Weekly Email!!!!
Monday, 6 October 2014:
1st p day in the field!!!! The district met at the church building and
we played some fun group games together. Hermana Nichols and I got
really hungry so we ran across the street to the grocery store and
bought a huge thing with crackers cheese and different meats. Then
when we were full we let all the elders eat the leftovers. After that
we went and visited some new converts, Miriam Hernandez and her
daughter Desiree. We talked about GC with them and Hermana Miriam told
us that she'd just gotten called as a primary teacher (her first
calling). She was really nervous but we are going to go role play
teaching primary with her. She lived the idea. She's such a sweet
hyper lady haha. She asked us to come in in Sunday when she was set
apart and she kept hugging us and telling us how excited she was for
her calling. I let her know that we as missionaries feel inadequate at
times too and after that she kept hugging me and saying we got this,
we're gonna learn how to teach together haha. Such a sweet lady! I
tried cactus at their house for the first time. It had lots of seeds
but it was super good!
Tuesday, 7 October 2014:
We took the car to Pep Boys to get an oil change. We dropped it off at
pep boys and they said it would be about 1.5 hours until they could
get it in. So we walked to a nearby trailer park to visit some less
actives. We visited an Hermana who has gone through a lot in her life.
She lives alone because she got her kids taken away from her. So sad, but she
really enjoyed our visit and she came to church this Sunday. Then we
picked the car up. Hermana Nichols looked at the receipt that night
and realized they'd also changed our battery!!!so it cost so much more
than it should have. But I guess the battery had so issues so they
just replaced it without saying anything because we don't actually
have to pay, they just charge it onto an account for the church. We
rode our bikes for the first time since I got my bike on the 3rd. We
visited some new concerts, the familia Silva. We got there and the
Hermana was cooking gorditas and the white cheese Hispanics use a lot
of. I can't remember the name but it's like my favorite cheese haha.
We shared about conference with them. Then we went to visit Hermana
Contreras again. Her son in law answered the door and said she was
sick in the hospital because of a heart attack. We told him we'd go
visit her in the hospital. Then we went to see Miguel but he wasn't
there. But his brother or cousin (not sure which) was there, Adrian
Romero. We set up a time that both he and Miguel would be there. He
seemed really interested. Then our lesson with Marco fell through
because he was gone with a friend. But, his sister Diana answered the
door and she let us in. We were able to teach her the restoration and
she even offered the closing prayer. She agreed to continue praying
and pray specifically to know Joseph smith was a prophet and that our
message was true. She seems really interested!!
Wednesday, 8 October 2014:
We had to leave super early at like 7am to drive elder Tovar (DL) to a
meeting in the Duarty building which was the old mission home
building. We studies there and watched a little bit of Johnny Lingo.
We read "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" during studies to prepare
for zone meeting. We went to Covina for zone meeting to the stake
center. We learned a lot about working with members and less actives
because the mission president wants us to work on that more. Oh and we
talked to elder Hamilton about the car. On the previous p day we came
out of target and there was a huge scratch in the door on the drivers
side where it looks like someone swiped the side of the car in the
parking lot. (Side note: the Samoan sisters went out to get into their
car a couple days ago and there were 7 bullet holes in the driver's
door). We had some good visits. We went by to visit a less active
family. The Hermana wasn't there but her daughter Alexis was. So we
stayed and talked with her on the porch. They live in a sketchy
trailer park and at first we had no idea where we were going so we
went clear down to the back of the trailer park and couldn't find
their space. Then a kind lady told us that they had moved trailers.
Thursday, 9 October 2014
We sang at the senior center today. We sang a few songs from the
children's songbook. One in Spanish, two in English. Then a sweet
elderly lady named Ruby came up to us and said her friends son had
died that morning and wanted us to sing something for him. I guess
Hermana Nichols said that this lady and her friend are like more or
less boyfriend/girlfriend. But they're super close friends. We sang a
hymn and afterwards we went over to them and Hermana Nichols talked
with the man who'd lost his son. While she was talking with him Ruby
wanted to talk to me. She held my hand and and started crying and told
me how grateful she was that we'd sung that. We went by the hospital
and visits Hermana contreras to see how she was we read from the Book
of Mormon in 2 Nephi 11. She said she'd be released from the hospital
on Friday. She wanted us to come back on Saturday at her house to
visit so she had a day in between with her family.
We visited a part member family, the meza/urroz family. We talked
about conference (elder oaks' talk) with them. They have a son named
jimmy who's I think like 15. He was wanting to be baptized then their
dad said that he and his sisters couldn't be baptized until they were
18 years old. That caused some contention in the family. I guess
recently jimmy mentioned he's not sure if he has a testimony or wants
to be baptized. But he and his mom and siblings still come to church
each week. He and his mom ended up being there for our visit. The only
problem is his mom is one of those people who just answers everyone's
questions for them. We'd ask him how he felt about something and she'd
just jump in and and say oh he this or that. So we've had the
brilliant idea of doing some fb lessons with him where he can really
just open up and answer questions.
Friday, 10 October 2014:
We did weekly planning at the church then did some Facebook. We sent
jimmy a message with our idea about having Facebook lessons. He seemed
really excited about it. We were having issues with Trevor. We'd sent
him a GC talk and at first he was being really nit picky about little
things like he was trying to prove things wrong. We answered a couple
questions he had. He's still praying each day. We visited Hermana
Bello today. She is an elderly woman in our ward living with another
member right now. She had lots of memory problems and had forgotten
shed invited us over to visit. So we just met with her real quick
because she was busy. Then we set up another dinner appointment with
her for later this week. It's crazy, we have like 10-12 missionaries
serving in just our ward (the Pomona ward)!!!! We went by to see
Adrian. But Berenice (our member who was going to come on
visits tonight was gone)!!! So we stopped by and Adrian was there but
we couldn't go inside to teach a lesson so we talked in the driveway
for a little bit, shared the gracias a el video and set a return
appointment. He seemed bummed that we couldn't teach a real lesson, I
guess he must be really interested! He told us he wanted to be able to
have his wife there too so he set it on a day when she could also be
there. And I guess he also has 5 kids all are grown up. But 4 of them
live in the same home with he and his wife! Hopefully we'll be able to
pick up the whole family!!!! Marco wasn't there again for our lesson!
Saturday, 11 October 2014:
We went by on our bikes to visit Hermana Contreras. When we got there,
her granddaughter answered the door. She told us her grandmother had
passed away on Friday. As was a wreck and in tears. We came in and
asked what we could do to help. We talked a little about the plan of
salvation. None of Hermana contreras' other family are members. But her
granddaughter remembers going to church with her Abuela when she was
younger. She was actually really interested in hearing from the
missionaries so we're sending her some missionaries in San Diego. She
told us we couldn't have come by at a more perfect time! Crazy how
things work like that. There are definitely no coincidences in life!
We also offered to have some elders give her a blessing and she said
she love that. So we had them give her a blessing that night. We got
her in contact with the bishop for funeral services because they wanted
LDS funeral services. We visited the Navas today. They're some new
converts in the ward, Kate, her mom and her brother Chris. Chris is
autistic and loves Book of Mormon stories so we gave him one of those
BOM picture books. We taught Kate and her mom about the sacrament. It
was one of those half English half Spanish lessons. We helped Kate
pass off a personal progress goal. We got to talk to a lot of people
today and just set up future lessons. We picked up an online
investigators. We went to see the morales family and walking back from
the trailer park we stopped and talked to a boy who was sitting on the
steps of a porch. He told us a little about him. He's from Tijuana
Mexico but comes most weekends to visit his grandpa here. He was
really interested in learning more about the church. So we're going to
start teaching him through fb. And try to visit in person when he's
here with his grandpa. His name is Armando. We went to look him up on
Facebook. I guess there was another guy with his exact name. We friend
requested and he accepted but it didn't end up being the person we
looking for. After talking to this kid for a while he told us that
he'd actually talked to missionaries from our church before. He'd been
going to church with them and receiving lessons. Then the missionaries
switched areas and he never saw them again. He wanted to get in
contact with missionaries again. We didn't have time but we're going to
try to get his address to send missionaries to him. I believe he lives
in Honduras or at least he's from Honduras. I got a call from
president saying that my grandma had passed away Friday night. I've
been really at peace about it. And I think being with Hermana
contreras' granddaughter was good preparation for me to go through
this.
Sunday, 12 October 2014:
We synced our numbers and realized we picked up 5 new investigators.
And if we get Adrian's kids and wife that will be 5 more! We've been
trying to go by to see a previous investigator who'd been dropped for
not following up with appointments. His name is David. But he was
finally there today when we went by. I guess his schedule at work had
changed and he's had to work like 12 hours every day except Sundays!
But now that we know his schedule he said we can come on Sunday nights
to visit. I think they've gone through the first 3 lessons with him
and he was progressing super fast. He's been going through some tough
times. His wife or gf (not sure which), left him and took their 2
daughters with her. The last time he saw them was over a month ago and
she only brought them by for like 30 minutes. He has tons of potential
and we're super excited to work with hum. He said he's going to come to
church next Sunday so were hoping and praying he does. He has a busy
schedule and is always tired but were hoping he actually comes!!! When
we got on the bus to head to the church this morning I realized I'd
forgotten my placa (name tag) at the apartment!!! Oh well, my hair
covered it. I got to lead the music during sacrament meeting this
morning.
Monday, 13 October 2014:
We had new missionary orientation training. We got our iPads! Woohoo.
We were supposed to get them Thursday but things got switched around.
We had an appointment to meet with an elderly less active after but we
got there and no one was home. It was a little early for our next
appointment so we just walked the streets a little to scout out an
area we might go back to contact. We then went back over for our
lesson with Diana. She said she's been praying every night but she'd
forgotten to pray to know our message was true but that she will this
week. We reviewed authority which she understands really well. Then we
talked about baptism and the BOM. The lesson went REALLY well. We
invited her to be baptized and she said she still wants to think and
pray about it. She's also really excited to start reading the BOM. We
read 2 Nephi 31 with her about Christs baptism. She really liked it
and was interested in the baptism by fire and Holy Ghost so we
answered some of her questions and she said that it really made sense.
She said she was gaining a lot of insights. And that it now made
sense why we didn't just need to be baptized but also that we needed
to continue doing good things and keeping Gods commandments. She's
definitely a golden investigator and were hoping to extend a baptismal
date next time. We went and had FHE at the Morales'. We talked about
the BOM. We had nancy (the 7 year old) choose her favorite BOM story.
She chose the one about Jesus blessing the children. So we read the
story out of the BOM in I believe 3 Nephi 18. Then we helped her make
cute little puppet people and she said she wanted to keep them with
her in her room. The Hermana made us fish and salad which was good
because we'd only had time for a sandwich for dinner before running
back out the door, and then some banana bread for us to take home.
They're the sweetest family and were trying to get them to get back to
church.
So far today has been pretty good. We had interviews with president
Villanueva today. We had to let elders shumway and stoker use our car
for a doctors appointment. So we used the bus a little today. We did
some grocery shopping, wrote emails and Hermana Nichols took a power
nap. It's been a good, long but short week! Weird how that happens
like that. I love you all and miss you. Hope all is well with everyone
at home.
Love, Hermana Hansen
Monday, 6 October 2014:
1st p day in the field!!!! The district met at the church building and
we played some fun group games together. Hermana Nichols and I got
really hungry so we ran across the street to the grocery store and
bought a huge thing with crackers cheese and different meats. Then
when we were full we let all the elders eat the leftovers. After that
we went and visited some new converts, Miriam Hernandez and her
daughter Desiree. We talked about GC with them and Hermana Miriam told
us that she'd just gotten called as a primary teacher (her first
calling). She was really nervous but we are going to go role play
teaching primary with her. She lived the idea. She's such a sweet
hyper lady haha. She asked us to come in in Sunday when she was set
apart and she kept hugging us and telling us how excited she was for
her calling. I let her know that we as missionaries feel inadequate at
times too and after that she kept hugging me and saying we got this,
we're gonna learn how to teach together haha. Such a sweet lady! I
tried cactus at their house for the first time. It had lots of seeds
but it was super good!
Tuesday, 7 October 2014:
We took the car to Pep Boys to get an oil change. We dropped it off at
pep boys and they said it would be about 1.5 hours until they could
get it in. So we walked to a nearby trailer park to visit some less
actives. We visited an Hermana who has gone through a lot in her life.
She lives alone because she got her kids taken away from her. So sad, but she
really enjoyed our visit and she came to church this Sunday. Then we
picked the car up. Hermana Nichols looked at the receipt that night
and realized they'd also changed our battery!!!so it cost so much more
than it should have. But I guess the battery had so issues so they
just replaced it without saying anything because we don't actually
have to pay, they just charge it onto an account for the church. We
rode our bikes for the first time since I got my bike on the 3rd. We
visited some new concerts, the familia Silva. We got there and the
Hermana was cooking gorditas and the white cheese Hispanics use a lot
of. I can't remember the name but it's like my favorite cheese haha.
We shared about conference with them. Then we went to visit Hermana
Contreras again. Her son in law answered the door and said she was
sick in the hospital because of a heart attack. We told him we'd go
visit her in the hospital. Then we went to see Miguel but he wasn't
there. But his brother or cousin (not sure which) was there, Adrian
Romero. We set up a time that both he and Miguel would be there. He
seemed really interested. Then our lesson with Marco fell through
because he was gone with a friend. But, his sister Diana answered the
door and she let us in. We were able to teach her the restoration and
she even offered the closing prayer. She agreed to continue praying
and pray specifically to know Joseph smith was a prophet and that our
message was true. She seems really interested!!
Wednesday, 8 October 2014:
We had to leave super early at like 7am to drive elder Tovar (DL) to a
meeting in the Duarty building which was the old mission home
building. We studies there and watched a little bit of Johnny Lingo.
We read "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" during studies to prepare
for zone meeting. We went to Covina for zone meeting to the stake
center. We learned a lot about working with members and less actives
because the mission president wants us to work on that more. Oh and we
talked to elder Hamilton about the car. On the previous p day we came
out of target and there was a huge scratch in the door on the drivers
side where it looks like someone swiped the side of the car in the
parking lot. (Side note: the Samoan sisters went out to get into their
car a couple days ago and there were 7 bullet holes in the driver's
door). We had some good visits. We went by to visit a less active
family. The Hermana wasn't there but her daughter Alexis was. So we
stayed and talked with her on the porch. They live in a sketchy
trailer park and at first we had no idea where we were going so we
went clear down to the back of the trailer park and couldn't find
their space. Then a kind lady told us that they had moved trailers.
Thursday, 9 October 2014
We sang at the senior center today. We sang a few songs from the
children's songbook. One in Spanish, two in English. Then a sweet
elderly lady named Ruby came up to us and said her friends son had
died that morning and wanted us to sing something for him. I guess
Hermana Nichols said that this lady and her friend are like more or
less boyfriend/girlfriend. But they're super close friends. We sang a
hymn and afterwards we went over to them and Hermana Nichols talked
with the man who'd lost his son. While she was talking with him Ruby
wanted to talk to me. She held my hand and and started crying and told
me how grateful she was that we'd sung that. We went by the hospital
and visits Hermana contreras to see how she was we read from the Book
of Mormon in 2 Nephi 11. She said she'd be released from the hospital
on Friday. She wanted us to come back on Saturday at her house to
visit so she had a day in between with her family.
We visited a part member family, the meza/urroz family. We talked
about conference (elder oaks' talk) with them. They have a son named
jimmy who's I think like 15. He was wanting to be baptized then their
dad said that he and his sisters couldn't be baptized until they were
18 years old. That caused some contention in the family. I guess
recently jimmy mentioned he's not sure if he has a testimony or wants
to be baptized. But he and his mom and siblings still come to church
each week. He and his mom ended up being there for our visit. The only
problem is his mom is one of those people who just answers everyone's
questions for them. We'd ask him how he felt about something and she'd
just jump in and and say oh he this or that. So we've had the
brilliant idea of doing some fb lessons with him where he can really
just open up and answer questions.
Friday, 10 October 2014:
We did weekly planning at the church then did some Facebook. We sent
jimmy a message with our idea about having Facebook lessons. He seemed
really excited about it. We were having issues with Trevor. We'd sent
him a GC talk and at first he was being really nit picky about little
things like he was trying to prove things wrong. We answered a couple
questions he had. He's still praying each day. We visited Hermana
Bello today. She is an elderly woman in our ward living with another
member right now. She had lots of memory problems and had forgotten
shed invited us over to visit. So we just met with her real quick
because she was busy. Then we set up another dinner appointment with
her for later this week. It's crazy, we have like 10-12 missionaries
serving in just our ward (the Pomona ward)!!!! We went by to see
Adrian. But Berenice (our member who was going to come on
visits tonight was gone)!!! So we stopped by and Adrian was there but
we couldn't go inside to teach a lesson so we talked in the driveway
for a little bit, shared the gracias a el video and set a return
appointment. He seemed bummed that we couldn't teach a real lesson, I
guess he must be really interested! He told us he wanted to be able to
have his wife there too so he set it on a day when she could also be
there. And I guess he also has 5 kids all are grown up. But 4 of them
live in the same home with he and his wife! Hopefully we'll be able to
pick up the whole family!!!! Marco wasn't there again for our lesson!
Saturday, 11 October 2014:
We went by on our bikes to visit Hermana Contreras. When we got there,
her granddaughter answered the door. She told us her grandmother had
passed away on Friday. As was a wreck and in tears. We came in and
asked what we could do to help. We talked a little about the plan of
salvation. None of Hermana contreras' other family are members. But her
granddaughter remembers going to church with her Abuela when she was
younger. She was actually really interested in hearing from the
missionaries so we're sending her some missionaries in San Diego. She
told us we couldn't have come by at a more perfect time! Crazy how
things work like that. There are definitely no coincidences in life!
We also offered to have some elders give her a blessing and she said
she love that. So we had them give her a blessing that night. We got
her in contact with the bishop for funeral services because they wanted
LDS funeral services. We visited the Navas today. They're some new
converts in the ward, Kate, her mom and her brother Chris. Chris is
autistic and loves Book of Mormon stories so we gave him one of those
BOM picture books. We taught Kate and her mom about the sacrament. It
was one of those half English half Spanish lessons. We helped Kate
pass off a personal progress goal. We got to talk to a lot of people
today and just set up future lessons. We picked up an online
investigators. We went to see the morales family and walking back from
the trailer park we stopped and talked to a boy who was sitting on the
steps of a porch. He told us a little about him. He's from Tijuana
Mexico but comes most weekends to visit his grandpa here. He was
really interested in learning more about the church. So we're going to
start teaching him through fb. And try to visit in person when he's
here with his grandpa. His name is Armando. We went to look him up on
Facebook. I guess there was another guy with his exact name. We friend
requested and he accepted but it didn't end up being the person we
looking for. After talking to this kid for a while he told us that
he'd actually talked to missionaries from our church before. He'd been
going to church with them and receiving lessons. Then the missionaries
switched areas and he never saw them again. He wanted to get in
contact with missionaries again. We didn't have time but we're going to
try to get his address to send missionaries to him. I believe he lives
in Honduras or at least he's from Honduras. I got a call from
president saying that my grandma had passed away Friday night. I've
been really at peace about it. And I think being with Hermana
contreras' granddaughter was good preparation for me to go through
this.
Sunday, 12 October 2014:
We synced our numbers and realized we picked up 5 new investigators.
And if we get Adrian's kids and wife that will be 5 more! We've been
trying to go by to see a previous investigator who'd been dropped for
not following up with appointments. His name is David. But he was
finally there today when we went by. I guess his schedule at work had
changed and he's had to work like 12 hours every day except Sundays!
But now that we know his schedule he said we can come on Sunday nights
to visit. I think they've gone through the first 3 lessons with him
and he was progressing super fast. He's been going through some tough
times. His wife or gf (not sure which), left him and took their 2
daughters with her. The last time he saw them was over a month ago and
she only brought them by for like 30 minutes. He has tons of potential
and we're super excited to work with hum. He said he's going to come to
church next Sunday so were hoping and praying he does. He has a busy
schedule and is always tired but were hoping he actually comes!!! When
we got on the bus to head to the church this morning I realized I'd
forgotten my placa (name tag) at the apartment!!! Oh well, my hair
covered it. I got to lead the music during sacrament meeting this
morning.
Monday, 13 October 2014:
We had new missionary orientation training. We got our iPads! Woohoo.
We were supposed to get them Thursday but things got switched around.
We had an appointment to meet with an elderly less active after but we
got there and no one was home. It was a little early for our next
appointment so we just walked the streets a little to scout out an
area we might go back to contact. We then went back over for our
lesson with Diana. She said she's been praying every night but she'd
forgotten to pray to know our message was true but that she will this
week. We reviewed authority which she understands really well. Then we
talked about baptism and the BOM. The lesson went REALLY well. We
invited her to be baptized and she said she still wants to think and
pray about it. She's also really excited to start reading the BOM. We
read 2 Nephi 31 with her about Christs baptism. She really liked it
and was interested in the baptism by fire and Holy Ghost so we
answered some of her questions and she said that it really made sense.
She said she was gaining a lot of insights. And that it now made
sense why we didn't just need to be baptized but also that we needed
to continue doing good things and keeping Gods commandments. She's
definitely a golden investigator and were hoping to extend a baptismal
date next time. We went and had FHE at the Morales'. We talked about
the BOM. We had nancy (the 7 year old) choose her favorite BOM story.
She chose the one about Jesus blessing the children. So we read the
story out of the BOM in I believe 3 Nephi 18. Then we helped her make
cute little puppet people and she said she wanted to keep them with
her in her room. The Hermana made us fish and salad which was good
because we'd only had time for a sandwich for dinner before running
back out the door, and then some banana bread for us to take home.
They're the sweetest family and were trying to get them to get back to
church.
So far today has been pretty good. We had interviews with president
Villanueva today. We had to let elders shumway and stoker use our car
for a doctors appointment. So we used the bus a little today. We did
some grocery shopping, wrote emails and Hermana Nichols took a power
nap. It's been a good, long but short week! Weird how that happens
like that. I love you all and miss you. Hope all is well with everyone
at home.
Love, Hermana Hansen