Hello all! How ya doin? Hope you're
having an excellent time back home! So let's start off with the REASSIGNMENT
because I'm sure you're all wondering where in the world Siser Albright is
going? (Heidi, 'Sister Albright', is going to go somewhere state side for a few weeks while she waits for her via.) It's a great question.
So we get reassignments every Thursday and Friday,
but it's kind of random which day it is so we don't really know when we're
going to get them. So yesterday lunch came...with no letters. But that's ok!
We've still got dinner! The whole day we spent at In-field Orientation, which
is a little meeting where they teach you all the last minute things they want
you to know about how to be the best missionary you can be and basically
getting you super psyched to go out in the field. So Dinner comes and we are
all dying! In case you don't know, getting a reassignment is just like getting
your call all over again. All the excitement and anxiety comes rushing
back! We planned where to meet after dinner so that we could all open our
reassignments together, and sent our good District Leader on his way to get the
mail probably much sooner than he wanted to haha but we could not have
waited. So there we are, bouncing up and down, quietly screaming, and
generally trying (and sounds like failing) to contain at least some of our nerves. And then....we
see Elder Keetch coming with a huge amount of mail in his hands. He smiles and
waves and heads over. We all thought we were going to die. He reaches us, and
finally says "They didn't come." They didn't come! Ah! We were all so
dejected. But it's ok! Hopefully it comes tonight!
Anyway, besides that bit of
excitement, we have had a really AMAZING week here!
After I emailed last week, we got to
go clean the temple! Woot woot! Elder Keetch and Elder Palmer were security
while we were there so they got to wear ginormous badges and check everyone's
temple recommends. Everyone else went through all these inside rooms
(kitchen, laundrey room, a room with lots of pipes, etc) and feel super legit,
and then we cleaned the men's locker room! Which, by the way, is waaaaay bigger
than the women's locker room. Kinda ridiculous. But it was fun, we sang
lots of church songs while we worked, and of course some of us even
whistled while we worked haha. But it was a great experience and it definitely
made me appreciate the temple a little more.
Then on Friday night, we got
to have Family Home Evening (as Latter Day Saints we place a big emphasis on spending time with family. Family Home Evening is a night that families set apart and try to have no other commitments, but to be with one another. During this evening, there is generally a lesson about the Gospel that is taught by a family member. Our family always included a game and treats after our FHE lessons.) with one of our (pretend) investigators! Hahaha that was
super awesome. So our "investigator" kept saying that he wanted
us to meet his family, so finally Hermana Stanley and I asked when would be a
good time to come by and teach a short lesson with them, and he said Friday
night! Later, when he was in teacher mode again we asked him if that really was
going to happen or if we should plan a real lesson to teach to him on Friday.
But he just smiled and said to have faith, so we did! Haha it was great, he got
three Spanish missionaries from another zone to act as his kids, and we had a
real FHE with them! It was so amazing. I think that was the lesson we felt the
Spirit the strongest so far. We sang Love at Home (in Spanish) and then had him
lead his blindfolded kids through a short maze to represent how God leads us
through life even though we can't see Him. We talked about the importance of
family prayer and scripture study, and our investigator got so into it and would
jump in and help explain things to "his kids" and talk about how easy
and great it is....oh man I hope we have a real FHE like this sometime it
seriously was the best.
Sunday was a great devotional,
as usual. And since it was Fast Sunday, (On the first Sunday of every month the L.D.S church holds Fast Sundays. Fast Sunday is where you fast and pray for whatever it is you or those around you stand in need of. During Fast Sundays, a testimony meeting is held in sacrament (the first meeting at church) so the members can hear each other's testimonies and be lifted up by one another.) we had a mission conference! It was
really cool, all the mission presidency talked to us. I don't have my
journal with me right now so I can't remember exactly what it was about but it
was great! Afterwards, we walked into our room and Hermana McChesney was
freaking out. One of her granola bars had been opened and nibbled on, so she
thought there was a mouse in the room! (yes it does happen, even here)
And poor Hermana Stanley sleeps with her head right next to the food! And so
returns Mouse-Hunter Sister Heidi Albright! (cue music) Haha I used my mouse hunting skills
that I gained at Camp Whittle last year, and went through the room.
Luckily, I saw no evidence of a new little friend and we have had no more
mousey experiences!
Wednesday we got to host again! (Hosting is where the missionaries go to meet the new missionaries coming into the MTC. They pick them up from their families and help them find their way around their new home.)
Hosting is seriously so much fun! I love it. And I got to host Sister
Webster Woot Woot! I love seeing all the new missionaries come in, ready to
serve the Lord the best way that they can! At the end of the Joseph Smith
movie, after seeing all the things that Joseph and the Saints went through,
there's one line that definitely stands out to us all here: "Shall we not
go forth in so great a work?"
So this week one thing that has
really stuck out to me is the importance of recognizing your differences and
what you can do with them. Like that "where ever though art, act
well thy part" stone, we all should be working to be the best that WE can
be. We all have different weaknesses and strengths, and we are all put in a
position where those are needed and if we focus outward, we can use them to
help others in exactly the way that they need. Also, our weaknesses
really CAN be our strengths if we bring them to the Lord. We had an awesome
experience today, our teachers wrote us a letter with a picture of Christ, and
what our Christ-like attributes, our strengths, are. I noticed that every
one of our strengths were based on our weaknesses. And as we have all
worked hard to overcome our weakness, they have become the best part of
us. It is so crazy to think about how much Chirst has done for us and
what He continues to do to help us today. I know that if we turn to Him,
He will take our weaknesses and turn them into strengths. I love you all
and wish you the best of luck this week.
A Dios!
Hermana Albright
Fourth of July Fun!
Loving Some Utah rain!
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