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.