Avoid Dark Alleys - Go for Polka Dots.

At last night's devotional we heard from Elder Sitati and his wife. He is General Authority in the church who was born in Kenya and was the International Director of Public Affairs for the Church in Africa. His message to us was to always remember that we are representing Jesus Christ on our mission and as we honor our covenants we will leave spiritual footprints. People will be happy to see us, they will feel peace and comfort in our presence and will want to be like us. It will awaken a desire within them to come to know what we have. Sister Sitati told us about her grandmother's warning when she was leaving her farm in Kenya to attend school in Nairobi to avoid dark alleys. We all will encounter many dark alleys in life - avoid them and stay in the light.




As a missionary we are advised to dress conservatively so as not to draw too much attention away from our message. Well, I decided that polka dots was going to be my mission fashion theme after finding a black umbrella with multi colored dots - my form of rebellion.... I was surprised when I went into the store of the Missionary Training Center and found these skirts ..... I guess I'm not quite as rebellious as I hoped to be!

Last night at 11:30 the fire alarms went off in our building. By the time Elder Nelson got his clothes on including shoes and socks (shoes tied, of course) I'm sure I would have been charcoal if there really had been a fire. We were a pretty funny looking group of old missionaries standing out on the sidewalk for half an hour. I think only about half of us made it out because the rest of them didn't hear it because they either had their earplugs in or their hearing aides out!

Today at lunch we sat across from an 82 year old couple from Hawaii who were being trained to serve as Member Leadership Support Missionaries in the Salt Lake City area. He told us about his experience at Pearl Harbor when he was a young boy. We asked him what he thought his focus would be for his mission and he said reactivating members of the church. He told us about how he knew this family that hadn't been going to church for awhile and the parents didn't seem interested but they let their son become involved in the scouting program. This boys father later became the Mission President in Hawaii. This old gentle missionary said the best way to reach a family is to genuinely love their children,

Tonight at dinner (now mind you this cafeteria can seat over 1000 people) at a long table next to us two of the young girls who are also in missionary training started to sing a beautiful hymn about the Savior. Some young men nearby joined them in perfect harmony and then more joined in. Within a few seconds everyone around them stopped talking and there was this beautiful peaceful feeling throughout the room. Special things like this seem to happen all the time here. It is such an amazing privilege to be here.