Goal Setting

Something I have come to appreciate more on my mission is setting
goals.  What is the purpose of setting goals?  There are long term and
short term goals.  The first part of being able to set goals is
acknowledging that you have need and room for improvement.  Look into
the future and what do you hope for?  That could be a long term goal.
Short term goals can either a.) help you little by little to reach
your long term goal and b.) be small things you see you can change and
improve upon now. There are even different types of goals!  Personal,
companionship, spouse, family, physical, spiritual, mental, etc.
What a blessing it is to be able to work on these different aspects of
our lives and make ourselves better people!

Some of my recent goals have been to write down in my journal more
during studies, write my testimony in every Book of Mormon I give
away, do every part of the weekly study focus' that we are given for
the mission, kneel down on the bathroom ground in the morning to pray
to see if that helps me concentrate better, Annotate "The Rock of our
Redeemer" by Elder Andersen (General Authority coming to the mission
in the next couple weeks), and more enthusiastically answer the phone
for the district leader every night when he calls.
My goals for this week are to read my patriarchal blessing 3 times
this week and to read Moroni 10: 3-5 every day.  Will you ask me how
that goes next Monday?

Think back: when did you last set goals?  Were they written down? In a
place you often saw and reminded you that you were working on them?
Did you make New Years resolutions?  How are those going?  Are you
where you wanted to be? If so, keep going!  If not, keep going! Maybe
this is cheesy but it is true- not being where we are at in our goals
can be fixed through the steps of repentance.  Recognition.
Reevaluate or make restitution.  Acknowledge the Savior.
Will you set some goals for this week?  Will you share at least one of
them with me?
I promise that as you set these goals for this upcoming week that you
will notice yourself getting closer to Jesus Christ, better
understanding who He is to you. It is neat that we are able to see
ourselves change and measure our progress towards our goal of eternal
life.

Preach my gospel gives some helpful suggestions for setting goals.
"Carefully considered goals will give you clear direction and will
help you fill your days with activities that help people strengthen
their faith in the Savior and progress toward baptism, confirmation,
and full activity in the Church. Challenging goals will help you work
effectively and lead you to stretch and grow. Follow the guidelines
below as you set goals:
  • Follow the Spirit.

  • Be specific and realistic, but set goals that will make you stretch.

  • Set goals for personal and companion study, including language
study if you are learning another language.

  • Measure your progress each day, each week, and after each six-week
period. When you fall short of a goal, evaluate your efforts and seek
for ways to accomplish the goal. If needed, adjust your expectations."

I am still improving upon my goal setting.  Which is great!  This past
Friday at our district meeting, we also learned about goal setting.


Anyway... These were just some thoughts I had on my mind most of the
week and I wanted to share them.  I guess I will get off my soapbox
and share with you my week!

At the start of the week, we had transfers!  I said bye to Sister
Beames and hello to Sister Hyatt.  She is from Texas, first transfer
being a Sister Training Leader, has two more transfers left, she came
out at 19, is the only girl in her family (six other brothers, I
believe), and she did the Disney College program too!
At transfers I also got to see Sister Whitaker, my trainer.  I also
saw Sister Bettilyon, Sister Shaia, and Elder Watt and Elder Dopp from
the MTC District!  It was a great mini reunion!

We are teaching this 16 year old girl, Selena; not sure if I have
talked about her yet.  She is great and came to church for the first
time last week.  (Was going to come yesterday but then was running a
fever.). She is struggling with normal teenager stuff.  She reads the
Book of Mormon, even though it seems she doesn't understand most of
the time.  She is also being a great example to her 7 year old sister,
Mariah, who also came with her last week.  We taught Mariah prayer and
when we followed up, the two of them had prayed together.

Danny D.  Less active YSA returning, came to church again yesterday.
Be was in Utah last week and had a horrible experience at church.
Satan took that and ran with it.  Poor kid has been so down on himself
feeling like he cannot be accepted.  We have tried to uplift him via
text but I didn't think it was working.  At the start of church
yesterday, he was down and I prayed the almost the whole time that he
would have a good experience.  He talked with us afterwards and said
he was so glad he had come because he felt at home here and this is
where he belonged.  Later I found out that he had shared his bad
experience in Utah in Priesthood.  Have I told you that he is pretty
much open with everything?  Yeah... He is very open, especially for a
26 year old.

We went to the hospital yesterday to make a couple visits.
One, Sister Helriegel's mother, who is not a member.  Great timing
because she was going to be discharged soon.  We had a good chat and
sang "I need Thee Every Hour."
The second visit was to a gal names Angel.  She unfortunately and
fortunately had been discharged that morning and we were too late.
It's a neat experience how we came to know about Angel.  The Spanish
Elders found a gentleman and set up a teaching appointment for us.
The guy is boggie and so is his dentist office phone number.  Anyway,
as we were leaving the house, a car pulls into the driveway.  When
they get out we ask them if they are this gentleman.  Nope.  But we
get to talking and their daughter, Angel, had just been in a horrible
accident.  We would pray for them and visit her.  They even told us it
would be okay to check back up on them in a week.  We will!  It might
not go anywhere but we were meant to meet them nonetheless.  Thanks
boggie gentleman!

Brother Huish (ward and stake clerk as well as works at the hospital
with several other members of the ward) told us that we should never
have a problem getting into the hospital because we are ministers and
told us a secret for getting in after 8, when doors close.  Gotta love
ward members!

Did you know that the DC temple is the only temple outside of Utah to
have 6 ordinance rooms?
Did you know that the DC temple is one of five temples featuring the
Angel Moroni statue holding the gold plates?
I wonder what cool facts lay in store for the Philly temple!

Have you heard of the movie "Meet the Mormons" coming out?

I love you!!  Pure and simple and true.
Sister Hanson