November 23, 2010

This has been a week of miracles. I can't believe that I have only been here for 1 week, oh man. I don't even know where to start.

It took me a few days to get over the shock of the sudden move to Temple Square, but now I am settled in and I feel like I can actually contribute. I 'passed off' yesterday, which means that I know the history and can bridge it to doctrine well enough that they aren't terrified of letting me lead a tour in a different language without saying all sorts of apostate things (Jake, I know how you feel about visitor center missionaries). Apparently this usually takes alot longer than one week to do, but that leads to the next great news...

I have had two Polish tours! The first one was Thursday, and was one of the first times that someone had come up to the information desk specifically asking for a Polish tour. But here I am, with my extremely limited capabilites, and the Poles have started to come. Apparently there has never been a Polish sister here. Sister Steadman in the MTC said that she felt like Moses. Polish is awkward and she said "I am slow of speech, but I know that God will make up for my lack" I thought of her as I started the tour. There were 2 Poles, Catholics, one who spoke a tiny bit of English, one who didn't speak any, and then an American, an inactive member, who was showing them around and knew no Polish whatsoever. He kept chiming in on difficult things to explain to his friends like polygamy and how he used to be able to go to the temple, but now he can't. My Polish was broken and awkward, but they were so kind and very interested. Together we got across the message and our beliefs. It took me half the time to figure out the word for pioneer. I kept asking the woman, and she would shrug, until we got to the handcart monument and she read it "oh! Pionier! " it sounds almost exactly the same! The tour was fun.

Usually visitor center missionaries have a week of training about being a visitor center missionary at the MTC and all sorts of orientation and training when then get here, but I came mid-transfer, so I just got thrown into the pot. I was feeling a little lost, because I didn't know what my objectives were or how to be useful. I would just try to approach people and everything seemed to be wrong, awkward, or focused on the wrong things. Another little blessing; this was a week full of training. We had Zone Conference, a mission meeting, a special "1st transfer" training session with the Mission President, and other smaller activities on other days. They did a lot of training this week because it is slow and will get a lot busier once the lights go on. It definitely helped me be able to understand how to be a good missionary here.

We got to clean the temple yesterday for a long time which was a blast, and I went through a session this morning. It was really cool to see a live session, I never have before.

Sunday was a miracle day. I had another Polish tour and I was praying so hard that they would be able to understand me and be able to feel the Spirit. My Polish was way better and much more fluid. I spoke completely in Polish the whole time. (I just got approval today to study Polish for 1/2 hour most days) Dang, I have to go. Maybe I will write it in a letter and mail the story to you.

I love you so much! have a great day and a great Thanksgiving!
-Sister Stay