Week #42

November 5, 2012

Hi family!! 

So glad to hear from most of you! :) Thanks for the emails. They are SO fun to read! I love hearing about your lives and getting updated on everything. 

This week was very very fun!! On Halloween I got a package from you (thank you SOO much! :)) and we got to watch the first Harry Potter movie!!!  We were loaded up with potatoes & veggies for dinner!! :) It was SO much fun. We all flipped out when we heard that we were watching Harry Potter!!! What a PERFECT Halloween movie to watch! So that was super fun. I got a note from the Ivancich's saying they had come but I didn't see them. Too bad.  I was glad for the note though for sure! :) 

I sent you a picture of our Zone's Halloween party that we had on Monday!! So fun huh?! Sister Nakaima was "Otaku." (Dad, do you remember Otaku from your mission??!! Please tell me you do, ha!) Otaku are people from Japan that are literally obsessed with Anime (Japanese Animation), so they dress up like those characters, part their hair in the middle, and run around doing random dances for people.... Very interesting, ha ha. She looked absolutely PERFECT! She seriously was the life of the party. It was so cute to see her being her crazy self in front of everyone. She's more of a shy person with other people... not with me though! She is the craziest Japanese person I've ever met, but she is awesome. I've SO enjoyed her as a companion!! We've had our struggles, but she and I have both improved so much and we really have grown to love each other a lot. She will forever be a great friend of mine. :) 

I forgot to tell you but told Christie... ha ha! President Gillette basically told me that I will be going outbound this next transfer, the 21st of November. :( (which is so funny.. last transfer we had a mission meeting and President Gillette called everyone to repentance because they looked online and found out if and where they were going outbound. He just brought it up with me though and I didn't even ask about it ha ha!) I'll miss Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years on Temple Square. Definitely bittersweet. But I do feel good about it. I think it will be better for me to not see everyone I know on the square during that time ha ha. I'm not sure how long he will send me outbound for... I'm hoping and praying he doesn't send me out longer than 2 transfers. I think 3 transfers would be too long!! I love my Temple Square. :)  However, transfers are in just a couple of weeks, and I'll be able to call you for about 5 minutes and let you know where I'm going. :) You will know about it when I call I guess, ha ha! 

So despite the fact that I know I'm going outbound now, I'm really trying my hardest to stay focused. It's been difficult to do so but Sis Nakaima's helping me out. :) Joy was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!! :) So exciting. Only 4 weeks after we met her she was baptized. Pretty amazing stuff. She definitely was prepared by the Lord! She's also given us 3 of her family members/friends to call already... ha! She's an amazing missionary! Now that she's found the truth she literally wants to tell EVERYONE about it. Her mother is now interested a bit in the church. She was NEVER interested in religion before this! It was so interesting... we asked Joy why she thought she's suddenly looking into all of these things and she told us it is because of the change that has happened to her. She told us she used to have a huge temper. She would get so upset about little things that would happen in her family, with her friends, etc. But now that she's found the gospel of Jesus Christ, she doesn't have problems with those things anymore!! Pretty amazing that she has been able to change so much already. I love missionary work so much!! It truly is the most incredible thing in the world. The best part is seeing people change their lives to follow their Savior. "Leaving their nets", just like the 12 Disciples did. Such great stuff. If she's the last baptism I have on my mission, it will ALL be worth it!! :) 

We are still working with Nick, but I think we helped him realize how he is going to get his answer to all of these questions. He will move to Alabama next month, so crazy! How fun would that be if I went there on my Outbound??!! Ha! I could teach him in real life rather than on the phone!! :) We'll see what happens I guess. 

So we called one of Joy's friends, Margaret, the other day. She was a nice girl, but doesn't like churches... very similar to how Joy was actually. Except she's Joy's brother's girlfriend. They live together and have a child. (they're originally from Nigeria too but now live in Denmark). She really wants to get stability and coherence in her life. She REALLY wants to strengthen her faith in Jesus Christ. We told her about the Book of Mormon and how much it increases our faith in the Savior and His gospel. She was very interested in that. We taught her the rest of the Restoration too, and we'll call her again tomorrow and teach her more about the Book of Mormon and kind of break that down a little bit further. 

Birko seems to be doing great still. She hasn't responded lately but I'm sure we'll hear back from her soon. Alex, responded and told us he would read the Book of Mormon which is awesome!! We're just trying to get ahold of him again but I think it is hard when he travels around so much. 

Right now we have a lot of new investigators, but we are not having as many progressing. It is SO difficult to get progressing investigators here on Temple Square, because it depends on if they answer the phone or not. 

:( Sad day! I'm looking forward to outbound for that reason, to really be able to work with members in the ward and teach people face-to-face. PS. We'll be getting pictures of Joy's baptism and confirmation this week!! :) It will be the first time we will actually see what she looks like. ha ha! So fun! 

Well family, I love you all SO much. As of yesterday I have been out for 10 months. AH!!! So crazy. I honestly NEVER want to leave my mission. It is the single greatest experience of my life!! I miss you all but I'm so thankful to be here as a missionary, completely dedicated to serving the Lord. I'm going to send you pictures of my life so I will leave you now. :) 

Love you all soooo much! 

Sister Savage