Week 3

I wish I had more time to tell you all the amazing things that happen every single day. There a miracles every day! But I’ll tell you some of the highlights...

We have 7 new investigators! It was a great week :) I can’t remember if I told you about our mystery caller last week or not, but we had a guy call us who told us he wanted to meet with us because he wanted to change. We were so excited to meet him and wondered how he got our number. When we found him we found out he was actually living in the backyard of someone because he was homeless so we went back and sat on some old coolers and taught the gospel in the dirt. It was soooo amazing! His name is Efrine and he really has a desire to change. He even told us that he went and got his hair cut so that he could look presentable to us. We invited him and his wife to be baptized and they accepted! :) It’s the best feeling ever! We got frostys again from Wendy’s. We get them when we have a good day, ha-ha. By the way things are going though we might get pretty fat from frostys... the work is hastening on! I love it so much and sister Segura and I make a good team. We are helping the lord to change lives!

Sunday was probably one of my favorite days so far. Before church we tried to get ahold of all our investigators to remind them about church, but none of them answered. We tried and tried again and when we had decided that we should probably just go sit down, we turned around to see Aurelia walking up and I honestly don’t think I have ever had a feeling like that before. I was instantly filled with happiness and I’ve never had a bigger smile on my face :) We had a lesson with her this week and it was amazing. She was telling us about how when she saw us she felt like she knew us and had a familiar feeling. So that is why she let us in to talk to her. And she loooves The Book of Mormon. She sat on the front row of every meeting it was awesome. In relief society we went over Jeffery R. Holland’s conference talk "Creo" the Sister who was teaching, asked me to read a paragraph which caught me off guard. I read it and I felt like I was in kindergarten again with all the sisters being so proud of me for doing a good job and helping me out on the words I stumbled on. Ha-ha it was awesome.

We went out on our bikes for the first time this week. It was pretty fun. Kind of interesting riding in a skirt and we got some goofy looks but we just smiled and waved. We went in the morning so that it wouldn’t be so hot. We broke 105 this week. woohoo! haha. Its great being here and I pick up a little more Spanish each day. I wish it would come faster but I know I just have to be patient. I wish I could tell you about all the investigators they are amazing but I better get going. So hope you are all having a fantastic week! Love ya!

                   Love,

                      Hermana Savage 

First day on our trusty old bikes! Yippie! :)

Elder Spaulding and his one year present from us! he is from Idaho. Happy uno ano elder "Spud"ing

Grandpa Gilliland I found Sesame Street!!

Tempe!

 Sister Segura and me in Guadalupe :)

Me in Guadalupe a little town in the middle of Tempe

Week 2 in the field

Hola!
  Well I’m glad to report another great week in the field! We had some really good experiences. Last Monday we met a woman named Aurelia and she said we could come back the next day to teach her. The lesson went really good and the spirit was so Strong! And I invited her to be baptized! Crazy right! I couldn't believe it and I was so excited that I messed up a little but she understood what I was saying and I bore my testimony in Spanish. She said she wanted to learn more but that she was open to it. It was pretty cool.
 
Tuesday was fun. We were so tired and we laughed at anything and everything. But I’m glad that we do that. We have a good time and laugh instead of cry which makes each day soooo much better. When we got back to our apartment that night, with blisters on our feet from walking all day, we waddled up to the our door and saw a praying mantis on the sidewalk. It was so still we wondered if it moved. I tried to touch it and it ran away so fast we weren't expecting it and we jumped and screamed and then fell over because we were laughing so hard.
 
We had some really good lessons this week with some of our investigators, especially Ignacia. I didn't understand much. Just a little here and there, but I was able to feel the spirit. I don’t need to know Spanish to do that luckily. It still makes me a little sad though that I miss out on so much. I know it will take time and I will eventually understand Spanish. It’s just hard. Some days harder than others, but it’s not too bad because I’m just so happy being a missionary. :)
 
On Saturday a little girl in our ward was baptized. We went to that and when we got there brother Gomez said that I was playing the piano and I was like "Que?!" luckily we found a simplified hymn book and I tried my best to read the notes. They were just happy to have a piano to sing along with so they didn’t really mind me messing up. My favorite part was when they confirmed the Holy Ghost. Brother Trejo (who I think is the Elders quorum president) did it. As he began, I heard Bishop Rogers whispering the words to say and I started to cry the spirit was so strong. It just made me think of how when I was in primary how the parents would always whisper into our ears what to say. It just makes me so happy to see how humble these people are and how like primary children they are so eager to grow and learn the gospel. They are always so happy. I love it!
 
Yesterday started out pretty rough but it ended in a little miracle. None of our investigators showed up to church and one of them called and canceled our lesson because they were too busy. There was a fireside that we were really looking forward to going to but we found out that we couldn’t go unless we had an investigator with us and no one could go. We were pretty disappointed and were a little down on ourselves as we tried to figure out what to do. We decided to just go walk around a neighborhood and do some OYMing (Open Your Mouth). As we turned down one of the last streets we saw a woman sitting out on her porch. We walked up to introduce ourselves and she said "Are you guys LDS?" we said we were and she went on to explain how she was baptized a few years ago but she hasn't gone to church in a long time. She said she was a single mom and things were starting to get pretty hard. She told us that she had been sitting out on her porch because she was trying to decide if she should go over to church because she knew that she could find the help she needed. She said that she had decided not to and then we came walking up the street. I know that god puts us in the right place at the right time. It was amazing. We talked with her and she hugged us both and thanked us for being her answer. We walked away and our minds were blown at what had just happened because we hear stories like that all the time about missionaries being in the right place at the right time and that was us! I know that heavenly father knows what He’s doing and everything happens for a reason. I love you all and can’t wait to tell you what other miracles happen this week. Miracles happen every day you just have to look for them! :)
                    Love,
                       Hermana Savage 

Chile and Arizona. The Best missions EVER! :)

Elder Brunson!

Elder Cox!

Elder Jones

District 35 Last day together

Sisters off to Arizona

The other day we met a guy, and a couple minutes later he ran up the street and gave us a bag of baked goodies. They were AMAZING!!!! :)

Me and sister Segura found cakes for our ward! Spanish wards are awesome!

First week in the field

Family and Friends,

 

   So I don't even know where to start it has been a pretty crazy week and a half but it has been sooooo amazing!  I got to the MTC and I was able to be reunited with my old district which was pretty much the best thing ever! It was such a blessing that I was able to got right back in with them, and I was soooo happy to see them all. I also saw Elder Cox, Jones, and Brunson!! love those Elders. They are all going to do amazing things.

 

   Tuesday morning when we all went to the travel office to leave at 5am, I got an unexpected surprise. They didn't have a plane ticket for me... so I had to say good bye to the sisters in my district and stay behind to figure everything out. Luckily the people who work at the MTC are amazing and they were able to get me on a later flight arriving  in Tempe about 4 o'clock. It was super scary to fly alone since I've never done that before, but it all worked out and I arrived safely to the mission home, right in time for the OYM (open your mouth) activity. They loaded us all in the vans and they took us to a trailer park. They handed us each a book of Mormon and told us to go talk to people. Hermana Stayley and I stood there speechless as they drove away, but we got to it and we actually talked to people. It was so much fun! We talked to two guys who were out on there porch  named Alejandro and Luis. Its crazy how fast the love of the people comes.

 

    The first area that I'm assigned to is actually Tempe, which I'm way excited about! I love it already. and guess what... we get a car! Yes! It's pretty bom. The transfer meeting was pretty crazy. We were all sitting there so excited and so nervous that it was hard to sit still, waiting to hear who our trainers were going to be. 

 

My Companion is Hermana Segura and she is amazing!!! She is definitely an answer to my many prayers. A little about her she is originally from Colombia so she is a native speaker which is awesome. But she has lived in Mesa Arizona for the past 13 years. Crazy Huh! She was pretty surprised when she got called to Tempe. She's a convert to church she was baptized when she was 13.  Something cool is that one of the missionaries that baptized her parents in Colombia was named Sister Savage!  She didn't even go to the MTC. She has  been out for only 6 weeks. Pretty much she is amazing and the lord has great things planned for her. We get along so well and it's kind of fun to both be "greenies" to the mission field.

 

     A little about this week. It's been awesome! We go out everyday and we do 21 OYM's which are basically street contacts. We usually go to the trailer parks Tempe Rancho and Chaparral to talk to people introduce ourselves our purpose and share a little message leave them with something or ask if there would  be a time that we could come back to share our message with them. We visit the members in our ward and visit our investigators. Its funny because I love it. I Love to talk to people! And that is what I was most scared about since I'm so quiet. I can't talk to them very much because I can't speak a lot of Spanish yet but I just love being around them and I love to meet new people. One of my favorites were these three ladies that we saw one evening. They were out smoking and drinking and we just started to talk to them. One of them asked us if we had any of those little books (our pamphlets) she said she read one once and that she really likes them because she gets a good feeling. We were sooo excited we gave them each a plan of salvation pamphlet and then said that we had another book that we wanted to share with her, one that was very special to us and that she can get the same happy peaceful feeling from reading it. She was soo excited! We gave her a Libro De Mormon and it was so cool to see how she cradled it in her arms and had a big smile on her face. We meet people like this every day and I love it! Being a missionary is awesome :)

 

   The members in our ward are amazing too. We share a Spanish ward with the two Spanish Elders in our area so all 4 of us go over to a members house to eat every night. It's lots of fun. Some days are harder than others. The food is OK, it's just they give us sooooo much that its hard to eat. And it's very important that we eat it all because some of these people are so humble that they would rather feed the missionaries than their own children. They are so loving. One of my favorite members is Sister Richardson. She is from Ecuador and she is so cute! She is so funny and full of energy and love. I cant wait till I can really talk with these people.

 

  One thing that really stuck with me all week that I wanted to share is something that Sister Segura told me the first day.  It was "never forget that heavenly father called you here because of who YOU are." That hit me really hard. Because I was worried about how I'm shy and maybe don't have the ideal missionary personality.  I forgot that Heavenly Father called me here for who I already am. I'm not expected to change, I'm only expected to grow. And I think that goes for any calling in the church. Remember that god loves you and knows you and he calls you for who you are. One thing I really liked  in preach my gospel is that our confidence and faith needs to be in Christ, not ourselves. That was really comforting because I don't have very much confidence in myself but I have sooo much confidence in my savior.

 

     I love you all so much and I can't wait to hear from you! Please write! I have a bunch of pictures but I don't have the cord to send them yet so I will hopefully get them next week. So be prepared for a bunch of pictures! Until Next week

 

                   Love,

                     Hermana Savage

Safe in Tempe

Jessica is now in Tempe. Thank you for your prayers. The doctor was surprised how fast her mouth healed and we know it was all the love and prayers offered in her behalf.
 We hear she has a great companion and already at work. I hope she gets adjusted to the heat fast, because it is  going to be in the 100's next week. We look forward to hearing from her on Sunday for mothers day and we will update the blog when she e-mails on Monday.
Her mailing address is: 

Sister Jessica Savage

2155 South 55^th Street #2067

Tempe, AZ 85282

 

Jessica at the mission home in Tempe

Onward Ever Onward!

 Hello again!

     Im glad to report that i am feeling sooooooooooo much better! Pretty much back to my old self :) and all the sores in my mouth are almost gone! yes! (fist pump to the air) I just want to thank everyone for their love and support. It made all the difference the past 2 weeks. I truly feel the reason I recovered so fast was from all of your prayers. so thanks again! Love you all a bunch!
   
  My stake president came over the other day to talk with me about my options of getting back onto my mission.  Are you ready for this?! I can go back on Saturday and join back up with my old district the last few days!!!! :) I was soooo excited that was an option! Or i could wait to go in, but that could be another 6 weeks, and thats a long time to wait. We talked about it and im really scared about just hoping back in and going straight out to the field being a few weeks behind, but i kept getting a good feeling that Saturday is when im suppose to go back. So i guess that is what i will do! I know it might be a little hard at first but i'll catch up and it will all work out. just like it says in 1 Nephi 3:7 " The lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he comandeth them." My call is to go to Tempe Arizona and preach the gospel in Spanish. i know the lord will look out for me and prepare a way for me to learn Spanish in the field and get to where i need to be. A couple months down the road i wont even be able to notice a difference anyway. everyone says you really learn the language in the field. well I love you all soooooooooo much and i cant wait to let you know what its like being out on a mission again! until next week!

                           Love,
                              Jess (soon to be Hermana Savage again) :)

Cant wait to see my amazing district again!!!! missed them so much!