Greenville

The members are very nice here! And they love to talk! My companion always asks them how they met as a conversation starter. Last night at our dinner appointment the couple talked for the whole time we were there about how they met and how much they love each other.

 

It's a little different than Utah though. There are a lot of members, but very few are active. That is what we are working on right now, visiting all the less-active members in our ward. And there are a lot. But everyone is very kind and genuine usually.

Want to hear something cool? the elder sister ratio in my mission is crazy. There are 100 English speaking elders and 102 English speaking sisters. How crazy is that? If you count the Spanish elders it's not the same, but there are more English speaking sisters than English speaking elders.

The members are also very excited to go out on splits with us. Since we are opening a new area for sisters we don't really have anyone to teach, so we knock a lot. We aren't supposed to take members knocking with us. I wouldn't want to take members knocking. I'm a missionary and I struggle with knocking doors. I'm trying to learn to love it because we do it a lot. But we are going to take them to visit less-actives. So that will be good.

We taught the lesson in Relief Society yesterday. That was cool. They called us on Thursday to ask us. It was awesome because we had hardly any time to plan so we had to wing it. We took up 40 minutes and could have gone longer. So many sisters were crying. The spirit was so strong. There were times when I was talking and had no idea how I knew to say what I was saying. I just opened my mouth and words came out. The even cooler thing was that I wasn't nervous at all. Like if that would have happened before I came out here I would have been so scared and nervous that it was going to suck. But that didn't happen at all. And they asked us like three days before. I was completely calm the whole time.

I know that we are not alone in this work of bringing souls to Christ. There are so many people rooting for us on both sides of the veil. They are there to pull us through the hard times and to rejoice in the good times. When you feel all alone open your heart to the Holy Ghost and I promise you, you will be filled with love, and peace, and joy, and courage, and strength. There are so many people rooting for you. They are there for you. We are promised in the scriptures that there will be angels sent to bear us up. Don't you ever forget that. Because it is so true. I have felt it more than ever out here. When it's dark and I'm tired and my shoes are full of unidentifiable plants and we still have another street of houses to knock- many of which won't answer the door, but will stare at us through their window until we leave- and I ask myself what am I doing. Why am I trying so hard when I know that no one wants to listen because they already go to a church? It is in those moments of self-doubt and feelings of giving up that I suddenly have the motivation and energy to continue with a joyful heart. It is then that I feel the strength of Jesus Christ and his angels pushing me up, and telling me to keep going. I know that we are not alone. I know that nothing can stop this work from progressing. I know that even though it is so hard, it is all worth it in the end. Never give up on something you know is true. Fight for it and keep doing your best. I testify that you will not be alone in your journey for righteousness.

I need to take a picture of the sunset because they are so gorgeous every night. You know the really good, rare ones in Utah? ya, times those by 7 and a half in beauty and have them every night. That's Greenville, South Carolina. I'll try my best to get a good picture this week.

Love y'all!

PS I'm starting to talk like I'm from the South. I said yall three times last Saturday at the ward's halloween party and didn't even mean to. I also leave the ends off words and have slight drawl. It's embarrassing that it took such a short amount of time. :D

Yo!

How are ya? Fantastic I hope!

I'm doing well. Oh! I was going to tell you about my experience I had last week. So, we flew in on Monday and met with President and Sister Holm. They are wonderful, by the way. Really nice and caring. Anyway, we stayed at the mission home in Irmo for a couple days while we went to a bunch of meetings. 

A happy little car that they use as security to drive around the MTC.

Right as we took this picture a security guard drove up. woops...

On Tuesday they said we would be going out knocking for our first time. I was so scared. But I did it anyway. I've learned that a lot of what missionary work is doing things that are scary and different, but having the faith that it will work out. And it always works out. Back to the story. We were assigned temporary training companions and were kicked to a random curb. We went straight to knocking. We knocked a few houses and people were nice, but declined. Then we got to this one house. We knocked and a lady answered the door. We introduced ourselves and she let us in to talk more. We talked about the Book of Mormon and what it means to us and about Jesus Christ and how he has helped us.

She later told us that she just left her husband/boyfriend guy a couple weeks ago and didn't know what to do anymore. She told us that she never answers the door, but this time she had a feeling she should. Then she said we were angels sent from God to her.

Not even joking. It was the best thing ever. We wrote down her info so we could give it to the sisters in her area. I really hope they got back with her. When we left my companion said that I really connected with the lady, and I was sincere. That made me feel like I might actually be good at this a little. Maybe, just a little.

So that was awesome. Nothing super great has happened since then. Since we are opening a new area we don't have anyone to teach. AKA lots and lots of knocking. People are really nice for the most part, but no one wants to listen to us. There was only one guy of all the houses that was rude. He lived in Utah for a while I guess and really hated Mormons. That was great to hear...

The ward members here are amazing! They are so missionary oriented. They really love us. They had a meal calendar planned for two weeks before we even got here. Crazy, huh? They are so willing to help. And the ward mission leader has been a great blessing to us. He has really gotten the ball rolling. The elders in our ward are sort of mad at us for many reasons: we took their car, and everyone is excited we are here so they feed us a lot. Lets put it this way: The members like the missionaries, but they really love the sister missionaries. :)

I'm running out of time. :( so I'm going to work on sending pictures now. I feel like I have so much to tell you, but never enough time. Bah! Cheese and crackers!

The view from the plane. I got a window seat! yay! It was gorgeous. those are the clouds.

I'm loving it here. It's beautiful. I live in Traveler's Rest. You should check it out on Google earth sometime.

Oh! My companion is Sister Titus. She is from Kennewick, Washington. She's fabulous. Okay I really got to go.

I love you, and I miss you tons! Have a good day :)

Sister Broadbent

She made it!

Just a few pictures of Missy arriving in South Carolina and at the Mission home. So glad to see these and know that she made it safe and sound. She looks so happy!

25 new missionaries arrive

President and Sister Holm with Sister Broadbent

Off to South Carolina

        Well, today is the day that Missy officially arrived in South Carolina. She seems so far away! Missy was able to call us this morning at 6:30 am from the airport. Thank you to a very kind stranger who allowed her to use his cell phone. I guess the lines for the airport phones were very long and she almost wasn't able to talk to us. But, Heavenly Father is watching out for our Missy. We were able to talk to her for about 10 minutes until she had to board the plane. It was wonderful to hear her voice and of course she did her signature dolphin sound for us. Oh how I wish I had a recording of that sound!
          I texted the owner of the phone later on today to thank him for his kindness. He texted back, "It was my pleasure, she had a worried look on her face that she wouldn't get to a pay phone in time. I know I would want to hear from my daughter if she were headed out. I hope that she was able to reassure you. She will be home before you know it. Thanks for sharing her with the people of the south. They are friendly. (I live in Alabama). Best wishes"
           Thank you to this dear sweet man for watching out for others and following the promptings to help. I know that my day was so much better and I am sure that Missy's was also. She sounded happy and excited to get to South Carolina.
Keep her in your prayers, I know I will.
Monica

Hey Guys! er... I mean brothers and sisters...‏

This is the first email we got from Missy, I mean Sister Broadbent. This is also my first ever blog posting. Oh well, we all have to learn sometime.

Monica

 Mail is sorta weird here, especially with conference. Speaking of conference, it was good! I have been sick with a sinus infection/head cold kind of thing, so me and my companion didn't go to the Sunday morning session. We stayed at the apartment and slept, then walked up to the main campus at noon. It's about a 30-40 minute walk. But I feel so bad because now my companion is getting sick. 

Speaking of my companion, her name is Sister LeFevre.

She is from Seattle area and she is awesome. We both get along really well. We like to walk around speaking spanish to make people think we are going somewhere Spanish speaking. We found some Spanish elders and asked them how to say a few words. Tosinos is bacon. And that's really all that is needed in life.

The food is meh... They always put some weird sauce on everything, which is gross. But they have root beer and cocoa puffs. And occasionally they have cucumbers. Oh, and they have like sauted squash, which sounds disgusting, but it's really good. I always get it if they have some. 

Last night Sister LeFevre couldn't sleep and I guess I turned over in my bed and was like, "It's fantastic. Jesu Christo." yep. I talk about how fantastic Jesus is in my sleep, while also speaking Spanish. 

The MTC is good. We have basically no free time. And it's hard to adjust to being with someone 24/7. Luckily, I have a good companion. We struggle a little with being exactly obedient. Like waking up on time and going to bed on time. We have to wake up at 5:30. Jank! This is a picture of my schedule this week so you can see how jam packed it is. 

Oh! We leave next Monday super early. We have to be to the travel office at 3:30 am. yep. I don't know how it all works, but our flight leaves at 7:10. So, I'm pretty sure I can call you. It will be sometime between 6 and 7. We have an hour layover in Georgia and should be in South Carolina by 4ish I think. It's so fast.

Look who I saw! Elder Baer. This was at the very beginning before I got my tag. BTW this picture is very illegal in the MTC. Rebel... ;)

Thank you so much for writing me! Mail time is like feeding time for pigs around here. My district was jealous because I got three letters in one day, two of which were from Katherine, but I didn't tell them that...

 I would love addresses so I can write people when I get a spare second. But I just know Katherine's and my home.

Love, Missy :)

Happiness in picture form...

These pictures are the ones that Sister Broadbent took with her in an album, so when she gets homesick she can look back and remember all of the people that love her. There are a few that are rather awkward and funny, but Hey? doesn't that capture what Missy is all about?

Mission Farewell

Missy,Here are just a few pictures from the farewell. We were not very good at taking lots of pictures... but thanks to those people who did get some pictures!

Sorry these posts are out of order...