Dear everyone,
Aaaah, I am the worst at managing my email time! Let`s see what I have time to pound out from my sticky note reminder:
On Wednesday, I did divisions with Hermana Gonzales. I`ve known her since my Loma Linda days when we were in the same district. We have the same amount of time in the mission. Our first lesson together was powerful; we went to find the house of a street contact they had made. He wasn`t home, but his wife attended us. With some simple questions that led to inspired questions, we discovered that her mother had recently died and that her sister was gravely ill. We testified of the Atonement and the resurrection and shared scriptures from the Book of Mormon, and she cried and accepted a baptismal date. Good stuff! Hermana Richins worked in my area with Hermana Chanchavac and they set a baptismal date with a family... woohoo! Love her.
The next few days were kind of rough. I had a stomach ache that didn`t go away, my eye got infected, the mosquitos attacked me again, and I didn`t sleep well because of stress. We didn`t find any new investigators or commit anyone to come to church... it was just an all-around trial of our faith. But the Lord knows exactly what we need in every moment, and He sent me some tender mercies! The biggest one was this: on Sunday afternoon, it started pouring rain in our lunch appointment. We had to wait about twenty minutes for it to pass, so we were able to talk with Hna. Karla and her husband Omar (who reminds me a TON of Uncle Casey). Both are returned missionaries, and Hna. Karla is known for being very direct in her comments. She told me, ¨Look, Hna. Hansen: you need to relax! Stop stressing about numbers and pressure and everything, because you`re stressing the rest of us out and making it hard for us to love you! Just love the people and work hard. You`re doing a good job and the Lord is going to bless you.¨ It was EXACTLY what I needed to hear! I re-evaluated and realized that most of the stress and pressure I feel is self-inflicted. Therefore, I just need to STOP IT and stop worrying! Things are going to work out. Time to get some faith... haha, no, I just need to exercise that faith!
Dujardin started to work every Sunday and can`t change his schedule at least until next month. Wendy is great, but her husband took off running (almost literally) when we tried to talk to him about getting married again. Just another day in Nicaragua...
Funny: Our lovely investigator Melba. She`s rather old and very sweet. When we sat down for the first lesson with her, she points to her cat and asks me, ¨What is that called?¨ I tell her, ¨Gato.¨ She got all excited, ¨Wow, she knows! She`s becoming Nica!¨ Haha, thirteen months in Nicaragua and I know the Spanish word for cat... success! Anyway, we start to teach and a bunch of flies start to swarm the half-eaten corn on the cob she has in her hands. Her solution? She shoves it down the front of her shirt to save for later. Hahaha, the poor thing is rather forgetful, so I can just picture her finding it there in a few hours... I love Melba! She was ready and waiting for us on Sunday to go to church, and loved it. In Gospel Principles, she kept saying, ¨Amen! Gloria a Dios.¨ I love the mission!
Ah, so out of time. I love you and I love this work! Keep living the gospel, and keep holding to the rod when things are tough!
Love,
Hermana Hansen
Photos: The district (some elders had emergency changes and the other zone leader and his son weren`t there)
The (first) cockroach we killed in the house. Don`t worry, the other ones were smaller.
Journal from Tuesday
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