Hello Family! This may need to be a short one but I promise to keep
writing until my time is up here at the Library! This week has been a very
adventurous one. We were off island when the hurricane came. We had gone off
island on Thursday night for a
zone meeting on Friday. And when
the storm hit on Friday we ended
up staying until the storm passed and went home on Friday. We stayed on the Cape with the Cape Cod sisters. The
Martha's Vineyard sisters stayed with them as well. We had our meeting on Friday Morning and then the storm
started to hit. Not a lot of wind but a ton of rain and it rained most of the
day. Sister Packard was a little worried so after the meeting she asked us all
to go home and stay in for the night. So it was kind of like having a little
slumber party with three sets of sisters since we were stuck in the apartment
all day. Nantucket got it a little worse than we did but not too much damage was
done. They lost power for part of the night and had a lot of wind but there was
only a few tree branches here and there that had fallen off of the trees. On
Thursday night we were on the
ferry heading to the main land and Sister Packard called and was worried about
us and wanted to make sure that we were coming off of the island for the storm.
She is quite the lady. You will never have to worry about our safety as long as
she is here. She sure worries about her missionaries. Make us feel good that
even though she has about 300 missionaries she was worried about us and wanted
to make sure that we were safe.
Our Zone meeting was really good. The theme was to let it go and to let
them know. Almost all of us have heard that frozen song because many little kids
like to sing it to us. So we all vowed to let go of any fears that we have about
contacting and talking to strangers about the gospel, and to let every know
about anything about the restored gospel and to bear testimony of it. It was a
really good meeting. This weekend Nantucket broke their record for the number of
people in Sacrament meeting. We had 32 people:) We had a family of 16 visit from
Salt Lake. One man got up to bear his testimony and said that last week he was
in a sacrament meeting of a 1000 people and the Prophet was there. And he said
that the spirit that was there was the spirit that was here in our little group.
He said this as he had to hunch over while bearing his testimony so he wouldn't
hit his head on a pipe:) They were all pretty amazed with our little group and
our humble meeting place. Makes me really proud of them. They all are truly
amazing. Lorraine taught the Sunday School lesson and we got to sit in since we had no
primary kids at church and it was nice to be able to sit in. She taught about
agency and how we have the power to choose. She told about how Satan will
influence us to choose not what the Lord wants us to. She said that when the
mission contacted them and told them that they were getting sisters and they
were asked to look for an apartment. Immediately her husband said that they
could live in their basement. And she was hesitant because it needed some work.
But after looking they decided that the sisters could live with them and they
got to work. Things were going horrible wrong. And one day the basement had
flooded and when her husband came home she was in tears as she said their is
water in the basement, and I don't know how this is going to work and how they
were going to pull it off. They were about to tell them that they needed to find
another place for the sisters to live and then she had this thought that Satan
was was working really hard for the sisters not to come. That he did not want
them to be there. He did not want the work to progress here on Nantucket and he
was going to do anything to stop it. She said that once she realized that things
changed and they were able to figure things out. Sometimes when there is
opposition all we have to realize is that sometimes there are things working
against us and once we realize that the path seems a little bit clearer.
There is not much more news on our investigators. They are all busy little
bees working for the summer. Hopefully I will have more updates next week. I
love you all and my time is up, But I know that the church is true. I love this
gospel and this mission. We are having a mission wide fast tomorrow for all those learning about
the gospel and I am excited. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week.
Thank you for all of your support.
Love Sister Abbey Lou Rushton
Here is a copy of President Packard's letter to us this week. I wanted to
share it with you. He is truly amazing.
Dear
Elders and Sisters,
Tomorrow we will all take part in our first ever, mission-wide fast. We will be fasting for everyone who is committed to baptism this month (95 people at the beginning of the month.) We want a unified and collective effort on the part of the entire mission. All of us care for these investigators. They do not “belong” only to the missionaries who are teaching them; they belong to all of us. We all pray for them, and we all rejoice when these people make and keep sacred covenants.
As you have undoubtedly observed, the record number of baptismal dates is an extension of a more broadly experienced spiritual outpouring that we are seeing throughout the mission. Much of the influence of this spiritual outpouring is intangible and unmeasurable (such as greater consecration, greater companionship unity, a greater effort to open our mouths, and a greater desire generally to throw ourselves into the work with reckless abandon). However, the measurable indicators have also increased. For example, the number of new investigators is way up, member lessons have increased, member “helps” have increased, and non-members at church have increased. Now, it is time for baptisms to increase – significantly. The Lord has set the table for us by giving us all these investigators and baptismal dates, and if we do our part by collectively exercising our faith, the Lord will bless these people. In essence, we are going to work like everything depends on us, and pray like everything depends on the Lord. Of course, the investigators play a huge role in this as well, and some of them will inevitably let go of the iron rod and wander off, but we want these cases to be only after we have done all we can do, individually and collectively, to shepherd them into the fold.
This is a special time for us, so let us enjoy this Spirit and keep its rich abundance flowing in our lives and ministry. Let us not be “weary in well-doing, for we are laying the foundation of a great work.” (D&C 64:33). Indeed, let us “waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things… [and] let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed” (D&C 123: 13; 17). We really do have the “utmost assurance” that God’s arm will be revealed if we “cheerfully do all things that lie in our power.” Let us do this together!
Love,
President and Sister Packard
Tomorrow we will all take part in our first ever, mission-wide fast. We will be fasting for everyone who is committed to baptism this month (95 people at the beginning of the month.) We want a unified and collective effort on the part of the entire mission. All of us care for these investigators. They do not “belong” only to the missionaries who are teaching them; they belong to all of us. We all pray for them, and we all rejoice when these people make and keep sacred covenants.
As you have undoubtedly observed, the record number of baptismal dates is an extension of a more broadly experienced spiritual outpouring that we are seeing throughout the mission. Much of the influence of this spiritual outpouring is intangible and unmeasurable (such as greater consecration, greater companionship unity, a greater effort to open our mouths, and a greater desire generally to throw ourselves into the work with reckless abandon). However, the measurable indicators have also increased. For example, the number of new investigators is way up, member lessons have increased, member “helps” have increased, and non-members at church have increased. Now, it is time for baptisms to increase – significantly. The Lord has set the table for us by giving us all these investigators and baptismal dates, and if we do our part by collectively exercising our faith, the Lord will bless these people. In essence, we are going to work like everything depends on us, and pray like everything depends on the Lord. Of course, the investigators play a huge role in this as well, and some of them will inevitably let go of the iron rod and wander off, but we want these cases to be only after we have done all we can do, individually and collectively, to shepherd them into the fold.
This is a special time for us, so let us enjoy this Spirit and keep its rich abundance flowing in our lives and ministry. Let us not be “weary in well-doing, for we are laying the foundation of a great work.” (D&C 64:33). Indeed, let us “waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things… [and] let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed” (D&C 123: 13; 17). We really do have the “utmost assurance” that God’s arm will be revealed if we “cheerfully do all things that lie in our power.” Let us do this together!
Love,
President and Sister Packard
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