That Time We Got Robbed and I Wore Pants to Church‏

This week was seriously so great. I practically heard angels singing every time we met someone new or left an appointment. We were so busy this week doing a million lovely things and found lots of people with tons of potential! Things were going so well in fact, that Satan thought he better try and stop us, and SOMEONE BROKE INTO OUR CAR AND STOLE MY GPS! Now, I don't know how many of you have tried driving around New England with out a GPS, but ... it's pretty much impossible. The streets make zero sense, so stealing a missionaries GPS is a pretty good way to render them completely useless. And also, last P-day I spent a good 20 minutes carefully selecting a pair of sunglasses to buy with an Old Navy coupon and after owning them for approximately 36 hours, THE THIEF TOOK THOSE TOO! Now the GPS I can understand, that is a New England necessity. But my new glasses?! That was just a slap in the face. But don't worry, there is hope for this wayward burglar! He also took the cords to the GPS that were in the GPS box, and in the GPS box was a pass along card with a picture of Christ on it. Seeing the Savior of the World in the middle of his crime didn't stop him, but hopefully it sparked a little tinge of guilt that will someday motivate this rouge child of God to repent and give up his life of crime.

And really all is well, because the Elders had an extra GPS in their apartment they let me have that got left by a missionary done with his mission, and it's waaaaay fancier than the stolen one. #thanksthief. And we were telling the heart-wrenching story of the sunglasses to B.Dipompo (an elderly gentleman in our ward) and he felt so injusticed that he bought me flowers and left them on top of our car after church!

I also nearly sent the ward into cardiac arrest when I showed up to church yesterday in pants. BUT I'M SO SICK OF WEARING SKIRTS!

Haha, totally kidding. But I really did wear pants to church because one of our investigators Ruth, who came to church for the very first time yesterday, was so nervous to come because she had nothing to wear. We spent a long time convincing her that nobody cares what she wears or what she looks like, but that everyone would love her regardless! She was slightly comforted but still said, "I just feel so bad that I'm going to be the only one in pants!" So I did what any good Christian women would do and practiced what I preached and told her I would wear pants with her. I couldn't tell if it felt super weird just because I'm not used to wearing pants in general, or if was just really weird. Probably both. I would never do it for any other reason, but ANYTHING FOR THE KINGDOM!!! And Ruth had a fabulous time and church and did not feel one iota of pants-wearing-shame.

 (This one really captures the surprise element.)

Love you all and hope you have a great week!

xoxo,

The Trousered Sister Gledhill

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

What Religion is the Pope?‏

Oh man, what a week!

Did you know that I have actually been a missionary for quite some time now? As it turns out, last Friday I only had 99 days left. (??!) It's kind of like an MBM tradition to go eat at this restaurant called Ninety Nine on this said day of your mission, so me and Elder Homer took our little greenies with us and reminisced about all of our glory days. I'm pretty sure Sister Jessop is getting sick of me saying "It just goes by SO FAST!" She keeps telling members, "Oh yea, she only has 97 days left." Or, "She'll be home in 95." And then I yell at her, "WE'RE NOT COUNTING!!!!!!"

We've been volunteering at this Old Folks home the past few weeks, and this week we showed up just in time for TRIVIA HOUR. These 90+ year olds sure know their stuff - they knew the answers to crazy questions like "What magical instrument did Mozart write about?" and "What animal automatically ages every January 1st?" and other ones I had never even heard of so I can't even relay them to you. (Apparently some of these folks have lived there so long that they just have the answers memorized to the entire Trivia game!) And then there was this one sweet lady, bless her heart. This is how her Trivia went:

Q: Who lives at the Vatican?

A: The Pope.

Q: What religion is the Pope?

A: ... I don't know.

I was dying. It was so adorable.

Also, I kissed a frog this week. It did not turn into a prince. #bummer 

Anyways, not much time to email because we spent the day at the temple and in Boston! (Not going to complain about that!)

Hoorah for Israel!

xoxo,

Sister Gledhill

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!

​

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