After what felt like a very LONG time, we got email from Melissa this morning. So nice to know where she is and what she's been up to! Here are some quotes from her email.
I am HERE! Mondays ARE my pdays, and I get an hour to e-mail so hopefully I'll be able to write everything that I want to. Time is already ticking and I'm a slow writer/thinker so I'll do the best I can.
I am serving IN the city. I live in Brighton. Boston is beautiful. We often drive on the highway right along the Charles River and see the skyline all lit up - it is fantastic. Ah, I have so much to tell you I'm already getting stressed out but hopefully what I say makes some sense.
So. I am with Sis. Meier. She is a wonderful trainer and is very kind and patient with me. She is going home December 16, so she's training for her last two transfers, which, as I understand is somewhat atypical. But she's great! We live in an apartment with two other sisters, Sis. Barben (from Cedar City) and Sis. Carpenter (from Gilbert, AZ). They are all super nice and trying really hard to make me feel welcome. When I got in on Wednesday night (after dinner and some orientation at the President's home in Needham) they greeted me and had even made my bed for me! Super thoughtful.
So yesterday was my first baptism! Her name is J*. She's 42, a single mom of 2 teenagers, and is about the most loving person ever. She is technically my first baptism because I was here, and because I did help with the service and everything, but because I never taught her and she's had this date set since before I even entered the MTC, it doesn't feel quite the same. She's so nice. She calls us all her sisters and calls me "Brookie" because she can't say Broekhuijsen. She was just so READY. It was cool to see her really understand, and then bear her testimony about how much it means to her to really KNOW that she is a daughter of God. Oh man, I was a wreck (surprise, surprise). I wish I could give you more details but I really don't have time! I'm hoping to maybe send some pages from my journal home so you could read them. I write a LOT in there.
Let me tell you a bit about how my day to day life is. Sis. Meier and I sleep in the family room (we do have beds, in addition to the couches that are in there) and we have a big beautiful desk and lots of space for books/binders/notebooks. The other sisters are in the one of the bedrooms, and the other bedroom has all our dressers and is where we all get ready, because the bathroom is teensy tiny. We do have a kitchen, but because we're out all day, we don't cook a ton. A lot of times the members or our investigators take us out for dinner/lunch. I've eaten more pizza here in 5 days than the rest of my life combined. We volunteer at a food pantry, and they give us a TON of food for free, so we don't have to spend any money on groceries. It's such a blessing! It's kind of like "Bountiful Baskets" because we never know what we're going to get, but then we just have to try to come up with meals based on what we have. It is a fun challenge.
Because we live in the city, our schedule has to be modified a bit. Normally, our schedule would be: 6:30-7:00 exercise, 7:00-8:00 get ready and eat breakfast, 8:00-9:00 personal study, and 9:00-11:00 comp study (this new 12 week training program gives us an extra HOUR of comp study!) then head out for the day. BUT because we're here and we have to take public transportation (which will now be referred to solely as "the T" because I'm a true Bostonian) we have to leave way early for everything, so we have to fit in our studies whenever we can. It takes at least an hour to go anywhere helpful. Our church building is just off Harvard Square. That's right, the actual Harvard. I walk around Harvard almost every day! I even met with an investigator on campus and ate in one of the cafeterias in the law school. It's weird, but it's cool. I think just by sitting in there my IQ went up several dozen points (as well as my pride.) It's cool to be that close. I'm starting to get the hang of the different buses and subways I have to take everywhere. We pick up the 86 about 3/4 of a mile up the hill from our place, and that can take us straight to Harvard, which is nice. Then the 57 takes us to Kendall Square/MIT when we need to go to the Stake Center. And on our way home from the stake center, we take the greenline and then hop on the 64? I think? We've only done that one once. It's tough but it's not phasing me too bad. I've got a pretty good head for direction, and I'm trying really hard.
Funny story, and the reason for the e-mail title: The buses do HAVE a schedule, but they don't actually show up according to the schedule. So basically you have to get to the stop 10 minutes before it's supposed to be there... and then you just wait until it comes. It might be right on time, or you might be standing there in the humidity for 45 mintues. So. The other day was one of those waiting days. This girl was getting really antsy and eventually just squatted down, rolled up a joint, and had at it. It was hilarious. She had little baggies filled with paper, another with weed, and just rolled it all up in broad daylight. I'm pretty sure cops were driving by and not doing a thing about it. I guess that's normal but I found it funny. I'm so not in Utah.
Let's make a list of things I'm grateful for:
-Because we run the AC on full blast 24/7, it doesn't get too humid in our apartment!
-The bus stops are all within a mile of our apartment!
-President and Sister Evans are the sweetest, nicest couple around
-My companion and roommates are all very kind and easy to get along with
-Like I said, totally free groceries!
-Sometimes I have really cool moments where I get to see the Charles, and the Skyline, and I say to myself, "What a wonderful world"
-There is wildlife up the waZOO here. Pres. and Sis. Evans said that they have seen foxes, deer, wild turkeys, squirrels and chipmunks. Plus there are many hideous pigeons
-Earplugs. Nuff said
-So far, I have not gotten yelled at.
Things that I am grateful for because I'm trying to have a good attitude:
-With all this humidity, I'm saving at LEAST 2 dollars a year on moisturizer!
-The fact that it's 46 degrees in my apartment (because of the AC) makes it so that I get to sleep really well under my thick comforter
So, clearly I am very fortunate. Really, I know I'm being taken care of.
I love you all! I'm thankful for your prayers and support. Please write me letters! I haven't gotten any out here yet and I'd really love to hear from people.
Please know that I know that I'm being blessed. I have seen little things that remind me that God loves me. And even though this is hard, I don't ever have to doubt that I'm doing what God wants me to.
This is truly Christ's church, back on the earth. And I'm so thankful to know that.
-Sister Broekhuijsen
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