Highlights of a Not-So-Typical Missionary Week

After helping a member move one of his buddies out of the graduate dorms, Sister Kanani and Sister Jordan were able to talk with another one of his friends.  

“She is Muslim and has been reading the Book of Mormon.  She couldn't understand why we need a Savior or advocate with God, and a few other points.  It was so much fun to talk with her and show her how similar our religions are.  Her face just lit up as I talked about the similarities between the 5 Pillars of Islam and our beliefs.  She since has gone back to Africa but hopefully it gave her some things to think about.”

Thursday night Sister Kanani had the opportunity to have dinner with the Johnson family in Belmont. Because the Sisters are in their son’s Ward and he is trying to make a decision about a serving a mission, it was thought to be a good idea for the missionaries to come over and talk with him.  It was awesome. Sister Johnson is the former Jane Clayson, an Emmy winning journalist and author who began her career with KSL-TV in SLC, Utah. She has worked as a correspondent for ABC and CBS news organizations covering and reporting events all over the world. She authored the book, “I Am a Mother!” which chronicles her decision to leave the network news business to have a family.

Over the weekend, the Sisters hosted a young woman for a mini missionary experience. Not much was a truly typical missionary experience, however, the young woman seemed to really enjoy it.

Sister Kanani got to talk in CRW. “It was on hope.  I talked about finding out about my Dad's cancer and how I didn't really have a Godly sense of hope, but my Mom did. Then I explained how we could gain a Godly sense of hope.  I also shared about the night before receiving my mission call.  And then tied all of it into sharing the gospel as everyday members. Apparently it was good.  I don't remember a lot of it but almost everyone came up afterwards and told me thank you for the talk.”

“Monday, Memorial Day was so much fun!!  We had invited all the Sisters in the Mission to come over and just have a relaxing day with the MBM family.  We had about 6 companions stay throughout the whole day and then 3 stop by after going to the Temple.  I got to see Sister Christensen, Brother W., and Sister Caldwell. We didn't realize it but the local parade route went right in front of our apartment.  So we sat on the garage roof and watched.  It was awesome.  It was just a nice relaxed day.”  

“This coming weekend will be different and crazy.  With a fireside in Marlborough on Saturday, and T-texts,  and another fireside on Sunday in Groton, there will be a lot of driving and running around. Yet being in Marlborough and Groton again... one of the best b-day presents the Lord could give me.”

A Week in the Missionary Life of Sister K.

Monday night we were able to have a lesson with a wonderful young woman who has been investigating the Church for about 3 years now.  She hasn't met with missionaries for quite some time but she came up to Sister Jordan on Sunday and asked to meet with us.  So we did.  She is really just working on coming to know that there is a God and what that means.  So far she's gone from no God to there's a source of light and love but not so sure that's God.  So we are working with her to help her learn that there is a God.  We had a really good discussion.

After the discussion, went home to prepare for the Belmont Sisters to come over.  We had exchanges!  Yay!

Tuesday, Sister Garcia and I went to a lesson with Sabrina to read the Book of Mormon with her while Sister Jordan and Sister Bauchanon when to a rehearsal for the musical fireside. Afterwards, Sister Garcia and I went back to the Belmont apartment to plan for our lessons.  We started planning with 3 appointments and by the end of planning all but one had cancelled. But that's okay, right?  Our lesson went well.

  

We went home for dinner and then tried to contact a less active and a potential.  Then just ended up walking around the Temple eating ice cream for half an hour.  It was a good night just to talk and get advice from someone who had to do the whole transition from out side the city to serving in the city too.

Wednesday, we met back up with the other sisters, debriefed about the experience and then went back to "normal" life.

  

That day we had a lesson with Felicia, who is all ready to be baptized, and then said goodbye because she's moving to Texas for the summer.  We will contact the missionaries in Texas so they can keep teaching her and help her make covenants.

Thursday we went to another practice for the musical fireside. Travel time was at least an hour each way.

  

After that we headed to Quincy Market to meet up with Sister Stevens, her parents and her little sister.  It was really good to see her again and to finally be able to meet her parents.  We spent maybe an hour with them before all of us had to leave to make our dinner appointments.

  

Friday was District meeting, then more practicing for the musical fireside. 

Saturday we met with Audrey.  She opened up to us about some fears she had with joining the Church and we think we laid them to rest.  But we asked her to pray to know if God is really there. We will see where that leads us.

At 3 pm, the APs picked us and 2 other companionships up and we headed up to Nashua, New Hampshire to set up for the fireside. It was a good fireside. A combination between music and testimonies.  A few non- members were there so that's awesome.  

Sunday was as crazy as usual.  But we were able to Skype home for Mother’s Day, so it was a good day.  

Wonder Twins

Sister Stevens returns to visit after her release. Standing with Sister Kanani in downtown Boston.

Digital Missionaries, Musical Firesides, & Trio to Duo

Trivia question:   What are digital missionaries?

Answer:   “A new thing that this area (the Massachusetts Boston Mission) is trying out.  Basically they are full time missionaries but they spend some of the time on the computer using the internet for good and spreading the Gospel through Facebook, blogs, and other social media.  A lot of the work is done by members but some just needs to be done by people who don't have jobs or school to worry about.”

 [There is an area in one of the chapels in the area set up for the digital missionaries from which to work.]

“We might have gotten a shout out in General Conference...from Elder Cook... I think.”

How awesome is that? 

Sundays are very hectic for Sister Kanani and her companions with almost 12 hours straight of meetings. One of her companions is in charge of the musical firesides throughout the Mission so this adds another dimension of missionary work not experienced before. The Mission President and his family are very musically talented so when there is a musical fireside scheduled in the Boston area, they are usually scheduled to be part of the program.

On Monday of this week, the missionaries were able to see and handle two first editions of the Book of Mormon at Harvard. Sister K. described it as “awesome.”

The week was mixed with teaching lessons to investigators, all of which were good lessons, and planning and organizing for musical firesides. Since Sister Jordan is in charge of putting them on all over the mission, there is a lot of time put into organizing and practicing.

On Thursday, news came that changes were being made due to medical issues with some of the sister missionaries. One of those changes was to be in Westerly, RI where Sister Kanani just came from. Although she has dreamed of serving in Boston and is happy to be there, a huge part of her heart is still in the Westerly / Waterford area.

Turned out that Sister Preszler would be transferred to Westerly to be with Sister Christensen. When asked if the trio was back to a duo, Sister K. responded: “Yup.  Just me and Sister Jordan taking on Boston. haha”

Sister Christensen drove her companion to Boston so the switch could be made with Sister Preszler and she was able to stay overnight. Since Sister Jordan was singing for a program for the Boston Stake on Saturday, all 4 Sisters got to help out.  

Sister Kanani: “And boy did we help out.  Maybe I'll be an event planner when I get home..... Who knows.”

Again, Sunday was hectic with 2 Sisters covering 4 Wards.  

During the middle of the day Sister Kanani got a text from Sister Christensen: <Guess who our RS president is?!> 

“It's totally Teddie (Pesch).  I love that woman so much and she'll be awesome in that calling.”  

Sister Kanani says that she is settling into the city a little bit better everyday.  Just trying to be happy where her feet are.