raising the bar

The best people at the best place after a reaalllyyy hot day

Hola a todos!

This week was a lot if the same. Finding, finding, finding. We are going so hard but nothing is really sticking for us still. It's been really cool to see that even though we don't really have a teaching pool, the Lord is in this work. Let me tell you about a few things that kept us going this week.

As a dinner message, we have been asking members to write their testimonies in copies of the Book of Mormon and then giving them out to people we meet. I had been carrying around a copy with the perfect testimony for weeks just waiting to find someone who needed it. We prayed several times for the Lord's help in finding the person who needed this book. We were knocking in a building and as soon as we knocked on the door I felt that the woman who was going to answer the door needed this specific copy. She answered and invited us right in and turns out she has family in the church. She even attended when she used to live in El Salvador. She remembered the story of Joseph Smith and said it really stuck out to her. We were so grateful for this tender mercy!

Ahh okay this one is cool. So we were walking up to this building we spotted that we wanted to try and exactly in our path was this guy walking his dog. We said hello and asked how he was and he said good, then he immediately asked us if we go to church. We were like yes! He told us he had been visited by Elders back in Mexico and that him and his brother had been looking for a church to go to since moving to MN. We told him where the building was and turns out he had just moved near it! Then he goes on to tell us that he just got rid of his old, super malo friends and now he has great ones! After we shared with him a copy of the Book of Mormon he said he was just taking his dog out for a break and he had better get back to work. I am so glad that the Lord trusted us enough to let our paths cross because He knew we would reach out to one of His children in need.

We have been focusing a ton on the Book of Mormon because hello, it's the best book out there and we hsve given out over five boxes in the past seven weeks. On Thursday we got a text from someone who's number we didn't have and they basically said they thought the book was beautiful and would love to have us over to talk more, we are so excited for our lesson with him! The only problem is that he gave us two clues as to who he is and they are: 1. You invited me to your church 2. My name is José... hahahah we can't for the life of us narrow it down to which one of the José we invited to church but vamos a ver. 

One last thing, we got to go on splits with my cute hijas. On Monday I spent about two hours with Hna Hudman and two hours with Hna Sully and my life was complete. They are learning and growing and I just love them. We were able to give out about ten copies of the Book of Mormon and find three new people to teach between the four of us, it was so much fun and I am so proud of the work they're doing!

It's the little things that keep you going. Although these are all very small things, they have meant the world to me this week. Also, there are so many more I don't have the time or energy to write about. I feel so grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord.

This has been such a growing time for me. I think that's funny to say because I think of how every point of my mission so far has pushed me. But this one especially. My inspired companion shared with me one of her many insights about a month ago and it has helped me so much. I was telling her about how when I finally feel like I have something under control, that same thing, or another aspect I've worked on suddenly becomes hard again. She casually said, "Yeah, that's because Heavenly Father just raised the bar." She went on to explain that God has certain expectations for us but he doesn't expect us to reach them upfront. It's almost like He has little checkpoints for us. Once we reach the first checkpoint, he increases the distance between where we are and where He knows we can and wants us to be. Because that gap just got greater, for us it seems like we are doing worse, but He can see that we are improving step by step. I love this perspective because it shows that even when I feel like my ability to follow the Spirit hasn't improved, I've lost all patience, or my faith is slipping it's not! It's just an extra push from Heavenly Father because he is raising the bar. 

I'll just leave you with this quote from the amazing Sheri Dew,

"Noble and great. Courageous and determined. Faithful and fearless. That is who you are, and that is who you have always been. Understanding that truth can change your life, because this knowledge carries a confidence that cannot be duplicated any other way. I doubt many of us feel noble or great. But then neither did Enoch, who was stunned when the Lord called him into service: “Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech?” The Lord responded to Enoch by promising to walk with him and give power to his words. This encounter with the Lord gave Enoch a new vision of himself, and the result was magnificent, for so powerful was his word that his people were “taken up into heaven.” But that happened after Enoch understood who he was and that he had a mission to perform."

You are important because you are a child of God. Never be discouraged when he raises the bar, it means you are doing great things! 

Quote of the week:

"Want to hear a new finding approach I just thought of?

Have you seen the mormon missionaries?
We'll we're right here!"

I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

xoxo Hermana Hanson 

"Hermana watch out! There's a big dog!!"

When our area book says Fanny lives at a factory