This week was pretty awesome. Lots of appointments, which is always good. The weather has finally turned cold, and we have had a couple of days that have been just rainy windy miserable. But thankfully we have a car so it's not a big deal. This morning though we took our car in to finally get fixed! It should take about 4 days. So pray for the weather here that it won't be too bad! We'll probably be doing a lot of walking.
And of course I am just counting the days until Saturday when we have our all-mission conference with Elder Scott! We are bringing Anthony with us and then taking him to the Liberty Jail afterward and to watch the Joseph Smith movie. I am so super excited! It is going to be the best day ever. It is such a good tool to take people to things like that, especially out here, because the opportunities are few and far between. Besides being excited to see all the sisters and everyone, that day we also find out about transfers. It is going to be a big day. So next week when I write I will know if I am staying in Great Bend or not. We'll see what the Lord has in store for the next two transfers!
Speaking of Anthony, yesterday at church he blessed the sacrament. He did so well. I was just sitting there beaming watching him. I felt like a mother who has a 16 year old son blessing the sacrament for the first time. So awesome! There is nothing like watching this recent convert who you have seen through challenges and growth achieving things like that. It just makes you so happy. It is moments like those that make it worth it to serve a mission! I can't really describe the feeling, and I guess the only thing it compares to is watching your children grow and learn. I wouldn't know, but that is what I imagine.
As far as other people, we had a really good lesson with Joe this week! We taught him about the sabbath day and why it is important. It is so funny to me that even though most people here are Christian, they have never really been taught about the sabbath day in any kind of detail. They know it is one of the 10 commandments, but they haven't really thought about it much. This is a generalization of course, but it is what I have found. He is going to be coming to church next week and is going to pray this week to receive answers at church. Speaking of church, Morris actually came to church yesterday! We did a church tour with him this week and that was his last real excuse before he would come. It was so funny/ridiculous on the tour. We kind of follow an outline when we do the tours, and the second thing we do is go into
the chapel and talk about the importance of the sacrament and that the chapel is a special place. Usually you walk in, and they sit down and you talk. But not Morris. He is very opinionated and always has to comment on everything. He walks in, and kind of folds his arms, looks around, and says "Huh!" Of course he has something on his mind so I asked him what it was. He then told us that he thought it was nice, but there needed to be a picture! It was too plain in the chapel for him. So funny. He just wouldn't let this go, even when we explained that the chapel is a place of reverence and a place to focus on the Savior and how we feel. So funny. The rest of the tour went well, but he still thinks that we need to get a picture of Christ to put up. He even asked if there was a suggestion box. :) But the important thing is he came! He could only stay for sacrament meeting, but that is ok for now. We didn't have much of a chance to talk about what he thought, but we will see him this week. Tonight we are going to have a FHE with Stacy and her family and the Bishop's family, and I am excited about that! We found out Shannon was planning to go to church last week but ended up getting an abscess tooth, so we forgave her for that. We started teaching a couple of people this week, one is the boyfriend of one of the members and another is the lady that me and Sister Webb met on exchanges at the post office- the one that started talking to us. Hopefully things will go well with these people!
Let's see, what else. Oh. This week we had an early Thanksgiving dinner! We have a recent convert named Peggy who is hilarious and feeds us every week. Last week we were eating and were going to schedule the next week's lunch and she told us that she wants to do a thanksgiving lunch with us. But she wanted to make sure that I would be there, so since transfers are before thanksgiving and this week we won't have a car to get to her house (she lives about 20 minutes away), we just decided to do it this last week. So funny. She got us each a little mini chicken and made all this food. I just love Peggy. She is in her 60s but has had a rough life and is kind of childlike in her understanding level. We brought the October Ensign which is the temples book and showed her pictures of the temple and talked about how amazing the temple is. I think she even started crying when she saw how beautiful some of the temples are! That is her biggest desire- to go to the temple.
Also this week we did exchanges! Sister Nelson came to Great Bend and Sister Lund went to Hays. I love exchanges (now that I only have to go on 2 a transfer!), because I always learn from the other sisters. It also helps you appreciate and love your companion more, I guess it is like a distance makes the heart grow fonder thing. It was so funny because Sister Nelson was trained by Sister Finlayson, and then I was her companion right after that. And both of us are obsessed with Sister Finlayson because she is amazing. So we talked about her for like an hour and then fought over who is her favorite companion. But we all know, it is really me. :) Anyway, the exchange was short but fun. It was a rainy miserable night so I was glad we had appointments and they both went through. Saturday we exchanged back in Russell, a little town in between GB and Hays. I was laughing because they have on one of their grain elevators in town "proud home of Bob Dole." Awesome!
Besides all that stuff, here is a spiritual note. Today I was reading 2 Nephi 31 which is an amazing chapter about the doctrine of Christ, also called the gospel of Jesus Christ. Basically the simple steps of faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. I of course knew those steps, teach them to people, and have at least a small understanding of each of those principles, but today it was really just reinforced to me how simple (not easy!) it is to gain eternal life. That sounds funny, but let me explain. I think that people in this world make this too complicated. I have met countless people on my mission who firmly believe that they are saved by grace (no works involved) and/or all they have to do is believe in or even just say they believe in Christ to be saved and "go to heaven". As members of the church, we know this is not true. We now we have to do our part! Like it says in verse 10, "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?" I wrote in my scriptures a big fat no! Because of course we have to keep the commandments and follow Christ's example. That only makes sense. But I also think there is a tendency, especially in the church, to think that even though we have a good heart and good desires and are doing good and changing all the time, we still aren't good enough no matter how hard we try. Does that sound familiar? I think we need to cut ourselves a little slack sometimes. Don't misunderstand, I am in no way saying we should sin or not do our best with the attitude that it is ok if we don't do our best each day. Of course that is what we want! We are striving for perfection! But I think some of us (me included) have this crazy idea that if we aren't perfect every day, we aren't worthy to gain eternal life. Or even we are just always wondering if we are good enough. That is all a part of the plan! Heavenly Father is not stupid. He knows we are going to mess us every single day of our lives. We are here to learn and to use the Atonement. And if we have faith, repent (every day!) and are baptized, like verse 18 says: "And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive." So we are on the path! We have to keep going, because there is NO way to receive this blessing unless we endure to the end, but if we are really putting forth an effort each day to learn, to change, to serve others, to keep the commandments, etc. and we have a desire to follow our Savior, that is what He is asking of us. Living the gospel is hard, sometimes painful, but it is the only way to get to where we all want to go. And He has made it simple (again, not easy) and easy to understand.
Well, there is what is going on and my sermon for the week! :) I love you all and hope you are all doing well.
-Sister Hafen
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