The Week that Flew

Dear Family and Friends,
It seems like just yesterday that I was writing to y'all. I have no idea where to week has gone. But that is what happens when you are busy and having fun and lose yourself in the service of the Lord.

We went on two exchanges this week. I was with the ASL sisters all day Tuesday. It was lots of fun to get to be with Sister Jensen again and her companion Sister Garcia. My goal was to be able to say a prayer in sign language by the end of the day and after many tries I was able to say/sign a simple prayer. Yay!

Then Wednesday to Friday I was with Sister Vanburen from Arkadelphia. Sister Kafoa and I made the hour long drive down to Arkadelphia Wednesday morning. Sister Kafoa doesn't quite understand long car trips being from a small island that can be crossed in an hour so this was a new experience for her. We stopped at a truckers rest stop about 40 minutes in because she and never seen one before and she was so happy to get out and stretch after such a long trip. I told her that usually when we go on car trips we don't stop for a few hours at a time. She was shocked and amazed :)

The exchange with Sister Van Buren went really well. She is awesome! Before coming on her mission she backpacked through Europe for a few months. So cool! Besides that she is an awesome missionary who despite being new knows her stuff and is a super good teacher.

In other news Josette gets baptized this weekend! Yay! We are so very excited! We also found some potential BIEs this week. Stay tuned

As always thank you all for everything you all do.

This is the last week of the transfer. Sunday we find out if I'm staying another transfer in Pinnacle Mountain or if one of us is leaving. Duh duh duh duh!

Have a great week y'all
Love
Sister Aase

Visit from Elder Kopiscke

Dear Friends and Family,
Hope everyone had a wonderful week. This week flew by! I'm told that is how the rest of my mission is going to feel but hopefully not. This week we had the awesome opportunity to be taught by Elder Kopischke of the First Quorum of the Seventy. He is awesome and because Sister Kafoa and I are STLs and in the Little Rock Stake we got to have three days worth of meetings with him. I learned SO much and I could spend the whole rest of this email telling you all the things I learned but it would be an extremely long email so I'll just share a few.

One thing that Elder Kopischke talked about was having spiritual experiences. He asked the question when was the last time you had a spiritual experience? Hopefully we are having them everyday. One thing
he taught that affects whether or not we have spiritual experiences is our attitude. He gave the example of Laman and Lemuel versus Nephi and Sam. He explained how the same things happened to both
"companionships" of brothers but that because Laman and Lemuel always had a bad attitude they never benefited from those experiences. I know that even I am guilty of having the wrong attitude in missionary work which affects on whether or not I have a spiritual experience. I hope that I can work on developing an attitude that allows me to always have the Spirit.

Another thing Elder Kopischke talked about was having a vision. He talked about finding the "BIE" best investigator ever! Sister Kafoa and I were inspired and are on the search for our best investigator ever. We may have already found him. His name is Detrick and he has been to church twice, is reading the Book of Mormon, and accepted our invitation to be baptized in July! He is awesome! But we know there are more BIEs out there and we are bound and determined to find them. Besides all that I continue to try and teach Sister Kafoa about American life. This week I taught her how to say "whatever" in an American accent and about the Revolutionary War. In turn Sister Kafoa introduced me to Fiji water, which she claims is the best, and island culture. Hopefully this week she can teach me some island dancing :) As always thank you for all that y'all do!
Have a great week!

Love
Sister Aase

The IPADS are Coming !!!

Dear Friends and Family,

The iPads are coming tomorrow. I repeat the iPads are coming tomorrow! This week we had Elder Zwick and Brother Hemmingway come all the way from the Church and Mission Headquarters in Salt Lake to train us on how to use the iPads. We are all so excited! These iPads and the social networks we are going to be able to connect to are amazing tools that are going to help to hasten the work and build God's kingdom. It is a three phase process but by the end all the missionaries will have all their planners online, have access to everything on the Church websites and be on facebook. EXCITING!!

Sister Kafoa and I had a pretty great week here in Pinnacle Mountain. Some highlights:

• Memorial Day breakfast with the ward
• We said goodbye to our favorite senior missionary couple. The Cahoons
• I tried frog legs. I'm not a fan but Sister Kafoa really liked them
• We had our first leadership meeting and exchange this week. I'm starting to feel like a real life Sister Training Leader though I still have no idea what I'm doing.
• We found out yesterday that Elder L Tom Perry one of the apostles died this weekend. I am so grateful for all that he taught. Especially his testimony of the importance of family.

As always thank you all that y'all do. Hope everyone has a great week!

Love

Sister Aase

\

Birthday Week!!!

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you to everyone who sent birthday wishes. Y'all are the best! On Friday I officially turned 20 and became perfect because, as a sister missionary explained, at 20 you are no longer a teenager but you aren't really an adult yet, so you are just a nobody and "nobody is perfect" therefore I'm perfect :)  I had a really great birthday and I am so grateful to everyone who helped me to feel loved and appreciated. 

This week was transfers. I said goodbye to Sister Jensen and Sister Kennach and welcomed Sister Kafoa. Sister Kafoa is not a visa waiter, or a brand new missionary and she is not leaving before the end of the transfer so I'm pretty excited. I finally have a regular companion. Though Sister Kafoa is pretty unique. She was born in Tonga, raised in Fiji, and just moved to Hawaii before coming on her mission. She has been out for six months and is a really great missionary. I am really excited to serve with her and to learn from her. 

This week we continued to work with our investigator Sister Fox. She is doing so well and I can't wait for her to get baptized in the first week of June. It has been such an amazing experience to see her grow and become more joyful as she continues to embrace the gospel.

This upcoming week we have Elder Zwick from the seventy coming. He is going to be presenting an ipad training. The ipads are officially in (I have touched the box so I can confirm they are really here) and they will be given to missionaries sometime this transfer. I'm excited to see how they raise our mission to the next level.

As always thank you for all the love and support. I am so grateful to have so many people praying for me and supporting em on my mission.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Love

Sister Aase

The Gospel Makes People Happy!!

Dear Friends and Family,

Sorry this is coming a little late. I had the amazing opportunity to go to the temple yesterday. I absolutely love the temple and there is no better way to recharge your spirit than being able to go to the house of the Lord.

This week has been so good! I found out that I am staying in Pinnacle Mountain. Yay! And I am getting a new companion who I have been promised will actually stay with me the whole transfer. We will see what happens though :)

This week I have been reflecting on a scripture from the Book of Mormon.

In Mosiah 2:41 it says "And moreover I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven that thereby they may dwell with God in a never-ending state of happiness." 

The gospel truly brings happiness to people. I have seen it in my own life and I have seen it over and over again in the lives of the people I have had the opportunity to teach. For example this week we went to see Sister Fox. She told us how before we starting teaching her she was always sad and now she can't stop smiling. She said that people will ask her why she is all the sudden so happy and she says it is because she has the spirit now. Another example. We saw Nygee and Nuketa today and Nygee was so happy to see us. She let us right in and wanted to get right to the lesson. Four weeks ago when we starting teaching them she wouldn't say a word and was super shy. Now is so bright and excited to learn the gospel. This gospel changes people and it makes us happier. It makes sense because God wants us to be happy so if we will do what he says and live the way he has told us too we will be happy. Our lives won't be perfect but we will be able to find joy in ALL parts of our journey.

I love this gospel and I love how happy it make me. And I know that by continuing to live the gospel and let it change me I will be able to "dwell with God in a never-ending state of happiness."

Thank you EVERYONE who contributed to my birthday general conference binder. It was the best birthday gift! It literally made me cry :) Thank you also for all the love and support and other birthday wishes.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Love Sister Aase

Happy Mother's Day

Dear Friends and Family,

First I have to wish my little sister a very happy 15th birthday!

With that out of the way, this week was a little crazy. Our dear Hermana Sipple was in the hospital all week with severe back pain and went home for better treatment on Saturday :( We all are very sad to see her go but grateful that she is going to be getting better care and hopefully a diagnosis.

We were suppose to have a baptism this Saturday, but Peter had to go out of town last minute. Fortunately he passed his baptismal interview and is all set to go this Saturday! We are all very excited for him. I am excited to see what a deaf baptism is like...probably pretty quiet :)

We are still working with lots of amazing people. Josette is preparing to be baptized at the end of the month. She is so cute and so smart. We will ask her questions during our lessons and she gives super insightful answers for a twelve year old. I love getting to be a part of teaching her the gospel.

This is the last week of the transfer! I can't believe it is already here. These past six weeks have gone by so fast. All we know is that the ASL sisters are going back to their area. But as for me and my area we have no idea. Either way I should be getting a new companion which is exciting. She will be number 11 :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. Mother's day is a very big day for missionaries because it is one of the few times we get to actually Skype with our families. It was so much fun to get to talk with my family and wish my mom a happy Mother's Day over Skype. I have the very best mom in the world for those who don't know. The longer I am a missionary the more I realize how amazing and wise my mother is. I am so very grateful to have such a faithful and strong mom. A mother who knows and love God and has taught me to know and love him too!

As always thank you all for everything that you do, but mostly for who you are (as President Wakolo would say)

Have a wonderful week!

Love

Sister Aase

We Have Wheels Again!!

Dear Friends and Family,

We survived the walk week. We are all a little sunburnt and sore but we saw many miracles this week. It is amazing how many people you can meet when 1) the weather is super nice and 2) you are not behind a windshield. We met a few characters, people who wanted to bible bash, people who were drunk, but we also met some very elect souls who we will hopefully be able to teach in the coming week.

This week we are preparing Peter to get baptized. Peter is a deaf man that the ASL sisters were teaching before we got all put together. He is really cool and cannot get enough of the gospel. This is the second time I have gotten to teach someone who I can't really communicate with and it has once again been a really cool experience. My testimony that the Spirit is the true teacher and that it spans all nations, tongues and people has been strengthen.

Also this week we set a baptismal date with a girl named Josette. She is super cute and smart. Her mom is a less active member of the Church, and I've been working with her since I got to Pinnacle Mountain and who I just adore! It has been really neat to see them both progress in the gospel and to be able to feel the difference in the Spirit of their home as they pray more and are more centered on Christ.

I absolutely love being a missionary. I love getting to be a part of the Lord's great work!

I thank all of you for all the support and prayers and love you send me!

Have a wonderful week!

Love Sister Aase