Another Baptism!

This week has been AMAZING!!!!! To start off we had 11 investigator lessons!!!! We taught so many people this week! It felt SO good to be so busy! We have three investigators on date! Audrey and Kyle Newton are on date for November 14th. They've already got family planning to fly in for the baptism! And Sierra is getting baptized in two weeks! Sister Munford and I are planning on asking 3 more people if they want to be baptized this week!

Yesterday, we had 13 nonmembers at church! Six of them were potential investigators and we have set up a time to meet with most of them this week! I also spoke in sacrament. Bishop Russell asked me to speak on technology. It's a good thing the missionaries are given so many manuals on how we can effectively use our ipad to fulfill our purpose and help us stay safe from temptation. A quote I used in my talk was by Randall L. Ridd, and he said "the divine purpose of technology is to hasten the work of salvation." It's so true! Throughout time, God has given His children tools that they can use to help further the work. The Liahona was given to Lehi and his family to help them travel to the promised land. The Urim and Thummin was used to help translate the word of God. And today, Heavenly Father has given us the internet! It's so cool to think that technology has a divine purpose.

Probably the best thing that happened this week was that Kaitlin got baptized! Her baptism was SO spiritual! The room was filled with people. She didn't even know most of them, but they were there because they all loved her so much and knew that she is a very special person. The ward has scooped this girl up like none other! She seems as if she's been part of the ward her whole life! It's awesome! So funny story, Sister Munford and I forgot to tell her to bring a towel...sooooo she had to dry off with another jumpsuit! It was so funny, but hey! We're both still new missionaries, it was inevitable that we would mess something up! And the good new is she's not moving back to Florida! WOO!!! Kaitlin told us that she received the revelation that if she went back to Florida, she wouldn't be able to progress in the church as well as she would here. So she's staying! Yay!

Today was zone pday! Again! We went to Bend and played kickball at the park. And the best part...President and Sister Samuelian were there! President played kickball with us and there were a few times when he almost got nailed in the face! He's a good sport though, so no one is getting sent home for kicking the ball too hard! Hahaha! I'm funny :) Just kidding, I'm the only one who laughs at my jokes. We also had interviews with President. President Samuelian is a spiritual giant! Talking with him today is definitely something I needed.

OH MY GOODNESS I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU! The missionaries are going to the temple on Friday! I. AM. SO. EXCITED. I can't stop talking about it! Guys, I haven't been to the temple since June 23rd! It's going to be so awesome and spiritual and uplifting! I can't wait!

Missionary work is the BEST! I can't even describe how happy and how joyful it is to be doing the Lord's work.

I love you all!

Love,
Sister Hanna  

Spiritual Overload!

Hola!

Can we talk about conference please?!?! It was so amazing! I loved every single speaker! I seriously LOVE conference! And guess what? Our investigator Kaitlin watched 3 out of the four sessions! She is SO amazing! She's getting baptized this weekend and I am so PUMPED! She is seriously incredible. She loves the gospel so much and is so prepared. So, back to conference. I think my favorite talk was by Jeffrey R. Holland on Saturday afternoon. It was about moms and their divine nature and role in the kingdom of God. He talked about how a mother's love is the closest we can come to in mortality to comprehending the love that the Savior has for us. He said, "Mothers are saviors on mount Zion." AH! I love it! I think why I love it so much is because it reminds me of you, mom. Thank you, mom, for always loving me, even when I acted like a turd.

So Sister Munford is my new companion! But I'm pretty sure I already told you all that. Anyways! She's from Ogden, Utah and has five other siblings. She's been out just 6 weeks, but she has seriously got this missionary thing down already! She's incredible. We teach really well together and I'm pretty sure we share the same brain because we're always thinking the same things. Comp unity, yay! A lot of people have told us that we look identical if we're standing far enough away. So we decided that we're going to dress up as each other for Halloween! It's gonna be good haha.

We are so busy here in LaPine! We've got about 10 investigators, and the best part is that a lot of those 10 are families! Teaching a family is awesome because you get to witness the difference that the gospel and the spirit makes within the home.

We've also been doing a lot of service for our ward mission leader, Brother Rothrock. He's been repainting his house, so we've gone over a few times and have helped him repaint his deck. The Rothrock's are seriously the best! We love them so much! Plus, he's got a fridge stocked with Dr. Pepper, so that's a bonus haha. On Thursday we brought our investigator Kaitlin over to paint with us. She gets along so well with Sister Rothrock, so that was a really neat experience to see Kaitlin getting along with the ward members.

Miracle of the week. On Sunday Sister Munford and I went to the church to watch the afternoon session of conference. LaPine is small, so only like 5 people actually watch conference at the church. Well, this time it was just us and another older sister who came to watch. But, the weird part about this, is that no one showed up to set up the projector! Luckily, we were able to watch it on our iPads. The reason this is a miracle though is because if Sister Munford and I didn't go to the church, which we almost didn't, the sister who was there with us wouldn't have been able to watch conference! The church was the only place she could go to view it. Yay for tender mercies! They're awesome.

So the weather up here in LaPine has been CRAZY! Two days ago it was 40 degrees and raining and now today it's sunny and 70. What the heck Oregon, get it together! How are all of you Arizonans doing? Still sweating? Lol!

Sooooo if you didn't watch conference, watch it! It was amazing and I know that it will answer your prayers and build your testimony.

Sending my love all the way from Oregon!

Love,
Sister Hanna

PICTURES: With Sister Pearce who fed them breakfast and watched conference with them Saturday morning ~ Painting the Rothrocks house with investigator Kaitlin

  

I really have no idea what happened this week!

Sooooo...it's been a crazy week to say the least haha. So I'll start out with the craziest part. On Thursday, I started having really bad pains in my left side and lower back. It sucked! And they lasted all day! So we called a lady up in the LaPine ward who is an RN and we asked her about it and she said that I probably had an ovarian cyst. Well that's just fantastic! So I downed some ibuprofen and then went to bed for the rest of the day. Then Friday morning, I was completely fine! Yay! I was able to function as a normal missionary. Well, my joy was short lived. At about 3 in the morning Saturday morning I woke up with those horrible pains again, and they would not go away! So at about 9 o'clock, I had Sister Williams drive me to the emergency clinic in Bend. We were there ALL DAY! All those doctors and nurses took their sweet time to figure out was wrong with me. They gave me an IV and gave me some super strong ibuprofen to help with the pain, but it didn't. So finally, they gave me some hydrocodone! Woo! That helped haha! Anyways, we were at the emergency clinic for six hours on Saturday! They first did an ultrasound and then a CT scan. And the final result...a big fat ovarian cyst! So, they sent me home with 3 different prescriptions for 800mg ibuprofen, hydrocodone, and an antibiotic. And let me tell you, those hydrocodone pills KNOCK ME OUT! I slept for six hours straight yesterday! It's a good thing I have a wonderful companion, bishop, and bishop's wife. They have taken care of me all weekend and I am so grateful!

Alright! Enough with the doctor stuff. Something amazing DID happen this week! On Thursday night, we got a text from Kaitlin. She was a former investigator who dropped us last transfer. BUT! She texted us saying that she needed to see us! So we were like, heck ya we'll come see you! So we met with her on Friday, and she bore her testimony to us about how she realizes that she needs the gospel in her life and that she doesn't want to live with out it anymore, and that she wants to get baptized as soon as possible! She seriously has an INCREDIBLE testimony. She's basically already Mormon. She just needs to get dunked haha! So...She's getting baptized on October 10th! She is an amazing girl! She went to the women's broadcast, attended church yesterday, met with bishop's wife to go over Personal Progress, came to the bishop's youth fireside last night, AND woke up and went to early morning seminary today! SHE. IS. AWESOME! We have a lesson with her almost every day this week! Another amazing thing about meeting with Kaitlin this past week was that we met with her on Friday, which was also the same day I wasn't having those stupid side pains. I had them on Thursday, and I had them on Saturday, but not on Friday. And I truly believe God had a hand in that, because if I would've been in pain on Friday the same way I was the rest of the weekend, we would have not been able to see Kaitlin! And who knows what would or wouldn't have happened if we didn't see her when we did! So I thought that was pretty spiffy!

So...transfers are tomorrow :( I'm losing Sister Williams, nooooo! I love her so much! She is seriously awesome and has taught me so much! But I guess her family wants her back. How selfish of them, right? But! There is some good news! I'm staying in LaPine! YAY! But I already knew that. Bishop says that once you're in LaPine, you're here for awhile. And as for my new companion...it's Sister Munford!!! I had a feeling she would be my new companion anyways. Ah! We are going to have so much fun! I'm so excited! And hopefully, I'll have her for more than 6 weeks this time haha.
Well, I love you all!

Love,
Sister Hanna

PICTURES: Bend District - Expectation vs. Reality 

My first Baptism!

Hi!

This past week was AWESOME!!! First and foremost, the greatest miracle that happened this week was...a baptism!!!! Ayden and Evan Poulsen got baptized on Saturday!!!! My first baptism as a missionary! Well, it's not my baptism, but yea! First baptism! It was so incredible and spiritual! They asked me to give the talk on baptism. At first I was freaking out because I was like "oh no, I have to talk in front of PEOPLE." But I got over it! And I was really glad they asked me, because that was such a cool experience! I did this visual aid where I had Ayden and Evan come up and draw all over a boiled egg. The egg before it was drawn on represented them as being pure and clean. The marker on the egg represented sin. Then I had the boys peel off the shell so the egg was clean and white again, and that represented baptism! Being cleansed of all your sins! The relief society room may or may not have smelled like eggs afterwards, but that's okay! They really liked it! I actually got the egg idea from Sister Williams. She's a genius. But anyways! That baptism was so powerful and spiritual, and the boys were SO excited to get baptized. Not to sound prideful or anything, but sister Williams and I helped create the beginning of a celestial family! I am so excited for the Poulsen's! They are planning to attend the temple a year from now! Yay! I love teaching kids! Ayden and Evan are awesome!

Sister Williams and I got two new investigators this week! They came from a less active, part member family, where the mom and one of the daughters have been baptized. The dad and the son are the new investigators. The mom was in a head on collision car crash on the highway about a month ago, and she lived! We were talking to the dad the other day when we went over to help him split wood, and he told us that the only reason his wife is alive is because God wants her to be, and that he wants to start taking the missionary discussions. God really does work in mysterious ways! Our first lesson with him is on Thursday!

So do you all remember Brad? He's on date to be baptized! He's the guy we gave a Mormon.org card to while he was pumping our gas, and he called us the next day! Anyways, we taught him the Restoration on Wednesday. We asked him if he would be baptized and he said yes! Woo! So awesome! The gas station that Brad works at is a GOLD MINE! We give out pass a long cards to everyone we see there! But one of the guys we talk to at the gas station all the time is Jerry! Super sweet guy. While we were having our lesson with Brad at his house, guess who walks in?! Jerry! And guess what again?! Jerry is Brad's brother-in-law! How crazy is that!

This next story is going to make all of you laugh, especially you dad! On Friday Sister Williams and I were driving down this stretch of highway and we were on our way to contact a referral. Well, we realized that we wouldn't have enough time to contact the referral and make it to our other lesson in time. So, we turned around. Annnnnnd got our car stuck in the dirt! There was nowhere else to turn around so we decided to pull off the highway and turn around. No big deal! We do that all the time! Except the dirt here is like sand! So we basically dug ourselves into the dirt, hahaha. We had to call bishop so he could come and save us! It was SO funny! The funniest part was that we could've gotten out ourselves but we didn't know how to use four wheel drive. So sometime in the near future, bishop is going to give us driving lessons haha.

Well I love you all! And so does Jesus!

Love,
Sister Hanna

PICTURES: Evan & Ayden Poulsen Baptism ~ Lava River Cave ~ Pday Hike ~ Splitting Wood for the Newton's ~ Stuck in the dirt on the side of the highway ~ Sunday night sleepover in Bend so Sister Williams & Griffin can do their STL thing ~ Zone Pday Fun - (One of the members in the Cascade Crest ward owns an indoor sports facility and he'll clear it out for the missionaries once a transfer)

 

Hello!

Hey!

So honestly I don't remember most of this past week. It all blends together! So if I'm repeating anything, sorry haha. Anyways! This week was MLC or Missionary Leadership Council. I don't go to that, but my companion does since she's an STL! The other STL is Sister Griffin, who serves in Bend. Since the STLs had to travel to Newberg, Sister Munford (sister Griffin's companion) and I got to spend two days together! I always love spending time with Sister Munford! We feel so cool because we're both brand new missionaries and they let us loose without any supervision. Haha! Anyways, on Tuesday we contacted one of the referrals that was sent to us in LaPine. I was a little nervous, because I had never contacted someone without a senior companion. But! It was a good thing we did because we ended up getting a new investigator! Woo! Her name is Sharon, and she is awesome! She is totally ready for the gospel.

So do you remember Brad? We started teaching him! And he came to church last Sunday! He is super sweet and he was so excited to learn that there was a church that belonged to the Book of Mormon. Apparently, he had met missionaries before who gave him a BOM, but he didn't realize they belonged to a church. So he was super excited to find out about the LDS church. He'll most likely definitely get baptized, haha.

We have a baptism this coming Saturday! Aiden and Evan Poulsen. They are such awesome kids and they are SO excited to get baptized! They understand the gospel so well, and it has truly testified to me that the gospel really is so simple and that it is meant for everyone. "For my soul delighteth in plainess; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men..." 2 Nephi 31:3.

So for pday today we went and hiked a lava rive cave! It was huge and awesome. Sorry I don't have the pictures yet, but I will next week! Sorry this is another short email! I'll do better next week :) Love you all!

Love, Sister Hanna

PICTURES: with Sister Munford, they got caught heart attacking a members house.

Hey, Hey, Hey!

This week has been awesome! We have two more investigators on date! On Monday we had a lesson with the Poulsens. The parents are less active and they've recently decided to come back to church and they have two sons that they want to get baptized, Aiden and Evan. Aiden is 9 and Evan is 8. We taught them the plan of Salvation and then committed them to be baptized on September 19th! Technically, only Aiden's baptism counts toward our numbers because he's 9, so he's considered a convert. Since Evan is 8, he's counted towards the ward's numbers. They were both blessed as babies, so they have membership records. But still! Two more baptisms! That's two more souls headed for salvation! WOO! Our second investigator's name is Sierra. She's a ten year old girl who's been coming to church for about a year and half. The only reason she hasn't been baptized yet is because we're waiting for permission from her dad to start teaching her. She pretty much knows all the basic doctrine, so lessons with her are easy peasy. But still! We were teaching her the Restoration and the coolest thing happened! It was cloudy outside, so the room was darker. We were showing her a clip from the Restoration movie, the part where Joseph Smith is in the sacred grove, and at the exact time that Joseph Smith was saying "i saw a pillar of light...above the brightness of the sun" the clouds parted outside and the room was flooded with light! IT WAS SO COOL! So after the lesson was over, we asked her if she wanted to be baptized on October 17, and she, of course, said yes! She said that she has been waiting so long to get baptized and it's finally here! She is really such an incredible girl. She already has plans to attend BYU to become a teacher. She's awesome. I want to be like her when I grow up!

Sister Williams and I LOVE giving out Mormon.org cards to people. Anytime we get gas or go through a drive-thru, we pass a card out. So on Tuesday, we handed a card out to our gas attendant, Brad. AND GUESS WHAT!? He called us the next day!! That never happens! We set up an appointment for Wednesday! And he came! We were a little hesitant, and we weren't sure if this guy was for real or not. But he was! So we saw him on Wednesday, and set up another appointment to start teaching him the lessons! And! He came to church on Sunday! This guy is golden! We are so excited to start teaching him!

So the weirdest thing that happened this week was when we couldn't drink the water for two days. Hahaha! Apparently, someone ran into a fire hydrant and busted a water line. It was repaired, but the city of LaPine was advised to not drink the water unless boiling it first. So that was funny, haha!

Well friends, I love you! And I hope your lives are wonderful!

Love,
Sister Hanna

This bit came in the family email but I thought it was funny and wanted to share it.

"Last night Sister Williams said "do you want to know what my first impression was of you?" and I was like crap oh no. She said her first impression of me was "the face." HAHA! The first time she saw me was when bishop was pulling into the church parking lot after bringing her from Salem and I made "the face" at him as he pulled in. Well, she saw it and was like oh no what a weirdo. But now that she's gotten to know me she loves "the face" as much as you do! She said that if she could do "the face" she would hahaha!

P.S.  So we went over our allotted mileage for the month because of all the traveling we've had to do. So we wrote this letter to Elder Van Leeuwen in the mission office, he's in charge of all the cars. We thought we were being funny, but who knows. We might get a call soon calling us to repentance.

PICTURE: Cookies from her district leader Elder Giddings. His mom made these cookies and sent them for everyone in the district!

Miracles are everywhere!

Hello!

 I have had an awesome week! To start off, we had zone conference on Thursday! All the missionaries in the Bend and Redmond zones met together to have a meeting with President and Sister Samuelian. I love them so much! It was an all day meeting and it was so spirit filled and incredible. We talked a lot about praying for missionary experiences and encouraging our wards to pray for them as well. We also talked a lot about fears and doubts. Sister Samuelian talked about how the adversary is the father of all lies and the author of all fear. She told us, "don't let the adversary scare you"! I loved zone conference, I can't wait until the next one.

So zone conference is also where we get our cars inspected. Dad, you'll be glad to know that our car won the cleanest car award! Thank you for drilling it into my head about how a car should be properly cleaned!

My companion and I have an investigator on date for baptism! AHHHH! Her name is Trish, and she is so excited to be getting baptized! Her testimony is so incredible, and I have seen it grow so much in the last few weeks. We also have another investigator who we are setting on date tonight! He's the grandson of a family in the ward. He's already told us that he's getting baptized, we just have to set the date! The work in LaPine is on FIRE!!! I am so excited!

Sorry this is short, but I love you all and I just want you to know how AMAZING missionary work is!!! You see miracles every day! I encourage you all to pray for missionary experiences! You may not have a tag on your shirt, but you have one painted on your heart.

Love,
Sister Hanna