Konichiwa! Ni hao! Chickaymee! Namaste! Hola! Gootenmorgen!
I know, it’s amazing – you get to hear from me TWICE this week! Be excited.
Amazingly enough, there is a lot to report on from the last four days!
Tuesday morning I took Sister Carlton to the dentist. In contrast to Sister Lavini’s visit – this appointment lasted all of 10 minutes! When we came back, I went on exchanges with Sister Shaw (MTC Companion) and Sister Decouer (France). How things usually work with returning Outbound sisters, is this: Their companions pick up their suitcase/box from storage & bring it back to their apartment. However, Sister Shaw decided to be ridiculously nice & bring them all to their respective apartments! The three of us then proceeded to move eleventy billion suitcases & boxes into various residences…for the next four hours. The weather was absolutely beautiful, so it wasn’t that bad! I felt extremely nice J That evening I regrouped with Sister Khadgi, who had been at Departing Activities all day and we finished the night with a wonderful call to Irfan in India!
Early Wednesday morning Sister Khadgi & I went down to the Square for her release. Surprisingly enough, people in SLC are up and about at 6:30! It was a sad but productive experience to be a part of. It was great for me to be a part of it though because it really made me feel the need to work that much harder while I still have time to wear my tag. I got to drive Sister Khadgi to the airport :) I met up with my new companion Sister Nelson(Yes, California – it has been confirmed) and we raced over to the Humanitarian Center. Now, for those of you who are just joining us in this exciting tale of missionary work….I haven’t served at the Humanitarian Center. I’ve never even been there. And yet, that morning would be expected to take possible guests on a tour! Whoooo for unexpected challenges! Sister Khadgi gave me a cheet sheet the night before and described everything – which helped a lot. Sister Nelson was showing me around the first half of the tour area, when some guests arrive. Tour time and I haven’t even SEEN the upstairs! Hahahahaha I have to admit, it was all very entertaining. Best acting job of my life. Luckily, a lot of it is pretty self-explanatory. So we successfully took them on a tour through the center! I even thought to throw in some stories I had seen on the new, personal experiences etc. it was literally – amazing. As we sat down for the finishing video – Sister Nelson whispered, “You’re AMAZING!” Challenge: Beasted! Very humbly…beasted…no, I know I was helped out a lot by the Spirit & by my wonderful past companion who gave me the low down the night before. I loved being at the HC for a day & would love to serve there again! Laurel wrote me!!!! I was so excited to hear from her, more details on wedding plans & the rest of life that we don’t keep up with while we’re missionaries. I’d also like to give a shout-out to my new pen pal, Brandon. Dear Brandon, I’ll write you later today!
On Thursday we woke up to a day with 7 hrs on the Square! We typically have three or four a day, so we were VERY excited for so much time! We met a man who is currently homeless but is very interested in the church. We found the closest chapel for him and he said he’d have to go volunteer at Welfare Square so he could get himself a suit to wear on Sunday! I know – amazing! We took him over to the Family Search Center. Within 5 minutes he was very enthusiastic about discovering his ancestors! It was a pleasure to meet him and we made him promise to come back & report. We ventured to the TacoStand for lunch – BEST IDEA EVER! It was straight up scrumdidllyumptious!
Are you ready for it? Friday, I met PAUL CARDALL! If you don’t know who that is…stop now & look him up. I saw his new CD in Deseret a few weeks ago & wanted to get it. We went in there on Thursday & saw that he was actually coming to Deseret the next day! So we planned that in for our lunch time activity. It was like seeing a movie come to life! He was there! IN Deseret Book! Playing the piano! I bought his CD & stood sheepishly by a 30-something year old guy who also had a CD and waited for him to finish. He talked with the guy in front of me, then – the moment of truth *BING!* I got to shake his hand & talk to him & get to know him for a few minutes. He’s very chill, just like his music. We had Guest Services(which will from now on be abbreviated as GS) from 3-9 and we played it in the background – perfect! We got Sister Hansen to cover us for 30 minutes so we could run across the street to the “Evening with Artists” at the Church History Museum. It was really cool! They had a sculptor, a book illustrator, painter and gourd painter! See pictures for further details. Yes, they’re lame. BUT the refreshments were really good J We dashed back over to GS where we enjoyed the rest of our busy night working to run the show. Love it.
We’re making adjustments here & there to things in GS. Lots of random information on several papers up & around the cubicle, so I’m retyping things to make them more succinct! It’s beautiful. I’ll take a picture so you all can see how fantastic it is! We’re planning on buying a fitness ball to sit on while we work, not that we’ll be in there for hours on end…or anything like that. No worries, we’ve got an autographed copy of the latest Paul Cardall CD to get us through it :)
Quote of the Week: “You have the talents required to make your life an eternal success story.” --President Uchtdorf. I know this church is true. We’re not wrong. I know Christ is the Savior of the world & it’s through Him we can live with God again, after this life. This life is not the end. We can find true happiness in this life as we are obedient & strive to live Christ-centered lives. I know it.
Sorry, no more time to write! We’re off to the rest of our Pday insanity!
Love you all,
Sister Ainsley Marie
