July 16 - Sept. 10
July 16, 2020
Hello,
We have burst of rain here that are like little flash floods. I love them!
I had the wonderful opportunity of going to the Priesthood Restoration Site down in Pennsylvania (PRS)! Its beautiful and amazing! My favorite part is the love story between Emma and Joseph and everything they had to go through as a couple. So amazing!!!! Everyone should go there some day but for now you can get a virtual tour from those amazing sisters over there.
The Sacred Grove/Smith Farm is open to the general public now! The link to sign up is on the facebook page Worldwide Unite! That is where you can schedule a tour at PRS as well.
We can get bored a lot here but thankfully at Hill Cumorah we have a movie theater that has some church movies and other church messages predownload on there. My favorite is Legacy! If you have not watched it go on YouTube and watch it! Its literally so amazing and it's the unofficial movie of the NY Historic Sites Mission- I have watched it more times I can count! It's an amazing movie that helps me understand some of the hardships and incredible faith the early saints had.
I have officially been out here for a month! In that month we have had one senior couple go home and tomorrow we will have one sister go home. It's been extremely sad to see these amazing people leave. All of these Sisters and senior couples are amazing! They have taught me so much- to be more patient, more loving, more sympathetic, more understanding, in simple words more Christlike. Something that has helped me grow a lot is to sit down with someone that I normally would not sit down with and really get to know them. I have found things I never would have expected! I would encourage everyone to take time and reach out to someone you normally wouldn't, it can change your life if you let it.
Love,
Sister Abbott
Missionaries in front of Emma's childhood home.
August 6,2020 - Sierra's email
This week we gave a tour to this one lady who seemed to be going through a hard time. The Spirit was so strong! Both my comp and I said things we usually don't say and skipped a part we usually do say and it was just so special! At the end of walking through the Sacred Grove she was slightly crying and just had this amazing Spirit with us! There have been so many wonderful tours to people around the world (especially the Philippines) who are unable to come to these sites for a variety of reasons such as the are paralyzed or live far away and don't have enough money to come. It's hard a lot of the time but those small and simple moments keeps me going through it all. Another thing all of this has taught me or reminded me is not to take anything for granted. We have these amazing historic sites in our home country and so many of us have not seen them. Yes it's hard to find the time and money but they are just across the country. Sometimes it just can't work out and that is why Heavenly Father has put in His plan, virtual tours! So all of these amazing people who can't come here right now, or possibly ever, can experience this beautiful, sacred place. It is so amazing and I would encourage anyone and everyone to take this opportunity and take a tour. It doesn't have to be of these sites or by me but take a tour of a church history site and feel the special spirit.In my hours of studying time that I am blessed with I read a talk, Turn On Your Light by Sharon Eubank, First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency. Its an amazing talk and you should listen to all of it!! But one of my favorite quotes from it is "You look with optimism, work with faith, and things happen.” I love this so much!! Be positive, proactive, and things will happen. Not necessarily the things we want but the things we need in order to become a better person! But please read this all the way through, you will NOT regret it!The pictures are from this Sunflower farm thing we went to on our p-day. It was closed to the public but they saidI love this quote!
we could walk around. There was so many cool animals such as camels, kangaroo, and so much more! And of course lots of Sunflowers!
August 13, 2020 - Sierra's email
Hello everyone,
Technology has been a vital part of my missionary work! Covid has for sure changed the world and has brought new opportunities to all of those around the world. The Sacred Grove is booked up and is booked up for awhile and it's amazing to me to see that so many people from around the world are able to see this beautiful place! People from France, Philippines, and anywhere in the US. Those that will never have the opportunity to see this place or the opportunity to see it with their families are having the opportunity now. So yes we live in a crazy world that seems to get crazier every day but Heavenly Father uses that crazy to show us new ways of sharing the gospel. In darkness there will always be light!
This week I read an amazing talk by Glenn L. Pace (who was Second Councilor in the Presiding Bishopric, this was an old talk) it was titled "A Thousand Times"
So many wonderful things in this talk but one quote that I love is talking about Jesus Christ.
"Although He does not condone sin, His arms are always open to the repentant sinner."
New York is so beautiful!!
We saw this weird truck thing....
August 24, 2020 - Sierra's email
So these past couple of weeks have been amazing! All of our mission got to watch Coco together! It was so fun and it truly shows how we are so spoiled here.
This week 1/3 of our Sisters are moving on to their proselyting missions around the country, and no we are not getting anymore Sisters coming out here. It's so sad to see all of these amazing sisters leave, and makes me more excited to go proselyting. When we all put in our mission papers we thought that we would spend 18 months of our lives proselyting and teaching people. Then we got our calls and came here (for our first 4 months). We still get to teach people about the Restoration of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ but soooooo much differently than we would have imaged. We thought that we would have live tours and been packed with visitors because it's the bicentennial of the First Vision and the last Hill Cumorah pageant. But instead we don't get to see real people, we give a lot less tours than I thought, but we have the opportunity to teach those that could not come here in person for whatever reason. A lot of the people we have given tours to are from the Philippines, and because of the time difference they have to get up super early or stay up really late to get a tour. But Heavenly Father has a plan and makes things happen. My mission experience has definitely not been what I thought it would be from the moment I opened my mission call to getting my first real life companion (who was only out for a month before me) and everything in between. If you would have asked me before I got my mission call what I thought it would be, this is not where I thought I would be, this is not the language that I would teach in, but it's where the Lord needs me. Sometimes it's hard to see in the moment the Lords plan and His hand in your life. But looking back you can see clearly how perfect His plan truly is. If you can't see it now it hasn't been a long enough! Wait, Wait a little longer and see it all fall into place.
Also sad note! Because 1/3 of the sisters are leaving we are closing 2 of our 4 sites here. It's so sad! I love these 2 sites that we are closing. We are closing them because they are not open to the public virtually, and the other 2 are. The other 2 are all booked up, so the missionaries need to be there. So goodbye Hill Cumorah and Whitmer Farm!
I got a new comp (Sister Clarke) and she is so amazing! She is so positive all the time and it just makes the day brighter and happier! So smile at someone today or share an uplifting quote. It will make someone's day better.
The Whitmer Farm (My favorite tour! I will miss you!
Me and my Companion Sister Clarke
August 31, 2020 - Sierra's email
Here are just a couple lessons or things that I have learned about while here in Palmyra NY. At the Book of Mormon Publication Site (Grandin) I have found a new application for family history. I am not exactly sure why there but I did. There are 2 paintings in there- one of Mr. Grandin and one of his wife. They are the only original paintings of them and they were donated to the church specifically for this historic site! They are not members (or at least not when they donated them) but have kept these paintings in their family for such a long time. That is amazing to me. So please read up on your family history and if you don't have any of it filled in yet start with what you know. Today I got to clean the temple again! Fun fact it is the only temple in the world (that we know of) that has a clear window in it. It has this clear window to look into the Sacred Grove. Also the Palmyra temple is on Joseph Smith family's property! His family owned 100 acres of land and the temple is on the 100 acres!! He had a lot of hardships and I am sure there were times that he was waiting for blessings to come. Sometimes it feels like blessings don't come in the time that we need them. But sometimes blessings come not when we think we need them but when Heavenly Father knows we need them. Sometimes we have to wait a very long time to see all of the blessings in our lives. Here is one more thing to think about- family. I know I already talked about family history but your immediate family. Joseph Smith came from a hardworking, loving, religious family. Heavenly Father and his family groomed him from the beginning. With the help of his family he became the person Heavenly Father needed him to be in order to bring forth the fullness of Jesus Christs everlasting gospel. So be kind to your family because Heavenly Father choose them specifically for you to help you grow and become the person He needs you to be.   Palmyra temple  |
September 10, 2020 - Sierra's email
Hello,
COOL/SAD-
First things first- we get spoiled so much here and we got to watch It's a Wonderful Life! And the first 1/4 of the BYU v Navy football game. It was probably the best game I will ever watch because it meant that I got to watch something on TV for a little bit. All the sisters were so excited, most of them love football!
We will be losing a lot more of our sisters to proselyting missions at the start of next week, so there will be 9 Sisters left including me. For the weekend 3 of the Pennsylvania Sisters are coming up for their final couple of days and all of them are staying in the house that I am in...so that will be 8 Sisters in 1 house.... yay.
It will be fun to be altogether, although a lot of noise is sometimes hard for me.
FUNNY- not really
Little funny story- in the middle of a tour at the Sacred Grove/ Smith Farm I was talking about how as long as we do our part then Heavenly Father will do the rest. Then I said thank goodness because "I am beyond perfect". I meant to say was that I was so beyond perfect in a bad way but nope that's not how I said it. It was so funny because I didn't realize what I said until 5 minutes after!!!! Haha
SPIRITUAL- emphasis on the Spirit
This week and a half has been really amazing for me to better understand the Spirit. My companion and I talk after most of our tours to evaluate about how we could do better and how strong the Spirit was there. There has been some of the most amazing Spirit filled tours of my time here. Sometimes when I humble myself I say things that I have never said in a tour before or focus on something that I normally don't focus on. Sometimes it's the opposite, I don't say something because that's not what they need to here. It's hard to know what they need because we don't know them or talk to them much but the Spirit knows them!
SCRIPTURE-sometimes opening up to a random chapter works
Alma 1:25
"Now this was a great trial to those that did stand fast in the faith; nevertheless, they were steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments of God, and they bore with patience the persecution which was heaped upon them."
Some amazing things are found here!
- one of my goals is to be "steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments of God"
- be patient with my trials, mistakes, missteps, others, and life in general.
1 and 2- Martin Harris Farm (there's not much there but it's a cool story for another time) with my BEAUTIFUL COMP
3- The Sacred Grove in the morning.
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