Changes!

Helloo!

So much has happened this past week!

First off, President Gillette received a phone call from the Mission President of the Salt Lake City East mission asking for a sister from Temple Square to serve in his mission for 4 weeks.  President Gillette prayed about it and chose Sister Carvalho!  We found out Wednesday at  4 pm and she left by Thursday morning at 8 am. We were both so shocked and after we found out we hugged each other and shed a few tears.  She is my "mom" in the mission and she was still in the middle of training me, but all things happen for a reason.  I am now in a trio companionship with Sister Walsh, who is almost done with her mission, and Sister Jones who is in her first transfer. They are both super nice! And my P-Day is now officially on Mondays for the next 4 weeks, so I'm sorry for not emailing on Friday!  I moved apartment buildings and zones, but I'm still in a zone that has a lot of Square time which I'm happy about :) 

 

My new companions! Sister Walsh is on the left and Sister Jones is in the middle.

Also, Elder Dallin H. Oaks came to Temple Square with his wife to talk to the sisters last Monday morning!!!!  Can you believe it?!?! Ahh!! They are both amazing and such a cute couple.   One thing he said really stood out to me... He said, "Pray with faith...and faith means trust. The Lord will answer our prayers for what is best for us".  Faith equals trust. I love it and it's so true.  They also opened up the meeting to questions and sisters could ask anything pertaining to the Gospel that they wanted.  It was so wonderful!  Also, at the end he shook every single sister's hand!!  When it was my turn, he shook my hand and said "Hello Sister Asay, nice to meet you".  It's funny because I have heard "Sister Asay" so often that it took me a second to realize that he actually said my name and said it right!  Haha, I mentioned that to him and he chuckled and said that he has had some good friends by the name of Asay over the years.  It was a wonderful meeting and I could feel the Spirit strengthen as he and his wife walked in!  They spoke to us together instead of one at a time and kept joking with each other throughout it.   They're such a sweet pair!

Halloween!! Did everyone have a fun Halloween? I know Temple Square sisters did! Haha. We closed the Square at 5pm (the senior couples took over the Square if anyone wanted a tour or had questions) and we were able to change into Pday clothes and get ready for the festivities! They had a potato bar for us for dinner and lots of candy...as well as toothbrushes and floss provided by President Seppi in the Mission Presidency ;) Then we watched The Chronicles of Narnia! I cannot believe how many parallels to the Gospel there were!! There were references to Jesus Christ, His sacrifice for us, repentance, the Atonement....ah! The entire time I was just in awe! So cool! C.S. Lewis was the man.   

 

It was literally Asian Invasion last week!  So fun! There was a NuSkin Conference so there were thousands of employees all over Temple Square for a week!  It was soo packed!  I think Sister Carvalho and I were in at least 20 pictures with people from Asia because they wanted to have pictures with "foreign" sisters. Haha. Proud to be an American. 

 

Sister Tiritilli and I just being happy, goonish missionaries....I love that girl!

 

 

The night before Sister Carvalho left she was teaching me how to pray in Portuguese...I was trying to say "I'm so grateful for all of our blessings", but instead of saying "bencaos" (blessings) I said "Eu sou grata por todas as bandidos".....meaning "I'm so grateful for all of the robbers"....Haha. We both just started cracking up!

Oh, and we got flu shots this week. I don't think I could of done it if it wasn't for the bowl of candy corn right by the guy who was giving me a shot.

Also, I got sick on Saturday for a whole day....such a bummer! I had small symptoms of the flu- funny since I just got a flu shot 3 days earlier. But anyway, I was back to normal on Sunday!

So, this week has had A LOT happen! Said goodbye to Sister Carvalho, switched to two new companions, moved apartments, got sick, and wow....such a crazy week! But there is a quote many have heard that says "Come what may and love it" and I can honestly say that God has been watching over me this week.  I miss Sis Carvalho so much since I didn't really have time to process the fact the she was leaving, but I think I am going to learn a lot from this new companionship. I'm so excited for the next 4 weeks! 

 

We ate Cafe Rio for lunch today! Soo happy!

 

Also, we gave our first tour together to a couple from Texas yesterday (they live right outside of Dallas!) and it was such an amazing tour! The Spirit was strong and we had great teaching balance. We have been doing so much missionary work these past few days with teaching on tours or chats, as well as our current investigators through the phone, and I love it!

I love being a missionary and working hard and growing so much in the Gospel! I also know that through obedience we are greatly blessed. The only way to strengthen our individual testimonies is to feed it with the word of God. We need to constantly be following the commandments, reading the scriptures, going to church each Sunday, and praying to our Heavenly Father. I know and promise that we will be happier for doing so. I know for sure that missionaries are blessed when we are exactly obedient. :)

I love you all! I can't believe it's November!

Sister Asay