Monday, September 14, 2015

"We're in a DROUGHT?"

This week. Oh man. Things went a lot better.  We taught so many lessons and the spirit was so strong! I love this work so much, even when it sucks sometimes and when people cancel and it seems like the world is falling apart around me, I love it, I love it, I love it! First, the people of Kentucky thought they were in a drought.  It was the best joke they have ever played on me!

The drought broke. I got bit by a dog. President came down to Somerset for interviews. Yes, the people of Kentucky thought they were in a drought. It didn't rain for three weeks. I told them, talk to me when it hasn't rained in 8 months. I then got an email from mom saying it was pouring. Coincidence, I think not. I did indeed get bit by a dog. It hurt but no skin was broken! Nothing too bad that tough sister hannah couldn't handle. President interviewed us and it was awesome! We received a wonderful training from Elder Polson, as well, about using the scriptures more in our work! The spirit was incredible!  I have come so far and have yet so much farther to go! I am so thankful for a supportive branch! I never want to leave Somerset! I am so in love here! I will be back, temporarily or permanently! I love it so so so much! 😍 

We had blitz and my day was so fun! I was able to work with Sister Taylor from Jessamine and we had a blast working Somerset for the day! It is always stressful leading up to blitz, but the day always works out! :) I love these sweet Sister Training Leaders!

Tonya is one of our tender mercy investigators.  We ran into her while we were syncing our ipads outside the courthouse and she was genuinely interested! We started teaching her and Tonya is awesome. We taught her three times this week and she is on point. She takes everything we teach her with stride and knows exactly who we are and our purpose as missionaries. She loves God, so much, and she knows that she is growing closer to Him as she learns more from us. She has the most sincere personal prayers I have ever been apart of. She talks to God so humbly and reverently, it truly is a conversation with her father and not a rote presentation. I love Tonya so much! Pray that Tonya will continue to have strong converting experiences! :) 

Traci and CJ. They are the cutest couple ever. Traci is a convert of a year and a month and just went through the temple. Cj, well, CJ is slowly coming around to the gospel. We went over to teach them and he sat outside with us and listened and drew sister Starkey and me. It was the most beautiful sketch ever. Seriously. I am attaching a picture. He also fixed my scriptures which were falling apart and gave us mace! We are sufficiently taken care of! He has come so far since Traci first started investigating. He went to the temple and satin the lobby while she received her endowments and was actually commissioned to paint a picture of the temple for another patron. He showed us the paintings and I was blown away! He is an excellent artist!from not wanting to let the missionaries in from the beginning to now painting the temple, he has come so far! One day, he will join the church. He is slowly but surely getting there. Traci is an amazing example too. She is so diligent and steadfast in the gospel! Her faith increases mine! 

MIRACLE OF THE WEEK:
Ok, normally when we go over to teach Patsy and Sonia, Patsy's house is a mad, crazy, nut Ball of a house. People are running around, screaming and yelling, there is a baby crying and a five year old complaining and at least two people are smoking. The phone rings off the hook, the neighbors come down and try to anti us and then there is pahpa, who "swears off the ying yang"(sister Starkey). You could say it is quite literally INSANE. we had the greatest tender mercy on Friday night as we went over to teach Sonia. Because the drought broke, it began to rain and one by one, all of the distractions slowly moved outside to play in the rain. We had a good solid hour of peace and quiet and the phone didn't ring, once! That doesn't sound like a big deal, but it was. The spirit was SO STRONG. Sonia is always so reverent and respectful to the message we have to share and with no distractions the spirit was 10385759302millon times stronger. It was just amazing, i can't even give you words to describe it! 

Steak 'n Shake is the closest thing to in n out and we ate it this week! It was a crazy hectic day where we literally had 10 minutes to eat dinner because we were teaching so many lessons, but it was delicious and easy! I like Steak 'n Shake, but in n out still has my whole heart!

Time out for sisters was incredible. I was spiritually uplifted in so many ways. Not only did it feel like General conference because we had a seventy there and three auxiliary leaders from SLC, but I was reunited with all of my favorite Richmond homies! I was warmly greeted by Sister Marchant, Schlesser, Bryner, Ahrens, Simmons, Cochran, brown, Ellis, orchard and so many more of my wonderful sisters. It felt so good to be with them and made me totally miss Richmond! They all make that Ward amazing! The conference was beautiful. It was all about gathering spiritual light and how it is the quest of a lifetime. ("The process of gathering spiritual light in the quest of a lifetime" dieter f uchtdorf) the sisters spoke of how we can personally grow in our spiritual light by the small and simple things in our life, the basics: prayers, scriptures, temple, service and sacrament.  we had Sonia and Cora with us there and they loved it as well. Sister Carole Stephens Was my favorite speaker, I don't remember much of what she said, but I do remember how I felt and the spirit was so strong. She testified of truth and my testimony was strengthened! It was a wonderful time up in Lexington and I am so so so grateful I got the opportunity to attend. I am now PUMPED for general conference! (As if I wasn't before, now I am pumped on steroids pretty much. I also can't believe it has been 6 months! What is life?)

Sunday, so many things from Sunday.
1. Billy didn't show up to church so we had to push his baptism back. it is so sad! When we went and saw him and told him, he was devastated! That is good because we know how truly dedicated he is! He is working so hard on coming closer to Jesus Christ! He then confided in us that he isn't the most regulaR church goer because of a falling out he had 4 years ago. We are trying so hard with him! He is making progress! :)
2. We sang "come thou fount of every blessing" in sacrament today and it was beautiful! The spirit was so strong! We had a tiny choir and it sounded so good! Here's to small branches! 
3. Today was actually chilly! It was a crisp 54 degrees when we left our apartment this morning and only got to be about 72. Beautiful beautiful weather. Fall is literally around the corner! We have another week of 80's it looks like and then it should be cooling down! :) I can't wait to see the gorgeous greenery go orange, red and yellow!
4. We had a cockroach play dead. Ok, this is why I am master bug killer. Sister Starkey attempted to kill a cockroach and it just played dead on her and then ran away and hid under some papers as soon as she walked away! Haha! I had to come back out and finish the job! Needless to say, we are now one less roach in the apartment! 

Pray that I stay in Somerset and PRAY HARD! I love it here so much!

I know that God lives. I know that Christ is my Savior and I know that we have a living day prophet! I know that this is Jesus Christ's one true church and I am so grateful I am apart of it and that I have the privilege to share this sweet message! The church is true, the book is blue!


Much Love,
Sister Hannah

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