I heart missionary work!

TEMPLE SQUARE IS AMAZING!!!

Not that I’m proud of my mission or anything, but I am absolutely amazed at what we have been able to accomplish – all 176 of us! Last week President Holmes pulled me into his office to show me something that he found “astounding” and “just had to share”. Take a minute & guess how many countries/states our mission is teaching. Figuring that we have 176 Sister Missionaries, we come from 55 different nations & speak 40 unique languages. Go on, guess! I actually was really surprised & VERY pleased. The Utah Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission is currently teaching investigators in 78 countries & 48 states!!! Can you believe it??? These past two transfers I have definitely gained a super strong testimony of the power we have as we exercise the faith to FIND prepared people to teach. I feel so privileged to be a part of such an amazing work :)

I had a bit of a personal triumph this week! As you most likely know, I’ve been working on being more proactive on the Square, it’s just weird because we spend so much time in GS, I basically forget how to contact people! We ran into President Holmes on the Square & “showed him around” as he pretended to be an investigator, it was really funny. We walked over to West Gate to talk with those Sisters when along comes a family of four who all look very happy but confused. They were technically West Gate turf – but I was outside & they weren’t…so I took them! I introduced myself, asked where they were from & wouldn’t they love to know more about the Square from lovely Sister missionaries? They saw the obvious delight of said situation & immediately agreed. In 2 seconds my trust companion, Sister Nelson was right by my side – ready at a moment’s notice! They didn’t refer for missionaries in the end but we have really come to realize that other things are much more important.

We contacted into a Spanish family one night :)They spoke English, don’t get too excited. The parents & daughter were hosting her friends from New Jersey, so they brought them to Temple Square. The father asked us to show the girls around – so we gladly did! In the end we invited them to learn more from missionaries back in NJ, they eagerly grabbed the cards to fill out. “Would you like them to bring you a copy of the Book of Mormon, too?” “YES!!!!” I was so excited to see their own enthusiasm at receiving their own copy of this sacred record. It’s something I’ve learned: When they want a copy – you’ve explained it correctly.

Quote of the week: “Did he just say, ‘Two fourths Irish’?” – “Yes, we call that half.”

So many great people to write about from this week & my hands can’t go fast enough! Ahhh!

Chris is our new investigator as of Thursday & we already love him. He is 19 & lives in Alabama. (I miss the Southern accent!!!) We taught him about the Great Apostasy & the Restoration and the next thing we knew, he was asking about his closest church & if he could go on Sunday! He followed it up with “How do I become a missionary?” Now, that’s not the first time I’ve had people ask that but they were usually insane. Chris is 100% smart and we were thrilled to tell him how he could become a missionary. He’s so getting baptized.

You know who else is getting baptized? Our investigator John! He lives in South Carolina & will be baptized next Saturday – we are SO excited!!! Hopefully we’ll get a picture!

One last story, my personal miracle for this week. We had Sandra on our list of people in Connect under Sister Nelson’s name, we couldn’t remember who she was – so we called! Surprise she only speaks Spanish! (It clicked that I had talked with her two weeks ago so she could order a DVD.) I’m not passed off in Spanish, so I didn’t offer to teach her. We couldn’t just hang up the phone on her though – so I launched into a lesson! I just taught her how we pray & that God is our loving Heavenly Father. As I offered our closing prayer, I felt prompted to especially bless her family. At this point, she started crying. I finished the prayer, waited as she collected herself a little & I asked how she felt? She thanked me for my prayer, she said that she could feel the Spirit very strongly & let me know that she was going through hard time with her family. She started to cry again as she told me that her husband was deported & she is left alone with her 2 year old son. I started to tear up as I realized what that meant for her & also what great blessings we receive as we listen to the Spirit. She bore her testimony to me that she knows that God is watching over her & that it will all work out. I told her about church & found the closest Spanish ward for her :) She said she would love to go & we set up for me to call her that afternoon. I feel so blessed to have been able to teach her. I started brushing up on my “Predicad Mi Evangelio” this morning. I can’t wait to call her again! I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK!

Obviously, this week has been amazing – as usual – full of excitement & miracles. It’s the best!

Love you all,

Sister Ainsley Marie