Hola familia y amigos!!!
THIS WAS THE BEST WEEK OF MY LIFE. I know I've said that a lot but it gets better every time I say that. My subject comes from a hispanic member in our ward. He says it all the time. Read it in a Spanish accent and it will make you smile. Spoiler alert: ROBERTO GOT BAPTIZED! Best day ever. I'll talk a little bit about it later. Here are the highlights of my week:
We got blessed
We were knocking around this trailer park, and we saw one with Christmas lights so naturally we knocked it (sign that a hispanic lives there). This Hindu lady let us right in!!! She told us that it was the Diwali Festival that day (festival of lights). We talked a little about religion and Christianity and we gave her our card and pamphlet, but before she let us leave she said "I need to bless you!" She painted this beautiful sparkly mark in the middle of our foreheads and then fed us this DELICIOUS Indian food. We kept the "blessing" on our foreheads all day haha it was the best thing ever!! Oh, also the cute little hindu grandma gave us all $5!!! We truly were blessed haha. I love being a missionary because you get to see SO many cultures. And everyone is so nice!! She invited us to come back next year! Pictures attached!
Zone Conference
We had Zone Conference this week and it was good for many reasons. It was my LAST ZONE CONFERENCE so that was a little sad. I got to bear my testimony as one of the missionaries that are leaving. It felt so good to bear my testimony because it made me realize that I really have given my all to my mission and I have been so happy throughout the past year and a half. I mean sometimes were harder than others, but through the hard times I was able to grasp onto the Atonement of Jesus Christ and He helped me grow and come out stronger every single time. Time has flown so fast. We also did a musical numbers with all the Hermanas present at Zone Conference and we sang in Spanish. Good day. We watched the new Light the World video about Christ's birth (it probably won't come out for all to see until December) but it was AMAZING it made me bawl my eyes out. It was really special to see a beautiful depiction of the wise men kneeling down and worshiping a baby. Not just any baby, the Savior of the World. Our Redeemer came here in the most humbling circumstances, so innocent and pure, to grow up and mature in the ways of Heavenly Father and learn that His eternal purpose and identity was to come and atone for the sins and sufferings of all mankind. I love and am so thankful for Jesus Christ in my life. I would be so lost and alone and so far gone without him. Think about where you would be without the Savior in your life and say a little prayer of gratitude for what He's done for you. And if you're not using His Atonement to your fullest capacity, start now. It's worth the repentance process, I promise.
CHANGE
A huge theme I've seen this week is change. Roberto just keeps expressing to us day after day how much he has changed and how happy he is. Our other most progressing person, Annette, also expressed that to us this week. She is so sick with cancer and has so many complications. We taught her the plan of Salvation this week and asked what differences she's seen in her life since we started meeting with her/since she's been going to church. She told us that before she was so angry all the time, and now she is just so happy. It's because she is CHANGING! She is accepting the gospel and acting on pure faith. She smiles so much. She smiles despite her pain, despite the fact that her very close aunt just died, and despite the fact that she is very alone. She is happy because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Shouldn't we all be??
Bautismo!!
The night before Roberto's baptism we went over to teach him his very last lesson. We rolled up to his apartment at 8:00 and he was standing outside waiting for us. He then explained to us that his roommate invited his friends over so we couldn't go inside... and we'd have to have a lesson OUTSIDE in the FREEZING COLD. Literally 32 degrees and windy. But we did it. The things you do for the gospel man. Haha. Roberto's baptism went SO SMOOTHLY and he bore the sweetest testimony afterward. He talked about how the first time we met him he was smoking. He struggled with being an alcoholic and he's had a super rough past. But ever since we started working with him, he's given up all of these things. He allowed Christ to take off his metaphorical backpack and he feels free. This week he visited his friend that just got out of prison. He said his friend barely even recognized Roberto because he's changed so much!!! He got confirmed on Sunday and bore his testimony in Sacrament meeting. He was accepted with open arms into our little Spanish group and I am sooo happy I got to be part of his conversion (even though this is only the beginning)!
Best chili judge you ever did see
To finish off the week we had a chili cook off for our ward party. They asked if we'd be the judges!!! I ate 17 different kinds of chili. Hahaha. Needless to say I see chili very differently now. Some of those things were NASTY but some were so delicious. That's all I am going to say about that haha.
Love you all!!! Just so you know my P-day will be on Wednesday next week so I won't be able to talk on Monday! <3
-Hermana Hansen
Pictures:
1-2: Some silly little pictures we took at the church
3: Roberto's baptism
4-5: Zone Conference
6-7: Diwali day festival!!!
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