This is SERIOUSLY the BEST MISSION for p-days!!

The Beautiful Boston Temple
Sister Bingham and I with Deb

a former wiccan and recent convert

Me, Sis. Bingham, Elders Merril, McKinnley

(his fake dreads),

Dixon, Martineau, Mahe and Sato in Nantucket!

Skeleton of a sperm whale that came to the shore on

Nantucket and died. It was only 14 years old and look

how huge it is! This is at the Whaling Museum.

My dreamhouse on Nantucket

Gayhead Mountain Lighthouse.

Isn't it so cool? It's BRICK!

Action Shot.

LOVE the beach--HATE the cold!!

A Girl's Gotta do what A Girl's GOTTA do!!!

Eating at member's homes can be interesting!!!

This is some sort of TONGUE

The only picture I have of me and THE TONGUE

YEP! I ate a lil bit of that nastiness!
Sister Burgess-Koukol trying to talk Sis. Bingham

into trying it--Sis. Bingham's getting stressed out!

HAHA!!!

Sister Bingham much happier celebrating her 6 month

mark with Worthen's Favorite Pancakes I made for her

breakfast---YUM!!!

Historic and Memorable Day!

Patriot's Day (April 21st)

For P-day today (you're going to be jealous) we got up

at 3:00 a.m. and went to see the re-enactment

of the 1st shot of the Revolutionary War at Lexington.

It was AWESOME!!!!!

We went around to a bunch of different tour sites &

parades w/bag pipes, bands, etc. in Lexington

and Concord. There is so much history here!!

It's so awesome! You all are going to love it! :)

A lecture/Question and Answer session we had with

this group of men

The battle--afterwards the red coats marched off

to "Yankee Doodle". Sis. Olsen, Sis. Wendt, Bingham and I

Patriot's Day

Can you believe that? It's in Lexington--

I about DIED when I saw it, but hey--

I gotta represent. :)

Momentary Mission Meltdown

{Editor's Note: After over 4 months of multi-exclamation

point reporting of the excitement of serving a mission,

it was bound to happen--

a meltdown.

On April 14th
Sister Worthen wrote a letter in which she expressed her

first negative feelings. Rather than "sweeping this under the

rug" we thought it might be helpful to see how the situation

was resolved.}

Hilary wrote:

"I don't know what to say. I'm having a hard

time. There's a lot of expectation here, and ever

since I got here it's dropped, and I can't help

but feel it's my fault...I'm trying to remain

positive but it's getting harder and harder".

{The letter was short and not so sweet--a call went out to

the family to pray for her. After many prayers and hours

of worry and 8 days of not knowing how things were going,

the next letter came. I had made up my mind in advance

that if her letter contained pictures, then everything was

alright--a truly depressed person wouldn't bother getting

their pictures developed! I reached in the mailbox and got

the letter in my hand..................

YEA!!!--I could feel Pictures!!

In her letter Hilary referenced a story about the above picture

she told at her "farewell talk".

Here's the story she told:

At work Mom showed a family picture to her co-worker and he said,

"Judy, if I didn't know you and your family better, I would think this

guy (pointing to our bearded Boyd) was a drug dealer". Later Mom

was talking to Aunt Jeri {Moody}, about what her co-worker had said

about Boyd, and Jeri said that earlier that day she had shown the

same picture to her 3 year old grandaughter, Ella Huber, and

she had pointed to Boyd and said "Jesus".

In her talk Hilary said that she wanted to go on her mission

and look at people like Ella did and try to see their Christlike

qualities and love them as a Child of God and not judge their

outward appearance.

In the follow-up letter to her "meltdown"

Hilary wrote:

"Yours and my prayers both were answered.

I feel alot better. My district leader, Elder

Sato, asked me to give the spiritual training

(I know he always prays about who should

do what--aka he was inspired) and to do it on

one of the Christ-like attributes. So I prayed

about it & decided to do it on charity.

I told the story of your co-worker & Ella

seeing our family picture & realized that I

need to see the divine in myself and recognize

my divine royalty! I AM a daughter of God!

So, no, we're not any more successful in the

teaching dept--in fact EVERY appt. cancelled,

but I am feeling good about it. We're doing

a lot of work, and I know it'll work! :)

I really get tempted to doubt who I am, what

I stand for and my blessings/talents. But I,

like Nephi, "know in whom I have trusted: My

God hath been my support"! (2 Nephi 4:18-20)

My bro Boyd in Mesa Easter Pageant--

sometimes he's "shaggy",

but he's definitely not a drug dealer!

Honoring My Ancestors

Hilary is a descendant of two men who crossed the

Atlantic Ocean on the Mayflower and landed in...

Massachusetts

William Bradford

and William Brewster

Here she is at "National Monument to the Forefathers"

in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

She is pointing to a quote by Governor William Bradford.

Sister Worthen wrote to her Dad

"I thought you'd love to see that".