Sunday, April 27, 2014

Gryffindor Takes the Cup‏

Ahhhh! Absolutely no time to email today - too much Quidditch going on. Haha, I love being a missionary/wizard.

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