Humanitarian Center!

So I had my first week in the Humanitarian Center and it was great! We get to tell people about the Church's humanitarian efforts and how it fulfils the three purposes of the church's Welfare Program:

 

1) Help the poor and needy

2) Foster self-reliance

3) Encourage giving and service

 

We always start out our tour by telling the story of Jesus Christ healing the man at the pool of Bethesda. Jesus Christ healed a man that was laying there for 38 years so that he could take up his own bed and walk and then could go help others. It perfectly outlines the three purposes of the Welfare program of the church. I love that everything we do is because we are trying to follow His example. This week I learned that the Humanitarian Center here in Salt Lake sorted and shipped 8 million pounds of clothes in 2010, but not only that, the people that work there are being trained so that they can acquire the skills they need to get their own jobs. Most of the people that are being trained there are refugees or immigrants from other countries and aren't members of the church. I also found out just how far reaching and the humanitarian efforts of the church actually goes. I found a great website on www.mormon.org about the program: http://mormon.org/humanitarian-aid/

 

I found a neat website called the pure religion series that had stories about the service that the church has offered. Check out the Humanitarian Center one. I haven't read any of them, but it might give you more of an idea about what they do at the Humanitarian Center.

 

But most of all, I love how there is no "me" in any of the service that the church offers. Everyone is a child of God and therefore deserves any assistance that we can offer. It made me re-evaluate what I do for myself and how I can put others before self more. President George Albert Smith said, "I can say to you, my brethren and sisters, the happiest people in this world are those who love their neighbors as themselves and manifest their appreciation of God's blessings by their conduct in life." I love the humanitarian center and gaining a testimony of the power of selfless service.

 

Sister Wilson and I have had quite a few meaningful tours on the Square lately. Something that we have been focusing on is relying more on the Spirit. I've realized that when you let the Spirit work through you and you have the courage to follow its promptings it makes you a much more powerful instrument in Heavenly Father's hands. We talked to an older couple briefly as they were on their way out of the Square and she told us that she thought it was a beautiful place. Usually when people say something like that I can tell that they have been touched by the Spirit while they were here, so I pursued talking to her and came to find out that her father had just died not too long ago and it sounded like they were having issues with his estate. I felt impressed to tell her about how this church has answers to "why we're here?" and "what happens after we die?" That must have been what she needed to hear because she started to cry and said that was something that she wanted to know more about. Unfortunately she didn't refer for missionaries then, but we gave her our contact information and she said that she would call us. I really hope that she does because the restored gospel will absolutely fulfil her needs.

 

This transfer my roommates are from the US, Italy, China, and Uganda. It's quite a cultural bled here at Temple Square.

So Much Has Happened!

It's been a little while since I've had P-day, so I'm quite excited for a little break! We had transfer conference this past Wednesday and it was in the Tabernacle. No one knew why we were having it there because we usually just have it in one of the theaters here, but it turned out that it was because they set up for us to take a tour of the behind-the-scenes of the Tabernacle. Clay Christiansen gave us an organ demonstration while we sat in the choir seats and then we got to enter the belly of the building. I saw the men's and woman's wardrobe, and they had their suits and dresses in their cubbies. We saw the recording room that they have downstairs and the music library. They told us that they have about 2,000 pieces of music in their library. It was pretty neat.

 

Then came the moment when we found what our new assignments were. My new companion is Sister Wilson from West Virginia and I'm in the Extended Zone. The Extended Zone is in charge of different venues on Temple Square: West Gate, Beehive House (Brigham Young's home), Humanitarian Center, and Welfare Square. On transfer day (Wednesday) I was assigned the Beehive House on Wednesday nights. So that day I went to the Beehive house for the first time--in my memory--and took and gave my first tour of the house at the same time. It was definitely different from giving tours on Temple Square. It is a whole new challenge to relate Brigham Young's home to the Gospel. I definitely didn't get it down in the eight ours that I was there, but that's okay... So then the next day we had to cover for some sisters at Welfare Square because Sister Wilson had served there before. So I once again took and gave my first tour of Welfare Square at the same time. Welfare Square is where the church has its dairy, bakery, cannery, and employment services for those that need assistance. It was a really neat place. Luckily we only had to take one tour with one person. He was a recently returned missionary and it sounded like he had more goals set for himself than he had time to live. Hopefully things work out for him... Then the next day I learned that we're actually going to be doing the Humanitarian Center on Tuesday and Thursday nights (our assignment changed). So now I will have given a tour at every venue on Temple Square. I'm quite excited to be able to serve in the Humanitarian Center. I look forward to learning more about the service that the church offers.

 

So here is the big news of the week. Luana got baptized! Her baptism was on August 14 and she was more than ready for it--she knows this is the restored Gospel. I felt so privileged to be able to teach her a little bit and help her feel the Spirit in her life. Her parents are both Catholic and she has met with missionaries at other times in her life, but this was the time for her and I got to be a part of it. How exciting is that!?

 

I had an answer to prayer this week in a very real way. Lately I've had problems having enough people to call to share a message with. We need to have a certain amount of calling time--six hours a week--and I didn't have enough people to call for six hours, and it was frustrating. So finally I prayed that I would find someone that would trust me enough to call their friends. That morning Sister Fogg and I had an 8:30am motor coach that we needed to be at West Gate for, so we were there at 8:00am. Just as we were opening up the booth, Charissa (a returned missionary who served in Italy) came up and started to talk with me. She was such a wonderful person and so great to talk to. I knew that she was the one that was going to be able to help me out--and she did. She had eight people that I could call for her. It was an answer to my prayer literally two hours later. It turned out that the 8:30am motor coach wasn't actually coming until 9:40am and Guest Services just forgot to change it in the computer so we didn't actually need to be there that early, but we really did because I was supposed to talk with Charissa.

Tours on Temple Square

Sister Fogg and Sister Smiley

Oh my goodness, it's already the sixth week of the transfer (there are six weeks in a transfer). It has whizzed by pretty fast. On Monday we have transfer conference and I find out what happens to me for the next six weeks of my life. I'll be in my fifth transfer already.

Today is a special p-day because we have the entire day off, we didn't have to go and work at the square at all. The sisters are working really hard this summer and it seems like they're dropping like flies with ailments associated with exhaustion and stress. So I think that the purpose of this p-day was to get us all back together for the last leg of this summer. We got to sleep in today and I slept all the way until 6:35am. I usually wake up at 6:00 to run the canyon, so it was kind of sleeping in. It was nice not to wake up to an alarm, though. Sister Fogg and I went running in the canyon this morning and instead of running downhill half of the way we ran uphill half of the way. It was wonderful being able to go at our own pace without worrying about the slower sisters in the back. I also plan on making pumpkin bread today, I'm quite excited about that.

We've had some good tours this week. The other day we were looking for someone to take on a tour and we approached a woman looking at a map (a good indicator that they have no idea about Temple Square) and we offered to tell her a bit about the history and the basic beliefs. She said yes, but hesitantly. We asked her why she was hesitant and she told us that she had been here 30 years ago and she took a tour and they got her phone number and they kept calling her. She isn't very religious and didn't want us to convert her. We smiled and said, "we won't convert you". The thing that she didn't know is that we don't convert anyone, it's the Spirit that has the converting power. There isn't anything that we can say that will convert her. So we focused a lot on the history and pioneer stories here and she definitely felt the Spirit. Even though she didn't refer for missionaries, it was a successful tour. Her heart was softened and she doesn't have the same feelings towards missionaries on Temple Square. I love watching people's hearts soften.

We were in the Tabernacle one day and a man from China (that lives in Pennsylvania now) approached us and started asking us about prophets. We realized that that was the concern that we had planned to address for that hour of the day, and he was the one that we needed to talk to. He was asking some really good questions about the church and he was hungry for answers. About three minutes later we invited him to learn more from missionaries at home and his response was, "can I fill out the card now?" He was truly prepared before coming to Temple Square and all we had to do was to be here. Sometimes it's just important to show up to your mission and the prepared people just find you. Miracles. 

It's Already August!

Christmas is coming to Temple Square! While Sister Fogg and I were sitting in the West Gate Booth today they started putting up Christmas lights on the trees by the booth. I asked the man who was putting up the lights and he said that if you're experienced it takes about three hours to put lights on one tree, if not it could take you five. Perhaps putting Christmas lights up in August isn't such a bad idea--especially if you live in Chicago--because you don't run the risk of getting frostbite.

Yesterday was my six-month mark. It's weird to think that I've been on a mission for that long. One of the things that I've learned so far is how important the Spirit is in conversion. This scriptures comes to mind for me: 2 Nephi 33:1, 2:

 1And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.

 2But behold, there are many that harden their hearts against the Holy Spirit, that it hath no place in them; wherefore, they cast many things away which are written and esteem them as things of naught.

There is no such thing as a perfect tour--I might not ask the right questions or share the right scriptures--but it doesn't matter in the end because it is the Spirit that ultimately does the teaching. Some of the best tours that we have taken were when we didn't really teach very much but just let the guest feel the Spirit of Temple Square and absorb the experience. So like the scripture says, I can help bring the Spirit, but it is up to people to decided if they want to let that in and act on it. It takes a lot of pressure off of being a missionary at Temple Square.