"Like a Child"

Hello everyone!

We had two really fun experiences this week!! Last Thursday, a portion of the mission was able to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert!  Deborah Voight and John Rhys-Davis (from Lord of the Rings) were the main guests.  It was so good and it was super funny because one song was "We need a little Christmas, right this very minute" and I totally remembered singing that in Sunshine Generation growing up! It is a singing and dancing group that I was in from 2 to 12 yrs old.  I could just picture Brooke all focused as she danced the chorus!  It's funny the memories that pop back into the front of our minds.  The second cool experience was we got to go on an Organ Tour very early in the morning yesterday! We had the chance to go behind the organ in both the Tabernacle and the Conference Center. SO COOL. We took lots of pictures!! 

This is from the Christmas concert! I sat next to the sweetest lady who was also from Dallas and she took our picture to send it home to my mom! :)

A few funnies:

My District Leader from India lovesss ice cream from Coldstone and always says "Stonecold" instead of "Coldstone".  "Let's go get some Stonecold today!" She's the best.

So, Sister Palmer's jokes are never appreciated.  I can't tell if it's because we are surrounded by international sisters and no one gets her jokes or if they're just not good, but I personally always die laughing.  Like the other night, Sister Klemm (Germany) was super thirsty and once we got home she just started chugging water.  Sister Palmer was like "Yeah, you need that. You look like the poinsettia when I forget to water it"…. and no one laughed, so she came into our room and was like "Dang it! No one thinks my jokes are funny!" I told her to tell it to me, but she walked into the living room so she could repeat it to everyone.  Sister Klemm said nothing and Sister Lin (Taiwan) said "Wait, was that funny?"  Sister Palmer said, "Dang it!" And walked away. Hahah. She's such a good sport.

Oh ya know....just playing the organ in the Conference Center.  What?

This week has been pretty crazy!  So last P-Day, a group of 6 sisters went to a hair school called Paul Mitchell to get free scalp treatments.  It's where they put cream in your hair, massage your head, then wash and style your hair. The lady that I had was pretty cool.  We talked pretty easily and we were just asking each other questions about life and she saw my tag so we talked about what is was like to be a missionary.  Turned out that she is a member of the church but hadn't been in about 9 years.  I asked her a few questions about the church and learned her story.  I kept searching in my mind and heart for what I should share with her...."my testimony? Ask if she has read the Book of Mormon and, if not, invite her to read it?  What?"  I had no idea, but I felt that I needed to do something.  When she walked away for a minute to get some hair product, I just said a little prayer in my heart to have the guidance from Heavenly Father to know what to do.  It was then that I realized that I just needed to be her friend.  So, when she came back I continued to ask her questions, joke with her, and, I know it was only 45 minutes to an hour, but we really did become friends!  After she finished blow drying all of my hair (it took a while, haha), she told me how happy she was that I was her customer and that she wished me the best.  She walked me over to the front desk and asked the lady for a card and wrote her student number on the back so that I could request her as my hair lady again if I ever needed a haircut.  So, this experience was pretty simple and I honestly didn't do much, but I learned, once again, God knows what everyone needs.  I think what's important is that we are willing to share the Gospel and the guidance will come- whatever it may be.  I prayed to know what to do and the answer was to just be myself and be her friend, and sometimes that is all people are ready for.

Okay, best thing happened Monday night!!  Our District was assigned a member family to eat with for dinner! This never happens and we were all so pumped!  We were assigned the Holt's and they are seriously some of the nicest people!!  We all sat in their living room and got to know each other and then we ate dinner! We had roast sandwiches on rolls, potatoes, vegetables, jello, and desert!  I don't think I have eaten as much on my mission as I did that night!  They made so much food for us! Afterwards, we went back into their living room and they had a play we could read.  We each were given a different character and we sat in a big circle and read off our parts.  It was called "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and the main family was a bunch of hooligan children.  I got to be Gladys, the oldest who was apparently "the meanest of them all".  It was pretty fun to play her!  Once we finished the script, we shared what we love about Christmas and one sister sang a song about Jesus Christ in Russian.  It definitely brought the Spirit into the room and made me so grateful for Christ and his important role here on this earth. 

This is Sister Ferguson- she is in my district and she is one of my favorites! We got to be companions for about 15 minutes on the way to the Holt's home and back since only Sister Palmer and I can drive in our district and we needed to take 2 cars!

I just remembered this, but on the subject of Christ, the other night at the Christus there were 2 little boys that chose not to sit in the seats, but instead wanted to sit at the feet of the statue of Christ.  They were so reverent and it really touched my heart that these two little boys could feel the Spirit that was there.  It reminded me of the scriptures where it invites us to become as a child and to follow Christ.  Children are innocent, believing, and forgiving and it makes perfect sense that becoming "like a child" is what we need to do to follow in the footsteps of Christ.  Children have so much faith and they never doubt.  One thing I have learned being on this Temple Square Mission, where there are so many wonderful and open people, but just outside the Square there are people who are against the church and people will get online chat just to argue and tell us what we believe is false, and phone calls that are similar.  Faith is so important.  It must be nourished and strengthened.  We need to build our foundation on Christ and study the scriptures, pray to our Heavenly Father, and always attend church.  I have always believed that everyone in the church, whether born in it or not, is a convert.  We are invited to study the scriptures and to pray to God to know for ourselves if this church is true.  I have done this multiple times in my life and I always receive the same answer- that this is indeed the church that has the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I want to invite everyone to increase their faith this season by becoming like a child and following Christ!  Read, pray, and attend church.  So many blessings will come from it :)

I love you all so much! And Merry Christmas!!

Sister Asay

Principles to Help Us Be Truly Converted

This week has gone by SO fast!  With our late nights and talking to thousands of people, the time just flies by!  We are already halfway through this transfer....what??

I'll start out with some funny things from the week:

Sister Palmer and I were in our beds by 10pm one night because we were so tired, but we ended up just talking in the dark for the next 30 minutes.  Sister Palmer asked me a question, "If you could have any animal as a pet, and it wouldn't eat you, what animal would you want?"  I immediately said a tiger! Then, I changed by answer to a lion.  Wouldn't it be so cool to ride a lion around? Then I asked her what she would pick and her answer was a "baby cow".  I just started laughing because as she was thinking about her answer I was trying to imagine would she would say.... like maybe a bear, or an elephant...and she wants a calf. Hahah, whatever floats her boat.

This is actually from 2 weeks ago, but it's us walking home in the snow with our zone leader from Germany in the middle. :)

A few days ago, Sister Palmer and I were in the South Visitor's Center at one of the video stands explaining to a group of young women what the sealing room looks like and it's purpose.  It was in the middle of my testimony about the blessings of temple marriage when we heard a huge "bang!" and I looked over at the Temple Model and saw a group of college-aged guys and one of them had been looking so intently at the Temple Model that he didn't notice the glass in between and he totally smacked his head!  They were all laughing and I was cracking up.  Poor kid.  But I had to compose myself to continue teaching to the young women, if only there was a replay button.

The point of this picture is to show how bundled up we have to be when walking around! Whenever it snows, I sing "Snowflakes are falling on my head" la la la.  Also, notice Sister Palmer's one mitten. Ha :)

               Bob (the older man in a wheelchair who was in a car accident at 18) was hanging with Sister Palmer and I while we were at desk assignment in the North Visitor's Center.  We were talking about his life and we asked him who he lived with.  He responded that it's "three VERY interesting people.....and they drive me nuts!".  I laughed and said, "Really?" and then he smiled and said "It's me, myself, and I". 

On the subject of Bob, I have a really cool story about him.  He has been handicapped and hasn't had the full use of his muscles since his car accident.  He began telling us how it has been really hard being handicapped and that sometimes he just wished it would all be over.  However, he then started to describe how being handicapped is something that he is grateful for and that he knows is a stepping stone in his life to be something great.  He testified to us that this was his plan in this life and that he was meant to go through this trial.  He then looked over at the paintings of Jesus Christ that were behind us and said, "Christ said He would come down here for us. This was His mission. In heaven, He volunteered to do it.  And I think that's the same thing with me- God said that this life would be hard, but I think I volunteered to do it.  The knowledge I have from being handicapped can only help me after this life- in heaven."  Bob has a really hard time talking and having him tell us this and share that he knows His divine potential really touched my heart.  I was tearing up as he was talking and I looked over and Sister Palmer was crying, too.  Bob is the best example to me of enduring to the end and always having that faith in Jesus Christ.  He has never stopped believing, even when times were hard, and he has continued to persevere and trust in Heavenly Father.  Bob is such a sweet blessing to all of the sisters here at Temple Square!

On Tuesday, we had a mission tour which is when a leader of the church comes to teach the mission and help us be better missionaries.  Elder Clark from the Quorum of the Seventy and his wife came to speak to us.  It was pretty much an all day thing from 8:15am to 3:30pm, but it was SO wonderful!! I learned a lot and it totally inspired me to be an even better missionary!  A few things that were mentioned:  Obedience= Faith = Power (President Gillette), We need to forget about ourselves and realize that we can do hard things (Sister Clark),  "I fear no man, I have God with me on my right arm and on my left" (Sister Clark), and Elder Clark talked about so many great things! We talked about the difference between a testimony and being converted and he gave us 7 principles to help us missionaries as well as those we teach to be converted: 

1. Knowledge of the doctrine 

2. Faith/Acting

3. A testimony

4. Repent/Change

5. Baptism/Partaking of the Sacrament

6. Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost

7. Obedience

I really liked that he focused on the Sacrament, and that the Sacrament should be of top priority to us because by partaking the bread and water we have the opportunity to pray and to be forgiven of our sins, to renew our covenants or promises with God and to have that constant companionship of the Holy Ghost with us, and it is also a time we can receive solutions to problems.  Everyone, church is so important! We not only are able to go there and be edified in doctrine and learn from one another, but we also have the wonderful opportunity every single week to be forgiven of our sins, renew our covenants, and receive guidance from God!  How cool is that??  I'm definitely going to think about all of these things this Sunday when I partake of the sacrament. Church is the best!

I have one short, but great experience that happened last night.  I was super pumped because of the training we had just had earlier and we were literally talking to EVERYONE.  I mean, we always try to talk to everyone, but Elder Clark urged us to not let one person pass by us without having a conversation with them. It was so great!  During one encounter with someone, I saw an older man sitting on a couch and I had the prompting that we needed to go talk to him after the conversation we were currently in ended.  Once it did, we were walking in his direction, but Sister Palmer noticed the clock and said that we needed to get going to our next assignment, but I said, "I really want to talk to this man, we have a few minutes".  So we went over there and started up a conversation!  He's from Utah and hasn't been to Temple Square for a while, but he loves people watching and seeing all of the lights.  We talked about that for a bit, but then I was impressed to tell him that Heavenly Father loves Him so much and that I could feel the love that God has for him even though we hadn't been talking for very long.  He said, "I know you feel that because of the sweet Spirit you have".  I wasn't expecting a sweet comment in return, but I think that was his way of accepting what I told him.  We talked a minute longer and then said goodbye.  It was on our walk to our next assignment that Sister Palmer said, "You know, I think he really needed to hear that. I'm glad you were listening to the Spirit".  I know for a fact that we are all here on this earth to be tools in the hands of the Lord.  We all need to be open and ready for those promptings that will guide us to help someone else, even if it's just as simple as telling someone that God loves them. 

Something cool is that Sister Palmer and I are both learning from each other!  Sister Palmer wants to be more in-tune with the Spirit and she told me that she wants to learn from me how to be better at listening to promptings. I really want to know the scriptures better and understand all that I read, and guess what?  Sister Palmer knows the scriptures really well!! It's awesome being able to ask her questions and she has the answers!  I love that we both have these goals and that we have a great companion to help us with it!!  God truly wants us to become our best selves and help all of us learn and grow :)

I love you all! Remember Jesus Christ this Christmas season and think of something that you can do to come closer to Christ! Help a friend, a family member, a neighbor...just something you can do that will help you to come closer to Christ. :)

Love,

Sister Asay

Sister P got this from a friend in the mail and it totally represents how most of the international sisters feel about the snow! ;)

Thanksgiving!!

Hello, hello!

This week has been AMAZING!

First off, Thanksgiving! :) The whole mission took about 8 cars and one big bus and drove to a way cool venue in SLC that had 3 floors full of fun!!  We started off as a mission talking about Thanksgiving and then we were free to do as we please!  I played volleyball (well, walleyball) in one of the court rooms and Elder Frost (one of the senior couples) and President Seppi (in the mission presidency) played too!! They are both in their 70s and it was SO fun playing with them.  It was hilarious how competitive they got and one time Pres. Seppi spiked the ball so hard that it bounced off one wall to another and then hit Elder Frost in the face!  He was so surprised that he lost his balance and fell.  He was cracking up and so were we!! Hahaha. Oh man....I love those two. They are my mission fathers/ grandpas :)

My new companion, Sister Palmer! She is wonderful!

We ate a large, delicious meal and then Sister Christensen and I taught some line dances to all of the sisters!  I did a few of the EFY ones as well as others and it was a total blast!  President Seppi told me after that he had seen a whole other side of me that night and that I "had rhythm".   Next, we went up and made Christmas crafts and watched some of Monster's University.  After that, ice-skating!  They had a cute little rink on the 3rd floor! Ah, the best Thanksgiving! 

Thanksgiving Ice Skating

Look closely and you can see Sister Asay on the stage teaching line dancing.

A funny of the week:

We were assigned one of the desks in the South Visitor's center on Friday night and there was this little kid that was looking at "The Living Christ" and "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" (we have stacks of each sitting on the desks).  He was about 5 years old and I asked him which one he wanted.  He responded that he wanted both, so I said "Well, you can have both if you will read them with your family.  Will you do that?" He nodded and said yes.  I said, "Pinky promise?"  We pinky promised and he happily walked away with both of the papers!  I was smiling the entire conversation with him and it was so cute!  Oh, I love little kids!

Okay, this week- wow! So many awesome things have happened!  Christmas is amazing and there are thousands of people every night!!  It is seriously my favorite.  I love talking to everyone and sharing my testimony of Christ!  The nights fly by so fast that I can't even believe it when the night is over.  Annnd I have seen so many people who I know!  I saw Andrew (my brother), Daniel Manjarrez (basically my brother) and my two cousins, Rachiel and Alisa, on Saturday night when I was at the Christus!  Yep, I teared up when I saw them!! I was so happy! 

Editor's Note:  Thank you to the many wonderful visitors to Temple Square!  We appreciate the love and support you give to our dear, sweet Sister Asay and for the effort you give in trying to find her.  It isn't always easy!  She loves seeing family and friends! 

Julianna Brassfield - Dallas/College Friend

Penny and Jacob Barrus (One of Daniel's best friends.)

Cousin Rachiel, fresh home from her mission in Peru.  We love our two Sister Asays!

Andrew, the best big brother in the whole wide world!

The Thompson family from good ol' Dallas 9th Ward :)

More cousins!!  Scott, Amy & Scout!!

Also, Sister Palmer and I have been teaching so many lessons, giving great tours, and we have some new investigators!  Ah, the Spirit has been so strong this whole week and we have been guided so many times to talk to certain people! I will share a specific experience:

Sister Palmer and I were covering an assignment for some sisters at Map Desk in the North Visitor's Center and we were talking to a family.  Then this guy walked in and I always have a goal to say hi to everyone who walks in so I said hello and had a small conversation and then he continued on his way.  Sister P and I finished helping the family with their questions and I walked over to the side of the desk and looked around and saw the same guy sitting on a nearby couch.  I had the feeling to go talk to him, but I don't always like talking to guys my age (haha, it can be weird sometimes), so I just brushed it off.  But then the feeling came again and it was even stronger this time!  So I went over and started a conversation. I'm going to call him Sam for privacy sake, but turns out he isn't a member of the church (I thought he was), and also that he loves the Mormon Church.  He has been thinking about being baptized, but said that he has made a lot of wrong choices in his life.  We had a great conversation about the Atonement and that he can have those burdens lifted by repenting and that he can become completely clean through baptism.

He also shared with me that he was on his daily run right before this and had the prompting to come to Temple Square.  He was nervous about coming since he hadn't been here in a while and felt weighed down from his past, but knew that he should come inside. That's when I told him how I had the prompting to talk to him and I testified that God was aware of him and that Heavenly Father sees his divine potential and knows all that he can become.  He told me I was going to make him start crying, but that he was so happy with all that I had shared with him. He gave me his number to set up a time for him to come to Temple Square again so I can teach him.  And guess what?? He wants to come one day every week to talk! He is trying so hard to be better and have the Spirit more abundant in his life and I am looking forward to helping him.  Such a cool experience! The Spirit was seriously so strong as we talked for those 20 minutes.  I was surprised at how bold I was with him and it was after that conversation when I really realized the growth that has been happening to me over the past 4 months. I know the Lord qualifies us for his works and I feel like I finally have my feet under me.  I love missionary work and the happiness and change that I get to see in people as they strive to live the Gospel!

Also, Sister Palmer and I are working great together!  We teach in balance and we both have our important role in the missionary work that we do each day.  She is wonderful at listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost and making that initial contact with people.  She said that she is grateful I'm her companion because I always invite them to stay in touch with us so that we can continue to talk to them about the Gospel and answer their questions. I have felt the Spirit so much this week and I know that as I trust in the Lord I will always be guided!!  I feel like I have been on a spiritual high all week. I feel so blessed and grateful that I can be here and do the will of Heavenly Father!  

Let it snow!!!

Hope you guys have a wonderful Holiday season!! Christmas is a time to remember Christ and the true meaning of Christmas. 

Love you all!

Sister Asay

Transfers & Temple Service

Hello everyone!!

Okay, this morning we had Transfer Conference....ah! I was pretty nervous to find out what was going to happen to me.  My new companion is Sister Palmer from California and she's from MY MTC group!  We are both going to be in our 3rd transfer and I'm so excited to be with her!  We are also the Phone Coordinators of Temple Square (every companionship has phones since that's how we communicate about tours, spreading announcements, etc.)  I get to be on the Square a lot this next transfer!  And I am moving to a new apartment which is MUCH nicer than what I live in now.  Overall, looks like it will be a fun, exciting transfer!  Not to mention that it will be the Christmas season, aka lights and thousands of people at night. So stoked!

Getting ready for the Christmas crowds

A few funnies:

We, the trio, went downstairs in the North Visitor's Center and started talking to this cute family.  They had a little boy who was about 1 1/2 and whenever he meets someone he sticks out his hand to shake hands.  It was the cutest thing!  He shook our hands each one time and then went back and shook ours for a second time. Haha.   The older brother (8yrs) looked just like Daniel when he was 8! Tan, big head, cute smile and all. Haha. Ah, made me miss my little brother :)

Sister Tiritilli thought Sister Asay should practice her future wedding picture poses.

Sister Liao (one of the funniest sisters here-who I love!) was playing with my hair earlier today and said, "Wow, you're hair is so soft!"  I told her thanks and, after another minute of playing with it, she then said "I miss my dog." Haha...great. 

There is a couple, John & Alice (* names changed), that Sister Walsh and Sister Jones met a week before I joined their trio and we called them Saturday afternoon to talk to them and teach them more about the Gospel.  Only John answered because his wife had taken the night shift at the hospital she worked at and was now taking a nap.  We started talking about their visit to Temple Square and their thoughts about it, as well as their plans for the Holidays.  We talked about his family and their dogs.  They have 2 dogs, but sadly one passed away and he explained to us that it was like losing a child (which I totally agree with) and that the other dog was sooo sad for weeks!  He kept talking about his dogs and the comfort and happiness they always bring him.  We could feel through the phone how much he cared about them!

At this point, we had been talking about his pets for a while and I knew we needed to bring the conversation back to the Gospel somehow, and it was at that moment when I had the prompting to bridge from dogs to the Gospel by relating their dogs to the Holy Ghost (the Comforter)....at first I was like "Um....come again?"  But, like I mentioned in my last email, I promised to follow every prompting so I asked John if he feels the unconditional love that his dogs have for him and he answered "Oh yes!" and I then talked about how God has so much love for us and uses the Holy Ghost, through comfort and guidance, to show us that love.  I described how our dogs are always there as a support for us, like the Holy Ghost, and that a dog's unconditional love for his owner is like God's perfect and unconditional love for His children.  Funny as this seems, it totally made sense to John!  He was agreeing with me and he seemed to really understand the immense amount of love that Heavenly Father has for His children. It was truly inspiring to me that God knows each of His children and knows what way is best for us to teach and relate to our investigators!  After we had this conversation, we shared our testimonies about the Book of Mormon and invited him to read it.  He agreed!  We (well, technically Sister Jones since we are splitting up) are calling him in a week or two to follow up! :)

Music & The Spoken Word!  Such happy times!!

Oh! We got to do Temple Service today!!  Temple Service is where we get to go into the SLC Temple and help clean.  I was assigned vacuum duty for the first part of our time there and it was the best!  It was just me and my jet-pack type vacuum and the stairs.  I did that for about an hour and a half in two parts of the Temple.  I sang a few hymns as I was working and, even though the vacuum was going, it was seriously such a spiritual experience! There was literally not a worry on my mind and I was so content and at peace.  At one point, I started singing "I Know My Redeemer Lives" and I started tearing up.  With the Christmas season approaching, we have been focusing even more on Christ (Christ is always the main focus) and in Zone Meeting we watched a very powerful video about Christ and what he endured that had a talk by Elder Holland voicing over the video.  After watching, I felt a deep sense of love and humility.  Humility because whatever we go through in our lives, it will NEVER match that of what Christ went through for us.  And Love because Christ suffered and did all of that for me, for everyone. So, being in the Temple, the House of the Lord, and singing that hymn was such an amazing experience.  I know that Christ lives and that He will come again.  He is our advocate, our brother, and I couldn't be happier to have His name over my heart as I serve as a missionary for the next 14 months.

I love you all!!

Sister Asay