Joy in the Journey: Stand Out, Be Different, Be a Light

It's Saturday afternoon and I should be preparing for the Stake Conference we have to speak at tonight, or perhaps the Stake Conference we have to speak at tomorrow, or our mission tour coming up next week when we have Elder and Sister Scott Whiting coming to stay with us from Tuesday through Friday. But, no, I am going to get this past week documented before all of those things push this to the side.

Sisters of the California Sacramento Mission: June 2019

We had our second Sister's P Day on Monday, June 3. It was amazing, as it is bound to be when you get 65 women together to love and learn from each other. I have to say here that some of our Elders keep asking President when he is going to have an Elder's P Day. They keep trying to get him to do one. The only problem is that they just want to play basketball. He is having a hard time justifying bringing Elders together from all over the mission to play basketball. Elders and Sisters are so different! I had six Elders from the Cordova Zone help me set up tables and chairs the morning of Sister's P Day. They also asked President when they were going to have an Elder's P Day. He told them that at the Sister's P Day we having spiritual trainings and classes, with some fun and games mixed in, and asked if they wanted to do something like that. They were quick to say they didn't want to do that on their P Day. But they thought a basketball or ping pong tournament sounded great. We'll see if they get to him, but he's much quicker to get on board for a P Day with a purpose. Ha Ha

My friend Ann Hewlett serving in the Houston East Mission first gave me the idea of holding a Sister's P Day last year and we had our first one this past December. The Sister's loved it so much and since then have been asking when our next Sister's P Day was going to be. They just love coming together. I decided to plan to have 2 a year, and it's been about 6 months since our last one.

I really love how Heavenly Father just knows exactly what we each need. As I was planning and trying to prepare for this I had a bunch of ideas coming. Another dear friend, Cristin Strong, serving in Peru had recently done a Sister's P Day in their mission and I loved the ideas she shared with me. It would have been so easy to just take exactly what she had done and implement it here, (and I did take a few ideas from her, including the Sister's Clothing Exchange) but what I may love the very most about serving in this calling is how an idea becomes refined through revelation to be exactly what we need in our mission, for our sisters at this particular time.

My purpose is always first and foremost to provide an opportunity for us to feel the spirit, followed closely by providing opportunity for Sisterhood, and the chance for these dear, hard working sisters to get their buckets filled. I knew that not only I, but Heavenly Father wanted them to be filled: Spiritually, Socially, and Physically.

I found a quote by President Nelson and I immediately knew that is what I would base the day around. He gave it at the Worldwide Youth Devotional last June when he spoke to the youth about the Gathering of Israel . He told them to "Stand Out, Be Different, and Be a Light".

We started at 9:30 Monday morning and it was so much fun seeing them all file in and greet long lost friends and companions. There is nothing better than being in a room full of happy Sister chatter.

I had President join me for the first part of the day, he talked to them for a few minutes and then felt very out numbered and made his escape.

We started out with introductions. I had asked them to come prepared to share one word that they thought described themselves and they shared that word as they introduced themselves. It was a great way to start because it was an example of my second point: Be Different. Each one of them chose a word that I thought fit them perfectly, and we didn't have very many double up. It was fun to see the diversity in personalities just by the words they chose, and how none of us are or need to be the same. We are just the way we are supposed to be. No one word was better than another, just different.

I started out with a training on standing out and being different. President Nelson said this:

'Stand out; be different from the world. You and I know that you are to be a light to the world. Therefore, the Lord needs you to look like, sound like, act like, and dress like a true disciple of Jesus Christ.' So I started by talking about looking like a disciple of Christ and how that doesn't mean we have to look one particular way. We can and are supposed to look different, to not compare ourselves with anyone else. Satan tries to twist things and make us think there is one specific way we should look and that is a downright lie. We played a game of telephone charades to prove that point, the only problem is they were all too good and it didn't really prove my point. But we had some good laughs and I think they got it. We also reviewed the dress and grooming guidelines, that are different for missionaries.

Then President talked about choices they can make to help them be happier in the mission and happier in life. He gave them two rules to live by. Rule #1: Success as a missionary depends on the choices they make. Rule #2: Reread rule #1. The choices they can make are the following: Choose to be happy, Choose to desire to be here, Choose to be obedient, Choose to be honest with yourself and others, Choose to work, and Choose to love others.

We then opened it up to a question and answer time, where they could 'ask President and Sister Hymas anything'.

Following that, President Hymas excused himself, and Sister Gunnell had a really fun get to know you game. She had questions that she asked the sisters and whoever won, got a candy bar that represented the question. Such as: Who has ridden a bike the most on their mission, and the candy bar that went with that was a Rocky Road. Most of the questions had a story or two to go with it. Often times there were multiple hands that shot up, so they all got to tell their stories and try to win over the majority vote. It was all in good fun and I think everyone got plenty of candy and we all got to know each other better.

This is a picture of all of our candy winners

Last Sister's P Day we did what I called Speed Friend shipping where we had two rows of chairs facing each other. You had one minute to get to know as much about the person across from you as you could, and when I yelled switch, one row moved down a seat and you started over again. When I asked the Sister Training Leaders what they would like to do this time, they all said they wanted to do Speed Friend Shipping again. After the Candy Bar game we moved into the gym for round two of SFS.

I wish I could capture sound with these pictures. It was noisy, chaotic fun. We finished that activity and went back into the Relief Society Room where Sister Mair gave a wonderful presentation on Inner Beauty. She talked about the importance of taking care of our outer beauty as much as we could, but that the real focus and importance is on our inner beauty. She did the cutest object lesson. She had a tray of oreos and asked for 5 or 6 sisters to come up and eat an oreo in front of the rest of us. Her object lesson went better than mine, because almost all of them opened up the oreo and licked the inside first before they ate the outer cookies. She pointed out that what is inside is the best part of us, just like an oreo. What is important is that we are able to see ourselves through our Heavenly Father's eyes. It was wonderful and we finished with the Sister Training Leaders singing a song my friend Cristin told me about called Beautiful to Him.

We moved from there into lunch. I made Ham and Cheese, Turkey and Cheese, and Cheese rolls and a chicken, spinach, pasta salad, and a coconut cake. Luckily I have a recipe from my friend Kellee for rolls that are amazing and you make make them ahead and freeze them. I just had to bake them Sunday night. And I found a recipe for the salad on the food blog A Bountiful Kitchen that was for a crowd. She had it on a 'cooking for girls camp' post and it was a recipe for 100 so I didn't even have to do any figuring. And you can cook, chop and assemble everything ahead of time too. It was really good, and fairly easy because I did so much of it ahead of time. My friend from my ward, Brooke Sedgwick did the rest of the desserts and picked up the strawberries from the Farmer's Market. If you haven't had a Sacramento strawberry, you haven't had a strawberry. They are SO good. My sweet friend Gail came and got it all set out for us, since I couldn't be in two places at once. I'm so grateful for her help with anything I ever ask her to do.

Rolls before and after baking

We had about two hours for lunch. During that time we had the clothing swap. All of the sister's apartments have what they call the sister's box where they leave clothing they don't want and the next one in the apartment can find some treasures. At transfers I asked them all to bring whatever clothes they had that were still good, but that they didn't want anymore. And before I knew how many things they would bring, I also asked my ward members if they had any clothes they were getting rid of that they would be willing to donate to the cause. We got bags, and bags, and bags of clothes. It was kind of overwhelming.

These are just some of the bags that the sisters brought to transfers

Thank heavens for Sister Doig and Sister Goodwin, who I asked to be in charge of that project before I knew how big it was going to be. They collected, sorted and laid out all of the clothes and created the Sister's Swap Store. They had so much fun shopping for new clothes.

Sister Price grabbed two of the skirts I donated

And the next day at interviews Sister Hummel was in this darling outfit she got from Sister's P Day. We had to take a picture because of our twinning shirts.

Scott and I just brought all of our big yard games to set up. We had giant jenga, corn hole, giant dice that we played yahtzee with, a large checker game, ring toss, ladder toss and I can't even remember what else. We also had Sister Stephens who volunteered to teach us line dances. It was a little crazy to do line dances to EFY music, especially when we did the macarena, but it was a lot of fun. Some sisters spent a lot of time 'shopping', some loved playing the games, some loved the dancing, and some loved just sitting and visiting.

We finished back up in the Relief Society Room where I talked about being a light. We talked about one of my favorite heroines, Queen Esther. We talked about how she was a light, she didn't compare herself to anyone else because she knew who she was. She was placed in those particular circumstances because she was critical to God's plan. He had a purpose for her life and because she knew she could be a light to her people, God's people, she saved them. We too have been placed in Sacramento California 'for such a time as this' to help save God's people. We have a sacred purpose and we can be that light to those in the darkness. The Savior declared himself as 'The Light of the World' and he also asked us to 'let our lights so shine'. That can happen as we follow Him, The Light of the World. I asked the question "How has your testimony of Jesus Christ helped you to be a light?" What followed was a spirit packed 30 minutes where many of these sweet sisters shared their testimonies of the Savior and their experiences of being a light to others. There were a lot of tears and the spirit was so strong. It was a wonderful way to end a really great day. I finished by showing them a video I put together of pictures of the sisters from the past 6 months, to a song called "You are a Light on a Hill". The file is too big to include in this blog but I posted it on my facebook and it is worth taking a look at. Our sisters are such beautiful lights!

I gave them all a framed copy of our theme. Stand Out, Be Different, Be a Light, so hopefully they can always remember how wonderful they each are and what a light they are to others.

The rest of our week consisted of interviews in North Sacramento, Carmichael, East Sac and Elk Grove. We went to District Council in Sacramento and we had to say goodbye to Elder Bennion (unfortunately I didn't get a picture) and Sister DeLand today who had to go home for some health issues. We love them and wish them all the best.

Sister DeLand's sweet companion, Sister Fifita needed to leave North Sac and headed to El Dorado. We needed to get her, and a car up to her cute new companion, Sister Maldonado and so I drove her up there this morning. The only problem is that I was going to have to drive a mission car and I don't have a TIWI card. We have a TIWI box in every mission car that keeps our missionaries safe. It starts talking to you if you go over the speed limit "check you speed", or if you are driving aggressively, etc. Every missionary is issued a TIWI card and you have to log in and out of any car you drive with your own TIWI card. We've been here almost two years and I've never had a TIWI card. Elder Mair was at the office and told me he would get me one quickly. He came around the corner of the office with a grin on his face and handed me Sister Gunnell's TIWI card. He said the system wouldn't let him give me a card because apparently, in the system I'm only part time. We had a good laugh about that. I sure don't feel like I'm part time. Sister Doig laughed and said "if you're only part time, I'd hate to see what full time is". But we made it to El Dorado and I only got one 'check your speed' for Sister Gunnell.

We had a few visitors. Elder Galvez and his Sister were in Sacramento and stopped by for a lovely visit.

We also were so excited to see Sister Searle and Hermana Hewitt and Sister Searle's parents as they are back in Sacramento for the weekend. Again, it's such a blessing to be so close and to have so many of our beloved missionaries come to visit. It makes it a bit easier to send them home knowing they are just a hop away. And we are so grateful so many of them make that hop!