It's been an interesting week. The whole mission seems to be in a constant state of transition, with the change in of the Mission President and all. That on top of the fact that I got my flight plans and my "Book of Gold" to document the highlights of my mission are really making these weeks feel surreal. September is coming fast.Yikes!
Last P-day we went to the Museum of Science again! It's my favorite place in Boston. I'll have to send you a picture--it's incredible! :)
Throughout the week we scheduled, edited videos, and worked on the digital mission. The digital mission. . . man. . . I can't believe I haven't really explained it to you. Hang tight; You'll love this! It's another pilot program we have in the MBM. Basically, we have 2 Elders assigned to full-time find people online to teach the restored gospel, through social media. They run everything and have trained the entire mission on how to find people, too! Different companionships are assigned to different social media sites, and when we make new friends, we Skype them! That's when we get to teach them the lessons. It's incredible how fast you can pick up investigators online. As a mission, we're Skyping with people all over the world! (Except a few no-fly zones, which the Church has a policy that we can't proselyte in.) We apply all the same things we would as a regular investigator, including members at every lesson (3-way Skypes), daily contact, commitments. . . The only difference is that as soon as they set a baptismal date (or earlier, depending on their progression) we call up the missionaries in their area to step in. It's so cool. So far we've had 8 baptisms from the digital mission. This just really got started 7 or 8 months ago. And it was because President Packard was inspired and knew what missionaries to call to make it happen. So yeah, I'll be doing some regular teaching again!
We also had interviews with President Miller this week. I really love him. :) It's so different, but he's incredible.
On Friday we went back to Providence for another Open House! For some reason it's gotten harder and harder to get people to tour that building and see the displays. I'm trying to figure out the difference. It's a high foot-traffic area there, too! But anyway, after we set everything up, Sister Jessup and I tried contacting people. We were getting rejection after rejection, and suddenly I had an idea. I had my guitar with me, because we had just sung a musical number for District Meeting. So we ran and grabbed my guitar and a chair, and Sister Jessup and I sang and played Primary songs on the street while the Spanish Sisters contacted everyone! We certainly got a lot more attention. :) And it was fun. I've always wanted to do that. The Elders joined us for awhile and we had 3-part harmony going on. We ended up having 2 solid conversations from that, and even got to show them a couple of videos. One guy was just back from Iraq and clearly suffering from PTSD. The other was a young guy who was smart and really on the right track for what the purpose of life is and such. I hope something comes from it! :)
We got home super late and woke up super early on Saturday! And we went on exchanges again, this time with the Marlborough Portuguese Sisters. I went with Sister Goncalves to Woodbridge, Connecticut so that our companions could go to the recent convert temple day with someone they both taught. It was really fun! It's a 2 1/2 hour drive to Woodbridge. Gah! But we talked the whole time. Sister Goncalves flew out to Boston with me nearly a year and a half ago. How crazy is that? Now she's going home in a week and a half. She chose to go home this transfer instead of the next, so she could make it to school. I really like her. Our event was an Asian Culture Fair. It was really fun!
Yesterday Sister Cruz and I went crazy to get to three different baptisms! One was in Framingham, one in Gardner, and one in Worcester. :) I know the names are kind of meaningless. But it was pretty crazy! We made it, though! I love being busy. The videos are as powerful to people now as they were when I started in the PVC 7 months ago. :) I love it. Then the Dowlings had us for dinner, which was nice.
That's my life! On Friday we get T-texts again. So I'll find out if President Miller sees fit to transfer me for my very last 6 weeks. That's insane. I wouldn't know what to do with myself! I've been on this special assignment for so long. . . and I love it!
Thanks again for everything! I love my mission with everything I have. This is insane how fast time flies.
Love,
Sister Merkley
MBM PVC Missionary
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