Week 12

I really ought to take notes on what I do throughout the week because by the time we get to the end of it, I've forgotten half of what happened. I can share a few small things this week though.

Sheri Dew said hi to me this week. She was coming out of a meeting with Large-and-in-Charge. Afterwards he said she was really intimidating. I was surprised, since everyone says she is so nice, and I said so. He said she's amazing and she makes him "feel loved and appreciated and intimidated all at once." That is a strange combination, but I believe him.

I really like Large-and-in-Charge. I felt below the notice of our last director, but the new one greets me by name and asks how I am doing, which is nice. He also stresses me out a lot less. Also, I help with his calendar which tells you a little more about a person. He comes in early and works long hours, but he always blocks out his home time so that he leaves on time to be with his family, which I think is really great.

Big Announcement: I have a desk! Okay, so it's not really my desk, but I have the run of a cubicle with a giant desk now. The reason for this is that my friend and part-time supervisor, Gretchen, finally had her baby. I'm really happy for her, but I'm also slightly terrified, because it means that I am now in charge of doing her job. She's trained me really well though, and her bosses have said that I can make mistakes and ask as many questions as I need, which is very comforting.

I also have a funny story for you, courtesy of my primary class (names have been changed):
Jimmy, one of the boys in my class, loves to talk. He could talk the whole time if I let him. This time he raised his and said "Can I tell you just one thing?" I kind of know where this is going, but I give him a chance because I want the kids to feel loved. Sure enough, this one thing is a story that seems to have no direction. It started off with him puking a lot and then running into his uncle at the hospital. After about two minutes, I gently interrupt him and ask, "Does this story have to do with our lesson, Jimmy?" He looks at me, his brow furrowed deep in concern, "Nooo....but...." I had to smile at his expression, but I tried to convince him to leave his story until the end of class. Then Eva, who is a real firecracker, puts her hand over his mouth and orders sternly: "Don't leave it until next class. Leave it until you're dead."   I probably shouldn't have let her get away with that, but I was too busy trying not to laugh and to get the kids involved in the lesson. Oh, eight-year-olds are priceless.

I also had a mini-epiphany this week at institute that I can share with you: We always talk about  how the family is essential to the Plan of Salvation. I don't think that's quite right. The family doesn't support the Plan of Salvation, the Plan of Salvation exists to support the family--the family of God.

That's it for this week. I hope you are all doing well. I love you!

Week 11

I feel like I didn't do anything this week, but in reality I just did thousands of small things that add up to consume a lot of time. I don't mind doing them, but if you are trying to work on something that takes extended thought (like writing), getting derailed every two minutes makes it impossible.

Here are some of the things I did this week:

• Institute
• Explain that I only deliver mail, not pick it up, so it's not my fault if it goes to the wrong place nor do I know how to fix the problem.
• Move eight boxes (not reams, boxes) of paper.
• Deliver a case of tissues.
• Use the maintenance elevator in 3 different buildings.
• Schedule about 30 meetings (we finally fixed the calendar problems!)
• Work on a memory book for the previous director
• Interview one writer and finally write their bio.
• Nag one more writer--I finally got a response!
• Avoid answering the phone because I'm still afraid people will ask questions I don't know the answer to or I will drop the call.
• Get lost in City Creek Mall while trying to run an errand.
• Find a phone case that is both cheap, indestructible, sleek, and "not zippy." (The director's last phone shattered when he dropped it, so we're trying to protect our new investment).
• Practice processing resignations and re-entering them as empty positions.
• Process receipts.
• Celebrate that my companion's cancer was miraculously removed when it was first discovered.
• Work on a puzzle...more on this to come. =)
• Tease Ringo about his new haircut.
• Take a VIP tour of the tabernacle with my district and the producer of all MoTab performances. Did you know there is a Native American buried underneath? They discovered him/her while doing renovations and the Ute tribe requested that the person be replaced and then built over. I think that makes for a pretty cool burial site, personally. They can listen to MoTab practice. Also, the organ in the Tabernacle has over 11,000 pipes. For comparison, the one in the Conference Center has more power but has only 7,000 pipes. We got to see all the recording rooms and things. The sound studio is specially built to remove excess sound and so its only connection to the rest of the building is by sitting on a styrofoam platform.
• Juggle meetings
• Become a companion study leader (making me the official boss of companion study instead of the sheepish but impatient unofficial one).
• Create a powerpoint for an employee meeting that I don't attend because it is on Wednesdays.
• Schedule about three meetings at 3:30 AM instead of PM and have to reschedule them because people know exactly what I meant but don't like the way it shows on their calendars.

Sometimes when I am tired I get discouraged. Fall is my favorite season and it is hard to go to Salt Lake every day when I know school is in session. I've been a full time student until now, and I love learning, so it is hard to do something new. As the weather gets colder I also miss my comfy school clothes more. I miss jeans. A lot. I kind of had a minor emotional breakdown because I had to buy winter church shoes and I don't want to wear them. There's nothing wrong with the shoes, I just wanted more casual ones.

Despite the little difficulties, I also know that I am where I am supposed to be. I don't really understand why, but I feel at peace with where I am and what I am doing. I may not be serving a traditional mission, but I am still serving the Lord, and I am just as valuable in his sight.

Week 10- Big Changes, I Spy Traffic, and Two of my Favorite Things

One of the biggest things changes that happened this week was that we got a new managing director of Publishing Services. This is like getting a new CEO, and my supervisor is his assistant. So the office has been mad lately. The new director is super nice, but he also looks really stressed. I don't envy him. I would hate his job. His code name is now Large-and-in-Charge because he's as skinny as daddy but about 6'6'' tall and now is the manager of a huge department. He doesn't act like it though. He almost sounds apologetic when he asks for things. Poor man had to schedule in "thinking time" because he has so many meetings to go to. An interesting tidbit: taking this job is a lot like taking a calling. A position that important has interviews but is ultimately up to inspiration through the Presiding Bishopric.

Week 9- Mastiffs, Scammers, and Sultans of Syntax

This has been a good week. I've been really exhausted, so I'm going to try going to bed a half hour earlier each night to see if that will help. Other than that, everything is going great. Monday and Tuesday are always chaotic because the directors have their big meeting on Tuesday afternoon, so people want everything processed in time to make it into the meeting. I also make the assignments and set up the agenda for the meeting. Thankfully I don't actually have to attend the meeting, which goes over three hours.

Desk of the Week: Front Reception Desk (meaning lots of traffic and questions that I don't know the answer to). Why is it my job to know about the fourth floor bathroom having a leak? I'm a writer, not a magician.

Tidbits from this week:

• I didn't have to deliver any mail this week!
• I edited a document that details how we report our work. I have no excuse for not following the rules now. Unfortunately. I don't get paid, so you would think it wouldn't matter if I didn't log my hours, but I guess they use it for research purposes.
• I created a letter telling managers what to do with the computer equipment when an employee leaves. I got to slap them on the hand a bit because people keep trying to hold on to equipment for other employees. It was kind of nice to write something that was nice and clear and says "Do not...! This includes...!" Nice and simple. Nobody can tell me they didn't understand THAT.
• Carter and I saw this huge mastiff across the street (with its humans) and decided we needed to go pet him. This dog probably weighed fifty pounds more than me. He was also adorable. Once he realized we were there to pet him he sat right down (on Carter's foot). His ears were huge and super soft, like fuzzy elephant ears. He was also very slobbery. We got a lot of love. He tried to kiss Carter on the nose, but Carter declined that offer.
• This is what a Mastiff looks like:

• I actually got some writing done this week, which was really nice. Writing is the part of my mission that I find the most meaningful because I get to share the gospel and by writing I am providing something unique that I hope can help others.
• Someone's bishop shouted at me this week. Yep. You see, everyone who works for the Church has to be temple worthy. This includes people in the videos we make. So every time they want to interview someone they might have in a video, the HR assistant calls their bishop. Since I am in training, I got to make some phone calls. It's supposed to be really easy. Well. First phone call I make and the bishop decides I am a scammer. (What possible gain I would get, I have no clue). So this bishop starts tearing into me with righteous indignation because my "area code is wrong" and "he doesn't believe" me. I can't be "who [I] say [I] am" because "that question is totally inappropriate." When he finally listened to me I explained (for about the third time) that I could call back on an office phone which would have the correct area code. As it turns out, I am not a scammer (wow, really?), and the person was totally temple worthy, so I don't know what he was protecting. I'm sure he felt rather sheepish, but I was just downright mad (I kept my temper, thank you very much). He yelled at me...for being something I wasn't. I guess it just goes to show that nobody is perfect. I can laugh now, but seriously, I was so steamed that he would blatantly tell me that I was a liar. Me, a sister missionary doing her job! So for future reference, if you are going to chew out a scammer, make sure they actually ARE a scammer. That part is important.
• A new institute class is starting, so I am enjoying going to that as well. You just don't get that kind of spirit in CTR 7. I try to bring the spirit to primary, but it is hard to feel it myself when I am trying to teach while helping the kids behave.
• I interviewed two writers this week. One of them was super fun to talk to and I learned a lot from her. The other one seemed to think he had nothing interesting to say and so he didn't give me very much to work with. If there is one thing that I have learned from these interviews, however, is that everyone has something interesting about them and has something interesting to say. It's like the Doctor says, "900 years of time and space and I've never met anyone who wasn't important."
• I saw a guy standing in his cubicle on Monday and was distinctly reminded of a giraffe in a zoo. He was really tall so his head and shoulders came over the cubicle wall and he could see everything around him. I almost wanted to laugh. It's a good thing nobody in our family works in cubicles. That would be a lot of giraffes.
• I realized I never want to work in any kind of leadership or management position. I hate attending meetings and running errands. People come to me for all sorts of things, thinking I know the answer. I feel like I never actually get anything done. Also, the amount of silly paperwork is ridiculous. Thank goodness there is a lot less of that in teaching. 
• The sister I ate lunch with last week stopped by to say hi and told me something funny. Apparently someone who works in the translation department saw me delivering the mail and thought I was cute. So he told his sister who asked my friend if I was the dating kind of missionary (I'm not). But it made me feel good, especially since when I deliver the mail on that floor I'm usually very frustrated and tired. Also, I can just enjoy the compliment because I can't date so I don't have to worry about actually doing anything about it. No strings attached. =)
• I also attended two writers' meetings this week. I love writers' meetings. Our manager is hilarious for one thing. His e-mail lists his job title as "Sultan of Syntax." I think I will use that as his code name. It's a little like being at BYU again, with people who think a lot like me and enjoy a similar sense of humor (a rather verbose one). I also get to learn a lot from these other writers. I miss school and it is hard now that I know everyone is going back, but I love our community of practice meetings where I get to learn from the experts. This last week one of the writers gave a presentation on the conference she attended on spiritual/religious writing. She learned a ton and made us all want to go for ourselves. 

I think that is it for the week. I want you all to know that I love you. The gospel is true. The Lord loves each of you. Remember, he isn't bothered by our imperfections and failings, he takes us just the way we are. When Enoch and Moses told the Lord their faults, he didn't say "Then again, I'll ask that other guy." The Lord qualifies those whom he calls. He knows our weaknesses and will help us despite them. 

Week 8

I am still desk bouncing because I don't have a desk. There really isn't room for another one on the first floor, where I am needed, so I don't know what they are going to do.

This week's desk: Aussie Director was out for the week, so I got his really nice office with floor to ceiling windows. It will be hard to go back to desk bouncing next week. (I have decided to use descriptive code names for the people I work for so I don't have to explain who they are each time).

This week I worked on:

• Delivering a little mail.
• Rerouting most of the mail.
• Throwing away ads that nobody wants and should have been sent to their home address anyway.
• Interviewing a very friendly writer and writing his bio.
• Nagging writers who refuse to respond to my e-mails.
• Setting up meetings.
• Practicing being an HR Assistant and going to their meetings.
• Writing an article for a study for Mormon.org
• Writing articles for undecided publication sources.
• Learning how to process receipts.
• Buying lunch for meetings that Actually-knows-everything Supervisor called the "War Rooms Meeting," because some people attend so many meetings that they don't have time to get lunch. Based on the name, I'm glad I didn't have to attend that meeting.
• Add myself to an e-mail list that I realized I can control and yet am not on...
• Give people directions, usually to the bathroom that for some reason is behind two locked doors.
• Drug Bust...no, really. The security guards needed someone to check if anyone else was in the women's restroom and then they wanted to know if the other exit was locked or if there were any syringes in the trash. I don't know if they found anything or not because I was leaving. I probably would have heard if they had, though. Kind of crazy, but it makes for a funny story: "Sister Missionary assists with Drug Bust at Church Headquarters." Ha.

This week I went visiting teaching with Mom so that I could see a litter of brand new Old English Bulldog puppies. They were so adorable. They actually looked more like small guinea pigs because they're so small and round. They had the softest peach fuzz, but they already had ripples in it where they will have wrinkles around their pink little noses. They didn't even have their eyes open yet. They were so cute, but dogs and college apartments don't really get along...

I also passed a deer on my way to institute that had only one antler. I named him Max after the Grinch's dog.

I also talked to a couple of cute little girls, 7 and 5, who had come to the Church Office Building to have lunch with their daddy. They came up and asked where I and my friend were from because their daddy said if they were going to be missionaries someday they would have to practice talking to people. They were super cute.

The last thing I saw as I was leaving today was an elderly couple on motorized tricycles. They were like the sports car version of the motorized carts you see at the grocery store. It made me grin. I think that couple had the right idea. Now they just need the spinners on the wheels and a boom box. I would totally ride around town on one of those, blasting my music at all the young folks and living up my old age.

P.S. I love you all.

Week 7

One of the problems with working in an office is that while I am always busy, there aren't a lot of stories to tell. I did teach the lesson at our district meeting this week and I feel like it went well. It can be a challenge to get some of the missionaries to participate because many have social or learning disabilities, but I think I did my best and that's all we can ask for anyway.  Our lesson was on leadership through service. When we serve others we are serving God and when we serve we are showing leadership, so as missionaries (specifically as service missionaries), we are leaders. That's kind of a convoluted way of explaining that, but I did it in 30 seconds instead of the 30 minutes I had to teach.

I am also teaching the lesson "I can be a good example" in primary. I actually enjoy teaching primary, but it takes a lot of preparation. It's hard to both keep the spirit and find activities that will keep their attention. 7 and 8 year olds really aren't meant to sit still and listen for an hour. Today we will talk about how letting your light shine is like being a superhero. You wouldn't want to hide your powers and stop helping people, right? I have a team teacher now too, which helps a lot. She's really great with the kids and helps them both learn and be reverent.

The other things I did this week include:
-Rewriting a newsletter (this requires some acting skills because I actually don't get excited about new computer programs)
-Sending a lot of e-mail
-Scheduling a lot of meetings
-Delivering mail
-Rerouting stacks of mail sent to the wrong address (I'm looking at you Family Services)
-Writing summaries I don't understand of financial presentations I don't understand.
-Finding people who don't answer their phone
-Training on how to find someone's bishop
-Forgetting how to transfer calls
-Organizing desk drawers
-Attending institute (which I especially love)
-Companion Study
-Personal Study
-Preparing lessons

That's about all I've got for this week. Keep praying and hold on for the ride.

-Sister Ward

P.S.  I love you.

Week 5

My newest article has been published on Faith Counts:  Five Ways to Find Light in the Darkness from Corrie ten Boom

In school I always laughed when people assumed that because I was an English Major I must like to write. I was just in it for the stories. Of course, that was when I wrote for homework. It turns out that I really do like to write after all and I really look forward to working on my writing assignments. Maybe I just didn't find the writing meaningful enough before, or maybe I enjoy it more because I am better at it and it isn't such a struggle to string the words together. Who knows?

It is a very different kind of writing from what I am used to. I admit, I had no idea if my writing could make it in the real world. The problem with school is that you work hard on your papers and then your professors send them back covered in red ink. It isn't that the professors are mean, I love most of my professors, but their job is to teach, and there is always room to improve. When you are writing for publication though, you just have to publish it anyway. The other writers at the Church Office Building have been incredibly kind and supportive. It feels good to know that I can make it in the outside world.

This week I took over the mail delivery for PSD. It turns out that being the assistant to the administrative assistant really means that I run errands. A lot of people have moved desks lately, so I spend a lot of time tracking people down. It is necessary, so I try to have a good attitude about it even though I have been sent on more than a couple wild goose chases.

I have also finally figured out where Institute is held here in Heber. I didn't realize how much I missed that kind of atmosphere where we discuss the gospel and learn together. I've been teaching primary for the last six weeks or so, and missing the adult meetings just makes Institute all the sweeter.

In other news, I have a picture of a cute little buck for you. Somehow this fellow made it all the way to downtown Salt Lake and was trying to rest next to one of the director's windows. We think he might have gotten hit by a car before animal control came. I don't know what happened to him, but I am choosing to believe that he had a happy ending.