Week 70: Three's Company?
My folks have said for years that two kids playing together is good, and four or more kids playing together is good, but three is asking for trouble... I don't think a missionary trio situation is that dire, by any means, but it sounds like trio life has been an unexpected challenge. Chalk it up to more life experience! Here are some portions of Sister Fairbanks's email to me (followed by a bunch of pics she messaged to me this afternoon!):
Hi MOM!!!
Mission business first ;) Eric is doing great! He is still on date for Saturday and we are setting up the program this week!! We're so excited for him. The Elders Quorum president made a huge announcement about it in Sunday school yesterday and the ward choir is planning on singing for the musical number. It's going to be great. :D
Harold and Melissa didn't make it to church. In fact, they don't want to meet with us again until September. :( They have some stuff they need to work out, but they still want to stay in touch and said they are excited to meet again. We told them to keep reading the Book of Mormon and we are planning on calling them every week. So that's kind of a bummer.
Okay, my week! Trio life is... interesting. Heh heh. Yeah. It's super weird to get used to and a little stressful. I'll explain more in the breakdown of my week. So Monday I hung up [from our video chat] when Sister Hunt came knocking at our door. :) A senior couple brought her down. We put her suitcases in the apartment and then went to the church so she could call her family. Then we went grocery shopping. We got to know her a little and she is a very open person... So she was happy to come here, and excited to be companions with me. She had wanted to be companions with me ever since she met me last summer, so that was surprising! That evening we had a lesson with Chen and spent a little time in Dryden walking. ...
Tuesday was awkward all day. Oh wait, the whole week was awkward. Sister Sessions and I are trying so hard to include Sister Hunt, but she is creating some drag on the jet speed that Sister Sessions and I were going. (Not sure if that made sense?) Sister Sessions was acting a little funny all day, too. I could tell that there were certain things that Sister Hunt was doing that were getting to her. That night it started pouring while we were walking at the park, and Sister Sessions got some puddle-jumping therapy, haha. That was good. We have also been having good little conversations while Sister Hunt showers at night. I wondered at this point if I would end up being a sort of middle-man in the companionship. Confirmed at this point. So I take opportunities when I can to do little informal interviews with each of them to make sure they are doing okay and we're keeping the peace here. More on that later.
Wednesday we had a really good, very motivating district council. There is definitely still room for improvement in my missionary efforts and my attitudes and words. I even felt a little reproof from the Lord this week of things I can work on. I'm so grateful for these experiences though. More on that later too. Anyway. We had personal stewardship calls with Sister Black that afternoon and I think that was good for all of us. Sister Black let me know that both of my companions said they were each doing okay, so that's good. We also learned that night that something we can all agree on is that we like to sing in the car.
Thursday was a little rough. Not too bad. I've honestly still been happy and peaceful during all of this. I'm just a little stressed trying to keep everyone happy. Sister Hunt is not afraid of voicing her opinion, thankfully in a nice way. But she doesn't like being in and out of the car a lot, and she said she likes walking... That night while Sister Sessions was in the shower, Sister Hunt said to me, "You two seem to get along really well." When they swapped places, Sister Sessions told me, "You two seem to be getting along fine." Man! That's what I was afraid of. They don't talk to each other too much. I'm not liking this spot too much.
Friday we made some good goals in weekly planning to make efforts to bring more unity in the companionship. I hope they work. That day was pretty okay. I would write more details about my days, but I'm finding emails very tedious right now, haha. But I'm really doing fine!! I've been blessed with a lot of patience and hope and happiness. This week I have realized a little more just how much I have changed on my mission, especially in the last six months. It's also really hard to put this all into words.
Sunday was fantastic! We had 6 people we are teaching come to church!!!! That's SO MANY!!! Eric, Jim, Khulani, and Barbara came to our ward, and Sister Hully and Martin attend the Trumansburg ward. It was fun to see our ward interact with out people here in Ithaca! This ward is incredible. I was a little worried about how we would handle four different people, but the ward fellowships them without asking and makes them feel welcome. It was awesome. That afternoon we had interviews with President and Sister Vest. That went really well. I was able to have an awesome conversation with President and I told him a little about what is going on. ...That evening was better though...
This week I'm going to try even harder to see the good in everyone, including my companion. I'm looking forward to this week. And to our call!!! ...
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!
❤❤❤ Sister Fairbanks
1 - at Cayuga Lake
2 - interviews with the Vest clan ❤
3 - I'm an awkward third wheel, haha
Hi MOM!!!
Mission business first ;) Eric is doing great! He is still on date for Saturday and we are setting up the program this week!! We're so excited for him. The Elders Quorum president made a huge announcement about it in Sunday school yesterday and the ward choir is planning on singing for the musical number. It's going to be great. :D
Harold and Melissa didn't make it to church. In fact, they don't want to meet with us again until September. :( They have some stuff they need to work out, but they still want to stay in touch and said they are excited to meet again. We told them to keep reading the Book of Mormon and we are planning on calling them every week. So that's kind of a bummer.
Okay, my week! Trio life is... interesting. Heh heh. Yeah. It's super weird to get used to and a little stressful. I'll explain more in the breakdown of my week. So Monday I hung up [from our video chat] when Sister Hunt came knocking at our door. :) A senior couple brought her down. We put her suitcases in the apartment and then went to the church so she could call her family. Then we went grocery shopping. We got to know her a little and she is a very open person... So she was happy to come here, and excited to be companions with me. She had wanted to be companions with me ever since she met me last summer, so that was surprising! That evening we had a lesson with Chen and spent a little time in Dryden walking. ...
Tuesday was awkward all day. Oh wait, the whole week was awkward. Sister Sessions and I are trying so hard to include Sister Hunt, but she is creating some drag on the jet speed that Sister Sessions and I were going. (Not sure if that made sense?) Sister Sessions was acting a little funny all day, too. I could tell that there were certain things that Sister Hunt was doing that were getting to her. That night it started pouring while we were walking at the park, and Sister Sessions got some puddle-jumping therapy, haha. That was good. We have also been having good little conversations while Sister Hunt showers at night. I wondered at this point if I would end up being a sort of middle-man in the companionship. Confirmed at this point. So I take opportunities when I can to do little informal interviews with each of them to make sure they are doing okay and we're keeping the peace here. More on that later.
Wednesday we had a really good, very motivating district council. There is definitely still room for improvement in my missionary efforts and my attitudes and words. I even felt a little reproof from the Lord this week of things I can work on. I'm so grateful for these experiences though. More on that later too. Anyway. We had personal stewardship calls with Sister Black that afternoon and I think that was good for all of us. Sister Black let me know that both of my companions said they were each doing okay, so that's good. We also learned that night that something we can all agree on is that we like to sing in the car.
Thursday was a little rough. Not too bad. I've honestly still been happy and peaceful during all of this. I'm just a little stressed trying to keep everyone happy. Sister Hunt is not afraid of voicing her opinion, thankfully in a nice way. But she doesn't like being in and out of the car a lot, and she said she likes walking... That night while Sister Sessions was in the shower, Sister Hunt said to me, "You two seem to get along really well." When they swapped places, Sister Sessions told me, "You two seem to be getting along fine." Man! That's what I was afraid of. They don't talk to each other too much. I'm not liking this spot too much.
Friday we made some good goals in weekly planning to make efforts to bring more unity in the companionship. I hope they work. That day was pretty okay. I would write more details about my days, but I'm finding emails very tedious right now, haha. But I'm really doing fine!! I've been blessed with a lot of patience and hope and happiness. This week I have realized a little more just how much I have changed on my mission, especially in the last six months. It's also really hard to put this all into words.
Sunday was fantastic! We had 6 people we are teaching come to church!!!! That's SO MANY!!! Eric, Jim, Khulani, and Barbara came to our ward, and Sister Hully and Martin attend the Trumansburg ward. It was fun to see our ward interact with out people here in Ithaca! This ward is incredible. I was a little worried about how we would handle four different people, but the ward fellowships them without asking and makes them feel welcome. It was awesome. That afternoon we had interviews with President and Sister Vest. That went really well. I was able to have an awesome conversation with President and I told him a little about what is going on. ...That evening was better though...
This week I'm going to try even harder to see the good in everyone, including my companion. I'm looking forward to this week. And to our call!!! ...
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!
❤❤❤ Sister Fairbanks
1 - at Cayuga Lake
2 - interviews with the Vest clan ❤
3 - I'm an awkward third wheel, haha
Bonus pics!
And here's the group email:
Hello!
This week was so busy! And this next week is going to be even busier. That's how I like it! Adjusting to being in a companionship of three has been interesting, but we're making it work. We taught a lot of lessons this week, did a lot of travelling, and plenty of walking, of course. Sounds like a vague and generic description, but that's how it goes sometimes!
Ithaca is still wonderful! We're still doing great! Sorry I don't have any entertaining stories for this week.
Have a great week!
Sister Fairbanks
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