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 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 ;) )
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