Week #40

October 22, 2012

Hi family!

Well, there has definitely been a slow down at Temple Square since conference ended. Luckily there was a huge convention going on for a company called Ziga, which is run in Lehi, UT. It has been fun being able to take around people on tours from there  They are all non-members, but the head of the company (can't remember his name right now) is a member of the church.  Sounds like he's made a GREAT impression on the people here though!! They all think super highly of this man AND LOVED Temple Square. (Sister Nakaima and I have been able to take a lot of Japanese tours this week... so fun!) It has been neat to see how many people are being exposed to the truth of the church! Hopefully with all the extra missionaries being sent out, there will just be even more! :)

The new missionary age is literally the talk of the church right now!!! SO many different people that we talk with on Temple Square talk with us about that! It is a pretty awesome thing. And like Dad said, you DEFINITELY wonder what's going to happen to the missionary work of the church... and where it will open up next! :)

This week was definitely a MIRACLE week. We started off the week not so good, because we found out that Christian was a member that was just pretending to be an investigator.... it made us SO angry!! But we prayed together and realized that he has some bigger challenges he's going to have to face in the future. So we're not worried about it. :) It was actually a cool experience, though, finding this out because both Sister Nakaima and I had impressions throughout the week (not even realizing they actually were impressions) that Christian was faking it.  During our weekly planning last week we both looked at each other when we got to his name and said..." Do you think Christian's real?" Almost at the same time, ha ha! We realized that was a huge blessing to both have those promptings from the Spirit. Thank goodness for the gift of the Holy Ghost!

After this kind of disappointing discovery, we had some incredible miracles happen to us this week! Nick is doing awesome right now. He's meeting with the missionaries almost every day, and they have been able to help him find his answer to his prayers about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and Thomas Monson. They set a baptismal date with him for November 17th. We're going to try everything we can to help him find his answer through the Spirit!! He actually went to a member's house the other day and the dad converted to the church when he was 40 years old from Atheism. That's definitely a turn around right there!! So Nick and him talked for a while about how this member was able to find out if this is true for himself. He told Nick that the answer doesn't come instantly... it is gradual, and as long as you do EVERYTHING God asks you to do, you WILL eventually receive that answer for yourself. It reminded me of the quote by Elder Tad R. Callister of the Seventy, who said when he was talking about missionary work, "Effort is required, but it is effort you will never, ever regret." I think it helped Nick out a lot. Keep praying for him!!

Joy is an absolute miracle!!! We called her on Friday and she officially set her baptism date for October 28th!!! :)  And after that, she told us what had happened during the week (here's her story). . . 

Joy had met with missionaries after talking with us on the phone one day (I think it was Sunday?) and was really disheartened.  She told them once again that she wanted to be baptized on October 28th. The missionaries asked their Mission President, and he said he couldn't meet with her until November 14th for the baptismal interview!!!! Absolutely ridiculous, ha! This woman has seriously been waiting ALL her life to find the truth, and now that she has found it, the Mission President won’t even interview her? One of her friends came over to her house who is a member of the church and told her he would talk with the Mission President directly (I think he was pretty close to him). Sweet Joy told him that she would be willing to travel ANYWHERE to meet with the President, made me cry hearing this from her! So, her member friend called her early the next morning and said, "Joy, do you still want to be baptized on the 28th?" And, of course she said YES!  Her friend said, "Okay, I'm driving you to his office this morning so you can have your interview with him and be baptized next Sunday." And that's exactly what they did!!! Can you believe the kindness of the member??!! I'm pretty sure the drive was a good couple hours too! It was so amazing. I almost burst out into tears hearing this story ha!  Joy is one of the most incredible people I've ever met in my life, and heaven knows she deserves this gospel more than most!! So. . . Joy is getting baptized next Sunday!!! :) We couldn't be happier!!! We are going to text her everyday to keep encouraging her and help her stay strong until her baptism. We told her to send us pictures, so I'll send you those as soon as I get them. :) Yay! She's also inviting her whole family to come to the baptism!! Her family is literally the opposite of religious... ha. Her sister said she won't come, but we're praying that she changes her mind. I think her mom is coming too. Apparently her mom is showing some interest in the church too!! We're going to try to call her to share more with her about the gospel after Joy's baptism.  Hallelujah!!

Sister Nakaima is SO excited for this one. I'm SO glad Heavenly Father allowed us to be together, and for me to stay at Temple Square!!  Honestly, a big part of me doesn't even want to go outbound... but I have a high chance of going next transfer. We'll see what happens I guess.

Also, we got a hold of Kelli-anne again!! Yes, dear Kelli-anne that I've been teaching since my 2nd transfer, ha ha. She had actually decided to get baptized in a non-denominational church NEXT WEEK. Definitely a prompting from the Spirit to call her again!! (We dropped her for almost 2 months because she wasn't progressing at all). But I think we're going to really focus on the Priesthood power, how God truly is our loving Heavenly Father (that's why he's brought the priesthood back to the earth again!!), and how much her life can improve by living the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh, she also believes the Book of Mormon is true... just hasn't connected the dots yet. So,we have a BIG project ahead of us, but I just can't let this girl go. She's too special! She has a testimony of the Book of Mormon for crying out loud! She just needs to realize that everything else, LITERALLY everything, connects with that! Hopefully she will.... Please pray for us!

One other miracle (seriously, AMAZING miracle week!), Birko, the lady we took around from Germany that referred (literally one of the only times I've heard of a German referring, ha ha!), is meeting with missionaries this Friday!  We gave her the intro to read in the Book of Mormon and Elder Christofferson's testimony of the restoration. She's doing great, and is seriously considering joining this church. So awesome. I wish I could tell you all how truly incredible the mission is. 

Sadly, Debbie has not been responding to us. I called her once and she hung up on me when I told her who I was... We're pretty sure she didn't get baptized and that something went wrong. :( Soooo sad. But look at ALL of the incredible blessings Heavenly Father IS giving us!! The harder we work, the more rewards we've been able to receive. I had a member referral agree to meet with missionaries and she actually lives in Taylorsville!! She met with missionaries before, but only met with them because she was dating a member... well that didn't work out, but she apparently had some amazing experiences with the Elders and reading the Book Of Mormon, but thought that she only had those experiences because of the member. I was able to help her realize that those experiences she had were real, directly from God. She agreed to meet with the missionaries again! We called her yesterday but she was sleeping, so we'll try to teach her again in a few days.

I've been studying this talk on consecrated missionaries that I think I told you about earlier this week. It truly is amazing. Elder Callister talked about how important it is to work hard, and to realize WHY we are working this hard. He simply said this of the Savior and our missionary service: "Our all is a small repayment for His all." How true that is! We can do this daily, family! We NEED to do this daily. We'll never be able to repay him for His Atonement for us, but what we can do is work our very hardest to bring our fellow brothers and sisters (in the church and outside it) closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. That's all He asks of us! And once we promise Him to be completely devoted to Him and what He asks, "There is NO retreat to your former life!" We are to be dedicated servants to our Lord and Savior for the remainder of our lives. We are to receive His image in our countenances, like Alma taught in Alma 5:14; "And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye ^aspiritually been ^bborn of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty ^cchange in your hearts?" I hope and pray that each of us can experience this might change within us to the point where we are literally a "window" to His love.

I know that our Savior Jesus Christ lives. I know He loves us, and wants to help us. He is the one we can ALWAYS turn to, no matter what challenges we face in this life. How grateful I am for Him and for His atoning sacrifice. "Oh sweet the joy this sentence gives; I know that my Redeemer lives!"

I sure love all of you SO much!! You are all amazing, and I'm so proud to be a part of this incredible family. Love you tons!

Sister Savage