This has been a good week. Many, many good things came of this week. This last week for P-day the sisters in our area went to a sweet members house (Sister Clark) and learned how to make pies. It was so fun! I felt the whole time like I was in Grandma and Grandpa Livingston's house because it is decorated very similarly. So, I felt very at home. We had a great time laughing and enjoying the yummy-ness that we made.
This week was had an awesome lesson with a neighbor of one of our investigators. Her name is Elizabeth. She is about 14 years old, so about Kimberly's age, and she is a very sincere girl. During the lesson the Spirit was so strong and whispered so many times to us the love that the Lord has for this girl. There were a few times when I couldn't hold back the tears. She very sincerely wants to learn about God and loves praying to Him. What a special experience that was! I can't wait to teach her again.
This week we had a training with President Howes. In the end he talked with us about things that might be holding us back from doing our best. We wrote down a lot of things that might do that and then he drew a little trialer around it. He told us in order to let go of these burdens, we need to "unhitch our trailers'. Hermana Norton and I decided that we have a lot of little worries that are holding us back, so we decided to 'unhitch our trailers' by burning little things that remind us of them. We burned just little things, like an X-small tag that reminds me that I'm little, and we did it in our apartment complex one night before bed. It was so freeing and fun! I know that part of the reason that I'm on a mission is to get over a lot of my worries, so this is one step in the right direction. :)
We also had a really good lesson with one of our favorite people, Luis. We've been super worried about Luis because he has been having a hard time coming to church. He's planning on getting baptized in about 2 weeks, but he hasn't been feeling up to come to church for the past little bit. He has had a super hard life and sometimes wakes up feeling really depressed and because of that He doesn't want to go anywhere. We wanted Luis to see that the church is where you can go to be healed from all your hurt because that is where you come to know Jesus Christ and his power to heal us. We felt prompted to ask a sweet older lady in the ward to come to the lesson, Hermana Cordoza. She came to the lesson and bore a sweet, powerful testimony of the Lord's ability to save us. She compared the church to a "hospital of souls" where we all come with our own spiritual sicknesses to get the help of the Lord. The Spirit was just beaming off of her face and Luis surely felt it. His countanence changed so much during the lesson and yesterday he showed up to church and stayed the whole time. I don't think I've ever seen him so happy!
On Saturday we had a baptism of Juanito, the 9 year old we've been teaching. It was such a special occasion for that family, because his little brother also was baptized. The whole family and extended family lives in our ward and they all came to the baptism and it was a huge turnout! The spirit was there strongly. I love being a missionary and feeling the spirit like that so often. Their mother is not a member, but she actually has met with the missionaries before and helped us teach Juan a bunch. She knows a lot about the church and we are excited to see if she might be interested in talking to us agian.
Even though so much good has happened, I'll admit that it's been hard this week to not think of home and to be so excited for Kara's wedding and also miss everyone a ton. But the Lord has helped me a lot. Hermana Norton has showered me with hugs and with little notes to remind me that she cares that I'm here. Also, randomly on saturday (the day of the wedding) we recieved a text from our zone leaders that said this: "Good morning sisters. Last night I felt prompted to thank both of you for deciding to serve a mission. So thank you." I know that the Lord knew this week how hard it might be, but He truly blessed me with so many things to help me remember how wonderful it is that I'm on a mission. During the week it was hard, but then on Saturday, I felt completely fine. I felt very happy and a lot of peace. I know the Lord strengthened me this week a lot. I am so grateful for a Father in Heaven that knows of our little worries and cares about them too. I'm so happy for Kara and Justin and I loved the pictures that I was able to see of the wedding. I hope all is going well at home.
love you all,
Hermana Hansen
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