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)