Oregon or bust!

Updates from this week:

Sunday night: FOUR baptisms!

Sister Rodriguez is the new Assistant!

I picked up Sister Nelson from the airport :)

I’m going to OREGON! What?!?!?!

Stocking? Or stalking? Stockings??? English is hard!

I moved out…to the living room floor…yeahh sleepover!

7, 041: Our goal for potentials at General Conference

Rollercoaster much? This week was crazy! Every week is completely different and presents new challenges, some you never thought you’d experience. For example, being under the impression that missionaries called to TMSQ don’t go on Outbound assignment after their 9^th transfer.

False.

Monday morning I’ll leave for Oregon! I’m really excited, just sad to leave; we have a very special mission at Temple Square.

The baptisms Sunday night were picture perfect; meaning that children were screaming, the one supposed to be baptizing never showed & there weren’t enough hymnals so...that was interesting! The important thing is that Sandra, Veronica and (two of her five children) Ruben & Sofia were successfully baptized! I love seeing people put their faith into action, it’s the best thing ever! Afterwards, I mingled with the branch, practicing my Spanish! I had my first ArrozConLeche – loved it!

We got the privilege of attending the Relief Society Broadcast last week! President Uchtdorf gave a very inspiring talk. What really hit me was his emphasis on God’s awareness of us as individuals. “Sisters, wherever you are, whatever the circumstances may be, you are not forgotten…In fact, He loves you, with an infinite love.”

I know that is true. God is aware of each of us & loves us more than we know. Keep smiling!

Next P-day I’ll be in Oregon! WEIRD!!!

Sister A. Despain

2 pages of German Agency

I’m 98.3% sure that Sister R. & I broke a record this week. We shortened the historical script for TMSQ from 10 pages (front/back) to 2 pages (front/back)! Amazing, right? Who knew we had all of that extra information clouding our spiritual sensitivity? It’s still waiting approval from the APs but with some minor changes – we’ll be up and running!

This week, as always – was fantastic! [Boring, huh? To have a life where every single week wonderful things happen to you…over & over & over again…I don’t know how I survive :)] Last Sunday, I successfully gave my talk in Sacrament Meeting. As I read the beginning of our call letter I started to cry, “I did this the first time too!” hahaha it was really funny. My topic was on how Satan uses distraction to keep us from focusing on the essential things in life. I challenged the Sisters to remove anything that distracts them from the work. We have such a short time as missionaries and we need to use it wisely!

The mission got flu shots this week – from Sister Hansen (who I was in the MTC with)! Yes, we already see each other every day but it was comforting to know that the person about to shoot me – actually likes me.

Our 23 year old investigator Jay, had surgery this week. When we called a few days after, he was out of it (as usual) so we shared a quick message about where we came from before this life & let him go. Not your normal conversation, huh? “We’ll just quickly teach you that you lived with God as His spirit child before you were born here on Earth but you don’t remember it – no one does, so you’re good.” Whew! It wasn’t quite like that :) But it’s amazing that this is what we teach! Not everyone knows this!

Tuesday night we covered the Beehive House which is a tricky place for missionary work. In my extreme sense of enthusiasm I told S.R. “I don’t waaaaanna go to the Beehive House…let’s get someone else to cover!” But in a super whiny 3 year old kind of way, so it was hilarious. We did go; no worries and we had a great time! We took a German tour – YES, in addition to Cambodian I’ve also managed to learn German! The interpreter just helped us out a bit :) A lot, actually. We would say one line & apparently in German it ends up being a 5 minute monologue! Works for us!

Yesterday we took around Hilary & John from California. After showing them God’s Plan we had a really good conversation about focusing our lives on Jesus Christ. Hilary wondered if all the extra doctrine distracts from Christ being the focus. I told her it can be – but everything is always tied back to Him. We only have what we do because of Jesus Christ. John said he was really interested and would probably read The Book of Mormon…but they didn’t want to refer for missionaries.

Agency is hard to deal with sometimes.

General Conference is in a week! Can you believe it?!? We’re getting geared up here at the Square for our weekend of insanity :)

JESUS IS THE CHRIST

Lots of Love.

Sister A. Despain

Our Golden Nigerian Italian Canadian

Guess what I ate this week? Sheep stomach!

My beloved companion celebrated Mexican Independence Day & made “Menudo”. It’s not bad, a basic soup with chunks of sheep stomach & beans. I prefer fajitas :) This is one thing I absolutely love about TMSQ, all the different cultures.

Samson currently lives in Canada but was raised in Italy. However, he is Nigerian. Whoa! Yes a tad complicated but he is 100% worth it. He loves Jesus Christ so much and wants to learn everything possible about him. We asked if he had a favorite story about Jesus Christ and he proceeded to take the next 5 minutes telling us about the significance of the Atonement. He’s *golden*.

Ruben is 19 years old & lives on his own in Las Vegas. He is very sweet and is sincerely interested in learning more about the gospel. I love it. I didn’t hear from him for a few days until he called & left me a message letting me know he’d been in the hospital for three days! I got in touch with him last night just for a few minutes, so he told me the story. He was walking home from a security job at 4 in the morning & got mugged. His arm got slashed down to the bone :( He was able to make it back to his apartment where his neighbors called 911 before he bled to death. He’s doing fine now, with his super cool bandage that only the surgeon can touch…so special. I don’t know why – but several of my investigators have ended up in the hospital?!? What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?

I went on exchanges with Sister Etienne for a few hours because her companion had a VIP tour of Chinese officials. In the NVC we met “Rum” & “Cola” who have the cutest relationship I’ve seen on the Square. They’ve been married for 40 years and they’re traveling America on his Harley – and still speaking, they pointed out :) He started telling us, “Once – we had a disagreement…” and we started talking about how ideal their relationship is. He told us the key, is to talk. Now that they’ve both retired they find new things to learn about every chance they get. I love this idea of life-long learning…it’s like intelligence is the glory of God…or something?

S.R. had a dentist appointment this week. Grid system a.k.a. YOU CAN’T GET LOST – but WE did! Thank you GoogleMaps for not understanding the genius behind the system. It’s all good, we figured it out & got her tooth all fixed up. On the way home, we stopped at Café Rio for our lunch break and that’s when I had another confirmation of how much I love SLC :)

S.R. & I have been asked to re-do the Historical Script for Temple Square! We’re both Journalism majors so it’s fun to work at editing together.

In short, we had a bomb.com week here at TMSQ where the leaves are a fallin’, the island Sisters are freezing & President Holmes lovingly forces us to eat Cookies n Cream protein bars ;)

Sister Despain Jr.

Back to Nepal

Bonjour!

This morning we crossed North Temple on our way to the Square, such a beautiful day before us & I couldn’t help but shout, “Good Morning, Salt Lake City!!!” Life is good, huh? The weather helps too :)

Last Pday we bought miracles workers – also known as Single-Serving-Size-Smoothie-Makers. Genius. I know. Sometimes we prefer not to make food a priority so this really helps! We’re able to grind up some fruit, yogurt, spinach & milk & BAM! You’re good to go! Best Idea Ever. Right behind “Free Haircuts”.

I love the Spirit that accompanies the responsibility of being a missionary. One way this blesses our ministry is by knowing what someone’s concern is – before they tell you much about themselves. We met a member this week in the NVC by the paintings of the New Testament. He was about 40 years old, alone & had one of those large-lens cameras. This is the most obvious sign of “I’m going through a rough time & I came here to find peace.” Classic. Within the first 2 minutes the Spirit told me he was going through a divorce and it was weighing heavy on his mind. All he had said was that he came through here often to take pictures, on his way up to his parent’s house. Enough said. Isn’t it amazing how the Spirit can tell you the truth of ALL things? It also helps us every day to bring hope to those who suffer.

Lupe & Robert were one of our sad experiences this week. We took them through God’s Plan for His Family & followed it up with a brief lesson on Apostasy/Restoration. Lupe was very kind but firm in her “fine"ness with just the Bible. My heart ached for her as she seemed very happy with her limited knowledge of her Savior. When you ponder on what we’re offering – from an outsider’s view – it’s amazing! These are the worst situations because you can tell that these people truly love Jesus Christ and you know they’re rejecting the offer to learn more about him. It’s just sad!

If there’s anything I’ve learned on my mission, it’s that we’ve got it good in North Carolina :) EVERYONE (from all over) loves it! A guest asked me if I like it here, a common question. In a moment of personal revelation, I said, “I like it here – but there’s nothing like the Carolinas.” Too true. Too true.

“Don’t slack. Work hard now & keep working hard when you go home.” – John, RM

Sister Farmer gave me someone to call, a potential from the MTC. His name is Subash & he is from NEPAL! For those of you who are coming late into this “story of my life” – my second companion was from Nepal & I developed a great love for the people. He referred to learn more from his local missionaries & for us to teach him via phone until they contact him!!! I am so thrilled to get to know him better & to teach him more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I love this work with all my heart! Best for the world.

Malai thaha cha yo church satya ho!

[I know this church is true –Nepali]

Sister A. Despain

Just Keep Swimming

I officially just spoke Armenian on Temple Square!

Sister Hart has taught me a few things & her Uncle was here today – so she had me talk to him! Cool, huh?

On Monday we had quite the adventure going to the Panadería off 500 S. Sister Nelson & I always wanted to go there because the signs are so confusing. Apparently they sell pies, pastries, pizza, burritos, tacos & much more! But we never had the guts to go. But now that I’m with Sister Rodriguez (and she’d been there before) I found the guts :) Guess what I also found – TONGUE! Yup! And I ate it too! It’s actually really good –the way they make it in the tacos. The horchata there is the best I’ve ever had! It’s the place!

The exchanges never end! This week I went with Sisters Holliday/Gulzar & then with Sisters Hong/Nakajima. Everyone is doing really well for how long they’ve been out. I think there is an overall theme in the mission for us to be too hard on ourselves…most of us have really high expectations. But better deep than shallow – right?

Wednesday was insanity. We took around a group of nurses from UVU – at Welfare Square. They were all very nice & participated as much as can be expected. This was only my second actual tour at Welfare Square…and it’s semi-VIP…no pressure :) It’s amazing to learn more about how the church puts the gospel of Jesus Christ into action. It wouldn’t work without Him.

The Spanish Language Meeting for the transfer was on Wednesday & it was a bit of a struggle for me. Afterwards, I told Sister Rodriguez all about why I felt frustrated & so for the rest of the day we spoke Spanish to each other! And now we’ll just randomly start speaking Spanish – I love it. Sometimes I feel more comfortable speaking in Spanish, just casually; it’s nice to have that option!

Last night I got a Spanish referral on the phone! I know – I’m STILL amazed! One thing I love about the Hispanic culture is how open they are. They are usually really friendly, even when they’re not interested. Well – hahaha – I just remembered the tour with had this week with two ladies from Spain :) They were very nice with us but they started fighting with each other! Talking about how doubting is natural or how the other thought it was stupid but it wasn’t her problem etc. It was hilarious & really awkward. So overall – they’re always really nice! We also took a Spanish tour at WS – which meant that I said about 3 things, mostly because I hardly know these things in English! So it was an interesting experience.

Last night we had a tour with Elders from the SLC Mission. They were great! Elder T & Elder F. Recently the APs of both missions had a meeting & trainings to emphasize our desire to really work together as missionaries when we teach. Last night was the perfect example! Everyone else spoke much better than me, so it was nothing short of super intimidating. My favorite part of the night was after Elder T bore his testimony – he looked right at me – missionary cue for “it’s your turn – go”…and no one else said anything – so I spoke! I told Sandra about the importance of personal revelation AND revelation through Priesthood leaders. We had shared with her the story of Joseph Smith & so I told her, “Like Elder F said – he wasn’t there – I wasn’t there…but God was. This is why HE is the one that we can ask about it – to know if it’s true.” She completely understood & said it all made sense & she committed to pray and ask God. She is committed to baptism on the 17^th and we’re going to do all we can to go!

Just keep swimming :)

Sister A. Despain