Week #27

July 21, 2012

Hello family!! 

Sounds like you're all doing great this week! Mom got a new puppy (which is literally THE cutest dog I have ever seen!!) I can't believe you finally gave in, mom ...ha ha!, Stephen with EFY (didn't tell me about it though... I wanna hear all about it!), Brad with the hot date (woot woot!! :)), and Jeff with that awesome talk! I loved every bit of it! Thanks so much for all the wonderful emails, family. You are so wonderful! 

So, I'm in the same assignment (of course) as the Office Assistant, and my new companion is named Sister Albanes. She is seriously Awesome!!! She's only in her 3rd transfer, but she's an amazing girl with a bright spirit and such a strong desire to be here. It's been really fun having her in the office with me this week! I think she's really enjoying it so far. :) She's absolutely beautiful too! Originally from El Salvador, but moved to Australia when she was young, and then moved to Atlanta, Georgia when she was 15. She's almost 25, but she literally looks like she's 19, ha! Lucky! :) She's been super helpful in the office, willing to do whatever I ask her and catching up on things quickly! She's definitely more soft-spoken than Sister Richardson... and when I say definitely, I mean completely. :) She has a quiet confidence and spirit about her that is awesome. She's very willing to work hard and always wants to do better each day!

I'm really hoping I'll be able to be in the office for the next transfer too... I LOVE working here!! It's amazing to be able to help out so much.  I hope I can stay in the office longer.  Whatever the Lord wants will be best I guess! :) Sister Richardson's new companion is coming straight from the MTC! I will miss Sister Richardson’s funny humor. I can't wait to go visit her in Scotland someday!! :) ha ha... just sayin!

So one really fun thing about Sister Albanes is that she's almost fluent in Spanish because of her parents being from El Salvador, so we get to take Spanish tours! Yay! We have only had time to take one so far because of how busy the office is this week, but we're definitely going to get a lot this summer!! I'm really excited about it! It's fun to be able to feel the spirit even when another language is being spoken that I hardly understand. The gospel of Jesus Christ truly is a world-wide message. :) 

This week, I've really tried harder to rely on the Lord, and have prayers that are more of a conversation than a one-way conversation to Heavenly Father. I was talking with the AP's the other day (they are in the office almost all day long, or doing some other form of service for us Sisters) and they said that they have completely changed this office around so that they can get at least a couple hours a day of being on the square and calling potentials. Sister Astorga said, "It's all a choice! You just have to choose to make time and focus on missionary work!" They talked about how when they pray, they tell Heavenly Father that they only have a certain amount of time each day to do pure missionary work, because of the assignment that they have been given as Assistants to the President. But because of that desire to do missionary work and to be the best they can despite everything they have to get done for the mission, they are able to see MANY miracles a day. The assistants alone had 6 baptisms last transfer... That's almost more than I've had my whole mission, ha ha!! But how cool to see that when they have that hour or two to completely focus on mission work, they do! And Heavenly Father pours out blessings upon them for that. The AP's have really been a great example to me of this, and I've been trying to do the same thing. I definitely get a LOT more time to do missionary work each day than they do, but I really want to gain that faith and trust in Heavenly Father that, as I do my assignment that I've been asked to do and then completely draw all my attention to mission work, He will bless me because of my efforts. As long as I try to gain a greater relationship with my Savior every day, He WILL help me out! I've even noticed tiny miracles that happen throughout the day that really tell me that He's there, and that He cares. The Lord truly pours out His tender mercies on those that strive to do their best!! 

So, here are some of the miracles for the week! 

Sister Albanes and I called Terry and Brian yesterday afternoon but they didn't answer... I was pretty sad about this, but tried not to let it get me too down. It was the first time we called so they might not have answered because they didn't recognize the number.  We had an hour of TC this morning, and guess who I had a message from??!! TERRY! I was SO excited about it... She said thanks for the call, she thought it was really sweet that I had thought of them, and then she proceeded to tell me some of the single greatest things I've heard on my mission. 

1. She decided to go to OUR church last Sunday, the day she came home from her trip! She found out where it was, what time it started, everything! Amazing, huh?! 

2. She met the "head honcho" of the local church there (AKA the Bishop... I just thought that was hilarious! Head honcho, ha!) 

3. She talked with him, asked him some questions about our church, and then agreed to meet with missionaries to get more information about our church!!! I nearly collapsed and cried all at the same time, ha ha!! Terry actually did this ALL on her own, and she said it was because, "I was so impressed with your church in Salt Lake City... the temple, you as missionaries how much you gave up, the early members of your church... everything is just incredible! You really impressed us a lot and we just had to learn more." 

Can you say, MIRACLE?! I definitely can! I LOVE this work. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love my Savior!! And, I love that I have the opportunity to be out here and share this with my fellow brothers and sisters. I can't even tell you how amazing this place is. I never, ever want to leave. I honestly thought near the beginning of my mission that I wouldn't be one of those people that missed my mission. I thought I would be someone that would be very happy to go home and just "relax." :) But now my whole perspective has changed. Being here is the greatest thing I have ever done, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Thank you for supporting me, for loving and encouraging me as I go through this journey. I honestly couldn't do it without you all! 

Please seek to help those around you. Seek to find those people that are prepared for the gospel! Now more than ever I have realized how LAME I was as a member missionary!! It is our obligation to share this blessing with others. And who knows? Those people that we share this gospel with could have been our friends that we hung out with in the Spirit World that didn't get the privilege of being born into a family with the Gospel, but asked us to PROMISE them that we would find them, and bring them back to the truth. One of my favorite quotes is from Nelson Mandela that I'll share with you :) 

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."- Nelson Mandela Inaugural speech 1994. 

I know that this is true, family! We can't fear-- what we are fearing is our POWER. What a perfect tactic Satan uses to take us down! To keep this gospel to ourselves. And he uses it all the time. He turns good into bad, and bad into good. Don't listen to him!! (It's like when we sisters get disconnected from our phone call to Africa or somewhere, "Get off the line, Satan!" :) 

So a few other short miracles before I go, and then my emailing time is over. :) 

1. We saw Elder Oaks on the square yesterday!!! He was with his cute wife and his grandkids. Ha! So fun to see an apostle 5 feet away from me! 

1. Sister Albanes' investigator answered the phone yesterday! She's meeting with missionaries tomorrow, and we taught her a wonderful lesson on the phone that really was spirit led. We shared with her Alma 32, and she thought it disagreed with the Bible in saying that we can't only have a desire to believe in order to have our faith begin to grow (Alma 32:27). The spirit reminded me of the story in Mark 9 about the man who brought his son to Jesus that had a devil in him... He said at first that he believed when Jesus asked him, but then quickly said, "Help thou mine unbelief." Would you agree that this man had a desire to believe, but couldn't quite develop that faith yet because of doubt? I would say so. When I shared that with her, the phone got quiet for a second and she tried to disagree again... but the spirit was too strong for her. :) so fun. 

3. We took an amazing investigator lesson that maybe I'll tell you about next week. It really was incredible! 

I love you all more than you know!! Thank you for all you do, and for all your support. 

Love, 

Sister Savage :)