The Ratatouille Miracle

Ai, ai, ai! What a week. It started off with two solid days of meetings - Tuesday was interviews with President Packard (who continues to be A-MAZING) and Wednesday was Return and Report for all of the new missionaries and their trainers. I actually love meetings. Anytime I get to be in a room with a group of missionaries is okay with me because the spirit is always ridiculously strong. But two whole days in a row is A LOT of meetings ... good thing we got to go to the Temple on Wednesday!!! 

But all that diligent note taking and training absorbing was totally worth it because then a MIRACLE happened: a member in our ward made me Ratatouille! For approximately the past 2 months I have been very un-abashedly dropping hints to every member who asks us what we want for dinner that I have been dying to try ratatouille, but up until this week I had no success. I've probably told every family in the ward by now, so I had pretty much given up hope. BUT THEN SISTER MEGQUIER PULLED THROUGH FOR ME!

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Here it is in all it's squash-y glory. It was so delicious! I almost cried when she pulled it out of the oven. #soblessed

But also, there are other miracles happening here too (not to undermine the ratatouille). We've been teaching our investigator Jed for a while now. The Elders found him passed out drunk by the sidewalk when they were riding their bikes home one night a few months ago. They started teaching him and I must admit me and Sister Badham were super skeptical at first. I mean, you must admit that it wasn't the most charming of first encounters. But then Jed started coming to church and volunteering to help out with anything he could. A few weeks ago he quit smoking and drinking cold turkey and hasn't touched it for almost 3 weeks! This week he told us that he's tried to quit before and never could, but this time he knows it's not himself. The Lord is definitely on his side and he is preparing for baptism next month! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about change and no one is too far gone for those blessings. 

You know, just another week in the life of a missionary. Drunken hobo turned model Christian. Miracles and blessings everywhere you look.

xoxo,

Sister Gledhill

Random

Salutations! An assortment of random stories and thoughts:

We were going to be late to a dinner appointment last week, so we called ahead to let the member family know. When we finally arrived, we found a white board with the scripture Matthew 25:10-13 referenced on it.

 

"And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."

Haha, consider us rebuked.But don't worry! They were kidding. Mostly. And they still let us come in and eat pizza!

 

This week we worked on finding some solid community service, and we actually found some really neat opportunities! We are going to be volunteering at a nursing home a couple hours a week and the activities director asked us to be in charge of BINGO every 4th weekend of the month! Woop woop! (To those of you concerned like my ward mission leader was, no this is not a gambling activity. Most of the residents are senile and won't even know they are playing Bingo, much less be in it for the money.) We also harvested beans at the Foxboro Community Farmstand on Saturday! It was nice to be in the dirt for a change. The other volunteers are really nice and I think we might get the occasional free squash! (I've fallen in love with squash and zucchini on my mission. It's a mild obsession.)

A couple weeks ago, I was kneeling down at my bed to say my morning prayer, when I realized something was a little odd. Next to my bed I have a bunch of pictures on the wall and attached to one of these pictures was my name tag! This was really odd because, 1- it was 6:30 in the morning and most things don't make a lot of sense to me that early, and 2- I sleep with my name tag on, so some time during the middle of the night I must of gotten out of bed and attached it to the picture in my sleep. Weird.

I've also been reading through the Book of Mormon pretty quickly the past couple weeks. I want to read it 3 times before my mission ends, but it's hard to read so fast! There is so much to think about and learn! This morning I was reading the first few chapters of Mosiah, and boy. You can't help but get sucked into the story! Also, I think I may have developed a tiny crush on Zeniff. He's a catch! Hardworking, righteous, good leader, helps bury the Lamanite's dead ... read chapters 9&10.#swooning.

Anyways... hope all is well out in the West! I love you guys!

xoxo,

Sister Gledhill

Wrought Upon‏

Ahoy Maties!
 
It was a week of many meetings, many planning sessions, and lots of
cancellations - and yet we still managed to find time for a few
miracles. It seems like each of my areas has had teaching cycles,
where we are teaching all of our investigators Lesson 5 at once, or
everyone the Plan of Salvation, etc. This week was the Restoration,
which is always incredible to watch people understand and accept. It's
one of my favorite parts of missionary work to help people come to the
realization that Heavenly Father loves everyone of us, no matter where
or when we were born. If He talked to the people in Jerusalem, why
wouldn't He talk to the people in the Americas? And if He talked to
them, why wouldn't He still want to talk to us?! When our
investigators figure this out, I mentally jump up and down in my head
with glee.
 
As I've read the scriptures on my mission, I've always been intrigued
with the phrase "and he was wrought upon by the Spirit". I've always
wondered what it means to "wrought upon" something. It sounds a little
... violent. In a good way. But I think this week I maybe could use
that phrase myself. We had MLC on Wednesday (imagine an 8 hour long
meeting with our mission President - one of the most inspired men on
the planet - and a room full of some of the most talented and
spiritually-giant missionaries I've ever met. And then there's me. ...
I take lots of notes). MLC is usually a pretty intensely spiritual
experience, but it was especially intense for me this week. I don't
know if it's because the clock is racing towards the finish line of my
mission, or if it's just time for me to grow or what. But by the end
of that meeting I felt spiritually thrashed - wrought upon by the
spirit. And one thing I've learned on my mission is that when the
Spirit speaks, we act. So moral of the story: I've got a lot of acting
to do.
 
xoxo,
Sister Gledhill

Greenie Town

Hola mi Familia!

This week was mostly spent welcoming SISTER JESSOP to the MBM and to Foxboro! Sister Jessop is from Salem, Oregon and is like a little energizer bunny. She's been in approximately 45 musicals or plays and went to school at BYU Hawaii before coming out. I already lover her so much and she is an amazing missionary. All the members are having a blast because we got two greenies this week (Elder Homer is training Elder Brown from Philadelphia), we've had a bunch of members make us "green dinners" where all the food is green.

Ai ai ai, I wish I had more time to write you guys! Let is suffice to say that miracles continue to happen here in Foxboro. Rob was confirmed yesterday and our recent convert Chantha blessed the sacrament for the first time and it was so adorable. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. I love you all!!!

xoxo,
Sister Gledhill