Monday, October 31, 2011

Gilmores at the ON CAMPUS Starbucks

We had 25 OYMs ON CAMPUS!!!! Did I mention we were ON CAMPUS!?!??!?!

Tuesday we had a spiritual conversation with a college guy who had less-than-appropriate posters on his wall. *Change is in the air*

My first time in a Starbucks? On the mission. We had an appointment -- but I was about to convert everyone already there too :)

"The Birds" totally happened in Corvallis on Tuesday at approximately 2:15pm -- no worries there were just 3,000 black birds in a concentrated area.

I used my stalker skills this week to track down a girl we'd seen on the street.
She was obviously very sad, she had mascara runs down her cheeks :(
We tracted her trailer park...but couldn't find her.
Sad day...now MY mascara's running!

"Basically I think that if someone doesn't like Gilmore Girls - it's not worth my time to be friends with them!" ~Lani, member who fed us this week. New bestie :)

Watashino namai wa Sister Despain des
I'm learning Japanese now! I know, it's awesome.

Sunday is the most stressful day of the week. This one in particular. Life is hard when it feels like everyone's out to get you!

Today's a new day & this week is a new week :)


Lovin' the work!
Sister A. Despain

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The IFCS WWS at OSU

A few secrets from this week...

Sis Britton & I were the first speakers to a series of lecture night for the "Why We Serve" program, sponsored by the IFCS on OSU campus. As we set up and reviewed our presentation Claire gasped, "Wow! This is AMAZING! We've worked for so long and now it's actually happening! This is making me teary-eyed!" She loved it - later she mentioned that she wished the future presenters could have come. The actual presentation went great! I wouldn't have changed a thing, the audience was laughing and smiling -- even the super stubborn I'm-not-going-to-smile-no-matter-what lady showed us her teeth a little! It was a very successful night. Step 1 of Project MissionaryWorkIsAwesome: COMPLETE

Todd is doing ridiculously well! His hair is darker, he speaks very clearly and even uses some intense vocab words! He's keeping his apartment clean and is going strong! First week down -- a lifetime to go. His mother came home from her vacation to Scotland to find a healthy, happy, sober son and is very appreciative.

Genesis was taught the Restoration by the sisters before us - so I thought we had the Godhead all taken care of. Or not. Little hiccup for the week, our investigator on date believes in the Trinity! Ya...pretty much embarrassing. Prayer brings about miracles though, right?

Our recent convert from China, Bei Bei cooked us dinner this week. Tofu/mushroom soup, ginger tomato soup, celery & shrimp and rice! I was greatly reminded of Sis Ching from Malaysia back at TMSQ who would cook crazy Asian food for me :)

Studying has been a bit of a challenge (for whatever reason) because all four of us are in very close proximity. In a moment of revelation, I was inspired with the idea of two sets of bunk beds in the same room while the other bedroom converts to a study room! Ta da! Slowly but surely it's coming along. This week we found a bunked...for $20! The lower bunk is lacking in space a little - but we're concocting ways we can lift it...so no worries. Besides, Sis Britton put dibs on the lower bunk before we even found one. I let her keep her dibs :) Life of luxury up there on top bunk! Until we get another set we have the first set against the wall and then two twins right next to each other...sleepover much? It's awesome!!!

We've got some re-vamping ideas for our missionary work that include a map, color-coded pins and a ginormous white board. Be excited :)

This week I really learned that by reading your scriptures you can build a closer relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Go forward with faith. It'll all work out.

Have a great week!
Sister A. Despain

Monday, October 17, 2011

*Den An Li Loves Super Clean Floors*

What do you do when you're a missionary & neither you nor your companion feel like socializing but you have a Relief Society activity to go to? You suck it up & put your big-girl socializing pants on :) Believe it or not, even missionaries don't feel like talking ALL the time. We were glad we went - Kelsey came! She's a Freshman here at OSU who we're teaching. She knows it's true; she says she isn't getting an answer because she isn't sure if she'd do anything about it if she DID get an answer. She knows what's up. At the activity we made marshmallow mummies, witches wands (choc covered pretzels) and Mason Jar jack-o-lanterns...except mind is pink/green/yellow and doesn't have a face. Yeah...

We found Todd a detox facility for FREE!!! He went in Friday morning and got cleared to come back today! He left us his house key, so we cleaned up his apartment on Saturday. There's a reason mothers teach their children to clean often...definitely crystallized that lesson this week. Yesterday we cleaned his carpets so they would be fresh and no longer smell like beer! Always a good thing :) The floors are clean...the water was not.

We tracted in the apartment complex that we're moving into this week. It looks like a nice enough place, so we're excited. There's a playground! Both Sister Britton and I decided that before we move our things in, we're cleaning EVERYTHING. We're those "everything has a place" kind of people :) We ran into four very prepared neighbors! Mayhaps we shall see them again...

Our dinner appointment Thursday night went well enough - it was the placement of the litter box we had issues with. In the dining room? C'mon. All was right in the world...until Alfred came over & did his business right as I was diving into my Chicken Cordon Bleu. Not the best fragrance combination. Oh well.

Sister Britton and I are taking a Mandarin class on Thursday nights! Our recent convert, Bei Bei and her friend Linda are teaching us. My Mandarin name is Den An Li -- pretty sweet, huh? It means peace & beauty :) So now I'm practically fluent - look out world, here I come!

We had a baptism on Saturday!!! Teresa is now a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Everything went according to plan minus the fact that we went through every set of keys in a 50 mile radius before we got the right ones to the doors on the side of the font. Nick saved the day by bringing his Father's keys - 15 minutes before we were scheduled to start. I spoke on baptism & Sis Britton spoke on the Holy Ghost. Sis Pence, Sis Christensen & Elder Edwards performed a wonderful special musical number that kept the spirit during the intermission. I love being a part of baptisms, it still amazes me that something so eternally significant can happen in the blink of an eye.

Life is simple. Life is sweet. Life as a missionary is the best thing in the world.

Thought I was going to rhyme there, huh? Nope!

Love you all,
Sis A. Despain

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Liquid Sunshine!

I was so busy contacting people in the airport that I almost missed by flight :) No worries, I made it safe & sound. President and Sister Young are very generous. They picked me up and took me to President Lowry's house to have lunch with some of the missionaries serving in Eugene. This was a particularly strange experience because of the 20 of us there, only 5 of us were girls!!! I love Oregon, it reminds me a lot of home – very green.

Something that President Lowry told me has really stuck with me. “You know, some people call this rain. That's a misnomer – this is liquid sunshine!!!” It does rain quite a bit but Sister Britton has a second raincoat she's letting me borrow. She is a wonderful companion; she is very sweet, a powerful teacher & fun to be around. We bought matching fuzzy-warm turquoise blankets...to increase our unity :)

We are serving in the YSA Ward here in Corvallis, it's really fun to spend time around kids our own age. School policy doesn't allow us to proselyte on campus – so that's our goal for this transfer: get on campus! It's called “Project: MissionaryWorkIsAwesome”. Next week we will be the first speakers at a program called “Why I Serve”. This will get the word out to the students about why we do what we do – we're hoping this will open some doors!

I know that God knows me personally because I have seen how my mission areas are where I am supposed to be. We're teaching a wonderful young woman from Mexico. Her English is very good but we saw an amazing difference in her when I started teaching her in Spanish. She set her baptismal date for October 29th and I am super excited to guide her to that day. Another girl we're teaching has her date set for this Saturday the 15th. We're also teaching her friend who wants to wait a little longer & make sure she has a solid testimony. Can you blame her? She's solid – she just doesn't want to be rushed. And yes, there is a trend – S. Britton & I teach the 18-30 yr old girls in the area while our Zone Leaders (who also serve in the YSA ward) teach the boys.

There is a culture that follows most YSA Wards – including ours, it's so interesting! As a missionary, we have our own club of coolness & we have to watch out for each other. Some kids in the ward don't know where lines are with missionaries...we have much larger bubbles than most people :)

The Sisters back at TMSQ told me not to worry about Outbound, that I already know how to do everything – we just do it a little differently! And it's so true! Tracting is exactly like doing RC phone calls; the only difference is that you're in person. No big deal – love it!

We focused this week on a new approach at dinner appointments. Instead of talking about whatever during the meal & then having a separate “spiritual” time, we combined it! We focus the meal conversation on more spiritual things. Saturday night's appointment was the IDEAL evening. We told the girls why we chose to go on a mission, we comforted the Mother's concern about her less-active son and they even told us about a neighbor family they would love to have the missionaries teach. That's how it's supposed to go!!!

I absolutely love being here, it's a wonderful place to be. It's all true.

Lots of love,

Sister A. Despain

P.S. What's the opposite of a chicken?

>>> A cow...I'll explain later :)