On the Temple trip we passed the Intrepid! Can you see the Sr-71 there too!
Me and Sister Biolena at the trainers meeting. I'm sure gonna miss that one:(
Also Elder Tippets who lives down the street from us in real life.
Our first lesson with Bill and Ashley!
Our investigator, Sister Avilez, and her daughter, Kyla found out I was leaving soon so they had a little feast for us--so cute!
Family Darlings!
This week has been swell! We only taught nineteen lessons this week, one short of mission standard, but we found ten new investigators! Honestly, I don't feel like we did anything different this week from previous weeks, but God just wanted to give us some miracles! We saw a lady, Sandy, who has been taught by missionaries before. But I don't think they taught her everything. She says that if she was going to be baptized into any religion, it would be the Mormon one. She said that she knew that one day she would be a Mormon. And when we told her about baptism and baptism for the dead and being able to be sealed for time and all eternity she said, "That's what I want!" I'm so excited! Also, she makes miniature houses that are so incredible! There are all these teeny furnitures and little dishes in cabinets. Oh, it's a blast! We also saw some kids, Natasha and Anthony, who's dad is a less-active member. He says they can choose what they want to do, but he'd rather they be a little older so they can make a more informed decision. They told us they want to be baptized though. And really, kids are closer to Heavenly Father, so they can recognize truth more easily, so I think they're as informed as they ever will be. But we'll see what happens. We also saw Brother Robertozzi, who isn't a member, but he comes to Church every week with his wife who is a very devout member. She works at the Temple! We've taught him before and he didn't seem very sincere about it all. But this lesson was different. I think his heart is being softened, and it makes me so happy! His wife has been a member for thirty years now and has so wanted to be sealed to him. When they found out I was leaving so soon, they scheduled a bunch of appointments with us so that I'd be able to be there to teach him the rest of the lessons. I love them. Our lesson with Bill and Ashley was..... super long! If we would've ended it halfway through, it would've been outstanding. And then we just kept going. We were mortified at how it dragged on. Ugh. But thankfully they agreed to meet with us again.
On Tuesday after district meeting I asked my district leader, Elder Disney Smith (that's not his real name, he just likes singing so we call him that), to give me a blessing of comfort. I've been pretty calm about everything, but inwardly I'm so nervous about going home. I'm super excited to see all of you, just not excited to not be a missionary and to have to move on to the next part of life. It was a really powerful blessing. I love that at any given time there are young men worthy to call down the powers of heaven to bless God's children. What a blessing that is.
On Wednesday we had "specialized training" where we learned morse code and how to build life rafts out of toothpicks. No no, but that's what the title makes me think of. It was for new missionaries and their trainers. Sister Richardson super needed it, just to see her mtc district and such. And it was good for me to get advice from the other trainers and how they make their companionships work and how they've helped their new companions. I am so fortunate to get along so well with my companion. We laugh so much! And we work super hard. When she gets down or homesick we talk it out, then laugh about something. And she's always up for making goonish noises with me. And to spice things up while we drive for five hours to get anywhere in this area, we set our gps to a different language every few days and talk in that accent for those days. I now know how to say "turn left" and "turn right" in Swedish, Romanian, French, and Italian!
On Friday I and the two elders departing with me, Elder Archibald and Elder Heward, went to the Temple with the Jeppsons. If not for Elder Archibald checking the Temple schedule, we wouldn't have gone because it's closed for cleaning in February. I can't believe that's the last time I may ever be in "The City!", sad thought. Since we got there early, we had time to go to an upper floor and look at the sealing rooms and admire the paintings. We had a lovely session, and President Jeppson took us through the veil, it was really neat. I prayed about Popsy, and didn't feel anything saying he didn't want to be baptized, so I'm thinking that's a yes. We got to have a meeting with one of the men in the Temple Presidency and ask any questions we had about the Temple, which was awesome! And President Jeppson spoke to the Elders about how special me and Sister Jeppson are, and how all women are so important to God. Men have to have the Priesthood in order to enter the Temple, but sisters can just go right on in. After that Sister Jeppson and I went into a nearby cafe to pick up 'sandwidges' (I felt so neat listening to all the local New Yworkers ordering foods, what a gas!). We ate them in the upper floor of the Temple, which is actually a regular Church meetinghouse. They even have a gym up there, which you would never guess just looking at the Temple. The ride home was nice because after the Elders were dropped off I had a whole car ride to talk to the Jeppsons about whatever! I asked President Jeppson about being a Patriarch, and how it felt to give blessings and to declare people's lineages. It was really interesting.
On Sunday Sister Richardson and I taught Relief Society from Elder Nelson's talk "Ask the Missionaries!" And no, we didn't just say, "Ask us! The end!" It went pretty well, and members have been giving us referrals which is so great! With the age change, and with thousands of missionary applications coming in every week, God knows that there are more people right now then ever before who are prepared to receive and accept the Gospel. He wouldn't have let this insane influx of youths go out if there weren't people prepared. Exciting times!
Oh, and on a lame note, we just found out that an Apostle is coming to our mission. In March. I barely missed Elder Bednar in 2011, and now I'll be missing another one! I think it'll be Elder L. Tom Perry, but I'm not sure. Anyhow, these missionaries are sooooo lucky!
All in all, this has been a pretty good week. Lots of miracles. Next Monday I'm going on the "fun departing trip" to Washington's Monument. It used to be the Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty trip, but as those got too damaged in the hurricane, we don't do that anymore. Goons! This all just feels so weird. I never thought this transfer would actually happen.
I love you kids, and I hope you're all safe in the snow!
Sister Mystikal
