HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!
ok this week was pretty much AWESOME. first of
all, we moved into a new house and it's amazing. all the pictures are on my
companion's camera so you'll have to wait for those, but the house is great. so
much better than our dumb apartment before. we have a beautiful view of the
ocean and moorea (neighbor island), and there are 3 big bedrooms with
AIRCONDITIONING. except i'm so unused to airconditioning now that i'm like
freezing all the time. funny. AND there's a mango, grapefruit, and coconut tree
in our yard. is that not the most picturesque thing you've ever heard or what?
my life is kind of beautiful right now. my companion is super happy too. she
hated the old apartment and complained about it all the time. it was actually
her complaints that got us the new house, so i guess for once i'm actually kind
of glad for her whining. aah silver lining...
anyway, some really beautiful experiences this
week. on friday, we had SEVEN baptisms--the babou family got baptized, and
three other people in one of our other wards got baptized too. i was sooo happy
for the babous. we had been pretty worried about nas (the mom), because we
didn't know if she was really ready to get baptized. we had the feeling that
she was just kind of going through the motions and not really in it. we weren't
sure if she really had a testimony, so we had some reservations about the
baptisms. but we prayed and prayed and prayed that she could get a testimony
and really have the desire to get baptized and moved forward with faith that
God would help her and us. it's hard to explain the change that we saw in her
the day of her baptism--she was...a different person. before she treated
everything really lightly and joked about everything, but on the day of her
baptism, you could really feel the spirit around her. she was serious, but in a
good way. and she cried and cried because she was so happy! and the day after
her baptism, something really amazing happened. i saw her and she pulled me
aside and she told me about this dream that she had where a man in white came
to her and told her that she had a long road to travel, and then he took her
hand. call me crazy, but i seriously think she had a vision. and after that,
she's like totally in it to win it. i taught a lesson to their family the day
after their baptism about lehi's vision and the tree of life, and compared it
to the temple and how there was a lng road to travel to get to the temple, but
that with the Lord's help they could get there to be an eternal family. and she
got up in the middle of the lesson and hugged me and kissed my cheeks and told
us that that was exactly what she wanted and she was willing to sacrifice to
get there. ah! i was so happy! and then they all got confirmed on sunday. man i
totally cried, i wasn't even embarrassed. it was so beautiful to see this
awesome family take a huge step forward towards being together forever. i'm
really hoping that next year i can be there when they go through the temple.
anyway, it was really just such a testimony to me that God hears out prayers
and that this is his work. i saw a beautiful change of heart in our
investigator, and i feel really grateful to have been a witness to that
miracle.
also, cool experience this week. we've been
teaching this lady joanna for about 2 months. her husband is an inactive
member, and we usually teach them together. anyway, this past week her husband
couldn't be at the lesson but we decided to still just teach her (duh it's what
we do). anyway, i felt like i should teach the lesson about the temple. it went
pretty well. normally she doesn't have anything to say during lessons, but she
really opened up during this one. i asked her if the temple was something she
wanted for her family and she was like uhhh YES. and then i was like so what's
stopping you from getting to this goal? and she was like "steve" (her
husband). and she told us about how he's not really ready to give up his habits
and she really wants to change and come to church and go to the temple to seal
their family, but she can't do it alone. anyway, it was really cool to have
this discussion, because normally she doesn't really say a lot. and i felt like
we got such a better look into whatshe was thinking and wanting. anyway, this
week i prayed a lot that her husband's heart could be softened and that
together they could have the desire to move forward. and on sunday i totally
peed my missionary skirt BECAUSE THEY BOTH CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!! GAAAAAAAAAAH I
WAS SO HAPPY! seriously i cried. i was so happy. i know it doesn't really mean
that tomorrow she's going to get baptized or whatever, but still, it was a
little thing that really meant so much to me. it meant so much to know that God
had listened to my prayers, that he helps his missionaries.
anyway, i don't have a lot of time. but i just
wanted to talk about those two really awesome things that happened this week. i
think about them, and i just smile. i love our investigators, and now that i've
seen how much they can change, i feel like a little fire has been lit under me
and i want all of them to have those changes! lots of testimony building
experiences this week. the gospel is true, guys. it's legit. it makes you
happy. i'm glad to be out sharing this message. i hope you all have an awesome
and beautiful christmas. i love you!!
love,
soeur hansen
