Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Hey, are you happy?

September 7, 2014

Friends, so you know how we used to go to Salt Lake, or Washington D.C. or really anywhere that was crowded and I would just go around giving high fives to random people, ask strangers if they were happy, or give compliments to random people? 

I would try to walk through a crowded area and put my hand up and shout "up top!" to everyone in hopes that someone would give me a high five! I would roll down the car window when we stopped at a stoplight and ask the people in the cars next to us if they were happy. We would always smile and wave to the people that were around us. Well, a majority of the time the response received would be a confused look, but each time we went out I would find a few people that actually found it fun or humorous to talk to someone they did not know.

A lot of people, even including my friends, thought I was weird or a freak for just going around talking to strangers though. Honestly, it is weird. Normal people don't just go around talking to people they don't know asking them how their day was. But I never have been normal.
So why would I make myself a fool and go do this? Because I honestly believe that a smile from a stranger could change the world. If we would all just take a moment each day and stop being so caught up in our own lives and see what and who is around us, we could do incredible things! 

Don't hate me for this but I'm going to quote a Hannah Montana song:
"I want to see beyond my own little world, and see the world with clarity. We all want to be part of the greater picture. It fills the universe and lights the sky above. It rescues all of our hearts. It's love! That's what's bigger than us. We all want to believe in love, we all want to believe in something that's bigger then us. That is love."

Okay, so that is my lousy quotation of Hannah Montana, but do you get what I'm saying? If we will all love people, and not just the people we know and consider friends, but if we love ALL people we can do something that's bigger than us.

How this connects to missionary work:
President Moon has set a goal for each companionship to contact at least 10 people a day. For me and Sister Tra here in Vietnam is takes about 2 - 3 hours at the minimum to contact 10 people. When the goal was first announced I thought it was completely impossible. Before that I had probably only contacted 10 people within two transfers, and now I was expected to contact that many people in one day?! Ha. Well jokes on me. It's totally possible and it's totally fun! It's like being at home. I just walk around the streets and talk to whoever I want. The only difference is that now I don't just chat with them and leave, but I talk to them in hopes of sharing the sweetest, coolest, most fantastic message ever - The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! Boom! It's super cool and tons of fun. We also take members who plan to go on missions with us so they can get a taste of what the work is like...and they know the streets better so we don't get lost...

I really liked being a missionary this week! 

With LOL (the old people version of LOL not the youthful one),

Sister Egelund


Photo 1: Preach My Gospel class only had one student because of the rain. But it was probably one of the best lessons we have ever had. Chú Nghĩa, the man in the picture, is like a mini mission president. He has tons of faith in missionary work and he always shares scriptures with us to encourage the missionaries....and if we do something wrong he also tells us straight what we need to change. I love him!


Photo 2: Quick contacting break to take some selfies.


Photo 3: The beginning of flooding outside of our house.




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