Composing My Life : April 28th

Hey howdy hey y'all!! You would think I was serving in the south or something!

Can you believe it will be May this week! Crrrazy!!

Physical aching from T25!! Hoorah!! No pain. No gain.

I do not have a lot for this week and for the past 20 minutes, I haven't been able to come up with much and so I have decided to just list things out and hope that it is somewhat entertaining.

Oh gosh how could I forget about Tuesday!! Absolutely crrrrazy day. Elder Jones thought we had died. No joke. He told us he called the police, hospitals, highway patrols, anyone he could think of all in the course of not getting ahold of us for a period of 3 hours. Yikes! I know he worries with his calling of cars and it something had really happened I would have been most grateful. Instead I was highly embarrassed- I can't even explain how highly. Here is a brief summary of what I told President:
Around 11:30am we went tracting. It was warm and so I left my jacket in the car, which the phone was in my pocket.
First missed call from Elder Jones was around 11:45am.
After tracting we went to a member's house, Sister Rothey, and she invited us to go to lunch with her and so she drove us to go out to eat, still forgetting about the phone in my pocket-- couple more missed calls during that time. After lunch, coming back to her house, her neighbor came over. She introduced us and we chatted for a bit. Got in the car to go and it is about2:45. Called Elder Jones. Called President. Over the course of 3 hours.

Here is what it really came down to, I think. a.) We asked Elder Jones when we should bring the car down and he said anytime. We planned on being there about 2:30. We ran a little late for that time but again we figured it didn't matter because no time was given to be there. After the fact, we find out that they were expecting us there first thing in the morning- which is when we made sure to be there the following day. b.) We should always keep the phone on us in case of emergencys like this. It was my fault for not having the phone.

I sincerely apologized for the inconvenience, drama, and worry. I believe I have learned my lesson.

Worry warts- reminds me a little of someone I know. :)

On Wednesday, actually got the car front bumper fixed up and afterwards we met with our Relief Society President and discussed the women in our ward and she gave us several more names that would could go see, which is great! One lady that came up, who has been our mind the past 2 transfers and we tried setting something up with her last transfer but she never got back to us, she passed away Sunday morning. I only met her once and I have a great love for her. Isn't it such an amazing thing to know we can have a deep connection and love for people, not even knowing them for that long or very well? I know she is out of the physical pain she was in and even the emotional pain of missing one of her daughters, of whom she is now reunited with. Then our Sister Training Leaders came and doubled us in- not too exciting. I highly dislike exchanges. Maybe one day when I am Really struggling with my companion I will come to love exchanges. That is one huge reason why I couldn't be a Sister Trainer- they go on so many exchanges!!!!

Saturday- we went to Dallas Huie's baptism! She turned 8 a few months back but her mom was less active. She is working with the Bishop, and us off and on, to activate herself! Sister Huie is a convert of about 8 years and at Dallas' baptism, there were 6 nonmembers, 2 family members (mom and aunt) and 4 friends! It was great and Sister Huie shared her thanks and testimony about it at the end of Relief Society yesterday. Then we went to lunch with the Rothey family- I love them so much!! We had pizza and they brought out dough for the kids to play with- great source of entertainment while waiting for the food to come! Then our Zone Leaders doubled into our area to try and find us some new investigators. They found 2, which makes the total for the week 3! That is the most I have ever had in one week. We shall see how all the lessons go this week!

Sunday- Church was great! 2 new mission calls in the ward!! A Sister is going to the California Anaheim Mission (maybe she will meet Sister Whitney-- which, does she have a mission FB, does anyone know?) and the Brother is going to the California LA Mission!! Both speaking Spanish!!!! I love hearing mission calls!! In Sunday school, we learned about the judgment day and in Relief Society we learned from President Eyring's talk from last conference "To my Grandchildren" and the teacher started off by letting us know that this applies to everyone- not just if we have grandkids. We sang hymns again at an apartment complex and it was fun! Then we had a lesson with Tom, dinner at Rothey's, and then Sister McCarraher introduced us to a friend of hers that she works with! Sister McCarraher has been working to prepare her to meet us and hopefully be taught. She warned us that she probably wouldn't let us in and talk long. After getting there, Sister M thought there would be guests here and seemed very sad that our visit would be even shorter than the short visit she thought would happen. To all of our surprise, she welcomed us in with open arms, hugged Sister Davis and I, and expressed how happy she was to finally meet us after hearing things from Sister M. We got to know each other and chatted for a good hour. Sister M wanted to show her a video and couldn't remember what it was but we knew she was talking about the "Because of Him" video and so we watched it and her friend, Nancy, loved it and was sad when it ended. Plus, she invited us back for tonight!! Good and bad- we have an appointment tonight and the gal confirmed that we are still on. Hopefully another time!

As much as I love the iPads, mine has been driving me bonkers this week!! :)

I love you all so much!! I hope that you continue daily to strengthen your testimonies and foundation on Jesus Christ. I know it takes that daily fill to feed your spirit, to give you the strength to withstand all that Satan has coming our way.

Femi received the Priesthood yesterday!! When we Skyped this week and asked him how he was feeling, he said he could feel the Holy Ghost more in his life and he knows that this is real! He was so excited to receive the Priesthood. Despite his trials, he is continuing well!! Femi's families' visas were denied again and he is having a really rough time. Please keep him in your prayers. Paul Scott from Harrington hasn't been going to church- please pray for him as well.

So in an email to President Anderson two weeks ago, I expressed to him my concerns for having no one to teach. He told me to talk to the ward council and ask them for 5 referrals each and see what happens! I told him I would give it a try but with a little hesitancy. When the Sister Trainers doubled in this week, the Sister I was with told me she looked forward to seeing how this would turn out. Well, I wish I could say something marvelous and miraculous has come out of it, but it hasn't- at least not yet. I only got a couple of nods. When I was finished, I was grateful to the Bishop for reiterating what I had said and committed to continuing his praying for people this week. I told President today and in another reply to last week's email, he said he talked with the stake president about increasing finding in the wards. I hope and pray that before I go home, I will have a week where we are constantly busy with teaching, from appointment to appointment.

A little while back at our stake conference, Elder Robbins talked about the word hasten. Scripture verse after scripture verse, it talked about how the Lord's work should not be done quickly! We all thought that was pretty funny/ interesting. But then a scripture said He will Hasten His work in His time. Another then said, the time is now. I thought about it and I know the time is now. We don't have time to wait or gradually prepare ourselves for that time because the time is already here, in the present.

2 More weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Sister Hanson!!