The Beehive House, a Catholic Priest, and Fox News



Hello from Temple Square!

Zrastswitza,

 

We have had a lovely week in Salt Lake City and it is absolutely beautiful over here. Thanks mom for the beautiful letters and things I truly appreciate it!

 

This morning we had transfer conference and our assignment has changed. We are serving in the Beehive House now! Every single day before transfers Sister Bryuszgina would comment on how she does not want to serve in the Beehive House and I kept telling her that she was going to curse herself and she did!  I am so excited about it though! I have wanted to serve there my entire mission. I actually went on exchanges the other day with a sister who serves there and of course we had people coming in to make fun of our church and talk down on our church leadership! It broke my heart and let's just say I didn't bite my tongue. I know that I am going to learn a TON from serving there.

 

Just so you know my P-Day changed so I will email you on Wednesday as well. You get to hear from me twice this week but I might not do a blog. I have to catch up on emailing and writing people back.
 

We saw miracles this week! A couple of days ago we were on our way to lunch when some sisters stopped us and asked if we would take a girl from China on a tour. I was so excited because I love Asians and miss working with them.  This girl was a sweetheart.  Her name was Alice and she was born and raised in China. She has lived in Chicago for the last year for work. She came to SLC for work and wanted to visit Temple Square. She has no religious background but is searching for something. We taught her all about our loving Father in Heaven and eternal families. The spirit was so strong and when we asked her if she wanted to learn more she said yes without any hesitation! She also said she would love to have the local missionaries come and meet with her! The spirit was so strong that we were walking on clouds afterwards.

We got 5 new investigators this week which was exciting and a couple of our investigators went to church!  I have an awesome progressing investigator in the Alabama Birmingham Mission! We met him at Temple Square and gave him a tour. He is a hardcore Army sergeant but his heart is softened every time we have a lesson.  We are seeing miracles left and right!
 

We also have a lovely investigator from Germany who currently lives in Los Angeles. He is so cool. His names is Hans and he is a former Catholic Priest. He was a legit big time Catholic Priest in Germany until one day a long time ago he met the elders and they answered some questions that he had about things such as the Godhead.  He never progressed in the gospel back then but the things he learned never left his mind.  Now he is old and sick and lives in a care facility. Anyway, he called the 1-800 number on Mormon.org a few weeks ago and I happened to answer that call so Sister B and I have been teaching him and the local missionaries started visiting him as well.  The care facility said he has slight dementia that affects his short term memory but somehow he never forgets us or the elders or the things we teach him which surprises everyone- but not us.  He wants to be baptized but his illness is holding him back right now. He is such a sweet guy and we care so much about him.

I think most people know what is going on over here at Temple Square lately with the Ordain Women movement.  Fox News is all over the place and there are tons of people coming here with a lot of questions. They had to close the north and east gates yesterday due to the candle lighting demonstration. 

 

One thing that is so important to remember is that these people who may not understand the priesthood or the fulness of the gospel are our sisters and brothers. In April, President Monson spoke about how love is the essence of the gospel. I truly believe that love cures everything and that's how we can help people find their way back. Sister Oscarson, our General YW President says it perfectly:

 

“All of us as sisters in the gospel have the responsibility and privilege to support and nourish one another. We have all committed to be disciples of Jesus Christ, and this discipleship should be at the heart of all that we do. Each of us is in a different place in our spiritual journey. Some may struggle with testimony. Some have questions or wrestle with the pressures and trials of life. Those who are struggling for whatever reason should be able to find within our sisterhood a spirit of warmth, inclusion, and love."

 

One word that describes Heavenly Father perfectly is love.  He loves us perfectly and because of that there is no need to fear the plan he has lined out for us even when we don't understand it or when we feel like things are unfair.

1 John 4:18- "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." 

If we understood God's love for us, we would have no fear that we could accomplish the things he asks of us.  His plan is perfect.

We live in a crazy crazy time and things are getting worse by the second. I am so happy to have a prophet today who loves us so much and who teaches us to love others.  Anytime we are on a tour and we go to the tabernacle, I make sure to bear my testimony of President Monson. I trust his words and his actions and I know he is truly inspired. I love serving at Temple Square. It is by far the hardest thing I have ever done but it is such a blessing! I have learned so much about the church and it definitely has tried and strengthened my testimony. I used to wonder why Heavenly Father sent me here to serve a mission.  I didn't feel adequate enough to serve in a place like this.  But now I know that this is what I needed. I needed a tough place to get a strong and firm testimony that I will need in these tough last days!

Well, I love you so very much! Dobre Dane! Baca Baca.

Sistra Park

It's all about choice!

Sister B and I took a drive to find Ensign Peak so I could show
her the view of the city.  But instead we got lost and decided
 to get out a take a quick picture of us being lost
in the middle of nowhere!

Hello Family!  I love Utah summers because they are perfect! We have been very busy with Russian tours lately.  Russians are stubborn but so many of them have been open to our lessons.  We had one Russian couple tell us to send local missionaries just this morning.  We are also teaching the people who come here from Poland.  There have been several Polish visitors lately which is totally random because usually Polish people never come to the Square. Yesterday we met the nicest Polish couple visiting from NYC and taught them the Restoration. They are in Utah looking for places to live. They love how family oriented it is here and that the city is so clean and friendly! We invited them to learn more and they said they would love to and even took a Book of Mormon! The main thing that draws them to our church is the family values we have.

Craziest thing of the week. Sister Bryuzgina and I forgot to bring our dinner to the square a couple of days ago so we decided to walk across the street and eat frozen yogurt.  On the way to Farr's we met three very nice people- a couple and a single man. Sister B talked to the couple and I chatted with the single man. He looked at my badge and said, "I am on a mission too." And I rolled my eyes in my head because I thought I knew what was coming.  Anyway, it turns out he was on a mission for some religion that practices polygamy and he was also a polygamist. He spent ten minutes trying to convert me so I shared my testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and of our prophet, President Monson.  I told him that I know that President Monson is leading this church according to God's will.  Bearing testimony is one of the most powerful things we can do.  The man just looked at me and had nothing to say.  Like we are promised when we allow the spirit to speak through us, his tongue was confounded. He just stared at me blankly for a few seconds and then said "Ok enjoy your ice cream." And I did enjoy my ice cream!

This morning we watched a video of an MTC devotional with Elder Holland. So good. Preach my Gospel is so amazing. He spoke on the previous missionary program and how missionaries had to memorize the lessons. That way of teaching didn't get to the missionaries hearts, or in other words it did not convert a lot of the missionaries; so after many of them returned home they became inactive. Preach My Gospel is a million times better for the investigator and the missionary. It truly helps you to understand the doctrine of Christ. I know that reading Preach My Gospel was a big part of my own conversion. Elder Ballard invited every single member to have a copy of Preach My Gospel in their home and I second that. I think centering Family Home Evening around Preach My Gospel is such a good idea.  The Book of Mormon and the principles taught in Preach my Gospel are so essential to our own conversion... not just investigator's. Read it and you'll feel closer to the Savior!

 

Being a Temple Square missionary, we get to see lots of familiar faces!  It made me so happy to see Papa Rick and Grandma Laurie.  They are so sweet!  I also got to see Sister Pulsipher and her kids.  Visitors are the best!

David Archuleta came to Temple Square the other day. He was teaching a few people near the New Testament paintings in the North Visitor's Center. We walked over there so Sister Bryuzgina could see him. She has never heard of him! 

 

Marie Osmond is here today. I should ask her about Jenny Craig in case I want to try it!

 

Love Y'all!

 

Sister Park

"Let not your heart be troubled"

I don't have much to write about this week because it has been rough.  Sister B and I were on a high for a couple of weeks because things were going so great.  And then this past week everything seemed to fall apart.  Poor Sister B is really struggling because weeks like this are especially hard on new missionaries.... especially new missionaries who are also learning a new language.

One principle that us missionaries are taught often is keeping faith even when things are difficult.  This past week it seemed that no matter how hard we prayed for success, we were tested hour after hour, day after day.  There were times when we thought, "Nothing we do is working right now.  Why even try?"  But we should always remember to put all our faith and trust in our Heavenly Father.  And remember that even when we pray for something and expect that things will go as planned, he knows what we need most for our personal growth.  In Isaiah 55:8-9, it says:

8  "For my thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord."

9  "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

We are just going to trust in the Lord and keep trying!

Sister Park

Miracles!

It has been quite a week! Sister Bryuzgina and I are doing great and we are seeing so many miracles. I feel like I am serving my mission in Russia. There are so many Russians that come to Temple Square! I am picking up on Russian better than Chinese but it is so hard. I have had two companions that speak the two hardest languages ever. Well, Mongolian is probably the hardest because they have to sound like Donald Duck when they speak.

 

Sister Bryuzgina is so funny. The other day we went and talked to this nice old man. Right in the middle of the conversation she started busting up laughing!  I was thinking 'what is wrong with her'...So we looked over and she said, "You look like Santa Claus!" It was so embarrassing! I was trying not to laugh and the poor man didn't know what to do. I have to control the girl sometimes. But we have a blast! I never thought that I could be so close to someone who lives all the way in Russia. I think we will be friends forever.

We have been teaching a lot of Russian people here on Temple Square and you won't even believe it but they are actually referring! Several of them!  Usually these people don't care about what we have to say and they are very stubborn but God must be preparing them. We also take the Ukrainians on tours and lets just say that it gets rough sometimes when they see that Sister B is from Russia.  Apparently Ukrainians don't like Putin or Russia. I didn't even know any of that was happening until Sister Bryuzgina told me. It just shows that I have been out of the world for quite some time. A lot of the Ukrainians are not really happy around us at first.  But Sister Bryuzgina takes it all in stride and just says "I'm not Putin so don't get mad at me." 

Yesterday was amazing. I'll never ever forget it. We were on our way to go call our investigators when some sisters stopped us and asked us if we would give a tour to a couple and their daughter. We said yes and went over to meet them. They were so nice. They are a hispanic family from Los Angeles, California. We took them on a tour and told them about our basic beliefs. We teach a lesson in every tour and people may not even realize it. The spirit was there but they were Catholic and happy with their lives.

 

When we talked about temples and eternal families you could see the light in the mother's and daughter's eyes. As we were talking I just saw all three of them wearing white in the temple getting sealed. I know it would make them happy! Then we got to the subject of the Book of Mormon and prayer. They wanted to see how Mormon's pray so we went into a corner and taught them how to pray. Sister Bryuzgina said the prayer and it was great.  We ended up talking with them for an hour an a half! Usually our tours last about 30 minutes. We asked if they wanted to learn more and the father thought about it but said no.  But the mother seemed very reluctant to go.  We walked them out and then made our way back to the square and found a Russian family sitting on a bench so we went and talked to them for a few minutes. Then I saw the mother from the Hispanic family from the corner of my eye. She ran into the South Gates and rushed over to us. Her family was waiting in the car but she ran up to us and said, "Sisters! I changed my mind! I want a Book of Mormon and I want to learn more about the church!" We told the Russian family we would be right back and we walked her into the South Visitors Center and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. She also wanted a copy for her daughter. She was so happy!  She gave us her information and gave us each a big hug. It was one of the best experiences I have had on my mission. We are going to call them and teach them this week and send some local missionaries to teach them in California.

The day before that we had two miracles! We took around a gay couple who liked everything they heard about our church and wanted to learn more. They loved Temple Square! They think the Temple is amazing and love the purpose of temples. They also asked for a Book of Mormon and for the lessons. It will be interesting to teach them but it will be great and I am looking forward to it!

Shortly after that we decided we needed a break. We had been on our feet non-stop and just wanted some ice cream! We went to Farr's for dinner and had the best ice cream ever. As we were walking out we heard a couple speaking Russian! So Sister Bryuzgina said "Bon Appetite" in Russian and they were so happy to meet a Russian missionary! They were actually from Ukraine but they have lived in New Jersey for 17 years and speak perfect English. They invited us to sit down and talk with them. They are here on vacation and actually took a tour at Temple Square the night before from some other sisters. They had a lot of questions about the church. We taught them the Restoration right there over ice cream.  Felix is the husband and he is so interested! Olga, his wife is a bit skeptical but very nice. Felix gave us his information and asked us to send the local missionaries. He wants them to bring him a Book of Mormon. We are going to start teaching them on the phone this week too! It was such an amazing weekend.

Everyone etting ready to serve a mission- All I have to say is I am so happy to be a missionary. I am happy I came out on my mission the time that I did. The people I have met and taught have made me a better person. When you serve a mission you see life a different way than you ever did before. People say that when you are on a mission "you are out of the world".  Sometimes people don't want to serve because they want to "experience the world". Well, I believe that missionaries see much more of the world than anyone else and see it in a deeper more meaningful way.  And that is why we continue to do what we do. Things are getting so bad in this world and time is so short. I am so happy that I can experience the world this way!

I went to the temple this morning and it was the best experience I have ever had. I invite all of you to go to the temple with a specific question. It is the best place to receive personal revelation.

 

This is Sister B and I with the zone leaders at breakfast after the temple.  The sister across from me is from New Jersey and her companion is from Germany.  It was a great morning!

 

I love you, family!

Sister Park

Rowdy U of U kids and a Green-eyed Redhead

HELLO!

 

Well, Utah is getting hot and my skin is not as beautiful as it was in Louisiana because it is so dry here. It is okay though because I love Temple Square. I am loving it more than I ever have before.

Time has flown by. It is weird that I was serving here last summer. This is the best time of my life. I don't ever want to leave!!!! 

 

Mom, go ahead and apply for a few different colleges in Utah for me but DO NOT apply at University of Utah.  The guys from that college watch us walk home so they know where we live.  Anyway, the other night when everyone was asleep, I was still awake. Our window was open because it's hot in our apartment and I heard someone scream, "Sister Missionaries!!! WAKE UP!!!!" At night time the U of U kids hang outside of our apartment and scream really loud and pound on things. It is quite rude actually.

 

Quick break by the reflection pool then we are back to work!

This has been a pretty good week. Things have gone by pretty fast. We have been taking a lot of tours and Sister Bryuzgina is passing off in English tours tomorrow. She will do great! She is a wonderful missionary. She has a good sense of humor and the guests love it! She also has a very good memory and caught on so quickly with all of the Temple Square facts. Yesterday she actually got a Ukrainian woman to refer. That is hard to do. I have always wanted to train but I am happy I am training at this time in my mission. It is exactly what I need.  We have met so many wonderful people on our tours. It makes me really sad when some of them don't refer because we just love them!

 

The other night during planning, Sister Bryuzgina and I set a goal to teach a lady with red hair and green eyes (it's typical to do things like that at the Square because we run into so many different people).  So the next day we had the 3 o'clock flagpole tour and there came a cute family from Oregon. The mother had red hair and green eyes! They were adorable and they were looking to move to Utah because she likes the clean environment. They were not members and knew nothing about the church besides the fact that we keep the Sabbath Day Holy. They loved that we do that. So we took them around and basically taught the whole Restoration and they had so many wonderful questions. As we spoke to them about Joseph Smith the spirit was so strong. I have never ever on my mission felt the spirit like I felt it during that tour. The spirit testified of the things we both said and Sister Bryuzgina's English was so amazing. We just grew to love everyone in that tour so much. When we asked if they wanted to learn more we could tell the wife wanted to and she was about to say something but looked over at the husband and he just looked straight ahead and said nothing. I was sad but I have a good feeling that they will find the church again one day. I had a restoration pamphlet in my Book of Mormon so we just gave that to them with a Mormon.org card. Hopefully they meet missionaries one day. They live in the same mission and same area Kylie serves in. It would have been so perfect if they had wanted to learn more!

So here is my spiritual thought. I am so tired. I can literally feel the bags beneath my eyes get darker and heavier.  Sometimes I think I might fall over and die.  I forgot how hard Temple Square was.  Sometimes I want to cry and the only thing that gives me strength throughout the week is partaking of the sacrament.  To me, the sacrament is more than repentance for sins and renewing baptismal covenants. It is a reminder that through Christ we can accomplish anything.  When we partake of the sacrament, we are being cleansed; and he will be with us throughout the week to help us get through anything that comes our way. One of my favorite scriptures is in D&C 45:3-5..

3 Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—

 

4 Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;

 5 Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.

I try to substitute my name in there when I am having a bad day. Jesus Christ is pleading our case before Heavenly Father. He wants us to succeed. We have to believe in Him and have faith in Him and He will be our advocate.  When we take the sacrament we are taking His name upon us and through Him we can get through anything! I read those verses every time I am beat down, exhausted, overwhelmed... and I know that I can do it. This is His work and He wants all of us to succeed. 

Well, lots of love!!!!

Sister Park

 

 

Back at Temple Square!




With my new companion Sister Bryuzgina from Russia

Preveit! That is Hello in Russian! I am back in SLC and I love it! It is so nice to be back here. I am training a new Sister from Russia. Her name is Sister Bryuzgina and she is from Sochi. I love her because she is a body builder and she runs with me every morning. She also supports my healthy eating and does not tempt me to eat unhealthy.  She is so funny!  

 

I try not to think about Louisiana because it hurts my heart that I had to leave those amazing people and my best friend, Sister Maxwell.

 

Our new mission president, President Poulsen, is AMAZING! I am pretty sure he has conversations with the Holy Ghost. He is so nice and seems like he knows all of us very well.
 

It was nice to have a break when I was outbound. I will say this.. outbound was hard but Temple Square is SO HARD! It forces you to get out of your comfort zone and it is physically and mentally draining! I love it so much though! It is definitely for me because I love to be moving around all the time.

 

Sister Bryuzgina is the only Russian speaking sister on the square so we do all the Russian tours.  There are a lot of Russian tours so we run around like crazy and I lost 3 pounds because of it.  It kind of reminds me of how busy I was last summer with Mandarin tours. Today just as we started grocery shopping, we got a call from the West Gate and they asked if we could take a Russian tour. We sped back to the square and took a lovely couple around. I was so proud of Sister Bryuzgina for being so willing to leave P-Day to take the tour. She is a wonderful missionary and Temple Square is so lucky to have her as the only Russian speaker. She is very diligent and is always ready for whatever comes up! The couple was agnostic but they really wanted a Book of Mormon and they really enjoyed the tour.

The other night we took a lovely couple from St. Petersburg, Florida on a tour. Their names were Annie and Clement. They stopped here on their way back home and they absolutely loved it and wanted to know more. Sister Bryuzgina and I were walking around the South Visitors Center near the temple model and I had a strong impression to talk to Annie. They adored Sister Bryuzgina and especially loved how funny she was! We asked them if they would like a tour and they were so excited that we asked! They said yes right away! So we took them around and got to know them. We talked about the temple and they actually thought that it was so wonderful. We ended at the Christus and the spirit was so strong. We bore our testimonies and asked them if they were interested in learning more.  They said yes! They wanted a Book of Mormon and local missionaries to come and visit them. We are going to call them this week and begin teaching them.

There is a Russian lady who has been coming to the Square everyday since Thursday. Her name is Hope. We first met her at the Christus and she did not want to talk to us but Sister Bryuzgina can get anyone to talk to her so we were able to. Ever since then we have talked to her everyday and last Saturday we set up an appointment to teach her today.  We taught her the Restoration and she understands it and says it makes sense to her but she still is strong in her beliefs. She has been reading the Book of Mormon since Thursday though and is loving it! We committed her to praying about it and she said yes. She doesn't want us to call her and she doesn't want local missionaries yet either. She is anti-social and said if the church is true then she will find it in Canada where she lives. She flies back home tomorrow so sadly we won't meet with her again but we planted a seed; and I know she will find the church in Canada.

Last night we took two Ukrainian women around. They currently live in NYC and are both members of the church. One of them was a recent covert and one of them was a returned missionary. We were at the Christus and the returned missionary talked to me while the recent convert talked to Sister Bryuzgina.  The RM told me a lot of things that I needed to hear. She said it's hard to train a Russian sister and gave me a lot of advice that I really took to heart. I love Sister B so much but it is hard to teach someone who struggles with English to take tours.  We do have so much fun and she is so easy to love! I think I was definitely supposed to be training right now!

 

Friday was a good day because one of my recent converts, Joel that I met on a tour back in September, came to Temple Square and I got to talk to him for a minute! While I was gone he received his priesthood, baptized his friend, got his patriarchal blessing, and does baptisms for the dead. He is amazing.  It just makes me so happy!
 

I can't write anymore.  Most of our p-day was spent working so now we will try to get some errands done. 

 

Until next week!

 

Sister Park

 

A little souvenir from Louisiana

 

"No true endings... only everlasting beginnings."

Yesterday and Saturday I said some final goodbyes to a few of my favorite people.

This first picture is my beautiful neighbor, Yolanda.  
She doesn't want me to leave so I took her this rose yesterday. :(

 

Then there was my very last Sunday with my sweet primary class.

 

 

Our investigator, Sharika.  She had just cut and curled my hair

for me right before this picture was taken.

 

 

This next picture is of Barbara Lee.  She lets us do our laundry at her

house and she makes us breakfast every Monday morning.

 

 

I don't know why I took the picture of this snake but we see a lot of these. 

This was outside the nursing home we visited one day.

 

 

Well, good morning and happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful ladies in my life!

Christie, I bet you were so excited about your first mother's day! It was so good to see the fam on Skype yesterday! Everyone looks great. Kendall, you are so pretty! Mothers Day was wonderful! I was able to give my last talk in the New Iberia Branch. I spoke on how a Mother's influence can affect generations.  I also said that the way in which mothers handle trials can help their kids handle their own trials in the future.  I talked about how strong Grandma Wellman was while Grandpa was serving in the Viet Nam war and how her example helped you (mom) be strong when you went through your own trials. Then I talked about the 2000 stripling warriors and how because of the teachings and counsels of their mothers they were able to win the battle against the Laminates. (Alma 56:47-48) It made me miss my family so much! 

So we got some awesome news! We have two investigators who are getting baptized.  First there is Shilay.  She is Miss Pat's friend who came to the Gladys Knight concert with us and had immediate interest in the church.  Well, she has decided to be baptized on June 1st.  I'm so sad that I am missing it but so happy for Shilay.  Another one of our investigators, Rebecca, has also decided to get baptized.  She doesn't  have a date finalized yet but she will know soon! 

 

I am excited to get back to the mountains. Anytime I see a picture of Utah my heart gets all warm because its my mission and I LOVE IT! I am going to miss Louisiana so much though. Opelousas and New Iberia are such big parts of me now and I will always love them. I can't wait to take the fam back so we can see all the wonderful sights and eat some Cajun food. AHHHH! I am going to cry when I leave on Wednesday. Tomorrow we are going to Baton Rouge and I'll stay the night in the mission home. Then on Wednesday we fly back to Salt Lake City.  Back to my starting point just in time for busy season!  I really hope I have another Asian companion.  I just want to be busy with Mandarin tours all the time!  They are the best!

 

I have been really sad about leaving Louisiana because I hate endings and I hate goodbyes. It always seems like when life is just wonderful something comes and ends it really fast! We have been seeing lots of miracles and Sister Maxfield and I are such good friends and now... I have to go! But I have tried to stay focused on what President Uchtdorf said in his last General Conference talk. 

 

"In light of what we know about our eternal destiny, is it any wonder that whenever we face the bitter endings of life, they seem unacceptable to us?  Why is this?  Because we are made of the stuff of eternity.... there are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings."

 

That talk was exactly what I needed.  Endings are not such a bad thing when we consider that Heavenly Father has something better in store for us.  Me leaving Louisiana will be hard but it is the start of something wonderful that's about to happen.  I have always looked at different parts of my life as chapters.  I am about to start another chapter and this one will last until December!

 

Next time I email will be from Temple Square!

 

Talk to you next week!

Sister Park