MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So exciting. Christmas is the best. Really. Everyone is so happy and loving and giving. And all you have to do to get in someone’s door is make them cookies! It is the best.
Things are going pretty good for us here. The baptism is off for now…but that is ok. I think it will hopefully happen soon. Actually, there are a lot of people gone in the ward so it would be a small turnout anyway. But we had some really great lessons this week! We taught our newer family and it went well. At the end we were saying how the way to know if what we are teaching is true is to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We asked Katrina (the mom) if she would read a chapter and pray and she said “yes! I definitely will.” She was really excited to do it. So I feel good about them. We also went and saw our investigator Shannon who we hadn’t see in a while and hadn’t really been calling us back or anything. We stopped by and had a talk with her. Last time we were there we asked her to pray about what she is learning and if she thinks it is the direction she needs to go. She told us that she was kind of scared to pray because she thought she knew what the answer would be. This time we asked again if she had prayed, and she said no. We asked why, and she said she was still scared. But this time it was more- she knew that if she prays, she will receive an answer. She really knows how to recognize the Holy Ghost in her life and knows what will happen. Sister Powell said, “Shannon, it seems like you have already received your answer” and Shannon agreed with her! We asked her how she knows this is true- this is a woman who has studied several religions and even right now is also studying (kind of) with JWs. She said, “because of the way I feel.” So true! She knows. But she won’t pray, because she is scared she will receive an even stronger answer. And then she will have to act. And it’s funny, because we were telling her all this and she knows. She is scared about how she will have to change her life- mainly how her son will react. But because of the relationship we have with her we are able to be very open with her. She promised that this week she will talk to her husband and son about this and see how they will react. I really think Shannon will come along soon! She is really great. I have always had a good feeling about her. Now the work will be helping her to actually act on her answer! Oh, the life of a missionary. Usually your problem is helping people actually receive an answer. It is kind of funny this way! But also more heartbreaking if they don’t. But I do have faith in Shannon.
In other investigator news, Pam finally texted us again! She started ignoring us again about 2 1/2 weeks ago and since she has done this before I decided she could be the one to call us this time if she really wants us there. That was really hard because I love Pam a lot! But I know that if it is just always us pushing her and never her pushing herself it won't work out in the long run. So we dropped off some cookies but didn't knock or anything. And she texted us! So we will see if she wants to keep learning. And Morris randomly showed up at church yesterday! We hadn't even seen him since last Saturday or really even tried to talk to him. Kind of the same with Pam- if he really wants to learn he can call us back. That attitude kind of sounds harsh, but these aren't new people we are talking about. These are people that know what kind of changes they need to make and why. It is kind of like your kids- if you just always spoon feed them their whole lives, they will never learn to be independent. Anyway, he showed up and stayed all 3 hours! It was pretty exciting. One of the talks in Sacrament Meeting was so inspired just for him- it was about faith and acting on it. Hopefully we will see him there again next week! I really do feel a lot of the time like these investigators are my children. I worry about them, I pray about them, I am happy when they are doing good things, I am disappointed when they don't, but I will always love them because of who they are. I want what is best for them!
Let's see, what else is going on. Oh- i love this video:
http://lds.org/topic/christmas/christmas_video_9.html
It is so good! It makes me cry every time.
I get to call home this week! See, Christmas is the best. We are going to be visiting lots of members this week, especially on Christmas Eve and Christmas. We have had a few members invite us over for things on the holidays and that is always nice. And today me and Sister Powell are going to this place they have in Great Bend called Santas Around the World. It apparently has life-size santas from different countries around the world. Does that not sound like the best Christmas activity you can think of? If not, I don't know what is. I love random things like that. The other day I was looking at this Kansas tourism catalog and decided that when I come back to visit after my mission I want to see things like the world's largest ball of twine, the kansas barbed wire museum, the wizard of oz museum, and this weird outdoor sculpture place called the garden of eden (they only got one state off!). Seriously, when else and where else would you see this stuff?
Well I guess I will end with what I learned from my BOM reading this week. I started a little early because I knew there would be a few days I might not have time to do the whole 9 pages. But first, an insight from my companion when we were reading Matthew 9 today. We are reading about all these miracles Christ is performing, and she reads the verse "And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us." Then she stops and says, "So, if they were blind, how could they follow him?" I almost died laughing. It was so funny because we are almost through the chapter and just talking about how amazing Christ is and then that gem. I didn't answer the question and let her figure it out for herself.
Ok. So I don't know if I have ever talked about this before, but this is something I learned last year when I was doing the BOM challenge and I was reminded of it again this year. So in 1 Nephi 2 Lehi has just been commanded to take his family and go into the wilderness. So of course, he did it. He took his family and left almost everything behind so he could be obedient to the Lord. We all know about Laman and Lemuel, and how they always complained and murmered. And then of course Nephi, who we kind of think of as perfect sometimes because he obeyed and just did everything he was supposed to. But I love verse 16: "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers." Wow! That tells me some important things about Nephi. 1, he wasn't perfect. It wasn't any easier for him to leave his home and everything he had ever known than it was for his brothers. But the difference between Nephi and Laman and Lemuel is really spelled out right here. What he did about the circumstances he was in. What did Laman and Lemuel do? Complained and looked for things that were wrong. Accused their father of being crazy. Dragged their feet and made everything more difficult. But what did Nephi do? He didn't just act on blind faith or obedience just because. He knew this was going to be hard. But he put the effort in to pray about what his father told them to do! Because of that the Lord softened his heart. He didn't receive an answer right away. But he understood that in order to have a good experience throughout this trial, he would need the help of the Lord. It isn't until the next chapter that we get the famous "I will go and do the thing which the Lord has commanded..." because he had a testimony. He was able to have faith like that because he actually made an effort to find out what the Lord wanted him to do. We need to do this too! None of us are perfect, and we all go through trials. But we can either do it like Laman and Lemuel, who just go through this experience because they "have to" and as they are going through it say "Behold, these many years we have suffered in the wilderness, which time we might have enjoyed our possessions and the land of our inheritance; yea, and we might have been happy." Or we can follow Nephi's example. We can ask the Lord! We can draw strength from the scriptures and prayer. We can know that as we do our best, the things that happen in our lives happen for a reason and we can learn from them.
This Christmas I am grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I am grateful that I know the real reason Christmas is celebrated- it is Him. Why do we celebrate Him? Because without Him we would have no hope. There would be no chance for a life after this one. And He did it for love! Because He loves His Father and us so much. I love you all and hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!
-Sister Hafen
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