"It's 5 o'clock somewhere!"

Chikaymee!(Albanian)

How is everyone? From the news I get, it sounds like all is well and that the world still manages to turn without me being in North Carolina. I guess that’s okay. The weather has warmed a lot over the last few days and it reminds me a lot of North Carolina – I miss it! This week was fantastic!

Wed:We called Don and got to talk for a while. He's having trouble with his vision, more specifically - he's seeing double! And he still thinks he can drive. *Safe* is the word that comes to mind. So we put him in touch with the Branch President and told Don to let him know his situation and to ask for rides to be worked out for his doctor's visits and also for the number to the Elders. I love being a Temple Square missionary but sometimes I really, really wish we could be there with these people in person! That way we could be in charge and not have to send off our precious investigators. It made me really happy to hear that the Elders back in Raleigh are doing a good job of teaching! I love awesome Elders!!! They make my day. We helped Sister Katterfeld & Sister Gulzar with contacting in the SVC. So we role played at some of the displays and had a wonderful time doing it! We got to role play as really awkward guests and as good guests and also as people we actually knew. So half the time, we were pretending to be from Texas. After we finished our role plays the first group we contacted were from Texas!!! What are the chances :) We're missionaries so we jumped right into teaching mode! [Dunh-du-duuuuun!] So Sister Katterfeld & I got to be on semi-illegal exchanges for about 30 minutes as we talked to different people. These two guests were very nice and had wonderful questions. We were able to cover more information about the temple & bridge it to the restoration. They were originally from Poland but living in Chicago. They weren't interested in learning from missionaries but we let them know about mormon.org! Then we contacted a returned missionary, who let us know that we shouldn't be afraid to talk to anyone. He said that we bring a special spirit to the Square and that with that - we can emphasize the things we teach. We really appreciated that. Sometimes we wonder if we're just that swanky...or not. After contacting together, Sister Katterfeld said[in her Perth accent], " I love contacting with you!!! Oh my goodness! I mean - I was talking and talking and then thought 'Wait a minute...' then paused and you picked up right where I left off! It's so nice to know that when I stop - you start! It's awesome!!!!" And that's how it's done :) I absolutely loved it. I really like working with so many different sisters. It's a great way to see how people think and also to see what you can improve on.

Thurs: Surprise! Meeting with the Zone Leaders right as soon as we got on the Square. Not for me -- for Sis Khadgi. I don't mind having meetings & actually love being on exchanges -- I just like knowing ahead of time. That's why we plan.
So Sister Teerlink and I went on exchanges for a few hours. When we first met up, we were at desk and she was talking to Bob who is a regular here. When he was 20 he got in a car accident and now he just rides around on one of those scooters. Four military guys came to visit the SVC and they kept calling me ma'am...and I felt weird. On Chat we talked with a troll who actually ended up wanting to learn more about The Book of Mormon. I emailed him the Joseph Smith video from mormon.org!
I've been trying to get in touch with Jennifer for two weeks and haven't been able to! So I called Ingrid, the lady who referred her and she told me that they talked last Saturday and Jennifer said she was doing well and planning on going to church again!!! So we have a progressing investigator! We've just got to catch her at the right time to see if she's meeting with the missionaries. Sister Khadgi called a referral we got from this 18 yr old Brazilian kid "Maxwell" that we met by the construction of the Temple area in the SVC. This girl, Sally, is his Facebook friend and it turns out that she wants to learn from the missionaries! So she's our New Investigator :) I read Aaron Lee's update about his 20 New Investigators in TWO DAYS!?!??! And I really wanted to just catch a plane down to South America. I wonder if we could make Temple Square that amazing? Reading that definitely made me want to work harder! I'm pretty sure we can't get 20 NI's in two days...but if we work harder then we sure can get higher numbers! After all, the secret to missionary work IS work :)

FRIDAY: We had zone companionship study with President! It was the best thing ever! It was so positive and uplifting. He told us that we are pioneers in a great new work & that we are accomplishing a lot. When he explained that 5-9 PM are the most productive time for missionaries...and then showed us with his hands, how because of our use of technology it EXPANDS! I was smiling at Sister Brett, he saw & asked why we were smiling --- I responded, "It's 5 o'clock somewhere!!!" He liked that :) But it really is so true. We are here in the smallest mission (geographically) and yet we are reaching out to the world! He followed up our discussion with "It's primetime all the time!" It was a wonderful meeting.

We got a referral!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We met Joseph by the planters, taught & testified briefly of the restoration of the priesthood power and invited him to learn more about how it could bless his life. He agreed and filled out a card! He's from Kentucky and we're super excited to send through his information and call him next week!

Saturday: Friday night, it was pretty much the greatest thing ever. Sister Khadgi asked me to practice a role play with her in preparation for District Meeting! I got to HELP! I felt so included :) And get this, it gets better -- I shared an idea I had had earlier in the week for a board activity that we could all do AND SHE USED IT!!! It was a great activity and I felt very complimented that she actually used it. District Meeting this week was much improved from last week. I was so pleased. Everyone was able to participate, everything was clear and no one was confused! Just how it should be! Ta da! We committed FIVE people to go to church...from CHAT! Can you believe that?!?! These people were interested in what we talked about, but not enough to meet with missionaries -- so we found the nearest chapel and committed them to go! Missions. Are. Awesome.

Sunday: Church was fantastic. Sister Katterfeld(Australia) spoke -- which means that she goes home in March. NO!!!!!! We agreed that we should be best friends. It's going great so far! She talked about the promised blessings that we can grant people as we teach them and how they apply to our lives. It's so interesting to see how insightful us missionaries can be! It was uncommonly warm today! Like -- 35ish! I loved it! It was wet and humid and the sun was out and the birds were singing in the trees -- and I felt like I was back in North Carolina :) Great story: One of the people we committed to go to church was Dave from England. He's 19 and has been out of jail for SIX days! Yay! So he came on and chatted with us, wants to change his life and was super excited about going to church! I emailed all the people we committed - to follow up - and found out that he actually went AND loved it! Everyone was very welcoming and he wants to go back next week! I'm so happy :) We wanted to call and teach him on Monday but he said we'd have to check with his probation officer. So we emailed him for a few messages and found out more about Dave's history. The general agreement was that we should keep it strictly over email for a few weeks to establish a good pattern and then move on from there. Mom: Aren't you glad I can safely teach ex-cons from the comfort of a computer that is 7 hours behind theirs? Me too :) We called Dylan, Don and Sarah and had wonderfully productive conversations with them. Everyone is progressing well and the only complications we're running in to are the local missionaries. So once we can re-train them that they need to set up return appointments and they need to pray when they visit people and that they just need to stop being so busy that it's been 2 months and they still haven't gotten in touch with the person!?!?! President has advised us to pray for the missionaries in the other missions - so that our work can progress more quickly! I like it.

Monday: TRANSFER CONFERENCE!!!!
Things were different this time. Usually we have to wait through an hour of mission meeting in order to find out our assignments --- it's different now! We get our assignments at the START and then have mission meeting. The only thing that changed? NORTH 2 IS MY NEW ZONE! So basically nothing :) I don't even have to move! So I'm pretty stoked. Sister Khadgi and I have already started making amazingly obedient goals. It's so fun. I love being obedient. We agreed that we should have a weekly companionship bonding activity! We're also going to have a Quote of the Day! So we can be motivated THAT much more! I told Sister Khadgi that she'd better not even THINK about being trunky - cuz I won't even know what to do with myself - she reserved the last two days of the transfer to be trunky. I figured that would be alright ;) I'm so stoked for this transfer! Later in the morning, we took four people on a really great tour! We met them at construction and took them to the display, then out to the priesthood statues, next to the Tabernacle and then finished up at the Christus. We haven't taken a tour that way the whole transfer - it was awesome!!! We taught them about the temple, eternal families, how God is our Heavenly Father and how He still calls prophets in our day. We taught the restoration at the statues and how it's blessed our lives. We played the narration at the Christus, taught about The Book of Mormon - testified and then invited for them to learn more! (It was three brothers and one of their daughters) They said they would have think about it but as they walked towards the ramp, the daughter told her father, "I want that book!" to which he replied, "Well it's something to talk about..." Even though they didn't refer, I'm still glad that she said that! THAT is the enthusiasm we're looking for! Afterwards, Sister Khadgi said that while we were testifying of The Book of Mormon, she felt like it was just the two of us there. I felt the same way. In order to take that tour, we had pushed our lunch time up - so we then headed out North Gate towards home. Who should we see coming down the walk, but Brother & Sister LEE!!! I was so surprised to see them! They totally made my day! We walked around the Square with them for a little while, they've already seen everything and performed in every place you could...so it's like finding a present for the kid who already has everything! But what they don't have is the Temple Display!!! So we took them there! We had a wonderful conversation, which was a nice reminder that there is so much more to the temple than the basics we share with the guests. It's so important! We got a new investigator! Sally is Facebook friends with Maxwell from Brazil, who we met on the Square! We called her up and she would love to learn more! We called her back today, had a wonderful first lesson and we're calling her again in a few days! We're so excited! We have a progressing investigator! We're not too excited about this one actually, he's more contentious than anything -- but he's keeping his commitments and meeting with the missionaries on Wednesday. So...we'll see if we can just talk with him one or two more times -- and pass him off. From what we can tell, he's not all that sincere.
We caught up with Don, who is doing great. Can't wait for the Elders to get in touch with him! Eventually!!!! Dylan is doing much better! Staying busy, loving his classes and said, "I'm not saying 'no'." when I asked if he believes any of what we've been discussing. So for him - that's progress! And he's reading from The Book of Mormon. So it's helping. We went to Nauvoo Cafe for a sandwich for Sis Khadgi - but as we came out, to go home - it started down pouring! I thought I was back east! (The weather has been very weird lately!) We came back to motors completely soaked.
Chat has been better than usual! So it's gotten much more....relaxed. It's nice. We had a 14 year-old girl who wants to meet with missionaries! She was so sweet, and the chapel is right by her High School! I'm excited for her.

I’m absolutely loving Temple Square. The work here is amazing. We are struggling diligently to be semi-respectable pioneers on the technology side of things. The mission has changed so much since I’ve been here. Lots of new regulations that constantly change – but it keeps you on your toes! We’ve really been able to see that when we are obedient, willing to sacrifice and have faith – we see miracles!
Missions are the best. Be happy – life is great!

Love,
Sister Ainsley Marie