Spring Has Sprung!

Melissa was in rare form as she wrote today's email!  Remember to divide everything she says by the "Melissa factor" of dramatic expression!  :-)

Hey all!

This week has been pretty unpredictable weather wise. But looking back, it DID have some pattern to it. It followed a pattern known as: If Sister Broekhuijsen wore a long skirt with boots and leggings then it was hot, and if she wore short sleeves, a short(er) skirt, no leggings, and no coat then it was cold, damp, drizzly, and windy. Ha. I'm not complaining though because today I finally got it right and it is GLORIOUS outside! I guess we're a couple weeks ahead of Utah (altitude difference, I suspect) because our crocuses are at their peak and the daffodils are starting now! So pretty. I can't wait for tulips to start going for it. There is also a big ol' magnolia tree right outside of the library and it is STUNNING this morning. I love Boston and I love Spring and I love Boston in the Spring.

The week was good. Nothing too exciting investigator wise, but we met with a lot of members! Our numbers have been really good lately. Our success and happiness are not directly related to our key indicators, because there are weeks when the numbers aren't good but we still feel fulfilled and pleased with our efforts, but when our numbers ARE good, it's easier to feel good about how you're doing.

Yesterday was a bit disappointing, though, because none of our investigators showed up to church. P* called last minute and said she couldn't come (we even had it all arranged to have a member go pick her up!!) and S* couldn't come either. H* has essentially dropped us, so we haven't really had any contact with her this past week. And S* took the GMAT on Saturday so she was out for the whole day yesterday. So that's hard, but there WAS good news! It's not quite as miraculous as Andrew's story from this week, but a man showed up in LP1 yesterday and when he introduced himself after sacrament meeting (an awesome tradition that every ward should adopt) he said, "Hi, my name's R*. I went to Jerusalem last year and felt like I needed more religion in my life. So after I came back to Boston I was lead to this church." HA! He had a lesson with the Elders and now has a baptismal date! So cool. So that is good news, for sure. Now let's just get some people for US to teach!! Gah.

I had a little miracle of my own this week, too. last Friday, Sister Burr and I were running toward the Charles (super pretty at sunrise) and this 60-year-old Asian lady stopped me and asked for the time. I told her it was one minute to six, she seemed confused so I said, "5:59." She said, "Oh, I'm-uh waiting for the 5:54 bus." Sister Burr and I just sort of looked at each other and then explained that the bus has to start down around the corner at Oak Square and then travels around to the different stops and THEN it picks her up haha. She asked if we were heading to work and we said, no, we don't have a normal job, we're missionaries so we TEACH people. She got really excited and asked if we teach English. We told her that no, we don't, we teach about our church. She said, "Oh, you teach about-uh your church? Do you think you can come teach-uh ME?" hahahaha. It was great. But wait

DUN Dun dun...
Then the bus pulled up! Right then! So we tried to get some contact info like an address or a phone number or something but she was very worried about missing her bus so she just kept repeating, "5 huh-bvuh street" while walking frantically toward the bus and holding out her hand to show all five fingers. "FIVE HUB-BVUH STREET!!" and pointing to our right. Man it was crazy. So she drove off in her little bussy-poo and Sister Burr and I spent the next 15 minutes running around trying to find a cross street that sounded like "hub-bvah" that had a number 5. No luck. There is a Hobart street right there, but there's no number 5, plus there are like 3 bus stops that would have been closer than the one we found her at. So the goal is to be there again tomorrow morning and hope that she always takes the 5:54 64 bus :)

One more spiritual thing and then some funny quotes for you.

At church yesterday we sang hymn #145, "Prayer is the Soul's SIncere Desire." It was a good reminder for me that I can always make my prayers more sincere (hard to do since I say so many of them a day!!) but I especially liked verse 3, "Prayer is the burden of a sigh, the falling of a tear, the upward glancing of an eye when none but God is near." Isn't that sweet? Man I loved it. That's a good little gem of a hymn that I've never fully appreciated.

Now some "Sister Edwards says the darndest things"

-Telling us that she thinks the book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is stupid, she was trying to relate how disjointed and dumb it is, she said, "If you give a mouse a cookie, he'll ask for a glass of milk. If he gets a glass of milk, then he's gonna want a PUPPET SHOW!!!" hahaahha

-After MANY conversations about Jimmy Fallon and how awesome I think he is, and many references to his show and to especially the spoof of Friday that he performed with Stephen Colbert, Sister Edwards asked me, "Wait, Jimmy Fallon is the guy with long curly hair that plays the saxaphone, right?" GAHH! haha. Lesson learned, Kenny G = Jimmy Fallon apparently.

-Admiring the new buds on the bushes on the walk down the hill to our apartment, "Look! Those bushes are SPROUTING!!"

-Sitting on her bed late at night, complaining about our new eating plan which involves a dissapointingly high amount of salad-eating, "Ooohhhh I'm so hungry. Ah man I'm munchy... <glances out the window> that MOTH even looks good!"

So as you can see, I'm doing very well in the entertainment category. Overall doing well in almost every category. I'm a bit discouraged (which is rough because everyone's advice to me when they see/hear that we don't have any/many progressing investigators is: "Well, just keep it up, don't get discouraged!" - haha, easier said than done!) because I've been here for almost 5 transfers now (The first day of Spring is actually my 6 month mark of being in the field!) and haven't been directly related to any baptisms. L* and D* are sort of "mine," but I just want to see someone through the whole process. I know it's not all about baptisms, so mostly I want to be able to TEACH PEOPLE ABOUT THE GOSPEL AND I DESERVE THAT OPPORTUNITY BECAUSE I AM WORKING HARD!!!!

I know that I won't see all the fruit of my efforts, but I would like SOME fruit. Like maybe some small cherry tomatoes or some little baby alfalfa sprouts of success. I guess it would be less frustrating if everyone was in the same boat as us, but our roommates, because of their age groups, are seeing all kinds of progress! I just want to be a part of the much teaching that is going on. That's probably a selfish, prideful desire, which is probably why I'm being denied that kind of opportunity for now (and the past 6 months.) If someone suggests to me that I'm supposed to be learning patience, I'll probably punch their face off and then stomple it into the ground and then spit on it and drive a semi truck over it and scrape it up with a spatula and burn it and then use the ashes to write the words, "SHUT UP" on a bathroom stall. And then splash toilet water all over it (for good measure).  [In case you didn't figure it out, that was the part that needs to be divided by the "Melissa being dramatic factor!] 

Ha. This sounds mega dramatic. And I feel a little dramatic, but don't worry, I'm not doing this bad. I just am venting to you, but I still have hope that I'll see some direct success at some point. I'm not for a second doubting that I was supposed to come on a mission. I know I'll never regret coming out, I don't doubt that I'm supposed to be here in these wards at this time with these companions, and I don't want to have this challenge taken away from me. I just want to be strengthened by the Lord to be able to deal with it better. I want to know what He needs me to learn/prove/express to get to the point where we can start seeing some people progressing through the gospel and changing their lives for the better.

That's what I want. :)

Well I love you, and hope that you are all doing well! Thanks to the Scoresby girls (Jen, Ashley, and Anna) who all wrote me this past week.  

Pray for me to get some patience, please ;)

Love,

Sister "And I thought I hated St. Patrick's Day BEFORE I came to Boston" Broekhuijsen