This week was much better. We were actually out basically all week. Zone Conference was this week too, so it was great! It was of course great to be around so many other missionaries, especially the other sisters. Out here in this side of Kansas we have 10 sisters, so it was pretty fun. It seems like every time I go to Zone Conference I get kind of a spiritual beating. In a good way, but I am always exhausted. Throughout the meeting the spirit is kind of telling me a few things I am doing well at, and then lots of things I need to improve on! Our mission president talked a lot about love and loving everyone, especially your companion. He even quoted me from another meeting we had last transfer, where I made the comment that love needs to be at the heart of everything we do as missionaries. Of course then that made me feel guilty, because I haven't been doing the best at that lately. But a lot of what he said stuck with me and the spirit has really been working on me. You may be able to tell from my emails that I have a hard time being so far away from everyone and everything out here. I am
definitely a city girl, or at least like having the option of going places with more people. So being out here all alone, over an hour from other missionaries, with only your companion to keep you company...sometimes gets a little overwhelming for me. But today as I was studying I realized I need to get over that. I will probably never really like the feeling of isolation, but apparently Heavenly Father has something for me to learn from it that I haven't learned yet, because this is the second area I have felt like this (you might remember Mound City). I don't know what it is I need to learn, but I think the root of it is reliance on the Lord instead of on myself. I am a pretty independent person and can take care of myself pretty well, or at least I like the think so. But I have noticed that I have really been falling into that mindset a lot lately. I remember what the stake president in Liberty said once when I was serving there: "If you feel frustrated about anything, that means that you are doing something your way and not the Lord's way." That is so true, and has been true for me the past few weeks. I kind of had a wake-up call today that I don't have much time left and I most definitely don't want to leave my mission not having learned to rely more completely on the Lord. That is one of the most important things I have learned, and I don't want to forget and stop doing that. So I have recommitted. I am resolving to put my life more fully into the Lord's hands and just have faith that what happens is his will. Ok. That is that. This week is another exciting week! We are doing exchanges on Wednesday and then on Friday I get to go to the Leadership conference in Wichita. That will be awesome. This last week besides zone conference we also had our stake conference in Salina, which was awesome. It was held in a theater- like for plays, not movies- because not everyone will fit in
the church. It was so great. Our stake president is really young but really amazing. Also on Friday we had the traditional trunk or treat and ward party. We were there, enjoying our chili, when all of a sudden I look up and Sabrina is standing there! Sabrina is our investigator who was supposed to get baptized my first week here, but ended up leaving town and has been struggling since. Anyway, we were shocked to see her and forgot we had invited her, but she and her dad and stepmom came with their kids. And they all had a great time! It was awesome. Hopefully that means we can get them to church again soon!Besides the big events, this week we still haven't gotten to see a lot of our investigators. Morris didn't come to stake conference or church last week. Hopefully we will get him soon. Pam is really sick so we haven't really seen her, Stacy is really busy and haven't seen her. We did see one of our investigators Shannon this week, and it was awesome. Shannon is super busy because she runs a daycare and is open from like 6:30 to 7:30 some days depending on the kids there that day. Her husband is also super busy, so they are hard to catch even though they are great. We had a really awesome lesson with just her this week and we talked about recognizing the spirit and why that is important. She is a seeker- she has been looking for truth for a long time and trying different religions. She is even studying with Jehovah's
Witnesses right now along with seeing us sometimes. But this week we talked about the spirit and how we can't really find those answers unless we act. We promised her that this is the truth she is looking for, but she has to act in order to find that answer. It has been hard to get her to keep any kind of commitment, but this time we challenged her to come on a church tour and she was super committed. She even said she would come herself if her husband and daughter would come. I am excited about her! She even mentioned herself, without us bringing this up, that in all the different religions she has studied she finds parts that she likes, and parts she doesn't, and she just wants to find one that she agrees with everything. Awesome. So hopefully that will work out this week!Anyway, that was basically our week! This one is going to be good. I love you all and thank you for all you do for me! I have the best family and friends in the world. And they all love writing me letters...:)
-Sister Hafen
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