Conference Center is Changing
Date
December 10, 2019
Area
Temple Square (West 1 District)
Companion
Sister Alexis Hunter
Conference Center is Changing
This week began with interviews with President Fisher. Not much happens with those. We shared scriptures and talked about the goals we have set as a companionship for the transfer. On Thursday we had exchanges again. Our district leader is trying to do all the exchanges early because she has to exchange 8 times. Luckily, this is our second and final exchange of the transfer. Sister Erickson is the sweetest and was really helpful with ways I can improve as a missionary.
Also on Thursday was Conference Center Training. We learned about some of the changes going on in the conference center that we will be apart of. Beginning in January the South Visitor Center will be closed and we will have shifts in the Conference Center. Currently the conference center can only be entered with a tour guide to show people around. To make it more inviting, the conference center will be open for people to go and explore without a tour guide. Areas on most of the floors will be open for the public to explore. They will also be adding different exhibits with historical artifacts for people to see. Some parts of the Conference Center will still need a tour guide to see, but I am excited for the idea that it will be more open to the public. The model of the temple will reside there along with a new Christus Statue smaller than the original in the North Visitor Center and a new video in the theater talking about the temple construction. I am excited to see what other changes are in store for this coming year.
Friday was the day for service projects. Our zone went to the Festival of Trees to volunteer our time. The Festival of Trees is an event where people purchase and decorate trees that they donate to the event. The trees can then be purchased by people and the money is donated. It was beautiful people are so creative. I saw a disneyland tree complete with ornaments for all the different disneyland rides. There was also a bottle cap tree made entirely out of bottle caps. Our job was to stand near the trees to watch them as well as talk to people about their experience at the festival. It was a lot like what we usually do at the visitor centers. I still enjoyed the time we were able to spend there.
On Sunday was sacrament of course and we listened to amazing talks from the departing sisters. One sister, Sister Mulet, is getting ready to return home after 21 months of service. She was originally called to the Paris Visitor Center, the first phillipino to serve there. Unfortunately she had to wait for a visa and served in the Philippines until she could get her visa approved. She waited and waited as it was continuously rejected. 9 Months into her mission in the philippines and she was ready to give up on just allow the Lord to keep her where he wanted her. Finally, she was told by her mission president that she had been reassigned. She was to serve in the Temple Square mission and she would be extended by 3 months. Within a week her visa for the United States was approved. Her store was so touching. It reminds me that God knows what is best for each of us. We can ask for help and he will answer, but it won't always be the answer we were expecting. We don't fully understand his plan for us, but it is there. We must only allow him to guide our path and have faith in him.
Lastly, I talked to a few people this week from Las Vegas. One couple came looking for our district leader because the guy served with her on her outbound mission to Arkansas Bentonville Mission. They looked familiar so I asked where they were from. Turns out they both attend Northwest graduating the year just before me. Another person I met on Square was another couple. The girl was from Vegas and attended LVA and the guy was from Alabama but served in the Las Vegas West mission. He never served in the ward I was in, but he did serve in the Elkhorn Stake. I don't remember a lot of the missionaries from our ward, but he did know Sister Tanner from Canada who we hosted for Christmas one year. The world is so big, yet so small at the same time.
The weeks are flying by, just yesterday I saw a sister who was entering the MTC this Wednesday and will be here in just a few weeks. We never know what the future may hold. Talk to you all again next week!
Sister Christensen
Also on Thursday was Conference Center Training. We learned about some of the changes going on in the conference center that we will be apart of. Beginning in January the South Visitor Center will be closed and we will have shifts in the Conference Center. Currently the conference center can only be entered with a tour guide to show people around. To make it more inviting, the conference center will be open for people to go and explore without a tour guide. Areas on most of the floors will be open for the public to explore. They will also be adding different exhibits with historical artifacts for people to see. Some parts of the Conference Center will still need a tour guide to see, but I am excited for the idea that it will be more open to the public. The model of the temple will reside there along with a new Christus Statue smaller than the original in the North Visitor Center and a new video in the theater talking about the temple construction. I am excited to see what other changes are in store for this coming year.
Friday was the day for service projects. Our zone went to the Festival of Trees to volunteer our time. The Festival of Trees is an event where people purchase and decorate trees that they donate to the event. The trees can then be purchased by people and the money is donated. It was beautiful people are so creative. I saw a disneyland tree complete with ornaments for all the different disneyland rides. There was also a bottle cap tree made entirely out of bottle caps. Our job was to stand near the trees to watch them as well as talk to people about their experience at the festival. It was a lot like what we usually do at the visitor centers. I still enjoyed the time we were able to spend there.
On Sunday was sacrament of course and we listened to amazing talks from the departing sisters. One sister, Sister Mulet, is getting ready to return home after 21 months of service. She was originally called to the Paris Visitor Center, the first phillipino to serve there. Unfortunately she had to wait for a visa and served in the Philippines until she could get her visa approved. She waited and waited as it was continuously rejected. 9 Months into her mission in the philippines and she was ready to give up on just allow the Lord to keep her where he wanted her. Finally, she was told by her mission president that she had been reassigned. She was to serve in the Temple Square mission and she would be extended by 3 months. Within a week her visa for the United States was approved. Her store was so touching. It reminds me that God knows what is best for each of us. We can ask for help and he will answer, but it won't always be the answer we were expecting. We don't fully understand his plan for us, but it is there. We must only allow him to guide our path and have faith in him.
Lastly, I talked to a few people this week from Las Vegas. One couple came looking for our district leader because the guy served with her on her outbound mission to Arkansas Bentonville Mission. They looked familiar so I asked where they were from. Turns out they both attend Northwest graduating the year just before me. Another person I met on Square was another couple. The girl was from Vegas and attended LVA and the guy was from Alabama but served in the Las Vegas West mission. He never served in the ward I was in, but he did serve in the Elkhorn Stake. I don't remember a lot of the missionaries from our ward, but he did know Sister Tanner from Canada who we hosted for Christmas one year. The world is so big, yet so small at the same time.
The weeks are flying by, just yesterday I saw a sister who was entering the MTC this Wednesday and will be here in just a few weeks. We never know what the future may hold. Talk to you all again next week!
Sister Christensen
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