Transfer 5 week 5

Well this week we had some pretty cool things happened! 

To start off, on Sunday night we had an appointment with Amir and Maryam. Because it's sometimes hard to understand each other over the phone, we often do an instant messaging type thing. And we were talking to Amir for just a short time when we asked how Maryam was doing, and we ended up talking to her for about 45 minutes! Well come to find out she doesn't have any background in Christianity. She is full blown Muslim and thinks that our Church is right for Amir, but not for her. So we're working on that. We have to be very careful as to not overstep boundaries with her current beliefs though. Luckily we have expereience with Muslims because we are currently teaching 4! haha so we get talking to Amir again, and this is what he says... 

Amir: Hello this is Amir

Gretchen: Hello Amir! Maryam told us that you met with the missionaries this week, correct?

Amir: Yes I'm going to visit them in next couple of minutes

Amir: Again

Gretchen: Oh, are they coming to your home?

Amir: No at Church

Gretchen: Oh good, what did they share with you last time?

Amir: At 7:15 for baptism

Amir: :D Amir is happy

Jessica: Someone else's baptism?

Jessica: That sounds great!

Amir: No my baptism

Gretchen: You are getting baptized today?

Amir: Do you let me go! Its late!

Amir: Yes

Gretchen: Why didn't you tell us?!

Gretchen: We wanted to come!

Amir: I arranged it at 3 pm today

Gretchen: Can we come?!

Amir: Do you want cancel it to next day?

Jessica: No!

Gretchen: No we will come now!

Gretchen: What is the address?

Amir: OK

Amir: Its at 7:30

Amir: Can you be here so quick!

Gretchen: We will come now! 

Well imagine my panic while reading that Amir had to leave to go to his baptism that he forgot to tell us about!!! Keep in mind that I have been teaching Amir for 7 months, and that he has been my only local investigator to whose baptism I could actually attend! So we grab our stuff and full out sprint across Temple Square to try to make it to West Jordan in time for Amir's baptism! The APs came to our office and tried to get the address and other information for us as we drove. Well, I figured this would be a good reason to speed. And decided that if I got pulled over I would tell them that my Iranian investigator is getting baptized NOW and that I didn't have time to follow the law. (just kidding) but I was praying the whole way that I wouldn't get pulled over. We get to the church building and there is no one there... so we go to a few other church buildings close by and no luck. So we ended up going to Amir's house and lo and behold, the Elders are at his door! They look at us and say "Aren't you Temple Square sisters? What are you doing here?" I replied "We are the missionaries who have been teaching Amir for the past 7 months." Well come to find out that these aren't the Elders who have been teaching Amir, they are the YSA elders who taught him once and they were following up to see how he was doing. I told them "Well Amir is getting baptized right now and we are trying to find him!" Then Amir comes right around the corner.. "Hey, Sister Gretchen, you missed my baptism!" He got baptized in 15 minutes and that was it! We missed it. Needless to say, I was a bit crushed. I am SO excited for Amir! But I am also SO mad at his Elders for teaching him once and then baptizing him without me there. So when I go to his confirmation this Sunday, I am going to try to hold my wrath in to not disturb the spirit. But the next time I see them at Temple Square, I can't promise anything. But this Sunday I am able to go to his confirmation, and I am still very excited about that! Amir is soon to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I could not be happier!

Tuesday we had the unique opportunity to go to a lunch for President Poulsen with the APs. It was a lunch to introduce President Poulsen to the tourism department in Utah. Now, this was pretty important because if us or President messed up, we wouldn't have nearly as many guests (potential investigators) coming to Temple Square for the years to come. So I was pretty nervous! Especially since I think I got the tiniest fork in the world and kept dropping food on my lap. That was a bit embarrassing. I sat next to a man named Jim Olson, and he is on the board for Utah Tourism. We talked a lot about missionary work because he has a son who left just a few months ago for his mission is South Africa! So that was good. And can I say, that the food was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I probably have never had better food in my life; and it's not just because I've been eating cheap missionary food for the past 7 months. We had an amazing spinach salad (and I love spinach salad), chicken cordon bleu, and waffle bowl ice cream. Topped off with strawberry lemonade! My mouth is watering just writing those words. But it was really good because I thankfully didn't get any food on my clothes, so when I went up and spoke in front of the 180 people there I didn't look like a complete fool. We each had a few moments to share why we loved Temple Square; and for me it's hard to know where to start. I love Temple Square because the spirit is so strong, because of the history and beauty of the church, and mostly because when visitors come to Temple Square, they are changed. Never to be the same. I feel the same way each and everyday as I was through those gates. And I can't imagine that ever changing.

This week, 2 of our new investigators from chat are some of my favorite new investigators! They both came on with questions that is presumably the typical 'Anti' questions. And it is really easy to disregard them. And normally we're supposed to end the chat as quickly as possible! But with these two, we didn't feel it was right. One of them we called as we were chatting! He is absolutely prepared for the Gospel. He was originally from Australia, but moved to London to go to University. So yes, he has the most beautiful accent in the world. No contest. But he has had a pretty rough past, and he said that even when he found success, he didn't find happiness. And being an atheist, he noticed how happy Christians were. He started gaining a belief in God through LDS.org and hearing the Apostles words. Wow! Powerful right? Well he is searching, so intently, for an answer of happiness and truth. And we are very excited to teach him more! He is graduating University at the end of this month and said that he considered, if he joined the church, to come to Utah to study further at BYU or LDSBC. Well perfect! He's so great.

The other guy we were able to call this last Wednesday night, and he said that he absolutely loves the church, and the people. But not quite the history; he has heard a lot of misconceptions. So when we called him we told him, we're going to start over, that he needed to ease his mind of what he has heard, and focus on what we were going to teach him about the Restoration of the church. We invited him to be baptized at the end and he said yes! From where he started, we were very surprised. But we know that he was prepared, just misinformed. So we are very excited to teach these two guys! 

Well that's pretty much it for me, I'm in my last 2 weeks of being in the office, and I am nervous and excited about that. I don't think anyone loves being an office assistant more than I do, but I'm excited to move onto bigger and better things in my future. AND Sister Gudiel (my trainer) and Sister Gee (one of my best mission friends) are both coming back this transfer!!!!! Hope you all have a great week!

Sister Gretchen Brock

This is the Empire room in the Joseph Smith memorial building, where we got to have that fancy lunch with President!

Transfer 5 week 4!

You can call me Aunty Gretchen!! YES! I can finally tell people that I'm going to be an AUNT! Garrett and Micah are going to have a baby :) 

Last weekend was Easter! What a great time to share the Gospel with all of those around us, especially at Temple Square. During Christmas and Easter a lot more people are open to a message about Jesus Christ; which is unfortunate, it should be that way all year round! So the church put out a video called 'Because of Him' this Christmas season. And it is so powerful! I cried while watching it; though I cry almost over everything that touches my heart. But the church advertised it on the front page of Youtube on Easter! The video was linked to Mormon.org chat, and so we were getting A TON of chats all weekend! We had scheduled times in our Teaching Center time where we just took chats! And normally we can take 2 at a time, but for the weekend we were able to take 5 at a time! So since Sister Jensen and I have an office, we took chats for a good amount of the day. We found SO MANY new investigators. Even ran into someone that was with Jeff Kidd! Small world. But just like it was mentioned in General Conference numerous times, technology is a source to spread the Gospel. I love Brother Ridds talk in the Priesthood session entitled "The Choice Generation." He talked about the uses of technology and how it is to be used for good, and 'Because of Him' is a perfect example of how technology can be used in the right way. To bring people happiness because of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

We had a miracle with one of our former investigators this week.Her name is Jane! She is 18 and was very interested in the Gospel a few months back. It was difficult to get a hold of her, and when we finally did she was very straightforward and dropped us. Well just 2 days later she called us back and left us a message saying that she thinks she made a mistake, that she can't get the Gospel off her mind. And she would like us to call her back right away! So we called and she shared an amazing story with us. She said that that weekend she had gone out and gotten drunk with her friends, she had never done this before. And the next day when she was hung over she was taking a shower, just feeling absolutely horrible, and she remembers thinking "Man, the Mormons have this right!" And then she had a flash of the Temple in her mind and passed out. If that isn't a sign, I don't know what is! She said she prayed that night and said that if she is supposed to learn more, she would run into the missionaries the next day. And guess what happens, she ran into the missionaries! She was too scared to talk to them though, so she called us instead. She is back on track and wants to join the church! We just have to get her parents on board. She is truly an inspiration. 

This week I have really been trying to get caught up on General Conference talks, and the ones that have really stuck out to me where the ones I've read from the Priesthood session. If you haven't had the chance to read or watch those, I strongly suggest you do so; immediately. Elder Oaks talk entitled "The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood" is possibly the best talk about the Priesthood, ever. He is so clear and straightforward about the authority of the Priesthood. I myself have never had a problem with not holding the Priesthood, but a lot of women have. They feel like they are being put beneath the men in importance; but Elder Oaks hit it right on target when he said that we must forget about our rights and focus on our responsibilities. Before I read this talk, I thought to myself "What blessings do you Gretchen receive from the Priesthood?" My list included: Sacrament, blessings of healing, setting apart as a missionary, Baptism, Temple Ordinances, and eventually a husband that will be worthy to administer when the Priesthood is needed. I can't imagine my life without the Priesthood. Often times I have always skipped over talks or scriptures concerning the Priesthood, because I thought "Well, I don't have the Priesthood. So why does it matter to me?" But the Priesthood is such a huge part in my life! Everything I do is because of the priesthood, because that is the strongest symbol of God's love for me personally. I know that we all better need to understand the Priesthood, because it is a connection to God, not only for those that hold the keys. "These subjects are of equal concern to men and to women." He explained the difference so clearly between holding the keys and having the authority, he quoted "Those who have priesthood keys.. literally make it possible for all (not just men) who serve faithfully under their direction to exercise priesthood authority and have access to priesthood power." Priesthood authority is available to everyone, but we must do as Elder Oaks advises and forget about our rights and concentrate on our responsibilities! As women, President Reuben Clark said "The greatest power God has given to His sons cannot beexercised without the companionship of one of His daughters, because only to His daughters hasGod given the power to be a creator of bodies… so that God’s design and the Great Plan mightmeet fruition." We are not only here to be "bearers of the Priesthood" but to raise a righteous generation that will be able to partake of the blessings of the Priesthood. I want my kids to feel even more love than I do for the Priesthood. To understand what the role of the Priesthood is in their lives. And that begins with me; what I value and hold dear in life will become their desires. "What we insistently desire, over time, is what we will eventually become and what we receive in eternity.. Only by educating and training our desires can they become our allies instead of our enemies." -Neal A. Maxwell. What do each of us insistently desire? Do we cleave onto righteousness? Do we seek the blessings of the Priesthood in our lives? I hope and pray that we will all understand the role of the Priesthood in our lives more abundantly.

I love you all and hope you had a great week!

Sister Gretchen Brock

Elder Oaks - The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood

(I hope this works)

Transfer 5 week 3

Hello again my beautiful friends and family! Another awesome week, full of exciting things, has come and gone. Directly after emailing last week, we were walking back to our apartment and a lady stopped us and asked "You guys are missionaries right? Do you have a minute to answer a question?" Of course! We only talk for about 15 seconds before she whips out her iphone with scriptures previously highlighted, the typical scriptures that Anti's use. And poor sister Jensen has no clue when she's talking to someone sincere, or someone that is completely bashing our church and beliefs. Well I kindly interrupted her, stated my testimony, told her she can find out for herself and got out of the situation. As we were walking away Sister Jensen asked, "Why'd you do that? She had questions!" But then her question was answered when this lady started following us and screaming "You are going to be cursed! Beware! I was sent to warn you!" and so on... hahaha. I thought it was kinda funny, but Sister Jensen was in awe that she ran into her first anti! The whole rest of the P-day she kept saying, "I can't believe that I ran into my first anti today! It's so cool!" But I am very blessed to have a testimony that is unshaken. I know I am here on Temple Square for a reason, especially when we meet the many people who protest or bash our beliefs, because in my patriarchal blessing it says that 'many people will try to persuade me against my faith, but because of my strong faith, it will have no impact upon my mission here on the Earth.' If anything, anti's help strengthen my testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel! Because I know that the adversary is going to be working hard against the true church, especially in these latter days.

Saturday, Juanita and her husband got baptized!!! I have been teaching her for awhile, and she has been one of my favorite investigators from the beginning. She is so open and willing to change in order to aline her life with God's will. She is so faithful and a great example to me. I'm excited to see how the Gospel spreads throughout her family, she is a great-grandma!

We got to go to the Walker's (the one with 18 kids) again this past Sunday. We taught Scott, who's adopted from China and speaks more Mandarin than English, more about the Priesthood. And previously when he had been taught it, he had no interest in having the Aaronic priesthood. But we explained it a lot simpler and more straightforward this time, and we asked him if he wanted it, and he looked at his mom with a big grin on his face and nodded. Well as you can imagine, water works started coming between his mom and I! We were so excited that Scott has a greater understanding and really wants to follow Jesus Christ ans serve others. He has made a big amount of progress since I started teaching him with Sister Yeung. Scott is so near and dear to my heart; I can't express how much I admire and love the Walker family. They continue to amaze me. 

We were very blessed this week with FOOD. Which as a missionary, is the second best thing on your mission. First of course is the Gospel, but second is definitely food. Especially when you're in a mission where you have to cook all your own food. But because we work so closely with the mission presidency, Elder Skancy (in charge of finance for mission) took us out to dinner at the Garden resturant on top of the Joseph Smith Memorial building, and then on Tuesday President Harman (we really don't know what he does, he's crazy) took the AP's, Temple Square Coordinators and us out to dinner at Nauvoo cafe for a 'meeting'. It's us 6 that are within the 'circle of trust' with the mission presidency, so we are very blessed to work so closely with them.

To go along with that, we ALSO got dinner on Wednesday night at none other than AMIR AND MARYAM! We got approved from President Poulsen to be able to go to their house, because normally we're not allowed to in our mission. But president loves Amir, he had to interview him to make sure that we are able to teach him since he is from Iran. Mayam cooked us some traditional Iranian food, and it was SO good! Especially the Persian cookies. We were able to teach them more about the Temple, which is Amir's goal for them. We just have to help make it Maryam's goal too. She doesn't understand English as much as Amir does, but she likes the church because she feels good and enjoys going to church because everyone has the same purpose of "praying to The God." haha they both crack me up! But Amir absolutely is 100% dedicated to the Gospel, he reads the book of Mormon all the time and loves learning more from reading on LDS.org and Mormon.org. And he is now set to be baptized on May 17th! If I don't go outbound then I'll be able to attend my first baptism for my investigator. This is something we miss out on at Temple Square, because our investigators are all over the world. But I have been working with Amir since October, and I know this is going to be one of the best days of my mission to see Amir enter the waters of baptism. He is so special to me! Maryam is so excited for him as well, and is working towards baptism in the future.

Yesterday morning for Relief Society we got to watch Meet the Mormons, the new movie coming out that I ushered for the apostles! Wow. This movie is going to do amazing things for the church, both for the members of the church and people who are not members of the church! The movie follows a few, what they call 'average' (I say pretty amazing), members of our church. It is to help people see what we believe, by how we live our lives. And that is how it should be, we SHOULD stand out! We are very different than the world, and the way we live our beliefs will show that. This movie helped me to realize the impact that a family built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ can have on the world. There is nothing more powerful! These, somewhat normal, families were doing extraordinary things! Because they had faith in and acted upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The final story they follow is a mother and son, who grew up in very humble circumstances. The boy's father had left them abused and alone. She ran into some missionaries and allowed them to teach her, and at first she didn't accept the message. She stopped meeting with them. She ran into some more trouble with the boy's father, and went to find shelter within a gas station convenience store. The worker noticed her distraught, and walked over. Well this worker is a member of the church, and asked if she wanted her to call the missionaries to give her a blessing. Well, needless to say, this young mom and her son joined the church, and it absolutely changed their life. And now her son is on a mission in South Africa! She leaves with her testimony of how much the gospel will change our lives, if we just let it. And she pleads with us, to listen to the message her son has to offer, because she is a witness of the healing power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. And this is the message that we as missionaries get to share with people. I am excited to see how this video will impact the work here at Temple Square.

This week, Sister Jensen and I have really been trying to improve our teaching numbers. In the past, I've always had A TON of people to teach because I've had Spanish, Portuguese and Mandarin/Cantonese/German speaking companions. And all of those people are so prepared to hear the Gospel! But Danish people are hard to come by, so we've had to rely on the English people we have right now. So we have been praying really hard this week to find some new investigators and reach our goals for teaching that we set each day. Well yesterday afternoon we were doing really well, all of our appointments turned out and we still had 4 more planned for the evening! Well after those 4 appointments fell through, we called just about everyone in our area book. No luck. So we got on our knees and prayed, Heavenly Father please help us to get another lesson tonight. We really want to accomplish our goals for today, and we know that thou canst help us. Seconds later, a bunch of chats started coming up. We took about 4 and still were not having any luck! No one who is really interested in learning more about the church. We were getting very frustrated when another chat came, normally we don't take chats after 8:30, but we felt prompted to. And boy am I glad we did! Because Samuel is who we prayed for. He is one of those investigators who asked golden questions which lead straight into the lessons. And although we didn't have much time to teach him, we got his information and now will be teaching him over the phone and email! He was a miracle, despite our disbelief through those frustrating first few chats. We had another miracle this morning! Last night when we were planning for our day today, we were setting our goals for teaching. And I said to Sister Jensen, "I have the faith that we'll get a member present, do you?" Well, we only had about an hour for teaching today. And we had quite a bit of stuff we needed to get done in the office today. But as soon as we got back from the Temple session this morning, we received a text for a tour of 3 Danish. Well there are only 2 sisters here from Denmark, so we decided to take it. Turns out to be 1 Danish and 2 English! An exchange student from Denmark and her host family, from Wyoming! They are members of the church and wanted her to see Temple Square. Her host sister, Josie, also mentioned that she has read my blog! Small world. But Anna, from Denmark, was our member present lesson that we prayed for. She was an answer to our prayers! We are now going to be calling her and teaching her more over the phone in both Danish and English! Excited to see what happens with her.

Well that's about it for this week! Today Sister Jensen and I are going to watch Ephraims rescue; we're borrowing the AP's projector and watching it on our wall back at the apartment. We are very excited for that! Hope you all have a great week, and know that I love you.

Love,
Sister Brock

Subject: Transfer 5 week 2

This week has been packed FULL of greatness. First off, General Conference on Temple Square... can't get better than that! Only thing that would have made it better would have been a little sunshine. But I'm not complaining! Saturday we had a pump up meeting right before he headed out on the square at 8am. And as I come up the stairs onto the square from our office I see none other than Bryce Johnson and Isaac Taylor from my ward back home! They had seen a bunch of sisters come up the stairs so they figured I would too. haha well they took me to the Priests/Laurels from my ward who were waiting in the stand-by line at the Tabernacle. It was great to see everyone from my home ward.

Our schedule the whole day was Square, so we were contacting people ALL day! Which is something I am really awkward with. I'm not good with small talk, I'm better with saying "Hey isn't the Gospel of Jesus Christ amazing? I love it. You should share it with your friends! How about I call them?" But apparently this scares people off, so I had to practice small talk and bridging to the Gospel. But with lots of practice beforehand, Sister Jensen and I had some great success with contacts.

Something that was really big this conference was the protesters for the women who want the Priesthood. Now, they weren't very apparent for most of the weekend, up until the priesthood session. Their plan was to march from a nearby park to Temple Square and wait in the standby line for the Priesthood session. We were told by our mission presidency to avoid the Tabernacle area around that time, and contact people other places. Well, I was totally oblivious to the time and I was talking to a couple right outside the Tabernacle. Out of NO WHERE it starts hailing. I look to my right and see a very large group on men and women coming in a line towards the Tabernacle. It was the group protesting for Ordain Women. Never had I seen such a tremendous tangible evidence of God's wrath. I was glad that I was oblivious and was able to witness this sign from God. I know that the Priesthood is such a sacred thing, and that God ordained men for a reason. We each have a divine purpose and role in this world, and we all benefit from the blessings of the Priesthood.

We have MLC (mission leadership conference) this week and Sister Jensen and I got to give a training on analyzing key indicators and goal setting. Can I just tell you how much I love analyzing numbers? I am highly considering studying statistics in college. Well the training went really well, and we are excited to see a lot of changes coming in the near future. We had zone conferences this morning, and we touched a lot on the same things as in MLC but without the influencing other sisters part, it was more internal. 

President Poulsen shared about the story in the book of Daniel with Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and was asking Daniel to reveal what it was and what it meant. In chapter 2 vs. 31-34 it says...

31 ¶Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great ^aimage. This great image, whosebrightness was excellent, stood before thee; and ^bthe form thereof was terrible. 
32 This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and histhighs of brass,
33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
34 Thou sawest till that a ^astone was cut out ^bwithout hands, which smote the imageupon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

What does this dream mean for us personally? What is this clay? The clay is our weaknesses, our imperfections, our shortcomings. And we have to beware of the stone that is attacking our clay! But most importantly, we must be utilizing the refining fire that helps us distinguish our clay and dispose of it. It is through the refining fire that we are able to rid ourselves of our weaknesses. What are you willing to do to rid yourself of clay? Are you willing to go through the refiners fire? The refiners fire begins with obedience, we have to be WILLING to do as our Heavenly Father asks. President Ezra Taft Benson said "When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power." If we inquire to be obedient in all that we do, Heavenly Father WILL give us the power to overcome temptation and imperfections. I strive from this day forward to be completely obedient. I will not justify commandments, and choose which that I follow. I know that I too will be endowed with power, and that I will be lifted up in the strength of my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Well that's all I have time for this week! This work is great, and I am so excited to be apart of it. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the true gospel on the Earth TODAY. Feast and partake of it's goodness. Love you all!

Sister Brock

Transfer 5 Week 1

Well boy has this been a very exciting week! 

I got a new companion! Her name is Sister Jensen and she is from Denmark. She came out the same time as I did, and she is so great and is picking up things really quickly. This week has been crazy for us in the office, but thankfully we have gotten a good amount of time out teaching on the square and calling our investigators. And she brought in like 4 new Africans into our teaching pool! I'm super excited about them. 

Last Saturday was the General Women's Meeting. Wow. I can't express how strong the spirit was! I think it was my first time in the Conference Center where I was actively attentive and searching for answers. And it makes ALL the difference. Last April I had the pleasure of coming to Temple Square with the Priests/Laurels and our Bishop to attend GC. And at the time, I felt pretty great because I was the only one who didn't fall asleep in a session, and I was actively taking down notes. But because I was so focused on writing everything down, I wasn't in-tune with what the spirit was trying to tell me. It is definitely important to listen to what is being said, but it is even more important to listen to what you feel. Because we can be told things countless times without it effecting us; but it is through out feelings that we are changed. We have to listen through the spirit! "If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you.” —Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. This General Conference is going to be very different for me, it is going to be a time of change. A time for God to communicate to me how I can become better. But it isn't only what we hear or feel that matters, but what we do about those things that we hear and feel! There are so many times in my life where I hear a powerful quote, or feel the spirit so strongly, but then what? Where do I go now from the experience? The question we must each ask ourselves is "What is my next step to acting on this personal revelation I received?" And I know that as we do this, that we each will become more in tune with the spirit, and that we will receive more personal revelation! And most importantly, we will become more like our Savior Jesus Christ.

So this week, I had quite a few run-ins with the General Authorities and Apostles. Started off withMonday night when Sister Yeung and I got the privilege of ushering for the Apostles and General Authorities. They have to approve the new movie coming out called "Meet the Mormons." It's a documentary on a few different LDS families and how they live as a Mormon. The movie was created more for people who are not members of the church, but I know that each of us can take something from it. The few other sisters who were ushering with us got to see it, but Sister Yeung and I had some teaching appointments. It was really hard resisting watching a movie with the apostles!!! But it was very apparent that our teaching was blessed because of our sacrifice. So you are all probably wondering who all attended this movie? We didn't really know going into it, but we knew that some Apostles and GA's were going to be there. Thankfully I got assigned to one of the great assignments, helping people find their seats. So I got to talk to each person as they walked in! Which included most of the quorum of the 70, Elder Perry, Elder Christofferson, Elder Bednar, Elder Nelson, Elder Dube (he's just awesome), Elder Holland, President Uchtdorf, and none other than David Archuleta! I was so glad that I had been able to teach so many people that day because the first thing Elder Perry asked me when he walked in and shook my hand was "What have you accomplished today?" Before he even asked my name... But I imagine this is a lot like what judgement day will be like. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know us each personally, and when they ask us what have we accomplished, what will we be able to say? This is something I have pondering a lot since then. And I realized that there have been many days in my mission where I feel accomplished because I finished all the office work I needed to do that day, or I finally didn't accidentally scramble my eggs. Yes these things are great, but what goal does this accomplish? My goal and purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ, and to do so by word, example and deed! This is a great question to ponder each day, to recognize how we can become better each day. After our appointments, we were able to go back and greet them after the movie. I was able to talk to Elder Holland, Elder Bednar, President Uchtdorf and David Archuleta again. Everyone wanted to talk to David Archuleta, since he just returned home this last week from his mission, and even President Uchtdorf had to wait in line to meet him! haha thankfully he came and talked to me right after he got out of the movie. Sister Jensen and I got the privilege of ushering with just us and the AP's for a meeting consisting of the entire quorum of the 70, Elder Ballard, and Elder Scott. So we got to meet and shake every. single. one. of their hands just yesterday.

With so many encounters with the leaders of the church this week, and with general conference coming up, I've been thinking a lot about how blessed we are to have a prophet and apostles on the Earth today! They are here to lead and guide the church, just as in days of old. And what greater time have we had need of a prophet? The world is becoming more and more corrupt, and as said by President Eyring in the general women's meeting, as Satan is attacking at younger ages, Heavenly Father is lifting his children higher and higher. And one of the ways he lifts us is through his prophets! In preach my Gospel, it says that God reveals the truth necessary for salvation through prophets and apostles. So these things that they share with us, usually over and over, are the things necessary for our salvation. Makes general conference pretty important don't you think? And I can promise each and every one of you that you will know that these are God's messengers by just listening to them! You will feel of God's love and spirit through their words. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. Through his different talks and devotionals, he has very specifically answered questions that I came into the meeting having. I know that Heavenly Father loves me, and sent me a prophet to help me understand more of his will and plan for me. I am so grateful that we have the opportunity to hear semi-annually from our prophet and apostles. And I will never again take general conference for granted, I have too much I need to change to do so. This gospel is true.

My last district!

Saying goodbye to Sister Yeung :') She'll do great things in San Jose, California!

I am very excited and nervous for this weekend! But please, if you're in the area, please come find me! I'd love to have the opportunity to talk with each and everyone of you. You're great, and I love you all!

Sister Brock

Transfer 4 week 5

Starting off with some of my favorite quotes of the week:

Sister Yeung: "I will go, I will doooo, the things by body commands!" She realllly had to go to the bathroom! hahaha

Our Recent Convert (alan): "I hope in Heaven I get to play basketball with the Elders, that's heaven to me." So sincere. 

My absolute favorite of the week is by Elder Guo, stay tuned for the story later in my letter.
This has been a great and verrry full week! I will try to share all the highlights that I can. Both Saturday and Sunday were packed absolutely FULL with teaching, which is my favorite. I love being in the office and analyzing the numbers, but there is nothing greater than teaching and testifying.

Saturday we called one of our investigators Yisai (pronounced I-say). I've had him for awhile now, and the whole time I was teaching him I thought he was from China, so I thought "Perfect! Now I have a Mandarin speaking companion and he will understand more fully what we share with him!" Uhh... nope. After he made us play a long guessing game of where he is from, we find out he is from Tonga! Everything made so much more sense after we found that out. Then we invite him to go to church the following day and he says so calmly, "yeahhhh, I guess I will. Since I'm supposed to get the Priesthood tomorrow anyway, I guess I'll go." Isn't is great when you find out that your investigator got baptized 3 weeks ago and decided not to tell you? Especially since we had taught him 3 times since he has gotten baptized. Frustrations of a Temple Square missionary.

Sunday was one of the greatest days on my mission! We had gotten a new investigator, Hanz, last week. And he was leaving back home for Chicago on Tuesday. So we felt the impression to invite him to come to our ward with us on Sunday, and he said yes! Even when we told him that it starts at7:30am. He came, and although he didn't understand much of what the sisters were saying, he definitely felt the spirit. After the opening hymn, he looked at me in awe and said "wow, is it always like that?" I simply replied "yes. Always." He was brought to tears in the musical number as well. He is very in tune with the spirit, and recognizes it easily. We took him to music and the spoken word directly after and he LOVED it! Hymns hymns and more hymns. He didn't want to leave after that, so instead we sent him to the theater here and played Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration. Only one of the all time greatest church movies. Shortly after we had staff meeting with the mission presidency and APs. At this meeting we present the numbers of the mission and discuss how we can help the mission progress. And as President Harmon said "We knocked it out of the park." I just love analyzing numbers! We had a very special experience after that. Because our mission boundries are literally inside the gates of Temple Square, we don't have any members or wards where we can go to their homes. But because there is a young Chinese boy, Scott Walker, who was adopted and doesn't speak any English, we are able to go to their house. We went and taught with the Elders there in their home. Just a different experience! This is the family that has 18 kids. They're superstars. We also get to have dinner when we go to their house, and boy was that great! Not only to be in a home, but to be in the Walkers home. Every time that I come in contact with them, I am changed. The way they have unconditional love to anyone they come in contact with is just astounding. We arrived back to the Square just in time to meet up with Amir and Maryam at the square. Maryam is Amir's wife who is FINALLY in the Unites States! It was so great to meet her. We asked her how she had felt about what Amir had shared with her about the church and she said "I like a lot, but not ready to jump board get baptized like Amir. I need learn more." But we are so grateful to be teaching a lot of families right now. We know that Amir and Maryam will one day be sealed in the Temple, and become an eternal family. That they will have the desire to keep learning and growing each day of their lives. And I couldn't ask for better people to teach. Our next big appointment on Sunday was with Zhu Yue and Yun Fung, they are some of our investigators that come to the Square with the Chinese Elders and we teach them together here. The lesson went great and we were able to find a lot of their concerns, but unfortunatly the lesson got over about 30 minutes later than we planned.. which means we got left at the square without any other sisters to walk home with. The Elders Guo, Shiuh and Chau knew this and Elder Guo said "Do you sisters need a man to walk you home?" HAHA! Then Elder Shiuh said "Well, not us!" haha they are so funny. They are some of my favorite Elders that come to the Square. Well moral of the story is, don't get left behind on the square because then you'll have to interrupt your roommates precious planning time to grab a car and come pick you up. 

Tuesday I had another crazy experience with my BOM reading coming to life on the Square. I was reading in Helaman 8-9, where Nephi is telling them that he is a prophet of God called to declare speedy repentance unto these people. But, just like in every dispensation, the people rejected the prophet. He prophesied unto them that they would find their chief judge laying in a pool of his blood. They stated "now we will know of a surety whether this man be a prophet... we do not believe that he hath.. nevertheless, if this thing which he said... (is) true, we will believe." But even when they found the chief judge laying in his blood they did not believe. Nephi had to give unto them another sign, and finally a group of them believed him to be a prophet of God. There are so many times where people are so hard-hearted where they won't even recognize or acknowledge a sign when it hits them in the face. I had an experience Tuesday night where I was on exchanges with my District Leader, Sister Walsh from England, who is very shy and timid. we had not had too much success contacting and we only had a short time left before we had to return home. We see a man looking at the Temple Model, we get talking and find out that he's a scientist from Germany. He was quick to tell us many things that he disagreed with in our religion, and ended with "I believe in science, physical evidence, not God." Sister Walsh started replying very softly and kind. But then I remembered an experience that a friend of mine, Elder Reed serving in Africa, had wrote about in his weekly email. How a man was trying to weaken their testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but Elder Reed stood his ground and testified so boldly and straightforward how the Gospel has changed his life. And I felt that this was the opportune moment for me to do so as well. I somewhat interrupted Sister Walsh, got right up close in his face, looked him dead in the eye and bore my testimony the most boldly I have thus far on my mission. I told him "You know what, we volunteer 18 months of our lives to come and share with you what we know to be true, and I wouldn't be standing here today if I simply just believed this was true. I know that God is real! That us being here on the Earth isn't by chance, but for a greater purpose. I know that we were meant to meet today so that we could share this message with you, to share that we know this Gospel is true. And I want you to know that I know that Joseph Smith received an answer to his prayer, that he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. And I know that you can know these things too if you would humble yourself enough to recognize God's influence all around you." The spirit was absolutely burning inside me! I crave that feeling. And this man and Sister Walsh looked at me in complete awe, I could feel the spirit radiating from me. I have never been so bold in my mission, and it felt GREAT! I know that this man would not have accepted physical evidence of God. But I know that he felt the spirit as we testified to him, and I pray he will never forget that feeling. I want to be as Nephi, "unwearyingness declaring the word... thou hast not heard them (man).. but sought my will.. and now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever." (Helaman 10:4-5). I want to be as Nephi and have unwearyingness in the work. To have power and authority in my words and to have people recognize me as a disciple of Jesus Christ. And I know that God will give us strength and authority in our words as we open our mouths. We can't be scared to share what we believe, because I can promise you that the Lord will strengthen you. We alone are not enough, but "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4:13).

I had another great experience while on exchanges with Sister Lampinen this week. But unlike the exchange with Sister Walsh, we were having great success all day! We had gotten a hold of all of our investigators that we had planned to teach, were able to contact new investigators and had taken 2 tours in the morning! We each had gained 4 new investigators! We had just an hour left and we were ready to see another miracle. We got a text for a tour and I knew that was going to be it. We took it and met our victims.. muhaha! It ended up being two old ladies and one of their sons, who reeked of alcohol. "Hmm... Heavenly Father? This wasn't what we asked for." But boy where we wrong! The older ladies were very religious and were so interested in learning more about the church. We had taken them around for a little while and we decided to end at the Christus. They loved and knew all the scriptures in the audio. Sister Lampinen bore her testimony and definitely brought the spirit, and I just fed off that spirit and added my testimony. I looked each one of them in the eyes and felt that same burning inside me as I did with the German man. I didn't want to stop! I must have been testifying to them for 10 minutes, and not one of them even blinked. They felt it. And this is the best time to invite them to learn more, but they kindly rejected. Normally, I would be really hurt by this response, feeling like I didn't do enough. That in our purpose as missionaries to "invite others to come unto Christ byhelping them receive the restored Gospel..." I only invited, but didn't help them. But I didn't feel that this time, I felt that this was a successful tour even without them referring to learn more. Sister Lampinen and I talked afterward and we knew that something had changed inside them, that their fire was rekindled. They re-committed themselves to follow our Savior Jesus Christ. And this brings them one step closer to accepting the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I want to testify about the power a testimony has. No matter how strong your testimony is, it is yours! Even on my mission I have felt extremely inadequate because I felt like my testimony wasn't strong enough. That I don't know enough. But now I know that whatever seed you have planted is enough to testify. That Heavenly Father knows what I am capable of, and he wouldn't call me here if my testimony wasn't enough. President Poulsen said in Zone Conferences (when I was on medical leave), that "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, but the second best time is now." My seed started growing only 2 years ago, but I know that as we constantly nourish it with the power of prayer, scripture study, church and application, that our seed can grow as fast as we allow it. Heavenly Father WANTS us to grow and gain experience, our only limitation is as we succumb to the natural man within. Be strong in the Lord, and grow your seed! I can promise each of you that your seed is enough, and that it has the power to plant other seeds.

I love you all, and I hope this email makes sense. I always have so much to say but so little time! I enjoy hearing from you all, please email/write me to let me know how you are doing. 

Countdown: 15 days until conference!!! :)

Best regards,

Sister Brock

Transfer 4, feels like week 2, actually week 4

哈囉!家人和朋友!

To be completely honest, I had my companion type that. I have only learned my name in Mandarin. And that's because I got to (kind of) pick how to translate Brock... I picked Boo.

Well I arrived safe and sound back on the beautiful Temple Square this last Sunday! And I was scared out of my mind. My heart and mind desperately wanted to come back, but I wasn't sure if my body was. Well ready or not, I came and got right into it! Sunday we had such a successful day, shortly after I arrived we had a mandarin lesson on the square (my first one!) and oh boy was that great! Her name is Zhu Yue. She is one of our investigators who we have been teaching for awhile, but this was the first lesson that her husband attended too. She has such a strong testimony but is nervous to get baptized, so we're working with her a lot. We also took a mandarin tour of 8 people and they all got book of Mormons and referred! But they are heading back to mainland China soon, so we won't be able to teach them after that.

Monday we were analyzing numbers all morning, and then took an investigator lesson. That's where other Salt Lake missions bring their investigators to Temple Square and we teach them together. And that went really well! When missionaries do that, it's usually to set a baptismal date, because the spirit is always so strong here. So we get to see a lot of people accept baptismal dates! Though I think it's pretty weird when the local missionaries want us to invite their investigators to be baptized... just my opinion. We were then heading to lunch when we passed someone asking the sisters at the desk for a tour, and without processing what I was saying I somewhat screamed "We'll take it!" She was from Brazil but was visiting for her friend's temple marriage. The wedding was in Wyoming, but she decided to stay a few extra days and come to Salt Lake City. And boy was that an AMAZING tour! Her name is Gabriela, and she is prepared by God to hear this Gospel. We taught her all about the Temple, and taught her the restoration. She got a Portuguese book of Mormon and wants to meet with local missionaries! We are also going to be teaching her over the phone. Oh yeah, and she accepted baptism on the tour. She's golden.

Tuesday we also got a hold of one of my favorite investigators, Juanita! She has been having a lot of health problems, but thankfully she is doing much better this week! We went over baptismal interview questions with her and she is solid, so ready to get baptized! And her husband just started meeting with the local missionaries too. She's a great grandma (which totally surprised me) and wants to take all of her grand kids to primary! haha she's great.

Wednesday I had my return doctor's appointment! I know my mom has been waiting for this... she wanted Sister Poulsen to call her and give her the update because "What if I can't wait until Friday?" Well it was a total of a 4 minute appointment, and most of the time was spent removing my steri-strips. Everything is looking real good! Thankfully this scar isn't as thick as a lot of my other scars. It is about 6 inches long though and dis-formed my belly button... but who needs that anyway? One downfall is that I think they cut through some of my nerves and I lost feeling in about a square inch of my stomach. But other than that everything is going great! I am pretty much off my medication, because I can't drive when I'm on it. And have had a great balance this week of sitting either in our office or the teaching center and being on the square. On Wednesday we tried to contact a lot of our referrals because it is a goal to have contacted them all by conference. So one of them I called is named Caroline, I met her friend on the Square last transfer and he referred her. I finally got a hold of her! I was extremely awkward on the phone (as usual) but she still was willing to learn more about the Gospel. I'm excited to teach her, she lives in Salt Lake, she is in high school and she is blind. I'm excited to see how she progresses.

Thursday was a packed full day! We took a bunch of tours, Mandarin, Cantonese and English (almost caught a German one too!). And we have been handing out Book of Mormon's like crazzzy this week, probably close to 30. One Cantonese tour we took was one of the coolest teaching experiences I've ever had. (btw, everyone who knows Cantonese also knows English. People in Hong Kong learn Cantonese, Mandarin and English in school). This man's name is Han Zao Lin (I like to call him Hanz, like from the movie Frozen) and he is from Southern mainland China, but studies now in Chicago. He told us within the first few minutes of meeting him that he is searching for a church, "well great we can help you with that!" We started off with teaching him a few of our basic beliefs, and then taught him the restoration. I was bearing testimony about how he would feels God's love more by reading the Book of Mormon than by any other book, and he then responded "How does God's love feel?" Well surprising this is the first time I've ever been asked this on my mission, and it definitely caught be off guard! But truly the holy spirit guides, and I gave a short but powerful testimony of how I feel God's love. The spirit was so strong! And he told us he wants to feel God's love like we do, and that he wants to read the book of Mormon. We are going to be teaching him over the phone. But this experience really got me thinking, what does God's love feel like? I feel like for me, it's the unexplainable joy and endless hope for a brighter future. When you feel happy and you don't know exactly why, other than there is so many blessing in your life that you just KNOW that God has a very special plan for you. And you know that no matter what happens, it's for the better, because it's all a part of God's plan, and his plan is always far better than ours. I have a confident testimony in God's plan for me. I have had some pretty extreme ups and downs in my life, times where I have felt like I am at the top of the world and times where I feel like nothing is going right. And I never understood for a long time why that was, why couldn't I just have an average life where I don't have to worry about the next downfall? But when I was in the MTC we watched a Mormon Message entitled "The Will of God" (https://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages) it is my absolute favorite video ever, so please take a moment and watch it. I saw this during one of my ups, when I was flying high on the spirit in the MTC. And it really humbled me, made me realize that these things happened to me so that I could be built up the way that my Father in Heaven intends me to. And ever since, when I've had a hard time, I am grateful. Because I know that this is my chastening, to become more of who my Father in Heaven wants me to be. I know that God has a great plan for me! And that these ups and downs are going to help me to become better, stronger and strengthen my testimony of the Atonement. I know that this surgery was to help me become better. I had a realization last week. I realized how quickly I went back to the person I was before my mission, not utilizing the time I had to study the scriptures, lounging around, and using immature language. I am grateful that I had this experience, it motivated me to ensure a lasting change from my mission. I don't want to go back to who I was, I want to be better, stronger, and firmer in my testimony and personal conversion. And now is the time to do so! I love this Gospel more than anything, and I am not willing to give it up so easily.

This morning we got to go to the Temple, which is always a great experience. There is no place that I feel closer to God than in the Temple, the house of the Lord. Sister Yeung and I stayed in the Celestial room for over an hour, we decided to do our companionship study in there. Needless to say, it was the best companionship study yet! Then shortly after we started emailing, our recent convert, Brother Ling, came to the Square. So we went to go meet up with him, and he brought a friend along! We now have a new investigator :) Can I just say that absolutely all Chinese people love me? And that is not an exaggeration.

I want to share a part of my study journal with you from this past week. (Helaman ch.12)

This chapter is typically know for verse 12, about building your foundation on the gospel of Jesus Christ. But for now I would like to focus on verses 34-52. It starts off with a cloud of darkness that surrounds the wicked people of the Lamanites and one Nephite by birth, named Aminadab. They are very frightened, but Aminadab beheld Nephi and Lehi, the sons of Helaman, through the darkness because of their glowing countenances. In his own words, "they did shine exceedingly, even as the faces of angels... (and) they did lift their eyes to heaven." I can just imagine this glorious moment that Aminadab beheld, it was so miraculous that Aminadab called unto the Lamanites to look and "behold the faces of Nephi and Lehi." He testified unto them that they are conversing with angels of God. The people then desired this cloud to fall away from them, and Aminadab said unto them that they must repent and have faith in Christ. They all began to cry mightily unto the Lord their God, and the cloud of darkness dispersed. "They were filled with that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory" because of repentance and faith in our Savior. They could not deny this physical evidence of which they had seen, and they began to bear record and testimony into the other Lamanites. And because of the greatness of the number of testimony's and witness's being shared. they were converted unto the Lord. I know that events in the scriptures can be replicated, even if not to a tee. Just yesterday I had a very similar experience. Sister Yeung and I took a tour of two women who were lawyers, the tour went very well and they both felt the spirit very strongly at the Christus. They both accepted book of Mormon's, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. Sister Yeung and I were discussing how we thought the tour went when we noticed these tho ladies discussing something very intently, we wondered if it was about the things we shared. We decided to go up to them again and invite them to attend the organ recital. They were surprised at our reappearance. They said "we were just talking about you! We were so impressed at how you both conduct yourselves, and how much good you are doing in the world at such a young age." They noticed the glowing countenance that the gospel brings us. And although they may not yet be converted, we KNOW that they will never forget this experience and the feelings they had at Temple Square.They will go back to their homes and share of their experience with the disciples of Jesus Christ here at Temple Square. This happens so often here at Temple Sqaure, we begin the journey of someone's joy in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are so blessed to be a part of their first taste of the goodness of this Gospel.

I love teaching and testifying of the book of Mormon, there is not greater thing in the world to me.I treasure every moment I get to share a scripture with someone, whether it is their first time or their hundredth time, I know that the scriptures change lives! That the Book of Mormon will bring you closer to Jesus Christ than any other book. It has the power to change your life, I can testify of this because I am a result of it. The Book of Mormon has given me hope for a brighter future, it has given me a sure testimony that Jesus Christ lives and that He loves ME. If you haven't read the Book of Mormon yet, I invite you to do so, because I promise you that it will change your life.

I love you all and hope you have a joyous week.

Sister Brock

Unfortunately we didn't take many pictures this week. Caught up in the work! That's a good thing though right? Sister Yeung and I will try to do better next week.

I used one of our Senior Couples, the Curtis's, blanket in the hospital. I returned it to them when I came back on Sunday, and on Monday morning I found it back in my office with the words... "Courage, Sister Brock, Feb 2014" embroidered on it. They are my favorite! They spoil me.

And don't look at the second picture if you don't want to see my scar. This is Wednesday night after they took off my steri-strips. I washed off the gunk shortly after, and it is looking a lot better now. You can see how interesting my belly button looks now... hard to even find it!