Much Candid, Many Missionary

First week of the new transfer!

It being memorial day weekend the sites have gotten super busy. Tour after tour after tour. It is honestly very exhausting. I come home every day and just collapse into bed. A good description of what it feels like is this announcement that Elder Bradford, our site director, wrote to all the site sisters: "As it warms up please always stay hydrated, wear sun screen (and a hat if necessary), watch yourself for ticks, wear mosquito repellent when necessary and have a fabulous time determining what people's needs are and having the Holy Ghost tell you how to meet those needs." Yup. Also, last week I mentioned Elder Bradford riding around in golf carts. Thought I'd include a picture of that here:

Anyway, the Lord definitely provides strength I never thought possible.  I'll be coming back from a tour, find a missionary just leaving on another tour, a hoard of more guests coming in, not think I can do it, then end up having a fabulous spiritual experience. The Lord is good.

At the beginning of the week we had training for all the new sisters and their companions. It definitely brought back memories from my first week here and how overwhelmed I felt, thinking I would never learn anything. But Lo! Here I am eight months in, and the sites sincerely feel like home. It rained both days at the Grandin and Smith Farm, but that didn't stop us! Here are some pictures of all the sisters in the rain and my loverly companion Sister Canova! (who is the most chill and awesome companion. Casually taught English in China, no big deal) Fancy photo creds to Sister Jacobsen and her fancy camera.

Training at the Grandin Building:

Also, while serving at the Hill Sister Canova's cousins were here on a family trip (that happens a lot at the sites) so we gave them a tour. We've recently been encouraged to take people to the Hill (as opposed to staying and only giving a tour in the visitors' center) so we walked to the top of and while sharing Moroni's experience they snapped a pic. Much candid, many missionary.

While serving at the Smith farm I gave a tour to family from home. The Allens! Their backs were turned and I approached them with the question "Where are ya'll from?" on my lips, and as soon as I hear Greensboro North Carolina and they turn around I go, "I KNOW YOU!" It was very sweet and a great experience to share a piece of my mission life with people from the good old "Boro.

This week has very much made me appreciate my mission so far. Since there are so many full time site sisters this transfer (7 of us!) they have a few of us attend the Canandaigua ward now instead of Palmyra. It was so much fun to come back and see so many familiar faces and people I've come to know and love. Also, just yesterday I was giving a tour to a family at the Grandin and up from the elevator walks Glen Baker. Who is Glen Baker you might ask? Glen is a member of the Lyons ward we'd have dinner with every week, and there are lots of memories of dinners at Glen's. I waved him over and he joined for the last little bit. After the tour we caught up with each other and he asked if I was the missionary who gave him the invitation to read the Book of Mormon every day. I was--slightly surprised he had even remembered the invitation. He then looked at me and said he hadn't missed a day since inviting him. You never know what kind of effect, big or small, you leave. Kind of made my day.

We've served quite a bit at the Grandin building and with me being pensive and looking back, it made me wonder how Joseph would have felt when the first page of the Book of Mormon was printed. All important characters were present. Joseph, Martin, Oliver, Grandin, and a few others. Fresh from the press, they passed the large sheet between their circle, and Joseph--I can only imagine how he was feeling. Generations of work, civilizations of people finally having their story told. Joseph himself had spent the past almost ten years of his life preparing for this book to be received in the world. Someone present said, "...passed it to the prophet himself, who seemed to be examining every letter, and without speaking gave it into the hands of his father and Harris..." So much had been done, yet there was still so much ahead. I feel a little like that, and only hope I am able to cherish every last second.

I love you all and hope you know you are in my prayers, and I can feel yours every day helping and moving me along! Take care this week!

-Hermana Abreu

P.S The Grove is gorgeous. Enjoy.

A Loose Brick and a New Mother!

Hey everyone! Yet another transfer came and went and it looks like I'm staying full time! Much excitement, many shouts of glee. I really can't get enough of the sites. Sadly, Sister Barrett and I's time together is up. It's been a fabulous two, almost three weeks. I wouldn't have wanted to spend it with anyone other than this lady.

With transfers I have moved yet again (just a little farther down Stafford Road, on the new NEW White House), and I am follow up training Sister Canova! She was trained her first transfer by Sister Moberly (my fabulous previous companion who came with me from the MTC, and left me in Newark a few months ago) in Buffalo, and now I am here to train her at the sites! She has some pretty derpy mothers, but I know she will get along from our training just fine :)

And yes, she is very tall--I feel inadequate to be her mother.

The sites this week have been picking up (from what I hear they will pick up more steadily and then by Memorial Day it will just BAM--people). So there are still some slow moments but that's alright! Today for site meeting we all met together at the Smith farm and Elder Bradford sent us out in the fields. We had to pretend each missionary was ten people, then we role played a few tours. Lots of standing on benches, lots of yelling at people. Also, Elder Bradford riding around on gold carts. It was a very merry time.

I served three times in a row at the Whitmer farm so that was quite the experience. Lots of driving, lots of music and jamming. Also, lots of tours! Well, not more than the usual, but lots of tours telling about the Whitmers! I've begun to lose track of how many times I've served there, which is a good thing because I know it pretty well now! I had a pretty cool experience with a group that came in and casually said they were related to a maid of the Whitmers. As we go throughout the tour and I mention how her name was Sarah Heller, but soon became Sarah Conrad, they freeze and say, "our maiden name is Conrad" and that pretty much did it. So here's a picture of me with some relatives of Sarah Conrad. Sarah was the woman I told about in last week's story :) I also have a picture of me and the town of Waterloo sign. Waterloo is the small town in the township of Fayette where the Whitmer farm is located, so we always pass it when coming up. This time we decided to stop and take pictures!

We also walked the Hill Cumorah as a house last week for P-day, and were eaten alive by mosquitoes. But what can you do?

One day at the Smith farm all the curly haired sisters were serving. We are commonly known as the curly fries :)

That same day at the Smith farm I took a tour of at first just a couple from Utah, but then more people walked in and it soon became a family from Utah, and then a family of investigators. It was the coolest experience: the family of investigators were from the Utica mission boundaries and had been invited by their sisters to come to the sites. They'd been investigating the church for a while, but nothing was coming of it, so to quote the father Richie,"we're just coming seeking some guidance". They of course, came to the right place. As we go on the other families in the tour bore powerful testimonies and witnessed themselves that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Literally, member present lesson. SO COOL.

In the frame home, the little boy of the investigator family was fascinated by the original bricks of the hearth where underneath they buried the plates (and proceeded to pick up the one lose one in the whole fireplace). Watching him though, I got an image of what it must have been like for Joseph Smith. Joseph was hard pressed for hiding places inside the families small frame home, so they had to get a bit creative. With each brick he cemented his life's purpose underneath the hearth. While hidden there a mob came bustling down Stafford Road, intent on stealing the plates. Joseph gathered his family outside the home and they made as much noise as possible, clapping hands, screaming, kicking. Joseph himself yelled like a drill sergeant, "Come on men, get ready!" The mob, believing there to be an army surrounding the home, fled.

It is through small and simple means that the Lord moves his work forward, and protects those instruments and people engaged in it. I can assure you, if you are looking to the Lord in everything you do, He will lead and guide your path.

I love you all and hope the rest of your week is fantabulous!

Hermana Abreu

First Week of Not-Transfers!

Wow, yet another week.

First things first, Sister Barrett is the most wonderful companion ever. We do lots of Miranda voice impressions and just have a blast. To give you a little taste of us and the place we live I filmed a house tour!

(I think it uploaded at the end of the email, just scroll down there!)

So the proselyting sisters who live fairly close to us, serving in the Farmington area (a town right beside Palmyra), come POUNDING on our door one evening while we are weekly planning declaring they needed my Spanish. It turned out they found a family from El Salvador that didn't speak any English and they needed a Spanish sister to translate. So I went to the first lesson with them and only the mother was there, Blanca. It was SUCH a blessing to teach her. Truly, a lesson I will never forget. We've gone over a second time, so we're figuring that we'll attend lessons with them after our shifts our over for the next little bit. I am PUMPED.

In terms of serving at the sites, we served at the Whitmer farm and on the long drive over there we pass a great big "Jesus is Coming" sign, and always shout out "Amen to that!" This time we decided to stop and take a picture. 

We've also served at the Smith farm some. One evening it was fairly slow so Sister Barrett and I decided to go walk the grounds and jump the fence into the apple orchard. It was lots of fun. 

Also served at the Hill (can't serve enough at all the sites as Full time sisters!) The past few days though have been rainy and cold and not very May-esque. Kind of sad, but it serves for cute pictures in the rain near the Hill Cumorah! 

We also had the chance to go to temple this morning, cashing in all of our six month temple attendances. Not being able to go really makes you treasure the joy that the temple is. There is such a peace in that special house of the Lord. Please, if you haven't gone in a while--and even if you have, go to the temple. It will bring you such peace. 

Seeing as how Mother's day is soon upon us, I of course must share the experience of a grand mother by the name of Lucy Mack Smith. Being the mother of a prophet was no easy task. She was the first person Joseph saw upon emerging from the Grove that clear Spring day. She watched as her fourteen year old son--dragging himself like a man with hundreds of more years on his shoulders--slumped into the kitchen of their log home, leaning against the mantel, eyes glazed over at the glowing fire. She was the one to ask what was the matter with him and he simply replied, "All is well, I have learned for myself..." Though she didn't write her thoughts, I believe her testimony of her son's work began right around there, and it was a testimony never to be shaken. Years later, when called upon to leave her beautiful farm home behind she said of the occasion, "I will not cast one longing look on all that I leave behind me." She left it all for the love of the gospel and the trust in her son. She truly was a mother to behold.

I know of a few other mothers worthy of much admiration, one of them being mine. I am STOKED to be able to talk with her and all of the rest of the family this mother's day! See you fairly soon!

Hermana Abreu

P.S Here are some funny pictures!

Sister Lytle, Sister Barrett, and I all have curly hair so we all wear turby twists, the fabulous towel that dries hair without damaging curls

While trying to be candid in the apple orchard I turned into an alien:

Outside the Hill is this beautiful Book of Mormon display that didn't work so well with all the lighting. Sister Mummy Abreu:

An Unexpected Call...

Hello all!

Apologies this email is so late! So I have some pretty sad news, a sister in the mission named Sister Rae is going home early for medical reasons. She has full intentions of returning when it is all figured out, but until then--I have been emergency transferred to be companions with Sister Barret, her previous companion. I am super excited because I love Sister Barret lots, she was VCT when I came into the mission. I'll be leaving behind lots of memories though. The past month of my mission has honestly been the best. I will miss the trio lots. Sister Barret is also a full time sister, however she lives at the White House closer to the Smith farm, so today has been filled with packing and scrambling around.

Saying goodbye to Lucy (the van for all the sisters living at the old White House--named after
Mother Smith and her gaggle of eight, later nine children):

Since the other White House is super closer I didn't pack everything in the suitcases and just threw lots of things in the car, this is the mess that ensued:

On the sunny side the new White House is literally on the Smith Farm property (for anyone who has visited it's the houses by the parking spots), and the Sacred Grove is LITERALLY my backyard. Again, I am astounded by my mission and the opportunities and experiences afforded here.

In terms of this week the sites have been a little slower, but the tours that have come in have been some of the best tours ever! A group of youth leaders from a stake in Virginia came into the Hill inspecting everything for an upcoming youth conference with these fancy "Ask of God" binders. Almost thought they were from Salt Lake for a second. We start talking to them and Sister Tucker begins to explain her conversion story, and this group of five or six adults literally sit on the carpet and listen to Sister Tucker as if she were their pre-school teacher. The tour that followed really got us all pumped up for the summer when their youth group will be coming!

Us with the fancy binders and cool adults:

At the Smith farm I was able to give a tour to some past ward members in the Lyons ward, the Dors. They are a sweet family with lots of girls (one who is named Nauvoo, very pretty name), and they were just a delight. One of the daughters kept picking up the flowers that are popping up in all the meadows and handing them to me. By the end she commented on how I looked like a bride.

Me with all my flowers:

And just today while serving the morning shift at the Smith farm a group of young adults walk in looking pretty windblown and to be very frank---very cool. They then begin to explain they are biking through the U.S and this was one of their stops. I was very intimidated by their cool cat hipster-ness so I grabbed Sister Tucker along and it was one of the best tours EVER. They were all members of the church, most returned missionaries, except for their friend they brought along named Roberto. He was from Tijuana Mexico. Sister Tucker and I both shared the First Vision in the log home in Spanish and English and--wow, really those are the only words. What a privilege it is to be here.

Here are some more pictures of the week:

A group house picture, so many memories in this house!

Being our true selves, there's Hurmunah again:

There are super pretty tulips outside the Smith farm I needed to take a picture. Gorgeous:

A story I'm making more well known as I serve at the Smith farm is that of young Joseph Smith--a mere ten years old. As his family was traveling from Vermont to Palmyra to escape a particularly cold winter (albeit, it's not that much better here), Mother Lucy ran out of money on the last leg of the trip and their driver abandoned them. They were able to hitch a ride with a family by the name of Gates, traveling on sleigh. Sadly, Joseph, still recovering and limping from his leg surgery a few years prior, was on the last sleigh and one of the Gates boys knocked him over. His family far ahead, and unable to arise himself, in his own words he said, "I was left to wallow in my own blood." By the grace of a loving Heavenly Father though, a stranger stumbled upon Joseph and gathered him in his arms. He carried the soon to be prophet the last few miles into the town of Palmyra--the cradle of the Restoration. We don't know that man or what happened to him, but his act of kindness forever effected Joseph.

This week, take time and think of ways you can lift a fallen person. I promise you there are many, and the Lord will guide and prompt your thoughts as you pray for opportunities to--you never know what may come of it.

I really love you all! All my love from the sunlit Smith farm!

Hermana Abreu