This might end up being a novel. This was a long, crazy, fun, exhausting, miraculous week.
The VC is crazy. Every day we had at least a few thousand people coming in. We talked to tons of people and were able to get a lot of referrals. Sister Huddleston and I have gotten a lot better at teaching and testifying quickly and then getting a referral. Also, a lot of sisters are getting sick so every day there are at least three sisters sleeping on the sofa or the floor on the lounge downstairs. I started to get a bit sick but nothing major thank goodness.
Christmas Eve was the best one ever. Before we went on shift that night, Sister Sundwall and I opened all of our presents since we wouldn't have time that night or the next morning. Thank you so much everyone for the presents! Thanks Dad, Cari, Mom, Ashley, Hannah, and Emma!!! We then went to the VC to rehearse for our Christmas Day performance and then shift started.
Shift on Christmas Eve was the best. I was on fire. Why? Because it was Chinese night! A Chinese choir came and sang and tons of Chinese people came in. My companion was sick so they stuck me with someone else for a while. However, I ended up having to sit in the nativity room for 40 minutes instead of being able to teach the hundreds of Chinese people that were out on the floor so I went to the sister trainers and requested to not be on a schedule so I could just teach. My wish was granted and for the rest of the night and I ran around solo and talked to as many Chinese people as I could. I also said the opening prayer for each performance in Chinese and got applauded each time which was funny. I have never spoken Chinese so comfortably and so much. Usually I have a super hard time understanding what they are saying but I had no problem. My Chinese was still limited and they could sense that so our conversations were simple and they were all pretty much the same. In Chinese I'd say hi and ask if they are Chinese, they say yes, I say I can speak a little Chinese, they tell me my Chinese is great, they ask where I studied and how long, I tell them at school in Utah for four years, they say my Chinese is great, they ask of I've ever been to China, I say no, they say my Chinese is great, I ask them if this is their first time here, they say yes, I ask if they have any questions, they say no, they say my Chinese is great, I tell them that I'm a missionary so I teach people more, I ask if they've heard of they Book of Mormon, they say no, I ask if they've heard of the Bible, they say yes, I explain the Book of Mormon and how it testifies of Jesus Christ and was written by ancient prophets, I ask if they'd like a free copy, they say yes, they fill out the referral card, I say thank you and nice to meet you, and they tell me my Chinese is great. I talked to tons of Chinese people and I just ran all over the VC finding Chinese people to talk to for the rest of the night. Usually I'm tired after being on floor teaching for an hour but the time flew and I was having so much fun. I ended up getting six referrals by myself tonight which was awesome. Collectively we got 50! It was such a good night, I was super happy.
After the VC closed that night and we kicked everyone out, we went into a room and played some games then the senior couples read a story, Elder Eyring played his guitar and sang, we had snacks, and we received presents from the VC senior couples and temple couples. It was so sweet.
The next day was Christmas!! It was such a good Christmas! At 9am we went to the VC as a mission. Santa was there for a bit so I got my picture with Santa but idk where the picture went, sorry. We all went into the main theater and the Cookes talked to us about Christmas and showed us the nativity video and their kids each spoke to us for a few minutes about Christmas. After that, we got to watch a movie. We got to watch "How To Train Your Dragon 2"!!!!!!!!! When they announced that I started tearing up a bit haha. I was so incredibly happy. The first HTTYD was amazing and whenever I watch it I think about how I'm going to be an animator one day and I learned the play the songs from it on the piano when it first came out. So now I got to see the second one and it was amazing! I loved it. The animation and visual effects were incredible! The quality was a ton better than the first. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
After we watched the movie we walked to the stake center next door. We all enjoyed a nice lunch and then we had a talent show! It was really good. The Chinese elders did a lion dance which was funny and cool. One elder is super good at tap dancing. We had some groups songs and dances and skits and beat boxing and rapping. Finally I was last. Elder Stevenson and I got up there and announced that we had made a cartoon for the mission. I drew all the background with some help from Sister Liu, Elder Stevenson did all the characters, and Elder Guerrero put it together into a movie and made it animated. It's super cool. It's on my Facebook so go watch it! Everyone loved it. It has a lot of inside jokes and it was 11 minutes of pure genius. I didn't write the script or put it together so I can say that and not be full of it.
That night we had shift at 3:30. All of the sisters were performing for the concerts that night. We had concerts at 7 and 8 and surprisingly a lot of people came. First we all came together and sang, "Go, Tell It On the Mountain." Then I accompanied four sisters who sang, "He Sent His Son" while Sister Eyring played the violin. Then I sang with seven other sisters, "Baby, What You Goin' to Be?" Then Sister Eyring did a violin solo, three sisters sang a song while Elder Eyring played the guitar, Sister Sundwall sang a solo since she's profesh, and then we all came together to sing "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful." After that, we all went on the floor and worked. Even though we were only teaching on the floor for two hours, we still got 48 referrals. Boom.
Friday was interesting. The performance that night was "Feliz Navidad" and there were tons of Hispanics there. We thought we would get a ton of referrals but it was hard. The Hispanics were just there to party and they were all standing and dancing in the theater and the spirit wasn't there. People were more rude and didn't want to talk and we all struggled and got around 30 referrals which was good but 20 less than the nights before. I didn't really enjoy that night.
On Saturday, four sisters went home. One of them was Sister Taggart who I was companions with back from May to June and who I was in Kensington with for two weeks with the other two sisters. It's so weird that they're gone. I'm really going to miss them. Now we are in a trio. I wasn't feeling too hot Saturday night at shift so I spent about half of it downstairs.
Sunday was a struggle at church haha. The night before we got home late from festival and got to bed at midnight and then we had to be at Ward council at 7am the next morning. We were all fighting to stay awake in sacrament meeting.
Thankfully, we weren't on shift last night and we aren't tonight. I am so relieved, I am dead tired. Last night was miraculous. We were on shift after church until 4 then we came home and had dinner. We then planned for our lesson that we were gonna teach our investigators that evening. We have received about 25 referrals in the past few weeks and we were feeling very overwhelmed since we are at the VC almost every night and don't have time to check on them. We started calling them before leaving to our appointment. 5 minutes before we were gonna leave, our investigator texted us and told us she can't meet anymore and wanted to reschedule. We were pretty upset. But then two minutes later, our referral who didn't answer called us back. I asked when we could meet him and he asked if we could come over tonight. Yes, our other appointment just cancelled! So we quickly went out the door and went to his house. He's Hindu and from India and we were able to teach him and his 11 year old daughter. They are so nice and have really great questions and are really open and prepared. It was super cool. We are meeting with them again Thursday morning so now we have two new investigators! Yay! It truly was a miracle. We almost stopped by his house the other day but couldn't and then our investigator cancelled right before he called so we could meet with him and he is so ready. He was a referral from festival. Amazing!
Aaaand that was my week! So crazy. I love Christmas here! I am so super tired from festival but it's amazing and we have already gotten three new investigators from it. The last day of festival is this Thursday. I just have three more days. I can do it! And then I have a ton of people to go teach! I am so excited.
It was really great talking to my family this week! I'm glad I was able to call dad on the phone and then Skype the rest of the family! President Cooke was so kind for letting us do that. I love and miss all of you. I hope you all have a fun New Years celebration. I'll talk to you next year but more importantly I'll see you all next year!
The scripture today is 3 Nephi 18:25, 32: "And ye see that I have commanded that none of you should go away, but rather have commanded that ye should come unto me, that ye might feel and see; even so shall ye do unto the world; and whosoever breaketh this commandment suffereth himself to be led into temptation. "Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them."
Jesus right here commands us to not turn away anyone. Everyone is invited to come unto Him. Everyone should be allowed at church. Those who think that they are better than others or discourage those whose sins are more visible than their to come to church are in the wrong and are the real sinners.
I'm so happy that it's Christmas and I'm also so happy to be a missionary! Festival of Lights is so crazy and I'm super tired and I'm spending Christmas away from home but I am so happy.
Christmas as a missionary is so fun! I'm with all of my friends every day teaching and working hard and there are some great Christmas activities planned for this week and it's different. Halloween as a missionary wasn't fun at all and neither was Thanksgiving, but Christmas is so unique and fun. It's just one Christmas away with these interesting, fun experiences and then I'll be back for it next year.
On Friday my companion and I were going across the street to the temple senior couples apartments to do laundry while doing our studies. While there, a brother who works in the office there told us he's going out of town and asked if we wanted his Christmas tree so it doesn't just sit there. Yeah we do! After doing laundry, we came back to pick it up. He came out and said a Christmas tree isn't complete without presents and so around his little Martha Stewart tree he had a tin of popcorn, cookies, bread pudding, and a pre seasoned chicken. We were astounded at his generosity and so excited. We loaded it into a wagon and pulled it home. As we walked into our apartment where the other two sisters were, I felt like Santa Claus and I announced, "Merry Christmas!" as I waltzed in. After a couple seconds confusion, they realized what was going on and they jumped up and we all started jumping around in glee. We then spent the next little while cleaning our apartment. We found a crate to put the tree on and we hung up stockings that Sister Lewis had left from her mom and a nativity scene. We also cleaned up all the clutter around the living room and dejunked and hung up pictures that had been sitting on the floor. Santa doesn't come to a dirty house. We were so happy and full of the Christmas spirit and we were singing Christmas carols the whole time and now it really looks and feels like Christmas. Just the night before I was thinking about how badly I wanted a Christmas tree and I was debating tearing down our green shower curtain to fashion into one but this is even better. It was a huge tender mercy and Christmas miracle. All of our presents are around the tree. And I got the packages from mom, dad, and Ash. Thank you (:
There's a quote that we recite during district meetings and companionships studies. There are four and we rotate through them every transfer. This transfer the quote says, "Work, work, work. I have often said one of the greatest secrets in missionary work is work. If a missionary works, she will get the spirit. If she gets the spirit, she will teach by the spirit. And if she teaches by the spirit, she will touch the hearts of the people and she will be happy. There will be no homesickness, no worrying about family, for all time, talents, and interests are focused on the work of the ministry. Work, work, work, there is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work." That has been so true this transfer. I've been so incredibly happy this transfer and a big chunk of it is because I'm working so hard. It's Christmas and I'm not even homesick which is a huge blessing.
Festival has been insane. We had Thursday off but other than that we have been at the VC every day from 3:30 to 10:15. Yesterday we were there from 1 to 10:30. On Saturday we had over 7,000 people come in and yesterday probably more because I could barely move through the huge crowd that was infesting the place. I have had some cool experiences this week which I would like to share with you. So we give everyone a referral card and on the upperbox they can write their name and address to have missionaries visit them. The lower box is the refer a friend. So whenever someone agrees to have the missionaries visit them, we call it an upperbox. We have a goal of 800 upperboxes for Festival and right now we have about 350 which is already more than last year. We have a super tight schedule in fifteen minute increments where we are on the floor teaching people and seeing if they would like missionaries to visit, playing videos, greeting people, talking to people outside, ticket taking, and ushering the performances. It's slightly overwhelming when you're on the floor and there are hundreds of people surrounding you and you need to decide who you need to talk to. It's daunting but the spirit always has led me to those who need and want to learn more. All of us sisters get fed dinner every night at either 4 or 5 for half an hour then for the other 5 hours we are running around and teaching people. It's super tiring but exhilarating.
So last Tuesday I was on splits with an older member. It was towards the end of the night and the crowd was disappearing. I stood on floor and watched as an Indian Hindu family came in. A sister greeted them and answered their questions and directed them to the crèche exhibit. They then asked her if they could get a tour and she said no because it's all interactive. WHAT?! You NEVER turn down a tour. I casually went up to her and asked why she didn't take the tour and she said she doesn't really like doing that stuff. I'm pretty sure all the prophets and Jesus Christ didn't enjoy doing most of what they were asked to do but it's what you do! I walked away, super angry at this sister. My companion was downstairs and my member just went home so I grabbed another sister and followed the family into the crèche room. I asked them if they'd like a tour and they said yes after they're done. When they came out of the exhibit, Sister Huddleston had again joined me. We showed them around and I spent a few minutes introducing the Book of Mormon to them and I gave them a Family Proclamation and explained that we had a prophet today. We were gonna show them the movie in the back but someone else was in there. They went up front and I nudged some other sisters to talk to them a little bit. Then a few minutes later, they approached me and asked if they could watch the video. YES. We took them in the room and I introduced the 10 minute video and bore testimony. We then played it and waited outside. I have Sister Huddleston the card and told her to follow up. When it was done, we went in and she bore her testimony and gave them the card with the invitation to learn more. The mom and dad looked at each other and said, "let's do it" and grabbed the card and filled out their information. I was stunned. I had faith but I didn't expect them to want to learn more. Now missionaries are going to be sent to this cute family and they will get to learn more about the gospel! And that is why you never turn down a tour. Tours are golden opportunities to teach.
On Saturday we got two upperboxes during the night. We had one hour left and we were feeling super tired and done. One of the sisters came up to us and told us if we got two more upperboxes in the next hour then we will each get a ten minute back massage. Sufficiently motivated, we went out and taught. We got two more upperboxes in thirty minutes. Boom. Massage here I come.
Last night was cool. I was with a really cool member who is in her 40s. We went around and talked to people and she was doing so well. She would point people out to me and then I went up and initiated the conversation since she felt awkward about it but then she was so good at talking to them and giving out cards. She pointed out one family and we approached them. It was a mom and dad and their 25ish year old son. We ended up talking to them for 30 minutes. They aren't members but they have tons of friends who are. After a while we asked them why they haven't been investigating or what's stopping them. The member ended up teaching their son and husband about reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know it's true and committed him to it while I taught the wife. It was super cool and the member was so happy and excited. At 7 I was with a cute 14 year old and we were able to get two upperboxes. Also, I totally got the gift of tongues and talked to two Chinese women for 20 minutes in Chinese last night at the VC. Usually I have a hard time understanding when people speak it to me but we were able to communicate well. It was super cool.
That's been my week! I'm excited for this week. On Christmas morning the whole mission is getting together and we are going to watch a movie and have a talent show and have lunch and be festive. Then all the sisters have to be to the VC at 2pm to rehearse for the concert that night. I'm in three numbers for the sisters Christmas concert so that will be fun. For the talent show I made an animated cartoon with a fellow aspiring animator and an elder who has his degree in filmmaking and I'm also doing a hula dance. Fun stuff.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and remember to keep Christ at the center! I love you all and I'm excited to talk to you this week! Make sure you all go watch "He Is The Gift" on YouTube or mormon.org.
I'm back in the English program! And I'm training a new sister! Guess where I'm at???? KENSINGTON. I am back in my favorite ward where cute Meredith was baptized. I am so happy. I already feel so much better. I have a new fire in me. I'm back in Kensington training a new sister and at the VC with other sisters. It's exactly what I had been hoping for. It's such a blessing to be here and then I'll be ready to go back to Chinese in March. I'm so grateful to be here. God knows what's best for me.
Monday night we went to a restaurant with a member and her husband. It was super good. I started to get really full and I told her that when she was offering me more food but she told me that the dumpling was small and gave me more. Many prayers were offered that I might finish and I managed. The next day we had lunch with members and then dinner with members three hours later. It was good but once again they kept on feeding me and I was still full at dinner from lunch so it took some real effort. After dinner we went with a cute old lady member to the VC to watch a Festival of Lights performance.
Wednesday was transfers! I stayed up super late the night before because I procrastinated packing and then woke up early on Wednesday to finish so that was fun. We packed up our stuff and went to the VC. I went to a meeting for the new trainers and got my baby. Her name is Sister Huddleston and she's from Layton, Utah. Next we went and had training meeting. I was so nervous about where they would put us. President Cooke got up and called the new zone leaders then they got up and announced who would be in which area. A different zone went first and the whole time I was praying I wouldn't be called to any of the areas. Finally my zone leaders got up and announced the areas and that we would be in Kensington with two other sisters and I was so happy and relieved. So the four of us are in a quad. We have two separate phones but one car. It's my companion and I, Sister Sundwall who just barely finished being trained by Sister Lewis, and Sister Taggart who I was companions with my third transfer in Seneca after Sister Johnson left. Sister Taggart goes home two days after Christmas so then it will turn into a trio. Very interesting.
We spent forever getting all our stuff and took two trips to our apartment which is just down the street thank goodness. K house best house. I found out that two elders will now be living in Sister Liu and my old apartment so I felt weird about that for a couple days because I didn't do a great job cleaning and accidentally left a few things there... Oh well.
That night we were at the VC for Festival. It was good but not super crazy. Thursday we were there from 9:45am to 10:15pm which was very tiring. It was kind of slow. Only 1000 people came in. Friday was good. A lot more people came in. We had the zone leaders volunteering there and their shift was done at 7 but they still needed to be there so one of them asked what he should do. I gave him a referral card and told him to go give it back. I came back on the floor after ushering a performance an hour later and the two elders were running around and teaching people like crazy. They were like VC sisters. We were all so proud. Also, whenever a Chinese person came in someone would run up to me and be like, "hurry, they're in the back!" Haha it was fun.
Saturday was a good night. We didn't have to be at the VC so we went and checked on some referrals we have received from Festival. We went to one woman's house and here you have to call them from outside and they let you in. We called her and she was super excited when I said who we were and then when we went inside the building she opened her door and told us she thought it might be us and had us sit down and offered us herbal tea since she said she knows we don't drink caffeine. She had met with missionaries like five years ago and was super nice. We discussed a variety of topics and had a very intelligent conversation about God which I haven't had in a while since I've been Chinese. The spirit was super strong there, it was kind of weird. We didn't bear crazy testimony or say a prayer at the beginning but it was there. When we pulled out the Book of Mormon and read a verse and I explained who Alma was since she asked, the spirit was like electricity. It was incredible. She wants to meet with us again so hopefully we will before Christmas. So cool!
After that, we went to the Kensington Ward Christmas party. I was pleased by how many people remembered me and told me welcome back. I got to see Meredith there and our miracle investigator Alba whom I haven't seen since September. She had a baby two days after I left so I get to see the baby. She is doing so well. We found and started teaching her and she was super golden. Only problem was that she was pregnant with her boyfriend's baby who was living with her and she was still married to the last guy. Now she's divorced and her bf and two kids are now taking the lessons and love it and they are going to go to El Salvador to get married next month. So so cool. She's a huge miracle from my mission and I'm so happy I get to teach her again.
Last night was crazy at the VC. I know that Saturday we had almost 6000 people come in and last night was busier. We had 40 people on Saturday agree to meet with missionaries and 41 last night. Festival is full of miracles. Jenny Oaks Baker performed last night. She's a famous violinist and she's the youngest daughter of Elder Oaks. She was way good. I got to usher one of her four performances so I got to watch it.
