Week 28: The One Where I Move to Mapleton and Meet Schmid

 Here's some quotes from the end of last week. Saying goodbyes are always hard but like not because they aren't goodbyes!! 



A bunch of new sisters to the Utah Provo Mission are at the mission home…. Sister Dickeys last words to me before I leave for my new area and she goes home: "I have to go see who's washing who." me looks at her confused and we both just start dying laughing. 


Bob (Missy's husband) : "I see why Missy is friends with you guys now, you are exactly like her."

Me responds : "That is the greatest compliment I could ever get."


Bob gives me and sister Dickey a hug goodbye… Missy-"Bob never gives hugs that's the biggest compliment." 

Me and Sister Dickey walking away, me literally crying my eyelashes off haha. 




7/25

So I got transferred to Spanish fork and Mapleton area. And I'm already IN LOVE, like absolutely in love. it is right outside of Provo and it has small town vibes but you are also so close to the downtown Provo area where it's crazy. The people here are so real and kind. It's kinda literally all members here but there is still so much work to do and it's fun to feel like a celebrity running around town haha. The pictures coming up were takin on my favorite night ever on the mission so far, it was RAINING, the clouds were amazing, and we went and saw this cool old white church building that low-key freaked me out but also I'm obsessed with it. 






OHHHHMANNNN YOU GUYS WHERE DO I EVEN START I AM SO SO HAPPPYY!! 

SISTET SCHMID AND I KNEW EACH OTHER BEFORE THIS LIFE and even before we met each other in this life. God is good and the timing couldn't be any better. like seriously this feels like a dream. We are in charge of social media and making videos and posts and I am in my element and it is SO FUN. we are so crazy busy and it's so fun. 



Us at BYU and right after had a meeting with the Mission President and then ran to a service where we helped organize and hand out shirts and bibs for the race the next day. We were there all night and had been running around all day and were starving, as soon as we left the service project we zippppeddd right to Chick-fil-A and fetched some of that and it slapped like food has never slapped before. We were sitting there with our chicken and fries, watching fire works go off around us (like legit), and both exhausted from the grind of the work of helping others REALIZE HOW LOVED THEY ARE BY GOD.  




7/24

I just met this chic named Pian Pian she is Chinese and is SOOO SICK. she has been taking Missionary discussions for years and has never been interested in joining the church until a few months ago after a surgery surgery had an unimaginable experience with angles in her own words she kept saying "I cannot deny it." me and Schmid had goosebumps the whole time and were crying. Her baptism is in a couple weeks and we are so excited. Pian Pian only has one hand and so I folded her chair for her and she goes "whoa you're a chairmaster." so yeah that's pretty sick, I'm a chairmaster. 



We are rushing to do a video tonight with Zupas in the car from a caring loving family that bought us food, just had a bomb lesson. 


this is me hours later… THE VIDEO WENT GREAT!!! Tony is the guy we recorded… he was a pasture(pretty sure that's the wrong word for it lolll) all his life and over the past year had become a member of the church. His story is amazing and we had such a fun time shooting the video, before and after the video Tony just really wanted to talk to me and schmid to build a relationship and I've never had such cool and deep conversations about God's love for us and just good life tips in one night. 


alsooo me and schmid are like wayyyy over miles (we only have a certain amount of miles we can drive with the mission car we have) so after we recorded the video we went to drop off some lighting equipment to the elders that are staying at Presidents house because their apartment is not good at all haha. Anyways so we talk to President Henderkson about our miles like freaking out because we have more videos to record this month and still have our area to cover. He was soooo understanding and let us know he saw the passion and fire in our eyes for this work and that he would take care of everything and as long as we were being wise and careful than we were good and wouldn't get in trouble. THE MAN IS AN ANGLE AND I LOVEEE HIM. 



I woke up this Saturday morning and looked at Schmid and said THIS IS GONNA BE A FIRE DAY. and nothing but straight facts this Saturday wasssssss.



I look back on these almost seven months and think about the people at the beginning of my mission that said to me "this is the best time of your life." and I would just smile and nod but in my head I was thinking what the heck are you saying this SUCKS. But now looking back at all the struggles I'm just like THESE PAST SEVEN MONTHS HAVE BEEN THE BEST FOR MY LIFE, maybe not funnest or anything like that but I have grown so so much and I have come to realize that I love my faith and my family and friends more than I ever have. 


♡M/Chan


Stacy Chan stchan98@gmail.com

Mon, Jul 26, 11:33 AM
to Emma
Sister Chan, 

Sometimes I don't sit down to write an email because I feel like if I can't write a big fancy email then I should just wait... this is a problem I've had my whole life! My "go big or go home" theory is just stupid sometimes.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE how open and honest you are!! That is one of my favorite things about you and your emails. I think it is SO IMPORTANT for people to read your emails and realize that a mission is HARD and not always fun. Reading your journey is inspiring everyone. It is also so good for kids who haven't been on missions yet to know that it will be the hardest thing they've ever done. Actually, James said what he is doing now is actually harder than serving his mission!!

BUT- I am also learning that HARD IS SO GOOD FOR US!! And that FAILURE IS A MUST!! I am taking a summer science class that has been fascinating. I was so afraid it was going to be boring- but it's been so good for me to learn and to have something a little to do. But they talk so much about failure. They talk about how we have taught our children so many skills to succeed but we have not taught them how to fail!! And kids need to know how to fail!! Without failure there can literally be no success. That is something I said to James the other day, even if you don't make any money this summer (and that is not the case- he is making BANK!!) you have learned how to fail over and over and over. I wonder too if that is why missions are so good for our kids!! Because you learn how to fail over and over and over and get back up. I don't want to turn missions into statistics (facts) because they are so much more- but kids who serve missions literally do so much better than their peers in life!! And I think a big piece of that is because they learn how to FAIL!! And then they learn how to rely on the Savior. That really is a true equation for success. Be ok with failure- have faith in the Savior- take one step at a time. But also learn how to ask- What can I learn from my failure? 

I love you Emma! You inspired Shannon and I on our run this morning. I told her how you said that without the last 6 hard months you wouldn't be able to feel the peace and joy that you do now. We are going to try to apply that to going back to school. It was soooo stinking hard last year- we do not want to do it again the same way- masks and sitting 6 feet apart. So we are trying to suck it up and learn from watching our sweet kids and their good attitudes. 

Loved your email this week-- thank you for sharing joy and kindness!!
Love, 
Mommmmmmm

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