Sister Meservy’s Letter from September 8, 2014
Subject: “Do you want to get married quickly?”
Well HELLO!
You probably think I don’t have much to say today because I emailed last Thursday. Well, my fair feathered friends, strap in your seatbelts and hold on to your socks because the email you are about to read is going to be…. pretty good.
On Friday Sister Huffaker and I got to train at Zone Meeting. One of the parts of our training was helping the missionaries learn to use the tools in our Adjusting to Missionary Life handbooks. Let me tell you, those books are inspired. 🙂 For those of you who don’t know, missionary work is stressful and hard and we missionaries need all the help we can get.
Our first activity was teaching the missionaries how to use positive self talk and talk back to negative thinking. That’s something I am always needing to work on so I stood in the middle of the room. Sister Huffaker stood behind my left shoulder and acted as a negative voice. Then we had some missionaries line up and rewrite my “negative thoughts.” However, to mix things up, they had to sing each positive thought. We started our own fun little musical and I got to stand there and hear Elders and Sisters sing things to me like, “You are a really great missionary and you are doing a good job. You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. Just keep working. You can turn this around.”
All the missionaries even started snapping so they had something to sing to. It was may too fun.
Now you want to hear about our second activity? Sister Huffaker and I borrowed some instruments from Russell Lucki, our recent convert, so that we could help the missionaries in our zone apply the handbook’s teachings and relax. We used a rainstick, a tambourine, and some chimes. I wish y’all could’ve been there. Sister Huffaker had all the missionaries close their eyes and then she read to them:
Sit comfortably and close your eyes.
–
Concentrating on one part of your body at a time,
look for any tension.
Consciously relax that part of your body.
Feel all the tension draining away
like sand running through your fingers…
All this while having the soothing rainstick, the chimes, and the tambourine playing in the background. You probably had to be there but it was hilarious. She continued through the whole exercise and everybody felt great after. I think they were all pretty certain we’ve gone crazy though.
I’m grateful for the resources our Heavenly Father gives us to have joy, relax, and progress. 🙂
I was at the Schulze’s this week and Elora (3 years old) got to be an “angelnary” (missionary) with me. 🙂 See attached picture. She likes to help us with the lessons. We were on splits this day so it was extra nice because I needed a companion. 🙂 She told me that her mom was having a baby and that she, Elora, was going to have her very own baby too. Her older Sister Savannah (5 years old) made sure I knew that it would only be a doll.
I asked, “Savannah, will you get a baby doll, too?”
She responded by telling me that she was way too big for that. So I asked her what things she liked and she told me. “I like big things. Like sparkly things. I like pretty things. I like rainbows. Rainbows are pretty things.”
So now I know, big kid things=rainbows, sparkly things, and pretty things.
Anyway. I’ve been giving a lot of my “Final Testimonies” the last few weeks. My last Zone Conference, Zone Meeting, MLC, and Sacrament Meeting. In MLC president forgot I was going home and had the others bear their testimonies, so I decided I must not be returning home. 😉 But I went up anyway and he said, “I guess we just don’t want to admit that some of you are leaving us.”
When I got up to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting, I looked at Bishop and he started to cry, which made me get teary eyed so I made Sister Huffaker go first so I could compose myself. Then Bishop came up to me after and said, “That was your last Sacrament Meeting testimony.”
I told him he shouldn’t say things like that.
However, with all of these “Last testimonies” I am really pausing to evaluate what it is that I do know. It’s a pretty cool thing. I’d like to invite all of you to reflect on the things you know and what you would say if you only had one more chance to bear your testimony. Then write it down. Will you do that? Thanks. 😉 I’ll follow up next week.
When I was on splits with Sister Tenny this week I got kissed. Elora, my missionary buddy gave me a kiss on the cheek. But what was really weird was watching my companion kiss a boy. Sister Tenny kissed her husband goodbye and I almost fainted. Then I remembered she’s married. 😐
When I was on splits with Sister Abrams (one of my role models) her husband asked me if I was going to go home and get married right away. How the heck do I answer that?!
I guess I should’ve told him to ask all the women of the ward. They are set on me returning and marrying David Archuletta. I get to hear about that all the time. Anyway. It’s a weird thing to have everyone know that I am going home soon. But it’s good because I feel like I get a constant reminder to WORK HARD AND FINISH STRONG. I have the rest of my life to be a member- I only have two more weeks to be a full time missionary. 🙂
I LOVE YOU. I love my mission. and I LOVE MY SAVIOR.
LOVE,
Sister Meservy
