Wow so...that was crazy.
From day one I started making a list of the goings-on in my planner
because the world suddenly just went crazy as soon as the transfer
started! What is this?! It's missionary life, that's what it is!!!
My
new companion is Sister Yu from Taiwan. She is SO sweet and SO fun and
SO kind and SO hilarious! And although I am so weird for some reason she
still loves me and laughs at my terrible jokes (even if she doesn't
understand them) and wow she is just so amazing! She's been on her
mission for a while now so her English is really good too! We've just been
busy busy working on bringing China the restored gospel of Jesus Christ!
It's fantastic!
We took our first Mandarin motor-coach the
first day of the transfer...it was the most ridiculous thing in the
entire world. I was already mentally preparing myself because I knew
they would all like my blond hair and white skin and they'd want to take
a picture of me so I practiced in my head how to say "No picture!" over
and over but when it finally got time to say it, I felt so awkward that
I completely forgot! (The rules on Temple Square is that if someone
wants to take a picture with us they have to be in the picture WITH us,
not just a picture OF us.) So once she explained this they stopped
trying to take pictures of me...which was great...until we actually
started to take them around! We got in the assembly hall and I was
showing them where to sit when out of nowhere they all started to attack
me!! With their cameras! Like honestly they all kept walking up to me
saying, "Picture!" and then they'd just grab me, literally, and smile at
the camera. AH! It was so awkward! And they just wouldn't stop! One
just kept coming right after the other and my poor companion tried to
tell them to stop because we were going to start the tour but they
wouldn't stop!! It was so awkward! These random Chinese women especially
would like put their arm around me and pose and I was thinking "What
the heck I'm a real person not just some cool thing you can take a
picture with so you can post it on Facebook and impress your friends!"
I'll be honest...after about 10 minutes I felt so dumb...like I didn't
feel like a person I felt like a shiny trophy...and that was the worst
feeling ever. After that very long tour I couldn't stop thinking about
how it's interesting how the adversary wants us to feel like we're not
special and we're not people with feelings we're just a tool. Ah it was
sad...but I did learn. And every mandarin motor-coach since then, we
just tell the guests that they can't take pictures of us...AT ALL! And
it helps.
I've already been able to go on exchanges with
Sister Marambio and Sister Cano from my district, wow they are such
amazing missionaries! It's so fun to exchange so often and learn. Really
it's amazing how the smallest things make such a big difference,
especially in missionary work! We had a Zone Training Meeting
on Sunday
and the Zone Leaders asked each district leader to give instruction as
part of it. It was a really good experience although I was so so nervous
to be up in front of the zone talking. Beforehand I just kept thinking,
"Man...if there was only a way I could sing my instruction..." But I'm
pretty sure the sisters in my zone would feel SO awkward if I just got
up and began singing everything! Ahhahahaha when I really think about it
now..haha I just think that would be so funny! But they would never see
it coming! I should try it sometime.
Oh! Another exciting
story from this week! I was on exchanges with Sister Marambio just
yesterday and we met this wonderful lady from China in the North
Visitor's Center. We got talking and she said, "You know, I don't have
religion-I'm from China you see-but I've always had a lot of respect for
Jesus Christ! I hope to take a tour to learn more what you believe!"
Luckily it was right before a Mandarin Flag Pole Tour was about to start
so we told her that she can go to the flag pole and someone will be
waiting there who speaks Mandarin who can take her on a tour! As we
pointed out the window to show her where to go, I realized that it was
MY companion preparing to take the next Mandarin tour! So we sent her on
her way and I texted my companion and said, "Hey! There's a lady from
China coming to your flag pole tour! She really respects Jesus Christ!"
Well, that night as we were walking home my companion said, "Hey! That
Chinese lady came to the tour, and she gave me her number and said we
can call and teach her!" Yay!!!! Miracles! Save China!!!
Oh
another neat experience while on exchanges: I was with Sister Cano and
we were doing some contacting on the square just earlier this week. Well
as we were walking past the temple grounds entrance there was a really
sweet girl sitting down on the wall looking around. We said hi and
started to talk with her. I asked her what brought her to Utah and she
said, "Oh well that's a long, crazy story." So I sat down next to her
and said, "Oh great! We have lots of time!" Haha! So she smiled and
started to tell us about her really amazing story about how she used to
study in Utah but then she moved to New York for Grad school. BUT half
way through her studies she woke up one morning and felt really strongly
that she needed to graduate that year instead of wait, and move to Salt
Lake City! So she did! She's now in SLC looking for a job/getting
settled in and she has absolutely no idea why she is here but she just
knows that the Lord told her to come! Isn't that amazing!? So much
faith. She expressed to us about how nervous she was about everything
because she had no idea what would happen. So I shared with her my story
about picking up and moving to Idaho on a whim last summer because we
felt the Lord told me to go. I told her about how the first month I was
there I had absolutely no idea what I was doing there because I had no
friends and I couldn't find a job to save my life etc etc. But then I
told her about the people I met there and how they changed my life and
about being a BYS councilor and I was able to just share my testimony
that I know the Lord has a plan for each one of us. I know that He is
going to guide and prepare her for what is next because that is exactly
what the Lord did for me. If it were not for my experiences and the
people I met in Boise...I don't even know what I would do! So that was
great. (:
Well this email is getting kind of long so I'm
going to wrap things up. But to answer your question mom, yes we did
attend the dedication of the Odgen Temple (the
4pm
session) and it was so wonderful! It got me so excited for this coming
General Conference next weekend! General Conference is going to be so
great and so terrifying and so eye-opening but it's going to be a time
I'm sure I won't forget! So thank you for all the loves and supports
from yous, I love you all so much! I hope you have a good week and I
hope you're all looking forward to General Conference as well!
Bye, now!
Sister Davis
P.S. Forgive me for not taking pictures this week...it's just been so busy and crazy!
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