This may have been one of the best weeks of my entire mission! I can't even recall 1/2 of the amazing experiences I had...but maybe I'll tell you a couple.
Yesterday there were 7 couples here who are the new Visitors Center Directors around the country. Sister O'Brien and I were assigned to be with one of the couples and take them around and show them how a VC works. We were pretty nervous because winter + thursday + 2pm=deathly slow temple square. But we knelt on our knees and prayed that we would have the couple we would work best with and that we would see miracles. And we did! We got Elder and Sister White who are going to the MESA AZ TEMPLE! woohooo! They were so fun and nice and they had just served as the mission President for the Florida Orlando Mission. Its kind of funny/intimidating to have 4 of us approach people but it turned out great. We first went up to two guys, maybe in there 20s, that were looking at the temple. We taught them a bit about the temple then offered to take them to the tabernacle. They were from Canada and it turns out one of them use to play basketball at the church and had a friend who served a mission in Haiti. They both excepted to have the missionaries come and teach them more! Then we headed to the North and the Whites didn't waste any time, they just walked right up to two older gentleman at the map of Jerusalem. We ran to catch up and help them along the way. We ended up showing these men all around the North Visitors Center and the Whites shared beautiful testimonies with them. One guy was a Cardio somethin somethin PHD so I showed him a clip by Elder Nelson and it turns out that Elder White has had 6 heart surgeries so they related really well. I couldn't have made up a role play as good as this tour. They accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and missionaries. So cool. I could see so perfectly how the Lord had answered our prayers and these people were prepared for the 4 of us to meet. We only had an hour and the Whites had to run back to meet their group to go and meet with Elder Holland...unfortunately we weren't invited to that =) They are going to do such a good job in Mesa and they told me I need to come and
visit them when I get home.
One of the things that Sis. Obrien and I have to do is have the 1st transfers with their trainers take us on a tour to do some training/make sure they are okay with English. Sister O'Brien and I decided we didn't want to just be 'fake guests' but really be who we might have been if we didn't have the gospel so it that it could be a spiritual experience for all of us and we prayed Heavenly Father would help us. She is kind of a Michigan hippie and said she thinks she would have been buddist/spiritual and I of course was raise in AZ, a good person with a few LDS friends =) Throughout the tour they really answered my questions and at the end we both cried because we realized how blessed we were to have the knowledge and blessings of the gospel. I think it may have scared the first transfer but she actually cried too =) With a different companionship I said "my parents are from Utah but haven't gone to church since they moved to AZ and I know nothing about the church." This experience was once again kind of emotional for me. I know it sounds so weird, I mean it was a role play =) But I could imagine how I would have been and it was scary. It just strengthened my testimony of the gospel and how bad we all need it in our lives and what a difference it can make.
Life is so good. I couldn't be happier. And now I'm going to thrift stores to
buy some new (ha) clothes which I really enjoy =)
I love love love you!
Maeg
Yesterday there were 7 couples here who are the new Visitors Center Directors around the country. Sister O'Brien and I were assigned to be with one of the couples and take them around and show them how a VC works. We were pretty nervous because winter + thursday + 2pm=deathly slow temple square. But we knelt on our knees and prayed that we would have the couple we would work best with and that we would see miracles. And we did! We got Elder and Sister White who are going to the MESA AZ TEMPLE! woohooo! They were so fun and nice and they had just served as the mission President for the Florida Orlando Mission. Its kind of funny/intimidating to have 4 of us approach people but it turned out great. We first went up to two guys, maybe in there 20s, that were looking at the temple. We taught them a bit about the temple then offered to take them to the tabernacle. They were from Canada and it turns out one of them use to play basketball at the church and had a friend who served a mission in Haiti. They both excepted to have the missionaries come and teach them more! Then we headed to the North and the Whites didn't waste any time, they just walked right up to two older gentleman at the map of Jerusalem. We ran to catch up and help them along the way. We ended up showing these men all around the North Visitors Center and the Whites shared beautiful testimonies with them. One guy was a Cardio somethin somethin PHD so I showed him a clip by Elder Nelson and it turns out that Elder White has had 6 heart surgeries so they related really well. I couldn't have made up a role play as good as this tour. They accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and missionaries. So cool. I could see so perfectly how the Lord had answered our prayers and these people were prepared for the 4 of us to meet. We only had an hour and the Whites had to run back to meet their group to go and meet with Elder Holland...unfortunately we weren't invited to that =) They are going to do such a good job in Mesa and they told me I need to come and
visit them when I get home.
One of the things that Sis. Obrien and I have to do is have the 1st transfers with their trainers take us on a tour to do some training/make sure they are okay with English. Sister O'Brien and I decided we didn't want to just be 'fake guests' but really be who we might have been if we didn't have the gospel so it that it could be a spiritual experience for all of us and we prayed Heavenly Father would help us. She is kind of a Michigan hippie and said she thinks she would have been buddist/spiritual and I of course was raise in AZ, a good person with a few LDS friends =) Throughout the tour they really answered my questions and at the end we both cried because we realized how blessed we were to have the knowledge and blessings of the gospel. I think it may have scared the first transfer but she actually cried too =) With a different companionship I said "my parents are from Utah but haven't gone to church since they moved to AZ and I know nothing about the church." This experience was once again kind of emotional for me. I know it sounds so weird, I mean it was a role play =) But I could imagine how I would have been and it was scary. It just strengthened my testimony of the gospel and how bad we all need it in our lives and what a difference it can make.
Life is so good. I couldn't be happier. And now I'm going to thrift stores to
buy some new (ha) clothes which I really enjoy =)
I love love love you!
Maeg
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