Thanksgiving

Pictures sent by Bishop Russell. The sisters spent Thanksgiving with his family. Sister Bennion, Munford, Parrish & Hanna

Snow!

Bishop Russell sent these pictures of the sister missionaries shoveling snow for the citizens of LaPine!

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

So this week has been...interesting. We have gone tracting a lot this past week. Let me share some of my favorite stories. So on Saturday, Sister Bennion and I knocked on this lady's door. She answered and asked us if we were Jehovah's Witnesses. And we were like, no, we're Mormons! The lady started to close her door and I was like "Wait! Have you ever heard of our church before?" She said "Oh yes. I don't agree with or like the Mormon church." So I asked her why not and she straight up said, "Because you guys are a cult!" She legit thinks that the Mormon church is a cult! I asked her if I could explain why we weren't a cult, and she just straight up shut the door in our faces! My companion and I just stood there on her porch and started laughing. It was super funny, but also super infuriating at the same time. But that's okay! Because the next house we knocked on actually listened to what we had to say! We taught her a little bit about the plan of salvation, and then showed her a Mormon message about the Atonement. And then! Come to find out, she's a Jehovah's Witness! Which is super crazy because they don't like Mormons. But she listened to us and told us we could come back and tell her more!

So it's been 14 degrees outside the past two mornings! I'm slowly freezing to death, but that's okay, haha.

Zone conference with President and Sister Samuelian was also this past Wednesday! They talked a lot about calling upon the powers of heaven, and how we should have the faith to expect miracles. I love President and Sister Samuelian, they're the best!

So I'm sorry this email is very short and not super exciting. I promise I'll do better next week! I love you all!

Love,
Sister Hanna

And now there are four!

It's been a crazy, busy, hectic week! It started off with sister Munford and I traveling to Salem on Tuesday for transfer meeting. At the meeting, we were put into temporary companionships while we waited for our new missionaries. Sister Munford and I were sent to Forest Grove with Sister Daniels, and we proselyted there until Thursday. On Thursday we got our new missionaries! So you know how last week I told you I would be getting a temple square missionary who was either going to be from South Africa or Australia, and sister Munford would be getting a greenie? False. President Samuelian changed his mind, aka the Lord changed His mind, and I got the greenie and sister Munford got Sister Parrish, who is from Australia! Sister Bennion is my new companion and she's from Kansas! You don't here of many missionaries being from Kansas, haha! So now there is four of us living together, and let me tell you it has definitely been an adjustment. Since there's now two companionships in LaPine, sister Munford and I have to split up the area. We have to split our investigators, which stinks because both of us love these people so much. Planning has definitely been the worst. It's been causing a lot of frustration and anger because we're still not completely sure how we're splitting the area. It was getting really bad. But on Sunday, we decided to fast. And it worked! We're all a lot happier and it has been so much easier to push away the anger and frustration. My testimony of fasting has definitely been strengthened.

Miracle of the week! So the four of us were out tracting the other day, and this lady was trying to hook her horse trailer back up to her truck. We went over to see if she needed help, and it turns out that in order to get the trailer back onto the hitch, it needed to be lifted. So the four of us sisters were like "we can lift it" and she did not believe us. So we were like "Carol, do you have faith?" And she was like "I'm not sure." So we told her that we had enough faith for her. She looked at us like we were crazy. But nonetheless, she let us attempt to lift the trailer. The first time we tried, it didn't budge. The second time it moved just barely. And the third time we tried, we were able to lift it just enough to get the hitch under it! When we lifted it the third time, it seriously felt like someone was there lifting it with us! It was amazing! And even better, the lady we were helping was in shock! And guess what! Sister Munford and Parrish are going back over this week to see her!

On Saturday Kyle and Audrey got baptized! It was super awesome. Friday, the ward had a chili cook-off for the Boy Scouts fundraiser. Sister Munford and I got to be the judges for all the chili's. One of the chili's  was squirrel chili! And you know what? It was delicious!

We woke up to snow this morning! Not very much, but still! Snow!

I love you all!

Love,
Sister Hanna

PICTURES: Proselyting with Sister Daniels in Forest Grove ~ New Sisters in LaPine Sister Parrish & Sister Bennion ~ New Companion Sister Bennion

Transfer week!

Hello :)

GUESS WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK!? We got transfer calls! Good news, Sister Munford and I are staying in LaPine! Yay! Even better news. WE ARE GETTING A SECOND SET OF SISTERS!!!! There's going to be two companionships here in LaPine! President Samuelian called us on Friday and told us that he was thinking about sending two more sisters to LaPine. And then on Saturday he called us again and "officially" told us that he was sending two more sisters. Luckily, our apartment is big enough to hold four people! But not only are we getting two more sisters, we're getting two brand new sisters! Sister Munford is training a greenie, and I will be training a sister from the temple square mission! And she's either going to be from Africa or Australia! We are SO excited! So tomorrow, Sister Munford and I will be going to Salem for the transfer meeting, and then from there we will be put into temporary companionships and will proselyte in an area in the valley. Then on Wednesday we will have the trainer's meeting in Newberg, and Friday is when we will get our new missionaries! Sister Munford and I have spent all weekend cleaning out, organizing, and rearranging our apartment. We also had Elder and Sister Abrams from the mission office drive up and bring us a second set of bunk beds. THIS IS SO EXCITING!

So, that's not the only awesome thing that happened this week. Yesterday at church, a lady in the ward came up to me and handed me a giant loaf of pumpkin bread. She didn't say anything, but just stared at me. So I was like "uhh, thanks?" She then smiled at me and said, "your mom wanted you to have this," and then she just walked away! I was so confused, but I almost started crying! Thanks mom for finding a way to send me pumpkin bread! I love you!

IT HAS STARTED TO SNOW! It was snowing really hard earlier, but again, nothing has stuck to the ground yet. It's also been icy! Yesterday we were leaving our ward mission leader's house, and I almost slipped and fell on my butt on his outside deck! Don't worry, I caught myself but I'm just waiting for the day when I will actually fall, haha.

Sorry this email is short, but I promise I will have a lot more to say next Monday!
Love you all!

Love,
Sister Hanna

PICTURES: Her District/They nicknamed themselves "The Derp Herd" because they cant ever take a serious picture ~ Halloween Fun/This was one of our member's Halloween costumes

It's Cold, Help Me!

Family and friends!

What a week it has been! Let's start with Monday. On Monday night we had another lesson with the Manley family. We were teaching about some of the commandments: obedience, prayer, scripture study, and keeping the sabbath day holy. As we were talking about keeping the sabbath day holy, Sister Munford and I brought up the sacrament and how important it is that we partake of it weekly. We explained the symbolism and need for the sacrament. You could tell that Barbara and Peyton understood why the sacrament is so important, but they couldn't feel how important it was. I knew that they needed to feel the importance of the sacrament, since coming to church isn't something that they're fully committed to yet. So I whipped out my iPad and showed them the Mormon Message, 'Always Remember Him.' Boom! That did the trick. The spirit flooded the room as Elder Holland explained the importance and significance of the sacrament, and it was evident that Barb and Peyton could feel the spirit. After the video, Bishop Russell asked them how the video made them feel, and both of them replied, "It made me feel like my Savior loves me." WHAAAAATTTT! It was awesome, I was doing a celebratory dance in my head! So the Manley family has gone through dozens of missionaries, but they've never committed to being baptized. We've been teaching them for about two months, and they've slowly, but surely made progress. But on Monday, we asked them to be baptized on December 12...and they said yes! This family is so awesome! And they're finally taking the first step to becoming an eternal family!

So let's skip over Tuesday and go to Wednesday. Wednesday...kind of really stank! EVERYONE we planned to see that day cancelled on us. Everyone! And we had hardly any miles left to drive, so we couldn't go contact random people throughout the area, so we were basically stuck. Sister Munford and I prayed to know where we should go, but we couldn't find anywhere to go that was within reasonable driving distance. We got feeling pretty sorry for ourselves, and when you're feeling sorry for yourself, you get ice cream. So we went to Dairy Queen! After we got our ice cream, we went to bishop's and ended up helping him clean up his shop. After that, we were driving to the church for mutual to see if there was anything we could do to help out with activities going on that night for mutual. On the way there, sister Munford and I turned on a song in the car and we recorded ourselves dancing along like complete dorks to the song. We thought we were pretty funny, and it really brightened our not so eventful day. I'll attach the video so you can all laugh at us!

Skip Thursday, because it basically went the same way that Wednesday did, and jump to Friday. Friday was great! We had district meeting in Bend, which was awesome as always. I love it when Friday comes because we get to see all of our fellow missionaries serving with us in our zone. My companion and I are pretty secluded up here in LaPine, since we're 45 minutes away from Bend. So I'm always excited for district meeting! Our ward mission leader, Brother Rothrock, and his wife drove us to district meeting. (We've basically been begging for rides this past week because we were running out of miles.) The Rothrock's had their grandson with them, and that was super fun because their grandson proceeded to tell us stories about how his papa (Brother Rothrock) had been letting off real loud farts the night before! It was so funny! Brother Rothrock tried to keep his grandson quiet, but that kid could not be tamed! It was so funny! Hearing about my ward mission leader's farts is definitely something I'll never forget!

Friday was also awesome because our ward mission leader took us out to eat at a restaurant called Cowboy Dinner Tree. So the Cowboy Dinner Tree is an hour away and it is literally in the middle of nowhere. It's a run down cabin that has no electricity, but only a few light bulbs spread around that are lit by a generator. The only meal options are either chicken or beef. If you order the chicken, they give you the whole chicken! If you order the beef, they give you the entire roast! Not to mention its unlimited salad, soup, and rolls. You're already full by the time you get your meal! But the food was SO GOOD. And everywhere you look in the restaurant, customers have shoved dollar bills into every possible nook and cranny. There's seriously hundreds of dollars shoved into the walls. The point of this restaurant is to give you the experience of eating like a true cowboy. It was definitely the funnest and most unique place I have ever eaten!

Saturday was a good day! Since it was Halloween, we had to be inside our apartments by 7pm, but that didn't stop us from having fun! Bishop Russell took us out to breakfast, and then we went over and helped a member clean up the mess made from redoing his roof. Then we went over the bishop's and raked his leaves. We visited a few people, shared some messages, and then went over to the Pearce's to carve pumpkins! I've said this so many times already, but I LOVE THE PEARCE'S! They are so sweet and they take such good care of Sister Munford and I. So we carved pumpkins, and pretty much laughed the entire time. Then they fed us dinner, and way too much candy. It was so much fun! Oh! I almost forgot to tell you! Sister Munford and I dressed up as each other for Halloween. We both had the same dress, and we switched our name tags, so that was fun! We also wore the same tshirt when we were doing service and carving pumpkins.

So it's pretty cold here in LaPine! It's supposed to snow this week! I'm excited, and also not haha. Let's see if I'll be able to handle this cold weather!

President Samuelian sent out an email last week to all the missionaries. He wants the mission to have a "White Christmas." Not in terms of snow, but in terms of white jumpsuits, aka baptisms.  Each companionship in the mission has set a goal to have at least one baptism in the months of November and December! As a mission, we want to give our Heavenly Father and Savior the gift of clean hands and pure hearts.

Well that's it this week! I love all of you!

Love,
Sister Hanna

PICTURES: Cowboy Dinner Tree ~ Halloween (dressed up as each other) ~ carving pumpkins with the Pearce's, Haley's pumpkin is on the far right ~ Pajamas sent from Grandma Patti