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.)

Hermana Juliet Hansen - in big news

Hello all,

.....I found out on friday that I'M TRAINING!!! Hermana Fish is being transferred to an area called Canoga Park on bike. I am getting a brand new missionary and I have no idea what her name is or where she's from, absolutely nada. We have two new Spanish sisters coming out this transfer so President wants to interview both of them Wednesday morning when they get here and then he will decide which one I'll get as my companion. So it's still a really big mystery, which is kind of exciting :)

We had really awesome experiences this week and Hermana Fish and I were able to end our time together with a bang.

We found an inactive member named Constanza. We had half an hour before our next appointment and so we took a look at the list of members and we decided that we would go see her. We knocked on her door and apparently the guy that answered went to go get her and said, "There are two angels at the door for you." We are the first missionaries that have visited her in a long time. We really were super lucky to meet her too because for the last 10 years she NEVER answered the door when members or missionaries would come to visit. She told us about how she used to be super active. She was the stake primary president for 6 years, she was the Bishop's wife, she would have the missionaries over every week, etc. and then she went through a really messy divorce and she never went back to church. It was incredibly sad to hear. She really is an amazing woman and now one of my goals is to help her come back to church and remember the promises she made. We shall see how it goes.

The other experience I want to share is with our investigator A....... Her sister B...... was baptised a little over a year ago and just recently got engaged to her boyfriend (who happens to be the missionary that baptised her). Last  night we were visiting with B..... and were about to wrap up our lesson with her when her family walked in. A..... sat down and we started to talk with her and she expressed with us how frustrated and mad she is that she won't be able to go into the temple when her sister gets married. It was one of those experiences where you could feel how much she loves her sister and how much her heart is breaking because she can't see such an important event in her sister's life. Teaching with the spirit is so key. Because how do you help a 16 year old who has imagined for her whole life what it would be like at her sister's wedding understand why marriage in the temple is so important. The only way that she will be able to come understand is through her own experiences with the spirit. We told her that if she really wants to know for herself then we need to teach her and then she needs to pray to God. Really the only way that she will feel at peace with this is to receive her own personal witness from God this is what is right for her sister and her family. I truly hope we can help her to have peace about her sister's wedding.

Love you all so much,

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Welcome to President Hall!

Hello everyone!

 

This week we had the opportunity to meet our new missiona president, President Hall, and his family. They are really great! Super funny and really excited to be here. He is already starting to change a few things but I know that it is all for the best and it will help our mission be more successful. Some missionaries are not super excited about the rules that he is being stricter on but it will just test us on how willing we are to be odedient and show our loyalty to the Lord and our mission president.

 

We had the unfortunate experience this week of our investigator, Alma, moving without us being able to say goodbye. We had sister exchanges on Tuesday and so Hermana Quick and I went to visit her at our normal time of 4:30 and her house was a wreck. She told us that she was moving and when I asked her when she said Friday. So I thought "oh good, Hermana Fish will get to say goodbye." Well we go over on Thursday at our normal time, expecting to see her, and she had already gone. Hermana Fish was soooo sad because she had been working with Alma for almost 6 months. We're sad that we didn't get to say goodbye to her but we understand why she had to leave so quickly. I know that I would want to move quickly too if a gang tried to break into my home. I really, really hope that we can get in contact with her to help her find the missionaries again. Fingers crossed!

 

Hermana Fish and I are also in charge of the Young Single Adult branch as well as the family ward. We had a blessing this week happen in that we got a new Branch president. We are so excited about this because there is FINALLY support from the leadership to have people attend the branch. We are really excited to be able to help the branch grow in size and return to what it once was.

 

My journey through reading the Old Testament in spanish continues. I am know reading all about the story of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. Talk about sibling rivalry :) I really love reading the stories I grew up hearing in church and at home but I also like reading the things that happen in between the famous stories. You really get an understanding of how these people got to be who they were.

 

Love you all bunches,

 

Hermana Hansen  

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Lessons Learned From The Bible

Hi everyone!

 

So I can't believe I forgot to mention this last week. So almost two weeks ago we had the opportunity to go to the LA temple. It is always so amazing to be able to go to the temple and feel of the strong spirit that is there. Almost the entire mission went that day to kind of bid a fond farewell to our mission president and his wife. I had a really amazing experience as I was sitting in the celestial room after the session was done. I decided that I wanted to pray to Heavenly Father and ask him if he was happy with how I had done the first half of my mission. So that's what I did. I sat down and I asked God. And after I prayed I felt a great sense of love. It wasn't overwhelming but was enough to know that God had heard my prayer and was pleased with me. I'm grateful to know that I am doing what is right in the sight of the Lord.

 

This past week we had the opportunity to receive one last training from President Martin before he left the mission on Saturday. The training that he gave us was the training that he would give to every missionary before they went home. And part of the training that he gave was "Jerry Martin's 10 commandments for career success." For your information these are what they were...

 

1) Choose a career you can fall in love with

2) Weigh the lifestyle implications of your career choices every step of the way. (i.e. will you be able to go on vacations with the family, will you have to work on sundays, etc.)

3) Select good supervisors and role models

4) Add value every day (i.e. always be a high-value contributor. Deliver a little bit more than expected)

5) Become a quick change artist

6) Be a problem solver and not a problem pointer

7) Learn to be an effective team player

8) Surround yourself with people who challenge you

9) Attitude is a personal responsibility

10) Nurture your life anchors (i.e. God and family)

(These must work if President Martin was able to become an executive CEO of FritoLay) 

 

I was really grateful for the training that he gave. Even though these were points on how to be successful in business and career, I was able to learn some great things on how to be a better missionary.

 

And lastly I would just like to share with you the experience that I've had with the Bible. For a while now I've been contemplating if I should work on reading the Old Testament while I'm on my mission. I would go back and forth wondering if it would really be worth my time (in the essence of would it benefit my investigators). Well last week I decided that I would go ahead and start reading it. And I would do it in Spanish so it could count as language study. And I have learned that it indeed has been worth it. I LOVE the Bible. And the stories are so applicable. One lesson that I learned was from the story of Noah. There is something important from Genesis 8: 20. Noah and his family had been on the ark for approxiametly 150 days (40 days of rain and 110 days of water receeding) and when finally they were able to walk on dry ground Noah built an altar and offered a sacrifice to God. So my question for you all is....when we go through our own personal floods (temptations, sicknesses, etc), when it is all said and done do we take the time to offer up sacrifices (give thanks) to the Lord for the things that we have experienced?

 

Con mucho amor,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Knocking on Doors

Good morning!!

 

Recently we've been doing a lot of knocking because we are trying to find some new people to teach. Unfortunately, the investigators that we currently have are not really progressing. Before my mission I thought I wouldn't enjoy knocking but I was wrong. In actuality I like doing it because of the wide variety of people that we get to meet.

So today I would like to give you a little taste of the types of people we've met as we've knocked in Reseda California...

 

We've had the "we're not interested" door slam, the peek through the window, wave, and ignore the door, the "I was raised (insert religion here) and don't go right now but I'm okay with my beliefs. Thanks for your time.",(those you could get just about everywhere but the rest were very singular)

 

One day we knocked a door and when opened we saw the biggest, most orange Hindu shrine I'd ever seen. The lady then told us about how she doesn't go to the doctor but instead takes a little bit of the white holy powder found on one of the pictures, mixes it with water, drinks it, and she's cured.

Another day we knocked the door of a man who believes strongly in medical marijuana. He expressed interest in coming to church but only if he could be sure that no one would judge him for wearing his "colors" (a ruby and emerald encrested cross with a marijuana leaf in the center). We left him with a pass along card to check out the mormon.org website and as we walked away he yelled, "Hemp will save the world!"

For the first time ever on Saturday we met someone who was raised going to the church of the Holy Rollers. And that same day we talked for a while with a lady who was very nice to listen to us but not super interested. Whenever we finish talking to people we always ask if we can pray with them before we go. Normally they'll just say "no thank you" but this time she told us "We don't need a Mormon prayer."

 

Life gets really interesting when we go knocking. You really never know what you'll find behind the door but sometimes we get really lucky and we find someone who has been prepared to receive the gospel. I love the experiences we've had where we knock the door and the person is really happy to see us. And the best is when they feel the spirit and then let us come into their home and teach them. Those are rare but they make every slammed door so much more worth it. And I know that if we have sufficient faith God will lead us in the right direction to find that person who is most in need right now.

 

It's time for me to go but know that I love you all.

 

Que tengan muy feliz semana! (Have a great week)

 

Con mucho amor,  

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Happy Father's Day!!

Good morning!!

 

First I would like to say a CONGRATULATIONS to Meg Fike for getting baptised a couple weeks ago. If you remember she was the lady I mentioned in an email a month or two ago that sent me a letter about how she had attended a Mormon service for the first time. I got a letter this week from her saying that she had got baptised. I love hearing stories like that and knowing that the ward back at home is growing.

 

In church yesterday one of the speakers mentioned how it was Father's Day. One of the things he said was that we ought to thank our Heavenly Father for the things that He has done for us ever day but even more so on this day. I was struck by that because we grow up celebrating our earthly fathers on this day but shouldn't we also celebrate that we have a Heavenly Father as well. I'm really greatful for my earthly father but also I'm extremely greatful that I was raised knowing that I have a Father in Heaven who loves me just as much. So today I would like to say THANK YOU to my dad and my Heavenly Father for everything that they have taught me and given me. I know that without either of them my life would not be the same.

 

One of the coolest experiences this week was with the De Leon family. The other week when we had sister exchanges Hna. Arguello and I had dinner at the De Leon's home and we read with them part of the Proclamation to the Family. We invited them to look at the things mentioned in the Proclamation and pick one that they could work on as a family. About a month or so ago Hna Fish and I had shared a thought on family prayer but they still were struggling with it. And so we were hoping that they would maybe pick that as the thing to work on. And that's what they did. They decided that they would start having family prayer every day before they sat down to dinner. Well...we followed up the next time we had dinner with them a few days ago and they have been successfully having family prayer every night!!! And the 7 year old daughter is super happy that they are now doing it. And what's even better is if they happen to forget before dinner someone always remembers and reminds the family that they need to do it. I was SOOOO excited when I heard that they were seeing success in their desire to be better at family prayer. 

 

Through many of the lessons that we've had this week and just generally during my time on the mission, I've found that true conversion really only comes when gospel principles are taught and learned by the spirit. I know that much of the success that I've seen with my companions has been because we strive to always have the spirit with us.

 

I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish this week. That was a really great moment. I love the scriptures and I really really know that they can help change our lives. And I know that there is comfort in those pages that we really can't find anywhere else.

 

I'm grateful for all of you and the support you give me.

 

Con mucho amor!

 

Hermana Hansen 

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Christlike Love

Good morning all,

 

Today we start a new transfer. For me this transfer marks the half way point of my mission. CRAZY!! and Hermana Fish and I are officially staying together! We're excited to continue working together and seeing this area progress even more.  

 

This week we had the pleasure of meeting someone who truly exemplifies Christ like love. The Elders had told us about a lady named Maria Guerrero and how she had requested that the sister missionaries come and visit her. We visited with her and as she shared with us her story I really could feel how much the Lord loves her and how much she loves the Gospel. About 8 months ago she met the missionaries in the street when she was going through a really hard time. Her grandson was incredibly sick and she was very sure that he would die. The missionaries talked with her and asked if they could give her grandson a priesthood blessing. They gave him a blessing and almost immediately her grandson went from on his death bed to sitting up and asking for food like nothing was wrong. She had literally seen a miracle in her life and for that reason she knew she couldn't not join the church. You might be wondering how does she exemplify Christ like love....recently her parents starting having extremely poor health that requires around the clock care. She told us that growing up with her parents was really difficult and for a long time it was hard to forgive them for some of the things that they did but when she came to know the gospel she recognized that she needed to love her parents anyway. So she took them into her home and devotes 100% of her time to them and their needs. And she does it without complaint or desire for any reward. She does it because she knows that the Lord wants her to. To me that is Christ like love because she is willingly putting past wrongs behind her and giving of herself for the needs of others. That's what Christ did for us...he gave of himself for the benefit of us...to fulfill our need for repentance from sin.

 

I also had the opportunity to finish the New Testament this week. I fell like I've really been able to draw closer to my Savior as I've read the pages that contain the story of His life. And my testimony of Him has grown immensely. I know without a doubt that Christ lived, died, and was resurrected for our sakes, so that we could attain that great gift of living with our Heavenly Father again and receiving eternal life. I know that I can't do anything without His assistance, so I must put my trust in Him everyday. I have learned so many things from the New Testament and have come to develop such a powerful love for the scriptures. They really are for our benefit and learning.

 Here is one final favorite scripture from the New Testament that I would like to share that illustrates one of the most important lessons we could ever learn...

1 Peter 4: 12-13 "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy."  

I know that all our trials are given to us for a purpose. The Lord always wants us to learn and to grow and for that reason we all have to experience fiery trials. But God gave us His son so that through Him our trials could ultimately bring us exceeding joy. And if that joy doesn't come in this life then it will definitely come in the next life when we can rest from all of our struggles.

I know these things to be true and I invite you to read the New Testament if you haven't or re-read it if you have.

 

So as I mentioned at the beginning...I'm at the half way point. I cannot be more grateful to be on a mission at this time in my life. I know that the Lord has called me at this time, to this place, with these companions for a purpose. I'm excited to continue working in his service for another 9 months!!

 

Have an absolutely fantastic week.

 

Con mucho amor,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Humility Bringeth About The Miracles

Hello all,

 

This week was really great. And for some reason my brain is refusing to let me right out in paragraphs how great this week was. It's like I don't have the words to describe everything that has been so amazing.

So forgive the randomness but it's the only thing that I can do right now since my brain is going in a million directions.

 

Nicte finally got confirmed!!! She was so excited she skipped off the stand :)

 

We had sister exchanges. I was companions with Hermana Arguello for a day. I found out that I still don't really know my area. We got incredibly lost :) but adventures were had and I'll have to send pictures later. 

We had an awesome lesson with a member family. The spirit was super strong there and they came to realize for themselves the importance of doing family prayer. Afterwards Hna Arguello said that she was really grateful that she had the opportunity to teach a family like that because she doesn't really get to teach families in her area. We both felt like it was the least stressful day we'd had in a while. Every time  we finish sister exchanges I'm always super grateful for my companion and my area. This was no exception and my missionary fire was definitely fed a lot that day.

 

We had a super big miracle when we finally were able to teach a lady named Martha. The lesson had such a strong spirit and we were able to set a baptismal date with her! If everything goes well she will be baptised on the 24th of this month!

 

So many other great things happened this week but I lack the time to share all.

 

Getting creative with the words helped me write in paragraphs. Maybe I should do that every week.

 

I just really want to share with you how much I have come to know that pride really takes away from the blessings that the Lord could be giving us. Our lives can be so much more richly blessed if we are willing to forget ourselves and do what the Lord would have us do.

 

Love you all,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Seminary and The Ensign

Hello all,

 

I hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial day weekend with lots of food, fun, and family. Our zone of missionaries had a special activity where we played broom hockey and ate hot dogs. It was really fun.

 

This week was good. We had the opportunity to attend the last day of Seminary. The teacher for the seminary class asked us to come and share our testimonies with all of the kids to kind of give them a good start for their summer vacation. The theme for the day was on the topic of how can you apply faith, virtue, vision, and three other gospel principles to becoming a "finisher". And each student had been asked to prepare  a short essay on that topic. As each student got up and shared their thoughts I was struck by how spiritually mature these teens already are. They know who they are, children of a loving Heavenly Father and they recognize what is important in life. And they all talked about how Christ is the ultimate finisher. He did everything that the Lord asked him to do. He didn't let criticism or betrayal or temptation sway Him from His ultimate purpose, to give His life so that we might be saved. I took away from that class how important it is for us to remember what our ultimate purpose is....to live with God again and receive eternal life. And what do we have to do to get there? Finish the race that is life. Don't let criticism, peer pressure, tempation, etc. distract us from our ultimate goal. We have to have faith, cleave to virtue, maintain an eternal vision, etc and all things "will work together for our good".

 

We've been working really hard to update all of our records with regards to members in our area. And we have been blessed in that aspect. We actually found an inactive older gentleman that no one in the ward had been able to get in contact with in years. When we told the bishop that we had found that gentleman and talked with him, he was SO shocked. I'm excited to help this man come back to the Gospel. He was baptised 10 years ago and went inactive 5 years ago. I'm excited to help him remember the feelings he had when he was baptised and why he believed in the Gospel. And I'm excited to potentially bring the blessings of the Gospel to the rest of his family because he is the only one that is a member. I know that the Gospel would bless his family so much and maybe now is the time when they are most prepared to receive it. I love this potential for new adventure :)

 

This week I have learned SOOOO much. I would encourage you all to read this month's edition of the Ensign. When I read the article by President Eyring I was deeply struck by his message. I know without a doubt that the Lord speaks to us through so many different ways. And this week for me it was through the Ensign (it was an answer to one of my unspoken prayers). I know that no matter what you may have a question about, whatever you may struggle with, the Lord will always find a way to communicate with you to help you know what you need to do. That answer may come through the scriptures, through a blessing, through a church magazine, through a friend, etc. But the answer will ALWAYS come. I have no doubt about that.

 

I love you all and am grateful for you!!!

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - "the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind"

Hello all,

 

This week I learned a lot about myself. There were three days in a row where I really felt like I wasn't a good missionary. I had dropped the ball on a few things and I was really beating myself up about it. And after talking with a couple of other missionaries on Sunday about how I was doing I came to realize that a lot of what I was struggling with was perfectionism. I think I've always been the type where I think about what I could have done better in every situation. Even if others say I did a good job, I always think differently. Crazy, I know. And that perfectionism really affects me as a missionary. I thought I had learned the lesson about how I don't need to expect perfection at the beginning of my mission. But I guess I only applied it in one area of my life, with my Spanish learning abilities. I let go of requiring perfection of myself then and my spanish progressed a lot and I was much happier. Now that I'm learning how to be senior companion I'm having the same experience again. So I'm starting to work on letting the perfection go. Because though the Lord asks us to become perfect, I am only human and I am going to make mistakes. And when I make mistakes I just need to accept them as opportunities to learn. And one of the sister missionaries shared this quote with me after talking with her,

 

"When you let go of who you were, then Heavenly Father will show you who you really are."

So this is me resolved to let go of my old perfectionist self so that the Lord can mold me into who He needs me to be. And I'm excited to be shown who I really am. I guess you could say I'm off on a road of self discovery :)

 

In other news.... this weekend we had a baptism!!! (Sorry no pictures, I don't have the right cord to connect my camera to the computer anymore)

It was a baptism for a 10 year old named Nicte. She is such an amazing girl. She's been waiting for a while to be baptised because she really wanted her dad to do it. So for 2 years missionaries have been going over to her family's house every tuesday. Hermana Fish has told me that the change in the family over the last 3 months has been amazing. The parents used to just go to church for one hour (sacrament meeting) and the mom wasn't sure that she really had a testimony. But over these past 3 months the parents are now going to every activity, all 3 hours of church, and the mom KNOWS without a doubt that the church is true. AND what is even better is that Nicte's dad was able to baptise her! He'd never baptised anyone before, so he had to do it 3 times :) But I have never seen someone so happy to be baptised as this little girl. She is truly converted and she is SOOOO excited to get the Holy Ghost next week. This family is such a great example to me and I'm so grateful that I have a chance to be a part of their lives as they now prepare to go to the temple to sealed as a family.

 

I love you all,

 

Hermana Hansen

 

 

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Feliz dia de las madres !!

Hello all,

 

It was so great to have the opportunity to talk with the family for a little bit yesterday (Sunday). I hope everyone had a terrific Mother's Day. We had the opportunity to celebrate Mother's Day twice in our ward because Mother's Day in Mexico is the 11th of May. Our ward had a really great activity in honor of mothers on Friday night. There was really great food and then they had a live Mariachi band come and play. It was a super fun way to celebrate the weekend. And then of course American Mother's Day on Sunday.

 

This week was really great. We had a lot of success and we were kept really busy. There is so much work to be done here and we really could use another set of missionaries here to help us out. We have about 70 member families in our area (so far half of which are inactive) and about 25 families in our teaching pool of investigators. That is a lot of people that we want to work with. But with just the two of us there is not enough time in the week to visit everyone. Hopefully one day we will get more missionaries but for now we'll keep working hard and seeing as many people as we can with just our companionship.

 

The Lord is definitely blessing us for the hard work that we are putting in. One of the big miracles that happened for us this week was a lesson we had with N..... and J....... We go over to visit with N.......'s mom, A...., every Tuesday and Thursday. When the sister missionaries started visiting about 3 months ago, N..... and J....... would always go and hide in the back room or sit outside until the sisters left. Then this past Thursday we go to visit Alma and we start talking with N...... and J...... about the baptism we are going to have this weekend. (N......'s sister is dating the older brother of the girl that is getting baptised) They expressed interest in going and then N...... out of the blue asks us if we could explain Joseph Smith. We were shocked but we said sure we can explain that for you. So we sat down and talked. They actually listened to a lesson on the Restoration! It was awesome!!! And now N..... really wants to go to church. J..... has had some bad experiences with religion in the past so she's a little more skeptical but with time we're sure that she will come around. And hopefully now that the whole family is meeting with us it will be easier for them to come to church. But it was such a great lesson and we're excited to see how everything turns out with them.

 

A...... came to the ward activity on Friday which was a huge step for her. She had foot surgery about the time the sisters first started going over and so hasn't been able to go anywhere for a long time. But her recovery is going really well so she was able to spend some time at the church on Friday. We're also hoping that now that she can walk around without assistance and that she's met more people from church that she'll feel more comfortable to come to the services on Sunday.

 

Today happens to be exactly 8 months from when I entered the MTC in September. How quickly the time flies. I feel like I've come such a long way. And I know that I still have so many things to learn, I'm excited to see what else is in store.

 

Thanks for all your support.

 

Con amor,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - And the learning continues...

Hello everyone!

 

This week has been a big learning curve for me. Going to a new area, a new companion, and becoming senior companion. A lot of changes in a short amount of time. But every day I'm getting a little bit better and a little bit more comfortable in the area.  

 

We're working a lot with our area book and trying to find old investigators to see if they would be interested in listening to the missionaries again. We've actually had some success with that.

One day we were looking for a man named Antonio. We knocked his door and started talking to him and he really gave off the impression that he didn't want to talk to us. So we left after a couple of minutes. I came away feeling like we wouldn't ever see him again but Hna Fish felt like we weren't done with him, that he still had some potential. We then realized that we hadn't knocked some of the other people that live in his complex so we turned around and went back in. We walk by and Antonio starts coming down his stairs to talk to us again. He was like "Wait! I have a question. Why are there so many churches?" I was floored. I don't know what changed from when we were talking to him at his door to two minutes later when we were walking by his staircase. But whatever happened we ended up talking to him for 20 minutes or so about how so many churches came to be. We then left him with a pamphlet on the restoration to read. Hopefully we can visit with him again this week and talk more....hopefully in his home and not on the staircase :)

Another day we decided that we would try to visit a family that had met with the missionaries a little over a year ago. Often times if it's been that long the people will have moved but miracle of miracle we were able to find the wife at home. This family seems so great. They loved coming to church last year but they stopped progressing because his mother showed them some anti-mormon literature. Well, the wife was incredibly welcoming. She remembered fondly the missionaries that had taught her before and she was very open to us coming back to visit. What was interesting was that in the short time that we talked with her, we learned that her husband is good friends with one of the members in our ward. So we talked with that member and he was absolutely thrilled to hear that we had found that family again. So tonight we are going with the member to visit with them.

 

We also have started teaching a 10 year old girl named Katherine. She is terrific. She is the daughter of a less active member who really wants to come back to church. We taught Katherine for the first time this week and she literally soaked everything up like a sponge. We asked to read the first chapter of the Book of Mormon before we came and visited again. And she said that she would have the first 8 chapters read!! Hardly ever does someone say that they will do more than what we assign them. Generally, they'll say well I'll try to read the chapter but I won't make any promises. She actually said that she would read way more!! Then on Sunday I asked her if she had been reading. And she said yes and that she found it to be really interesting. Hallelujah!!! We set a date with her to be baptised the 27th of this month. The only thing that would potentially keep that from happening is if her dad doesn't give permission. But we have an appointment for Wednesday and hopefully we can talk to him then.

 

So many awesome people live here. The members are terrific [they feed us a ton, so I may gain a bajillion pounds but hopefully not :)]. There are so many areas of untapped potential to find more investigators. Many of the investigators that we do have, have such a desire to learn and progress.

 

Looking back on the week it has been a really refreshing change of pace.

 

I continue to learn every day from my study of the New Testament. This week I finished Romans and read a lot in 1 Corinthians. If you ever want to know how you can become more like Christ, I would suggest reading Romans 12. I LOVE that chapter.

 

Well, that's all for now. I love you all and pray for you.

 

Con amor,

 

Hermana Hansen