Hot! Hot! Hot!

Oh my goodness! Hermana Staples and I just got out of a wonderful lesson with Ashley and Ryan (the Ashley that was just baptized last weekend). They told us that they've decided to get married. But they aren't just planning for a future date, they are getting married tomorrow! I don't know if I've ever been happier for someone to get married, except you, Kara. :) They are both doing super well and we're very excited for them, but they don't want anyone else to be there. It's just going to be them and the witnesses and the bishop. Then they'll have a big wedding in October. We're a little bummed that we won't be there tomorrow, but we are very excited for them. Our lesson was definitely guided by the Spirit because it was on temples. They are so excited to go to the temple in a year so that they can be sealed. Ashley is just wonderful and as silly as it sounds, I feel so blessed to see this little family begin. Other than that, the other two recent converts that have been baptized since we've been here in Yuma are also doing well. Bruce is staying strong and active in the church and getting more involved in the young men's program, and the other Ashely is also preparing to go to the temple, but to do baptisms for the dead with the youth in May. At our last lesson we found out that she had felt the spirit really strong at her baptism and her testimony grew so much. I feel so blessed to see how God is working in each of their lives. This week has been wonderful. We've been working with a lot of less actives to be able to help them come back to church. A few of them showed up this week at church. Some people just need to be reminded of their testimony and the importance of the church in their lives. It's also been super hot. Yesterday it was about 107 here. The heat begins, but I'm determined to love it this year because I know it won't last long and pretty soon, I'll really be missing it. And the Lord really truly has been helping me. It's funny because I can tell that it's hot, but it really doesn't bother me like I remember it did last year. The Lord has helped me so much this last week with that and so many other things. Work in Spanish is going well. We're teaching a good amount of people and they have a lot of potential. In one part member family that we are teaching, they told us this week that since they've been meeting with us, they've been seeing many miracles in their family. I think it's really sticking out to the wife who's not a member, and she's seeing how much the Lord is blessing her and is becoming more interested in our message. We also taught a mom, Clara, and her kids how to hold a family home evening. It was super fun and we hope they continue to do it every week. I love these sweet little Hispanics and see so much potential in them. We had a Spanish training this last week and it honestly was exactly what I needed. Not too much of the training was even on Spanish work, but just on missionary work in general. We talked about being successful missionaries from page 10 of Preach my Gospel. A lot of things that it states really hit me. The last few transfers I have seen myself becoming more and more weighed down with the work, but this week helped me to see that as long as I'm doing my best and loving the people, I am successful as a missionary. I love the people here in Yuma and have come to love this crazy little city. This next week is transfers, we'll find out on Sunday what's going on. I have not idea what to plan for. I really don't want to leave yet, but at the same time, I'm open for new adventures, so I'll just have to wait and see what the Lord has in store for me. Well, love you all, Hermana Anneli Hansen

Lean not unto thy own understanding...

It has been a wonderful week! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. It was amazing here. I really felt the Spirit of the Easter season because we are surrounded by people of other faiths that celebrate la Santa Semana (the Holy Week) and I heard a little about it. It kind of helped me to think about what our Savior has done for us throughout the week. I know that He lives! Yesterday we had the chance to go to 3 wards and be flooded with the Spirit of Easter. It was awesome. One of the members in the Spanish branch also gave us all necklaces for Easter. Another member sang Yo Se Que Vive Mi Senor (I know that my redeemer lives) at dinner for us. I love Hispanics!

This weekend we had Ashely's baptism. Ashley the younger, the 17 year old. :) It was an amazing baptism and the Spirit was there so strong. Her less active dad and non-member mom came and we hope they were able to feel it. Hermana Staples was so excited and so she tried to make sure that everything was perfect. And it was nearly perfect, but there's always a few little bumbs, but you just end up laughing about them later. Jeremy, her boyfriend, baptized her, but he was so nervous and before was trying to make sure he remembered the words to the prayer. But he did a great job. And she was just so happy and so ready to be baptized. We're so happy for her and for the support that she has from her friends and from the stake! One of the young women leaders told her that Heavenly Father was having a big party for her in Heaven. :)

The other Ashely has been having some struggles, so she didn't get baptized this week. She is still working on smoking, but she's going strong. We've been visiting with her every morning and studying the scriptures with her and it's been a great blessing. She had one day when she was sent some material that was against the church and it really confused her, but as we were talking to her we felt prompted to ask her to kneel and pray again to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if this is the path she should take. She did pray then and there and as she did, the Spirit just flooded the room and we could all feel it and she knew that this was right. We feel so blessed to be able to continue to help her progress and grow. She has a lot of opposition, but she'll make it through. I know Heavenly Father is helping her.

We taught many other good lessons. Things are going very well here. We really want to find more people to teach as well. Some of the people we teach aren't really progressing, so we hope to be able to start teaching new people soon. We started teaching a less active man this week named Daryl that really wants to come back to chruch and he's really excited. We also have been teaching a hispanic lady named Clara that is super sweet and I think she has a lot of potential. We'll see.

Recently the Lord has been teaching me a lot about having faith in Him and not worrying. I am such a silly worrier and it can really effect my outlook on my day, but the Lord is so good to me and He shows me that it's not worth it. This morning the scripture from Proverbs 3:5-6 came into my head: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths. I know the Lord truly cares about each of us so much and He is in charge, so I have nothing to worry about. I also have some wonderful examples around me that are really helping me. One of the Zone Leaders here is always so positive and also living with Hermana Taylor and her abilitiy to not worry about anything is amazing!

The Lord has also been helping me to love people more. I loved the conference talks by Elder Uchtdorf and Holland that talked about how we treat others. I feel like we could all pick things out of there to work on, but I felt some parts of it especially spoke to me. The Lord really is molding and shaping me on this mission and I'm so grateful. I see all my weaknesses, but He sees my potential.

Somehow last week I skipped writing about one of my favorite parts of conference. It was from Elder Evan's talk when he encouraged members to be writing letters to missionaries. Hint, hint. :) Well, that's about all I have time for this week. Hope all is going well at home. I would love to hear from you all and about all your adventures. Have a great week!

love,
Hermana Anneli Hansen

"My Heart is Full"

Oh my goodness! I couldn't be happier with conference. It was so good. All week we taught everyone about it and testified to them about how personal and real the messages are. We talked about how you can really know that President Monson is a prophet as you watch and hear him speak. And it was all so true. As I watched it I felt some very personal messages. There were moments when I was convinced they were only talking to me, but then I'd look over at our investigators and see tears in their eyes or hear them comment on how much they were touched and I knew that what I'd been telling these people all week was completely true. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet called of God and the Lord speaks through Him and the apostles. I was very interested to see the topics they spoke on. It seemed like the huge themes were the importance of the family, overcoming resentment and loving, and the joy of repentance. We'd talked to a few members before conference and they said that they were anxious to see what they would say about politics or the crazy things going on in the world. But they didn't even address that, they seemed to be saying that they answer to all of these problems is to put our focus on our families. I just recently memorized The Family: A Proclamation to the World and it's so true what it says that the disinigration of the family will bring many "calamities", and they seemed to be telling us this last weekend that they way to fix all these "calamities" would be to have family prayer, scripture study, more love and kindness, etc. in the family. During it all I reflected on my own family and how well my own parents did all those things. Of course we weren't perfect, but we did them. And I see now how much that's helped me to stay away from evils of the world. Thanks Mom and Dad! And I'm so happy that I have the best siblings in the world that all have good testimonies and are so loving and kind to me. Love you all! I also thought of sweet little Emily Livingston during Elder Rasband's talk and thought about Jason and Noelle. I hope all is going well with you guys. I miss you and can't wait to meet my new little cousin. It was so comforting to hear him declare how special these little "champions" are. Oh, I just have so much to say about conference. I learned about being a better companion and and better missionary. I loved the missionary choir! And I saw Brittany Romanello. It was just awesome. We had a few investigators show up to watch it, Ashely 1 and 2 and also a lady named Fredina. They were all super touched. Fredina has never been to one of our services before, so it was a little different for her. She only made it to the last session, but she was so touched that she asked how she could see the other sessions. It was amazing to see how each was touched and I look forward to talking to the rest of the people we invited to see how they were also touched.

This upcoming week Ashely 1 and 2 will both be baptized. We are so excited for them. It has definitely been a process and a journey for both of them, but we are so excited for this step they are about to make. This week we had a few setbacks, but I think we got them all figured out and we can't wait for this next week.

We have also been finding a few more new people to teach. We had a good few lessons with a guy that's in a christian rock band at the church he currently goes to. His name is Emio and we're excited to see where it all goes. The first time we taught him there was no doubt that he felt the Spirit. We've also been finding a few more people that speak spanish that we can teach. Yeah! I love the hispanics.

This week we did a lot of service too. We were able to help paint a room and to move a less active man in the spanish branch. I love doing service and it was the first time I could wear pants on a day other than p-day in my mission.

We've also been working on meeting with the members a bunch so that we can get to know the ward better and know what we can better do to help them. I'm amazed by the examples of the members here and the things that I'm learning.

This week we also had interviews with President Howes, our mission president. He is such a sweet man and really has trust in us all. He is so good at lifting us up and helping us want to be better. He gave me a lot of good advice on how to be better and work better with our wards.

Well, a lot of good is happening right now. I feel very blessed. I love my companion and I love living with two other amazing Hermanas. We have so much fun doing the work of the Lord. Happy Easter everyone!

love,
Hermana Anneli Hansen


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