Outpouring of Blessings...

Well, it's been a splendid week! We've been seeing lots of blessings and miracles. I've been working on being such an exactly obedient missionary and doing everything right in teaching situations and everything, but it's made me a little stressed out. Hermana Parry pointed this out to me this week and helped me remember that I need to see the good that we are doing and see the miracles and just love it all. That was a huge slap in the face and a good one! So, we've been enjoying ourselves, working hard, but still loving whatever comes our way. It's been awesome. This week was transfers. We have a few new missionaries in our district and it's been fun to get to know them already. They're super different than the missionaries that they replaced, but it's been a blessing to have them here. I'm grateful for change and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be able to get to know new people and to learn from them. So, the situation with Eliana is finally figured out. She talked to our branch president and they decided it would be best if she got baptized in Chile. One of the hermanas in our ward is from Chile as well and is going to be down there this next week and is going to take Eliana to church, so that she can find the missionaries there and be taught and baptized there. I feel really good about that and I just keep praying that the Lord will help everything run smoothly. This week we taught Rosie and helped her to see the importance of reading the Book of Mormon. We brought a wonderful hermana in the ward that is good friends with her and she bore her testimony and it really effected Rosie. We read with her in the Book of Mormon and the Spirit was there. We also talked with her about baptism and she's praying about a date. Yay! We also started teaching a new investigator named Daniel. He is a young college student from Columbia (there are so many hispanic cultures here in Gilbert-not just Mexican). He's super awesome! He came to church last week and really felt the Spirit and is super sincere. And he already has great faith in Christ. When we met him he said "So you can help me know more about your church?" Blessings, blessings, blessings! Okay, since I've been here in Gilbert the baptisms have been pouring like crazy. This week Dee, a lady that we tracted into a few weeks ago, was baptized. The elders had taught her, but she still calls us "her girls". It was a really special experience. She's such a cutie-pie! She's an older lady that's been through a lot, but has such a great faith in the Lord. Elder Niederhauser got to baptize her and it was his first baptism, so he was nervous, but super excited. When she got into the water, she started to slip a little bit, but got a hold of herself and turned to everyone and said "I made it!" And then she was baptized and it was so beautiful. When she came out she looked surprised and turned to everyone and said "Hi!" You can't help but just love her. Life here as a missionary is awesome. I can't believe how different this area is compared to Tempe, or even Yuma. It's such an upper-class area and that makes the work completely different. This week we got to go to dinner in an apartment complex and we talked to a few people outside and it felt like I was back in Tempe and I missed it a lot, but I can't deny that I love Gilbert. The Lord just keeps pouring out blessings. Another thing that it different about this area is that Hermana Parry can't ride bikes because of intense allergies, so we're always in the car. I miss being on bikes a lot, but it's been a blessing to not have to feel so much of the heat this summer. Also, it's been raining quite a bit, which has also made it a ton cooler here. Anyway, life is good and God is great. Have a fantastic week everyone. Go spread the gospel! love, Hermana Anneli Hansen

Sister Hansen is coming home on Sept. 4th and her "homecoming talk" is Sept. 9th at 9:00. If you are interested in attending email me at andrealovesgary@yahoo.com and I can get you the address. The first picture if of Sister Parry and I street contacting in the rain. We had fun. The next 2 pictures are of a huge dust storm, the next is of 4 missionaries in the branch before transfers smiling like Hispanics(they don't). Then the next picture is of Dee at her baptism.