Week 52: Officially One Year Out!!

March 28th marked one year since we dropped off our sweetie at the Provo MTC!  In some ways, it feels like she hasn't been gone long at all, but in other, very significant ways, it feels like she's been gone for YEARS.  I hope the next 6 months will fly by!!

Here are some snippets from her April 1st email to me:

Something neat happened on Tuesday. We do service with a couple, Joe and Mia, who just had a grandbaby die two weeks ago. From the pictures I've seen I don't think he was even a year old. They are devastated. They didn't come to the thrift store for a week. We know they are Christian and belong to a church here in Canton. We were hoping that we would be able to share a little bit of the doctrine that we know from the Book of Mormon that gives us so much hope about children dying young. Well while we were folding clothes in the back, Joe came to talk to us for a minute. He told us a little about their grieving process. Then he asked us what we believed. *miracle* We were able to tell him that they are taken home to that God who gave them life and they are saved. Children are so precious in the sight of God. He kind of gave a thoughtful "Hm" and thanked us and left the room. I'm really hoping that as they continue to work with sister missionaries that they will open their hearts to the gospel. They are so amazing. 

WE SAW A ROBIN ON TUESDAY! SPRING IS HERE!

We had apartment inspections on Friday morning. The senior couple, the Lesters, looked at this place top to bottom. He opened cupboards, dressers, random places I didn't know exsisted. We passed with flying colors! He said this was the best apartment he's ever been in. I spent a good chunk of the week doing some super scrubbing, not just the passable light clean on Monday. Twas sparkling. I think all of my companions have said, "Will you come to my house and clean for me?" Haha. So I attribute that to you. Thanks for teaching me how to clean and organize. :)

The Catholic mass was SO cool on Saturday. You know how I am about learning about other religions and history and stuff. It was amazing... President Nelson had a good point after meeting with the Pope when he said, "There are doctrinal differeneces -- and they're important -- but not as important as finding common ground." It was a cool meeting. The nicest Catholics I have met in New York are here in Canton.

Apparently the sight of Sister Fairbanks standing at the fridge with the door open is a common sight, and Sister Hamblin thinks it's so funny!  In Becca's defense, she comes by that trait honestly--I guess it's one of our favorite thinking places... 😂

The other pic is a blanket that Becca knitted for Sister Hamblin.  Not bad for someone who's just kind of making it up as she goes along!  I need to send her some yarn...

Here's the group email:

Good Morning! 

This week in New York was fantastic! We had some pretty cool things happen. It made this week go by SO fast. Spring is kind of coming to the North Country. We saw a robin on Tuesday! Then it snowed on Sunday. So kind of, haha. :D 

On Wednesday we had an appointment with someone, but he wasn't home. So we decided to see if his neighbor, whom we have met before, wanted to meet with us since the sun was out that day. He did! His name is Kenny and we had a great lesson with him on his front porch. It's nice to start meeting with people outside again and Kenny is awesome. We taught him about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and he seemed to like it. I hope we will be able to keep teaching him. 

On Thursday I hit my one year mark!!! I've been a missionary for a whole year and I couldn't be happier. Being a missionary is a lot of fun. :) 

On Friday we took a drive to the south part of our area to try and contact a few people we have down there. We also took a tiny detour to find this place on our map called Fairbanks Corners! The drive was pretty and we had a really good time. We had to take some crazy backroads to get there. You see some strange things in the boonies... We finally got to Fairbanks Corners. There was absolutely nothing! It's a three-way intersection near nothing. Not even a sign, haha. It's pretty common to find that intersections are named out here, but sometimes they at least have a sign. Not this one! We took a picture anyway. :D 

On Saturday we had the opportunity to attend Catholic mass. It was really neat. We know a few Catholics in the community, including the pastor, Father Stitt. He is so kind! He's a younger guy and has met us a couple of times when we went to help at the church. We mostly went to mass so we could sign up to help at their Easter dinner service and he was excited to hear that. I've never been to mass and I found it so fascinating! I was stunned to hear the similarities between our doctrines and I have met the kindest people that belong to St. Mary's. They have a beautiful, old chapel. I'm sure that the two sister missionaries sitting near the back stood out like a couple of sore thumbs. Oh well! It was great. 

General Conference is coming this weekend!!! I'm super excited and I hope you all are too! It should be a fantastic conference. Have a great week! 

Sister Fairbanks 

1 - Fairbanks Corners 

2 - oh well!