We went with Sister Anderson and Sister Mueller from our district for our exchange on Monday. I was with Sister Anderson and she is in her second transfer, so she is still in training. I forgot how little people know in their second transfer! It was honestly kind of funny to see how much she stuck with me and how much she waited for me to take the lead. It was fun to have a companion that young, but it also reminded me how I didn't like training someone because I feel like I never explain things and I just jump right in. Oh well. Sister Anderson was a HOOT. For reals she is hilarious. She is from Nampa, Idaho and is a convert of about one year. She grew up going to the Nazarene Church but eventually converted to ours and is now on a mission. Isn't that amazing?? I LOVED being with her for the day. We taught a bunch of lessons! One of me and Sister Safuan's favorite places to teach is the Tabernacle at the night time because there is a constant stream of people coming in and they all sit down so they can't walk away. It is a win-win. I kind of just abandoned Sister Anderson to fend for herself and went to go contact people which I honestly felt a little bit bad about because she usually would stick to me but after about an hour it was so cute to see her come up to me all excited because she had taught eight lessons all by herself! She told me that she learned how to approach people by herself and she feels confident in doing that which is awesome because I didn't have to do anything but leave her alone to figure it out and something Sister Safuan and I wanted was for her to feel more confident in her missionary work. Boom. On our exchange, we got to volunteer at the giving machines for an hour! The only downside is that you aren't allowed to proselyte at the machines, but other than that it was really good. It honestly made me cry a little and tear up because there were all these people just lining up and waiting forever just to donate and get absolutely no recognition. The one that stuck out to me the most was this single college dude that had glasses; he was cute as a button and he came up and donated GLASSES and I literally was in awe. I saw another family donate over $1000 worth of things and that was crazy too. It was an awesome opportunity to be able to see how selfless people can be. Even these little kids that paid for things all by themselves and were so excited about it. Just a cool opportunity.
On Tuesday we had Zone Conference and it was CRAZY GOOD!!!! I feel like I received a lot of answers about how I was feeling and things were said that I felt were specifically for me. Sister Fisher challenged us to each pick a Christlike attribute that we wanted to develop over the next two months and I picked forgiveness. Another fun curveball is that we did a roleplay! I honestly saw it coming and I knew President would pick on us. It went super well though. Our scenario was that we were teaching a couple that weren't of our faith but that were religious but really only went to church on Christmas and Easter. They were passing through Temple Square and we were taking their picture and then we were supposed to invite them to our Christmas service and then ask to stay in contact. Not too hard honestly. We asked some key questions about what they believed about Jesus Christ and why He was important to them and we asked them if they wanted to go to church and they said sure and we promised them some blessings specific to the conversation we had (esp. relating around families because they had mentioned that) and then said that we could help them find the address if they had a phone number or Facebook that we could stay in contact on and help them find the building. A good time indeed. When it was over, everyone had good things to say and even President seemed impressed! I remember I did my first roleplay in Zone Conference my second transfer and it was so scary to me and I was convinced that everyone could hear my heart beating through the microphone but this time was a lot less scary and I honestly wasn't even thinking about how there were two zones and the APs and the entire mission presidency watching, I was just going and so was Sister Safuan. A good experience. One of my biggest takeaways from this Zone Conference was that we need to continually be striving to purify and sanctify our hearts so that we can let our lights more fully shine to those around us. We talked a lot about our countenance and how can we expect to have Christ's countenance in us and be a representative of Him if we are not continually trying to become better and repent and purify ourselves and allow that light to shine through? So yeah, that was a big takeaway for me:)
Wednesday was another day of exchanges but this time it was with the Zone Leaders. I hate exchanges. I don't know how many times I can say that but I really just don't like them that much. Anyways, I went with Sister Drennan from Florida but she grew up mostly in UT for 14 years. She is really nice. We stayed busy and actually had time to do some work on the computer which was awesome because I feel like we never have time to be on the computer ever since the Christmas schedule started. We had a good South Visitor's Center shift where I basically did the exact same thing in real life that we had roleplayed in Zone Conference the day before so that was cool. We taught one of her people part of the Plan of Salvation over the phone, but just the Creation, Agency and the Fall of Adam and Eve, and our Life on Earth (very briefly) and it went really well! I like being able to hear how other sisters teach things so I can learn better ways to teach. I feel like I always overcomplicate Adam and Eve (I blame the temple for that) so it was nice to hear how simply she taught it and I could learn from that. We stayed busy all night too with talking with people and we were able to have some good interactions, especially with these two girls who we took to see the God's Plan video and at the end, they were both crying and one was thinking about a mission and she is basically sold on it now. I like being able to impact members too. I used to hate it but now I can see the impact the things we do here can have on guests and members of the church alike. Another cool interaction that I had was with this deacons quorum and they were here just yesterday night for their youth activity. They were coming out by the Christus and I stopped them and chatted with them and then their leader said "So sister, do you have a little message for us?" and I was just so EXCITED because did I EVER. We talked about missions and if they wanted to serve and why they wanted to and then I asked what they were doing to prepare. They shared a couple of different things and then I asked them "Do you read the Book of Mormon every day?" and everyone was silent so I knew that was the invitation. I invited them to read at least a few verses every day and I promised them that they would be better prepared for their missions and that they would learn more about and feel Jesus closer in their lives. They all said they would read every day and they are going to keep each other accountable. I will never see these young men again but it was just really sweet for me to talk with them. I know that they will never remember my name or anything like that but they will remember my invitation and I have faith that they will ask and that it will change their lives.
We have some changes coming up on Temple Square my dudes. First of all, we are losing our dear South Visitor's Center in just a few days. I love that Visitor's Center and the most miracles have happened there so I am sad to lose it. Our mission office is being boxed up and everything is moving to the Relief Society building tomorrow and it is just so sad to see everything get taken down and moved. And trust me, I am used to moving, but this place is home to me now and the change is weird and kind of scary honestly. We are about to move over to the Conference Center and start working there which I am excited about but I know that the transition will be weird. But, I will probably be going outbound soon so I will only be there for about a week before I head out. I really think that President is announcing outbound assignments on Christmas morning because there are no more Relief Society meetings until the new year and that isn't enough time for packing to go outbound because the transfer board will be coming out then. Plus, Christmas is the last time that the whole mission will be together besides Sacrament meeting and he can't do it then because it would be irreverent.
Our online people are kind of falling off. It may have a correlation to do with our having less time online, but even people that were solid with the locals and didn't really talk to us too much won't really respond. Our dear sweet beautiful Apollo is not being responsive to us or to the locals. We all counseled together and we decided to give him some space and then in the new year try him again. I'm hoping that me going outbound and telling him about it will make him want to talk to us again before I can only talk to him on pdays. We'll keep you updated on that though. With Isabella, we just haven't heard from her and the locals haven't either since both of our initial contacts. We are going to follow up with them this week and see what we can do to help. We have someone that is on date pretty solidly for the 27th, His name is Ross! We actually didn't find him, some missionaries asked for help reading the scriptures with him and his wife online and we did it! We have called him a little bit and we got to teach the word of wisdom. His wife isn't progressing as well. She wants to be baptized and knows that she needs to make changes to do so but she just won't. Oh, Kathleen. But we are going to call him again this week and read with them before the baptism that we really hope goes through! We have Ricky who was an inbound call who asked about the resurrection that was already being taught and we just text him every so often and answer any more questions that he has. He is a cool dude. He is supposed to be baptized on Jan 11 so after I will probs be outbound, but that is okay! It doesn't matter if I will be here, it just matters that he takes those steps. But yeah, our people are kind of falling apart a little bit and the queue is still super dead so it is really hard to find new people to teach. Please pray that we can find prepared people and just pray for the people that we already have that no one will slip through the cracks and that they will continue to progress!
Today we went with our Zone Leaders shopping and they wanted to go to this boutique and we went but Sister Safuan and I weren't getting anything we were just there and the owner literally has a daughter serving in Vegas and she told us to go to the sale rack and each pick a dress and we could just have it. I was like "WHAT?!?!?!?" It was crazy you guys. Sister Drennan couldn't find a dress that looked right so the lady just let her have a full-priced not on sale dress for free. It was ridiculous nice. I swear, say what you will about serving in Utah, but the people are super nice. Also, while we were in Walmart, this lady tried to give us $20 and we were like "no no please no we have enough money" and she started crying because her son is on a mission and when people do that for him she is so grateful because she isn't right there to take care of him. So, we took the money so she would stop crying and chatted for a few minutes. I think that partly it is because we are in Utah but also because it is Christmas and all of these members are just super super nice and generous and this time of the year. After all, I have been serving in Utah for a while now and this kind of stuff hasn't happened too much and then it happened twice in one day. Usually, people just pay for my food. But these ones went super out of their way to serve us and show us kindness, it was SO SWEET. It shows me a lot of what Christ does for people at this time of the year.
I'm a little homesick but honestly not too bad right now. I thought that I would miss you guys more and home more (which I DO of COURSE) but I think it is pretty cool to be a missionary at Christmastime. Especially when you get to be at Temple Square. I am really happy and I love what I am doing. Sister Safuan is the bestest person ever and I love that I get to be with her. God is so very good.
Watch this video to see just how cute Emily and Sister Safuan are!
Watch this video to see just how cute Emily and Sister Safuan are!
Love you and miss you both! And I get to talk to you in just six short days because of CHRISTMAS SO YAAAAAA!!!! Thanks for being the best and for supporting me while I've been here:) Merry Christmas!
Love
Em
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