Week #21

Hi Family!! 

Wow, I can't even believe this transfer is almost over!!! I find out what happens to me on Monday!!! So crazy, huh?! Just warning you ... I don't know what is happening to me or when I'll be able to email next... so I'll have to let you know next week sometime!! I'm pretty sure that Sister Crookston and I won't be together next transfer, which will be sad.   I really think she will be training next transfer. :) I have a feeling that I will stay in Extended again--I don't think they would have me learn 2 new scripts this transfer and not use them again--but we'll see what the Lord wants! :) I'm hoping that I will be Junior companion again to learn from another Sister!! I really have enjoyed this transfer so much with Sister Crookston, and I've learned a ton. I'm so thankful for the experiences that I was able to share with her, and how much I have grown as a missionary. I still have a LOT to learn, but slowly but surely I will be getting better! Sister Crookston and I have already decided that we are going to be best friends after the mission. :) She wants to come to CA and visit me, same with Sister Palmer (she was in our zone this transfer, from Utah) ha! And, Sister Palmer wants to marry Brad. Ha ha. She asked me for his address, and I think she might write him a letter, lol. :)  I mentioned Sister Tiffany Abeyta, from Anaheim, to Brad. She's SO funny, and she's honestly a little bit crazy... but Brad would love that, right?! :) She used to be a make up artist for models down in the LA area, and she does hair too!! She has a super strong testimony and is totally herself too. Some of these sisters tend to get in the "sister missionary" mode where they act like a "stereotypical" sister, but Sister Abeyta definitely uses her personality with her teaching!! It is SO awesome! She's a way cute girl, and I've really enjoyed getting to know her. I'm not saying anything will happen between her and Brad.... but you never know, right?! Plus, she's from Anaheim, and I knew that mom would LOVE that!! :) 

So just one "shout-out" this week: the first to one of my EFY girls, Kendall Lambert!!! It was SO fun to see her on Temple Square on Sunday with her cute family!! She looked absolutely beautiful. It was really fun to see her. I miss my EFY kids!! :( 

Gary's baptism was changed to June 8th!! We're getting really excited for him. He also gave us his girlfriend's number to call, she hasn't answered yet but hopefully she will soon so we can share the gospel message with her too!! 

Oh family. I have to tell you the best thing that happened to me this week!! Ha ha. I saw a legitimate POLYGAMIST FAMILY on Temple square TWICE this week!!! AHHHH!!! So horrifying, ha! One of the families we saw had 7 wives. I swear on my life they ranged from age 15 to 60!!! He literally had an old woman and a child with him!!! It was soooo gross but kind of funny, ha ha. I didn't really know how to react. And then we were taking this man on a tour a few days later, and saw another polygamist family with 6 wives with one man. They all had the same hairstyle and clothes on, but then they had these SUPER nice cameras that were probably worth $2000! Those people are soooo interesting. 

Well, summer is DEFINITELY here! The Asians are invading Temple square, ha ha!! and taking pictures of me!! Creepy! :)  They love blondes (apparently), and our cute little asian sisters have to tell them constantly that we aren't attractions that they can take pictures of... lol. So funny. We took 5 tours on Thursday...almost literally back-to-back all day long!! It was so crazy!! We took a motorcoach on Thursday of about 15 people. They were mostly from CA, and one man and his wife and cute 8 month old baby were there, originally from India. The whole time sis Crookston and I were taking them around they were completely focused on us. I could totally tell that the spirit was speaking to them... LOUD. It was really cool. I was able to go up to him after the tour was done, and he REFERRED!! It's so hard to get a referral from American's, haha! So I guess in this case it didn't count as much because he was Hindi... but nevertheless, we have another person to teach which is always exciting. :) He was such a nice man, We'll be calling him tomorrow to see if we can teach him more over the phone. 

We had an AWESOME mission meeting this week!! Actually, 2 this week. It was basically just visitor center training. It was really good for me. I needed it. All they talked about was focusing on the GUEST, what the guest needs to hear, and what they are feeling throughout the tours we take. I realized that I tend to be kind of a robot, saying the same things over and over again, pointing out the same places in the temple model, phrasing things the same, etc... that's not what missionary work is. Missionary work should be completely focused on the SPIRIT, and teaching according to their needs. We talked about different questions we could ask the guests, how to present the card to them (invite to meet with missionaries). One thing the meeting focused on as well was not focusing on a number. It's not about how many cards we can fill out, or even how many people we talk to. It's about how personal the tour is, how the spirit is teaching these people, how they are going to walk away from Temple Square feeling differently about our church and Jesus Christ. We want these people to walk away with a good feeling in their hearts, even if the card is blank. It was such an awesome meeting!! They also focused a LOT on how the members feel on Temple Square. They reminded us that the members that come here are NOT referral machines, they are children of God that need to be uplifted and inspired. They explained to us that sometimes people aren't willing to just "jump" into missionary work by letting us call their friends.  One way to help them get closer to that is by committing them to invite a friend or family member that isn't a member of the church to something--a church activity, a FHE, etc. One of my goals this week is to have more faith specifically in my prayers. I’m hoping this will help me be a better missionary. 

I Love you all SO much. Thank you for your prayers and emails/ letters of encouragement. :) You are all so wonderful. 

Love, 

Sister Nat Savage