Hallelujah! Melissa sounds so happy. She no doubt appreciates this great week even more after having endured some "less-than-great" weeks. Thanks to everyone for your letters, prayers and support.
This was such a wonderful, wonderful week. I feel so blessed and I really am HAPPY!
First of all, let's talk about M*. She is amazing. I don't know if I've told you about her yet, but she's a member and she is the little sister of my friend, G*, from BYU. She is just the coolest girl ever -- served her mission in the Philippines and is someone we've been teaching the member missionary lessons to. She set a date for herself (because that's just the amazing kind of person she is) to give out a Book of Mormon to someone by Thanksgiving. We met with her Wednesday afternoon and she still hadn't, and she was headed to work until late. So we didn't think it would really happen and started talking about how we can reset the date, blah blah blah.
SO. Wednesday night, we got a call from her and told us a miraculous story about how she had gotten off work early, then took a different route home than she usually does, then a guy asked her for a couple bucks so she started talking to him. His name is A* and they talked for like 45 minutes and he kept asking her, "Why are you so happy? You just look so HAPPY" and she realized she needed to give him a BoM and bear her testimony of it! So it totally was a gift from Heavenly Father. She invited him to come with her to Thanksgiving Dinner the next day, and guess what? He CAME!!
Fast forward to Thanksgiving. It was a FANTASTIC day. We got all our studies in the morning which is always a treat, then we went up to M*'s house so we could use her computer to type up a little handout. The bus we take to get to M*'s is the 64, which is sometimes driven by our favorite: L*. Well we were blessed AGAIN because it WAS L*! We set up an appointment with her for next week. That was a cute little thing to have happen to us! Then we headed over to the dinner which started at 2:00. Luckily, M* and her roommates were going to the same dinner we were, so that was fun. There were SO many people there - probably around 40. Janna always makes a Thanksgiving dinner for the people who don't get to go home, and this year it just exploded. The food was delicious and the company was fantastic. About an hour into it all, A* ("T") showed up! He is a big black guy and told us a few times that he felt really uncomfortable being surrounded by a bunch of "really nice white people." haha. Too bad we weren't more diverse! Ha ha. He is just a really sweet guy, and even though he was really weirded out that we were all "so nice," and he couldn't believe that the three of us (M*, Sis. Meier, and I) were SINGLE, I think he had a fun time. We got some good pictures with him - I'm hoping to send off another SD card soon.
So that was really cool to have that experience with T.
Later that night, we were at the chapel hanging out with our Zone. (We had permission, don't you worry). Most people were playing basketball but I was with a smaller group watching "On the Lord's Errand" (The Pres. Monson biography). This guy wandered in who looked relatively homeless. He made his way down the hall, looking at all of the pictures and bulletin boards, then came and watched the movie with us for about 5 minutes. Nobody knew who this guy was but I felt really prompted to talk with him. So we went into the kitchen and I offered him some food. He started talking and we heard his story. His name is G* and he's from Ireland (double squeal!). He's here in the U.S. only for like 3 weeks to try to stop his alcoholic friend from hurting himself. He said that he got really really angry with someone, and then took his anger out on some girl on the street by yelling at her and saying some sarcastic remark. He felt really bad about losing his temper, and just started walking. Then he walked by our church and came in! "I feel different now, though." He told me, "I'm really glad I came inside because there's a different feeling here than on the street." I explained that it was a church house for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He said he's never heard of that church before, but when I mentioned "Mormon" he said, "I ran into two Mormon MISSIONARIES yesterday! They gave me a card with a picture of a beautiful building and the address to one of their churches - they told me I should check it out sometime." Sure enough he pulled out a passalong card with the address to the church in Roslindale. I explained that we were the same church and he said, "Now I want to keep my promise to them - now that I know THIS is the church - I WILL go on Sunday." He asked why I was so happy (I see a theme here) and I gave him a Book of Mormon and bore my testimony to him. He said that even though he doesn't read very well, he will read it - for ME.
By this point all four of us Sisters, M*, and a couple of Elders were all in the foyer talking to him. He was so, so funny and teasy (<--- not a word). Eventually he had to go. He pulled out a piece of paper with directions to his homeless shelter and just asked us to point him toward the river. He kept saying, "I just have to cross the bridge and then I'm at the shelter. I know where to go." Maren looked up the address on her phone and it was definitely NOT within walking distance - it was a 20 minute train ride away! He kept saying that he just had to cross the river, but no. We told him that he was in CAMBRIDGE, not South Boston, and that he had gotten off at the Harvard T stop, not the Broadway stop. He couldn't believe it. Once he finally accepted that we were right he said, "I must've been led here. I know I was led here by God. I was SURE I got off at the right stop. Then I got in that argument and just walked right in here. I've been LED here."
OH MAN it was just so cool. He's so sweet. We took him down to Broadway and walked him to his hotel / homeless shelter / trailer park. He called us all his "angels" and thanked us multiple times. When we were walking across the bridge I was hit SO strongly with the realization that there are people in this world, in this state, in this CITY of Boston who don't know that God loves them. That is something that is so easy for me to believe, and it is my responsibility to teach them of His love for them. (I'm getting a bit teary here, "bear with me" haha). It was SUCH a cool moment.
So that was an amazing thing to have happen. What a lovely Thanksgiving Day!
Let me give you a little update on L*. She went home to Maine for Thanksgiving with her family and had a really hard time. Her mom told her that she is brainwashed, etc. Obviously she knows that not true, but it's so hard for her to not have her parents' support in this. After a couple really hard days, she sent another text to us saying, "I still want to get baptized. I hope you know that." So that's good. She's so strong, really a good inspiration for me! And, on a less spiritual note, she bought a miniature turtle and named him Moroni. HA!
The weather here has been AMAZING! On Saturday we didn't even need jackets. Short sleeves, people. That's what I'm wearing. This is definitely a blessing.
Looking forward to going to the temple on Thursday as a zone! That will be amazing.
I love you all - hope you like my stories this week! Know that I feel so loved and blessed and taken care of.
-Sister Broekhuijsen
P.S. I found this video on lds.org of MY CHAPEL! This is MY CHAPEL that I meet in!!! The video is in the chapel where I have Sacrament Meeting every week! I feel so very famous. Thought you'd be interested in seeing the building and the inside. I know a lot of the people in these pictures/videos.
http://lds.org/church/news/president-eyring-dedicates-cambridge-chapel-rebuilt-after-fire?lang=eng&query=longfellow+park
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