Hi Darlings!
A reoccurring pattern in my life is having absolutely no idea where the time in the past week has gone. And it would appear that I am absolutely in that place as well this week. This week's episode includes: a last minute musical number for a baptism, cancelled church because of wind chill, a "get off the roads and park your cars" message from the assistants to the president, and a cartoon series as imagined by me and drawn by the incredibly talented Sister Hibbert.
Seriously, my life is so blessed right now. Thank you all so much for the snail mail (just because I have been hearing that mail has not been getting through, let me tell you who I've received stuff from-Mom (both snail mail and the Valentine's package-hopefully the blanket is on its way back to me?), Grandmother, and Melanie Anne). Seriously, mail is just kind of the perfect way to end the day. I love the actual work of being a missionary. I love people, which I guess shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who knows me, especially anyone who knew me when I was growing up and had absolutely no fear of strangers. Sometimes I just have to find where that little girl is hiding in the corners of my soul and invite her to take charge for a couple of minutes. She was a very brave little soul and I'm getting better at becoming more like her. I suppose that's really what we're all supposed to do according to Mosiah 3:19. I'm really grateful for all the time that I had before coming out to the field to find my inner child again, because it makes working to be childlike just a little easier.
I'm so grateful for the members here. They are so willing to feed us and always just want to know what they can do for us. It's such a blessing to be surrounded by the Saints. I was particularly excited when Sister Sheets suggested that she take a picture of Sister Hibbert and me and send it to our families. I knew that Mom would love that and I love the idea of taking advantage of that instantaneous technology to let my people know that I'm alive. One of my favorite dinner appointments this week ended with me becoming best friend's with a three year old girl named Afton. At the end of the appointment she sort of pushed Sister Hibbert out of the door and tried to keep me back in. I love the tiny human friends. It was brilliant that Sister Hibbert was there though, because she was able to be a bit more dignified and focused in talking to the parents about how the work is going and what we have been doing. I was trying to do so as well, just while playing a game of peek-a-boo with a blanket.
I found out something pretty cool while I was working on Genealogy earlier this week. I was going through Grandmother's family tree just to see where we're from as a people and found that we are related to Mary Chilton. Yes, the same Mary Chilton who Cherie Call mentions in "One Good Woman". Consequently that song has been stuck in my head for the better part of this week. It's really cool to see who your ancestors are and where you came from. We are also related to a John Merbury who was from England, which of course made me think of Lord John Marbury on West Wing. Ooh, and we're also related to some Baskerville's from England. Perhaps that's where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle got some of his inspiration. At the very least, the name is pretty cool.
I had my first small foodie experience for Ohio this week. We had lunch with one of our investigators, Olivia, at a tiny soup and sandwich shop called Chelly Bellies, which I will forever now refer to as The Leaky Cauldron. There is literally a cauldron-esque iron pot on their logo. They had super amazing Tomato Basil Bisque, which tasted all the better because of the freezing cold air. I think I'm still starting to acclimatize though, because I have moments where I don't feel like it's actually that cold and then we'll see a sign that is showing the temperature and it will be way colder than I would have imagined. Apparently we also have a burger joint here in town that Mitt Romney went to while he was on the campaign trail. I want to go because I like burgers. Who knows if Mitt has good taste in food? I'll let you know after we go.
After a challenge from our District Leader at District Meeting this week, Sister Hibbert and I constructed a chart despicting where our investigators are in terms of the soil they are planted in and the different challenges they are experiencing that are keeping them from taking root in the gospel based on The Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13. It was an incredibly instructive and revelatory experience to look at our investigators and what is going on with them metaphorically and then take those interpretations into what we need to do here as missionaries. We've got a lot of weeding to do and definitely some rocks to move out of the way, and some ground to soften, but our investigators are so good. I love to see how much they are sincerely seeking after truth and are willing to do those things that we ask them to do in order to find something. At District Meeting on Wednesday Elder Monahan asked if Sister Hibbert and I would pull together a musical number for the baptism on Saturday. Fun story-so far having Sister before your last name on your name tag is code for "you can pull together a musical number in a matter of hours or days" and "you are always able to lead the music". We worked with Elder Blanch and pulled together an arrangement of "Lead Kindly Light" and "I Need Thee Every Hour" with Elder Blanch accompanying us on the cello. I'm honestly grateful that I love music and don't feel crazy panic over singing, even if they did insist that I have a solo at one point of the song, which wasn't my favorite.
On Friday one of the members let us come over to her apartment to make cupcakes for some of our investigators as our oven is broken. I don't know if I've mentioned that part of my missionary life yet. Our oven will only heat to four hundred degrees, and whether or not it will actually remain on after it reaches four hundred degrees is anyone's guess. In other words, we just don't use our oven. When we cook we use the microwave and stove top. Tiffani let us come over to use her over and taught us how to make super great m&m cupcakes. I'll make some when I get home and omit the perfectly delicious peanut butter frosting for something that won't kill dad. Her kids were watching Beauty and the Beast while we were cooking and it was funny to notice which parts would suddenly stick out to me and which didn't. More than anything I was just really happy to be baking.
On Saturday we had the baptism and performed our musical number. During our practice on Friday Elder Monahan decided that he wanted to sing with us, so altogether it was Elder Blanch, Elder Monahan, Sister Hibbert, and myself singing. The song went well, but my cold did make my voice kind of scratchy which was sad. I don't think anyone really noticed besides me. After we woke up from our post-lunch nap we had a pretty strange experience. I woke up feeling like we weren't supposed to go out. It was really windy and snowy and the roads had been kind of sketchy driving home from the baptism. This was a different sort of feeling from the times that I had felt like I didn't want to go out. When I told Sister Hibbert she said that she had been feeling sort of weird about going out as well, so we decided to kneel and pray. We knelt and asked Heavenly Father to help us know and recognize if we were being prompted by the spirit to stay in or if Satan was trying to influence us to stay in and not accomplish those things that God would have us accomplish. After I finished the prayer neither of us felt any better about going out. At that point we decided to start updating our records and look over our weekly plans while we waited for further direction as to what we ought to do. While Sister Hibbert was grabbing our Area Book, I looked at our phone just to see if anyone had called or messaged us. We had three texts telling us that we were supposed to park our cars and get off the roads. One text even said that missionaries shouldn't try to get to their homes, but should park their cars and get off the road. So that was our answer. We weren't to be driving. It was during our off the road Valentine's Day time that we imagined up the cartoon art series of tiny missionaries. Two of the Elders from our District had asked Sister Hibbert to draw them fighting a dragon, one of them using a sword, the other a machine gun. As we talked I suggested that the dragon be a stuffed animal dragon. As we laughed about that we then decided that everyone in the District needing their own representation of their companionship as Tiny Missionaries with Toys. The pictures in the series are called "Slay the Dragons", "Light the Way", and "Point them Home". Sister Hibbert does digital illustration and is really excited to work with them on the computer.
On Sunday we got up and got ready for church, and about two minutes before we were going to leave looked at our phones and saw that church had been cancelled due to wind chill. In Ohio, they have weather levels that indicate whether or not you ought to be on the road. Yesterday was a level two, which means that if you don't HAVE to be on the road, you aren't supposed to be. You can actually get ticketed for being on the road unnecessarily. We hadn't received word from the District Leaders that we were officially allowed to drive yet, and since our apartment is in the Elder's area, we decided to stay in as we heard cars sliding on the roads around our apartments (those are the sounds of nightmares friends). We planned more fully our lessons for our investigators in the coming week (even more than we already had in weekly planning), and decided that we were going to watch Legacy with Judy this week to show her that God has always asked his people to overcome obstacles, but that as we have faith, he will work miracles for our benefit. We worked more on the art series and learned from the scriptures together. It was the weirdest experience of my life to have church cancelled though. I don't think that's ever happened.
I finished the Book of Mormon this week and am so grateful for the spirit it brings to my life each morning. I know that The Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that, just as Joseph Smith said, "a man can get closer to God by reading it and living by its precepts than any other book." I have seen it change the light that our investigators have in their lives and know undeniably the peace it brings to my life. I'm in 2 Nephi now and am even grateful for the Isaiah chapters. I love all the things that God teaches me while I read.
The Church is true, Life is Good, God's in Charge, and Satan hates you.
Love,
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