So, working on campus is INSANE for so many reasons. One of my more favorite reasons, however, is that I get to hear SO many languages. Seriously. These past 4ish days, I've been able to participate in and/or witness the gospel happening in the following languages:
English - obvs
French - the missionary that I replaced here on campus spoke French fluently, and she taught me how to say a lot of church words.
Spanish - some recent converts are hispanic and we went to the Spanish branch with them. SO fun to practice my spanish.
Chinese - some less active members we work with are chinese and we'll bring some students who are fluent with us to help translate some things.
Russian - another recent convert is from Ukraine. She is beautiful and spoke some russian for us.
Tongan - my new companion, Sister Kolo (pictures to come) is Tongan. She's also hilarious. The only Tongan word I've retained is the word for "repent" (facatomala) so I'll just throw that into conversations that she and the other Tongan sisters are having, and they get a kick out of it.
Samoan - my previous comp, Sister Reupena is from Samoa and she actually taught me a lot of Samoan, that I've spoken with her and with some of the students on campus.
Vietnamese - one of our investigators is vietnamese and she's the cutest thing on the planet. Same with the Chinese, we'll bring people who speak vietnamese with us to translate.
Anyways, I'm obsessed with languages and have a dream of becoming a polyglot, so it's been incredible seeing that aspect of the area.
Part of working at BYU-I involves working a booth on campus in the MC (basically the Wilk equivalent, for my BYU folks) where people come and pass through ALL the time. At the booth, we have materials (pamphlets, pass-along cards, Book of Mormons, etc) in all languages displayed. It's purpose is to give people a chance to do missionary work with people from back home. We also are there to get referrals for non-members (yes, there are quite a few on campus) and less-active students. It's really cool!
We also teach skype lessons! That's new. SO, if a student has a friend back home who is interested in taking the lessons, then they set up a time for us to come over and skype their friend and teach them! That way their friend can be involved to help them and fellowship them along the way. We only teach them the first 2 lessons (The Restoration and The Plan of Salvation) before passing them on to the missionaries that live in their area. It's pretty cool!
This weekend the Idaho Pocatello missionaries got the opportunity to hear from Elder D. Todd Christofferson! He is an apostle for our church and it was INCREDIBLE. He spoke for just a couple of minutes, then opened it up to a Q&A with him. I couldn't decide which of my questions to ask him, so I just kept my hand to myself and took notes like mad. Elder Wilford W. Anderson, who is a Seventy also was there. He gave some really interesting insights on meekness. In the scriptures it talks about how meekness is a prerequisite for having faith, which is the first principle of the gospel.
He then talked about some things that meekness is and is not.
Meekness is not a recognition of one's weakness, but it IS, rather, a recognition of one's true source of strength.
Meekness is not to think less of yourself. It is to think of yourself less.
Meekness is not an external show of frustration/discouragment/
I personally really needed to hear that. I needed a reminder that as long as I remember the true source of anything good in my life, then I have no need to fear. I have no need to worry about things that have no place with God. Being meek is something that we all need to work on, in different ways, for different reasons. I know that it's through Heavenly Father that I can have righteous confidence in this work in Rexburg, Idaho. I love being here, and I love all of you.
Thanks for everything,
Sister McIntosh
1. Me and my new comp, rockin' the shades.
2. Me and Sis Kolo BACK ON CAMPUS!!! HOLLA!
3. My previous comp, Sis Reupena (right) with her new comp, Sister Naitoko. They wanted to take an "oreo picture" with me.
4. Me and the elders from my MTC district, PLUS SISTER KAROLINE CLARK from the Klein Texas Stake.
We went to go help our investigators' with chores around the farm. They weren't home. There was only one thing we could do. The gospel will be preached to every creature.
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