Yayy for a new fat baby! Kate eh... I'll claim her even though Kate Middleton is probably the inspiration.
This is the last week of the transfer. It's weird to know that some of my new friends are going home already and they're all in denial about it. I can't wait till I don't want to go home. I love this place but I wouldn't mind having the time speed up a tad. We had a pump up for conference mission meeting this morning. Apparently missionary work is crazy for the two days of conference. We won't give any tours and we won't have any appointments over the phone because we want to talk to all of the thousands of people that come for conference. As missionaries, we'll come to the square a couple hours earlier and leave later. I'm secretly just excited to see people that I know. Hopefully, I get a new zone next week so that I won't have to be in the Beehive House for conference.
Sister Castañeda and I had a tour on Monday with 4 men. I'm not suppose to say tour anymore since we're missionaries and not tour guides. They are "walking lessons" but that just sounds like these people don't know how to walk. Anyway, three of these men weren't members of the Church and 1 was. Basically the one member took all of us on a tour. I tried to get my two cents in every once in a while but the member was such a motor mouth that it was exhausting. Of course he was super smart and knowledgeable about the gospel but I realized how important some of the things that I've learned in preach my gospel are. The guy was trying to prove that the Church is true to his 3 Christian friends. I've been guilty of this a few times since I've been here but I have come to learn that that's just not how the system works. The gospel should make sense. Yes. But who's the only real teacher? The man who can answer all the questions? False. The spirit is obvi the best teacher. So it's important to allow time and space for the Spirit to testify to the hearts of the people. I managed a conversation on the side with one of the non-members. He was in awe with the capacity of the conference centre and couldn't believe that the members of the Church are so gung-ho about living the gospel and istening to the prophet. He wanted to know how this is possible. Is it because of the 2 year missions? Pshhh please, I told him that I like to think that I was gung-ho before coming on a mission. I'm just here for a good time. I basically explained that when you're truly converted, when you know the Book of Mormon is true and that the prophet is a man of God, you want to do all you can to do what's right. Obviously not all mormons are always gung-ho but that's what's so perfect about general conference.
Yesterday my companion and I did an accoustics demonstartion for a couple in the tabernacle and then they asked us some questions about the temple. So we brought them to see the small scale model of the temple to help them understand. The woman was hard of hearing so we had to talk really loudly. She just kept hammering us with questions and we would answer them as best we could. My companion and I are working on being in charge of the conversation; it's a work in progress. This couple wasn't very interested to learn more but since we were talking so loud, we turned around and found two perfect young men waiting to talk to us. They're very Christian and very well-versed in the Bible and they asked us the questions that were on their mind. We testified of the plan of salvation and they thought it was interesting. One of the boys is studying to be a preacher; I told him he'd be a good one because he's so pasionate about what he believes. In reality, he'd make a perfect missionary but I didn't tell him that. I have to teach him before he can do that. They asked us a few questions about certain scriptures in the Bible that seem to contradict our beliefs. I didn't know how to answer a lot of the questions but I told him that I know the Book of Mormon is true. I don't even know if I had read those passages in the Bible before while they had them memorized. Dang. Clearly someone smarter than me could answer their questions but I am qualified to teach these boys and they were placed in my path so heck, I'm going to teach them. When all else fails, "I don't know the answer to your question but what I do know is..." I've never thought about so much doctrine in my life before but I know that what I read in the scriptures is true. I feel priviledged because I have the fulness of the gospel in my life while these boys are probably better at life than me but they don't yet have all the truth. We're going to call them on Friday and teach them the restoration. I'm excited.
Every week, after Motab's music and the spoken word, a bunch of sisters stand oustide by the flag pole/temple to announce and invite people to take a tour in whatever language they speak. So there are about 12ish? sisters that annouce in the language that they speak. I'm on the list for this Sunday to announce in French. Wha? They put me down to announce in french even though I haven't taken a French tour yet. To be able to take a tour, you have to pass off with your zone leaders. They will role play a tour with you to make sure you know what you're doing. The sisters who made the announcing list thought I had already passed off in French and then asked me if there's any way that I could pass off before Sunday. Also, there is a language coordination meeting for the french speaking sisters on Saturday so it would be best to pass off before then. Alright, I guess I could try. I wasn't going to try to pass off until just before the summer since I'm good at procrastinating but deadlines are my friend, I guess. So I'm signed up to take Sister Labbé around on a tour so that she can pass me off. Sister Labbé's from Québec and even wears a Québec flag instead of a canadian flag, so you know she means business. Hopefully, I don't let Fallingbrook down and I'm able to pass off on Friday so that I can announce this Sunday. Until then, I am a francophone.
A bientot, mes amis. Merci pour tous les lettres. Je vous aimes beaucoup!
-Soeur Kyle
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