Well, another good week has passed. Time just flies by way too fast here in Arizona. There's so much to tell, I don't even know where to begin. I'll start with transfers. So, like I said last week, I'm staying in a companionship with Hermana Staples and Hermana Saxon got a new companion. You'll never guess who that companion is. It's.......HNA TAYLOR! I was so excited when I heard and even since she's been living with us, it's just been a huge tender mercy to have her close. She's such a good missionary and such a good friend. She's helping me to see more good in the work and to be inspired to be better. I love her! It's been a little crazy with all four of us in the apartment together with all that we have to do, but we have a lot of fun. And it's been wonderful being with Hermana Staples. I love having just two of us and I feel like we've been working together in unity and things have been going really well. I'm super excited for this transfer. I know it's going to be good.
We had this amazing experience with a part member family that we are teaching. We were teaching them last week and they had been having a really stressful day and some crazy things happening with their family. The mom decided to make the thirteen year old son join the lesson. He was reluctant, but did eventually. During the lesson, Hermana Staples let him borrow her scriptures and asked him to read a verse. He did and actually listened and paid attention fairly well to the lesson. Near the end of the lesson he turned to Hermana Staples and made a silly comment. He said (referring to the scriptures) "These are making my hands sweat!", and then he handed them back to her. We just all thought it was a little weird until she told us later that she had wanted so badly for the scriptures to make an impact on him that she had prayed that the scriptures would "burn his hands". That's Hermana Staples for you, but the amazing thing about it was that her prayer was answered-the scriptures did make and impact on him by literally making his hands feel hotter. It was a crazy, but amazing experience to see how much the Lord is aware of our efforts and willing to answer our prayers.
The two Ashely's we are teaching are doing super well. Ashely and Ryan have been so excited about Ashely's baptism. She's been giving up so, so much because she knows and feels that this is right. She's now living the word of wisdom and obeying the law of chastity and keeping the sabbath day holy so well. She's so willing to give up her old life because she wants to follow the Lord and can feel that this is right. I feel so, so blessed to be able to watch the whole process and to just love her so much! I'm so proud of her and Ryan both.
This last week was the last week of the snowbird branch for the year. I didn't get to see Grandma and Grandpa Hansen again before they left, but I hope they enjoyed the rest of the time they had down here. I love that branch so much and we've enjoyed being able to learn and grow from them. This last week every night we had dinners with them and they were so sweet to us. They just loved us and encouraged us in everything we are doing. And yesterday they actually split the branch and so next October they will have two branches of snowbirds because it's just gotten so big.
Yesterday we had another ward council meeting with the ward that chewed us out a few weeks ago. This week was a ton better. We've been really working on finding solutions to the problems we were having with our investigators and doing what's right for them and I hope the ward noticed. Everything seemed to go smoothly, so we're very grateful for that. Lately we've been realizing that we need to build our member trust. Since neither of us has been in the area very long, we want to be able to get to know the members better and show them how much we love them and the Lord and want to help them. This week we plan on visiting a bunch of them and finding ways to serve them and help them in their callings and to be better missionaries. We're excited.
We also taught this cute man named Robert who is actually in the other Hermana's area, so they are now teaching him. But he is so cute! He's a 50 year old rancher who just recently moved here to Yuma and wants to start over. He is such a gentleman and cute little farmboy. He just wants to help others and to follow God. His prayers are awesome! And he's preparing to be baptized soon!
Anyway, that's about all to report for now. Hope you all have a wonderful week. Enjoy General Conference! We can hardly wait!
love,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Yuma for Life!
Last night we got transfer calls. We've been anticipating all transfer that they would bring another sister down here and make two companionships of sisters. And that's exactly what's going to happen. I'll stay in Yuma and Hermana Staples and I will be companions and Sister Saxon is being inner-zone-transfered and will have a new companion. But we'll all still live together in the same apartment. It will be a party! We also found out that many of the elders here are being transfered too. We know it's the Lord's will, but we've all been able to really learn and grow from each other down here and we are sad to see the zone be changed. But I am excited to be able to work with and learn from other missionaries. I haven't really served around too many missionaries during my mission so far because I've only been in two areas, so it's always good to meet and learn from new people. I am determined to love this transfer and know that the Lord has much in store for us. I'm excited to be able to split the area and to be able to hopefully focus more on the Spanish work and to be able to love these people here more. I want to love them like I loved the people in Tempe. And I want to love Hermana Staples more. She's so wonderful and it will be a wonderful transfer.
This weekend was the Yuma Stake Conference. It was amazing and it was all on teaching others about the gospel, which I, of course, loved! They talked about how we must live the gospel to be able to teach it to others and how we can be better teachers in our families and to those around us. Many of the talks talked about the importance of parents teaching their children the gospel. It hit me how much I have been blessed in life to be able to have been taught the gospel and to have such a loving home where the Spirit could always be felt. Mom and Dad, thank you so much for that!
This week we've been able to teach a bunch and things are going well. There's not too much new information to tell about the people we teach, but we've had some very good lessons with them. I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to teach them all. I love them so much. One of the Ashley's that we are teaching is doing super well. She's so excited to be baptized and to one day get married in the temple to her boyfriend, Ryan. She isa little overwhelmed trying to change her life, but she's seeing so much the will of the Lord in her life and how much she can learn and grow as she follows Him. She's so wonderful. We also taught a lesson this week to Melinda and Marcos about the Plan of Salvation. It was such a good lesson. They just understood it all so well and when we read a scripture with them about baptism, Marcos told us "I need to get baptized!" It was amazing!
Well, it's short this week. Sorry about that. Happy first day and spring this week. I hope you all are doing super well.
love you,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
This weekend was the Yuma Stake Conference. It was amazing and it was all on teaching others about the gospel, which I, of course, loved! They talked about how we must live the gospel to be able to teach it to others and how we can be better teachers in our families and to those around us. Many of the talks talked about the importance of parents teaching their children the gospel. It hit me how much I have been blessed in life to be able to have been taught the gospel and to have such a loving home where the Spirit could always be felt. Mom and Dad, thank you so much for that!
This week we've been able to teach a bunch and things are going well. There's not too much new information to tell about the people we teach, but we've had some very good lessons with them. I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to teach them all. I love them so much. One of the Ashley's that we are teaching is doing super well. She's so excited to be baptized and to one day get married in the temple to her boyfriend, Ryan. She isa little overwhelmed trying to change her life, but she's seeing so much the will of the Lord in her life and how much she can learn and grow as she follows Him. She's so wonderful. We also taught a lesson this week to Melinda and Marcos about the Plan of Salvation. It was such a good lesson. They just understood it all so well and when we read a scripture with them about baptism, Marcos told us "I need to get baptized!" It was amazing!
Well, it's short this week. Sorry about that. Happy first day and spring this week. I hope you all are doing super well.
love you,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Life Gave Me Lemons, but...
Well, it has been a really good week and and lot of great things have happened, but there were also some very hard things that happened. I know I'm supposed to be here and I know the Lord has a lot for me to learn, but this is turning out to probably be the hardest transfer so far. At the beginning of the transfer I decided that I needed to be more humble. And BOY, the Lord is teaching me humility. But there are a lot of little tender mercies along the way too.
One of the biggest blessings this week is that we had an amazing lesson with Ashley. We talked with her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and as we talked about the Spirit, she told us that every time she meets with us she feels the feelings we've been discribing. She said that everytime she tries to talk during lessons, she feels like she's going to tear up because she feels those feelings so strong. That was an amazing opportunity to testify of the power of the Spirit in our lives and how much it can help us. Also the other Ashley that we are teaching told us at church yesterday that she wants to be baptized. Tonight we plan to talk to her about getting married to her boyfriend because that's one thing she'll have to do before getting baptized. But we're super excited for her!
This last wednesday we had a full, full day. It was a blessed leap day. We had a lesson every single hour and we ended up teaching 7 lessons and going to a baptism with an investigator. That was a huge blessing. As time goes on, I want to get more and more done in each day to make sure that I really can do all I can on my mission. And this was a huge blessing for me. I can't believe all we can get done in one day and how many people we can touch. It's amazing!
We taught a few new people this week. One was a middle-aged man named Mike, who has recently been through a bitter divorce and is really searching for peace from the Lord. We taught him a little bit about the Book of Mormon and listened to his sorrows and testified of the healing power of this wonderful book of scripture. He was so excited to read it and so grateful to us, but because of where he lives, some other elders will be teaching him. He's such a sweet man and we know those elders will teach him and that he's in good hands. We also had some member referrals for some other peopel, a woman named Lisa and a couple, Melinda and Marcos. They both are searching for something new in their lives and we know what we have is what they are looking for.
Our Sunday was probably the hardest day. After a long week I was super tired waking up Sunday. But I was excited for the day and what good things would happen. Then we went to church. We had a ward council meeting with one of our wards and during it the whole ward council attacked our missionary efforts. I never thought I would get attacked by other members, but it happened yesterday. We've been having some sticky situations with some of our investigators and we've been trying to figure out how to handle them tactfully, but the ward when they saw the situations we were in critized every single person we were teaching and all our efforts. We've been trying so hard in this particular ward to get the work going and to help them, but it was hard because they didn't see it at all. They were pretty rash about their comments they made to us and were very critical of us. I don't want to be bitter to this ward and I don't want to hold it against them, but I doesn't mean that it didn't make the day hard. Then we went to one of our other wards and found out that Cherie who was getting baptized this week had decided that she no longer wanted to be baptized and didn't want anything to do with the church anymore. It was a hard day and we all cried our fair share, but we know the Lord has things to teach us, humility being one of them. I would just ask to keep me in your prayers so that I can be strong.
Each day we grow so much as a companionship and the trials and stresses we had this week really have brought us together. I love my companions. They are amazing! They really help lift me up and make me better. Each day we learn so much from each other and grow 10 times more than we did before. One thing we've been talking a lot about as a companionship is "Looking Up", from the talk shared in conference "It's Better to Look Up" It's crazy how many scriptures talk about that. This week alone we have found about 10 and we love to share them with each other. Here are a few: Jacob 3:1 and D&C 6:36-37.
Well, my time is up and I better go. Love you all so much! Have a wonderful week and Happy March!
love,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
One of the biggest blessings this week is that we had an amazing lesson with Ashley. We talked with her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and as we talked about the Spirit, she told us that every time she meets with us she feels the feelings we've been discribing. She said that everytime she tries to talk during lessons, she feels like she's going to tear up because she feels those feelings so strong. That was an amazing opportunity to testify of the power of the Spirit in our lives and how much it can help us. Also the other Ashley that we are teaching told us at church yesterday that she wants to be baptized. Tonight we plan to talk to her about getting married to her boyfriend because that's one thing she'll have to do before getting baptized. But we're super excited for her!
This last wednesday we had a full, full day. It was a blessed leap day. We had a lesson every single hour and we ended up teaching 7 lessons and going to a baptism with an investigator. That was a huge blessing. As time goes on, I want to get more and more done in each day to make sure that I really can do all I can on my mission. And this was a huge blessing for me. I can't believe all we can get done in one day and how many people we can touch. It's amazing!
We taught a few new people this week. One was a middle-aged man named Mike, who has recently been through a bitter divorce and is really searching for peace from the Lord. We taught him a little bit about the Book of Mormon and listened to his sorrows and testified of the healing power of this wonderful book of scripture. He was so excited to read it and so grateful to us, but because of where he lives, some other elders will be teaching him. He's such a sweet man and we know those elders will teach him and that he's in good hands. We also had some member referrals for some other peopel, a woman named Lisa and a couple, Melinda and Marcos. They both are searching for something new in their lives and we know what we have is what they are looking for.
Our Sunday was probably the hardest day. After a long week I was super tired waking up Sunday. But I was excited for the day and what good things would happen. Then we went to church. We had a ward council meeting with one of our wards and during it the whole ward council attacked our missionary efforts. I never thought I would get attacked by other members, but it happened yesterday. We've been having some sticky situations with some of our investigators and we've been trying to figure out how to handle them tactfully, but the ward when they saw the situations we were in critized every single person we were teaching and all our efforts. We've been trying so hard in this particular ward to get the work going and to help them, but it was hard because they didn't see it at all. They were pretty rash about their comments they made to us and were very critical of us. I don't want to be bitter to this ward and I don't want to hold it against them, but I doesn't mean that it didn't make the day hard. Then we went to one of our other wards and found out that Cherie who was getting baptized this week had decided that she no longer wanted to be baptized and didn't want anything to do with the church anymore. It was a hard day and we all cried our fair share, but we know the Lord has things to teach us, humility being one of them. I would just ask to keep me in your prayers so that I can be strong.
Each day we grow so much as a companionship and the trials and stresses we had this week really have brought us together. I love my companions. They are amazing! They really help lift me up and make me better. Each day we learn so much from each other and grow 10 times more than we did before. One thing we've been talking a lot about as a companionship is "Looking Up", from the talk shared in conference "It's Better to Look Up" It's crazy how many scriptures talk about that. This week alone we have found about 10 and we love to share them with each other. Here are a few: Jacob 3:1 and D&C 6:36-37.
Well, my time is up and I better go. Love you all so much! Have a wonderful week and Happy March!
love,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
Ay! Ay! Ay!
Hello everyone! This has been a crazy week! Probably one of the most up and down weeks of my mission. But the Lord has been strengthening us so much and helping us through it all. Let me tell you about it....
Between this week and last week we have had 5 people that we teach in the hospital. For most of them it has been nothing serious, but it's so ironic that it's all happening at the same time. Wednesday, we got a call from the branch president of the Spanish branch. He told us that Fransisco, whom we had been teaching, was in a coma. That night we were able to go by with the elders in the branch to give him a blessing. It was actually a really cool experience. When we got there the family told us that we couldn't touch him or talk out loud around him because when we did that, he would have seizures. So we were worried about giving him a blessing, but the doctor gave the approval and the elders went ahead with the blessing, but touched him very softly and whispered. But during the blessing, everything was very peaceful. Fransisco didn't move at all and the Spirit was there very strong. It was a sweet blessing of peace. We stopped by a few times later during the week, and he wasn't doing well. Sunday early he passed away. We have been visiting with his wife to help her start coming to church so that she can start feeling peace and find understanding for what happened. We've also been very strengthened in all of it to be okay. In our companionship we've been sad, but we've felt a lot of peace about it all. I've thought a lot about it and I know that it was revelation to stop teaching him because he wasn't in the state to be taught and the Lord knew the end plan and had other plans for us. It's so crazy that all of this has happened!
This week we were also able to visit Cherie. She will be baptized in a few weeks and we are just falling in love with her completely. She is so, so cute and so so ready for the gospel again in her life. Even though she's in her 70s I think we will be good friends even after my mission.
This week we've also been worried about some people we're teaching. We haven't been able to contact them for a while, but we keep praying. But many good things are happening and we know that the Lord won't let us fail. Lori is one of those people we're worried about. We had an incredible lesson with her the other day. We watched the Restoration movie with her and the Spirit was just bouncing off the walls and she couldn't doubt it. She told us that she knew she needed to take a leap of faith and just focus on going to our church instead of the other church she's been attending. And she started talking about how important it was to help her family realize that this is true too. She had her answer and she knew it, but since then we hadn't been able to contact her until last night. When we visited her last night she told us that she'd been going to her other church still. We're so confused as to why or how she totally forgot that answer to pray that she had, but we have hope that she will remember those feelings as we visit with her this week. We'll keep praying and working with her.
This week was Bryce's baptism. It was amazing and the Spirit was so strong. His mom and aunt came and by the end of it, his mom had tears in her eyes and his aunt listened to the talks very well. We're excited to see what will happen with them. Bryce also bore his testimony in front of everyone about how much this has changed his life and how much he knows it's true. It was beautiful!
Well, I'm running out of time, but I just want to say that I know the Lord is blessing us so much this transfer. There are some super hard things happening, but I can see His hand in the work and in our companionship. He is blessing our little trio so much and we are growing so much together and loving it. I know He is guiding all of our lives. Have a wonderful leap year this week!
Con Amor,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
Between this week and last week we have had 5 people that we teach in the hospital. For most of them it has been nothing serious, but it's so ironic that it's all happening at the same time. Wednesday, we got a call from the branch president of the Spanish branch. He told us that Fransisco, whom we had been teaching, was in a coma. That night we were able to go by with the elders in the branch to give him a blessing. It was actually a really cool experience. When we got there the family told us that we couldn't touch him or talk out loud around him because when we did that, he would have seizures. So we were worried about giving him a blessing, but the doctor gave the approval and the elders went ahead with the blessing, but touched him very softly and whispered. But during the blessing, everything was very peaceful. Fransisco didn't move at all and the Spirit was there very strong. It was a sweet blessing of peace. We stopped by a few times later during the week, and he wasn't doing well. Sunday early he passed away. We have been visiting with his wife to help her start coming to church so that she can start feeling peace and find understanding for what happened. We've also been very strengthened in all of it to be okay. In our companionship we've been sad, but we've felt a lot of peace about it all. I've thought a lot about it and I know that it was revelation to stop teaching him because he wasn't in the state to be taught and the Lord knew the end plan and had other plans for us. It's so crazy that all of this has happened!
This week we were also able to visit Cherie. She will be baptized in a few weeks and we are just falling in love with her completely. She is so, so cute and so so ready for the gospel again in her life. Even though she's in her 70s I think we will be good friends even after my mission.
This week we've also been worried about some people we're teaching. We haven't been able to contact them for a while, but we keep praying. But many good things are happening and we know that the Lord won't let us fail. Lori is one of those people we're worried about. We had an incredible lesson with her the other day. We watched the Restoration movie with her and the Spirit was just bouncing off the walls and she couldn't doubt it. She told us that she knew she needed to take a leap of faith and just focus on going to our church instead of the other church she's been attending. And she started talking about how important it was to help her family realize that this is true too. She had her answer and she knew it, but since then we hadn't been able to contact her until last night. When we visited her last night she told us that she'd been going to her other church still. We're so confused as to why or how she totally forgot that answer to pray that she had, but we have hope that she will remember those feelings as we visit with her this week. We'll keep praying and working with her.
This week was Bryce's baptism. It was amazing and the Spirit was so strong. His mom and aunt came and by the end of it, his mom had tears in her eyes and his aunt listened to the talks very well. We're excited to see what will happen with them. Bryce also bore his testimony in front of everyone about how much this has changed his life and how much he knows it's true. It was beautiful!
Well, I'm running out of time, but I just want to say that I know the Lord is blessing us so much this transfer. There are some super hard things happening, but I can see His hand in the work and in our companionship. He is blessing our little trio so much and we are growing so much together and loving it. I know He is guiding all of our lives. Have a wonderful leap year this week!
Con Amor,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
All You Need is Love
Hello wonderful world! It's been a blessed week for sure. Many good things have been happening. We've been just having a jolly old time as a trio and I feel so strongly that the Lord knew that I needed this. I'm learning a lot about love, humility, and listening to the Spirit from their examples and just from the experience in general. Every day we get closer and closer as a companionship and as friends. This week we had a Spanish training in Tempe and as we were there and as I listened to President Howes build us up and help us be better, I knew that the Lord has consistently guided me to where I need to be in each moment of my life, but specifically now, on the mission. Each companion, each missionary, and my mission president, Pres. Howes, has taught me so much and I'm learning and stretching myself so much. The Lord is slowly refining me and making me a better missionary and disciple of Christ. Also, at the Spanish Training I was able to meet President Howes' mother, who is 4'10". I tower over her. :) He's told me so much about her and what a "fireball" she is my whole mission and I was grateful to be able to meet her.
Our Valentine's Day was wonderful. We were able to teach a new couple that night. We had dinner with some members in one of the wards and they invited Terry and Irma over and we had a very good experience with them. The brother in the ward that invited them over gave a very powerful testimony and the spirit was so strong. I was so inspired by these member's examples of missionary work and the importance of sharing their testimonies with those they love. And it was so cool that they sacrificed their Valentine's Day to share the gospel. They're awesome. Also that night we felt impressed to stop by Lori. We dropped in and were able to have a good talk with her about the Book of Mormon. We also gave her a CD of hymns to listen to. We hope she loved it.
This week when we went to get the dinner calender from the Snowbird Branch, we found out that Grandma and Grandpa Hansen had signed up to feed us this Sunday. I wasn't sure if that was okay, but I asked our mission president's wife and she actually gave us permission to go. She said that she knew we'd keep it focused on our purpose as missionaries. And we did. It was so fun! We showed up and found Grandpa Hansen in a cowboy outfit with the boots and the hat and everything. It was so different than the Grandpa Hansen that I'm used to, but it was cute! Oh course Grandma Ellie had spent the whole afternoon cooking for us and the food was wonderful. We talked with them about their missionary efforts that they've been involved in here in Yuma and I was so impressed. They are good little missionaries to their friends and we had a good talk about the importance of missionary work. But, as good missionaries, we kept it short and didn't stay too long.
This week has been a little less busy for lessons, but we still had some really good things happen. We had a lesson with Bryce and he has been doing well. He's super excited to be baptized this weekend. He loves coming to church and feeling the Spirit. He reads the scriptures a lot and is doing very good at that. He told us that he just feels really good lately and knows that this is true. Also, Bryan, Ariel's brother, sat in on the lesson that we had with Bryce this week. He's been showing a lot more interest and being more excited to learn about God. Something has changed for the better in him and we're so excited. We also taught Aubrie, the 10 year old, again. She had written down 11 questions from her reading in the Book of Mormon. We were so impressed and she loves reading the scriptures. This next week we're going to set a date for her to be baptized. This week we also were able to teach a few new people that we're really excited about.
One lady that we have been teaching, Cherie, has decided to get baptized. Her story is kind of a complicated one, but without her knowing, her husband removed their records from the church. He has since passed away and she has felt very prompted to get back into church, but now has to be rebaptized. She's so excited about this decision. She's just so cute. The only way I can think of to discribe her is that she's a "Southern Belle". She grew up in the South and she's is just so proper about everything. It's so hard not to love her and her enthusiasm for the Lord and the gospel.
This week I had some interesting realizations about charity and loving others. Hermana Staples is so cute and has such a strong desire to just love everyone she meets. I echo that desire so much! When we were up in Tempe for the Spanish training this week, I was able to hear about and see some of the people that I'd learned to love so much. I actually got a letter from one of he recent converts there, Luis. As I saw and heard about them, I remembered the deep love the Lord had given me for them. As hard as it was to not be able to stay in Tempe with them and to go back to Yuma, I will never regret that love that I grew to have for them and still have. When I felt that, I realized that I haven't yet let my love for the people of Yuma grow like that yet. The people here are so different, but equally, they are special children of God. This week, since then, I have seen my weakness in loving these people and I'm working on unconditionally putting my heart into loving and helping them. I can already see that love beginning to grow and know that the Lord will help it to continue to grow.
Love you all,
Hermana Hansen
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