My dearest family,
It's a balmy 90 degrees here in Boston with 80 percent humidity. Sister Hollan and I just played some tennis with our Elders (we schooled them- I think my District Leader feels threatened at my superior age and tennis skill level) :) and I have never sweat so much in my life. Also, I felt like I couldn't breathe because of the humidity. It was definitely a new experience. :)
So after reading Jord's email, I feel like I haven't given a coherent description of my coordinates. Let me fix that. :) I'm serving in the Cambridge 2nd Ward which is kind of transient- it's basically like a married student ward for Harvard, etc and everyone's gone for the summer, which is tough because no matter what time of the year it is, people have the mentality that they won't be here very long, so they can't do much in terms of member-missionary work/they're off the hook. As our Zone Leader, Elder Mortensen put it (sarcastically), "I didn't realize you could take a break from being a disciple of Christ." :) Oooo... burn. I love our ward though and am really hoping last night's message at the broadcast will help get the ball rolling. I mean, President Christensen's son, Matt Christensen, is our new bishop as of a few weeks, so things should really start taking off.
Speaking of which, I'm still a little confused about what happened with the broadcast last night because we couldn't get it to work in our chapel for the first 30 minutes. And then after that, the sound wouldn't work, so we read the captions for the rest of the time. Makes note-taking kind of difficult... :) Pretty sure we missed some of the big announcements, but we've been updated by the mission president since then and it all sounds AWESOME!
P.S. We meet in the Stake Center on Binney Street in Cambridge and it is beautiful! All classy and bricked and most of the art inside is Minerva Teichert, who is my favorite!
Bright side to our ward: There are some FANTASTIC member-missionaries in our ward. Our ward mission leader, Brother Losee, just finished at Harvard and has had us working with his friend Daina from my second day here in Boston. Sister Hollan and I adore her. She's leaving for the summer on some travelling adventures, but we've made a lot of progress in our lessons with her. She really enjoys the discussions and has actually been praying and reading. She prayed at the end of our last lesson and thanked Heavenly Father for sending us to give her something "she's been missing in her life." SO AWESOME! We're still trying to figure out if she just enjoys the discussion for intellectual reasons or if she's really feeling something spiritually (ie, the Holy Ghost), but we'll get there. She plans to read the Book of Mormon during her travels this summer and we will keep in contact with her via email. We've asked her to email us questions and she's excited about it. Technology rocks! She came to church with us on Sunday (with coffee on her breath :) that and smoke are the best smells in Sacrament meeting because you know that means there are people there who are progressing). :)
Also, Brother and Sister Salazar in our ward are the coolest. They remind me of Nat and Victor (white girl, Mexican boy) :). He's here at a music Conservatory (not sure which one) for violin and she's working as a nurse. They have us working with their neighbor lady, Ramona, who we adore and she loves us visiting. It's going to take a while to really make the lessons stick- her education level is lower. But she is the sweetest lady and is so ready for the gospel!
The Salazars also have us working with Bro. Salazar's classmate, Allison. We just started working with us last week. She is fantastic! She became a Christian about 5 years ago (already lives our lifestyle... and also has a pet bunny named Barnabus :)) and has explored a LOT of different churches and knows a lot about the Bible. She even trained in a seminary for a while. She told Bro. Salazar she's been looking for a church (BINGO!) and our discussions with her have been good. She's come to church the last two weeks and is coming next week to perform with Bro. Salazar and Sis. Hollan (piano performance major at BYU!). After church this last week, she told Bro. Salazar that she can totally see herself being a member of our church and she likes what she feels at church, but she wants to make sure what she's feeling isn't just her feelings (To the question, "Is it my feelings or is it the Holy Ghost?" Elder Bednar says, "Stop fussing about it!" :)) and that this really is God's church. She's so ready! :)
Low point of the week: Catherine dropped us. :( We went to visit her and she just doesn't feel like she can commit to anything and doesn't want to slow down our work. Sis. Hollan and I resisted drowning our sorrows in a Dunkin' Donut immediately after walking away. It's a bummer, but I'm grateful for the love I got to feel for her in such a short time.
Alright, I must go, but a few more notes from this week:
-Nicole- THANK YOU for the Disneyland book. I giggled so hard at everyone's answers and at the pics. The best part pic is the last one for 3 reasons. 1- My garments are showing and I had no idea. #embarrassing #noob 2- Fiona has the looniest face. :) 3- Alie has food in her mouth. We are a circus. :)
-Tell Grandma Wheeler thank you for the card and letter! Loved it. And I'm so excited to hear that Staci Spinder made it into her Grad Program. Knew she would! :)
-Can someone PLEASE purchase a hard copy or digital file of the Betas on Splash Mountain?! Lillian's face is just too good! Call Disneyland with the number on the photo (574660)
-Harvard's football stadium is modeled after the Colosseum. Presumptuous, much? :)
-Mom, Dad- if you need a scripture for my missionary plaque, use Mosiah 2:41. :)
Okay, I think that's it. I love you all so very much! Thank you for your letters (snail mail and email). I will be praying for you all (especially Austin). I feel so very blessed to have you all in my life.
Love,
Sister Wheeler
p.s. sorry I never send pictures because I'm so nerdy about being analog... You'll get to see them all when I send my rolls of film to my FIND work family. :)
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