Week #43

November 12, 2012

Hello beautiful family!! 

Wow... Can you believe that my 7th transfer is almost over??!! I seriously can't even believe it. Every minute just seems to be literally flying by! I have loved my mission so much and have learned a TON from it. The Lord truly has blessed me so much, and all of you! :) I'm so glad you were able to visit Brad this weekend. . . how fun! It is good to hear Brad has multiple callings in his new ward too! Sounds like you had a really fun week! I had a great week too, despite the election... I honestly just can't believe our nation right now. It is DEFINITELY the last days!! 

Well, Sister Nakaima and I had a good, but hard week. My companion is honestly the sweetest thing ever!! She has really struggled with her confidence lately with mission work. She has a really hard time understanding what people say, especially when they are from other countries (even though they speak English). She and I talked for awhile on Saturday and the poor thing just cried to me. Thursday was a really hard day for her . . . she called 3 people in Japan and no one referred to meet with missionaries or even wanted to hear about the gospel, and she was really really discouraged. It was so sad. :( I told her about my first week with Sister Crookston in my 3rd transfer. I had 3 investigators drop US (suddenly decided they didn't want to learn more) the first week Sister Crookston and I were together. It was SO hard on me, and I, like Sister Nakaima, thought about going home. But I then told her about Gary and what a blessing he was to me! He got baptized the transfer afterward. I told her about how hard we worked and that we were super obedient, and the Lord blessed us because of it. I reminded her of what an incredible blessing Joy was to us and to not let Satan get her thinking she isn't a good missionary, because she is!!! She is an INCREDIBLE missionary. She has such an amazing testimony, especially about the Atonement. She is doing amazing things despite her difficulty with the language, and I honestly am SO proud of her!! I got emotional when we were talking because she reminds me of my trainer. They both had difficulty with being confident and sure of themselves and their power and authority as missionaries. It is SO real though!! Heavenly Father truly blesses us with a different mantle when we are set apart as missionaries. It is absolutely incredible. I've been trying to help Sister Nakaima have this same perspective as I did with Sister Wilson. I think having these two sisters as my companions has actually helped me realize how important this really is to have that confidence in our Father's promises!! That's really what it is. It's not having confidence in ourselves, or our own abilities, but having confidence in the Lord. He's the one that has provided a way for us to just do good, period! We wouldn't be able to do ANYTHING without our Savior Jesus Christ's help. It is about truly knowing that He is the one that has called us to these positions; therefore, He'll provide a way for us to accomplish them! It says so right in the scriptures. :) (1 Nephi 3:7) Anyways, Sister Nakaima is such a sweetheart and has changed since we talked. I think she just needed to get things off her chest!! I had a small prompting that her and I needed to talk as we got ready to call our potentials and I'm SO glad I listened. 

 I only have a few more minutes but I wanted to let you know that we went to Zone Conference in the Pioneer museum here in Salt Lake City and it was the coolest thing EVER!!! I sent you a few pictures of it. :) You should definitely go next time your here in Salt Lake! Also, I got to do service in the TEMPLE today!!! It was AMAZING!!! and SO fun. I LOVE the sisters in my class ha! We were able to put on old baptism jumpsuits and vacuumed and dusted and things like that... Even in the Garden room!! :) So next time you are in there, you can imagine me in a awkward white jumpsuit cleaning in there. :) It was so amazing. Absolutely loved it! :) 

So Kelli-anne has another baptism date, ha ha, for December 1st. We need to work harder with her to keep her commitments (especially reading the Book of Mormon), but we're praying she'll be able to just feel good about all of these things. I think she needs to feel Heavenly Father's love in her life. 

We have a new investigator Katherine from Vacaville, CA!! :) Kind of fun huh? We also had a man refer online on chat in Budapest... :) Gotta love my mission ha ha! If I go outbound I will be seriously so sad. 

K. Well I love you all SOOO much! Enjoy the pics :) 

Sister Savage