Friday, August 27, 2010
August 27, 2010 Temple Square
Ne hao ma!!
So one day this week as we were waiting for a large tour group of Chinese people to come we were learning Mandarin from a sister here. Lets just say she laughed at us all but we were all ready when they came off the bus. My companion stood outside and said Ne Hao! To this girl who responded, "Hello"... awkward. Anyway I passed off giving tours so we can now do "motor coaches" or really big tour groups, equipped with microphones and flags. They are way different than normal tours becuase you can't personalize it so you just talk and we are so used to asking them questions and answering them. When we ended the tour I thought that there was no way that they would want to know more because it felt so short and unpersonal. But at the end of it we had 4!!!! I was amazed because it felt too easy. Usually you have to encourage them to take that leap of faith and just go for it. This week has been hard too when it comes to people. Just a lot of interesting people who are so closed to hearing anything. I talked with a lady who was a born again christian aka super hard core and she was trying to convince me that I was wrong and to actually think for myself and not be a blind follower of a false church. I have grown very bold this week. Probably because I have been here for a while now and also because I am sick of beating around the bush. Most people you just need to be straight up with so for example that lady said, "Beware of following a church that's run by man" and I just flat out said, "Its not, its run by god" she shook her head and said ok conversation done we are going no where and she said she would pray for my eyes to be opened to the truth and I said I would do the same for her. Other times people will say if you believe in God you will go to heaven it doesn't matter which denomination you are. So I just respond, "Actually Christ only established one church and we are that church so everyone has the basics down but we have the rest and you really need to know it" It gets the point across so much better than looking for ways to make it sound nicer. We are that church why do we have to hide it? I am nice too though, don't think I have gotten rude 0:D
But since I have had people like that all week we do get to see so many people that are prepared to hear the gospel. The hardest part of being a missionary I decided was that you meet these people, spend time with them, and you really love them. When they say no to us after we have literally poured out our souls to them we feel devistated. I don't feel bad like they are rejecting me but I feel bad for them becuase they don't understand. It only makes me want to be better so I can help them see why they need this knowledge in their life. We talked a lot on "planting seeds" this week and even if they don't want the missionaries we left them with a positive experience that will hopefully open their hearts later in life. I know a lot of people we talk to feel something and they will look up the church when they get home. So I always keep that in mind when they say no. Most of the time its because they don't like the thought of missionaries which is understandable (stupid Jehovah's witnesses). Other hard situations are when 3 of them flat out don't want it but 1 person does but because everyone else says no they do too. We try to split groups a lot and sift out the potentials and convince them to allow missionaries in their homes. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. But really after every tour I have to prepare myself for either heartache or joy but that is how we really discern their needs is if we love them because if we don't than we really don't care about their needs so we can't teach them by spirit. Gah this is so complicated :) Its hard work but so rewarding when we find people. We took this couple to the conference center the other day and they were cancer survivors and so happy. They accepted Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon without hesitation and I was shocked because usually those people who are so happy don't feel they need more, but when people are really prepared they don't need much convincing.
I am keeping a list of all the countries I have shared my testimony with up in the 20s by now. But summer is ending and I heard Winter is really slow so they have lots of service activities for us and we will actually have 2 full hours of study time (yay!)
Oh good news! I am going to become a driver. They only allow American and Canadian sisters to drive and since a lot of them are going home this next transfer they more or less pleaded with my fellow 1st transfer sisters, because 20 of us are American, to drive. So hopefully I will be passed off next week. I have to take a written test and a driving test- I hoped never to go through that experience again but they need me so hopefully I pass my first time. Anyway P-day is here so I must go but being here is amazing and I learn so much every day. We work all day and come back exhausted (so yes family it IS a real mission) but every night I am so happy so hopefully the next 16 months will be just as good, until next week! Karly
So one day this week as we were waiting for a large tour group of Chinese people to come we were learning Mandarin from a sister here. Lets just say she laughed at us all but we were all ready when they came off the bus. My companion stood outside and said Ne Hao! To this girl who responded, "Hello"... awkward. Anyway I passed off giving tours so we can now do "motor coaches" or really big tour groups, equipped with microphones and flags. They are way different than normal tours becuase you can't personalize it so you just talk and we are so used to asking them questions and answering them. When we ended the tour I thought that there was no way that they would want to know more because it felt so short and unpersonal. But at the end of it we had 4!!!! I was amazed because it felt too easy. Usually you have to encourage them to take that leap of faith and just go for it. This week has been hard too when it comes to people. Just a lot of interesting people who are so closed to hearing anything. I talked with a lady who was a born again christian aka super hard core and she was trying to convince me that I was wrong and to actually think for myself and not be a blind follower of a false church. I have grown very bold this week. Probably because I have been here for a while now and also because I am sick of beating around the bush. Most people you just need to be straight up with so for example that lady said, "Beware of following a church that's run by man" and I just flat out said, "Its not, its run by god" she shook her head and said ok conversation done we are going no where and she said she would pray for my eyes to be opened to the truth and I said I would do the same for her. Other times people will say if you believe in God you will go to heaven it doesn't matter which denomination you are. So I just respond, "Actually Christ only established one church and we are that church so everyone has the basics down but we have the rest and you really need to know it" It gets the point across so much better than looking for ways to make it sound nicer. We are that church why do we have to hide it? I am nice too though, don't think I have gotten rude 0:D
But since I have had people like that all week we do get to see so many people that are prepared to hear the gospel. The hardest part of being a missionary I decided was that you meet these people, spend time with them, and you really love them. When they say no to us after we have literally poured out our souls to them we feel devistated. I don't feel bad like they are rejecting me but I feel bad for them becuase they don't understand. It only makes me want to be better so I can help them see why they need this knowledge in their life. We talked a lot on "planting seeds" this week and even if they don't want the missionaries we left them with a positive experience that will hopefully open their hearts later in life. I know a lot of people we talk to feel something and they will look up the church when they get home. So I always keep that in mind when they say no. Most of the time its because they don't like the thought of missionaries which is understandable (stupid Jehovah's witnesses). Other hard situations are when 3 of them flat out don't want it but 1 person does but because everyone else says no they do too. We try to split groups a lot and sift out the potentials and convince them to allow missionaries in their homes. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. But really after every tour I have to prepare myself for either heartache or joy but that is how we really discern their needs is if we love them because if we don't than we really don't care about their needs so we can't teach them by spirit. Gah this is so complicated :) Its hard work but so rewarding when we find people. We took this couple to the conference center the other day and they were cancer survivors and so happy. They accepted Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon without hesitation and I was shocked because usually those people who are so happy don't feel they need more, but when people are really prepared they don't need much convincing.
I am keeping a list of all the countries I have shared my testimony with up in the 20s by now. But summer is ending and I heard Winter is really slow so they have lots of service activities for us and we will actually have 2 full hours of study time (yay!)
Oh good news! I am going to become a driver. They only allow American and Canadian sisters to drive and since a lot of them are going home this next transfer they more or less pleaded with my fellow 1st transfer sisters, because 20 of us are American, to drive. So hopefully I will be passed off next week. I have to take a written test and a driving test- I hoped never to go through that experience again but they need me so hopefully I pass my first time. Anyway P-day is here so I must go but being here is amazing and I learn so much every day. We work all day and come back exhausted (so yes family it IS a real mission) but every night I am so happy so hopefully the next 16 months will be just as good, until next week! Karly
Monday, August 23, 2010
August 23, 2010 Karly Sighting
Sister Nelson and her cousin, Spencer, who works just a block away from Temple Square!
Friday, August 20, 2010
August 20, 2010
Ok family (and friends)!
I have a lot of questions to answer so I will address them first:
1) Do I walk the tunnels at temple square? No! Saddest day of my life was when I found that out. I even asked one of the maintenance guys if he would take me but I guess that violation would send me home, dang.
2) Do I go to the Humanitarian Center? Yes, but not yet. How they split our mission is by zones such as: North, South, Chat (they actually teach lessons and talk to people via internet - so cool), Extended (if you are in this zone you go to the Beehive House, Welfare Square and Humanitarian Center) and Cover. I'm in Cover so whenever a zone has their P-day we cover their area. Mondays I cover the south visitors center entrance.
I have a lot of questions to answer so I will address them first:
1) Do I walk the tunnels at temple square? No! Saddest day of my life was when I found that out. I even asked one of the maintenance guys if he would take me but I guess that violation would send me home, dang.
2) Do I go to the Humanitarian Center? Yes, but not yet. How they split our mission is by zones such as: North, South, Chat (they actually teach lessons and talk to people via internet - so cool), Extended (if you are in this zone you go to the Beehive House, Welfare Square and Humanitarian Center) and Cover. I'm in Cover so whenever a zone has their P-day we cover their area. Mondays I cover the south visitors center entrance.
3) Do I memorize what I say in each place? Yes and No. We have facts for the historical buildings but we are excellent at taking what they say coupled with the facts and bridging it to gospel principles. Every time we take people around it is different because everyone has different needs or a different focus. My companion and I really focus on being spirit-driven so we plan for broad topics like talking about prophets in the Tabernacle or the apostasy and restoration in the Assembly Hall but we change what we say every time. Robots = BAD.
4) Interviews with the Mission President? I have only had a group interview and we only have personal interviews with him four times a year. He is a busy man.
5) Role of my mission president? I guess the same as any other mission president. There is a new curriculum out based on Preach My Gospel so I am really glad that this is my first transfer because it is the first time they are implementing it. But it's all about teaching by the spirit through asking thought-provoking questions, pausing to let the spirit testify, answering their questions with questions, and letting them read from our copies of the Book of Mormon.
6) P-days? Every zone of Sisters has a different P-day so the square can always be open. The square is open 7 days a week so P-days run from Monday - Saturday. We also take different lunch and dinner times so Sisters can always be on the square. Sometimes we don't get dinner till 9:00 at night. Sundays we get an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner - it's awesome.
Ok hope that helps some. So this last week has actually been a hard one. Ever since they have given us a new way to teach people everyone's numbers have dropped significantly. It's not that we became horrible all of a sudden but everyone that comes to temple square is "hard hearted" I guess you could say. My comp and I were wondering why we were doing so badly and then our district leader told us that everyone's numbers are down. We can feel that we are being greatly opposed by someone... hmmmm, wonder who? BUT despite the fact that we have a flood of unresponsive guests we also have AMAZING people coming who are so prepared to hear the gospel. This week has really given me a testimony of opposition in all things. When times got really hard I knew that very soon something good was about to happen and guess what? It always did. We met two couples from Riverside who were so ready to hear the gospel. I talked to the husband for a good 20 minutes about having the correct authority. It was the most eloquent I have ever been in my life. Words and explanations were coming to me and I have never explained the apostasy and restoration so well. I could tell he liked talking to me because I would leave and he would run after me with another question. He didn't want the missionaries over but his wife did so he is going to get them whether he wants them or not, ha ha! The other couple was talking to us about how Joseph Smith died because he was killing Indians and his son fell in love with one but Joe Smith didn't like that so he tried to kill everyone. I just stared at him with one eye half shut and told him to go to the right sources - like the Book of Mormon!- to know if he was really a prophet of God. We also taught some Ana Baptists. I don't know if that is what you call them but they have long beards, prayer bonnets and farmer hats. They believe a lot of things we do but the old man just couldn't accept another book because the Bible CLEARLY states that nothing shall be added unto the book. One amazing group we had asked all of these questions and so I took them to a kiosk about the Book of Mormon and had them pick a clip. Each clip was entitled a "question of the soul" and I asked them to pick the question they had always thought about. The lady picked "could there be another record of Jesus Christ?" and it was perfect. It talked about Ezekiel and then 2 Nephi that two nations shall testify of one another. Done. Yeah, that's right. They wanted a Book of Mormon and the missionaries. Good day. Those "tender mercies" as Sister Belleza called them are seriously what kept us going this week.
Another thing that happened ~ NEW CLOTHING GUIDELINES FROM THE FIRST PRESIDENCY!!!!!!!!!! PRINTS AND PATTERNS ARE A GO! I REPEAT, ALL PRINTS AND PATTERNS ON CLOTHING ARE A GO!! No more dark colors; skirts must cover the knee when sitting; and any type of shoes, belts and not too distracting jewelry are fine. As long as we look professional and up to date we can wear it. Everyone busted out floral skirts and patterned shirts and I was like, where did they get all of this? Was I the only one who bought clothes to fit mission standards? Ruffles and untucked shirts are allowed too. Oh and tights/knee highs are not required. I love Sister Holmes. She didn't say it but I know she was behind it all. We can also wear shade shirts now and let them show. Welcome to the modern age. Again I am so glad it's my first transfer.
I have learned so much this week and I am always getting better. I passed off giving tours so now I can take "motor coaches" or really big tours with a microphone and everything. Um.. oh Zions Bank catered breakfast for us the other day which was wonderful since I ran out of food that day. We eat out sometimes but only once have people paid for me so it's not as common as you might think. Oh and Dad, my letters may be void of "like" for the most part, but I still say it all the time. I also have a problem with "just" and "kinda" as I will say "this is just a temple and we make promises with our Heavenly Father in it" or "this is the Book of Mormon and it's kinda another scripture like the Bible" so I make everything no big deal. But I don't notice I do it! The thought occurred to me one time when a guy was interrogating us about our religion and I was kinda intimidated as he put me on the defensive that I didn't need to justify everything. The Church is right; he is the one who is wrong. When I remembered that I got a lot more confident and tried to guide him to the correct answers to help him comprehend truth rather than provide him a list of scriptures to prove I was right. Anyway gotta go! DI (Deseret Industries) is calling my name for some new skirts and sweet shoes!
4) Interviews with the Mission President? I have only had a group interview and we only have personal interviews with him four times a year. He is a busy man.
5) Role of my mission president? I guess the same as any other mission president. There is a new curriculum out based on Preach My Gospel so I am really glad that this is my first transfer because it is the first time they are implementing it. But it's all about teaching by the spirit through asking thought-provoking questions, pausing to let the spirit testify, answering their questions with questions, and letting them read from our copies of the Book of Mormon.
6) P-days? Every zone of Sisters has a different P-day so the square can always be open. The square is open 7 days a week so P-days run from Monday - Saturday. We also take different lunch and dinner times so Sisters can always be on the square. Sometimes we don't get dinner till 9:00 at night. Sundays we get an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner - it's awesome.
Ok hope that helps some. So this last week has actually been a hard one. Ever since they have given us a new way to teach people everyone's numbers have dropped significantly. It's not that we became horrible all of a sudden but everyone that comes to temple square is "hard hearted" I guess you could say. My comp and I were wondering why we were doing so badly and then our district leader told us that everyone's numbers are down. We can feel that we are being greatly opposed by someone... hmmmm, wonder who? BUT despite the fact that we have a flood of unresponsive guests we also have AMAZING people coming who are so prepared to hear the gospel. This week has really given me a testimony of opposition in all things. When times got really hard I knew that very soon something good was about to happen and guess what? It always did. We met two couples from Riverside who were so ready to hear the gospel. I talked to the husband for a good 20 minutes about having the correct authority. It was the most eloquent I have ever been in my life. Words and explanations were coming to me and I have never explained the apostasy and restoration so well. I could tell he liked talking to me because I would leave and he would run after me with another question. He didn't want the missionaries over but his wife did so he is going to get them whether he wants them or not, ha ha! The other couple was talking to us about how Joseph Smith died because he was killing Indians and his son fell in love with one but Joe Smith didn't like that so he tried to kill everyone. I just stared at him with one eye half shut and told him to go to the right sources - like the Book of Mormon!- to know if he was really a prophet of God. We also taught some Ana Baptists. I don't know if that is what you call them but they have long beards, prayer bonnets and farmer hats. They believe a lot of things we do but the old man just couldn't accept another book because the Bible CLEARLY states that nothing shall be added unto the book. One amazing group we had asked all of these questions and so I took them to a kiosk about the Book of Mormon and had them pick a clip. Each clip was entitled a "question of the soul" and I asked them to pick the question they had always thought about. The lady picked "could there be another record of Jesus Christ?" and it was perfect. It talked about Ezekiel and then 2 Nephi that two nations shall testify of one another. Done. Yeah, that's right. They wanted a Book of Mormon and the missionaries. Good day. Those "tender mercies" as Sister Belleza called them are seriously what kept us going this week.
Another thing that happened ~ NEW CLOTHING GUIDELINES FROM THE FIRST PRESIDENCY!!!!!!!!!! PRINTS AND PATTERNS ARE A GO! I REPEAT, ALL PRINTS AND PATTERNS ON CLOTHING ARE A GO!! No more dark colors; skirts must cover the knee when sitting; and any type of shoes, belts and not too distracting jewelry are fine. As long as we look professional and up to date we can wear it. Everyone busted out floral skirts and patterned shirts and I was like, where did they get all of this? Was I the only one who bought clothes to fit mission standards? Ruffles and untucked shirts are allowed too. Oh and tights/knee highs are not required. I love Sister Holmes. She didn't say it but I know she was behind it all. We can also wear shade shirts now and let them show. Welcome to the modern age. Again I am so glad it's my first transfer.
I have learned so much this week and I am always getting better. I passed off giving tours so now I can take "motor coaches" or really big tours with a microphone and everything. Um.. oh Zions Bank catered breakfast for us the other day which was wonderful since I ran out of food that day. We eat out sometimes but only once have people paid for me so it's not as common as you might think. Oh and Dad, my letters may be void of "like" for the most part, but I still say it all the time. I also have a problem with "just" and "kinda" as I will say "this is just a temple and we make promises with our Heavenly Father in it" or "this is the Book of Mormon and it's kinda another scripture like the Bible" so I make everything no big deal. But I don't notice I do it! The thought occurred to me one time when a guy was interrogating us about our religion and I was kinda intimidated as he put me on the defensive that I didn't need to justify everything. The Church is right; he is the one who is wrong. When I remembered that I got a lot more confident and tried to guide him to the correct answers to help him comprehend truth rather than provide him a list of scriptures to prove I was right. Anyway gotta go! DI (Deseret Industries) is calling my name for some new skirts and sweet shoes!
Friday, August 13, 2010
August 13, 2010 Temple Square
Hello!!
So if I said that this week was the longest and shortest of my life everyone would understand? Good, because I feel like I have been here as long as the Sisters who have been out 11 transfers. I think it's because I learn so much everyday that it feels that there is no way it was really just one day. But I seriously love it here. I get to talk to people all day and even if they are mean or rude I still love them and try to find someone new to show around (we do not give "tours" and we are not "tour guides" President Holmes said). We are pretty good though at teaching the gospel to people who don't want to hear anything about religion. For example, "This is the temple that took them 40 years to build. They put so much time and effort into it because they knew that it is because of temples that families can be together forever. I know that families can be together forever because..." you get the idea. So by the end, miracles happen and they want a Book of Mormon. But we only carry around our planners and a hardback BOM. I think it is to prevent Bible-bashing and plus the only thing we care about sharing is the Book of Mormon so we shoot to read a verse to everyone and get them to understand that they have to read it.
We have taught so many people around the world too! It's amazing though because I don't know these people and I don't know what they need to hear so whenever we show people around I always have a prayer in my heart to have the spirit tell me what to say. I could write a huge book about all of the times that the spirit has had me or my companion say something that the people needed to hear. One cool story is that we were teaching a Hindu Family (how on earth can we relate a gospel-centered-on-Jesus-Christ to them?) So we spent a lot of time on eternal families which we thought was going somewhere, only to realize they believed they already have an eternal family since they are reincarnated after every life. But my companion took the mom aside and told her about the Book of Mormon and left me to talk to the guys about doctrine. The lady ended up wanting a Book of Mormon and when we asked why she changed her mind she simple said, "I don't know. I just want it". It's not us; we just talk and hope the spirit is there so they will want to hear more. My companion is Filipino and she is always looking for Filipinos to teach. She said that her dream was to teach the rich people because they live in gated communities so missionaries can't ever talk to them. Well guess what kind of Filipinos we teach? The really, really wealthy ones and most times, from what I have seen, they want to meet with the missionaries. I hope the people who are interested end up joining the Church. I'll never know.
But other than that we also call people at the referral center. I haven't really gotten to talk to people much because they either hang up the phone or they don't answer, but the times when I do get to talk to people it really is amazing. I only have 10 minutes to have them feel the spirit and want to have the missionaries come visit them. It's hard but if you bear your testimony at every opportunity the spirit is there so if they say "no" that's their problem.
When we plan at night for the next day we plan for every half hour so it looks like this:
SVC-AH-TAB-Stats-CH (South Visitor Center - Assembly Hall - Tabernacle - Statues - Christus) temples - priesthood/authority - prophets - BOM (these are the topics we will talk about). An older couple, Catholic, they will need to know about the correct authority, Moroni 10:4&5.
And the amazing part is..... we actually find an older Catholic couple who needs to learn about authority. Sometimes I can even see the people who I need to find. One time while planning I envisioned a Hispanic kid we needed to talk to and guess what? We talked to a Hispanic kid. Nothing happened but I knew we would find him. ISN'T THAT SO COOL!!!???? I thought it was weird at first to plan for people but I know it works and because you planned on what they needed you are prepared. So planning usually lasts 30 minutes to an hour every night. It's intense but it's fun because my companion will be like, "Let's go to the Tabernacle" and I thought the same thing.
Ran into antis (anti-Mormons) a few times already or "baby" antis who are people who are in training. So they ask us a ton of questions to see how we respond so they can be ready the next time they talk to a Mormon. We usually just smile, give brief answers, and move on. Can't wait for conference time. Anyway gotta run but have a fabulous week!
So if I said that this week was the longest and shortest of my life everyone would understand? Good, because I feel like I have been here as long as the Sisters who have been out 11 transfers. I think it's because I learn so much everyday that it feels that there is no way it was really just one day. But I seriously love it here. I get to talk to people all day and even if they are mean or rude I still love them and try to find someone new to show around (we do not give "tours" and we are not "tour guides" President Holmes said). We are pretty good though at teaching the gospel to people who don't want to hear anything about religion. For example, "This is the temple that took them 40 years to build. They put so much time and effort into it because they knew that it is because of temples that families can be together forever. I know that families can be together forever because..." you get the idea. So by the end, miracles happen and they want a Book of Mormon. But we only carry around our planners and a hardback BOM. I think it is to prevent Bible-bashing and plus the only thing we care about sharing is the Book of Mormon so we shoot to read a verse to everyone and get them to understand that they have to read it.
We have taught so many people around the world too! It's amazing though because I don't know these people and I don't know what they need to hear so whenever we show people around I always have a prayer in my heart to have the spirit tell me what to say. I could write a huge book about all of the times that the spirit has had me or my companion say something that the people needed to hear. One cool story is that we were teaching a Hindu Family (how on earth can we relate a gospel-centered-on-Jesus-Christ to them?) So we spent a lot of time on eternal families which we thought was going somewhere, only to realize they believed they already have an eternal family since they are reincarnated after every life. But my companion took the mom aside and told her about the Book of Mormon and left me to talk to the guys about doctrine. The lady ended up wanting a Book of Mormon and when we asked why she changed her mind she simple said, "I don't know. I just want it". It's not us; we just talk and hope the spirit is there so they will want to hear more. My companion is Filipino and she is always looking for Filipinos to teach. She said that her dream was to teach the rich people because they live in gated communities so missionaries can't ever talk to them. Well guess what kind of Filipinos we teach? The really, really wealthy ones and most times, from what I have seen, they want to meet with the missionaries. I hope the people who are interested end up joining the Church. I'll never know.
But other than that we also call people at the referral center. I haven't really gotten to talk to people much because they either hang up the phone or they don't answer, but the times when I do get to talk to people it really is amazing. I only have 10 minutes to have them feel the spirit and want to have the missionaries come visit them. It's hard but if you bear your testimony at every opportunity the spirit is there so if they say "no" that's their problem.
When we plan at night for the next day we plan for every half hour so it looks like this:
SVC-AH-TAB-Stats-CH (South Visitor Center - Assembly Hall - Tabernacle - Statues - Christus) temples - priesthood/authority - prophets - BOM (these are the topics we will talk about). An older couple, Catholic, they will need to know about the correct authority, Moroni 10:4&5.
And the amazing part is..... we actually find an older Catholic couple who needs to learn about authority. Sometimes I can even see the people who I need to find. One time while planning I envisioned a Hispanic kid we needed to talk to and guess what? We talked to a Hispanic kid. Nothing happened but I knew we would find him. ISN'T THAT SO COOL!!!???? I thought it was weird at first to plan for people but I know it works and because you planned on what they needed you are prepared. So planning usually lasts 30 minutes to an hour every night. It's intense but it's fun because my companion will be like, "Let's go to the Tabernacle" and I thought the same thing.
Ran into antis (anti-Mormons) a few times already or "baby" antis who are people who are in training. So they ask us a ton of questions to see how we respond so they can be ready the next time they talk to a Mormon. We usually just smile, give brief answers, and move on. Can't wait for conference time. Anyway gotta run but have a fabulous week!
Sister Nelson
Welcome to Temple Square from President and Sister Holmes
President Michael H. Holmes and Sister Holmes greeted Karly when she arrived at Temple Square. Just a fun side note... Karly is our last to go on a mission but when our oldest daughter-in-law, Marielle, went on her mission but had to wait for her visa to Brazil she was sent to Independence, Missouri for three months, President and Sister Holmes were there serving as mission president. My youngest and oldest have had the same mission president!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
First Karly sighting on Temple Square
I had only been on Temple Square for two hours when I ran into Camille Judd, my friend from BYU, who was there visiting. My companion is in the top photo, Sister Belleza from the Philippines.
August 6, 2010 Update Temple Square
Kumusta or Mabuhay Family!!
AHHHHHH! I love Temple Square. It is the best mission in the entire world hands down, end of conversation! I win. So it is awesome because I get to talk to people all day. Every 30 minutes or so we talk to new people, bear our testimonies, and ask if they have friends that need to hear the gospel or if they would like the missionaries to stop by. We make goals everyday for how many members to talk to and get potentials (potential referrals are when they give us names of friends) and goals of how many non-members we talk to/referrals we get. So many miracles happen everyday. Everyone we talk to is there for a reason. We also plan every night for each hour of the coming day, like at 9 a.m. we will be in the South Visitor Center and then we will take people on a tour to the Assembly Hall, then the Tabernacle, and then finish it off at the Christus. So we walk around the South Visitor Center for about 5-10 minutes and if no one wants a tour or no one is there then we will go to our back-up plan which is usually contacting people. We are on our feet 12 hours a day! First day I thought they fell off because they hurt sooo badly, but my companion, Sister Belleza from the Philippines (hence the Kumusta and Mabuhay above which means "hello"), said that I will get used to it. My companion is wonderful. Not that my last companion was bad but.... this companion is normal and HAPPY! We laugh all the time and everyone we give tours to says that we look really happy. So we tell them that if they listened to the missionaries they can be just as happy. My companion is so good at tying the most random stuff they say into gospel principles. At first I was really worried that we were being pushy but whenever she asked a second time or prodded them a little more they caved and asked for a referral card. So I am trying to be just as assertive. My biggest problem so far would be just getting the facts down. I also talk to people instead of tying in principles but once she told me to watch out for that I fixed it. Everything will still come with practice. I forget that I have only been here 3 days, and sometimes I get frustrated that I don't give tours as well as she does but then I remember oh yeah I have only been here one full day. But that doesn't mean anything to me; perfection will be attained I assure you.
But we mostly teach by the spirit. I have met so many different people already. We gave a tour to a retired Lutheran minister and a Baptist deacon and I held my own when it came to all the doctrines they were throwing out at me. I established that we all had the same basic beliefs (the minister was dead set on being saved by grace alone though so I figured I would talk about something else) but that we are unique because we have the restored gospel and with that restored truths that were lost and essential to return to God. Also that we have the authority. They weren't interested but while I was talking to them my companion was talking to the wives and re-inviting them to listen to the missionaries. They were more open but I think their husbands will ruin that. That's OK. They felt something and that is all that matters. A lot of times I was convinced that they were not interested but then they wanted a Book of Mormon!
The biggest issues we face here are that people hear about us and see that we don't practice polygamy; we don't eat children; we don't worship Joseph Smith and we believe in Jesus Christ. Then they say, "OK, you're just like us. So we don't need your religion" or "Every religion leads to good". So it's really important to tell them that they need the restored truths, that we have authority and the Book of Mormon. It's hard though. But if we teach by the spirit then he tells us what to say and hopefully the spirit will open their hearts. We just provide the opportunity for others to feel the spirit.
Yep, the gay community had a demonstration at Temple Square. I am not sure if it was just because it was my first day or because they didn't want us to get involved with anything but it seemed like a lot of Sisters came home early that night and we just unpacked and cooked dinner. The rest of my first day consisted with us meeting the mission president, getting filled in with our new credit cards, security cards and getting the awesome name tags. Oh, by the way every American here is from California so I am not special. And I see someone I know at least once a day. I saw Eric Taylor walking to school yesterday but he didn't see me. I met a couple from Pomona who knows Mom and Dad. They shop at Ensign Books all the time. The guy's first name is "South", true story.
Anyway, to answer all questions and rumors about Temple Square: We go on our outbound sometime in the middle of our mission. We find out if/where we go two days before we leave; same with companions. We all live in an apartment complex, each are equipped with our own kitchen, bathroom and washer/dryer. We eat breakfast at home and then pack lunch and dinner. We get up to work out at 6:30 a.m., have one hour to get ready (because we need to look good), and an hour of personal or companion study before we hit the Square. We work all day and have a half hour for lunch and dinner. At 9 p.m. we go home to plan our day. My companion is amazing. She is on the ball and I don't know what I am doing yet so she helps me out a ton.
Keep me updated with life. I am going to work hard I promise!
AHHHHHH! I love Temple Square. It is the best mission in the entire world hands down, end of conversation! I win. So it is awesome because I get to talk to people all day. Every 30 minutes or so we talk to new people, bear our testimonies, and ask if they have friends that need to hear the gospel or if they would like the missionaries to stop by. We make goals everyday for how many members to talk to and get potentials (potential referrals are when they give us names of friends) and goals of how many non-members we talk to/referrals we get. So many miracles happen everyday. Everyone we talk to is there for a reason. We also plan every night for each hour of the coming day, like at 9 a.m. we will be in the South Visitor Center and then we will take people on a tour to the Assembly Hall, then the Tabernacle, and then finish it off at the Christus. So we walk around the South Visitor Center for about 5-10 minutes and if no one wants a tour or no one is there then we will go to our back-up plan which is usually contacting people. We are on our feet 12 hours a day! First day I thought they fell off because they hurt sooo badly, but my companion, Sister Belleza from the Philippines (hence the Kumusta and Mabuhay above which means "hello"), said that I will get used to it. My companion is wonderful. Not that my last companion was bad but.... this companion is normal and HAPPY! We laugh all the time and everyone we give tours to says that we look really happy. So we tell them that if they listened to the missionaries they can be just as happy. My companion is so good at tying the most random stuff they say into gospel principles. At first I was really worried that we were being pushy but whenever she asked a second time or prodded them a little more they caved and asked for a referral card. So I am trying to be just as assertive. My biggest problem so far would be just getting the facts down. I also talk to people instead of tying in principles but once she told me to watch out for that I fixed it. Everything will still come with practice. I forget that I have only been here 3 days, and sometimes I get frustrated that I don't give tours as well as she does but then I remember oh yeah I have only been here one full day. But that doesn't mean anything to me; perfection will be attained I assure you.
But we mostly teach by the spirit. I have met so many different people already. We gave a tour to a retired Lutheran minister and a Baptist deacon and I held my own when it came to all the doctrines they were throwing out at me. I established that we all had the same basic beliefs (the minister was dead set on being saved by grace alone though so I figured I would talk about something else) but that we are unique because we have the restored gospel and with that restored truths that were lost and essential to return to God. Also that we have the authority. They weren't interested but while I was talking to them my companion was talking to the wives and re-inviting them to listen to the missionaries. They were more open but I think their husbands will ruin that. That's OK. They felt something and that is all that matters. A lot of times I was convinced that they were not interested but then they wanted a Book of Mormon!
The biggest issues we face here are that people hear about us and see that we don't practice polygamy; we don't eat children; we don't worship Joseph Smith and we believe in Jesus Christ. Then they say, "OK, you're just like us. So we don't need your religion" or "Every religion leads to good". So it's really important to tell them that they need the restored truths, that we have authority and the Book of Mormon. It's hard though. But if we teach by the spirit then he tells us what to say and hopefully the spirit will open their hearts. We just provide the opportunity for others to feel the spirit.
Yep, the gay community had a demonstration at Temple Square. I am not sure if it was just because it was my first day or because they didn't want us to get involved with anything but it seemed like a lot of Sisters came home early that night and we just unpacked and cooked dinner. The rest of my first day consisted with us meeting the mission president, getting filled in with our new credit cards, security cards and getting the awesome name tags. Oh, by the way every American here is from California so I am not special. And I see someone I know at least once a day. I saw Eric Taylor walking to school yesterday but he didn't see me. I met a couple from Pomona who knows Mom and Dad. They shop at Ensign Books all the time. The guy's first name is "South", true story.
Anyway, to answer all questions and rumors about Temple Square: We go on our outbound sometime in the middle of our mission. We find out if/where we go two days before we leave; same with companions. We all live in an apartment complex, each are equipped with our own kitchen, bathroom and washer/dryer. We eat breakfast at home and then pack lunch and dinner. We get up to work out at 6:30 a.m., have one hour to get ready (because we need to look good), and an hour of personal or companion study before we hit the Square. We work all day and have a half hour for lunch and dinner. At 9 p.m. we go home to plan our day. My companion is amazing. She is on the ball and I don't know what I am doing yet so she helps me out a ton.
Keep me updated with life. I am going to work hard I promise!
Sister Nelson
Update August 3, 2010 MTC
Tuesday August 3: Ok just so you know I had to go almost to the top of the MTC heiarchy just to send you this e-mail, feel special. I guess I must have pushed reply and it got sent to myself... anyway here you go. Oh and for updates I am not leaving at 10 am I am leaving at 6am now, they changed the times. I do have a box but I am hoping to see Emily and give it to her, the grounds crew people are walking around all the time so even if I don't see her I will give it to them to put in their shed so just get it from Emily. We leave tomorrow and we will only be on the square for about two hours since we will be shopping and stuff. Oh btw every sister looks really cute and they can wear super cute shoes!!! The jewelry can be no larger than quarters now... aka if you find any colorful jewelry send it my way and it can be the kind that is long and bunches at the end if that made any sense. Anyway I leave tomorrow and oh! I found out that they don't care if we give tours to family and friends... do with that information however you may. Honestly I don't think that seeing people will be weird for me, I see people I know all the time and even when I went to Temple square I saw the Salsburys (Melissa) so anyway what I am trying to say is you don't have to avoid me entirely I guess. I mean it is still a mission but they just told us that they don't care- "just be sensitive to your companion who may have no friends or family ever see them" Have fun at convention wish I could be there. Sister Nelson
July 30, 2010 Update MTC
Bouge Luvit Vos! That just means I love you in Russian FYI. My companion is obsessed with asking every Elder who speaks a different language how to say God loves you. We almost have every language in the MTC, kinda cool. Well, this week was bitter sweet as the Elders in our district left. They were tons of fun but they had so much drama at the end that I think Temple Square will be a cake walk. We spent most of our time together so now that they are gone we keep feeling that people are missing. But they are off to their missions so mostly we are just jealous because we are here for another week and a half. Anyway, but for me this week I got really comfortable with teaching and talking. Not that I wasn't before, but now it wasn't a big deal and I was confident in what I was doing. Last Friday was a big part of that. My companion and I were teaching the new district a lesson and they were going to teach us. This was their first time teaching but we didn't know that. They taught us first and when I say "they" I mean one Elder. He was giving the whole lesson and the other was slouched in his seat and whenever the Elder would look at him to add to the lesson he would shrug and say, "Ditto" or "Yeah, that sounds good." By the end of the lesson I was about to smack him upside the head and tell him to shape up. Not very missionary like but seriously he was being so rude, so I was about to give him the worst lecture he had ever gotten in his life. But it was our turn to teach so I asked, "How's the MTC going for ya?" They both said, "Fine" and so I said, "No really how is the MTC?" The Elder who actually taught said it had its moments of being hard and stuff but other than that nothing he couldn't handle. I looked at the other Elder who proceeded to tell us how much he wanted to go home and how much he couldn't handle being here. He felt really inadequate and homesick. I am so glad that I decided to follow the spirit instead of going with plan A because my companion and I threw out our lesson plan and taught this Elder all about missionary work, following the spirit, and how much the lord loves him and wants him on a mission. Our teacher popped in to say that we had 5 minutes left and I felt guilty because we didn't teach them a lesson like we were supposed to. As we left the other Sisters in my district ran up to my companion and I and said how all of the teachers had crowded around the room in which we were teaching to listen. They said that we were amazing!! I was on cloud 9, like really, I felt so good. The next morning Brother Warner, who is the best teacher I have ever had, came up and thanked us for everything we taught him and that we probably saved his mission. I check up on him now and again and he is doing a lot better.
So we started Visitor Center training. We are officially the biggest district in the MTC with 33 sisters, 26 of whom are going to Temple Square, the rest are either going to the Mormon Battalion place in San Diego or to Winter Quarters. All of these girls are top notch and sometimes it's a little intimidating especially when they all told their stories on how they decided to come on a mission. About 50% of them gave up a lot to come and one girl's parents even threw her out of the house for a bit. And then I stand up and say, "I've always wanted to go on a mission so I just turned in my papers and here I am." Yeah, pretty boring. But they are all really nice and we eat every meal together. Most were kinda disappointed with their calls as well so I felt less like a sinner but we are all really excited now to go. So this is what I hear about Temple Square: It is the most exhausting mission because we have no free time. Yeah, we have P days and breaks from tours but apparently we never take them because there are so many people to teach. One teacher said, "get ready to love people so much you will be exhausted." Great, I already love everyone. How can I love people any more? Another thing I heard (I am just restating the facts, ok) is that Visitor Center Sisters are chosen first and they are selected based on our picture, not because of looks but because they can see that they have a testimony of the atonement. The prophet might have even had a hand in it! One Sister told us this because her home teacher is Apostle Quentin L. Cook's brother and when she got her call he called up Apostle Cook to ask about the process. Kinda cool, huh? I feel a little special. Most teachers ask where we are going and when we say Temple Square they remark on how they can always tell a Temple Square Sister. So needless to say I am stoked about going to Temple Square and working my hardest.
Yesterday we had our first "teaching appointment." We set up a room like a visitor center and gave people tours. This is so much easier than giving lessons because we just say, "Look at this picture. What does it mean to you?" or "How does it make you feel?" And we just talk to people!! Gah, I love it. My teacher told me that I am very personable and friendly, AKA not a robot. Goal: Completed.
So other responsibilities as a Coordinating Sister: I finally have a purpose because Sisters came into our zone. I just talked to them, gave them advice and follow up on how they are doing. I have to call one of them to be the next Coordinating Sister soon. Anyway I am out of time but hopefully this letter was long enough for you all. So much more happened but, oh well, you can imagine. Anyways next time I write I will be at Temple Square. Peace out Provo!
P.S. I am the most emotionally stable sister here.
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