Remember, Remember the 27th of February

No, I did NOT come up with that post title - it's all Melissa (of course!)  Thanks so much to the family and friends who write to her, send her packages, pray for her and just love her.  We know she feels your support.

^ That is quite possibly the lamest title yet in weekly e-mails home. And that's saying something.

This week was a good one. Our numbers were not spectacular, but we got some really good things done! And had nice meetings.

Dang it! I wrote out a whole list of things to e-mail you about, but now I can't find it. I'm sure the second I step out of the library it will be located. Boo. Also, I'm going to whine for a second and tell you that usually we check out Macbooks from the library to do our e-mailing, but their wifi is down so now I'm on a stupid dell using a stupid keyboard and stupid Internet Explorer and I want to punch everything that is not Steve Jobs in the face because I feel like I'm living in the dark ages. Don't mind me if this e-mail sounds disjointed... I'll have to take a break to crank a wheel on the side of this computer every 4 minutes or so to conjure up enough electricity to connect to ye olde interwebs.

Church was great. Clayton Christensen spoke in LP1. Do you know who that guy is? Well, he's amazing. He's basically a celebrity out here. You should do some research on him. He has come up with 7 principles on member missionary work, and that's what we share with members when we meet and have lessons with them. He is a brilliant, humble, and extraordinary man. He is a powerful speaker and told this really cool story of member missionary work. Please look up the story of George McLaughlin and the Farmingdale branch in 1962 (I think that's the year, anyway) near Augusta, Maine.  Super cool. So really, please look it up and tell it to me because I want more details, and I want YOU to know all about it.

Our roommates, Sister Carpenter and Sister Burr had a baptism last night! It was for a girl named S*. Her older sister Sh* is in LP1, and was baptized a year and a half ago. Sh* has been wanting S* to learn ever since then and said that nothing has ever brought her more joy than seeing someone she loves SO much get to learn and feel the things that mean so much to her. That was a sweet thing to get to see.

Alright the rest is going to be bullet list status because I can't focus (I feel like there's a theme here from week to week....)

-On Wednesday we had dinner with A*, a favorite of mine. She is in LP2 and lives in the graduate student dorms right near Harvard Square and the Church. She got us Chinese and when we were opening our fortune cookies, we got hands down the STUPIDEST fortune you've EVER heard of. It said, "Hugs are life's rainbows." HA! Isn't that ridiculous? A* is hilarious and agreed that it was stupid. She kept asking, "What does that even mean? Why can't rainbows be life's rainbows, and hugs be life's hugs?" hahahaa. Also we stuck our hair through our shirts and out the sleeves and took lots of pictures so it looked like we had long, luxurious armpit hair. Because we are mega mature human beings. My abs still hurt a teensy from laughing so hard that night.

-I saw a bumper sticker that said, "God danced the day you were born." and then I scraped out my eyeballs with a lemon zester.

-My bruises and scrapes from my oceanside incident are quite impressive. I don't know that I've ever seen a bruise go through quite so many color phases!

-I got a package from Gretchen that had a bunch of pictures from Amy's wedding - including one of my two very own real life PARENTS! It was so sweet of her to send that. Gretch, when you read this, know that I came home after a particularly disappointing day in which I was soaking wet, freezing cold, and had mascara literally running down my cheeks because of the rain and that letter and the pictures just made my day. So thank you.

-Someone got really mad at us on Saturday for saying "hello" as we walked past. Welcome to Boston.

-So... Wednesday is my 6 months mark! That is a very weird thing. Doesn't it kindof seem like I've been out on a mission forEVER? I mean, I'm enjoying it, but I feel like I've been away for so long already. I am looking forward to working hard and still want to be here, but in some ways a whole nother (<--- yes, I know that that is a dumb phrase, and that it's even worse written out than just verbally. Deal with it, naysayers!) year seems like a really really long time. I feel like I've already missed so much! Joshua looks like a man, and Garrett is (holycow) 14! Friends are getting married and preggo at the speed of light. Friends are graduating from COLLEGE. But it's good to miss those things. If I wasn't missing things, it wouldn't be as much of a sacrifice, and THAT's what I need to grow and transform into the person I have the potential to become.

-Sister Edwards has created a second verse to the song, "Huck, My Dog." Ready? "I like goin' to the moun'ans to breathe the cool, fresh air just like my fishes... in the crick." ahhahahaha. Once again this song has made me laugh outloud in the library.

-Right after I send this e-mail we are heading up to the North End/Haymarket. We are going to the world-famous Mike's Pastry shop to devour the most authentically Bostonian cannoli you've ever heard of (it'll be my first time! So excited!), and then checking out the Old North Church. Should be pretty cool!

Whelp - I just love you. Thank you for everything, and please have a nice week.

-Sister "How DARE you say, "Hello" to me??" Broekhuijsen

…And Then I a Little Bit Fell into the Ocean…

As we suspected, we didn't receive email from Melissa yesterday due to the President's Day holiday.  Happily, however, we DID receive email today!  Here it is!

Well hello! 

This week was good. I love that lately I get to say that all the time. I am so blessed.
I'll start with church yesterday and then do some other general updates. 

I learned a lot at church! In LP2 Gospel Principles class, we talked about the Holy Ghost. The teacher pointed out that there are so many scriptures that talk about the role of the Holy Ghost, but that when you start comparing them, they may seem a little disjointed. We learn that He is a messenger, that He is the tool by which Heavenly Father answers our prayers, that He testifies of truth, that He is the comforter, etc. You know what I'm talking about. Anyway, the teacher made the point that if we think of His main role as being to testify of Christ, then everything else falls into place. I LOVED that and totally agree. He IS the messenger sent from God, to proclaim truth. The greatest truth we can know is that Christ lives! Also, the message of Christ's Atonement and love for us is the greatest tool we have to feel comfort. Cool stuff. It's all related! In LP1 I was asked to do the musical number in Sacrament Meeting. I sang hymn #122, "Though Deepening Trials". I recognized the tune once my accompanist first started playing it... but it's not one I had ever studied or thought of performing. But I'm glad I did. I sang verses 1,3,5, and 7. 1 and 3 were like my testimony of member missionary work to all the members that we've been working with. Verse 5 was my testimony to all those who oppose missionary work, or discouraged me to serve a mission. Verse 7 was just my testimony to the world. It was a good experience, but not my best performance. Oh well. "Seek to bless, not to impress," right? ;) 

Also at church there was a fun "It's a Small World" moment. I was meeting a new member to our ward, J S-H*. He shook my companions' hands first, and then shook mine and when I said, "Sister Broekhuijsen" he said, "I like Broekhuijsens. I met one in Russia!" HA! I was shocked. "Um... in Samara?" "Yeah! He was my Zone Leader for my last transfer!" "Oh. Well... that's my baby brother!" That was hilarious to me. And awesome. He said that Andrew was great. I tend to agree. 

Investigator/recent converts update! First, P* is still meeting with us, which is good, but she has no desire to make any changes on her end, and won't come to church. So she's not actually progressing, but she is receiving knowledge. I guess we'll just have to make due with that for now. H* is doing well! We met with her Sunday night and decided to take a bit of a step back and make sure that we were understanding how she's doing. She does not have a baptismal date that she's working toward (which actually is probably a good thing because she told us she doesn't yet know if she believes in Jesus Christ) but she DOES want to learn. She realizes that this is different, and has a sincere desire to come closer to God and have more spirituality in her life. She is a sweetheart and I feel the Spirit every time she prays, "to the Heavenly Godfather" hahaha. More good news... L* went to the temple for the first time yesterday! She had dinner with a member in LP2 afterward who reported that L* is on "cloud 1000" haha. Glad to hear that she had a good, spiritual experience. 

Now for yesterday. It was a very exciting day! Our Stake had a special temple day for the Monday holiday and lots of us missionaries got to go. I look forward to it [going to the temple] so much! It's sad to be limited to only go once every 3 months! But I understand why they have that rule. Either way, it was just an amazing experience. I feel so much peace there. After the temple we were supposed to go have a Zone Activity and take a tour of M.I.T. The timing didn't work out, unfortunately, so that was a no go. BUT, since the ZL's had arranged to have a giant 15 passenger van for us... they were determined to use it. SO we went on a little day trip! 

First we went to Marblehead, Massachusetts. It is BEAUTIFUL! Google it. There was a lot of beachfront. It was more like the beaches I've been to in the Pacific Northwest than SoCal. There were tidepools (I saw some baby hermit crabs!), lots of seaweed, and two crab legs. That was fun. Also, I found out that seagulls are smartypants! They would go pick up a muscle, then fly way high and drop it, so it would break on the rocks, and then go have some morsels of lunch! No wonder there are so many seagulls. Darwinism at its finest. We got to walk around on the rocks and I got lots of beautiful pictures. Also I tripped on a rock and I a little bit fell into the ocean! It was my first time touching the Atlantic Ocean! My left foot and calf got to smell like salt water, seaweed, and seagull poop for the rest of the day. I'm sure that everyone in the 15 passenger van was excited about that. 

Next we went up to Salem! As in the real life witch town. There is SO much history there. I got a lot of pictures. We went through a really cool cemetery -- the gravestones said things like, "here lyes bluh bluh bluh". Yup. We're talking pre-standardized American spelling, people! Also there were the "s"s that looked like lowercase "f"s! There was a church history site, too! And we walked down a cute baby cobblestone road with lots of shops. There was a HARRY POTTER STORE and lots of signs talking about witchcraft and wizardry. Also a lot of creepy stores. I hate Halloween. But it was fun to get to visit! I can check that off my eastcoast bucket list. 

Whelp - that's about it for this week! Thanks to you all. Garrett, hope you have a wonderful 14th birthday! Enjoy the Stake Dance. It is probably the biggest change/improvement from 13 to 14 :) 

Love you,
Sister Broekhuijsen aka smelly foot

We also received another quick email from Melissa letting us know that D* (the woman they taught who returned to Korea) was baptized on Saturday!  So, that was wonderful.

No Creative Title

It was a relief to receive a nice email from Melissa, since Andrew's was super short this week!  So hooray for Sister missionaries!  

Hello! 

This week went by faster than you can say, "I love dinosaurs!" 

I don't have any funny stories this week! I mean, I'm sure funny things happened, but I don't remember them. And I don't feel like writing a long e-mail. You know how you get that way sometimes? I have to be in the MOOD to write a ton. And it's not here today. Who knows why? Not I, said the cat. Okay, I am definitely in a weirdo mood today. This should be fun. 

I had a really great week spiritually! On Thursday we had Zone Conference! Rather than having to get a ride out to Worchester (feels weird to write it out like that because really, we say it "wuh-stah") like last time, it was just at our beautiful Stake Center in Cambridge! Just a walk from M.I.T. Yeah, I'm a lucky girl. I heard a rumor that that Stake Center is the largest Stake Center in the world! So that's interesting. It has a PARKING GARAGE. UNDERNEATH IT. Isn't that cool? Yes. 

At Zone Conference I learned a lot. Not just from what was said, but because the Spirit was strong I got a lot of personal revelation, so that's nice! here's some bullet points for you, since I know how much you love those. 

-"You can be as good as you want, as fast as you want." 

-Boston is sacred land! If you look at the history of the Church (meaning, Christ's church, not just the Latter-day version) there are some very prominent places. Jerusalem, of course, and the entire Holy Land, Missouri, the New Jerusalem, and New England, where the Restoration took place! Pretty cool to be here. Boston/Mass specifically is also cool because this is where the Pilgrims landed - one of the first areas of religious freedom in the whole world! And our founding fathers spent a lot of time here! The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow House right across the street from our chapel is a place where George Washington stayed! And they camped in Boston Commons! So cool. It also makes certain D&C scriptures even cooler than if I was serving somewhere else. I've always taken a lot of comfort from D&C 100:4-6, but at Zone Conference, Sister Evans pointed out that in verse 3 when it talks about missionary work in "eastern land" it is actually talking about Boston! That is one of the first areas that opened up, and it's immediately east of New York, where the revelation was given!! So cool. I love cute little things like that. 

-At church yesterday, the phrase "proclaim His love" or "His love proclaim" kept sticking out to me. We sang Hymn #81 TWICE, and also Hymn #176. In 81, I especially love the 3rd verse, "Press on, enduring in the ways of Christ. His love proclaim through days of mortal strife." I think that's a good reminder for me! That even if I'm sick and I don't know how to get better, or I don't even know what it IS - I just need to keep going and "press on". I need to press forward in the same direction I'm already going: teaching others about the love of God. That is one of my favorite things to talk about when contacting. I think that if people could really understand (or even BEGIN to understand) how much God loves them, they would be happier and automatically want to do better/different things so they could please Him. 

-In one of my Relief Societies, we were talking about testimonies of Christ as gained through the scriptures (I love the George Albert Smith book so much!!) and the teacher invited people to come up and share a favorite scripture and how it strengthened their testimony of Christ. As I was flipping through my scriptures, looking for highlighted verses and thinking of what I might share, I was overcome (meaning, I cried. Ha. Shocker.) with the realization that EVERY scripture in the Book of Mormon that I had highlighted has strengthened my testimony of Christ! Everything can be related to Him! I just love that. I always loved the scriptures, but since coming out here my testimony has grown exponentially. There was a time when I thought I had left my scriptures on a train (they were definitely next to my purse and coat) and I started FREAKING out and was SO sad. It was terrible! I have put so many personal notes and such in there that losing them would be devastating. 

-The Why I Believe Fireside last night went GREAT! Even better than we had imagined. We had recent converts speak and it was so nice to hear such powerful testimonies. I loved it, and I think we accomplished the goal which was to have everyone (members and investigators alike) leave feeling edified and encouraged to come closer to God. 

Whelp, that's about all I can think to say. I had a very sugary breakfast and it literally feels like I have RLS in my arms. I keep taking a baby break from typing to do some fist pumps and Elaine dances. It's bad, but hilarious. 

Love you,
Sister Broekhuijsen

Superbowl Surplus

Okay, I admit that I am not one who enjoying playing sports, but honestly I did not teach Melissa to hate even watching them!  That is just her own deal.  (Or, as many Utahans say, her own "dill.")   :-)

Okay we all know that I am sports trivially challenged. I kept seeing all these "Go Pats" signs around town, and I heard there was some kind of big championship match in a sport. Ha. Just kidding I knew it was the Super Bowl. And I knew that the Super Bowl is for FOOTBALL. I should go on Sports Jeopardy. But really I do struggle. I actually had to text my District Leader to ask if you pronounce the abbreviation for the Patriots with a short "a" sound or a long "a". I say it the wrong way on purpose. I like to think that I am, in a small way at least, punching the idea of sports in the face when I do that. Also I had a little freak out moment when I heard that the Patriots were playing the Giants, because one of my 4 sports facts that I was pretty sure about was that the Giants were a baseball team in California. Once again, my District Leader corrected me. 

I obviously (and thankfully) don't use much football talk in my street contacting. :)
Well, on to more important and exciting things. We heard from D* this week (through e-mail). She is getting baptized on February 19th!! So that is very exciting. It will be sad to not be able to be there, but I'm thankful for the internet so we can get pictures of the baptism quickly.  

More investigators updates... P*. We are still teaching her, and she is very cordial and welcoming, but it's only about presenting information at this point. So sad and disappointing. But yes, you are right, I should be glad that she's willing to listen, and I should be optimistic about the future. I'm sowing seeds here.  

H* is doing just great! She is praying about a baptismal date. She is very sweet and always answers the questions perfectly. It's hard though, because she I think has a similar problem to P* in that she is absorbing the information, and can regurgitate what we've taught in a beautiful and simple way, but I don't think we've cracked that shell. She is still not personally invested. I don't know exactly what to do, but hopefully this week she will have a revelation and clearly feel and recognize the Spirit. I think that's what's going to need to happen for her to change. Or even WANT to change. 

Remember how Sister Meier and I used to teach those little 7 year olds? Well, this past week, all three of us headed over to the OTHER little girl's family's house and taught them. It was so fun - there's such a different feeling to be with a family. I mean, I love these YSA wards, but it's not the same as having a nice home, a big dinner table, it's just great. So that was fun. 

Also this week, our lovely member, T* and her friend Tr* (also in the ward) organized a dinner for us AND the Elders! It was a blast! We played Taboo after dinner (is that allowed? I don't know. But my DL played it with us so hopefully it's not wicked) and I DOMINATED! hahahaah. I love things that I'm good at and hate things that I suck at. I often recommend that we should have a knowledge bowl instead of basketball tournaments when we all hang out on pdays. The categories could be: breeds of cats, brand/generic drug names, and Michael Jackson trivia. No one agrees with me that that would be super fun. 

During our companionship inventory this week, I was so impressed with my amazing companions. Sister Connell is still having a bit of a hard time adjusting (to the cold, to having to do things quickly, etc.) and in the process, Sister Edwards and I were somewhat annoyed. But we had a great comp inventory and we now have common goals and it's just fantastic. Everyone handled themselves beautifully and no one got offended. I love that because I was definitely stressing while anticipating confrontation! haha. 

Funny story of the week: We needed to stop in at a CVS or similar store to grab cake mix and tinfoil (so I could make cookies for my district for district meeting and so I could make baked potatoes for mySELF) but the way things were working out with the bus, we didn't want to have to get off and then walk home (cause it's cold and we're lazy). SO we decided to just be smart and find a store by our dinner appointment, so we could just take one bus all the way home. So on the walk from the bus stop to our appointment, I saw a place across the street that seemed like it would be perfect. "Blanchard's Liquor -- got it - memorized. We'll stop there on the walk back to the bus" thought I. After the appointment we headed over and walked inside — 3 Mormon missionaries in skirts and coats and smiles. We walk in and a woman at the front asks to see our ID. At first I thought they must just sell a lot of liquor in addition to normal gas station food, so they just card everyone on the way in to save time in the long run. So I start rummaging through my purse, looking for my wallet -- then Sis. Edwards looks at me and says, "Uhh.... Sister? I don't think they sell food here...." I look up and--WOW. It is one billion percent alcohol. So we book it out of there. On the way out I yelled, "Sorry, I thought this was a convenience store!!!!!!" BAHAHAHA. It was so funny. And terrible.  [Editor's note:  Don't ask me why Melissa would think a store called "Blanchard's Liquor" would be a convenience store!  She might have lived too long in Utah!]   :-) 

I had a funny moment happen during my personal study this week. I was reading in 2 Nephi (getting through all the Isaiah chapters isn't any easier when you're a missionary, I found out. Bummer.) and came across 2 Nephi 12:4. It reads, "And he shall ^ajudge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks—nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." and I thought, "Wow, that sounds like a Michael Jackson song  known as "Heal the World" that has the line: ...until the nations turn their swords into plow shares." And then I thought, "GASP! That means that Michael Jackson read the Book of Mormon!!!!" and I screamed a little bit out loud. And I clasped my hand over my mouth out of sheer incredulity. And then I realized, "Ha. No. You are reading the Isaiah chapters, Sister Broekhuijsen. Which only means that he read the BIBLE." So that was hilarious. And I had to interrupt everyone else's personal study to tell them. 

I learned a lot at church yesterday! Thank goodness I'm in two wards - I think I will really be sad to be transferred and go down to only having 3 hours of church every week! That would feel way too short (<--- sounds totally sarcastic. But it's totally not). I'm just going to smatter some chuggets (chunks plus nuggets) of new knowledge down here in bullet form:

• Why do we have to be separated from God in order to grow? So that we don't rely on God's power and knowledge too much. The GP teacher, T*, gave an analogy that I really loved. She said that when she's the passenger in a car, going somewhere she's never been before, and the driver DOES know, or uses a GPS, she doesn't learn the route. Even though she was IN the car, and saw all the turns, the responsibility wasn't hers, so she didn't pay attention, so she didn't learn anything. Isn't that thought provoking?? 

• We believe that in the creation, Christ organized the world out of matter that was already there, because the idea that matter can be neither created nor destroyed is an eternal principle. But what significance does that have in OUR lives? Well, Elder VanderHoek made the point that that means that we already have everything that we need to make our lives beautiful/righteous/productive - we just need to rearrange the elements (<-- ha! Elements. like, matter. What a great pun) of our lives in order to do so! I loved that idea. 

Well. That is a lot of e-mailing. Hope you all appreciate it.  

Thanks for all your support! I say that all the time but I really do mean it. 

Love you,
Sister Broekhuijsen