I'm Coming Home!

Sooo.... Not really sure what to say in this last email. I'm excited to see all y'alls faces very, very soon!

I can't believe it has already been 18 months. I feel like I've been gone for so long, yet not long at all. 

I feel calm about coming home. I know I have served a good mission for my Father in Heaven. I haven't been perfect, but I have given it my best. 

I can't wait to tell y'all about all the experiences I've had. I am so grateful I got to be a missionary. I love it. It has been so hard. I think that's one of the reasons I have loved it so much. I can do hard things! 

I'll see ya in a few days, kids. :)

Love, Sister Broadbent

YO!!!

Hey guys! :)

So..... There is so much crammed into the weeks that I have a hard time remembering what happened. Yep.

Conference was fantastic! We went to the chapel where it was broadcast. It was pretty much just us and the elders and a member of the bishopric. We took our blankets because it is always so cold in the chapel. I am convinced the temperature of the Celestial Kingdom will be the temperature of every LDS chapel. It seems like they are all so cold! Make sure to bring spiritual blankets to Heaven, kids!

I loved conference. I especially loved the Sunday morning session. I had a concern and while I was watching conference I kept thinking about it and having these great ideas. I literally thought to myself, "What are you thinking? You are supposed to be paying attention to conference!" Then I was like, "Wait, what am I doing? This is my revelation!" Then I wrote everything down. It was marvelous.

Learn from me- Accept the promptings of the Holy Ghost! I have been learning a lot about the different ways I feel the Holy Ghost. Sometimes it's a warm feeling. Other times it's a thought. It always leaves a feeling of peace, though. I love it!! :)

So.... I come home next week. That's crazy. I feel like I just came out yet also like I've been a missionary for so long. I'm excited. I'm sad to leave the people I love here. But I'm ready. 

I love y'all! Have a great week! 

Love, Sister Broadbent

Week 4

Me and Amanda

Hey y'all! Week 4 of the transfer is over and we are starting week 5. Time goes by so quickly. 


This past week was sort of different. We didn't plan very well, so things didn't quite work out the way we had hoped. Good planning=good days. Mostly... :) At least it usually makes effective days. 


We redid our entire map this week with an updated ward roster and formers and leads. That took forever, but we have a beautiful map now that makes planning A LOT easier. It was worth it. :)


We helped our investigator, Janet, move this week. She gave us so much stuff! We now have approximately 12 boxes of pasta and 5 bottles of spaghetti sauce and a whole bunch of other food and house supplies. It was sad, but good. She is moving to Arizona to get better medical treatment. We had a prayer with her and her boyfriend husband guy before we left. It was so great! Pete (Her man friend) has never prayed out loud with us before and he said the prayer. We have been teaching him, too along the way. In his prayer he said how grateful he was for the things he had been learning. He said that he was finally starting to understand why he is here on earth because of the things we have been teaching him. 


It made me feel so good. Janet said she is going to find the church in Arizona. She's not going back to what she did before she said. 


It was just the greatest. :) I don't think I ever realized how happy I would truly be just hearing people say these types of things. It makes me so happy! :)


The church is true. Stick to it, kids. :)


Love ya! 

Sister Broadbent

HEY!

 



This week was pretty good! We had corned beef and cabbage twice in honor of St. Patty's day. That was pretty good. I really like cabbage... :)

 



We started teaching Amanda the temple prep classes. I don't really remember taking them. Honestly, I was terrified of the temple. So, this is good for me, too. They are practically just the same lessons that missionaries teach with a little shazamm added. :) We were hoping she would be able to go to the temple in the next three-ish weeks. But, I'm not sure if that will happen. It was mostly for selfish reasons... :) The first lesson went well. I think it will take a little longer than we were both hoping for though. She is still the Revelations quoting, temple crazy Amanda I taught a year ago in Georgetown! It's good to know some things never change. :)

 



We got to got to an area that we NEVER get to go to because it is so far away from us. It's a little town called Loris. It is right by the North Carolina border. Of course we got a picture with the border sign. :) We felt like the most obedient rebels. The state border is also the mission border (which we are forbidden to cross). We got to take a picture with it and were still in our area! :) Hopefully, the signs were in the right spots... ;)

 



The border! :)



While we were up there we were walking down a street to find somebody. We saw this guy and we walked past him at first. Then I thought, "talk to him!" So I said, "Excuse me sir, can we share something with you?" He turned and walked back to us. Turns out he had been pacing the street because of something that has been going on that is causing him a lot of worry. Sister Grover gave him a Book of Mormon and we said a prayer with him on the side of the street- which happens often. After the prayer he said, "God knows when his people need him. Thank you." 

It strengthened my testimony that God truly does KNOW us individually. He knows when we need to feel his love most and when we need a lift. And he will get to us somehow. Whether it is through the tools we have already been given- like prayer, church, and the scriptures. Or often times through other people. He will find a way if we are looking for his love. :)

 

I love y'all and I hope y'all have a fantastic week!

 

I love being a missionary. 

 

Love, Sister Broadbent

 

Good Ole' Conway, South Carolina!

Another week has gone by here in good ole' Conway, South Carolina! 

It was full of crazy excitement and frustration. 

The greatest and most exciting news of the week is that we went and saw Amanda! :) She was so surprised that I was there. It was great! She is practically all the way blind now, so she couldn't see me. I said, "I'm Sister Grover's new companion. My name is Sister Broadbent." Her mouth dropped and she said, "You've got to be kidding me. Missy? Is it really you?" She has this habit of calling me by my first name... Then we embraced! :) I love her to death! :) But it gets better. Amanda is getting ready to go to the temple, but she still needs temple prep. She spoke with Bishop Christ- pronounced like "Christ"ian- Now we will be teaching her temple prep. AHHHHHH!!!! A little over a year ago Sister Roundy and I taught her about the gospel so she could get baptized. And now I get to teach her temple prep so she can go to the temple. :D  It's such a neat experience. She has grown so much in the last year. I love her!  If everything works, out I should be able to go with her to the temple before I come home. I hope so!

We caught a little toad! :)

We found a couple new people to teach this week. They are pretty cool. Hoping they pan out! 

We have also been working on our map and area book. It will be easier to work more effectively once we get that done.

We had some crazy things happen with multiple different less-actives. We got most of them worked out, though. Thankfully. :)

Funny experience: We were walking around a real nice neighborhood at about 8:15 pm trying to find some leads and we see this random porta-potty on the corner of the street. This is not unusual in SC, but this was a really nice neighborhood, so it was funny. Then we realized we needed to go to the bathroom real bad. We looked around and nobody was outside, so we capitalized our new found resource... :) It was so random. God provides for our needs when we don't realize we even have a need. :) haha! 

Anyway.... Have a great week!

Peace and blessings.

Sister Broadbent

God answers prayers, kids.

Hey, y'all! :)

 

This is me and Sister Grover getting ready

to go out and ride our bikes to places :)

The news you've all been waiting for: I'm in Conway now! :) My new companion is Sister Grover. She is from Oakland-ish California. She is pretty cool. I like her. :) Conway is just the next ward inland from Myrtle Beach. They are only about 30 minutes from each other. They are so different, though. Conway is much more like the rest of South Carolina. It's not quite so touristy. And it has a lot more country. It's a nice change. I really miss the people in Myrtle Beach, though. I feel like I've gotten used to leaving people I love, though, because it happens so frequently on a mission... So, I guess it's cool, right? I still miss them. 

It's rather funny that I am here. When I was in Gaston I prayed so hard that I could come to the Conway Ward because that is where my favorite person Amanda lives now. I got to Myrtle Beach and figured that was close enough, but then I actually came to Conway! :) :) We went to see her the other day, but she was sleeping. Hopefully we can go again, soon. :) 

Another reason it is funny is because just this last fast Sunday I fasted for help to be able to start getting in better shape the month of March and so forth. I know kind of a weird fast, but hey God is in the details. And all this southern food hasn't been treating me too well... so, ya. Anyway, I get to Conway and find out we are biking sisters! :) We have a car, too, but we also have bikes. Our area is HUGE and we don't have many miles, so we will be biking quite a bit. Let me tell you, it is sort of strange riding a bike in a skirt... But it's fun!

I'm also excited because it is getting warmer and staying light longer! It is a lot easier to find people to teach when it is warm and light. 

I've learned a lot about prayer the past little while. I've learned that honest and sincere prayers are best. I've learned that when I'm not sure what to say to just tell God about my day and the different things that happened. I've learned that Heavenly Father isn't some mean, angry, spiteful God. He doesn't mince words, but like it says in D&C 121 he shows and increase of love afterwards. Which indicates there was already love there. I've learned even more that prayers truly are heard. They are answered. Sometimes it takes just a couple days to recognize the answer. Sometimes it takes months or years. And sometimes we just flat out don't recognize the answer because they don't always come the way we thought they would. BUT! Our prayers are heard by our loving Heavenly Father. And they are answered. 

Me and the Albrechts! I love them!

The purple horse tie... It's an inside joke. :)

I love y'all! Have a blessed week. :)

 

Love, Sister Broadbent

I have had quite the week, y'all.

I have had quite the week, y'all. Both good and bad. Let me tell you. It started out bad. So, that's what will be first.

A) We hadn't been able to get a hold of Chris, a less active that we see all the time and was making great progress, for about a week. We were really worried because that isn't like Chris at all. One of the days we went over there I knocked REALLY loud for a really long time (probably about 13 knocks) and his neighbor came out to tell us that Chris died. They found him in his apartment a couple days before.

B) One of my favorite people in MB moved across the country without saying goodbye. She's not responding to anybody either. I really hope she is okay.

C) Pam, who is making GREAT progress, is moving to another ward because the bank is taking her house. 

Then the clouds opened up and God said, "I hate you, Sister Broadbent." - The Little Rascals.

D) Then we found out that Myrtle Beach will no longer have sister missionaries. There aren't enough sisters to have them in all the wards, so they are having to pull them from different wards. Myrtle Beach is one of them. 

This all happened in about two days, in order. I pretty much just broke down sobbing... yep. It's been rough.

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Then the clouds re-opened and God said, "I love you, Sister Broadbent. Here's some blessings."

A) We made hawaiian haystacks, a food nobody has heard about here, for Pam and her daughter. They loved them! Her daughter is starting to talk to us more now.

B) I saw the Watsons at church. They are a couple in Georgetown that didn't have their records in the branch, but we found them knocking. They lived in Bear Lake for a long time. They are doing well! :)

C) I saw another member from Georgetown that I worked a lot with at a grocery store she is working at now up in Myrtle Beach. She is doing well also!

D) I got a picture from my dear Sister Orr of a girl in a part member family that we found and started teaching who got baptized in Gaston. It made me so happy!

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 I am getting excited to have a new area. I love the people in Myrtle Beach sooooo much. I think it will be good for me to leave, though. I've gotten way too comfortable here. Missions aren't supposed to be comfortable. This will be good. 

God loves me.  

I love y'all!! Have a great week! 

Love, Sister Broadbent. :)

PS shout out to Trevor! Good luck, my baby brother! :) I love ya!

Missy's baby brother, Elder Broadbent, will be serving in the Spain Madrid Mission.