Sunday, April 27, 2014
Gryffindor Takes the Cup
The Little Ducklings Out On Their Own
Oh my goodness! Another week full of the unexpected, which is
pretty much the routine here in the MBM. This week we were stuffed full
of revelation and guidance, starting with MLC (Missionary Leadership
Council) on Wednesday. This meeting involves 6 hours of us learning all
matter of amazingness from President and Sister Packard, which we are
then suppossed to somehow condense into a 2 hour training for Zone
meeting a couple days later. Ai, ai, ai - the pressure! We came up with
a great theme though: you've all heard that April showers bring May
flowers, but this month APRIL SHOWERS BRING THE POWER! Haha, I don't
think anyone else was as impressed with this catch phrase gold, but we
did have a good meeting about how we can become more powerful
missionaries. Sister Badham and I are in the Hingham North Zone (the
mission is divided into 9 or 10 zones), but we went to the Hingham South
Zone meeting because that is where most of the sisters we cover serve.
The Hingham South Zone has all the missionaries serving in the ritzy
part of our mission - Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, etc. So we
drove out to Cape Cod and pretended to live the high life for a few
hours. We were sorely tempted to just skip the meeting and go sit on the
beach for a few hours, but we resisted.
Another revelation stuffing experience was General
Conference, of course! Missionary life is a little busy for me to fully
relish this weekend the way I truly desire as the General Conference
Junky I am, but it is definitely a special experience to hear the Lord's
chosen servants speak as a full time missionary. I feel like for 18
months I get to be in a special "full-time witness" club with them. I
thought it was so powerful when President Boyd K. Packer was bearing his
testimony and simply said, "I know the Lord. I am His witness."
WOH. How blessed are we to have living Prophets and Apostles who have
such a special witness of the Savior? SO BLESSED.
This week we also prepared ourselves for some big
changes here in Foxboro. Sister Badham and I went APARTMENT SHOPPING
(which really just means we go and look at the places the Office Elder
has found for us), and boy are we stoked to move! Which is good, because
the office Elder says we need to be out of our apartment by April 19 so
a senior couple can move in. So hopefully this week we find a place and
start packing!
The other big news is that Elder Tait is getting
emergency transferred at the end of the week! Due to some visa-waiters
leaving the mission, there is going to be a shuffle of a few
companionships and Elder Tait is going to be a Zone Leader in Lynfield.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Need I remind you that he is leaving 4
missionaries who have only been here 1 week behind?! Luckily, we all
totally believe that the Lord directs this mission and that President
Packard is totally inspired in everything he does, but this is going to
be an adventure! I've been praying extra hard that I will somehow
develop a photographic memory to pick up all the information we need
before he leaves. There is just so much good progress going on here that
we don't want anything to slip through the cracks! But God calls the
weak and simple and somehow makes it work. But extra prayers on our
behalf probably wouldn't be a bad thing.
Okay yall, gotta go build some Quidditch posts in preperation for next P-day's activities.
(I'll be sure to send some pics)
Love,
Sister Gledhill
Expectations VS. Reality
Oh my goodness! Life! Being a missionary! My life of being a missionary! Where to begin this week? ...
Let
me start by outlining the expectations I had for Foxboro. Personal and
general experience has proven that when you first open an area, things
are ... slow. And hard. Imagine coming into a totally new ward where
neither you nor your companion know ANYONE, where there are no existing
plans, and you don't know where anyone or anything is located. And then
you have 12 hours everyday to fill with productive, work-hastening
activities. AHHHHHHHHH! Needless to say, I was both excited and a little
aprehensive about coming to Foxboro.
Now let me tell you about the reality of coming to
Foxboro: Sister Badham and I have had 21 appointments in the past 3 days
(not to mention church, district meeting, and an all day family history
conference), and have barely even had time to breath - let alone worry
about how we are going to fill our time! We haven't even had time to
unpack yet! AND WE ARE SO HAPPY!
Q: How did this miracle occur?
A: Elder Tait.
Somehow
the Lord in His infinite mercy has seen fit to bless us with the
ultimate sister-helping Elder in the universe, who has basically taken
it upon himself to schedule our lives for the next little bit until we
get our feet underneath us. Elder Tait has been in Foxboro since August
and knows EVERYTHING, which is good because 4 new missionaries got here
this transfer! The Elders Cooney & Flory are in a trio with Elder
Tait and then there's us. The 4 of us just follow after Elder Tait like
baby ducklings following a mamma duck while he explains everything and
introduces us to the people we need to know. We have been referred to as
the Foxboro Fab Five, but I always refer to us as the "Foxy Five".
(Sassy, huh?) AND HOLY MOLY IT'S SO GREAT!
This ward is amazing, they have already been
SO supportive and there is so much goodness going on here. I feel like
my brain can't even handle all the possibilities that Foxboro has
already presented! All I know is that we are going to be BUSY. And a
busy missionary is a happy missionary! And Sister Badham - man she's
awesome! She's from Bountiful and wants to be a History teacher and is
so sweet & funny and is such a powerful teacher and basically just
rules. I am stoked that we get to be companions and we are already great
friends! A weird phenomena has happened to us though - because we have
been so busy and have had such little time to think, we haven't even had
time to cover all the small-talk-stories that you usually have in the
first few days with your companion. Details like family, friends,
school, hobbies, and pre-mission life in general have yet to be
discussed. We were laughing about it yesterday, because we feel like we
know each other really well, but we don't know anything about each
other! We decided that we know Sister Gledhill and Sister Badham, but we
know nothing about Brooke and Marcy. It's probably because we have both
been on our missions for a while (she's coming up on 8 months) and
we're just so used to being missionaries! It's great. I'm sure we'll get
there eventually!
Another expectation I had that didn't exactly pan out
the way I planned was our apartment. I was expecting a new apartment
with nothing in it, but instead we took over an apartment in an adjacent
ward that a set of sister's just got shot-gunned out of. And boy, is it
MESS-Y! We are only there until they find us an apartment in Foxboro,
so it looks like I will be moving again soon. Maybe it's a good thing
that we haven't had time to unpack ... but I'm sick of living out of my
suitcase! Our plans for today include throwing 90% of the apartment's
contents away, wish us luck! The office elders think we will only be
here 2 or 3 weeks, but my current address is:
7 Independence Way
Apartment 101
Franklin, MA
02038
I am so excited to be here that I'm pratically bouncing in my chair!
Have an amazing week!
xoxo,
The Giddy Sister Gledhill
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