Starting a New Chapter

At O'Hare

On Tuesday morning we went to the Draper Temple with all of the departing sisters. It felt so good to be in my Father’s house. I felt at peace with what I had accomplished and that everything would be just fine after my mission. Later that day we had a departing dinner on the tenth floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We had a wonderful view looking over the east side of the valley. After dinner we had a testimony meeting. President Gillette asked each of us to share what we learned on our mission that we are going to apply after. The first thought that came to my mind was “charity”. It was the Christlike attribute that I worked the most on developing. When I was in my fourth transfer with Sister Fogg we were in the West Gate booth and one time a man walked by and Sister Fogg said, “I wish I could go out and talk with him, he seems like he has a really great story”. I distinctly remember thinking to myself, “I don’t want to go talk to him”. I was terrified of talking with people and didn’t care enough about them. I have really come to appreciate the importance of not just viewing people as someone else walking around the Square, but viewing people as a child of God that is important and needs to be loved and treated kindly just like everyone else.

“Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.”—D&C 18:10

I want to apply that to my life. I want to be able to love people more and to think more of them and how I can serve them than what they can do or think of me. A desire to serve comes from the ability to love. In coming on my mission I’ve started to learn how to keep the first two commandments!

Matthew 22:36-39

Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

What a blessing! I still have a lot to learn in that area, but I’m much better off than I was in the first place!

At about 7:00pm on Tuesday night, the night before I went home, it was Sister Bat-ulzii and my p-day. I had finished packing, I wasn’t going to write any letters, and Sister Bat-ulzii didn’t have anything to do either. We were sitting on our very hard and uncomfortable couch and she asked with a big smile on her face, “do you want to go to the Square?” It definitely was an out of the box idea because the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. I thought I was all done with missionary work, but I thought, “why not?” We got back in our missionary attire and headed down to Temple Square for the last time. As we were leaving the apartment building we got a text announcing that they needed sisters to take the English part of a motor coach (most of it was in Mandarin). I responded as fast as I could and we got it. So we went down to the West Gate and waited for our people to come. The tour was with six people and it wasn’t a banging good tour, but it certainly was the best way to end my proselyting mission. Sister Bat-ulzii helped me to sprint to the very end. I am so grateful for her and her desire to serve the Lord.

In the basement of the North Visitors’ Center there is a quote in the “Love Thy Neighbor” exhibit that I love:

When we concern ourselves more with others, there is less time to be concerned with ourselves! ...The more we serve our fellowmen in appropriate ways, the more substance there is to our souls. We become more significant individuals as we serve others. We become more substantive as we serve others—indeed, it is easier to “find” ourselves because there is so much more of us to find.

--Spencer W. Kimball

I know that when we are serving others the way that the Savior would, our lives are more fulfilling and have greater purpose. What a blessing it has been to serve Heavenly Father in this capacity, I will be forever grateful for this opportunity that I have had. Now I have a lifetime to live my life in a way that shows my gratitude!

MIRACLE Week!

Lorena got baptized and confirmed!!! That is the best news of the week. We talked to her Sunday night after her confirmation and she was just so happy. Now she has entered in by the gate and she'll have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost as well as a supportive ward. I'm so excited for her.

Here is another story for the week. We met Debbie and Robert a week ago on Monday. They were standing in front of the Brigham Young display in the South Visitors' Center and as missionaries do, we stopped to talk with them. I could tell right away that Debbie was interested, Robert less so, but we offered to show them around and Debbie was excited for it and Robert was being a supportive husband. As we talked with them we found out that Debbie had met with the missionaries about 12 years ago for a period of two years. That's a super long time to meet with the missionaries. At first she wouldn't even read the Book of Mormon, but as the missionaries started to show her how they teach the same doctrine she started to soften up to the idea. Well, now Debbie and Robert are retired and full-time RV-ers. They have been on the road since about March of last year going from grocery store food sampling job to grocery store food sampling job all around the country. They are originally from Illinois and they have family back there, but they haven't been back since they left. So that's their background story.

We took them to the Assembly Hall, the Tabernacle and last of all (my favorite miracle spot) the Conference Center. We first went to the Book of Mormon gallery to give Debbie a refresher course and to give Robert an introduction. The history of it and how it came to be made lots of sense to them. Usually that is a good sign. We took them right in front of the HUGE picture of Christ visiting the Americas, the one that you find in the front of cheap copies of the Book of Mormon, and read 3 Nephi 11:14-15 with them. The Spirit was definitely there. After that we went down to the auditorium. Just as we walked in and stood in front of the first row of chairs, knowing that they were feeling the Spirit, I asked them how they felt. They used lots of words to describe the warm comfort that that was there in that room. I love the auditorium of the Conference Center. There have been so many heavenly messages shared in there that it would be hard not to recognized the change in feeling coming in from the street. I told them that what they were feeling is called the Spirit. 

Since they are traveling around so much I wasn't quite sure if they would be able to be taught by the missionaries because I think they were only planning on being here for about three weeks. I offered the missionaries anyways and they really wanted to meet with them. So I got the address of their RV park and sent of the referral that same day with a note alerting the missionaries that they were only going to be in Salt Lake for a limited time. I also got their email address because they were just such a great couple that I wanted to be able to keep in touch with them (they don't really like phones much). A few days ago we sent them an email only half-heartedly expecting a response back because about 98% of the time we don't hear back. BUT they were so sweet and they sent us a reply! They told us that the missionaries had called them that night that we sent the referral and left a voice message. Then they met the next day and had met with the missionaries THREE times! AND they were planning on going to church this Sunday! They even really like these Elders too! Way to go Elders! We're probably going to meet them again this week with their missionaries here on Temple Square. I just love when these things work out.

Another miracle this week happened when I called Angela. She called in for a Bible back from mid-June. She was looking for a free Bible because she really wanted to make changes in her life and she knew that Christ could help. I found out that she is the mother of three children and she has a few mental health issues that she is working with. I offered her the missionaries and the chance to find out how the restored gospel of Jesus Christ could really help her make those changes that she wanted to make. We had tried to call to teach her over the phone a few times, but she didn't answer. This past Thursday I tried calling again and she answered! Well, she has met with the missionaries quite a few times, gone to church, AND she has a baptismal date for July 21! She says that she is really enjoying what she is learning and has even made some friends at church (I don't think she really had friends before). She told me that as she has been learning she has noticed an improvement in her mental health, she can be her self more which is absolutely great. The gospel of Jesus Christ really can change us into the kind of people that we want to be.

As for Independence Day. We had a usual day until about 8:00. We had a hotdog and then we went to the 26th floor of the Church Office Building. We had a music program where we sang hymns and patriotic songs. The most popular song of the night was "Scripture Power"--a Primary song. We had a good time with that one. Then when it was dark enough we watched the fireworks from up there. I learned that fireworks are really best viewed from the ground, but it was good. 

This past Sunday I also announced after Music and the Spoken Word in the Conference Center. That is where a bunch of Sisters announce for tours in their language. Since there are so many English-speaking sisters it has taken this long for my turn to roll around...it was the last time I could have possibly done it. It was kind of fun. We got a tour after that.

One more week...it's going to be great!

Teaching Miracles on Temple Square!

This has been a great week, especially for teaching our investigators. Remember Mike who I told you about last week? Well we've taught him twice now and he is amazing. Before he left Salt Lake he bought himself a Book of Mormon and he has been reading it. The first time we taught him we got to know what his expectations are and we explained our purpose as missionaries to help him come closer to God and Jesus Christ and that is exactly what he is looking for. We taught about who God is and what his relationship is with God. We read Alma 30:44 because I was thinking about how he has been out in the national parks and enjoying the beauty of this earth:

"But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator."

After we read this verse he told us that it answered one of his concerns. If there is a God, then why aren't their more signs of Him? Well, there are just signs all around us! It helped me realize that the Book of Mormon really does answer the concerns of the soul. We taught him how to pray and invited him to offer a prayer every day and he said that he would love to do that.

Last night we called Michael again and he kept his commitment to pray everyday. Sister Bat-ulzii and I shared with him a brief version of the first lesson: The Restoration and what we shared with him made sense, so that was good. He says that as he has been reading the Book of Mormon he really has been feeling closer to God...that promise that Joseph Smith extended that is in the Introduction of the Book of Mormon is true:

"Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

The past few days he had an earache and he told us that while he was talking with us on the phone his ear stopped hurting for the first time. He saw the miracle in it! Heavenly Father truly is touching his life! He said that he would be baptized too, he just wants to be more prepared for it, which is exactly what we are going to help him do!

We also taught Zach for the first time. Sister Bat-ulzii called Zach over the phone because his friend referred him. Zach is really interested to meet with the missionaries. We taught him about God and prayer and he basically already knew and agreed with everything that we taught him. We invited him to be baptized and he told us that he wants to be more prepared, but yes! So we are going to do our best to prepare him on his journey. We're going to be calling him next Sunday and hopefully sharing something new for him.

The best news of the week, though is this. We got a text from Lizbeth on Sunday evening:

"I would like to invite you both to my baptism this coming Saturday at 7:30pm. I will be happy to see you again! Thank you for your prayers!!!"

She is getting BAPTIZED on JULY 7th!!! This is a huge miracle! Two baptisms in ONE transfer! We called Lizbeth last night and she was so sad that we couldn't go (she lives in Las Vegas) and we were sad too. We told her that we would send a picture, though. She told us that her entire family goes to church with her: her daughter, husband, mother, brother, and sister. I was so happy to hear that this has become a family affair for them. I guess I'll just have to go to their sealing someday .

Amy is still excited for her baptism. She just got back from a handcart trek with her ward and she said that she had a great time. We're super excited to go to her baptism.

What incredible miracles!!!