Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! What a wonderful time for crazy weather, a new sense of beginning & for making goals that we all know will only last until February :) As always, it’s been another wonderful week, here on Temple Square!

TUES: We found the Indian market & had a bit of an adventure with that. I didn't have any idea what anything was unless it had an English label. So I just switched to looking at the ingredients! However, I still have no idea what "sago" is...?

WED: Sister Teerlink and I were on exchange for the first part of the morning. We got to be on Chat for a few wonderful hours. It’s an interesting change to Chat with someone else, keeps you on your toes. A nice little story from Chat this day: Agent “Zayne” connected me with “Ingrid” who I apparently knew?!? Sure nuff! At the beginning of December Ingrid called in and referred her friend Jennifer for some assistance from the local ward. I tried several times to get in touch with her, but eventually decided that post holidays would be best. I called her an hour after I got off Chat with Ingrid & amazingly enough got in touch with her! Yay! She is a very sweet lady and finds herself in a bit of a pickle. I gave her the information for Bishop Huffman & set her up with the address of the building. She is very excited to go to church on Sunday! Huzzah for church.

THURS: We had a tour today with a family who were very interested in the things we told them. They were from Tennessee & obviously - were Baptists. They loved the temple display; the husband asked wonderful questions about The Plan of Salvation & Sister Khadgi was able to talk with him more as I discussed the baptistry with the rest of the family. In the end, we took them to the Conference Center (which they loved) in the auditorium & the Book of Mormon gallery. It was a great defining point for all of them. As we made our way into the gallery the wife informed us that she had actually studied parts of the Book of Mormon! Woa - what are the chances?!? Turns out by "studied" she probably meant....skimmed through it and caught about 2 sentences of the text. Ya. As I told her about the prophets of the book, Ammon, Mormon, Alma etc. she asked, "So in The Book of Mormon - are there stories about the prophets & their travels and teachings?" "Yes, exactly. Just as the Bible was written by Matthew, Mark, Luke etc. and they kept a record of their experiences with Christ & His teachings -- the same goes for the prophets who recorded The Book of Mormon. They knew of Christ's teachings as well and that is what they wrote about."
[Insert lightbulb flash here] "Ohhhhh....wow. Okay! I didn't know that's what it was! Hmm!" I then encouraged her to return to her previous "study" and really read it for herself. As I was talking with the wife, the husband was further questioning Sister Khadgi. When we regrouped, the husband was very excited & reminding his wife of their discussion in Sunday School this past week. Of how Christ appeared to others & taught -- and The Book of Mormon is one of those records! And isn't it so amazing that in class they weren't sure which other books had that record - but here it was?!? The wife then reminded her husband of how the Bible says not to add to it. Thank you Captain Obvious for bringing up the fact that is stated twice in the Bible & if people really thought about it for two seconds, would realize that what it might actually means is that we should not alter the message of the writings? I tried to help them understand that The Book of Mormon does not change the message of the Bible in any way - it just supports it and helps us understand it better! We invited them to meet with missionaries back in Tennessee but it would seem that the husband's exuberance was to no avail -- she answered for the family. They don’t' know when they would have time to meet with missionaries so they would have to pass. [Oh, okay no that’s fine – we were just offering you eternal salvation. But if you’re too busy…we’ll catch you at a more convenient time.]
Afterwards, we had lunch. As we sat there, eating, I just felt sad. I was just bummed out that certain people marry certain people who keep them from eternal salvation. The tour we had later in the day was also interesting. A family came to visit SLC and one of their requested stops was Temple Square! As we took them around, the father had great questions. He really wanted his children to understand more about our beliefs, why the early Saints had to move from place to place etc. We were able to have a wonderfully productive tour with them. They didn’t refer – but I’m still glad we were able to teach!

Zone Leader Hernandez’s catch phrase: "Don't worry sisters -- we have a back-up plan."

FRIDAY: We scheduled to Chat with Natasha at 1:00 PM our time. So I got on Chat & we waited for 30 min -- Sis Khadgi was tired of waiting so we agreed that she could make calls until Natasha actually showed up. So at 1:50 PM --- she comes on!!!! YAY!!! I felt like the little blond girl in the "Patience" video by President Uchtdorf, when she gets that 2nd marshamallow :) So we chatted for an hour and worked through some of her struggles. Her parents won't drive her to church - so she walks an HOUR to get there! I know, she's amazing. Lots of encouraging with this chic. Sounds like her surroundings aren't good, so it's hard to have the spirit with her all the time. I felt like a counselor. The bad thing about her coming on was that I totally spaced on calling Jennifer! Ingrid called in a few weeks ago to refer her old babysitter (from 10 yrs ago) for missionaries & for help from the ward. So I finally got in touch with her earlier in the week & promised to call back. But I didn't! "Dang my life Alberto!" There's always tomorrow... I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders again & it was awesome right from the start! *BAM* We got a German tour right out of the gate! Okay, no I didn't understand anything that wasn't in English...so 98% of the tour...but it was so cool to see Sister Gunter in action - whipping out her German & being amazing :) It was a 3-person tour, one of them was the ward mission leader & the other two were his non-member co-workers. They had all just driven for 30 hours straight....and so needless to say, the situation was not opportune for a successful invite :) The next tour we got was one of those bomb.com tours that you just smile at each other about. Father & Mother, daughter & son and then they had her old college roommate & her fiancé with them as well. We took them to the temple display to....see the temple - obviously. They had great questions and the father especially was interested in hearing more about The Plan of Salvation! So we told them a bit more and then talked as we walked over to the Tabernacle. We talked about the pioneers, about The Book of Mormon, about Christ and how He is the center of our faith. We told them about how the pioneers labored for years to escape persecution & then to build a safe community here in the valley. We talked about Prophets & Brigham Young in the Tabernacle and how we have a prophet today! We then went over to the NVC to the Christus statue. There is something about the design of the room & the statue that makes people really feel the spirit that is here on Temple Square. It’s the best place on site to emphasize the point that our religion centers around Christ. We then took them downstairs to the basement where we talked about modern-day prophets & apostles. When we invited & whipped out our little card, the wife said, “Oh wait --- oh! Okay – I already filled one of those out at the movie!” ?????? Awesome! Okay – super! After that we took them to the Conference Center to see the auditorium and talk more about how learning from the missionaries would bless their lives and help them gain knowledge of Christ’s gospel. They were very sweet people and so open that you can hardly stand to let them go.

SAT: We began our day with a very enlightening exchange companion study. I was with Zone Leader Hernandez & Sister Teerlink. Sometimes I think I come up with some pretty good ideas in personal study – but it’s amazing to see what you can do with THREE intelligent and very spiritual sisters when you get them to study together J
I called Jennifer again and she is officially our new investigator! We were so excited! She got in touch with the Bishop who immediately asked her to meet with him(kudos to proactive Bishops) and they got things figured out. She is going through a rough time financially & spiritually. He told her about Relief Society & she can’t wait to check it out! Call me crazy or un-human or whatever but I made a New Year’s Resolution to cut down on goodies! Basically, be as sugar-free as possible. So I haven’t had a cookie or cake or candy or anything pure sugar in FIVE days!!! I’m planning on buying lots of mints J Thanks to my sharing with a few about my goal – the following hilarious incident occurred:
"Do you want a lifesaver?"
"Mmm....are they sugar free?"
"Uhh....ya!"
"Okay!
*takes one*
"They're not sugar-free..."
"WHAT?!? Sister Hernandez -- I've got a new year's resolution & you are trying to make me break it! And it's only the 3rd day of the year!?!?!"
For the record, I did take it out of my mouth & throw it away. It was cherry anyways --- so not worth it.

SUN: Testimony meeting is always interesting & uplifting. Sister T. Pena taught me “Never give up on the Lord.” Which seems kind of obvious but I think I forget it sometimes. We had SEVEN people to plan for! WAHOOOO!!!! We took Sister Quiller(Raleigh)’s sister & family through God’s Plan! Small world. They were fantastic. Best experience with it yet. They brought a special spirit to the presentation, as they were able to apply it so well to their own lives. On Sunday, I talked with a 39 year old man, TJ on Chat. The missionaries showed up at his door tonight & talked with him, they left him a Book of Mormon committed him to read the Introduction before they visited again Tuesday. He lives in England, by the way. So they left him the address for mormon.org and let him know of the Chat application and how we could answer questions he had, until they visited again. So here he was! Chatting with me! He'd already read the introduction and when I asked, his question was: "What does it mean, 'a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book'? Great question, huh? So we talked about it for a while, what it means & how by living the principles we learn from it - like following Christ's example & being baptized etc. - we can have eternal life. I committed him to read Testimonies of Three & Eight Witnesses and 3 Nephi 11 and to pray about them. He agreed that he would. Those missionaries are so lucky we exist :) His laptop crashed, so I was chatting away & he wasn't saying squat. So when we went home for weekly planning, I got a page from Sis Sanders. I called her & she said that there was a "TJ" online, asking for me. So I just let her know that I had been trying to find the closest church to him, which turns out - he knows where it is. So I had her tell him that I really enjoyed talking with him, and I would email him on Wednesday! So cool, huh? How many people get to have these experiences?

MON: We called Mark 2 who lives in Michigan. The first time I called, he couldn't hear me. So I called back over the phone, not the headset & all was well. So we prayed and taught him about the apostasy and the restoration. He believes that having a prophet in our day is possible. So we told him all about how we do have a prophet to lead & guide us today! We promised to send him the link to a priesthood session conference talk from President Monson - so he can watch it for himself. We committed him to pray about it. He didn't make it to church yesterday, but he said that he had set his alarm & it didn't go off. Thanks Satan. But we still had a really good conversation with him! We called Tiago in Portugal! We got through the initial pleasantries and I mentioned that , "We're so excited to talk to you!" His response: "You are???" Hahahaha he doesn’t like to read but promised that he would do his best to read as much as he could from the Introduction to The Book of Mormon.
"I hope I can be as strong & powerful & happy as you when I am a 3rd transfer." - Sis Albania

On Chat:
“Church is at 10:00 am”
“Oh, I can't get up that early”
*insert amazed & awkward crickets here*

TUES: Talent Share at 8:00 AM! Yup! In the morning! Sister Khadgi did a beautiful, elaborate & energetic dance from Nepal. She is amazing & I am so lucky to be her companion. After she finished, she came & sat down and had trouble breathing. So we ran up to get some water, which she choked on which threw her into a panic attack which then proceeded to make her hyperventilate! Whew! We got the APs and President who called Security & the paramedics. We went to the hospital! She hates hospitals. The ran her vitals, did some chest X-rays & ran an EKG. All of which cleared. So she’s fine! Just super weak. So we missed shopping and emailing(sorry!) so we postponed it until today. The rest of the day she slept. I had EIGHT hours of alone time. I cleaned the dishes, the kitchen & bathroom, did my laundry and wrote 10 letters! VERY productive alone time ;) One plus to the whole experience: I got to ride in the front of the ambulance ;) It’s been an eventful & exciting week. I LOVE being a missionary. We were coming out of the apartments to go to church with our roommates & I said, “C’mon missionaries! Let’s go!” And it was a really good reminder that we’re missionaries. We are awesome. It’s so cool to serve other people ALL day long! Nothing like it!

Love you all!

Sister Ainsley