This week has been off to a great start! On Tuesday I
helped give a training about conversation starters to the other Sisters.
The longer and longer I am on my Mission, the more I realize the
importance of being able to talk to people! Having basic social skills
really blesses your life. That would be my #1 piece of advice to future
missionaries, and frankly just everyone in general. Talk to people! If
you are waiting in line somewhere, or bored- don't get on your phone!
Put it down, and talk to the person right next to you. Find something to
talk about! It is such a great way to be able to do missionary work and
to bless those that are around you.
On Wednesday, we received training from our Mission
President about the upcoming District Meeting. To explain however what
prompted this meeting, I have to explain what has been going on for the
past month.
Right now, the Illinois Nauvoo Mission is going through some
drastic changes. It all started from our request for more resources
being denied by SLC. Our Mission President was told that we were not
using the resources we already had in a good enough way. He was
confused, and President Gibbons and the Assistants did some digging.
What they found out is that Nauvoo has been using literally twenty year
old methods of reporting data. The methods were that out-dated! Nothing
has been current, nothing has been able to be actually used by SLC. At
first the Sisters were a little bit frustrated, because SLC thinks that
we have just been sitting here, twiddling our thumbs and not doing a lot
of work, but then everyone got over it and used it as a fire to be
better. Also, it is not anyone's fault that things were so messed up.
Nauvoo is a very special and unique place. Where else is there a
Visitor's Center, and a Historical Site that does not have a steady
support of missionaries? With the Sister Missionaries leaving and going
every six months, it was not a good environment or enough of a steady
foundation to establish procedures for reporting.
Anyways! All of the Young Sister Missionaries have been frantic to
report our numbers in the correct way for the past two weeks. We now
input it purely onto our online Area Book, and report some others to our
Assistants which our Mission President then calls in to Church
Headquarters. Well, unfortunately (hee hee hee) we do so much work and
teach so many lessons here in Nauvoo, we actually crashed the database
for the online Area Book. :) . So, now SLC has been calling us multiple
times a day, and we have become a priority again! Yay!
Now, onto this District Meeting Training. All of the
Sisters have been jazzed because of our success, and wanted to share it
with the Seniors. The only thing is that so far in the past, the
Seniors have not been effectively trained. Well, I am here to tell you
that Heavenly Father loves all of his children, especially those over
65, and wants them to be able to do a good job! It was decided that to
help this, all of the Sisters would be going solo to the District
Meetings and train the Senior. So, this past Wednesday we received
training on what and how President Gibbons wanted us to present this
information. It was a great time, and I had a lot of very spiritually
enlightening studies the rest of the week on how to present the District
Meeting. More on how the District Meeting went later, have to go
chronologically!
On Thursday, I was coming back from working at the
Family Living Center. It was a great day, and had shown quite a few
people about how to make pottery, and testified that we need to trust
that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will mold us into the people we
need to become. Then, while I am trying to grab together some dinner and
still wearing my Pioneer dress, the Assistants called me at 15 min till
7. They asked if I could role play an investigator that night for
practice with all of the first summer sisters. I said yes, of course,
and they wanted me to be a 30-something single mom in an apartment. They
also wanted me to dress-up. Well, this was the only problem, because we
literally had to get into the car in five minutes, and I needed a
convincing outfit! I also could not come dressed in the outfit because
it needed to be a surprise to everyone, even my companion. I don't have
anything that really could translate into a mom in her thirties. So,
luckily my friend Sister Munro helped me out. She let me wear her jeans
(which was a weird experience not wearing jeans for a year and then
putting them on) and I grabbed a black t-shirt I had. The issue was the
rest of the outfit. I grabbed a beanie I wore on my Outbound in Idaho,
and then was frantically trying to think of something else. I decided I
would be a little bit of a darker personality, so I needed the jewelry
to pull it off. Unfortunately, I didn't have any of that either, so
Sister Munro let me borrow all of her bracelets and some long earrings. I
grabbed my make-up bag, my leather boots from my Outbound too and went
for the door!
So I arrive at the Visitor's Center in a Pioneer
dress with a huge bag full of my stuff. Luckily my companion had not
asked about the bag so I did not have to make something up, and Sister
Hansen, one of the Assistants pulled me from the group and told the rest
to go in. I literally had three minutes to change and get ready before I
needed to be at my station. Well, I FLUNG everything everywhere, and
some how got changed. To add a nice touch, I put on a ton of black
eyeliner and smudged it a little bit to not look too put together. All
of the actors met upstairs in the conference room to say prayer, and I
was the last one in. All of the other actors were Senior missionaries,
and looked positively frightened when they saw me! Success :) We said a
prayer to help us get in character and have this be a role play where
the Spirit could teach these Sisters and give them inspiration. So, I
was assigned the Call Center as my "Apartment" and I wanted to get even
more in Character. I turned on all the lights and had the only source of
light be the blue from the computer screens and a little flashlight. I
then strewed clothing everywhere, and literally make everything in my
purse explode into the room. I got a little mischievous then, and
decided the final touch would be to have me yelling at someone over the
phone as the Sisters walked up to my door. So, I made up a back-story
which was a compilation of several real people I taught in Idaho, and
went to work :)
Here is an excerpt from my companion, Sister Mill's weekly email. This is how she described me :) :
First
off: Tracting Training: BEST EVENING EVER!! It was a surprise from our
wonderful assistants. They just told everyone to be at the Visitor
Center at 7:00
for a training. When we got there they informed us that we would be
practicing tracting. In each room would be a potential investigator, the
second summer sisters (like me) would be members going with the
missionaries and the first summer sisters would be the missionaries.
Well we went off, I decided to be a Laurel named Emily going on splits
with the sister missionaries. Well we knocked on the first door and
there was my wonderful companion Sister Allred dressed completely
Gothic, lights off except a computer (because in her "house" the power
bill had not been paid) and yelling at her 11 year old daughter. The
sisters then attempted to talk to her about the Gospel. I wish you could
understand how amazingly funny this was. Sister Allred is always very
well dressed. To see her in a black tee-shirt was one thing, to have her
also wearing every piece of jewelry that Sister Munro owns was
something totally different, complete with VERY black, not well put on
eye liner and a beanie. :) BEST DAY EVER!! Those poor sisters had no
idea what to do. :) hehe, but 'Chrissy' and 'Emily' got along really
well.
The Sisters who came to my door were a little
taken aback, because most have never been in environments like that.
Well, after a while they all made it work, and one companionship even
invited me to be baptized! It was a great role-play, and it even helped
me too. As I was feeling what my investigator would be feeling, I am now
convinced that all a person needs to become converted and to accept to
be baptized is to feel the Spirit. Right from the moment those Sisters
knocked on my door, I felt their Spirit. Sometimes I did not want to
hear what they said, but I could feel their goodness. It was such a fun
and special experience, I know I will remember it for a long time!
On Friday I was on Exchanges with Sister Munro to
interpret for two recent converts from Mississippi. These ladies were
taught by Sister Richardson (my former companion :) on her Outbound to
Little Rock, AR Mission. They came here to experience Nauvoo, and I had
such a great time getting to know them and have a great experience
teaching them.
The first thing we did with these ladies is we went
tot he Community of Christ Sites and we interpreted their tour for the
Recent Converts. It was really interesting because after the tour was
done, Bronzie, who was just baptized in November, asked the tour guide
about his beliefs. Later, Bronzie told us that as she was talking with
the Tour Guide, that the Spirit was telling her that she had made the
right choice and needed to stay in the Church.
Well, as we were walking from the tour, we passed by the Site of
where Lucy Mack and Joseph Smith Sr's homestead was. Sister Munro and I
paused and told them about it, and how it was significant because Joseph
Smith Senior gave many patriarchal blessings here. Well, I am convinced
that inspiration was from Heavenly Father. Bronzie then proceeds to
tell us about how she wants to get her blessing, but her stake will not
allow her to have an interpreter while she is getting the blessings. She
said that it did not feel right to get it at the time without being
able to understand what was going on, and that she wanted to do it
right. It was very interesting because Sister Munro shared her
experience because both of her parents are deaf, they were able to have
an interpreter there when their daughter was having her blessing, and
that it would make sense for Bronzie to be able to. We conversed, and
Bronzie asked if she could get it here, where there would be
interpreters for her. She had all the paperwork and everything signed at
home, but just needed to be in a place where someone could do that for
her. Well, I told her that we could not promise her that it could be
done here, but Sister Munro and I could find out what the protocol was
and what needed to happen so she could have an interpreter when it was
the right time for her.
We make it back to the Community of Christ Visitor's Center, and
the two ladies go into the Film room to watch the movie. Sister Munro
and I are waiting outside, and I ask to use the Visitor's Center's
phone. I call my Mission President and am explaining what is going on,
and I notice that the tour guide who took us on our tour is very
interested in what I am saying. So, I kind of slip in my testimony of
patriarchal blessings ever so casually so he does not realize I know he
is listening. President Gibbons and I talk, and we find out the correct
procedure to be able to help Bronzie. In the Church Handbook it actually
gives specific instructions for ASL, and Bronzie will be able to
receive a Patriarchal blessing with an interpreter! I am overjoyed, and
while she will not have it here, she has the tools to be able to
understand and accomplish what is required. We share the information
when we are done, and are able to help her out a lot! I feel so blessed
to be able to be able to help the Lord's children no matter where we
are.
Funny Story: After the tour at COC, we go to the
grave site of Emma, Joseph and Hyrum Smith. When we are there, we run
into a family that I had given a tour to the previous day in the Family
Living Center. I talk to them and are following up with them, and we
actually have a wonderful experience. They have some questions about
some of the specifics that happened here in Nauvoo, and I share part of a
Journal entry that Lucy Mack Smith wrote at the Funeral of Joseph and
Hyrum. The Spirit is very strong, and just a wonderful moment. I am
starting to feel so grateful for this time with this family, when all of
the sudden I hear a loud and resounding, CRACK!!! and I see and feel
something fly towards me and kind of hitting me in the shoulder. It
takes a little bit of time to realize what just happened, but something
had fallen from the tree, hit the father of the family in the head
(causing the crack) and part flew off and hit me. The family was very,
very concerned because the father had brain surgery just two years
before, but once we established that everything was ok, we looked up and
saw a squirrel in the tree! The father screwed up his face, pointed to
the tree and said in a loud voice, 'It was the squirrel!" We all just
laughed and some were even crying, and we even found what had hit his
head. It was a HUGE walnut, about as big as my fist and we were even
able to find the part that flew off. All I can say is, that we have had
quite a few problems with squirrels. Even in Carthage, after taking
people on tours of the Jail, the squirrels will come out and pelt stuff
at us! None quite as dramatic as my story, but I know I will be telling
that one for a long time!
On Saturday, Sister Mills and I get to go do
Nauvoo on the Road at the Illinois State Fair! It is a blast, and they
actually even had us perform and sing some songs. I think it turned out
pretty well, and I even learned all of the words to those old songs!
They had us sing the songs typical of that time period like,
"Clementine", "Camptown Ladies", "Polly Wolly Doodle" and "Amazing
Grace". We had about four performances that day, and I was even
surprised by having Elder Broadhead making me do a solo! On the 3 hour
car ride there, we were all joking and playing, and the other Sisters
and I started to reminisce about Girl's Camp songs. Well, we sang a few
and I lead everyone in the song, "The Princess Pat" . Elder Broadhead
was in charge of the music, apparently liked that song, and wanted me to
do it! So three times I sang it and had the crowds at the State Fair
sing back at me, and talk about a "Rickabamboo" :) It was quite
enjoyable!
After a while it was quite apparent that Sister
Mills was not doing too well, so I was kind of left alone- of course
with other missionaries but alone at my job. I was assigned to find a
way to make people come to the booth and our huge tent, so I decided
what would be more attention grabbing than a twenty-year old brunette,
wearing a light green pioneer dress, singing on top of wooden stilts?
Haha! My catchphrase I said to everyone who passed by was, "I bet that
you have never a pioneer on stilts before!" My method was very
successful. I was able to have almost everyone go in and make rope, and
even play other games. I even was able to have quite a few spiritual
conversations, and made quite a few good conversations. One bummer
though was, I think I needed shoes with a steel shank in the sole,
because now my feet are bruised. But it was totally worth it! It was the
best!
Also a cool part it that at one time during the day,
I felt like I needed to talk to two men who were sitting outside of the
Convention Center. I did, and invited them to get on stilts too. Also, a
great conversation starter with adults- they never just take it, and
normally I could coax them into trying it. Well, one of the men
responded with a German accent. Of course, I responded in German, asking
him where he was from, etc. He was from Cologne and was here with his
family! Also, while he was not confident with his stilt walking
abilities, his kids would probably like to do it. His family comes right
out, and there was a four year old and a six year old boy. The kids
came up to me, and when I started talking to them in German they just
lit up! Both just started talking my ears off, asking where I was from
in Germany, or maybe I was from a Russian country because I had a weird
accent ( I have been told by many Germans that I talk like I am
Eastern-european). It was very, very cute, and trying to answer all of
their questions all at once was a little bit overwhelming because I have
not really thought in German for over a year, but it was great! The
kids were so cute, and literally their Mom had to pry them away from me
when it was time for them to go get dinner. It was just the best day
every with the cutest kids!
After we drove home from Springfield, IL
(Where the fair was) Sister Mills was out for the count the rest of that
night and all of Sunday.
Well, while I was confined at home, I got to call a lot of members and
investigators, and got a lot of lessons in too! It was kind of weird to
call them from the house phone in our kitchen with a bad connection
instead of an office, but I think it made me rely on the Spirit more
because I had to really focus on what they were saying. Overall, it was a
great experience.
Even though Sister Mills was sick on Sunday,
I was still able to give a District Meeting to a group! It was great
and I think it went over really well. The only shocker was the District
only wanted the meeting to be an hour long, and we were told we would
have 1 1/2 to 2 hours. But it worked out, and it was a blast! It also
worked out well for role-playing because Sister Gifford was at home
sick, and her husband needed someone to role-play with. So, I was able
to do it and we had a great time! One of the Senior couples in the
group, the Hatches, are just a riot. Elder Hatch was making smart alec
remarks the whole time, to which I just told him to suck it up and
role-play! Haha it was great. After the meeting, we had treats and the
night ended with throwing popcorn into his mouth across the Udall's
living room.
Well on Monday,
Sister Mills was still recovering and they needed me to switch my shift
from working at the Visitor's Center to working at Sarah Granger
Kimball Home with one of my favorite seniors ever..... Sister Murray! My
Canadian spitfire was as lovely as ever, and we had a great time
together. If it is any indication of how well we get along, when she
dropped me off at my house and I was climbing out of her lifted truck,
she took my hand and said, "Sister Allred, I think we were meant to be
friends. We are kindred spirits, and age doesn't matter!" I love that
woman with all of my heart and soul.
Needless to say, this week has been
wonderful and I love you all. This email is long enough already, and I
can definitely say I can now type faster now that I have been on a
mission :) #RMperks. have a great week!
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