It's been a pretty good week! I gave the training in District Meeting about using the scriptures in teaching. It went well, I hope haha. It's surprising how I'm not that nervous to get up in front of people anymore. I mean of course sometimes I am, but for the most part Heavenly Father has been blessing me a lot :) 3 investigators from Bennington that I taught while I was there recently got baptized. I wish I could've been with them throughout the whole process, but I know Sister Stephens is taking good care of them :)
Whenever our district leader calls us on Sunday nights he always says at the end, "Is there anything we can do for you?" Sister Langford and I the past couple times have been saying, "Hot chocolate, cookies, and a puppy!" We've been saying that for the past few weeks as a joke, and when we came into District Meeting they had hot chocolate, cookies, and fake puppies hahaha. It was really funny. Made my week!
Lately our investigators have either been busy with work or out of town... so we've been spending our time trying to find. We keep ourselves uplifted whenever we're rejected by of course playing "Would You Rather", talking about our favorite Spongebob episodes, and much more hahaha. Oh the simple lives of missionaries!!
Sometimes when things aren't going very well or when our investigators aren't progressing I start to worry that I'm not doing enough or that people are being withheld blessings because of me (of course I'm a girl, so I'm constantly worried haha). When those thoughts of feelings come into my mind I remember something that Elder Holland said....
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"One day you're going to ask yourself, "Why does this have to be so hard? Why don't people flock to the font? Why aren't we more successful?" Well welcome to the church. Welcome to the gospel. Welcome to the life of the Savior. Welcome to the life of apostles and prophets.
After all that missionaries go through, I have come to this conclusion: Salvation isn't an easy experience. Salvation isn't cheap. It wasn't easy or painless for the Son of God of whom you are to testify. If you're going to be His missionary you cannot ask to completely avoid the pain He felt, the tears He cried, or the sorrow He saw.
I want you to embrace, savor, and cherish every single minute of it. The good times, the hard times. The companions you love and the ones who test your faith. I want you to enjoy all of it. Learn from it, grow from it, and know that it will never come again. So when you come home, stand at the pulpit and bear your testimony that you've suffered the will of the Father on your mission."
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SO good right? I know that this gospel is true. I'm willing to suffer for these people to know about Christ's love for them. I'm grateful for what I've been able to experience so far on my mission. Serving a mission tests EVERY part of your testimony. On a mission you HAVE to have something that keep you going, that compels you to leave everything behind, that drives you forward, and that makes you forget about yourself. The "something" that compels you NEEDS to be a deep love for the Savior and this gospel, because NOTHING else could get you through a mission. I know I've only been out 8 months, but in that short amount of time my life has already been changed.
I'm so blessed to be serving the people of New York. I love it. I love being a missionary. I hope all of you can keep pressing forward and keep strengthening your testimonies, because that's the most important things you can be doing :) The church is true and the book is blue! Thanks for everything, I love you all!!!
Love, Sister Hansen :)
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