FAMILIA Y AMIGOS!!!!
Where do I start?! This week went by so much faster than last, and it was such a great one.
When you're on a mission you honestly hit every emotion in the book in a single day. On Tuesdays we do a "car fast" day where we don't drive to preserve miles and to make us get out and work more. We had an appointment with the Zeba family (who are all on date for baptism on Saturday WOOHOO) and they live across town. We called the members that live close by to give us a ride and none of them could, so we walked for an entire hour to get there. Half way through the walk I thought I was gonna die. I was hot, tired, sweaty, we had talked to every single person that was outside and none were interested -- I basically just wanted to give up. I decided to try to make the day a little more fun because I was sick of feeling that way, so my comp and I started waving at every single car that passed and I would count everyone who waved back. Want to know how many people waved back by the end of the day? Drumroll... 100!!!!!! I know it sounds silly, but it honestly kept me going that day. It's honestly the little miracles that make missionary work so fun!!! I also think my comp could tell that I was getting a little worn out, so on the way home we stopped at an ice cream shop by the lake and treated ourselves. Blessed.
Wednesday was the hardest day for me so far, which is sad because it was also my trainer's birthday! I made her some waffles for breakfast and celebrated with a member that evening, it was awesome. But unfortunately during the middle of the day I had hit an all time low, my companion asked what was on my mind and I just started crying, que oso. (Que oso directly translates to "what bear" but apparently in Mexico it's slang for "how embarrassing," funny right?) I told her that being a missionary was harder than I ever could have imagined -- I'm not used to knocking on doors and people looking at me like I'm a crazy person, I'm not used to talking about my religion 24/7, I'm not used to this many people turning us away, I'm not used to working with everything I have to offer from 6:30AM to 9PM, it's so hard. As I explained my feelings, my companion started crying too. She just talked me through it and was honestly just so Christlike. Wow. On her BIRTHDAY too. What an angel. But after that I felt so much better, a good cry can do a person wonders apparently.
On one morning before this incident I was on a jog with my companion and the thought crossed my mind, "Oh man, I really don't want to be a missionary today." Almost instantly after I thought that, a new thought popped into my head, "Did the Son of God ever think to himself, 'I really don't want to be the Son of God today.'" The answer is no, He never thought that. He never thought that because He is perfect, and His will was swallowed up the Father's will. He never thought that, and yet he suffered infinitely and incomprehensibly more than I have, or anyone ever has. I realized that I have NO room to think that, because Christ has ultimately sacrificed everything so that I could be happy. And I know for a fact that that thought was not put into my head by myself, that was the Spirit reminding me who I am representing. I am a representative of Jesus Christ. Will I ever be able to live up to His name? Of course not. But I know that through Him I can and will become the best and happiest missionary I can be, and He will be walking with me every step of the way.
On Friday we had exchanges with our Sister Training leaders in Omaha and it was just wonderful. Turns out that every single appointment they had that day fell through, so what did that leave us with? Door knocking. What is the one thing that I am still terrified out of my mind for? Door knocking. But guess what? We knocked on doors ALL day, and it was literally the most amazing experience of my life. I learned SO much from Sister Olsen and her techniques that day, I learned that if you focus on LOVING the person you're talking to then everything goes smoothly from there! From that we saw so many miracles and found I think 4 new people to teach! What an incredible experience. I never knew that knocking on doors could end up being so fun.
On Saturday we had this AWESOME service project for our stake. Crazy how at home I used to kind of dread service projects (hate to admit it) but now it's like my favorite thing ever! There was a lot of flooding in the northern part of our area so we went and helped everyone get rid of the sandbags in front of their houses (they used them to block the water). We probably hauled off like 1000 sandbags, boy were they heavy and boy were they dirty! But you should have seen the graditude from the people we helped, it was so wonderful.
Lastly, we saw so many miracles yesterday. We realized that we have to kind of take charge and plan the baptism that's happening on Saturday for the Zeba family (from Africa) and a youth named Roy. First off these people are so amazing. GOLDEN!!! They keep commitments like it's nobody's business, they've truly been prepared by Heavenly Father for us to come teach them. Anyways, we were stressed out of our minds because Roy found out his brother had a basketball tournament during the baptism so we had to reschedule. But we didn't want to split the baptisms -- that would be hard on the branch because so many live far away, it would be double the driving, double the food, etc. After a million complications we realized that the baptism pretty much HAD to be on Saturdayfor both Roy and the Zebas. So after a lot of stress, thought, prayer, and calling a ton of people... my companion opened to a random page in the Book of Mormon hoping for some guidance and she opens to Alma 42:29:
"And now, my son, I desire that ye should let these things trouble you no more."
MIRACLE??? I think yes. Heavenly Father WILL talk to you through the Book of Mormon, it's a fact. Eventually we came to the conclusion that we would have to do the baptism at 8:30AM on that day. We were stressed because it was so early, but EVERYONE in the ward immediately was on board. M.i.r.a.c.l.e.
Missionary work is AMAZING, despite the low moments I truly am experiencing more joy than I thought was ever possible as I see the happiness of those that are accepting this gospel. I'm so so so happy. Sorry that my emails are so long, I love you all so much. Have a great week :)
Con amor,
Hermana Hansen
No comments:
Post a Comment