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

Learning to Listening to Promptings

Hello everyone!

This week has literally FLOWN by! Tuesday until Friday literally felt like one day. So weird!

               So, the Temple Square Mission performance was a success!! So many people came and it was such a blessing to be a part of it!  One song that particularly touched my heart was the "EFY Medley" (a mix of “As Sisters in Zion” and “Armies of Helaman”) for two reasons.  First, I sang that song every summer at EFY while growing up and it always made me tear up then and still does now.  Second, this is the song I heard in the MTC back in April when I was there for the Vocal Point Fireside.  The words were changed from "We are as the Lord's missionaries and will bring the world His truth" to "We are now the Lord's missionaries and will bring the world His truth".   That part is what helped me decided to go on a mission.... and hearing and singing that song again while actually serving a mission made me feel so grateful for the small promptings of the Spirit that I was given over 6 months ago, and for all of the joy I have felt because of my choice to serve.  After the performance, the sisters had the opportunity to talk to the guests who came!  I talked to a number of people, but a conversation with man interested in the church who was with his two members friends stood out to me.  He had been searching all of his life for something more and has been going to church for 2 months now!  We had a nice long talk and I was able to share my testimony with him.  It was such a wonderful night! The Spirit definitely speaks through music :)

Sisters Jones, Walsh and Asay after the Temple Square Fireside

Early on in my mission, I had a hard time deciphering between promptings and my own thoughts.  There were always times when I would have a thought to talk to someone or ask them a question and I wouldn't do it.  It was after a few experiences of feeling guilty for not acting upon a possible prompting that I promised Heavenly Father that whatever thought or prompting popped into my mind, I would act on it.  And so I did, and do you know what is amazing??  Ever since that prayer where I made that promise, I have been given more promptings that ever and there have been so many positive outcomes because of it! 

One example of following a prompting this week was in the Teaching Center (where we call people, also known as "TC"), so each week we have Weekly Planning and we schedule what day and time we are going to call certain people.  On Wednesday, I had finished calling the individuals I had set aside time for, so I was going to hop on chat and see if I could help anyone.  However, I had the thought come to my mind "Call Joe".  So I thought "Sure, why not!" and called him.  (Here's a little back story-Joe* (name changed) was released from jail over a month ago, moved in with his sister, and called Mormon.org to request help to get a new job and also to visit with the missionaries. We talked once after the original phone call to see how he was doing.)  Anyway, so I called the number and it was his sister saying that Joe had moved, but she gave me his new number.  Something I noticed was that she was a little prickly over the phone, but after I told her I was "Catherine from Mormon.org" she softened some, which I thought was interesting, but didn't think much of it.  We said goodbye, and I dialed Joe's new number.  He answered and we had a great talk!  He told me how the missionaries came over her their first visit a few weeks earlier and his sister sat in on their conversation.  Now, his sister is getting married and getting baptized within the next month!  So cool!  That's when I realized why there was a change in her tone on the phone after I told her I was associated with the church :)

 

Then, Joe proceeded to tell me his story.  Joe lives alone and he told me how the night before he had almost choked to death and there was no one around to help him.  He tried everything he could, but there wasn't any air getting in or out and that he looked into a mirror and was starting to turn blue! He finally gave up and just sat down. The relaxing, thankfully, made his body loosen up and he was able to get air in.  He told me he was still shaky from the experience, but when I called him he was like "Hey, someone does care about me!"  That's when I realized the meaning behind the prompting I was given and I was SO grateful that I had listened.  Joe is awesome!!  He is meeting with the local missionaries, and his goal is to be baptized!  Listen to promptings everyone! We are all here on this earth to help and serve each other. The Holy Ghost works through each of us to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters around us.  

A picture just for my Dad since he served in the Southern States Mission! 

A few other highlights!

We met these two older men and they were just so sweet!  One really loves the church and the missionaries and kept talking about the light that we have in our eyes and smiles.  His friend, who is around 85, then pinched my cheek and Sister's Jones' cheek and said "Yeah, are they real??" Haha. The first guy then said, "If someone were to come to Temple Square right now and go against what you girls were doing, I would say 'You have to go through me first'".  I don't know why, but this made me tear up!  I feel like I tear up all the time on my mission, but those two men were such great guys!  Too bad they didn't want local missionaries, but we gave them our number to call us if they had any questions!

Where else can you watch General Conference and Sports Center?  The Church Office Building! :)

Sister Walsh, Jones, and I made a goal to give out a Book of Mormon on Friday.  At the end of the day, we were giving a tour to an older man and a young man- not family- and at the end one referred!  Then I remembered our goal and asked them if they would like a Book of Mormon to read and they both said yes! This was a reminder to me that we are urged to make goals for a reason- they help us go the extra step :)

At the Conference Center, a group of VERY talented individuals put on a performance called "Savior of the World", and the Temple Square sisters were split up and given either Thursday or Friday to go to their dress rehearsal! My zone went on Friday and the show was amazing!!  I felt the Spirit and it's a great reminder to know what Christmas is truly about the birth of our Savior.  Anyone can go and I'm pretty sure you can buy tickets online!  Afterwards, the cast came and talked to us and I got to meet some of the main actors!  And fun fact, a girl from my tap class was one of the cast members. Ha! It felt so funny to hear someone yell my first name to get my attention.  

Mary & Joseph from "Savior of the World"  They were so nice!!

Anyway, this week was pretty awesome!  We gave a lot of tours and were able to share the Gospel with many! I love you all! I can't believe I've been out for over 3 months now and that transfers are next week....what??

Love,

Sister Asay

Amazing Experiences!

Hello everyone! 

We are teaching a man in Uganda and we committed him to baptism in the first lesson!! He gave a LDS couple from California a Gorilla tour in Africa (so cool, right?) and they shared the Gospel with him. He was so interested that he referred himself and now we are teaching him! :) He is getting a Book of Mormon this week so he can start reading!

Sister Walsh, Jones, and I gave this sweet elderly lady a tour of the North Visitor Center.  She was over 85 years old and needed Sister Jones and I to link arms with her to hold her up on either side as she walked.  It was the cutest thing ever and I loved it! We walked slowly and only went from the couch to the Temple Model and back.  She is a member and we just shared with each other how wonderful a blessing the temple is in our lives.  One of my favorite tours this week :) 

My wonderful companions!!

Almost every morning this past week, the Temple Square missionaries have been practicing for a Mission Fireside that we are putting on.  It's tomorrow night at 7:30 pm in the Assembly Hall for anyone who wants to come!  It's for members and non-members alike!  It will be pretty great. The sisters in this mission are so talented....so come and enjoy! :)

The pictures are of the first snow!! The Temple is beautiful during the winter time!

 I had an AMAZING experience yesterday! As Sacrament Meeting Coordinators, Sister Carvalho and I assigned ourselves to speak in a SLC ward yesterday since I hadn't had the opportunity to do so yet, but since Sister Carvalho is in a different mission, I prayed about which companion I should go with and chose Sister Jones to fill Carvalho's place.  The branch we went to was all women who live in a halfway house, who have each been to jail, and who are all now in the repentance process.  They come from all walks of life and are trying to turn things around. In total, there were 6 Temple Square sisters who went to speak and we were given the entire hour.  We each gave a talk and together we prepared a special musical number.  The different topics were Faith, Recognizing the Holy Ghost, Individual Worth, "We Never Walk Alone " (my talk), "Personal Strength Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ", and "We Can Do It Now!".  (The last 3 topics came from General Conference talks).

I spoke 4th right after the musical number, which was "Nearer My God to Thee", and here's the cool thing- all of us can sing alright, but none of us have super strong voices.  However, when we sang in front of those ladies I felt like there were at least 6 other sisters singing with us....we sounded SO good and I knew that it wasn't because of our own talent.  I knew Heavenly Father was helping us to touch the hearts of these women and it was all I could do to not tear up.  Everyone's talk went so wonderfully and every sister said something that was so inspired for the women listening. The Spirit was so strong and I think I choked up about 3 times in my own talk...my heart was so full.

Afterwards, we were able to talk to the women a bit and then go to Relief Society with them.  It was like being in a normal ward! Ah, it was so nice to talk to them and be a part of their Sunday!  This experience meant so much to me.  I could see the light in every one of their eyes and I know that Heavenly Father worked through and guided the sister missionaries to help share with them what they needed to hear.  The feeling of love that God has for these women was overwhelming and so powerful.  The Atonement is there for each of us and I feel so grateful for the opportunity I had to serve and share my testimony with them. That meeting was definitely one of the most spiritual experiences I had ever been in.

Whew! This week has flown by and we are working so hard on Temple Square!  It is so great having a trio because we all have something special to bring to our lessons and tours.  The other day Sister Jones started a conversation with a family, we talked for a bit, I had the prompting to ask if they wanted to see "God's Plan"- they hesitated but said yes, and after God's Plan, Sister Jones invited them to read the "Proclamation to the Family" together as a family the coming week.  This felt like a normal tour, but when we were saying bye, the mom came up to us and said "Thank you so much for taking us to see that!  It was perfect timing. Thank you so much for stopping us and talking to us".  It was after that we realized our different roles in helping this family.  Strength in numbers :)

Well, this week has been great! We have taught a lot of lessons and we are hoping to continue that!


Love you all!!

Sister Asay

Oh, I have a couple of funny stories too! :)

-A kid came up to all three of us, pointed at our flags, and said "English, English, English" and then walked away.  Haha, so random and true. All American flags in this companionship!

-Soo, I fell inside a car again...haha. After the sacrament meeting, we pulled into the garage back at Temple Square and as I was moving from the backseat to get out, my foot got stuck in this plastic wedge in between the two middle seats and I just slowly fell over like a tree. My hands were holding my stuff so I had nothing to stop my fall....so I just fell, haha.  The sisters who saw had a good laugh.  I think comic relief is my other purpose here at Temple Square... ;)