Hi guys,
OVERVIEW (of the past 48 hrs)
So my fears were unwarranted on two levels. Firstly, I get to email you guys today even though I did in fact lose a p day for travel (ESTA BIEN though I had a wonderful day of orientation with the people in the mission office!!!). Secondly, I am allowed to email extended family and friends. Pero, I still recommend mail for most of you as my email time is very short, and we have to spend some of it reporting back to the mission president about our week (which I did not have to do at CCM). Now that that is cleared up, I am going to give you a mini run down of the past 48 hours in the field. I would tell you about my last week at the CCM but, in comparison to the past 48 hours, that is actually pretty boring haha. Ok so we woke up at like 1 in the morning and got to the airport and through security by like 5. THEN we decided (or I should probably admit this was mostly hmn bjorks idea) that we were really missionaries now and so we needed to (as it says in Preach My Gospel) talk to EVERYONE. CUE REJECTION LIKE NEVER BEFORE EXPERIENCED IN LIFE. I can honestly say people have never been so mean to me. Then the Elders (who were not doing anything) proceeded to tease us about our number of rejections, and make us feel pretty bad. After that, I kind of shut down. I couldn't get myself to talk to anyone for the rest of the morning. However, after praying for comfort and confidence that I could do this, I found a talk in my Ensign from last years general conference that Elder Holland gave that I think was called The Joyful Burden of Discipleship or something like that. In it, he told a story of two sister missionaries that got potatoes thrown at their head by a man they hadn't even talked to yet. ( It is amazing, how people really will react positively or negatively to you based on your nametag before you even say anything. ) Anyways, it basically says that part of being a disciple of Christ, is suffering rejection from time to time (/in certain cases all of the time) but that that DOES NOT MEAN IT IS NOT WORTH IT. And that was EXACTLY what I needed to hear! Thanks Holy Ghost for prompting me to read my Ensign. And THEN my miracles of miracles I sat next to a man who is a member of the church and served his mission in Brazil probably about 50 years ago or something, and he made me feel a lot better telling all his stories. It really, really helped me to talk to him about it! And then the day just went up from there-- the APs were brilliant and they met us right when we got to California. After that they drove us to the office and told us about different areas of the mission and asked us about ourselves as we drove there. One of them was this Australian guy with an AWESOME accent so that was cool. But in all reality, I should tell you, they both seemed like top tier missionaries. They talked to the person that they paid for parking about the church. (like, WHAT?....that certainly IS talking to everyone). After we got there we were right away greeted by the mission president, his wife and all the senior couples that work in the office and they had this huge lunch prepared for us. It was the sweetest thing in the world. It felt like coming to a home of sorts. I LOVED it! And then after that, we had orientation all day. Classes on lots of logistical things-- how to take care of our house and our car and how to spend our money well and stuff like that. And then a class by the APs on talking to everyone (THEY MADE US PROMISE WE WOULD DO IT OH DEAR HERE COMES THE SCARES). And then lastly, we had a beautiful testimony meeting and were assigned our companions and our areas. My trainer/new companion's name is Hermana Gates. She is WONDERFUL. She is super hard working and super efficient and super fun. She loves the gospel, she loves the people, and I am really excited to work with her. And she is such an example of quiet service to me. She does ANYTHING that anyone needs to be done. AH. Ok and then we went back and she took me to the grocery store to get food and shampoo and etc with my new special missionary money card (I had to be smart about how I spent it!!!) and then we got me unpacked, did planning and went to bed. Ok so I guess that was just yesterday....but you get the idea. This morning we have been studying mostly. You get 4 hours of study time for the first 12 weeks. 1 hour personal, 2 hours companion, and one hour of language. We have got 3/4 lessons planned for between now and dinner and I am SO excited! We did a lot of roleplaying this morning and I feel ready!! :)
SPIRITUAL LIGHTBULB
Ok so this week I will probably skip on giving you the top ten (sorry!) but I will tell you about my spiritual lightbulb moment of the week. Like I said, I got to experience for myself, a BIT of how hard this is going to be yesterday; but I have been anticipating it all week. They have been preparing us for certain. Probably my most spiritual moment was when we watched a video by Elder Holland (he is just winning in saving HMN Lindsey this week isnt he?) in class that talked about how "salvation is not a cheap experience"-- how if we want to become like Christ we are going to have to walk where he walked and suffer some of what he suffered. In other words, becoming like Christ has a lot to do with going through hard things (and being/becoming like Christ during those hard experiences). The video showed Christ's atonement and crucifixion with Jeffrey R Holland's voice in the background and in that moment-- I felt the difficulty of what I was about to do (and of things I had already done) - but I also felt the incredible, indescribable WORTH of what I am going to be doing. It was kind of an intimidating feeling for me. But it was also really poignant. Not only because it created connections for different ideas I had been thinking about before, but also because a missionary had sent me that quote once-- and I had not understood what it meant really, because it had not been in context and I was not half the person I am now-- and when he said that one part-- "salvation is not a cheap experience" a tear welled up in my eye because I understood. I understood then what I had not understood when I had received that message, and it was actually so meaningful. I am really glad I came to understand that before being in the field and also I am glad that I came to better understand the enobling power of the Atonement. Because I am going to NEED those things!!! Ok now off to lunch and then to work!! I love you guys!! Be good for me and have a GREAT week!!!!
WIth love and big hugs,
Hermana Lindsey