Hello Everyone! How are all of you?
Monday:
Mondays
are P-days so they aren't incredibly packed with a ton of activities
but last Monday was pretty full! We have amazing youth in my ward and
two of them are leaving on missions soon. So we have set up this system
where we gave the the folletos (pamphlets) for all of the first 3
lessons (The Restoration, Plan of Salvation, and Gospel of Jesus Christ)
and each Monday night we teach it to them and then they practice
teaching it to us. Throughout the week they study the lessons from
Preach My Gospel and the folletos so that they are ready for each Monday
night. It's makes for a really awesome FHE activity!
Tuesday:
After
our studies we went to the animal shelter here and played with the cats
and walked one of the dogs. It was fun but I learned the value of
carrying a lint-roller everywhere you go!
Then we went to
talk to one of the coolest men on the planet who is going through a
really rough time. My heart broke in a gazillion pieces while we were
visiting with him. He is working on coming back to church and I loved
seeing how strong he is. If I were in his shoes I don't think I would be
handling things as well as he is. It goes to show that if we have faith
that is solid in the Savior no matter what we can get through
everything He calls us to pass through.
Then we did some
tracting...but either no one was home or they looked through their
peephole and saw who was on the other end. Yay for peepholes...just
kidding I do not appreciate them as a missionary...they get in the way.
I
also had COSTCO pizza for the first time..it is so good! That is like
the only big store around here in our area...and members who have
memberships are awesome! After dinner with this member family, we
brought the daughter with us for a lesson we had with an
investigator...(WHO IS ON DATE FOR BAPTISM ON FEBRUARY 15!!!!!!)
She is so awesome! We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it
was such a powerful testimony to me that Jesus Christ really did prepare
the way for us to follow.
Wednesday:
We went to the animal shelter again. We played with cats.
Then
we went to an appointment with the sweetest old blind man ever! He was
baptized last spring and he is huge into skiing. That concept was kinda
hard for me to understand the first time but now it makes sense. We
helped him with his computer because he couldn't figure out how to put
it to sleep. By his computer he has the Bible in Braille...and we think
our Bible is big. That one is like 10 volumes of like 1000 pages each.
That's dedication! He tells the greatest stories but they take forever
so our lessons are more like spiritual thoughts. We talked about faith
in the Savior. Faith is a hard concept for some of us to understand but
he gets it because that is how he has to live his entire life. Before we
started talking about it, he thought that faith was something he really
struggled with because past experiences have made it really hard for
him to trust people. We talked about how the only person that we can
really have 100% faith in is Jesus Christ. We can trust Him completely
even though we can't see Him. We can see other people but they often let
us down. But Christ never will.
We went to have dinner with
an amazing family who has several little girls and the middle one
reminds me so much of my youngest sister. She was even wearing the same
shirt that Jillian has. So that was really fun!
It was so
amazing to see how much the Lord blesses us when we live the
commandments. We went to see our investigator who is getting baptized.
We read some chapters from the Book of Mormon and talked about a few of
the commandments. I realized the the Lord doesn't give us these things
because He thinks it is fun to tell us what to do but because He knows
that as we obey them we will grow and change into the people He knows we
can become.
Then we went to our 8pm member
lesson and this couple is so awesome! They are a Spanish couple who
moved here from Mexico and they have amazing stories of how they came
into the church and how living the principles of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ blesses their lives.
Thursday:
Thursday
was awesome! In the morning we went to translate for a Temple recommend
interview and that was a truly powerful experience. It was with a
mother who recently joined the Church a little over a year ago and she
and her son are going through the Temple for the first time together
before he leaves on his mission. It was a surreal experience.
We
went to visit another investigator and she has the most adorable
children ever. I say that about all children but it is true so that's
all that matters!
We had dinner at our Bishop's house..I love
food! It is a good thing the Lord has planned a half hour of exercise
every morning...
Our next visit was with a young man who has
been a member for about three weeks. He just got the Priesthood and his
testimony is so inspiring. The young woman who is going on a mission
helped us teach the lesson. She is going to be a fantastic missionary!
We
watched "Finding Faith in Christ" with a recent convert who is
preparing to go to the temple this year. I have never watched it in
Spanish before but it was just as powerful! I know that we don't need to
have seen Him to know that He is the Savior. We don't need to have been
there to know that He did what He did. We didn't need to have seen Him
be crucified to know that He died for us and that He lives again.Next,
we went to see a referral and he is so nice. He is just a genuinely good
man and he wants us to come talk to him evr now and then about
spiritual stuff. He has talked to the missionaries in the past a ton and
has read the Book of Mormon clear through and he has done this with
almost every other religion and he pulls parts from each of them to
apply to his life.
Friday:
Weekly planning...takes forever! But it is great.
We
went to visit some of the less -actives. We had a door-step lesson with
the man who is having a really hard time. He is a Ute fan and knows
that Sister Smock is a die-hard Cougar. So she borrowed my Ute shirt for
the lesson to make him smile. And he did! Then he started crying during
the lesson a couple of times and it felt awful. Imagine someone ripping
your heart out and throwing it into the blender on the puree selection
then sticking it back into the freezer to try to piece it together
again. Yup that is what it felt like. But in the end it turned out a bit
better. The sun rays could be seen through the clouds. I found a really
cool scripture in 1 Nephi that talks about how the Lord chooses us in
the furnace of affliction because that is how he helps us become better.
Like a sword or a diamond we have to go through intense heat and
pressure before we can reach our full potential.
We helped
read ski wax so that our blind man could label them before he goes
skiing. There is a first time for everything! He is fantastic!
Dinner
was so good! The member who had us over makes amazing Mexican food and I
ate little tacos filled with pieces of heaven and a hint of lime.
Most
of the other appointments we had fell through or cancelled on us so we
went to see another of our recent converts and read Alma 32 with him.
Then we tried to track down some of the former investigators in the area
and had some luck and one of them answered the door. Answering the door
is always nice. Now I know how the Kirby salesmen feel...
Saturday:
We
had Sisters' Conference in the morning. That's fun. We had a break
activity where we had to interpretive dance to hymns. I got "If You
Could Hie to Kolob". I pray those stories never surface and everyone
forgets about it rather quickly.
We went home and had lunch
and stuff and tried to visit some people before dinner but that didn't
happen because no one is ever home! But then we went to dinner with a
recent convert. She made these enchilada things that completed my day of
awesomeness. You make the homemade tortillas and then soak it in hot
chili sauce that is boiling on the stove then put cheese slices, beans,
meat, and lettuce and tomato. American food is utterly boring and
flavorless. Just kidding but Mexican food is superior. Always.
Then we found some new Spanish investigators and it's super exciting!
Sunday:
Sundays
are amazing. We had Spanish sacrament meeting so I led the music. And
the talks were fantastic! We had 4 of our investigators at church and 2
of our less actives so that was sweet!!
And I saw the guy who
plays Levi Savage in 17 Miracles. He is in our ward here. It through me
for a loop mentally because his hair was a different color and he was in
a suit and tie. But I had a mini mental freak out! I am stoked to
officially meet him hopefully this next week.
We went to
deliver some notes after church and then after training hour we went to
dinner. And we had these meatballs straight from heaven because they
were deer meat and some barbecue sauce that is directly from the
celestial kingdom! The members here are so amazing
After
dinner we went to visit some members and others who have kinda been
having a rough week but less than half of them were home.
So
we tracted out some of the houses and encountered some very not nice
people who had no use for us or the message we share. We know who to
send the next missionaries to!
We had our 8 pm memer
lesson and I really love them because it helps us get to know everyone
and helps us practice. For this one we had a less active young man who
was with this member family. It was really cool because we could feel
the power of the Restoration and how much the Lord loves us to help us
always know the way to return to Him.
This week
was another testimony to me of how much the Lord truly does for us when
we keep His commandments. It was also very evident that we have to
decide which side we want to be on because fence sitters never get
anywhere. We have to determine whether or not we will go in with both
feet. When we learn how to do this I know that it can change lives
because I have started to see that.
I know that these things are true and that they really do help us to grow closer to our Savior.
Hermana Kylie D. Hansen
No comments:
Post a Comment