Week 46: EPIC policy change!

In case you didn't hear all the whooping and cheering from 60,000ish missionary moms--we got some amazing news last week.  For the past several decades, full-time missionaries have been asked to focus completely on the work of spreading the gospel to the extent that they were asked to sacrifice frequent contact with their families back home, aside from a weekly letter (or email, these days).  Missionaries were allowed to call home only on Mother's Day and Christmas.  Last week, that all changed, and now missionaries are allowed to call home each week on their P-day (preparation day--the day they do laundry and shopping and such), and for parents' birthdays, family events, and other culturally significant holidays.  Some of the reaction has been cynical, but I see tremendous potential for miracles within families and the church in general.

So, on Monday, which is Sister Fairbanks's P-day, she had nothing to do while her companion called home to talk to her GINORMOUS family, so Becca started chatting with me on Facebook Messenger.  She couldn't call me at the same time as her companion, because of cell phone data restrictions on their plan--basically, the call quality is bad enough with one of them calling, and it was atrocious with both of them at the same time.  So, we chatted for an hour while she waited.  I can't believe how much fun we had!  Then we finally got to video chat, and we talked for another hour!  Now, don't worry--we won't take that much of her time every week.  We were just giddy about the new change and had a lot to say!  I tend to think that now that we can talk each week, we'll probably find that 10-20 minutes will be enough.  And she seriously had nothing else to do at the time.  I did, but I didn't care! 😜 Anyway, it was fun and sweet and spiritual, and I am just so grateful!!!  Later, when they were at the laundromat (which they said is so gross compared to others they've seen), Becca messaged me with a scriptural question, and we chatted for a moment about that.  I mean, HOW GREAT IS THAT???!!!  My momma heart is just overflowing, and I float each time I realize that I will only have to wait one week at a time now. 💓💓💓

In the meantime, despite the policy change, we both thought it would be a shame if we let this make us lazy about sending emails, because these written exchanges will be such a treasure to us in the future.  So, I will continue to email her on Sunday night so that she will have something to read Monday morning.  And considering the fact that she knew she would be calling us in a couple of hours, the email she sent me was still fairly long!  Here's a screenshot from our video chat and a video snippet, followed by basically her entire email to me, minus two paragraphs that she cut and pasted into the group email.

MOM!!! 

I AM SO EXCITED TO TALK TO YOU TODAY!!! We got the news on Friday in the middle of zone conference. President Vest didn't even know about it until right then, so he and Sister Vest were working out some guidelines right in front of us all, hehe. He is SO excited. So were we! I could have leaped for joy!! I just kept giggling instead. You should have seen the faces on those missionaries. Priceless. Also, is the Lord hastening the work or what?! 

SO. It sounds like you have heard most of the guidelines already. I will initiate all communications and only on Mondays. I can make calls to my immediate family, so you and dad. If others in the fam happen to be with you that's cool too (and so exciting.) I just can't make separate calls to anyone else. I'm glad Rissa is still living at home, haha. We received a couple of documents from President Vest with information on all of this and I thought I would share it with you. I found it rather inspiring and there are things in them that I definitely have as goals for this new change. He talked about it being an opportunity to share our testimonies and strengthen our families. I am so excited to share even more experiences with you. Now it can seem like you are even more involved in my mission than you already are. I try to share experiences over email, but let's be honest - there are some stories that I have been too lazy to type out. 😂 

I am planning on video calling through Facebook today, if that works for you. It won't be video chat every week, but I'm sure we'll figure out a good pattern. :) I'm wicked excited (<--- color="#38761d" font="" lol="" made="" me="" phrase="" that="">. Also, I totally agree with keeping the emails up. It will be easy with my new keyboard too. 

Thank you so much!! I loved the Valentine's package you sent me!! Sister Hamblin said thank you for the chocolate as well. You are the first companion's mom that has ever sent anything to her. :) I wasn't expecting a Valentine's gift! Thank you!! ❤ All the cars were awesome and I love the jewelry Nona and Poppa and Grandma sent me. The olive branch ring has already claimed one of my fingers till the day I die. 

Did Rissa get my letter? 

This week has been good! I don't remember much.... I must consult my journal. Monday was a very busy p-day. We got some more yarn for free from a friend of ours. Knitting has become my new obsession. 😂 I do it during lunch and dinner hours if I am caught up on my journal. I've gotten pretty fast too! And Sister Hamblin has been knitting. She knitted me a scarf. ❤ 

It was pretty warm at the beginning of the week. So like 20s. But everyone kept warning us of this huge storm coming on Tuesday evening. They even closed schools and some businesses early. You would think that they would be used to all the snow up here, but they have snow days all the time. Sometimes I don't understand why. There have been a couple of storms that if I was in Utah I would have definitely still had to go to school. They're funny up here. Anyway, we were walking that afternoon when the storm hit. It was pretty epic! It coated our hair pretty quickly and we needed up cancelling our evening appointments and doing them over video chat instead of in person. It was also -2 degrees and I am surprisingly used to that temperature. Never thought I would say that. 

We had a lady let us in her home while we were tracting the other night. She just let us in to warm up a bit, but we got to visit with her. Turns out she is good friends with one of our members. We asked if she had a religion, she said Wiccan. Interesting. She was nice though. 

...

Friday we had zone conference! It was so good, as always. I love President and Sister Vest and it was so good to see them. ❤ We got some awesome training as well. President Vest talked about avoiding negative thoughts and not allowing our heads to get clouded with doubts or discouragement. And to stop beating ourselves up. I need that. Then we did the doctrinal discussion portion of zone conference. Best part. We talked about the doctrine of repentance. 🤯 Mind blown. It was so good. We discussed how repentance is such a gift and confessing and forsaking are necessary. President helped us to understand the hope that repentance brings. It's mostly things I've probably heard before, but it was a good reminder. And he gave some new insights. I'll have to look at my notes again to remember it all. 

...

We helped some people look for their dog for about an hour the other night. While we were looking we had three more cars stop us and ask if we had seen the same dog. It was funny to see their faces when we said that we were already looking for Jake. Haha. 

On Saturday we helped on of our dear friends, Helen, work on her family history. She is not a member but she's got the spirit of Elijah. We actually got to teach her about that this week. She said it was funny that we all get so excited about genealogy. (Sister Hamblin and I had just had a miracle happen and we were able to  connect a huge chunk of tree after we merged one person.) We explained that the prophet Malachi had prophesied that this would happen. She thought that was pretty cool. 

I will plan on calling you around... I don't know when. 😂 I'll message you. 

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! 

Here's the group email:

Good Morning! 

This week has been a whirlwind! Kind of like every week. Haha. 

The weather has been crazy as always. People kept warning us of a storm that was coming on Tuesday. We were walking that afternoon when the storm hit. It was pretty epic! It coated our hair pretty quickly and we needed up cancelling our evening appointments and doing them over video chat instead of in person. It was also -2 degrees and I am surprisingly used to that temperature. Never thought I would say that. 

Friday we had zone conference! It was so good, as always. I love President and Sister Vest and it was so good to see them. ❤ We got some awesome training as well. After the meetings, President Vest took us out to the parking lot and we did something that I will cherish forever. He led us in a cheer: "Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah for Israel!" I have always loved that cheer and it was so powerful to do it with the missionaries that I love. SO COOL. 

We had a lesson with Lauren and Karen on Saturday night. Lauren brought her cousin Felicity who had met us a couple weeks ago. Lauren and Karen have been sharing what they are learning with her! So she sat through the whole lesson and said she would read the Book of Mormon too! It was awesome! Another one of our investigators, Madison, has been sharing what she's learning with her siblings and friends too! We taught her siblings a lesson when they were up here visiting and we taught one of her friends on campus yesterday. Canton is catching on fire! The work here is amazing! We've had so much fun and joy here. I love it. 

Oh, also WE GET TO TALK TO OUR PARENTS EVERY WEEK! It's been emails only, but now we get to call or text or video chat with them!!! SO excited!! 

Have a fantastic week! 

Sister Fairbanks