June 26, 2011 (22-years-old today!)

Hi Everyone!

This week was great! (But I always say that, don't I?) Well, it started off kinda slow with my companion, Sister Perez, getting the flu last Tuesday. We were on the Square and she kept saying she didn't feel good. My first instinct was to pull a Dad and say, "Well, suck it up and get back to work!" But I have learned Christ-like attributes on my mission and asked if she wanted to run to the bathroom real quick. She turned around and started speed-walking to the nearest bathroom. Well, 20 minutes later we were at home; she was sleeping and I made a huge to-do list. I wrote 8 letters, cleaned the apartment, made food for the week, made cinnamon rolls and went running for an hour. Very productive day! I told her she should get the flu every week... she didn't appreciate that.

Wednesday morning we were asked to give mission training on motor coaches. How to be a good contactor (helper) to the Sisters giving the tour. Funny, since I have only contacted once this whole transfer! But it went great and Sister Perez was able to assist in giving training while still being under the weather. She is awesome! Thursday I got a message from a former investigator that we found through Mormon.org chat. We had to drop her because we could never get a hold of her. But she left me a message saying that she and her husband were baptized on June 21! Upon reading her message I began screaming and everyone was staring at me. Sister Perez didn't understand the message so she had no idea why I was screaming. Ha ha, looking back, the whole scene was probably really funny to watch.

Saturday was a LONG day. We were on the Square most of the day and let me tell you, my feet hate me. But we took a tour with Elders from the Salt Lake City South Mission (Spanish) and their investigator was golden. When I was talking to the Elders they were really sad because they couldn't baptize him. They found him knocking doors and he is on vacation! So we got his information and we will send it to the missionaries in San Francisco and teach him until they get there! Then we had to cover the desks (my zone is in charge of desks) because all of the Sisters in my zone speak languages that are very in demand. There is a Baptist Church being built up here so they are all taking mission trips to Salt Lake City. I meet a lot of them at the desk. These really good-hearted members brought a whole entourage of them, looking very excited, and said, "These kids have so many good questions and they want to go on a tour!" *Fake smile* Oh! Thank you so much! Ugh, charity and love.

But yesterday was my birthday!!! Actually it was completely uneventful and I kept forgetting it was my birthday. Anyway everyone has been telling me "Happy birthday" today because some Sisters decorated my door this morning. We can't do anything like that on Sundays because it is against the mission rules. So everyone knows now. But we had a good day none the less: took two motor coaches (one group asked about everything from polygamy to garments and thought our matching shade shirts were them and met a lady who really wanted to know if the Church was true. So good! We took lots of Spanish tours and went home for an 8 p.m. dinner and made green pudding... hey we need to do random things to keep us entertained.

But today I am celebrating by going to the zoo and then shopping. Can life get any better? Oh, food is missing. Don't worry, we are going out for lunch and getting frozen yogurt later. Ok, gotta run but love you all! Thanks for the birthday wishes!

Happy Birthday Karly!

22-years-old today!

Jann Peterson, our bishop's wife, ran into her today on Temple Square

Love those Karly sightings!

June 20, 2011

Hey Family!

I will keep this short since I just spoke with Mom and Dad yesterday (Happy Fathers Day! and Happy Birthday to Lindsey!). Life is going great... and too fast. I feel like I was just sitting at these computers typing away my previous week's experiences. But, oh well. So this past week was full of companion exchanges. As a district leader I need to go on splits with the Sisters in my district for a few hours. I went with one companionship a day for three days, just three hours during our square time. It is really fun to see how they do things differently and what they can get away with based on their personalities.

The first companionship I went with tried the "sneak attack" approach - people would walk by and they would try to have a conversation with them even after they walked past. My first thought was, 'Wo, that is awkward," but it worked for them! I tried that once - didn't work. The next day I was on exchanges with the only companionship that isn't training and we met cool people! The first man was really funny but we couldn't tell if he wanted us there or not. A few times we just stood back and if he wanted us to go away then we were already kinda gone. But he kept turning around and saying, "Well, are ya coming?" Ok then, on with the tour! We took him everywhere and he opened up little by little: recovering alcoholic, no family, no hope, but he believed in a higher power. At the end when we invited he said, "What?! You want missionaries to come pound on my door?" I said, "Well, they actually.... yes, yes we do. But knowing all of this will make you so happy!" So he gave me his business card, then asked if we could pray. Without waiting for a yes or no he grabbed the other Sisters' hands and we stood in a circle. Feeling awkward I grabbed their pinky fingers with one eye closed and the other eye searching for people staring at us. He finished his prayer then walked out of the gates. We just stood there with confused looks on our faces.

The next day I went on exchanges with the companionship from Taiwan and Korea. I was so excited. For some reason I LOVE language tours. I can't contribute but I just love watching them. We found a Korean family and they referred! The Sister from Korea just got here and she is already amazing. The Sister talked to two men from mainland China but they didn't refer because they were afraid of the government. She said that many of them are brainwashed into fearing the government. Kinda scary; glad I live here.

They are all really good and make my job way easier. Sister Perez and I are just talking to everyone we see. We met a couple from Australia who LOVED everything about what we believed. We invited them but they just stared at us. I guess all of the questions of "What would it mean to you if...." or "What do you think about....." didn't register that this was for them. They have no concept of religion and see no need for it. Really sad; I wanted it for them so badly. This guy from Switzerland that we met was actually not only interested in religion BUT was meeting with Jehovah Witnesses. Dang. He couldn't get over the fact that everyone can go to Heaven. I don't know about you but everyone going back sounds about 144,000 times better than only a few of us. But that is their choice. We have talked to so many good people lately. I love summer. Anyway gotta run but I plan on having a wonderful birthday (Happy Birthday Bruce! Ha ha, I win!) Next Sunday I will be old... aka 22. Bye!

June 13, 2011

Hello Everyone!

So my week started off by seeing Steve, Cambrie, Kiera, and Lydia! So good to see you all! It is weird to see family because... it is hard to explain... it isn't that weird but I feel like it should be weird so I don't know how to feel. It doesn't affect me emotionally in anyway though so it is fine, except the entire time I am hoping my mission president wouldn't walk by so I'd be in trouble. But you are all worth getting in trouble over.

We took a particular tour that day with a lady who had some time to kill so she came to Temple Square. She was so quiet the entire time and when we asked questions she would only give one word answers to anything that we asked like, "What do you do for a living?" or "How many kids do you have?" We just gave her time to look at everything and we didn't say much. By the end we showed her Apostle Bednar's testimony on the Savior and she just sat there. We invited her to learn more from missionaries but she had to ask her husband. I mean it's good and all that she wants to communicate openly and frequently with her spouse but no! You just don't know what happens when they leave. At least if they leave their information you have some control over what happens.

The Missionary Department gave us new referral cards to use that people can either complete on the spot and return to a missionary or they can mail it in. I thought it was terrible, fearing that people would see the option on the back to mail it in which would then be an excuse not to return the card to the missionary saying they will mail it in. But we had a large mission meeting where the head of the Missionary Department spoke and showed us all of the referral cards that had been mailed in! The stack was HUGE! So now we all have a testimony that people have no problem mailing personal information for the world to see just for their eternal salvation. The Church is true.

We have still been taking lots of motor coaches and some are great and some are bad BUT the good ones are full of miracles, such as the group of 13 people who were a part of a Mandarin tour (they just want to practice their English) but 8 of them referred! Vietnam, Thailand and Seal Beach, CA were all represented! We have tried to evaluate what causes some groups to be better than others and it really doesn't have anything to do with us. The tour is so general but if you are yourself (and in my case trying to make them laugh AND feel the spirit at the same time) then they can feel your sincerity. Old people are the hardest just because (as most have said) they are about to die soon so it doesn't matter anyway. Uh... I have no idea how to address that concern. There are a lot more motor coaches this summer than last summer and we are starting to accommodate them no matter what time they come. So to be honest we haven't had study time in about 4 days. I think this is the only mission in the world where we are asked not to study half the week. Soon the motor coaches will come Sunday mornings too when we have Church. We will still be blessed, right?

Funny story for the week: We met these two guys in the basement of the North Visitors Center. We were talking about life and missions and the thought crossed my mind, "See? I am totally normal. No worries about having to adjust. I can still talk with guys without it being awkward." Then one asked if we had the presentation, "God's Plan for His Family." So we took them through it. We forgot that the Church has updated it because now it focuses on marriage and - WOW - talk about AWKWARD. We talked about how important the temple is and they said, "OK, I will start looking now!" *Confusion*... oh they mean marriage. Then they started cracking all of these jokes and it got really awkward. Crap. I am not normal.

Anyway life is good! The Sisters in my district make me look good so that is all I can ask for. It helps when they speak Mandarin, Korean, Spanish and German. They are all really hard workers and are on fire. It is funny how much you grow to love people as you serve them. I have had Sisters comment too that I haven't changed from being a normal missionary to a district leader (thank goodness!). It is really sad when Sisters feel a sense of entitlement just because they are over others. Lots of changes are coming up this week too. *Top Secret* - new Sisters are coming in early because we need more languages here. About 10 Sisters, so I might be in a trio next week! Ha ha, no. I love having friends in the office still; all rumors are clarified. Love you all! Till next week when I call for Father's Day!

Karly sighting... Steve and Cambrie Family June 7, 2011

Karly sighting... The Bluhm Family

Sister Perez, Karly, Kylie and Garrett Bluhm

June 6, 2011

Hola Familia!

Estos bancos son de pino blanco, pero los pioneeros los pintaron para que luieran como roble! And for those of you who don't habla Espanol, all of that was Spanish for "These benches are white pine but the pioneers parined them to look like marble." Ha, I love having a Spanish companion. Anyway this week was interesting because we had a lot of mission training and exchanges. For about two days I was not with my companion that much (weird). But we had leadership training where we focused on what we can do to help the Sisters. We also talked about how we can correct disobedience and role-played it... weird but handy because only in this mission does everyone watch every move you make. Skirts too short? Go home and change. Standing in large groups and talking? Gotta split them. Not working? Gotta tell them to shape up and move along. Yeah, we role-played all of those scenarios. But we also have a new "inviting model" to meet with missionaries. Should be effective. I will let you know how it goes.

So motor coaches with the new referral cards - fail. BUT with small groups it works. So when the APs called and asked me how it went I told them my opinion. Yeah, that went no where. Come on! I thought I had some power! Reality check, nope. But we will get together and discuss what we can do to make it work.

We took around an amazing family the other day. They were all Navajo, VERY inactive (as in baptized at 8 but never went to church), and here to see the sights. The mom came up to us and asked what it meant to be baptized. So cool! I got to teach baptism on the Square! I had the little girl read Mosiah 18:9 and talked a little about what it meant. We took them to the Christus and then to the North Visitors Center basement to watch President Uchtdorf's testimony of Christ. We invited them to meet with missionaries again and the mom said yes! And to bring a Book of Mormon in Navajo. I used the new inviting model on a guy in their group and he said, "no." Next step: Why not? So he couldn't think of a real answer so I kinda pushed for him to meet with the missionaries. I felt kinda bad after like maybe I pushed too hard but Sister Perez talked to him later and he was really excited to meet with them! So some people just need to be pushed... or shoved, spirit-filled, of course.

Lately a lot of Baptists have been coming to the Square and best of all they have been my favorite tours. Since they are very centered on Jesus Christ they are very spiritual. The entire time we just spent building a common ground but without fail they always say, "So, there is just one thing that I don't understand" or "Ok, here is a direct question and I hope that you are not offended...". Please get a new line. What shocked me was one kept going on about all the evidence for the Bible and so I asked, "If there wasn't any evidence for the Bible would you believe it?" He said No! Wow. Talk about no faith; bunch of doubting Thomas' over here. Anyway, some are looking to start churches here in Utah to save our souls from Hell. They really don't beat around the bush. Anyway it is those tours that I get to really summon my authority as a missionary and bear a simple testimony that Jesus is the Christ and that he loves us. They have nothing to say and so they go back to what they were talking about earlier. Their loss. I am here to find those that are willing to act on what they feel.

So after the many anti... Baptists that come I will leave you all with this statement: I know that Jesus Christ is our savior; he loves us, and he died so that we can go home one day. His church is restored on the earth again today and by that we can find truths we are seeking. Love you all! Happy June Birthdays to Scott, Blake, Tyler and Lindsey!