Week 4 was an awesome week!
Friday 9/12
We had curly fries for dinner which made me crave Arby's. I'm glad I'll be going back to the US where I can have fast food, haha. Mostly I'm excited for In-n-Out! We did "solo español" we made little tags for our nametags--it's a tradition here and we made it through almost the whole day speaking only spanish!
Saturday 9/13
We did TRC for the first time, which is teaching a volunteer, either a real investigator, less active, or member! I'm just going to put my whole journal entry in here because it was an amazing experience. "Today we did TRc, which is an opportunity to teach real investigators...Hermana Hamilton and I got to teach a non-member named Alejandro. Our lesson was so AMAZING!!! I knew he could feel the spirit and so could I! He tol us about his family. He lives with his wife S...[sorry, i'm not going to put his family's names on here b/c idk if i should haha!) and his 4 month old son, J..... He works at I think a sport's rehab clinic from what I could tell. He works monday through friday, then studies on saturdays. He's studying to be a sales technician.
His wife's family is catholic, but his family doesn't go to church. he said he heard about the church from his friend at school--she's LDS and suggested he be a volunteer at the CCM! He said he'd prayed before but it was different than how we had explained prayer and how we had prayed with him. He said he felt really good feelings during and after the prayer.
We committed him to pray with his family and also read Moroni 10 and he wholeheartedly accepted! We gave him a Book of Mormon, the one we had used to give to all our other 'investigators,' so it was a little battered haha. Afterwards, they have the volunteers fill out a feedback card about what they felt and learned in the lesson..." I'll attach a picture of the feedback card and try to translate it for you haha. I asks, "What did you feel during the lesson?" He replied, "spiritual and very happy." The next question, "What helped you the most during the lesson?" (the translation is slightly off on that haha). His reply, "To know ... that the Book of Mormin is true!!!" Last question, "What changes will you make in your life after this lesson?" His reply, "Pray with faith." Our teacher pulled us aside after we taught and told us that we did an amazing job. Alejandro went up to our teacher afterwards when he handed him the comment card and told our teacher that he was so grateful for the Book of Mormon we gave him and that he was interested in learning more about our church! Back to the journal entry, "I don't think I've ever been happier in my life! I hope he gets in contact with the missionaries! I'd love to meet his family--I'm sure they're amazing!...Tonight during study time I had a cool experience. I was reading in Moroni 10, verse 7 and it says that God worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men. I remembered a scripture we talked about how God is also bound by certain laws. It made the thought come to my mind that God works by the power of faith, meaning he literally cannot perform miracles through us or help us or others if we don't have faith, because His power is literally through our faith. Then after I studies I said a prayer. The prayers after study sessions are always the ones that get me, because I always learn so much during those prayers. I was crying all through the prayer! I prayed for Alejandro and his family. It's crazy how much love you can have for someone you hardly know. I could just feel God's love for him so strongly and I want the best for him and his family. I hope they can get in contact with the missionaries." If it's possible for us to love someone so much that we don't know, imagine how much more God loves each of us, because He knows us perfectly! "This experience helped me to have a greater understanding of God's love and also the worth of every soul."
PS: Hermana Harper told me about a really cool EFY song that was on one of the computers in the email labs. You should listen to it, you'll probably be able to find it on YouTube. It's on the 2012 EFY CD, and it's called Glorious, I love it so much! :)
Sunday 9/14
We said goodbye to district 10A. The Hermanas in that district, Hermanas Arnoldson and Bateman are both going to Louisville, KY as well as a couple elders from their district. I believe the rest are going to Chile and a couple to somewhere else in the US. We watched The Testaments. I've always loved this movie, especially the last part of it when the Savior appears. This time, I really like the part where Christ came up to Helam, who was blind, and called him by name. I started bawling after this happened, realizing how much our Savior loves us individually and He truly knows who we are. I'm excited to be a part of the cause to prepare the world for the Lord's 2nd coming. I can't imagine how glorious that day will be when the Savior comes again!
Monday 9/15
Mexican independence day!!! I'm also going to use my journal entry for this. "Today was Mexico Independence Day. At 7:30ish we had a show put on by a native dance group. It was awesome. The culture here is so cool and so strong! I forgot my camera but the other Hermanas got some pictures. I wore my temple shirt that's handmade. A worker in the comedor came up to me and told me my shirt was beautiful and thanked me for showing love to his country and for "serving his country." Not sure exactly what he meant by that, but it was so sweet! The people here are so kind and I can't wait to get out the Arcadia and serve!" It was extremely loud that night with a million different songs playing. Supposedly there's a bar/club just over the wall of the CCM! But I had no problems sleeping, haha.
Tuesday 9/16
Hermana Prestwich and I sang in the CCM choir before the broadcast devotional from Provo. It went really good and supposedly someone recorded our practice run from beforehand, and they got our emails to send it to us. Hopefully I'll be able to forward that video at some point whenever they send it. Hna. Prestwich and I went on splits so we could go to dinner early and practice. For once we weren't the last group in the comedor so we got pepperoni pizza for once!!!
Wednesday 9/17
Journal entry, "Today for gym, me and Hermana Hamilton and the other Hermanas in our district, Hna. Harper and Prestwich, played tennis. We're all horrible and kept getting in the way of the volleyball game one of the other districts in our zone was playing. But, it was tons of fun. We got new zone leaders--elder oliver and his companion, whose name i don't know. They're the district just younger than us! I can't believe Hermana Johnson and Hermana Olsen are leaving next week!"
It was an amazing week! I love you all and can't wait to see how your next week goes! :) Miss you and love you lots!
Love, Hermana Hansen
Friday 9/12
We had curly fries for dinner which made me crave Arby's. I'm glad I'll be going back to the US where I can have fast food, haha. Mostly I'm excited for In-n-Out! We did "solo español" we made little tags for our nametags--it's a tradition here and we made it through almost the whole day speaking only spanish!
Saturday 9/13
We did TRC for the first time, which is teaching a volunteer, either a real investigator, less active, or member! I'm just going to put my whole journal entry in here because it was an amazing experience. "Today we did TRc, which is an opportunity to teach real investigators...Hermana Hamilton and I got to teach a non-member named Alejandro. Our lesson was so AMAZING!!! I knew he could feel the spirit and so could I! He tol us about his family. He lives with his wife S...[sorry, i'm not going to put his family's names on here b/c idk if i should haha!) and his 4 month old son, J..... He works at I think a sport's rehab clinic from what I could tell. He works monday through friday, then studies on saturdays. He's studying to be a sales technician.
His wife's family is catholic, but his family doesn't go to church. he said he heard about the church from his friend at school--she's LDS and suggested he be a volunteer at the CCM! He said he'd prayed before but it was different than how we had explained prayer and how we had prayed with him. He said he felt really good feelings during and after the prayer.
We committed him to pray with his family and also read Moroni 10 and he wholeheartedly accepted! We gave him a Book of Mormon, the one we had used to give to all our other 'investigators,' so it was a little battered haha. Afterwards, they have the volunteers fill out a feedback card about what they felt and learned in the lesson..." I'll attach a picture of the feedback card and try to translate it for you haha. I asks, "What did you feel during the lesson?" He replied, "spiritual and very happy." The next question, "What helped you the most during the lesson?" (the translation is slightly off on that haha). His reply, "To know ... that the Book of Mormin is true!!!" Last question, "What changes will you make in your life after this lesson?" His reply, "Pray with faith." Our teacher pulled us aside after we taught and told us that we did an amazing job. Alejandro went up to our teacher afterwards when he handed him the comment card and told our teacher that he was so grateful for the Book of Mormon we gave him and that he was interested in learning more about our church! Back to the journal entry, "I don't think I've ever been happier in my life! I hope he gets in contact with the missionaries! I'd love to meet his family--I'm sure they're amazing!...Tonight during study time I had a cool experience. I was reading in Moroni 10, verse 7 and it says that God worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men. I remembered a scripture we talked about how God is also bound by certain laws. It made the thought come to my mind that God works by the power of faith, meaning he literally cannot perform miracles through us or help us or others if we don't have faith, because His power is literally through our faith. Then after I studies I said a prayer. The prayers after study sessions are always the ones that get me, because I always learn so much during those prayers. I was crying all through the prayer! I prayed for Alejandro and his family. It's crazy how much love you can have for someone you hardly know. I could just feel God's love for him so strongly and I want the best for him and his family. I hope they can get in contact with the missionaries." If it's possible for us to love someone so much that we don't know, imagine how much more God loves each of us, because He knows us perfectly! "This experience helped me to have a greater understanding of God's love and also the worth of every soul."
PS: Hermana Harper told me about a really cool EFY song that was on one of the computers in the email labs. You should listen to it, you'll probably be able to find it on YouTube. It's on the 2012 EFY CD, and it's called Glorious, I love it so much! :)
Sunday 9/14
We said goodbye to district 10A. The Hermanas in that district, Hermanas Arnoldson and Bateman are both going to Louisville, KY as well as a couple elders from their district. I believe the rest are going to Chile and a couple to somewhere else in the US. We watched The Testaments. I've always loved this movie, especially the last part of it when the Savior appears. This time, I really like the part where Christ came up to Helam, who was blind, and called him by name. I started bawling after this happened, realizing how much our Savior loves us individually and He truly knows who we are. I'm excited to be a part of the cause to prepare the world for the Lord's 2nd coming. I can't imagine how glorious that day will be when the Savior comes again!
Monday 9/15
Mexican independence day!!! I'm also going to use my journal entry for this. "Today was Mexico Independence Day. At 7:30ish we had a show put on by a native dance group. It was awesome. The culture here is so cool and so strong! I forgot my camera but the other Hermanas got some pictures. I wore my temple shirt that's handmade. A worker in the comedor came up to me and told me my shirt was beautiful and thanked me for showing love to his country and for "serving his country." Not sure exactly what he meant by that, but it was so sweet! The people here are so kind and I can't wait to get out the Arcadia and serve!" It was extremely loud that night with a million different songs playing. Supposedly there's a bar/club just over the wall of the CCM! But I had no problems sleeping, haha.
Tuesday 9/16
Hermana Prestwich and I sang in the CCM choir before the broadcast devotional from Provo. It went really good and supposedly someone recorded our practice run from beforehand, and they got our emails to send it to us. Hopefully I'll be able to forward that video at some point whenever they send it. Hna. Prestwich and I went on splits so we could go to dinner early and practice. For once we weren't the last group in the comedor so we got pepperoni pizza for once!!!
Wednesday 9/17
Journal entry, "Today for gym, me and Hermana Hamilton and the other Hermanas in our district, Hna. Harper and Prestwich, played tennis. We're all horrible and kept getting in the way of the volleyball game one of the other districts in our zone was playing. But, it was tons of fun. We got new zone leaders--elder oliver and his companion, whose name i don't know. They're the district just younger than us! I can't believe Hermana Johnson and Hermana Olsen are leaving next week!"
It was an amazing week! I love you all and can't wait to see how your next week goes! :) Miss you and love you lots!
Love, Hermana Hansen