Hello all you wonderful people!
Well, I've been here for a little less than a week and already it seems like so much has happened. I don't even know where to begin-expect to say that Arizona is the place I'm supposed to be. I know that I need to be here with the people I'm serving and I know that I need to be with my companion, Hermana Norton-she is incredible! And I know that the Lord is aware of the things that I am doing and cares about me and the people that I get to serve.
First of all, let me get the little things out of the way. I have the address to my apt here and if you send mail to that address, it get's here faster. For now, plan on sending mail to this address:
1522 E. Southern Ave. Apt. 1047
Tempe, AZ 85282
Anyway, where to start? Well, let me start with my companion. Hermana Norton is incredible, as I already said. She has an amazing life story and all the things that brought her to going on a mission and I am very inspired by that. She's had a hard life, but yet she is so happy. She's from Colorado and before her mission was going to UVU. She is such a wonderful example for me: she loves the people so much, she has the strongest testimony, she is so effective at helping people, and she loves to share stories that she's had on the mission. She's only been out about 8 months, so we're just growing in the Spanish and the work together, but, oh man!, am I blessed! For example, this morning for comp study we basically had a testimony meeting about missionary work and about how wonderful God is to allow us to be on missions and to learn to love people so much. The Spirit was so strong as she shared her experiences with me and scriptures she had found meaning in. Man, she is fantastic! And she has so much patience with me. She is so encouraging and makes me feel so good about myself even though I have a long way to go before I can be a real effective missionary. We also get along super well and end up spending so much time talking and telling stories that inspire us. And we love to laugh about the crazy experiences we have had and are having on the mission.
Speaking of those experiences, let me tell you a little bit about the people I am serving, since that is where most of these crazy experiences are coming from. They are amazing! Many of them are very poor-- a lot live in trailer parks and have very little, but they are all so sweet and most people we talk to, members and non-members, are normally very nice and very willing to talk to us. They have very little, but they are so willing to give so much. Our members and investigators love to feed us and so far the food has been great. (Actually the fruit down here is amazing-so many beautiful orange trees.) They also have such different mannerisms and are so fun to be around. I've found myself laughing so much at how wonderfully funny and sweet they are. They are a hugging and a kissing people, so I get a lot of affection from them, which is different, but I love it. :) They are hoarders and they love to display all the crazy things that they have, so the outside of their house is always full of all the stuff that they have. It's so fun! Because of their lack of money, many of them have kind of crazy schedules with their temporary jobs or their 3 jobs or whatever they are doing to try to make ends meet. That makes it hard to set up time to meet investigators, but when we do get to, it's wonderful. They love that I am trying to learn spanish. I am surprised at how much I do understand of Spanish. I'm still really rusty on my spanish, but I am able to understand a lot more than I thought. The Lord is blessing me so much! Hermana Norton always laughs a little at my Spanish accent, and I don't blame her. I sound pretty white, but I'm getting better the more I listen to and talk to the people.
This week was awesome. We talked to a lot of people on the street and visited a lot of investigators and recent converts and less actives. At Easter time the Mesa Temple does a pagent about Christ, kind of like the Manti Pageant, and we took an investigator there. The lady that came with us to the pageant was named Barbara. She is wonderful and has the gift of discernment. She can tell that the church brings peace and she feels the spirit very easily. We've been teaching her in english because she prefers that. She's super sweet and had a great time at the pageant. On the way home she talked about how she felt like God was trying to tell her that she needed to join this church. We invited her to come to church on sunday and she seemed very excited about that. Then we called her on Sunday and couldn't get a hold of her the whole day. Then we got a text from her saying that she didn't want to meet with us anymore. It was so hard for us because she knows this is true and she knows this could help her-- she's had a hard life-- and yet, for whatever reason, she's not ready for it. Please just keep Barbara in your prayers. Someday, I hope she can see how much God is leading her and loves her. Mission work is so good because you instantly feel love for these people, but so hard because they have the agency to decide whether or not to follow the promptings they recieve and then your heart is crushed when that happens.
Anyway, I've had a lot of other experiences too this week and I don't have time to share them all. The baptism was awesome and such a great way to see how people can change over time when they come unto Christ. I can see the hand of God working through this work and I can't even say how thankful I am to be on a mission! If anyone ever doubts that a mission could bring happiness, please believe me that it does! I wondered how happy I'd be on a mission, but now that I'm here I've never felt so much joy! And it's a different joy than I have ever felt. A joy filled with peace and with charity. This joy is not because I did something fun or that I accomplished something good, it's the joy of seeing people change because of Christ and having that desire to share that with everyone you meet. I read John 13 today where it talks about how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and then turned to them and said, "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feel; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that yet should do as I have done to you." It all comes back to Christ and how much He's given us. When we notice that love and how much He's blessed us, it's our turn to help people. And boy, do people have trials. My heart aches with all the problems I see, but I know that God knows them and weeps with them and wants to help them through these trials. Anyway, I love God. He's all we need.
I love you all, thanks for the support and for the prayers. I can feel them and I love you all too! Oh, and family, thank you so much for the surprise easter candy and notes. I loved them and felt so welcome in Arizona. :) Good luck with all in your life. I'm excited to hear about what's going on with all of you.
Con Amor,
Hermana Hansen
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