Springity Spring Spring!

We had to wait very patiently while driving all the way from St.  George to So. California to pick up Melissa's email!  Happily, it was worth the wait.  She has transfers coming up this week, so please keep her in your prayers - that she'll be happy with wherever (and with whomever) she ends up!

Hello! This is my last full week of this transfer. We get our t-texts this Saturday night! Talk about stressful. I would love to stay, but also I would hate for anything I say to affect where I go, so I'm just keeping my mouth shut, my head down, and working as hard as I can. That also means that I will likely not get to e-mail again until next Wednesday. 

This week was pretty good! We still have basically no progressing investigators, but we are still working with members. I feel like I say that a lot. It's always a challenge trying to figure out whether the reason we aren't being blessed with people to teach is because we aren't doing enough, or God wants us to learn patience, or maybe both. I just tend to stress myself out thinking that I'm not doing enough because I don't ever want to become apathetic. 

Easter was a nice treat. I love getting to go to two different church blocks! Such a treat. I learned a lot this week. As usual, I learned a lot from the words that were said, but I was also instructed by the Spirit - not necessarily directly related to what was said. I love that! yay for learning. I'll share some of my new insights: 

* Hymn 198: Because Christ conquered pain and death, we can (if we "give our love and pledge our all" to Christ) conquer FEAR! 

*In Luke we read that on the road to Emmaus, the disciples were so focused on the hype of the news of the Resurrection that they didn't recognize Christ! Am I sometimes so focused on the day-to-day (scheduling lessons, filling out progress records, daily planning sessions, etc.) that I miss the bigger picture or WHY I am here? 

*It's true that Christ's suffering was so severe, so complete and infinite that our mortal minds cannot even comprehend it - but we can understand it a little bit more, and increase our faith in this somewhat nebulous concept every time we experience the peace that comes from repenting. 

*When I recognize the immortal nature of our soul, I gain an eternal perspective which helps me never settle for mediocrity (if you're not going to grad school, you might be okay with just passing a class in your undergrad, rather than trying to keep it up or focusing on true learning…) 

Anyway I thought that was neat. I always love learning more and Easter was a great time to recommit myself to focusing on the important things. Isn't it interesting that even when I'm out here doing the most important work I can be, I sometimes lose the big picture? I really want to always remember what's most important. I should focus on the "why" of the situation, like President Uchtdorf teaches, and then the "how" and the "what" fall into place naturally. 

This coming Monday, the 16th, we get a special treat. Because it's Patriot's Day (who knew? I always thought September 11th was called Patriot's Day!) get to go to a historical reenactment of “the shot heard ‘round the world” that began the Revolutionary War. Because, you know, Lexington and Concord are just north of us. Pretty awesome to be in such a historical place! I'd love to be here in the city for the 4th of July, too! I love Patriotism and Patriots and history and America. We get to arrive at 4:30 am, which will be maybe not the most fun part about this, but THEN we get to go to the temple!! And because it's transfer week, we still have normal pday on Wednesday! It is so nice of President Evans to let us go to the temple. I feel so lucky to be so close to a temple. Every time we get a ride up to Belmont, we get to take Route 2 and see pretty little Boston temple. The 100th dedicated. I have some definite Boston pride. :) 

This pday should be fun. Most of our Zone (including all my roommates) are going to a tour of Fenway Park. I decided that, although I love Jimmy Fallon and Fever Pitch, it is not worth my time or money to see/support something that I hate so much: professional sports. SO  - I found a babysitter to babysit me! I am going to write letters while she does homework, and then we are going to the apple store and buying her a macbook pro. Yep. I'm going to play on an iPad 3 and go buckwild in the AppleStore. Lucky me! 

 
I hope that when you get this you are happily settled in in the beautiful city of Cypress. It's a lovely place. Some mornings when it's foggy/smoggy I like to pretend that it's a "marine layer" (we are next to an ocean, yeah?) and that I'm in socal and the reason I have to get up at 5:30 is not to go running, but actually to get in line at Disneyland  because we get to be there early because of our 3-day pass. *sigh* thank goodness you are not going to Disneyland this trip :) I'm way way WAY looking forward to going on trips with the family when Andrew and I get back. I'm curious, are you packing up the Suburb? Or trekking down in a Subaru? You COULD fit in a Subaru, but if I know my father like I think I do, you probably have approximately 2 cubic yards of camera equipment that you're carrying so the Suburban may be necessary. :) That is so fun that you're going to be spending time in Springdale/Zion as well! I love that place! Please take and send not only pictures of the beautiful scenery, but also of you humans ENJOYING the scenery. This means you, pa! You can't just take the pictures, I expect you to be IN some of them.  

I'm glad that you liked your package with my pictures :) It was fun to put it together. There were some good, good laughs in there. : )

Have fun on your trippy-poo and I'm especially excited to hear how you like Trader Joe's and your miracle ice-cream. 

Love you! 

Sister "somehow I have Karma Chameleon stuck in my head even though I haven't listened to it in 7 and a half months" Broekhuijsen

Hooray for SD Cards!

We received a package this week from Sister Broekhuijsen.  Along with all the other fun stuff was our favorite - a memory card full of pictures!  Here are some of our favorites!

The above three photos were taken at Marblehead - where Melissa "a little bit fell in the ocean."  

This was taken when they went to Haymarket in the old north end.  Melissa says it is much more "city-like" than even downtown Boston.

This is the old State House.  

One day while working at the food pantry they found these "cute little baby apples the size of their eyeballs" and had to get a picture.

We just loved the feel of this one!  What a beautiful place she gets to work - no wonder she loves it!

Sister Connell (accent on the last syllable, by the way - we found that out from the audio annotations) Sister Broekhuijsen, and Sister Edwards.

"I love Boston.  I love spring.  I love Boston in the spring!"

Magnolia trees in bloom.  Aren't they gorgeous?   Those flowers are huge!  About the size of a hand!

General Conference = Christmas Morning

Hooray for big long emails!  Melissa sounds great!

Was not conference great? I love it. It's so weird that I only have one more of those left! It was a bit weird to be watching it again - since the last conference was just a couple weeks after I arrived in Boston! I've learned a lot of really good things since then. And I hope to just grow more and more until NEXT time (and of course all throughout my mission until I come home). 

I was a bit bummed that they didn't announce any new temples. I was ready with my predictions, there. I was also surprised that they released the whole Presiding Bishopric AND the whole General RS Presidency! I feel like Julie B. Beck hadn't even been in for very long! Was that a shock to anyone else? 

We watched both Saturday sessions and the Sunday morning session at the LP Chapel. It was GREAT! I want to always watch at a church building. Do they even broadcast them to the churches in Utah? I hope so. It was just lovely to sit there and absorb. Every time I watch conference I am more and more thankful for modern revelation, and my testimony of living prophets increases.  H*, who had basically dropped us, CAME TO THE SATURDAY MORNING SESSION! Isn't that great? Elder Winegar, who is the person who originally invited her to start meeting with us, called her up and invited her to come. She was very sweet and excited to see us. Hopefully we can work back up to the point of her meeting with us regularly again. 

For the Sunday afternoon session (although all sessions are technically in the afternoon because of the time difference) we went to L*'s house. That was great for many reasons, not the least of which was her hideously/awesomely fluffy cat Luna. She is so sheddy and playful and I just squeezed her to bits (ooh - I think that Scottish guy - E. Baxter, I think? - is getting to me). It was great. Also, L* is just amazing so I love spending time with her. She made us dinner, afterward, and for dessert - TRADER JOE'S LEMON TRIPLE GINGERSNAP ICE CREAM. Oh my lands (<---who AM I?) it is the greatest flavor of ice cream that I have ever come across in my 263 months of life. Anyone within the sound/sight of my words who lives near a Trader Joe's --- you simply MUST try it. You shant regret it.  

I had a lot of insights, and, as always, was so grateful to feel things specifically directed toward me! I won't share everything I learned (because I'm only alloted so much time here at the library) but I'll share some.  

*The love of God is like a gravitational pull. If we can open our hearts we can feel a Celestial force drawing us nearer to Him and His Son. (What a shocker that I loved the physics analogy- haha) 

*Henry B. Erying is one of my favorite people in this whole world. He always cries, and that always makes me cry. Also he a little bit looks like a turtle. 

*Jeffrey R. Holland is wonderfully scary. I love it. Can you imagine how intimidating it would be to be interviewed by him when asking for his daughter's hand in marriage? hahhaha so glad I don't have to deal with that. 

*What we do today determines how/how much we will be able to serve in the future.  

*The difference between those in tune with the spirit and hose who are tone-deaf or off-key is the regular study of the scriptures (also loved the musical analogy :) ) 

*I loved the closing prayer of the Saturday afternoon session when the speaker said, "We are thankful for what we have heard - the music and the spoken word - but we REJOICE in what we have felt. 

*Our degree of gratitude is a measure of our Love for Him 

*Without rudders, motors, etc. (let's remember from my farewell talk that I am not well versed in nautical terminology) our destination is inevitably just downstream - but God didn't launch us as toy boats - we've been giving power and the ability/right to direct ourselves!! 

*There can be no genuine happiness apart from the family 

*Discipleship is not a sprint or even a lengthy marathon - it is a MIGRATION!

Funny little side-note about Conference: After the Saturday morning session, we all stood up and started stretching and a man in front of me and to the side stood up and turned around, so I smiled at him, and then realized that it was RANDY PAUL! [Editor's note -  Randy is a friend of ours that lives here in our Highland ward!]  HA! He recognized me and tried to hug me (I held out my hand to be shaken like a good Sister missionary) and we chatted for a bit. It was a cute little miracle that God gave me, because it's always easy to get homesick around General Conference time! I have very fond memories of laying on the couch (which I suppose is now at the D.I.), listening to conference on the radio and watching Mom clean. Man, I was such a good daughter. 

Here's a funny story for you.  Last week sometime we were waiting for a bus and a big black man started up a conversation with me! We started talking and he found out I was from Utah and asked some questions. I was real eager and answered his questions with the Book of Mormon, but he quickly told me, "Naw, naw  - I don't want no pamphlets." haha. He was very nice and talked to us for a long while. Could be because he thought Sister Edwards was very pretty (a point he made very clear by repeating himself several times). We ended just getting off the bus before him with nothing more (since he wouldn't take no pamphlets). Then two days later we got a text from Britta (a member) that said, "Do you remember meeting a guy on the train named O*.?" we told her yes and she said, "I just invited him to dinner on Friday" hahahaha!  Britta said that when he found out that she was from Utah, he said, "I just met three girls from Utah. They called themselves 'Sistahs'!" haha. Britta asked if they were wearing black nametags - he said yes and she told him, "I bet I know them!" He couldn't believe that she knew us! That does very little for eradicating the perception that everyone in Utah knows each other, but oh well. He told her like 8 times that he would come, but didn't actually show up. So it was a bit of a bummer. We were so excited all week to see him and teach him. But at least he had two positive interactions with a total of 4 pretty mormon girls. :) 

M* bought me a bag for an early birthday present! I was complaining about my dumb ol' purse that was falling apart while we were at Target last week (because she drove us there because we had to buy a vaccuum and didn't think we could get it home on the bus). That was a dangerous thing. It was so nice of her! It's an over the shoulder, satchel-type bag which is WAY nicer than a purse because it's easier to get into. And it's better than a backpack because it's easy to pull in front of my body for when I'm on the T! M*, if you read this, I will find a way to get you back. When you least expect it.....  

Whelp - that's all, folks! I hope you have a LOVELY time in California! Boys, don't fight. Dad, don't make everyone listen to Genesis the whole way there, and Ma - I expect at least 20 dozen hotpads to be crocheted over the trip. Andrew - stay in Russia (or Ukraine, if you insist). I love you and I'm so grateful to be part of our family! I won the spiritual lottery approximately 700 times, apparently because I feel so lucky to be born at this time, to this family, and to have the privileged life I've lived so far - with hope for a future of continued learning and happiness. 

Love you,
Sister "How many weeks until the May Ensign comes out?" Broekhuijsen