Anyway, this week has been bad and also good. This week we had one investigator tell lies about us to her family, one check into a mental health facility, and we found out one of our people has been smoking and we had no idea. Fun stuff. But honestly, you have to laugh about it and just love them. We decided we need to just kind of drop all the people we have been teaching and start over. We are trying to work closely with the members to teach their friends and family, because that is way better than tracting or finding people other ways. We still do that, but going through the members is the way to go. Especially here where you don't just have 10 neighbors that are also LDS- if you don't have someone right away that is going to be your friend and answer your questions and be your support, it is extremely hard to be active and get into the church. I mentioned our ice cream social last week a little bit- it is going well! It is happening next weekend and it is going to be awesome. The point is to get people from the branch to invite their friends and family and people from the community and get those people to see what we are all about and get them into the church to feel the spirit. I am excited. I think it will really be a turning point for this area for growth if we do it right.
Another cool thing is happening on the 8th- the groundbreaking of the Kansas City Temple!!! I am so excited. The closest temple to here right now is the St. Louis temple, so this will be amazing for the people in the area to have. I wish it was going to be completed while I was here, but I will just have to come back later! It will be good for missionary work as well because it will spark people's interest in the church, and we will be ready to answer their questions! It's going to be good. In other news, tomorrow we find out about transfers and Thursday is transfer day. I am interested to see if I will get to actually stay with my companion for once, or if there will be another change. You just never know what the Lord has in store for you!
This week we also had some good times! On Saturday it was Sister Webb's birthday and we went over to one of the members homes and had a special birthday dinner. It was pretty fun! On Friday we had our last District Meeting of the transfer and had a good time. One thing that has been fun about not working at a Visitors' Center is that you actually get to know the Elders in your district. When I was at the jail we would go to district meeting but then had to rush back to go work.
Well, not really much else to tell about the events of this week. I did want to share one thing that I learned in my studies this week. So I am still kind of doing my Book of Mormon read where I read all the footnotes. I keep getting sidetracked to other studies, but it is amazing.
I just finished 1 Nephi 8 today- the chapter of Lehi's vision of the tree of life. I have read that vision a thousand times in my life, but today one thing stood out to me. In verse 28 it is talking about those people who have been on the right path, even "clinging" to the iron rod to get to the tree, they taste it, but then something happens. They look over at the people in the great and spacious building and they start listening to them. It says "And after they had tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost." It gave me a reference to the parable of the sower in the New Testament, to the example of the seeds that fall in to stony ground and spring up right away and start growing, but then when any opposition comes then die because they have no root. It just made me think about myself and how converted I really am to what I am doing and what I believe. Those people in the vision went through a lot- they had to find the path, cling on the rod, make the journey, and they were rewarded with the fruit. But were their hearts really into it? It's like our lives. For me, I first came on a mission because I knew it was what Heavenly Father wanted me to do. But if that is the only reason I stay here and go through all of this, when I get home I will be very succeptible to the great and spacious building tempting me away. If I don't take the opportunity to really plant that seed as deep as I can and make absolutely sure it has roots, that might happen. That is why our testimonies are so important. If we just go through the motions of going to church and reading our scriptures and praying what good will it do us? If we baptize someone and they aren't really converted, what is the point? One of the assistants in our mission gave a training once using the talk "The Fourth Missionary" which talks about the different kinds of missionaries, and who we want to become on our missions. He said, "the good you do will do you no good unless your heart is in it." I have come to really belive that on my mission. We have to really make sure we are growing and progressing and learning and getting that root deeper in so that when the storms come we don't just come right out, but we will stand strong.
Anyway, that is that. I hope you all have a good week! I love you all.
-Sister Hafen
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