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!
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