"I can't believe her husband wants to marry her!"

What a beautiful week! Crazy and very full, but very good!

Last night we got transfer calls and.... FINALLY I am....still here next transfer. :) That will make it 9 months at least in Tempe. So fun! I feel so blessed to still be here. I am so happy to continue to work among these people, to be with Hermana Taylor, and to gain as much learning as I can.

This week we were able to teach Patricio's sister and her kids. It was such a beautiful lesson! The kids were crazy, just telling us everything they knew about Jesus already and asking us so many other questions about Him. They are such little angels! Patricio's sister, Charito, was so proud of her kids and their eagerness to learn about Jesus and started crying. She really is such a sweet woman and we are really excited to see them progress in the gospel. They all really wanted to come to church for our ward's primary program this last week, but they didn't make it. Hopefully next week.

Friday night we had a lesson with Marlene and Maria. It was one powerful, Spirit-filled lesson! We were able to talk to them about the gospel of Jesus Christ and as we talked about faith, the Spirit came over them and they shared some beautiful experiences that they have had as they have had faith in God throughout their lives. It was so beautiful! Neither of them have ever found a church that they felt comfortable in, but have always had a firm belief in Jesus Christ and have tried to follow Him and they have seen miracles. Hermana Taylor and I were in shock by the things they told us. We felt like we were the ones being taught and it the things that they said, flowed so perfectly into our lesson. The whole experience was so incredible and helped me to realize the importance of being in tune with the Spirit. During the lesson I realized how much the Lord had guided our lesson plans and we felt His guiding influence throughout the lesson to know exactly what to say and what they needed to hear. We also talked to Marlene about the law of chastity a little bit. Her 'husband' and her are not married yet and we talked to her about the importance of that. She seemed a little worried about it, but at chruch on Sunday she told us that she had talked to her 'husband' and he wants to marry her. We are so excited! The Mexican culture is so against marriage sometimes, but the Lord is truly helping her and leading her so that she can be a member of His church. The quote from the subject line is something that we said when we found out how easily her 'husband' agreed to marry Marlene and we just think it's such a silly sounding quote. So this week we're going to plan the wedding and hopefully they'll be married in the next few weeks!

Yesterday was the Primary Program for our ward. As I listened and watched these precious little brown ninos I was reminded of what Jesus said to "suffer the little children to come unto me". Their testimonies were so pure and so strong! And the primary music was so much more beautiful in Spanish. I loved it!

Everyone else is doing well. Patricio's on his way to baptism and recieved a beautiful priesthood blessing this last week. Luis is so wonderful! He actually has been coming to lessons with us and helping us teach and he loves it! Last night we were teaching a lesson and the Spirit was so strong and Hermana Taylor, my cute little daughter, started to cry. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, especially for those of you that know how much I cry, but Hermana Taylor NEVER cries, but she was just feeling it so much yesterday and I'm so proud of her. :) Sorry about the silly little side note. But overall things are just going wonderful here and I'm so excited to be able to spend Christmas time and Thanksgiving with all these people that I love. One good thing about being in the United States still and working with the Hispanics is that you get to celebrate both the Mexican and the American holidays, so this next week we have our Thanksgiving activity and we're really excited.

love you all,
Hermana Anneli Hansen

A Chill in the Air...

Well, this week it finally started to get a little colder. It's been between 50 and 70 degrees the last few days and it's been wonderful. Sadly, though, I think I'm getting used to the heat because the first day that it happened I felt so cold! But I know it's nothing compared to Utah snow and winters. I'm grateful to experience something different this year. Good luck with all of you in the snow right now. :)

This was a very blessed week! We had so many new miracles and I have so much to tell. Patricio has been doing really well, but is still having so much opposition. But he is overcoming everything in his own time. He has such a desire to follow Heavenly Father and to be a faithful member of His church. He's been reading the scriptures a ton to find strength and he has been realizing just how much the commandments make sense. He's so wonderful!

This week we had a zone conference and we talked all about planning. We talked about the importance of planning things out well so that we can be in the right place at the right time. With that we also talked about the fact that even if the things we plan don't go through, God will put us in the path to help the people we need. We saw the truthfulnes of that that very night. We had all these plans that ended up all falling through, but it was amazing, because the very last thing on our list was what we needed to do. We went to visit a person we've been trying to teach for a long time, Vicente. He hasn't been returning our phone calls and we've been a little worried. When we stopped by, we found out that he had some doubts about our church because the senator here that passed the immigration law is mormon. We had a really good experience and we able to help him through his doubt and testify that we knew that each person is special to God and that he could recieve an answer for himself from God that this is true. Now he has a great desire to find out for himself and told us to give him a few weeks and then call him again. He wants to be able to study the Book of Mormon out on his own. We know the Lord led us to him so that we could help him overcome those doubts.
Last week we recieved a referral of a lady in our area named Estela. We immediately recognized that she is a lady that we'd talked to before that had no interest in learning the gospel, but had been out of work for a while. We stopped by and saw an amazing change in her. The Lord really has softened her heart to be ready to hear about our message. She's so lost with her life, being a young single mom without work, and knows she needs more. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and asked her after about what she felt like God's purpose is for her life right now. She said that she knew that Heavenly Father was trying to bring her closer to Him and that He had something better for her life. And then she told us that she had actually been baptized about 13 years ago, but became inactive immediately, but wants to come back to church now. Wow! We were so blessed that we could find her and help her find her way back. Something that I've realized about teaching less-actives is that it is just as important, if not more important, to teach them and help them come closer to Christ because they have already made a covenant with Him. We're grateful to have found Estela and that she is ready.

Last week I wrote about a miracle that we had in finding a lady named Marlen that is truly ready to find the gospel. Well, she came to chruch this week and loved it so much! She told the Relief Society sisters that she'd be coming from here on out and that night she decided to be baptized at the end of this month. She and her mother, Maria, are so willing to accept everything that we have to tell them and are so in tune with the spirit. As we taught her last night, she prayed that one day her family would all be a part of "la iglesia verdadera" or "the true church". Wow!
Yesterday Luis recieved the Aaronic Priesthood! He was so, so nervous, but it went really well and he's so excited. He is so strong in his testimony and I can already see the church blessing his life. When we come over for lessons with him, he likes to share scriptures with us that he's found on his own in the Book of Mormon. He's such a sweet man and always talking about how grateful it is for the gospel. Yesterday in principios del evangelio (gospel principles) he read outloud a scripture and prayed in front of everyone! His reading has improved so much as he has read the scriptures every day. I can see the Lord's hand in his life so much. What a blessing he has been to me. I feel so blessed to be able to be a little part of his journey.

Yesterday, we were eating dinner with a couple in our ward and they asked me what my favorite thing about the mission was and I told them that my favorite thing was the love that I feel for the people. I couldn't help it, but choke up and cry as I told that. I just love being a missionary and I can't believe that I have this amazing opportunity to see how much Heavenly Father loves His precious children, no matter how many times they may mess up, He always sees their hearts and loves them still. And He's just waiting with open arms to recieve them into His love! I know that He feels that way for every single one of us. I hope you all can feel of His love and of the love I have for all of you!

love,
Hermana Anneli Hansen

Overwhelmed With Blessings...and Happy Halloween

I know that last week I told you that Patricio had given up smoking for good. Well, he didn't...But this last week we fasted with him and he has been very blessed and has now gone 3.5 days without a cigarette. We're so proud! He's working towards baptism for next weekend.

This week Luis was confirmed. We had a really good experience with that and the Spirit was so strong. Lately, there have been some really precious moments when I've just felt full of God's love and that was one of them. After the confimation, he was able to talk to the bishop a lot and get a lot of support from him. The ward is also so supportive of him and he already has this awesome group of friends. Every time we go by to visit him, he thanks us for all we've done in his life, though it's not us, and he always has some kind of food to give us. He's such a charitable man!

I don't know if I've talked about Wilfrido before, but he's a young guy we've been teaching lately who's had the lessons before and just really wants to overcome some weaknesses he has. This week we set a baptismal date with him for later this month and he's really excited. He already knows that so much of what we are teaching is true and we're just kind of reminding him about all of that. We're really excited for him.

This week we met Marlen. Marlen was probably the biggest blessing of the week. Early on in the week we talked to her while she was on her way to work. She was in a hurry, but asked if our church was a family church and when we said yes, she said to stop by friday. When we went by friday, we only had a little time, but we gave her a Book of Mormon, told her a little about it and taught her how to pray. She was so eager to learn and was really excited to read and pray. She gave the closing prayer at the end of the lesson and it was very beautiful. Yesterday we also had a lesson set up with her. When we stopped by, there was an older couple walking outside the house. When they saw us, they turned around and started talking with us. We found out that they were Marlen's mom and step-father. The father has had a lot of health problems lately and is really weak. We told them a little about what we did and our message and told them they were welcome to join us for the lesson. They thanked us and walked inside, but during our lesson with Marlen, her mom came in and asked us if we would come give them a little message after we had finished with Marlen. (I'll finish their part of the story in a bit.) Our lesson with Marlen was a miracle. She told us that she had read the part in the Book of Mormon we'd given her (3 Nephi 11) and wants to be baptized. She has seen so many miracles and signs from Heavenly Father the past few days since we met her and is ready to take the steps to follow God. She had so many incredible questions for us and she already knows that this is true. She wants to bring her whole family into this process with her too, so this next week, we're excited to teach them all! Afterwards we talked to her mom and step father for a bit. They are also hungry to learn about the gospel. What an incredible blessing this is that just plopped into our lives! A FAMILY! We ended the night with a huge prayer of gratitude to our Heavenly Father that led us to them.

Julieta is also another blessing that has fallen into our lives. A few weeks ago, we stopped by the apartment of an old investigator and found out that that person had moved, but met Julieta. She's a mom of 6 kids and is trying to be a good example for them and teach them what's right. We had a really good lesson with her as well and she was really touched when we talked about how the gospel could bless her family. We'll see what happens when we go back this next week...

This week we had a mission tour, where Elder Wilson, a member from the seventy, and his wife came and talked to us and gave us direction about being better missionaries. All of the Sisters and Hermanas were there and it was a really powerful meeting. I learned a ton about being a better missionary and Hermana Taylor and I felt like the whole thing was catered to our area and our investigators and situations. And it was so good to have all the sisters in one place at one time. They are so wonderful and I am learning a lot from them about being a better missionary.

This weekend we had a Halloween party for our ward. We had a really good turn out and a lot of people came. We had a lot of non-members there too and some crazy costumes. Hermana Taylor was the color blue and I was the color green. Patricio's sister came with her kids and had a wonderful time at the trunk-or-treat and playing all the games. We are really excited about that because every day she seems more and more interested in our message. Every time we have a lesson, she's in the background on the couch listening. She wasn't interested at first, but we think she's gaining more and more interest the more we come by. And she's also going through some trials right now, so this might be a perfect time for her. This was a big step for her to come to the church and meet some ward members. This week we plan to talk to her and see if she's a little more open to out message. Even Patricio's in on it. He wants her to learn as well and is helping us with a plan.

Well, what a week! I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for all He's blessing our area with and the things he's doing in other people's lives so that they can find the gospel. I love you all at home, but right now I just want to be a missionary forever! There's nothing that beats this joy!

The picture are of bowling on P-day.
We were colors for Halloween.