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| Me and the Barneys! |
¡Hola hola hola familia y amigos!
First off I want to give a happy birthday shout out to Isaac and Romney! Wow can't believe Isaac got the priesthood and Rom is 21, what is this?! I hope they both had great birthdays but not as great as if I were there, jkjk. I bet they were both a blast!
I finally made it to MN! So much has happened in the past 10 days I wish I had more time to tell you alllll about it. I'll try to cover the highlights. Wednesday was a looonnngggg day of travel and Hna. Winterton and I were the last out of the new 26 missionaries to arrive here in MN. We were welcomed by cute Pres. Barney waving at us from the bottom of the escalator. We ate at the church next to the mission home and had orientation, then we got our trainers. My trainer is Hermana Meredith! She is awesome! She's 19 and from Bountiful, Utah. This is only her 4th transfer in the field but that doesn't worry me, her Spanish seems great to me. Since she's my first comp in the field and I'm her first trainee We always joke around and say "best trainer ever" or "best trainee ever" because we don't know anything different! We are the Lakeville Spanish Hermanas and we cover the whole Lakeville zone. There used to be a set of Elders and Hermanas here but in June, seven Spanish Elders went home so they had to take the Elders out of Lakeville so now we teach all the Hispanics in this zone. Oh also I have a pretty incredible zone leader BECAUSE GUESS WHAT PEOPLE??!?! ELDER MCNEIL IS MY ZONE LEADER!! Wow wow wow, there were a lot of tender mercies on Wednesday and this was a huge one. The night I got here we texted the zone leaders and told them and they called us and it was so nice to hear a familiar voice. I've seen him a couple times since then and it's so fun but also kind of strange when you see someone you haven't seen in like a year. We haven't gotten a picture yet but we will soon. It's so crazy though like what are the chances??
After we got our trainers I said adios to Hna. Winterton and we got right to work. At this point it was dinner time and we ate at Hermana Perez's house. She made us these mole tacos that were sooooo good (didn't think I liked mole but yum). Then we had an appointment but it got cancelled and then funny thing happened all our appointments for the next two days cancelled on us. I was supposed to ask someone to be baptized within the first 24 hours of being here but we suddenly had no appointments so that was impossible. It's okay though we knocked a trailer park and an apartment complex and Hermana Meredith taught me a few tips:
1. If they have any sort of frog statue or anything, they're Hispanic.
2. If they have Christmas lights up in July, they're Hispanic.
3. If you can hear voices speaking Spanish through the door, they're Hispanic.
4. If they have dish 500 (it carries the Spanish channel), they're Hispanic.
First off I want to give a happy birthday shout out to Isaac and Romney! Wow can't believe Isaac got the priesthood and Rom is 21, what is this?! I hope they both had great birthdays but not as great as if I were there, jkjk. I bet they were both a blast!
I finally made it to MN! So much has happened in the past 10 days I wish I had more time to tell you alllll about it. I'll try to cover the highlights. Wednesday was a looonnngggg day of travel and Hna. Winterton and I were the last out of the new 26 missionaries to arrive here in MN. We were welcomed by cute Pres. Barney waving at us from the bottom of the escalator. We ate at the church next to the mission home and had orientation, then we got our trainers. My trainer is Hermana Meredith! She is awesome! She's 19 and from Bountiful, Utah. This is only her 4th transfer in the field but that doesn't worry me, her Spanish seems great to me. Since she's my first comp in the field and I'm her first trainee We always joke around and say "best trainer ever" or "best trainee ever" because we don't know anything different! We are the Lakeville Spanish Hermanas and we cover the whole Lakeville zone. There used to be a set of Elders and Hermanas here but in June, seven Spanish Elders went home so they had to take the Elders out of Lakeville so now we teach all the Hispanics in this zone. Oh also I have a pretty incredible zone leader BECAUSE GUESS WHAT PEOPLE??!?! ELDER MCNEIL IS MY ZONE LEADER!! Wow wow wow, there were a lot of tender mercies on Wednesday and this was a huge one. The night I got here we texted the zone leaders and told them and they called us and it was so nice to hear a familiar voice. I've seen him a couple times since then and it's so fun but also kind of strange when you see someone you haven't seen in like a year. We haven't gotten a picture yet but we will soon. It's so crazy though like what are the chances??
After we got our trainers I said adios to Hna. Winterton and we got right to work. At this point it was dinner time and we ate at Hermana Perez's house. She made us these mole tacos that were sooooo good (didn't think I liked mole but yum). Then we had an appointment but it got cancelled and then funny thing happened all our appointments for the next two days cancelled on us. I was supposed to ask someone to be baptized within the first 24 hours of being here but we suddenly had no appointments so that was impossible. It's okay though we knocked a trailer park and an apartment complex and Hermana Meredith taught me a few tips:
1. If they have any sort of frog statue or anything, they're Hispanic.
2. If they have Christmas lights up in July, they're Hispanic.
3. If you can hear voices speaking Spanish through the door, they're Hispanic.
4. If they have dish 500 (it carries the Spanish channel), they're Hispanic.
On Friday morning we did service for this awesome guy named George. He just got out of prison last month but seriously he is awesome. We shared a Book of Mormon with him and he told us he only made it 20 years through the grace of God. He is so kind and just wants the best for others. Seriously I just had so much love for him and want the best for him in this life. It was pretty funny though because we brought Elders to do service with us too and they chopped down a tree with an ax! It was hilarious to watch and a bit impressive.
Okay strangest situation last night. We are in this apartment where 5 hispanics live together and we were all just gathered around talking about the situation. I seriously had to keep myself from laughing it was so odd. I asked all of them to be baptized with my limited Spanish. It was the first time I extended the invitation to real people. They all laughed and thought it was a joke which I kind of expected but still good practice, and we're going back next week!
Okay strangest situation last night. We are in this apartment where 5 hispanics live together and we were all just gathered around talking about the situation. I seriously had to keep myself from laughing it was so odd. I asked all of them to be baptized with my limited Spanish. It was the first time I extended the invitation to real people. They all laughed and thought it was a joke which I kind of expected but still good practice, and we're going back next week!
One of my goals for this transfer is to lead all dinner lessons. Last night I said what I needed to and expected Hermana Meredith to pick up but she just looked at me so I had to finish it by myself which I thought I had already said basically all I know but gift of tongues is real people and I was able to communicate my thoughts perfectly! It was a little scary for a second but good to know I actually know more Spanish than I give myself credit for!
One huge lesson I learned this week is that when people don't follow through with their commitments, show up at church, accept your message, or pretend not to be home it has nothing to do with us as missionaries. Our job is to give them the opportunity to accept our message, not force them to accept it! Wise wisdom from Hna. Meredith about this, "If everyone did what they were supposed to be doing, missionary work would be too easy." That is so true.
A scripture that really helped me this week is 1 Nephi 17:50 it says, "And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done."
I know we can do everything through God and the great sacrifice of his son Jesus Christ. Another thing I have learned over and over already but recognized again this week is the many many tender mercies we have. This week has been the hardest one yet but I know that God has given me so many tender mercies to keep me going. He will not leave us and He knows exactly what we need to keep going. I am so happy to be a missionary and to be able to share the gospel with the people of Minnesota.
Wow there is so much more I would love to say but I can't gather my thoughts that quickly sooo hopefully all this will do! Also I can't tell you how thankful I am for an American keyboard!
Go to the temple PLEASE. Be nice to people and don't forget to recognize all our many blessins!
Sorry I have like no pics this week! It's been crazy! A pic of me and Elder Mcneil to come. :) also I meant to get a picture of us at TARGET today (probably the most homey place I've felt in 6 weeks)
xoxo,
Hermana Hanson
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| Me and Hermana Meredith. Best Trainer ever! |
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| Me and Elder McNeil |
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