What it means to be an online missionary

 Hi everyone!                                                                                      September 2, 2013

 

Thank you again for all your support and prayers. This week has been rough health wise, but vale la pena! (worth the pain). 

The big news is that our mission has been selected to become an online mission! Not everyone is online yet, so far it’s just the assistants, zone leaders and sister training leaders, but starting in October, everyone will be on facebook!

So what does it mean to be an online missionary? I am not even completely sure yet, but essentially it is that we can use our Facebook, blogs and Skype to fulfill our missionary purpose to invite others to come unto Christ. We can teach people in any part of the world using the internet. We can even communicate with and teach family members and friends from home about the gospel and missionary work. We can even have skype lessons with anyone who wants to listen. So yes I am on Facebook, but no it's not like before. I am not supposed to use it for anything outside the missionary purpose, even on our preparation days. Also, I think I am just going to keep my blog the same. I will still be emailing home, and you do such a good job mom, I will just let you do it. Only difference now is that I can look at it and add other posts if I want.

It will also take a while to figure it all out, it is really weird to be on facebook and still be a missionary! It was really funny. At the end of our Mission Leadership Council, President and the Assistants invited us to log in to our Facebook and start the "clean-up" process to get them ready to use for missionary work. All of us missionaries were pretty panicked about seeing their Facebook. As we came back into the meeting, one Elder was laughing and saying, "That was the weirdest thing, looking at pictures of my girlfriend on facebook and having president looking over my shoulder!" haha We missionaries are so weird. 

Another weird thing, we probably will be introducing ourselves by and sharing our first and last names with others so people can find us on facebook.......I don't even remember what my first name is anymore.....haha 

I have had several sacred experiences this week. All of which were in unexpected places. One actually happened last Friday night. Sister Mortensen and I were sitting in the ER with the Sister Missionaries in Richmond Hill. We had an exchange with them that night, which was a good thing, because I don't know how they would have gotten home from the ER otherwise. Anyway it was 2am and we were all exhausted. There was a Jewish man who had passed by us several times throughout the night, as he was going back and forth from his father's bed and the waiting room. After a while he asked if he could sit down in the chair next to me. He was very kind and was wondering what was wrong with our friend (why we were there). We got to talking. Turns out he is from Iran, and immigrated to Isreal and eventually came to NYC seeking for religious freedom. We talked about all of the September Jewish Holidays (School still hasn't started here because of them) and also His father who had had a stroke that day (why he was also in the ER at that time of the night). We also talked about his Sabbath which had begun by that time. I shared about our Sabbath, and this took him a back. He said that he thought no one really followed that commandment anymore. And then I had the distinct impression to give him a Book of Mormon and tell him a little bit about it. I didn't think I had one in my bag, but as I looked for one, I found my own personal paperback copy that I was reading and trying to finish before the end of my mission. I apologized that it had markings on it and gave it to him, and showed him how it was written specifically for the "Jew and the Gentile." The spirit was really strong. You could tell my small gift meant a lot to him, and all my markings seemed to make it mean more to him, almost like I gave a piece of myself to him. I showed him some of my favorite passages and he said that he found them beautiful and wanted to learn more. He even invited us over for dinner, and he would make us some of the traditional Jewish Holiday dishes. Of course, he lives in Forest Hills, Queens which isn't in our area. I had to explain to him that I couldn't come, but that other sister missionaries would be able to. He was okay with that and gave us permission to pass his info along to them. We gave his info to the Rego Park sisters. One of the Sisters' father is Jewish. She was so excited to about the referral. Also, I hope to keep in contact with him over the internet. The blessings of now being online! All in all, opportunities to share the gospel don't have to be at a doorstep, and don't even always need to be rehearsed or perfect. All God requires is a willing heart and a willing mind. As we follow the spirit, we will be in the right place at the right time and do the right thing, however much we feel we might blunder through it. As the Savior promised in Matthew 17:20, if we just have the faith of a tiny mustard seed, nothing will be impossible to us. I know that is true. I know that our Savior lives, and loves us and is constantly seeking to help us, even at a ER in Queens at 2am. 

 

I love you all! And hope to hear from you soon! See you on the web :D