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.

Gilbert!!!!!

Well, this was a pretty crazy week for me, but a very exciting one. As you can see, I got transfered here to Gilbert, which I'm super excited about. For some reason my whole mission I felt like I would serve in Gilbert one day. So far, I love it! My companion is Hermana Parry, a greenie that's almost been out for 5 months now. She's super awesome and such a hard working missionary. We've been having a ton of fun together and enjoying ourselves. She's from Woods Cross, UT- my first companion from Utah! We cover the Spanish branch here and then have two other wards. We white-washed into one of the wards and we're super excited to be working with them. The members here are super awesome and really involved in missionary work. But there are so many of them that I kind of feel like I'm back in Utah sometimes. That makes the work both easier and harder. It will definitely be a challenge for me to have to figure out the best way to find new investigators here. I think we're going to have to do a lot of member work. Anyway, it's all just really good. For the spanish branch we had a Father's Day activity this last week and it was so fun to get to know the members of the branch. They are so wonderful and true hispanics. :) We have three awesome investigators with baptismal dates here: Angela, Yovanka, and Elcy. Angela is married to a member and has been going to church for about 6 months and is super prepared. Yovanka is also married to a member and is very enthusiastic about the gospel. She's also from the Dominican Republic. It's awesome to see a black person speaking spanish. She's super sweet too! And then there's Elcy. She's from Honduras and is living with her member sister and is getting baptized in about two weeks. The area here is a lot more wealthy than other areas that I've served in, which is super different for me. It's really great to be in the valley again because I've been missing being able to learn from President and Sister Howes. I've already had multiple opportunities to be able to see them this last week. And it's fun to serve with different missionaries. It's a big zone and I haven't served with any of these elders before, so it will be good to learn from them and get to know them. Here's my address for now: 5332 E. Baseline Rd. #1065 Mesa, AZ 85206 Well, it was really hard to say goodbye to everyone in Yuma. We got to visit a lot of the people before I left and it was amazing to see how many people I was leaving behind and how many people I had grown to love and been able to help influence. One that was really hard was to say goodbye to Tami. She just got baptized this last saturday and I couldn't be there. But she blew-up a picture of me and put it on a stick, so that I could be there. :) I hope it all went well. This week everyone has been asking me how long I've been on my mission and it's been super hard to tell them that I've been out for 16 months. I can't believe how fast time has flown by! I never want to leave Arizona and it's even making the heat bearable for me. I just love being a missionary and helping people and I am so happy with how things have turned out. I'm determined to work my heart out while I still can and to worry about the future later. Well, I love you all. Please write me soon! Here's a scripture I've recently read that I love: Hebrews 6:10-11. love, Hermana Anneli Hansen

On to Bigger and Better Things!

Oh my goodness! It's been a crazy last week. The whole week I worried about transfers and a few days ago I got this feeling that I was staying and that's what I've been planning on since then. We got transfer calls this morning and I found out that.......I'm LEAVING! It's so sad because I just love, love the people here in Yuma so much! But it's also going to be a good adventure to be able to have more experience and to be able to have another area on the mission. Also, another thing is that all Spanish missionaries will only have Spanish work now. So, that means that for the rest of my mission I will only be doing Spanish work, which I'm so excited about. I've really missed it a lot. Let's see what else happened this week. Brent and Tawnie have not yet chosen a baptismal date, but they are working on getting married before July 21, which is Brent's baptismal date. Also, Tami is doing wonderful. I'm so sad that I'll be missing her baptism this week. I'm really going to miss her so much. But since Hermana Staples will be staying, she'll make sure the new English elders take good care of her. Also, we've been Elysa and Joe, the people I told you about last week, are on fire! They've been reading the Book of Mormon and have really seen a lot of joy come into their lives from it. When we went to visit them this last week, they were glowing and so excited. They both had had experiences separately this last week with seeing the power of the Book of Mormon in their lives. They seriously are on fire and we're super excited for them. But, we won't be teaching them which is super sad. This week we decided to visit a lot of people that had been contacted by other missionaries that had never been taught. We stopped by this one woman, Daniela, and it was a huge blessing. We had a simple lesson with her and she really opened up to us about some really serious things that have happened to her in the past. She's had a crazy hard life and she really just needs the gospel so much! We also had an awesome activity for the Spanish branch. It's a little hard to explain, but I'll do my best. We told everyone that we were going on a trip to "Hawaii" in a plane and we had everyone show up at the church. We decorated one room in the church to be the plane and it was awesome. It looked like a legit plane! And then we had 3 other rooms decorated to be each of the 3 kingdoms of glory. During the flight we had some problems with the flight and it "crashed" and it was like we were dead. We were able to take all of the people through each kingdom and talk about each one. In the last one when we talked about the Celestial Kingdom, the Spirit was there very strong. We had decorated the room in all white and I don't know how, but just to have us all their talking about it, we really felt the Spirit and a few of the branch members bore their testimonies. It was amazing! Although it is so sad that I'm leaving, I'm so excited that Hermana Staples gets to take over the area. She's such a capable missionary, but she's not very confident in herself and now she has the opportunity to see her potential. I love her so much! And she has seen so much success here in Yuma, so she'll be able to finish out strong and enjoy the end. And she's so happy that she's not missing any baptisms because a lot of her baptisms that she's had she's missed because of transfers. I'm so proud of her and I just love her so much! I feel a lot of peace about this change, but it's going to be sad to leave everyone. Well, that's all I can think about sharing from this last week. There's a lot to do, so I better go, but for now, write me at this address: 1871 E. Del Rio Tempe, AZ 85282 love you all, Hermana Anneli Hansen

Hace calor!

It has been a very inspiring week for me. We went to the TEMPLE! It had been 5 months since I did a session in the temple and I needed it so much! When I was in the temple I felt so much peace and kept praying that one day all the people that I've taught, less-actives, non-members, and recent converts can all be able to feel the peace of the temple and to stay true to those covenants. It was really wonderful experience for me. That night we got to stay with Hermana Farley and her companion, Hermana Escobar. It was so wonderful to be able to see how Hermana Farley has grown on her mission and to be able to catch up with her. We really haven't spent that much time with each other since the MTC. The next day we had a Sisters Training in Tempe. All the sisters came and we had some trainings from President and Sister Howes and from the Assistants. Every single time I go to Tempe I feel like I get to be inspired so much by the assistants. They are always such good missionaries, some of the best in the mission and are trying so hard to improve themselves. It was so inspiring to me to be able to learn from them and from President Howes. He gave a powerful training about being disciples of Christ and remembering who we are. I think the mission life can be really hard on our self-esteem at times as sisters, but President Howes helped us to remember that even if we're not perfect at everything, we have the Atonement to help us improve and we must remember how important we are to God. We also cleaned this super messy house for an investigator of some of the sisters in Tempe. Her house was really bad, but we were able to help her a lot. We were an army of about 30 people and we got a ton done. It was a special experience to do something for this woman that she would never have been able to do herself. There has been a lot of talk of transfers this last week, even though we still have a week and a half until they come. Since our zone has stayed the same for so long, I think that everyone is expecting big changes in the zone. Hermana Staples has only one transfer left and she doesn't want us to get split up. I am really torn about what I want to happen. I absolutely love it here in Yuma and have fallen in love with the members, but with only 2 transfers left, I would like to serve in another area, so that I have more than 2 areas my whole mission. Sometimes I can feel what's coming on, but I'm really not sure what will happen this time. I'm trying not to think or worry about it and to just be okay with anything, but it still comes up a lot in conversation. We had some great lessons too. We talked about the importance of marriage and family with Brent and Tawnie. We were bold with them and committed them to pray about getting married within the next few weeks. They thanked us for pushing them because they know that they need to get married and that they need to keep the commandments. It was an awesome lesson and I think we really gained their trust a lot. Tami is also doing super well. I don't know if I told you, but she's a crazy marathon runner and has run a marathon in every state and more. This weekend she had planned to run a marathon and we talked to her about keeping the sabbath day holy and she committed very strongly to it. She knows that it is super important and wants to keep the commandments. She's amazing and kind of committed us to run a marathon with her one day (on a Saturday of course). We just love her to death! We had a great lesson with a less active man named Jose. He has been inactive for years, but a long time ago went through the temple with his wife and kids. As we talked to him about his conversion he realized what he's been missing out on for so long and committed to start on this path back to church. He offered a very powerful prayer at the end of the lesson. It was a special experience. We also started teaching a new family, Joe and Elysa. They are amazing. They are prepared for the gospel. They have friends that are members and have had a lot of interaction with the church and have been interested in it for a little bit. We found them because Elysa approached us outside her apartment one day. When we taught them the Restoration and about the first vision, Elysa was very inspired. They are super awesome, but are going to be out of town a bunch during the summer, so we pray that we can still teach and influence them. I have also been able to spend more time with the hispanic members in the branch lately and I love it. They are close to becoming a ward and they are super motivated and excited about it. They are such a special people and I wish we had more Spanish work so that we could spend even more time with them. We keep praying for more Spanish investigators. Well, that's about all I can think of to say today. I hope all is well with all of you. Also, I still have a good 3 months on my mission, so don't let the letters stop just yet. :) Happy Summer! I am actually loving the heat here this year. I'm not sure how, but the Lord is helping the heat seem bearable to me. It's wonderful! love you, Hermana Anneli Hansen

Feliz cumpleanos a mi hermana!

This week was a wonderful week. We had many good things happen. Everyone that has met Tami in the ward she's in, loves her to death! They are super excited about having her join our ward and everyone wants to come to lessons with her. We love teaching her and seeing that light in her eyes. Every lesson the Spirit is so present! Rose is doing awesome and preparing for her baptism that will be this week. We had a great lesson with her about tithing. She was super worried about finding a way to pay it because her and her kids have had some crazy struggles with their finances, but as we talked about it and the importance of it and the blessings of it, the Spirit filled the room and her heart was changed. She committed to pay tithing once she's baptized. She told us that she doesn't want to do anything half-heartedly. Yesterday she was having a really hard time and told us that she went home and prayed really hard and read the Book of Mormon and felt a ton better. She was so happy to see the blessings of the Book of Mormon in her life. She keeps talking about how she wants to be a sheep and follow the Good Shepherd. :) We love her and are so excited for this blessing in her life and in her family. We've also been teaching Esteban. This week we talked to him about the Plan of Salvation and it really made sense to him. He's starting to slowly realize that God's will is more important than his will and that there's a lot of peace that comes from accepting that in your life. The poor guy has had a hard life and being in a wheelchair doesn't make it any easier. Sadly, Lori is moving to the Foothills, so we won't be teaching her anymore. It's kind of a complicated story, but we don't know if she's quite ready to be taught right now anyway, so it was kind of an answer to prayer to know whether or not we should still teach her. Yesterday two Spanish investigators came to church, Antonio and Esteban. They loved it! We hope. We'll have to see how it went for them the next time we meet with them, but we were so grateful that they were able to come and to feel the Spirit that's there in the church. Priesthood is up a few stairs, so all the men had to carry Esteban up the stairs. It was a funny sight, but I hope he was able to feel of their love for him. They just all took him in and loved him. Anyway, that's about it. Oh, except yesterday there was an awesome solar eclipse and we got to see it. Well, have a splendid week! Love, Hermana Anneli Hansen

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