They walk the paths of IU’s campus side by side. Their clothes — knee-length skirts, navy shirts and black name tags that announce them as missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — almost match today.
A cyclist whizzes by, and one of the girls waves with a “Hello!”
The other missionary, Sister Kefei Yu, 22, says nothing.
A few seconds later, Sister Megan Mondragon, 19, gives a smiling, “How are you?” to two men passing. Yu turns her head, but keeps walking without a word.
A few more people pass, and Mondragon offers a greeting to each.
Yu is silent through it all.
Nearly 7,000 miles from her home of Tianjin, China, Yu struggles to keep up with conversation.
She knows how to ask the basics: what is your name, where are you from, what are you studying? Often when the conversation continues, she gets lost.
She’s used to being on campus with another Chinese missionary who can translate for her, but today is different.
Today, she is separated for the first time since arriving in Bloomington from the only person who always understands her and whom she always understands. For the first time, she’s working with an American missionary. For the first time, she will have to speak English nearly all day.
“I want you to say ‘hi’ to someone,” Mondragon says to her companion.
Yu has been told to immerse herself fully in English to make her time as a missionary more effective, but she’s also been told she was brought to Bloomington to connect with Chinese students through their shared language.
“Make sure to speak loud and wave a little to get their attention,” Mondragon says.
Yu looks down the path and keeps her hands locked on her purse strap.
She takes a few more steps forward and approaches the next person she sees headed in her direction.
It’s a female student. She’s walking quickly with headphones in her ears, and she’s staring at her phone, positioned a few inches from her face.
Yu still chooses her.
“Hi!” she says with a smile while waving vigorously.
The movement catches the girl’s eye, and for a moment, her face is expressionless as she stares back at the missionaries.
Then she smiles, pops out an earbud and walks over to meet them.
***
Four weeks ago, Yu landed in Indianapolis, a place she’d never heard of before she got her mission call letter. When she arrived, she found out her companion was Chinese, too, and thanked God.
Now Yu sits in a classroom inside Bloomington’s LDS institute and flips to page 12 of a workbook to fill out a required self-evaluation of her first month as a Mormon missionary.
“I practice the language at every opportunity I get,” reads one statement on the page.
She considers her answer and circles the number two, the second lowest possible score. Being paired with Sister Jiaqi Luo has consequences. Luo is practically fluent in English and tends to translate for Yu instead of helping her learn.
“I feel genuine love for those I teach,” reads another statement on the page.
She circles the number five, the highest on her rating scale.
“I seek to help others strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ as I teach.”
Four.
The questions don’t ask if she misses her home or her mom or what it’s like to proselytize an American religion as a Chinese woman who has only spoken English for 13 weeks.
They mostly ask if she feels genuine enthusiasm for her faith and the almost unchanging daily routine of missionary life.
Every day she wakes up and spends one hour alone studying the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Then she spends an hour studying and planning for the day with her companion.
After this, she and her companion usually walk campus and tell people about their faith. They take occasional breaks to teach lessons or eat meals. They might have special dinner plans, but often next it’s just back home to sleep before waking up and doing it all over again.
“I feel the presence of the Holy Ghost in my life.”
Two.
***
Yu will speak later with a Chinese IU student who might join the church, so she and Mondragon decide to role-play the lesson Yu will teach.
Mondragon pretends to be the Chinese student.
“Do you have many Chinese people in your classes?” Yu asks.
“Yeah, a few, but not too many,” Mondragon replies.
“Do you wish you had more?”
“Yeah,” she answers.
“Sometimes I also wish I have more Chinese people and I can talk to them,” Yu says. Then she laughs off the moment and continues the practice lesson.
Later, the pair decide to plan a lesson for three members of their church who invited them to dinner that evening. Their jobs as missionaries aren’t just to spread Mormonism to new people — it’s to help strengthen the faith of current members, too.
They thumb through the Bible and the Book of Mormon and look for the right verse to share with their hosts.
Minutes tick by. They flip pages. All else is silent.
Finally, Mondragon asks Yu how she feels about a verse in Ephesians.
Yu opens her Bible and flips to the correct page. She looks at the verse, still silent as she tries to read it.
After a few seconds, she looks up and apologetically smiles at Mondragon, as she pulls out her Chinese-language Bible instead to read the verse.
“I think it’s,” Yu says with a long pause.
Sometimes she doesn’t have all the words she needs to express an idea in English.
“Good.”
More quiet.
Mondragon prompts her to think of what questions they might ask their hosts when discussing the verses later in the evening.
Yu starts to formulate a sentence then stops. She tries again and stops.
Mondragon gives her an idea.
“You could ask, ‘What are some specific things you can do to prepare for general conference?’” she suggests, referencing the televised series of sermons scheduled twice a year. The conference constitutes some of the most introspective times for Mormons.
Yu, staring into Mondragon’s eyes as they say it together, repeats the line back to her.
What are some specific things you can do to prepare for general conference?
She pulls out a small piece of paper, writes the sentence down and places it into her book for later.
***
At 4:30 p.m., the Chinese IU student arrives. She’s a potential convert, which the missionaries call an investigator.
This is the second lesson the investigator has had with the two Chinese missionaries, and today they’re going to explain the role of the prophet in their faith.
The three of them walk into the institute’s library with Jeff Smith, another member of their church who knows Chinese, and settle into seats around a long wooden table.
For the first time since 9 a.m., Yu speaks freely.
When she speaks Chinese, Yu smiles and laughs. She cocks her head to the side sometimes, and any hesitation and pauses are gone.
For more than hour, Chinese words fill the library as the missionaries do what they came across the globe to do.
It doesn’t matter that less than an hour ago Yu was struggling through her required English language study. She has no proper teacher, only Mondragon, or a proper textbook, since the church provided her with a book to learn Chinese from English instead of the other way around.
In this moment, the missionaries are fulfilling their purpose.
When the lesson ends, they hug the student. After she leaves, the missionaries screech and hug each other.
“Yes!” Luo, clutching Yu, says. “Yes! The spirit is so strong with her!”
Yu laughs and returns the embrace, even though this practice is still a little unfamiliar.
Like speaking English, hugging all the time is definitely an American thing.
***
All four missionaries — two Chinese, two American — sit around the living room of church member Ali Hansen’s house.
On the wall is a bucket list, and the item “feed the missionaries” has a checkmark next to it.
Now Yu and Mondragon begin their previously planned lesson, the last thing they will do before returning to their daily routines with their usual partners.
Yu’s note from earlier is tucked inside her book, which lies open on her lap.
What are some specific things you can do to prepare for general conference?
She listens as one of their hosts reads aloud the verses, Ephesians 4:11-12, she and Mondragon chose earlier.
“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the word of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”
The group talks about the meaning of the verses and how the words might apply to their lives as general conference approaches.
One person mentions the purpose of prophets in their lives. Another discusses the concept of the body of Christ.
Yu is still mostly silent, just as she was during dinner.
Then it’s time for her question.
Yu is ready, each letter of each word transcribed onto a neon sticky note and transported all the way across town for this moment.
However, she doesn’t get to ask her question.
“What are some things you can do to prepare for general conference?” Mondragon asks before a moment of silence can settle over the room.
The people assembled answer the question. When they finish, Yu sees another opportunity.
It doesn’t matter that Mondragon already used her line. She still seizes the next moment to address the group.
She starts her question but stumbles at the beginning of her sentence and seems to say “You want to prepare for general conference,” though it’s not quite clear.
There’s an unsure silence in the room. It’s still almost what she wrote in her note and almost what Mondragon said.
Hansen hesitates, then tries to respond.
“We will,” she says with an unsure laugh that ripples throughout the room.
Yu settles back into her seat on the couch in silence.
Whether or not she got the response she was looking for, her missionary obligations are now done for the day.
There are still more than 400 days left on her mission, though. Four-hundred days of promoting her faith, 400 days away from home, 400 days of speaking English — and with no guarantee she will be paired with Luo for more than the next two weeks.
Tonight she will go home to her apartment with her Chinese companion, and tomorrow she will have her translator at her side.
Yu stays quiet as conversation changes course away from general conference.
When the group finishes their lesson, they close their evening with a prayer.
