6 - The Holy Ghost; It's Truly a Gift

The Little Purse that [Almost] Could!

Life in the Mission Field This Week

So my purse broke on Saturday. 

But I'm making do.

We're buying another one today. 

Thank You, Bear and Rabbit!

Luckily, we don't have to spend much more money today because we went to bear and rabbit's house last night, and they gave us more groceries!

<3    Picture Collage    <3

So I have been out in the mission for a full transfer now, aka, six weeks.

I even got around to printing out pictures at Walmart to put on my wall! (Yes, what you see here is a picture of pictures. Yes. lol)

Every six weeks they switch some people up. New missionaries come in, old missionaries go out, people are moved to different areas with different companions and so forth. So I have been out a full transfer. I don't know how many there are left, I didn't do the math lol, otherwise I'd tell you. 

Personal Growth and Testimony

This week (as well as weeks previous) I've been trying to better understand the workings of the spirit, how to recognize the spirit, how to be able to grasp the fact that I'm feeling the spirit even though I don't feel all that different, 'because' I always have the spirit with me. This has always been something quite tricky for me and I'm hoping I will get closer and closer to finding out how to best explain and recognize the spirit in my own life as my mission goes on. I would invite you to watch this video. It gives marvelous insight.

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1737858986001

I love Preach My Gospel, the manual that we missionaries use to know what to teach and how to teach. There's a chapter all about Recognizing the spirit with so many great quotes that helped my understanding increase profoundly. It's amazing how you can read something once, but only when your faith is specifically tested and a particular question develops do you go back and read the same passage that you've already read and find an answer to your question. We as humans don't remember everything. That's why God has provided us with scriptures to remind us, and that's why daily scripture study is so important. But as for the quote I would like to share:

"In answer to the question, 'How do we recognize the promptings of the Spirit?'

President Gordon B. Hinckley read Moroni 7:13, 16–17 and then said: "That's the test,

when all is said and done. Does it persuade one to do good, to rise, to stand tall, to do

the right thing, to be kind, to be generous? Then it is of the Spirit of God. . . . 

"If it invites to do good, it is of God. If it inviteth to do evil, it is of the devil. . . . And if

you are doing the right thing and if you are living the right way, you will know in your

heart what the Spirit is saying to you.

"You recognize the promptings of the Spirit by the fruits of the Spirit—that which

enlighteneth, that which buildeth up, that which is positive and affirmative and uplifting

and leads us to better thoughts and better words and better deeds is of the Spirit of God"

(Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, 260–61)."

I have a strong testimony of the power of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost testifies of truth. Without the power of the Holy Ghost, no one would be truly converted to this gospel because it is only through the Holy Ghost that we can know The Book of Mormon is true. The gift of the Holy Ghost is given to all those who find this truth and who seek to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost with them always. It is given to those who "experiment upon [our] words, and exercise a particle of faith," (Alma 32:27) to "ask God... if these things are not true," (Moroni 10:4). It is given unto those who have faith, repent, and are baptized. Then they receive the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide them throughout their lives, to comfort, to uplift, to enlighten, to strengthen, to sanctify, in as much as they keep their promise to obey God's commandments.

I'm so grateful for this gospel. No other church offers quite as many blessings to all people as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. God loves all his children. He wants to give us truth. He wants us to succeed. So he restored the proper authority to the Earth to give the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Of this gospel I am forever thankful.

Until next week, God bless.

Sister Hannah Sanderson

5 - Cute Stories

Missionaries Attending the Bismark Temple

T-Day = Temple Day

We got to go in the temple today!!! 

Yay! And it was really cool because it was basically all the missionaries in the zone who went. 

Just kinda worked out that way. So it was really neat.

The Work This Week

It's been a decent week I suppose. We had two lessons total since last time I updated, which is kind of unfortunate, but that's how life goes I guess. We had many excuses, some more valid than others. We had "family emergency and needing to fly to California because of it", "too busy with work", "throwing up with a migraine", "cleaning the apartment by a forgotten deadline", and even "in the bathroom!" ...Yeah, lots of excuses.

But it's alright, because there were other positive things about the week, like sharing the story of the restoration with two random people! And we gave one of them a pamphlet, and one a Book of Mormon! My first given out Book of Mormon, and I explained the whole story and everything and she was quite receptive and it just makes you feel so happy when they agree that the story of the coming about of the church is interesting and believable!

Lots of Geese!

And the weather has been absolutely gorgeous. 

The summers here are beautiful! It probably doesn't make up for the long winters... but I would totally have a summer house here! 

I mean look! 

We saw geeeeeeeese!!

Arizona - Drive, that is!

  Oh, and I tracted Arizona. 

  haha. 

  Meant to be.

  Anyway. 

A short story or three.

The little boy who we are teaching who we had to explain the story of Adam and Eve to, well, we've been over it a couple times, right? So his little brothers have seen us, they're ages four and six. And so we are about thirty minutes into the lesson and the four-year-old just turns around and says abruptly, "Hey! Who are you?" Hahahahahah we busted up laughing.

Another one, we were at a less-active's house. They don't go to church, but they have a little home church that they hold every Sunday for their little kids. And they asked their oldest, a seven (almost eight) year-old boy, what they had talked about. "The twelve tribes ooooooof.....Utah?" hahahhaa. Utah, Israel, close enough!

And then just the other day we were at a member's house for dinner, and they have like, the PERFECT family. My goodness. All of the kids VOLUNTEERING to say the prayer, remembering that they were expected to clean the kitchen after dinner, playing hymns on the piano, taking super good care of the little sister, suuuuper smart always thinking of something and looking for opportunity to read and figure things out and having advanced vocabulary, five kids, all of them boys except the baby girl, and all no older than ten! One of the two oldest (they're fraternal twins) said when we got out our scriptures, "is it in Mosiah? They're 'always' in Mosiah these days." hahahha

Slide INSIDE the house

And, they, well, they're very well off.

And they have a SLIDE in their house!!

Do you see that drop!? ...

It was terrifying when you weren't expecting it.

A Tree? No, Sister Neilson!

And, I would like to share with you a picture of Sister Neilson imitating this tree.

Well, I'm doing fine, and I'll update again next week! 
On Monday! 

Take care everyone!

4 - Spring: A New Beginning

The fields are sprinkled with dandelions

Spring is here everyone! 

Oh! The dandelions are so beautiful! Everyone hates them, but I love them! 

It's so amazing seeing patches of yellow everywhere mixed in with the ripened dandelions, white and fluffy balls of cuteness. 

Pictures don't do it justice, you HAVE to see it in person, but I tried anyway.

"Ripe" White Dandelion

Pine trees and field

The big tree with "caterpillars"

And in this picture, there were fuzzy things that were blowing off of a biiiiig tree behind the pine trees and it was really cool and pretty, even though you can't see it much in the picture.

Maybe you can in this one? You can see the big trees at least:

Again, you have to be there.

Caterpillar looking things on the trees

But these were the things that were on the tree.

Aren't they so cute!

They look like caterpillars!

But then they grow this fuzz stuff that's really soft and it looks like the caterpillars just got really moldy, haha.

And these kinds of blossom trees are everywhere!

Flowering trees everywhere

Me throwing blossoms...where did they go?

So spring has come, and it's come fast. Not wearing tights at all anymore, not cold enough for that, and I was regretting aaaaall the times that I wore a long sleeved shirt this week, especially on Friday, because I heard that it was hotter here (in the 90's) than it was in Tempe (in the 80's)!

This Weeks Missionary Experiences

As far as the week goes, it was pretty good. Church is really the highlight of my week. Being surrounded by people who already have a testimony and who can edify and uplift you is reaaaaally nice, as opposed to mostly being the only ones who teach. It's nice to catch a break from that. So Sunday was great. We have an adorable little eight year old who we are teaching that is so cute and he is reading The Book of Mormon like crazy! He's reading the INDEX! Really, I don't know if he understands anything he's reading (as we had to tell him the story of Adam and Eve; he'd never heard it before), but he understands the importance of reading the scriptures. And he's already friends with someone in the ward who is getting baptized on the 7th, and so that's awesome! Man, he's awesome, I love this kid.

We had an investigator try to drop us this week, saying he had heard that we weren't a good Christian religion. We were so sad and pondering hard about what to do. We went over at our usual time despite his wanting to 'discontinue our services' and testified that we cared about him and that the only way to know if this church is a good Christian religion or not is to read The Book of Mormon itself.  It was really powerful. And he opened up to us about his life. He's had a rough one. And we knew that already, but yeah. It's amazing how people who've had such rough lives can still function. They're so strong despite them feeling so weak. I am amazed at his devotion to God and his ability to resist temptation even in the worst of times. We're teaching him still. He didn't drop us. Yay!

A lot of people are moving out of our ward and into the other ward. We had a transition lesson this week with the sisters who live with us because they're going to be teaching this lady now. Four missionaries at one appointment; it was a good thing she had a long couch, haha. I'm still learning how to be a better teacher. This lady was baptized already into the baptist religion. She feels she doesn't need to be baptized again. I have always dreaded these scenarios, though I knew they would happen. I tried to explain to the best of my ability why it was important for her to be baptized with someone with priesthood authority while at the same time not degrading her previous baptism. It was tense and I was doing most of the talking even though I was the newest missionary in the room, and I just hoped I was doing alright. She was nice to us even right after the lesson though. And Sister Christianson told me that I had a natural ability to teach. So that's comforting. I still want to become better and surer though.

Oh, and right after that lesson we went to do service at the temple! 

Putting Soil On planted flowers

Flowers ready to be planted

We planted some flowers. It was a beautiful day to do it.

Everyone pitched in. 

Sister Chistianson and Sister Neilson,
the other sisters who live in the apartment

My Companion, Sister Easter

It felt good to get out hands dirty. And to be working next to the other members.

Planning Ahead

Oh, and, we are going to the Temple on Wednesday next week! So our P-Day has been changed to Wednesday next week as well, so you won't hear from me until Wednesday. But I'm excited to go to the tiny little temple. I took some pictures in celebration.

Hamlet with Moroni in background

Hamlet is so cute. And look Marshall, I'm wearing your bracelet you gave me! Thank you for it again! You're the best! And that goes to all my family as well: You're the best!

Oh, and why I did not email on Monday was because it was Memorial Day, meaning the library was closed and it was a great day to proselyte, seeing as people were home. So P-day was changed to Tuesday this week. I hope you all had a good Memorial Day. 

Personal Growth and Revelation

My Memorial Day was very impactful. Every week we are to write a letter to the mission president to let him know how things are going. I would like to take some of the letter I wrote him and share it with you, this growing experience which happened yesterday:

"Be still, my soul: ...In ev'ry change [ye], faithful, will remain" (Be Still My Soul, Hymn 124. (Punctuation added.))

Yesterday was a pivotal point in my mission. I've voiced to you my concerns of being a realistic thinker and tending to think about things from both sides. There was a situation yesterday in which someone told us that if we ever felt so inclined to come back and she would be glad to get us started in believing in the 'one and true faith/God.' While my faith wasn't shaken, my resolve to stand by it was just because we also believe that ours is the most correct religion and I have respect for people who believe what they know so thoroughly that they want to share it with others even if it's a bit upfront. I mean, that's what we do. And that was the thing on top of less than ideal tracting approaches yesterday that put me in a slump and caused tears to roll down my face, having to hold back my sobs eventually. I now believe that one of the reasons I've been called to serve in this mission is to learn how to respond to people who have strong faith of their own and who will try to convert us themselves. And I need to learn not only how to respond, but also to resolve my response in my own mind. Sister Easter reminded me of the option of getting a priesthood blessing. She said she was thinking of getting one too. 

That blessing and the way Elder Schneringer and Davis prepped me for it by asking me, "why is Jesus Christ important to you?" and "what has the greatest joy been for you since coming on your mission?" (which has been attending church btw), and "what are your expectations in receiving this blessing?" was something that uplifted me more than anything else could have. What was said was simple, but I knew it was from my Heavenly Father, and I know that he will be with me as I serve my mission. I am so grateful for the priesthood power that is on Earth today. This truly is the church with the most correct teachings on this Earth. My testimony of the restoration has again been reinforced and I "will go forth with faith, putting fear behind me" in order to face the challenges of this mission and of this life and I will make it a strengthening experience. 

I seal this letter in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.