Nov 30, 2015

Reindeer Farm in Palmer, AK

 Old Pictures and Fireworks!

So it turns out that every Saturday after Thanksgiving, if you'll head on over to Palmer, AK 

you'll see a brilliant fireworks display. We're talking about rivaling Disney World - a solid 

thirty minutes of blasting insanity! It starts at 7:19, because the guy who sponsors it
has a birthday on July 29th and can't let off fireworks on that day (firstly, there's not enough dark here to do it anytime aside from about 2 in the morning and secondly, there's usually a fire ban in the summer. Did you know Alaska is a desert?) So as Sister McGraw and I
sat inside with dear Sister Giese and were just beginning our lesson, we suddenly 

discovered ourselves on a walk to see said fireworks. I think I only lost hearing in one ear 

from standing about 50 feet from where they were actually shooting off the fireworks.

Speaking of Sister Giese, this week I have absolutely seen the power God has in our lives. She has definitely not led an easy life, and everyone else in her family but one sister has 

abandoned church as helpful in any capacity, but she still knows it's where God wants her
to be. She hates the judgy stares she gets every week, she hates fake friendliness, and she hates that sometimes it takes a long time for people to even say hi to her. But she still 

comes! She has an amazing testimony, and after all of the things she's been through I'm 

amazed she's even alive. The fireworks were also perfectly timed to transition from a 

"getting things off my chest" session into a reading of the Book of Mormon, which really 

changed the atmosphere and helped us all be happier. God's really good at that whole 

timing thing...

Our district is pretty fun. Also, if you didn't know, real reindeer are actually pretty small. Like, deer-size (imagine that!) Nowhere close to moose or even elk or caribou size.

So in other news... Sister McGraw is still sick. It's been three weeks now, and she's 
supposed to be better... I think the Lord is teaching me how to take care of sick people. 
Or at least trying to.

Oh! Thanksgiving! How could I forget that was this week? It was full of thanks. At The 
high school here they had a free dinner for anyone who either didn't have enough to have 
a Thanksgiving meal or just didn't have anyone to have it with. We had a lot of fun serving 
food, and met lots of interesting people! There was a Hawaiian guy that was pretty nice that spent awhile trying to convince me to join him and his religion. However, he spent a lot of 
time talking about how religions are just systems of oppression, so I'm not sure why his 
religion isn't oppressive? It has something to do with all you need is a love relationship with Jesus, because the fig tree doesn't bear fruit by trying to, it just soaks up the sun, the light of the world! So don't join any religions, except for his.

But there were also tons of other kind people there! And it was fun to serve and talk and run around trying to get food for people and not offend anyone. Good times.

After that, we were able to eat dinner with a family here, which was fun. Then we were 
coerced into playing Snatch Bingo... Where you can steal other people's prizes. It was only mildly vicious, and I came out with a Darth Vader notebook and a sticker book, so I was 
thankful.

Everyone and their dog were at church yesterday, including us! It is so neat to see people
 come closer to their Savior. 

Remember Jesus! Remember that prayer isn't that complicated - It's just talking to your 
perfect Father. As the Bible Dictionary describes, once you understand your relationship 
with Him, prayer becomes natural and instinctive. 

Much love and happiness to all!

Sister Rollins

Nov 23, 2015

God teaches Sister Rollins patience

Poor Sister McGraw is still sick! So I've been reading Ensigns and calling people and 

learning patience. And making Sister McGraw sleep. Apparently, I'm not very good at it. If 

anybody has any tips on how to make people sleep, let me know.

We had Sisters' Training this week, where all the sisters in the mission get together and 

have lunch and learn more about the Gospel and being sister missionaries. It was nice to 

see old companions and other sisters I've gotten to know! The main theme was about 

hearing the music of the Gospel, and not just dancing the steps. So in missionary work, we need to love the people and make sure we're understanding the love God has for us, and 

not just following the rules and blindly obeying. We had 27 sisters there, and soon we'll be
down to 22 sisters in the mission! Weird.

Well, stay strong! Don't get caught in snow drifts or freeze in the -10 degree weather.

Sister Rollins

Nov 16, 2015
Then half of my companion's tooth got drilled off...

Obligatory selfie of me and my new companion! Who, if anyone cares,
was actually trained by my last companion, Sister Galli. Also please
take special notice of the weird wall carpet stuff present in every
LDS church building ever - the Church is true, even in Alaska.

Hello hello from Palmer, Alaska! Home of a reindeer farm and the Alaska State Fair.

It's starting to get a little chilly up here... It's been pretty consistently in the negatives, but we broke 0 today! It honestly doesn't feel as cold as you think it is. Most of the time.

So this week was a little slow, because my wonderful new companion, dear Sister McGraw, has caught quite a bad cold... And this cold air certainly isn't helping her get better! We've 

been offered most remedies under the sun, but if you think of any feel free to send us
some more! Because hopefully I won't catch it, but if theoretically I did... At least now we 

have plenty of tissues, NyQuil, lozenges and also sorts of warm drinks and Jello!

So Lazy Mountain is, indeed, a mountain. I'm sure that surprises most of you, but I now live on a mountain! It's pretty fun to drive up the switchbacks in the dark, especially with ice on 

the road. But I'm not an official, true blue Alaskan driver until I survive the winter. So
here's to hoping I survive...

I've seen two more moose here, but more importantly, I went to a reindeer farm! They only 

have a couple hundred reindeer, but we helped the vet check their mouths/draw their blood. Helping mostly entailed us herding/holding the reindeer. Reindeer like to spit...

The member missionary work here is amazing! We visited three families who had invited their friends over to meet with us, and they all went really well. Also, we sang happy birthday to someone, and I didn't quite know how to sing it nicely... But it wasn't quite as bad as my
family usually sings it - there were no crying babies, at least.

In my studies this week I've really been focusing on the Book of Mormon, and I've learned 

some cool things. The purpose of the Book of Mormon (which I knew before, but it never 

really hit me) is to testify of Christ to the Lamanites. So many writers in the Book of Mormon
prayed for the record to be preserved just so that those who didn't get a chance to really 

learn about Jesus Christ and his plan for us could know - and their prayers were totally 

answered! The millions of copies of the Book of Mormon now available are an answer to all of their prayers, and now it's our job to share its message of love and the possibility of 

forgiveness to not only the Lamanites, but everyone!  Neat-o to think about.

Have a great week! Remember that your trials are blessings in disguise. Like because 

Sister McGraw was sick, I got to clean out our whole apartment!

Remember who you are and whose you are :)

Sister Rollins

SNOW!!!

Nov 9, 2015
More snow and heading out!

So it's still snowing here, which is delightful! It also starts getting dark around 5, which is 

less delightful. It's mildly amusing to knock on someone's door at 7 (that you know) and 

them to be surprised that you're visiting so late! Especially when at 9 in the summertime 

it's barely evening... But who needs clocks anyway?

So I'm leaving Soldotna! After four transfers and almost six months, it's weird to be leaving.

I definitely will miss it, but I'll be heading to Palmer! Which is nearish to Wasilla, if anyway 

knows Alaskan geography. If you don't, I'll be about an hour north of Anchorage, so still in 

the middle of the southern half of the state. It will still be cold and snowy. I love Alaska.

Current moose count: 28

Current caribou count: 17

Future companion count in Soldotna: 3! Everyone jokes that they need two missionaries to 

replace me... So Sister Grieve and Sister Larcom will join Sister Galli for her last transfer.

Sister Galli and I have had a rollicking time together! It's been weird to help her plan for 

BYU this winter semester... So anyone in/around Provo, lookout for Laurel Galli - she rocks!

 I'm sad to leave her, but my new companion is actually her trainee! So Sister McGraw and 

I will be serving together in the Lazy Mountain ward.

It's been good to wrap up my time here. I received some socks and Chapstick as a going 

away present, which was really nice. Pro tip to any Christmas present givers to 

missionaries in Alaska: you can't go wrong with socks.

The Lord has been so good to me! We had a great dinner with a lady in our ward who is a 

mental health therapist for a hospital up here, and she had lots of great sociological advice.

 We also had a great discussion about identifying the Holy Ghost and choosing to believe.
She might be my new favorite person, which is a shame because I'm leaving today. But 

the Lord definitely sends us people who we can have real conversations with when we 

need them.

I was reading the conference talk "Seeking the Lord" from April of this year and loved this 

quote from it: "A deeper understanding of Jesus Christ will give us greater hope for the 

future and, despite our imperfections, more confidence in achieving our righteous goals." 

Hope is something that I feel like I've gained on my mission a lot - it's much easier to gain 

when you are around hopeful people all of the time and are constantly surrounding yourself

 with uplifting messages and cut out most media. There's certainly still adversity, but you 

feel like you have the tools to deal with it and have a lot of hope for your current and 

immediate future. I also love this quote from the section about hope in Preach my Gospel: 

"Hope is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you." Isn't it fascinating that

hope is only related to His promises to you?

Anyway, have a wonderful and hopeful week this week! Do what truly makes you happy.

Much love and charity,

Nov 2, 2015
Missionary life unedited version

CW: graphic descriptions of sickness/puking

So then I went on exchanges and ate at Taco King... And then puked my guts out at this 

poor less active lady's house... Like everywhere. Poor Sister Johnstun dry heaves if she 

even hears someone else throw up, so she was no help. I think it was inspired, though - it 

was better than throwing up at the apartment, where I would have had to clean it up, and 

Sister Pike is my HERO and didn't complain one bit - aw, sweetie, go in the bathroom and 

clean up! Don't worry about it, I'll clean it up here - and cleaned it up with a mop bucket like

a champ in about 15 minutes. I mostly just felt bad that I had gotten it everywhere (I 

probably puked about 5 or 6 times) but I missed her couch and her rug, so she only had to 

clean up hardwood and the bathroom, which didn't seem to bother her too much... I slept a 

lot, drove home from exchanges, slept some more, slept a little more the next day and then

was completely back to normal. Don't eat at Taco King, kids!

And I really am completely fine!

I love snow. I love snow. I love snow. Did I mention I love snow?

It snowed a glorious amount here in Soldotna! Did I mention it's beautiful? And it snowed. 

Really only a couple inches, but it nigh covered all the things in a iridescent blanket of 

magic. Because snow is magnificently fantastical. And makes everything gorgeous. It also
seems to put a damper on people and their interactions with other humans, but the Lord 

still puts people in our path!

Sheila and Dennis are doing really well! They weren't able to meet with us during the week,

but managed to come to church on Sunday and had a blast. Sheila just wishes there was 

more singing and praising the Lord Almighty! We told her we'd work on that. They are truly 

an example to me of humility - they take everything we say, mull it over, and aren't afraid to

just accept it! It's crazy how willing they are to believe and just love everyone.

Funny River is always an adventure! The people there are so kind and always offer us too 

much food. We get offered a lot of food, actually - if anyone wants some leftovers... The 

wonderful couple that lives out there we've been seeing is actually now gone to Florida, so

they're adorable and happy there. They're actually stopping in Cincinnati on the way down 

to visit her brother in the hospital, so if you see the Neals, let me know! They're cute and old.

Halloween was a fun time! Sister Galli and I dressed up... As each other! It was a fun time. 

We went to a baptism of someone in our neighboring ward that was so fantastic, and met 

tons of nonmembers that were super friendly and interested!

Right afterward was the dual ward Trunk or Treat! It was dark and freezing cold, even at 

6:30. But it was also a blast! We passed out candy and met people. We were glad we had 

to go in at 7, though, because we were able to be warm and listen to conference talks while
doing a puzzle.

The Sabbath truly was a delight yesterday! Focusing on the sacrament and the changes 

you are making in your life, as well as seeking to serve as much as possible, makes all the 

difference.

Sister Rollins