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!