It is scary for a Colorado girl to learn to drive in Queens!

Hello family! It sounds like you are having a lot of fun on your vacation, wherever you are in Colorado at this point :). Mom, you are still the best vacation and party planner I know! I am beginning to start to tread some water with my new calling and situation. I am learning how it all works out here on the island. We also got to do 3 exchanges this week and had a lot of fun. My first exchange was on wed in Jamaica Queens (yes I am learning how to drive around queens!) It was nice to be back in the city and in the middle of the craziness again. The second was on friday in Terryville (or more correctly Port Jefferson). And the third, I dropped my companion off, and picked up Sister Marin in Richmond Hill and we worked in Plainview.  Its a huge blessing to be able to be a sister training leader.  For each exchange, I pray to know what the sisters need and that my "tounge will be loosed" and that the sisters will hear answers to their prayers. I am by no means perfect at it, but it has been quite special to share seemingly random thoughts, or personal experiences that have been exactly what they needed to hear exactly when they needed to hear it. I really enjoy helping and strengthening the sisters and it is neat to be in a position and to be given authority to do it. We have a lot of new sisters serving in difficult circumstances, which interesting enough, a lot of which I have experienced before. It is interesting to see His hand in preparing me for to help these sisters. I am learning that a difficult trial is all made worthwhile if through my struggle, God is able to help someone else.  All in all, I have only been in the calling for a couple weeks, and I am so grateful it and the neat oppurtunities and experiences it is giving me. As far as our own proselyting area goes, its a struggle, but that is kind of to be expected when you start with nothing. The last two times I have been blinded in, it was really hard on me to have to report zeros week after week. Thankfully I am learning that it is all in the Lord's time, and it doesn't come all at once, and it isn't my fault that we don't have investigators yet (look how far I am coming!! haha).  We were given over 800 names of singles that should be going to the singles branch that arent't. Sis Neilsen and I are working hard and trying to get all the information organized and usable . We have been trying to look-up and contact the names that the branch leaders have given us, but no one has been home, picked up or even has still lived in the area.....its all part of it. Todavia is probably my favorite word is spanish, it means still or yet. And so we haven't found anyone YET :). We did get to finally go to church and meet the branch which was really good. It is a really good group, and many of them are returned missionaries who are excited to help us out. Kind of interesting, we essentially have increased Relief Society attendence by over 30% by just being there. (with us two sisters there are now 6 active sisters in the Relief Society!) Odds are definitley in the girls favor in this ward....funny how my only singles ward with more guys than girls is when I am a missionary (just my luck haha! ). As you can probably tell, our focus is the Relief Society at this point, and it's no wonder the elders quorum is eager to help. The sisters I have met are INCREDIBLE and I am just all around grateful and excited to be given the opportunity to be here in this branch. Also the island is growing on me. It is SO beautiful, lush and green and there are a lot of pretty neighborhoods and shops. We also have been able to work down by the water a little and the views are breathtaking. I also love the Long Island way of life, and it is kind of nice to be called "sweetheart" (or should I say sweethawt :)) everywhere I go. ( Better than being called mamicita by men on the street in Corona....blech!) I am still getting used to driving here. Came about Saturday when I noticed my right hand was in a lot of pain and really sore. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what in the world I had been doing to cause it....I mean I don't write THAT many notes during studies haha. Then I got in the car and realized that I have been white- knuckling the steering wheel EVERYTIME I drive (It's scary here!). I have been praying a lot with help and confidence so I can focus less on driving and put that energy to better use and one day during studies the clear thought popped in my mind and heart, "You know, you can ask for a preisthood blessing for that." I hadn't thought about that as being something I could ask for a blessing for. I knew I had asked for blessings to help me with running, or school, piano and learning spanish. I just saw driving as just one of my many silly insecurities and something I never really got that good at. But the idea gave me a lot of comfort, and I knew the Lord would make me equal to my task, even in something as seemingly silly and common as driving. I followed the prompting and asked one of the senior couple missionaries in my district for the blessing. He gave me a beautiful blessing and even the next day, driving became a much more enjoyable experience for me. Again, I have been reminded that I know God lives and really is concerned about the little details of our lives and that the purpose of the Atonement (or sacrifice, death and ressurection) of Jesus Christ is to strengthen and heal ANY weakness, even a seemingly silly one like a Colorado girl trying to drive on the east coast. You asked about Memorial Day. We had P-day still and the Plainview family ward invited us to come to their picnic. It was a lot of really good food, fun sports, hot sun, and it was fun to get to know the ward members. It was nice and actually felt like memorial day :) I love and miss you and hope you enjoy the rest of your trip! I am sorry I only got a letter written to Stephen before P-day finished this week :/ but he is the one leaving anyway haha. And good luck with your last week steve! Enjoy your time with Mom, Dad and Allie, you won't believe how much you are going to miss them. Love, Megan NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Hello family! It sounds like you are having a lot of fun on your vacation, wherever you are in Colorado at this point :). Mom, you are still the best vacation and party planner I know!

I am beginning to start to tread some water with my new calling and situation. I am learning how it all works out here on the island. We also got to do 3 exchanges this week and had a lot of fun. My first exchange was on wed in Jamaica Queens (yes I am learning how to drive around queens!) It was nice to be back in the city and in the middle of the craziness again. The second was on friday in Terryville (or more correctly Port Jefferson). And the third, I dropped my companion off, and picked up Sister Marin in Richmond Hill and we worked in Plainview.  Its a huge blessing to be able to be a sister training leader.  For each exchange, I pray to know what the sisters need and that my "tounge will be loosed" and that the sisters will hear answers to their prayers. I am by no means perfect at it, but it has been quite special to share seemingly random thoughts, or personal experiences that have been exactly what they needed to hear exactly when they needed to hear it. I really enjoy helping and strengthening the sisters and it is neat to be in a position and to be given authority to do it. We have a lot of new sisters serving in difficult circumstances, which interesting enough, a lot of which I have experienced before. It is interesting to see His hand in preparing me for to help these sisters. I am learning that a difficult trial is all made worthwhile if through my struggle, God is able to help someone else.  All in all, I have only been in the calling for a couple weeks, and I am so grateful it and the neat oppurtunities and experiences it is giving me.

As far as our own proselyting area goes, its a struggle, but that is kind of to be expected when you start with nothing. The last two times I have been blinded in, it was really hard on me to have to report zeros week after week. Thankfully I am learning that it is all in the Lord's time, and it doesn't come all at once, and it isn't my fault that we don't have investigators yet (look how far I am coming!! haha).  We were given over 800 names of singles that should be going to the singles branch that arent't. Sis Neilsen and I are working hard and trying to get all the information organized and usable . We have been trying to look-up and contact the names that the branch leaders have given us, but no one has been home, picked up or even has still lived in the area.....its all part of it. Todavia is probably my favorite word is spanish, it means still or yet. And so we haven't found anyone YET :). We did get to finally go to church and meet the branch which was really good. It is a really good group, and many of them are returned missionaries who are excited to help us out. Kind of interesting, we essentially have increased Relief Society attendence by over 30% by just being there. (with us two sisters there are now 6 active sisters in the Relief Society!) Odds are definitley in the girls favor in this ward....funny how my only singles ward with more guys than girls is when I am a missionary (just my luck haha! ). As you can probably tell, our focus is the Relief Society at this point, and it's no wonder the elders quorum is eager to help. The sisters I have met are INCREDIBLE and I am just all around grateful and excited to be given the oppurtuntity to be here in this branch.

Also the island is growing on me. It is SO beautiful, lush and green and there are a lot of pretty neighborhoods and shops. We also have been able to work down by the water a little and the views are breathtaking. I also love the Long Island way of life, and it is kind of nice to be called "sweetheart" (or should I say sweethawt :)) everywhere I go. ( Better than being called mamicita by men on the street in Corona....blech!) I am still getting used to driving here. Came about Saturday when I noticed my right hand was in a lot of pain and really sore. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what in the world I had been doing to cause it....I mean I don't write THAT many notes during studies haha. Then I got in the car and realized that I have been white- knuckling the steering wheel EVERYTIME I drive (It's scary here!). I have been praying a lot with help and confidence so I can focus less on driving and put that energy to better use and one day during studies the clear thought popped in my mind and heart, "You know, you can ask for a preisthood blessing for that." I hadn't thought about that as being something I could ask for a blessing for. I knew I had asked for blessings to help me with running, or school, piano and learning spanish. I just saw driving as just one of my many silly insecurities and something I never really got that good at. But the idea gave me a lot of comfort, and I knew the Lord would make me equal to my task, even in something as seemingly silly and common as driving. I followed the prompting and asked one of the senior couple missionaries in my district for the blessing. He gave me a beautiful blessing and even the next day, driving became a much more enjoyable experience for me. Again, I have been reminded that I know God lives and really is concerned about the little details of our lives and that the purpose of the Atonement (or sacrifice, death and ressurection) of Jesus Christ is to strengthen and heal ANY weakness, even a seemingly silly one like a Colorado girl trying to drive on the east coast. 

You asked about Memorial Day. We had P-day still and the Plainview family ward invited us to come to their picnic. It was a lot of really good food, fun sports, hot sun, and it was fun to get to know the ward members. It was nice and actually felt like memorial day :)

I love and miss you and hope you enjoy the rest of your trip! I am sorry I only got a letter written to Stephen before P-day finished this week :/ but he is the one leaving anyway haha. And good luck with your last week steve! Enjoy your time with Mom, Dad and Allie, you won't believe how much you are going to miss them.

Love,

Megan

PS any word on the visa? are you confirmed to enter the MTC next week??? I am praying!!!!  

Preisthood blessing

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

New Area, New Responsibilites

Dear Family,

That is a big week. Allie, WAY TO GO!!! You ran super fast, faster than my freshman year for sure!! And being sick and not training, way to be, you should be proud! I am sure proud!

And Stephen, it sounds like your farewell went really well. I would love to get a copy of it if that's possible :). You are well on your way; missionary work is all about your love for God and the people you serve. Duty might get you out there, but love will keep you out there.

Also, I am glad you all had fun at the concert. It is so weird to think of my parents at an Imagine Dragons concert, but not so weird thinking of Dad there stuffing tissues in his ears ha-ha. They have really good music and I am glad you got to go.

Alright so you ready to here where I am now serving?? I can pretty much assure you your guesses are all wrong, mine certainly were. It took me a good 10min to shake off the shock when I received the call at transfer meeting ha-ha. Let's just say I feel like I have been transferred missions and I feel like I am experiencing culture shock all over again! I am now serving in the Plainview YSA branch on Long Island. I went from Spanish to English, city to island, and a family ward to a singles ward! We now live in Hicksville (that really is the name! ha-ha) and our area encompasses essentially ALL of the Long Island area. I traded my metro card for car keys and bought my first GPS and am learning to drive with New Yorkers (which is essentially learning to drive all over again!). Our apt has been quite the adventure. It is over an Indian Bridal shop (all the dresses look straight from a Hollywood movie! And has CRAZY carpet, after 5 days we finally got a working fridge, and though the floors are slanted (we live in a bowl ha-ha) the place is growing on us and it is a blessing to live in a dedicated pad.

Funny how this area is a lot like Highlands Ranch or Utah, and yet now more than ever I feel out of my element! Give me a big scary black man on the train in Queens, and I will talk to him. Give me an address in queens and I will tell you which trains to take to get there. Give me a Hispanic and I will translate for you. Give me a family, and I will work with the ward to get them to church. Give me white people, a GPS, an English area and people my age......Imp lost! But this is one thing I am learning, is that through faith in Jesus Christ all things are possible. Okay, and I know how cliché that sounds, BUT IT’S TRUE! I just have to trust in Him. The only reason I can talk to intimidating people on the subways is because of the strength He gives me. The only reason I can speak Spanish is because of His help. And the same goes for everything else I have been doing this whole time on my mission. I know better than to take credit for it. And though I feel so out of my element now, I felt very much out of my element when I first got here and little by little he has helped me. I also know better than to think what I lack will somehow stay His had and work. I know He will help me now :). That is what I am learning: Jacob meant when he called it an "Infinite Atonement". Jesus Christ suffered so that we can be strengthened in ALL we do, ALL the time....not just here and there. I am also learning that Heaven is really good at keeping us on our toes ha-ha

However different everything is, I am grateful to be here and excited to work with the singles here. Its interesting being in a young single adult ward again, it reminds me a lot of the Sand Creek Ward back home (Young Singles Ward). They like to play volleyball a lot, there are some "old timers" that have grown up in the area, there is a new influx of summer sales guys all from the west, and pretty much all of the sisters are live-in nannies for the wealthy families that live around here. The branch is especially excited to have their own set of missionaries (It has been a really long time!) We have an AWESOME ward mission correlator who just got back from his mission where he served as a missionary in a singles ward before and who has been doing a lot of missionary work on his own and coordinating with other missionaries in the area. It is all new for us, but he knows what he is doing and is actively ready to help us. It will be hard work, but I know it will be really good and this is where God needs us.

Also, I really like my new calling as a STL (Sister Training Leader......I guess it is now a new and official calling in missions around the world, complete with an acronym and everything! ha-ha) essentially our job is to care for all the sisters on the "East Side" of the mission. That includes 1/2 of the Queens sisters (Flushing, Jamaica and Richmond Hill) and out to the end of the Island in Riverhead. We are responsible for 12 companionships and will exchange with all of them in the next transfer (that's about 2-3 exchanges a week!) We had a member of the 70 tour the mission this past week (Elder Kolliker sp?) and were able to be a part of the leaders meetings that occurred before and after the general session of the mega-zone conference. It was incredibly powerful to be with a general authority and president Calderwood and their wives in such a small setting (there were only 8 of us missionaries). He talked a lot about prayer and its power and necessity. I realized that I can't expect my investigators and the people I work with to have more personal and heartfelt prayers than in what I offer in my personal prayers. I know he is a man of God with apostolic keys; the spirit witnessed it to me. How grateful I am to learn so much at the feet of such great leaders!

I love you and miss you and hope you are all doing well in the midst of all the craziness. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have you all forever. Stephen I am so proud of you and I know you will be a dynamite missionary, because of who you are. Keep strong! I can't wait to see you in 2 years :) (I have a feeling it will go by faster than even you may want it too).

I pray for you all and feel your prayers. Thanks for who you are!

Love you!

Hermana Chipman (you can take me out of the Spanish program, but you can’t take the Hna out of me yet ;) )

 

My experiences here have changed me. . .

Ne Hou!! (Chinese for Hello)

Hello Beautiful Family!!

It was SO good to see you yesterday too. I'm grateful for Tango, that's all I have to say :).

You all look great yourselves and it helped me almost feel like I was at home and chatting on the couch with you. Especially you Allie, I am so glad that you have NOT taken after your older sister and actually look cute and done up when you are 13....even however shocking it still is to see you with makeup ha-ha.

Discovery! Remember that camera card that I sent home that never got there, but the letters did? Turns out people actually slit the envelopes and steal the cards, and are so good at it that they seal it all back up like nothing happened. I bet that is what happened (esp thinking how I was silly and didn't hide it as I usually do). Gosh I feel so dumb! The same thing goes for cash. So we just need to be extra careful. This world we live in!  But I printed pictures and copied them to discs and made copies of those discs and so will send the discs home. That's all I got now while I look for a card reader (which is harder than I thought).

So yes, as I told you yesterday, I am leaving Flushing and off to become a new "Training Sister" (or Sister Missionary leader). This area is seriously out of this world and so hard to leave. The love that I have developed for the people here and this area is impossible to describe in a quick email. My experience here has changed me. The people have changed me. My companions have changed me. I can even see it in the difference between my pictures from before and now. The mission is so hard to take in. I feel like I am standing in front of a fire hydrant of opposition, blessings, love, and every emotion and feeling. I try to make time to write it in my journal--I can't. I try to capture a small part of it in a tiny email like this--impossible. I try to take pictures, they all get lost (see above ha-ha). All I feel I can do is let Him change me through it all. I am learning feelings are what guide and mold and change us. The ENTIRE Atonement of Jesus Christ was FELT. And what He FELT caused him to bleed from every pore for me and for you. And so I must ask myself, “Why have I spent my whole life trying to ignore how I feel and plow forward?”  All I know is that I am learning to feel, and that how I feel is important enough to my Savior that he chose to take those feelings upon himself so he could heal me and my wounds and change me.

I love you and miss you! Take care!

The Manhattan Temple was wonderful!

Hi family,

Wow an hour is a short amount of time! I am so excited to actually talk to you on Mother’s Day!!! You are all so wonderful :)

So this week....una semana de milagros, de verdad!! (week of miracles)

1) The temple was WONDERFUL. It truly is in the center of everything and across the street from Julliard. It was neat, the street and sidewalk just outside the doors is normal NYC craziness, but you walk in and it was the quietest place I have been I think in my entire life. The whole temple is beautifully decorated with huge paintings of Christ and natural landscapes. The session was powerful. It was neat to see and catch a small glimpse of the personal growth I have experienced over the past 7months (since I attended last) in how much deeper and richer I understood the ceremony. I also received some powerful personal revelation in regards to who I am and how the Lord sees me. It was actually kind of funny. I came to the temple with the question of "who am I?" and the answer I got from my loving Heavenly Father was, "If I told you who you are and exactly how I see you, that would spoil the fun and whole purpose of why I sent you to this earth, and what kind of father would I be if I did that?" And of course, that was what I needed, a kind reminder that my personal struggling and weaknesses are even part of the fun of this life. He did help me catch a glimpse of who I am, and he continues to help me each day as I draw nearer to him. He really is knocking that perfectionist out of me :)

2) Another miracle, Juan Carlos, our investigator who we thought went back to Colombia didn't end up leaving after all! He never told us why we couldn't contact him for a whole week, but he randomly showed up to English class! We a grateful to have him back and he is progressing stronger than ever. He wants to be baptized on the 2nd of June. He probably will be ready sooner, but that is the date he chose, so we will support him in that.

3) Kind of a funny experience. We wanted to meet with Juan Carlos this past Saturday, but couldn't find a member because it was so last min (and since he is a single man, we have to find a woman to come with us. We prayed that God would provide a member for us and went to the church to meet Juan Carlos. The Chinese speaking elders were there, and there was a young Chinese woman there with them. She miraculously spoke English and joined us for the lesson. There was a little bit of translating, and as we read the book of Mormon there was a Spanish, English and Chinese copies being read. The spirit was very strong and I was reminded again that The Book of Mormon and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is for 3 white American girls, a Chinese accountant, and a Columbian engineer who works at McDonalds. This message is for the world-every nation tongue and people.

Love you all and take care. TALK TO YOU SOON!!

Hi family,

Wow an hour is a short amount of time! I am so excited to actually talk to you on Mother's Day!!! You are all so wonderful :)

So this week....una semana de milagros, de verdad!! (week of miracles)

1) The temple was WONDERFUL. It truly is in the center of everything and across the street from Juliard. It was neat, the street and sidewalk just outside the doors is normal NYC craziness, but you walk in and it was the quietest place I have been I think in my entire life. The whole temple is beautifully decorated with huge paintings of Christ and natural landscapes. The session was powerful. It was neat to see and catch a small glimpse of the personal growth I have experienced over the past 7months (since I attended last) in how much deeper and richer I understood the ceremony. I also received some powerful personal revelation in regards to who I am and how the Lord sees me. It was actually kind of funny. I came to the temple with the question of "who am I?" and the answer I got from my loving Heavenly Father was, "If I told you who you are and exactly how I see you, that would spoil the fun and whole purpose of why I sent you to this earth, and what kind of father would I be if I did that?" And of course, that was what I needed, a kind reminder that my personal struggling and weaknesses are even part of the fun of this life. He did help me catch a glimpse of who I am, and he continues to help me each day as I draw nearer to him. He really is knocking that perfectionist out of me :) 

 

2)Another miracle, Juan Carlos, our investigator who we thought went back to Colombia didn't end up leaving after all! He never told us why we couldn't contact him for a whole week, but he randomly showed up to English class! We are grateful to have him back and he is progressing stronger than ever. He wants to be baptized on the 2nd of June. He probably will be ready sooner, but that is the date he chose, so we will support him in that.

3) Kind of a funny experience: We wanted to meet with Juan Carlos this past Saturday, but couldn't find a member because it was so last min (and since he is a single man, we have to find a woman to come with us. We prayed that God would provide a member for us and went to the church to meet Juan Carlos. The Chinese speaking elders were there, and there was a young Chinese woman there with them. She miraculously spoke English and joined us for the lesson. There was a little bit of translating, and as we read the Book of Mormon there was a Spanish, English and Chinese copies being read. The spirit was very strong and I was reminded again that The Book of Mormon and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is for 3 white American girls, a Chinese accountant, and a Colombian engineer who works at McDonalds. This message is for the world. Every nation toungue and people.

Love you all and take care. TALK TO YOU SOON!!