Growing in the Gospel

Transfers have officially happened!! I am still in a Square Zone and my P-Day is still on Wednesday, but I am senior comp, phone coordinator, and a trainer!!! Her name is Sister Mathias from England.  This is her second transfer, so I am finishing up her training since her "mom" went home today! She is fun, wonderful and fun-loving so I think it will be a pretty good transfer.  We will work well together and work hard! :)

My new companion, Sister Mathias!! It started snowing and we only had our scarves to cover us!

               But wow, what a week it's been!  It was seriously an amazing last week of this transfer!  We have had two investigators come to the Square for us to teach them.  Fernando, who we met during Christmas time, met us on Monday afternoon.  We took him all around Temple Square and invited him to go to church next week!  He said he would!  I love how open he is to the Gospel.  He takes in what we say, but also has great questions! It has been such a blessing to teach him.  Then, Lisa* (who I think I have mentioned before) came to the Square yesterday since she goes to school up here and we were able to teach her about the Plan of Happiness that God has for us.  She has a date to be baptized at the beginning of next month!!  Ah, so many wonderful things!  However, because of transfers, Sister Palmer and I aren't companions anymore so we can't teach our investigators together.  I will continue teaching Lisa* and Sister Palmer will continue teaching Fernando.  We feel good about who will continue teaching who and I have prayed about it and know it's what's best.

At the station at 7:00am to ride the Trax to the Provo station!

               I was at BYU this week!!  The sisters of Temple Square had the opportunity to go see the Carl Bloch exhibit that is currently showing there!  At first, I was confused as to why we got to go when it was announced, but here's happened…  Turns out that the secretary to the Queen of Denmark (or Sweden?) and two other representatives from other European countries, the main people who gave BYU the paintings of Carl Bloch and other painters, had come to Temple Square and were given a tour by 2 sisters.  The BYU representative in charge was so grateful to those 2 sisters for their help that he wanted to make sure that we all went to the exhibit!  He figured out all the logistics of getting the sister missionaries to Provo and offered to feed us lunch!  The mission was split in half and my half went on Thursday morning.  I was seriously dreading going back to BYU and going "home" in a sense, but when we started walking around the campus, I was so excited!!  So many memories there!  It was funny too, because when it was time for lunch a group of sisters (including myself) got separated from the group heading to the stake center building for lunch.  But no worries, I came to the rescue with my Provo knowledge and led the group to lunch ;) haha, and all was well! But anyway, the paintings at the exhibit were BEAUTIFUL.  I think my favorite one was when Christ was suffering, but there was an angel holding him and comforting him.  Reminds me of us when we suffer and go through trials and how Christ suffered so much for us so we wouldn't have to suffer.  We have the wonderful and amazing power of the Atonement to utilize in our lives!  What a blessing! It was an amazing exhibit and I'm grateful we could go!

Waiting for the van to take us to BYU! Love these sisters!!

On top of the Tanner Building at BYU!!

One of the things about my mission that I absolutely love is teaching!!  Ah, it's the best! Sister Palmer and I have had so many teaching opportunities this transfer and I have been able to see so much growth in myself!   I taught my first and second transfer, but my third transfer we have had TONS of people to teach either on the Square for tours or on the phone!  We have a good number of progressing investigators and I just enjoy how I now fully trust in the Spirit and just let the Spirit guide.  It's really amazing to see the Spirit work in ourselves and how the words come effortlessly.  Everything just flows and meets the needs of the investigator!  I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father trusts His missionaries and I know that we each have to do our part to have the Spirit with us.  If we have the desire to be tools in God's hands, He will qualify us for the work!!

Something else I have learned a lot this transfer is that sacrifice brings blessings.  If we really want to see success and grow, we have to put in the extra effort.  Sister Palmer and I have made those small, but major decisions that have affected our work!  Like yesterday, we had Tabernacle assignment and chose to be there instead of having someone cover for us so we could finish the phones.  While there, a woman came up to me and we had an amazing Gospel discussion!  We talked about temples, how families can be together forever, the Book of Mormon, and more!  And when I asked if we could stay in touch so that I could continue to teach her, she was more than happy to do so!!  Then...the sisters after us were late, but we decided to stay until they arrived, and during that time we were able to meet a man who claimed he was atheist, but I could tell he had a desire to learn, besides just to know about other religions.  He asked me a few testy questions, but then opened up and shared more about himself and what he believed.  He, too, gave us his information to call him and teach him!  THEN, we were asked to take a tour and at this point it was about 1:30pm and our lunch hour was supposed to be at 1, but we decided to take the tour anyway!  It ended up being a guy who had Mormon friends growing up and was really interested in what we had to say.  He didn't refer, but I gave him my number if he had any other questions and, overall, it was a very good tour!  We ended up eating lunch at about 2:30- which is a sacrifice on my part....I am always hungry, haha- and I was feeling very light-headed, but we talked to so many people and were able to share our beliefs with others! Sacrifice brings BLESSINGS! :)

Well, this has been a wonderful week and a great transfer!! Can't wait to see what this next week brings!

Love you all!! Remember to enjoy the little things in life!

Sister Asay

Bonus!!  Over the holidays, we received lots of pictures from people saying they found Sister Asay!  Here are just a few.  We loved every one and are so grateful that people would take time to find her. 

Kezia!  She was in Sister Asay's EFY group.

The wonderful Peterson family!!

 

Carlie!!!!!