June 15, 2010
Dear fambly,
I'm glad to hear that you're doing well. Life has been same as always: Same square, different people. Everyday. That's the coolest part. S. Gunter has been saying that "small talk" was usually hard for her but that she's getting the hang of it now. We had some really cool things happen this week! haha, I had to go back and check what I wrote last time to see what was this week or last week (it all blends together sometimes).
So the first thing that comes to mind were these two guys from Hungary. They both walked into the Tabernacle and looked pretty amused when we talked with them (so in my mind I was thinking "what is your deal?") but we offered to show them around. It ended up being that, while we changed venues and continued to walk, we continued to talk about different points of doctrine as opposed to history/pioneer stuff. That was crazy. I kept thinking that we needed to talk about the pioneers but we found that the two could really care less. So at the beginning they were getting a little contentious as we talked about the Bible and whether or not they believed it was true. They started to get pretty heated about creation and science, etc. So we took it over to the SVC and we talked about the Plan of Salvation (really briefly) and they were asking about what we believed concerning God, etc. because we talked about how we believed that families were meant to last forever and they wanted to know how Adam and Eve were created and why we...well..blah blah blah. We shared a bit from the Family: A Proclamation to the World how we believe we came from Heavenly parents. That's not usually something we share, but it answered their questions (they also asked about women and their role---they felt it was a subversive role with regards to prophets, etc.) and made sense to at least one of them. They seemed to like to play off of each other during the tour to ask questions that they felt would throw us off. But it was all ok and we ended by sharing about the BoM and kind of split them up and talked to them individually. You could tell that they were curious and also that things were starting to make sense. It was really good to talk to them each separately, because we were really able to help them understand that there is a God there that is aware of us and we can really know it as we read and pray. They both had talked about the church that Christ had set up not being a church but a group of followers, but we were able to help them see that it's not about having a building, etc., but the authority and the leadership coming through God by people holding that authority. That it's about the unity that comes from truth. It was amazing and I'm pretty sure I didn't explain it well enough to see how amazing it was, but it was more about the change that the two went through beginning with joking around and asking stupid questions to really seeing the value of what it means to have God speak to prophets today and how that helps in life. It was just something you could see in their manner and their faces. So cool!
Then the next thing that comes to mind was a German motorcoach. S. Gunter has still been a little hesitant to take one by herself (she's done one with another sister only once before) so we were helping out with one that another German sister gave. So we usually have 4 positions: lead (gives the tour), support (companion of the lead), backer (herds everyone and tails the tour), runner (runs ahead to make sure everything is clear). So I was the runner and I discovered that two people on the tour were not really paying attention. come to find out they didn't speak german! They're from Belgium and they speak french! So I was explaining things in English and we told them that there were missionaries that spoke french on the square and we ran into the only Belgian sister as we were leaving the Tabernacle. Come to find out, the sister (Sister Leroy) lives only about 15 minutes from the couple. So I continued to explain things for the couple but did a bad job because I had to run between them and opening doors and doing the "runner" thing. But at the very end, I sat with them in the back at the Assembly Hall (a former church building) and explained a bit about the building itself and then explained why the pioneers came. I could tell they didn't understand everything so, where I could, I threw in the french words that I knew for the different things. I explained Joseph Smith's experience in REALLY REALLY broken French and left it at that. They said thank you and were off to walk around and take pictures. I gathered up the stuff I needed to and helped the german group wrap up. Then, as we were walking outside, I looked around for Sister Leroy or SOMEONE who spoke French and spotted the sister from France. I sprinted over and told her that she had to talk to the couple. Then S. Gunter and I went off to the next place we planned to be. We saw the French sister later and she said that they requested to have missionaries to come and share more with them!!! It was sooo cool!
And that's pretty much the two miracles we saw. Oh! one more. heh heh. So we were looking for someone to take to the God's Plan movie but the family we talked to was leaving and there were a lot of people coming and going in the Christus. So we went around the corner and there was a couple standing there, looking at the Old Testament Paintings and our goal as a companionship was to talk to everyone so we walked up and asked what they came to do at Temple Square. We chatted a bit and S. Gunter asked if they'd like to see God's Plan. So, we assumed that they were dating or something and felt it was a nice movie, etc. At the end of the first segment (a family looking at old photos and reminiscing) the guy said "That was so great!" and walked into the "baby's room" and said "Awww! How cute!!" and S. Gunter and I looked at each other and tried not to laugh. Then he continued to saw "awww" during the baby segment and sister gunter, looked at me and couldn't hold it in any longer and out popped a "Ha!" It was hilarious. But we tried to keep quiet the rest of the time. At the end, we invited them to have us call a friend who would appreciate the message that families can really be together forever and he said he had a lot (which was surprising b/c most LDS people that come don't have anyone they can think of). Come to find out, he's the ward mission leader and was going to have his missionary prep class fill out the cards. Then we find out that he and the girl he was with were on their FIRST date. They had met at Gateway two days prior to that and he said "I'm still in missionary mode....I go after things I like". yep. weird. But it was a miracle because we haven't felt like we've done a good job with the members that come because we don't really uplift them much, it's more just chatting about different things and then we feel bad about inviting them for friends b/c they would have no reason to have us call. if that makes any sense. Anyway, it was cool.
Last of all, I saw Becky French. Tell Shawn that I love her and am praying for her! What happened, btw? Yep. that's it.
Love, sister Drools
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