December 28, 2010

Hi Everyone!!

So Christmas time on Temple Square! We had a mission party on Christmas Eve; we left around 5 p.m. This guy came up to us as we all were leaving (we got to wear jeans on the Square for 5 minutes, seriously best moment of my life) and he said, "Who will play all of the movies for us?" Was he serious!? I did not come on a mission just to play a movie for him. I almost said, "Go figure it out yourself" but I refrained, smiled and said "There are Senior Couples at the desk who can help you" and left. *Sigh of frustration* But we all crammed in a bus, drove to Heritage Park, had a catered dinner of fake potatoes and ham. Sisters then did a musical presentation and after that we made gingerbread houses for kids at the Children's Hospital. Christmas day we got to sleep in!! We didn't have to be on the Square till noon so I woke up at 8:30 a.m. A Senior Sister made breakfast for us all, so good - yes, this letter is going to be all about food. Then we opened presents! Thanks everyone! I loved it all! A stake in Sandy gave us a stocking filled with little wrapped presents. There were scriptures on each gift so we looked them all up and tried to guess what it was. Hahaha, it was actually really fun. I want to do that later in life. The Square was super busy on Christmas! They weren't expecting it so it was all hands on deck. We had a mission party again around 5 p.m. and ate more food (soup bread bowls with salad) then watched CHRONICLES OF NARNIA!!!! It was a real movie! We were all so excited. But that movie has so much gospel symbolism in it which is why I think we could watch it. At the end President Holmes said that he was worried that we didn't feel the spirit as much as he wanted us to. Meh. So Christmas was really fun but the next day it was back to work with lots of people to contact! Lights go out on Friday then it is back to normal p-day times, dark nights and most likely no people coming to the Square. Thank goodness we have people to teach on the phones, otherwise I don't know what I would do. But anyway gotta run, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The TSQ Zone

December 21, 2010

'Twas a few days before Christmas and all through the Square,

Were millions of people excited to be there.

The Sisters were placed by the Christus with care,

In the hopes of referrals soon to be there.

Ah dang, I don't know the rest of the poem, BUT it is CRAZY! Ah, it is just like General Conference except 4 hours long and every night! It is super busy though now that it is closer to Christmas and I am training in the middle of it! So hard but, oh well, must press on. We don't get to check out the lights very much since we have assignments on where to go but that is ok. But all of the Sisters are getting really excited because apparently we are having a party Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! Well, I think it will be doing service somewhere but still yay! And last year they got to sleep in! I need that really badly. Somedays we go home at 10 p.m. instead of 9 p.m. and it is rough.

But really cool story (for me). We took this guy around who was a disfellowshipped member of the Church. He says he is famous (Sal Silva?, never heard of him personally), but he was really cool. As we took him to the different buildings he started opening up about why he was disfellowshipped. I won't go into details but when we took him to the Assembly Hall, which was one of the first chapels, he started crying. He said he knew that he needed to start going back to church but he didn't know what to do. We took him to the Tabernacle and he was talking about being afraid to take the steps necessary to get his life back in order. So I gave him my Book of Mormon and had him read a verse. He read the wrong one but actually it fit - go Holy Ghost! But as soon as he held the Book of Mormon he started shaking and crying uncontrollably. I had no idea how much power that book had until that moment. As we were walking to the North Visitor Center I noticed security following us; I had to laugh. But we showed him a picture of Jesus Christ and he started crying again. I pointed to it and was about to say something marvelous and wonderfully eloquent but then it hit me how real the atonement was. Here I was with this 38-year-old man, sobbing uncontrollably and trying to shake off the sense of urgency to repent, and I was giving him the message that our Savior offers to everyone. This scripture popped in my head, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matt 11:29). So I ended up not being able to speak and said, "This man can fix you" Ugh brilliant moment of Ensign Worthiness gone. Oh well, we showed him Elder Holland's clip on Gethsemane, probably kinda harsh but I figure if the Lord put him in my path he was going to get the straight up message that he needed to make changes in his life right now.

Anyway but training is hard! I am still teaching her how to use every appliance known to man but she is getting it. I had to teach her to use a credit card today - see Dad that skill IS needed. But anyway, can't wait to call home Christmas Day! Lots of pictures coming too! Anyway love you all. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Mission Photo

Karly with Bruce (Her Uncle)

As you saw with the photo Spencer sent to you, we saw Karly on Temple Square. She looked great!

However, she told me she couldn’t accept any packages and that anything intended for her would have to be mailed. So, I wasn’t able to hand her the Nelson Book I had with me.

P.S. Since I had asked several sister missionaries on Temple Square if I knew where Sister Nelson was (none gave out that secret information), I assume that by now I am on some church terrorist watch list. Bruce

December 14, 2010

Pershendetje! which means "hello" in ALBANIAN! I have a new companion and she is new as well. Yes, I am training! I have no idea why since I will surely ruin her whole mission, but just the same, cool! She has decided that she is going to cook gourmet meals every night (which will change, I promise you) but until then I am getting many jealous looks from Sisters as we eat our Albanian food and they have their Wonder Bread sandwiches. But when I cook for us she doesn't eat it. She doesn't like American food. She has never had a taco either! That was fun. I have had to teach her how to use the stove, microwave, washing machine, toaster and how to use a computer. It is frustrating at times to explain everything but she will be an expert by the end of the transfer!

We have seen lots of miracles though! It is really hard to give a tour by myself. She doesn't know the history, the doctrine (she is a convert of three years) or English very well so I have had to carry all of the tours. After a few days she has started picking up the phrases and history so she gives her input every once in a while - which is wonderful! I can see how she will be in a few weeks and I am excited. But we took these three kids around and they came to learn the history of the place. The two guys were very talkative and the girl was quiet. Whenever I bore my testimony or explained a principle I looked at her since I figured she was more open. But all three of them referred! It was amazing. Then we contacted into this Australian guy - note, I have NEVER gotten a referral for Australia the entire time I have been here (Sorry Matt). But I talked to him and he said that he wanted to know more of the doctrine of this Church. He intended to read the Book of Mormon too. So I said, "Well, the best way to learn the doctrine is to meet with missionaries!" He referred! Yay Australia! We are teaching him too! One last miracle; since it is Christmas time we are swamped with members. It is INSANE. I felt like we should talk to this one couple and when we asked if there was anyone we should call, the lady said, "Call me!" I was really confused and she said that she wasn't a member and would love to learn more. Best contact ever. We are teaching her too!

Oh and our investigator from the UK, Alex, went to church on Sunday! Yes, that is a BIG deal. Hopefully we will find good people like her this transfer too.

Can't wait to get this transfer rolling. Lots of changes since the entire mission is now teaching over the phones. But I have learned how much we need to rely on the Lord because I don't know what I am doing and yet they expect me to teach and find people. But life is good and we go to bed exhausted at night; 10,000 people come to temple square every hour at nighttime to see the Christmas lights. Lots of people to talk to!

Anyway we have to go but more stories to come! Miss and love you all!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas... Loving my Mission!

Winter on Temple Square

December 1, 2010

Hi Everyone!

So Thanksgiving update! We all were on the Square at 10 a.m., you know normal day. As time got closer and closer to noon we were all getting anxious. President said that we were going to do service for a ward and they would do a talent show for us. You could have heard the crickets chirp as we all expressed great fake enthusiasm. When we got on the bus he said that he lied and we were going to Noah's which is a reception hall/place where every BYU stake goes for stake parties and such. We watched Toy Story 3 and Beauty and the Beast. I spent my time playing "wolleyball" (racquetball and volleyball mixed) which was awesome! As we were playing the arcade games it occurred to us that these might not be OK to play. So we whistled as we walked away, sorry PAC-Man! We had dinner catered to us while Sisters sang Karaoke. Food wasn't amazing or anything but it was free so who cares! It was a good day and we went to sleep exhausted.

After Thanksgiving comes Christmas festivities! The lights that volunteers have been so diligently putting up ever since I got here are all light up. It looks beautiful and there are thousands of people! It is such a contrast to how the Square has been since it turned cold. It's almost like sensory overload because it's loud and we don't know how to talk to so many people anymore. But it is one contact after another. We don't have a set mission goal for how many member referrals they want but we are going to try to beat whatever we achieved the week before. The Christmas lights will be up for six weeks (which is the same amount as a transfer) but this transfer ends next Wednesday, December 8, 2010 so we will see how different life will be then. The square is dead until about 5 p.m. then it gets really busy. They give us controlled assignments like we are at the Christus statue for an hour, then we are at the temple model for an hour, then we are finding, then working the God's Plan for His Family presentation. It changes everyday - probably so we can't write home and tell our friends where we are. But since we are on the computers every other day at night sometimes we are out and sometimes not. If we don't have any appointments or anything else scheduled we go out to contact.

So no big stories this week but I am very happy to announce that I have my first BAPTISM! AHHHHH I know, be excited. It was the man we met on the Square a month ago who said that he was going to become Mormon. We taught him till the missionaries came (They were good missionaries too. They came within a day of us sending the referral!) We called him and he said that he was going to quit smoking tomorrow and he was going to be baptized on December 18! So COOL! Our other investigator from the UK who was completely atheist when we met her is meeting with missionaries! So she ordered a Book of Mormon online so she could get one without being delivered by missionaries but then a few days after getting it in the mail, missionaries called her and asked when they could come over and give her a Book of Mormon. She allowed them in. When we talked to her she said, "So I opened the door and there stands this super fit [ British for really cute I assume] boy!" So she let them in. They asked her if she wanted to be baptized but she said maybe. Which isn't a no! We will see what happens!

So I know I said this last transfer BUT I really think that Sister Belleza and I are splitting up. Our relationship has been a long and good one but after president announced that they are going to try putting Sisters together who speak the same language I felt we were done. Plus the whole mission is going to be TEACHING! Just like me! I started cheering and screaming but then I realized I was the only one... awkward moment during a mission meeting. So I don't know when I will be writing you next but until then, Merry Christmas!

November 24, 2010 Temple Square

Hi Family!!

Oh my gosh, so this week has been and is going to be AWESOME! First off yesterday we were in the "batcave" aka computers teaching people, calling referrals on the phones. You know, the usual Temple Square missionary stuff. We were supposed to do service from 2 p.m. - 7 p.m. but it was canceled since the weatherman predicted a huge was storm approaching. BUT then at 2 p.m. we were all paged that we needed to leave the Square immediately since the storm coming was a huge blizzard with winds up to 50 mph. I guess it is the biggest storm in 20 years. Anyway so we all were sent home! We were all excited and I felt a little bad for being so happy not to be working and talking to people. But I got over it really quick... until we got home and I realized that I had nothing to do. I love Jesus the Christ and all (no seriously, I do) but after an hour I don't know what else to do. So I took a nap and then decided to try my hand at making bread. It was my first time attempting this on my own and, if I do say so myself, it was comparable to the Lion House. So back to the storm - I guess we were expecting a lot more since we were sent home but it was still a storm. There was a ton of snow and the wind was blowing. The temperature dropped from the 40s to just 5 degrees within a few hours. So that happened yesterday; today is p-day, and tomorrow we are having Thanksgiving festivities!!! So basically this added up to be the best three days ever!

Ok, onto more spiritual matters and less apostate thoughts, as the Sisters here would call it. We worked super hard this week and managed to exceed our zone's goals for new investigators, progressing investigators and IRCs (which is where the people meet with missionaries and have a second appointment). Our district leader was very proud of us and asked Sister Belleza and me to role play our companionship study during district meeting - because apparently we are doing something right. I said sure and then Sister Belleza looked at me like I had just sentenced her to death - she hates getting up in front of people. Oh well, we do what we are asked. But hopefully we can keep up the faith and diligence to do better this next week.

So amazing story: We planned to talk to a man by the flagpole at 10 a.m. (That is how we plan.) and so we walk over there the next morning and see a man in a running outfit reading all of the quotes behind the flagpole. We start talking to him - long story short this man was a branch president where two of our investigators live! We told him all about them and he then proceeded to call both the missionaries and check up on when they were meeting these investigators (since our investigators hadn't been visited yet). I asked, "Can we do this?" It seemed like we were cheating. He responded, "You obey the rules and I will go by the spirit" so he got those missionaries to visit our people sooner! It was meant to be! Afterwards we talked about how the Lord puts us in the path of others so that everything works out. Funny thing is he was on his morning run, suddenly he got really tired and decided to take a 10 minute break at Temple Square and then we found him. He was visiting for Thanksgiving. We were meant to find him! Scary yet cool to think that as much control as I think I have over my life we are prompted to do things and we don't know why - or we don't even feel prompted to do things and it ends up we were where we were supposed to be! So just keep being obedient and the Lord will put us where he wants us. Easier said than done, right? Haha.

Anyway we met a family that just moved to Utah from California. As we showed them around Temple Square they opened up and told us that ever since they have moved here they and their children have been shunned by their neighbors because they aren't members. They asked us if our religion preaches that in church. I nearly died. We took them to the Humanitarian/ Good Samaritan section and explained what the core foundation of our Church is based on: Love and Service. They ended up referring for missionaries! We honestly don't know why but we are not complaining. We are teaching them until the missionaries come. It was just so sad to hear their experiences. They had their Grandma with them and she came up to me after and said, "I see this section and this quote says that we seek to love and help one another, but that is so different to what they have been experiencing. I know that your church must be good and that their neighbors are not living the way they should be." She wants missionaries too. We really worked on pauses this week - letting the spirit speak. We got word from the 1st Presidency that missionaries (everywhere) are horrible teachers: we talk too much and explain more than we need to and smother the spirit. So we have applied this to our lessons and tours and the Spirit testifies and we don't have to work as hard! I can get used to this! Anyway I obviously have not applied being concise in my letters so I will end now and leave you to ponder the message I have shared (that's what we say to our investigators). Happy Thanksgiving! Eat lots and watch football for me!

P-Day Pictures

November 17, 2010 Temple Square

Hi!!!!!

So this week was super awesome! It is amazing how different the days and weeks can be since I stay within 35 acres. Anyway we had a pump up meeting about finding people to teach because apparently we were not doing a good job. So this week Sister Belleza and I went in with the mindset that we were going to find MANY people. Starting with day 1 of the week we were being blessed with people! Good people too. We don't know what it is but we find a lot of people in the UK. Yes, Drew, believe it or not. We found a kid named Jem and he is so good... confused... but good. We called him and he was so hung up on how people with infirmities couldn't be a priest in Old Testament times or that parents could stone disobedient children. We tried our best to explain things but honestly I think I learned more talking to him than he did. I had never thought about those issues before but I guess that is because we understand a lot more too. But he has SO many questions it's hard to determine where to start. Other people that we are talking to have a desire to change their lives around but they have serious issues that can prevent them from progressing. It has really hit me this week that I don't know how to help these people. I don't know what it is like to help people stop smoking, stop living with their girlfriend, deal with atheist parents, or wonder why God hates everyone. I don't know how!! But that is when I was comforted by the fact that I know the things that can help these people change their lives. I just have to give them the basics and they do the rest. That was such a relief off my shoulders. Still working on it, of course, but it is nice to know that I just speak and let the words just come out. Many times I will think I don't know what to say but I know that I just need to start talking and then the spirit will take over.

Anyway GUESS WHAT?!?! They had a big announcement Sunday morning that we were going, as a mission, to BYU!!!! We were there Monday morning to look at the James Tissot and Carl Bloch paintings of Jesus Christ! I was so excited but scared that it would feel super weird to go back to Provo. But I guess I should have known better. I mean, hello, I am in Salt Lake City for my mission. It didn't feel weird at all. I saw some people I knew but it wasn't any big deal. I was hoping to see Kyle too but I should have figured that Kyle wouldn't hang out at the Museum of Art before it even opened. But it was amazing! They had original paintings for both artists. I have a view on Carl Bloch's paintings because I really tried to see what I could get out of them. It was an interesting comparison to James Tissot's paintings that were filled with so much detail. (I think he spent 200/350 of his paintings on the beating, trial and crucifixion of Christ - I felt sick after because the spirit wasn't with Tissot's paintings.) Anyway interesting thought but when we got back to Temple Square we listened to the Christus narration and at the part where the reader says, "Behold the wounds that pierced my side..." My companion and I cringed because we just got a good dosage of visuals on that same event.

Ok, miracles for the week! So not only do we JUST talk with people from the UK though it feels like it, but also with truck drivers as well. I feel so bad for them because they usually don't have a permanent address, but the ones I have met want missionaries. So we took two truck drivers around. Their story was interesting; one of them had a degree in computer something (it sounded smart) but he couldn't get a job anywhere so he is now a truck driver. Is the economy really that bad?! Sorry I'm living in a bubble. But we showed them around and the other one referred for missionaries. We will teach him but we don't know how he can progress, and if he can't we will have to drop him. The next miracle involved a group that walked in the South Visitors Center. We both felt like we needed to talk to them but where we were situated and where they were going it would have been awkward to talk to them. So we circled the building to catch them in the front but they had vanished. We searched all over Temple Square and finally found them at the Christus statue. There was this lady who came up to us and said how peaceful it was here. We played the Christus narration for them. One guy came up to us who was a member and asked for a Book of Mormon to give to them. I was thinking, "Dude, back off! Our turf!" But then I realized he was asking for our help. So I felt bad. Hey! Usually members tell us what to do! Anyway so we said that we would take care of everything. We looked back at the lady and she was crying. Then she stood up and started hugging everyone. We recognized the window of opportunity and slipped in telling her that we could send missionaries to her home if she wanted to fill out the guest card. She practically grabbed it from us and filled it out! Oh funny story; really weird; glad I don't have to deal with this. A man called in for a Finding Faith in Christ DVD. I was talking with him about his life and such and then he said, "Can I tell you something? I can't tell anyone else because they'll think I am crazy." Oh no, not a good line. I braced myself. He continued, "My house is full of demons! Seriously things move all the time and I feel people all around me. It is a horrible feeling and I can't make them leave! Do you know anyone who could come bless my house to make them go away?" He lives in New Orleans (Anyone see Princess and the Frog?) Yeah, sad story though I couldn't send missionaries to his home because missionaries don't exist there. But I gave him the Bishop's number to the ward closest to him and suggested he call. I phoned him back today to ask how life was going (he agreed that I can teach him) and he said the Missionaries came by after he called the Bishop but they left to go get someone with a "higher authority". Wow. His house must be bad. But they told him they can't come back until his house is clean. He really is prepared though. We taught him how to pray and committed him to pray at night with his family so he could be protected.

Anyway gotta go, until next week! Ahhh Thanksgiving! So excited!

November 10, 2010 Temple Square

Hi Everyone!

Life is going well here at Temple Square! Even though there are fewer people to talk to I think the people who come are more prepared to listen to what we have to say. I have been thinking a lot about how we are lead by the spirit to be in certain places. It amazes me when I look back at the people we've found to take on tours the chain of events that led us to meet them. For one such instance we were going to put our stuff away in the North Visitors Center and as we walked through the doors a host ran up to us and said, "Sisters! I have a man you need to teach. He just came from Arizona and he wants to be a Mormon!" I am sure the host was waiting for the first set of Sisters to walk through the door. We had a meeting right before this but happened to make it out ahead of the other Sisters. I am so thankful we got there because this man was amazing. You could tell he had had a super hard life. You could smell cigarettes on him, and it was obvious that he had done some pretty hard drugs earlier in his life. He was homeless but I couldn't help but think how much our Heavenly Father loved him and wanted him to have this. His story was really amazing. He had noticed Mormon missionaries his whole life and he made mental notes on how they treated people and the service they gave. He was searching for a religion but he tried everything else first. He even tried Islam! But he said that one day he had the thought to "go to Salt Lake City and find the Mormons because they have the true Jesus". Obviously we have a LOT to teach him. He referred for missionaries and we have been teaching him. Most people we teach we try to call every other day or every 3 days but with him we call every day. He doesn't understand anything so really it is one principle at a time. We focused on prophets one day and I asked him, "What do you think a prophet is for?" He began answering and it started off with they preach of destruction but then he paused. I HATE silence but I am working on it. I refrained from breaking the silence but let him think. He started talking again and the more he talked the more he started to realize. It was an amazing moment to listen to the spirit teach him EVERYTHING we were going to teach him. He went from "Prophets help our" to "they are here to provide us that constant guidance from God so that we can know for ourselves how we can return to him." BAM! We didn't teach him anything! I learned a valuable lesson right there. He is continuing to progress and he is so good. He is giving up smoking and he even called the bishop here in Salt Lake City about 5 times yesterday to demand that the missionaries come sooner.

Another instance that made me think of how the spirit guides us to be places was when we happened to make a detour to check something out at our teaching room; then we talked to some Sisters passing by; and then we spotted this guy standing all alone. We started talking and offered to show him around. He was here for a Chemical Engineering Conference, and said, "Sure! Let me get my friends" We went from a tour of 1 to a tour of 12 college kids. Let me just say I love showing people around who are my age. 1) They are so open whether they have a religion or not and 2) You can be as blunt as you want and they don't care! It's the old people that are bitter and angry against the world and say that they will die Catholic or Lutheran or whatever. But it was a really, really good tour. At the end only 1 girl referred for missionaries. I was watching her the entire time and when we talked about temples a light came into her face. That tour was for her.

Those are just some of the cool experiences we have had this week. When it comes to teaching we have this girl from the UK who doesn't believe in God. We called her after we told her to pray and ask if God was there. She said it sounded silly but she thought she would try it out. She told us that she felt so happy afterwards that she fell asleep with a grin on her face! For her it is also one principle at a time because she literally knows nothing about God, Jesus Christ, or the Bible. It is like teaching a little child. We send her links to Mormon Messages and she doesn't understand them. But we called her this morning and she actually searched out the Book of Mormon on-line and read a lot of it! She saves all of the links we give her so she can go back and try to understand them. I can't figure out why she keeps talking to us. She is getting made fun of by her friends. It has been less than a week and they call her "Mormon girl". But we emphasized today to keep praying because when she knows things for herself it doesn't matter what other people say because she already knows. Anyway I talk too much, but these are my miracles for the week. I love this gospel so much and I understand Alma 29 so much more - especially because I have the opportunity that Alma only wished for: To peach the gospel to every people! The only limit we have on potential investigators is ourselves. Better start thinking outside the box then! Or the square... hahaha, Ok terrible joke. Bye!!

Sister Nelson and Camille Judd

Camille is a good friend from BYU. She is going on a mission to the Uruguay Montevideo and will be reporting January 20, 2011 to the Argentina MTC.

November 3, 2010 Temple Square

Hello World!

So the big events of this last week were 1) transfers and moving - crazy! - since we had to move to a different apartment complex. We are in the basement of an apartment that wasn't lived in last transfer and there are BUGS everywhere!, gnats galore and huge ugly spiders. It's like South America! Ha ha, jk, but seriously, my roommate from Taiwan is getting eaten alive by them. To make life interesting I even put a big fake spider Mom sent me in the hallway and a Sister and I hid behind a door with a camera to capture the excitement. So funny - screaming and throwing of objects ensued afterwards. 2) HALLOWEEN! So Saturday was a normal day but then we got word from the APs that everyone needed to be off the Square by 5:45 p.m. due to Halloween activities in the community. So we came home and cleaned our apartment and tried to kill as many bugs as possible. Sunday, aka Halloween, everyone was really excited because we were going to have a "Mission Meeting" at 5 p.m. We all go down and there is soda, candy, popcorn, and more candy! We immediately watched Emma Smith, My Story movie and then followed it up by watching Errand of Angels! It was Sunday so we still tried to watch Sunday-appropriate movies but honestly we didn't care what we watched as long as it was a movie and we were getting sick off of candy. I can totally relate to the Errand of Angels movie now! I don't have a bad comp but the experiences and the lessons she learned still applies. It was interesting to see a movie about a normal proselyting mission since that isn't how we are at all. Door approaches, street contacting and teaching lessons are not what we do but yet at the same time we still experience them. Knocking doors = Referral Center on the phones. Street contacting = Finding people on the Square to take on tours. Teaching Lessons = tours and teaching people 10 minute lessons on the phones. I was happy to see that we are still getting the same mission experience as other missions. Oh there was an ad for Forever Strong on the DVD and all of the Sisters started screaming! The APs hurried and pushed the menu button.

Overall this week was interesting. Not very many people to show around but the people we did find are seriously golden! I know I say that about everyone but these people are! The apostasy makes everyone confused so we just explain how things aren't confusing anymore. One girl was from the Bible-belt and became disillusioned with religion after the 50th time she saw a billboard that told her she was going to Hell. We will be calling and teaching her tomorrow!

We had a hard time getting in touch with our investigators this week on the phones. It is crunch time for all of those referrals we got during General Conference so we have been focusing on that mostly. I called a guy in Africa named Alfred. He didn't have much time since he was going to a meeting but he said he agreed to meet with missionaries. He didn't sound very excited though and I wasn't sure if he understood. I called his friend who referred him and the friend was thanking me profusely for talking to his referral. He told me that Alfred came into his office and was so excited and was anxiously awaiting my e-mail to him! I was shocked but it made me really happy. Maybe we can teach him too! I love Africa; this guy is from Ghana. Our last golden investigator was from Liberia. Oh, and speaking of countries I love, I love the UK! Yes, Drew you heard me! We have been teaching a lady in Northern Ireland who is finally meeting with missionaries! I can hear the font being filled as we speak. We have a new Investigator from the UK and she is so good! She doesn't believe in God but she told us that she really, really wants to. She honestly just doesn't know where to find the truth. We taught her how to pray and we will call her soon. It is so sad to listen to her though. We considered teaching her about Jesus Christ but we feel that it is too deep for her! We are taking it one sentence at a time, starting with "God is real and he loves you." Maybe we can move on soon from that. She seems so sincere.

Other than that, it is getting cold here. The leaves have changed colors and they are almost done putting up the Christmas lights! Things will start picking up soon so we are really excited for that. No other big news going on so I will let you all go but stay strong. I hear from every guest we talk to that the world is horrible and that we are going to destroy ourselves soon. Hm... yay for optimism right? Oh well, the Church is true, the book is blue and Joseph Smith is a prophet too! (Like it? I heard it the other day)

P-day on the Square

October 27, 2010 Temple Square

Kamusta Po!

Yep, still with my Filipino companion, Sister Belleza! Usually sisters will stay together only 2 transfers but we are in it for 3! We must either have a lot to learn from each other because we are so bad or we are a powerhouse! I will try to think of the latter. Anyway I was really excited. Before they announced who our companions were I got really nervous and realized that I didn't want to leave her and I was afraid of getting someone else! But then they said we were staying together so massive relief came. To be honest I just didn't want to split our area book, haha jk, but seriously she would have taken Clare and I wanted to keep her.

This last week has been really busy with transfers, moving and Sister Belleza's birthday! She said that if I told anyone she would kill me, so I only told half the mission. She turned 29; maybe that's why she didn't want anyone to know about it. To celebrate we ate at the Lion House - soup bread bowl with clam chowder and veggies, doesn't get much better than that! She missed having her birthday on P-day by 1 day, so we counted that as celebrating. We watched the movie UP! for our Zone activity and then went to Heritage Park for their Haunted Village. It was so much fun. For some reason I got stuck in the middle of three Sisters who were clinging to me because they were scared. I tried to convert all of the zombies and mass murderers that we passed but they weren't interested. (Oh man, I am sure they loved having Sister missionaries come by.) I settled with telling them that I would do their work for them, but it doesn't even feel like Halloween. It is freezing though. It snowed the other day for the first time so I knew that it was the beginning of the end. The Square is getting really slow; we are lucky if we talk to 1 "guest," aka non-member, and invite them for missionaries. We have miracles though! They are here for a reason right? We talked to one kid from Slovenia, showed him around, but he didn't seem interested at all. I think he even scoffed when I told him the story of the seagulls. Anyway, at the end we both bore our testimonies about the Book of Mormon and he said, "Sure, why not? You say you have answers, I'll listen" Ok! Great! Another lady we found taking pictures of the Assembly Hall. We took her inside and started telling her about the building. She immediately changed the subject and asked us deeper questions. She was a research biologist so I decided just to be straight up with her. She was searching for the truth but was hesitant. So I just said, "This book contains the fulness of the gospel about Jesus Christ. Everything we need to know is in this book. Why don't you want to read it?" She sighed and then said, "Fine, send your missionaries over." Bam! One thing I have learned is that you have to bear your testimony and then just be bold. We have the truth so why do we need to be afraid of it. Sister Belleza and I need to work on not agreeing when people say, "Every religion gets you to heaven so why does it matter?" We are always like, "Yeah, yeah. Oh, that is so good" NO! THAT IS BAD. So this last time when someone said that we just responded with, "Yes, every religion has basic truths but they don't have it all. That is why this Church is so unique. It's because we have it all!"

But transfers = crazy! We have a party though. It starts at 7:30 a.m. and we sing; the Sisters who are going outbound read their mission calls. They also have contests. The departing Sisters make a dance to any Disney song as their final hurrah. It is like Girls Camp -- only we are older and more spiritual, haha. But we are screaming and filming every moment of it. Then president talks to us about what he wants us to work on for this next transfer and we get our new assignments and moving times. We persuaded our zone leader to let us move first so we could get the best room in our new apartment (and we did by the way)! Anyway we are still in the teaching zones which makes me so happy! Honestly, this is the best zone ever! We get to see both sides of the fence and help people progress. There are so many people out there who are just waiting to change their lives and so little time! We better get calling people... Well first, we need to clean our apartment. It's really gross. Anyway love you all! Until next week! Send me clothes! *cough* What?

Girls from the Square

Oh, by the way... I am learning a lot from living with girls. We say, "I love you" every two-seconds and talk about girl stuff all the time. I am going to be so weird when I get back.

But... I rock when we play sports! Hurrah!

Hiking Ensign Peak

October 21, 2010 Temple Square

Hi Everybody!!!

Kamusta-po! This is the last week of my second transfer and so I am probably going to be getting a new companion. So a new language might appear (hopefully Spanish? Maybe Mandarin?) Who knows! Anyway life is good for me. The amount of guests coming to the Square is dropping quickly so it's getting harder and harder to find people but we have had a few miracles this week. One thing that I have noticed is how there are such opposites in the mission. Meaning, if we have a really, really good day on Monday, then Tuesday will either be slow or just average. Or if we have an awesome day on the Square, when we go to the teaching part of our day it will be slow. I know I know I need to work on faith but that is really how it happens! So Friday of this last week we had an amazing day in teaching. We found out that two of our investigators made it to church - despite the odds. Take that Satan! And they were meeting with missionaries! Such an amazing feeling. We were helping people change their lives and make decisions that will impact their whole families for the better.

Group #1: We go onto the Square and talk to these two guys who are about our age. We say hello and they practically run over to us (warning sign #1). I was thinking, "Wow, they are really enthusiastic about talking to us, maybe they haven't talked to any Sisters yet!!" Yeah, if only that was the case. They split us and the younger one starts talking to me. He holds out his triple (warning sign #2) and says, "You know, I was flipping through a few pages and I am just not sold on the Book of Mormon. How did you know that it was true?" Total Anti. Love it. I was like, "Oh, well, let me show you a scripture that really helped me come to know that this book is true." I grab the triple out of his hands - just to accidentally flip to the wrong scripture to see what notes he had written. Wow, he had posts like crazy in there and it was all cross-referencing scriptures to the Bible, and "proving" how it is a book of the Devil rather than of God. I was like, "Oh sorry, wrong page. Let me just get there. Oh, here it is. Oh, sorry, you put your post-it notes all over it so I can't see what it says." So I read him Moroni 10:3-5. We get into a discussion on how we know that we are not being deceived by the Devil. I asked him how he found out the Bible was true and he said, "There is archeological evidence that proves it." I responded, "Oh, so you base your salvation on archeology?" He started shaking and changed the subject to grace versus works. This poor kid. He was obviously new. He sounded like a robot and my heart went out for him. He was trying his best to save my soul. How cute. My final statement after that was, "If we don't NEED to do anything why is the Bible so big?" And I said I had to leave and grabbed Sister Belleza who was getting in a heated debate. Mostly I just smiled and listened to him talk. They tell us not even to waste our time so I didn't cast my pearls before swine... I mean friends of another faith.

Group #2 There were about 6 of them. They circled Sister Belleza and me and started asking about grace and works. The ring leader was their pastor and I knew that we had nothing on this guy. We bore our testimony and said we had a meeting to run too. Gosh, do we go to your churches in California (they were from Riverside) to bug them? I felt bad for all of the teenagers that he was training. They have no idea.

Anyway good happy stories - We met this couple from New York; spiritual tour from the beginning. I almost wanted to invite them for missionaries after 2 minutes of talking by the Temple. I told them the Joseph Smith story in the Assembly Hall and the man started shaking his head. When I asked what he thought about it he said, "Absolutely astounding!" I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad reaction but he continued and said, "To think that God would still appear to people today. If only it was true!" I said, "That's the best part! It is true and he was only 14-years-old when it happened." I felt something stir inside me when I said he was only 14. I repeated it again but it was such a confirmation moment for me of how truly amazing Joseph's prayer was. I could feel the spirit there so strongly and we took them to the statues of the priesthood being given to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. The man was shaking his head again. I invited them for missionaries but they said NO! I nearly choked. Why not?! But they had gone to the St. George Visitors Center and already had been referred. Dang. Oh well, numbers don't matter, they were awesome anyway. We met a man by the north gate alone by himself so we showed him around. He was so open and whenever we asked him a question he would say, "I have never thought about that but yeah it makes sense!" He referred but didn't want us to call until the missionaries showed up at his door. That's ok.

Now that I am teaching people I can see how the Adversary works on them. From the moment they leave Temple Square till the missionaries come they are being surrounded on all sides. I have never prayed harder in my life for Heavenly Father to protect them. I always thought it sounded silly but when two of our investigators ended up in the hospital the day before missionaries and church, and then our other investigators' cars break down, homes get broken into, etc. I want to rip my hair out because I can't be there to help them!

Anyway I have to run but I want to let you all know that this Church is true! Satan wouldn't try so hard to block us at every turn if it wasn't. Well, until next week! Pray for my investigators!!! Miss you all!

Becky Deighan and her daughter, Veronica, on Temple Square

October 14, 2010 Service Project Day

The following pictures are of our service projects at Heritage Park and in the south visitors center. After we cleaned the chapel at Heritage Park we started walking around. We ran into a group of people and they were like, "Thank you Sisters for your service!" Sister Saunders then said, "You're welcome! We are just looking for more to do!" Come to find out these people ran the place and promptly called the janitor to have them find us another job. Sister Saunders said, "You all can hit me now!"

October 14, 2010 Temple Square

Hi Everyone!!!

Another week gone! It goes by so fast already and I heard it only gets faster! We had a really good week, too. Because things are getting slower on the Square they do things to occupy us such as service (and LOTS of it) and training meetings. We do service at Heritage Park. They had us clean the buildings and even wash one of the trains. We also clean the kitchen in the basement, or clean the temple. Not bad huh? We used to have study time until 9 a.m. and then we had to be on the Square but now we don't have to be on the Square till 10 a.m. and they let us take an hour lunch and dinner break. I am so glad to be in the teaching zone though because I don't know what I would do ALL day on the Square with nobody to talk to. Well, there are people but so few that by the time we talk to them they have already talked to 6 sets of Sisters and want us to go away. We have to get creative with our questions. But I learned a very important lesson about talking to everyone! We ran into this couple who had encountered at least 5 sets of Sisters before talking to us. They were reading the Testimony of the 3 Witnesses Statue and we told them all about the Book of Mormon and they ended up wanting missionaries! After every referral we get we look at each other and say, "Tender Mercies from the Lord" because that is really what they are. If we go on the Square expecting to find someone that the Lord wants us to find - we will find them. If we go on the Square with the attitude that there is nobody here and we can't talk to anyone - you won't. The Lord wants to bless us but if our attitude isn't right then He will give us what we have our mind set on. He will direct other Sisters to those people who do have the right attitude. So we should always have the mentality of "Here am I; Send me".

We met a group by the Christus Statue, a mom with 2 kids and her friend who was visiting from Texas. The mom lives here in Utah, not a member, but had a calling and so did her husband - weird huh? The lady had never heard of Mormons before so we told her all about the Book of Mormon and she said, "I want to learn more and I want that book!" Ok fine, twist our arms. Here is a card we would like you to fill out with your address. We will be teaching her until the missionaries come. Another good story we had was our zone goal to have about 35 potentials when we were on the Square. President Holmes is worried that we are more concerned with teaching people than dedicating our minds to finding on the Square as well. So we set a goal and headed out. We had straight zeros all day. We couldn't talk to any guests or members. We ate dinner a little discouraged. As we were on our way up to Temple Square I saw my Zone Leader and I asked if she had experienced any miracles today. She enthusiastically said "Yes! What about you?" ".... Uh.... nothing yet, but we still have an hour to go!" We headed up there and nobody was outside because it was about 50 degrees. We walked by this lady and we decided to talk to her even though it was freezing. We began by telling her how bad the world is today. She told us that she is worried for her children growing up in this world. I read to her Helaman 5:12 and had her look at the temple which provided a nice backdrop to our conversation. I said, "See this building? This is the temple. We make sacred promises with God there like being able for families to last for time and all eternity." She looked at me and made me say "time and all eternity" again. So I did. We shared with her more about eternal families and then asked if she wanted to learn more. She said, "Yes!" We will be teaching her as well till the missionaries come!

In the teaching zone we are working on making sure we have enough time to call all of the potential referrals we received from members at General Conference. It is really scary to call people but the same thing goes with telephoning as meeting people on the Square - it's all about attitude. I talked to a kid named Dean. Right when I called he told me that I was wasting my time because he isnt' going to join our church. We are only supposed to spend 10 minutes on the phone but I talked to him for 30. I just felt like I needed to keep talking to him. He had so many questions and they all had answers - if he wanted to take the time to learn. I was really bold with him. He said that he was waiting for a sign from God to tell him that He was real and what he should do. I said "Well, what if God is giving you a sign by me calling you? What if he has given you many such opportunities but you are so busy looking for a great manifestation you miss it? I want this for you so badly you don't even know. Your questions have answers if you are willing to take the time to listen to them". He replied, "Here is my address; send me those missionaries." BAM! I mean, thank you Heavenly Father!! That totally made my day. Even after that when we had 3 hours of Chat on mormon.org and people were sending us rude and vulgar messages and telling us that we were going to Hell, I was still happy. Chat is interesting. You get the worst of the worst and the best of the best. Opposition in all things right? We have found many people to teach there. Funniest question I have ever been asked, "Do you believe that black people come from werewolves?" I started laughing. Many people tell us to "pray to the right God to see the error of our ways and to stop following Satan." Love them. We also teach people regular half hour lessons. We open with a prayer and have a discussion with them. We are teaching this hilarious lady in Ireland - can't understand a word she says but she is really good. Of course, she got sick the day before she was supposed to go to church and meet with missionaries. She has an issue with baptism though - she doesn't see why it matters. We are teaching this kid named Bryce who is in the Colorado Springs mission - GOLDEN! He even told us he'd give up alcohol this week. Hurry up missionaries! Henry in Africa is finally meeting with the missionaries!!!! Hopefully he gets baptized soon. Not much time to tell you all about our other investigators but I can tell you the work is progressing! We were told the odds of someone meeeting with the missionaries and getting baptized is 20:1, from the teaching zones we average 3:1. President Holmes called it the new "investigator retention plan" for the church and we are pioneering it! I feel very blessed to be one of the first 50 missionaries in the world to be doing this. Anyway gotta go! Ensign Peak awaits!

What Sister Missionaries Do Before The Visitor Centers Open!

October 7, 2010 Temple Square

Hey All!

Let me tell you all about the adventures from Conference! "WOW" is all I have to say. I have never worked harder in my whole life! Seriously. We would wake up at 5:30 a.m., grab something to eat, have a prayer meeting and then hit the Square to talk to all of the people who were already in the standby line at 7:30 a.m. We had a mission goal to get 5,000 member referrals. The last conference they had a goal of 4,000 and they reached it so we are raising the bar. We were all pretty confident that we would reach it because hey, we are Temple Square and we ALWAYS reach our goals. So our first plan was to talk to all the people in the standby line. It was quick contacts too because they knew why we were there so all we had to do was say, "Hi! We have a program that lets us call any of your nonmember family and friends to share the gospel with them. Do any names come to mind that we could call? All we need is their phone number!" Bam, phones were whipped out and we were getting names and numbers like crazy. I was looking at the cards after that and I am going to need a Urim and Thummim to read what we wrote because it was so fast. We did that for the first 3 hours and then we had a 20 minute lunch break. After that our plan was to talk to anyone who didn't seem to be listening to the conference being played on the loud speakers, or to go inside the buildings. A couple of times we were scheduled to be at the Conference Center so we went there and contacted people. I saw lots of friends from school too! It was nice to see them but I could only really say "hi" and then move on because we had so many people to talk to! I have to say though. I LOVE people from Africa!!! One guy when we asked for referrals said, "Here is my business card. Call me in a week and I will give you my whole phone book!" YAY! To be honest I hate calling people on the phones but after I call the first person I am pretty relaxed and it all goes well from there. I just feel badly for that first person, but I have to warm up! Anyway, we would be at the Conference Center until it was dinner time and then have another 20 minute break. So many Sisters were in the kitchen but it would be silent since everyone was eating. I cooked a lot of food for us to survive on for 2 days so that is what we ate (thanks for the cookbook mom!).

On a chart we put little stick figures on "the path" that led to the temple. For every referral we got we could place a person on it. By the end of Day 1 we had less than half of the path covered with people. We started to get worried that we wouldn't have enough referrals to meet our goal. At the end of the day we had 35 referrals which was higher than the number they set for us to shoot for so we were happy. We went to bed at 9:30 p.m. and I hurt everywhere. My feet hurt, my head hurt, and my legs hurt but it was ok because we felt so happy at the same time. Waking up the next morning at 5:30 a.m. was only by a miracle from God. But we made it to the prayer meeting. Some Sisters announced that they had 104 referrals the day before (You don't ever tell people by the way what you got, but they did!) and that made me realize that we needed to work harder. So I ran out the door with my companion and we were determined to at least double our numbers from the day before. We followed the exact same route and schedule as the day before, but people were more than willing to give us many names at once. By 10 a.m. we had exceeded our numbers from the day before! We just worked hard and it was one contact to the next. We even would split up and talk to people if we saw that it was going no where or that there were too many people. We got to go to the Sunday Afternoon Session of conference. I was so grateful for a chance to sit down. Saturday I didn't know how I was going to make it. By about 3 p.m. it was almost 90 degrees and I was so tired. I don't know if any of you have ever fallen asleep standing up while talking to someone.... but it's kind of embarrassing. So I was happy to sit and rest for 2 hours listening to some awesome talks! We even contacted people while we were waiting for the session to start. Afterwards everyone left. Like seriously the Square was EMPTY. We didn't know what to do. We had a goal to meet and all of the stick figures on the path were not to the temple yet! I started freaking out (on the inside, of course) and we were talking to anyone that would pass us by.

We got to go to the 20th annual Filipino Conference because my companion is from the Philippines. We went with the 6 other Sisters from the Philippines, though we attended to get more referrals. They had food too! Good food... I need to visit the Philippines after my mission... uhh, anyway we tried to talk to people there but they were speaking Tagalog and I stood there looking for any English-speakers. Yeah for teenagers. But we came back to the Square and we had our mission meeting in the tabernacle. They announced that we had accumulated a total of..... 5,683 referrals!!!!!!! Everyone was screaming and cheering. Afterwards President spoke and said how proud he was of us. I was trying to pay attention but I kept falling asleep and so was everyone else so I didn't feel too badly. The best part of conference I would say is the feeling of satisfaction, knowing that we worked our absolute hardest. That and we got to sleep in 2 days in a row! As long as we were on the Square at 10 a.m. they didn't care what we did. I slept in till 8:30 a.m. on Monday but Tuesday I got up at 7:30 a.m. so I could go running. They also had pizza for us at lunch time on both of those days. I love my mission.

After that life has slowed down. It's amazing the contrast in the number of people after conference. Now we are lucky if we talk to 5 guests and members a day! No one is here! Winter is coming.... I am scared. They will keep us busy with service projects though. I am really happy to be in the teaching zone because half the day I am in the "Batcave" doing the CHAT on Mormon.org or calling our investigators and teaching them. Currently we have 4 new investigators from: Norway, UK, Ireland and Colorado. The lady from Ireland is GOLDEN; she knows it's true and then said that American chocolate is horrible - which I agree with. So I said I should come visit her after my mission and she can give me good chocolate! So where am I supposed to visit when my mission is done? My investigators are all over the world! I guess I will just have to go visit them all. Another one of our investigators is debating between us and the Jehovah Witnesses - hello?! Is that even an option? She says that she feels something in our church that isn't with the JWs but they are so logical and have scriptures to back up everything. We will get her, don't you worry. We just sent missionaries to her home in Phoenix. We have our bad investigators too, but I try not to think about them. If they are not ready, they are not ready so I should move on.

CHAT is fun though sometimes draining but I talked to "Batman" last night. He kept asking questions like, "So why does God not help me when I am fighting like 9 bad guys with guns?" I responded to all of his questions using gospel principles like, "Well, God put us here to learn and gain experiences. Trials help us grow. He has also sent us prophets today to help us through hard times." By the end of the conversation he was asking about who prophets are and who it is now (of course, still as Batman). When I said I had to go he was like, "Don't worry, the Joker won't get you tonight since I have spoken with you. You have my protection" Wow, best converstation in CHAT of my life. Hopefully he is interested in learning more. Anyway I have to run. There is a Gay protest and they are closing the Square down so we can go home. Seriously I have to coolest mission ever - what missionary ever gets sent back to their apartment because of demonstrations because of Elder Boyd K. Packer's talk? Ok, so it's probably a bad thing but we are excited. Ok, gotta run until next time!

A Visit From The Gorilla... Devin!