Hermana Juliet Hansen - Like the last coca-cola in a dry desert

Good morning all,

 

It was a great first week for my new companion and I. Her name is Hermana Whetten and she is from New Mexico. She has a lot of fire to do the work and is super excited to be out here in the field. I had been preparing for someone that didn't know Spanish but surprise surprise she already has a good foundation in the language. That was actually really relieving for me. We hit the ground running and I can tell already that it's going to be a great transfer.

 

We had a huge miracle on Sunday. So in order for someone who is less than 18 years old to get baptised (and at least one of the parents isn't a member), a permission form has been signed. This is to avoid legal issues in the future and it helps us know that the parents are willing to support their child in being involved in the church. Well, our investigator K.........  is 10 and her dad is not a member. And for the last 6 weeks or so we've been talking with her about baptism and talking with him about how he feels and if he would give us permission. Well we got verbal permission pretty early on but for some reason his response to signing was always no, she's not ready. Then yesterday HE SIGNED!!! I guess he finally feels like she's ready for this step in her life. It was such a huge answer to our prayers. And now we can move forward more with her. And she's super excited to be getting baptised in 2 weeks. I can't wait :)

 

The other great experience we had this week was with the F...... family. They are a less active family that we are working with to help reactivate. And about a month ago the parents started going back to sacrament meeting which was a huge step for them. Well last night as we were talking with the dad he shared with us a very powerful testimony about how he knew the Book of Mormon to be true. It was so amazing to hear and to know that he has progressed so much in the last few months that we've been visiting with them. And then he said that us that our visit with them were like the last coca-cola in a dry desert. That it was something that gave him hope and helped him know he could move forward even when it was hard. I love that as missionaries we have that opportunity to be a ray of hope for someone when they most need it. And often we don't even know how much of an effect we are having on someone. I know this can hold true even for normal members of the church. As we fulfill our callings and go out to visit other members we can be that "last coke in a desert" for someone. We can give them the energy to carry on and the hope that everything will be okay.

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Hansen

(Juliet also sent photos which we will add in when we can.)