Ellis Island

Man, what a week. Ellis Island, Mission President approved naps, translators, rolled ice cream, prayer texts, and being accused of being murderers. Gotta love life as a missionary!

 



The aforementioned rolled ice-cream



Alright to be honest, this was a pretty strange week. Sadly, we weren't able to do a whole lot of actual missionary work. Lol. The week was filled with various meetings, interviews, volunteer days, and to top it all off, Sis. Phillips and I both got sick. So we kinda had to take a day off to recover from that. But even though we didn't spend a whole lot of time finding and teaching, it was still an eventful week, and we were able to see so many miracles. Let's get to it!

- Last week we had a lesson with Robert about prayer, and decided that it would be helpful for him to truly understand WHY and HOW we pray, if we showed him what an actual personal prayer looked like. I mean, we pray before our lessons, but the prayers that you say in front of people are very different from the ones you give personally. So, we all knelt down and Sister Phillips and I took turns praying. It was honestly kind of scary, but I just had to tell myself that no one was around and began to pray. I asked for strength, for help with my teaching abilities, shared things that I was struggling with, I prayed for members of my family individually, I thanked God for the blessings I have in my life. Honestly, I kind of got a little emotional. Anyway, it was a really powerful lesson and we felt like it really helped him understand better. Then a few days later at our next lesson, he told us this incredible story!! I will spare you all the details, but basically he was really worried about his two friends, and no one was answering their phones, so he said that he prayed for comfort and that he would hear from his friends soon. We were so excited!! We couldn't believe that his first thought was to pray. He said that he immediately felt at peace, and actually received an answer to his prayer a few minutes later from another friend, who called him and said that both of his friends were safe. It was the coolest thing to see his testimony on prayer grow!!


- Judith and Ralph finally picked a date for their wedding!! And Judith is taking us shopping for our bridesmaid dresses on our next preparation day, so stay tuned for that. I'm a little doubtful that we will be able to find a dress that is missionary appropriate, but let's keep our fingers crossed. But most excitedly, since they have a wedding date, Ralph was finally able to pick a baptism date!! November 26th!! I am seriously so excited. He is so ready to be baptized and has grown to absolutely love the gospel. It has been so incredible to see how much it has changed him. Honestly that is probably what I love most about being a missionary, having a front row seat to watch how the gospel changes people's lives!

- One of our investigators, Jade, sends us "prayer texts" all the time. I love it so much, she is seriously the sweetest. But pretty much every time she sends us one, she prays "O' Father, please bless Sister Yocum and Sister Phillips and also please bless all their sweet friends and family". So if you feel like you have been getting extra blessings lately, you can thank Jade for that.

- Remember Paul? The guy who came to the door high as a kite and we had to chase around his cat while he yelled at his junk mail? That's the one! Well, we decided to meet with him again. He apologized for "the state he was in" the last time we saw him, and said that he was glad that we came to teach him again. He asked a bunch of questions, my personal favorite being "are you guys allowed to dance?". Classic. Anyway, that night he friended us on Facebook, and a few days later we saw that it was his BIRTHDAY so we video called him. He answered and it was very obvious that, again, he was very high. We had a very confusing conversation with him wishing him happy birthday, but I'm honestly not sure if he will remember much of what we said. Needless to say, it was a pretty hilarious conversation. Happy Birthday, Paul. And don't do drugs, kids.

Back side of the Statue of Liberty!!
The view we had while eating lunch at Ellis Island lol


The highlight of the week was going and volunteering at Ellis Island. It was SUCH a cool experience. We watched a short movie that talked about the history of Ellis Island, and then stood around by the computer area to help people find their ancestors by using the data base. There was this one lady from France that I helped refine her search, and we eventually found her grandma's record. She started shouting excitedly "That's her!! Oh my gosh, that's my grandma!". Then I was helping another man at the kiosk and he was so excited to tell me about how HE came through Ellis Island when he was just a little boy. He told me all about it and it was so cute how excited he was that I was listening to him. While we are there, we aren't allowed to proselyte or talk to people about the gospel unless they bring it up. I met people from literally all over the world. It was such a cool experience to be apart of something that literally its entire purpose is to allow people to learn more about their ancestors. It's the spirit of Elijah in action, people!!

Sister Phillips, Sister Owens, and Sister Harris

 But while we were volunteering, we weren't allowed to talk to people about the gospel unless they asked us. Surprisingly, we met several people who were members of the church and came to talk to us. As one guy explained "I'd recognize those name tags anywhere!" hahaha. And while we were eating lunch, this one guy came up to us and handed us each a $5 bill. We started to explain that we couldn't take any money, and he just said "No please take it, I served a mission in this area a few years ago, I know what it's like. Keep up the good work, Sisters!" and walked away. It was so nice, I couldn't believe it. Another group of ladies were talking to us for a while. Apparently, they were all friends at BYU and were having a little reunion. They took a picture of us and said that they would post it on Facebook and tag our moms but I'm not sure if that ever happened, haha. Anyway, I'm kind of starting to ramble, but seriously Ellis Island was such a cool experience, and I feel so blessed that I was able to volunteer there and meet so many wonderful people.


And as a treat for being a part of my email list, I'm providing a special limited time offer!! People who I was helping at Ellis Island had to pay $7 for the privilege of using the data base, but I will allow you all to do it for free! So, if you could each send me that $7, that would be great. Lol. Just kidding.
Anyways, go to LibertyEllisFoundation.org and use promo code 100317 and create an account. You're welcome, friends :')

Ann-Marie and Sister Klussy. They are the cutest and fed us a delicious meal

Anyway, I seriously love this gospel. So much. I think that because I have grown up with it, I have often taken it for granted. But being on a mission and watching how it can literally change people's lives, that is something that I will always cherish. It truly can bring so much happiness into our lives, and I feel so blessed to have it in my life and share it with others. I know I say this literally all the time, but I LOVE being a missionary. And I also love you all!!


Sister Yocum

Quote of the Week: "Don't let your missionary work be the equivalent of a microwaved hot dog" - Elder Muir


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