Fake Spring

I think I checked about 48 times before this email showed up today!   Sometimes I am somewhat less than perfectly patient.  Anyway, here's what Sister Broekhuijsen had to say this week:

Well, just like every other year of my life, we had fake Spring this last week. In case you didn't know, Fake Spring is when the weather pretends that it's not actually winter anymore and gets you excited for 2-6 days. Then, just as you pack up your leggings, peacoat, and long socks, it becomes winter again. :) The Springy days were beautiful but I also love in between weather. Where a cardigan and scarf are just perfect. What I'm saying is, it changed, but I'm not complaining at all. I'll take anything (including freezing winter) over a hot humid summer (which is inevitably coming haha).

Well, this week was a very weird one for me. Just in terms of timelines. I know we're not supposed to do that, but I can't help it. If I go home the early transfer, I'm flying home on February 8th. If I stay the late, then it's March 21st. WEIRD. That means that either way, I have less than a year left out here! That is super weird to me. Things are going well though. I think I just said "Weird" like 30 times. sorry about that. My diction just isn't what is used to be (along with my memory, singing voice, pharmacy skills, and pop culture trivia). Star Trek is still with me strong, though, for some reason.

Has anyone seen Hunger Games? Every member and their dog (that's right - in Boston it's encouraged/popular to take your dog with you to the movie theater) saw the midnight premiere. Have we heard anything from reliable sources about the adaptation? I heard they strayed a lot from Katniss' viewpoint during the actual games which is a bit disappointing. Hopefully it's great. I hope you all get to go see it as a family soon.

The other day in a restaurant I heard a song I really like. I know that is slightly apostate... sorry about that. But we just can't avoid ALL music! It is called, "Tell Me One More Time about Jesus." Or something like that. That's the chorus anyway. I liked it. Here's the problem... it may have been a country song. I couldn't even tell!!! What is WRONG with me?? Ma, can you please look it up and tell me if I'm officially starved for worldy media to the point that I enjoyed a COUNTRY song? Gah.

This week in District Meeting I was asked to give a training on helping investigators get revelation from the Book of Mormon. I focused mostly on the "getting revelation" part - why it's important, how we're different on this topic, etc. I found a quote in the Book of Mormon institute Study manual (coolest thing EVER, btw) by Elder Dallin H. Oaks that I loved, "What makes [Latter-day Saints] different from most other Christians in the way we read and use the Bible and other scriptures is our belief in continuing revelation. For us, the scriptures are not the ultimate source of knowledge, but what precedes the ultimate source. The ultimate knowledge comes by revelation." Isn't that nice? It was a good little reminder and cool to think about. Also involved in my training was Elder Talmage's commentary on a story in Matthew. Found in Jesus The Christ page 361 (in my version... hopefully the same in yours.) Look it up and let me know what you think!

Our investigators are rather nonexistant. P* still meets with us (though she always has some fabulous excuse like being out of town (haha that is real I just like to make it sound like she's lying to us) that keeps her from coming to church. Grr.) and even said that she notices a difference in her life from before we started meeting with her until now. When she prays she always thanks God for letting her meet us and says, "Thank you for sending my sisters to me... I really learn a lot and I really love to learn from them." and then usually she goes into the weather, "I don't like the snow and the rain because it is very cold for me, but it is good for the plants, so thank you for the water for the plants because plants are nice and they are good for make you happy." haha. S* still needs to be transfered over to the CRW Sisters, the next time we meet we'll have to do that. Also Su* hasn't said a WORD to us since taking the GMAT. That's a long time! Grr. Hopefully she wasn't just meeting with us to get her ecclesiastical endorsement! :( Elder Winegar found someone who fits in our age group, which is nice. So we'll be contacting her this week. Also we have some members who have told us they've got some friends interested in meeting with us (only on an informational basis, but still...) so hopefully we'll have some nice lessons this week. It is still hard not to "see the fruit" but I'm doing okay. I don't know how to balance (is there an echo in here?) the idea of being okay with not seeing the fruit and not getting apathetic. I don't want to get hardened, but that's kindof how I feel. I guess I'm just running low on hope. I have faith that the people that God wants to have learn about the gospel will be able to learn, but I don't really have a lot of hope that I'll be involved in that. It's hard because the wards and ward leaders also don't get to see the fruit - it's not just me. So that makes it hard for me and my people-pleasing ways. I know that I'm ultimately only responsible to God, but how do I know if I'm doing enough?

Luckily, I had a wonderful time getting to listen to TWO fast and testimony meetings yesterday. I took a lot of notes and will share some of the things I learned - there were many things I felt were personally directed toward me.

-We can pray for the gift of perception to know how to help other people and be more aware of their needs

-I shouldn't focus so much on what I'm giving UP when I serve the Lord, instead I should focus on what I'm getting (improving, learning, becoming)

-assumptions and deep thoughts and big words are nothing compared to a personal testimony of truth

-When we do His work, we have His power.

-There's a Plan of Salvation (capital P, capital S) but also personal plans of salvation unique to each of us.

-Instead of praying for a boat to take me to the Promised Land, I should follow Nephi's example and pray to know where to find ore to make tools to be able to BUILD a boat according to the instructions of the Lord.

-Even when we feel frustrated by our inabilities to form cohesive thoughts or to communicate as clearly as we swould want to - Heavenly Father speaks our language and knows our thoughts and our desires. There is no language barrier!

Now for some more funniness from Sister Edwards:

Trying to say the quote, "I'm a poet and I didn't even know it" she instead exclaimed, "It rhymes and I didn't even know it!" haha

Talking about some squirrels (remember how we have a forest in our backyard? Remember how squirrels are hilarious? That's how we got on the topic of squirrels) who she thought were tricking each other (this story sounds way weirder when I type it out than it did at the time) she was trying to reference the phrase, "good cop, bad cop" but she said, "oooh look! They're playing good cop, nice cop!"

Lastly, after I told her that I write down all these little gems of hers and e-mail them out to you, she said, "Your parents are going to think I'm a disability or something!!" haha it was great. Needless to say, I'm still well entertained in my companionship. Sister Connell says funny things too, but I never have paper near me when she does.

Well, I love you! Thanks for everything. Hope you're enjoying the change of weather/term,

Sister "Salad is my favorite food ever" Broekhuijsen