Week #38

October 3, 2012

Hey guys!

So good to hear from all of you!! Thanks for all of the wonderful emails. I love you all SO much and always look forward to hearing from you every week!

We had such a great week. It was a hard week, but a good one! We had some crazy events happen this week which I won't get into all of them... but it was a week full of a lot of learning, which is always needed!  :)

The Beehive house is getting better and better. It is SO hard sometimes to invite them to come closer to Christ, but the more positive experiences we get out of it the better for sure. We've been trying to focus more on teaching the Restoration this week, because (of course) it is our unique message to the world that we need everyone to hear! So that's been going a lot better. I was thinking that it would be really fun for you all to come up before I leave my mission and I can take you on tours to a few of these different venues! :) I don't really know how that would work, but it would be SO fun! I loved taking grandma and grandpa around so much.  It would be so great to do the same for all of you! We'll figure that out later though.

We met a cute little Korean girl here on Saturday named Soi (So-ee). Such a cute little name, right?! She speaks English really well, and is actually going to school at the University of Utah right now. It was the first time she has been around a lot of Christian people she said, ha! She really likes school, (she's just a Freshman), but she said it is really hard to make friends here. :( We started talking about the YSA program in the church, how you can literally make friends with people instantly by just going to one activity, and she really liked that idea. We also talked about how this gospel brings us closer together as a people so that we have this big family-like atmosphere when we go, which I think she liked too. We got her number and hopefully will be able to teach her and give her the address to the local church building so she can make some friends in the gospel! :)

We were surprised on Saturday and were allowed to actually GO to the Relief Society Broadcast in the Conference Center!!! :) It was SOOOO amazing! WOW. I don't think I stopped crying the entire meeting, ha! Seriously. I thought of you all, of course, my investigators, even myself while that broadcast was going on. It was absolutely incredible. I honestly thought it was better than any Relief Society broadcast I've ever watched in my LIFE! This new presidency (like dad was saying) is definitely given that power and authority from God to lead the women in the church. What an amazing experience. I especially loved Sister Burton's talk on the "doctrine of the Atonement". WOW! What a powerful message!! It is so true what she said; ALL that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. So beautiful.

I also LOVED Sister Stephens statement on having a mighty change of heart. Do you remember the question she asked? "If we can't feel a mighty change in our hearts, then we must ask ourselves WHY NOT?" So powerful. Ah, I could go on and on about that meeting. What an incredible meeting that was!! The spirit was so thick in the Conference Center too. So amazing.

Sister Nakaima and I had a fast for Nick this week to help him be able to know what he needs to do, and for him to receive his answers. We finally got to call him last night and he said that he's going back to Anderson, but then in December he's going to fly back out to Alabama and stay there!!! He said it is a MUCH better situation for him out there. He has a room for himself with his aunt and uncle, he can get a job much easier, and he has basically no one to go back to Anderson for. We definitely agreed with him!! So we feel really good about his decision to go back to Alabama, so the only problem now is what's going to happen with him while he's in Anderson. But he's doing awesome. He's keeping all of his commitments, he's praying every night to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if Thomas Monson is a prophet today (we asked him the baptism questions and those were the two that he couldn't give a straight answer for), and he really is just soaking up everything we are teaching him. We think he's really loving it all. We're going to keep teaching him on the phone until the missionaries get to his home (they'll probably meet with him at a different location). He's going to watch General Conference this weekend so that he can know for sure if President Monson is a prophet of God. We're going to teach him the plan of salvation (the rest of it) still and explain again the importance of the Book of Mormon. Please keep praying for him!!

Well, Joy is just amazing. WOW! She is quite the golden investigator. Her concern is that she has been baptized before, but we think she understands the priesthood authority pretty well too. She met with the missionaries yesterday for the first time and loved it!!! She felt very good about everything they taught her. She's meeting with them again tomorrow.

This week we literally have had a mission meeting every morning at 7:30 am. It has been absolutely CRAZY. We're getting super excited for General Conference to happen though!!! I seriously can't wait. Beehive house during conference is going to be a challenge, but I know the Lord will bless us with many many miracles!! :) 

PS. It's moms birthday this week, right? HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! I love you sooooo much and so appreciate your support. I will write you a personal letter though to try and express my love for you. :) You are the very BEST!!! All my siblings better treat you AMAZING this week because I can't!!! :)

Thanks Jeff and Emily for the emails!!! You are forgiven. :) ha! Just kidding. I really loved the pictures so much! Thank you thank you! And thanks Brad for your email too! :)

Oh, one last miracles-- we went to Tucano's today just for fun with the Zone Leaders, and someone anonymous paid for ALL of our lunches. All four of us!!! That is an incredibly expensive bill!!! It was SO sweet and thoughtful of whoever did it. We truly are so blessed as missionaries.

I love you all SO much. Always remember: "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God."

Love always,

Sister Savage