The Spirit is Truly the Teacher!

Dear Family and Friends,

We had a wonderful week here in Pinnacle Mountain. We survived the crazy storm last night complete with rain, thunder, lightning, hail, bigger hail, and fog. It was quit intense :)

Last week I said goodbye to my trainee Sister Child and tomorrow I say goodbye to Sister Benson who has completed her mission and is returning home. Luckily the American Sign Language Sisters are moving to Pinnacle Mountain to be my companions for the rest of the transfer so I don't have to fly solo. This area is really on fire right now and I am so excited to get to stay and continue to work here this transfer.

One of the highlights of this week was getting to see two less active sisters that I have worked with for a long time at church this week. It was so exciting and it made me so so so happy.

We had an amazing experience with our investigator Linda this week. Linda is an older lady and struggles to comprehend some of the points of the gospel. We were teaching her the restoration for the third time and we were doing our very best to be simple and to use objects and analogies and everything we could think of to help her understand and she was still just not getting it. And to be honest Sister Benson and I were beginning to get a little frustrated. We had invited her to be baptized the lesson before and she agreed she would when she knew. During our companion study earlier that day Sister Benson and I felt very prompted that we needed to ask her to pray and ask if the Book of Mormon was true with us during the lesson. So after trying and trying to explain the restoration perfectly to her, we finally just asked if she would pray to know that the Book of Mormon was true. She agree and so we knelt down and she began to give one of the most humble and sincere prayers I have ever heard. She pleaded to know if the Book of Mormon was true. As she prayed, I prayed that she would be able to receive a witness that she would recognize. As she ended her prayer we sat in silence and Linda just started crying. Earlier she had told us that when she really feels the Spirit she doesn't yell or jump around but instead she cries. I knew that she was receiving a strong witness from the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon was indeed true. Sister Benson asked her if she was feeling the spirit. She said Yes. Then Sister Benson asked is she knew the Book of Mormon was true and she said Yes. Then Sister Benson extended the invitation to be baptized on the 16th of May and this sweet sister joyfully accepted :) It was one of the most spiritual and wonderful experiences I have gotten to be a part of on my mission.

I know that the Spirit truly is the teacher. It is more powerful than anything I can say or teach. A latter-day prophet once said "The Spirit is the most important single element in this work." I know that is true. We cannot do anything without the Spirit. I know that this is truly God's work and that I am only the tool. I pray everyday that I can be humble enough and sensitive enough to the Spirit to be the instrument that Heavenly Father can use to bless his children and help them to have eternal life. I am so grateful to be a missionary.

As always thank you for everything that y'all do. I appreciate all the love and support I receive.

Have a wonderful week!

Love

Sister Aase

PS.  After six months of showering in ankle deep water because my drain didn't work I finally fixed it. It took THREE snakes and I pulled almost a full weave of hair out of my drain which was disgusting to say the least but the drain is defeated and I have had the best showers this week. The only down side is I had been timing my showers based on how full the tub was getting and I can no longer do that but I am not complaining.

Also Sister Benson, who suffers from allergies, told me I breath like someone with allergies. She then demonstrated the as mom puts it "the annoying nose thing" that I do. I have accepted the fact that I'm not getting a cold but that I truly have allergies and I have begun the repentance process and am taking allergy medicine.

Come What May and Love It!!!

Dear Friends and Family,

This week was a little crazy. I have been with eight different sisters this week. Two are now in Australia, Four are in Taiwan or on the way to Taiwan, one is home and one goes home next week. Which if you do your math right will leave me companion-less by next week. I have no idea what is going to happen but as a wise apostle once said "come what may and love it."

On Wednesday at transfer meeting I was a little blindsided when I was not only given a new missionary, Sister Child, but also another sister, Sister Benson who was not told she was getting transferred until her name was said over the pulpit at transfers. Sister Child was a Taiwan visa waiter who got her visa the next day. We dropped her off at the airport this morning and she is making her way to Taiwan. I am so excited for her. She is already a missionary pro :) She got the chance to practice her Chinese teaching our recent converts and two new Chinese investigators.

We have had a really great week. Even though we have been very busy the Lord has blessed us for doing the best with the time that we have had and we have been able to find many new people to teach.

Thanks as always for all that y'all do!

Have a great week!

Love

Sister Aase

 

Maddie included the following note to us, but we really wanted to share it. It's the small, simple miracles that happen every day in the life of a missionary that provide perspective, humility and hope.

Sorry the emails have been short recently. We have been just running like crazy. I really am having some amazing experiences I just don't always know how to put them in words. I remember someone telling me before I left that I was going to have lots of experience that I would want to share with other people but that only me and my companion and the Lord would truly understand. It is so true. This week has been full of moments where I had the thought to go see someone and it was exactly the right moment to not only catch them but they needed to talk with someone or we meet someone on the way to their home. There are part member families that are progressing in the smallest and simplest ways but it means the world to me and makes me so happy and excited. There have been sisters who say the thing that I need to hear so that I don't snap because I'm so stressed. I have had so many prayers answered this week and gotten to be the answer to so many prayers. I have really felt this week that I am an instrument in the hands of the Lord. And so even though I have no idea what is going to happen in the next few days I'm not worries because the work that I am a part of isn't mine. And it is going to go forward no matter what. And though many things are changing or could be changing I know that I will continuing to work with all my might, mind and strength to build up the kingdom of God. That won't change.

Love you so much!

Maddie 

An Assembly of God, Non-Denominational, Spirit Filled Methodist

Dear Family and Friends,

My little trainee is currently on her way to Australia. I dropped her off at the airport this morning! I drop Sister Johnson off tomorrow morning for Taiwan.

This week has been a little crazy.

Jenny and Sara were baptized on Thursday! yay! It was such a cool baptism. Even though most of it was done in Chinese, the spirit there was so strong! It was wonderful!  Saturday and Sunday we had the awesome privilege of watching LDS General Conference. Oh my goodness it was so good I don't even know where to begin! I love conference! My new missionary comes on Wednesday. I am excited to train again. And a little nervous but mostly excited :) 

We met such a cool lady last week. Her name is Margaret and she is as she says "an Assembly of God, non-denominational, spirit-filled Methodist." She is awesome! She has such great faith and a love for Christ. You can feel her spirit as soon and  you walk in the door. Many others in her situation would turn away from God but she hasn't not even a little. She is such an example of faith.

As always thank you for all the prayers and support.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love

Sister Aase

Happy Conference & Happy Easter!!

Hello!

Oh my goodness this has been a CRAZY week. On Monday, hopefully you heard there was a worldwide computer glitch with the myldsmail system. To most people this wouldn't seem like a big deal but to the missionary community it was kinda like the world was ending. Anyway the glitch was finally fixed in the afternoon but we didn't have a lot of time so I let my two companions email and took one for the team and cleaned while they wrote to their families.  Anyway fortunately, because both of my companions are leaving this upcoming week to their actual missions, we get today as a p-day as well so I have time to send a quick email before conference.

We have been running around all week trying to get Sister Hosea and Sister Johnson ready to leave the country. We have been shopping and packing and saying goodbyes all week. Meanwhile we also had a baptism this week. Sara and Jenny are officially baptized YAY! They were supposed to get baptized on Saturday but long story short it had to be rescheduled to Thursday so there was lots of last minutes changes and stress and such. But, with a WHOLE lot of help from the Lord, everything came together and it was a really awesome baptism.

 

Today is the LDS World Wide Semi Annual General Conference and I am so excited! As you know I LOVE General Conference :) Plus I'm wearing a super cute outfit and the weather is sunny and beautiful. And we are getting to spend time with lots of my favorite people today. It gonna be a great day!

Some other things. I'm training again next transfer. My new missionary comes on Wednesday :) I'm excited to get to train again and a little nervous but if I have learned anything from my training experience so far it is that the Lord makes up the difference and does the real training. This also means that I'm staying in Pinnacle Mountain. Yay!

 

This week is going to be a little crazy. I'm taking Sister Hosea to the airport on Monday and then Sister Johnson on Tuesday. They are giving me the truck to drive which is going to be a little scary since I have never driven anything like that before. But I'm excited that I get to be the one to drop them off before they leave for Australia and Taiwan. 

 

Anyway sorry this is a really random email. I don't have that much time because we have a million things to do today to get everything ready for these two sisters to leave. But I love you all! Thank you for the Easter Package! I LOVE the dress :) Also the pictures from Vegas are so super cute! I'm so glad that everyone had a good time. It looks like everyone got a little bit a sun which is good too :)

LOVE YOU!!

Love Maddie

The Return of the Trio

Dear Friends and Family,

I have come to learn that the only thing you can really expect on a mission is that things are going to unexpectedly change right when you start to become comfortable. But that's life I suppose.

I think I mentioned last week that we are teaching a Chinese lady name Jenny. It just so happens that we have a few "visa waiters" in our mission who are going to Taiwan so they speak Chinese. One such vise waiter also just so happened to be serving in the Otter Creek area which is pretty close to Pinnacle Mountain. So we talked to the Mission President and got permission to take this Sister with us when we teach Jenny. The problem was we were driving to get her every other day and so we finally we said we either need more miles or we need her. We got her! so Sister Johnson has now joined Sister Hosea and I in Pinnacle Mountain. YAY!

Sister Johnson is from Salt Lake City. She is 22 and graduated in Business from Southern Virginia University. We already all get along really well and I am so excited to work with her. It is fun to be back in a trio. Every time we sing hymns Sister Johnson sings in Chinese, Sister Hosea sings in Tongan, and I sing in English. I'm sure we sound terrible but it makes us happy :)

Speaking of Jenny, she is doing really well. She loves the gospel and loves learning more and more. Sister Johnson does a very good job at interpreting when we teach. Though of course I don't speak Chinese so I don't really know how good she is. But Jenny seems to understand so that is all that matters. Sometimes Sister Johnson tries to teach us some Chinese and every time it just makes me so grateful that I didn't have to learn another language.

We had a really good specialized training this week. We are changing the way that we have been doing a few things in order to get back on the straight and narrow. Why? Because according to an official email sent to President Wakolo by the mission headquarters the iPads are coming in May! I've been promised an iPad for about 9 months now so I'm trying not to get my hopes up but still exciting.

As always thank you for all that you do. I truly appreciate all the support that I get each week.

Love

Sister Aase

PS: ARKANSAS DOES NOT HAVE SHAMROCK SHAKES. Seriously! What is the point of McDonalds if you aren't going to have the one redeeming factor. I have been dragging my companions to like 5 or 6 different McDonalds and have been very disappointed each time. The word Shamrock in fact is now banned because it is so upsetting to me.

It's So Worth It!!!

Dear Friends and Family,

Hope y'all had a great week. We had a fabulous week here in Pinnacle Mountain! Miracles and more miracles! The first miracle of the week was we were not on bikes! Yay! They switched our car share around and now instead of losing our car every fourth week we lose it every seventh week. And in order for everything to work we have to keep the car for three more weeks. So even though we really wanted to walk this week we took one for the team and are still in a car :) The week got better from there.

On Tuesday we taught a husband and wife named Cory and Ashley. They let us right in and we hit it off right away. We started explaining our purpose a little bit and asking a few questions when Cory told us that both he and Ashley, even though they grew up attending a church, they don't really know what to believe anymore and would love to be taught by us. This never happens. Sister Hosea and I were so excited and went right into teaching about the restoration. They were both very receptive and are excited to learn more.

Wednesday evening we got hit by an ice storm and so we were snowed in all day on Thursday. I've lost track of how many snows days we have had in the past three weeks but we were running out of things to keep us entertained so Sister Hosea and I had to find creative ways to entertain ourselves. This led to us making about 15 music videos which consist of us dancing around our bathroom to mission approved songs. We have also watched the movie Legacy about 10 times. 

 

By Friday the snow had all melted and we were back to work. Saturday we had a SUPER cool experience with an investigator named Jenny. Jenny is from China and has been in America less than a year and so she doesn't speak a lot of English. She was introduced to the Church by her friend Sister Lee, who is in the ward and who is also Chinese and also doesn't speak much English. We had an appointment to teach Jenny Saturday and I was a little nervous about how we were going to be able to overcome the language barrier and be able to teach her. Sister Hosea and I used a combination of Google translate and Sister Lee to communicate with Jenny. I was praying so hard that the Spirit would be there to help teach her and help her understand. It was amazing. Even though Sister Hosea and I didn't say much the Spirit was there so strong. We went back and forth typing in questions and statements into Google and then letting Jenny read and nod if she understood. At the end we, Sister Hosea and I, both felt very prompted to show the video "because of him" (which is a super awesome video that I highly recommend). We were able to find it in Chinese and so Jenny could understand. It was amazing to me how strong I could feel the spirit watching the video even though I couldn't understand what was being said. After the video Sister Hosea invited Jenny to be baptized and she said "yes, yes, yes!" It was such a cool experience. 

 

Such a good week! These week make all the really cold and long and hard week so worth it! I love being a missionary!

As always thank you for all that y'all do!

Love

Sister Aase

We Have Reached the Halfway Point

Dear Family and Friends,

As usual we had a great week here in Pinnacle Mountain despite the rain and sleet and snow. Things are going well. We have people to teach and our recent converts are doing well. And there is a rumor that we may have full car........ this rumor was just dispelled, we will be walking this week. But life is still good!

This upcoming Wednesday I will officially hit my 9 month mark of my 18 month mission. I cannot believe how fast time has flown by! I still feel like a brand new missionary most of the time and still have no idea what I'm doing most of the time. But I also can tell that I am not the same missionary or person that I was 9 months ago.

My testimony of the gospel and of my Savior is much stronger. I am much more confident than I was before. I am a lot more patient with people and not as quick to judge. I understand the power of the Book of Mormon and know that it can change lives. I recognize what it means to be humble and why it is so essential to be this way. I think most of all I have come to understand what it means to have a Savior and how to rely on him.

I think about how 9 months ago I thought that I could be a missionary. I believe that I had studied enough and I had a strong enough testimony that I could do this work. I knew that I would need the help of the Savior but I figured that I could do most of the work on my own and Christ would just go behind me and make up the rest. This idea has changed completely 9 months later. I now recognize that Christ is not just there after all we can do but is there working along side of us always. I now understand that this is not my work but His work and I'm not here to do my will but His will. Just as it says in 3 Nephi 5:15 I 'm here to declare "HIS word among HIS people," and that is something I can't do by myself at all. I have realized that it is a privilege to rely on our Savior not a sign of weakness. He is there to help us because he knows that we can't do it alone. I now know that missionary work can only be done by relying on the Savior and that life is so much better when we rely on the Savior. And this knowledge has made me so much more thankful that "God loved us so he sent his son,"

I am so lucky that I get to continue to grow my testimony of the Savior and his gospel and share that testimony with others for the next nine months. I'm so lucky that I still have more learning and growing and changing to do. Thank you for all that y'all have done for me this first half of my mission. I have appreciated all the support that I continue to get. Thank you!

 

Hope everyone has a great week!
Love
Sister Aase