Happily we didn't have to wait an extra 5 hours for Melissa's email like we did for Andrew's! Thanks to all of you for helping her to have a great missionary birthday last week!
Well hello there.
Today is my 8 month mark! That is remarkable. I say this at every month mark, but time perception on a mission is super weird. I love the way Andrew puts it - definitely the longest/shortest 8 months of my life.
I had a really nice week. It is hard to not be discouraged, but I am trying to work through things. I feel like I've suffered long enough in the "it doesn't matter why you're not seeing success, just keep working and it will all work out" realm. Uh - helLO! It's been 8 months of this! That's long enough! I tell myself, angrily. But then I remember that it's not my call. Clearly, it has NOT been long enough, and God wants me to still be learning things. I hope I am.
I'd like to send out a big thank you to everyone who remembered my birthday! I got cards from Aunt Eleanore (and family) and Grandma Millward. I got a package from Lizzy and Kelsey with adorable handmade cards, a dinosaur coloring book, an actual dinosaur (well, an actual dinosaur figurine, at least), birthday celebratory paraphernalia and the ingredients to make worms in dirt! I made the treats to share with my Elders at District meeting (because clearly I'm a fourth grader) and it was a huge success. I also got a package from Gretch, Britt, and Amy! They sent a ton of treats, a cute belt and bangle, letters, cards, and coral nail polish which is already bespeckling (<-- is that a word?) my toe nails :) I also got a package from Jen my dear birthday twin with a horrifically mormon Sister missionary card and -- get this --- STAR TREK STATIONARY! Needless to say, my birthday was very much enjoyed and I felt super loved!
Thanks to YOU, dear family, for the package that YOU sent! I'm not going to thank you for the birthday card that you sent because it actually made me pretty angry. I could have come up with WAY better fairy puns. It wasn't fairy nice of you to send me such a lame card. See? Easy as a pancake on a hot summer's day. [Editor's note: We sent her a Tinkerbell card because she truly hates Tinkerbell and it was probably the corniest card I've ever seen in my life, so I couldn't resist! Obviously it had the desired effect! :-) ]
On my actual birthday, Sister Edwards did indeed wake me up by singing me Happy Birthday. Unfortunately it was guitarless and Huck-my-dogless, but it was still really nice. I opened my packages on my bed and then looked around and there were little pieces of paper taped up around the apartment with INSIDE JOKES WRITTEN ON THEM! It was so cute! I rushed around the house frantically and found all twelve in record time. It was really really sweet of her. Then sitting on my desk was a birthday card from her and JUSTIN BEIBER PERFUME SAMPLES. They were a great gift that I can enjoy twofold because they make me smell lovely (seriously - when I get home I'm buying the full bottle and wearing it every day) AND I taped one to the inside of my planner so now I get to look at JBeibs any time I want - day or night! We made biscuits and gravy for breakfast (because what other day can you justify eating meat floating in fat served on top of carbs and fat?) and studied and headed out to district meeting where we had a BOMB Book of Mormon pow wow (or should I say, a "b.o.m." Book of Mormon pow wow?) and some great trainings and, of course, worms in dirt. It was so cute! I made all the Elders wear party hats and blow kazoos and take pictures with me. Here is a picture of my cute district (well... most of my district and some other elders who chose to participate.)
After district meeting we had a correlation meeting for LP2. Those are always entertaining because Jordan, our ward mission leader, is hilarious. Then we studied for a bit and headed to a member's house for dinner! It was super fun.
At home, we had some birthday cake (even though we were both stuffed - we simply HAD to keep with tradition). It was a Carrot Cake from Trader Joe's and I think it was like 800 calories a slice. But it was most likely worth it. All in all a great day!
Now I will proceed to tell you of the things I've learned in the Book of Mormon lately:
* Alma 34:15-17 the phrase "faith unto repentance" is repeated 4 times. I had never thought about this phrase before but the institute manual I'm reading along with my studies this go 'round pointed out that lots of times we ask, how much faith is required for salvation? Apparently the answer is not that we need the faith to move mountains, or the faith to perform miracles or any loud, dramatic expression of faith. We just need to have enough faith to move us to repent - that's all we NEED.
* Chapter 36 in Alma is one giant chiasmus (thank you, Mrs. Woolsey for teaching me that lit term)! In this form, the most important doctrine, the crux, is placed in the center. In this chapter that is verses 17 and 18 where he mentions twice that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He atoned for the world.
* I love the phrasing in Alma 38:5. "As much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials and your troubles, and your afflictions," [emphasis added, obviously]. I love that it is a directly proportional relationship. God will deliver me from my troubles to the extent that I put my trust in Him! I need that reminder through this spiritual desert, void of outward success.
At church yesterday, after feeling down from having to report a kajillion big fat ZEROES in our ward correlation meeting, I walked out of the room and was greeted by none other than RP! It was so so nice to see her! She seriously made my otherwise rough day a good one. I'm so glad she is back in Boston for the summer :)
Whelp - thanks again. I am feeling better today overall about the discouragement business than I have been for the past couple of weeks, so that is definitely heading in the right direction! My goal for this week is to be deliberate in everything that I do. When I take the sacrament next Sunday, as I reflect on my past week, I want to have specific instances of doing things deliberately FOR Christ. I want to wake up exactly on time for Him. I want to start studies exactly on time for Him. I want to talk to people even thought it's super scary - FOR HIM. That's my goal! I'll report back next week!
I love you all and hope you're enjoying the end of school and the change in weather.
Love,
Sister "22 does not feel significantly older than 21 - thank goodness" Broekhuijsen
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