Mourning the end of conference

Y'all, I'm so sad conference is over! But it was so great right? I loved it. I'm a conference nerd. 

I felt like the entire conference was just for me, and I didn't drift off once :)

This week has been amazing! Thank you for the love and prayers. I want you all to know that I love you! 

Laura is doing so well! She really is golden. She has such a desire to change and she loves the gospel and she is growing closer to Heavenly Father and her Savior each day. We met with her on weds and thurs and taught her about the commandments. She took them so well! She is gaining a testimony of the reasons we are obedient, and there were so many talks in General Conference about exactly that! She texted us on Weds night after the lesson and said that she could feed us on saturday - it was so out of the blue, but she likes to ask us questions about mission stuff so we told her that we eat with members a lot but this week and next week are going to be a tad bare considering we weren't able to pass our calendar around because of easter and conference. So she told us she wanted to feed us and we jumped at the opportunity! We met Henry (her adorable pug dog) and ate a great meal - we also talked about following the prophet and she loved conference and Sister Dalton's talk on saturday. 

She really boosts my confidence as a teacher, she told us that we are the best teachers this week. It really meant a lot to me. I've been working non-stop on my teaching skills and my knowledge about the gospel. 

On Friday we had a great lesson with Kay. I was frustrated with Kay because I know that she is ready for baptism but that she just doesn't have the motivation and that she is feeling pressured. I really did not want that, so I wasn't quite sure what to teach her - she knows so much! But we read a chapter of the Book of Mormon together for our lesson and just explained it, almost verse by verse, as we read aloud and she compared the chinese version with the English version. I probably haven't mentioned this, but she is Chinese and she still has struggles with reading. Especially the scriptures! But when we read with her so much clicked! She was really getting into the words and she had so much to ask and talk about with us. I DEFINITELY understand that chapter so much better than before. Alma 42 means so much more to me than it did before this week - the gospel makes so much sense and Kay really loves that. 

This week we went to a couple of places that I wrote down in my BOSTON moleskin book. I love that we are adventurers and we try new things. I write down all the new places that we eat and give them stars and evaluations - it is... a lot of fun :) This week we went to Veggie Planet which sounds like it would be a place where they trick kids into loving vegetables... nope! It is a really awesome indie vegan place that has REALLY great food! I love really experiencing where we live - we are determined to take advantage of the fact that our area is HUGE. We pretty much can go anywhere that is within public transportation distance :) It is THE BEST. 

Total Bostonian thing:

There was this woman in a car waiting to turn right that was on the crosswalk. We saw this man approaching from the other side, and he just leans down a little and says to the woman, "YOU'RE IN THE CROSSWALK." very bluntly and loudly, and then passes by without a thought. Now this may not seem so funny to y'all, but we laughed about it for about four blocks, and now whenever someone is so obviously in the way, we say, putting on our best sassy Bostonian face, "You're in the crosswalk." And then just get on with our lives. 

Anyway, I'm ready for another fantastic week! I love you all! Thank you for the packages and the emails! 

Love, 

Sister HRP

A few GREAT THINGS.

So, I would like to start this email off saying that the weather here is FINALLY SPRING! It's glorious, and beautiful, and warm. But they do say, "Don't like the weather? Wait 20 minutes." So keep your fingers cross it'll stay bright and sunshiney. 

Easter was lovely yesterday! I've never sat in the same room for so long with so many musical numbers, and I've been to musicals! We had special musical programs for both our wards, and everyone was very talented. I admit that I was suffering with my eye lids on a couple numbers, but being chronically tired is all part of being a missionary. 

So many great things this week! 

1. LAURA CAME BACK! 

Oh I was so excited! So. Excited. In fact! We called her two weeks ago and got a man that told us we had the wrong number and to stop calling. But last week she called us (from that same number), told us she was so sorry and asked us if we would be willing to teach her again! We taught her on Tues and Weds, then she texted us that night asking if we could meet on Thurs too! We told her we really just couldn't fit it in, but she asked for more homework and she met with us on Sun and then came to church! She is on fire! Pray that it stays that way!

2. We had a great lesson with Susan. She is really working on getting clean and learning more about what is expected of her, she agreed to live the Word of Wisdom. 

3. The train stalled for probably 7 minutes going into Harvard Station, long enough for us to realized that we were actually supposed to get off at that stop. I'm sorry to the people who had to wait needlessly while we realized that that was our stop. The Lord watches out for us.

4. Diana, a member in the University Ward, from Italy, told us the story of her and her families reactivation - it was amazing! Her uncle blessed his baby boy saying that he would be the guide of his family. Most of her family went inactive soon afterward, but her little cousin, when he was 8 years old told his parents and family that whether or not they cared, he was going to get baptized. His 10 year old cousin soon followed, and because of their examples, and that one decision of faith, her entire family made their way back to the church. Her Uncle remembered how he had blessed him and told him that he would be the guide. Now they are all faithful members that travel miles on Sunday to attend church. She wants us to help her learn more! She is so faithful and wonderful, and we will meet with her to help her gain a greater testimony. 

5. Sister J and I are getting along swimmingly. We joke and laugh, and I'm becoming more assertive (yes, shocking) and warming up to being more of a "people person." 

6. Went on the Blue line this week! Last line of public transportation for me, and I conquered it. boo. yah. 

7. We went to a baptism on Saturday! It was amazing and I was able to see Sis Fig one last time. We talked and laughed. I'm sad but really happy for her that she is leaving today - hope she is doing well in Utah! 

8. We remembered to pack a lunch for our day at the church, which was glorious. Usually we spend the whole day there at meetings and almost die from lack of nourishment. But I made us both sandwiches and we faced those meetings like troopers.

9. Easter dinner was beautiful, and just like home! We ate ham, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, and salad! Everything was splendid, gluten free, and so pretty! I even got my own personal dessert, made gluten-freed. 

10. We have more work than we can even do! 

The Lord is blessing us so much! We are happy, mostly healthy, and we have had a ton of work! 

Never hesitate to write or email, I love you all

Love 

Sister HRP

Another busy week as a missionary!

This week was so busy! But every week is really, normal missionary stuff.

Monday we had dinner with a member, she is a ward missionary and just the sweetest convert. She told us that she thinks that the university ward has been waiting for this particular set of missionaries (us)! I don't know what they have been waiting for but I felt such a change this week! They seem more open towards us than before and they are coming to us with friends! Of course I'm always praying for their missionary work and I really just hope that they are never hesitant to share their beliefs. I don't know how much longer I will stay in this area but I can feel a change in me already - mostly of the member that I want to be when I get home. The Lord knows what we all need to learn, and these singles have taught ME so much about the importance of saying, "I'm a Mormon, I know it, I live it, I love it." 

The Bishop actually gave us an assignment! We are working with a LA sister and really just (on her request) converting her. She doesn't have a testimony and knows certain things are true but just doesn't have a personal relationship with her Father in Heaven and her Savior. She is HILARIOUS and tells us the best stories, we give her homework each week that I hope will help her to learn how to read the scriptures. This week is Alma 32, with questions. Many people go through their life not really knowing HOW to read their scriptures. I'm excited to help her.

I see who I would have been in her. She grew up in the church, but never took the time to actually gain a testimony, and honestly I know that if I had not have put forth personal effort in gaining one myself and going on my mission, I would be just like her... in 15 years. I'm so grateful for the examples in my life, I am learning so much working with members as well as investigators. 

We had some LONG public transportation rides this week. We have been going ALL OVER. If you sit down with a map of this area, you will notice that Boston is HUGE, but that we also include a ridiculously large area of Brighton (where we live), Arlington, Brookline, Jamaica Plain, Newton, and more. We have a GIGANTIC geographical area and a very small demographic - single women between the 18-25 or 30-45. My "Charlie Card" is my bestest friend. I am becoming a LEGIT public transportation hopper, especially because your average human would simply look it up on their smartphone and never quite grasp the hang of it - but with me? Oh, I've MEMORIZED the public transportation system for multiple areas. Just tooting my own horn here, ignore me, read on. 

My new companion is lovely, she is completely OPPOSITE of my last companion in practically every single way possible. So some days I know I tick her off, but that honestly it's mostly because I just am ignorant of the way she would like to do missionary work. I've really only had one side of the work so far, so I don't know certain things. Sometimes it's really frustrating because I'm trying to be the best missionary possible and I can't grasp my own style. I think the Lord is choosing to show be VERY different ways to do the same work so that I will continue to learn. THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING TO LEARN Y'ALL. 

Here are some things from my GREAT THINGS journal, I always write 10 great things at the end of each day :) 

-A less active we met with on Wednesday came to church, we think since winter break!

-Great meals all week long! And so healthy! The Lord knew that I needed veggies! 

-We met with K on Thursday and turned it into a dinner that night with some girls from University Ward, and it was so so much fun! We had ice cream together and talked and talked :)

-Our new investigator S came to church! She stood up and introduced herself and told the ward about her baptismal date and getting ready for it, she was SO EXCITED! Adorable. 

-The Bishop from the other ward gave us assignments for this week as well! 

-We went all the way to Jamaica Plain when our member lived in MEDFORD, which is crazy far, but she picked us up and took us out to dinner that night because our dinner cancelled. It was a miracle. 

This week has been really great, and I'm sure next week will be even better. I am getting much much happier in the work. 

Oh, and a Bostonian thing: 

They have nicknames for some cities out here... Sister J HATES them, but they're funny. Mattapan=Murderpan, Dorchester=lock-your-door-chester, Glouster=Glockster, I can't think of any more at the moment, but I think they're funny (mostly because these cities are not THAT sketchy).  

Love you all

Sister HRP

Sorry, late post!

This week has brought so many changes and so many blessings! 

Transfers were on Thursday. The night before we had 15 girls in our apartment! There were so many new people coming in that we crammed so many of them into a 4 sister apartment. It was so much fun. We stayed up talking for way too long.

I am staying just where I am, but Sister F is gone. She is going to "tour" for a bit before she leaves in a couple weeks. I'm sad to see my 'mom' go away, but I've been really blessed with so many good things. I'm moving on very quickly and am unusually happy about the whole thing. :) 

My new companion is Sister J, she is great. She has a beautiful singing voice and a great sense of humor. She loves the work and she is a great teacher. People can really relate to her, she is a convert and she has a great job (backup singer for Gladys Knight) before she came on a mission. People love to talk to her about her conversion story and the people who don't relate with me well LOVE her. 

On Saturday we had Elder Ballard come to the mission! He spoke to us and answered questions! We all shook his hand and were so inspired by his words! I cam with questions about what I wanted from my mission and they were all answered. In fact the one I've been struggling with the most was really made so clear to me, and I have a new found resolve to be an even better missionary. 

Plus the Bishops also went to a meeting with him and we can see a change already! The Bishop from our ward actually called us this morning! That never happens! 

The University ward was on fire this week, 3 referrals in one weekend!

Also we taught a friend of a member of the Charles River Ward. The work is really picking up! 

Sunday I really felt like part of the ward, finally. They were so friendly and excited! I could feel the love from them and the love for them. One girl that I thought didn't really like us much gave me Gluten Free cookies because she saw them somewhere and "thought of me." I didn't know that she had ever thought of me! 

 Our dinner calendar is completely booked for the next two weeks! Which is crazy, because that has not happened lately.

I can't wait for even more work with them and their friends. We have two potential investigators that members have told us about just this week, and we are so excited to meet with them. 

Ya'll should know that everyone makes a big big difference for the kingdom. Your wards need you, your families need you, your friends need you. It is amazing how one faithful member can change peoples minds about Mormons. I have really felt that here. The people we teach always had a great LDS role model. 

Thank you for the support! I'm still at the same address, I just got a new comp. The place is sort of perpetually moist and sort of trashy, but it's home. :) We are going to start running in the mornings, wish us luck! 

love, sister hrp

She didn't send a subject this time so here is your hannah-esque creative title

Ya'll outdid yourself this week! No but really. I got 3 packages and quite a few letters! I loved it all and I definitely am not starving anymore :) I will write you back. Promise. 

This has been a great week, despite some setbacks. I really feel like my happiness and joy in the work grows each and every week, and when before I saw my members as a "duty" that now I see them as people that I love and yearn to help and serve!

I want you all to know the importance of member missionary work, I'm not going to preach to you or anything, but honestly I think Heavenly Father (more than anything else) is preparing me to share the gospel for the rest of my life. I know all of you do things everyday, and I am so proud of all of you. Every "mormon" word that you pop into a casual conversation, every time you write a blog post on your source of strength, when you tell people about yourself and always include the gospel. I really love the spirit of missionary work in these YSA wards and am so proud of these students that live their lives in such a way that they are able to talk about Relief Society and Family Home Evening to their friends as a casual reference to their lives. I know that by living our religion boldly and genuinely, that people will know where to turn when they have questions, and the "myths" of mormonism can be resolved one faithful Saint at a time. 

I love our wards! They have such a spirit of missionary work but we know that they have even more potential! We have been coming up with small ideas to help them. 

Last sunday a Ward Missionary helped us and announced a missionary moment. She stood up and asked who in relief society would be willing to find a missionary moment during that week and share it with the class the next sunday. I was shocked with the amount of hands that popped up, willing to find one this week! 

Yesterday the girl that had volunteered stood up and told the Relief Society how she was able to share the gospel to her own sister who had fallen away a few years past and that had been unwilling to hear about anything religious. She had been praying for a missionary experience since she accepted the challenged and she said something like this: "The Lord presented me with an opportunity to share the gospel with my sister. Her baby has been very sick, and she has been to the doctor multiple times without an answer or solution. She asked me if I would pray for her baby. I told her absolutely! It came completely out of the blue! She hadn't mentioned anything religious to me for a very long time. But because the Lord had provided me with this opportunity, I asked her if she had asked our father for a blessing. She said she hadn't thought about that, but that she would." She continued that her sister's baby was given a blessing, that it was a beautiful experience, and that she was blessed with peace. Her sister called to tell her about what had happened, she was so glad that the conversation about the gospel had started. 

She said, "Because of that door opening, I asked her if she would accept a Book of Mormon, and she said that she would like that. I wrote my testimony in it and sent it to her. I just want to thank you for asking me to find an opportunity this last week, because I was praying and asking for one, the Lord blessed me with an opportunity to bless my Sister's life, and my testimony of missionary work has really grown. "

It was amazing. We gave the ward missionary M&M candies with a paper "Missionary Moment" taped on for the girl that shared. She loved the idea and it really was so cute to see their enthusiasm and happiness of our care and effort towards their ward. 

We have really been striving to work with our YSA wards in an effective way - working around their very busy schedules and their personality as a young ward. I would love any ideas that you have about the best way to work with young people and how we can help them spread the gospel. They love unique ideas and fun activities. We were praised for our marshmallow spaghetti towers that we had them build at the BU FHE on monday.

I ponder about how to help these students all the time - especially because we are around their same age, women, and inviting them to change. We only meet with the women, and we have certain struggles of how to motivate them as we are not two cute young men wanting to meet with them. :) I think of how I would have reacted at BYU, and realize many times that these girls are just like I was. I feel guilty about my apathetic nature when it came to missionary work. 

I love all of you and I pray for you! Keep up the GREAT work and know that the Lord needs you wherever you are! 

Some more things that are different about HERE: 

They have Dunkin Donuts EVERYWHERE. This city really does run on Dunkin, I feel like you can't walk more than 4 blocks without seeing one, as my father would say, "You can hardly swing a dead cat without hitting one!" 

The roads are SO NARROW. They are insane. I feel like there isn't enough room for two cars. The other day we got splashed so badly from a car that zipped by us in the rain. We walked into the church soaking and the Elders said we got "hobo-splashed." 

Also the water that comes out of the tap is practically at boiling temperature 3 seconds it comes out. Random. I know. 

Love you all, 

sister HRP 

and YAY! We have a few pictures! (I'll have to ask her what specific captions to put on each of these, but this is what it looks like: 

Cute companions!

Temple day!

Selfie Sunday?

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