Top Ten Surprises About Our Mission

Uggg...get excited people! I got this week's letter from my dad.  Have to say it was a great surprise! 

[From Bruce]

I just read the blog and am feeling a bit guilty about not contributing so I'll share my "Top Ten Surprises About Our Mission".  

1.)  We are working much harder than we both expected.  The Visitor Center and Historic Sites are open 365 days a year.    Yes,  Sundays and holidays we are open for business.   

2.)  People visit HOT St. George in the summer.   I thought July - Sept. would be slow because people stay away from the desert when its' hot.   Not True.   We've had 9 busloads of French tourists in a single day.   Some days we go nonstop group to group to group without time to even record the tour information in the tour log.  

3.)  In addition to giving tours of the 4 locations we are often given the opportunity to have 10 minute Proclaim the Gospel teaching moments where we address a topic like Nature of God, or the Restoration, or God's Plan of Happiness.   Its' quite amazing how much you can cover in 10 minutes when you stick to the core doctrine.

4.)   I imagined Dawna and I would be working as companions and conducting the tours as a "team".   I thought this would allow for Dawna's natural kind and sweet nature to mask my natural man.   Not So.  We conduct all our tours and teaching individually because of the number of visitors.   We haven't done a tour together yet in the first 6 weeks and can't imagine we ever will.  

5.)  The Sr. Missionaries in St. George sponsor and host and attend Weds. evening, Fri. evening and Saturday noon concerts and talks in the Tabernacle. I'm becoming quite cultured.  This past Saturday performers from Tuacahn gave the most amazing concert.   The boys who play the Mayor of Munchkinville in the Wizard of Oz and Flounder in the Little Mermaid sang a number of church hymns that  had special arrangements.   Simply amazing.   The kids are members living in St. George.   Non Member orchestra members played church hymns as well.   One of the ladies was introduced as one of the top 5 flutists in the world and after she played I was a believer.  

6.)  We've come to St. George enough over the years that I thought we'd seen it all;  not so.   If our shift at one of sites gives us a morning or late afternoon off we've been able to get out to a number of great new places.   We visited the Mountain Meadows memorial which we've never been to before and it was quite moving.   We also hiked Kanarra Falls and had a great time;   slot canyon with a little creek just a bit south of Cedar City.    Much more to see and do than I imagined.  

7.)  In addition to our center assignments and the Tabernacle concerts we also have a weekly training meeting, a monthly Temple visit with the other Seniors and a monthly Sr. Missionary party.  We are not bored.  

8.)  We are having a great time with the other Sr. couples.   There are 12 couples here with us and they are very enjoyable to be around.   We've developed instantaneous friendships with these people who have such a diverse and interesting life history.    Dawna and I had no idea we'd have so much interaction and that it would be so enjoyable.  

9.)  There are 26 young sisters assigned to the Temple Vistor Center.   A majority from outside the US.  They are simply amazing.   When you walk through the center and hear conversations taking place in French, German , Spanish , Dutch, etc. it blows your mind.  

10.)  In the Mission Home a high percentage of the Sr. Missionaries were going on their number 2 or more mission.   At the time it seemed unimaginable.   Now it is completely understandable.   We are really having a wonderful time.   Not a day goes by without one us describing a spiritual experience that we've had that chokes us up.   Prettty sweet.  

Well,   I feel much less guilty.   You likely won't hear from me for another 6 weeks.  

Bruce

[From Dawna] 

Hello Dear Family and Friends,

I was so happy when I saw Bruce typing a message to add to the Blog, that I decided that I would let him take over this week with the exception of one little incident that happened on Monday.

As we have mentioned we have bus loads of French, German, Koreans, Chinese etc come through the Visitor Center.  So last Monday we arrived to do our shift and there was a lot of commotion at the front desk.  There were 30-40 people standing around with frowns on their faces and talking among themselves.  One in particular was running around talking on his phone and very agitated.  Come to find out this was a group of French tourists whose bus had broken down at the visitor center.  The Sister missionaries had taken them on the tour, they had shown them videos they had done everything they could to entertain them.  It was going on 2 1/2-3 hrs when we arrived and the poor tour guide was frantically trying to get a new bus or get the old one fixed.  Sooooooo, I put my things away and relieved Sister Miller. (who was the Sr. Sister on the morning shift) All of a sudden people started leaving the center.  Asking our French speaking Sisters where they were going and what they were saying, We found out they had had it and they were going to walk to get cokes.  The Temple is in a very residential area, no commercial properties around it, so after about 1/2 of block in 103 degree weather they all turn around, red faced and sweating. "The Natives Were Restless and ready to Revolt."  Well you know me, of course we will go and buy Cokes, Sprite, and anything else they need.  I got my keys and was ready to leave, but the Millers hadn't left yet, so they ran and bought bottles of pop, ice (who knew the French wanted ice in their drinks) and cookies.  Of course I hadn't thought this through, there is no place to sit 30 to 40 people down in the center and pass out treats.  (Food is a big no no in the center)  I'm going to get fired-----but I ran around looking for a place to put these people and found a few benches outside of the Annex (the man's cave) and directed all of them outside to sit down.  Now I'm surrounded by angry Frenchmen, and know how Marie Antoinette felt.  

The Miller's arrived with the pop and cookies and we poured fast and passed out cookies with great speed.  They say music soothes the savage beast, but I'm convinced its cookies, coke and sprite. Things settled down and we actually received a few thank you's. I didn't pass out one Book of Mormon, but maybe they will remember the crazy Mormon people who gave them cookies and coke and the next time they cross paths with a Mormon they will be more receptive. 

I did have great visits with other visitors from England and the US regarding the Plan of Happiness, the Apostasy, and the Restoration.  They had already accepted the Book of Mormon at one of the other sites, but wanted to have the "Family Proclamation" and the "Living Witness of Christ" from the prophet and the apostles so was able to give them those words.  It was a good week.

Bruce told you of our adventures this week, so I will leave it at that.  We hope you enjoy seeing the pictures, if not, don't look. (ta hee hee)

We love and pray for all of you.  We hope your week will be a good one.

Love,

Bruce and Dawna (Elder and Sister Borchert)