Karly at the Family History Center on Temple Square

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?

Letter from Sephra Kaho'oheno Mea'ofa Kinikini

Hello,

This is Sister Kinikini, I have the honor to be your daughters roomate this last transfer and she wanted me to email you on next transfer for her. She is in the same zone, in guest services in the office. Not the Ap. Her companion is Sister Despain from America. Her pday is the same.

She loves you, and she is so happy.

I just want to let you know how much I love your daughter, she is an amazing missionary and has went through so much but she has always remainded positive.

But it was so nice to meet you, Sister Nelson sends her love.

Bye Sister Nelson's mother

February 26, 2011

Hey Family!

So we had some really cool experiences this week. On Monday we were having our district meeting and about 20 minutes into it the APs opened the door and said, "Everyone to the square! There are tons of people up there!" Why? A holiday or something? What is that? Awesome! So we go up and there are a ton of people! We contact into this lady who was trying to go to the temple but on Mondays it closes early so she missed it. She was saying how she really needed spiritual upliftment. I thought I would try out my newly marked scriptures. I found really good verses from the Book of Mormon and put tabs in it going gradually downward - if that made any sense - anyway, so I tell the guests and members to pick a tab and I will read them a scripture. For guests it is so they can get a taste of what the Book of Mormon is about; for members whatever they pick you tie it to a gospel principle and because it is the Book of Mormon it will ALWAYS apply to their needs. So anyway back to the story: She picked "the blue tab" I opened it to Alma 36:3 and cringed a little. It was all about being how God will help us through our trails and such. I quickly read it, a little embarrassed because it obviously didn't apply to her. I looked up and she was crying! Long story short she spilled to us all of her marriage problems (people treat you like a shrink when you have a name tag on) and that scripture was just what she needed! We had no advice to give her but it was a good testimony builder to me about never underestimating the Book of Mormon. Before district meeting we were paged to take a tour. It was a really cute family and they had tons of questions. They kept apologizing about talking too much (please, that is our goal) and at the end they referred for missionaries! So good, I am excited to call them and teach them until the missionaries get there.

Today I called this guy in Ireland and he is GOLDEN. Wow! So prepared. He has been searching the Church out and reading a ton ever since his father committed suicide. The man is Catholic and his priest told him that his father was burning in Hell (That is a great way to keep people going to church; gotta mark that one down) but God being love, as John says, didn't match the description he was hearing. I had the best conversation ever and even though we are only supposed to talk with telephone contacts for 10 minutes I had him stay on the phone longer so we could keep talking. I just bore my testimony on how God is merciful and evidenced prophets, the Book of Mormon, and the plan of salvation to back me up. He is even finding a church tomorrow!

So about the Humanitarian Center: With all of the earthquakes going on in New Zealand did we know anything about it? No, we were giving some people a tour and that is how we heard of it! Now I know why we aren't kept abreast of current world events but seriously think how bad it looks if we don't even know about world disasters working at the LDS Church's Humanitarian Center! I am over it. So they don't tell us what they are doing but all I know is there were thousands of bales of clothes chillin' in the warehouse and now when I walk by most of them are gone. So I think they are being used. But we don't help with shipping things out. Volunteers come everyday and put hygiene kits together. Lately I have been making scarves, baby hats, balls, puppets, file folder games and cutting materials to make clothes. I do what they need me to do and there is always something to do. I hope I can be there next transfer. I have really loved it. We mostly take members around but that just means they are wonderful tours and we are uplifted by them. Transfers are this Wednesday, so we find out Monday what is going on. I heard they are trying to keep Sisters in their same zones for longer so I have a feeling that I will be in the extended zone again, maybe at the Humanitarian Center! But who knows when I will e-mail again, it could be next Saturday! We shall see but I love you all! Miss you and don't party too much without me. Until then!!

February 19, 2011

Hi Everyone!

So, want to hear about my miracles this week? No? Too bad. So we were asked to cover the Beehive House the other day. Kinda scary because I have only given two tours there - to 3-year-olds which means we would just say "This is where Brigham Young slept!" But on a mission you roll with the punches so we went. Had some time to call our investigators and so we called a guy in Nigeria. Not only is he progressing BUT he is going to church on Sunday. He also said he wants all of his family to know about this (he apparently forwards our e-mails to all of them) and is going to give us a bunch of people to call!!! Yay Africa! Right after that we got a tour. One lady was a member and the other wasn't. Whenever we would even bring up gospel topics the member would just stare at us like "Please don't offend my friend". Tough lady, we are here to share the gospel not give into Satan! *cough* Obviously I am frustrated with unsupportive members at the moment who cost us referrals to send out. Anyway it was an interesting tour. Sister Sulollari forgot the whole script so I was just talking the whole time. At the end we asked the non-member to put her information down for missionaries and she did! She said, "Yes, I have been curious and I have questions." Take that member! Anyway miracles at Beehive House - apparently they never get referrals there.

But other than that we called our investigators and we finally have a solid teaching pool. It took a while but we got some good ones! We called one guy in Provo and at first he was weirded out by us calling him and talking about prayer but by the end he opened up. Then we called this 65-year-old lady who is going blind in the south and she was so good! She said that she would do anything we asked her. When we prayed with her she kept saying, "Amen.... Hallelujah... Amen Lord..." needless to say it threw me off a bit.

We had a chance to do service too! We went to

Heritage Park and cleaned out the drug store. We dusted all the bottles and shelves. It took forever but the place was shinning after! AND I saw two deer - Dad you owe me 50 cents! I am waiting for it in the mail next week. But life is starting to have a twinge of excitement: General Conference is next transfer and this transfer ends in a week and a half! Crazy I feel like I am always saying a new transfer is coming. I have been here five transfers so far- when did that happen? But the Square is picking up and life is good. We are just finding and teaching who will listen to us. Oh and we took this guy on a tour the other night; he was amazing and he asked the best questions. He didn't refer because he wants to study things out for himself but he said that he has a lot to ponder and is excited to know for himself if this Church is true. Bittersweet moment. Oh and thankfully I was not on the Square much during Valentines Day but I heard that there were many proposals going on - seriously people? Temple Square? Lame place. Humanitarian Center is still great! Food is still good! I hope that I get to serve there next transfer. We only have three more times to go! Anyway gotta run to our zone activity at the Church History Museum! Later!

February 12, 2011

Hello Family!

So cool stories this week - I know I almost let you down! But the other day we were planning and I kept feeling like we needed to pass by the priesthood statues (Where Peter James and John are giving the priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery) sometime during the day. After Sacrament Meeting we were walking near them and I saw these four guys taking pictures. So we went to talk to them and took them to see the temple model in the South Visitor Center. They were all in the military and had one day off which was Sunday. We were telling them about the Book of Mormon and as the others left one guy stayed behind and started tell me how he really appreciated how we had approached them. He said that there were so many barriers that people put up but when we walked up we made them feel comfortable and relaxed. He said that it felt so wonderful here and he wants to feel this way all the time. I told him that the world is horrible (he probably knows better than most) but that there is peace that comes from being apart of this Church. I told him about Captain Moroni and read the verse that says if all men were like Moroni the powers of hell would shake. He grabbed my Book of Mormon and said, "Wow! This is so cool!" Then all of the others came back so we took them on a tour. At the Christus Statue one of them (He was Muslim) came up to me. We started talking about his views on Jesus Christ. Surprisingly he said that if someone is a true Muslim they have the same belief about Him as we do except that when we sin it is our sin and not Jesus Christ's. I said, "Actually when we sin it is our sin but through His atonement he paid the consequence of that sin." I explained more but it was so cool to see the Spirit teaching him. He smiled and said, "You know that does make sense" Long story short they ALL referred for missionaries to give them a Book of Mormon and to teach them more. I love Temple Square.

Later at the Humanitarian Center we had the opportunity to show around some people who will be working there. They are refugees from the Congo and Pakistan. Both are members of the Church. I am sure that they only understood about 5% of the tour but when we asked for people that we could call they both gave us friends and family. It was amazing to watch them as they told us in broken English why they wanted this family member or friend to hear the Gospel. Unfortunately I cannot call either of them since one speaks Urdu and the other speaks French/ Swahili. But at the Humanitarian Center you see such humble people who have nothing yet they have this Church and that is all they need. Working at the Humanitarian Center has been amazing, I have met so many people from all over the world who have nothing - most are not members actually but they see the good that comes from this building. Anyway those are my stories for the week! I hope to have more. Until then I am surviving and doing well. Lots to do and so little time. I have been getting up at 6 a.m. to go running every morning which I miss really, really badly and it makes all the difference in the world! Keep exercising everyone! Just because I am not there doesn't mean you are off the hook - especially you Dad. Are you up to four miles yet?

February 5, 2011

Hi Family!

So I thought I would just tell you all how life is going! It is going well; life at the Humanitarian Center is great! I love it there. I am hoping that they will keep me there as well but I think that is highly unlikely. But we have the opportunity to take around so many people and talk to them about how the Humanitarian Center has helped others. It is very inspiring. The senior couple there is the Neisbetts and they are hilarious! They have served 2 or 3 missions before this one. One was in Africa during a civil war and they have really cool stories. Sister Neisbett exaggerates everything and Elder Neisbett sits there and chuckles, saying "Ok, that isn't how it went"; your stereotypical older couple. I want to go on a mission to Africa! But speaking of Africa we had an investigator meet with missionaries and today we found out that she got baptized! We actually called her during her baptism... awkward, but oh well. They all passed the phone around so I talked to her dad and the missionaries.

Anyway back to the Humanitarian Center, so when we don't have tours we do service. We are tying quilts (I learned the back stitch by the way), making balls, sewing puppets and making school bags for children. Food is still good too; can't forget about that. I am so glad to be here because at Welfare Square if they don't get tours they sit in a room and study all day, which is cool and all but not everyday. Talk about not feeling like a missionary. Also I get to talk to all of the people who volunteer and work there and everyone has such interesting life stories. Why didn't I realize this before my mission?! All I want to do is talk to people. Many of them there are refugees or immigrants from other countries. Sad that work comes before that though.

We took a tour and it was basically a Mandarin tour since a girl was translating the entire time. But the cool moment was when I said that we had a living prophet and she said, "Really? A living prophet?" I was so surprised because she didn't seem to care about any other comments so I just said, "Yes." Yay for redundancy; I am so good at that.

But this last week really was a growing one for me. A lot of realizations and a lot of humbling experiences. We all need those once in a while. But I learned that as we keep trusting and relying on our Heavenly Father He will make up the rest. Just try your best and nothing else matters. Sorry the letter is short! Time is limited; until next week!