We sure love having our missionary here in our home. Lily has always had a special spirit about her, and so although now she is dedicated to serving those around her, truthfully, not much has changed in her interactions with others. She has always been quick to drop everything and help someone. I think her favorite part of her mission so far is to have the wonderful schedule of dedicated time to do specific service.
On Mondays, Lily stays at home and serves here - whether it is helping me with projects, indexing, or self improvement, she keeps busy. Tuesdays and Fridays she works at the Church Distribution Center as a volunteer from 9:30am-5:30pm, which she loves - and it is only a short walk from our house, which really helps when I have to have the car. Here is what she said about it in her weekly email:
"At the distribution center, I learned how to take customer orders and where everything was. I also watched videos that told me about the different styles and materials for garments, and what worked best for what. Then, we had a shipment arrive, and I helped check to make sure we got everything, and restock the store with what we got. It was really nice, and I learned a lot. There were a lot of people going to the temple I was able to help!" and "I was able to help with some extra tasks. I sorted all of the shoeboxes (because believe me, it was a MESS), and then learned how to use a steamer to steam-iron dresses. My arm got really tired from holding it so long, but I did a really good job!"
Wednesdays are her days to work at Catholic Charities across town. (Wow, does she have an insane commute to it, taking her on four different big freeways - thank goodness the Lord is watching over her!) They serve a lot of homeless and poor in the area, and she does a lot behind the scenes to help organize donations. Some of her emails recently talked a bit about it:
"At Catholic Charities, I helped stock the food shelves. There were a lot of moldy strawberries that we had to find and throw out...but we also stocked a bunch of bread! I also helped sort out a bunch of soup cans. Then, to end off the day, I helped make bagged lunches that would be given to the homeless." and "Wednesday was another day of Catholic Charities work at St Stephan's Care Center--well, once I was able to get there, at least. Having to go fill up on gas, mixed with the rainy weather, mixed with so much traffic, made it so the drive there took twice as long and I ended up getting there 20 minutes late...vut once I finally got there, I was able to immediately get to work sorting tomatoes and putting the good ones in bags while throwing out the moldy ones. I also helped sort out some cans!"
Thursday is her day at the San Antonio Temple. Up until this last week, she had been using it as a day to attend the temple while she waited for them to get her into the rotation and get set apart as a worker, but this week she finally got to do serve there as an ordinance worker, and she loved it! (And she is on the same shift as my Aunt Linda and Uncle Scott - so cool! Here is a little bit of what Lily has to say about it all:
"On Thursday, I got to do an initiatory session at the temple! After the session, I went to the offices to see if I could get scheduled to work soon. But even better than that, I was able to meet with a member of the presidency and not only get my schedule set, but also get set apart!" and "Thursday was my first day working at the temple!!! And it was AMAZING!!!!! :D I got to meet my Great-Aunt Linda and Great-Uncle Scott, and I got to help out all over, and even got to keep watch in the Celestial Room! I'm so excited to come back next week!!!"
Aside from her service assignments, she also gets to serve in our ward, and just recently got a calling to help teach the CTR 4 class in Primary, which she loves! She is also encouraged to attend Institute Classes at UTSA (For those who don't know, Institute is a religious program for young adults college aged, and they also have social activities.) Lily goes faithfully every Wednesday evening and loves it. She also has a companion, but unlike a teaching missionary, she does not have to live with or do things with her companion. Instead, they are a support to each other and have their semiweekly companionship study. She also has a district and zone, and they have meetings on occasion. And sometimes they have mission-wide service projects, like the one she had last week. I'll include the part from her email about it:
"I got to help with a service project on Saturday! That morning, I drove out to a church building in Helotes, where we all met up to go across the street to a property we were going to be cleaning up. We were working to try to make it work as a place where church campouts could happen. We cleaned up piles of junk, moved rocks, trimmed trees, and got REALLY hot and sweaty. After the work was done, we went back over to the church building to have lunch and watch a service missionary conference! It was really cool. Then, after that, some of us then headed over to one of the elder's houses to go swimming! The pool was big and got decently deep, and there was even a waterslide!" (Obviously, her rules are a little bit different than a teaching missionary.)
One of the things that has been the most amazing blessing for Lily on her mission, is how close we live to the San Antonio Temple (0.3 miles away - albeit uphill). It has made it easy for her to serve there and at the Distribution Center, especially since she often has to walk. But even more, it has made it so easy for her to serve there - doing endowments, initiators, and even baptisms with her brother, Derek. And yesterday, we had the most wonderful experience of getting to do a sealing session with our sweet Sister Brown. What a special moment and blessing!
And one more special moment, was when we were at church today and saw that they have her plaque up on the wall! So cool! We sure do love our missionary and know that she will continue to be a blessing to all those she serves and comes in contact with over the next 12-18 months.
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