Mexico, Deep Thinkers and 2012

Mardhaba, kyfek? (Arabic: Hi, how are you?)

Grandma & Grandpa Despain brought me a referral! I am so excited to make this call.

These two beautiful women from Mexico came to Temple Square for vacation. We ran into them in the Tabernacle & ended up taking them around the Square! In the beginning another guest distracted me with a question & when I turned around the mother & daughter were smiling, “¿Hablas español?” My wonderful companion, Sister Nelson loves telling everyone that I speak Spanish :) I’m actually really grateful for her. She helps us see a lot of miracles, many of which have been in Spanish. I invited them at the Temple display – the mother kindly rejected the offer saying, “I’m not gonna change my religion – forget about it!” Amazingly enough, it was the kindest rejection I’ve ever gotten! We parted ways. Five minutes later, we see the daughter filling out a card with Sister Penafiel! We asked her about it later. Apparently she struck up a conversation, thought the lady was a member & invited her for potentials! Once it came out that she wasn’t a member, she invited for her own sake & was readily accepted. Sister Nelson was more upset than I was :)

We ran into a deep thinker this week. His name is Brendon & he’s from Pennsylvania. This experience was a great testimony builder that the Spirit really is what directs people to feel something. As we talked with him in the Tabernacle, we later referred to it as “we were having 3 different conversations & none of it made sense”. I’ll let your imagination take that one. I asked him, “Where do you find, or what brings you peace in life?” He thought about it & wasn’t exactly sure. It’s a favorite question as of late. He then turned it on us & asked. We replied with a brief explanation of the peace that comes with knowing of the plan that God has for all of His children. We continued our conversation at the Temple display & told him more about where we came from, why we’re here & where we’ll go after this life. He was amazed & I could really tell he wanted to know more. The Spirit was there, so I invited! He gladly accepted :) I love finding people that are so prepared and really searching for something.

The Lord has blessed us SO much these last two transfers! Because of our crazy GS schedule we only get study time once-ish a week. I know. How am I still alive?!? But we’d done our best & pray a lot and still manage to have miracles poured out upon us. The Lord loves each of us so much & wants the best for us. I know this.
Wednesday morning we took our second motorcoach as a companionship! We had 8 people from the Canary Islands, Germany, Vietnam & Singapore. FOUR of them referred! It’s such an amazing experience we have here at Temple Square to have such a variety of people to teach! I love it!

Brittany from Alabama went to church again this Sunday! She LOVED Relief Society & even felt prompted to share her story. She is in a very sad situation with an incredibly unsupportive family. She got a copy of the Book of Mormon and is already in love with it. The missionaries talked to her at church & said they would call her later in the week to set up a time to visit her. What about now??? We earnestly pray for the missionaries around the world that they will quickly get in touch with our precious investigators & effectively teach them. It’s SO important! Brittany accepted the commitment to be baptized :) She is so sweet & genuine – we love her so much!

Friday morning we had a revolutionary 7:30 Mission Meeting! We will now have one Sister carrying the Book of Mormon….and the other carrying the Bible!!! Did you just fall out of your seat? I would have, if I hadn’t been right there when the “trial” Sisters posed the idea to President. We are VERY excited. The Brethren have asked that we do this in an effort to more effectively present our beliefs. I bought a copy that afternoon & have had way too much fun going through & highlighting fantastically useful scriptures :)

Quote of the Week: “I believe the world is going to end in 2014. But the Bible says 2012.” “Where?” “…I don’t know – but people at church say that’s what it says!” No, Dianne has never read the Bible.
Time is going by WAY too fast! Loving EVERY minute :)

-- Love, Sister A. Despain