Well, it's transfer week! And I did indeed get transferred this time...to Great Bend, Kansas! You may now be thinking to yourself, "Great Bend Kansas, where in the world is Great Bend Kansas?" Let me tell you. Go to the middle of the state of Kansas, and you will find Great Bend somewhere there. I rode about 5 hours by bus and car to get here, and it is the absolute edge of the mission except one other area which is a little more west. So now I am just about as close to home as I can get, there is just one mission in between us. Kind of funny! It has been quite the week this week. I pretty much knew I was going to get transferred, but I had no idea where to. Then on Tuesday I found out I was going to go to Great Bend and I had mixed emotions! I was excited to go out full proselyting again, but sad that I was being sent to the farthest away part of the mission, which means no more 16 other best friend sisters around all the time, no taking investigators to the VC or Jail, no living in a city, and no getting to come back for baptisms. And also I knew that I probably wouldn't see Sis. Finlayson again since this is her last transfer- that is sad! There are also a bunch of other sisters going home in two transfers, and I knew that I might not get to see them again either! You get really close to all these sisters, so it made me really sad to know all these things. But then Heavenly Father reminded me that although yes these things are sad, that is not what I am here for. One of the biggest blessings of my mission has been to
gain so many close friends and be able to meet people and serve in the Visitors' Centers, but I am on to another challenge and I can either act like a big baby and cry about it, or I can embrace it and learn what I need to from it.So, I had a little sad moment the other day, but now I am over it. Of course I still miss the sisters and being able to feel the spirit every day in the VC, I am excited to be here in Great Bend. My new companion is Sister Glade, who has only been out for about 3 months-this is her 3rd transfer. I am only her second companion, so it has been fun! She is super laid back and chill, which has been a blessing for me. She was a little nervous about taking over the area, but she is doing a great job. She is from Salt Lake and also went to BYU, so we have some things in common. Great Bend has already been an adventure. My second day here on Friday we were finishing weekly planning and we get a call from one of our investigators, who told us her fiance died! We rushed over to the hospital and stayed with her for a few hours to help her and comfort her. Welcome to Great Bend! So crazy. The area is actually doing so well out here- it is a miracle area. We actually have a baptism
on Saturday which is going to be amazing, and a bunch of other people are really close and doing well. I am really excited to be here and to learn so much. I feel much more confident now that even though we are all the way out here alone and that can get overwhelming sometimes, if we rely on the Lord he will guide us. I was also called to be a sister leader out here, which basically means I conduct exchanges with the other sisters nearby- who happen to be the Hays sisters, where Sister Webb is serving. Fun! Thankfully it won't be like the last two transfers, going on a million exchanges, just the two. Another of the sister leaders out here is Sister Bowman, another former companion. It will be fun to work with her again. On Friday we get to go to a leadership conference in Wichita, and I am really looking forward to that! They are really emphasizing this new curriculum and I love it. We will be trained more on it and then are supposed to help train the other missionaries on it. It is going to be an intense meeting, I'm sure full of practices and lots of fun stuff. Anyway, I went to church here in the ward (yes! not a branch, although it is a small ward) for the first time Sunday and it was amazing. We had 5 investigators come, which is more than I have ever seen in one of my areas! Things are just going really well. The ward is super spread out of course, but the people here and the sacrifices they make are always amazing to me. This stake, the Salina stake, is huge! It goes all the way east to Junction City and Manhattan. This is going to be such an adventure.I guess I should tell you a little about my last area though- Sis. Finlayson is now training a new missionary, so that will be fun for her last transfer! Amanda is still doing well and should be getting baptized on the 16th. I didn't get to see Roberto before I left- hopefully they will see him soon and get him to church. I was so sad to leave the ward, but it will be ok. It is amazing how much you can grow to love people in such a short amount of time.
And I guess to end (sorry my brain is frazzled today, this is kind of all over the place), I wanted to mention that my year mark is Thursday. I am getting to the point on my mission where time is just slipping through my fingers. My companion was talking about how she is about to hit her 4 month mark, and how she feels like she has forever left. I remember feeling that way not very long ago! But now time is flying. And I hate it! I have grown to love being a missionary so much. There is nothing like it in the world. There is nothing like devoting all your time to doing something so hard, but so worth it. Even if I didn't see a single baptism and everyone hated us it would still be worth it. I wouldn't trade what I have learned in the past year for anything. It is hard to describe it, the ways I have changed, and they might not even be that obvious outwardly. But I 
feel totally different inside. I feel like my eyes have been opened to the important things and I have no idea what I was even thinking before! And I am excited for these last few months to continue to learn and change, and to keep it going for the rest of my life. I love you all! Thanks for all you do for me, especially the prayers. You are the best!
-Sister Hafen
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