March 5, 2011

I AM SO HAPPY. Ok, no more caps. But wow life is so wonderful and I smile all the time and yeah.... My companion's name is Sister Despain from North Carolina (Raleigh) and she is such a good missionary. We were in the same zone before so I was shocked when they said we would be companions. When transfer conference came I just felt really peaceful. Sister Despain is wonderful. We go running; we set goals on how we can be better; we strive our best to work hard; you know, typical motivational things. When we talk to people on the Square we say different things and we TALK to people. It is amazing. *Sigh* so good. So funny story I was running this morning and saw the phone list and in my apartment I am shown as a district leader. So I guess what happened was I was supposed to be a district leader this transfer but at the last minute President changed my assignment to Guest Services. He hand picks who gets put there so kinda cool I guess. Friday I am on the Square in the afternoon but 3 p.m. - 9 p.m. I am at Guest Services. Saturday I am not on the Square at all and have p-day so no worries about seeing me! (Matt, Karly's brother, and Bev, Karly's mother, are visiting in the genealogical library in Salt Lake City this coming week from Thursday through Saturday so therefore the comments about "seeing me")

So transfers and I am still in my same zone with my same p-day - weird feeling as this has never happened to me before. But I have a new assignment: Guest Services. I answer the phones all day and set up tours. Sounds boring yes but it is actually really intense and the time flies. I am there for half the day then I am on the Square or on the phones. This is how the office on Temple Square is structured: there is the Mission President, then the APs, then the Office Assistants, and then Guest Services. No, it is not glamorous or prestigious in anyway but for the first time in my mission I can talk to the APs without them saying to go talk to my District Leader. I feel special. It is filled with a lot of paper work and sitting. So I get up early to go running and today we are going to buy exercise balls so that we can sit on those instead of the office chairs. I refuse to gain weight.

I have a new companion as well! Sister Despain from North Carolina. She is a fantastic missionary, very enthusiastic and a hard worker. We made a "bucket list" of things we need to do. So yesterday we went over to Deseret Book and met Paul Cardall and she got a CD of his signed. Then for dinner we went to the Church History Museum and got to see "Artists at Work". About 5 different artists were painting, sculpting or drawing and would describe what they do and how they do it. It was really good! The refreshments were not that impressive so we didn't stay too long. But with our few hours of Square time we manage to stay really busy and find lots of tours. We met this man who hasn't been able to find a job so he was forced to move to the homeless shelter. So he doesn't have an address and he doesn't have a phone, but we showed him where the nearest church is. He was so excited and even said that he was going to volunteer at Welfare Square where he could go pick out a suit for Sunday! We then took him to the Family Search Section and he got so excited about his ancestors. Cool guy! He said he would come back and see us after church on Sunday. We might be in our "cave" aka Guest Services, so I hope we get to see him.

Last Wednesday we took this guy around from Canada and he was so prepared. I asked him while we were looking at the Temple Model if he had ever wondered what the purpose of life was. He said that he was actually on a road trip to find the answer to that very question! Done. So we took him around and he referred! He was so prepared and it was so nice to be able to share this gospel with him. At the end he was like "Wait, you can't drink! Huh?" I said nope. He said, "Oh, that is a problem." I changed the subject. We can telephone and help him understand that later. Brevity and clarity work best.

Oh and we have a new investigator from India! We hope she is a good one. She straight up asked for a Book of Mormon. Love those people. Anyway lots to do and many more people to find....or in my new case schedule tours for! I am really going to miss the Humanitarian Center though. Maybe one day I will be able to return, but until then it is back to food I can eat that doesn't need to be refrigerated or heated up since we really can't leave the phones. Any suggestions?