Week #48

December 17, 2012

Hi Familia!! :) 

Well I have some bad news and some good news... Bad news is that I won't be able to email you next week because the library will be closed... but the GOOD news is that I will be able to SKYPE with all of you!!! :) I will be on Skype next Tuesday at 2pm. No time difference!! :) Yay!! It might be a few minutes late because Sis Brinks tends to be late to things ha ha, but it should work out okay. I might be giving you a call beforehand to let you know how it will all work out. Some members in our ward are being super nice and letting us use their computer on Christmas. :) So great! I love how kind the members are here. I'm hoping I'll be able to use Christie's account, but if not I'll probably use this email to set up a new one. It won't be until that day though. I'm sure everything will work out fine ha ha! :) I'll try to use mom and dad's email accounts to connect with. We'll just pray everything works out okay!! I'm SOOO so excited though!!! I seriously was dying of happiness when I found out. :) It will be soooo so great! 

This week was much better than last week. We got 2 new investigators last week which was exciting. Philip and Edna (the ones that just showed up to church) met with us on Wednesday. Well, we were on splits, so Sister Brinks met with them. She said it went really well. She had lots of questions about tithing and baptism and random stuff like that which was awesome. Philip is TOTALLY on board for all of this!! He's super excited to come back to church and is really feeling the Spirit working through him. Edna is definitely warming up to us. She really enjoyed church a lot! We had dinner with them right after that with the Mangold's in the ward who are AWESOME couple. All of their kids are grown up similar to Phil and Edna, so it was a lot of fun. 

I'm so impressed with your missionary work family!!! Seriously, everyone is doing SO amazing!! :) Especially momma who never was a missionary ha ha! Just preparing for your full-time mission in a couple of years! :) I wish you could serve on Temple Square. You and dad would be a PERFECT "Senior couple" there!! :) Then we can all visit you all the time, ha ha! 

Frank and Ana came to church yesterday!! It was SO fun to have them there. I know they felt the spirit really strong and enjoyed most of their experience. I'll explain what "most" means later. Sister Brinks and I decided to play "match-maker" with the ward members by calling select members of the ward and having them go up to Frank and Ana and meet them. We literally told them what to say with Frank and Ana, ha ha ha. It was so funny. It was like feeding people lines for a play or something. :) It worked out PERFECT though!! They did AWESOME!!! Sister Brinks and I talked afterward and it was pretty obvious that we need to keep helping the ward out this way. We need to train them on how to do missionary work!! They haven't done it in SO long that they're simply out of practice. :)  We had a REALLY long weekly planning session on Saturday/Friday (4 hours), most of it involving the members and how to help them. We literally saw people come together yesterday in the ward from Frank and Ana being there!! It was a very sweet experience that I get a little bit emotional about. Honestly, I feel very strongly that I was sent out here to help the members. Yes, Frank and Ana need us too, but the members REALLY need the missionaries.... a LOT!  Being here has been a great experience that I will treasure forever. 

So, about Frank and Ana coming to church and enjoying "most" of their experience... One little older lady in the ward gave a talk on Sunday and read from a Children's book rather than the scriptures, and just started telling stories of her life.... and then made the HUGE mistake of making a negative reference to Catholics.  Frank is Catholic.  No, he's not strong at ALL (didn't even realize his church baptized to cleanse babies of the "original sin"); however, there is NEVER, EVER an excuse or reason to talk negatively about another church or religion... ESPECIALLY over the pulpit!! You have NO idea who is sitting in the audience!! Of course Frank and Ana had to come for that and it was one of the worst feelings I've ever had in my life. So many prayers, dedication, studies have gone toward Frank... I honestly wondered if it was all over. Well, fortunately for us, Frank and Ana decided to stay for the second hour (we taught Gospel Principles again) and Ana loved it so much that she took notes. Ha ha!! It was awesome. I think Frank really enjoyed it too, we're just SUPER nervous about our meeting on Tuesday because they didn't bring up the comment right then... knowing Frank though, he will. We have planned to simply apologize and read from Moroni 6, explain to him what Sacrament really should be like, and ask for his forgiveness from this silly old woman. PLEASE pray for Frank family. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!! 

Another positive note too, Ana agreed to meet with us on Wednesday night and we're really looking forward to that!! Hopefully we can make up for our losses by being humble and listening to what they have to say. Again, please keep them and us in your prayers!! Thank you! 

Frank and Ana met the Stake President at our ward!! (Frank also came to the baptism on Saturday. It was an awesome baptism!!!!) 

Brandon is another one of our new investigators. He's awesome!! (at least I think so. :)) He grew up in a super rough family situation and background. His mom has been married and divorced several times, and his parents are deaf!!! I can talk to them a little because I sign! :) ha ha. I'm so amazed with God's plan for us!! Anyways, Brandon was in Juvey (sp?) in high school and had some problems with drugs for a while. His parents weren't religious at all and didn't even teach him about God, but he told us (and said he never tells ANYONE this) that he's always known God existed. Even though no one told him about God, he still believed. How sweet, huh?! He really is a sweet guy. He's pretty rough looking with his lip ring, ha! but he's awesome. We taught him the Restoration and have a return appt for Friday. We'll also teach Edna the Restoration this week too! 

Also, Rachel (excommunicated member) came to church on Sunday!!! Her mom was the one that spoke... ha ha. Yes, it opened my eyes a lot about her situation. :) She did awesome and looked SO cute. When you look at Rachel you can definitely tell she's not a member by the way she dresses (36 but dresses like an 18 year old), but Sunday she looked so clean cut and beautiful. I'm SO proud of her. :) She stayed all 3 hours too!!! I know it was SUPER hard for her to come to church on Sunday, but we KNOW she felt the spirit while she was there!! She came to our class too. It was pretty fun having 3 investigators at church on Sunday! :) Miracles are definitely happening in Ontario!! 

Well family, I love you all SO much. Thanks for all your prayers and support!! You're the BEST!! I'll most likely Skype around 2-2:30 on Christmas Day. YAY!! :D 

Love always, 

Sister Nat Savage 

Week #46

December 3, 2012

Hey fam!! 

Well wow! Sounds like some major changes are going on at home, ha ha!! That's super exciting Dad! Utah!!!  I feel peaceful about the whole thing, and I think that the Lord is putting us there for a reason. For some reason I can feel that pretty strongly right now! And then we can visit my mission all the time!! :) ha ha. Dad, you will DEFINITELY need to visit the next time you fly into Utah when I'm out there again!  :) Thanks for keeping me updated!! Keep it coming, okay? I like to know when my family is doing well and is safe. :) 

Mom, I'm so sorry I didn't respond about the Christmas things.  Ha ha!! Totally spaced, honestly. I really can't think of anything I need right now. The address I gave you is the mission address. Send it there because then my Zone Leaders will just forward it to our apartment. Snail mail is that way too. :) Actually, the only thing I can think of is another journal? 

Have any of you seen the Liken movies? They are musicals of different stories in the Bible and Book of Mormon. They are SOOO funny and fun!!! I am in LOVE with them!! The sisters and I have been watching them during lunch breaks, getting ready for bed, etc and they are super entertaining. :) You should look into them!! You can get them at Deseret Book. I think they're kind of expensive but they're really fun. :) 

Well this week was good, but we did a LOT of service. It honestly felt like we did service this whole week and that was it, ha ha!! But it was really good though. We taught our investigator Frank (who's showing a lot more interest than his wife, Ana) and he's doing incredibly well. He LOVES meeting with us because of the way he feels afterward. My companions were really sweet, and they said that it was one of the best lessons they've ever had with him because of me!! It definitely wasn't all me... not even close! But I did figure out why I was able to help out so much in the lesson (even though this is only the 2nd time I've taught him, and they've been teaching him for about a month). On Temple Square, we teach people on the phone all the time and really have to try hard to figure out their needs and how they're feeling with only the sound of their voice as our guide... pretty difficult stuff!! Because of that, the Spirit has really helped me to be able to recognize those super subtle hints that our investigators would give over the phone. Teaching people in person is SOOO much easier to recognize what they need to hear, what questions to ask, but most especially, how to listen to them!! No more interruptions happen because there is no slight delay of the phone call, ha ha!!! Sooo, so great. It has been so fun to teach Frank and others here!! 

We had a huge miracle happen yesterday. Apparently, the sisters found a "lost member" in the ward tracting a few days before I got here, and his non-member wife. Phil and Edna are their names. :) (Edna. Mode.) Phil said he was interested in coming back to church because he and his wife were trying to find a church to go to. They invited him to church, of course, but his wife didn’t seem interested. Well, guess who showed up to church yesterday on their own??!! Yep!! They even stayed all 3 hours!! We sisters teach the Gospel Essentials class each week (really good experience for me to teach less actives and non-members!) and they came to our class and then went with members, Sister and Bro Mangold, to Relief Society and Priesthood. Phil LOVED coming back. You could just see the light in his eyes! And Edna was nodding her head in agreement during each meeting!! :) Ha! It was such a miracle. We're going to teach them on Wednesday again. 

We also had another miracle this week! Sister and Brother Knox (the ones that fed us on Thanksgiving day) have a daughter that was excommunicated a couple years ago that wants to take the lessons. I was sooo humbled though, because apparently when I came, Sister Knox said Rachel (her daughter) could really relate to me. She felt like I was the typical "so-cal girl" with my long blonde hair, ha ha, and she was impressed that I was on a mission and really wants ME to teach her. So sweet, huh?! I can already see why the Lord has sent me here to Southern California! 

Literally EVERYONE is shocked that I'm from Sacramento serving in my home state, but I honestly love it more than I can express now!!! I fasted yesterday because I was having a hard time really loving the members and investigators and really feeling like they were MY investigators... I don't know if that makes sense. I guess I was just really missing my old investigators and felt like I should not have left them. But fasting yesterday completely changed me. I looked at the members of the ward as I bore my testimony to them and felt an overwhelming sense of LOVE for them. I want to help them SO badly!!! 

I don't know if I told you much about the ward, but more than HALF the ward is less active. I think only 35% actually go to church every Sunday, something crazy like that. Its SOOO sad!! But I know why. The members don't know what it means to serve each other. In all of the meetings, almost NO one sits by each other.  There are "cliques" in the ward that don't talk to anyone else in the ward. Sooo sad. I honestly was a bit overwhelmed with the responsibility that I now have in this ward. They need a LOT of help! I told the sisters my concern and they finally told me the truth and said that the ward has a serious struggle with the work. Some members are totally willing to come to our missionary lessons, but there are a lot of them that aren't even active enough that we would ask them to come!! So that's going to be my big challenge while I'm here. . . getting the ward to finally unite and be an actual WARD. A ward is supposed to be a family, and these people really aren't family... I don't know if I told you this, but I had a total of 2 people in the ward actually come up to me and meet me on my first Sunday... and I'm a missionary!! All they have to do is say, "Hi, I'm so-and-so. Where are you from? How long have you been out? Thanks for talking!" It was sooo sad. I had to literally go around to everyone in the ward and shake their hand and introduce myself to all of them. Usually it is the other way around, especially for missionaries, ha ha! I have a lot of responsibility on my shoulders right now, and Sister Callister (Sister Brinkerhoff's trainer btw) is leaving so it will just be me and Sister Brinks. Deep breath. :) Pray for me!! It will be awesome I know it!! 

Well family, I love you all SO much and am really loving this work a lot. I will be imagining EVERYONE that opens their door in baptism clothes!! :) Right Brad? :) Love love love!! 

Sister Nat 

PS. I forgot my cord again... sorry!! Pictures will come next week! The weather here btw has been great with a little bit of rain. SO nice to be out of the snow!! :) 

Week #45

November 26, 2012

Hey my dearest darlingest family!!! 

Thanks for all of the wonderful emails this week!!! It was so fun to hear from everyone. Sounds like you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. :) I had a pretty good one too! We went over to a member's house for dinner (the Knox family). They're an elderly couple that actually served their mission on Temple Square in the church History Library, so it was fun to talk about Temple Square. :) 

We have eaten at a member's house almost every night this week. So fun!!! I love getting to know the people in the ward. (the average weight gain in this mission is 30 lbs.... HAHAHA!! So funny!! I've already noticed that my companions eat more dessert and food than I do. I think I'll do just fine preventing weight gain. :)) President Godwin is my mission president down here. He's such a nice man!! Much more stern than President Gillette, but you can tell that he loves missionary work. I really like him and his wife a lot. And guess what? I'm the first ever Temple Square missionary to serve my outbound in this mission. Do you know what that means???! I need to be a good example of Temple Square and our work ethic.... Kind of intimidating!! But I'm excited to show them my love for the Lord and His work, and to show them how REAL missionary work is done. :) Ha-ha just kidding. But one thing I have noticed here is that I don't work as hard as I did on Temple Square. I'm really not trying to be boastful at all... but Temple Square missionaries know what it means to work! We've been trained so well how to sacrifice everything for the Lord, no matter the price. I think this mission is pretty good, but wow... my mission is definitely a slight step above the rest. It's really helped me appreciate and Love my mission in SLC! Heavenly Father has blessed me sooo, so much. 

We have a car down here which is really nice! My area is Ontario, CA. It is a little bit ghetto, not gonna lie... ha-ha, but our apartments are really nice. They've spoiled us!! And holy cow... The members DEFINITELY spoil us sisters, ha-ha!! I didn't realize how easy sister missionaries get it outside of T2! Usually members try to run away from us, ha ha ha, but here they just LOVE you so much and will seriously do anything for us Sisters. I feel pampered!! The mission bought me a brand new bed and all of the dishes, hand towels, table and bookshelf, etc., for our new apartment. I'm in a trio and the other sisters had to move to accommodate for me by moving to a new apartment, so they literally gave us EVERYTHING new in the apartment. WAY nicer than T2 apartments, ha! It has been pretty fun. My companions are Sister Callister and Sister Brinkerhoff. They are really, really nice sweet sisters. I like them a lot!! I'll have to include a pic next week because I forgot my camera cord today.  

The ward we are working in is SO small. SO many inactive members!! It is so sad to see how many people lose their testimonies of this wonderful church and simply stop coming. A lot of the missionary work down here has been to reactivate those that have stopped coming. We're working with a few different families to try to get them coming more. I don't want to sound boastful at all.... but Temple Square has seriously trained me so well how to talk to members!! These sisters are good but not nearly in the same caliber as Temple Square sisters in that way. Outbound has already seriously opened my eyes on how blessed I truly am. 

My first few days here were kind of tough. I had a hard time adjusting for a bit there... but I feel much better about being here and have been able to consider the many blessings the Lord has given to me! We have some really good investigators that we'll be working with right now. Frank and Ana, a couple from the Navy that are really wonderful, but definitely have some concerns and questions. Xochitl (so-she), originally from Mexico. The sweetest lady you'll ever meet, but very Catholic... she has received an answer about Joseph Smith but hasn't accepted the answer yet, so we're trying to help her see that the BOM really is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. We also have a few other investigators that we're working with that I haven't been able to teach quite yet that seem really great. One guy Cory who has a bad stutter but is seriously the sweetest black boy you'll ever meet is really interested in learning more about the Church. His brother that we're working with is a less-active member who's been coming back to church, so hopefully Cory will just hop in the car one of these days... :) We'll teach Cory this Thursday. 

One thing that has been sooo fun is teaching people in person rather than the phone!! What a concept, eh??!! Ha. Its been really great, I've enjoyed it a lot. I think it'll help me get a lot better at reading people's body language, since the only thing I have (half the time) is their voices over the phone. Tracting (sp?) is fun, ha-ha!! I feel like a salesman sometimes though... we had one nasty anti that we talked with for a second who thought we believed that Joseph Smith was "God on earth". It was funny. WE all laughed about it afterwards. :) But the door before that we met Carlos who seems interested and really kind. We'll go back and teach him tomorrow I think. 

I miss my investigators from T2 a lot... it was SO hard for me to let them go. I have grown to love them so much. But I know that Heavenly Father has placed me in this area at this time for a reason!! The sisters have taught me a lot already, and they said that they've learned a lot from me too. I think this will be a really good experience for me to be here. Please pray for me to have a genuine love for the members down here.

I love you all SOOO much. I wish so bad that you could come visit me down here, but I don't think that would be such a good idea. I really want to work hard down here and concentrate well! :) You know I love you but I think that it would be best!! I'm gonna see if I can get permission from my mission Pres to go to Melissa's house on a monday during p-day to get my hair done sometime. :) ha-ha! We'll see. 

Love you all!!! Until next week!! 

Sister Nat 

PS. Elders are little children. Seriously, ha-ha!! So funny to be around them all. I met our zone on Friday (they had a zone fast for baptisms) and I explained to them that I was a T2 missionary. Their reactions about me being from SAcramento were hilarious, ha-ha. Everyone says, "Well you're not far from home!" I just smile and laugh. We're playing volleyball with them today. Should be fun!