Namaste! Mironame Sister Despain hoh!

Namaste! This week was crazy fantastic! It’s amazing what you can accomplish in the work of the Lord. Through good experiences and the not-so-great experiences, my testimony has been strengthened every day. I love being a missionary and giving people that opportunity to learn more about true happiness, even if they’re sometimes possibly a little ignorant about what is truly important in life. One word: Priorities.

WED: We had finding first thing in the morning. Nothing too exciting or obnoxious. I was talking to a troll and we agreed that a troll conference was indeed requisite for some time in the future -- a revamping of strategery is in order. No worries.
Since our P-day got postponed, we did our emailing at 3:00 -- which was a little out of the normal so it kind of threw our day off. But it was great to hear about how stellar New Years was!!! I vote for a repeat in 2013. We had historical training with Sister Porter & Sister Doggett. It was amazing & just what I needed. We toured the Square all together and discussed the different things we share at each site and then reviewed our historical information to see what we could further incorporate. It was a wonderful way to rekindle the fire I have for sharing the history of Temple Square and tying it in with doctrine. I love it! Again with the postponed P-day. We went grocery shopping!

My personal study has really improved this transfer. You should just see my Preach My Gospel -- it's so pretty & colorful & full of notes and inspirations. It's fantastic! Maybe I'll take a picture... More than ever, I have come to learn (again) that the Lord knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what we can handle, what will stretch us & what will help us become the people He needs us to be. It's amazing what you can become when you are humble enough to allow yourself to improve.

THURS: For comp study we reviewed more information on the Tabernacle. I didn't know that Truman O. Angell was the architect for both the Temple AND the Tabernacle. I know. I need to review my information more often. I think I knew it once upon a time. I love how the Tabernacle construction was organized. Brigham Young had the idea & approved the plans. Henry Grow designed & built the roof. Truman O. Angell build the base and after that was finished, --------- was in charge of completing the inside! Ta da! And even with so many people being involved in the construction, with so many different minds & ways of doing things (and lack of tools) they were able to build a structure that would last more than 100 years!!! You know what's interesting, the roof was originally made of white pine shingles. Now, white pine is a very soft wood & they must have had some sort of finish or sealant on it in order to protect it from the elements. I'm very curious about this. Years later it was re-roofed with aluminum panels, but now I've got to figure this out about the white pine roof. Hmm....

While Sister Khadgi paged our district, I listened to the organist practice. We never get the chance to just sit and listen to the performances. So it was a really nice 5 minutes to be able to just focus on the music. I'm so glad that music plays such a huge role in our church -- in ALL of our meetings. There is something special that comes with being able to have that opportunity to worship through song. Especially for those who get to play the instruments. All you're doing is pushing some keys in a certain order --- but the end product is so beautiful and helps those who hear it - to focus on the Savior.

From 12-3 we were on desk in the SVC. We met a family from Korea & I was so excited to say "Anihasio!"....or however you spell "Hello!" in Korean ;) They loved it! I met TWO people from North Carolina! That doesn't happen too often. All I hear from people is "Oh - I hear it's beautiful there!" "Yes! It's gorgeous!" I miss the color of the trees and I miss not having to take a lotion bath everyday. But I love the mountains & the chilly air in the morning as we walk down to the Square. So it's okay, I guess. There is a time & a season for all things.

We have these swanky new mormon.org cards --- they're awesome! "We're so modern." We can write our number on the back & either our name or 'Missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' -- so the guests can call in for more information and it will come right to us!!! Some don't wish to accept eternal salvation right now, but who would refuse such an amazing card? And with the helpful communicatory information...don't even worry about it. Kudos to the genius Temple Square sisters who know how to work the system :)

I got a beautiful NC fall leaves postcard from MOM!!!!!! Yay for mothers and being the best! One of the things I miss most is just being able to sit on the kitchen floor and talk with Mom. She's my best pal, my friend -- my homeslice! And I miss you :)

Elder E. wrote me - I love having missionary friends! He's working hard to encourage his semi-apostate companion. The other elders that live with them don't help much -- word on the street is that they don't get up until 9am and don't get out the door until after their 3 o'clock lunch?!?!?!? I'm sorry....did you come on a mission to slack off and waste the Lord's time or to work work work??? It's sad that those things happen but it makes me appreciate those missionaries that are obedient. I belong to the most obedient mission in the world. I'm pretty sure. It's not because we're just that amazing (although...I wouldn't argue) but it's because all 200 of us have to be on the Square by 10:00 --- if you're not --- everyone knows. We see our District/Zone Leaders eleventy billion times a day so they know if they're sisters are on time and working. Since most of us live together, you know who's playing what music, who is exercising, who goes to bed on time -- everything! And I love it. I'd rather have it this way than have it so much easier to be disobedient. There are so many blessings that we receive as missionaries when we are obedient. As we're about the Lord's work, we need as many blessings as we can get! So obedience is key. There's a sign up on the Fleet board that says, "Obedience [oh - bee - deeuhns] noun : it's not just what time you wake up." Genius.

President has said several times that he would take attitude over skill any day. He's got a great point - attitude IS everything! As long as you have the mindset that you can do it, that you'll be successful, that you'll be able to accomplish everything you set out to do --- you'll have enough motivation to study hard enough, to practice and to do what it takes to develop that skill that will add to such an optimistic attitude. I think he's right.

Our Chat program crashed and the phones did too. So we were stuck with no technology for about an hour. It was crazy! But no worries - we've got people. They fixed it. I talked with a lady who said that if God intended her to be a part of "my religion" she would be able to do it on her own. This in response to my asking her if I could at least find the closest chapel for her. After she responded, I thought,"Well, you can do it on your own -- and I can just help you find the chapel. No big deal. Maybe God is putting me in your path so that you can find more information and work towards eternal salvation -- did you ever think of that?!" I hate it when people are actually sincere and they decide that they don't want to learn more. It's a little disheartening. Why do we have to be so stubborn? I told this lady, "Why not just check it out -- see if this is what you're looking for." In sort of a 'you have nothing to lose' attitude -- but she's firm in her opinion that she can figure it out herself. Sometimes we need help. Just saying, it might be in our best interest to be humble enough to accept it. I was on calls for a few hours and had an additional five people reject a chance at working towards eternal salvation. If they only knew what they were missing.

FRI: The Square is a little....unpopulated. But it's okay -- it's still a wonderful place to be. We ran into President doing companion study with two sisters(they were taking him on a tour) and he asked how we were doing. "Excellent!" "Oh yea?" "Every day is a beautiful day on Temple Square!" "Oh - I agree. It really is." I think it should be our mission catch phrase ;)

We covered Chat for other sisters for a few hours. We accepted at least four people from the start - that never said anything...? So we just disconnected. We had a lady who teaches 8th grade and wanted to have missionaries visit her class! That will be an awesome day to go to school. I'm excited for those little 12 & 13 year olds.
Speaking of 12 year olds --- we met a girl this morning sitting by the Temple Display who said she'd like to go on a mission eventually. We asked if she was preparing for it now & she clued us in on the fact that she's only 12 years old?!?!?! I had placed her at 18....so that was a really weird moment with that awkward silence & you're thinking, " *brain momentarily shuts down -- restarts* naaaaawwwwwhhhh....psh - you're not 12 - I KNOW 12 and you're not TWELVE..." but obviously you'd never say that. Obviously.

Sat: So I thought I'd be nice & make some food for district meeting. Muffins sounded great. I baked my wonderful apple cinnamon muffins. I proceeded to finish studying as the muffin smell filled the apartment. Five years later, I remembered that they were still in the oven. They didn't burn....but they were too "tan" to present for other people to eat. My roommates said they were delicious though :) Yay for reject food. At that point, I didn't know what to do -- I had nothing else to make!?! And it wouldn't have been a problem, but I had already told Sister Katterfeld that I was making muffins...so I had to bring SOMETHING and at this point I had nothing. So I went to my handy dandy cookbook! And tried to find some sort of muffin-thing. I ended up making poppy seed muffins...without poppyseed... :) I sat by the oven to ensure their proper cooking and was successful in my effort to come out with public-appropriate baked goods! I also made an orange flavored cream to put inside. Now, I hadn't tested any of this - because of its overload on sugar...so I brought it to DM without any idea as to its "goodness level". But I brought them! After a slightly awkward & yet very productive District Meeting about finding people - I whipped out the goods and covered my eyes. Figuratively. Turns out it was delicious! It was an exciting morning.

We got a call for a Nepali tour scheduled at 6:00!!!! Exciting! It was then that I realized...I hadn't learned ANY Nepali!??!?! What kind of a companion am I!??! Lame -- that's right! So I quickly learned how to say "Hi, my name is Sister Despain" --- "Namaste, mironame Sister Despain hoh." Cool, huh? So we waited anxiously by the desk for 20 minutes, decided that we'd better have Guest Services see if they were actually coming(Elders...pssh -- jk they're great -- just a tad late). They DID come! I introduced myself...it was amazingly nerve wracking - but fun! They looked confused after I spoke because they expected me to speak in English -- Sister Khadgi then said "She's learning Nepali!" (in Nepali) which I thought was hilarious. It was a really great go-see! They're meeting with the Elders and want to get baptized, but they want to wait for the rest of their family to get here and to have the discussions so they can all be baptized. We took them through the New Testament gallery & up to the Christus. Sister Khadgi told them about the statue & narration (it doesn't play in Nepali) and then we headed over to the Tabernacle. I did a wonderful job of standing next to my companion & double testifying via the spirit...my Nepali is still a little rough. We finished at the temple display! It was perfect for them, they loved it. We had a member with us, from their ward, and she said that he was the ideal member to have with them. After the man said they wanted to wait for their family, the member said, "Why wait!?! My family isn't here! I did it alone! Your mother and brother are already members! Just do it!" hahahahaha Kudos to member-present lessons. We finished out the wonderful day with a few fantastic hours of Chat. Yesssss! Nothing exciting enough to make note of.

Sun: Church this morning was fantastic. Sister Cheng spoke for her departing talk & she was hilarious. She said (very quickly) she remembered thinking about her departing talk, with her fingers fluttering on her cheeks, "Wha wou I tak abou - fai, baptism, skriturs, humirity - cuz I doing so weuw at it eben doe you maybe cawnt tew." Hahahahaha she was adorable. While entertaining - she had a really great point. She focused on embracing our mission - because time is short. To enjoy every moment, to teach everyone, to work every day to be the best missionary we can be. Because before we know it, it'll be over. Go home with no regrets.
Amen.

RC PUMP UP!!!! whoooo!!!!! Okay, to be totally honest - I was not psyched for RC (Referral Center) Pump Up - when our whole zone just does RC for 2 straight hours and tracks our invites. After being rejected so many times - it's not fun anymore. But that's okay - because we're not here because it's fun. It is...but we're here for Christ. Okay - moving on. It ended up being really great! We started with 30 minutes of "Miracles in the RC" which got us excited to talk with people and find more miracles! We as a zone invited 27 people (no one was picking up!?!??!) and TEN of those referred for missionaries! We were pretty stoked. It's a fun way to do RC because you know that everyone is in the same boat. Two hours is a good block of time too - not too long. I got TWO of those referrals! One is this 70 year old lady who lives alone and the other is this 50 year old Baptist preacher! I'm kind of scared to call him...I may or may not have just said that we would call him and talk with him more about how the gospel of Christ can bless our lives. Which is true! But I didn't specifically mention that we would be teaching him more about our basic beliefs. No worries. We had had appointments up until the Pump Up - so we didn't have lunch until 3:00! Once we were back on the Square we followed a family into the Assembly Hall - very inconspicuous and what not. They were adorable! Mother, Father & three girls. Heaven(6), Felicity(4) and Oracle(2). Diggin' the names -- they were the cutest things ever. Oracle sang "I Am A Child of God" for us in the Tabernacle - to prove the acoustics :) They are getting sealed on Tuesday! It was their first time to Temple Square and they said they could already feel the different spirit on the Square compared to the rest of downtown. They ended up referring two of their relatives and we are very excited to call them on their behalf.

Clean checks are tomorrow! Ahhhh!!! We cleaned for a while before bed, it's lovely but we still have some cleaning to do first thing in the morning.

Mon: We planned for two guests at the temple display. And we got them! We walked in, saw a man & a woman looking at the kiosk and decided they would just have to do! Not really - we decided it was perfect & we tried to come up with something better than "Hi, how are you? Where are you from?" But as we awkwardly walked around the area for three minutes trying to figure something out, we gave up, walked over and said, "Hi! How are you?" --- We do what we can. They were from England by the way. They only had twenty minutes!?!?!? So we took them to the Assembly Hall, explained Joseph Smith, the restoration, church and the idea of a prophet. We took them to the Tabernacle & further explained prophets, conference and The Book of Mormon - we invited them - they declined and we all wished each other a wonderful day.
That's kinda how it goes sometimes :) You have an awesome "role-play-perfect" go-see that you basically practiced before and then they think they don't want eternal joy. That's okay, maybe in the next life. What evs. Go Temple Square.
After that Sister Khadgi had to page numbers to the Zone Leaders, so we got to stay in the Tabernacle for a few more minutes. The organist (from Music & the Spoken Word...Clay Christiansen??? who is it....idk) was practicing! He played "O Shannendoah" which is one of my all time favorite songs. It was so beautiful!
We went home for lunch, talked, ate & did some final touches to our cleaning efforts. Cross your fingers for the "Celestial Apartment Award"!!!

The highlights of our THREE appointments today :)
Don: "We've got to stop meeting like this."
Dylan: "I just wish I had the answers!" [WE have them!!!!!]
Tiago: "I read and...I prayed! Yessss!!!!!! You weren't expecting that!"
Don is retired, living in Alabama where they got five inches of snow?!?!?! So we're calling until the Elders can get in touch with him & his wife. Dylan is twenty, going to FSU and is going through this existential "Do I exist, do I have free will, is God really there?" kind of a thing...and we're doing our best to help. Tiago is nineteen, living in Portugal. He takes care of his injured grandmother, lives with his alcoholic father, tries his best to help out his sweet, hardworking mother and ALSO has to watch his 1.5 year old godson! Whew! He is very sweet and has fantastic questions about the things we talk about and ask him to read! He is so funny and we love calling him. Dinner at the Garden to celebrate Sister Ang's Birthday!!! She is from Cambodia and has cleared for a transfer-long extension!
Yay for finishing another day with some Chat ;)

TUES: We got a Celestial Apartment Award!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are just that clean ;)

This morning we called Undra (the Baptist preacher) and I was so nervous. I had to have Sister Khadgi pray because I didn't think I'd be able to pray sensibly. He was super nice when I called on Sunday, but I felt like he may have misunderstood my purpose in calling again. So I dialed...and he picked up....and he was still super nice! Imagine that! We prayed at the beginning, got to know him a little better, taught him about The Book of Mormon - he accepted to have missionaries visit him & bring him his own copy - and then HE ended us with a prayer.
It was awesome!

Sister Cummings thought she smelled a gas leak in the computers this morning, so we called security & they came to check it out. As they left, one of them said in his super-secret-hidden-microphone, "This is #### we've got a slight smell of methane gas in the North computer rooms." But nothing after that - no direction - we got squat! So I'm thinking, "Is this slight smell...going to become a slightly more evident smell that could potentially kill us?...or are we good?" Apparently, we'll be fine.

We're going to take a tour of the Conference Center -- be the tourists for once. Then we'll hangout, do laundry and write letters until we're headed to Wal-mart at 5:00! We have a Zone Activity scheduled for tonight. Fun & games and something about it being a mustache party??? Who knows...I'll be sure to bring my camera.

Loving life, the mission & everything that comes with it – extra pickles, please.

Love you all!
Sister A. Despain