July 7, 2012
Wow, this has by FAR been the fastest transfer of my mission!!! Each week FLIES by now... I never thought it would go by so fast, especially in the beginning of my mission!! I thought I would never come back home! ;) Ha ha. I'll answer mom's questions first so I don't forget!
Yes, I will for Sure be coming home on June 19th. The Upstage tour next year sounds AMAZING by-the-way!! I can't even imagine how fun that would be. It would be even MORE fun if I got to serve my outbound mission in Nauvoo or Missouri or some other historical site!! :) But its not too likely... we'll see though. :)
I'm not positive when they will be sending the sisters in my class outbound. I'm thinking some of my class will be training because the class before us was. I'm thinking I'll go out in October or November. I don't really want to leave Temple Square during the holidays because the holidays are AMAZING here!... but that is what it is sounding like right now.
Guess what... you can officially call in and request a tour with me on Temple Square!!! :) So fun, right?! I think it is only family that can do that... but I have the number for Guest Services in case you decide to come in September/October and want me to take you on a personal tour. :) It is 801-240-1706 or 4872. You can talk to some of my fellow sisters and set up an appointment!! :) Cool huh?! I love our mission President. :)
Stephen you will LOVE EFY in Santa Barbara!!! I'm so jealous! I wanna come! Ha! :) My friend Mekenzi, who I did EFY with last summer, was here with her EFY kids for the special EFY SLC edition on Temple Square!!! It was SOOO fun to see her!! I'm sending pictures so you can see her. We're all dressed up for the 4th of July. :)
Congrats Stevie on getting your LICENSE!!! Holy Cow!! I still can't believe you're old enough to get your license... ha! So proud of you bud! :) And, I'm so glad you all had such good experiences in New York. It really is such a special place, the Sacred Grove! Could you send me some pictures from your trip? I would love to see those cute Upstage kids! (mostly my family though! :) ha)
The 4th of July was so much fun! After we were done on the square, we had some treats and then headed over to the Church Office Building (COB) and went to the 26th floor to watch the fireworks!! It was SUCH a blast!! We also had a musical program that I played the piano for and Sister Richardson conducted. We sang hymns and learned stories about the hymns, and also some songs for the United States. Everyone had so much fun. I got some really cool pictures of the Temple with the fireworks going on in the background. :)
I wanted to tell you a story about one of the hymns we learned about. This hymn is "High on a Mountain Top." It was written by a man named Joel H. Johnson (there's a sister here who is related to him! Cool!) He wrote nearly 1,000 spiritual hymns and sacred songs. His inspiration for High On a Mountain Top was from Isaiah 2:2. "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it." Guess what fam? I am literally at that very place that Isaiah was prophesying about!! The SLC Temple is that very place in the mountains that literally ALL nations flow to. We took a tour today with a man named Esau and Erickson. (Erickson is an RM who served in SLC.) They are both from the Ivory Coast. :) How cool is that?! Just yesterday we took a tour of people from Romania, Jackson, and I think Florida? So cool. People come here literally from all over the world to hear about the church and how it began! Many of them don't even know why they're coming here, and then they find out why when they receive their answers to prayers and questions of their souls. So cool. I love my mission so much. Just the other day it hit me (I think it was the Spirit) of how truly lucky I am to be here on a mission, serving the Lord for 18 months of my life. I will never get an opportunity to do this again for the rest of my life! I am trying to make the most of the short time I have here as a missionary. Please pray for me specifically to be able to make the most of the short time I have left!! I have less than a year left... Ew!! That's awful, ha! Why do girls only get to serve for 18 months??!! If I could I would serve for 2 years in a heartbeat.
Yes mom, we have been running 3 miles everyday (besides Sunday, of course) for a few weeks now!! At first my knees hurt pretty bad, and I was really worried about it... but every day that I run it it gets easier and easier, on my knees and my heart! Ha! I only breathe hard up the hill that we run in the beginning! It has been so great!! I honestly think I am doing my missionary work better now because of it, even though I'm losing a half hour of sleep each night! Whenever I get tired and think we shouldn't do the canyon run, I think; "This is the only time in my life where I can do my mission. I can sacrifice a few hours of sleep each week for that!!"
Family and friends, sacrifice truly brings forth blessings from heaven. Come, Come ye Saints has become one of my new favorite hymns from my mission. They KNEW the meaning of Sacrifice, to a T! I'm sure they had SO many doubts and hardships along the way, but they always kept their eyes on the Temple so they could form those Eternal Families, and become "joint-heirs with Christ."
I know this is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing will ever shake my testimony of that. My companion (she's a pistol... ha) started talking to one of the anti's outside of Temple Square, asking him why he was outside the gate giving this anti-Mormon material out to innocent people that don't know any better. She found out he served an LDS mission a few years ago and completely (and I mean COMPLETELY), left the church. We both have the strong impression that he left the church because he sinned... Probably a pretty huge sin that you need to go to the Bishop for though... and Satan was able to deceive him SO well, he got him thinking that Jesus Christ died for our sins, but we don't HAVE to repent for them. We can be saved by just accepting Jesus in our lives and then do whatever the heck we want! What a filthy lie! Why is Satan so good at deceiving these people?!! It is so amazing to me, and so sad. Satan is so real, my friends! Please, please beware of him. Constantly avoid falling into his traps. He's really good at setting them. Pray for strength and guidance from Heavenly Father. He will help you!
I love you all SO much!! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Savage
President Gillette taught all the sisters how to keep the "down beat" when leading music because most of them can't. :) Ha ha.
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