Bonjour ma famille!
I actually get 1 hour to write home now instead of 30 minutes. That was always the most stressful thing in the MTC knowing you only had 1/2 hour and trying to remember all that you wanted to say and get it written; if we didn't send it before the 30 minutes were up the email closed on us and wouldn't save or send the email. Thank goodness that never happened to me.
Anyway, I am now here at Temple Square for those of you who didn't know. Last Wednesday, Feb. 2 I got called to the travel office and they sad, you're going to Temple Square at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. Wow! That was a surprise, I was very excited though. Had I been going to another state they would have given me at least a few days notice. They said the temple square mission president had called in and needed someone immedately, so I'm here replacing a former visa waiter who went to the Spain, Barcelona mission. (You'll probably meet her Ryan, her name is sister Fernley). My trainer got to have two greenies this transfer. ;)
Temple Square has been a wonderful experience! You would think I spend my entire day giving tours, but we actually spend more time chatting with people of
mormon.org and calling investigators and other people from the referral center. We get referrals from people that come visit here at temple square and then we call the people whose names are on the cards and invite them to learn more about the gospel. If they accept to meet with the missionaries then we get to call them and teach them until the local missionaries show up. Sometimes the people are prepared for baptism before the local missionaries even get there. Sister Zalazar (from Argentina!) is my trainer/companion, she is amazing! I love being with her and she's so kind and helpful. We've had to start getting new referrals, because all of hers were Spanish speaking. We have two investigators, one from Nicaragua and another from Honduras, and even though I do not speak Spanish I still have to listen to the lesson. We have also gotten a couple of referrals from chatting online and we sent their information to the missionaries in their area and are also going to try and call them tomorrow. One man is from the Netherlands! I haven't had the chance to call him back yet because everytime I'm assigned to the referral center it is the middle of the night in Europe. Chatting online is something else, because we get all sorts of people on there. The best is when they're actually interested and then it's hard when they have had a great conversation with you and then at the end say, "Do you know how magnets work?" Magnets are trollers or people who get on there just to use up our time when we could actually be talking to someone who is interested. The only good thing that comes from it is that my testimony is strengthened because I am sharing with them what I know and the spirit touches my heart; I hope that even though they get on there to play jokes on us that they are also touched at times and their hearts will be softened some day.
I finally gave my first tour today! It was great! As we take them around and share the history of the church we also tie gospel principles into it or share our testimony of the Book of Mormon or the prophets, and Jesus Christ. We've definitely talked to lots of other people since I've gotten here, but it's really slow during the winter time, and sometimes those we talk to are not interested in us taking them on a tour. Most often members like to look at things themselves, or they want to show everything to their friends on their own. It's perfectly understandable, because that's how I was when I use to come here, but now that I'm on the other side of the spectrum I realized that even members should take the tours because it strengthens their testimonies as well and they can also give referrals to the sisters.
It's amazing how many baptisms have come out of the referrals that the sisters here get, we have a list of the names of those people up in the referral center and I was surprised to see how many there are. I don't know how far back they date, but it's somewhere around 150. If the people who get baptized live in the SLC area sisters are allowed to go to their baptisms! My companion Sister Zalazar got to go to a baptism a few weeks ago for one of her investigators.
Yesterday I made my first call in French! Oh my was it nerve racking, but I did it. Sister Leroy from Belguim listened in on the conversation and would tell me what to say if I didn't understand him. It's hard enough understanding people over the phone in English, and then in French! My voice kept echoing so I could never quite make out what he was saying back to me. He was nice though and I told him that I was learning French and asked him to be patient with me and also if he could speak a little more slowly (that was all said in French by the way :). He wasn't interested in meeting with the missionaries because he was confused as to why I was calling him instead of his friend calling him; so, he said that he wanted to call his friend first. Sister Leroy is going to call him another time and hopefully he will decide to meet with them. I think that shows though that we shouldn't be afraid to invite our friends to hear from the missionaries, the worst they can say is no.
I love President and Sister Holmes! They are so great and very funny! The church even extended their assignment because they've been helping the missionary work progress so much. He previously served as a mission President in Missouri as well. All the sisters here are so nice and I love meeting people from all around the world. Sadly we are required to speak English with each other, so I can't really practice my French with any of the French sisters, but I'm going to try and pass off giving a tour in French and that way whenever French speakers come to temple square I will get paged and can be the tour guide. First I need to pass off giving a tour in English though. Thankfully I am allowed to have some extra study time every day to study French as well.
Mom and Dad, one of my roommates is from Australia, sister Bryers and her cousin married Elder Ngawaka's cousin (is that how you spell his last name?). Also one of sister Kinikini's cousins is here, another sister Kinikini. I've met sister Zhou, but I haven't run into sister Tating yet. There are so many sisters here (150+) I still haven't met all of them.
Jessica there are two sisters here from Uganda! and they're both so cute and nice.
I got to go to the Salt Lake temple today! Wow it is soooo beautiful inside! They used to allow sisters to go every p-day, but now it's only once a transfer.
I'm so grateful I was sent here to wait for my Visa because I still have opportunities to attend the temple before going to France and I am able to use my French here. I said hi to two women here today from Quebec and on Sunday two men from France. (Different sisters took them on the tours).
I have a story to share about following the promptings of the spirit. On Saturday Sister Zalazar and I were on desk duty in the South Visitor's Center for a couple of hours. A couple walked through the doors and when I saw them the thought came into my mind, "I think they're French." It had nothing to do with what they looked like or how they were dressed, I didn't even hear them speaking, nonetheless I had that thought. However, I swept it off and thought, "I don't know that," and I continued to stand near the desk simply greeting people as they walked in and out. About 30 minutes later that same couple came walking past and I heard them speaking in French! I quickly said, "Vous-parlez en Francais?" They said, "Oui," and walked out the door! Oh, I felt awful, I had been given the opportunity to use my French and could have talked with them, yet I ignored that prompting, thinking it was my own thought. I knew there were no other French speaking sisters in the building at that time and I am allowed to walk around, I don't have to stay behind the desk the entire two hours. I realized that it doesn't matter whether or not I think it's my own thought, or if it is actually of the spirit, but I should simply follow the prompting and act.
I decided then and there that I would not ignore thoughts or impressions that come to my mind ever again. If someone walks in the door and I think they are French I will simply say hello and ask where they're from, if they aren't it doesn't matter, what matters is that I don't miss them. I prayed that night and the next day that Heavenly Father would please give me an opportunity to speak in French. Sunday was when we saw the two men standing by the entrance and when we said hello they answered back with the thickest accents, so I asked if they were from France and the answer was yes! I'm grateful that even though I only got to speak with them for a few minutes, Heavenly Father gave me an opportunity to speak in French.
I love you all! I'm going to send some pictures too!
Soeur Valerie Reeves
Sincerely,
