Week 1 - Again!

I had to be patient again today - but the email from Melissa did eventually arrive!  Here it is for all to enjoy!

Wow. Another week 1. It is such a weird thing that I am still here! But I love the members and they love me and things are great in Brighton. The weather has been very... wet. And windy. And it is very misty so that even with an umbrella, I still get soaked. I am just embracing the frizzy hair. It is nice to be inside and looking out, though! I love it! The green green trees look spectacular against a flat grey sky. And BOY are there trees here. It's just fantastic and I feel so lucky to be in such a beautiful place! it's amazing what some leaves can do to spruce a place up! (haha - SPRUCE trees don't even HAVE leaves - they are coniferous! Botany joke!) 

Well, I feel like I don't have a lot of news since last Wednesday. Things are going well. Not in the sense that we have people to teach, but in the sense that we are recognizing blessings and pushing forward. What people often don't realize is that even though we're not in Europe, it's basically like we're in Europe! ha! Hardness of hearts and aversion to actual religion/change, the whole shebang. So I am just trying to accept the fact that Boston basically equals Paris (minus the whole "having to speak French" business).
Last Pday was great! After e-mailing we headed into the Pru, like I mentioned last time. There is a skywalk/observation deck on the 50th floor (which costs $15/person) and there is a big fancy restaurant called, Top of the Hub on the 52nd floor (with lots of windows overlooking the beautiful city) and the only requirement is that you order something. Also you should know that there is a plate of cookies available on the dessert menu for $13. Guess which option we selected? Yes. Spending way less AND getting cookies. It was a great time. See? Look:

Then we went to Trader Joe's. It was my first time going to actually SHOP, instead of stopping off with a member as she drove us home. We went crazy. I bought some carrot ginger soup and some butternut squash soup and although I haven't yet tried them, I expect they shall both be delish. Also, I got some TJ's brand pop chips. Totally cheaper than name brand. Also we got hummus and pretzel thins and ice cream ("What kind?" you ask? Well, only the BEST kind, my dear child. TJ's Lemon Triple Gingersnap. Thanks for asking). What healthy purchases!
Here's a cute picture of me in front of cute Trader Joe's. 

Well, since this e-mail so far is mostly about food and shopping and being a tourist, I suppose I should include something a bit spiritual and uplifting.  

During transfer meeting on Wednesday, Sister Evans gave a great analogy. I will summarize it and name it. 

The Analogy of the Light and the Cleaning Supplies and the House:
We were all given a house, which, through sin (and probably some earthquakes and stuff), we have defiled and made dirty. In this house there is no electricity (I don't know why - just roll with me here. I'm embellishing some of the details to try to make it into more of a story form) so when we try to clean it up on our own, we can only get the big things that we can immediately see: the couch is turned over, the book shelf is tipped, etc. So we do what we can, and when we open the door, Christ is standing there. He says, "That was good, now here's some more light - go try again." So we take the light He has given us and we go back and we can see a little bit more. The lampshade is crooked, we see that we put some of the books back in the bookshelf upside down, so we fix that. There's a pile of dirty clothes in the corner that we couldn't see before, so we take care of that. When it's clean according to what we can see, we open the door again and Christ is there. Again he says, "Good, that was good. Now here's some more light - go try again." So with increased light we can see even more. There are smudges on the mirror, dust all over the framed Michael Jackson poster (<-- I added that bit in), your taxidermied velociraptor needs to be wiped down (<-- and that!), and the carpet desperately needs to be vacuumed. Obviously we know that even after we have fixed these things, Christ is always there to congratulate us on how well we're doing, and give us the ability to improve even more! I loved this analogy. It really makes the line from Hymn 136 mean even more for me, "He lives my mansion to prepare." But he is not preparing it FOR us (because we wouldn't even know how to appreciate it if we didn't have to work for it), He is helping us to perfect our own houses and turning them into Celestial mansions. 

It reminds me of the saying, "the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know anything" (or a much more eloquent version of that). I can see my teenage self being really frustrated by this analogy. "Why can't it be good enough?" I'm sure I would think, "Will He never just let me rest? I'm sick of always finding more that I've done wrong and needing to fix it!" but NOW I love it. I am not discouraged by the thought that I can always do better, I am empowered by it. In Sunday School a couple weeks ago someone made the comment that we should not be frustrated or overwhelmed by the command to be perfect. That if we look at it in a school setting, we can see it in a different way. Imagine being in a freshman seminar class and the professor tells you, "I command you to graduate - that is what I want you to do." If you are trudging along taking your undergrad classes, you wouldn't be discouraged that you haven't yet graduated - you would recognize that everything you're doing is HELPING you and PREPARING you to graduate. If you got frustrated that you were not YET graduated and threw in the towel, it would be rather foolish. It is the same with perfection. We are not expected to be perfect here in this life, just like a freshman or a sophomore or even a junior or senior is not expected to BE graduated as an undergrad. We have to recognize that this is a preparatory time and that all that's expected of us NOW is progress. 

I also loved a couple mind-stickers that President Evans mentioned in his talk, "This process that we are engaged in - of leading souls back to their Father in Heaven - is the only real thing left in this universe. Everything else is just decoration. Nothing else will last." and "We have nothing to fear, we just have to go DO!" 

As far as personal and companionship goals go, Sister Edwards and I are both working at being better at contacting. It is stinkin' hard. I hate it, but I want to be bold. We have made several lists of things we want to do and things we don't want to do for this transfer. One of the biggest potential challenges that we see is that we are such good friends. We don't want to become complacent or be cliquish or be too focused on having fun/being friends that we miss missionary opportunities. I'm so thankful to have her to work with because we both have similar desires to be exactly obedient and just work as hard as we can.
Thanks for sending the pictures from your trip! I loved seeing you all. The boys look so old, and Zion is SO beautiful that way! I love snow on red rock. :)

I love you, family! Thank you for everything - it is such a relief to know that I have people at home who are supporting me.

Love,

Sister "windy days and full skirts are not a good combination" Broekhuijsen