Hello wonderful world! It's been a blessed week for sure. Many good things have been happening. We've been just having a jolly old time as a trio and I feel so strongly that the Lord knew that I needed this. I'm learning a lot about love, humility, and listening to the Spirit from their examples and just from the experience in general. Every day we get closer and closer as a companionship and as friends. This week we had a Spanish training in Tempe and as we were there and as I listened to President Howes build us up and help us be better, I knew that the Lord has consistently guided me to where I need to be in each moment of my life, but specifically now, on the mission. Each companion, each missionary, and my mission president, Pres. Howes, has taught me so much and I'm learning and stretching myself so much. The Lord is slowly refining me and making me a better missionary and disciple of Christ. Also, at the Spanish Training I was able to meet President Howes' mother, who is 4'10". I tower over her. :) He's told me so much about her and what a "fireball" she is my whole mission and I was grateful to be able to meet her.
Our Valentine's Day was wonderful. We were able to teach a new couple that night. We had dinner with some members in one of the wards and they invited Terry and Irma over and we had a very good experience with them. The brother in the ward that invited them over gave a very powerful testimony and the spirit was so strong. I was so inspired by these member's examples of missionary work and the importance of sharing their testimonies with those they love. And it was so cool that they sacrificed their Valentine's Day to share the gospel. They're awesome. Also that night we felt impressed to stop by Lori. We dropped in and were able to have a good talk with her about the Book of Mormon. We also gave her a CD of hymns to listen to. We hope she loved it.
This week when we went to get the dinner calender from the Snowbird Branch, we found out that Grandma and Grandpa Hansen had signed up to feed us this Sunday. I wasn't sure if that was okay, but I asked our mission president's wife and she actually gave us permission to go. She said that she knew we'd keep it focused on our purpose as missionaries. And we did. It was so fun! We showed up and found Grandpa Hansen in a cowboy outfit with the boots and the hat and everything. It was so different than the Grandpa Hansen that I'm used to, but it was cute! Oh course Grandma Ellie had spent the whole afternoon cooking for us and the food was wonderful. We talked with them about their missionary efforts that they've been involved in here in Yuma and I was so impressed. They are good little missionaries to their friends and we had a good talk about the importance of missionary work. But, as good missionaries, we kept it short and didn't stay too long.
This week has been a little less busy for lessons, but we still had some really good things happen. We had a lesson with Bryce and he has been doing well. He's super excited to be baptized this weekend. He loves coming to church and feeling the Spirit. He reads the scriptures a lot and is doing very good at that. He told us that he just feels really good lately and knows that this is true. Also, Bryan, Ariel's brother, sat in on the lesson that we had with Bryce this week. He's been showing a lot more interest and being more excited to learn about God. Something has changed for the better in him and we're so excited. We also taught Aubrie, the 10 year old, again. She had written down 11 questions from her reading in the Book of Mormon. We were so impressed and she loves reading the scriptures. This next week we're going to set a date for her to be baptized. This week we also were able to teach a few new people that we're really excited about.
One lady that we have been teaching, Cherie, has decided to get baptized. Her story is kind of a complicated one, but without her knowing, her husband removed their records from the church. He has since passed away and she has felt very prompted to get back into church, but now has to be rebaptized. She's so excited about this decision. She's just so cute. The only way I can think of to discribe her is that she's a "Southern Belle". She grew up in the South and she's is just so proper about everything. It's so hard not to love her and her enthusiasm for the Lord and the gospel.
This week I had some interesting realizations about charity and loving others. Hermana Staples is so cute and has such a strong desire to just love everyone she meets. I echo that desire so much! When we were up in Tempe for the Spanish training this week, I was able to hear about and see some of the people that I'd learned to love so much. I actually got a letter from one of he recent converts there, Luis. As I saw and heard about them, I remembered the deep love the Lord had given me for them. As hard as it was to not be able to stay in Tempe with them and to go back to Yuma, I will never regret that love that I grew to have for them and still have. When I felt that, I realized that I haven't yet let my love for the people of Yuma grow like that yet. The people here are so different, but equally, they are special children of God. This week, since then, I have seen my weakness in loving these people and I'm working on unconditionally putting my heart into loving and helping them. I can already see that love beginning to grow and know that the Lord will help it to continue to grow.
Love you all,
Hermana Hansen
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