Last night we got transfer calls. We've been anticipating all transfer that they would bring another sister down here and make two companionships of sisters. And that's exactly what's going to happen. I'll stay in Yuma and Hermana Staples and I will be companions and Sister Saxon is being inner-zone-transfered and will have a new companion. But we'll all still live together in the same apartment. It will be a party! We also found out that many of the elders here are being transfered too. We know it's the Lord's will, but we've all been able to really learn and grow from each other down here and we are sad to see the zone be changed. But I am excited to be able to work with and learn from other missionaries. I haven't really served around too many missionaries during my mission so far because I've only been in two areas, so it's always good to meet and learn from new people. I am determined to love this transfer and know that the Lord has much in store for us. I'm excited to be able to split the area and to be able to hopefully focus more on the Spanish work and to be able to love these people here more. I want to love them like I loved the people in Tempe. And I want to love Hermana Staples more. She's so wonderful and it will be a wonderful transfer.
This weekend was the Yuma Stake Conference. It was amazing and it was all on teaching others about the gospel, which I, of course, loved! They talked about how we must live the gospel to be able to teach it to others and how we can be better teachers in our families and to those around us. Many of the talks talked about the importance of parents teaching their children the gospel. It hit me how much I have been blessed in life to be able to have been taught the gospel and to have such a loving home where the Spirit could always be felt. Mom and Dad, thank you so much for that!
This week we've been able to teach a bunch and things are going well. There's not too much new information to tell about the people we teach, but we've had some very good lessons with them. I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to teach them all. I love them so much. One of the Ashley's that we are teaching is doing super well. She's so excited to be baptized and to one day get married in the temple to her boyfriend, Ryan. She isa little overwhelmed trying to change her life, but she's seeing so much the will of the Lord in her life and how much she can learn and grow as she follows Him. She's so wonderful. We also taught a lesson this week to Melinda and Marcos about the Plan of Salvation. It was such a good lesson. They just understood it all so well and when we read a scripture with them about baptism, Marcos told us "I need to get baptized!" It was amazing!
Well, it's short this week. Sorry about that. Happy first day and spring this week. I hope you all are doing super well.
love you,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Life Gave Me Lemons, but...
Well, it has been a really good week and and lot of great things have happened, but there were also some very hard things that happened. I know I'm supposed to be here and I know the Lord has a lot for me to learn, but this is turning out to probably be the hardest transfer so far. At the beginning of the transfer I decided that I needed to be more humble. And BOY, the Lord is teaching me humility. But there are a lot of little tender mercies along the way too.
One of the biggest blessings this week is that we had an amazing lesson with Ashley. We talked with her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and as we talked about the Spirit, she told us that every time she meets with us she feels the feelings we've been discribing. She said that everytime she tries to talk during lessons, she feels like she's going to tear up because she feels those feelings so strong. That was an amazing opportunity to testify of the power of the Spirit in our lives and how much it can help us. Also the other Ashley that we are teaching told us at church yesterday that she wants to be baptized. Tonight we plan to talk to her about getting married to her boyfriend because that's one thing she'll have to do before getting baptized. But we're super excited for her!
This last wednesday we had a full, full day. It was a blessed leap day. We had a lesson every single hour and we ended up teaching 7 lessons and going to a baptism with an investigator. That was a huge blessing. As time goes on, I want to get more and more done in each day to make sure that I really can do all I can on my mission. And this was a huge blessing for me. I can't believe all we can get done in one day and how many people we can touch. It's amazing!
We taught a few new people this week. One was a middle-aged man named Mike, who has recently been through a bitter divorce and is really searching for peace from the Lord. We taught him a little bit about the Book of Mormon and listened to his sorrows and testified of the healing power of this wonderful book of scripture. He was so excited to read it and so grateful to us, but because of where he lives, some other elders will be teaching him. He's such a sweet man and we know those elders will teach him and that he's in good hands. We also had some member referrals for some other peopel, a woman named Lisa and a couple, Melinda and Marcos. They both are searching for something new in their lives and we know what we have is what they are looking for.
Our Sunday was probably the hardest day. After a long week I was super tired waking up Sunday. But I was excited for the day and what good things would happen. Then we went to church. We had a ward council meeting with one of our wards and during it the whole ward council attacked our missionary efforts. I never thought I would get attacked by other members, but it happened yesterday. We've been having some sticky situations with some of our investigators and we've been trying to figure out how to handle them tactfully, but the ward when they saw the situations we were in critized every single person we were teaching and all our efforts. We've been trying so hard in this particular ward to get the work going and to help them, but it was hard because they didn't see it at all. They were pretty rash about their comments they made to us and were very critical of us. I don't want to be bitter to this ward and I don't want to hold it against them, but I doesn't mean that it didn't make the day hard. Then we went to one of our other wards and found out that Cherie who was getting baptized this week had decided that she no longer wanted to be baptized and didn't want anything to do with the church anymore. It was a hard day and we all cried our fair share, but we know the Lord has things to teach us, humility being one of them. I would just ask to keep me in your prayers so that I can be strong.
Each day we grow so much as a companionship and the trials and stresses we had this week really have brought us together. I love my companions. They are amazing! They really help lift me up and make me better. Each day we learn so much from each other and grow 10 times more than we did before. One thing we've been talking a lot about as a companionship is "Looking Up", from the talk shared in conference "It's Better to Look Up" It's crazy how many scriptures talk about that. This week alone we have found about 10 and we love to share them with each other. Here are a few: Jacob 3:1 and D&C 6:36-37.
Well, my time is up and I better go. Love you all so much! Have a wonderful week and Happy March!
love,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
One of the biggest blessings this week is that we had an amazing lesson with Ashley. We talked with her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and as we talked about the Spirit, she told us that every time she meets with us she feels the feelings we've been discribing. She said that everytime she tries to talk during lessons, she feels like she's going to tear up because she feels those feelings so strong. That was an amazing opportunity to testify of the power of the Spirit in our lives and how much it can help us. Also the other Ashley that we are teaching told us at church yesterday that she wants to be baptized. Tonight we plan to talk to her about getting married to her boyfriend because that's one thing she'll have to do before getting baptized. But we're super excited for her!
This last wednesday we had a full, full day. It was a blessed leap day. We had a lesson every single hour and we ended up teaching 7 lessons and going to a baptism with an investigator. That was a huge blessing. As time goes on, I want to get more and more done in each day to make sure that I really can do all I can on my mission. And this was a huge blessing for me. I can't believe all we can get done in one day and how many people we can touch. It's amazing!
We taught a few new people this week. One was a middle-aged man named Mike, who has recently been through a bitter divorce and is really searching for peace from the Lord. We taught him a little bit about the Book of Mormon and listened to his sorrows and testified of the healing power of this wonderful book of scripture. He was so excited to read it and so grateful to us, but because of where he lives, some other elders will be teaching him. He's such a sweet man and we know those elders will teach him and that he's in good hands. We also had some member referrals for some other peopel, a woman named Lisa and a couple, Melinda and Marcos. They both are searching for something new in their lives and we know what we have is what they are looking for.
Our Sunday was probably the hardest day. After a long week I was super tired waking up Sunday. But I was excited for the day and what good things would happen. Then we went to church. We had a ward council meeting with one of our wards and during it the whole ward council attacked our missionary efforts. I never thought I would get attacked by other members, but it happened yesterday. We've been having some sticky situations with some of our investigators and we've been trying to figure out how to handle them tactfully, but the ward when they saw the situations we were in critized every single person we were teaching and all our efforts. We've been trying so hard in this particular ward to get the work going and to help them, but it was hard because they didn't see it at all. They were pretty rash about their comments they made to us and were very critical of us. I don't want to be bitter to this ward and I don't want to hold it against them, but I doesn't mean that it didn't make the day hard. Then we went to one of our other wards and found out that Cherie who was getting baptized this week had decided that she no longer wanted to be baptized and didn't want anything to do with the church anymore. It was a hard day and we all cried our fair share, but we know the Lord has things to teach us, humility being one of them. I would just ask to keep me in your prayers so that I can be strong.
Each day we grow so much as a companionship and the trials and stresses we had this week really have brought us together. I love my companions. They are amazing! They really help lift me up and make me better. Each day we learn so much from each other and grow 10 times more than we did before. One thing we've been talking a lot about as a companionship is "Looking Up", from the talk shared in conference "It's Better to Look Up" It's crazy how many scriptures talk about that. This week alone we have found about 10 and we love to share them with each other. Here are a few: Jacob 3:1 and D&C 6:36-37.
Well, my time is up and I better go. Love you all so much! Have a wonderful week and Happy March!
love,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
Ay! Ay! Ay!
Hello everyone! This has been a crazy week! Probably one of the most up and down weeks of my mission. But the Lord has been strengthening us so much and helping us through it all. Let me tell you about it....
Between this week and last week we have had 5 people that we teach in the hospital. For most of them it has been nothing serious, but it's so ironic that it's all happening at the same time. Wednesday, we got a call from the branch president of the Spanish branch. He told us that Fransisco, whom we had been teaching, was in a coma. That night we were able to go by with the elders in the branch to give him a blessing. It was actually a really cool experience. When we got there the family told us that we couldn't touch him or talk out loud around him because when we did that, he would have seizures. So we were worried about giving him a blessing, but the doctor gave the approval and the elders went ahead with the blessing, but touched him very softly and whispered. But during the blessing, everything was very peaceful. Fransisco didn't move at all and the Spirit was there very strong. It was a sweet blessing of peace. We stopped by a few times later during the week, and he wasn't doing well. Sunday early he passed away. We have been visiting with his wife to help her start coming to church so that she can start feeling peace and find understanding for what happened. We've also been very strengthened in all of it to be okay. In our companionship we've been sad, but we've felt a lot of peace about it all. I've thought a lot about it and I know that it was revelation to stop teaching him because he wasn't in the state to be taught and the Lord knew the end plan and had other plans for us. It's so crazy that all of this has happened!
This week we were also able to visit Cherie. She will be baptized in a few weeks and we are just falling in love with her completely. She is so, so cute and so so ready for the gospel again in her life. Even though she's in her 70s I think we will be good friends even after my mission.
This week we've also been worried about some people we're teaching. We haven't been able to contact them for a while, but we keep praying. But many good things are happening and we know that the Lord won't let us fail. Lori is one of those people we're worried about. We had an incredible lesson with her the other day. We watched the Restoration movie with her and the Spirit was just bouncing off the walls and she couldn't doubt it. She told us that she knew she needed to take a leap of faith and just focus on going to our church instead of the other church she's been attending. And she started talking about how important it was to help her family realize that this is true too. She had her answer and she knew it, but since then we hadn't been able to contact her until last night. When we visited her last night she told us that she'd been going to her other church still. We're so confused as to why or how she totally forgot that answer to pray that she had, but we have hope that she will remember those feelings as we visit with her this week. We'll keep praying and working with her.
This week was Bryce's baptism. It was amazing and the Spirit was so strong. His mom and aunt came and by the end of it, his mom had tears in her eyes and his aunt listened to the talks very well. We're excited to see what will happen with them. Bryce also bore his testimony in front of everyone about how much this has changed his life and how much he knows it's true. It was beautiful!
Well, I'm running out of time, but I just want to say that I know the Lord is blessing us so much this transfer. There are some super hard things happening, but I can see His hand in the work and in our companionship. He is blessing our little trio so much and we are growing so much together and loving it. I know He is guiding all of our lives. Have a wonderful leap year this week!
Con Amor,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
Between this week and last week we have had 5 people that we teach in the hospital. For most of them it has been nothing serious, but it's so ironic that it's all happening at the same time. Wednesday, we got a call from the branch president of the Spanish branch. He told us that Fransisco, whom we had been teaching, was in a coma. That night we were able to go by with the elders in the branch to give him a blessing. It was actually a really cool experience. When we got there the family told us that we couldn't touch him or talk out loud around him because when we did that, he would have seizures. So we were worried about giving him a blessing, but the doctor gave the approval and the elders went ahead with the blessing, but touched him very softly and whispered. But during the blessing, everything was very peaceful. Fransisco didn't move at all and the Spirit was there very strong. It was a sweet blessing of peace. We stopped by a few times later during the week, and he wasn't doing well. Sunday early he passed away. We have been visiting with his wife to help her start coming to church so that she can start feeling peace and find understanding for what happened. We've also been very strengthened in all of it to be okay. In our companionship we've been sad, but we've felt a lot of peace about it all. I've thought a lot about it and I know that it was revelation to stop teaching him because he wasn't in the state to be taught and the Lord knew the end plan and had other plans for us. It's so crazy that all of this has happened!
This week we were also able to visit Cherie. She will be baptized in a few weeks and we are just falling in love with her completely. She is so, so cute and so so ready for the gospel again in her life. Even though she's in her 70s I think we will be good friends even after my mission.
This week we've also been worried about some people we're teaching. We haven't been able to contact them for a while, but we keep praying. But many good things are happening and we know that the Lord won't let us fail. Lori is one of those people we're worried about. We had an incredible lesson with her the other day. We watched the Restoration movie with her and the Spirit was just bouncing off the walls and she couldn't doubt it. She told us that she knew she needed to take a leap of faith and just focus on going to our church instead of the other church she's been attending. And she started talking about how important it was to help her family realize that this is true too. She had her answer and she knew it, but since then we hadn't been able to contact her until last night. When we visited her last night she told us that she'd been going to her other church still. We're so confused as to why or how she totally forgot that answer to pray that she had, but we have hope that she will remember those feelings as we visit with her this week. We'll keep praying and working with her.
This week was Bryce's baptism. It was amazing and the Spirit was so strong. His mom and aunt came and by the end of it, his mom had tears in her eyes and his aunt listened to the talks very well. We're excited to see what will happen with them. Bryce also bore his testimony in front of everyone about how much this has changed his life and how much he knows it's true. It was beautiful!
Well, I'm running out of time, but I just want to say that I know the Lord is blessing us so much this transfer. There are some super hard things happening, but I can see His hand in the work and in our companionship. He is blessing our little trio so much and we are growing so much together and loving it. I know He is guiding all of our lives. Have a wonderful leap year this week!
Con Amor,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
All You Need is Love
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
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
I Love Yuma
I feel like every week as a missionary is just full of surpises and wonderful things to tell. I hope you all aren't getting sick of my enthusiasm for the experiences that I have, but I just can't help it. It's so incredible being a missionary. This week was no exception. The Lord is teaching me a lot here in Yuma. One of these things that He's teaching me is love. I feel like in every class, every sacrament meeting talk, EVERYTHING, He is pushing me to realize how to love people more. Oddly enough, since I've been able to work with english speaking people again, I've realized that I grew so much to love the Hispanics, but I'm back at square one with people of my own race. Silly! I've been praying for that charity and I know the Lord is helping me with it.
This week the mission had a Sister's training. It was incredible! We all met at the Mesa Temple to do initiatories. What a precious experience. As I was there, the Spirit was so strong and all the temple workers that knew we were sisters kept thanking us for our service. As I was doing the initatories, I felt a presence there and knew the people that I was doing the work for were excepting it. Wow! It was also so amazing to see all the sisters, especially the Hermanas. I had the chance to spend a lot of time talking to Hermana Norton and Taylor. Those two lucky ducks that get to be companions and in Tempe! It was so great to get an update about how all the people I love in Tempe are doing. They all seem to be doing well and seeing miracles in their lives. How I miss them! But at the same time, I felt peace that I'm supposed to be in Yuma. As we were driving up, we saw a sign that says "My heart belongs in Yuma." And that's exactly how I felt. I already love it here so much! There's so much to tell about the Sister's training, but probably the best part was that I was able to spend time with Hermana Norton. She's going home in about 3 weeks and it was such a tender mercy to talk with her about how blessed we have been on our missions and how much the Lord must be aware of us. It was also just really special to see how much each of us has grown and to remember how much we grew together as we were companions. I love her so much and am so sad that I probably won't see her again until I come home. But I know the Lord brought us together and that she was someone that needed to be a huge part of my mission. The rest of the sister's training was amazing. We had dinner and a testimony meeting at President and Sister Howes' house and it was amazing to see how wonderful the sisters in our mission are.
Like I said last week, we've been doing a lot of member missionary work lately. I love it so much because it helps me to see how missionary minded our members are. One family that we talked with this week, the Greens, have been really taking the call to do more missionary work seriously. As we talked with them about their efforts and goals, the Spirit was there very strong. Bro. Green told us that he's been praying about how he could better raise the bar and this was the answer to his prayer. On Sunday, Sister Green told us that there was a lady that she's going to ask to take the missionary lessons this week. She was so excited and you could just see the missionary fire in her. It's amazing! We've also been able to talk to other families about these efforts and it's inspiring to see all they are seeking to do to help their neighbors and friends. I'm learning myself about how to be a better member missionary.
And update on the people here in Yuma that we are teaching. We were able to teach Lori this week about the Restoration. She's had a bunch of questions, but was really excited to read the Book of Mormon. We had another lesson planned with her, but she's been having some struggles in her life recently, so we haven't been able to meet with her, but we hope to be able to talk to her again soon. Fransisco is doing awesome. We want him to know more people in the ward and to have more friends, so we're enlisting their help this next week to give him support on overcoming smoking. He's still having health problems and his granddaughter is going to have a baby any day now, so he's been busy. Laura is just so awesome. She has such a love of learning and is so excited to read and study everyday. She is also seeing that the more she is following the Lord, the more He uses her to help others. She's had some amazing experiences to share her testimony with others this last week. And the insightst that she has from those experienceThis week we also had the miracle of being able to start to teach a few new people. One is named Ana Maria. She's just a sweet lady that feels like she's turned her back on God, but has a huge desire to follow Him. She's hungry to learn more about him and has a friend that's a member and a good influence on her. Then we also started teaching a lady named Carmen. She is not really sure that the church she's been attending is what she needs and she really wants to know about what her purpose in life is. And then last night, we stopped by a less active famly and the mom told us that she really wants to get back into church and wants her 9 year old daughter to be baptized, so we're going to teach them too. A lot of good little miracles came our way this week. We're very blessed!
love you all,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
This week the mission had a Sister's training. It was incredible! We all met at the Mesa Temple to do initiatories. What a precious experience. As I was there, the Spirit was so strong and all the temple workers that knew we were sisters kept thanking us for our service. As I was doing the initatories, I felt a presence there and knew the people that I was doing the work for were excepting it. Wow! It was also so amazing to see all the sisters, especially the Hermanas. I had the chance to spend a lot of time talking to Hermana Norton and Taylor. Those two lucky ducks that get to be companions and in Tempe! It was so great to get an update about how all the people I love in Tempe are doing. They all seem to be doing well and seeing miracles in their lives. How I miss them! But at the same time, I felt peace that I'm supposed to be in Yuma. As we were driving up, we saw a sign that says "My heart belongs in Yuma." And that's exactly how I felt. I already love it here so much! There's so much to tell about the Sister's training, but probably the best part was that I was able to spend time with Hermana Norton. She's going home in about 3 weeks and it was such a tender mercy to talk with her about how blessed we have been on our missions and how much the Lord must be aware of us. It was also just really special to see how much each of us has grown and to remember how much we grew together as we were companions. I love her so much and am so sad that I probably won't see her again until I come home. But I know the Lord brought us together and that she was someone that needed to be a huge part of my mission. The rest of the sister's training was amazing. We had dinner and a testimony meeting at President and Sister Howes' house and it was amazing to see how wonderful the sisters in our mission are.
Like I said last week, we've been doing a lot of member missionary work lately. I love it so much because it helps me to see how missionary minded our members are. One family that we talked with this week, the Greens, have been really taking the call to do more missionary work seriously. As we talked with them about their efforts and goals, the Spirit was there very strong. Bro. Green told us that he's been praying about how he could better raise the bar and this was the answer to his prayer. On Sunday, Sister Green told us that there was a lady that she's going to ask to take the missionary lessons this week. She was so excited and you could just see the missionary fire in her. It's amazing! We've also been able to talk to other families about these efforts and it's inspiring to see all they are seeking to do to help their neighbors and friends. I'm learning myself about how to be a better member missionary.
And update on the people here in Yuma that we are teaching. We were able to teach Lori this week about the Restoration. She's had a bunch of questions, but was really excited to read the Book of Mormon. We had another lesson planned with her, but she's been having some struggles in her life recently, so we haven't been able to meet with her, but we hope to be able to talk to her again soon. Fransisco is doing awesome. We want him to know more people in the ward and to have more friends, so we're enlisting their help this next week to give him support on overcoming smoking. He's still having health problems and his granddaughter is going to have a baby any day now, so he's been busy. Laura is just so awesome. She has such a love of learning and is so excited to read and study everyday. She is also seeing that the more she is following the Lord, the more He uses her to help others. She's had some amazing experiences to share her testimony with others this last week. And the insightst that she has from those experienceThis week we also had the miracle of being able to start to teach a few new people. One is named Ana Maria. She's just a sweet lady that feels like she's turned her back on God, but has a huge desire to follow Him. She's hungry to learn more about him and has a friend that's a member and a good influence on her. Then we also started teaching a lady named Carmen. She is not really sure that the church she's been attending is what she needs and she really wants to know about what her purpose in life is. And then last night, we stopped by a less active famly and the mom told us that she really wants to get back into church and wants her 9 year old daughter to be baptized, so we're going to teach them too. A lot of good little miracles came our way this week. We're very blessed!
love you all,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Charity Never Faileth
This is Anneli's zone on their last p-day by the boarder of Mexico.
This is Anneli and her new companion Hermana Saxon.
This is Anneli's mom. I have really been a slacker with this blog sorry. I'm repenting. Anneli has been transferred to Yuma, AZ. She is very excited for a new area and is enjoying it very much. There are 4 wards there and some are English and some Spanish so she is now teaching in English more than before. If you want to write to her please email me at andrealovesgary@yahoo.com. The mission president has asked us not to publish her address on the open internet. Here is her most recent email.
This was a very eventful week. We had a lot of good happen in our area. We started teaching a bunch of new people. It's been an awesome week full of wonderful experiences. We taught an older lady named Judy this week that recently married a widowed member of our snowbird branch. She's not a member, but goes to chruch with her husband often and is very skeptical about religion in general, but at the same time very open. She has a lot of questions! And they are deeper questions, so I've been studying a lot to know how best to answer her questions. We also started teaching another lady that is the girlfriend of a member in one of our english wards. Her name is Lori and she's awesome. She tries very hard to follow God and is going to another church here in Yuma, but lately has been feeling like something has been telling her that the LDS church might be true. So she wants to find out once and for all. We taught her this week and her daughters were also there, so we taught them all and they were very interested in the message and we are going back tonight to keep teaching them. Again, they have a lot of questions.
We also taught Laura. She's doing awesome and already sharing the gospel with her friends at work. It's awesome! Fransisco has been having some health problems, so it's been harder to teach him this week, but we're praying for him. He's excited and working towards baptism still, but we just want to make sure he's healthy first.
One of the girls in one of our wards, Bethany, works in a care center a lot like Bennion Care Center that I worked at a few years ago. She asked us to come by and visit a someone for us. So we stopped by this week. Immediately as we walked in the smells, sounds, etc. all reminded me of my time as a CNA and I was filled with love for the people there. She led us to a woman named Joyce. We got into the room and introduced ourselves to Joyce and then Bethany said "Okay, see you guys later." and ran out. We weren't exactly sure why she wanted us there, but we started talking to Joyce and got to know her a little bit. We found out that she is a member and that she served a mission when she was younger too. We had a good talk with her and then asked if we could share a scripture with her. The first one that came to mind was Mosiah 24:12-15. I read that to her and as I was reading, the words touched me a lot as I thought about her situation. She told us that she wasn't really sure why she was there in the nursing home and what purpose the Lord had for, but as I read those words I was overwhelmed with a love for her and I knew the Lord was aware of her. And I knew that He was aware of me. I can't really explain it, but I was filled with the Spirit. I was kind of a mess, but I just tried to explain to her the love I knew Heavenly Father had for her and how much He did know of her situation. It was a very special experience for me. I realized through that and other experiences just how much the Lord takes care of us in our lives. He knows what we're going through and He will help us with our burdens and make our lives joyful. I think the Lord is teaching me how to love here. Every lesson in church seems to be screaming that to me and through all the experiences, I see that need to love the people here.
So our zone went to Mexico last week. Well, not really, but we were about as close as we could get, probably within 20 feet. It was awesome! Here's some pictures that we took.
We've also been trying to focus more on member work in our mission recently, so we're talking to the families in our wards about what they can do to be better missionaries themselves. It's been amazing to see that as we've been talking to the members, they all have people that they have been wanting to share the gospel, but don't know what to do next. We've been encouraging them to invite these friends and neighbors themselves to activities in their home or at the church where they can begin to feel the spirit and then when they feel it's right to invite them to church or to firesides, etc. These things are really simple, but we've seen that as by small and simple things, members can really open the door to their friends to the gospel.
This week I got a lot of letters from the Parks 3rd Ward Primary. They were awesome! Thanks so much! One thing that I loved was that all of the little girls told me that they want to go on missions one day. That made me excited. Well, Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day everyone. Go celebrate black pride and hug a black person. They are so awesome!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
We were able to teach both Maria and Marlene a few times this week. They are both just so solid in their testimonies. Maria is planning on being baptized this month and we just need to find a way to get Marlene married and then she'll get baptized. I am amazed by how willing they are to change their lives for the gospel and for Heavenly Father. We taught the word of wisdom this week and Maria was willing to give up her coffee. She said that if God said she shouldn't have it, that was good enough for her. She is doing so well! We love them so much too! They are becoming some of our very dear friends!
Thanksgiving day was wonderful. As missionaries we had only a few hours to do missionary work and the rest of the day we spent together. We hiked A Mountain on ASU campus again and that afternoon a sweet couple in our stake fed all of us Thanksgiving dinner and it was so good! We really enjoyed ourselves too and I felt so grateful just to be with such good people all day and to be learning from their examples.
This week we were able to talk to Patricio. He's not doing well. He told us that he knows that the chruch is true and he has no doubts about it, but right now, he needs time to figure out what he wants with life. It's so sad, but surprisingly, I feel very calm about it. I feel at peace that the Lord is helping him and eventually he will make the right decision to follow God.
We also have had some funny experiences this week. We taught some lessons to new people, Lucy and her mom. They are such a cute bunch of people but hardly have any knowledge about God. As we taught them about prophets they came to the conclusion in the lesson, that we were prophets. It was so silly! We had to try to re-explain to them what a prophet was and to help them understand that we definitely are not prophets! Also, one of our investigators, Willy, loves this one song on the radio right now, Rolling in the Deep by Adele and he's always yelling that at the top of his lungs though he barely knows what the words are in english. But he has an amazing memory and that is helping him a lot as he learns about the gospel. We're excited to have his baptism in the next few weeks!
This week we also had Spanish training for the Spanish missionaries. We have some very inspiring missionaries in our mission and I am so inspired by their examples. I honestly feel like we were "taught from on high" as we discussed what we could do to love the culture more, to be better teachers, and to find more people to teach. We have felt very strongly that in our ward and area we need to start teaching english lessons because there seems to be a great need for it and we feel it would help us find people that are also ready for the gospel. We're excited to work with our ward to get that going.
Well, it's been a wonderful week. I feel like the Lord has helped me to see that even though everything doesn't go as I plan, that He has an even better plan. We have a lot of investigators that are progressing towards baptism, but keep having a few setbacks, but we know that the Lord is in charge and in His time, they will be baptized and progress in His gospel. I love being a missionary and am so blessed to help people, especially the wonderful latin-american culture! Don't ever think that they are anything less than wonderful!
love you all,
Hermana Anneli Hansen
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