Hello all!
Well I can't believe I have been here for almost two weeks now. Crazy stuff. But this has been a great week! I appreciated the notes from you and especially the card from Grandma Hafen- know that I am always open to getting letters from you! :)
Well, I am now practically a professional at the jail. Not really, but I did give my first tour last Wednesday and have been doing it regularly ever since. My goal for the next little while is to keep learning new things about the jail and about the history of the church and add at least one new thing every day when I do presentations. If any of you happen to be reading about Liberty jail or the church at the time (like 1831-1839) and come across any fun facts, be sure to let me know. When we do the tours we take the people that come in into a room and talk to them a little bit about the history of the jail and the church at the time, then we take them into the rotunda, which is where the jail (it is a reproduction of what the original jail would have been like) is. But sometimes another person is doing a tour in the rotunda and you are talking in the history room, and if they take a long time you have to just keep talking. Super fun. So if you come across anything interesting, any stories or anything, that would be cool.
But anyway, a lot of you asked about my companion. Can I just tell you how much I absolutely love her to death? Her name is Sister Brittany Blunt and she is from Tucson, Arizona. She has been out on her mission since last December, and I am her second child (that is mission lingo for me being the second person she has trained). We are so similar in so many ways, it is just hilarious. We have really similar senses of humor (aka semi-sarcastic and joking) and we just have a really good time together. She really is just a huge blessing in my life. Before I left the MTC I was praying so hard that I would get a trainer that I could relate to, that I would get along with well, and that I could be friends with. And my prayers were answered! We do have so much fun together joking around and stuff, but we are also able to talk about scriptures and the gospel and really be able to be on the same page and learn from each other. Sometimes in comp. study we talk a little too long about what we have been reading in the BOM, and get sidetracked with really good discussions. But I figure that is ok!
You also asked about where I am living- it is really nice because we live right behind the jail in a house. There are 7 of us living there, 3 companionships but one is a trio, and it is fun. It is great to live around other sisters instead of like some of the other sisters in the mission, just being with your companion out in the middle of nowhere. Did I tell you my MTC comp Sister Frandsen is out in the middle of Kansas? I am excited to see how she is doing out there. But I know that I am greatful to be where I am! Although I will probably end up somewhere really far away eventually. I don't know if I am considered a full Vistor Center sister now, but if I am usually I would spend some time at the Independence Visitors' Center and then some time as a full proselyting missionary. So we will see where the Lord decides to send me!
Well, as far as the actual missionary work this week, we did commit someone to baptism! Her name is Cindy Jones and Sis. Blunt and her old companion found her tracting a little while ago. By the way, sorry if I already talked about her last week, I have no idea what I even said before. But anyway, the only hang-up for Cindy is that she hasn't been to church yet. It is so frustrating! She knows the church is true and has seen a ton of miracles since the missionaries started teaching her, but things keep happening in her life, actually really legitimate things like people dying, that are preventing her from coming. I think we need to talk to her about what conversion is and how if you are truly converted in your heart, you try as hard as you possibly can to do the things you know your Heavenly Father wants you to do. If you find ways around doing those things, you need to work on becoming truly converted. But pray for her that she will be able to see the importance of coming to church and want to make the full commitment we have to make when we join the church! This is most definitely not a fence-sitting church. It is either God's way or satan's way.
I talked about Paul last week and the conference talk- we gave him instructions on how to watch them on the internet and he said he would watch it. He has always been really good at keeping commitments, so I am pretty sure he will do it. I hope it helps him! We are meeting with him again on Tuesday to hopefully talk more about it and how it made him feel. Oh, with another investigator we are working with, we found out this week that he is already a member of the church! It was crazy. He was baptized already (we are double checking to make sure his records are still legitimate) a few years ago, but just fell away and started making bad choices. So we are going to try to work with him and get him back to where he needs to be.
Anyway. This week is going to be good! I am excited about all the teaching and everything we will get to do. We found 3 new investigators last week, and will be seeing all of them this week, which will be good. One thing I absolutely love about being a missionary is how much your studies change. I think I may have talked about this last week, but it is so funny because now whenever I have spare time at the jail or anything I just want to read my scriptures and study and learn new things. That sounds really silly, but it really is true. There is something about focusing on other people and knowing in order to really serve and help them you have to have knowledge that just changes your perspective and attitude about reading and studying. It is awesome.
Well, that is that for this week. The weather decided it didn't want to do Fall this year, and has skipped straight to Winter. Maybe if I am really good it will go back to Fall for a little while. But let me tell you how fun it is to wear nylons and a skirt when it is so cold! Today we are going to go get some tights and leggings and stuff like that so it won't be so bad. But seriously, when I am standing out there in the cold and wind and just want to die, I am jealous of all you that get to wear pants. Just be grateful for that!
I love you all and am excited for all the letters that will soon be coming my way! :)
-Sister Hafen
No comments:
Post a Comment