NEW LETTER MAILING GUIDELINES

Hello All!

 

Thanks for all the love and prayers in regards to the goals I mentioned last week! Nail-biting is going well! Only picked at one nail the first day and haven't looked back. I would send a picture BUT... my cuticles are another story :(

SO we received some breaking news from our mission president regarding mail. It is as follows:

As of May 2013, the Postal Inspector from the United States Post Office (USPS) has instructed the mission office that we can no longer forward 1st class mail free of charge. With this in mind, please note the following changes in our mail policy effective immediately:

1) Please let your family and friends know they will now need to send mail directly to your apartment;

2) After this upcoming transfer, any mail received in the office will be given to your Zone Leaders at the following Mission Leadership Council (held on the first Thursday of each month) OR will be handed out at the next Transfer Meeting (whichever comes first);

3) On the Monday of Transfer Week, please notify your family that you will let them know by email on Friday whether you were transferred or not. If you ARE transferred, then you will notify them during the Progress Record Time of your new apartment address. Ask them to hold onto the mail for that week until they receive your email on Friday;

4) Fill out and submit a "Change of Address Form" through the USPS each time you are transferred so that your mail will automatically be forwarded to your new apartment.

(Hillary's new address on address on adjacent "Keep in Touch" page on this blog)

And thank you everyone for the mail that I DO get! It makes my day, my week! Hope these changes to halt anything too much.

I don't have much time to write this week, but I will share a touching experience. So LAST Monday, we met with Brother Craig Jones. He has been a member of the Church since 2000. He grew up in Logan, with in-active parents, and his grandmother always encouraged him to read the Book of Mormon. Though he never did. UNTIL his son began investigating the Church when he was in high school (because of a girl, no less). As his son was baptized, then going to BYU, then going on a mission, Brother Jones found it to be the right time to finally read the Book of Mormon. It was a spiritual journey for him! He has a strong testimony, but has had some difficult hardships. One of them being his divorce three years ago. And his son (the one who first found the Church) is always overly-critical of Brother Jones whenever he "slips" up. The poor man is NOT receiving the support that he needs!

We knew he had been working on Sundays, so we wanted to see what was up so we could help him re-gain his testimony of faithful church attendance. Well, because he is a single man, we had to have a lesson on his front porch. The bugs were annoying, but want to know the worst part? The outdoor concert venue known as "Wolf Trap" is just minutes away from his house. So you can hear EVERYTHING when outside. And guess who was playing that Monday night? THE FRAY. I'm not a big fan of them, BUT they started playing radio hits as soon as the discussion was getting spiritual. SATAN WORKS SO STRONGLY. Mind you, this is the DAY after the 40 Day Fast where we made those goals to NOT get distracted. And yet, here was this HUGE distraction. I pleaded with my Heavenly Father to help me pay attention so I could address Brother Jones' needs. And thank heavens, I was able to tune it out (for the most part), long enough to commit him to come back to church! He agreed and we wrote down on a sticky note the testimony he gave to us of why he goes to church in the first place. It is:
 

1) To keep me focused

2) To stay on the straight and narrow

3) To feel the SPIRIT

 

We gave it to him to remind him of what he knows to be true. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father answers prayers. I'm also EXTREMELY thankful for the Spirit and how strongly it can bear witness to people of our faith. Without the Spirit, we'd be nothing. How wonderful God is to give us this gift so that we can feel His power directly while here on Earth.

LOVE YOU ALL! Thanks again for all your prayers and love. It's what a missionary survives on - I'm sure of it!

Love,

Sister Hansen