The string of awesome meetings has rolled on! We had interviews with President Packard yesterday, so we got P-Day moved until today, My interview was pretty short, because President said that he would address most of my questions "in a coupla weeks." However, he did call UVU for me, to work out some of the kinks in my admission. They were much nicer to President Packard than they were to me. President said that since most of the people who work at UVU are members, when mission presidents call them, they tend to jump through a few more hoops than they do for the missionaries themselves. He also bought my lunch at Chipotle and we had a good talk about finishing strong.
Stake Conference was this weekend, as well. All of the missionaries in the Stake sang in a choir, and it was just really cool! We sang the EFY Medley and Called to Serve. Surprisingly (and despite a serious lack of talent), we turned out all right! Elder Gordon Smith of the 70 presided, and he told us a really cool story about the Church in italy and how we got in.
Elder Smith has served as a Senator from the state of Oregon for a number of years. Since he was also serving as a member of the 70, he made his secretary aware that if calls for him came in from Salt Lake City, he would like to know about them. He walks in one day, and his secretary says that somebody from Salt Lake is on the line, but she thinks it's a prank because he sounds foreign. When he asked who was on the phone, she said, "Dieter Uchtdorf?" Needless to say, he took the call. President Uchtdorf explained to Elder Smith that the Church didn't enjoy full legal protection under Italian law, so we couldn't send missionaries, build meetinghouses, etc. Elder Smith called the Italian Embassy and got an appointment with members of the Italian board of religion (or something to that effect.) He called President Uchtdorf to let him know that he had secured the meeting, and President Uchtdorf said, "OK. I'll see you there!" So they show up to the meeting in Italy, and President Uchtdorf and Elder Smith presented their case to the members of the board. One of the members stopped them and said something to the effect of, "I actually just went on a trip to the American West, and visited Salt Lake City. I took a tour of Temple Square, and it was incredible! The Temple especially was beautiful, and added so much to the community. If we let you into our country, will you build one of those buildings here?" Of course, they readily agreed to that. The Italian man continued, "But what most impressed me about Salt Lake City and the Mormon faith was two Italian Sister missionaries. If your Church can create women of that caliber, then we would LOVE you to have a full presence in our country!" Elder Smith then explained, "A Senator made the call, an Apostle pled the case, and two Sister missionaries sealed the deal." It was a great story to illustrate the importance of our example, and the effect it can have on others.
President Packard has started doing a weekly WebEx (online meeting), where he reads and expounds certain chapters of the Book of Mormon to help us more fully understand the Atonement. He compares understanding the Atonement to climbing a rope, and says that there are chapters of scripture that act as "knots in the rope" to make our climb a little bit easier. So far, he has read 2 Nephi 2 and Alma 41-42 to us, and it has been SO COOL!!!
Of course, there is a funny story from this week. Elder Halling got a package from his Mom with a bunch of popcorn in it. We tried to make the caramel corn, but fate said no. First, the caramel got so hot that it melted through the plastic bowl we tried to use for it, so we put it into a glass bowl. Then it started on fire, for no apparent reason! And as if that wasn't enough, as soon as we dumped the popcorn out of the glass bowl, the glass bowl shattered. We just weren't supposed to make that popcorn, I guess....
We've had some incredible meetings with members lately! Almost everybody is trying to find us people to teach and to hasten the work here. We are excited for the progress we've seen here, and with all of the good stuff that is coming! We extended a baptismal date for November 30th with Lamarre, and he said he wants to, but he's going to pray to find out if it's what God wants him to do. We need some prayers to help him get his answer! My selfish side wants it to happen so that I can have a baptism on my last Sunday, but we'll have to see...
Y'all have a good one!
-"Eldah" Boone
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