Letter home: March 17, 2014
So much snow!!! The weather was so lovely and misleading on Saturday,
that I went without a sweater (for the first time in months). All the
day long, everyone we spoke to told us it was supposed to snow on
Sunday and Monday. We thought everyone in Alexandria was pulling some
inside joke, lying to us about the weather and whatnot. Turns out they
were right.
Yay for service opportunities!
This week we found an amazing investigator! Her name is Ana, and she
is from India. She was raised Hindu, but she converted to Christianity
when she came to America. She was taught by Elders in the past, but
they somehow lost track of her. Ever since then, she has been reading
from the Bible and the Book of Mormon often.
We scheduled a time to meet with her this week with our Ward Mission
Leader. It went so well. We taught her about the atonement and how
through faith in Jesus Christ, we can be healed. Our member shared a
scripture from the Book of Mormon that testified of Christ as our
Redeemer. The Spirit was so strong, I had a difficult time holding
back tears. We invited her to be baptized on March 29, and she
accepted!
She sent us a text a couple days later one night that read, "I think
I'm ready to be baptized at the end of this month. Let me know what
steps I have to take to be ready."
I was shocked when I read that. I had a hard time falling asleep.
Lately we've taught a lot of people who think that we believe Joseph
Smith is a second Savior. We've had multiple people tell us not to
center our lessons on whether or not Joseph Smith was a prophet, but
to teach only about Jesus Christ. They tell us that they ask to hear
the word of God, but they only get the word of Joseph Smith. It's a
little frustrating, but maybe one day they'll understand.
I love to bear my testimony of the prophet of the Restoration. Every
time I do, I feel even stronger that Christ's church has once more
been restored to the earth through Joseph Smith. I especially feel
that it is true whenever I or somebody else recounts Joseph's First
Vision.
Just last night, we taught one of our former investigators! I was so
happy to see him again. He is an old African man who has almost read
the entire Book of Mormon. We had been trying to teach him for so
long, but he would never answer his door or his phone. Last night, I
felt prompted to go see him. We high-tailed it over there. We knocked,
he opened, and we re-taught him the Restoration. The Spirit was pretty
powerful, even if he refused to shut off his favorite African soap
opera.
Thank you for all of your love and support,
Love you!
Elder Hansen.
So much snow!!! The weather was so lovely and misleading on Saturday,
that I went without a sweater (for the first time in months). All the
day long, everyone we spoke to told us it was supposed to snow on
Sunday and Monday. We thought everyone in Alexandria was pulling some
inside joke, lying to us about the weather and whatnot. Turns out they
were right.
Yay for service opportunities!
This week we found an amazing investigator! Her name is Ana, and she
is from India. She was raised Hindu, but she converted to Christianity
when she came to America. She was taught by Elders in the past, but
they somehow lost track of her. Ever since then, she has been reading
from the Bible and the Book of Mormon often.
We scheduled a time to meet with her this week with our Ward Mission
Leader. It went so well. We taught her about the atonement and how
through faith in Jesus Christ, we can be healed. Our member shared a
scripture from the Book of Mormon that testified of Christ as our
Redeemer. The Spirit was so strong, I had a difficult time holding
back tears. We invited her to be baptized on March 29, and she
accepted!
She sent us a text a couple days later one night that read, "I think
I'm ready to be baptized at the end of this month. Let me know what
steps I have to take to be ready."
I was shocked when I read that. I had a hard time falling asleep.
Lately we've taught a lot of people who think that we believe Joseph
Smith is a second Savior. We've had multiple people tell us not to
center our lessons on whether or not Joseph Smith was a prophet, but
to teach only about Jesus Christ. They tell us that they ask to hear
the word of God, but they only get the word of Joseph Smith. It's a
little frustrating, but maybe one day they'll understand.
I love to bear my testimony of the prophet of the Restoration. Every
time I do, I feel even stronger that Christ's church has once more
been restored to the earth through Joseph Smith. I especially feel
that it is true whenever I or somebody else recounts Joseph's First
Vision.
Just last night, we taught one of our former investigators! I was so
happy to see him again. He is an old African man who has almost read
the entire Book of Mormon. We had been trying to teach him for so
long, but he would never answer his door or his phone. Last night, I
felt prompted to go see him. We high-tailed it over there. We knocked,
he opened, and we re-taught him the Restoration. The Spirit was pretty
powerful, even if he refused to shut off his favorite African soap
opera.
Thank you for all of your love and support,
Love you!
Elder Hansen.