Interpretative Dance

Okay, this week a lot of things happened. First off, we've been getting a lot more assignments!! Before it was like 1 or maybe 2 a day and now it's 3 or 4 and we like to pick up some shifts so we can sometimes get 5!! It's awesome because I feel busier and I like to be busy because then I know I'm doing something and I feel like I'm not wasting my mission. Bad news about more assignments is that Sister Broadbent gets super tired and I think it wears on her immune system because she has been getting tired really easy and her stomach is being weird. So she wants to nap like every day which is not my jam but oh well. 

We took a tour of 4th graders for like 3 hours around temple square this week!! They were on a field trip and we were supposed to go at like 1145 but then at 0930, they were like uh they're gonna be in here in five minutes come to the west gate (where we pick up big tours) and we were like oh okay that's fine. So then we get there talk to some 4th graders and then this other sister, her name is Sister Honeycutt comes over and she is like "This is our tour. We're taking the early one" and we were like welp they told us to come and we're here but we aren't gonna argue in front of the kids and this sister was dead serious for us to leave so we just let her have it. Turns out that she knew that HER TOUR AND HER TOUR ONLY HAD ELDER RASBAND'S grandson in it and the group that was supposed to be our group got to go and meet him at the Administration Building. Idk how she got the inside scoop but she did ugh. Sister Broadbent said that Sister Honeycutt has done that to her before with tours and honestly she is the kind of sister I need to stay away from because I will not be able to control my face or fists. I was telling Sis Greenall about it (my MTC companion) and she was just laughing at me. I'm just saying, that she is shorter than me by a few inches and I have a lot of built up rage... but she seems scrappy. To be fair, in my interview with President, he said that he could tell I was scrappy so I could take her no problems. 

Speaking of President, I love him. Every time he talks I just smile and smile and then when I see him I just like sit up straight and smile and forget how to talk. So yup, I love President Fisher. Sister Fisher scares me but she means well. Also, they have a company that makes tortillas and stuff like that called Don Julio so check it out. 

Sister Broadbent and I had the Tabernacle one day and it was so dead but then these four gorgeous men walk in and were like "oh hi, uh, do you want to know more about the building?" and they're all like "sure, sure" so we tell them and I was like wow, I forgot how to talk. Anyways, we directed them to the Assembly Hall and we called the missionaries in there 15 minutes later and asked if they saw the hot dudes too and they did and we died together so it was kind of funny. 

I dealt with my first anti-Mormons!! And it wasn't even that bad. These ones were teenage girls with their moms from a Christian school in Arizona who came to Temple Square for a field trip. They had specific scriptures looked up and asked me to explain them so I did and they were pretty polite. After a while, I didn't even know what I was saying it was just the Holy Ghost putting words in my mouth straight up. Eventually, I confounded the teenage girls (good job Sister Moran) and then it was just the one mom asking me questions. They were like the scribes and the Pharisees in the new testament trying to trip up Jesus but nothing can stop the truth yo. Eventually she just kinda looked confused and then was like well thanks for answering our questions and I was like no big deal, would you like your own copy of the Book of Mormon?? And like TWO OF THE GIRLS stuck out their hands but the mom was like no thanks we're good but then to the girls, I was like would you two like a copy and they were like oh no thanks but I knew they did want one. Where was Sister Broadbent during all of this you may ask?? Standing behind me being silent. She was so terrified she almost cried. Good times. 

This week I taught the Restoration at the temple model in ten minutes. The couple was intrigued but didn't want a copy of the Book of Mormon or anything because they were going on a plane and didn't have space so I told them where they could get the digital version. Sister Broadbent was talking to someone else and then watched me give the lesson when she was done from a distance. Sister Liu (from China) afterward was like dang you just taught the Restoration at the temple model and I was like yeah what's the big deal? And she was like that just never happens. And then she high fives me. Because online teaching is so hard for me, I think Heavenly Father gives me these tender mercies to keep me motivated and going.

I lowkey taught another lady the Restoration by the temple model too and then when I offered her a Book of Mormon she said ummm no but she thought about it for like ten minutes. But here is the kicker. AFTER SHE SAID NO SHE TOOK THE BOOK OF MORMON FROM MY HAND AND LEGIT FLIPPED THROUGH IT AND WAS LIKE WOW THIS IS SO COOL. I wish I ran away so she would have to keep it but oh well. I think rejection is hard for a lot of missionaries because you know what these people are missing out on.

On a happier note, I did MTC contacting this week! That's just when all of the sisters in the MTC going to a Visitor's Center all come to Temple Square and go around with us sisters and learn how to be good Visitor's Center missionaries!! I got put in a trio with a sister named Sister Kearns (she's been out six months) and then sister Bartsch from GERMANY going to LONDON HYDE PARK I was like you are my perfect person and we had such a good time!! Both of our Teaching Center lessons fell through but it's okay but we had a tour to end all tours that was the most amazing thing ever. We had 3 nonmembers and 2 members and we decided that we really wanted to focus on Christ. We took them to all of the normal places but man oh man it was so good. We were flowing into each other so much and we introduced the Book of Mormon so well and testified and the spirit was so strong even when we just shared the history!! It was the perfect mix of history, testimony, and our beliefs. All three of the nonmembers wanted the Book of Mormon and then I was talking to the two dudes and the one was like wow this book sounds so cool and I am definitely going to read this because it sounds amazing!! He said that he understood our church so much better now. I gave them both my emails so hopefully, they reach out soon!!!! 

When I thought back on my week, it honestly seemed boring but now writing about I can see that it was a good week!! It's getting a little monotonous but that is okay. I knew it would get that way in a mission this small. I think that Heavenly Father is going to help me deal with that part of the mission. 

Thanks for talking with me earlier, it makes the week so much better. I like this new rule! And I know you like the emails so hopefully, this will work for you. I love you and miss you!! Feel better soon, I'm sorry you're so sick! And about your temple talk, you should deffo be firm and bold but not overbearing. These people are stuck in their habits and their ways and they aren't all good. The Lord seeth fit to chasten his people every once in a while, right? And he does it through the voice of his servants, right?? So be bold but loving, just like the Savior:) I'm sure that whatever you'll do will be what the ward needs to hear. Maybe tell them about my Thai roomie and how we shouldn't take the temple for granted. Thanks for the package btw!! It is awesome!! Sister Broadbent really likes the chocolate so it's been a real treat. Love and miss you so much!!!!

Love, 

Em

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Hey everyone!! 

I thought this week was boring, but when I looked back at it, I realized that it was actually super eventful so I'll try and be quick with everything that happened. 

Sis Broadbent and I gave a bunch of 4th graders a tour! We were TOLD that we were gonna see Elder Rasband but that ended up not happening due to some miscommunications. But it's all good, I'm not even that disappointed anymore... kind of. 

Us sisters on temple square get to go to Music and the Spoken Word once a transfer and Sister Broadbent and I chose to go this time and wowwwwww it was a good choice because ELDER BEDNAR WAS THERE. I was super sneaky and took a pic. I couldn't pay attention to the music because, ya know, there was just an apostle chillin the audience. No big deal. 

This week I got to do MTC contacting, which is when all of the sisters in the MTC that are going to a Visitor's Center come to Temple Square and learn how to be good missionaries at a Visitor's Center! I got paired up with Sister Bartsch who is from Germany and is going to London Hyde Park like WHAT she was literally the perfect person for me because I've lived both places!!! We had the most amazing tour I've ever been on. We gave out Books of Mormon to all of the nonmembers on the tour and one dude was like "this book seems so cool I'm going to for sure read it" and I was like !!!!!!!!! (For real though I could not even speak I just nodded my head enthusiastically)  And then I gave him my email. fingers crossed that he emails me because that would be #cool. 

I'll tell a funny story really quick to wrap up. Sister Broadbent is super talented and can play the piano and I'm super not talented and I can't. Sometimes, she'll start playing and I feel the need to be talented too, so I do the only thing possible in those situations and I interpretive dance to the hymns. And then she laughs and stops playing. Let's just say that by the end of my mission, I think I'm gonna be a professional dancer so watch out world, here I come. 

That's all I have for this week (and it was a lot, I know). So if you read all of this, you're a real homie. Love and miss you all! Email me! 

Sister Moran