Cudahy: Translado 5: Semana 3‏ / Aug. 10, 2010

Hola Familia!
 
Wow, it has been quite a week. By far the most intense week of my entire mission up to this point. A quick overview of what happened would include the Visitor's Center opened, the branch i've been serving in for the last seven months just got demolished (absorbed into another ward), our two investigators that had a date set to be baptized kicked us out of their house within two days, the dress code for sister missionaries was changed, and they announced that next week they are training the whole mission with a brand new curriculim that they are starting to use in the MTC. So, needless to say, it has been quite a week. Its a really good thing that i like change, because otherwise I think this week would have done me in. The Lord has been helping me out a lot though.
 
So first of all, the Visitor's Center is open! And it is so cool!!! Everything is so beautiful with state of the art technology and brand new media just for this Visitor's Center. They have a 3D graphic model of Jerusalem as it would have been when Christ was here that they have been working on for the last couple of years, there are touch screens for everything, and a way to e-mail all of the media to yourself or to your friends. It is really nice. Elder Allen, the head of the church missionary department, came and did some training with us, and he called it the "crown jewel" of all of the Visitor's Centers that the church has. But more than all of the technology and cool stuff, there is an amazing spirit being there, and it is going to be an incredible tool to help so many people learn about the gospel and come unto Christ. It was neat having the training and hearing them tell us that as the sister missionaries here the center is just the box, and we are the pearls. We have the responsibility to use these resources to make it a special, life changing experience for everyone that walks in the doors, members and nonmembers alike.
 
With that said, anyone and everyone is welcome to come to the center. That includes all of you. The only thing that they ask is that you do not come just to visit me. If you happen to be in Los Angeles already and really want to come to the Visitor's Center, I hope you do because it is an incredible place and would be a really neat experience to see it. But with that said, I am not going to tell you what my schedule is, and please don't come here searching for me. If I happen to see you, then its ok, and they told us that it will just give us the opportunity to show our families and friends how we are within our role as a missionary. They just ask to be very careful, because visits could potentially completely unfocus the missionary and take us out of our purpose for being here. So, the point is, don't avoid the Visitor's Center because I'm here, but also, don't come just because I'm here.
 
Last Thursday they had a special event for the opening of the Visitor's center and Elder Hinkley came and spoke to us. He is President Hinkley's son, and he has a really special spirit and presence about him, and is like his dad in a lot of ways, so that was really neat. Elder Allen also talked to us about the privilege of being a sister missionary here and being part of this opening. It really is such a special thing to be here and to have been here for all of the excitement of opening. I was thinking about it the other day and realizing that I've gotten everything I asked for, because I had seven months to be in an area completely immersed in spanish and the latin culture and have all of those unique experiences and learn spanish, and now I get to use that spanish and those experiences from the Visitor's Center to help me here.
 
With the opening of the Visitor's Center alone my entire mission has completely changed. We are going to be commuting to work in the Visitor's Center every day, and also we will still have all of the weight and responsibility of serving in our areas, so it is going to be a little intense for awhile as we transition. We are one of three companionships that has to commute to the Visitor's Center, but we are by far the farthest out, and the commute takes an hour. A lot of the Elder's like to tease us about the Visitor's Center being a really cushy assignment, but it has been hard. We don't have any time to study or plan, and we have to be able to come up with something ion the spot all of the time to help anyone who comes in the door- to find out their situation and what they need. The last few days it has been so busy that we've been on our feet for the whole shift and haven't even had time to eat. We're getting the schedule and everything worked out more though, so its getting better. We are really lucky to be here though.
 
We had our adorable investigator family come on Sunday and they loved it! They were really touched by everything, and especially the message that we can be with our family for forever.
 
I'm running out of time, so i'll have to fill you in about everything else that happened next week. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the last of your summer before school and everything else.
 
Les quiero mucho!
Hermana Dansie