Well hello!
The big news of the week was transfers. As per usual (<-- I have actually heard someone say that. Can you believe it? That's almost as bad as saying, "hence why...." Blerg) I was hecka nervous. I mean, I love the wards, and I really love Sister Edwards, but I wanted a change. It's been a LONG time, ya know? Like half a mission. Nevertheless I was resolved to be happy with whatever happened.
So Saturday night we went out to Texas Roadhouse as a Zone to celebrate being in the Dirty South while it's still dirty. (3 key players are going home this transfer that will definitely change the feeling of things). When we got home, I hurried and jumped in the shower so I could be out in time for t-texts. I told Sister Edwards to please knock on the door and read the texts aloud if they came while I was still in. So I took a remarkably fast shower and hopped out and asked if they had come. She said nothing had come, so I went and checked the phone and WHAT THE?? There were like 20 texts on there - they had come JUST as I got in the shower, but she didn't take the phone off of silent, and she was in the kitchen making pudding and didn't check the phone! Gahhhhhhhh! Hilarious. So we hurried and, hands trembling, ran through them to find the texts about our Zone. The first text said the 3 elders we already knew were departing, and then next told of 3 other transfers, none of whom were us. ALL THE SISTERS ARE STAYING THE SAME!
Initially I was a little bummed, just because, like I said, I had wanted some change. But I learned to deal. I had a GREAT realization! I have always been a bit (okay, a LOT) guilty of depending on my external circumstances to change, to change my attitude/behavior. I'm always looking for the next milestone. "Once I get transferred, THEN I'll be better at contacting." Or, "Once I get a new companion, we'll be more strict about doing daily planning by the book" - stuff like that, you know? I've always been that way though. "When the new semester starts, I'll budget better," or, "Once I can just get through this finals week, I'll be happy." So I realized that maybe part of the reason I've been in these wards so long is that I need to learn to change WITHOUT external forces encouraging me to do so. And I WANT to do that! I want to change myself. Learning to change without outside change is a lesson that will help me for my whole LIE-FUH! So I was very energized and excited, actually. And I just kept focusing on the members that I LIKE staying the same instead of having to be in these same wards that are hard.
ALSO on Thursday night we got a text from the Zone Leaders telling us that the temple would be opened for the Monday holiday, but that we didn't get to go, since P-day was moved to Wednesday because of transfer week. BUMMER. I mean, we already get to go to the temple way more than most missionaries, so I'm definitely grateful about that, but I could always use the comfort and peace of the temple to help me through things. So whatever. THEN (this is probably the most dramatic e-mail home I've ever sent. I hope you know that all these uses of capitalization are genuine) we went to District Meeting the next morning, and Elder Mortensen burst into the room and said, "Sister Evans changed her mind! We get to go to the temple! But just our zone!" hahaha. Isn't that great? So we got to go on Monday. It was LOVELY!! I love the temple. I just love it. At the end we saw President and Sister Evans so we talked for a bit. President Evans pulled aside Sister Burr (who has been having some struggles lately and has been working with him a lot) so Sister Evans sat and talked with me! It was fantastic to get to talk to her one on one for like 20 or so minutes. She is so amazing. I was telling her about the realization I had (detailed in my previous paragraph) and she grabbed my arm and said, "Wait, you're NOT getting transfered??" "No..." I told her. She got fake mad and said, "You know, I told President specifically to transfer YOU. He never listens to me... You've been in those wards for a long time!! I know you'll do well wherever but I just want you to get to see other parts of the mission!" I told her that I'm happy to be wherever President wants me, that I have faith that I am going to learn exactly what Heavenly Father wants me to. She agreed but still said something like, "I'm going to have to talk to President about this..." hahaha.
When President Evans and Sister Burr were done, they came back over and President said, "Thanks for staying in your area just a little longer, I appreciate it." I didn't exactly get it but I talked to Sister Burr afterward and she told me that he told her the reason no one moved is that he "didn't want to break us (Sister Burr and me) up." I have been trying to help Sister Burr (as much as I can being just her roommate, and not her companion), but it's really interesting because Sister Burr in all her talking with President didn't really ever tell him about how I've been helping her. So that just proves that he is super, super inspired! I just love him, and it made me feel even better about staying in the wards.
Let's see, let's see. What else. Oh - so one of the Elders that's being transfered away is Elder Winegar! I was so sad when I found out because he has been with me EVERY SINGLE WEEK since that first day in the MTC (exactly 9 months ago tomorrow!)! So that will be really hard. But he is going ZL up in Nashua, so that is exciting! He'll be great but I'll sure miss him. Like I've said, he filled the little brother void in my heart. Guess it's time to buck up and be a (wo)man.
I forgot to bring my BoM so I can't share my insights from Helaman from this week. That's too bad because there were some gems. Oh well, double next week!
Something really exciting happened at church on Sunday! We were meeting with Stephanie so we were a bit late coming into LP1 Sacrament Meeting. So we just sat up in the balcony so as to not disturb anyone. After Sacrament Meeting, it's customary to have visitors stand and introduce themselves. From the balcony, you can only see the stand, so I was just listening for the visitors names and whether they were already members (so I could know if we needed to run down and attack potential investigators). All of the sudden I hear, "Haylee Ham... Jessica Bodily" WHAT????? Two friends from BYU that *I* love, but were not at all in my same friend circles. I told Sister Eddy the sit (short for "situation") and we scampered on down there. I hugged and hugged and smiled and we all rejoiced (and maybe Haylee a little bit screamed). I had no idea they were coming and they didn't think it was likely that I would be in the one ward they chose to come to when visiting a friend of a friend in Boston. CRAZY! It was so weird to see them, but we talked for a while and it was nice. They both whipped out their iPhones and took pictures with me and texted all our mutual friends. So I had two different barrages of responses from two separate groups of friends! It was a bit overwhelming but really fun. It was a nice little blessing that I got to see them. :)
So Monday we went to the temple, like I mentioned. Then we had to have our correlation meeting/lunch on the roof of the LP chapel since it was Winegar's last hoorah. That was a blast. Then Monday night we went to dinner at the Johnsons (Jane Clayson Johnson, to be exact) so that was really fun. They are a remarkable family. Yesterday was good too! And now it's pday! Man I can feel that it's been a while. It's a good feeling to be exhausted in the work though.
Whelp - that's about it! Sorry this isn't spiritual. I have certainly learned a lot though, and I look forward to e-mailing you next week from my new area, Oxford.
Love,
Sister "Hey, I get to be in the city for the 4th of JULY!" Broekhuijsen
Okay, now here is the 2nd email we received today:
Hello (again)!
hahaha do you like my joke? I didn't tell you some very important news! I wanted it to be funny, but I think I executed it kind of poorly. Anyway, I will now proceed to tell you what happened JUST THIS MORNING.
9:00 rolls around and Sister Eddy and I finish our personal study and start doing comp study. There is a lot of commotion in the other room. It is involving a lot of crying. We are both confused. Then Sister Carpenter comes in and asks me to come down with her to grab her laundry. So I do and she says that President called and SISTER BURR IS BEING TRANSFERED!! That President has been thinking about it, and he thinks it will be best to get her out of the city and have a change. WHAT??? That is so hard because she won't have any time to say goodbye to people since she didn't know she was being transfered until 23 hours before transfer meeting! I felt so bad, but hoped that a change would indeed help. When we got back from laundry, we had a voicemail from President Evans asking me to call him back.
So I did and he "din answer" GAHHHH!! I was so stressed at that point. I was freaking out.
So I tried again 10 minutes later and he answered and said, "Sister Broekhuijsen, I'm about to ask you to go on an adventure."
Oh boy.
Long story long, Sister Burr and I are BOTH being transfered down to Oxford, Massachusetts. We are going to be in another tripanionship with a sister who is down there right now. Can you believe it?? I'm still feeling rather incredulous. Things keep hitting me like:
*I was SO close to my first baptism (S* is getting baptized on Saturday) and then I got transfered away! haha
*Now I won't be in the city for the 4th of July - still in Mass, though, so that's good.
*I'm going to be senior companion which means I'm most likely the one DRIVING. I haven't DRIVEN in 9 months! I hope I remember how! If I remember correctly, they drive a 2012 Chevy Malibu so that's fun!
*There are no Elders in the ward, and it's a family ward, which means that EVERYONE I TALK TO IS A POTENTIAL INVESTIGATOR FOR US!! We won't have to pass people in our area anymore!!
Man. It's just crazy. I'm shaking a ton, still, and I really hope we have time to say goodbye to everyone I want to! I am in shock, but I'm excited. Trios are stinkin' hard. Always. But whatever - we will make it work. It will be good for me to have a change. I think it's interesting that I had to be okay with NOT changing, resolved to change despite unchanging surroundings, and THEN I was dropped with this bomb.
I'm going to be emotional, but it will be good.
Please pray for me that I can handle this. That I remember how to drive. That I can handle a trio. That I can make a good first impression on the new ward. That I can learn to change for the better when my circumstances DO change. :)
I am really excited to tell you all about it next week.
Love you,
Sister/Daughter
No comments:
Post a Comment