Best Mis- Dial Ever!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Merry Christmas!

The lights are up, the snow has melted & it was a balmy 50 degrees the other day --- here in Salt Lake City. Whaaaaaat??? I know....weird. I thought I was in NC for a second! However, rest assured ladies & gentlemen, we got some snow today :) We're good! A white Christmas looks to be in our future!

Monday: Called Raul who lives in NC & went to church on Sunday & met with the missionaries! I love being assigned to desk! I like saying hello & telling 5,000 people how to get to the bathrooms, despite the fact that we have signs...and apparently 4,900 illiterate guests! It's so fun when people just come up to the desk & say "i have a referral for you!" Score! I reported to desk & sis Agenor (Florida) said, your grandparents are here --- and pointed to the audience. ahhhhh!!!!! so i snuck behind the two & sat next to grandma. Surprise! We got to catch up for a bit but then it was back to work! But that wasn't the end of seeing them around :) I was busy greeting people when I looked over & caught gma taking a picture of me!??! hahaha same up at the Christus -- she was everywhere! When it was time to sing -- there they were, sitting in the front row! RIGHT next to the piano! hahaha there wasn't a closer seat in the house! unless they would have offered to turn pages for me :)

Tuesday: So you know in Enchanted when the receptionist says she think Giselle is from "Andalusia"? Well it's a real place!!! "Look it up -- bookworm!"
We called Dylan once we got back on computers. He is awesome! He has fantastic questions! He's really searching for God in his life. I'm glad we get to be a part of it. He's home for Christmas & he said that I could give Jessica 2 his information!

Wednesday: we had weekly planning for an hour. we've switched things up this transfer(like every transfer) so that we have 2 hrs of Chat weekly planning on Sundays & then 1 hr of weekly planning for the square on Wednesdays. It's insane. We're hoping to get 30 referrals & 72 potentials over the transfer! It'll make us stretch -- but we think it's attainable!
I have officially lost 6 lbs since the start of my mission! [Insert happy dance here]

Thursday: We had president interviews. I hardly know what to say in those. He's got the gift of discernment, that's for sure. He knows when something is up. I just want to say "The work is great & my spirits are high. All is well." But he made me say a little more :) He reminded me that there are things I can teach my companion that will prepare her for the rest of her life. I never thought that I could help my companion. I guess I always thought that I would be the one learning from them. We went to the Utah Food Bank to do service! Ya! I know! So exciting, huh? We stuffed envelopes. Good thing I had that summer job, to brush up on my envelope stuffing skills :) Oh right -- getting there was an adventure. Cursed grid system. Bane of my existence. Or maybe it's google directions. It failed to mention that the street we turned onto off the highway would be 3300....so we were driving around, waiting to take a right onto 3300....we finally figured it out, turned around & arrived 30 min late. But the awesome thing about all of this was that I got to drive the new spaceship of a car! I couldn't even figure out how to get the windows down! That's how high tech it was -- I figured it out. No worries. Find the video section of lds.org & watch the "Continue in Patience" video by President Uchtdorf. It's easily my favorite. Never give up. We talked to Dylan again! He picks up & he's so happy to talk with us, it's like having friends! Yay! We taught him about the Plan of Salvation. He's still hung up on believing in God. He really wants to but he's not solid on it yet. So we followed up with an email containing the link to The Book of Mormon, The Articles of Faith and Alma 11:20-46 to read. Hopefully he'll keep his commitment to read! In case you were wondering, yes Logan is still alive. He's in Hickory with his family for Christmas. He has a busy schedule, so we're going to try & work out a time to call over break! Can't wait for him to go back to school!
I love having investigators <3 Speaking of investigators...I called Jessica 1 to check in & see how life was. She's doing SO good! She was in the hospital for five days with pneumonia. She had a priesthood blessing & was visited by the RS. Once she got home, the RS worked out meals for her so that she can just focus on getting better. She let me know that after she was baptized, her ward pitched in & bought her more church clothes & a Book of Mormon with her name embossed on the front! She had her first visiting teaching "visit" & loved it! Huzzah for uber-totally-awesome wards ;) Me & Sister Gilbert don't get to see each other much. It has officially bummed us out. So....us being the incredible creatures that we are....are inventing our own paging system!!!!! I know --- GENIUS!!!! We have officially taken paging to the texting-level. I don't know why so much of what we do is "official" but it is. We crossed paths as I was going into motors & she was coming out. We said bye, then I raced to my phone to page her [143 - i love you]. She raced back in the room -- "oh I forgot! I love you! bye! *brrr* did you just page me? HA!"
love it.

Friday: We planned to find a guest with a member. And we did! It's amazing what prayerful planning can accomplish. The sister from Albania is teaching me phrases, bit by bit. "Chick-kaymee" is hello! We ran into the missionary couple who introduced Sis Khadgi's dad to the gospel! They were so cute! They hadn't seen her since she was really young, it's been 15 years or so! They were chatting away, when who should run across our path but Makenzie Martinez!!! She was standing in the standby line for the MOTAB/David Archuleta concert! We chatted for a bit, about family, missions she scared me for a sec with her "it's a lot like marriage" comment. I think I'll just date for ever. Ya -- sounds good. We had an extra hour on the square.

Saturday: We had van maintenance at 5:50 AM yay for no sleep!!! We didn't meet an apostle, but our vans are clean. Mission accomplished. We had an 8:00 safety training meeting that went over time, so we had 5 min of choir practice. I'm still being an amazing turtle dove :) We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders! I am so glad we did! We went around with Sister Hernandez (Mexico) after contacting the one member & one guest we planned for, we ran into a family from El Salvador! We took them to the Christus, which they all loved & then to God's Plan. Sis Hernandez let me testify at the end of the presentation! I LOVE speaking Spanish! It's just fun & I feel a little more like myself when I do it. A bit of a walk down memory lane. I'm hoping for a Spanish speaking comp next transfer. That way I could practice & pass off the spanish tours!!! Their 8 year old son tried to throw a snowball at jordan - RM who served in Chile but met this family on splits & offered to take them to temple square! and instead -- hit ME! I gave him a hard time about it & we became bffs :) "Miropavshem" - Bye! (Albanian)...I'm practically fluent! I talked with Alex from Italy tonight on Chat. He was really nice & we had a great conversation. He wanted to look me up on facebook...but we can't give out our last names (luckily) so we just left it with the memory that he had been "connected to the nicest mormon ever :)" ya.... Extra hour on the square again! I start to expire around 9:00...it feels like staying up late to finish a school project!

Sunday: Church at 7:20 --- getting up so early & getting to bed so late & not running every morning? No bueno. I'm dying here. But it's good - we're getting a lot done! Besides, we can sleep when we're dead. Sister Kinman told me that Marti & Nicole were here on the Square! I wish I could have seen them! We watched part of Joy to the World with some guests & I decided that I love watching the sun rise. One day... I had "Be Prepared" from Hoodwinked, stuck in my head - first thing in the morning. Holy random song Batman?!? David Archuleta performed with MOTAB so none of the sisters got to go because it's a ticketed event. BUT we got to watch 5 min of it in the wonderfully empty theatre 5!!! Yay! It was the funniest thing --- "*gasp* It's DAVID ARCHULETA!!!!" "whaaaat!??!?!?!?" [Insert stamped of 20 something year old sister missionaries into the theatre] "Ahhhh!!! It's DAVID!!!!" "He's a KID!" "He turns 20 this month!" "What??? I didn't know he was that old?" "He's SO cute!!!" "He's cuter on screen than in person" "uh huh - shame..." ya....no comment.
I ran into Sister Colette Neish's sister!!! They came to see Luke II -- small world!
We've been told to bring our cameras to training in the morning -- word on the street -- David Archuleta???

Monday: Early morning training. I'm hanging in there. Safe driving stuff....yay! David Archuleta??? Nope. Hahahahaha --- BUT we got to go over to the Conference Center & take pictures IN the decorations! It was so fun! I'll upload pics next week...sorry ZERO time!!! This morning, I was trying to respond to a page from Sis Gilbert --- so I dialed the number she sent me .... "President Monson's office..." "Oh! ...I must have the wrong number!" Hahahahaha -- it's not everyday you accidentally call the Prophet :) We talked to Dylan again, reviewing some basics. Sister Teerlink & I were on exchanges up at God's Plan for His Family, when these two Hispanic ladies come up & ask to see a movie. We take them through the presentation in SPANISH! (I know) And then at the end - I testified (in Spanish) and played the last video. Then I bore testimony at the end again (in Spanish) found out they weren't members & then invited them to meet with the missionaries -- yes! IN SPANISH!!! THEY REFERRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Miracle!
The Hurst clan came to watch me perform!!! It was so fun having everyone there! Everyone looks great & happy! It made me SO nervous to perform...hence my lack of playing 1/2 of one of my songs...hahaha jk not 1/2 ...just a few measures -- but still! They brought me goodies - which my roommies loved :) They're gone already! So good! I'm afraid I talked WAY too much -- I was just so excited to show everyone what I'm doing! I whipped out my planner & told all the RMs of our little family how we run things here on Temple Square. So fun! At least...for me :)
Best day ever!

The church is true :)

Have a great week & have a very Merry Christmas!

Sis Ainsley Marie

P.S. Church News & Events has a video of the lights on temple square -- the sister from Brazil & the sister from Germany were my roomies last transfer! Sis Lamprecht & Inoue are our APs :) so cool!