(ok ok...i know i know....i forgot to post my last two weeks worth of letters. what a jerk. sorry. but they're up now...so go enjoy all three posts:)
I’m dying in Westchester.
p.s. I really don’t get why missionaries call it that. Like why
can’t we call it “getting translated” or “receiving exaltation” or something
cool like that?? But no…instead I feel like I’ve been black-listed.
#missionaryproblems
And members and missionaries are now continually asking me if
I’m getting TRUNKY. I just refer them to my companion who can tell
stories about me randomly bursting into tears, having anxiety attacks,
and manically tripping head over heels when I realize
I don’t have enough time to do everything I need to do before I get thrown back
into the “real world.”
SOML
(confession session: the only time I
got trunky for 1.4 seconds this week was when a member texted me last
night, “Your Patriots won the Super Bowl. Congrats!” Yep…...there it is:)
Honestly, I’m still trying to wrap my pretty little mind around
the fact that this is MY last transfer. It doesn’t feel real. So I don’t try to
think about it:) Instead, we’re determined to get CRAZY busy, work like our
lives depended on it, and leave it all on the field:)
See you in the locker room.
On to our week!
- February entered with a bang by dumping over a
foot of snow on us in less than 5 hours. I’m having PTSD moments to
last winter here……it’s bad.
- We found a community food pantry to volunteer
at every week and ended up hauling cans, boxes, bags, and birds the size of my
head out to people’s cars for 4 hours and being asked if we were nuns, if we
were planning on never marrying, or if we were from “The Sisterhood” by
Lifetime TV. Gosh, I know I shouldn’t say it…..but I get so tired of explaining
the whole “we’re not catholic” thing….that sometimes I wonder if it’d be easier
to just say “yes…I’m a nun” haha! jk;)
- We were snowed in yesterday, and per
suggestion from our mission president, decided to try baking cookies for
service. We were shy a freakin 1 ingredient for EVERY recipe in the book, so I
got “creative” and……yea, we all know how that ends every
time. Our neighbor dropped by to sample the goods, took one bite, and said,
“Um….do you have anything else I could try?” Thanks, Jamie. Hahaha!
- I’ve been feeling for a while that I should
actively brush up on my signing skills more and then…..we show up for a dinner
appointment this week……and lo and behold, she’s deaf! I
was in ASL HEAVEN. What a nerd;) Turns out, she (the member) has
had other members type what’s being said for her every Sunday for all 3 hours,
but she’s been praying that an ASL missionary would be sent to her
area!!!! As soon as she found out I was an ASL missionary, she just
kept signing, “Really?? Really?? I’ve wanted this for so long!” By
the end of the night, she enlisted me as her Sunday interpreter and yes….I’m
TERRIFIED…but also excited! The Lord has a plan:)
- One night this week when we didn’t have a
dinner appointment and had endured a long day, we decided to go all out for
dinner and chose a hole-in-the-wall Puerto Rican restaurant. After we’d
finished, Sis Green and I turned to go, but before we left, Sis Green gave the
typical thank you we usually give to members, “Thanks for having us
over!”……[hand slap to forhead]…..gosh, what a missionary:)! I’m still
not letting her forget that one…hahaha!
- We met with Sherman this week and OH
MY GOSH!!!! “Golden investigator” got it’s name from him!! We got a
call from him Thursday night, and he explained, “I know….we’ve tried to arrange
to meet now for the past month and that devil, Satan….he just doesn’t want us
to meet! But that’s it! I’m not letting him get away with it! We’re meeting
tomorrow, and that’s a promise that Lucifer himself can’t break!
Well alright then. We showed up, and come to find, he’d waited at the
library for 3 hours previous, “just to be on the safe side.”
Oh
my gosh. I love the guy.
We sat down in a study room, and he immediately extended his
hands to us, “Let us pray, and start this scripture study off with the
Lord’s blessing.” He then opened the bible and book of Mormon we gave him
and we began teaching him. He ABSORBED it, asking us lots of questions,
nodding, taking notes, and then when we’d finished, he said, “I have an idea.
How bout you give me weekly reading assignments out of the book of Mormon so I
can learn more from it, I can come to your church it that’s alright, and if the
Lord tells me to join your church, I will.” We were BLOWN AWAY by
how prepared he was!!! He said he’s active in his church, but recently he’s
been feeling some “discord in his heart” about going there. He then told me,
“I’d actually been praying that the Lord would bring me more of His word,
and then you two young ladies came into Panera the very next day. I think God
has a part in all of this!” AHHHHHHH!!!!! He’s basically the most
legit investigator EVER and he’s rekindled my testimony that God
is actively preparing people to receive the gospel! We CAN’T wait to meet
with him again!! Please pray that he’ll receive of witness of the truth as we
teach him!
Our mission impossible program for the members is coming
together and we are SO excited to see it take off! I’ve included pictures of
our first “Secret mission” (see below). It’s SO rewarding to see members become
engaged and not only that, but excited about sharing the gospel! The Lord is
hastening His work, and it’s most powerful and achievable through the
members!! We’re out to convert, and we’re in this together!
So here’s to my last transfer. Sis Green keeps slipping “Anna”
into normal conversation to “help me adjust to non-mission life” and yes….it
just about gives me a heart attack every time. I’m gonna be the most
awkward RM….fair warning.
So until then, I’m living up these last 6 weeks, recommitting
daily, getting creative, working hard, loving lots, and trying not to think
about the moment when I’ll be asked to take my tag off…..oh gosh….here I
go…..about to cry in the library…..again. Ok, not gonna think about it….
Onward and upward till the end,
Sister Anna Parker
Our winter blizzard........
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