A "Mysterious" End to the Transfer‏

So let me give you a rundown of our week ...

Monday: P-day. Temple trip and prowling the streets of Boston.

Tuesday: Exchanges with Brockton Sisters, round 1.

Wednesday: MLC from 10 - 7. Plus travel time.

Thursday: District Meeting followed by a 6 hour planning meeting with the Zone Leaders.

Friday: Pretty much the best Zone Meeting ever. And T-TEXTS came.

Saturday: Exchanges with Brockton Sisters, round 2.

Sunday: Church.

So ... kind of a crazy week! But it was so, so good! Exchanges were awesome because I got to spend both days with two sisters who were new to our zone this transfer. One of them was actually companions with Carley Wood in the MTC! So fun. And Zone Meeting was awesome, if I do say so myself. The first Wednesday of every month we have a big meeting where all the Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders get together and receive all kinds of training and talk about what's going on in the mission. And then it's our job to find a way to condense a 7+ hour meeting into a 2 hour meeting for our zones - which requires a lot of planning if you actually want to pull it off well! We usually try to make it kind of fun and exciting, and this time we had a "Clue" theme. We told everyone to come in character and assigned them silly names like "Her Highness Hansen" and "Chancellor Chen".  What was my name? "Grandma Gledhill" of course. But don't fret, it wasn't all fun and games - we talked about having the "faith to find" and skills like listening to our investigators. At the end of the meeting I shared a story that I heard in Sacrament Meeting at the beginning of my mission.

“In early 1940, the British and their allies sent a force of some 350,000 men into the low countries of Europe to stem the tide of German advance into France, Belgium and Holland. Caught in a brilliant pincer movement by the invading German forces the beleaguered British Expeditionary Force was pushed back to the beaches of the small Belgian town of Dunkirk. To everyone’s surprise the Germans halted their advance to regroup.

As England and the world waited for what appeared to be the sure and certain annihilation of 350,000 men a three-word message was transmitted from the besieged army at Dunkirk. It read simply, “But if not.” The British people understood the biblical import of the cryptic message. It was a reference to the Old Testament book of Daniel, where Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego chose death rather than worship an image of the pagan king, “If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”” (Daniel 3:17-18, NKJV).

The British Expeditionary Army, surrounded, cutoff and on the brink of destruction was declaring to Britain and to the world that even in apparent defeat they were, in fact, victorious. The message, more eloquent than a sermon delivered in St.Paul’s Cathedral, galvanized the British people. In a matter of hours thousands of boats of every description headed across the dangerous waters of the English Channel and, at the risk of their own lives from enemy fire, began the evacuation of the heroic but beleaguered army in what historians now refer to as “the miracle of Dunkirk.”

I LOVE THIS STORY! "But if not." Isn't that so powerful? We talked about how we need to be missionaries God can trust no matter what. He can send us people prepared to accept the gospel and be baptized and we will always be there to receive them regardless of our circumstances.

Oh. And we found out what is happening next transfer! I will be staying here in Foxboro to finish training Sister Jessop - this will be my 5th transfer here and the longest I've ever been in one area! I will only have one more after this one, so we will have to see if I end up staying here my whole mission or if I get switched right before I leave. Honestly, time has flown by so quickly here that it doesn't even seem like I've been here that long! We will be getting another new Elder in the ward though (Elder Brown is going to wait for his Visa to Brazil in a Portuguese area and Elder Homer is going to train again!). There are 2 other Elders leaving in my district too :(. I don't know how it is in other missions, but in the MBM everyone gets so close and it's always sad when people get transferred! But overall, I'm stoked for this next transfer! Woop!

xoxo,

Sister Gledhill