Mowi Siostra Richey

I recorded my personal greeting for my work phone today. I tried to “wing it” when I heard the tone but made myself stop, write it out and read it as I recorded.

You have reached Lauren Richey in Bureau for Africa, Office of Sustainable Development. Please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you and have a good day.

As I read the recording I was reminded of making phone calls for the first time on my mission. My trainer lovingly wrote out an entire dialogue for me. I remember reading slowly and presumably roughly something along the lines of this:

Hello! This is Sister Richey from the Church of Jesus Christ. We would like to meet with you. Would tomorrow at (penciled in time) work for you ma’am? Thank you. We look forward to meeting with you then.

(Dzien dobry! Mowi Siostra Richey z Kosciola Jezusa Chrystusa. Chcialybysmy spotykac sie z Panem/Pania. Czy jutro pasuja Pan/Pani? Dzienkuje. Dozobaczymy!*)

I was so nervous. I remember turning our cell phone onto speaker so my trainer could listen in. The first couple phone calls were a cinch. (No answers.) Finally someone answered. I had no idea what they said past hello. I followed my script. Tomorrow did not work for them. I threw the phone to my trainer.

Fast forward one year. I’m the trainer. I write out the script for my companion. I left the slot for her name blank so she could reuse the script when she was a trainer someday. We placed the phone between us, speaker phone on, script accessible and she called. The first phone call went something like this:

Companion: Hello! This is Sister Richey from the Church of Jesus Christ.

Me (whispering loudly): Clinger! You’re Sister Clinger!

C: Excuse me! This is Sister Clinger from the Church of Jesus Christ. We would like to meet with you. Would tomorrow at (penciled in time) work for you ma’am? Thank you. We’ll see you then!

Hang up. Laughing. The best part about her introducing herself as me was that it was as if a weed was planted. She continued to make that mistake not only on the phone but when introducing herself on the street as well. I guess she heard me do it too many times!

*Please forgive my atrocious Polish spelling!