April 25, 2016
Y'all need to stop changing your emails

Hello hello from the grand state of Alaska! Still my home.

Things are going well, we are talking to lots and lots of people and
none of particularly want to talk to us.

Oh! We passed off someone we were teaching, Joey, to the elders in our
ward. He's been coming to church and he now had a tentative date for
baptism! His girlfriend Joni is the sweetest thing. I've learned a lot
through them about what the correlation between when you pray before
you read the scriptures and how much you understand.

The only other people we are teaching are either currently bearing
children or are about to graduate from college and move far away, so
we don't really see them.

Forgive people this week. They need it. Don't gossip about them please.

Sister Christian is probably leaving soon, so we've started taking
pictures with people... These are the Culleys! He got baptized last
summer, and they're going to get sealed in Utah the January after I
get home... So I get to go! :)

Love you all!

Sister Rollins

Apr 18, 2016
We didn't get put into military prison!

Wow! What a balmy 50 degree day in Fairbanks, Alaska. Yes, there's still snow on the ground.

.. But it's mostly gone. Ish. Break up season (aka all the mud puddles!) is well underway. That 

means all the snow melts and then it runs in the streets and you hope your basement you
live in doesn't flood. You also wear actually good boots so as to avoid having soaking feet all 

the time.

So part of our area is on Fort Wainwright, and we visit there often to visit members and contact 

less actives and such. I don't think we're allowed to proselyte there, so when we visit we try not 

to look illegal or like we're doing something bad. We're friends with the guy who gives us our 

pass to get on base every week, but everyone else always looks suspicious of us...  So when I 

was changing the song on my CD player as we were pulling up for them to check our passes I 

was terrified to look up and see someone signaling us to drive over underneath the big tent off 

to the side.

We pull up and a very stern, official looking man signals for me to roll down my window. 

"Welcometofortwainwright. 

Youvebeenchosenforarandomvehicleinspectionpleaseturnoffthecarandstoptouchinganything."
;
It didn't process for about ten seconds and I'm sure I looked really dumb, but luckily my 

companion, dear Sister Christian, shut the car off and they looked at our car with a weird mirror 

thing and checked for bombs. Then they asked us to open all the consoles and the hood of
the car, and me being flustered can't find anything, including the lever that opens the hood and 

I look even more dumb... We get out of the car and then my beloved companion starts talking 

to the guy inspecting and he becomes a normal person. And then we pass and go on base on 

our merry way.

Good thing I have lots of scary military friends to protect me from all the scary people I meet. 

Perks of being a missionary of a YSA branch that covers a military base...

Okay, enough about the military.

Service! We go to the Foodbank every week with our district, and it's really fun. We've written 

hundreds of handwritten thank you cards for them, swept the parking lot, sorted through moldy 

strawberries for days, and put together the actual food boxes for people. I did the strawberries 

for a good couple hours last week, and I don't think I want to eat any anytime soon. I've also 

had Mexican food for almost every meal from Friday to today. Just a heads up, I have found 

exactly one good Mexican restaurant in Alaska. And there are waaaaay too many bad ones.

Wow! This is really long. I went on exchanges with Sister Strong, she and Sister Larcom moved 

into another apartment so Sister Christian and I are lonely now, we talked to a lot of people but 

none of them know yet that they want the Gospel. Cancellations. Zone conference. I hit 11 

months and forgot about it.

Love you all!

Sister Rollins

Look, some of us matched on purpose!

Bet you haven't seen a picture like this before...

Apr 11, 2016
Verbalizing feelings is hard, but I'm working on it

The Fairbanks Zone! Zone meeting was the bomb. I would name all the people but 
that would take a long time.
   Back row: Elder Christensen, Elder Andersen, Elder Pace, Elder Dalin, Elder 
Berensen, Elder Kipp is hiding, Elder Hoyer, Elder Gehring, Elder White
  Middle row: Sister Larcom, Sister Strong, Sister Williams, Sister Ouderkirk, 
Sister Christian, Sister Rollins
   Sitting row: Elder Strong, Elder Agad, Elder Rogers, Elder Rushton, Elder Palmer

Sid and Ethan with Sister Christian and me! And Jesus, of course.

"Have you ever just been in the middle of a field where nothing is around and as you look up 

and you see the millions of stars above you, and all you feel is peace? It's kinda like that but 

my chest feels so heavy and full, and it makes me want to cry with joy." -Sid 

Joy got baptized! She was taught primarily by her home ward elders, but she's a YSA so we 

got to teach her some too. She's so cute! She's from Georgia and her family isn't too happy 

about her getting baptized, but she's a rockstar.

Favorite training from zone meeting was probably the one where Elder Palmer threw down 

about being converted. Are all of your actions really reflecting that you want to be a disciple 

of Christ?

Sister Rollins

|Apr 5, 2016
Chopping lots of things in the snow

Wow, General Conference! Was the bomb.com. Super fan. Probably my favorite part was 

when Elder Holland talked about the dinosaur chasing us. Priceless.

It snowed again! I'm still lovin it.

Sister Christian was sick this week, making my fifth companion (of...let's see... yep, that's five) 

to require medical attention during my sojourn with them! I love all of you, former companions. 

I think the Lord is trying to prepare me to become a nurse. Or just teaching me how to be nice 

to sick people. Luckily, her ailment was just the common cold and I managed to avoid catching 

it myself.

To save me from cabin fever, I went out with Sister Larcom (one of the sisters who live with us) 

and we taught Sid his final lessons in preparation for his baptismal interview! He's doing really 

great. We are trying to work it out so he can get baptized in the river... But we'll see if my 

smooth talking skills are up to snuff. I have until Saturday...

General Conference was an enjoyable experience to watch in the Institute building! We had 

breakfast in between sessions (which, to my heart which is still in Ohio, watching conference at 

noon for the first session, not the second, was blasphemy) and had fun all together enjoying the 

awesome talks. My favorite part was probably when Sister Oscarson threw down: "You might 

know it all, but do you really believe it?" She seriously rocks so much. I love how much she just 

encourages us to question and constantly strengthen our testimonies.

Remember who you are! Love you all.

Sister Rollins










The current state of Fairbanks