FAMILY!!!!
Well this
week started off great! We had Mission Leadership Council Tuesday.
I love President Poulsen. He is incredible. I look up to him
so much and he is a wonderful teacher. But he talked a little bit about the
Spirit and about revelation. Something he said really stuck with me he
said, “No one can be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost and NOT receive
revelations. The Holy Ghost is a revelator.” I think sometimes we don’t
always know or recognize if we are receiving revelations or not. But my
personal opinion is that if we are doing the right things and doing everything
we are supposed to do, when we receive impressions they are coming from
God. The church of Jesus Christ has ALWAYS been led by revelation. I
learned so much at MLC, but I will share one more thing. Sister Briggs
the AP said something that I really liked. She shared a dream that she
had had a couple nights before. She said it was the 2nd coming
in her dream and Christ was there and talking and helping everyone and
teaching, but when he came to her all she wanted to do was hold his hand and
feel the prints in his hands. As she talked about it I thought of how
Jesus Christ did EVERYTHING he promised he would do. He promised he would
come to earth to be our Savior and Redeemer. I have never thought of it
before, but we are told that we will have perfected bodies when we are
resurrected, but why then are Christ’s scars still on his hands, feet, and
sides? I believe it is so that when we all meet Jesus Christ again that we will
know that it is really Him. We will be able to feel the prints in his
hands and know that He did what He said He would do. I also think that as
a missionary, I need to be doing the things that I am preaching just like the
Savior did and do the things that I said I would do. If I am going to ask
my investigators and people I meet on the square to come closer to Christ, I
better be doing the same thing. The sisters and those I am talking to are
looking at my hands. Good reminder for me J
No
way! This day (Wednesday) was INSANE! First off this morning around 10:00 no
one was responding to take the Flagpole tour so we just took it even though we
had a lot of office stuff to do, well we are having a good ‘ole tour and at our
last place this guy just interrupts and says, “Guests I just want to let you
know that I received my answer. I KNOW that this church is the true
church. I just want to tell everyone right now! Please listen to
these sisters that are taking you around.” Sister Hansen and I just were like
uhhh ok thank you for your testimony and he just walked away and our tour group
was like alright cool! Anyway then I just made the biggest fool out of myself!
So we were downstairs in our office and this guy walked by in a suit, looking
like he knew what he was doing but NO ONE knew who he was. Well I knew he
looked familiar and that I had met him before but didn’t know how or why I knew
him...so being the dumb person that I am I say, “You look familiar what is your
name?” and he says, “I am Elder Watson, I have come here before”.
COOL! Just asked a Quorum of the Seventy what his name was! Imma a
LOSER! He was the Seventy in Asia and he just got released...maybe that
is why I don’t remember him anymore... wink wink! Then we have our
Westgate shift. Westgate you have the CRAZIEST things happen. First
off you are trying to find sisters for all these unscheduled tours and it is so
hectic and then you have the guests that come to the window and then sisters
not responding to take the tours so it’s a little bit hard not to want to
scream WELL then storming to our window comes this lady and her baby. She
starts to scream and yell, “I want to be EXCOMMUNICATED how can I do that? I
just hate the church, I hate everyone in the church, and everyone is
rude. They teach you to help everyone and to serve everyone and yet they
treat me like I am a beggar.” She keeps going for like 15 minutes about how she
paid her tithing for 28 years straight and went to church and NO blessings came
and she just NEVER wants to have ANYTHING to do with the church AGAIN!
She is crying and yelling and Sister Hansen and I are just dying like NO WAY!!!
Both of our phones are ringing nonstop and we are ignoring all of it trying to
figure out what in the heck to say to this lady. Well we tell her to talk
to her bishop and she says NO! Can I talk to security? SO I call security
and they all come and they try and help the lady. The crazy story ended
quite nicely though. The security here on Temple Square is amazing.
They all are priesthood men and they talked to her and calmed her down and told
her what they should do to receive help and NOT to remove her records.
She ended up calm, not crying anymore and asked to see the Joseph Smith movie! J YAY for security! Well that was
rough....then about 15 minutes later this Chinese family of like 15 people come
in a PANIC to my window. The family speaks NO ENGLISH except the little
10 year old girl who has very broken English. Well she keeps translating
for her mom and she says, “I need a hospital.” And pointed to the TINIEST
TINIEST little splinter that has a little puss over it... mom you would have
LAUGHED OUT LOUD it was like a tiny scratch. Well they were all around
the little boy and panicking thinking that her boy is going to die and so they
ask for a medical guy to come...so what do I do? Call security again.
It’s cool though the SAME EXACT security guards came and are like NO WAY these
sisters are trouble, but they talk to the family having a translator with them
and one security guard says, “I can give you a band aid” I was trying so hard
to not laugh and have the family see me, but he ended up having them go to the
pharmacy to get a needle to poke the little area and to just get the splinter
out. Apparently he got a splinter at Yellowstone and didn’t get it out so
it started to get infected/ have puss around it and the mom thought her son was
not going to live! NO WAY I just can’t even believe it. I thought
of you the whole time Mom, knowing that you would have laughed so hard and been
like, “You are going to be just fine, put a band aid on and you will be ok.”
UNREAL this 3 hour shift was the craziest thing ever! An eventful day to
say the least!!!!
Today
(Thursday) was the best! Jackie Sweeney is my favorite person in the
world. Jackie is a newly reactivated member that every sister here
knows. I have never had the chance to really talk to her for very long,
but she means so much to all the sisters and she made the biggest impact on me
today. She told Sister Hansen and I that from the first time she met us
(not as companions) that she prays for 10 sisters by name from our mission and
that we are 2 of them! She started going inactive from the time she was
12-18 and just now is active again. She went to school with Zac and
Emily. After we made the connection she told me that Emily was one of her
best friends in her eyes her senior year. Despite the things she was
choosing to do, Emily was always so sweet and loving to her and inviting her to
church activities. Not only was it special for me because she was talking
about my sister-n-law, but it was a testimony to me about being an
example. We might not be serving a mission full time, and we may not be
inviting our friends to meet with missionaries, but loving them, being an
example, and continuing to invite others including members to activities can
have an incredible impact on someone. Jackie’s life now has forever
changed. She RADIATES when you see her and talk to her. She is all
about doing good and serving God’s children. I love her and I love
talking to her. It has helped me realize that if you truly let the gospel
into your life, it can change you forever. I have seen that so many times
on my mission and with so many people I have taught, that if they sincerely let
the gospel help them and let the Atonement of Jesus Christ heal them, they are
completely changed. The gospel blesses lives and the gospel brings miracles.
I love this gospel and I love being a part of God’s work. Lately,
everyone has been asking me how much longer I have on my mission and it has
made me so sad. I always want to be a missionary. Missionary work has
changed my life and I love getting to serve and teach everyone I meet more
about the gospel of Jesus Christ. My testimony has been strengthened so
much and I can’t imagine not wanting to share this for the rest of my life. It
has changed me forever being on the Lord’s errand.
I love
this gospel and I love my mission with all my heart! Have a wonderful
week! CONGRATS NATE and MCCALL!!! I love you all!
The church is true.
Love,
Sister
Mindy Marsh
