This week has been the best week yet! I'll talk about the best part first. WE HAD FOUR BAPTISMS ON SATURDAY!!!! Moumouni, Peda, Cheick, and Roy were all baptized and confirmed this weekend. It was honestly the most amazing service. Each of them were grinning ear to ear afterward and the spirit was so strong. On Sunday each of them got confirmed. They asked Moumouni (the dad) to bare his testimony and it was the most adorable thing. His first language is french because he's from Africa and his accent is pretty strong. He basically said that his life was completely changed, and even after he went home after the baptism he felt like something was different. He said he feels complete, and he just kept saying thank you over and over. It was SO amazing. I've never seen anyone more joyful in my life. He wasn't sure how to close his testimony so he closed with a prayer, it was so tender. MY HEART IS SO FULL!
I'll give you a brief rundown on Moumouni's family. They are from Burkina Faso and he basically applied to come to America 10 years ago in this lottery thing. Tons of people apply and they only pick like 10 people, and he got picked! He had a wife and 2 kids that he had to leave when he came to America. 2 years ago he was finally able to get his kids to come join him in America! Peda is 13 and Chick is 11. They are in the process of trying to get his wife to America as well. Moumouni was a nurse before he moved to America and sadly he doesn't qualify to be a nurse here, so he is working at JBS (a pork factory). This family is literally so strong, so respectful, and so happy. I am SO blessed to have been able to be a part of their conversion. Some of the ward members called them "dry Mormons" before they got baptized, because they basically were already living all of the commandments! They were truly so prepared.
Here's the rundown on Roy. His parents are both members, they used to be a little less active in the church. Roy is 16 and thinks he was baptized already when he was 8, but they couldn't find the record of it anywhere. So we did all of the lessons with him and it was actually an amazing experience for him because he didn't know much about the church. He loves parqour and is all round just an awesome guy. SO HAPPY FOR THESE PEOPLE!!!! I wish I could introduce all of them to you guys.
Some miracles this week:
During the time that all of them were changing into their dry clothes, the president of our branch called me out and had me come introduce myself to the branch. I was caught off guard, but I talked about how I know ASL. A lady in the branch named Sister Postma went up to the pulpit when I was done and was crying, saying she knows why I was called to this area. Her brother is deaf and she's been praying for someone to be able to teach him about this gospel for so long! Hopefully I will get to meet him and teach him in ASL in the next week or so. YAY!
There's a girl we started teaching last week named Hei Gay Moo -- she only speaks Korin. (Not Korean, Korin) -- We have an Elder in our zone that we call over facebook and he translates for us as we teach her. It's hard because they don't have a Book of Mormon in Korin! But we show her pictures and try to explain them haha. Anyways, we met her sister last week and started teaching her too! She speaks English. We were explaining to her where our church was located and at the end of the lessons she's like "wait a minute! My husband used to go to that church!" We looked him up, and sure enough he was a member! Crazy huh?? We are hoping to start teaching him soon. The Lord really does put people on our path!
Another funny thing from this week: My companion sometimes forgets that there are more languages than English and Spanish. So whenever she sees someone who isn't white, she says "Hola como esta?!?!" It's pretty embarrassing when she says that to a group of Asian people. Yes, it's happened more than once. Yes, it's hilarious and embarrassing every time.
I love you all so much!!! There are literally SO many miracles everywhere we look here. If you are trying your hardest to serve the Lord and keep his commandments, he will bless you so much. If you look for His hand in your life, you WILL find it. He's truly leading and guiding you everywhere you go, every second of the day. I know this is true!!!
I love you all, have an amazing week :)
--Hermana Hansen
Pictures:
1-3: the baptism!!!
4: We made the mistake of asking the boys what food they wanted at the baptism. Remember the service was at 8:30AM. But yet one wanted pizza, one wanted rice, and one wanted cheesecake. When we told the relief society president the menu she basically told us we were on our own with that and she was gonna bring cinnamon rolls. HAHA our bad.
5: Sorry this pic is nasty. But I ATE THAT can you believe it??? It was actually pretty good too. I also ate some cow intestine this week. People feed ya some weird stuff here
6: The lake we live by!!!
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