California Sister Entrikin: We don't die, we disown 😌

Slurpees - "We are the same person"

We don't die, we disown 😌

March 13, 2023

Howdy, howdy everyone!

Pretty banger week this week!

It's funny because not a lot of big things happened, and we certainly had our low days, but it still feels like a successful and good week! I think part of that is, being a missionary, you get a lot closer to your Savior and Heavenly Father. When you do that, you have a different perspective on things. I know that, even when I have bad days, I am still doing the things the Lord has asked, which means I'm moving generally in the correct direction, even if it's not a straight line 😆

Just a couple of highlights from the week:

We went tracting (which is when we go and knock on a bunch of doors and see if people are interested) Most of the doors we knocked on were people who have been taught by missionaries before (we call people in this category "formers" as in formerly taught). We actually had quite a few good conversations! We also left what we call pass along cards at some doors. They're just little business cards almost, they typically have a picture of Jesus and the Church website on the back, then we write our number and a little message like "Jesus loves you!" And after we had gone home, someone called us and thanked us for the note! That's never happened to me before, so it was pretty cool 😎

We had a lesson with a family who haven't been to church in a while. They were so sweet! We had a really awesome visit with them 😊 Also! Their daughter isn't baptized, but she was super excited to start taking the lessons so she can be! That was awesome! And at the end of our visit she gave both of us a hug 🥺

We walked to the 7 11 by our house and got ourselves large Sprites at 8:30pm. We were pretty hyper, haha. I'm learning to be more adventurous, and Sister Saturnino is kinda crazy, so we have a lot of fun. We also do some strange things. She suggested we try taking a drink of our Sprite through a Veggie straw... that was an interesting experience which I won't be repeating, haha.

On Thursday, it snowed again! And we aren't allowed to drive in the snow, so we came home. It was around 2pm, so we had to cancel a couple of our lessons. We decided to take a short nap because we both woke up feeling a bit rough that morning. 3 hours later we woke up and realized maybe it wasn't quite as short as we were thinking. Needless to say, the snow was a blessing because we both were in need of some rest 😆

We had a visit with the Bishop and his family. They're a bit quieter, so it can be a little awkward. Unfortunately, in searching for topics to speak about, Sister Saturnino threw me under the bus and told them how bad of a driver I am 😆 I couldn't believe it! We were laughing about it all the way home. Especially since they didn't even take the bait! We shared a really powerful message though, thanks to Sister Saturnino ❤️ (and now I get to tease her about throwing me under the bus for the rest of the transfer 😉)

Saturday we went to the mall. Sister Saturnino is on the social media team for the mission that makes content for our mission Facebook page and group. We were trying to film people for a segment called Miracle Minute where we ask people to describe a quick miracle they've seen in their life. If you ever feel you're a bit short of dirty looks, go to a mall and say hello to people and ask them questions about filming. Oh boy. That was quite the experience. And I know this seems silly, but I quite enjoyed it! I always think it's funny when people get angry at us for saying hello to them and figuring out their interest. Part of that I think is realizing, that I used to be (and maybe still am) the one giving out the dirty looks. It's good for me to be on the receiving end for once 😆

Yesterday we had a visit with a lady who had called us a few days before. She was baptized a few years ago, but wanted to rekindle her faith. That was one of the best visits we had in a long time. She is incredible! And we love her! We are so excited to meet with her again 😊

Of course, as I stated earlier in my email there were also some not very fun moments this week. We definitely had our lows. I don't want to get into those because, frankly, they're not that important to me, and because we really did have an amazing week! I am learning more and more that bad days are temporary, and I should let them stay that way. I will explain the title though 😆

Sister Saturnino shared something with me that I adore and think is so funny. We both have dealt with negative self-talk since before the mission, and she said, since high-school she's changed saying "I want to die" to "I want to disown myself." Hopefully this doesn't concern y'all. It's not meant to 😊 I think the idea of disowning myself is so funny! And is much more healthy than the alternative. Hopefully as we grow and learn together we'll find another alternative that's even more healthy, but for now: we don't die, we disown 😁 And then we have time to process and destress and we can re-own ourselves. A much more temporary solution 😌

Now all this talk of not dwelling on the bad days does not mean the we should never have bad days! I am not promoting toxic positivity, so I better not hear y'all misquoting me 🤨 I'm simply learning for myself to put a bigger focus on the positive 😌

I'm excited to see where my new knowledge takes me!

Spiritual Thought:

"Part of each test [in this life] is to determine if your body can become mastered by the spirit that dwells within it" Russell M Nelson, "Self-Mastery," General Conference Oct 1985

We were talking last night about our strengths and weaknesses. Sister Saturnino was absolutely spitting facts. I was rather in awe, I won't lie. She shared the quote above with me. We are all spiritual children of our Heavenly Father. He created us spiritually long before we ever gained a mortal body. But we can never reach our potential if we allow our tabernacle of flesh to place limits on us. We are children of our God and King first. This is one of the greatest things we can claim about ourselves. So often we say things like "we're only human" in defense of our mistakes. But we are more. We are so much more.

I'd like to invite you all to ponder what it means to be a child of God, and how that changes the decision we make. I know for me, realizing that last night I felt like I could see my horizons broadening in front of my eyes. There is so much more we can do when we truly realize our full potential.

I love all of you! I hope you remember how important you are to me and to your Heavenly Father!

Stay safe out there!

Love, Sister Aysha May Entrikin 🥤

Ps: If you ever feel so inclined here are the Facebook pages that our mission runs, they're inter-faith groups, so don't worry if you don't want to be "preached" to

Comfort in Christ: https://www.facebook.com/groups/comfortinchristnorcal/?ref=share

Follow Christ: https://www.facebook.com/FollowChrist.NorCal?mibextid=ZbWKwL

Pictures:

1, 2, 3) We went and tried this Mongolian place to recover from the mall. The food was delicious 😋

4) us tracting in the rain (Sister Saturnino is holding a Book of Mormon and we look good 😏)

5 & 6) we got slurpees 😁 also both of us used to get cherry slurpees with our Dad's when we were younger :O we are the same person

7) we got Dutch Bros hot chocolate (we like getting treats if you couldn't tell)

8 & 9) "midnight" Sprite trip

10) the snow from heaven that encouraged us to rest 😌