Sister Emily Sabey: No Broken Bones

Hi Fam-Bam!!

Apparently I confused a couple people with my last email and transfers. So the Arizona Gilbert Mission is tiny, right? So the zone names don't always line up with the city that they are in (actually, there are only three zones that do). I am staying in the Bella Vista zone which is in Queen Creek/San Tan Valley. Worry not, loved ones.

Sister Hendrick has been moved to a different part of Queen Creek, so now I have a new companion. Her name is Sister Kranc (it sounds like France, but with a K) and she is from my kind of Homeland of Canada. It's been fun. Now we have three Canadians in this zone, so we are slowly taking over. It's fine. We're celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving today, but the Elders don't know that yet . . . they think it's just a zone lunch. Sister Kranc is just the sweetest soul ever. We get along real great! She's been out for sixteen months, so I'm so excited for everything I will learn from her. Probably the coolest thing about her that I've already seen is how quickly she just loves everyone and how much she loves her Savior. I aspire to be like her one day. We spend so much time laughing, and she is secretly kind of a nerd and talks about superheros and Harry Potter. This is going to be a fun transfer.

My 20th birthday was this week, which is weird. I don't know who thought that was legal. I think a 3rd birthday would have been a little more appropriate, but whatever. It was a wonderful birthday. I got letters and a few fun presents from my family (including Halloween decorations--it's a big deal). Everyone took such good care of me on my birthday, and it meant a lot. Jacquelyn, a recent convert, came out on splits with us and decided to bring me a fun treat, and Tiffany decided to make cake for my birthday. Plus, one of Tiffany's friends accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon from me because it was my birthday. Now we just have to wait until she reads it and she lets it completely change her life for good. But, yep, that was my birthday. Worry not, Mother. Your baby child is being well taken care of.

Well, I guess sort of . . . I'm also a disaster waiting to happen. I've gotten to the point where people just ask me, "what happened now?" because I always seem to have a band-aid somewhere on me. This week, I got an awesome bruise because I got hit in the face by a three year old swinging a sterling silver necklace around, I cut my finger on a broken candle, and I fell through a chair. Welp. Thank goodness for the Spirit because I'm a mess and need all the protection I can get. But in all honesty, I'm doing good. No broken bones.

But the big thing that I want to share this week was getting to go to the concert for Gladys Knight and the Saints Unified Voices choir. I wasn't expecting to get to go, but the day before the concert, Sister Kranc lets me know that we'll have to set up exchanges because she had to go up to Gilbert to help with it. I got to spend a day with Sisters Olson and Johnson, and they were planning on taking some investigators. One of them we weren't sure if they would come, so we spent a lot of the day running around trying to find people to go and praying. Miracles are still a thing, so both of their investigators were able to come, and we got to go to the Gladys Knight concert. I loved it, and it was so cool just to hear Gladys Knight and her conversion story. The music was all incredible and helped me realize just how universal the Gospel really and truly is, but my favorite part was the testimonies. There were some things said that I loved. The entire concert was just centered on how we are all children of our loving Heavenly Father, and how the Gospel is for everyone. However, the most amazing insight was given by Brother McDowell (Gladys Knight's husband). He was talking about the Sabbath and church attendance, and he said, "We think that going to Church is for the Lord, but it's not. It's for us. It's what we do every other day of the week that is for the Lord." Wow. How true is that? I had never thought of that before. It was definitely a faith building experience seeing Gladys Knight and her husband, both converts, testify so boldly of how they know the gospel is true. I want to add to their testimonies that I also know that the Gospel is for everyone. It's a place to learn and to grow and to come closer to our Savior and I am so thankful for it.

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes and your prayers! I love you all!

Sister Emily

We visited a member in the hospital and had to get all decked out in doctor stuff