Week #39

October 15, 2012

Hi fam!! 

Oh my goodness... I haven't had a p-day in 12 days! Ha! I was just about going crazy!! I had SO much to tell you too, but now I don't have enough time to do it! :( 

Conference was AMAZING!!!!!!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THE CHANGE IN AGE FOR MISSIONARIES??!!!! Oh my goodness!  ALL of us Sisters were literally going around the square crying to each other about how AMAZING that was!!! I still get emotional thinking about it!! It is THE best thing EVER. And Stephen can go on his mission in LESS than 2 years!!!  SOOO, so awesome. Gotta love modern-day Revelation!! The church is incredibly true. Wow. Ha ha! We were all SO excited about it. Chandler told me that Carli's pretty sure she's going to put in her papers soon!!! SO CRAZY!!! She stills seems so little ha ha!!! But I think it is soooo amazing that girls can go out sooner. It will literally change EVERYTHING with missionary work! We contacted a LOT of young adult girls on the square before that had the question in their mind if they should go on a mission. Ummmmm. . .  pretty sure ALL of them had those questions answered right there and then!!! So amazing!! And Kelly Smith said she's definitely thinking about it now and she can go way sooner than she even planned!!! So fun! :) 

That was the best part of conference for me. I just can't believe the explosion of missionaries that is going to happen when all of those girls put in their papers!! I'm sure the number of young men will increase a lot too!! They won't go to college for a year and get caught up in the world and decide not to go. They will literally be able to graduate HIGH SCHOOL and leave on their mission. How perfect is that?! Sorry, I'm getting carried away. I honestly KNOW that China will open up much quicker now because of the age drop! It's going to be really cool to see what other areas and missions they'll be able to open up too! 

So, back to transfers. They were very exciting!! We had transfers literally right after conference ended, which was very fun. They sent 17 sisters outbound, and now our mission is INCREDIBLY young! Wow. All of the District Leaders are in their 4th transfer, and some of the trainers are too! Sister Brickley and Sister Dieujuste became ZONE LEADERS!!! The two goofiest, funniest sisters on Temple Square. Ha ha! I think they'll be amazing. Sister Nakaima and I are still together, which is really nice, and we're out of the Beehive House! :) The Beehive House was definitely difficult during conference, but it was good too. We saw a lot of miracles for sure that weekend! We didn't get nearly as many referrals as we did last conference which was hard on me at first, but then I looked through the referrals we received and we have some QUALITY people to contact.  We're really excited to see what happens with these people! 

I was made the Sacrament Meeting Coordinator for our "Temple Square" ward. :) ha ha. I’m able to play the organ every week, and Sister Nakaima is able to lead the music. Kinda fun! I think it is really good for me to practice doing this before I come home too. :) Can you believe I'm already in my 7th transfer??!! Ahhh!!! After this I only have 5 more to go. So crazy how time on the mission just flies by!! 

Well sister Nakaima and I have been working hard. We finally have our own room again, which is really nice.  Temple Square is MUCH quieter now, which requires more effort on our part as missionaries. Please pray for us specifically to work hard and become "consecrated missionaries!" We met this amazing less active, named Lauralee the other day. Wow. She definitely needs the gospel in her life again! I got her number and we're going to call her sometime this week to teach her and try to bring her back in the gospel. She's had an absolutely horrible life (I think filled with a lot of abuse), and she definitely needs to feel the Spirit's direction again in her life. She said she could not leave Temple Square. She loved the feeling that was here. So cool to see how strong the Spirit really is here!! She can feel a difference from here and her lifestyle. I'm sure she'll turn around and come back again to the church. 

Joy is doing AMAZINGLY well! She's meeting with the missionaries every 2 days or so and talked with them about her baptism date. They said they needed to talk to their President about it? I’m not sure why, but we know that she will be baptized this transfer. She knows everything is true! She truly believes that she has been able to find exactly what she has been looking for in her life. She even said that she felt bad how ignorant she was of the true gospel of Jesus Christ! The Elders taught her the Plan of Salvation and she was amazed at how little she actually understood about God's plan for her. WOW! Talk about feeling the spirit!! She is incredible. She truly has been SUCH a blessing to me. I feel like I've been working so hard on changing myself to be a better missionary for such a long time, but I haven't been able to see the fruits of it. She is definitely a fruit of our labors!!! I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for being so gracious and kind. I shouldn't be so faithless that I need to see the fruits of my labors to keep going, but Heavenly father has been very loving and kind to me. I truly feel sooo blessed to be here. 

We met a man on Temple Square who is 20 years old named Christian. Talk about an amazing boy!! He's actually from Auckland New Zealand, and he is absolutely incredible. He literally didn't know why he came to Temple Square, only that he felt drawn towards it and had to come in. Um, prepared?! Absolutely. We taught him the whole Restoration lesson right there and then. He brought up something interesting in the beginning of the tour when I asked him if he has read the Bible, and he said that he feels like there's more out there (more information from God.)  :) Book of Mormon? Absolutely. We gave him a Book of Mormon right there and then and he is already in 2nd Nephi. (we met him on Wednesday). Absolutely amazing. He is definitely a special spirit! We showed him this video http://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/heavenly-father-and-jesus-christ-appeared-to-joseph-smith?lang=eng which you should watch because it is AMAZING. He just loved it and felt the Spirit REALLY strong. It was so fun to see him really feel the spirit and accept it. We taught him how to pray over the phone once, and taught him a little bit more about God's love for us, and our relationship with God. He really liked that idea and had never really heard it before. He is meeting with missionaries this Wednesday. :) 

Well family, I love you all SO much. Keep praying for Nick, Joy and Christian specifically. We really love them and are working extra hard with them right now! I'm studying a lot lately on love and charity, and what they really mean. I'm trying to change so that when I see people, I immediately love them enough to desire their salvation. I know it will help me in my missionary efforts a lot. 

I love you all SO much! You all are amazing. Thank you for all of the wonderful letters this week, too! 

It was so fun to see Kristin Montgomery as well this weekend!! Tell her I love her and thank her for sending you the picture. :) 

Love always and FOREVER, 

Sister Savage 

PS. Dad and mom, do you have Bishop Cooley's address? Sister Repotente would like to write him. :) I think I mentioned before that she is serving here with me... she's the cutest little thing ever and training a sister from Sis Nakaima's class too, and she really wants to write him and his wife. :) Thanks so much! 

Also, Sis Nakaima and Sis Yoon were pointing to Brad in my picture.... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Everyone here is obsessed with him!! :)  Its absolutely hysterical! 

I have attached pictures of my roommates my last transfer. SOOO sad that we were separated!! :( And Sis Mata'utia is home now. Saddest thing ever. She seriously was the best missionary on Temple Square. 

I have also attached pictures of us "stalking" in the Beehive house. :) Haha, so funny! Whenever us sisters have a tour thats just men, another set of sisters has to follow them around in case anything bad happens to be safe. :) 

And, here are pictures from Conference-- they asked me to announce. So scary!! Ha! I was super intimidated, but it was really fun too. I saw a few people I knew, including my ex-boyfriend Andrew :) Ha ha. I didn't say hi to him though because Sister Nakaima and I hadn't eaten lunch so we were literally running there afterward. I wanted to show you Sister Robayo, the one that spoke Swedish announcing. She saw Brad's pictures and fell in LOVE with him, ha ha! So funny. She's an absolutely beautiful girl. She would definitely be a keeper! She's coming over to BYU next year I think (she went home on Wednesday).