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

Oct 26, 2015
Go away JUST LEAVE

At the beginning of this week, Sister Galli's goal was to have more meekness in trial (she's 

studying the song "More Holiness Give Me" line by line each week.) It wasn't as bad as we 

expected!

In fact, we met an amazing couple yesterday! They were invited by some members to our 

Meet the Mormons movie night we had on Friday, and then they wanted a Bible, and 

missionaries make great messengers :) so we raided the church library and headed on 

down the road! They were super friendly and Sheila has a beautiful Texan accent that Sister Galli picks up as she talks to her. They love learning about other religions and right now are just searching for what God wants them to do. Talk about prepared! They're fabulous and 

wanted to make sure we came back again.

We also had some fun finding experiences. We've had a goal to talk to 10 new people a 

day, which would happen if there were actual amounts of people in Alaska. We've been 

averaging probably about 3, which is most of the people we see that aren't in their cars. In 

an effort to see and be able to talk to more people, we decided to walk most of the way 

across town (about 30 minutes) and talk to everyone we saw. Since it was Saturday 

morning, we figured we'd see several people... And we saw a whopping 2 people getting 

into their car 50 feet up the road. It was a good time. The best part was that I felt inspired to walk up to this house and knock on their door, so I head up the driveway with my trusting

 companion. We get close to the door and see a lovely little sign on white paper written with a nice red marker: "Do not knock. Don't ring the doorbell. Go away. JUST LEAVE." We had a good laugh... Poor guys, they must have had a rough day. #alaska

Stocking salmon and ammo for the Second Coming is actually a thing.

Sister Galli is doing really well at not being trunky, even though she's only got one transfer

 after this one. We've convinced ourselves she has another year. As for other elders in my

 district... I can't say the same time. Describing how you're so excited to buy your RV and
drive back to Alaska every day doesn't help.

Two of the big families in town have kids who just got engaged, so that's the talk of the town.

Grace is my new favorite subject. Divine assistance you receive through faith and

 repentance. I don't know about you, but I need all the divine assistance that I can get.

The trees are now all bare, both of leaves and of snow. All of Soldotna is holding its breath as we wait for real winter to set in. We haven't plugged in our car yet!

Stay warm, remember who you are!

Sister Rollins

Oct 19, 2015

Ditch diving

Greetings.

Pro tip: don't drive into a ditch. If you pray hard enough, you might be able to get out of it (Sister Rollins: 1, Ditch: 0) but then you might lock the keys in the car (Sister Rollins: 1, 

Ditch: 1). We'll see if I can win next week. Did I mention that this Jeep we drive is still 

cursed?

People are doing pretty well. Sister Galli got to experience Funny River for the first time! 

It's... Tiny, and odd. Classic Alaska, with dirt roads and people talking about driving into 

town and lots of old homesteaders. They're probably the cutest people ever.

We are working with a lot of people who I met at the beginning of my time here and either 

were busy during the summer or we just lost contact with and now they're interested again. 

It's weird having the same teaching pool as I did five months ago... And thinking that it's
been five months! But good. I love it. There's lots of cute old ladies.

Our spiritual message that we've been sharing with people at dinner has been going really well. First, we pull out a bucket of jelly beans. Then, without telling them what it is, we go 

down the list from chapter 4 of Preach my Gospel and tell everyone to take a jelly bean
for every experience that they've had. Then, if they want to, they can share some of those 

experiences. It's been really cool to hear people's experiences, and they catch on to the 

theme pretty quickly, but some of them surprise you... The point of the jelly beans is that
we often limit our spiritual experiences to church and maybe reading the scriptures, but in 

reality, just as there are many flavors of jelly beans that are all sweet, so too are our spiritualexperiences different but still sweet. It's been really cool to be able to feel the spirit that is 

brought from sharing experiences as well. Hey, here's my commitment to all of you: go over that list and share one of those experiences with someone. It could be me, or it could be 

your mom, or anyone else. But do it.

I love you all! I see moose and miracles on the daily, and miracles probably more often. But they're both real and awesome.

Love,

Sister Rollins

Oct 12, 2015
Comforters and muddy roads

Rain! Rain. Rain. No snow. Raaaaain. Oh hey rain.

The clouds make it just barely not snowable.

This week was great! Sister Galli and I have finally gotten into the swing of things. She now gets my jokes when no one else does, and we've mastered communicating without anyone else noticing.

Raking leaves and chopping wood happens often. A lot of people here don't rake their 

leaves, though - they just mow over them and grind them up. It works pretty good, especially because there's no such thing as leaf pick-ups or even trash pick-ups in most of Soldotna. #smalltownlife

Chopping and stacking wood is fun! More so with a log splitter. I think I've talked about it lots of times, but it happens a lot. Maybe this week I'll take a picture so you can see our district 

in action.

One of our converts of a little over a year got to go do baptisms at the temple for the first 

time on Saturday! The drive is about 3 hours, so it's not made too often. Even though she 

was surprised at some things, she definitely felt the Spirit and the feeling of peace that you 

always get from the temple. I was so excited for her, especially since I haven't been for... 

Five months now. Woo. (I thought I was going at transfer meeting, but then it was closed for cleaning. Sad face.)

We came up with the next big Mormon missionary hit song: "The Commandments are to 

Make People Happy!" It's a catchy ditty. Remind me to sing it at my homecoming talk.

Ronnie got confirmed on Sunday! That kid is just a dear. He is one of the sweetest kids I've ever known. His dad came, too, which was super awesome and somewhat unexpected.

We made some delicious halibut! Sister Galli has mad making-up-recipe skills, so we took 

some halibut from our freezer and made a cream cheese and basil and honey mustard plus other things I didn't catch spread. And baked it in the oven. It was delish with the naan some

one had given us.

People are fascinating. Zone Conference was fun. Ponderizing scripture of the week: 

Moroni 8:3. I'm trying to be mindful of everyone in my prayers. They get a little long, but 

thinking of other people all the time is what I'm trying to do, and it's going pretty well. So

know that I'm thinking about all of you and praying for you.
Love,

Sister Rollins
Sister Galli and Sister Rollins



We found a pretty sunset and cooked some fish! Too bad most of our
pictures only one of us is smiling...

Oct 5, 2015
To be determined

GeNeRaL cOnFeReNcE holy smokes! Was amazing and edifying. Also, instead of the first 

session being at noon, the second one was at noon. But that's okay! Because then there 

was time on Sunday night for Ronnie's baptism. His whole family came (which was probablyaround 20 people) plus many members of our ward, which was so good. His dad, who
hasn't been attending church for several years, gave the baptism talk, and it was awesome. Not because he was eloquent or for anything in particular that he said, but because he just 

radiated happiness because his son was getting baptized. He still has a long way to come
back, but he's started.

Scripture I'm ponderizing this week: Jacob 2:8.

The trees have lost nigh unto half their leaves, and the first snow has yet to fall in Soldotna 

(although Homer, 90 miles south, and Cooper Landing, 30 miles north, both received their 

white blessings.)

Miracle of miracles, we actually tracted into someone who was interested! She has a good 

friend who's LDS, and they've had several in-depth conversations about religion. She was 

very friendly and invited us in (who does that? Only people who are prepared!) and we
had a really good question and answer session that was actually the Restoration lesson. So that was an amazing blessing. Also, since Sister Galli has mad people interaction skills, tha was super helpful.

We also helped out at the farm for the final week. All summer we've enjoyed the delightful 

farm folk and fresh vegetables, and it was sad to say goodbye! But it's a little chilly to be 

sticking your hands in a bucket of water, and the vegetables have barely been surviving the
frost, so the season is over and we now have open Wednesday mornings. 'll probably miss 

the rants about how awful Fish and Game is and how beavers are annoying. You win some,you lose some, you shoot some mose and life is good.

Wood stacking is fun. I am now entirely comfortable with a log splitter. Those things are awesome.  And loud.  Don't worry, I only lost hearing in one ear.

Sister Galli! My new companion is fabulous. It's really strange after being with Sister Price 

for four and a half months, but it's still good. She's from Salt Lake City and will be going 

home in three months! So she's excited to go back to BYU this winter semester.

The church is true, the book is blue! Remember that "Our purpose in this life is to have joy and prepare to return to Gods presence" (Preach my Gospel). Not our purposes, but just the one purpose. We have to have joy as we prepare to return to God's presence. That was
definitely a theme from conference - we're not here necessarily to receive all the blessings, but life on earth should be a time of joy! So keep on smiling :)

Much love,

Sister Rollins

Sister Rollins and Sister Galli in front of the Anchorage Temple
It's snowing and Sister Rollins is the only one that is excited.

This is me and Ronnie and Sister Galli! Like literally 50 people came
to his baptism. It was awesome. And crazy.