"Hola, me llamo Carlos -- ¿tienes un novio?"

Mabuhi! [No idea how to spell that…]

As everyone knows, this last weekend was CONFERENCE WEEKEND!!!!!!!! What a wonderful place to be serving a mission, it was an absolute delight to be surrounded by so many members. We really appreciate & look forward to the extra spirit that comes with Conference. Yes, we tend to see General Authorities around the Square but that doesn’t make a dent in being able to hear them speak. As missionaries we only attend one session, during the rest of the sessions – we’re working! I know, apostate. Sis Nelson & I attended the Saturday afternoon session. I have to say the talks that mention marriage are starting to irk me a teensy bit more because I don’t have the excuse of “I’m going on a mission!” I’ll be home in no time & therefore OUT of excuses! No idea what I’m gonna do with myself. But hey, all in good time.

From the insanely rambunctious crowd I was able to spot a few familiar faces: Nate Youd (in uniform), Kenzie Cannaday, Sam Womak, The Huber Family, Sam Day, The Wades & Jason, Karina Munoz, Marti and even Elder Widenhouse! Our goal for this conference was 6,000 potential investigators. Ya – that’s a lot. But guess what, as we work ridiculously hard, only eat when we’re about to pass out & pray like there’s no tomorrow, the Lord blesses us! We reached our goal & kept on going! 6455!!! We are so blessed to be able to have a two-day missionary marathon. There is no marathon to rival it. It’s the best in the world. What more could you want that to help members follow the Prophet & then to invite over 6,000 people to come closer to Christ. Nothing I can think of! So yes, Conference was fantastic!

Monday night we took a man, woman & 4 yr old girl through God’s Plan. In SPANISH! At the end, I bore my testimony & invited the woman to think of friends to share the gospel with and for the man to accept missionaries. The woman ended up giving us 9 of her friends to call & the man not only referred for missionaries but also put his mother’s name down for us to call! I am so grateful that the Lord is constantly blessing me with the ability to scrounge up enough Spanish to make sense! I can really feel of His love as I am able to work with these beautiful people (no offense, America) and I am happy everyday when I can use the skills I have been blessed with.

I’m just now realizing that it’s been quite the week! On Tuesday we only had the Square for 2 hours, first thing in the morning. The first ten people we talked to ALL spoke Spanish! I don’t even know what to say about it. I love love love being able to speak a second language! I never realized what it would be like to be limited in language – until I got here. People from Japan come & I can only say “Hello, how are you?” and that’s it! In regards to my surprise at being limited in languages, Sis Nelson said, “Welcome to my life.” I didn’t realize how significant it is that I can communicate in a second language. There are Sisters here who are ESL Sisters – English as a SIXTH Language :) There’s a goal to shoot for!

On Wednesday Sis Nelson & I had a bit of a “freak-out” moment. We got separated for all of 8 seconds as we were at different doors of the Tabernacle but that was enough for us to think, “AHHHHH!!!!!! Where’s my companion? I’m all alone! What am I supposed to do NOW? People! *Gasp* What must they think of me – a missionary all by myself! What would President say?!?!?!” Then we found each other :) No worries.

Sherri in Indiana was IRC’d on Thursday! She is amazing! She is so prepared – we can’t believe how wonderful she is. She’s already reading the Book of Mormon, is planning to go to church on Sunday and LOVED the talk from GC on women. I know! Like I said: amazing :) I hate passing people off, when they’re so wonderful but it’s part of our work – and that’s alright.

This week during Comp Study we’ve been working on bridging completely random things to the gospel. Thread, tape, ceiling decorations, salt & pepper shakers --- it’s hilarious and actually very helpful! This way, as we work to improve our random bridging skills, the easy bridges will come faster! We got in touch with John, who was referred by his brother Jason – who is also not a member. John lives alone, is crippled from a stroke & basically can’t read because it takes so long (because of the stroke). So we send him the link to LISTEN to the Book of Mormon! Wahoo for technology! We taught him about the Book of Mormon, prophets, God & prayer. We prayed with him at the end & then told him to let the locals know he wants to go to church! We can’t wait to call him back and hear how everything is going! I love teaching people!

Transfers are coming up on Monday! Everyone is curious to know what they’ll be doing these next six weeks. Some Sisters are so obsessed with it; they talk about it all the time, speculating on their future. As we were headed home last night, we passed a group of Sisters. One in particular is VERY transfer-obsessed & has been calling in to GS to ask Sis Nelson what she thinks is going to happen :) We approached the group & with a dead serious, would-this-face-lie kind of a face I said, “Hey Sister P. – you’re going Outbound.”
“What!??!?! Are you serious-how do you know?”
“We see things.”
“Oh my gosh! Sister Lautaha!(AP)Wait, Sister Nelson – is she serious?!?”
Hahahahaha and of course, I know nothing. We don’t find out until Monday morning, along with everyone else! Just because we’re Guest Services everyone thinks we know what’s going to happen at transfers. I love it.

I took a Spanish call this morning in Guest Services. I love Spanish! He was trying to get in touch with two Sisters who have been teaching him but doesn’t have a personal phone number. So after 10 minutes of trying to figure out how to get him in touch with them, he started asking about the church. I explained some basics, rather successfully! In the end, it was a great phone call. The title of my update comes from this call, yes – he asked if I have a boyfriend and when I get home. BAHAHAHAHA…priceless.

Oh the little joys we find in life :) But seriously, make sure you keep a look out for them! They’re everywhere! Whether it’s a duck hanging out in the Reflection Pool, the eleventy-billionth couple getting engaged at the Christus (get a life – be original) or a snowstorm in April….life is good :)

Being happy is in your hands. What are you doing about it?

Love you all,

Sister Despain Jr.