humongous ward, which is definitely a change. My companion is Sister Browning, who served around me in Liberty at the beginning of my mission- she came out 2 transfers after me. She is from Washington state. Also serving at the VC now are Sister Bowman and Sister Lund (former comps) and also some other sisters I have served around before. It is fun! I forgot how fast-paced we are here compared to being full-proselyting...we are always rushing rushing rushing! If not you never get anything done. Missouri finally decided to start being cold! It snowed like crazy on Sunday night and then continued to snow all day on Monday. And now today it is freezing! I forgot how cold it can get here. That is one benefit of being inside for half the day! I forgot how much I love the VC and the spirit that is there. It is a blessing to be able to study and also to take people on tours. With the winter things are obviously much slower than they were last time I was here! But I like it because when people do come in you can give them your full attention and not have to worry about rushing or running back upstairs to take your next tour. I was a little bit worried when I took my first tour the other day that I would forget what to do...but I didn't. It was actually really neat because I feel like I am less tour guide now and just more myself and missionary. I was able to incorporate a lot of things I have learned lately into the tour and all the history that I needed to remember for it came back. I love it.
I do miss Great Bend though! I knew I would miss it. It makes it not as hard to go because I know I will be back there soon. When we found out about transfers on Tuesday night it was ridiculous. We went to go see tons of people on Wednesday to say goodbye. I think Anthony was the worst. I called him in the morning then we went over and when we got there his voice was all husky. And then during the lesson he just kept weeping! This big tough guy. Then Sister Powell was sad and on the verge of tears the whole time too. It was just too sad for me, so I tried to lighten it up and tell some jokes...didn't really work. And later Pam cried too! I was just making people cry left and right. Man. Pam hadn't talked to us for like 5 weeks but I knew I couldn't leave there without saying goodbye. I texted her and told her I wasn't leaving without giving her a hug! And she let us come over thankfully. I was worried that she has been avoiding us because she had fallen back into some not so good stuff. But that wasn't it at all! In fact she has made some awesome changes in the last month. Lots of her friends are falling out of her life because she won't go back to drugs or drinking or anything like that. The other day she was at a restaurant and really wanted a beer...but then decided she didn't need it. Her and her daughter Ellie made a cuss jar and everytime they cuss they have to put a quarter in! And the best- there is this guy she has been involved with for lots of years that is just not good for her. A couple of months ago she stopped talking to him at all and then over Christmas she ran into him at Walmart! And she just walked away because she realizes she doesn't need him to be happy. I am so proud of her! She is a strong person, and it was cool to see her finally start to recognize that. She wants the sisters to visit her again...so we'll see what happens. When we went to visit Shannon we asked her how the Word of Wisdom is going- we committed her to live it last week and she has a hard time with smoking and coffee. She already had gone like 4 out of 7 days without coffee! She is so cool. When I called to tell her I was leaving the next day I told her I would be back to visit soon. She said, "well maybe I will be baptized by then!" The best words ever for a missionary to hear. Oh Great Bend. It will always have a special place in my heart. That was the place I really was stretched a lot but also where I found out what I am made of. I am grateful for my time serving there!
Ok, so on Wednesday (the day before transfers) I also started getting sick. I think it was just the stress of Great Bend finally releasing and my body finally allowed itself to get sick. That used to happen to me during Christmas break in college. Same type of thing I think. I was not feeling good for a few days and then at PEC on Sunday I had a coughing fit and had to leave the room. So embarrassing. But this ward is awesome and they made sure I got a blessing before we left. It was one of the most amazing blessings I have ever received. The man giving it to me had met me once just that day. But he blessed me to recover and be healed. It was very specific. And then I thought he would end but instead he started talking about my mission! He said that Heavenly Father is proud of my service and that He loves me. It was just so what I needed to hear. I love the priesthood. Since then I have still had a little congestion and trouble breathing and stuff, but I haven't really felt sick at all. And now it is almost gone. So great! I was not looking forward to being sick for a week and not being able to do things. I have been taking care of myself, but I am glad I didn't have to be bedridden for days. Also this week on Saturday I had a baptism! So funny. I had absolutely no part in it, but there you go. It is a 11 year old girl they have been teaching who is the granddaughter of some members. She is really cute. I met her for the first time at her baptism! That same day we went to go contact a headquarter referral we had just gotten named Art. We go in and he just lets us right in and was so excited! He had us sit down and was helping his granddaughter in the other room for a minute. She asked him who we were, and he said something like, "they are some angels that God has sent us to teach us! It is a miracle from God that they are here. Do you understand now who they are?" We were cracking up in the other room, but also really excited. His son just got married this year and married a mormon girl, and then he got baptized. He was telling his parents all about the church and then promised his son he would go to a service on Sunday. So two weeks ago they were on their way to their church when he saw a sign that said "church of jesus christ of latter-day saints" so they went there instead. We were really excited about this but then he told us about his experience...they were at church and he was really excited to take the sacrament! But then they got to him with the tray and just skipped him and his wife- they hurried away from them. He felt really judged and excluded. Thankfully by that we realized it wasn't really our church and found out it was one of the remnant latter-day saint churches. This type of thing only happens in Independence, MO. Love it. But anyway, we explained it and he was relieved, and now he wants to come to our church this week! I am excited for it, he is really great.
Also yesterday I got to go to the temple! It has been a busy week. We had 3 recent converts going to do baptisms so we got to go also. We went to St. Louis! That is the second time I have left my mission boundaries on my mission- once to Denver and once to St. Louis. We were with them doing baptisms the whole time, but that is ok. Soon I can go to the temple whenever I want! It was a really cool experience because we were such a small group. We did about 240 names just with 7 of us! Gary, who was the only guy, did 87 baptisms. So crazy. It was actually really cool to go with them! Gary just got baptized in October and his wife Loretta got baptized in 2009. I had actually met Loretta before on exchanges this summer, but back then Gary was very opposed to the church! He totally fought it and didn't like that she was a part of it. But some cool things happened and he started reading the Book of Mormon and then came to church and was baptized a few weeks later. He is awesome! He reminds me of Anthony in how fast he has changed and understands. He used to be this rough guy who was in bands and rode motercycles and now you would never know. He reads the scriptures all the time and just got the priesthood and is just solid. It is so cool to be a part of these people's lives! Best thing ever.
Ok I need to wrap it up. I will end with a short BOM insight. I love love LOVE Mosiah and especially King Benjamin's sermon to the people. You can just tell how amazing and solid he is. This is a man who even though he had as a king every opportunity to manipulate people, he never did. He was always right there with them working for what he had and serving people left and right. When he speaks, you can tell that he knows this stuff. His whole speech he is just begging the people to turn away from their sins and remember how blessed they are! So much applies to us today. This time around reading it I was just thinking about how much he emphasized DOING things rather than just believing then. If we have true faith, it leads to action! Always. In 4:9 I love it because he just asks us to have faith and believe in God. But then in verse 10 is my favorite: "And now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them." So true! And simple. He talks about service, about not judging others, about imparting of our substance to those in need, to do all we can to serve the Lord. And then my favorite, which I will leave you with. This is 4:30: "But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not."
I love the scriptures! And I love my mission. Thank you all for all you do. Have a wonderful week!
-Sister Hafen
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