This Weekend was the Best Weekend of My Entire Mission and Possibly Life

We've been waiting (somewhat patiently) for Melissa's email - and it was (as always) worth the wait!   It's always great to hear that she's so happy and loving what she's doing.

Yes, I know that's quite a claim to make, but it is extremely true. [Editor's Note:  See post title.]

I told you last week about how our entire mission was going to come down to help with Mormon helping hands in our stake. Well, President Packard found a way to make a MISSION CONFERENCE work out! You see, in his handbook it says that he's not allowed to hold a mission conference because they don't want all the missionaries congregating in one place. So usually when we gather it's just 3 zones at a time (out of 9 zones total in our mission) for zone conferences or 6 zones at a time for a temple trip. BUT he (President Packard) got permission slash used the helping hands project to justify this meeting. It was absolutely incredible. I LOVED getting to see all my old friends - especially people that I haven't seen for a while!

ANOTHER surprise is that, because our Stake Center is under construction and doesn't have bathrooms, the MADISON chapel got to host the conference! That meant that 200 missionaries plus some senior couples plus the entire Packard family (less their son who's on a mission in Chile) came to my building Friday afternoon! The Elders (and President Packard) all SLEPT IN THE GYM of the chapel, and the sisters stayed with members of our ward! We found out Thursday morning that it was going to all be going down in Madison, so I spent like 5 hours Thursday afternoon coordinating places for them to stay/rides/bedding and all that. That meant that I got to hand pick who stayed with Sister Vicente and me in our apartment :)

Our Relief Society is AMAZING! Like I just mentioned approximately 26 seconds ago, we didn't find out that this was happening in Madison until Thursday morning, and our Bishop and RS President volunteered to feed us dinner Friday night, and then breakfast Saturday morning before we went out! Do you know how much food it takes to feed 180 elders, 22 sisters plus senior couples? A LOT of food. I think they ordered like 70 pizzas. Haha. But it all worked out wonderfully.

Because we had district meeting and then a small service project in New Haven Friday afternoon, by the time we arrived at the Madison chapel, most missionaries were already there. It was an INTENSE experience. Even from the parking lot I could feel the energy of the group (or maybe I was just bladder-bustingly excited to see everyone). All the RS sisters who volunteered to bring/serve food mentioned that there was just a powerfully exciting energy in the building. It was absolutely incredible.

The opening Hymn of our meeting was "Called to Serve" and I have to tell you, I think the only other time that song has hit me as powerfully was in the MTC. But this was different because we were all the Massachusetts Boston Mission (yes, we do call it the MBM - how did you know? Is it because we're Mormon and Mormons like to acronomize everything?) and we were all together for the first time EVER that I've seen. Unsurprisingly, I was crying like a she-goat in labor.

All of the Packards spoke. I love every single one of them - my GOSH! Sweet little M*, the 12-year-old is the most precocious person I think I've ever beheld. I adore him. He gave a talk about how reading the Book of Mormon is like serving a mission and gave several great analogies. He also got choked up when he talked about how much he looks up to all of us and thinks we're all his big sisters/brothers. SO sweet. Amidst the Packards' talks, there were a couple musical numbers. President and N* (the 15 year old) sang "I Feel My Savior's Love" together - it was SO sweet. The way he looks at N* when she's perfoming reminds me of the way Dad looks at/feels about me when we would perform together. So, again I lost it.

Sister Jordan and I were asked (Thursday night) to do a musical number as well! So I got to arrange it! I told Sister Jordan (over the phone) what I had come up with, we practiced a couple times through the speakerphone, and then ran through it twice before the meeting and it went off without a hitch! I'm lucky to have such a talented singing partner that can just go with it and do whatever. She's incredible. We sang (a cappella) "More Holiness Give Me" to the tune of "The Lord is My Shepherd". It turned out great, if I do say so myself! One of the Sisters recorded it so hopefully we'll be able to figure out a way to get that to you. It was one of our best performances and I really liked the way that combination (of the two songs) sounded.

The last part of the meeting was President Packard's talk. He talked about unity and creating Zion. There's so much I want to tell you about but I am almost out of time! It was an amazing talk though, and I learned a lot.

After the meeting we had dinner all together and then got pictures (that was crazy - it's hard to fit 220 people into a picture and keep them still and keep the Elders from being immature and trying to be funny. I don't think we were able to get all three of those things, but at least we fit 220 people into a picture :) Then we started driving Sisters to different places to stay, and then (eventually) made it home. I got to sleep about 1:00, but then I was so happy and excited that I woke up like every half hour with a big ol' grin on my face to see if it was time to wake up yet! eventually 5:30 DID come, and we got up and headed back to the church for a 6:30 breakfast. Then we all drove over to the Stake Center for a safety training meeting and to get split up into our groups.

Sister Vicente and I ended up in a group of about 14 that got sent down to Fairfield. We were working in just one home - he is a hoarder. It was exactly like that A&E show "Hoarders" except that it's a hoarder plus a hurricane. So all his stuff was soaking wet. We spent all day Saturday there with a big team, and then came back and worked for 5 more hours Sunday afternoon. I think people are going to be there every weekend for many weeks to come. It was a great experience to get to help. The stake gave us all sack lunches and then fed us dinner Saturday night! We were SO well taken care of!

So that ends my report. We still haven't been able to meet with our investigators, but we've been very very busy. Today we went down to New Haven to say goodbye to the elders who are getting transferred away from our district (Elder McQueen (my kiwi Zone Leader), and Elder Burton) and while we were there we got a call from the Stake President asking for some missionaries to come help unload a truck full of supplies. So we drove an hour down the shoreline and helped even on our pday. What a huge sacrifice :) just kidding, but that IS why this e-mail is later than usual. Tomorrow and Saturday we'll be doing Mormon Helping Hands all day as well! I love it!!

Well, the last bit of news I have for you is that I am not training this transfer! There are actually no sisters coming in this time. The 44 new sisters are expected to all be here by March, so I may end up training my last transfer (Can you believe I only have ONE MORE transfer after this? That means ONE more t-text that applies to me. ONE more Wednesday pday. That is so crazy. I can't believe it. But for now I am very happy to be staying here in Madison with Sister Vicente. We have a couple different families fighting over who gets to have us for Thanksgiving :) so we will (continue to) be very well taken care of.

I love you all! Thanks for the letters and e-mails. Good luck in your show, Joshua! Can't wait to see pictures.

Love,

Sister "Do you know how cute it is to see someone from Africa see their first snow?? - the answer is: wicked cute" Broekhuijsen