Note: If you don't read this whole email because it is really long, just go down to the last paragraph! That is the most important.
Well, this week was good and crazy. Lots of the week was spent dropping investigators and trying to contact people that weren't home. Kind of sad, but that is just life. But I firmly believe that if you are working hard and doing your best, Heavenly Father will send little miracles to you that completely make up for the bad/sad/cold/windy/discouraging times. On Wednesday we had two really awesome lessons! One we had with Francisco, who is the boyfriend of one of our members. He is really awesome and we have been teaching him for about a month now. We were planning to commit him to a baptismal date. We are teaching the lesson and almost done, and then all of a sudden Sierra(his girlfriend)'s siblings come in. Then her mom. Then everything starts getting a little loud and crazy. We knew if we didn't ask now it wasn't going to happen! So Sister Powell says, "Francisco, we want to invite you to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized on December 26th." He just kind of stared at her for a minute with a confused look. Then he said, "wait, what? can you say the question again?" We laughed and asked again. Then he said, "of this year? like in 2 weeks?" Way funny. So we told him yes, this year, and that he really is ready. He said yes and then said, "I feel all tingly!" It was awesome. Sierra was just sitting there beaming and says, "we've got to get you a suit!" It was a pretty good lesson I'd say. :) So now Francisco is going to get baptized on December 26th! That is a good Christmas if you ask me.
Then right after we saw them we went over to see our investigator Deborah. We haven't really got to teach her an official lesson yet, just talked to her and shared a scripture and stuff like that. But we finally got to actually teach her lesson 1 about the Restoration. It was so awesome! Usually the idea of a prophet and a restoration is hard for people to grasp, but she was just getting it. I asked her a question like "why do you think we need a prophet?" and she said "I guess because God isn't here Himself so we need someone that can give us guidance and direction in our crazy world." Me and Sister Powell just looked at each other and laughed because of how much she got it. It was pretty funny. She said to know if she likes a church or if it is right for her she just has to go 3 times to know. We invited her to come yesterday but she didn't, so we went over later to see why not. She has been really sick the last week and she woke up yesterday morning with a huge coughing fit. It was so bad that she cracked a rib! Ridiculous. She was in so much pain. So hopefully that will heal soon and she will be able to come. I know that health things like this are not in our control, but it has been interesting on my mission to see how many things like this happen on Sunday morning or Saturday. These people will be perfectly fine and excited to come earlier in the week, then Sunday rolls around and they have a broken rib or the stomach flu or their child has a bad cold. And I am not talking about people that are just giving excuses or making things up- that happens all the time. But real legitimate things like this happen all the time! It just goes to show you how important church is. And not saying Satan is creating illnesses...but he knows how important coming to church is in the conversion process. Anyway.
We also had a good lesson this week with our new family! The lady we taught last week with her daughter- her daughter was gone but her husband was there and he listened too and seemed interested. We taught them about the plan of salvation and they really seemed to enjoy it. The mom was touched a few times and I think she really genuinely wants to keep learning more. She is still really angry about her dad dying a couple of years ago. She says she doesn't know for sure if she believes God is there, but I don't believe her. This couple are some of the best people I have ever met. They are just serving people all the time. She is just holding onto anger and that is impacting her faith. But I truly believe that as she continues to learn and pray she will be able to get over that anger. The gospel really does have that healing effect. Anyway, we invited them to come on a church tour this week and I am really excited!
Speaking of church tours, we did the most awesome church tour ever this week. Since our area is so spread out, we were asking our leaders how to solve the problem of getting our members to come on church tours when they are so far away. They want us to take all the members on church tours so they know what they are like and then they can invite friends on one. But they only take like 20 minutes, and it is annoying/it is hard to make time to come all the way out to the church just for that. One suggestion was to just do it at their house and pretend it is the church. Genius! That is what we did on Saturday with one of our member families. It was hilarious. The family room was the foyer, the kitchen was the chapel, and the bathroom was the font area. When we were talking about baptism we had us and the whole family- mom and dad plus 5 kids- all crammed into the bathroom looking at the bathtub. It was packed! We even committed their 6 year-old to be baptized when he was 8, and he said yes! I asked our zone leaders if we can count that as an investigator with a baptismal date, and they said no. :) Anyway, after the church tour they were asking us about how the work is going and we were telling them some funny experiences that have happened lately. That led to a conversation about crazy things people ask us and things people think about us. It was fun! And in case you are wondering, I am totally going to be one of those annoying RMs who tell mission stories all the time. I am apologizing beforehand because I know I will do it. But it was cool because after church yesterday the mom comes up to us and told us that that morning her 17 year-old daughter told her she wants to go on a mission! Awesome. Anything I can do to encourage people to go on missions.
Well, besides all our fun experiences this week we also had Zone Conference! Best day ever. Since it is in Wichita (about 2 hours away) and starts at 8am, we went and slept over at a members house in Wichita. So much fun because all the sisters serving around the area were there plus there were 7 others because it was a special Christmas zone conference with music, and they were all in the musical program. Most of them are serving at the jail or VC so it was fun to get caught up on the happenings in the mission. It was so much fun to talk to everyone. While I was there though I realized how old I have gotten in the mission. Since I came out to Great Bend there have been like 15 new sisters come in (along with sisters leaving) and I have only met 3 of them. There are so many new people and I am just becoming old news. That's ok. It is like the feeling of when you are a senior in high school and all your friends have already graduated and there are all these new kids around. But anyway, I will survive. But zone conference was amazing as usual! It is always exactly what I need. My favorite part was our sister meeting where Sister VanKomen talked. She read this little story about a girl who is grumpy and pessimistic, and how a friend helped her change her attitude by telling her to imagine the Savior was there all the time. It reminded me of the song "If the Savior stood beside me" from primary. But that was the idea, and it was really cool. I have tried it a little since then and it actually really does make a difference. Just dumb little things, like "If He were here, would I study more effectively and focus more? Would I make sure to be ready on time? Would I be thinking this about that person?" Just little things like that. But it really does change what you think, do, and even feel. Awesome.
Ok. Last part! So just like last year, we were given a challenge to read the Book of Mormon the first 60 days of 2011. Of course it weirded me out when I realized I don't have 60 days in 2011 on my mission to read the Book of Mormon. But that is why I am starting early! And I am inviting all of you to join me. In order to finish on February 18th (the day I get home) you have to start on December 21st. It is going to be amazing! The last time our mission did this was a life-changing experience for me, as I know it will be again and it will be for you as well. We are highlighting some different things, but I will just invite you to highlight as you read it all the references to Christ's atonement and the fact that He is our Savior and Redeemer. You will be surprised at how many references there are! The best Christmas gift I can give right now or receive is to get people to do this challenge. It is 9 pages a day, which really does not take that long. I know the holidays are a busy time but I promise that if you make the time, it will be sooooooooooo worth it. Joseph Smith said that reading the Book of Mormon will get you closer to God than any other book. What better time to do that than Christmas?
Alright, I am excited! If you get a chance write me and tell me what you have learned. I will write something I learn each week in my letter. Thank you for all you do for me and I hope you all have a wonderful week!
-Sister Hafen
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