The Laughing Stock of Richmond.

So it really feels like there is not much more to report on this week because I feel like I just emailed... because I did!!

Here are some highlights! 

Thursday: Sister Heiner and I turned into popsicles.  Our toes completely froze, it was -10 probably and it was miserable until we warmed up.  

Friday: We had a trainer/ trainee meeting at the Richmond building and when we showed up, there was NO electricity!!!!  So we froze for some time until our awesome ward building coordinator got it fixed! We were prepared with warm coats and layers, but all of the elders were not prepared!  When the electricity finally came back on it was such an incredible blessing!! :) 

Saturday: Freezing rain.  The weirdest thing this California girl has seen.  Not only did it completely SOAK me from head to toe, but it froze instantly!! So bizarre!! Then we were just wet an miserable walking around.  BUT the Christensen's saved the day, like they always do! They were able to give us a few rides here and there to save out boots- Which were completely soaked, through and through.  It was not my favorite.  

Sunday: I LOVE SUNDAYS.  The spirit is always so strong and marvelous. I love the spirit I feel at church and that I am able to partake of the Sacrament.  Helen was taught that night also and she felt the spirit!! Helen is the sweetest woman who has trouble remembering the things we teach her.  She was able to listen to the Book of Mormon and just started sobbing because she could feel that it was true in her heart.  It is these tender mercies that really make the work SO worth it!! 

If you want to pray specifically for my investigators here are some names!!

Helen- that she will be able to remember

Jill- that she will continue to progress and make the right decisions 

Katie- that she will be able to come to church and set a baptismal date! 

all of your prayers are appreciated and felt.  I feel them life me up all the time!!

I love you all! :) 

Much love, 

Sister Hannah

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Rookie Mistake and a BAPTISM!

Hello all!! This week was slow for the work, but we did indeed have a baptism!!!! 

Kathy is the newest member of the church!! And I love her to death!! :) Watching her testimony grow and develop is one of the sweetest blessings!! 

A couple of tender mercies and miracles from this week: 

-We received a referral and thought it was a bad address..  The street wasn't on our map and it was no where on the street we thought it was supposed to be on.  When we were walking home Sister Heiner just happened to notice the street we were looking for!! We were able to find the girl and set up a return appointment!!

-KATHY WAS BAPTIZED!!! We forgot to arrange a ride home from the church and so after calling almost everyone in our phone book with no luck, we started to hoof it... with a package and a bag of wet baptismal clothing.  OK, keep in mind, this is not short walk.  Probably 2-3 miles and not on side streets... on main road.  We had barely gone about a mile and some members pulled over and asked us if we needed a ride.  YES.  THANK YOU!!! They they proceeded to feed us TX BBQ and it was so delicious!! Thank you Brother and Sister Ramsay!! :) The other tender mercy from that day was we still had an extra 30 minutes from our lunch hour and we were able to take a nap... because Sister Heiner and I were both extremely exhausted.  It was awesome!! :)  OH and it was also 62 degrees!!! BEAUTIFUL DAY!!!!

Loving the work and the people here!! The ward is amazing and everyone is so nice!!!

Here is the rookie mistake of my week: 

Rookie Mistake #1: the bike.
This is a typical rookie mistake. Not to mention I looked pretty ditsy when this happened too. Sister Heiner and I had ridden our bikes a few times previous to this day and my bike was really hard to ride. I put it off as I was out of shape and in a new environment with a heavy bag on my back. I knew in the back of my head though, that all of my time spent at the gym on the bike didn't go to waste. I was frustrated with myself that I couldn't keep up with Sister Heiner because I knew I could do better. I told myself I would get better and build up more endurance as the days went on and as the weather got warmer. I figured that I was just needed more leg muscle. So Tuesday rolls around. Sister Heiner has the genius idea to check our tire pressure. I felt my tires prior to her checking the PSI and they felt perfectly fine to me. The front tire was a little squishy, but I honestly thought it was fine. I later learned I clearly did not press hard enough. So we check to see what the pressure should be and the tire tells us between 50 and 75 PSI. Ok, not a problem. We have the bike pump and it has a meter on it. So we check the actual tire pressure and the front tire was at 13 PSI. THIRTEEN. HAHAHA. OK so at this point I am just baffled that I was able to be riding this bike. This tire is SO FLAT. Sister Heiner is a doll and pumped my tire for me. So then (here is the best part) we check the back tire. It is also supposed to be between 50 and 75 PSI. It was at 10 PSI. At this point I am just dying of laughter and my rookie mistakes. I have pretty much zero bike experience, let alone thinking to check the tires. So we pump the back tire up, check her tires and then get on the road to our appointments. Not only was my bike INCREDIBLY easier to ride, I was able to KEEP UP. I knew that all of those nights at the gym were worth something!!! I knew I wasn't a complete loss!! My leg muscle is still there and I am actually doing better that I thought I would with the hills. Thankful for my previous 'training' at the gym to be a bike missionary!

MUCH LOVE!!!!!

Sister Hannah

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Miracles don't always have to be HUGE.

Hello again my lovely friends and family!!

This week was incredible!! BUT before I tell you all about that, I have a request:  

Send me back your personal definition of the ward HARD. (as in: this is a difficult taks or experience, not this is a hard candy...)  I just want to see what everyone else's perspectives on this is! :) 

Many miracles were seen here in Richmond this week.  They weren't HUGE and glorious like raising someone from the dead, but they were miracles nonetheless.  

It started off with Mattie and Jackie, a family we are teaching.  Jackie is 3 and very active.  It makes it really hard for Mattie to focus and understand what we are teaching.  Sister Heiner and I prayed before we left the house that Jackie would be calm and we would have a good teaching environment.  When we got there, Jackie sat quietly on the bed the entire time.  She was so well behaved and we were able to teach Mattie what she needed to hear!!

Second miracle: We were late to an appointment and it was across town... easily a 20 minute walk.  Sister Christensen just happened to be driving by and was able to zip us right over to the appointment.  Not a coincidence, but a miracle :)  God is SO aware of all of His children!!

Third: We were at a loss of what to do.  All of our appointments fell through, all of our back ups fell through and we were in a parking lot trying to figure something out.  We prayed to know where to go or what to do.  We felt like we should walk down Linden Street and we found Brian.  He was so receptive to our message and we get to teach him tonight!! I am so excited!! It was that little tender mercy of the day.  

Sunday is always a miracle because we actually made it through another week.  Yesterday was no different.   We also had TWO investigators at church!!!  And we have a baptism this Saturday for Kathy!! :) I walked into teaching her, but she is sop ready and excited to be baptized!

 This week flew by.  I am so excited to see how the rest of the transfer goes.  The work is amazing here.  There are so many people I know I need to talk to and I wish I could talk to them all!! Yes, I am going to get rejected, but it is important to share with everyone!!!  I love missionary work.  I know there is no place I would rather be than right here in Richmond, Kentucky spreading the good word to all those who will listen.  I love the Lord, I love tender mercies.  I love noticing the Lord's hand in my life.  I challenge each one of you to take a step back and watch for the Lord in the details of your life, because I PROMISE YOU, HE is there.  He will never turn His back on us, We are the ones who turn our back on Him.

Stay rad & Stay righteous.  This is a happy gospel! SMILE!! :)

Much love!!

Sister Hannah

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I am grateful for my teeth.

WHY HELLO AGAIN!! 

I have survived my first week in the field!  Some highlights from this week:

-I met my fourth cousins. 

-I talked to a lady who had no teeth

-I talked to a lady who was high

-I had 3 cat calls.

-IT SNOWED!!!!

-I got more comfortable in the 'sketchy' areas

-I no longer get smoke headaches! (not sure if that is a good thing or not.)

Wednesday: 6:30am workouts are TOUGH.  I am so groggy and then I have to muster up some courage to exercise.  Not my favorite part of the day.  We met some wonderful people that day! This was MIRACLE DAY!! We talked to a lot of people, we picked up a new investigator AND were able to help an investigator work on her family tree so she can take family names to the temple right away.  We taught our less active neighbor Crystal that night and then called it.  Seriously, wonderful first day.  

Thursday:  The first discouraging day!! No one answered their doors for us.  All our appointments canceled on us.  IT WAS COLD.  I just got in a bad mood.  It wasn't fun.  I wasn't enjoying myself.  It was hard because the first day had set these high expectations.  Even though we didn't do very well that day, we still worked HARD.  We gave it our all.  At the end of the day, I know what I know, I have a testimony and God loves me and is grateful for the work I am doing.  The sweetest tender mercy from today was being able to eat in a members home.  There is a different spirit that resides there that can't be found anywhere else. The peace and comfort I instantly felt when I got into Sister Syme's car was unfathomable.  It was exactly what I needed after the ;longest hardest day.  The meetings we had that day too were a nice distraction from the fact that no one wanted to talk to us.  Thank you district meeting and coordination!

Friday: Things started to look up! We taught Kasey, a girl we found on Wednesday AND SET A BAPTISMAL DATE!!! YES!!! :) A member, Jaden, came with us to teach and it was such an incredible lesson.  When Sister HEiner recited the first vision, I had the privilege of watching her as she listened.  She lit up and felt the spirit SO STRONGLY!! IT was awesome!! :) This is why I am here.  This is why exactly why.  To share peace, joy and comfort.  To allow people to feel the spirit.  To show them that Christ is there and waiting for them! :) We then taught Savanna.  She is less active because of her work schedule, but seriously is INCREDIBLE! She loves the Lord and has the cutest kids!! Dennis: Her 3 year old son was running around in a mini doctor outfit and it was the cutest thing ever!! It made me think of you and Travis's obsession.  He could also name all 11 doctors and their companions.  IMPRESSIVE for a 3 year old.  TRAVIS: I SAW STIRLING. Sorry, side note! This night was also the night that I was able to talk to a high woman.  It was so funny because we knocked on her door and she asked "Who is it?" and so we responded: "The sisters!!!"  So she comes out and straight up is like

"I'm just going to be honest with you.  I am high. WHen I am high, I am honest." 

It was quite the adventure talking to her.  We got some good information out of her and then headed home.  

Saturday: Funky day because I was in a weird mood, but the work was progressing SO MUCH.  We had a lot of set appointments and they all went really well.  We had a wonderful dinner at the Jansinskis and they were so sweet to us.  It was awesome to be able to sit in on their family prayer and scripture study and participate with them.  It is a special time for each family every night:) I can't wait to have that in my own home! ALSO I got my first cat call today.  THAT WAS HILARIOUS. Sister Heiner and I were walking to our first appointment and it was cold.  I was wearing my snow coat and had all my cold gear on.  This creepy guy driving down the road says to us "You ladies wanna snuggle in this cold weather?" HAHAHAHA.  YEAH RIGHT DUDE.  All I could do was laugh! It was also a winter wonderland that day!! It snowed SO MUCH!  

SUNDAY!!! MY FAVORITE DAY!!!!!! 

I can't even express how much I love sundays. The sabbath day is my FAVORITE!! Being able to partake of the sacrament and attend church is my favorite thing!! The new ward is awesome!! My fourth cousins live here too, The Bryners!! We ate with the Russell family and they are incredibly awesome!! We taught Crystal last night about 2 Nephi 4.  IT WAS SO SPIRITUAL.  I am loving her living next door.

The work is awesome, I am loving it here.  I can't imagine being anywhere else.  I can't imagine doing anything else.  The Lord needs me here.  He needs me to find these people.  I am SO HAPPY TO BE HERE!! Even on the hardest days, I know I am doing the right thing at the right time in the right place.  

Stay rad,

Stay righteous.

MUCH MUCH LOVE!!

Sister Hannah

Pictures, pictures, pictures:

https://sisterhannahgklm.shutterfly.com/

GKLM, I have arrived!!

So in the last four days a lot has happened!!

 

I LEFT THE MTC!! Thank heavens!! Saturday was such a great day! We had a lot of class and said goodbye to all of our teachers.  We packed, ate and packed some more.  PACKING WAS STRESSFUL because of the weight limit.  48 and 52 pounds on the scale in the basement... so I was a little nervous.  I don't have my journals to look back on right now either so I don't have details!!

 

SUNDAY: The last day at the MTC.  Literally was a countdown ALL DAY.  I couldn't wait.  I knew I would be leaving at 3:35 am that morning so all day I was just anxious and excited!! It was awesome!! The day was extremely spiritual and church was amazing! :)

 

3:35am Monday morning, Sister Rickords and I loaded up on the bus to the airport!! WHAT?!!? YES This is real life!! We traveled to the frontrunner station in Provo, took the train to the SLC airport and then got on our plane to Atlanta.  I slept for 3 hours of the four hour flight.  Atlanta was crazy huge and from there we got on our connecting flight to LOUISVILLE.  It was like 1:30 hours long... which felt so short.  When we landed, Predisent & Sister Brough met us at the exit and we were off!! I AM IN LOUISVILLE!!!! We stayed the night at the mission home, ATE REAL & delicious food (it wasn't from a cafeteria!!) and then got to go to bed early!! YES! :)

 

Tuesday: TODAY!! Transfer meeting!! (ok, so I have been to many many transfer meetings.... so it didn't feel too different) THIS WAS MY TRANSFER MEETING!!! WHAT?!!? I wasn't nervous until I got called up and assigned a trainer!! I am with Sister Heiner and she is SO sweet!! We are in Richmond, KY!  Woop woop!! It is about an hour and a half from Louisville, east.  I am stoked!! It is also a biking and walking area!! EVEN BETTER!! We have our work cut out for us!! I got a bike (it was free!) and checked my packages, finished up some last minute stuff at the mission office and then we took off to Richmond! :) Kentucky is BEAUTIFUL.  Yes, everytihng it dead because it is einter, but yet somehow it is still GORGEOUS.  There are mansions and tiny homes, barnes and amazing fields.  Some of the barnes for the horses look like mansions and they are indeed bigger than my house.... I mistook some barnes for houses a lot. HAHA. The horses have it better than I do!  We arrived home and threw my stuff inside with enough time to change and get started on our first task, helping Crystal clean out and sanitze her car of all the ashes from her cigarettes.  She is trying to quit smoking.  It was so incredible to help her overcome this habit through the simple step of cleaning her car.  Mom & Dad: it reminded me a lot of grandma's house except covered in ashes. When we were done there we quickly changed and walked to our dinner appointment wit hthe Wright Family.  They are so sweet and fed us really good food! :) Chicken on the first night! Haah, good thing I love poultry! I am so excited to be here!! YOu have no idea!! I wouldn't trade this experience for anything!! I have already grown so much and look forward to how I am going to continue growing.  It will be hard, but the Lord is on my side!! I am so grateful for my knowledge of the gospel and the love Jesus has for me!! I am so grateful to be in Kentucky!! Here's to the best 18 months!!

 

Much Love!!

Sister Hannah

easier way for pictures

SO sorry to mob you all with emails today.. still getting the hang of things.  I have a website where ALL of my pictures will be: 

https://sisterhannahgklm.shutterfly.com/

enjoy!!

Much love, 

Sister Hannah

​the famous MTC picture!

also!! dearelder.com

DEARELDER.COM is FREE!!! Shoot me a letter!! :)

Letters: 

Provo MTC Address (Jan 7, 2015-Jan 20, 2015):

Sister Madeline Hannah

JAN 19 KY-LOU

2009 N 900 E Unit 170

Provo, UT 84602

So Far, So GREAT!

HELLO!! 

Yes, I am alive and well! It has been a total of TWO days... yes, almost exactly right now.  I have been at the MTC for 48 hours and it feels like 48 days.  The days are long but at the end of the night it feels like it went by so quickly.  I am not sure if P-day coming this quickly is more of a tender mercy for me or my mom.  I feel like I have SO much to tell you, but I can;t type fast enough!!!

Wednesday: -arrived at the MTC.  Bye bye mom and dad!  As soon as I walked inside it was a whirlwind of everything.  I was SO excited to be here!  I got my name tag and everything was perfect.  I love being Sister Hannah. The name tag made me feel so official! I was taken to my hall and then my classroom.  Sister Rickords, my companion was already in the classroom.  I knew her from before the MTC because of facebook.  I kept wanting to call her Katelyn.  Sister Rickords is fun getting used to.  We met the MTC presidency and they all spoke.  At the en, we sang "We'll Bring the World His Truth" (Children's Hymn book 172) and I just started to cry.  I was so overwhelmed with the spirit and being here and yeah.. it was powerful.  The MTC president happened to look over at me right as this was happening and made a special welcome to Sister Rickords and I after.  It was super special! :) Dinner was pretty funny.  Sister Rickords and I tried to be social and so we sat next to these two sweet sisters.  Talking to them was like pulling teeth.  SO awkward.  They said maybe 10 words and then walked away... HAHA.  We laughed about that for some time.   They clearly were not social.  From dinner we went to "People and your Purpose." It was cool, but my favorite quote from that was "I am just meeting this person (my investigator) but Heavenly Father has known them FOREVER!" I love that because it is so true.  We may be just meeting them, but HF knows exactly what they need! The spirit will guide us!! 

I keep having these feelings of inadequacy.  This is pretty crazy.  Every time I start to worry though, I am overcome with peace and comfort.  I know I can do this.  I am freaking out for no reason.  As long as I prepare, HF WILL help me.  He hasn't failed me yet and I know He won't ever.  I then looked at the sisters trying to learn English and realized I am going to be just fine.  I have my language down, I only need to learn the doctrine! LOL, I mean I know it, but just making sure I know what to teach and HOW to teach it! I CAN DO HARD THINGS!! I don't know what makes this so hard, but it is hard! It is a weird experience, but so much growing already! :) AHH I LOVE IT!!

I kept looking at my name tag today and checking to make sure it was real.  YEP.  THIS IS REAL!! This is happening!! I am officially Sister Hannah!! :) AHHH!!!

Thursday: First full day in the MTC.  Waking up at 6:30 wasn't bad.  There was a lot more of feeling scared and inadequate, but I am not kidding, EVERY SINGLE TIME I was overcome with the spirit and felt at peace and so much comfort and love from my HEavenly Father.  We did a lot of classes and planning and reading and more planning.  It was great! I loved being able to share my insights with Sister Rickords and vice-versa.  My favorite quote from a class we attended was "NEVER be afraid to trust an unknown future to a KNOWN God." I just absolutely LOVE that because I struggle with not knowing what is going to happen in my future, but I need to trust God more!  That night we met our Branch President, President Laney, and he is just a character.  Great sense of humor and knows his scriptures REALLY WELL. He taught us so much in the little time we had with him.  I was then called as a Sister Training Leader!! Woop woop!! I am also the senior companion.  Wow.  All on my second day.  The Lord trusts me with so much, I hope I can live up to all of it!! Life is just beginning!!

Friday: Today!! WE WOKE UP LATE.  7:10... when we were supposed to be at breakfast! HAHA, whoops!!! We got ready so quickly.  Being a low maintenance sister in the morning has its perks.  Glasses and earrings and GO.  No make up- no worries!! LOL.  So nice.  So far the day has been wonderful. Personal and companionship study and lunch.  We started laundry and now emails! I can't wait to be in Kentucky though!! This is going to be amazing! OH real cool, we got to practice teaching in class and as I testified of the truthfulness of the gospel I was overcome with another reassurance that I am supposed to be out here preaching the good word to these saints.  When Sister Rickords invited me to be baptized (we were practicing) I was so touched by the spirit that I started crying.  It was so simple,. yet so powerful.  That is what the gospel is.  SIMPLICITY.  God isn't complicated.  The Gospel isn't complicated.  I love this so much and am SO grateful I have the opportunity to SHARE IT!!!!

Loving life and LOVING THE LORD MORE,

much love,

Sister Hannah

PS./  I have pictures but I don't have a camera cord right now.  I might be able to send them later but next week for sure!! 

And So It Begins!

In a few short hours I will be leaving behind everything I know to start the most incredible journey of my life.  I CANNOT WAIT. Yes, getting to this point has been so extremely difficult, but I know it is exactly what I am supposed to be doing.  I know that everything I went through, emotionally, mentally and physically was all so worth it.  I wouldn't trade those experiences for the world.

Now, it is my time to share my love and experiences and joy with the wonderful people of Kentucky! I am so beyond thrilled.  This is going to be the most exciting time of my life.  I know it will be hard, but the good days will overshadow the bad days.  This is it! This is real! This is happening!!

All my best wishes to those I am leaving behind.  I love each and everyone of you so much.  Keep in touch and don't forget about me!! :)


madeline.hannah@myldsmail.net




XOXO,
Sister Hannah