Hola Familia y Amigos!!!!
WHAT A WEEK!!!!!! On Tuesday we had Zone Conference and it was amazing and so uplifting. It was held in Sioux City, Iowa, so we drove down the night before and stayed the night with HERMANA IVERSON!!!!! It's always so exciting when I get to see her. There will always be something so special about your first companion in the MTC, I just know we will be amigas para siempre!
Zone Conference
At Zone Conference the biggest thing that stuck out to me was how our President emphasized that during the time we have on our mission, we belong to the Lord. Every time we wake up, we need to think, "I belong to the Lord today," and get up and do His work. He promised us that if we give His work all of our energy, have faith, and work a little harder, we will have the "spirit of a missionary." Wow. I really needed that promise. Lately, missionary work has been a little bit harder than usual. Finding people to teach has been hard, waking up in morning has been hard, and when I get home lately, I'm so worn out and exhausted. It had been harder for me to be motivated and excited to go out and knock doors lately too. Yes, I could blame the weather, but in reality, I needed that extra motivation that our inspired President gave us!
The Spirit of a Missionary
The entire rest of the week after Zone Conference, Hermana Thacker and I zipped up our coats and went out the door each morning feeling like we were wearing the Armor of God. We knocked door after door, and talked to EVERYONE that we saw. We worked so hard from sun up to sun down every single day. And the most amazing part about it was, I was SO HAPPY every single day. It didn't matter whether people accepted us or not. I knew we were doing everything we could to bring the Restored Gospel to everyone we saw, and I knew that Heavenly Father was pleased with our work this week. It also became a lot easier to wake up, and I even had energy when I got home. I can honestly say that I have had missionary spirit all week, and it's been such a blessing!
I truly felt like Nephi this entire week when he said:
"Wherefore, I, Nephi, did exho
faculty which I possessed, tha
(1 Nephi 15:25)
Heavenly Father Answers Prayers
For this entire transfer Hermana Thacker and I have been praying very hard for unity within our mixed-language branch. Normally on Sundays, Hermana Thacker and I translate during Sacrament meeting with headsets. It's never easy, and the headsets don't work too well. I feel so bad for our Spanish members that have to bear with our live-translation in broken Spanish through fuzzy headphones. Especially because Heavenly Father has promised us that there will be a time when the gospel will go forth to every language, kindred, tongue, and people. There has been a plea from the Spanish members lately to start doing sacrament meeting in Spanish every week. Our Branch Council has been working hard to get it approved with the stake and area 70 for us to start splitting sacrament meetings so that the Spanish members will have more opportunities to speak and to nourish each other in their own language. After much prayer and fasting, the idea got approved this week!!!! We will start having Spanish Sacrament meeting next week in the primary room during the same time that English Sacrament meeting is happening. We were overjoyed when we got the news. You know the part in the Book of Mormon where Ammon reunites with his brethren after years of not seeing each other, and he was so happy that he passed out?
Alma 27:17: "Now the joy of Ammon was so g
I didn't pass out, but that's exactly how I felt when we got the news. This is huge for our Spanish members and for the people we are teaching!!!!
Our prayers were also answered for this past Sunday. We had a Regional Conference broadcast and President Holland spoke!!! We were very nervous about translating for that conference. We prayed so hard and asked a lot of people if there would be someone translating for that meeting. We hadn't heard anything back, so on Saturday we were planning on translating for the meeting. But on Saturday afternoon we got a phone call from one of the members and they told us there would be a Spanish translation! They were able to have a TV in the other room in Spanish and we were so thrilled. Especially because one of the families who speak Spanish that we are teaching came to church for the first time yesterday!!! Huge miracle and answer to prayer.
Update on Dora:
We were able to move her baptismal date back to November 24th! We knelt down to pray with her the other day and told her to ask Heavenly Father if she was making the right choice to be baptized. She told us, "Look I already prayed and asked if I should be baptized and I got my answer. I know I need to be baptized!" She went on to tell us that she had a dream that the Savior came to her and told her she needs to be baptized. Isn't that so awesome?!?! She committed to live the Word of Wisdom yesterday without a problem too. We are so proud of her. She is such a precious daughter of God!
I hope you all had an amazing Halloween and got a good extra hour of sleep during day light savings! Getting that extra hour of sleep was like the best day of my life haha.
Love you all!!! Have a great week :)
Con amor, Hermana Hansen
Pictures:
1-2: Hermana Iverson, Gubler, Thacker, and I after zone conference! They were about to go to a service project so that's why they're wearing street clothes.
3-6: Hermana Thacker and I celebrated on Halloween night after 9:00 by carving pumpkins and making cupcakes! It was also her 1 year mark :) My pumpkin is supposed to be a cat but it honestly just looks like Fin the Human from Adventure Time haha.
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