feb 20
hiiiii
everyone!
i would
like to start this letter with a kind of depressing (for me) anecdote. once
upon a time an elder saw the picture that i have of our family, ya know that
one from a couple christmases ago at wendy's house with everyone in it. anyway,
so he saw it and was like "hey i think i know that girl on the far
right..." at first i thought he was joking, but then he was like "oh
no. i thought it was one of my friends from back home. man i really thought
that i knew her..." and then i was like "uhh...elder....that's
ME." HE DIDN'T RECOGNIZE ME IN THE PICTURE. how depressing is that? I'M
ONE OF THOSE SISTER MISSIONARIES THAT GETS FAT AND UGLY ON HER MISSION!!!!!!!!
it was a sad moment for me. oh well. not sad enough to motivate me to diet or
do my hair, so the ugly cycle will continue everyone. just a warning for future
photos.
also
another anecdote: yesterday my companion almost blew up our house because she
put a metal bowl in the microwave for like 10 minutes. i didn't know she'd done
it until the microwave beeped and i opened it up and i was like "GAAH
SOEUR YOU CAN'T PUT METAL IN THE MICROWAVE WHO RAISED YOU!?" i seriously
think we were protected my some angel or something, because there is no logical
reason as to how our microwave did not EXPLODE.
this
was a pretty solid week all in all. we starting teaching a new couple--moea and
tupea, and i'm seriously in love with them. they're so great!! the
"husband" (not married, but everyone here calls them their husband or
wife even if they're not married) is an inactive member and the
"wife" is really interested and receptive. actually this reference is
kind of a miracle in and of itself, because we first met them at one of our
missionary concerts back in december and we gave them our number and they were
like "yeah we'll call you" and we were like "yeaaah we know what
that means ok have a nice life!" but last week, they totally called! and
we were like whoa! so we went to go teach them and it was awesome. the spirit
was totally there and we were able to establish a really good rapport with
them. i'm hoping to see some good progress in this couple.
one of
our other investigators, frere guillemet, is doing pretty well too. there was a
time for about 3 weeks where he stopped coming to church and would cancel his
lessons at the last minute so we were like hey what the heck is going on. so we
decided that we would just stop by unannounced to see how he was doing. he has
been struggling to quit smoking and drinking, but we were able to encourage him
and now he's coming back to church and the lessons have started back up again.
we had a really good lesson about the atonement and at the end of it he was
like whoa i really needed that. he's such an awesome guy--his wife is inactive
and they have 4 kids. he really wants to change and be a good example for his
kids, but obviously it's not easy to make those changes. but i know that he can
do it.
anyway,
this week was cool because i really felt so much love for our investigators. as
tired as i am of this area, there's still a part of me that's like nooo i don't
want to leave because i want to stay with these investigators and keep teaching
them! it's definitely not easy to try and listen to the Spirit to teach what
they need to hear, but i'm finding that the more i try and focus on their needs
and think about them, the more i come to love them and seriously just want them
to be happy. there are still ups and downs every day, but things are going
well. working on my weaknesses is a grueling process, but i know that it'll be
worth it in the end.
last
week i finished the book of mormon for the first round on my mission. it was a
really good experience and confirmed my testimony of it's truthfulness. it has
also given me a lot more motivation to do everything i can to get our
investigators to read it and gain a testimony of it for themselves. i know that
there is a power in that book that can change peoples' lives.
welp i
better wrap this up. hope everyone back home is doing well and being happy. i
love you!
love,
soeur
hansen
