I've found that in the longest weeks of my mission, that is where I grow the most. So far, this transfer has been filled with long weeks, so I know I have a lot of learning to do. We saw the hand of the Lord in the work so many times this week. It was incredible! And we also had some harder experiences, but it's all good.
This week we taught Chris and Jesse, these two less actives that we are working with. We had an amazing lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ. They both are growing in their testimonies and the spirit was so strong. These two are not afraid to share their testimonies or their beliefs. They know this is true, they just need to find their way back. Jesse shared a Christian rap that he wrote with us this week. It was awesome! :) After the lesson, we gave them each a note card with their names on it and told them to write down one thing that they want to do this week to be closer to God. They took it really seriously and made some really good goals. Also, we got a text from them this week telling us that they talked to their neighbor about the gospel and gave him a Book of Mormon. Yay!
One of the greatest things that happened this week was in a lesson we had with Patricio. He is an investigator that we have that has been trying to give up smoking. To support him, we've been giving up chocolate, which is a lot harder than it seems, but we love him and want to help him. We had kind of a last minute lesson with him and went there not knowing what to teach or what to say, but the Lord guided us. During the lesson he told us that he had prayed specifically about many things, one of them being the Book of Mormon, and he had received very clear answers to all of his prayers. He knows that the Book of Mormon is true and has a great desire to follow God. We talked with him about how we knew the Lord had a great plan for him and that this was his time to follow Him. The Spirit just glowed from his eyes and we could all feel the confirmation that this was all true. He gave us his last pack of cigarettes and signed it promising God that he would not smoke anymore. Wow! He is going to be baptized on October the 8th. Sometimes I am just so blown away at these incredible experiences that I can have and how precious these people are to God. Since our lesson, Satan has been working on Patricio and he had some things come up that kept him from coming to church, but I have faith that the Lord has a plan for him and He will help him through this time.
Luis is also getting baptized on the 8th. This week he told us that he has no doubts about the church. NO DOUBTS! He wants to make this change in his life and he's really excited. And he's been living the commandments so well. We are just so proud of him! He also just needs to learn the importance of coming to church. :)
It has been amazing weather here in the last few days. Cloudy and cool and it even rained a little. There was one night that we came outside and I felt like I needed a little sweater. It's been about 80-100 degress lately and I love it. People say it won't last, but so far, I love Septembers in Arizona!
We did a lot of biking this week, which was good, but for some reason, Satan is working on us and we had a lot of hard experiences while doing it. We talked to some people that were very against the church and had some kind of humiliating experiences. But that's okay. We're here to serve the Lord. Last night I was listening to the song "I feel my Savior's Love". I thought about how much I've felt His love in my life and because of that I know that I will "follow Him, give all my life to Him".
This week I've remembered the importance of gratitude. I know that life never is going to be perfect, especially while I'm a missionary, but it's important to be grateful for the things we have. Yesterday in church, a lot of situations we have with the ward, with less actives, and with investigators were weighing down on us, but I knew that I should focus on the good. In my journal I wrote down all the blessings we'd recieved and my blessings out weighed the trials 3 to 1. Gratitude is such a help, such a divine virtue.
Looking back on all that has happened so far this transfer, I feel like this is a transfer of stretching and of healing. I can see the Lord molding me and shaping me into something better and I feel so blessed that He cares enough about me to want to make me better. I truly feel His love in my life even amidst the stretching. I see so much support here from the sweet members of our little ward and can't help but just love them to death! How great is God that He knows better what we need and works such amazing things in our lives that we couldn't ever have dreamed of!
Con Amor,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
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