Ok so this email's actually going to be short because I don't have
much of a choice. Today is Pioneer Day, which in Utah is a Very Big
Deal. Seriously, most of the towns here don't celebrate the 4th of
July, and instead go all out for the 24th. Of course, since we are in
rural Utah, going all out is relative. We have marched in 2 parades so
far. One of them went the length of about 4 blocks. The other went
around one block twice. Each lasted around 20 minutes, which is the
perfect length for a parade. Despite the relatively minuscule size of
the parades, people really go all out. The floats look like they've
taken weeks to build! One particularly impressive one was Harry Potter
themed, and included about 20 people dressed as various characters
including Dumbledore, Snape, Draco, Ron, and various quiddich players.
The small town festivities also include carnival games, baking
competitions, and lots and lots of pancakes. We've been running
between 5 of our 6 tiny towns helping run booths, meeting lots of
people, looking for less active and nonmember people to visit, and
serving pancakes. It's been very busy, and very fun.
Small little farming towns have their own kind of fun when it comes to
games. One town, Amalga, had an event called 'farm factor' that had a
bunch of farm themed fear factor games. For the couples game, they set
up one of those obstacle courses that trained dogs have to run through
at dog shows. One member of the couple-ship was blindfolded, and the
other member had to guide them through the course: weaving through
poles, stepping over poles, and crawling through a tunnel. The couple
with fastest time won. Some of the people on charge tried to get us to
sign up for the frisbee competition, but we regretfully declined
because we were unsure of our schedule. When we went to watch, we were
very glad we declined, because in place of frisbees the contestants
were given cow pies. Yes that's right, real, actual cow pies. We had a
good time watching them gingerly pick the pies up and try to huck them
as far as possible.
One last game we learned about is called 'cow bingo'. In it, a corral
is divided into squares, and people up for the different squares. A
cow is then released into the corral. Whenever it takes a dump, the
people whose square it lands in get a prize. I love small towns.
I'm pretty much out of time, but there's something I've been thinking
about a lot lately that I wanted to share. One of the biggest reasons
people stop coming to church out here is that someone at church
offended them (which is weird to me, because all they're doing is
denying themselves blessings). It's really shown me how each
individual's actions count. We've been working with a wonderful
nonmember family the last week or two. They're super amazing, a big
part of the community, and they share a lot of our beliefs. However,
the first time we met them, the dad, Dick, went on this long spiel
about how he could never join our church because all of his neighbors
are members, and none of them were friendly and welcoming, and some of
them said some mean things when they first moved in, and what kind of
a church could be so inhospitable? We were rather taken aback,
because everyone we'd met in that Ward was super friendly. A couple of
days later, we asked someone from the area about it. She said that
around 8 years ago when Dick and his family first moved in, something
had happened with one of his neighbors that had created tension in the
neighborhood for quite a while. That single incident with that one
person is what Dick had been talking about with his long rant. This
week, at the town celebration, Dick and his family showed up. They
were immediately welcomed and pulled into the conversation. There were
many people wanting to chat with them. Their adorable 4 year old son
ran around talking to everyone, young and old. Still, because of that
one bad experience, Dick won't even entertain the idea of joining the
church.
Now obviously, we can't control what offends others. Dick is the one
who made the decision to hold that grudge for all those years. Still,
this experience really showed me how much people pay attention to our
actions. It's easy to rationalize not reaching out to someone new,
saying that someone else will take care of it. We don't want to crowd
people or make them feel like a project. However, people notice when
it's always the one single family trying to welcome them while the
rest of the ward goes about their business. We are more tuned in to
notice unkind words and actions than we are compliments and service.
Because of this, the actions of an individual can undo all the good a
whole group of people is doing. Please, please don't accidentally be
that individual! We represent Christ and His church, and people are
watching. Pay attention to what you do and say, because it really,
really matters.
Anyway, hopefully everyone has a wonderful week this week. I love you all!
Sister Hull
何姐妹
Deal. Seriously, most of the towns here don't celebrate the 4th of
July, and instead go all out for the 24th. Of course, since we are in
rural Utah, going all out is relative. We have marched in 2 parades so
far. One of them went the length of about 4 blocks. The other went
around one block twice. Each lasted around 20 minutes, which is the
perfect length for a parade. Despite the relatively minuscule size of
the parades, people really go all out. The floats look like they've
taken weeks to build! One particularly impressive one was Harry Potter
themed, and included about 20 people dressed as various characters
including Dumbledore, Snape, Draco, Ron, and various quiddich players.
The small town festivities also include carnival games, baking
competitions, and lots and lots of pancakes. We've been running
between 5 of our 6 tiny towns helping run booths, meeting lots of
people, looking for less active and nonmember people to visit, and
serving pancakes. It's been very busy, and very fun.
Small little farming towns have their own kind of fun when it comes to
games. One town, Amalga, had an event called 'farm factor' that had a
bunch of farm themed fear factor games. For the couples game, they set
up one of those obstacle courses that trained dogs have to run through
at dog shows. One member of the couple-ship was blindfolded, and the
other member had to guide them through the course: weaving through
poles, stepping over poles, and crawling through a tunnel. The couple
with fastest time won. Some of the people on charge tried to get us to
sign up for the frisbee competition, but we regretfully declined
because we were unsure of our schedule. When we went to watch, we were
very glad we declined, because in place of frisbees the contestants
were given cow pies. Yes that's right, real, actual cow pies. We had a
good time watching them gingerly pick the pies up and try to huck them
as far as possible.
One last game we learned about is called 'cow bingo'. In it, a corral
is divided into squares, and people up for the different squares. A
cow is then released into the corral. Whenever it takes a dump, the
people whose square it lands in get a prize. I love small towns.
I'm pretty much out of time, but there's something I've been thinking
about a lot lately that I wanted to share. One of the biggest reasons
people stop coming to church out here is that someone at church
offended them (which is weird to me, because all they're doing is
denying themselves blessings). It's really shown me how each
individual's actions count. We've been working with a wonderful
nonmember family the last week or two. They're super amazing, a big
part of the community, and they share a lot of our beliefs. However,
the first time we met them, the dad, Dick, went on this long spiel
about how he could never join our church because all of his neighbors
are members, and none of them were friendly and welcoming, and some of
them said some mean things when they first moved in, and what kind of
a church could be so inhospitable? We were rather taken aback,
because everyone we'd met in that Ward was super friendly. A couple of
days later, we asked someone from the area about it. She said that
around 8 years ago when Dick and his family first moved in, something
had happened with one of his neighbors that had created tension in the
neighborhood for quite a while. That single incident with that one
person is what Dick had been talking about with his long rant. This
week, at the town celebration, Dick and his family showed up. They
were immediately welcomed and pulled into the conversation. There were
many people wanting to chat with them. Their adorable 4 year old son
ran around talking to everyone, young and old. Still, because of that
one bad experience, Dick won't even entertain the idea of joining the
church.
Now obviously, we can't control what offends others. Dick is the one
who made the decision to hold that grudge for all those years. Still,
this experience really showed me how much people pay attention to our
actions. It's easy to rationalize not reaching out to someone new,
saying that someone else will take care of it. We don't want to crowd
people or make them feel like a project. However, people notice when
it's always the one single family trying to welcome them while the
rest of the ward goes about their business. We are more tuned in to
notice unkind words and actions than we are compliments and service.
Because of this, the actions of an individual can undo all the good a
whole group of people is doing. Please, please don't accidentally be
that individual! We represent Christ and His church, and people are
watching. Pay attention to what you do and say, because it really,
really matters.
Anyway, hopefully everyone has a wonderful week this week. I love you all!
Sister Hull
何姐妹
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