Six Months Home

Alright kids, it's been six months since I returned from my mission in California and I thought I should document a few things about coming home!

First, let me document a little bit about the end of my mission. When I left in October 2013, I'll be honest, I never thought the day would come when I'd be walking off that plane having completed a full-time mission. Don't get me wrong, I knew I would never choose to come home early, but the thought of actually completing the journey I was beginning was not fathomable to me! My last week in California was an emotional one. Long story short - I was excited to see my family and get on with real life but... I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE!!! I absolutely loved every part of being a missionary. I loved the people that I met and the ability I had to teach the gospel to those that really needed it. I loved seeing people change. I loved being able to lose myself in the work of the Lord. For 18 months, I wasn't "Stephanie". I was a servant of the Lord. I was a representative of Jesus Christ. I loved that! And I miss it more than words can say. So that last week was emotional. Thinking about taking my nametag off could make me cry on the spot. (I still can't look at it without wishing I could still wear it everyday)

I knew that coming home would pose a lot of change and I would have to adjust, as every returned missionary has to. I would need to finish school and get a job and be "normal" again (whatever that means). And that was stressful! Big changes give me anxiety. And this was going to be a huge change.

That last week I got to say my goodbyes, have a temple trip with President and Sister Van Cott and have a departing devotional and invite everyone from all my areas to join me at that. All of which I've talked a little about in my last email home.

But there was even more that happened those last two days that I didn't get to email about. So let me tell you...

That Monday, after we had done all our normal preparation day things such as shopping and emailing, I loaded up my two suitcases and a carry-on into the car and we headed to President's house! That night my companion, Hermana Ipson, worked with another sister missionary in the area and I, along with all the other departing missionaries, spent the evening with President and Sister Van Cott. That night, President pulled me aside because I had asked for a Father's blessing before going home since that's not something I get to have very often... like at all. We had dinner and ice cream, played games and had a nice little family home evening in which President taught the lesson. After that, the kids wanted to hear our crazy stories from the mission, all the crazy and funny experiences we had. So we all told one or two (I shared about the car situation and the dips with Lauaki). Some of the elders shared 4 or 5 but they were all pretty entertaining so no one minded. Then we went and stayed with the same lady we stayed with when we came in! Sister Larsen. She's so sweet. And it was really cool to spend my last night in the same house where I spent my first night.

The next morning we got up, went back to President's house and had breakfast before heading to the airport. Elder Moore drove the van full of us sisters and it was such a weird feeling! Oh, side-note, on the way to the airport I saw the first ever Panda Express, actually named Panda Inn. Then we got to the airport, checked in, and said goodbye to President and Sister Van Cott.

We got on the plane and I sat next to Elder Robles. For six hours. It was actually a really good experience because we got to talk like normal people about real life. It was on that plane ride that we really became friends and I knew that he'd be there for me through anything.

I'll never forget when we started to land in Phoenix. We could see the landmarks we'd missed for 18-24 months. It all started to hit us that our mission were ending. The pilot put the wheels down and Elder Robles looked at me and his chin was quivering and he said "We did it, Granado. It's over." 

And my life has never been the same.

The Last Email!

Hello family! 

I don't think I'd ever be able to pick the best week of my mission... but if I tried, this week would definitely be in the running! From the temple trip to the departing devotional to seeing some of the wonderful people from my old areas... it's been a busy and eventful week!

First of all, we had a baptism this Saturday! Well, a double baptism to be exact. It was the best! I am so excited to see this branch grow even more! I will have to tell you all about Claudia's story when I get home.

I'm not sure if I can even describe how hard it was to have all my "lasts" this week but it was so good to be able to see everyone last night at my departing devotional. I had lots of happy tears and I remember taking tons of pictures but not one of them on my own camera... Hopefully I'll find them on Facebook one day haha.

Yesterday I was able to give a 10 min talk in Sacrament meeting in the branch and then share a short experience in my devotional. Boy am I tired of hearing myself talk!

It is so surreal to me that I'm writing you my last group email as Hermana Granado. I want to tell you so many things but my mind is just so scattered!

The one thing I know is that I have been where I needed to be for the past 18 months. I remember how nervous and scared I was to start my mission and how sad I was to leave all of you. But also how excited I was to start this journey! Now I'm feeling the same way about going home. I'm nervous and scared about going back into the real world and sad to leave behind all of the wonderful people I've met. And really excited to see you all again and get those hugs that only family can give!

There is a quote from an Apostle that I love - he's talking to missionaries and he says "All the hardships, all the tears, all the hard work will be looked back upon as the best thing you've ever done. Not because you enjoyed it, not because you baptized everyone, but because you gave it everything you had. Even when you didn't think you could and especially when you didn't want to. Come out of your mission proud of what you've done and this experience will bless the rest of your life."

I can't think of a better way to say it! I've given a year and a half of my life to the Lord and to serving His children and He's given me more blessings than I could ever say. Blood sweat and tears have gone into this - literally! There were times when I didn't think I could do it and there were times where I know I didn't do it - the Lord has been here with me. He has helped me and He is going to continue to help me for the rest of my life. I am just so grateful for this experience and I know that it will impact me in everything I do afterward.

Thank you for your sacrifices, support, love and encouragement. You have all had a part in helping me get here and I wouldn't change it for the world. You've all helped me BECOME the person that I am today. Thank you for everything, I love you - see you tomorrow!

Love,

Hermana Granado

April 20, 2015

Hello family! Hope everyone had a great week! I know I did!

We have a baptism coming up this Saturday so we spent a lot of time planning and getting ready for that! She is so great and so ready and excited to be baptized! Her name is Claudia and I can't wait to tell you all her story! (But I have to save something to tell you when I get home, right?)

Saturday was Hermana Ipson's birthday so I tried to make it somewhat special for her even though we had to work. She seemed to have a great day - it was an interesting one for sure! Lots of great lessons and awkward moments and laughs and we walked between some appointments to talk with people outside and soak up the sunshine.

 

We've been getting to know our area even better! Instead of spending all our time in Highland, we're making sure we dedicate time to Loma Linda, San Bernardino, Mentone and Redlands. It's been great to meet and teach new people in the other parts of our area!

This week is already filled up with plans! And more just keep coming up! And the scary part about that is, when we're busy the time flies! But this week is packed with all kinds of fun stuff. 

Tomorrow I'll be going to my last district meeting (a meeting we have every Tuesday) and I'll be teaching my last English class. 

 

Then on Wednesday I have my departing temple trip and Thursday we'll be planning for next week so I'll be helping Hermana Ipson get all set up to take over the area. Then Friday we'll finally have a normal day! 

 

And Saturday we're doing a huge service project from 8am-1pm then later that day is Claudia's baptism.  Sunday I'll be speaking in sacrament meeting in the branch then later that night I have my departing devotional and I got to invite everyone from my old areas to come and hopefully I can see them and catch up, take pictures and get their contact info to keep in touch. 

Then Monday I'll have a normal preparation day and I'll head to the mission home to spend the night with all the other departing missionaries at President and Sister Van Cott's home. And Tuesday morning I head to the airport! 

Talk about a crazy week!

Auntie Shelly told me in her email today "It seems just like yesterday, you were the new kid on the block watching everyone else leaving and now here you are at the end of your mission" and it's so true! I have no idea when I went from being the brand new one who didn't know anything about missionary work or Spanish to training new missionaries and getting ready to go home - the time has just flown by! I honestly don't feel like I've served a full mission, it's just gone so fast! But I have learned so much from these past 18 months and I know that if I can apply what I've learned here, these experiences will bless the rest of my life!

Love you! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Granado

April 13, 2015

Hello, hello family!

First things first, we had Stake Conference this past week here in Redlands and one of the Seventy came - Elder Basset. It was such a good conference and I really got a lot out of it.

 

Sunday morning there was a special meeting for all those who are new members of the church and the ones who have come back and started attending again after being away for awhile. We were able to go and get some of the less actives that have come back to come as well. It was such a good meeting and so cool to hear a General Authority, one of the leaders of the Church, explain gospel principles in such a clear, simple way. 

 

The only thing that happened at the meeting which wasn't the best was that there wasn't a translator and they wanted me to do it! They had all the equipment set up and were ready to go, I was on my way to the room to translate (having a heart attack the whole way) when someone said that the translator was there. I don't think I've ever been so relieved! I've worked hard on my Spanish but to have all those people relying on me to give them the message that the Stake presidency and a General Authority are giving... that's a lot of pressure.

We did our normal English class this week and I just love those people that come! It isn't affiliated with the Church at all and only one of them is interested in learning about the gospel. But I just love helping them and seeing their progress and their increased confidence in speaking!

I'm excited for this week, it's my last "normal" week in the mission field because next week is going to be just CRAZY with all of my lasts and my departing devotional and my departing temple trip and we have a service day, etc, etc.  So this week we're going to work harder than we've ever worked! (We always work hard, but even more now!)

 

Today we got a really cool experience - the Redlands temple has been closed for the past few weeks for cleaning. When they clean temples they deep deep clean everything! So we went today to reset everything. Straighten it all up and put it all back together after the cleaning. It was so great to be inside the temple again, even if it was just to clean it! I love the temple so much and we got to go in rooms where we normally don't go, like the brides room where the brides get dressed and where people are married and stuff like that. The temple is so beautiful!

Love you all! Hope you have a great week!

Hermana Granado

April 6, 2015

Hello family! I hope you all had a great Easter weekend, I know I did! General Conference was so great! There were lots of messages that I personally needed to hear. I am so excited to go over my notes again and try my best to apply what I learned :)

It was a bit of a crazy week trying to get everyone to come see conference or watch it at home, but it was good nonetheless. A lot of you have asked how I feel about coming home, I feel shocked that the time is getting so close. Has it really almost been 18 months? It flew by! But I am excited to see you all and share with you some of the great experiences I've had.

Hermana Ipson is great and I'm learning a ton from her. I feel bad sometimes because she's just starting her mission and she has to watch me prepare to go home and I know that is hard for her. But she is such a trooper! And I know she's going to do wonders taking over the area.

This week I got my itinerary in the mail along with my departing devotional invitations. All the departing missionaries get to have a little testimony meeting their last Sunday where they can invite everyone they want from any area they served in and they share a little experience and testimony, so I'm excited to send those out and get to see all my favorite people from all my areas!

One thing that happened this week - we tried Thai food (duck salad and shellfish soup and some other things that I'm not even going to try to spell.) So that was fun! Then a few days later I ended up eating my weight in jalapenos and my stomach was not too happy with that. My companion asked if I had heart burn and I just looked at her and said "I don't think so... It just feels like, like the walls of my stomach are burning." I was serious but she thought it was the funniest thing!

We're also working a lot with Martina Mora, the one from the picture last week. She's planning on getting baptized here really soon so we're helping here prepare for that! She is one of the sweetest people I've met. 

Sorry this email was a bit all over the place, that's kinda how my mind has been lately - love and miss you all! You're in my prayers!

Hermana Granado

March 30, 2015

This week was so good! Well, I always say that... but it's because they're always so good!

Let's start with the most important. On Saturday we had a mission-wide conference. Those are my favorite! Elder Nielsen of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy came. He shook all of our hands and asked us where we're from and all that good stuff. Then he spent almost 4 hours speaking to us and instructing us. It was probably one of the best mission conferences I've had. He is definitely an inspired man. It was also bittersweet to see all the missionaries that I love and serve with for the last time. Since we are all in different areas now, I don't get to see them except on occasions like that. So we said our last goodbyes and all.

This coming weekend is General Conference. We have it twice a year and it is when the Prophet and Apostles speak to all of us! It will be on Saturday the 4th and Sunday the 5th of April. It will be broadcast on BYU-TV and streamed online. Elder Nielsen that came to speak to us on Saturday will be speaking in General Conference this coming Sunday! That is usually not information that is given out, we usually don't know who will be speaking or when but he let us know so that we could tell our families! So if you get a minute, I'd love it if you could all watch it and look for him. Then when you see Elder Brent Nielsen get up, just know that I shook his hand the other day and talked to him - pretty cool stuff.

Then, Saturday night was another conference, this time for all the women ages 8+. It was so good! They put a lot of emphasis on the family and defending family values, it of course made me think of you all. I am so grateful for all of you and your love and support, thank you for everything!

Other than that, it's been a pretty normal week. We're trying to get Hermana Ipson accustomed to the area so that she'll be ready to take over in a few weeks! We've had a lot of success this week and I know it's because of all your thoughts and prayers and our faith and diligence. 

 

Every blessing we receive from Heavenly Father is according to our diligence, obedience and faith! So keep that up and you'll see the blessings flow in!

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Granado

Picture: One of our many wonderful investigators - Martina Mora :) She's from Puerto Rico and when I told her that I went there before my mission she was on cloud 9! I love her so much!

March 23, 2015

Hey everyone! 

Sorry I didn't get to reply to all your emails, still working on getting school figured out and that takes up quite a bit of time. I love hearing how you're all doing, thank you so much for the emails!

This week has been just CRAZY! I have forgotten and lost so many things. But I hear that's the usual for missionaries getting ready to go home. My brain is so scattered sometimes I don't know which way is up! But I'm working though it haha. Plus I have a brand new missionary under my wing so I'm trying my best to show her how it's done so she can handle it when I'm gone. 

My new companion is Hermana Ipson from Brigham City, Utah which is really close to Logan where I went to school, so we have been to a lot of the same places! (There's not much to choose from in Logan or Brigham) She's great, and so willing to work hard. She's got a greenie fire if I've ever seen one! I am already learning from her and I can tell we're going to be a great team! 

Every time you're called as a trainer for a new missionary we go to a meeting with the mission president and his wife and the assistants to the president and we get trained for a good 5 or 6 hours. It was cool to see all the missionaries that have been called to be trainers and teach the new missionaries and I always love seeing the future of our mission - I know it's in good hands with all these new missionaries. There was one point where President Van Cott asked "For you old missionaries, what is something you wish you knew at the beginning of your mission?" So I raised my hand and made a comment and he goes "Did everyone hear that? We're giving you our secrets, Hermana Granado has been out for 17 months, getting ready to go home and she's giving you her secrets!" So that was kinda cool to hear. But also a bit scary to be reminded that my time here is coming to an end.

At transfers we got a pair of elders taken out of the branch so it's just us and 1 set of elders, we had to re-align the boundaries and ended up getting 7 new investigators! So we've definitely been busy! But nothing we can't handle... I hope.

Church yesterday was really good, we had branch conference so the Stake president and our branch president both spoke in sacrament meeting - their messages were really similar. Just about stay faithful and giving your all in everything you do. Especially when it comes to our faith! One thing he said was really cool, our branch president was talking to Donny Osmond once, long story, but he asked him why he thinks so many members fall away from the church. Donny Osmond said that members fall out of the church for the same reason people fall out of bed - THEY'RE NOT IN FAR ENOUGH. When it comes to things that really matter in life, we need to make sure we're committed and that we're in so far that we won't fall out.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love, your California girl

Hermana Granado