The Final Countdown

Hola Famillia y amigos!

So it’s a little weird that I just had a p-day on Wednesday, but the last 4 days have been awesome! We had a really cool lesson with a new investigator named Efrin and he really wants to change his life around and get out of some of the bad influences and habits in his life. We showed him the Mormon message "the savior wants to forgive" and the end he was like "whoa! I feel all tingly inside, but it’s a good thing, just weird. I’ve never felt this before." we were then able to happily testify that what he was experiencing was the spirit and how it was telling him that these things are true and that god loves him, and that through Christ he can change his life. It was seriously sooooooo powerful! And then we got him to pray for the first time and right after he said the same thing. "Whoa. praying feels good!" it was such a cool experience to see how someone was able to recognize the spirit for the first time in their lives and see the light and hope in his eyes as we promised him blessings through the atonement of Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary! :) Friday morning my wonderful companion made me breakfast. She’s the best! I love her so much :) Also I never thought I would say this, but Hermana Jensen and I discovered how refreshing 103 degree weather can be. so you see what happened was we had a lesson with Lucy and her air conditioning was broken and she was cooking a big pot of beans, so right when we walked into her house it was like a steamy oven and we spent the next 20 minutes feeling like we were going to pass out because of the heat, but when we finished the lesson and walked outside it was like walking into a nice air conditioned house with a beautiful breeze! And then we got in our car and it said it was 103! We could help but laugh because to us it was sooooooo refreshing! Only in Arizona ha-ha

We had another great lesson with our investigator Arnulfo. We usually meet him in the park to teach him, but it was a little later and so instead of sitting down at the picnic table we decided to walk around the lit pathway around the park. We taught him about the book of Mormon and had such a great conversation about it as we walked around the Arizona starry night sky. As we were talking he stopped for a moment and he looked at us both and he asked "how old are you two?" we told him and then he said "that amazes me. I’m 39 yet I can learn something from a 19, and 20 year old, and it’s something that is changing my life." it built our testimonies so strongly of how this really is the lords work. he sends out teenagers straight from high school to all ends of the earth, and people actually learn from us, they actually change, they actually hunger to know more of what these awkward dressed up young people have to say, they are curious as to why we are so happy, as to why we would leave our families for 1.5 to 2 years, why we walk and bike around in 110 weather to talk to random strangers. And then they realize it. It is ALL because of Jesus Christ, and the love he has for ALL of us. That is what motivates it all. LOVE. The pure love of Christ! That is something that can change the world. AND IT IS!!! We can all be a part of it! :) isn't that so awesome! I love it. I love being a missionary and I love being a part of the lord’s work. This past year and a half has gone by waaaaay faster than I ever thought it would. But I am so grateful for the great privilege I had to represent my savior and share my testimony with others. I have learned so much on my mission and I am going to miss it so much. But the work goes on! And there are still people waiting for the gospel in Cedar city too so I know that everything will be alright even when it comes time for me to leave Arizona. I know that this week might be a little rough seeing as it’s my last, but I also know that miracles are going to happen and they will be days that I will never forget. Time to work hard and sprint to the end of the finish line, there will be time to rest later!  I know God loves us and trust us and only wants the best for us! We just need to put our trust in him! Love ya all tooooons! Thanks for all you have done, and do for me. See ya'll next week! :)

Con MUUUUUUCHO amor,

Hermana Savage

Ps. Not sure if I will have time to write next week, but we will see! Have a great week!

 

Mario our investigator made me one of my favorite  dishes from Valenzuela !

we made cookies in our car :)

Arizona Flood

Hola!

So this week was suuuuuuper awesome! We had exchanges on Monday and it was so much fun! I was with sister Cheney and she is super cute she blog stalked me before the mission and she was sooo excited to be with me for the day ha-ha. We had so many miracles that day like everything that happened was a miracle! But my favorite one was probably in our last teaching appointment for the day with the Venezuelan family. I taught the restoration and the spirit was super strong and everything was going great then Maili brought up a concern about something that someone said to her last time she came to church that had offended her. Her mom (who’s a recent convert) and everyone else in the household started to get into a pretty heated conversation. Then they looked at sister Cheney since she had been quite the whole time and asked her what her opinion was. Obviously she had no idea what was going on because she doesn't know any Spanish. I quickly told her what the situation was and then translated for her as she responded. It was so cool to see how the spirit put into her moth exactly what needed to be said and she honestly had no idea what was going on! The tension just faded as soon as she opened her mouth. It was soooooo cool! The spirit for sure speaks louder than words. miracle :)

We got to teach the gospel principles class on Sunday because the teacher was sick. I was a little nervous at first because we really couldn't prepare for anything. But it actually turned out really well, and it was pretty fun to teach the class. Then we went by our investigator Roberto and found out that he was going to leave in the morning to go back to Mexico :( it was a hard goodbye but I’m glad we got to send him off with our testimonies and he is going to look for the missionaries down there and send me a post card :) I have met some of the most amazing people on my mission! I feel so blessed to be able to get to know new people every day and get to serve, love, and help bring them to Christ. We really are all brothers and sisters and it makes me happy that we can live with our "whole" family for eternity :)

 I’m sure you probably saw on the news about the rain we got Sunday night. Pretty much the streets turned in to rivers, the parking lots into bumper boats and the parks into lakes that our bishop’s family went out and kayaked on... ha-ha it was awesome! I LOVE the rain! We went running in the rain Monday morning and then we saw the park by our house was flooded and so we wanted to run through the park, but we started running in and had to quickly turn and run out because we are not allowed to go swimming and it was past our knees! It was CRAZY!!! So Monday we spend some of our day walking around seeing if we could help people out and do some service. It was pretty fun we didn't find too much to do because no one wanted to do anything because it was probably just going to rain again. But we met some really cool people and they were really grateful for our willingness to help out.

We also have some of the coolest investigators ever! Angelica and her daughter Laura (a recently returned missionary from Argentina) found them when she was working as a translator. We had our first lesson with them on Monday she is already in 2 Nephi 16 and they came to church! they are So solid! I can’t wait to still be a missionary when I’m home. We should always be looking for people who are ready to receive the gospel. The work never ends! Thank goodness for that :) 

We went to the temple this morning which is why we had our p-day today and it was wonderful! I love the temple so much it was probably the last time I will be in the mesa temple for a while.... but I do get to go through the Gilbert temple next Friday with all the departing missionaries. I’m really excited! It doesn't seem like I only have two more weeks left. The time has seriously flown by sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fast! but hopefully this last two weeks are the best yet and they don't go too fast because I absolutely love to be a missionary, it is for sure the hardest thing I have ever done, but it is for sure the best thing I have ever done and I can’t even imagine my life without this time that I have been able to serve the lord here in Arizona! I love it! And I love all of you and I hope you have the best week ever! Talk to ya soon!

con mucho amor,

Hermana Savage

Hermana Jensen

Gilbert Zone!

Gilbert Sisters!

Mis Hijas :)

Just you know swimming in the park....

Mucho Agua!!!

Poor car

Lunch at our Favorite Mexican Cafe

Labor Day

Dear everyone who I love to pieces,

So this week was pretty great! I was able to take Hermana Jensen through her first ever car wash on p-day and that was fun :) then on Tuesday we went over to a less actives house and she taught us how to make tortillas! It was super fun and it’s been nice to get to know her, she’s really starting to open up to us. And she’s starting to read the book of Mormon again! Wednesday we had the Mission conference and of course it was amazing!!! Elder Switser and his wife came down and they spoke. we talked a lot about the power of observation and listening. And really paying attention to the spirit to help discern the needs of our investigators and others. something I loved that Elder Switser talked about was the difference of teaching, committing, and challenging to teaching, committing, and carrying. And how important it is for us to not only challenge people to do things, but be there in every moment to help carry them. This is something that is true in all aspects of the church. We are here to minister to each other to carry each other and help strengthen each other. Actions speak louder than words, so instead of asking what you can do to help, just do it! Just serve! There is such a joy that comes as you serve another person. As you bring a smile to some ones face the one on your own grows larger :)

We went to the visitor center in Mesa with Kamille and her mom and it was so awesome! we watched the Joseph smith movie, and let me tell you sometimes as a missionary you can’t really enjoy those kinds of things in the moment, because the whole time you are sitting there watching  you just think to yourself "what do they think about this? Is it too boring? Is it too long? Was that to scary for the little one? what are they thinking!?!?" basically the whole time watching the movie you are super stressed trying to wonder what they are thinking as they watch the movie for the first time. Then you find out at the end that they completely LOVED it! And all that whole hour of stress is instantly forgotten as you then can testify of what they just saw as something that changed the world and the lives of everyone :) the spirit was so strong. And Kamille’s mom just kept thanking us for taking her. She kept saying "I had no idea that Joseph smith went through all of that!" it was great!

Thursday night I was kneeling down next to my bed praying before I went to bed and the lights were turned off. about half way through my prayer Hermana Jensen totally tripped over my legs and face planted on the floor, it was super funny and we both tried our best not to start laughing since I was praying, but we couldn't hold it in. it was super funny. Hermana Jensen is super fun. she is such a great missionary I love being her companion :)

KAMILLE GOT BAPTIZED!!! Saturday was such a great day! Kamille’s baptism was so beautiful and she had a lot of family there and some of her teachers from school that she invited, and lots of loving people to support her. President and sister Toone were even able to come! Hermana Jensen and I did a musical number and it turned out really pretty we sang in English and in Spanish. Kamille was just beaming the whole time! She was a little nervous but she had the biggest smile on her face the whole time and she was just sooooo happy! shes so cute! After the service I was talking to her mom and her grandma and her grandma was this cute little old Mexican lady and she was telling us that she wants to be baptized too. We are going to send the missionaries over to start talking to her. Miracle :) It was amazing to see how the lord put this family in our path and now they are no longer lost sheep. They have found their way back and now they have the goal to start preparing to go to the temple to be a forever family. That is one of the biggest miracles of a mission, to see families being completed as they come unto Christ. I know that this church is true I know that God loves us and has a plan for us and as we listen to him and follow him the happiest as well as the hardest times in life can be a blessing. He answers prayers. He loves us. And I love you too! Never forget that! I hope you all have a great week and that you find opportunities to serve each other and help others to feel Gods unconditional love! Talk to ya next week!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Savage

Ps. next week my p-day will be on WEDNESDAY because we are going to the temple. So don't be alarmed when you don't get an email from me on Monday, you get to practice the Christ-like attribute of patience and wait until Wednesday! Talk to ya soon :) 

Making Tortillas :)

Seeing some familiar faces at the mission conference

We still match even though we aren't companions!

Visitor center

Kamilles Baptism!

Yo y la Hermanita Jensen :)

August 25, 2014

So to start off I just love being a missionary! You're all probably sick of me saying that by now but it’s true, and you will just have to deal with it ha-ha. Every day something happens and I just sit back and think real quick... is this real life?! And it is and it’s the best! :) So I caught a lovely little pet on Monday... when I was going through my desk I was surprised to find a scorpion there waiting for me. But he didn't get me so no worries. We had a lot of really awesome lessons this week and we met a bunch of cool new people too. we had a lesson with the guys that we met last week working on their car (can’t remember if I told you about them) but they are super awesome! We had given them a Restoration pamphlet and told them to read it and we met them in the park on Wednesday for our first actual lesson and Arnulfo pretty much helped us teach Gerardo because he had read the whole thing and highlighted it and everything. It was a great lesson and Arnulfo even came to church yesterday!!! It was a miracle :) we also had a fun time teaching 11 kids that range from the age of 7 to 12.... All at the same time. It was crazy! So we showed up to our investigator Teresa’s house and the door open to pure chaos! Kids screaming and running all over the place. Playing video games and not paying any attention what so ever to their grandmother. Teresa was desperately trying to control the situation with little success. The first thing she said to us was "you were sent from heaven!" and she pleaded with us to help control her kids. it took a couple minutes, but in time we got all 11 kids sitting on the couch with the TV turned off, hands to themselves  ready to listen. We showed them a Mormon message video and talked to them about patience and love and being nice to their grandma. we made them each give Teresa a hug and she cried. It was nice to see how we were there right when she needed us, even though it was just something little for us to help them calm down it meant the world to Teresa and she kept calling us her little angels.

Kamile is doing amazing and she is so excited for her baptism this Saturday and the best part is this is just the first little step and next we are going to get this family to the temple to be sealed! they are a such an amazing family. First it started off with just kamile and her dad, and occasionally her older sister would be there. But this week out of nowhere her mom walked in and now she is in the picture and her other sister as well. We got the whole family now! They have been less active for a while now but they are ready to start coming back to church and Kamile is the one giving them the motivation and setting the example for all of them. She is amazing :) we are going to the visitor center with them this week and that will be super fun. This next week is going to be the best week yet and we are going to work so hard and  have soooooo many miracles so be ready for next week’s letter because it’s going to be pretty awesome!

my companion is pretty much amazing and it’s hard for me to remember sometimes that she’s only been in the field 2 weeks because she is on fire! She is so hard working and she is such a great teacher and her Spanish is awesome. I learn so much from her and we have a fun time together. we were driving home the other night and a guy pulled up next to us at the red light with his window rolled down, so I gave Hermana Jensen a mormon.org card and rolled down her window and told her to give it to him, she happily did right as the light turned green. So the guy looked a little confused but he will probably check it out just out of curiosity ha-ha. We are going to make a list of creative ways to hand out mormon.org cards this week. And we will let you know how that goes ha-ha. But know that I love you and I miss you and I can’t wait to see ya all! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Savage

Our new pet!

In the pitch dark trailer park spreading the word of God :)