In Gilbert with Hermana Hansen

Hey hey! So I was right! I’m here in Gilbert now with Hermana Hansen and we are super excited to be together! We were in the same MTC district so it is super fun to see how much we have both grown in the past year. Gilbert is super sweet! It’s totally different from phoenix and it’s going to take some getting used to but I’m super pumped to serve here in the Ray 5th ward. The members here are amazing! Obispo Ferre is from Spain and I loooove his family! We had dinner with them last night and got to know them. So my whole mission I have always taken a while to break out of my shell and I’ve always been a little on the quiet side at first, but I decided that I would skip that step here in Gilbert, (it does help that I know a lot more Spanish now too) but I’ve been a lot more outgoing with the members, and it’s been super fun getting to know them. I might have been a little too talkative though seeing as bishop asked me if I would give a talk on Sunday.... it was my first one I had to do in complete Spanish on my mission. It was a little scary, but I’m actually starting to get use to talking in front of people now. I talked on the conference talk that Elder Rasband gave called "the Joyful burden of discipleship" I actually lasted the full 10 minutes too! I feel like I’m actually starting to begin to be able to express myself in Spanish now. yay! 

We had a funny encounter the other night as we tried to contact an old investigator, we knocked on the door and a lady answered the door, she didn’t speak very much English but she could communicate with us. She was from Africa and they had just moved into the house. All of a sudden her three kids came running around the corner and her son who was probably like 5 came up to us and he had crazy eyes like seriously they were opened all wide and one of his front teeth were missing and he said "what are yoooou doing here?!" then we explained that we were missionaries and the woman got all excited and ran to get here bible that was in a crazy language, and her kids were all over us. The little boy was pulling on my skirt trying to get us to come into the house and it was hard to try to not fall over, and then he started climbing up the side of Hermana Hansen using her purse, and he almost he almost ripped off my watch. Like he was a crazy ball of energy. It was insane but super funny and she said we could send the other missionaries over.

It’s been a good week, we don’t have any investigators right now, but we are going to find a lot this week :) it was hard to say good bye to everyone in phoenix, they are seriously like my family down there. We had a family home evening with the Juarez family Monday night and it was super fun. We did it at their house and it was the first one they did at their own home. The little girl was super cute she couldn’t say mine or Hermana Manwills names so she called us Hermana mango and Hermana sanwich (you have to say it in a Mexican accent, it actually does sound like our names haha) but the cutest part was when Juana brought out the treats and it was Tampico chips and ice cream. The exact same treat that we had with the family home evening that they came to a couple weeks ago. She must think that is what the treat always has to be :) they are going to start doing family home evening every week now! I love that family o much I can’t wait till they get baptized and I can go back and visit them. And I can’t wait to find people like that here in Gilbert! I have a feeling this is my last area so I’m gonna go out with a bang! I love being a missionary and I love that I get the opportunity to serve the amazing people of Arizona! I hope you all have a great week and enjoy the first of summer! Talk to ya soon! Love ya tons!

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Savage

Ps. I need someone to send me a letter so that I can get a library card... my new address is 

146 W Dublin St.

Gilbert, AZ 85233

We live in a super cool house with two sisters from the chandler zone! Love it!

The one and only HERMANA HANSEN!! :) super excited to be companions!

Just Saying Adios to some of my Phoenix familia

May 19th (Getting the boot)

Well I guess they finally had enough of me here in phoenix, we got the calls last night and I’m headed out! I was kinda expecting it though after we had stake conference Saturday night and president Toone told everyone that some missionaries have been here for a long time, and they wouldn’t be seeing them anymore. Seeing as me and elder Murphey are the ones who have been here the longest we felt like he was directing it to us. And we were right. We are both headed out after 9 months of serving in Cielito! It’s going to be suuuuper hard! It’s like leaving home all over again. I love the people here so much. Like I can even put into words how much I love them. Phoenix has changed me and will always hold a special place in my heart. But I am excited to get to experience a new area too, a little nervous too seeing as this is only my second transfer... yikes! But I know that I will be where I need to be and who I need to be with. The lords got it covered, so no need to worry I guess. Elder Zoolakis is leaving our district too, and Elder Allen is going to be district leader, he’s going to do awesome! I’m going to miss this district a lot. 

Hermana Manwill and I had a super awesome week! Things finally turned around in our area and we more than doubled our lessons from last week. It was just what we needed after having a little bit of a rough transfer. Nothing happens, and nothing happens, and then everything happens! :) We got a super legit member referral on Monday and she’s golden, and the Hermana is such a good fellowship and friend for her. She wanted to start talking to us in the first place because she always felt something different whenever she was around the member. You as members play such a key role in all of this! Like really you are the missionaries! We are just the teachers and guides... never overlook the influence that you have as a member to those around you. You have something that they don’t have! And they can notice that!  what a blessing you have that others can have the change to feel the Holy Ghost when they are around you because that is something that only we as members of the church carry! Think about that. Are you going to give others the opportunity to feel that? look out for people this week who you can serve and who you can talk to or who you can just be around to lift up :) we have such a blessing and we NEED to share it! 

We went on another exchange this week with the sisters down in Trailside and it was fun to be in that tiny little area again riding around on my bike in the suburbs. We actually ran into some old ladies sitting out in their yard who spoke Spanish! (It’s like an all English area so it was pretty exciting for me) I taught them a short little lesson and bore my testimony and they want the missionaries to come by! It was pretty cool. We met a lot of cool people that day. I think one of my favorite parts about being a missionary is just being able to meet so many people. It’s the best! I guess that’s the big reason why I’m excited to go to a new area, so many new people!! :) I have no idea where I’m going though. I’m thinking Gilbert, or Yuma, or maybe even mesa or Casa Grande or well yikes I guess I really have no idea, but we will see on Wednesday! Love ya all tons! Talk to ya pronto! Have a great week! 

Love, 

Hermana Savage 

They're givin me the boot!

Hermana Manwill is the BEST! I'm going to miss her so much!

'

The Elders had fun with our car this week...

May 12th

Hey hey!

So sorry that I didn’t have time to write a letter last week. It was a pretty super busy week but all is going great here in phoenix. Nothing to exciting happened this week other than getting a call from our district leader and comp Monday night and they were drunk... their investigator spiked their drinks. They had a fun Cinco de Mayo. They were fine though and president Toone had a pretty good laugh. 

On Tuesday we went on exchanges again and I stayed in our area with Hermana Bryant. It was a really good exchange and we had a really powerful lesson with our investigators Patricia and Roberto. The bishop came with us and we taught the first part of the plan of salvation and invited them to be baptized. The spirit was so strong and they are super solid. They really have a desire to know if this is what god wants them to do. I don’t think I have taught anyone with this much desire. So they are praying for the answer and so are we, hopefully they will get it soon, but we will see what heavenly fathers time table is for them. I can’t wait to see their progress!

Hermana Manwill and I got up Saturday morning and made breakfast for the sisters in our zone. It was super fun and nice to kind of take a step back and not worry about all the crazy things going on. We passed around a basket with random questions to get to know everyone better. it was super fun, we think we are going to make it a tradition and have a "sister breakfast" every transfer :)

Mother’s day was great! We got a text before church and they wanted us to sing a special musical number in sacrament meeting. It was a song neither of us had ever heard before, but we practiced a couple times before we had to get up and sing it. It turned out ok though ha-ha. Then we got to call our families!!!!! It was super nice to talk to you all. Sorry I was super tired... it’s crazy to think of snow in cedar when we have been walking around in 80-90 degree weather all week here ha-ha. But I hope you all have a great week and i will talk to ya soon! 

Love,

Hermana savage

May 5th

Sorry I'm lame and didn't have time to write a letter this week, but I love you all so much!  I will catch you up next week!
 PS. summer is already here. we have hit the 100's! :) yikes!

Hey Ya'll

Hey Ya'll, 

   This week was pretty fun. Just like all the other weeks down in phoenix. I hope I never leave. Like seriously I would be completely fine with staying here the rest of my mission. We got to go to the temple on Wednesday and like always it was amazing and wonderful! Hermana Manwill was super excited because it is the first time that she has gone in 10 months because she has been down in Yuma her whole mission and they are too far away to go. She loved it :) and I just can’t tell you how much I just love the peace that you are able to feel there, and how you can just feel so close to God and feel is presence. Every time they pray for the missionaries I just get this overwhelming feeling of the spirit throughout my whole body. I can’t even describe how it feels but I can’t help but smile every time. Thanks for your prayers for the missionaries! They mean a lot and we can for sure feel them :) 

We had MLC on Thursday and it definitely changed me. I received a lot of personal revelation, and it helped me to figure out a big problem of mine, and what I need to do to try and change it. I remember how excited I was back in December when president Toone gave the promise that each of us would be able to find a family to bring into the gospel. I remember how there was a light at the end of the tunnel and I thought to myself "all my hard work is actually going to pay off; I’m finally going to see a baptism!" I have never been so excited on my mission, and I put ALL the faith I had behind that promise. But then time went on, the transfer ended, and months began to pass... I still haven't seen the baptism yet, but I’m still working with the Juarez family and I know that someday they will make that step. But to be honest it's been quiet hard. I haven't baptized to many people on my mission, and I remember being so excited to finally have a baptism and it didn't come. I began to question myself, question my faith. But the words kept coming to me "doubt you doubts before you doubt your faith Jess" in MLC we began to talk about goals and faith filled goals. I remember asking myself “do I have the faith?” What’s causing that lack of faith? Find it and CHANGE IT! The Lord knows it's possible and he WANTS you to achieve it. Then I figured out my problem. I have the faith in heavenly father, in the promise, in the goal itself. But the thing that I am lacking is the faith in myself. And so I need to switch that thinking because it is holding me back. Why am I putting that limit on myself? Why am I putting that wall between the goals? I realized how essential it is to build that self confidence that I AM a representative of Jesus Christ. Do I think that he would not be able to do this? Obviously he can! So why can't I do that! Don't build barriers between yourself and the vision that God has for you. STOP Building WALLS and START Building STAIRS! The thing I realized is that God wants you to achieve goals in life just as much as he wants anybody else, you are not less in his eyes, and he wants you to be just as successful. Be positive! Do not cut yourself short, or exclude yourself from the blessings. Because God builds NO walls for you.

So I am NOT going to let this beat me. Sometimes it’s hard to have confidence in yourself. But in order for us to reach our vision we need to not only have faith but also confidence in our goals, and set them with our heart. I need to have confidence in my teaching, confidence in my personality, confidence in my calling, and in who I am, I need to have confidence in my relationships with members and how I can work with them I can help people progress towards baptism, I CAN do it!  There is no wall. God doesn't exclude some from the blessings, it is for everyone! :) But any way goals are a look at the potential that god has for you, so don’t build those walls! 

I know I am called here to represent Jesus Christ and there is no one else in the world that he trusts more than me to watch over this area at this time. The lord places you were HE needs you but he also places you where YOU need to be. As you allow him to let you stretch and grow no matter where you are in the church, and no matter what calling you are in, you will always see the lives you can touch and the lives he allows to touch you. I love you all so much and I know that God has such a high vision for each and every one of us. What a blessing that is! Figure it out! Map it out! Make the steps! And achieve your goals! Have a fabulous week! Love ya toooooooons!

                 Love, 

                    Hermana Savage 

so for MLC we thought we would do something a little special. Phoenix 4 Life!

I love to see the Temple! we went inside today :)

Most of Phoenix zone