To those I love!
First off you're probably wondering why in the world I am emailing again. We received a new schedule for Visitor Center training and so on our schedule they gave today as another p-day. I have no idea why they did it. But they did :)
Where to begin in regards to VC training. I'm so excited to be a VC Sister!! You're probably wondering what in the world have I been doing?? Well let me tell you!
Wednesday they bused the 18 of us in Visitor Center training to Temple Square to receive a tour and then to meet with the Missionary Department Visitor Center Supervisor who covers all Visitor Centers worldwide. The reason he came was to discuss with us VC Sisters the expectations they have for us, the reason we have been called to a Visitor Center and in a nutshell our responsibilities since our call is different in a lot of ways compared to the rest of the missionaries worldwide.
It's been really intimidating because for the past two days this lady from the Missionary Department has been in our class for about 2 hours observing our class and making remarks to us about how important our call is, etc. She mentioned yesterday that she talks regularly with our mission president and that our names have come up. If that's not scary then who knows what is. So yah.
Wednesday night they had us start working in the Referral Center!! Can I just say how much I LOVE online missionary work!! We get to go on for several hours a day and chat with people who have questions about the church. I have only been on twice and so far I have been cussed out twice, I have been trolled, I have had a lady try and argue with me and I have had a lady come on asking me what she should do with a problem in her life. The thing that has been really neat is just how calm I have been and just how strong the spirit has been when I'm replying back to them. It has been such a neat experience!
Yesterday (Thursday) has been the best day so far! So in the morning our teacher had my companion and I go into a room and pray about who we would be teaching later on in the evening. We have no idea who will come in and talk with us. So as we were praying and trying to figure out who we should prepare for, a thought came into our minds. We pictured a young man in his 20's attending college and had brown hair. He was struggling in life. We didn't think much of it. 8 PM rolled around and it was time for all of the people who sign up to come in to just be themselves as we practice on them. The first lady we had was an older lady named Dorothy. She was telling us she was just really struggling right now and she feels bad because she can't get to church as often as she would like because of her health. She was saying she just doesn't feel like she is doing all that she could. We were talking to her and we only have 15 minutes to get to know them, gain their trust, define their needs, teach them a lesson and then invite them to do something. Mind you, these people have been asked to be themselves. My companion was chatting with her and I just had this thought to ask her to sincerely pray to her Father in Heaven. Out of the blue I was like, "Dorothy, I want to invite you over the next couple of days to sincerely pray to your Father in Heaven. Really just talk to him and tell him your concerns. He wants to hear from you. Will you do that?" Her demeanor completely changed and she said, "You know I haven't been doing that lately. That's exactly what I needed to hear at this moment." Later I found out the other companionships just couldn't get through to her.
Our next couple, Randy and Stephanie, came in. We were just talking to them and getting to know them. We had less than 5 minutes to share something with them and then invite them to do something. I was starting to sweat because I couldn't figure out what I should say. Stephanie looked at us and said, "Do you have an uplifting message you could share with us? My companion looked at me and said, "Share your favorite scripture (which is Doctrine & Covenants 98:2 - it talks about waiting patiently upon the Lord)." As I was sharing the scripture with them, they both started crying. I continued to bear my testimony on how that scripture has had such an impact on my life. They looked at us and said, "That's what we needed to hear." They left and that was it. Afterwards our teacher came up to us and said, "Were you the two missionaries that talked about patience with Randy and Stephanie?" We were like, "uhh yah. Why?" She said, "I want you to know you were an answer to their prayers. They have been getting really frustrated lately because nothing is working out with getting their mission papers in, in regards to going on a couples mission. And then you shared that and it was a complete answer to their prayers." We just listened to the spirit and let the spirit do the talking.
So we had one more person. And can you guess who this person was?..... Yup...his name was Michael, in his 20's, college student at BYU with brown hair! As we were talking to him it sounded like everything was going well and he was doing all that he was supposed to be doing with his life. And so I was just praying really hard "Heavenly Father, what is it that we are supposed to say to him that he is supposed to hear?" My companion then just blurted out "Will you bear your testimony on Sunday?" I then bore my testimony on how important it is that we are bearing our testimony often. In fact, we should be bearing our testimony multiple times a day. We invited him to fast and bear his testimony. He looked at us, dropped his head then looked back at us and said, "You know, thank you. I haven't born my testimony in I believe it's been about 6 months now." We will follow up with them all on Sunday to see how it all went. The one thing I learned though was just how vital it is to be in tune to the spirit at all times.
I have so much more to say but I just don't have time!! I love this gospel so much. I thank my Father in Heaven every night for everything He has blessed me with! I hope you all know just how much this gospel means to me. I can testify it is true. There is no doubt in my mind. I would invite all those who haven't read the Book of Mormon lately to read it with a question in mind and to take Moroni's challenge. I love you all! Wish I could write more!
Love,
Sister Skaggs
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