Policy Change!

Hi family!

Thanks for all of your emails this week. It was so good to hear from

all of you! Loved seek pictures and everything else.

Last week was transfers and Sister Aiton and I have defied the odds and against President's better judgement (I mean what?) we are serving together for a third transfer! I've only heard of that happening two other times with President Wright and that was over a year ago. Sister Aiton is the best that punk is stuck with me for another six weeks  It's been fun because we went to a meeting in Santa Rosa with some of the other leadership and a bunch of missionaries came up and asked,

"Isn't this your third with Sister Aiton? Okay, that's what I thought! Wow, how lucky!" Even missionaries we haven't served around or that we really know have asked or commented. Right now we are kind of the golden companionship of the mission, lol. It's so funny. Our dads were companions, we get to stay together for three, and our companionship is running smoothly. Everyone we talk to comments on our companionship. It's like a myth. It cracks us up because it's nothing big.

Anyways. Remember the story I told you about Lily? We took the Hermanas to teach her the Restoration? The members in that home are partially less active. Brother Wallin comes almost every Sunday, but his wife is on and off. The experience really touched Sister Wallin. She is so kind and so good to the missionaries. Yesterday we got a text from her and she asked us if we could come to dinner tonight because her less active mother-in-law is in town and she wants us to

meet her!

Wow.

This is the life of a missionary. To get excited over small details like this. Let me break it down.

1) She trusts us enough to have us over and talk to her less active mother-in-law 😱

2) She is consciously seeking out missionary work and creating opportunities.

Guys. This is big. Especially for Sister Wallin. I'm so pumped!!!!

Recently we had a new couple move in with their baby girl. She is a member and her husband isn't...yet. He LOVED the first ward he attended when they were married because they fellowshipped him so well. The second ward they lived in not so much, but Cordelia 2nd ward will fix that. This is the best ward I have ever served in. I LOVE it.

He said is going to get baptized soon, but he wants to be all in because he knows the commitment that the church requires and he wants his whole heart to be there. He's close though. Very close.

Do you hear that? I think the font is being filled...

Speaking of, we talked to our investigator Deb. She has been studying with the missionaries off and on over the last couple years. In the last transfer she has been coming to church more consistently and she has been getting more fellowship! She's much more connected than she's been. She came to church yesterday all on her own. We usually call or text to invite her. After the block we were talking to her and told her we weren't getting transferred. We told her we have til March 7.

She said, "Oh, I need to get baptized before then!" *silent missionary fist pump* Deb saying she's ready to set a date. This is also big. Mel is also close to setting a date. He is another one of our investigators. Lovin' this progress and these miracles

President has asked me and Sister Aiton to be the Sister Training Leaders. That's kind of like Sister version of Zone Leaders it’s a blast. We get to go to a monthly training meeting every month in Santa Rosa with President and Sister Wright and the APs and the tech Elders.

It's pretty much the greatest thing ever. Then we take that training and we teach it to our zones. Sister Aiton and I are the Sister Training Leaders for two zones, so we had to teach in two zone meetings. The way it worked out, both zones would be having their meetings at the same time, so we would have to split up. I happily volunteered to go to Vacaville to teach. What a perfect place to practice teaching. I only have to see them for three hours, so if it crashed and burned, I could escape back to Fairfield and never see Vacaville again I know, I know. Brilliant.

Sister Aiton and the other Cordelia Sisters dropped me off in Vacaville Saturday morning and then drove back for their zone meeting and I trio-ed with the only two sisters in Vacaville.

I'll admit, before the meeting started I looked around at this room filled with Elders and I was like, "What have I gotten myself into?"

There is a strange feeling when you leave your area. You can feel that you don't belong there. It was weird to be in Vacaville and I felt uncomfortable and ready to go home back to my Fairfield family I thought, "I'll teach now, then Sister Aiton can teach here next time. Teach and leave."

I think it took a matter of minutes where the discomfort was slowly replaced by love. I started to teach my segment and I looked out at all of them and I felt this deep peaceful love for all of them.  I loved hearing their comments and their experiences. I saw their struggles and everyone they had overcome and all they were battling right now. I saw their successes, their joys, their sorrows. It was great. By the time I left, they were my elders not the Vacaville elders. I bet that's how Helaman felt when he looked over his stripling warriors....to a much larger degree tho.  Just call me Big-Sister Julander.

Policy Change! Yes!!! This is exciting. And big. Big and exciting. They have left the schedule up to the missionaries. They have told us what is required and how much time to spend on each element of the schedule, but as far as organizing the schedule, it's up to us. Not only that, we have been reduced to four key indicators. We are no longer counting lessons at all. The only things we count are new investigators, baptismal dates, investigators as sacrament, and

investigators baptized and confirmed.

My first reaction to the schedule was panic. After having your life totally structured for ten and a half months you forget how to do things by yourself. I was like, "OH NO. I don't know how to schedule my life. What do we do??" But then I thought about it for thirty seconds and realized everything was going to be okay and I literally just had to do the same things I was doing, but with more intention and planning. Plus this was going to give us a lot more freedom. Plus

two extra hours on PDay is never a bad thing   Phew. Crisis averted.

The key indicators getting cut down was the best thing to ever happen. Seriously I'm so pumped. It's like the Lord was saying, "I don't care how you do it, or when, but all I want to know is how many new investigators you have and when they get baptized. Do it how you know best." It's like that scene in Incredibles where Dash and Violet are running away from the bad guys and Violet tells Dash to run and for the first time he is allowed to run at full speed the best he knows

how. It feels like that. A lot of missionaries here are panicking hardcore because they don't know how else to measure their success. Poor guys. They will come around this is going to increase baptisms by a lot I’m super excited and just ready to go ham.  plus I only have to give my district leaders four numbers at the end of the week and I don't have to stress about getting all the numbers accurate. #blessings

So yeah. We are about to go tour the Jelly Belly Factory. I'll send pics  love you all!

Your happy missionary,

Sister Julander

Making breakfast waiting for transfers.

Sister Aiton stole a picture of me and Cheri our bestest friend in the whole world. She's the less active we helped reactivate. We call her our miracle baby. 

Pictures from the Jelly Belly Factory