This has been such a joy-filled week. So many good things happened and the Lord is aware of me and the area here in Tempe. We have felt very blessed this week.
I never thought I would say this, but I actually love being a trainer. It is helping me to be a more bold, more organized, more myself missionary. I really love it a lot! And Hermana Taylor is just such a joy! That really sounds like a mom-thing to say, but it's so true. She's just so easy to work with and so easy to love and we have a really good time working together. One funny thing about Hermana Taylor is that she's afraid of all animals, so even though she's more than 6 inches taller than me, I always have to protect her from them, especially dogs and cats because they are everywhere here in Tempe. Oh silly!
Probably the best part of the week was Luis' baptism. He has been doing so well this week and we've been visiting him everyday to check on him. His testimony has grown so much and he is 100 committed to the gospel. He is so happy and is always listening to fun music when we stop by at nights, which is such a turn around to his depressed mood that he had before. When he arrived at the stake center, he was really nervous, but very excited. He just had a glow about him and was ready. He actually had a bouquet of a dozen roses for each Hermana Taylor and me for thanks for what he says we did for him. But we didn't do it. It's God and the Spirit that helped him to get here. We're just so grateful to be so blessed to see the blessings of true conversion come into his life. The program was so good and when he went under the water, I had a confirmation that all of his sins were behind him now. It was so beautiful! Everyone is so encouraging of him and we are just so excited for this change in his life. He has a hunger to learn as much as he can. Even though he only has a 3rd grade education, he reads as much as he can from the Book of Mormon and Liahona every day. He's so wonderful and we're so excited for him. But he actually told us after the baptism that he had to work the next day, Sunday, and since converts get confirmed on Sundays, he has to wait to be confirmed until next Sunday, but he's willing to wait.
Patricio is doing awesome. We had another lesson about giving up smoking this week and we had him make his own plan for giving it up. He told us that the only time that he doesn't feel tempted to smoke at all is when he's at church or reading the scriptures, so that's a huge part of his plan. The scriptures really have so much power and have been a huge part in his conversion process. He's been very humbled and so far has not smoked at all in the past two days. That's huge for him because he used to smoke up to 30 cigarettes a day. Also, going to Luis' baptism was a huge motivator for him too. He really wants to be baptised and we really think he's going to give up smoking completely this time. We're so excited for him.
A lot of other really good things happened this week, but sadly, I don't have a ton of time to write them today. But we had some good lessons with some other people, we saw a lot of little miracles, we went to the temple again, and we were asked to speak in sacrament meeting. Hermana Taylor loved the temple and it was so good to see Hermana Norton again. She's doing so well and she was also able to come to Luis' baptism, so I've been able to see her a lot this week. Speaking in sacrament was actually really good because I was able to see how far I've come in my ability to speak in Spanish. I felt so much more comfortable speaking from the heart and being myself in Spanish this time than I did in May when we spoke. And everyone is so impressed with Hermana Taylor's Spanish abilities. She's so awesome!
We are just being really blessed and excited for the week to come. I feel so blessed to be here on a mission and there is no other place that I would rather be!
love,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
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