Tripanionship

As always, Monday is the favorite day of the week - especially when we actually get email from  BOTH of our missionaries!  Hooray for no Monday holiday or transfers this week!  Here's the latest from the other "Mother Broekhuijsen."

I can't believe that at the end of this transfer I'll have been in the field for 6 months. That is just crazy to me. I am just in a great place and loving it! 

This week was very exciting! On Thursday we had transfer meeting and met our new companion, Sister Connell. She is from Hawaii (but she is white). So that's nice to be able to show people that, hey! Not ALL Mormons are from Utah. haha. She is very nice and sweet, but very type B personality. It is quite a contrast to Sis. Edwards' and my VERY type A. We just have to tell her we have to leave 15 minutes before we actually have to leave and we're good. :) She is a convert to the church and has an amazing testimony. She is also FANTASTIC at asking really great questions, so that is a blessing. I've felt that that was a weakness in my teaching for a long time now. I'm excited for the continued challenge of meshing our teaching styles and learning from each other. 

Sister Carpenter's greenie, Sister Burr is also great! I can tell we will have a fun time in this apartment. I'm excited and blessed to be here. 

We had some good news and some bad news with investigators this week. P* was the saddest of them all. So we met with her, and were SO excited to follow up because last time she had accepted a soft baptismal invitation (which means that if/when she gets an answer that she should be baptized, she will follow through with it, and actually BE baptized), and her homework was to pray for a specific answer. So we asked how that went and she said she hadn't prayed. That she remembered that to be part of the communist party, you can't be a mormon. And since she has to be in the communist party to get a job in China, she has absolutely no interest in being baptized. The more she explained, the more we realized that she never had any interest in learning other than learning academically. Even though every time we met with her we tried to make it very clear, "This is different than learning in school. This matters in a different way. You can get answers, but it will be based on faith and feelings, not measurable, physical results." But she just doesn't get it. She doesn't understand. We remembered that she really likes reading from the Book of Mormon, and that she gets a good feeling when she prays, so we asked her, "Do you think that what we are teaching is TRUE?" She then said the most painful sentence I've ever heard, "It doesn't matter if it's true. I don't care if it's true---it is nice. So I will learn more." GAH! Knife in the heart.  

I just wish that I could somehow convey to her why it DOES matter. I was praying the whole time to know what to say, but rather than getting specific guidance, I feel like I got just comfort and reassurance that everything will work out like it's supposed to. Well, guess what? That is my least favorite answer. haha. Even though I know it's true, it was devastating. Sis. Edwards and I cried the whole walk back to the bus.  

So that was a bummer. In better news, we heard a bit from D* and she made it back to Korea safely and has already contacted the missionaries there :) 

Our meeting with H* went well. She is progressing, but now I'm scared because I don't want to pour all my substance and love out and then have it trampled all over again. She is great at her reading assignments, and especially loved the Plan of Salvation since she lost her father when she was 13. She is praying and looking for specific answers as to whether or not there is a God. She feels things and loves meeting with us, so we know she knows, we just need her to know that she knows. Make sense? haha. 

No word yet from T*, so that's a bummer. Hopefully he's still clean after detox last week. 

Okay I'll leave you with a funny story. The other night, we were waiting for our bus, and we somehow got onto the topic of country music. I said that I hate country music, but I really like Western and bluegrassy. Sister Edwards didn't know the difference, so as I was trying to explain it, she made up a song of what she thought western would sound like. I don't know how to convey the tune to you, but here are her lyrics: I took my fishing pole up to the crick... in the mountains...with my best friend, Huck... my... dog.  

BAHAHAHAHAHA. I was laughing so hard. In fact, I am laughing out loud in the library right now.  

Anyway I love you so much! Thanks for your support. I feel lucky to be serving at this time, at this place, in these wards, with my Sisters.  

-Mother Broekhuijsen 

P.S. Boston fun fact of the day: I saw a cardinal on a bush the other day. It was so cute and red and fat. And I said to myself, "What a wonderful world" and I also said to myself, "We are not in Utah anymore"

"Mother Broekhuijsen"

As she said last week in her email, Melissa didn't have Pday on Monday this week because of transfers.  As promised, though, we did get one today!  Yay!

Hello all! 

This has been a wonderful week (as have the last 6). 

I have been organized and actually wrote out stories and a list of things I want to tell you about so hopefully this is a stellar e-mail.

First of all, I have some big news! 

Let me tell you a story. 

So, Saturday night we got our T-texts. I told you last week how I was nervous, even though it was very likely that Sister Edwards and I would stay together and in the same wards. But you know how I like to worry, so I worried. After the texts went out, we were all relieved because it happened just like we were predicting: Sister Carpenter is training, Sis. Barben is going home, and no change to Sister Edwards and I. They also split up a ton of the Sisters and it looked like they even pulled a Sister from the Spanish program into English, so that's how we thought the "Extra English Sister Coming In" dilemma was solved.  

Then yesterday, in the middle of an appointment with a member, I got a call from President Evans. Uh oh. That's always a pit in the stomach kind of moment! He said, "you've probably already figured this out, but I would like you to train.... again." 

Wha??? 

Then all the pieces clicked into place. Ooohhhhh. So we are now in a trio! It's going to be very exciting.  

So we had to reschedule our afternoon appointments, and spent the afternoon cleaning and getting and arranging new furniture for this new Sister. We're going to have 5 sisters in that cozy apartment. It will be fun, but guess what? Trios are hard! It's my responsibility that everyone feels heard and needed and important and safe and happy. So I am fasting for her, and for this trio to work. If you could all pray for that as well, it would be much appreciated. I'm excited but just very surprised that this is happening! Especially because I felt such a sense of relief after T-texts! ha! 

So, every Elder that finds out, calls me, "Mother Broekhuijsen" haha. Without conspiring one with another. So I have a feeling this nickname is going to stick. It probably doesn't help that I already fix the Elders' ties, and darn their socks, and pick out their outfits for them. Guess I'd better learn to love it!  

Here's a nice spiritual story for the week! It is called, D* is a miracle and was has been prepared to accept this her whole life. 

Monday night we had an appointment with her. We knew she was going back to Korea soon, but didn't know that it was Wednesday that she was leaving! Ha! So the lesson with her became less of a formal lesson and more of a question/answer period, slash teaching her how to read and study the Book of Mormon, slash prepare her for going back to Korea and meeting with missionaries there. She was so cute! She said, "I'm planning on going to the LDS church in Korea, there is one right by my house!" ha. Perfect. So we were wrapping up the lesson, and I felt like I should just prepare her a bit and tell her that as she comes closer to Christ, and learns more, she will want to make covenants with God to show her devotion and love for Him, and that that starts with baptism. I told her that her missionaries in Korea will teach her about baptism, and Sister Edwards mentioned that she would get to choose for herself if that's something she wants.  

Then D* said, "Do you think I could get baptized?" 

We told her that the answer was yes, of course! That that's what Heavenly Father wants for her! 

The she said, "Do you think I could get baptized....like.... tomorrow?"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Sister Edwards and I just looked at each other. Quite incredulously. That kind of thing just doesn't happen, right?

"Let me make some calls....."

So I spent about half an hour on the phone. I called my Zone Leaders who directed me to President Evans. He was very excited, but cautious and didn't want to rush into anything for the wrong reasons, but said, "Well, it wouldn't be the fastest we've seen!" So he got in contact with the mission president in Korea and got some details, making sure she would have a ward to go back to and be fellowshipped into. After a lot of discussion and talking again to D* she decided it would be better to be baptized there in Korea. We agreed, but it was a bit sad. She promised to e-mail us pictures from her baptism. So that was quite the rollercoaster! It was awesome though. 

She wrote us a note that said, "Hi Sister Edwards & Brookhuisen, It was such a wondderful experience to revisit the church. And to meet you guys was really blessed thing for me. Thanks for helpiing me to find my God. As I told you before, I will go to church even after I got back to Korea. Well take care! I am so proud of every missionaries. Thank you so much again :) Love, D* 

Isn't that so cute? She's just so great. We got lots of pictures with her (but don't get your hopes up because I was having a terrible hair day for some reason) so that was awesome. 

Another miracle story: Remember T*? The guy M* invited to Thanksgiving Dinner?  Well, we haven't heard from him in a month and we assumed his phone got shut off (because we're pretty sure he's homeless) because he used to always text back but hadn't in that whole month. Anyway, I sat by him on the train last week! Can you believe it?? To be on the subway at the same time as him, on the same line as him, going the same direction as him, in the same car as him, RIGHT ACROSS FROM HIM... that kind of thing just doesn't happen unless we have God on our side. He looked better than last time, and when we had to get off he had me come close to him cause he wanted to whisper something to me. I was a bit wary, but I leaned in and he said, "I just got out of rehab. I checked myself into a detox program three weeks ago and I'm literally JUST getting out." 

So cool! So that was definitely a miracle. He said he wanted to meet with us and learn more about the Book of Mormon. Then later that night he texted us and said, "I want to join ur religion. How can u accept me?" Ha! Well, we told him we'd be happy to teach him and let him choose if he wanted to be baptized. So that is an amazing story. Keep him in your prayers as well, please. 

Next story is called, "There Are Nice People in Massachusetts: The GT* Story"
After e-mailing last week, we were running to catch a bus. I still had my ID in my pocket (collateral to check out the laptop) instead of in my wallet because we were in a hurry. We caught the bus and when I sat down I realized I had dropped my license, but we didn't have time to go back because we would have missed our two connecting buses and been late to our appointment. So I said to myself, "Bummer. I guess I'll have to e-mail my mother next week and ask what the process is like for getting a new ID when you don't actually live in the State." Then, not 5 minutes later, I got a call from an unknown Mass number. 

"Hello, this is Sister Broekhuijsen!" 

"Hello, is this.... Melissa Broekhuijsen?" 

"Yes, it is...." 

"Well, you don't know me, but I just got off the phone with your mother who gave me this number [thank you Christmas call!!!]. I saw you running for the bus and saw something fall out of your pocket so I picked it up and it was your license! Anyway, I just live on the corner of blankety blank and bliggity blank (<--- protecting his privacy, not censoring his language) and I can leave it in an envelope for you if you'd like." 

WowieZOWZA! That was so nice! I told him I'd be at an appointment until about 8:30 but that I could pick it up then. He said that'd be fine so we went and saw him. I was convinced he was meant to be baptized, because how cool of a story would THAT be?? Turns out he's a Baptist preacher, and was not interested in learning more about Mormonism, but told us that he really respected what we do as missionaries, and that he wishes some of HIS youth could display that kind of passion for religion. So all in all a super cool interaction. 

Great, now I'm running out of time so I can't tell the other hymn story, but I'll try for next week. 

One more quick note to mention - the weather here is crazy. It snowed last weekend, and then yesterday it was 60 degrees! We had to take our coats and scarves and gloves off as we walked up the eternally long hill to our appointment because we were SWEATING. Crazy! It is a beautiful January. 

Well, I love you all. I'm proud of my baby brother being an AP. He was quite humble about that one, but it's a big deal and you, as his parents, should be pleased and pat yourselves on the back for raising a son like that. I'm also taking some credit for raising him. Hope that's okay with you. 

Love you!
-Sister Broekhuijsen

Photo Journalism

On Sunday morning I finally got around to bringing in Saturday's mail, and was pleased to find a little package from Melissa with 2 SD cards full of photos!  Yay!  There were even some movies!  So, here are a few of our favorites for your viewing pleasure!  

This is what Melissa called a "postcard" shot - taken from the window of an investigator's apartment.

The Boston Temple lit up at night - they were here teaching "L*" a discussion.

Of course, she would want to pose with the giant T-Rex!  

At the Museum of Science (where the dinosaurs were) there is also a "NASA" section.  Melissa got to do "space control."  (She did mention later that she had realized that "space control" isn't a real term and that she really meant "navigation" or something along those lines!  

If you know Melissa, you know how much she was enjoying this cat!  Also, she said that he loved her too, even though in this picture he looks like he wants to run away…

Melissa and Sister Barben - not her companion, but another Sister missionary who lives in the same apartment.  This was taken at the Boston Aquarium (on a PDay of course!)

Melissa said she couldn't resist holding this stuffed baby seal.  You can tell by her expression that she is about to cry with joy!

Melissa showing us that she did hang up and enjoy the advent calendar we sent.  The little ornament "pockets" had a quote or a story about Christmas - one for each day in December (until Christmas.)

You might remember when Melissa told us the story of going out for a lobster dinner.  Here's the "proof."  We especially loved the way she apologized to the lobster!  

This one's called, "Melissa eats calamari."   Be sure to watch to the end, because her "real" reaction is priceless!  

Flying By

As promised in the post I did 10 minutes ago - here is the official email from Melissa this week!  She sounds so great!  FYI:  You may want to have some tissues handy…

Wow. This transfer is just flying by! This is the last full week! Next week is just a nub of a week! We'll get our T-Texts (text messages the APs send out the Saturday before transfers that tell everyone where they're being transferred to) THIS Saturday! That is just crazy to me. I would normally feel relatively calm about what's going on with ME because Sis. Edwards and I should be together for a full second transfer because of this new training program... BUT... There's a hiccup in the plans this time. It is the following: There are only 3 English Sisters who are not currently training anyone right now... and there are FOUR new English Sisters coming out! So something crazy will have to go down. Perhaps they'll put two greenies with a single trainer? Perhaps they'll put a greenie with someone who's already training? Perhaps they'll pull Sister Edwards away from me (since she's so amazing already) and make us BOTH train? I don't know. But it will be very interesting to see how everything goes down.

In other news... there is snow on the ground!! We woke up to about two inches and it was beautiful. It's been MUCH warmer today and yesterday than the days before. On Sunday it was the coldest I think I've ever felt in my entire life. Just the walk from Harvard Square to the church (just over half a mile) I got a real-live headache from the cold. Even though I was in a kajillion layers, we're not allowed to wear ski masks, so the face is just always gonna be cold. It was a very interesting experience to be that cold. I'm not complaining. I really wasn't too uncomfortable except for my hands and thighs and face. Have you ever gotten a HEADACHE from the cold? Mayhaps I'm just a loser and highly inexperienced but it was weird to me. We found out, when we got to the church, that it was 9 degrees out. Thank goodness for members with iPhones who look it up and make us feel like we're really brave for walking half a mile in the cold. Andrew is probably rolling his eyes at me.

So there's that. Weather is always a great topic here in Mass. Everyone loves to talk about the weather. It's kind of funny, but it's a great conversation starter! It's great to be able to say, "Yeah, this is my first winter here in Boston, so I'm really nervous to see what it's going to be like! I'm from Utah, and it gets cold there, but it's such a different cold here because of the humidity!" "Yeah, Utah. Yup - I'm Mormon. I'm actually a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! Have you heard of our church before?" "Do you want to learn MORE?" hahahaha. I'm so clever. 

We are still very busy! We have lots of appointments with members and with investigators! We had two miracles this week (among others, I'm sure). They were both in the form of perfect investigators who plopped into our laps and want to learn more. One is named H* and she's from China (you'll see that this is a theme here. All four of our investigators right now are 100% Asian). Elder Winegar talked to her on a bus and she said she WOULD be interested in learning more, so she showed up at Church on Sunday! She is absolutely adorable and very sweet. Brilliant, too (of course), and just an absolute delight. We are having our first official lesson with her on Thursday night. Our other miracle was D*.  She's here from Korea for a month just studying for and taking a huge exam for grad school and she lives in the Elders' apartment complex. Basically, she saw their names on the mailbox, knocked on their door and said, "Hi, is this where the missionaries live?" They answered yes, and she said, "I want to find God. Will you teach me more?"  

Ha!  Isn't that hilariously awesome!?!  So she showed up to church on Sunday too! They were both just so great, and after the meeting they both had lots of questions so we pulled them aside into an empty classroom and started answering them. Sister Edwards was FANTASTIC and explained our belief in the Godhead and then we both went straight into prayer, and how THAT is our most important tool in learning anything. So we invited D* to pray right then and there. She said she didn't know how, so we explained a bit more, then she said, "Is it okay if I pray in Korean?" We told her that of course that's okay. So we all knelt together and prayed. Even though I obviously couldn't understand anything she was saying, the Spirit of the Lord was overwhelming and I lost it. I was crying SO hard! After she was done, we all looked up and we were all crying! Even H*, who also couldn't understand anything! We asked D* how she felt, and she said, "I feel relieved." It was great. Then we asked H* how SHE felt and she said, "I think I would like to say some things, too." So she prayed (in English this time) and I cried some more. There's a shocker. 

But MAN! It was just so powerful. These two amazing women, saying the first prayers of their entire life to a God who loves them more than they can even comprehend right now... all right in front of me. That was a HUGE blessing. I'm SO excited and humbled to be able to teach them how much He does love them. They don't even know!! I get to share with them the greatest news ever to be shared - that because a perfect God loves them perfectly, He sent His perfect Son as a sacrifice so we could all find happiness now and forever. Is there anything better than that? I submit that there is not!! 

So yeah. That was just incredible. Such a spiritual high.  

I had another really great Hymn experience on Sunday.  In Hymn #131, More Holiness Give Me, I LOVED the line, "more longing for home." It's such a great analogy, especially for ME because I know exactly what it feels like to just long for home. To crave familiarity and familial warmth. I realized that the feelings like that, that used to plague me (and now are still there, but better handled) were just a taste of how I should feel for my heavenly home. I should LONG for that home. LONG to be home with my Heavenly Father and Mother. EVERYTHING I do, EVERY single day should be taking me one step closer to being worthy to enjoy that Heavenly home. The best part is, I could never overestimate how great it will be! No matter how grand, lovely, warm, and peaceful I can possibly imagine it to be --- it's better than that. Looking at it like that makes the daily decisions to be righteous just a little bit easier.  

Anyway I just wanted to share that with you all. 

I hope you know how much I love you! You are so great and even though I don't have time to respond to each of your individual e-mails, I still love and appreciate them. I found out that I'm allowed to email for more than an hour on pdays, so next time I'm e-mailing on an actual pday I should have more time to write you back. Don't do anything stupid. Seriously. Just be wise and make good decisions and pet lots of cats. That's what I would have you do. 

Love you,
Sister Broekhuijsen

A Conversation

I'm expecting our "official" email from Melissa any time now, but meanwhile, I thought it would be fun to post this little email "conversation" that we exchanged a few minutes ago.

Melissa:  Say, how much did my amazing, durable Samsonite umbrella cost you?  And where did you get it?  I'm definitely not asking because I accidentally left it at a convenience store and some wicked person STOLE IT FROM ME!!! 

Mom:  We ordered it through Amazon.  I'm glad to hear that no one stole yours, though! 

Melissa:  Maybe you should order another one for me (if it's not too expensive) because maybe someone WILL steal mine at a convenience store.  Maybe someone will steal it from me last Thursday.  :(

She's definitely a one of a kind!

There's Always Tomorrow…

We weren't actually expecting an email from Melissa today due to the Martin Luther King holiday.  She emails us from the library, which I'm sure is closed on all major holidays.  So, we will hope for some word from her tomorrow!  Meanwhile, here's some happy news:  Yesterday (Sunday, 15 January) was her "Bump Day" - meaning she is 1/4 done with her mission already!  It's starting to go by faster…

Sister Broekhuijsen Being Melissa

Melissa sent me a quick email this morning to say, "It's a good thing you got a good email from Andrew today, because mine is going to be lame!"  But she was wrong!  It was wonderful and she sounds so "Melissa-y" that it totally made my day!

Hello down there!!! (echo echo echo)

Well. I just don't even know where to start. I feel like I always say, "I don't have much to update you on" but really, I don't know. I'm doing terribly at my journal writing because I'm always exhausted and go to bed early rather than write. BUT I CAN tell you that I have never enjoyed myself so much, nor seen so much success as I have in the past few weeks. I feel so blessed to have the companion that I do, to be in these wonderful wards with members I love so much, and to be serving the Lord 24/7. It is amazing. Guess what? Prayers really do work because I prayed multiple times a day for months (and asked you to do the same, as you know) for the desire to be here and oh boy do I have it. I just LOVE being on a mission! I love working hard. I love being on a schedule. I love going to bed at 10:30 (remember how I am secretly 100 years old??). I love living in beautiful Boston. I am so lucky to be here! I have so much to be grateful for. I can't believe I'm almost at my 6 month mark. Cause guess what? That means baby brother is almost at his halfway point! That is just crazy to me.

My brain kind of feels like mush right now. But it's not a bad mush like split pea soup or anything. It's a good, tired mush. Kind of like oatmeal, or maybe crap in a crockpot. [Editor's note:  that is our family name for some DELICIOUS whole grain cereal that I make for breakfast sometimes!]  Or maybe overdone pasta. Yesterday was cuh-RAY-zee because we had 5 investigators at church. Yup. Five. Isn't that great? It was a little hectic to manage them all, but it was fun. So we had P* come (miracle, because she is SUPER busy with her research) and she brought a classmate's daughter, Al*. Both from China, both adorable. Then we had An* and her fiancé, P*.  Then L* came. Yes, L*. I don't think I've told you about him before but he volunteers at the same food pantry that we do. He's from Honduras and lets me practice my Spanish with him. He looks like Bob Marley and likes to call me a lot when he's high, but he's super super sweet and came to church! yay!! It was just a great day. Also, the members are great as ever and we have dinner appointments EVERY SINGLE NIGHT THIS WEEK! It is so cool. We have been blessed with referrals like crazy. More this week than I had my whole first 3 months combined. I'm telling you, the blessings are rolling in! It is amazing.  

Because of the mush of my brain status (<--- proof of the mush). I don't feel like I can actually write any more paragraphs. So you get a list of random things I can remember over the past little while. 

-On Saturday I wasted a good 10 minutes of proselyting time coaxing a big fattie of a squirrel into eating out of my hand. And he did and he also bit me. It was so cute! (not sarcastic, I really was thrilled!) 

-The weather is amazing. It got up to 59 degrees on Saturday and we STILL HAVEN'T HAD SNOW STICK. If that's not a miracle, I don't know what is. 

-P*, in her opening prayer of the lesson on Friday, spent probably 45 seconds wishing Heavenly Father a happy new year. It was adorable! 

-I got a package from Sarah this week with stuff from my TARGET people!!! It was so cool! Everyone signed a card, and Jake and Sarah wrote letters, and she sent me eyeshadow and stuff. Very nice and so cool to hear from people at Target and remember inside jokes. Next time you get your drugs, please tell them it meant SO much to me. 

-Our dinner appointment last night was with a couple members up in Medford and they have a CAT!!! His name is Max and he a big and nice and so cool and cute. His purr is even louder than Presto's. I know----hard to believe. But I am telling the truth. You'd better believe I made Sister Edwards take 30,000 pictures of me holding him and squeeze loving him. 

-I bore my testimony in church yesterday. It was my first time since September (aside from all the times I do it every single day haha) and it was nice. 

-My hair is growing very quickly and is currently very beautiful and luxurious. 

-My lipgloss exploded inside of my purse yesterday so now everything in there is minty and sticky. Cute. 

-Lately I've been playing this game with the elders, called, "Name any drug and I will tell you the generic name." It is a riot and I win every time! 

-There are a lot of pigeons around in my life, and they are street pigeons, not rich pigeons, so many of them have nubs for feet and it is really hard for me to deal with. Total gimp status and my emotions are already high. It's a good thing I'm not in a third world country. 

-I bought some official Boston gear last week. It is what's known as a grey hooded, zippered jacket with red embroidery of the word "Boston" on it. It's appropriate because that's the name of the city where I LIVE because I am a lucky duck! 

-The APs live really close to us and brought us over a bunch of candy last week as a late Christmas present (also known as... regift time) but hey it was so cute because for ME they gave me DINOSAUR WINDUP TOYS!!! I have managed to refrain so far from wearing my dino pants in public so I don't know how they knew that it would fill my heart with such joy, but oh BOY did I love them (the dinos, not the APs. That's not allowed). 

-We bought a nonstick frying pan last week and my life has improved greatly since then because my food doesn't stick to my pan (It's such a coincidence that the pans are named that way!) 

-I found my Michael Jackson necklace that I thought I lost 8 months ago. It was in the secret pocket of my makeup bag. And yes, I AM currently wearing it underneath my clothes :) 

-I am growing up and becoming a real woman because I now wear - get this - EYELINER. Big accomplishment for me. 

-Sister Edwards and I are both hypochondriacs and it makes for some HILARIOUS conversations. We're always convinced that we have some serious disease, but we don't so it's funny. 

-I am going to have a lame pday today. JOKE! Opposite day!! I am going to the AQUARIUM and therefore will have the time of my life because I will find and pet and hug some manta rays (even if it is not at a petting section, I will make it happen)!!!!!!! I am very thrilled about this and will be sure to take a bajillion pictures.

Well, sorry this isn't spiritual but I promise I'm also having spiritual experiences. :) I love you so much and I feel so lucky to have you back home supporting me. Thanks for your e-mails! I'll write better next week (hopefully.) 

Ciao
Sister Rio en la Casa

Happy New Year!

True confessions:  I should have posted this yesterday, but I just didn't quite get around to it.  Anyway, we were glad to hear from Melissa - she sounds great.  We were so happy last week to be able to attend the baptism of one of the people she has been teaching.  What a unique situation and great experience for us!  I will post some pictures soon… Here's what we heard from Melissa yesterday:

I am so glad to hear from you all today! Thanks for the e-mails, and for telling about how you liked L*'s baptism. I am SO SO SO glad that you got to go to that (not that I really gave you a choice!)! I loved hearing how you liked it. I just talked to L* this morning and she said you were all super nice. She also said, about Joshua and Garrett, "They looked exactly the same! They were so adorable!" hahaha. Looking at the pictures Dad sent, I'd have to agree! You look very similar. You've both only gotten handsomer since I've left. And I liked the new ties you were sporting. Very nice. It is such a miracle to me that you got to go to the baptism. I know it meant a lot to her, but it also meant so much to ME! I would have loved to be there, but knowing that you were there representing Broekhuijsen blood is awesome. I'm glad you got to experience a little bit of why I'm out here! Seeing people's lives change like I know L*'s has is what it's all about. 

I don't have a lot to update you on - we've just been going about the work! This past week was a bit hard because almost everyone (members AND investigators) was out of town. But the people we DID get to meet with were just great. 

We had a fun New Year's Eve party! We bought pizza (and G* gave us a bunch of free stuff AND a 40 percent discount so that we got 3 extra large pizzas, cheesesticks, breadsticks, AND chicken tenders for less than 30 bucks! haha) and had a fun little party in the apartment. We chucked our Christmas tree over the balcony of our apartment and dragged (drug?) it into the dumpster. That was a fun and fitting NYE activity. :) Over the past couple of days we've been cleaning more (there's ALWAYS a layer of hair on the carpet, no matter how many times we vacuum) and rearranging our furniture. I'm now back against a wall, and it's just fun!

I am still loving Sister Edwards, so that's nice. We get along really well and are both working on pushing ourselves to be bold and talk to more people. We have set goals for ourselves this week!  I'll tell you what, it's going to be hard. So if anyone out there would like to direct their prayers for me.... please pray that we'll be blessed with boldness so that as we try our hardest we can meet our goals and bless other people.  

On Sunday I was asked to direct the music is Sacrament Meeting. Guess what they had chosen for the closing hymn? Mom's favorite: Hymn #215. Oh man that is an annoying song. [Editor's note:  That hymn is "Ring Out Wild Bells" - I don't mind the lyrics, but the tune to this particular song really grates on my nerves!  It always gets sung around New Year's because it is about "ringing out the old and ringing in the new, but no one knows it very well because we only sing it once a year and it isn't pretty.  :-)] 

Well, I'm really excited for the coming week! P* will be back in town tomorrow, and we're excited to meet with her again. it will be great to have her back in Boston. We've got some members getting back too, so our schedule will be a bit more full. Busy is always nice! 

As always, I'm so thankful that I get to hear from you every week, and that you are there praying for me! What a great blessing it is in my life to know that when I am done with this mission that I love so much, and get to go home to a family that I love too, just in a different way :) 

Have a great week, and know that I love you and that I have a testimony that what I'm doing is important. 

-Sister Broekhuijsen

Editor's other note:  Melissa also mentioned in a separate email that she has a "guilt ulcer" because she owes so many people letters and "thank-yous."  She said she has received so many  nice packages, letters, cards, etc. and she is woefully behind on answering them all, but she LOVED LOVED LOVED them and is so thankful for all of the support!  She will try to eventually send out personal "thanks" but meanwhile, if you sent her something, you can just know that she is GRATEFUL!  :-)