Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Monday, December 28, 2015
Happy New Year (Almost)
Hi everyone!
How was everyone's Christmas?! Christmas in the mission field was amazing! We spent a lot of our time this past week Christmas caroling! We went with a family to a bunch of different people's houses, trudging through the deep snow and all! It was so neat to see the spirit work through all of these people as we sang on their front porches. Music is such a great way to feel the spirit!
So we have two investigators who are close to a baptismal date! Nick and Barbara! They're both thinking of January 9th as a baptismal date. Keep them in your prayers!
I would have to say that the best part of this week was getting to see my family! I can't believe that 6 months has already flown by! I loved seeing and hearing their voices, especially my brothers.
Again, I apologize that this email is short, but this week was a bit slow because of Christmas. I hope that all of you have enjoyed this Christmas spirit and will carry it with you into the new year. I love you all!
Love,
Sister Hanna
PICTURES: Christmas Caroling ~ Christmas Skype ~ Christmas
How was everyone's Christmas?! Christmas in the mission field was amazing! We spent a lot of our time this past week Christmas caroling! We went with a family to a bunch of different people's houses, trudging through the deep snow and all! It was so neat to see the spirit work through all of these people as we sang on their front porches. Music is such a great way to feel the spirit!
So we have two investigators who are close to a baptismal date! Nick and Barbara! They're both thinking of January 9th as a baptismal date. Keep them in your prayers!
I would have to say that the best part of this week was getting to see my family! I can't believe that 6 months has already flown by! I loved seeing and hearing their voices, especially my brothers.
Again, I apologize that this email is short, but this week was a bit slow because of Christmas. I hope that all of you have enjoyed this Christmas spirit and will carry it with you into the new year. I love you all!
Love,
Sister Hanna
PICTURES: Christmas Caroling ~ Christmas Skype ~ Christmas
Friday, December 25, 2015
Christmas Skype
FROM MOM: We had an hour and fifteen minutes with her. And they were wonderful! She had the biggest smile on her face the whole time! She really looks and seems happy!! We started in the family room and let everyone see her and say a quick hi. She loved seeing everyone! We then moved upstairs to the bedroom where it was quieter and had a good chat. It was still hard because the connection wasn't great. There was a few second delay and with 7 of us it was a little chaotic. But we talked about her daily life as a missionary and some of her investigators and baptisms she has on date. She introduced us to her companions & roommates and Bishop & Mama Russell. We updated her on what was going on with everyone in the family and the ward. And before we knew it, our hour was up! We had a family prayer, said by Nate. It was the sweetest prayer! Then for the next 15 minutes we tried to hang up. Nobody could push the button. Nate finally did it! We are on the countdown now to Mother's Day!
PICTURE: taken by Bishop Russell while she was skyping us
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas everyone!
This past week was so good! To start off, we had a really good lesson with our two progressing investigators, Barbara and Peyton Manley, last Monday night. We taught them about personal revelation, how to receive it and how to recognize it. We have been working with this family for about 4 months now. Their progress has been very slow, but looking back to when we first started teaching them, there is such a huge difference! The best part about this lesson was when Barbara told us that she knew that the Book of Mormon is true! And the way she received her answer was so unique, but so perfect for her. She told us that when she prayed to ask if the BOM was true, she didn't get an answer right away. But instead, she felt that she just needed to keep reading. So she did, and about a week later, as she was reading, she came to the realization that there is no way that the BOM can't be true! She explained it to us like this; The Book of Mormon has to be true, because why would so many people, so many families suffer war, tragedy, and heartache to preserve something so simple as a book (records). It was so cool to hear her say that!
We definitely are a lot less busier than we were when it was only 2 sisters in LaPine. It's hard because I don't know how to not be busy, so we've had to figure that out. We only have 3 investigators right now, the Manley's and Nick Williams. They're all ready to be baptized, they're just trying to work it all out. The Manley's are trying to plan their date around family flying in and the weather. But, they are looking at January 9th as a date, which would be super awesome because they would be confirmed on the tenth, which is when President Samuelian and his wife are speaking in our ward. It would be super awesome to do it at the same time! Nick is only held up because of his mom, and he's only 16 so we need her permission.
We definitely are a lot less busier than we were when it was only 2 sisters in LaPine. It's hard because I don't know how to not be busy, so we've had to figure that out. We only have 3 investigators right now, the Manley's and Nick Williams. They're all ready to be baptized, they're just trying to work it all out. The Manley's are trying to plan their date around family flying in and the weather. But, they are looking at January 9th as a date, which would be super awesome because they would be confirmed on the tenth, which is when President Samuelian and his wife are speaking in our ward. It would be super awesome to do it at the same time! Nick is only held up because of his mom, and he's only 16 so we need her permission.
This week was the missionary Christmas concert! On Friday, the Bend and Redmond zones met together with President and Sister Samuelian to rehearse for a Christmas concert that we put on for our investigators and members. They also fed us a Christmas dinner, and the two zones performed skits. Afterwards, we were each given a stocking stuffed with a bunch of different things, a tshirt that has the OSM logo on the back, and a letter written to us from someone in our family. After all of that stuff, it was time for the concert! It was such a spiritual experience! President Samuelian had told us beforehand that we weren't really singing for the members, but that we were singing for God. He told us to pay special attention to how we felt and to the spirit that would be there. He told us that there would be angels present singing with us at the concert. And let me tell you, there were angels everywhere! For the closing song, the choir and the congregation stood and sang Silent Night, and I could barely keep it together! The spirit was so intense, and you could definitely feel the presence of others who were singing with us on the other side of the veil. Christmas in the mission field is the best!
Sunday was great as well! So about a month ago, the sisters and I found out that LaPine doesn't put on a Christmas program for the sacrament meeting. Unacceptable, right? So we decided to change that. We met with the ward chorister and planned out a Christmas program. We planned out what musical numbers we should have, who should perform them, and then also who we wanted to give short, spiritual thoughts. Then we called everyone, and thankfully, they all accepted! It was so neat, because we made sure to include everyone in the program. Primary, the youth, individual families. It was such a powerful sacrament meeting! I hope this becomes tradition for LaPine.
I hope all of you have a fantastic Christmas! Never forget the true meaning of Christmas!
I love you all!
"Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if we have room for Jesus." -Neil A. Maxwell
Love,
Sister Hanna
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Christmas Fun!
Hey everyone!
Another week has flown by! And I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner! I was doing the math and Christmas Eve will be my six month mark. That's already a third of my mission completed! The time goes by SO fast!
So the highlights of the week: Sister Bennion and I were in Newberg Monday night through most of Wednesday. We were there for a tech training meeting with president and sister Samuelian, and sister Bennion got her iPad. Meetings with President are seriously the best! He's so full of wisdom and spiritual knowledge! I get a spiritual boost every time he opens his mouth! After the meeting, we went on temporary exchanges with the sisters serving in the Newberg area. That night, we went Christmas caroling to a bunch of different people and it was so much fun! All of them were so grateful and happy that we had thought of them! It's incredible how music can be so spiritually uplifting to people.
Another highlight of the week was district meeting on Friday! We had an ugly sweater/white elephant/breakfast party before we started our meeting. The elders came in early and set up a Christmas tree that they decorated with nerf guns and nerf darts! It was ridiculous, but awesome at the same time. Us missionaries know how to throw the best parties 😂
Later Friday night was our ward Christmas party! It was just as fun! I love ward events, because you can really feel the love of the ward members, as well as the love that the savior feels for all of us. One of the ward members who was in charge of the party asked us last minute to lead the song "Here Comes Santa Clause." We were supposed to start the song and then have everyone join in. The point of this operation was that if everyone sang loud enough, Santa would hear us and come to our party. Well let me tell you, no one joined in! So it was just us four sisters trying to sing in front of the whole ward! And the worst part is, none of us knew all the words to the song! It was so hilarious and embarrassing, and we just started laughing. It was probably the worst entrance Santa Clause has ever made. 😂
On Saturday, some members tricked us into thinking we were doing service for them, when really they had planned an afternoon of Christmas fun for us! So we got there, and the first thing they had us do was frost cookies with them. It was super fun, and it really helped invite the Christmas spirit in. We were sitting there frosting cookies when Brother Crume told his grandson to go start the quad. The four of us sisters just kind of looked at each other and were like "uh, what's going on?" Brother Crume grinned at us and said "you're going sledding." So we went sledding! They tied the sled to a piece of rope, which was hooked to the back of the quad, and they dragged us up and down the snowy streets. It was SO MUCH FUN! The best part about this story is that I got attacked by a dog. They were pulling sister Parrish and I on the sled and then out of nowhere this dog starts chasing us! I was so freaked, and I could hear the dog barking and snarling behind me in my ear. I then felt a tug on my sweater and I realized that the dog had bit me! Luckily, it didn't get skin, just my sweater. I never thought that I would actually get chased by a dog while on my mission, but hey, memories!
I am so excited for Christmas! We went Christmas shopping today, which is super hard because your companion knows everything you get them, because they can't leave your side. But oh well, at least you know that they'll like it!
Here's a quote, "To catch the real meaning of the spirit of Christmas, we need only drop the last syllable and it becomes the spirit of Christ." -Thomas S. Monson
I hope all of you are enjoying this very special Christmas season, and I hope you remember the Savior and the true meaning of Christmas. I love you all and Merry Christmas!
Love,
Sister Hanna
PICTURES: District meeting ~ Ward Christmas Party ~ Relief Society Christmas boxes ~ Driving home from Newberg ~ Sledding
Another week has flown by! And I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner! I was doing the math and Christmas Eve will be my six month mark. That's already a third of my mission completed! The time goes by SO fast!
So the highlights of the week: Sister Bennion and I were in Newberg Monday night through most of Wednesday. We were there for a tech training meeting with president and sister Samuelian, and sister Bennion got her iPad. Meetings with President are seriously the best! He's so full of wisdom and spiritual knowledge! I get a spiritual boost every time he opens his mouth! After the meeting, we went on temporary exchanges with the sisters serving in the Newberg area. That night, we went Christmas caroling to a bunch of different people and it was so much fun! All of them were so grateful and happy that we had thought of them! It's incredible how music can be so spiritually uplifting to people.
Another highlight of the week was district meeting on Friday! We had an ugly sweater/white elephant/breakfast party before we started our meeting. The elders came in early and set up a Christmas tree that they decorated with nerf guns and nerf darts! It was ridiculous, but awesome at the same time. Us missionaries know how to throw the best parties 😂
Later Friday night was our ward Christmas party! It was just as fun! I love ward events, because you can really feel the love of the ward members, as well as the love that the savior feels for all of us. One of the ward members who was in charge of the party asked us last minute to lead the song "Here Comes Santa Clause." We were supposed to start the song and then have everyone join in. The point of this operation was that if everyone sang loud enough, Santa would hear us and come to our party. Well let me tell you, no one joined in! So it was just us four sisters trying to sing in front of the whole ward! And the worst part is, none of us knew all the words to the song! It was so hilarious and embarrassing, and we just started laughing. It was probably the worst entrance Santa Clause has ever made. 😂
On Saturday, some members tricked us into thinking we were doing service for them, when really they had planned an afternoon of Christmas fun for us! So we got there, and the first thing they had us do was frost cookies with them. It was super fun, and it really helped invite the Christmas spirit in. We were sitting there frosting cookies when Brother Crume told his grandson to go start the quad. The four of us sisters just kind of looked at each other and were like "uh, what's going on?" Brother Crume grinned at us and said "you're going sledding." So we went sledding! They tied the sled to a piece of rope, which was hooked to the back of the quad, and they dragged us up and down the snowy streets. It was SO MUCH FUN! The best part about this story is that I got attacked by a dog. They were pulling sister Parrish and I on the sled and then out of nowhere this dog starts chasing us! I was so freaked, and I could hear the dog barking and snarling behind me in my ear. I then felt a tug on my sweater and I realized that the dog had bit me! Luckily, it didn't get skin, just my sweater. I never thought that I would actually get chased by a dog while on my mission, but hey, memories!
I am so excited for Christmas! We went Christmas shopping today, which is super hard because your companion knows everything you get them, because they can't leave your side. But oh well, at least you know that they'll like it!
Here's a quote, "To catch the real meaning of the spirit of Christmas, we need only drop the last syllable and it becomes the spirit of Christ." -Thomas S. Monson
I hope all of you are enjoying this very special Christmas season, and I hope you remember the Savior and the true meaning of Christmas. I love you all and Merry Christmas!
Love,
Sister Hanna
PICTURES: District meeting ~ Ward Christmas Party ~ Relief Society Christmas boxes ~ Driving home from Newberg ~ Sledding
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Zone Pday
Hey everyone!
We're having zone pday today and I want to play so I'll just send
pictures this week!
PICTURES: Bend/Redmond Zone:
We're having zone pday today and I want to play so I'll just send
pictures this week!
PICTURES: Bend/Redmond Zone:
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Highlights
Friends and family!
So I'm just going to share a few highlights from this past week! First off, it snowed! Hard! The mission office grounded our cars on Wednesday because of all the snow. It snowed all day Tuesday and into the night! On Tuesday, the four of us sisters went around with Bishop Russell and helped shovel snow at people's houses. We were shoveling a random drive way when a lady poked her head out her front door and through her tears told us how grateful she was for us. She was an older lady, and she told us that she had been worrying about how her driveway would get shoveled because she couldn't do it herself. Her gratitude was so amazing! Service is awesome!
So it's a LaPine sister's tradition to be initiated into the area by participating in "The Mattress Slide!" So of course, sister Munford and I had to initiate sisters Bennion and Parrish. We lined the stair
case with mattresses and had fun throwing ourselves down the stairs! Our neighbors probably strongly dislike us because we were super loud while doing it haha!
Thanksgiving was fun! It was definitely weird not being with my family, but we had dinner with Bishop, who's basically family anyways. Yesterday, sister Bennion and I went tracting. We knocked on this lady's door, and when she answered we asked if we could share a Christmas message about Christ with her. She looked at us and said "Well, you two are pretty young, and I've been on this planet significantly longer than you, so I know a lot more about Jesus Christ than you two do. But congratulations to you two for knowing about him." What the heck! People...sometimes they're the worst, sometimes they're the best. But! They are all children of God, and I love them! Have you all watched the new Christmas video that came out yesterday?! It's called "A Savior Is Born." And it's fantastic! Go watch it if you haven't!
I love you all and I hope you are enjoying the holidays with your
family and friends!
Love,
Sister Hanna
So I'm just going to share a few highlights from this past week! First off, it snowed! Hard! The mission office grounded our cars on Wednesday because of all the snow. It snowed all day Tuesday and into the night! On Tuesday, the four of us sisters went around with Bishop Russell and helped shovel snow at people's houses. We were shoveling a random drive way when a lady poked her head out her front door and through her tears told us how grateful she was for us. She was an older lady, and she told us that she had been worrying about how her driveway would get shoveled because she couldn't do it herself. Her gratitude was so amazing! Service is awesome!
So it's a LaPine sister's tradition to be initiated into the area by participating in "The Mattress Slide!" So of course, sister Munford and I had to initiate sisters Bennion and Parrish. We lined the stair
case with mattresses and had fun throwing ourselves down the stairs! Our neighbors probably strongly dislike us because we were super loud while doing it haha!
Thanksgiving was fun! It was definitely weird not being with my family, but we had dinner with Bishop, who's basically family anyways. Yesterday, sister Bennion and I went tracting. We knocked on this lady's door, and when she answered we asked if we could share a Christmas message about Christ with her. She looked at us and said "Well, you two are pretty young, and I've been on this planet significantly longer than you, so I know a lot more about Jesus Christ than you two do. But congratulations to you two for knowing about him." What the heck! People...sometimes they're the worst, sometimes they're the best. But! They are all children of God, and I love them! Have you all watched the new Christmas video that came out yesterday?! It's called "A Savior Is Born." And it's fantastic! Go watch it if you haven't!
I love you all and I hope you are enjoying the holidays with your
family and friends!
Love,
Sister Hanna
PICTURE: Traditional Mattress Slide for new Sisters
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