Hello hello!

Hello hello!

  So this week was pretty low key, but awesome like always. We had a fun zone activity on Monday. The district leaders set up a fun picture scavenger hunt that we did at the church, it was something different than the normal zone sports so it was fun to switch things up. Then we had exchanges on Thursday and Sister Morris came with me in our area for the day. She’s serving in one of the English wards. It was really fun and she even said a prayer in Spanish in one of our lessons, I taught her how to pray in Spanish, it was suuuuper cool! She was super excited about it. Ha-ha. And that night we had another super amazing lesson with Paco and Lala. I was a little nervous because I was kind of on my own without a Spanish speaking companion and they always have a lot of questions... but like always the lord was by my side and for some reason I could understand and answer all the questions they had. Paco was really excited about the book of Mormon and he said "I’ve only been reading the book of Mormon for 4 days and I understand it! I’ve had the bible my whole life and I still don't understand it." it was so cool and then he was asking about what he would have to do to get baptized. Golden investigator that’s for sure. They are awesome!

On Thursday Hermanas Haar and Rogers investigator Ana got baptized! (they are the other sisters in our ward) so we got to help out with that and it was such a great service, the spirit was so strong and it was just so amazing to see how much Ana had changed the past couple months to prepare her for this gran paso en her life. We also had a stake activity it was a dinner and pool party type thing at the aquatic center and we got to go to help with the dinner portion and it was fun to talk to all the people there.

Me and Hermana Hansen were going to have another camp out in our back yard. We even made roasted marshmallows on our stove, but once we got it all out there a big dust storm came... so we kind of had to just build a fort inside. But it was still super fun! I love how we can just do random stuff together, we have a fun time together and we are kind of sad that we are most likely going to be split up next transfer since we are both going home at the same time, but we will see! I love the people I have met on my mission! The companions I’ve been blessed with, the people I’ve had the privilege to teach, and the amazing members I’ve been able to serve with. People are amazing! I love them all so much and I love to be a missionary it’s great that being a missionary is something that is a lifelong calling! That’s super comforting to me, because this is the life! And there is nothing that makes me happier! Love you all tons! And I will talk to you soon! Have a great week :)

Love,

Hermana Savage 

So in Arizona this is how you define the word "Hot"...

our camp out. first attempt. fail everything blew down because the storm was coming, second attempt much better :)

We love to be missionaries! :)

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Ah man this week was super awesome! Although I maybe didn't start it off the best way possible... you see what happened was last Monday we wanted to go check the mail box around the corner and I didn't bother to put on my shoes because I thought I would be fine... on the way there I was completely fine, on the way back though the hot Arizona sidewalk started to get the better of me and Hermana Hansen had a good laugh at me as I skipped and jumped the rest of the way home to find out that I now had some lovely blisters on my feet that would cause me to waddle around in pain the rest of the night. But I pushed through and still worked hard, just learned a very important lesson. ALWAYS wear shoes when you walk on the sidewalk in 100 degree weather.

But anyways we had a lot of really awesome lessons this week! We have people to teach! Everyone was starting to come back because school starts this week. We had a great lesson with Roberto on Tuesday and josh a recently returned missionary who served in Guatemala came with us, it was cool to have him sit in on the lesson and add so much more insight and power to the things we taught. We sat outside in the warm Arizona night and felt the spirit touch Roberto's heart as we testified of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. we had another amazing lesson with Paco and Lala too. They are the BEST! I love them so much! We taught them about the book of Mormon and they just kept asking all these questions the whole time, but they were such good questions and we were able to explain the book of Mormon so much more powerfully because of that. They really are searching for truth and have that desire to know. It’s fun to be able to teach people who are truly prepared and searching for the gospel in their lives. 

We had interviews on Thursday with president Toone and I love him so much! We trained our zone with the Zone leaders and we set up a jeopardy game to review all of the things we have learned and focused on as a mission the past year. It was fun. We also had a meeting on Sunday at 6:30am with the stake missionary leaders. It was soooo early then we met with the stake president too he’s amazing and then Claudia and Fernando spoke in sacrament meeting and they did sooooo good! They were baptized like two months ago and they are like my favorite people ever. They were super nervous but they did great! But it was a good day we were just suuuuper tired by the end of it. And Hermana Hansen may or may not have fallen asleep in Sunday school... ha-ha. Missionary work sure does tire you out sometimes.

Wednesday night we had an amazing experience! We stopped by a woman named Yvonne who Hermana Hansen and Hermana Segura had met a couple of months ago. once upon a time Hermana Hansen and Segura went to have dinner with a member but they weren't home so as they were walking through the apartment complex back to their car there a woman outside feeding the birds and the stuck up a conversation with her, she asked what they were doing and they told her they had come to have dinner with someone but they weren't home, she then happily invited them into her home to have some chicken soup she had just made. A little lesson was given, and they sent the referral to the English elders in the mesa zone. turns on Yvonne gained a testimony of the restored gospel and was baptized a couple weeks later on her birthday :) when we stopped by she was sooooo excited and she just kept telling us how much her life has changed, and how many blessings she has had in her life. We were both in tears as we were listening to her tell us her story and she kept saying "and it all started with chicken soup!" it was super cute and it was such a tender moment. Those are the kind of people and stories you see on a mission that make it ALL worth it. The gospel truly does bless the lives of all those who accept and live it. I feel so blessed to be a part of this work and be able to see the change it can bring into people’s lives. I love the happiness it brings us! The church is true, I love all of you, and remember always do what Jesus would do! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Savage 

So here's the great Gilbert Zone!

And dinner with the Gonzalas family! we had cow cheek tacos... Yum!

We found a cool wall, we thought we would take a picture by it since this is why we have gotten so fat on our missions

We had to go through the fence to get to the trailer haha

us with Yvonne :)

Monsoon Season

Dear amazing people who I love SO much,

This week we had a fun district meeting, some priests from California joined in with us since they were here for a youth conference or something and it was really cool, it was elder Mabeys first district meeting and he was super nervous, but he did amazing! He’s going to be such an awesome district leader and it will be fun to see how much he will grow. I just kept thinking about my brothers the whole time though. Its fun to see the young men who are preparing to go on missions interact with the full time missionaries. They had a good time with the elders Dallin I can’t believe you are almost a missionary!!!!! I am soooooo excited for you! You are going to love every second of it! Even the hard days you will look back on and be so thankful for the things you learned from your trials :) That is one of the things I have come to love about being a missionary. You come to love trails and love the things that you can learn from them. I was reading in Ether yesterday and looking at some of the notes that I wrote in my book of Mormon and I love Ether 6:5-7 

5 And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.

6 And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.

7 And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight€ like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark€ of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.

I love how it says the lord caused the furious wind. Because he is the one that causes the furious wind in our lives. But there is a reason. Without the wind the jadeite barges would not have made it to the Promised Land. likewise without the furious wind of things that "push" us to our limits or the unexpected things in life that "toss" us here and there we would NEVER reach the point that Heavenly Father wants us to be at. Without trails in life there is no progress and we stay still ”floating" in life making little to no progress. We do no move forward because there is nothing pushing us forward. Many times in life we are going to be "buried" in the depths of the sea we are going to have waves and tempests. It’s not meant to be easy but if we are "tight like unto a dish" if we are firm in our faith and stand strong to what we know is right nothing can hurt us. When we are encompassed about by sin, pain, sorrow or the feeling of inadequacy we need to cry unto the Lord and he can bring us back on top. Isn’t that just amazing! I think in a way we want more trials in life as long as we have that unshakable foundation in Christ because then we can grow faster and become the kind of person that Heavenly Father wants us to be :)

I feel so blessed to have that knowledge because there are SO many out there who don’t and its soooo hard for them to go throughout life without that. We are blessed. Also with the knowledge that we have that death is not the end. The brother in our ward that we visited last week and had the amazing experience about the Atonement, his wife passed away this week and we were able to help out a lot with the funeral. It was a beautiful service and I think it really touched the family members who were there because most of them were catholic. I can’t even imagine what it would be like not knowing that I would be able to see those who I love again. I can’t even imagine it! And it was hard to see how hard it hurt for someone who didn’t have that. How grateful I am that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us and has a plan for us to grow and to learn and to one day return to live with him with our families. There is nothing better! :) I love this Gospel and I love the blessing that I have to be able to share it! I hope that you as members of the church will also experience the joys of sharing the gospel! Ever member a missionary ;) love you all tons have an awesome missionary experience filled week! Talk to ya soon!

Love,

Hermana Savage 

So its Monsoon season... we kinda love the rain :)

Week of miracles!

So this week was AMAZING! To start off we had the most amazing Zone meeting ever! Me and Hermana Hansen received some serious revelation and we were pretty excited to share it with our zone the meeting was so powerful and the spirit was so strong! Then we ended on the grounds of the Gilbert Temple as our grand finally! The zone leaders were to chicken to ask president Toone for permission so we did and he was more than happy to give us permission :) it was so powerful and even there we saw a miracle because our stake center is a mile away from the temple and it’s on the same road, but there has been construction on that road for t a couple of months, so we were going to have to go all the way around to get there, but we planned in travel time. In the morning before our meeting the road was still blocked off, but when our meeting was over, the road was clear! It was such a huge surprise and miracle and we were able to spend more time at the temple as a result! Amazing :) Miracle

We then had transfer meeting and the whole mission was there again or skyped in because we were able to see the power of our faith this past transfer. It was a transfer like the Arizona Tempe mission has never seen before! President Toones promise came to pass as each of the companionship's exercised faith for each other. And we saw sooooo many miracles as a mission we had 116 baptisms and 12 in other missions due to online proselyting. We were promised we would double our baptisms, and it happened as we acted in faith. We saw countless miracles in the individuals and missionaries here as well. This transfer is one that none of us will ever forget. "We can do anything if we exercise our faith and believe it is possible!" ~President Toone. The power of faith is SOOOO powerful! Countless Miracles!

I also had a sister come up to me at transfer meeting and introduce herself to me, because she felt like she already knew me because she read my whole blog before she came out, and I’m the reason she was so excited to come the Arizona Tempe mission :) it was super cool! So all you out there who are reading my blog as future ATM missionaries I can’t wait to meet you! And yes you should be very excited because the Arizona Tempe mission is the Greatest mission in the World!

So the coolest miracle ever happened Wednesday night! So once upon a time as in like last week we went by this family that was on the ward list named the escobars. Hermana Hansen has wanted to try by them for a while because they had a daughter with the same first name. So we went by and we knocked and we saw them inside and they saw us. We knocked again and they turned off the lights and pretended not to be home. But obviously they were and they were just avoiding us... That never happens in missionary work (just kidding it happens like every day ha-ha) so anyways we thought we would try by them again on Wednesday because we were in the area but we really weren't expecting much luck. We knocked not expecting it to open but to our surprise it did, and he let us in!!! He was telling us how it was weird because he had just gotten off the phone with his brother and he told him that he was going to send missionaries over. And then we showed up without even knowing anything about that conversation! WHAT?!?! It was crazy! We showed up at the PERFECT time because he wouldn't have let us in otherwise! Let the Holy Spirit guide! It gets better... So we were getting to know him and his youngest daughter and they are super cool we shared a message and the spirit was super strong, and then he was like "yeah we need to start coming back to church, we can't this Sunday but next Sunday for sure." Yay! It gets better... So then after we said the prayer he just randomly slipped in to our surprise "so my youngest daughter hasn't even been baptized yet... You can help with that right?" We happily responded "yes we can help with that" MIRACLE!!!

We had a super cool lesson with one of our less actives and he really opened up, and he told us a story that probably went on for about an hour and I understood almost everything even though it was in Spanish and I’m so happy that I did because by the end I was in tears, it was so amazing to see how the Atonement had had such a powerful effect in this man’s life. The miracle of the Atonement is one of the biggest miracles of all. And I feel so blessed to be here and to be able to see it work in the lives of so many people. Miracles every day through the Atonement.

fourth of July was pretty normal we didn’t do anything to crazy just had to be in our apartments by 5, so we wrote letters, listened to an amazing talk of a  conversion story of a catholic priest and played with our glow sticks :) we also had the first big Sand storm (haboob) of the season. I loooove monsoon season, the storms are super fun! Here it comes!!!

I also had a miracle yesterday when I found out that a guy I have been teaching through Facebook went to church! And he went by himself! He’s so awesome! Miracle :)

It’s just been like the best week ever, the lord blessed us soooo much! Man I love being a missionary :) even though I slammed my finger in the car door this morning and it is super painful to type this up, it’s worth it :) because being a missionary is a miracle! And I’m happy I get to share that! Well love you all toooons! Talk to ya soon! Have an awesome week!

Love,

 Hermana Savage :)

So I have a lot of pictures this week...

Happy 4th of July!

Dust storm rollin in

Gilbert Zone! :)

Gilbert Temple :)

our district leader Elder Keene is being transferred :(

The Zone leaders, Elders Anderle and Rackham

Elder Murphey! the best elder in the Arizona Tempe Mission!

reenacting our MTC district picture :)

Spanish easy button!