Well this week has been…good! A little stressful around here lately but still good. We had some excitement with the sisters this week. Sister Powell (my companion last transfer in Great Bend) stayed in Great Bend with another sister this transfer, but things didn’t work out so they did a transfer for them on Monday. So now Great Bend has 2 brand new sisters to the area! But honestly, I think that will be for the best. I also got an update on the goings-on there from Sister Powell- she came to the VC and I got to talk to her! Anyway, Shannon has totally quit drinking coffee and is now working on smoking. And she has come to church twice since I left! I am so happy. Also the other big news is that Anthony was just made the Young Men’s president! Oh my gosh he is going to do so good. That is really rare and crazy for a ward to do that, but there is just so little priesthood there they need him. He will do awesome. Anyway, Great Bend will be awesome. They are having a baptism on Sunday! Not anyone I know funny enough, it is a kid that was a referral we got the day before I left so I never met him. Anyway, in other crazy transfer news, one of the sisters at the VC is going home tomorrow for medical reasons, and her companion is going to be our new companion! I am so super excited. Her name is Sister Fie’eki and she is so cute and awesome. She is from California but her family is Tongan. She is awesome and it will be fun to have her. I have never been in a trio before, but I am excited!
So hopefully this next week things will settle down a little bit! This week besides all that drama things have actually been kind of slow. Last Wednesday we had a big storm and actually they didn’t want us to go out because the conditions were so bad, so we just hung out at the VC that night. Then I have been on two exchanges this week with sisters that were sick, so I feel like I haven’t been a missionary for very many days this week! It’s ok though, I was kind of feeling a little sickness coming on myself and got to rest it off, so I think it was for the best. I think you kind of tend to push yourself at the end of your mission to get things done. And I also got ahead in my scripture reading and did some good journal writing, so it all worked out.
I had a cool experience at church last week and then this week. The bishop gave us a list of new members in the ward- both recent converts from our ward and also people that have been baptized recently that have moved into our ward. When we got it I recognized a name on it- a lady that had been in the Mound City branch when I served there! We didn’t have her address until the next week, so this last Sunday we went to go visit her. Lucky we did that day because she was moving that night. They were just finishing up. I was so glad we went because I had been feeling a pressing prompting to go see her, and that was the first opportunity we had. She is going through a really hard time right now. Lots of crazy things, and she doesn’t even really know where she is going to go. We couldn’t help her with her problems, but we talked to her a little and invited her to come to the VC to talk next week. Hopefully she will be able to! I think it helped a little bit for her to have someone that knows and loves her to be there. Who knows. I just know that things happen for a reason and I saw her name for a reason.
I wish I had a lot of funny things to say! For some reason sometimes I can’t think of funny things, even though something funny happens every single day. One thing though- sometimes at the VC, especially when things are slow, we like to hide things. I got this creepy little mini gnome from my friend Robyn for my birthday this summer, and I decided to pull him out now to start hiding. It’s been fun. I included a picture of the first place I hid him.
Ah. I hate being back in a city with a time limit on the computer! I will just end with my BOM thought for the week, because it is longer this time. I got pretty ahead in my reading this week like I said and I was just reading about the stripling warriors. It was talking about how valiant these guys are and I just thought, “man, where did these guys come from?” I thought about that for a minute, then it led into this scripture chain I made. I will just list the scriptures and explain and you can look them up. The farthest back I could measure the chain of influence was Abinadi. But that was kind of a long time ago! Like 100 years before these guys. In Mosiah 11:20 it talks about him starting to preach, but we don’t really know anything about him. Anyway, as we know he preaches and no one wants to listen. But one person listens- Alma. See Mosiah 17:2. He did listen! And he left and taught and baptized a ton of people. So just that one testimony affected so many hundreds of people. But it doesn’t stop there! Then as we know Alma became a powerful priesthood holder and had a lot of influence. But fast forward a few years when he is the high priest over the church and Mosiah is the king. Their kids are hanging out together and causing lots of trouble for not only them, but also many people and their testimonies. Alma the elder is praying a ton about this and we know what happens- and angel appears and Alma the younger is converted. Mosiah 27:14. But guess who else is there- the sons of Mosiah! And they also become converted. So much so that they all deny becoming the next king because they just want to serve missions. Look at the change that has happened in them from one chapter to the next- Mosiah 28:3-4. Then the BOM talks about Alma for a while and we don’t hear about these guys again until 14 years later- years they have been serving missions. That whole time! Alma 17:4. But then what happens? The whole Ammon (one of the sons of Mosiah) thing where he converts King Lamoni and tons of the people then it spreads. These are the people that become the Anti-Nephi-Lehis. Alma 24:17-18. Look at that change! They make a covenant to not fight. Then years later the wars are getting so bad they almost go back on that covenant. But they are convinced not to and their sons volunteer. And what does it say about their sons? Alma 53:20. Then they go fight and none of them die! Because of their service battles are won and lots of Nephites are saved. Alma 56:26-27. Incredible. All these things are connected. There are so many other things and people of influence in these stories that I didn’t mention. But that is how life works. We should never underestimate the influence we have on others- both for good and for bad. Think about if Abinadi had just disobeyed God and said he didn’t feel like testifying to wicked King Noah that day. Look at all the amazing things that happened because of that choice! We need to make sure that the choices we make every single day are things we are thinking about. And we need to do our best so that we can be an influence of good in this world.
Love you all! Thanks for all you do.
-Sister Hafen
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