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
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Jump!
Ni hao!
Happy Easter week everyone! What a wonderful time of the year, to once again focus our thoughts on the Savior. Time continues to fly by and every day is absolutely wonderful.
This week we decided to drop William. In the comments we put: “His faith in the power of prophecy is a little too strong.” We agreed that our time would be better spent with the 30 (no joke) other people that we need to take care of. It’s amazing what the Lord blesses you with when you have the faith! We literally don’t have time for how many people we’re attempting to teach. We had three hours of motor time & planned to call 16 people…yes we ran out of time. We’re doing our best & making the most of the time we’ve been given. This week definitely strengthened by testimony on the power of the 10 Minute Lesson. We don’t have time for any longer! I still can’t believe how absurdly busy we are – but I LOVE IT!!!
We had unplanned motor training at 8:00 am Monday morning, which was a great reminder of the importance of our work. They asked for a volunteer for their object lesson & before I knew it, my hand was in the air? Pretty sure it was the Holy Ghost lifting my hand for me because I am so glad I got to be a part of the lesson. Sis Crandell asked me to jump, so I jumped 1 in off the ground. “Jump higher!” 2 inches. She stood up on a chair, “Sister Despain – touch my hand” so I jumped & touched her hand. Two more times & she lifted her hand higher & higher each time. At one point I let the group know “I have white girl ups – don’t judge” but I still touched her hand, every time! The point was that without goals that make us push ourselves we’re not reaching our full potential. One thing that we have realized is that we as a mission don’t even KNOW what our true potential is! If we have the faith, we can accomplish ALL things.
One thing we re-learned this week was just how fast people can shut you out! We were half way through a very pleasant tour with an older couple from Minnesota, when the woman asked, “What do you do with the rest of your day, other than this?” We explained that we were missionaries & we are here to share the history & beliefs of the Pioneers – this IS what we do! After that point, ANY time we mentioned a speck of doctrine – they wouldn’t look at us, or they would comment on how big the planks were for the oxen cart :) Yes, America: Be proud of the amazingly honed ‘I will now proceed to ignore you’ skills that your people have cultivated.
A woman gave Sister Nelson 51 potentials on Thursday! AMAZING!!! We’ll have to give them away, we don’t have enough time to take care of them all. Sad.
We had quite the experience on Wednesday. Johnathon lives here in town & came to Temple Square, he wasn’t “really sure why” but we knew why :) LONG story short: He was living a horrible life style, “found Jesus” in 2008 and has been searching for the perfect church since then. The three of us had a wonderful conversation around the Square as we ended in the NVC basement. At one point we were sitting, discussing doctrine & I thought, “This is just like being in an investigator’s house! This is awesome!” Half way through our conversation he said he would “have to decline” our offer for missionaries – but then as we continued to address his concerns – in the end we told him that we had come to a point where “learning had stopped & now you need to ponder what we’ve told you”. So he referred for missionaries! It was one of my favorite experiences on my mission, so far. He will make a great Sunday School teacher, he was a very visual “explainer” – which lead to me do a little “step-by-step” [Faith, Repentance, Baptism etc.] demonstration for him. IT WAS AWESOME!!!
Elder Porter of the Seventy came to do a day of training with us. We started the training with a role play where the “investigator” only ever said “no”. In the end, we realized that if you can do the hard ones…you can do the easy ones :) Somehow I ended up sitting in the FRONT row, first seat on the left from the middle aisle aka DEAD CENTER. Wearing my hot pink suit coat nonetheless! Yes, I was asked to share some thoughts. “Teach when you find, find when you teach.” Sister Inoue(AP) asked me to share my thoughts. There are times that come up in the mission that you can tell the Spirit is helping you SO much, that was one of them :) I mentioned that as we ask those we teach to share with others the power of the atonement, they will willingly give us people to contact – because they have seen it work in their own life. The work we are doing is the Lord’s and He has prepared people for us!
Yesterday, I was talking with President Holmes and he mentioned how impressed he was with my comments in the training. So much so that he had even leaned over to Sister Holmes & mentioned it. I thanked him & made it clear that the Spirit has been guiding me A LOT lately. He has been a fantastic Mission President, I am grateful to be serving with him.
Everything is straight up going by TOO fast! It’s beyond ridiculous. This week I was able to see that as you do what you can & pray your hardest, the Lord will bless you with the words you need, the strength to continue & way too many investigators :)
LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!
Sister Ainsley Marie
Happy Easter week everyone! What a wonderful time of the year, to once again focus our thoughts on the Savior. Time continues to fly by and every day is absolutely wonderful.
This week we decided to drop William. In the comments we put: “His faith in the power of prophecy is a little too strong.” We agreed that our time would be better spent with the 30 (no joke) other people that we need to take care of. It’s amazing what the Lord blesses you with when you have the faith! We literally don’t have time for how many people we’re attempting to teach. We had three hours of motor time & planned to call 16 people…yes we ran out of time. We’re doing our best & making the most of the time we’ve been given. This week definitely strengthened by testimony on the power of the 10 Minute Lesson. We don’t have time for any longer! I still can’t believe how absurdly busy we are – but I LOVE IT!!!
We had unplanned motor training at 8:00 am Monday morning, which was a great reminder of the importance of our work. They asked for a volunteer for their object lesson & before I knew it, my hand was in the air? Pretty sure it was the Holy Ghost lifting my hand for me because I am so glad I got to be a part of the lesson. Sis Crandell asked me to jump, so I jumped 1 in off the ground. “Jump higher!” 2 inches. She stood up on a chair, “Sister Despain – touch my hand” so I jumped & touched her hand. Two more times & she lifted her hand higher & higher each time. At one point I let the group know “I have white girl ups – don’t judge” but I still touched her hand, every time! The point was that without goals that make us push ourselves we’re not reaching our full potential. One thing that we have realized is that we as a mission don’t even KNOW what our true potential is! If we have the faith, we can accomplish ALL things.
One thing we re-learned this week was just how fast people can shut you out! We were half way through a very pleasant tour with an older couple from Minnesota, when the woman asked, “What do you do with the rest of your day, other than this?” We explained that we were missionaries & we are here to share the history & beliefs of the Pioneers – this IS what we do! After that point, ANY time we mentioned a speck of doctrine – they wouldn’t look at us, or they would comment on how big the planks were for the oxen cart :) Yes, America: Be proud of the amazingly honed ‘I will now proceed to ignore you’ skills that your people have cultivated.
A woman gave Sister Nelson 51 potentials on Thursday! AMAZING!!! We’ll have to give them away, we don’t have enough time to take care of them all. Sad.
We had quite the experience on Wednesday. Johnathon lives here in town & came to Temple Square, he wasn’t “really sure why” but we knew why :) LONG story short: He was living a horrible life style, “found Jesus” in 2008 and has been searching for the perfect church since then. The three of us had a wonderful conversation around the Square as we ended in the NVC basement. At one point we were sitting, discussing doctrine & I thought, “This is just like being in an investigator’s house! This is awesome!” Half way through our conversation he said he would “have to decline” our offer for missionaries – but then as we continued to address his concerns – in the end we told him that we had come to a point where “learning had stopped & now you need to ponder what we’ve told you”. So he referred for missionaries! It was one of my favorite experiences on my mission, so far. He will make a great Sunday School teacher, he was a very visual “explainer” – which lead to me do a little “step-by-step” [Faith, Repentance, Baptism etc.] demonstration for him. IT WAS AWESOME!!!
Elder Porter of the Seventy came to do a day of training with us. We started the training with a role play where the “investigator” only ever said “no”. In the end, we realized that if you can do the hard ones…you can do the easy ones :) Somehow I ended up sitting in the FRONT row, first seat on the left from the middle aisle aka DEAD CENTER. Wearing my hot pink suit coat nonetheless! Yes, I was asked to share some thoughts. “Teach when you find, find when you teach.” Sister Inoue(AP) asked me to share my thoughts. There are times that come up in the mission that you can tell the Spirit is helping you SO much, that was one of them :) I mentioned that as we ask those we teach to share with others the power of the atonement, they will willingly give us people to contact – because they have seen it work in their own life. The work we are doing is the Lord’s and He has prepared people for us!
Yesterday, I was talking with President Holmes and he mentioned how impressed he was with my comments in the training. So much so that he had even leaned over to Sister Holmes & mentioned it. I thanked him & made it clear that the Spirit has been guiding me A LOT lately. He has been a fantastic Mission President, I am grateful to be serving with him.
Everything is straight up going by TOO fast! It’s beyond ridiculous. This week I was able to see that as you do what you can & pray your hardest, the Lord will bless you with the words you need, the strength to continue & way too many investigators :)
LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!
Sister Ainsley Marie
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Transfers, Truck Drivers and 101 Referrals!!
G’day!
We have had a wonderful & eventful week here in SLC! The weather can’t quite make up its mind, resulting in a blizzard coming out of a blue sky??? Welcome to the mission :)
On Sunday Sis N and I met up with Ralph, who is living in a shelter right now. He was, what you could say, “blaming the world/church” for his problems & ready to tear up temple work cards he had…which I’m still wondering what good he thought that would do. So we laid the smack down & told him what was up. Sis N tends to attract the homeless & entitled. So I’ve learned to be bolder in helping people come to terms with the fact that it’s all up to them!
We called Linda, our truck driver investigator & had an amazing lesson! She kept saying, “Well I’ll be darned! Is that right?” as we told her about the Apostasy & Restoration. She almost lost it when we told her about the modern-day Prophet and Apostles. It was the best ever! I think too often we forget how important the knowledge that we have is…wow that was an intense sentence. But it’s up to us to share this light we have with everyone! God has called a prophet in OUR day to lead & guide us! As Linda said, “Well I’d think if there WAS a prophet, everyone would want to listen to him!” So go on, share it with your friends!
We have a whiteboard in GS & we decided to set a goal of getting 100 RC(Referral Center) referrals while we’re in GS. WE GOT 101!!!!! MIRACLE!!!! Our goal for this next transfer is 150! Wish us luck!
TRANSFERS!!! Nothing’s different! Change is good, but not moving beats all. I’m personally hoping to stay in this apartment one more transfer because then I will have lived there for HALF of my mission ;) Ridiculous
Monday we called Brittany who lives in a shelter for battered women. She is 20 & asked to offer the prayer at the end of our discussion. She just wants her family to be happy & together. I think we take a lot for granted in life. Shanita is 15 and she is golden! The missionaries got in touch with her there in Tennessee & she loved church! She even brought her sister with her – see who YOU can invite!
We had lunch at BlueLemon on Tuesday – a member paid for us :) On the Square we talked to an “aged” lady who thinks her daughter had a baby at the age of 55….It took a while for us to realized that maybe she wasn’t “all there”.
Outbound sisters are back!!! Sister Williams from Scotland is one of my favorites and I love seeing her around again! She’s the sister that says “Miiiidget on a scooter!” All the first transfer sisters are foreign, it’s awesome! They’re all so different, France, Sweden, Zambia!, England etc. I’m in my 6TH transfer & I’m starting to feel old. It also puts a lot of pressure on to work, work, work! Which I love.
Not too many people are out on the Square at 9AM so we watched a talk by President Monson about forgiveness. The quote that stuck out to me was when he was talking about not getting caught on “the jagged reefs of lost opportunity” because you could have let it go. It’s so important to do a self-assessment on these things & really see how you’re doing at forgiving others. I think we can all do a little better.
Hilarious phone call: A very upset woman living in Hawaii called in, wanting a number for the missionaries there so she could tell them off. Here’s the story. She pulled into her driveway to find her 9 year old daughter talking to missionaries in the yard. [So far so good] Here’s the thing, the daughter didn’t have a shirt on. The mother continued on to tell me, “Those missionaries talking to my minor daughter is WRONG!” This whole time, I was still caught up at the part where her daughter didn’t have a shirt on. So I asked, why??? She didn’t know but she said “Wouldn’t it look strange to see that?” (YES – tell your daughter to get dressed in the morning!) No, I didn’t say that. I told her that the number she called was actually to request for a DVD and that I don’t have access to numbers in Hawaii. *Silence* “Okay….I’ll find ‘em myself.”
Please pray for the Elders in Hawaii. Both that they’ll be safe & a little more wary of possibly awkward looking situations :)
Yesterday we were taking a tour when all of a sudden I felt super nauseous. What are you supposed to do? You can’t just excuse yourself in the middle of a tour to go to the bathroom. So I had to pull a cowboy, tough it out & ‘rub some dirt in it’. In an insane amount of pain, all the while getting hot flashes & feeling like I was about to explode on the side of the street – we walked our guest over to the conference center. Sis N told her about prophets & I focused on breathing and thinking happy thoughts. We finished talking with her 5 minutes later and I finally got to the safety of the bathroom. We had dinner right then so we went home, I slept for 30 minutes & felt well enough to keep at it! Gotta love the mish :)
We called Howard, our other truck driver who lives on the West coast. We hadn’t ever taught him before, so we were calling for the first time only to find out that the missionaries had already visited him TWICE!!!! WAHOOO!!!!! I’m so proud of them!
Anyways, sorry for writing so much I’m failing at brevity & clarity. I should probably work on that. It’s been an amazing week full of miracles & little joys that come with being a missionary. I love putting my tag on everyday & knowing that I get to go out and save souls! For FREE!!!
Doon-say Payar-hay
I love you[Urdu]),
Sis Despain Jr
We have had a wonderful & eventful week here in SLC! The weather can’t quite make up its mind, resulting in a blizzard coming out of a blue sky??? Welcome to the mission :)
On Sunday Sis N and I met up with Ralph, who is living in a shelter right now. He was, what you could say, “blaming the world/church” for his problems & ready to tear up temple work cards he had…which I’m still wondering what good he thought that would do. So we laid the smack down & told him what was up. Sis N tends to attract the homeless & entitled. So I’ve learned to be bolder in helping people come to terms with the fact that it’s all up to them!
We called Linda, our truck driver investigator & had an amazing lesson! She kept saying, “Well I’ll be darned! Is that right?” as we told her about the Apostasy & Restoration. She almost lost it when we told her about the modern-day Prophet and Apostles. It was the best ever! I think too often we forget how important the knowledge that we have is…wow that was an intense sentence. But it’s up to us to share this light we have with everyone! God has called a prophet in OUR day to lead & guide us! As Linda said, “Well I’d think if there WAS a prophet, everyone would want to listen to him!” So go on, share it with your friends!
We have a whiteboard in GS & we decided to set a goal of getting 100 RC(Referral Center) referrals while we’re in GS. WE GOT 101!!!!! MIRACLE!!!! Our goal for this next transfer is 150! Wish us luck!
TRANSFERS!!! Nothing’s different! Change is good, but not moving beats all. I’m personally hoping to stay in this apartment one more transfer because then I will have lived there for HALF of my mission ;) Ridiculous
Monday we called Brittany who lives in a shelter for battered women. She is 20 & asked to offer the prayer at the end of our discussion. She just wants her family to be happy & together. I think we take a lot for granted in life. Shanita is 15 and she is golden! The missionaries got in touch with her there in Tennessee & she loved church! She even brought her sister with her – see who YOU can invite!
We had lunch at BlueLemon on Tuesday – a member paid for us :) On the Square we talked to an “aged” lady who thinks her daughter had a baby at the age of 55….It took a while for us to realized that maybe she wasn’t “all there”.
Outbound sisters are back!!! Sister Williams from Scotland is one of my favorites and I love seeing her around again! She’s the sister that says “Miiiidget on a scooter!” All the first transfer sisters are foreign, it’s awesome! They’re all so different, France, Sweden, Zambia!, England etc. I’m in my 6TH transfer & I’m starting to feel old. It also puts a lot of pressure on to work, work, work! Which I love.
Not too many people are out on the Square at 9AM so we watched a talk by President Monson about forgiveness. The quote that stuck out to me was when he was talking about not getting caught on “the jagged reefs of lost opportunity” because you could have let it go. It’s so important to do a self-assessment on these things & really see how you’re doing at forgiving others. I think we can all do a little better.
Hilarious phone call: A very upset woman living in Hawaii called in, wanting a number for the missionaries there so she could tell them off. Here’s the story. She pulled into her driveway to find her 9 year old daughter talking to missionaries in the yard. [So far so good] Here’s the thing, the daughter didn’t have a shirt on. The mother continued on to tell me, “Those missionaries talking to my minor daughter is WRONG!” This whole time, I was still caught up at the part where her daughter didn’t have a shirt on. So I asked, why??? She didn’t know but she said “Wouldn’t it look strange to see that?” (YES – tell your daughter to get dressed in the morning!) No, I didn’t say that. I told her that the number she called was actually to request for a DVD and that I don’t have access to numbers in Hawaii. *Silence* “Okay….I’ll find ‘em myself.”
Please pray for the Elders in Hawaii. Both that they’ll be safe & a little more wary of possibly awkward looking situations :)
Yesterday we were taking a tour when all of a sudden I felt super nauseous. What are you supposed to do? You can’t just excuse yourself in the middle of a tour to go to the bathroom. So I had to pull a cowboy, tough it out & ‘rub some dirt in it’. In an insane amount of pain, all the while getting hot flashes & feeling like I was about to explode on the side of the street – we walked our guest over to the conference center. Sis N told her about prophets & I focused on breathing and thinking happy thoughts. We finished talking with her 5 minutes later and I finally got to the safety of the bathroom. We had dinner right then so we went home, I slept for 30 minutes & felt well enough to keep at it! Gotta love the mish :)
We called Howard, our other truck driver who lives on the West coast. We hadn’t ever taught him before, so we were calling for the first time only to find out that the missionaries had already visited him TWICE!!!! WAHOOO!!!!! I’m so proud of them!
Anyways, sorry for writing so much I’m failing at brevity & clarity. I should probably work on that. It’s been an amazing week full of miracles & little joys that come with being a missionary. I love putting my tag on everyday & knowing that I get to go out and save souls! For FREE!!!
Doon-say Payar-hay
I love you[Urdu]),
Sis Despain Jr
Saturday, April 9, 2011
"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.
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.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Surprise --- I know Nepali!
Welcome to Temple Square! My name is Sister Despain & I’m from North Carolina :)
This has been a week of high intensity excitement & stressors. For whatever reason, they tend to come all at once! Missions are the best roller coasters of life. You want to put your hands up in the air, scream, laugh & throw up – all at the same time! Then we wake up & get back on the next day! WHOOOO!!!!!!
I know it’s Friday, I know my P-day is Saturday and I also know that today is April Fool’s Day. This report is not an April Fool’s Day joke. I strongly dislike this holiday. I think we should put April 1st to better use. Like, how about National Flower Day or Glad to Be Alive Day! Why does April 1st have to be special anyways? General Conference is celebration enough; we should make THAT the holiday!
Anyways…
As a privileged leader in GS, I get to know the entire schedule of Temple Square every single day! [Ya, a lot is going on, up in my noggin!] I noticed that Sunday night we had a tour scheduled with none other than ELDER WIDENHOUSE! I was sitting there, wishing it could have been me to schedule the tour just so I could hear how his mission was going when *bring bring* the phone rings! “Temple Square, Guest Services. This is Sister Despain – How can I help you?” “Hi Sister Despain, this is Elder Widenhouse! How are you?” We talked for 15 seconds & then I rescheduled his tour for him. I love those moments when you know that as missionaries, you’re helping out a friend. So cool! Speaking of friends, Laurel West & Kate came to see me! It was so weird…and awesome and FUN! They gave us two potentials :) From Inbound calls, I invited FIVE guests & TWO of them referred for missionaries! I love feeling productive!
We had 10 people schedule to call in ONE HOUR. No, we’re not trying to take on too much :) It’s just that we have extremely limited time to call, with our GS schedule so we try to call as many people as possible. We ended up with 3 New Investigators: Tori, Shanita & Conner. We committed everyone we called to watch General Conference. One of the best times of the year for commitments!
The small things in life have really become apparent throughout my mission. Another example from Tuesday: we ate lunch in the kitchen! With other missionaries! I KNOW! Not exciting – but it was for us because we always have to eat in GS & so we never get to sit with other Sisters and talk. We had a wonderful 30 min dinner full of laughter, food & uplifting conversations. For WP, we had 20 people to plan for! Isn’t that amazing! I am in no way trying to “boast of our own strength” but rather show that when we are obedient, the Lord truly does bless us! We have too many investigators for the time we have! Isn’t that THE BEST problem to have on a mission!!!
President Holmes told us about the discovery of metal plates [as in THE gold plates kind of plates, not dinner plates] in Jordan! Sister Elias is from the city where they think they were discovered, so he had her in GS to show her the article! HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!?! It’s the funniest thing, after an RC call I told Sister Nelson, “Dang it! I totally could have tied in Priesthood & eternal families! What was I thinking!??!?” It’s amazing the things that occur to you AFTER you’re done with a call :) Always looking for ways to improve. We ran into a Senior Missionary couple who brought two Nepali sisters to the Square. I said hello & introduced myself – they in turn, introduced themselves & we impressed the surrounding crowd that some chic from NC could communicate with two women from Nepal! Best believe!!! I miss Sister Khadgi. She taught me so much & I wish I had passed off in Nepali – I miss those people so much :)
Sister Nelson & I got proposed to Wednesday morning. Yup – you read it right – we were made an offer of marriage! More specifically, by our investigator in Uganda! Hahahaha he was so impressed by Sister Nelson’s prayer that he couldn’t contain himself & asked if we were married, if we’re writing someone back home, how old we are etc. We told him time and time again that as missionaries we focus 24-7 on teaching the gospel of Christ. He then proceeded to inform us that his mother lives in Chicago & perhaps she could buy us for him? Uhh….no. Some experiences – you never think you’ll have :)
All day yesterday (TH) we were on exchanges with our District Leader, Sister Hardy(AZ). She is a wonderful leader & we were able to learn a lot from our time with her. As we planned the night before she said, “I just wanna see why y’all are rockstars!” Again, I’m boasting in our insane amount of blessings this transfer – but turns out we’re leading our ZONE in numbers :) We were talking about it last night, Sister Nelson & I and I couldn’t help but feeling like Elder Rogers & Elder…Kirby Heyborne – I can’t remember his Elder name! Oh no! Anyways, like them – when they’re “leading the mission”. It’s the best feeling in the world to know that all the time you put into working 12 hour days really does pay off. That we are accomplishing something! That even with our few hours of motors time that we are able to pack 10 people in an hour & maximize our time. I LOVE IT!
We passed Elders Oaks, Ballard, Bednar & Perry on our way to pick up new referral cards :) So cool!
The days are literally FLYING by! This is the best work any of us could possibly be doing. There is nothing more rewarding than sharing your most precious knowledge with others. Everyone needs to have the opportunity to hear about this message & I wake up excited every day to have more time to share it with LITERALLY everyone I talk to! I absolutely love being a missionary! I almost don’t want to ever leave! Almost ;)
Love you all,
Sister Despain JR
This has been a week of high intensity excitement & stressors. For whatever reason, they tend to come all at once! Missions are the best roller coasters of life. You want to put your hands up in the air, scream, laugh & throw up – all at the same time! Then we wake up & get back on the next day! WHOOOO!!!!!!
I know it’s Friday, I know my P-day is Saturday and I also know that today is April Fool’s Day. This report is not an April Fool’s Day joke. I strongly dislike this holiday. I think we should put April 1st to better use. Like, how about National Flower Day or Glad to Be Alive Day! Why does April 1st have to be special anyways? General Conference is celebration enough; we should make THAT the holiday!
Anyways…
As a privileged leader in GS, I get to know the entire schedule of Temple Square every single day! [Ya, a lot is going on, up in my noggin!] I noticed that Sunday night we had a tour scheduled with none other than ELDER WIDENHOUSE! I was sitting there, wishing it could have been me to schedule the tour just so I could hear how his mission was going when *bring bring* the phone rings! “Temple Square, Guest Services. This is Sister Despain – How can I help you?” “Hi Sister Despain, this is Elder Widenhouse! How are you?” We talked for 15 seconds & then I rescheduled his tour for him. I love those moments when you know that as missionaries, you’re helping out a friend. So cool! Speaking of friends, Laurel West & Kate came to see me! It was so weird…and awesome and FUN! They gave us two potentials :) From Inbound calls, I invited FIVE guests & TWO of them referred for missionaries! I love feeling productive!
We had 10 people schedule to call in ONE HOUR. No, we’re not trying to take on too much :) It’s just that we have extremely limited time to call, with our GS schedule so we try to call as many people as possible. We ended up with 3 New Investigators: Tori, Shanita & Conner. We committed everyone we called to watch General Conference. One of the best times of the year for commitments!
The small things in life have really become apparent throughout my mission. Another example from Tuesday: we ate lunch in the kitchen! With other missionaries! I KNOW! Not exciting – but it was for us because we always have to eat in GS & so we never get to sit with other Sisters and talk. We had a wonderful 30 min dinner full of laughter, food & uplifting conversations. For WP, we had 20 people to plan for! Isn’t that amazing! I am in no way trying to “boast of our own strength” but rather show that when we are obedient, the Lord truly does bless us! We have too many investigators for the time we have! Isn’t that THE BEST problem to have on a mission!!!
President Holmes told us about the discovery of metal plates [as in THE gold plates kind of plates, not dinner plates] in Jordan! Sister Elias is from the city where they think they were discovered, so he had her in GS to show her the article! HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!?! It’s the funniest thing, after an RC call I told Sister Nelson, “Dang it! I totally could have tied in Priesthood & eternal families! What was I thinking!??!?” It’s amazing the things that occur to you AFTER you’re done with a call :) Always looking for ways to improve. We ran into a Senior Missionary couple who brought two Nepali sisters to the Square. I said hello & introduced myself – they in turn, introduced themselves & we impressed the surrounding crowd that some chic from NC could communicate with two women from Nepal! Best believe!!! I miss Sister Khadgi. She taught me so much & I wish I had passed off in Nepali – I miss those people so much :)
Sister Nelson & I got proposed to Wednesday morning. Yup – you read it right – we were made an offer of marriage! More specifically, by our investigator in Uganda! Hahahaha he was so impressed by Sister Nelson’s prayer that he couldn’t contain himself & asked if we were married, if we’re writing someone back home, how old we are etc. We told him time and time again that as missionaries we focus 24-7 on teaching the gospel of Christ. He then proceeded to inform us that his mother lives in Chicago & perhaps she could buy us for him? Uhh….no. Some experiences – you never think you’ll have :)
All day yesterday (TH) we were on exchanges with our District Leader, Sister Hardy(AZ). She is a wonderful leader & we were able to learn a lot from our time with her. As we planned the night before she said, “I just wanna see why y’all are rockstars!” Again, I’m boasting in our insane amount of blessings this transfer – but turns out we’re leading our ZONE in numbers :) We were talking about it last night, Sister Nelson & I and I couldn’t help but feeling like Elder Rogers & Elder…Kirby Heyborne – I can’t remember his Elder name! Oh no! Anyways, like them – when they’re “leading the mission”. It’s the best feeling in the world to know that all the time you put into working 12 hour days really does pay off. That we are accomplishing something! That even with our few hours of motors time that we are able to pack 10 people in an hour & maximize our time. I LOVE IT!
We passed Elders Oaks, Ballard, Bednar & Perry on our way to pick up new referral cards :) So cool!
The days are literally FLYING by! This is the best work any of us could possibly be doing. There is nothing more rewarding than sharing your most precious knowledge with others. Everyone needs to have the opportunity to hear about this message & I wake up excited every day to have more time to share it with LITERALLY everyone I talk to! I absolutely love being a missionary! I almost don’t want to ever leave! Almost ;)
Love you all,
Sister Despain JR
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