One Transfer Down!

Hey everyone!

This week has been crazy! We had transfers on Tuesday, and both of my companions left me :( Sister Henry finished her mission and headed home to Provo, and Sister Anthony was called to the Las Vegas West mission! I'm so excited for her! So on Tuesday, I spent all day in Bend with Hermana Phelps. Both of us were getting new companions, so we just stuck with each other until they got here. My new companion is Sister Williams. She's awesome, I already love her so much. But guess what? Sister Williams is on her last transfer! So I'll be getting another new companion next transfer. That'll be my fifth companion within 3 months! I was a mess when Sisters Anthony and Henry left, and I'm sure I'll be a mess when Sister Williams leaves. But hey, on the bright side, I'll have lots of new friends! 

So not only is Sister Williams awesome, but she's also the new sister training leader! That's right! The STLs are split between LaPine and Bend. Sister Griffin is the other STL. Because the STLs are split, there is going to be a lot more trips to Bend and a lot more exchanges. Every time Sisters Williams and Griffin go on exchanges (every Friday) with the other sisters in our district, I'll be with Sister Griffin's companion, Sister Munford. Sister Munford is a brand new missionary! She just got here on Tuesday. So every weekend it's gonna be her and I pretending like we know what the heck we are doing, haha! Also, we got permission from Sister Samuelian to have Sunday sleepovers with Sisters Griffin and Munford so that the STLs can do a weekly planning session. It's going to be an interesting transfer, that's for sure!

On Wednesday, my new companion and I drove down to Newberg with Sister Griffin to pick up Sister Munford. We didn't get home until almost midnight on Thursday! It was crazy. Everything was so delayed because the new missionaries' flight was delayed and they didn't get to Oregon until three on Wednesday, which meant that all the training and meetings were pushed back. So we left Newberg on Thursday at about 6, and it took us FOREVER to get home to LaPine. We caravaned with two trucks of Elders, who were heading to Redmond and Burns. Redmond is about half an hour from Bend, and Burns is about another 3 hours. It was craziness. But it was fun! Needless to say, this past week has not been a normal one, haha. But I have learned to make the best of any situation! A three and half hour road trip with a bunch of missionaries is something I won't forget! At one point along the highway we were stopped in traffic and Sisters Munford and Williams jumped out of the car and went and picked blackberries from the bushes along the side of the road. The Elders thought we were crazy haha! 

Sister Williams and I spent the weekend going around and visiting with people so that Sister Williams could get to know the area. The people here are awesome! And they already love Sister Williams! 

I'm sorry this is a short email, but it's been a busy week and honestly I can't remember most of what has happened, haha! I love and miss you all!

Philippians 4:4

Love,

Sister Hanna

Six Weeks Down!

I had an awesome week! To start off, I witnessed a miracle! About a month ago, Bishop Russell received a call from a woman who worked at an adult foster care home. She asked if bishop could bring by some tithing slips for a woman who was living there. So, of course, bishop sent us! We get there and find out that the woman who requested the tithing slips had just moved in, and had only been in LaPine for about a month. Her name is Wanda, and she is so sweet and cute and old! So anyways, we talked and got to know her a bit, and then got the phone number for the home she was living in so that we could set up a time to come back and visit her. About a week later, we called Wanda to see if we could come and see her, but the lady who worked at the foster home said she had moved out! WHAT!? So we lost Wanda, and we didn't know where she had gone too. BUT! On Wednesday night, we get a call from Sister Alvarado. She lives at Prairie House, the old folks home, and was telling us how there was this new lady who moved in and was LDS. AND GUESS WHO IT WAS!? It was Wanda!!! We were so excited and happy that we had found her! So the next day, we went over and visited Wanda. When she opened her door and saw who it was, her face lit up and she swung the door open for us to come inside! She was so happy that we had found her again! Almost a month later, we had found Wanda again. It was so awesome to experience that!

Tomorrow is transfers, and I'm losing both of my companions :( Sister Henry is going home, and Sister Anthony is getting transferred. So since this week is transfers, that meant that we had our last district meeting this past Friday. It was super emotional and super spiritual because about half of my district is leaving. So since people are leaving, Elder Giddings (the district leader) thought it would be a good idea to sing God Be With You Till We Meet Again. NOT A GOOD IDEA. I was crying as soon as the piano started playing! I sobbed the entire way through, and so did my companions. It's hard enough losing one companion, but I'm losing two! It was terrible, I was a mess haha. They better not sing that song at the end of every transfer, I won't be able to handle it!

Elder Giddings gave an AWESOME lesson in district meeting on Friday. He started off by talking about "The Hero's Story," which is basically the plot line to every super hero story ever. A hero discovers he is super, he goes around doing super things, a villain shows up, the villain beats the hero, but then the hero finds their strength and they go on to beat the bad guy. Everyone knows this story, but what most people don't realize is that it's the story of Christ! And that's why people love it so much! The people are unknowingly searching after the story of Christ, and that's why it is told time and time again. I can't tell it nearly as well as Elder Giddings told it, but I'll attach the story to this email so all ya'll can read it. IT. IS. AMAZING!

On Sunday, Elder Hansen of the 70 spoke in our ward! He's the area representative. He spoke about serving and magnifying your calling. He said, "It doesn't matter where you serve, but how you serve." My companions and I also had to teach Gospel Principles. The lesson was on charity, which was very fitting because we had just had the Great Giveaway. Every year, Bend, Redmond, LaPine, and other stakes put on this big event called the Great Giveaway. They fill every room in the church building, including the cultural hall, with donations that they collect year round. Clothes, furniture, toys, books, everything! They organize all of it and then give it away. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come and take anything they need. We had about 700 people come through the church! It was awesome! The entire cultural hall was filled with tables full of clothes and shoes, and then every other room in the building was designated for a certain item. It took an entire week to get the church set up for the event, and the members have been collecting donations since last October. It was incredible to see so many people being helped. Many of the people who were there needed school clothes for their kids, and if it wasn't for the great giveaway, they wouldn't have been able to get clothes for their kids. The people were so grateful, and I feel so blessed to have been able to help them. And anything that is left over is donated to Deseret. Well I love you all! Keep doing amazing things!

Love, 
Sister Hanna

PICTURES: Wanda ~ LaPine District ~ Heidi (a recent convert)

I got my iPad!

Hi friends and family!

This week I got my iPad! Woo! My companions and I had to travel the three and half hours to Newberg for a special technology training meeting with President Samuelian and his assistants. We learned about how to safely and appropriately use our iPads. They really stressed the importance of making our technology our servants and not our masters, which made me think of Matthew 6:24, "no man can serve two masters." President Samuelian is such an awesome guy! My most favorite thing he said during the tech training was, talking to us sisters, "The harder you work, the better looking your husband is!" Talk about motivation! Haha! And I got to see Sister Rasmussen at the meeting! Ah! I love and miss her so much!

On Saturday, there was a ward picnic to celebrate Pioneer Day! My companions and I helped make all of the signs and we made cookies. They had tons of activities! There was bonnet sewing, bubbles, three legged race, button on a string, and tons of other games for the kids. There was also homemade root beer and ice cream. Sister Anthony and I made bonnets, and they're way cute! Everyone was jealous of our bonnets. Just kidding, they weren't. But I like to think they were haha. It was so neat to see the ward family come together, and it's amazing how much I love the people!

The other day I was going to the bathroom, and I look over and see a GIANT SPIDER sitting in the corner! I yelled from the bathroom for my companions, but they thought I was overreacting. Sister Henry told me to just smash it with some toilet paper! But no. This thing was massive! So I open the door to show them and Sister Henry takes one look at it and runs away screaming into the kitchen. Then Sister Anthony takes a look and runs away screaming as well! Meanwhile I'm standing there laughing my head off because I just realized that my companions are wimps hahaha. But it's okay, I still love them! So obviously the spider needed to die. So I stick on my shoe and try to muster up the courage to step on the ugly thing. After about 5 minutes I finally killed the stupid thing, but I'm screaming the entire time that my foot was smashing the spider! I'm sure the neighbors thought we were dying or something haha! Anyways, moral of the story is that I'm never using that bathroom again!

For dinner last night we ate at the Walters. I love this family because they are younger with younger kids and they remind me of my family! So I love going over there! Anyways, we shared with them a video about the Atonement. After the video the Dad was explaining to the kids about how Jesus Christ suffered for us and felt everything that we have ever felt. He explained that no other person could have been able to do what Jesus did, but then the 10 year old boy piped in and said "BUT WE ARE MEN!" It was so funny! The little boy was so confused as to why a big strong boy like him couldn't do what Jesus did hahaha.

I love all of you and I hope you are reading and praying everyday!

Love,
Sister Hanna

PICTURES: Ward picnic ~ Brother Rothrock Ward Mission Leader ~ Technology Training for the iPad with Sister Rasmussen (MTC Companion)

Hello!

Hola!

Today, my companions and I went to a super cool national monument called Lava cast forest! 7,000 years ago the Newberry volcano erupted and covered the entire forest! Once the lave dried and turned into rock, it created volcanic molds out of the trees. The trees were burned and in their place was left a volcanic molding, so there are holes all over the place! So you hike along this paved trail through this entire valley of volcanic rock, and along the trail you can climb down inside all of the volcanic tree molds! It's seriously so fascinating! We climbed in a few holes too! After, we went to see this awesome water fall called Benham falls! Oregon is so pretty! Why did it take me this long to get here?!

The coolest thing that happened this week was when we were teaching our new investigator Trish. She just moved here from Hawaii and is the girlfriend of a less active member. But while she was in Hawaii, she randomly just one day decided to get a Book of Mormon for herself! She was telling us how that was a really weird experience for her. I explained that it wasn't just a random coincidence, but that it was her Heavenly Father giving her a tap on the shoulder and telling her that it was time for her to receive the gospel. So this was her first lesson, which meant we taught her about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. We weren't planning on inviting her to be baptized, but during the lesson I got the prompting to ask her if she would be baptized! I kind of struggled with myself at first and was like "No, Haley. You're ridiculous. Don't ask her yet, you're crazy." Buuuuuut, God had other plans! So I asked her! And she said yes! She'll get baptized! We don't have a date yet because she wants to have some more lessons first, but that is so much better than a no! And that was my first baptismal invite!!! It was such a neat experience, and now I just feel like running down the street and asking everybody I see if they want to be baptized! But I can't, because I would look like a crazy person, haha! But seriously, from that lesson I learned that you should always follow a prompting. And by following promptings miracles can and will happen!

So it amazes me the inappropriate jokes and comments that members make around missionaries! They may not realize that they're doing it, or it may just be that they seem ridiculously inappropriate because I'm in this missionary mindset, but it happens way more than you think! I want to laugh when they say something, but then I feel super awkward. It is so funny! I'm just an awkward mess right now, hahaha!

My companions and I get to travel to Newberg on Thursday! We have to drive to the mission home so that I can get my iPad! YAY!!! Both of my companions have theirs, so when they're using them I just sit there and wait for them to finish. Everything is done on the ipad now. That's where your schedule is, where you report all of your lessons, all of the membership records. EVERYTHING. So I really have no idea what's going on half of the time because I don't have an ipad to put it in, haha. But not anymore! I get it on Thursday! 

Oregon is great! It's cloudy and about 70 degrees right now!! It's so nice! I love and miss all of you!

Love,
Sister Hanna