I love to witness how the Lord moves his work along.

July 29, 2013

So crazy we are ending another transfer! In case you don't know what that is, it’s the 6 week cycle that all of the missions run on. My life is now in transfers and not in months anymore ha-ha.

Thankfully we still have another week before we find out if we are leaving or staying. So many missionaries obsess about mission gossip, and where they are going next. A little of it is fun, but I have learned from experience. Whatever happens is going to come from left field. I know that nothing is a surprise to an all-knowing and loving Heavenly Father, but I firmly believe that he enjoys giving his children surprises.....reminds me of you mom ;).

PS that sister missionary is one of my very dear friends Sister Nichols :). (Megan is talking about a missionary who posted some pictures of her on facebook this week) Did you know she is a cousin of ours? Well she is a descendent from Jacob Hamblin at least...(which btw there also is an Elder Maughn in my district too ha-ha). She is home now, so that is how she is on facebook. Funny story about her (which there are many). She has been serving in a family Spanish ward on the island before she went home. Every time she met a YSA she would tell them that I was her cousin. And so every week members of the branch would come up to me and say that they met my cousin and how crazy it was we were serving in the same mission! ha-ha If she is reading this, I hope she knows we are praying for her and missing her and hope she is getting healthy!

This past Sunday was INCREDIBLE. Last night, and this morning, my companion and I have been relishing in the miracles and success that God has allowed us to experience in the time that we have been here, and they poured out yesterday. When we first got here to this Young Single Adult branch. There were about 7 sisters that came to Relief Society (the women's organization of the church), one was the president, one was the counselor, and two of us were the missionaries, maybe 1-or 2 YSA sisters and then a couple of the Branch Presidency's wives. The Relief Society President was in a panic because her counselor was moving back to UT and there were no other active sisters that could fill her role. One of the first things we did was meet with our mission leader to find where we should focus (All of Long Island is a large area to cover ha-ha) and he really emphasized the RS and finding that counselor. We held a fast with the RS president that the Lord would provide us with a RS counselor and lead us to find her, our ward mission leader also participated in the fast.

Alright, now fast forward to this Sunday. During ward council meeting, the RS president was able to submit 3 names for a FULL PRESIDENCY!!! All of which are now consistently attending the branch, 2 of which were Less-Active when we got here. And then as I was sitting on the stand at the piano during sacrament meeting. It was so cool to see 3 members of the congregation that are now coming every week that weren't there before, and one of them is now preparing to serve a mission!  Also now our Ward Mission Leader is pretty seriously dating the Relief Society President :) (No wonder he was so interested in focusing on Relief Society ha-ha) We may not have seen convert baptisms yet, but we are experiencing real growth and doing the work the Lord sent us here to do.

It is interesting too. Because we did NOTHING to bring this success in. Yes we did feel prompted to "look each of them up" and so we knocked on each of these individuals doors or called them, but couldn't find them. But then to see them two weeks later, to come to church on their own accord, and ready to repent and be active again has been astounding. And then to watch the branch encircle them, and "catch them" that's what being a missionary all is about.

One of my favorite parts of serving a mission, is to start with a lists (and in our case lists and lists and lists! ha-ha) of names, and to have nothing but your faith in God and the spirit. And to just witness how the Lord moves His work along one prompting and heart at a time. Also to recognize that each name is a child of God, and as we seek for them, He is seeking for them too. So often we knock on people's doors, and we find members of the church (often not even on our lists). And they look at us astounded, and say "How did you find me?" And at that it is mine and my companion's privilege to state that we are representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ and that He has always known where you are. He is the Good Shepherd and knows His sheep. Also, on the flip side, if they didn't want us to find them. Hiding from us, is like hiding from God, if its God's will that we find them, we will ha-ha.

I love you all! Allie, I can't believe how tall you are! Thanks for your letters and concern and prayers! I love you all!

Steffi committed to Baptism

First off, health wise, I am doing a lot better. This weekend was full of absolute miracles. It was interesting. As we prayed about and planned for the exchanges this week, we felt directly prompted to move Patchogue to next week and still do Terryville on Saturday. Fast forward Friday, I was feeling pretty terrible, and incredibly dizzy and really couldn't get out of bed. But I still felt we needed to go to Terryville and teach one of our investigators on our way there. About 5pm that day we decided to still go, and we prayed together specifically to confirm our choice of still going and for a miracle that I would have to strength to follow through with it. Instantly I was filled with the spirit and I knew it would be hard but that it would be okay. We immediately packed our things and headed for  Bayport to see our new investigator Steffi.

 Steffi is a nanny from Austria who has been coming to volleyball for the past year or so. On our way, the elders called us in a panic because there was a young member who was really upset because institute had been cancelled and she cancelled plans and drove a long way to get there. The elders wanted us to talk to her, so I did, and found a very upset woman on the other line, but the spirit prompted me to listen what she had to say, and invite her to our lesson with Steffi. I had no idea who this woman was, but I followed the prompting anyway and it worked out beautifully. Turns out we had actually met this member, and it was clear she needed to be there. We had a powerful lesson about the Book of Mormon, and Steffi committed to Baptism as she finds this to be true! It was an absolute miracle and our first member present of the transfer!

Also, I have been able to work since. We got our best numbers since I got to the YSA branch, and I was sick in bed for 5 of the days! Last night, the spirit led us to 3 part-member family homes, and we were able to have powerful lessons with all three! None were YSAs, but that seems to be the pattern. We rarely find the people that we are looking for, or at least find them eligible for the singles ward (like last night, they were married with children). But our thoughts are not His thoughts.  I know Faith is real, and that we just need to keep pressing forward. We don't need to know what is ahead, just that it is going to be good :)

Love you! Miss you!

A visit to the ER and parking tickets

Hi Mom, and I will just include the family in this one too.                             July 15, 2013

So first thing is first, it’s been a crazy weekend. Don't panic----but you need to probably know I was in the ER yesterday because I was having trouble breathing. About three weeks ago, I got a really bad cold. It wasn't going away and my glands got really swollen, so the mission Doc put me on antibiotics (amoxicillin). I took that for 10 days, felt a little bit better, but after it ran out I started feeling really sick again, and my glands started to swell up again. Fast forward Saturday night, at like 1am, my glands were pressing on my windpipe enough to send my body into a little bit of a panic. I wasn't wheezing thank heavens but it wasn't fun. I called our mission nurse and he told me to spray afrin down my throat, take Benadryl, and ibruprofen. He also gave me a priesthood blessing over the phone. Miraculously I was able to fall asleep, and my throat was able to relax again. So then Sunday (yesterday) I rested, went only to Sacrament meeting, and came home. And while I was taking a nap, same thing happened again, just a little bit worse. So we went to the ER. I had a really good doctor and he gave me some powerful steroids to help the swelling go down in my throat. He also said that my infection is pretty bad and so I also now have 2 Z-packs. Kind of scary, but I was promised in the blessing that God was watching over me and that I would be protected from danger. My throat still is getting tight at times, but the medicine is supposed to kick in the next day or so. Fun fun weekend. I don't want you to worry, but I do think that you would want to know. I prayed hard that I would feel well enough to write emails today :). I am praying it will all kick in real soon, and that I am done with the hospital.

Also, I learned a little thing about miracles.

Sometimes we don't recognize miracles in our lives because we don't realize the dangers or bad things that we are protected from everyday. I walked out of the emergency room feeling better, and a little embarrassed because I felt I might of "cried wolf" and scared everyone when it wasn't that big of a deal. But as the day went on, I realized how much of a miracle it was that it wasn't that big of a deal, and how bad it could have been. We got to the ER quickly, they saw me almost immediately, and I was able to be discharged and start taking my medicine within the hour. I felt the spirit confirm to me that I did the right thing and that God really was watching over me and protecting me from danger. Also, I had a tender moment as I was sitting in the waiting room by myself (my companion was helping me get my paperwork started while I was talking to a nurse). I couldn't breathe, and was feeling really scared and alone. All of the sudden I felt someone sit next to me and felt a peace run through my body as if the person was saying it was all going to be okay, and that they were right there. I didn't see anyone, but the spirit witnessed to me it was an angel who wanted to be there to comfort me.


Other than the craziness. We also got the parking tickets figured out and paid. Because we were new to the complex, they took one of the tickets away and dramatically reduced the other one (it was for pulling through the spot, so our nose was out.....which all missionaries do because anytime we back up, the companion needs to get out of the car and back us out. Anyway together, we only had to pay about $115, rather than the $300 it would have been. Thank heavens!! We still have to pay for the red light camera one, which ironically "flashed" just as we were talking about how we were not going to get anymore tickets.....funny story though. Just after we talked to the prosecuting attorney at the ticket place, guess who walked in the door. Our zone leaders (other missionaries). They got a parking ticket too. Hopefully that craziness will end!

To answer some of your questions. We work in the Plainview YSA branch which covers the Plainview stake and the Lynbrook District. We mostly work with young single adults (YSA), but we try to find wherever we go. As a mission we are praying specifically for the Lord to "Lead us to the Pure in Heart, including families". It’s been incredible the miracles that have unfolded. It was funny too because we have found several families who are ready to receive the gospel as we go out and about looking up Young Single Adults, but we haven't found really anyone in that age range. We couldn't figure out why, when we realized that we were only praying to find families. Since we have changed our prayer to find both families and YSAs, we have been finding a lot more. Amazing the power praying for the right things.

You asked about how we go about doing our work. We have several lists from all of the branches and wards in our area (there are probably a little over 10 congregations) of people of YSA age. We probably have over 600 names. Some of them are active and even recently returned missionaries, but they hold leadership callings in their home wards so they can't come or they don't want to come to the Singles ward. Also, because there really isn't much mass transit, many of them don't have a ride.  Many of them are less-active, have moved or have gotten married. Whatever the case, we essentially drive all over the island. To keep it more focused, we often do some look-ups while we are on exchanges with sisters in their respective areas. We also do a lot of praying. We start by choosing an area to work in that would make the most sense for that day (depending on where we sleep that night for exchanges). We kneel down and ask specifically to know where to go,  and choose the names that "pop" out at us. At that we pray again, asking the Lord to confirm our decision, or send us a "stupor of thought" as to where we should go. Often times we receive a distinct confirmation, (for me it is a burning and peaceful and clear feeling) and we know that is right when we both feel it. Sometimes we don't get that feeling and we go back to the drawing board at which usually one or both of us will have a different name or area come to mind. We have been led to absolutely amazing people. Funny enough, we usually don't find the name we were looking for, but we do find someone who needs us, whether that be their neighbor or parents or someone God puts in our path. I know this is the Lords work, and it is amazing what happens when we let him do it, and follow his lead.

Also, you asked about Spanish. It depends. Some of these look-ups live in heavily Hispanic areas, and their parents only speak Spanish so it sure does come in handy! I also get to speak Spanish on some of my exchanges, and there are some of the YSAs here that only speak Spanish. I can tell I am losing my Spanish.....bummer. But if the spirit is there, I can speak it. This past week I was in Brentwood and stopped by a family's home that we had talked to on their lawn the week before. They are from Guatemala and very sweet. My companion for the day was Sister Hamblin (which btw, yes we are related, she is from Jacob's first wife, the one that divorced him when he joined the church). Anyway, she is an English missionary, and thankfully was praying for me the whole time. We taught the restoration, to which they attacked the whole time. Thankfully I did manage to do language study that morning! It was just me and the spirit, the spirit kept me calm and gave me the right words to say. The spirit was so strong. It is just sad that there are so many people here who are so scared about being deceived in the "last days" (as it says in the bible) that they become deceived by their own fears and fail to recognize and act on the truth when it is right in front of them.

By the way, Stephen, I am so excited that you get to go to the South! That's where Dad wanted to serve. So funny, anytime I have imagined you serving in the states while waiting for your visas, I have just felt Alabama or somewhere in the south. The Church is true!  You are going to LOVE it! If you do have to be in an English area don't panic, God will provide. Our mission is full of "visa-waiting" sisters who are waiting to go to Brazil or Peru. About every three weeks someone gets their visa. I go on exchanges with a lot of these sisters, and it is a hard thing to have to wait. BUT from my experience. The sisters who have "hated" NY and have pined away for their visas of where they are supposed to be are miserable, and it is really hard on their companions (what is there not to love about NY? :) ) But the sisters who just go with it, and understand that they are CALLED as a missionary, and now ASSIGNED to NYNYSouth, and choose to love it, they do love it, and are grateful for their visa wait. So chose to love it, and if you have seen Becca by the time you read this, I hope you tell her hello and give her a big handshake! (You can't give here a hug for me ha-ha).

Kind of a random email and all over the place.....I have been on Benadryl for the past 2 days so I am not all the way here ha-ha (you know how my body takes to the stuff.....my poor companion) But hopefully you can see that yes, I am still breathing, yes this is really hard, and yes I still love being a missionary. (The other day, one of the sisters that I did an exchange with asked me what I liked to do other than run, and I said being a missionary :)...yep I have been out for a year ha-ha). I know God lives and has called upon me to serve here. This church is true, and I will keep fighting for it, even if that is from my bed for the next couple days.

I love and miss you!

Love,

Megan

It was a 4th of July I will never forget!

Hi family!                                                                                                        July 8, 2013

I am so glad you enjoyed your Fourth of July Holiday! Those pictures of Mountains look spectacular! Oh how I miss that crisp mountain air. (It is 98 degrees today, and very very humid!!!) I have never sweated so much in my entire life! The other day, my companion and I did what we call a "car fast" where we park our car, and try to talk to people on the street between our destinations. It was 95 degrees, and we talked to some really neat people. We did however get lost for a good hour (the island apparently isn't always a grid haha)  but we ended up being exactly where God wanted us to be, and he provided us with nice cold water at the end :).  

The fourth was a good day. We ended up having weekly planning, so we mostly did that, but in the evening we had a wonderful lesson with a mother of one of our branch members. We had the Elders teach the lesson (because we technically only teach Young Single Adults), we have taught this mother before, and the member really wanted us there, so we went. The Elders taught the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Her son, the member, joined the church about 7 years ago, went less active, but came back to church about a year ago. She has seen such a real change and light in him that she knew our message was true and different before we said anything.  Fireworks were going berserk all around and over the house, and however much I love watching fireworks, there was no place on the planet, that I would have rather been than in that living room. There were moments that I felt the room was on fire with the spirit of God, testifying to each of us that what was being taught was true, and that she was prepared to hear it. As we drove home, the entire sky was lit up with fireworks coming from all over the place. It was a fourth of July I will never forget!

This week, we did a ton of what we call look-ups. These are members of the church, mostly less-active, that we go try to find and invite to come to the singles branch. Our branch is so tiny, but there are a good 600 people that could/ should be there each Sunday. Our work is cut out for us! Anyway, we only found a handful of people, but it is amazing who we have been able to find but just opening our eyes and mouths and talk to their neighbors. We are learning to trust in the Lord and to follow His promptings, however crazy they might seem. I am learning that you can never guess where the Lord will lead you, but you can always count on it being a miracle.

I know this work is true, and I plan to just keep trying, keep praying and keep growing. I love my mission and am so grateful for the sacred challenges I have been called to pass through. I know that this is Christ's true church. I know that God did not only speak a long time ago, but that he speaks today. And that is because he loves us, he speaks directly to us, in our own personal language that sometimes only we can fully understand. He is there. He cares and is willing to help us direct our lives. It is just a matter if we will get on our knees and speak to him.

I Love you and miss you!!! You are the greatest :)

Megan

PS could you please make some announcement on the blog that I can email friends, and possibly put my email address next to my address? Also maybe a note that I don't have a lot of email time, but that you can reach me that way (got to save that for mi familia :) )

PPS Thanks for your CD Ashley and Nicole, it was so wonderful to laugh "with you" and to hear your voices!

How I feel about my service this past year

This week. Hooo! A lot of big changes happened in our mission. With all the new missionaries, particularly sisters, the Lord has had us form a whole new zone in our mission. Our mission, for a long time, has been split up into 9 zones, and in this past transfer meeting, president formed a new zone 10! There are now multiple sister companionships in each of the zones as well! Except in Bushwick Brooklyn, there is still only 1. President Calderwood also promised us that we are apart of something big, particularly on this island. The spirit was so strong, and especially after that broadcast, I know that it is the Lord's will to Explode his work in all parts of the world, and particularly here. It is neat and powerful to be apart of something so much bigger than ourselves.

I also now officially have an English nametag. I still wear my "Hermana" tag when I get the opportunity to speak Espanola (and feel I will always be a Hermana). Some of the Spanish elders in my zone were teasing me for making the switch ha-ha, but I really am grateful for the sacred opportunity to preach the gospel to my own people who are my age and in my own language.

Scary thing happened this week. So remember how we again switched our apartments with the Elders? This week we attacked and cleaned the place. It was pretty horrid ha-ha, when our District Leader heard we were switching "pads" with him, he said,  "What?" There has to be another way! Sisters can't live here!" And he was right, we couldn't! So we took a day and cleaned it. (Let’s just say the Microwave was ooozing gook for a good 10min!!!) How grateful I am for a loving mother who taught me how to really clean a house. It now looks spectacular and miraculously didn't take that long (It helps that we opened our cleaning with a prayer :), prayer always works!!) We also de-junked the place, there was so much trash!! When our landlord heard of what we were doing, he was very happy and in his thick Russian accent chanted, "Lower rent! Lower rent!" ha-ha. When our District Leader came back to the apartment with the other Elders to dedicate our apartment, they were in awe! It is nice to now live in such a clean apartment. It was amazing to feel how the more we cleaned, the more of the spirit we could feel enter the place. Now I better understand why you keep such a clean house mom :).  

Dad, you posed a very interesting question in your email. One I have been thinking a lot about...probably too much knowing me, and how much I like to think. But my year mark is coming up (next Thursday) and so it has triggered a lot of reflection of my service for the past year. You asked how I feel about it. It's a hard question. In terms of baptisms, I haven't had any, and in terms of numbers, I haven't produced very much. Which I would be lying if I didn't say that that is really hard for me. But I also feel like I am running a race, and you know how before you runs a race, you usually have specific splits, checkpoints and goals you want to hit? And then when you start running, sometimes those splits, checkpoints and goals just don't happen, even within the first mile, or even lap? And you have a choice. You can "give up" mentally, and beat yourself up for the rest of the race for not hitting those goals (been guilty of that..even on the mission and I don't recommend it), OR you can adapt and change those checkpoints and goals and still make what you can out of it, possibly even better than you first imagined. That's kind of where I feel I am at. I have not hit my "splits" or very many of my goals, but I know I have given all I know how to give, and somehow it’s going to be enough. Do I wish I had more "to show" for what I have been through and experienced for the past year? yes I do, but that hasn't been my lot, and so I am that "choice" part of the race, and am choosing to just accept where I am at, and make the best I can out of it. I also feel that the Lord has a different " race course" designed for each of us. Some of us have hilly courses, some are through the mud, some with road signs in a different language ha-ha. Some are on a track, with lots of cheerleaders, and some are in a solitary forest. The Lord even puts us at different altitudes and in different weather conditions (including hurricanes :) ). Whatever our course, there is a real temptation to compare successes as a missionary, but I am learning that comparing 2 missionaries' successes is like comparing 5k times b/w a hilly course in CO and one at a track here on Long Island....its ridiculous and can't be done. There are several missionaries in my mission who baptize and reactivate a lot in this mission, and I am grateful for that, because it raises all of our vision for what is possible. If you can't already tell, it’s been really hard on me this past week to realize that so much time has already passed, and I feel so little has been done. But then again I am reminded of how many people Christ was able to feed with 2 loaves and some small fishes. Sometimes I think I get preoccupied with how small my contribution is, rather than focusing on my Savior and what he has been able to do with that contribution. I love him, and realize and remember that the reason I came on a mission was much more than feeling like I needed too. We all remember that crisis when I realized the Lord would be pleased with me and had a work for me if I stayed. I came in the hope that I could be a blessing to the people of New York, and that the Lord  would be able to use me as his instrument to touch someone's life. I wanted to be here because I wanted to give myself to him and to the good people here.

Also, number wise there may not be much to show for it. But I know there is a light in my eyes from the testimony that I have of my Savior Jesus Christ, a parts of my heart that have been and continue to be healed and changed by His atoning sacrifice. I have calluses on my knees from crying to the Lord on my knees,  and not very much sole left on my shoes from all of the walking. I have strong arms and hands from all the service in hurricane sandy, and a love for the people here that continues to grow. I am now pretty fluent in Spanish (for which I thank the Lord). I have a mouth that has been used as his mouthpiece as answer many people's prayers. And I have gained the trust of my mission president, other missionaries, members, and the Lord from being exactly obedient. So I guess to answer your question Dad, How do I feel about my service? I don't quite know, except for the fact I am  just grateful for the miracle my mission has been and is, and that I know the best is yet to be :)

Sorry to get all Sappy, it has really been on my mind all week, so it is good to get it out :) I may not see that fruit yet, but I know without a doubt that the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Joseph Smith in reality saw the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ in the grove of trees, and through him, Jesus Christ restored his church on the Earth. The Doctrine of Christ is the pathway back to our Heavenly Father, and the Atonement is the ONLY way we can get there!

I love you all and miss you! Have a happy 4th!

Love,

Sis Megan Chipman