6 Nov 2017

Hello I haven't posted in a while!

Depression has been hitting me harder than normal the past few weeks, which was convenient timing since I started feeling terrible as soon as I finished Habit 1 in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.
I returned the audiobook so I could really practice and focus on Habit 1.

Depression is a disease like anything else so I'm trying my best to be proactive and to be positive despite my disease. It is honestly such a necessary contradiction to work to be positive when you have a disease that strives to keep you negative.

Love y'all! I'll try to talk about things I'm actually doing later today.

November and December 2017 quotes

11:31AM 6 Nov 2017
Sister Gowans (mission choir director): There are three of you that know this song and I need you to sing out!
Elder Dana: *pointed look at Elder Hamilton* she's not talking about me.

7 Nov 2017 12:47PM
Madruga: why don't they call being born "realization"?
Barfuss: Because you don't realize it until 3 years later.
#YCSMQUOTES

15 Nov 2017 2:30PM
Elder Stradling: "You've angered OTIS. Make your peace with God now while you still have time."

27 Nov 2017
Elder Hamilton: What age are we??
Elder Madruga: Autism.

6 Dec 2017 12:40PM
Our mind is a gay baby jail.

7 Dec 2017 2:38PM
*cow kicks man on screen*
*x ray flashes*
Elder Craig: Yeah, that's why we have machines do it for us instead..

*playing Apples to Apples*
Sister Buchanan: *laughing* Did you put Helen Keller?
Elder Hamilton: One time my mom said "Hey don't make fun of her." And my brother said, "It's not like she can hear you."
Elder Broderick: She didn't see that coming either.

11Dec2017 12:13PM
Elder Hamilton: My brother said light the world just sounds like we should set it on fire.
Elder Barfuss: I guess California is beating everyone in that.

12Dec2017 11:09AM
At Sister Gowans farewell
David (church employee): I'm so jealous of you because [the missionary] table is louder than mine.
Sister Gowans: that's my one accomplishment

12:29PM 12Dec2017
Elder Stradling: I'm like 20% personality and 80% edgy memes

12:00PM 20Dec2017
Sister Gee: I thought there were (Chinese) characters on it, but it's just the recycling symbol.
Elder Lawson: Well, they are characters.
Elder Stradling: You're a character.

2:00PM 20Dec2017
Sister Buchanan: Love you, senpai. Sorry, not you Sister Dearing
Sister Dearing: What am I, chopped liver??
Sister Davis: Don't downgrade yourself to that.
Sister Gee: Yeah, you're at least sliced liver.

2:30PM 20 Dec 2017
Sister Davis: *beginning story* So I do my own laundry, right
Sister Andrews: Thank goodness

12:13PM 21Dec2017
Elder Hamilton: You're not overwhelming, Elder Barfuss.
Sister Gee: His attractive face is pretty overwhelming.
Elder Barfuss: Yeah, I look at broken mirrors and they mend themselves.

Issue of the Week 23 Oct 2017

2 Nephi 12:9 has a translation inconsistency in Spanish and Portuguese. This scripture is quoting Isaiah 2:9.

"And the mean man boweth not down, and the great man humbleth himself not, therefore, forgive him not."

In French, Romanian, Lithuanian, Russian, Polish, and many others, "mean" is translated using the English meaning as "average" or "plain".

In Spanish and Portuguese, "mean" is translated using the English meaning as "evil" or "vile".

We will have the Sacred Materials translators look at this today, but it is an interesting translation confusion.

October 2017 quotes

3Oct2017 12:17PM
Me: "the four r's: reduce reuse recycle riot."

4Oct2017 3:18PM
Elder Madruga: *shaking fist* "Curse you etymology!"

5Oct2017 12:06
Me: That's because of misandry and misogyny.
Elder Broderick: And mahogany.

5Oct2017 12:12PM
Elder Hamilton: We're like the billionaires club. We're super exclusive.
Elder Stradling: It's like the billionaires club, except instead of money, it's crippling social anxiety.

11Oct2017 12:27PM
Elder Chapman: "It's not cheating. It's called creative winning. There's a difference."

23 Oct 2017 1:12PM
Elder Hamilton: "Am I ever okay? No, but this time was pretty close."

23Oct2017 1:26PM
Sister Horne: I need a domesticated sea pancake.

Church Product Usage Pictures

Hey y'all!

As you know, I serve with a team at Church Headquarters called Quality Resolution Service. We coordinate repairs for content problems, so any text, link, and image errors with any lesson manuals, missionary pamphlets, general conference talks, magazine articles, and even scriptures.

We are a missionary-run team, so that means we get to coordinate and sometimes even fix these problems for free! Not a lot of church employees around the world are aware of our service and find themselves having to decline projects or repairs because they don't have the time.
QRS is putting together a presentation to introduce our repair team to other employees or repair teams.

We want to show real-life people that our team affects. Our team repairs English and Non-English content on church apps like Gospel Library, on church websites like LDS.org, and even PDFs of printed manuals. If you have ever used a church product, that means we affect you.

So take some pictures to show your gratitude for the products the church publishes for its members!

Please email me some nice pictures showing people using church products.



Picture ideas:

• family in scripture study
• sunday school class watching a video
• primary teacher preparing using LDS.org
• missionary discussion with an investigator reading a digital pamphlet
• seminary teachers showing LDS.org on a tv screen
• seminary classes using Gospel Library app
• child keeping busy on the Gospel Library app in sacrament meeting

Helpful hints:

• Showing your product usage would be best if showing how you use digital church products, since QRS mostly does digital repairs, but printed is good, too.
• Candid photos are great, but posed photos are good, too.
• We really want some racial and linguistic and environmental diversity to show how we impact the church globally. (by environmental, I mean you should try to take a picture outside to show where you are)

Thanks!
Sister Gee

P.S. If you know any missionaries or other church product users, copy and paste this post into an email or share the link to this post!

Issue of the Week 15Sep

Either click the link below or go onto the Gospel Library app.
In the Liahona magazine, March 2016 has an excerpt from a conference address given by President Eyring, but the picture is of President Uchtdorf!

The article/talk is called "How to Build Unity".

This occurs in Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Italian, and English!

This is only happening on the app and the Language Materials Page at the link below.


https://www.lds.org/languages/eng/content/liahona/2016/03/youth/how-to-build-unity

Elder Stradling Story

I love my fellow missionaries and so I decided to share this story from Elder Stradling.

"I am a scam-baiter. I have a fake Google Voice number. By day, I'm a desk jockey, but by night, I'm a collection call vigilante. I get calls from the IRS, threatening tax fraud, or from Windows Tech Support, warning of the viruses infesting my computer, and I pick them up with full attentiveness. I give them every last drop of information they think they want. But they gotta earn it. The hoops they jump through and the accents they have the decipher are enough to make any man insane. So do I feel guilty for driving a grown man to tears by talking about my microwave for half an hour? The amount of times I've been cursed out in Hindi might make them think I'd want to. But I don't. There's nothing worth feeling guilty about. Every minute I waste with a scammer is a minute that person isn't using to prey on someone more vulnerable. That's how it runs. People have called me a hero before. I'm not sure I can use the same title on myself. I don't wear a cape. I don't even know if I've saved anyone. All I know is that I'm a sociopath, and I get bored very easily."

September 2017 quotes

1Sep2017
Sister Beck: I know over 29 colors
Sister Beck: I listen to Broadway. I ruined a seminary lesson because of it.

1Sep2017
*Elder Hamilton doing snow angel motions on the floor next to wet floor sign*
Sister Buchanan: He's checking to see if it's really wet.

1Sep2017
Elder Hamilton: Working myself to the bone. I wish I could stop and go on a cruise. Oh wait, I'm poor.

1Sep2017
Elder Broderick (to Elder Barfuss): Get outta here handbook man

5Sep2017
Elder Hamilton: *trying to get Madruga's  attention* Madruga look at meeee. I'm gonna start a riot.

5Sep2017
Elder Stradling: Elder broderick has been replaced with an android.
Elder Hamilton: that doesn't surprise me
Elder Barfuss: How could you replace Satan?

5Sep2017
Me: No, I have 4 mental disorders and 2 physical. Also they think I'm anaemic.
Elder Barfuss: is that one spiritual?

5Sep2017
Sister Buchanan: *freaking out*
Me: Get help from the Spirit. Just roll that pokeball and say "spirit I choose you"
Sister Buchanan: You saved me. You're Jesus.
Sister Sherbert: *gives Elder Bingham fries*
Elder Hamilton: now she's jesus

5Sep2017
Elder Hamilton: "The only dangerous creatures in Utah are the trashy people you see walking around in the mall."

6Sep2017 10:20AM
*discussing ADHD issues when listening to others speak*
Elder Stradling: I just think I have trouble focusing when I don't care.

7Sep2017 12:43PM
Me: Right now I'm just really fascinated with unipolar and bipolar disorders.
Elder Broderick: What about Amy Poehler

11Sep2017 12:18PM
Elder Stradling: I have something to show you later
Sister Aversa: Whatever it is, it's not my fault, and if it is my fault, I have a good excuse.

11Sep2017 12:28PM
Me: laughing
Elder Stradling: You sound like a particularly flat whoopie cushion

11Sep2017 12:34PM
Elder Broderick: *takes like 15 kit kats out of the bag*
Elder Hamilton: *taking the bag away* This lunch has now turned into an intervention.

11Sep2017 12:47PM
Elder Barfuss: Mattresses are the leavening of beds and they believe in having unleavened beds.

28Sep2017 11:19AM
President Jarrett of the Tabernacle choir tells story of how he and his wife left their full-time mission in Germany to serve with the choir.
They were getting very comfortable and happy with their mission when they got a call. Sister Jarrett was on the phone with President Monson and he said he needed them to come back to Salt Lake City.
His wife said, "But we're so happy here. You can just ask President Uchtdorf how hard it is to leave Germany."

27Sep2017 11:56AM
Me: Service missionaries are trailblazers.
Elder Madruga: if you put a bunch of suit coats in a line, those would also be trail blazers.

July and August 2017 funny quotes

13 July 2017 3:33PM
Sister Aversa: "How do you spell 'queue'?"
Me: "Q-U-E-U-E"
Sister Aversa: *side eye glance of pure terror*

20 July 2017 12:51PM
Elder Hilton: *sitting*
Elder Larsen: *comes up from behind quietly* Hello!
Elder Hilton: whoa I just heard a deep voice from above. Is that you, oh Creator?

28 July 2017 4:51PM
"The Lord's train has no brakes." -Elder Chapman

10 Aug 2017 12:44PM
"Rule #1: never make a woman angry
Rule #2: never make an all-powerful woman angry."
-Sister Beck #wordsofwisdom

16 Aug 2017 12:20PM
"Falls down; goes boom." -Elder Hanson

20 Aug 2017 2:24PM
"If I know a person's name, they're probably not real (fictional)." -Matt Buckner from my ward

21 Aug 2017 11:15AM
"I bet if I looked at President Monson through these [solar eclipse] glasses then I would still see his eyes." -Elder Barfuss

21 Aug 2017 12:50PM
"They stopped putting the cantaloupes by my register because one time I threw one at a shoplifter. It was one of the best moments of my career as a cashier."
-Elder Hamilton

22 Aug 2017 12:16PM
"So if your CutCo knives have a forever sharpness guarantee, does that mean you'll never have a dull moment?" -Elder Jackson

23 Aug 2017 12:02PM
Me: Finishing a repair is such a cool experience. It's like you're baptizing an investigator.
Elder Madruga: You're helping the Gospel Library app repent of its sins.

24Aug2017
Sister Rademacher: "Trains can't stop fast enough for you to cross in front of them."
Elder Stradling: But they have to stop eventually to pick up the remains
Elder Stradling: I say remains because corpse isn't an accurate description of what's left.

27Aug2017
Brother Gary Jorgensen during lesson on addiction: And the entertainment industry is mainly led by whom?
Charles (Polish ward member): By Americans

28Aug2017 10:43AM
Me: Welcome to QRS. We are a hivemind.

28Aug2017 12:14PM
Elder White: When someone is crying in Dnd and you want them to shut up, it's best to just cast Magic Missile
Elder Stradling: Or you know, silence.
Elder White: Silence isn't as flashy.
Elder White: Plus Magic Missile discourages others from crying.

28Aug2017 12:30PM

Me: I'm sorry. I'm a horrible person.
Sister Horne: No, you're not!
Elder Broderick: Well, it is a Monday. We're all horrible people on Mondays.
Me: But I like Mondays.
Elder Broderick: *gasp* you're a horrible person.

29Aug2017 9:58AM

Me: *says something incorrect* wait never mind. Don't listen to me.
Elder Stradling: I don't listen to you anyway
#BOOMroasted  #YCSMquotes

13 August 2017

This month I felt like I hit the ground running because I started a part-time job with CutCo. Yes, I prayed about it. Yes, I am still a missionary. Yes, I can do both, and that is why I believe I needed to take this job. For a long time, I had decided not to work during my mission, but God had a different plan for me, so I'm following what He tells me to do.

Anyway while I was starting training, we had a new elder join QRS. His name is Elder Stradling and he is very bright and talented with computers and problem solving. He will be learning to program in a few weeks and he will help Sister Aversa until she is released in October (which I'm very sad about by the way). Elder Stradling also took four years of Spanish and since he just graduated, he still has a lot of his Spanish, and he intends to use it more and more. QRS is helping him to practice reading and writing in Spanish!

Gary and I also split the Intake process into 3 parts to help with training, since it is a long and difficult process. Intake now includes Information Processing, Communication, and Research. Information Processing brings the issue from FogBugz into WorkFront. Research checks channels and figures out more in depth details about the problem. Communication emails a receipt to the user, and also sends emails to translators to figure out the severity and the corrections for the problem.

Sister Wheeler started Thursday and she is our guinea pig with the new training system. She picked up Information Processing really quickly, and I'm very glad for that! She only knows English and she did not take another language in school, but she is already getting more comfortable with looking at pages in multiple languages. I'm very very proud of her and I feel a Christlike love for her so soon already.

Also, I'd like to talk about Christlike love that comes with serving the Lord. It feels like when you meet a person and you just "click" and become friends, but it so much deeper than that. It is my favorite thing about being a missionary because I already have a very deep love for humanity and people. I like most people, but sometimes it takes me a while to learn to like a person and appreciate their talents and actions and being.
As a missionary, even if someone and I don't get along too well, I still feel an instant spiritual love as if it was like a "click" with a new friend.

Anyway, God's great. Life is great, I'm getting busier and busier, but it's also making me so much stronger.

30 July 2017

In Mormon culture, there's a kind of mental Missionary Bingo of events that commonly occur on a proselyting mission. It has things like "had an investigator baptized", "mistaken for Jehovah's Witnesses", "invited in by someone looking to Bible Bash", "asked if first name is Elder/Sister", "a ward member forgot to feed us" etc. (Comment what you think the Free Space should be.)

One of the things I imagine is a square is "asked to bear testimony or give an impromptu talk because a speaker didn't show". As a YCSM, I don't have the same squares as a proselyting missionary and I'm not sure which squares or events will occur on my mission. But the one about the testimony happened today! The second speaker was absent and I was asked to bear my testimony. I think I did really well and I didn't think too hard about it, so that means that is was more Spirit-filled than Amy-filled. People kept shaking my hand throughout the rest of church saying they liked my testimony and that it was interesting. (I assume it's interesting because my mission is so unique, but I'm trying to give myself more credit and I try to think that I'm interesting.)

This past week my supervisor, Gary, was gone because his father's health has not been good and Gary was taking care of him. This was also the last week for the Intake Blitz, so we had to have everything into WorkFront (our repair communication system). We finished early and it was great. Now next month I will be coordinating all the repairs for all the issues that we took in. There's probably like 300-400 issues I'll be babysitting and so I hope that the publishers are ready for the flood of updated sources. 

I also need to work on training. Sister Dunford, half of a wonderful senior couple, had been helping with Intake and she didn't seem as afraid to ask questions about the systems we use and the reason we do things. I think she thought that she needed extra help because she isn't as tech-savvy, so she had already asked so many questions that she might as well ask more. Anyway, the point is that she made me think about ways to improve the training. 

I've started submitting example problems or cases so I can screenshot every step of the process. Then I'll draw arrows and write text on the screenshots or something. I'll ask Elder Broderick to help me with the graphic design of it. His passion for graphic design has opened artistic doors for QRS. He's been working on so many fun projects to help. 

I got a job selling Cutco knives through Vector Marketing. It's flexible and it will be helpful to build a savings fund for when I'm back at college. I start my training this week. I'm excited to make money because I keep thinking about money with my Self-Reliance class.

Love all y'all out there.

16 July 2017

Gospel Library has a bug this weekend and nothing would download. It was fixed before Sunday in the US, but I worry about the Eastern hemisphere. The GL Team will get to sort through the emails, so I'm not sure if I'll get any of that feedback since they know about the issue. Plus that kind of bug is general app features, and I only do Non-English content.

Like I talked about in the last post, we are on an intake blitz. Sister Aversa, Sister Rademacher, and I are finally clearing out all these unopened issues. It's exciting and relaxing since I'm pretty good at it, but it also means that I will have to manage all the repairs for all of these issues. I really do love this work so deeply. I feel like I am a tool finally being used in its proper, intended purpose.

Oh, in case anyone was worried, my colonoscopy review appointment went well. No new problems came up, just discussion on how to address my ulcerative colitis. I unfortunately cannot take an oral medicine for it, but we have some strategies to deal with it.

In the next five minutes, I'm about to go to my "Feasting with Friends" group. It's a monthly dinner party that my YSA does. They just put random groups together under people that volunteered to host a dinner party.
I have probably said it before, but I love my ward soooo much. I've met so many people that I feel like I was meant to meet, and I probably would not have gotten to know them the same way if I was called on a proselyting mission. I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for putting me right where I am.

6 July 2017: Intake Blitz!

So, my 5 trainees that I trained on Intake are now only 1 part-time trainee, which is Sister Beck. Sister Buchanan and Sister Horne have all been changed to different assignments and are no longer working with QRS. Elder Broderick is not doing Intake anyway either. Sister Andrews also probably will not have much time to work in Instake.
We have Sister Rademacher now, and she is very good at processes. She used to serve with the Gospel Library Feedback Team, and now she is just getting slightly closer to a repair process than her old process of forwarding issues along to the correct repair teams.

But since Intake wasn't a good fit for the 3 trainees, there are over 150 unread emails now, and Gary has decided for the next 3 weeks that we will clean it out.

Sister Aversa has even finished the German and French scripture links (but they are not published yet), and so she is working in Intake!
She barely had two weeks of Intake training, so she's basically relearning it. She just leaned over and told me she was reading a scripture in English looking for a Portuguese typo and she couldn't find it. #BilingualProblems

I'm excited to finally get caught up with all of the issues, but I'm also overwhelmed because there's just so many.

3 July 2017

Last week was June 25-July 1. 

Sunday the 25th:

I went to a brunch at Eve's (relief society leader) house and I met some other sisters in the ward.

There is a new convert in our ward and he was confirmed on Sunday the 25th!

I went to the ward choir kick-off dinner at Brother Wetsel's home. I'm so excited to be singing with such a talented ward. It reminds me of being back in Keller. 

So many of these young single adults play instruments or sing for fun, and this was apparent to me back in May when I went to Chanel and Skeet's open-mic night birthday party. 

Monday the 26th:

After FHE, I went to a Poetry Slam after being recommended to it by Lea from my ward. Since I was a first-timer to a Slam, I was considered unbiased, and I was picked to be a judge with other first-timers. The atmosphere was really fun, but there was some swearing and I felt weird about that.

Tuesday the 27th:

I went to my piano lesson Tuesday night. I'm finally playing intervals and harmonic intervals! Multiple notes are sounding at once! My fingers feel so awkward. I feel like I'm just now discovering how to work my fingers. Afterwards, I went to find this international market that Sister Aversa told me to go to. It is all Central and South American food. It's called La Pequenita, and the cashier was a Spanish-speaker (as expected), but I felt embarrassed with how bad my Spanish conversation speech and comprehension is. I have not had as many opportunities to speak Spanish daily, even though I can read and write emails in Spanish.

Anyway I got some guaraná as instructed by Sister Aversa.

Wednesday the 28th:

I went to my Self-Reliance class that the YSA stake (certain people are picked for the first wave of the course and I happened to be one!). I really like the people there. I hope I can be friends with some of them after the class is over. This week the chapter was about budgets, and it is kind of difficult for me since I don't have a paycheck and I only really pay for gas and food. I'm just glad to talk about budgets in a spiritual setting, because it makes it so much more meaningful.

As a kid, I was obsessed with saving money. I would count up everything and keep a piece of paper to track the balance. I loved reading about the Great Depression because of the ways that people survived with barely any money. I loved the American Girl, Kit, because she was in the Great Depression. I also read the American Girl book, A Smart Girl's Guide to Money, probably more times than I can remember. I wanted to start a business, but I felt that I lacked skills, but I ended up making crocheted jewelry or other weird jewelry. I think I still have kept this side of me because I save my receipts and I scan them and I read a lot of couponing blog posts. Several times, when I haven't been able to sleep, I am up just reading financial advice from random pinterest or google searches. I think some part of my soul always knew a secret about my upcoming future financial troubles that I have been warned of in prayer and in my patriarchal blessing. I have been preparing for it my whole life without realizing.

Thursday the 29th:

So, sadly, my trainees are not as good at Intake as I am. Our Intake pace for June was low and I spent most of my Thursday and Friday bringing our numbers back up. Gary and I are reorganizing our talents to work more effectively, and I admire Gary's management skills very much. 

Thursday evening, I participated in an international conference call with Gary, my supervisor, and a representative of the Korea office, and a representative of the Japan office. The Asia North Area Offices will be helping with QRS Repair! We have to work on training them for future involvement, which might entail their own Asia North version of QRS's work in Intake and Repair. I am very excited because I often have trouble understanding problems or typos when I do not read Japanese or Korean, and now I can more officially send in problems to these translators without worrying that I'm taking up their time. 

Friday the 30th:

Sister Buchanan and Elder Broderick organized a hang-out at the Gateway Mall and I got to try Virtual Reality games for the first time. It's very very weird, especially when the worker asks you if you need help and you can't see him, but you hear him and you know he's right next to you, but all you see in that direction is a zombie or a brick wall.

Saturday July 1st:

Sister Buchanan invited me to be her "plus one" to the Billings Wedding Reception. Andy and Andi were YCSM's at the COB, and I'm pretty sure this is the first marriage out of our group. 

We helped cut up fruit for the refreshment table and then we took some pictures with all the missionaries. I felt weird because I had never really met some of the people that were there, including the married couple. Sister Buchanan started two weeks after I did, but she was the Wrights' assistant and had to visit all of these missionaries, (while I sat in a cubicle and read emails), so she met people more easily. I honestly was jealous of Buchanan when she started because I felt very lonely and friendless and I wished I had assimilated into friendships as easily as she did. Now she and I are friends and it's all good.

Sunday July 2nd:
Brittany Tennant showed up in my ward! Apparently she will be attending the ward for the next few months before she is married!

We had dinner at John Paul's. My extended family discussed my sad life growing up without fry sauce served everywhere. Nana and Grandpa's car picked up tar from the street and the wheels were shaking or something funny like that. I probably would have noticed if I was driving, but as a passenger, I was lost in thought and didn't notice until they pulled off at an exit to check it out.

Monday July 3rd:

I spent most of my mission service adding in new information into issues and reorganizing them into their proper queues: "intake", "repair", and "improve". Improve is the queue for resolved or unresolved issues that we have closed. Gary takes the data in improve and compares it. 

Anyway, the new information that we have to add is "people impacted" using a calculator. It rounds by the thousand. For example, a minor translation problem in the Spanish Book of Mormon affects way more people than a minor translation problem in the Bulgarian Book of Mormon. Not every problem fits so nicely into one product and so I worry if my numbers are accurate enough, and then I try selecting more products and then my numbers are probably not precise enough. 

Oh yeah, so, I'm having a colonoscopy on Wednesday the 5th, so for July 4th, I will be eating jello and drinking juice and broth. I am apparently so great at planning appointments (sarcasm).

Issue of the Week 26June2017

On the left is the English Liahona page for the Nov 2015 issue on the section for pictures of the  General Authorities and General Officers. This is the list of General Authority Seventies (in alphabetical order).

In Portuguese, Spanish, French, German, Albanian, and probably many more languages, Wilford W. Andersen's image is skipped, so all the images from him and below are paired with incorrect names as their captions.
What likely occurred was, as someone went through attaching all the files, they skipped his image and was one image ahead in the line.

These will likely be a very tedious and long repair for such a small mistake. I am so looking forward to the future emails, ha. #sarcasm

Temple Photo: Monday 19 June 2017

19 June 2017

I forgot to take my ADHD medicine this morning and I feel totally unfocused, so that means I have been focused at some points. I think I've been feeling almost a hyper-focus, which ADHD people can get on medicine because it's like an all or nothing focus deal with medicine. I think I've been hyper-focusing because some of my trainees have been afraid to ask me questions.
But hey, a medicine finally works for me and it works so well that I am not in pain every time I am focused!

I've decided I want to start taking daily pictures of the Salt Lake City temple because I see it almost everyday and I want to appreciate its beauty.

I started piano lessons after a pretty strong prompting. I'd been thinking in small thoughts about learning piano, but I hadn't done anything about it yet, and then I had more urgent impressions from the Spirit about learning piano. Anyway, I've started now, and I'm bad at practicing because I'm embarrassed to do so in front of my grandparents, but I need to get over that fear anyway.

I've been getting a lot of spiritual inspiration lately about a lot of things that I need to do. I've been encouraged more to develop my talents in order to squash my insecurities.

13 June 2017

I've been doing both Intake and Repair and then I had to start training some lovely new missionaries onto Intake, so needless to say, I've been busy.
My new minions... I mean missionaries are Sister Horne, Elder Broderick, Sister Buchanan, Sister Beck, and Sister Andrews. Only Sister Horne is full time with QRS. I don't think I trained the first 3 if that list all too well, so we are having a big training meeting tomorrow when Sister Beck and Sister Andrews start tomorrow!

Issue of the Week 22May

In Bulgarian, under the Seminaries & Institutes collection, the Seminary subcollection has a picture of a guy surfing instead of the Seminary cover picture!

22 May 2017

It's been a while! I've been busy!
Sister Henrie was released and I've been doing both Intake and Repair. I've met with a couple prospective sister missionaries, but one isn't sure where she will serve and the other won't start for another week or so. I hope I've charmed the unsure sister as I did the upcoming sister, because I need the help. Sister Aversa and I had a mini breakdown on Thursday because we have so much work to do. She has been adding all scripture links to Sunday School and Primary manuals for Spanish and Portuguese. She finally finished the D&C Gospel Doctrine Teacher's manual, but soon, she will have to move onto French and German, and then Japanese and Korean, which she does not find exciting. Elder Hanson and Elder Thompson, in their service, scan documents and they told me sometimes there are hours when they don't have work! I told them to come down to the 4th floor and I will put them to work reading emails and scouring PDFs for errors. I'm starting to feel very bossy and I like it.
Gary has started a new management system and I am in charge of customer satisfaction. I check for replies to emails and measure the amount of positive, neutral, and negative responses. I've also been trying to figure out from emails the location of different users so that we can build a map to show the worldwide influence of QRS.

The past few weeks I was the happiest I've been in a long time, and I felt an impression that it was a blessing before I had to endure some hard times. Depression knocked me off my feet last week, but I decided to open up and let my missionary friends and others know. They definitely helped me feel better. Anxiety is feeling like it's boiling up inside of me, but I am getting better at relying on the Spirit.

The 12th and 13th, I went down to Provo and I stayed with Ellen, my dad's aunt. She and I watched a lot of tv, picked out plants for her garden, and just hung out. She convinced me to cut my hair again, so I'll probably get that done next week. That weekend, I also saw Fictionist in concert! There are a band from Provo and they had a concert commemorating the release of their new album. I saw a younger church employee at the concert and I felt like we shared the secret that I'm a missionary. Every time I see someone that knows I'm a missionary in a place other than the Church Office Building, I feel like what I call an "undercover missionary".

I am now starting to part of a self-reliance program in my stake. They will have several rotations for every young single adult to take the courses, and I am part of the first rotation.

I have a meeting with some web publishers and developers soon, so I'll end for now! Love y'all!

What is a Young Church Service Missionary?

This page is to explain service as a Young Church Service Missionary and to answer frequently asked questions concerning my service. I will update it when I please.
Published: 9April2017 Last Updated: 30July2017


Vocabulary list:


COB: Church Office Building for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

CSM: Church Service Missionary

FHE: Family Home Evening: a fun, spiritual night for families to grow closer together; in YSA wards that lack the same family atmosphere, there are FHE activities every Monday night for the adults to grow closer as a ward family

FogBugz: website that collects all the feedback emails in one place and allows organization by assigning emails to other users to make sure the problems get fixed

GL: Gospel Library: an app for scriptures, lesson manuals, and other content

LDS: Latter Day Saint

PSD: Publishing Services Department

QRS: Quality Resolution Service: the service I help with, which takes feedback and submits issues for repair

SLC: Salt Lake City

WorkFront: Facebook-like website used for repair and project coordination; I sometimes call it Facebook for programmers

YCSM: Young Church Service Missionary

YSA: Young Single Adult; also used to describe a Young Single Adult Ward


What Sister Gee Does:
I am in the Language Division (subdepartment) under the Publishing Services Department. I receive and organize foreign language feedback for LDS.org and the Gospel Library app.

I am part of the Language Quality Resolution Service, which is just called QRS since we're in the Language Division. The Gospel Library calls us "Non-English Content Issues" because they handle English Feature and Content Issues for Gospel Library.
QRS handles non-English problems in church apps, church websites, and even church printed items. We work on translation errors like misspellings, grammar errors, and untranslated text. Content errors or "content bugs" include missing pages, missing manuals, or missing collections.


I tell people that it's kind of like a bridge between the Language and Technology departments.

QRS has two major steps that missionaries serve.

Intake:
reading and responding to emails describing issues
checking for the issue on our own devices
submitting the issue for review and eventual repair

Repair:
contacting and assigning tasks to publishers and programmers
getting updates on repairs from publishers and programmers
checking for the issue on our own devices daily
praying that the issues have a speedy repair!! (lol)
(In order to give a look at what I do, I will post Issues of the Week!)

Improve: (large scale stuff)
collecting data from issues
processing content requests
suggesting ways to update data to avoid glitches or issues


People in QRS:
Gary: missionary manager
Greg: Gary's manager
Elder and Sister Dunford: missionaries that do Improve projects
Dan: church employee that does special projects and repairs stuff
Elder Broderick: hilarious and smart guy; does smaller special graphic design projects
Sister Aversa: Brazilian amateur programmer; fun-loving cubicle companion
Sister Rademacher: ex-Gospel Library team member; Intake trainee; very interested in ASL
Sister Beck: missionary choir director; musical theater and history enthusiast; part-time Intake helper
Sister Gee: Intake guru; actively working in Repair coordination

YCSM rules:

Tag:
I am to wear my tag while I am at my mission assignment or when I am at church meetings like Sunday services. I do not wear it to YSA activities outside the church building.

However, I am advised to not wear my tag anywhere else when I leave the COB to go to my car. Since YCSM's are such a new idea, it will take a while for people to fully understand the calling and the restrictions. It is so we do not confuse people to think that I am a disobedient young full-time missionary leaving my companion.  While explanation combats confusion, it is sadly not possible for me to explain my assignment to every single person that sees me with a tag. I am also advised to not use my cell phone while wearing my tag, and while outside the COB. Church employees inside the COB are used to CSM's and do not judge our actions the same as a random bystander out walking in Temple Square.

Dress:
I must wear knee length skirts and have a properly groomed appearance to communicate my committed and respectful attitude towards my missionary calling. I can dye my hair in natural colors.
I can wear jeans or casual clothing while not on mission assignment or at church meetings.
Some YCSM's serve on the grounds or in the cafeteria and they have uniforms for those assignments.

Technology:
I can use technology the same as before my mission, but I, of course, should limit my usage. I am to police my media more intensely, even though I am allowed to watch movies and listen to music. I have made most changes in my selection of audiobooks and music due to language.
 I can call and text when I please, and use social media. So you can contact me!

Dating:

YCSM's are technically allowed to date, but it must be discussed with their bishop. Nothing more than handshakes are allowed between the opposite sex while wearing the missionary tag. Hugging is allowed without the tag! Kissing is technically even allowed, but cute little kisses are allowed, not passionate long ones. From what I can tell in my group at the COB, nobody is actively dating any other missionaries. I know of several sisters with boyfriends on other full-time missions, or even in Utah, but not much from what I can tell. But, anyway, just don't get married while you're on the mission.

Living Arrangements:
YCSM's are required to live with a relative or other responsibility party. The home is supposed to be a healthy, spiritual environment for the missionary living there. I live with my grandparents in Salt Lake City. Most YCSM's in the COB do not live as close as I do. Some live as much as an hour away by car or an hour and a half by train (which is a huge deal in Utah). I do not live with a companion.
People are allowed to visit me, of any age and any gender!

Ward:
I attend the ward within which boundaries I live. I am a member of the ward instead of assigned that ward. I am inclined to serve those in my ward by my own choice and within my own schedule. I am also able to receive a calling in the ward if my schedule permits. I have been called to serve with the FHE planning committee!

Companions:
YCSM's are assigned companions in certain capacities, but in my group, it is more common to not have a companion. Those with companions in my zone do not have to stay together in sight and sound and live separately. Those with companions in my zone are district leaders and leaders over the sisters.
Some missionaries that require assistance with their disabilities are either assigned companions to be with them throughout most of the day, or they have someone nearby who can help them with anything.

Mission President:
In most CSM cases, the CSM's stake president acts as their "mission president". Since I am in the Church Office Building which a whole bunch of other YCSM's, I went through a mission coordinator to help me find a fitting mission assignment in SLC, and then I was assigned the mission presidents over YCSM's with this type of assignment. I am not totally sure of the extent of missionaries that Elder and Sister Wright keep track of, but that is as much as I know for now.
With that said, I still need to meet with my stake president even if I am not technically serving within the stake's service opportunities.

Time:
There is a minimum and maximum amount of designated service hours for the mission assignment designated by the mission presidents, and arranged by the missionary depending on their circumstances. I do not know, but I think my zone at the COB has a minimum of 16 hours and a maximum of 40 hours. There is also a minimum and maximum amount of months for YCSM's. The YCSM chooses in increments of 6 months to serve from 6 months to 18 months for sisters, 24 months (2 years) for elders. This time can be adjusted, and also be put on pause for circumstances like long-lasting surgeries.




Similarly to the full-time missionaries, we stand as an example of Jesus Christ at all times and all places, especially more with His name written on our tag, Spirituality cannot be measured, but we are encouraged to improve our spirituality in order to serve in our mission assignments with the Spirit. A part-time job doesn't mean that you can't do the same work; it only means that you can't do it at the same frequency as a full-time job. It is all the same to the Lord, and it should be the same to you.
We are real missionaries. We are not "fake" missionaries, or "lesser" missionaries, or "weakling" missionaries, or "pathetic" missionaries, or "wimpy" missionaries, or "half-hearted" missionaries. Missionaries are missionaries and that's it. A mission is a calling through the living prophet by God to serve in an assigned area for a period of time.We are called of God and set apart to an assignment to serve the Lord and spread the gospel in whatever way we can.


Short answer:

• You can call/text/email/message me
• You can visit me
• I don't have a companion
• I go to a normal YSA and can hang out normally
• I serve a specific mission assignment during the day
• I don't have the same rules as a full-time missionary at any time of the day
• The best way to explain is that it's like a spiritual internship

Here is the YCSM handbook PDF.
https://www.lds.org/bc/content/ldsorg/callings/missionary/church-service/ycsm/09795-YCSM-Principles-Handbook-WEB.pdf

7 May 2017

You have to work to have progress. God doesn't just give out progress when we're weak. After we do what we can, Jesus provides grace, not before.

I didn't have a very good testimony of Jesus Christ or the Book of Mormon until I was 16. I knew Heavenly Father heard my prayers and the Holy Ghost spoke to me, but Jesus Christ didn't seem so conversational. I did not feel His love for me the same way, because I did not realize all the things He had done and all the things He had said were personally and individually for me, along with everyone.

When I was a sophomore in high school, the seminary topic was the New Testament. I remember thinking, "maybe I'll finally have a testimony of Jesus Christ this year." But that year I was beginning to experience major trials of mental illness and trouble with grades, and I chose to not read my scriptures as much. The end of that year, I did not have a strong testimony of Jesus Christ, but I did not figure out the reason why yet. It didn't matter as much to me.

My junior year, we studied the Book of Mormon, and I thought that this was the year that would help me feel that testimony of Jesus Christ, and a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon. For the first few months, I didn't read then either. I was so confused why I wasn't getting this testimony. I had been taking the right class, and getting a good grade, but I was not really working. In the beginning of Junior year, I had been dating a boy that believed Joseph Smith was a fraud and I realized my passion for the Book of Mormon when I had fought for it, against the boy. I did not read as much as I should have because of my stress, again, but now, I felt something. I felt a testimony of Jesus Christ due to the hard things I handled in Junior year. I suffered a variety of trials and the suffering helped me to draw closer to Christ. Christ suffered to be closer to me, yet I felt closer to Christ when I suffered.

This pattern of things happens over and over for me. I take a Book of Mormon class at BYU and I don't do the work and I don't feel it as much. I get excited to sign up for things, but I am non-committal or distracted or over-stressed and I fall away from the goal.

I used to think about a mission this way. I thought about a proselyting mission and how much I wanted to sign up for one. I thought about all the good skills I would obtain from a mission. I thought about how good I would be at a mission. I find it easy to start conversations in various topics. I find it easy to learn and to immerse myself in a language. I find it easy to spend a lot of time with one person. I would find it easy to be with someone all day. I could easily keep a schedule with someone else doing the same exact things as me.  But God wanted me to work. He didn't want it to be easy. He gave me the mission that is incredibly difficult for me. I must be alone, almost always. I must work to maintain and to cultivate relationships to work well in teams with church employees and fellow missionaries. If I am having a problem with someone, I must sort it out instead of enduring the time till the next transfer. I have to build my own support system. I must create my own schedule and follow it myself. I must learn my languages everyday without a constant immersion.

God knows me so well. He knows which parts to me need to be stronger. He knows that I need to see a doctor often, yes. But He knows my weaknesses and He knows that the proselyting mission would not have strengthened those weaknesses. This mission tests the worst parts of me. Believe me, it is awful to rely on my own consistency and confidence when there is very little in me. Yet, somehow God makes this amazing.

2 May 2017

The past couple weeks, I've been very tired all the time, so I'm sorry for not writing.
I've been going to the temple a lot, since I'm here on Temple Square! I just attend the session after I finish my mission assignment for the day.

We are also preparing for Sister Henrie to leave and then I will have to change to work on Repair, which I'm very nervous about, since I get to talk to these much more knowledgeable programmers and translators.

I'm just worried that I'll annoy them with persistent emails and then they'll decide to stop helping us, which is definitely a worst case scenario, haha. But I still think it!

I've also been cleaning out our old feedback emails in FogBugz, which is sometimes boring because the issues they report have already been fixed. Some are almost too exciting, though, like a week ago, I found out that Afrikaans has been missing the Doctrine and Covenants since October! I'm glad to have found the issue and submitted it!
I also have issues because some missionaries send in feedback from a @mormon.org email and then sometimes when they are transferred, I can't email them anymore to ask for help. One Chinese-speaking Elder used his mormon.org email and sent it all in characters, and I played with Google trans;ate and my own knowledge to figure out exactly what he needed. The Chinese translators are available to help, but the Elder was not clear enough for even them to determine the issue.

I'm typing this at my desk right now. It's just Sister Aversa and me, like it has been since Thursday, since my supervisor, Gary, is out.

I have no new emails because a hacker sent out an email to a bunch of Church Headquarters accounts and so our main account is now shut down until my supervisor is back tomorrow to prevent a security crisis. I was there when the email came in and I opened it, so I feel very bad about it, but I have been reassured that it was an honest mistake. It came as an email from another Church Employee, so of course, I was going to open it, but I did not give any of our information out. I went to the manager, Greg Perkins, and he told me to forward it to our Church Security.
Anyway, we can't access the account until Gary gets back.
#JustChurchHQThings lol

Also, there are a lot of new interns and employees that started yesterday. I thought it was a flood of missionaries when I saw all these young-looking men in suits, but they didn't have tags. The cafeteria is crazier than usual.

Email of the Week

We received an email from a full-time missionary on a German-speaking missionary. His name is Elder Bridge and at the end of every email, his email signature is in English.
It says:

-Building the Bridge between you and eternal life since 1996-

April 8 & 9: Stake Conference

Elder Ralph L. Dewsnup of the Seventy spoke both last night and this morning. He focused his message on the miracles of the modern dispensation. He spoke of the miracle of the translation and publication of the Book of Mormon and then the miracle that we can all carry a device that gives us those sacred words within seconds.
He asked the congregation Saturday night for responses to his question, "What evidence is there that the Lord is hastening the work and His coming?"
People responded with the number of temples on the Earth, the Book of Mormon publications in foreign languages, the missionary age change, the amount of LDS materials on the web and apps, the worldwide broadcasting of General Conference, the publication, The Family: A Proclamation to the World, the missionary study guide Preach My Gospel, the amount of missions around the world, the different nations that are open to the church when they weren't before, the opportunity to use video chat to meet the missionaries, the Mormon Messages, the Mormon Channel videos, and other things that I failed to write down.
I have a few evidences of my own that I didn't feel comfortable sharing because it required more explanation.

I will list them here:

• the increase in service opportunities for disabled missionaries
• the increase the service opportunities for members
• the refugee effort
• the comforting material written and spoken concerning mental health
• the tolerant yet moral example of Jesus Christ repeated in our church leaders
• the globalization focus in the COB
• COB business meetings that begin with a prayer
• the supervisors and managers at the COB
• the church employees that willingly repair language issues sometimes without pay to do so

I am so grateful everyday for small and large miracles in the modern day world and the modern day Church of Jesus Christ.

Pray for President Monson!

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865677192/LDS-Church-President-Monson-remains-hospitalized-Wednesday-afternoon.html

Issue of the Week

We now have 15 issues from Spanish-speaking members about the fact that in the Spanish Gospel Library, under Teaching of the Presidents (Enseñanzas de los Presidentes de la Iglesia), Spencer W. Kimball is missing!

Issues of the Week

This week both the Albanian Gospel Library app and Albanian LDS.org are unavailable.
....aaaand it's the week before General Conference.
Pray for our developers and all Albanian speakers!

(Albanian is referred to "Shqip" in Albanian, if you would like to see the bug for yourself.)

Update:
Persian is also not working.

Welcome to Church Headquarters Doom.

March 27th: Zone Conference and General Women's Session!

Last week I kept feeling a bit more down despite the amazing times around me. Obviously Satan's doing, but I think I feel better in the evenings after the day is over because I feel very accomplished and satisfied with the work I do.

Tuesday I started training Sister Aversa to do my job, which is Intake and Validation. She is very good with coding and soon she will move onto the Repair phase and work more closely with uploading the correct files when issues arise. She serves with us on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but she will be moving quickly through these phases to begin. She and I spent a little too much time that Tuesday because we were hung up on a giant issue in which a ton of the Swedish General Conference talks on both the app and LDS.org play in English instead of Swedish. Nana and Grandpa commented on the fact that most Swedes speak English anyway, but then why would they bother changing the language to Swedish?

I was able to spend time Tuesday evening with my new friend, Clare, around City Creek, and then I dropped her off at LDS Business College. She is one of the first friends I've hung out with outside any other activities!

Wednesday we had Zone Conference on the 26th floor! From my understanding, it is basically every Young Church Service Missionary in Temple Square. I could be wrong, but I also know that pretty much all of the missionaries are under Elder and Sister Wright. Elder LeGrand Curtis Jr. and his lovely wife of the Quorum of the Seventy spoke to us. They are a very cute couple. On her copy of the pictures of the General Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the Quorum of the Seventy, she has drawn a big red heart around her husband's face. She talked a lot about the calling of being a missionary and how we are all disciples and no matter what calling you have, it helps spread Christ's gospel. Elder Curtis spoke using D&C Section 4 as a guide about our purpose as a missionary. He explained that missionary work is definitely hard work, but it is the greatest work we will ever do.
The missionary choir sang and I was dead center of course because I'm an alto and a middle part. I was extremely nervous that I would mess something up, but it went pretty well.

Thursday I worked with Sister Aversa again and this time we received about eight emails from one Spanish-speaking brother. It seems he listened to half of the Book of Psalms and he reported every tiny issue concerning "distorted audio", or "fuzzy sounds", or "missing verses". Sister Aversa had the fun job of listening to certain chapters three times each: one on iOS, one on Android, and one on LDS.org audio. She knows some Spanish since she is Brazilian and she took a couple years of it, but it was very difficult to keep up with. She reminds me of me from two weeks ago commenting on every single funny email or response.

Friday, I attended my cousin's dance recital and I found it very fascinating. It was based on a book, and the performance was titled, "Elfwyn's Saga", so I assume the book is also titled the same.

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to serve at General Women's Conference! I gave out translation receivers for live viewers that struggle with hearing or just hearing English. It was an extremely rainy day, so don't believe those beautiful sunny shots you see in the introduction online!  The process was simple, but soon hectic when attendees came flooding in as if they were rain themselves.
People came to our table and asked for a language. We asked how many, and asked them to fill out a card with their name, phone number, and ward. The language had a corresponding number on a sheet of paper. Spanish, obviously, was most popular and we had all of the receivers set to Spanish to begin.
 Sister Ashby and I served at the same table and I tried hard not to be a show-off when I could address people in several different languages, but then Sister Ashby had me write down phrases for her to say. She made me feel better about expressing my talent because of her willingness to learn.
She was soon grateful she had done that because I was pulled away by an usher needing a Spanish translator for two women that spoke no English. Conference was soon starting and our table was swarmed, but Sister Ashby stuck to her Spanish notes saying carefully, "cuantos?" and "escribe su nombre y numero por favor", and "tenga un buen dia".
I ran to the receivers and picked up two for the women and we hurried down the stairs to get to their section, but when we walked in on the opening hymn, the usher standing next to their row explained that it was full. We heard the opening prayer and the choir began to sing again as we became panicky. I had never been in the conference center before and I wasn't sure how to fix the problem. Soon, another usher ushered the women to a row near the very front, which was all fittingly underscored by the choir singing, "I Feel My Savior's Love".
As the translation receivers' table was less busy, Sister Ashby and I tried to stand at the very very top and very back of the Conference Center to listen, but women were whispering and it made it difficult to pay attention. We decided to go back down to the table to listen on the receivers.
I must say though, I don't think I've ever seen so many women in my entire life. I've definitely seen plenty of people, but not specifically women.
At the end of the night, I drove Sister Ashby home, and she set all of my car's radio stations for me, since she listens to the radio mostly and I hadn't fixed them yet.

Sunday, I was called to be part of the Family Home Evening Committee!

Tonight, I finally went to FHE, so that was cool. I am meeting more people and I'm so glad to be part of my ward.

March 19th

This week I've been a bit down, and it's obviously depression combined with an extrovert's hatred of loneliness.
Two days this week my manager, Gary, and Sister Henrie were out sick with some bug that's been going around. I was alone in the hugicle  (a huge cubicle), and I was nervous about messing up my work. I'm learning and I'm getting better, but this is a struggling point.
Sometimes I wish I had a companion so that I wouldn't have so much alone time, but I know that my trial of this mission to is to be without a companion.
Depression is just getting stronger and stronger and I've felt so weak and exhausted because of it. I know that I can overcome this with the help of my Savior, Jesus Christ. He reminds me that I am not alone. He has experienced all of my pain and He understands me perfectly.

Despite my depression this week, I had some greatly positive experiences!

Tuesday, my grandparents and I drove up to attend my cousin's band concert. She is the only 7th grade oboe and she is very talented!

Wednesday, several other missionaries and I walked over to the Tabernacle to watch and listen to Elder Jackson play the organ. He has been playing since he was seven! It was wonderful to finally hear how amazing he is.

Wednesday evening, I went to the YSA's Relief Society Birthday activity where we learned new skills like hand-lettering, yoga, guitar, and nutrition. It was hardest to eat a nice birthday cake after learning about the benefits of nutrition. I'm slowly getting to know more people here. This can help me feel less lonely and of course, help me serve the members of my ward.

Thursday night, my aunt and uncle came over for dinner and we had great intriguing conversations.

Friday morning, Nana and I went to the temple to perform ordinances for our Italian ancestors. It was a wonderful experience. We also got dinner together and played cards that evening, so it was a fun bonding time with her.
Also we went out Saturday and she bought me my own new temple clothes!! I no longer have to rent a white dress and other temple clothing in order to be temple-appropriate.

Hope everyone is enjoying their week. You deserve to be.

Sunday March 12th

I've been thinking about hope, and what it means to me. Hope means that I can try again and there might be a better result. Hope is like optimism, but towards the future. This church gives me so much hope.
As you can expect, the young church service missionaries are kids with diseases, disorders, or other disabilities. The challenges of their life did not extinguish their desire to serve, and with that desire, God has provided a way for them to serve.
Doctrine and Covenants 4:3 says "Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work."
All you need is desire to serve. It seems too good to be true compared to the many different challenges that stand in the way.  There's a missionary in a wheelchair, a missionary with bipolar disorder, a missionary with autism, several missionaries with back problems, and so many more problems that aren't things that we asked for. But none of this stops anyone from serving others, because He provides a way.

Anyway, I'll stop preaching to talk about the week.
Sister Reid went in for her first surgery in a long string of surgeries over the next few months on her jaw. Please pray for her. Her last day was Wednesday. She will work on answering emails from home, but it's all up to me now.
I will have help from Sister Henrie, on the repair side, and Gary (Brother Christensen), but I'm anxious about being so responsible already.

I finally moved into the basement apartment that includes a bedroom, a bathroom, laundry machines, a sitting room, and a kitchen. I can't wait to start getting into a routine and cooking for myself. I was previously in a guestroom while Uncle David and Aunt Teishi and the girls were staying here visiting from France. Speaking of them, I really enjoyed having them here and I'm encouraged to practice my French after seeing how fluent the older daughter is.

I joined the mission choir and that's that. Now there's 3 in every section, so clearly I was meant to join.

The missionaries had a pi day party on Saturday the 11th, so you can tell we're not that good at math. Nana helped me make a Key Lime Pie and it was so excitingly easy. I'm really falling in love with my mission and the people I am getting to know. As I always say, missions make you love things.

Today was my second Sunday at the YSA (Young Single Adult) ward. It was a lot better than last week because I was crazy nervous last week. I'm teaching people about church service missions. "I'm a part-time missionary, like a hybrid normal person and missionary. No, I don't have a companion. I actually live with my grandparents. Yes, I can use technology. Yes, I wear my tag on Sundays. No, I don't wear it all the time."
Everyone at this building seems to think that maybe I lost my companion in this old building, but I explain and they think it's interesting, which it is. I hope someday church service missionaries will be as well-known as proselyting missionaries, but that's why the other YCSMs and I are trail-blazers.

Love you all. I might not be posting Fridays because my off-day is changing. I'll update when I can and when I'm in a better routine.

March 1, 2, 3, 4

Day 1 included my training with the system called FogBugz. It was a bit overwhelming with all the information, especially since I've been having headaches spring up and making everything too bright.

Day 2, I was able to complete emails on FogBugz, which is half of the Intake and Validation part of assessing Non-English feedback. I spent the day responding to people explaining that I will forward the message to the responsible party to review their problems.
I couldn't get into WorkFront to categorize the problems efficiently, but I certainly got a lot done. I went through a series of several emails in Spanish from about a month ago. This was when the Gospel Library app updated and Feedback was swamped with the same problems over and over again. I made sure to ask if they are still having the same problems as before, as well as thank them for their patience.
I am glad to refresh my Spanish writing skills.

Day 3 (Friday)
Fridays I am off. I went walking with Katherine and Nana, and I thought a lot about my health while walking. It wasn't a difficult walk, but I intend to make Fridays my day to exercise and go to the doctor. I've been having stray symptoms for a couple months now and back in Keller, they weren't ever fully resolved.

Day 4, Saturday
Nana has been preparing the house for tomorrow night's family dinner including Uncle David and Aunt Teishi and kids. I've been singing the primary tune "Saturday is a special day..." in my head.

Day 0 (February 28th)

On Day 0, I was acquainted with many of the other Young Church Service Missionaries (YCSM) as well as regular employees. I spent most of an hour with Elder and Sister Wright because my tour of the building was cancelled because the sister who was supposed to take me was very busy today. It wasn't a very set in stone tour appointment, so I was happy to get to know people. Elder and Sister Wright are kind of like HR for the YCSM's. Elder Wright and Elder Jackson (a fellow YCSM) showed me group pictures and I tried to memorize the names of these missionaries before I even formally met them.
I did meet several people before then. I even ran into Sister Lee, whom was in my BYU Freshman ward! She and I weren't as close then, but we always had good conversations when I did see her. She apparently is also staying with her grandparents in SLC, so I'll likely get to hang out with her outside the Church Office Building (COB).

I went to lunch and met more YCSM's, which many I recognized from photos. I talked more than I ate, of course, because as a lot of close friends know, I talk fast and eat slow. (That grammar though lol)

After lunch, I was able to meet a couple managers. Brother Smith is over Digital Marketing and Brother Christensen is over Language Quality. I decided to start out with Language Quality, but I hope to work with Brother Smith in the future because I really enjoy his company. (These managers are more my parents' age if that helps perspective.)

The Language Quality fixes problems in translation on the LDS online media. Potential problems include something is not translated, the word is incorrect, the word is misspelled, there is a punctuation error, or others.
Sister Reid works with intake. She reads all the feedback emails and reports all the problems. She then replies to the emails with a thank you and a promise to resolve it. Sister Reid will be training me tomorrow. The other main job is resolution. What I know so far is it is asking those responsible to help fix it and seeing it through.

I am so excited to be working with these wonderful people. I can already feel the Spirit when I've been with them. In my interview, Brother Christensen asked me how I know when I've done a good job. I explained that I rely on the Spirit for that, especially since I do not see the direct spiritual influence of my work here. I will likely never get to know how much reading a properly translated page will change the testimony of one person. It is a hard role to play, especially for someone like me who loves people so much. But the Spirit is leading me and I will seek comfort in It as well.

Day -1 (February 27th)

Yesterday Mom and I arrived at my grandparents'! We were extremely tired, but we still went to Sacrament Meeting with their ward. Mom and I were falling asleep so I drew pictures on the back of the program to keep mentally stimulated.

Sacrament meeting was very interesting because four Temple Square sister missionaries came to bear testimonies of the church and the Book of Mormon as well as sing a musical number. Following them, their mission president and his wife also gave very spiritual and testimony-driven talks.

Today I am enjoying the snowfall from the comfort of my grandparents' kitchen and I have made calls to be sure I'm prepared for my day of interviews tomorrow. 

Mom and I have also talked to one of Nana's friends about finding a counselor to help with my mental health.

I'm very excited! I have so much energy, so I guess I'll try to write here and write in my journal.