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 a 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
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