New England Things

1. Many light switches, especially for the bathroom, are located on the outside of the door. So while you are fumbling on the wall searching for the light switch, and the room is getting darker as you are closing the door, you realize that it isn't in the bathroom but outside it. So I feel like a fool as I walk out again to turn on the light. (But it is pretty fun to shut it off while your companion is in the shower...)

2. When you trip, or you're really cold, or you run into something, the people here have a tendency to say something like: "you were running!" or "you should have put on boots this morning!" or "you should watch where you're going!" Maybe I grew up with overly sympathetic people, but I have never had so many criticisms while already in pain... ha. This week the weather seemed okay, so I wore flats and was SO COLD. Everyone told me that I "should have" worn tights or boots or a long skirt... Yes, yes, I know, I brought this on myself, thank you for your observation. :) 

3. they pronounce things so strangely! Cities especially! They leave out letters or leave out vowels. It's so hard to remember all of them! 

In the future I'll include some New England (or maybe just Bostonian) things that I seem to pick up. 

This week was so much better than last week! So many miracles, really! I was so surprised be all the things that happened. 

First we missed our stop (by like 3 stops) to our home and ended up taking the Green line and met a girl that actually started the conversation with us! She had an interesting story about how her boyfriend was LDS and she will probably come to church! 

Then because we were talking with her we missed our stop again and took a bus where a previous investigator that Sis F had taught got onto and we talked with her and set up an appointment with her and her daughter.

We had a mini-missionary come out with us, which is this volunteer stake program where the youth can come out with us for a weekend or so and experience all things missionary! She was so wonderful and I really think that the Lord make this weekend extra special for her. I gave her my name tag that pins onto my coat, and made her a paper that said, her last name, covered mine, and taped it on. She loved it, she was so official. I would definitely say that it looked pretty "legit."

The open house for the Chapel on friday went... sort of poorly but the Lord gave our mini-missionary the opportunity to street contact ;)

The Elders gave us a referral that day that we were about to call when she called us! She came to the chapel right after the open house and we gave her a tour and talked about Jesus Christ, being clean, and changing. Her name is Laura, and she really is golden. She was amazing and her story was even more amazing - it was all about how she had a friend that had introduced her to the church in High School and that she had read the entire Book of Mormon. When her friend went off to BYU she sent the missionaries to her again a couple years later. She had been having a rough year and she is searching for peace and really ready to make the changes that are required. She has realized that she really wants the gospel in her life!

I thought that "The District" made these people up! But they exist! People that are so so ready! She is absolutely amazing! 

We had a fantastic party with the Charles River Ward that night after her lesson, and we really felt a part of their ward. :) We made Chinese dumplings and celebrated a late chinese new year. It was so much fun.

The next day we went to both wards and in each we had amazing experiences! There was a woman who spoke in the CRW that invited 30 people to sacrament meeting! There were SO MANY people there! She was a perfect example of inviting non-members in a casual way to come to church, just for YOU. It was amazing, and the people were so diverse! In University Ward our new investigator came, I sat with her to qualm her fears about the whole thing, and she loved the talks. She teared up during the first one. The whole church experience was amazing, I sat with her and the entire ward was very welcoming. 

Sister Pack came and picked up the mini missionary during RS, we sent her off with happy experiences and we told her how much we had loved being with her. I gave her my name tag to keep... I now have one name tag, ha, they're only 4 dollars. I'll order another one. 

After church we taught Laura a little bit, and answered questions that she had. She asked us what more she could do, how she loved church and the feeling she had there, she THANKED US for being there to teach her, she told us that she loved having us there to help her, and she just wanted to know the next step. So we told her! We asked if she would be baptized and she said yes! She was so excited! We were so excited! 

It was the best ending to a great weekend! I couldn't believe how the Lord had blessed us and me, for being diligent and for having faith. It made up for all the hard things that had been happening! 

I'm really happy to be here! Everyday my desire grows! I love you all, I miss you. 

Sister HRP

FREEZING hands, but happy hearts

Today is a holiday, and I'm embarrassed to say that for the life of me I can't figure out which one, but it's sort of cramping my style today. The library is closed so I can't email there and... anyway, this will be semi-short because of whichever holiday this is. 

I is actually quite comical how sheltered and ignorant we are of life outside of missionary work. We check the bus schedule on dozens of different paper pamphlet bus schedules, we call a number to hear an automated report of the weather, and we plan out in detail which buses and trains to use before we leave our apartment. We carry around a paper "gps" of sorts with every road in Boston. Ah, the 21st century. 

Tuesday was a good example of how this week went:

We first went to do some service at the food kitchen, the woman there is hilarious and all the missionaries are her "babies" and we call her "momi." 

We then visited an investigator all the way in Dorchester which meant that we had to take the red line for about 40 minutes or so and then walk 15 minutes to her house. She spoke better Spanish than English, and Sis F was very handy when it came to that. She speaks 4 languages (English, Portuguese, Spanish, and a native 2nd language from Paraguay that I can't pronounce right much less spell), she is very helpful with the MANY different language speakers here in the Boston area. 

We then had a dinner appointment back in Cambridge so we took the train back for another 40 minutes, then walked to her place for 15 or so minutes. The dinner was great, we ate quinoa and something... we eat A LOT of quinoa. I love it, but it's so funny that we've had it at 5/7 dinner appointments that we've had. 

Now starts the typical Sister Preszler stuff:

I had to take out my contact during the appointment, it was really really bothering me at dinner, so I was half blind, I probably stared at people weirdly. I'm sorry. 

On the way back we were headed for the bus, and we saw it coming, so we starting running as fast as we can. I'm wearing boots and a long skirt, we are jogging with messenger bags, I almost get hit by a biker first, he yelled at me SO LOUD that everyone around me jumped. Sister F is laughing hysterically and we are running even faster when my depth perception, because of the fact that I have one contact in, fails me and I catch my boot on a grate. It was the first time since I was young that I just fell FLAT on my face, BAM. I couldn't even do anything, there was a moment of, "well I'm going down" and I hit the pavement. I popped up, and between spurts of laughter Sis F asks me if I'm okay, but the best part is the little Chinese man from behind me the saw the whole thing! I look back at him and he stares at me incredulously and all he says is, "YOU WERE RUNNING!" Thank you. Thank you little Chinese man, yes, yes, I was running. So funny. 

Anyway I'm sure there is more but I have to go, 

love you all

Sister HRP

It should have been named BRUCE, not NEMO

I don't think I was really convinced Boston was the place for me when I got my call, I mean it made sense, and I knew that I would fit in with the East Coast, but I wasn't sure. I wasn't convinced. Until I got here. Boston is my place, President P  is my mission president, and these people are my people. We got off of the plane, and at the baggage claim we met Sister Packard, and the two Packard daughters, Angela and Natalie. They were SO EXCITED to see us! So many sisters! Sister P  was crying at the "beautiful sight of so many Sisters!" We met President Packard a few minutes later, took a few pictures, and headed to the mission home. (the pictures will eventually be up on the Mission blog, mbmission.blogspot.com) 

The mission home is wonderfully New England, it is yellow, and I believe that it has blue shutters. We got there and ate dinner, President P  whipped out the map and showed us some of the places that we'd be going. He talked about the people and he talked about the places, his enthusiasm was wonderful and I had this confirmation that I was supposed to be there. I knew that this was my place, like I've never known before. I really could listen to that man talk forever, every word almost makes me cry, in a good way (yes, me, cry!). 

My five MTC sisters and I stayed in an apartment nearby, we had our last few nights together and loved every moment. I'm going to miss those girls, well... except Sister B. Not for that reason! Goodness! It's because we are living together now :) 

We had a day of training on Wednesday, we went into the city and did some street contacting - very scary! But actually not that bad! We handed out a Book of Mormon and a few mormon.org cards, talked to a few people, and some companionships found people that they walked with for a few blocks, some people that really wanted to learn. It was a great start, but street contacting won't really happen in this mission. Our training was all about how our first priorities are to help the Bishop and Ward leadership, work with members to find people, and serve. Tracting is our last priority, and we wont be doing a lot of it. The Lord REALLY knows me. I didn't want to be knocking on doors, I don't want to annoy people and I don't want people to be annoyed by me. Working with members to find people that already have an interest and an exposure to the church is a wonderful way to work. President P  has a wonderful vision and I will serve to my fullest doing whatever he sees for the future of New England. 

Thursday was transfer meeting, and we were all so scared to find out where we were going. I secretly was hoping for Nantucket, a new area open to Sisters, with only five members, and island where the people say, "if Martha's Vineyard is for the millionaires, Nantucket is for the billionaires." It just seemed SO EXCITING to build a ward from scratch! Those Sisters are making history! When we got to the meeting, President Packard called us to stand individually, gave us the name of our trainer (who we then embraced) and where we would be going, it felt like a mission call all over again! 

My companion is Sister F and we are serving in the University Ward and the Charles River Ward! The University Ward has young single adults age 19-25, they are going to school around here, Boston College, Harvard, MIT, Boston University... and MORE. There are SO MANY around here! Some of them are from around here but many of them are from all over the United States and the world. They are people who are going to "change the world!" they have ambitious and go-get-em attitudes. They are intellectual and passionate, driven and excited. Charles River Ward is on the other end of the singles spectrum, 30+ master students, law students, people getting doctorates and such, and those that are working here and living here too. Many of them work for MIT and Harvard, quite a few of them graduated from BYU and are continuing their education here. There are two wards with all the ages between these two wards, and we live with the Sisters in charge of those wards. 

I feel like I know about these people, but the truth is this week has been anything but normal, and I haven't even met them! The snow storm Nemo has thrown everything out of wack! It started on Friday and we were "red dotted" all that day. We spent the entire time inside, baking, cleaning, putting together a puzzle, studying, planning. We watched the snow come down for hours! On Saturday we went outside and snow shoveled for a while, helping the community dig their cars out of the snow. I have never seen cars COMPLETELY covered in snow before! You couldn't even tell that there was a car there, just a mound of snow! We helped a slightly drunk (like a beer and most of a bloody mary) man dig his driveway. He was hilarious, saying how his man "JC" is watching out for him sending four beautiful women to dig a pathway for his car. He was very grateful and he even said, "F! I have to go to church tomorrow now!!" and then apologizing for swearing. 

We weekly planned for at least 6 hours on Saturday. It was exhausting. We were going over the records of people that we do not know, trying to get a feel for the work and the people. Sister F is new to this area as well, and I'm actually killing her (this is her last area, she will be done in six weeks). If I do really well, they might not even train me for 12 weeks... with the amount of Sisters coming out, they may even have me train after six, but that is doubtful. 

Sunday church was cancelled, so we walked in really deep snow for about 30 minutes to go to a members house and have the sacrament. We had a lovely meeting and they even had a gluten free cracker for me. 

So far I really haven't done any teaching, we have been stuck inside for days! The snow was about three feet deep in some areas, and the roads are completely insane and tiny! There really is no place to even put all the snow! The roads are piled high with snow, and the public transportation wasn't working until today. We don't have a car in my area... and we sort of live out of the way. We have to take buses on buses and then underground trains for up to an hour to get to our appointments. I can't wait to meet the ward, but we do have FHE tonight so we will meet some of them tonight. 

my new address is,

530 Washington St. apt #16

Brighton, MA 02135

I love all of you, I miss you all, and I would love to hear from you at any time! 

Love, 

Sister HRP

Burnt popcorn and other emergencies

I'm leaving on Tuesday!! I am so excited but at the same time I'm so nervous. I might be sick. Okay I'll be fine. But maybe not. Especially since we are challenged to place a mormon.org card in the airport... but this is missionary work ya'll, this is exciting!

Usual Sister Preszler things that unfortunately occured this week (look at me, I'm calling myself Sister Preszler, and you thought that I'd come back normal, pscht):

1. While I was sitting in zone teaching, I leaned back my head to stretch or something and my hair got caught on an Elder's zipper. Zipper. My head was attached to his, ahem, crotch (for lack of a better word) for an almost unbearable amount of time and I'm pretty sure I'm a little bit balder from the experience. Now as I'm sure you all know, in the MTC any touching between Elders and Sisters is "innapropriate" touching, but I'm pretty sure that was just genuinely innapropriate. Seriously, these things only happen to me. I'm already freaking out when I accidently brush an Elder in the hallway. You just are so aware of it. When before I would think, "Whatever, busy hallway" now it's more like, "get off of me! Goodness, watch yourself, innapropriate. seriously."

2. On Sunday night, we were back from our fireside and done watching the Joseph Smith Restoration movie (seriously, sunday movie night is just the most exciting thing... well and ice cream days) we had returned to our resident halls to retire for the evening. I had changed and put on sweats and was looking grungy, there were girls in the shower, many mid teeth brushing, a few changing, when the fire alarm went off. We all ran outside to in the snow, in various stages of our nightly routine, and grouped in the main building. It was the strangest feeling to be in a building that they said that we must ALWAYS be dressed up to be in. Sisters started singing songs, and for some reason, women, when threatened with death, seem to think that bringing their camera would be the best way to cope. So there were plenty of pictures of all of us looking just lovely. We finally were allowed back into the hall, saved from burned popcorn. Yes, a Sister had set the alarm off because of burnt popcorn. Typical.

Everyone wants to see what all of you look like! But I don't have any pictures! Which is so terrible! I would love for all of you to find your favorite picture of the two of us together and send it to me! That would be so great, my sisters would love to put a face to all your names :)

Anyway, love you all, it's been a normal but very exciting week, and don't worry, I'll be real awkward when I get home, I can feel it already.

 

Love,

Sister HRP