Monday, January 18, 2016

One Blessed Year in the GKLM, God Bless It!

This week was a week filled with all sorts of miracles. Left and
right, up and down! It was incredible! :)

On Tuesday we had a lesson with our almost recent convert, brother
Walters, (he just needs to be confirmed!) and we watched the
restoration in 3D. How many missionaries can say they have had that
experience? It was so rad! They have the sweetest family and are so
excited to go to the temple to get sealed next year! The restoration
was the perfect pump up for them!

Wednesday our hands got dyed orange and smelled like smoked rotting
sausage... I don't even know. It was so nasty. We drove down to clay
city to help an investigator for the West Virginia mission move some
stuff. We were so under prepared! We were told we would be packing up
a house and moving stuff into storage. We wore a t-shirt and sweats
with a light jacket. No gloves, no hand warmers, no ear warmers,
nothing. We show up and this shed that we are moving stuff out of has
no heat! It was colder inside than it was outside! (It was a 30 degree
day!) so the kid, Seth, who is 18 builds a fire, but he isn't
outdoorsy at all... And just lights some stuff up and makes a fire.
Sister Resendez and I didn't care at this point because we were so
cold. So cold. Everything we were packing had been frozen for a few
days and we found two hand warmers, so we were sharing those. The fire
was wonderful. The woman and her son were so grateful for our service,
they took us out to lunch and we discussed what they think of the
church. It was a good experience for them! We got home and I felt so
sick to my stomach because of the nasty smoke smell that I had to take
a shower... I got out of the shower and STILL SMELLED LIKE SMOKE. that
is when we realized that it was not on our hair or clothes but in our
hands! :( lotion and exfoliate scrubs became our best friends! We ate
dinner at the amazing mork's and they tried everything on us. Lemon
juice, lemon soap, oils, sugar scrubs... Nothing worked immediately,
but it went away after a day and a half!

That night we taught the johns boys about the plan of salvation! It is
so cool to see how little children understand the gospel and the plan
that God has for us! It has been so fun teaching them the discussions,
they have been the most engaging lessons I have ever taught. Props,
toys, markers, gloves! Gotta keep them engaged! We also had a lesson o
the gospel of Jesus Christ with them at the church! We talked to them
about baptism and how it is the gate. The Holy Ghost guides us through
life, even when it gets dark and dreary. We set up a chair in the gym
with a rope connected to the wall and turned off all the lights. When
they accepted baptism, they were allowed to enter into the dark gym!
They held to the rope (the iron rod, the Holy Ghost, whatever you want
to take it as) and moved towards the chair with the picture of Jesus
on it. Sister Resendez played satan and I played an angel. They boys
got scared and one let go of the rope because he listened to sister
Resendez, but they were all able to make it to the end! It was
awesome! Lessons that are interactive are so fun! They are so stoked
to be baptized on the 31st! Pray for them please! :)

Thursday was one of the greatest days of my life. We were headed out
to work at 10, driving down the street and there is a drying sitting
on the side of the road. We are now those people. What did we do? We
pulled over and took it! We need a dryer! We pulled some favors from
brother Ginter and it was at our apartment. Brother Guedel hooked it
up too! When he went over to look at it and check it out, he said that
our washer was about to break... Oh shoot. Not the washer! We need the
washer!!!! We got a call from him later and said "when is your p-day?
Will you be home? What time should I tell them to deliver it?" This
sweet, kind, generous, consecrated man bought us a washer! It was the
kindest thing in the world! :) I feel so beyond blessed! It was
delivered today and it works like a charm! ❤️ blessings!
We also found 2 new investigators this day and froze our butts off. It
was COLD, but we were not going to let that stop us! We are trying to
work in the more affluent neighborhoods to find kingdom builders and
it is hard, but the lord is blessing us so much! We have found many
solid investigators by doing so! Blessings were and are pouring out!

Friday was a blessed day as well! Sister Bryner (from the Richmond
Ward) came up to Winchester and took sister r and I out to lunch! It
was so fun! We enjoyed bbq and reminisced about Richmond! It is wild
to think that a year ago she was picking me up from transfer meeting!
WHAAAAAT? Yeah! I hit my year mark! What is my life!?

We went out to try someone and felt like we weren't in the right area,
so after praying and looking at a map, we decided to go see a less
active. When we got to her complex, there was a woman outside
upstairs. We walked up the stairs to talk to her and she said she was
an atheist and didn't believe in God. Her baby started to cough inside
and she invited us in... Odd for an atheist. We sat and talked with
her some and then she told us that she did believe in God, but she
can't express it because her family would disown her. She has a lot of
baggage that makes her situation difficult, but we were able to
testify to her of the love that Heavenly Father has for her. She told
us to come back in two weeks when her life settled down and she could
talk more. At the end, we prayed with her and when we all opened our
eyes and looked up, tears were streaming down her face. I know she
felt how loved she is and I know she felt the peace and comfort that
the gospel brings! The gospel is the greatest gift to us on this
earth! It is moments like these where I know I was in the right place
at the right time for the right person! Amy was that person! I know
God is in the details of our lives! It is so apparent!:)

Just yesterday we had an area stake conference. It was broadcast from
SLC. Elder Whitney Clayton, Robert d hales and Ronald a rasband plus
sister Linda reeves spoke to us. It was an incredibly powerful
meeting! We have to stay exactly on our course and raise our children
in righteousness. I also loved a thought from elder rasband about how
we need to have spiritual experiences with our family in the temple!
Go and do work together as a family he said! How cool? I loved the
conference! I definitely came away uplifted and edified!

I know that God is there and that He is aware of us each individually!
I know that He has blessed us with the Book of Mormon so we can more
fully learn about, access and use the atonement! I am so grateful for
the Book of Mormon! I love this work and I love Kentucky! Even when it
snows and it freezing cold! I just love it!

Have a wonderful week, love you all!

Much love from the GKLM of the United States of America, God Bless It!
Sister Hannah

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