSFERS !!

My new companion is the best! Sister Wanlass is amazing! She has the sweetest heart and can make anyone feel comfortable. All of our investigators and members already love her and she hasn't even been here for a week!! She is just that awesome! She is from Bountiful, Utah and has been out for almost a year.

Ask me how many times we got lost driving this week. Probably around 78 times.. Even with the GPS.. we are just really good at taking wrong turns or not paying attention. But, somehow we are able to get to all of our appointments on time! Its like a miracle.

So this week our investigator Mike was baptized!! He is awesome! He has the most open heart and just wants to learn. The spirit was so strong at his baptism! Even when things seem to be going wrong and you are running around trying to get things organized the spirit can be so strong. That is why I love baptisms! No matter what is going on around you, the spirit is there and He will comfort you!

Sunday was the best! Mike and Kat were both confirmed and Adam got the Aaronic Priesthood!! Such an exciting weekend! :) We also got to teach Relief Society on Sunday as well. We taught about the priesthood keys. I am so thankful for the worthy priesthood holders in my life! They are able to have the power of God to be able to help those around them. It is amazing!!

Shout out to my fam for going on cool vacations with out me! Love you!!
Take lots of pictures! I love getting pictures from everyone!!

Loves,
Sister Gillins

 

SISTER WANLASS AND ME ON
MIKE'S BAPTISM DAY

WEDDING CRASHERS !

Transfers are here!

I’m staying in London! Sister Bodine is going to North Toronto. So,… like down town Toronto. She will do so well there. I am lucky and blessed that I had Sister Bodine. She is an amazing missionary. She was a great example and taught me many things.

My new companion is Sister Warnlass. I think that is how you spell it? I will meet her tomorrow. I am so excited!! New things to learn. I will make it as successful as I can and  I will make it as fun as I can. Missionary work can be so fun!

I heard she is great, everyone keeps telling me that.

Another wave of friends at home have their mission calls and others still waiting to hear! So exciting! Simply the best thing we can be doing in our Youthful Life! 

So….

Miracles in London 1st!

This was such a Great week! We had some really fun experiences! Monday was Sister Bodines birthday! She is so old now!! We had the sweetest ward members take us out for her birthday! It was so fun!

We also got to attend our investigators wedding and baptism!

Kats husband was a less-active and she got interested in missionary work when her family was having missionaries over for dinner. We were able to meet Kat and continue to teach her about the gospel. She is amazing in every way! Her main purpose is to live with Heavenly Father again. She has the strongest faith and just wants to follow Gods commandments. As soon as we taught her the law of chastity she started living it and made plans for when she could get married! We were able to attend her wedding on Saturday! She looked beautiful. The next day she was baptized! Soon her and her family will be able to be sealed in the temple for time and all eternity!

Kat is such an amazing example to me. All of our goals in this life should lead us to someday live with Heavenly Father again some day. And all he asks of us it to follow his commandments!

We also have an amazing investigator named Mxxx! He also is a great example of following Gods commandments in faith. He has been trying to quit smoking. He knows it is hard but with faith in Christ he knows it is possible!

I love how much we are able to learn from our investigators. We go in ready to teach them a lesson, but come out learning so much more!

We are able to learn so much, but we have to be willing to open our ears and heart to be able to learn.

Love,

Sister Gillins

Kat and Joey's Wedding Day
Sister Bodine, me and their son Josh

Kat's Baptism Day (2 great days in a row!)

Our Friend and New Investigator
(he came to Kat's Baptism)

I love to Look for Rainbows

Weather here in London is like Utah. One moment it is sunny and hot and the next it is a down pour. Sister Bodine and I were tracting in the rain!! It was the best though. People were willing to let us in and then we were able to share our message with them. We met a cute little family and they are willing to listen and see how through the Gospel of Jesus Christ they can live together for forever!

This week I really had to learn how to approach and talk with people because we had a lot of time to walk around and meet people. Sister Bodine is also having me take the lead in everything,….so it is up to me to start the conversation, get their information and ask for referrals and such . It was scary, but I did it! And the more I did it, the more fun it became. There are so many people in this world with so many different stories and you can always relate it back to the gospel. I think it is amazing that as missionaries we aren't trying to change people’s minds, but just adding upon the things they already know and believe.

We have some amazing investigators who are giving up so much in order to be able to live with our Heavenly Father again some day. Some people are giving up their way of living to follow Christ. It is amazing to watch and see.

Sister Bodine and I got to hold some baby ducks yesterday.. and my oh my they are too cute! They are so fluffy and they squeak! Oh, they are so cute! So, we definately took pictures!!

Loves ya!

-Sister Gillins 

"Teaching in the Rain"

Rainy days are the Best!

FLUFFY  BABY  DUCKIES!

I feel like I have Leprosy

The city of London is known for its allergy season and I’m getting the worst of it! I have never had allergies in my life and I come here and WHAM! My eyes are red puffy and I have rashes all over my face.. It’s a little scary looking, but a good conversation starter!! People are willing to tell me their advice on what to do and in return I share with them the way to salvation.

The hardest part of teaching lessons is that our investigators LOVE to talk. So it takes us about 15 minutes for us to even start the lesson and then once we get started it’s so hard to keep them on topic. We asked someone how she could use "The Family: A proclamation to the world" to strengthen her family and she said… "What is the smallest cat you have seen survive?!" And then ran to her room and brought back a baby kitten. It was really fun trying to bring it back to families, but somehow we are always able to.

We are teaching this sweet family and every time we see their little boy, he runs up and gives us the biggest hug around the legs and then asks where his stickers are. (Thank you Gilbert family for sending me stickers!!) They are planning on getting married within the next week so she can be baptized soon!! :)

Our investigator Adam was baptized on Sunday! He is wonderful and so prepared!! He already knew so much about the gospel and would say "It just makes sense!" We only taught him for about 3 weeks! The Lord truly does prepare his people. We just need to open our eyes and share our message with them!

We were able to go out and tract yesterday. It was a clear and warm day. It was so nice to be able to go out and talk with people. We had a few shut the door on our face, tons of glares, and someone got really angry and told Sister Bodine and I that we were brain washed from the time we were born and that it’s ridiculous that we go and tell people about this. We just smiled and said "Have a good day!" :) We didn't end up getting any investigators from tracting yesterday, but we did plant seeds and that many more people where able to hear about the gospel!

This week we were also able to go with some girls in our ward to sing to an older lady who's husband just passed away 3 weeks ago. They are an amazing family. They do missionary work like crazy!! So, we decided to walk to her house and as we went they talked with people with us and helped us spread the Gospel! Such a fun experience. They will be great missionaries some day!! Isn’t my “Little Helper” friend adorable? I have a picture with her.

I love all of yous!!

Sister Gillins

(PS: I still love making ugly faces..:D)

My Adorable friends and "little helper"

Weird Faces are the best

"A New Life"
05-17-14

Mommy Day!

We had such an amazing week! We have some wonderful investigators who are progressing so well! So we had some fun and amazing lessons!

To start off our week Sister Bodine and I rewarded ourselves with a white chocolate brownie for hitting standards 3 weeks in a row. So that was yummy and a good way to start off the week.

Then we got to meet with some great people! We have such a cute family we are teaching. We are teaching Kxx. Her fiancé is a less active. She has the cutest 5 year old ever. He always wants us to bring stickers when we come. She loves the gospel. She gets so excited about everything that we share.

We also had an amazing lesson with another investigator. He is having a hard time wanting to quit smoking. We had no idea what we wanted to do. So, Sister Bodine, a member and I all decided we were going to bear our testimonies on what has helped us the most through hard times. We each had our turn. Sister Perreira and I shared our favorite scripture and Sister Bodine sang a song. The spirit was so strong. It gave him the strength he needed to have the will to start slowing down on the smokes. Anything is possible if the Spirit is there!!

So... sometimes, if people don't come to church to get confirmed Sister Bodine and I go to their homes and knock on their doors and throw rocks at their windows and yell "Come on!! You need to get the Holy Ghost today!!" For reals… That was an adventure. We had to do that this last week….

It’s hard.. because you want people to do things and progress, but we all have our agency and that is one of the greatest gifts our Heavenly Father has given us. All we can do is share the gospel and invite the Spirit and hope for the best.

Mother’s day was awesome!! I loved being able to talk to my cute family!! I am grateful that Heavenly Father sent me to my wonderful mother who has gotten me this far. If it wasn't for her I would not be here in Canada. I am also so grateful that we are allowed to talk to them on mother’s day. :) It’s only been like 2 and  a half months, but my brothers have grown! They are turning into men!! Their voices are deeper and they are growing taller. I can’t even start to imagine what it will be like in a year!! But I was so grateful that the bishop allowed us to use his home to be able to Skype my family. They even let me take selfies!! :)

I hope everyone had an amazing mother’s day!! I am so grateful that we know that families are meant to be forever. That life doesn't end after we die, but that we can live forever and with our families!

Love,

Sister Gillins

Mothers Day 2014

Blonde Brownie Reward

Elder Urrutia caught us in the act of "Contact"
Great Timing

What Happened?

So this week was wonderful, but I’m not too sure on what happened. It is all a blur, but that’s what is wonderful about missionary work. If you are doing what the Lord wants you to do then you don't need to worry about what happened or is going to happen, everything will fall into place as you work hard and focus on the needs of your investigators.

We have a new investigator. When we first talked to him he told us his name was Endeavour. Then he told us that it was actually Yusuf in a text he sent to us. Then when we actually met with him for a lesson he told us that it was really Endeavour and that he wasn't sure if he wanted us to have his real name yet. So, we went on with our lesson calling him Endeavour. Well the next day he told us his real name is Axxxx and that he felt he could really trust us with his real name once he met with us. It was the strangest thing that has happened since being in Canada, but we are glad that he trusts us. He is amazing and is progressing so well! He is even trying to live the word of wisdom and we haven't even taught it to him yet!!

We have been truly blessed. We have some amazing investigators who are wanting to follow Christ. It is fun to watch how much the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bless them. This week we took away a pack of cigarettes from one of our investigators. The packs here are so weird; they have a picture of a man dyeing on it! It’s supposed to stop people from smoking.. but it’s not working because everyone still does.

I love seeing the blessings that come from people living the word of wisdom. The people are filled with a more amazing light and able to feel the spirit so much more. They are blessed physically where they say they have more energy, but also blessed spiritually. They are able to think more clearly and feel their Saviors love so much more.

Sister Bodine and I have been tracting a lot more. We need to find a family. So we go to big neighborhoods now. Tracting is so ineffective, but if people aren't willing to give us referrals it’s the only thing we can do. Many people will not listen and shut the door on our faces, many love to argue. My favorite is when people say they don't like to talk about religion but end up having a 15 minute conversation with us on their porch. Even though they aren't willing to listen now, we are planting seeds. The Gospel is for everyone and that is why we are here, to share it.

I know that Jesus is the Son of God and that He lives. He can bless each of our lives, but only if we allow Him to. Everything is possible through Jesus Christ. He is our brother and loves us more than we can comprehend. Let the atonement work within you. Give yourself over to our Lord.

Love,

Sister Gillins

McFlurry Day

This is the picture on front of cigarettes
here in Canada

I don't think this picture is working!