Hello!
Everything's kinduva a blur now. I'm not really keeping track of the days - how long I've been out, how long I have left, etc. I'm content enjoying the experiences I'm having here. Every Monday night, we visit Sis. Booth. She lives in a mental health care institution because she suffers from Schizophrenia and some other disorders. She's a super sweet lady, and we love visiting with her. She really needs it - she's sick of being locked up in there! She was baptized when she was 19 when she lived in Manassas. She's been a member for 7 years now. She's pretty sane for someone who's in a mental hospital. We visited her last Monday and had planned to teach the Restoration. That kinda happened. We asked one of the facilitators if they could unlock an office for us to chat, away from everyone else. To be honest, Elder Johnson and I are a little skiddish entering the fluorescent-lit hallways of the mental hospital. The walls, ceilings and tile floors are all one terrifyingly normal eggshell white. Patients shuffle past us muttering nonsense every time we go, and there's usually a distant shout or two. We have a security escort to and from Sis. Booth's room. Nothing's really going to happen to us, I know we'll be fine in there, but still... Kinda creepy. As soon as we start to visit with our friend, we see an African American man standing outside the doorway (it's required to keep the door open), waving at us madly. His name is Frank. He asks to join our conversation, and Sis. Booth allows it. Frank is funnier than that one Youtube video of the news reporter smashing a large tub grapes with her feet, who falls over face first and groans like an angry baboon for a solid 3 minutes. Funnier than that. Frank will tell you exactly what is on his mind whenever there's a silent second for him to interject. Usually what is on his mind isn't 'PG.' I'll keep those moments to myself, for the sake of public decency. We tried to teach the Restoration, but whenever we'd try to ask an inspired question, Frank would whisper, 'I used to think Abraham Lincoln was, you know... Jesus Christ,' and, 'Do you guys know of any good caves around here?' When he would speak, he'd lean toward us in his chair, eyes wide open. It was hilarious! Throughout the week, we struggled meeting with investigators in our area. They've either moved away, disappeared, or they're on 'spiritual vacation.' But that's alright, we know God will not keep his elect children who are ready to hear the gospel from us if we are ready to receive them. Because of that, we're doing all we can to prepare ourselves to tell them what they need to hear by obedience. Strangely enough, our earnest prayers to find new people, teach and baptized were answered in another form: online proselyting. In 1 1/2 hours, we found 5 new investigators, and taught 4 member present lessons! Elder Johnson and I were so busy talking with people, we had to rope in members of the church from Utah, Virginia and Wyoming to help us teach. It was so awesome!! I could totally see us teaching at least 40 member present lessons a week. I posted a picture on 4 different 'I love Jesus Christ,' groups I had joined, and I got like 250 likes, comments, and 15 or so shares. And counting!! With all those people, we just started to message them, asking if they wanted to learn about Jesus Christ. We usually get a 1/3 success rate. One of our investigators, Pynshi, lives in Nepal and really wants to learn more about the church. She was stoked to tell us when she ordered a copy of the Book of Mormon online! We're teaching people from all over the world: the Philippines, India, Africa, and Europe. It's so crazy! This is the future of missionary work. Eventually, we'll be calling missions in Nepal, Bangladesh, Dhaka, and Liberia, telling they have someone who's received all the lessons, has a baptismal date, and just needs to find a font and a priesthood holder. Because of our online efforts, The Lord is rewarding us with success in our own proselyting area. We've set up 8 appointments this week - 3 with investigators, 1 lesson is with a member family who's invited their neighbors to hear the discussions, and there's a part member family who's son (30s) wants to get baptized. Miracles are cropping up left and right, and I'm confident it's because of your prayers, and our preparation. The Lord is Hastening His work, and He will labor alongside the diligent and faithful. (Jacob 5 is a killer missionary chapter! Please read it!) I love you all! Thank you so much for all of your prayers on my behalf - I really do feel lifted up because of that. Elder Hansen Sent from my iPad Hello!
This week was packed... I'm sorry I didn't send a mass Email like I normally do, we've been really busy. Last Monday we washed our car. We waxed, vacuumed and shampooed the carpets, cleaned the tires, and much, much more. That took up most of our day. Then we went to Costco with some members for dinner and shopping. We didn't have much teaching going on this week, unfortunately. We actually were teaching a really promising family last week, but the other Elders in our ward accidentally nabbed them from us. Which was a little upsetting, but at least they're getting baptized on Set. 6th! We mostly visited less actives this week. A family (Ortiz family) who's preparing to enter the temple came to church! They were a part member family, but the wife was baptized in Centreville 1st ward last August. They had fallen into inactivity for quite some time, and we just barely started teaching them the new member lessons. It's going well, they love learning more about the church, and they're re-committing themselves to coming to church to prepare themselves to enter the temple. We had 3 exchanges this week. Bleh! I don't really like exchanges. But these ones weren't too bad. The first was with Elder Raban, which was awesome! The dream-team was back together! (Elder Raban is my trainer). It was a night full of reunions, because Elder Raban had served in Annandale right after he left Reston (Annandale is his favorite area), and one of his old companions he had served with in Annandale came on exchanges with us that night. It basically turned into a night of Elder Raban and Bro. Dehaan visiting all of their old friends. It was a good time, though! That exchange actually went on for 48 hours instead of 24, because Elder Johnson and Elder Scholes (Elder Raban's current companion) had to work on something in the office. While I was with Elder Raban the second day, we went to serve in Fairfax instead of Annandale. We had dinner with some sweet members over there, gave a blessing to one of the Fairfax Sister missionaries, and taught one of their investigators. That entire day, Elder Raban wasn't feeling very well. He almost wanted to cancel everything they had for that evening, but he stuck it out instead. That night and into the next day he just got worse and worse. I'm not sure now, but I think he still might be sick, so keep him in your prayers! The poor fella might've contracted Ebola . ;) just kidding. After that exchange, Elder Rugg and I went on another exchange! We had a good time. We talked to everyone we saw, got a lot of "no, I'm not interested"'s, and taught the Ortiz family. Elder Johnson and I finally reunited in joy in and splendor and spent the remainder of our week visiting less actives, and talking to everyone. We've been so busy lately, we have had a hard time feeling like we're really focusing on making our area the exemplar of the zone. We're supposed to achieve the mission standard, which is 3 new investigators, 2 at church, and 2 investigators with a baptismal date, every week, but we're not that close. Neither are any of the other areas in our zone close to hitting that standard. It's a little discouraging, but I know that we can achieve it - heck, I know that we can exceed it!! God will provide a way for us to accomplish the mission standard, I know it! I know what it will take, and I'm willing to "come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end." Omni 1:26 Coming unto Christ and becoming a consecrated missionary means putting all of my fears, disobedience and pride on the altar of sacrifice. It's a complete submission to God's will, and it is the greatest love I could ever show Him. That's what I must be, a consecrated missionary! That includes opening my mouth to literally EVERYONE I see, and declaring the gospel to them. I invite you all to unbind your tongues, as did the Prophet of the Restoration, to invite and spread the gospel word to everyone. The Lord has given us many tools to do this, and He will cast out all of your fear with charity for your brothers and sisters (Moroni 8:16). I love this work - I love the exhilarating feeling I get when I talk to someone I don't know on the street about that means so much to me. I know that feeling is God sealing the promises He's made to me if I open my mouth to teach. Elder Hansen Oh! Another cool thing that happened this last week... I finally caught the vision of online proselyting! It's been about 11 months, maybe more, since we've been teaching online, and I haven't seen the fruits of it until now. Paul Johnson, a missionary who was once serving in the Arizona, Tempe mission, recently returned home to Arlington, VA. On his mission, he truly understood Facebook proselyting. He was teaching a lot of people! Our mission President wanted him to give us training on how he did it. He taught an Elder one-on-one how he proselyted online, and that Elder trained Elder Johnson and I. I'm teaching two people from India, a pastor in Ethiopia, a woman from Guatemala (I think), and someone from Nepal. Crazy! It happened so quickly, too! The work is Hastening, and I'm lucky to have a front row seat. Join the work before you get left in the dust! |