BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!

 

Seriously though guys! It was an amazing week. THANK YOU for all of the birthday wishes! 22 feels old, though I know it's not. The mission is just so... young. Haha nonetheless, I had so many kind missionaries and ward members wish me a happy birthday! It felt nice :)

The BIG event of the week though was Friday - Zone Conference and NATIONALS GAME. To start with Zone Conference, we learned about the importance of having investigators offer a vocal prayer in the lesson. It can be difficult because the Bible technically talks about praying in "secret" and in your "closets". But how HUGE of a step it is when we DO get someone to pray out loud! D&C 19:28 talks about how praying vocally is a commandment! So this is something we're working on applying more in a our lessons. Had a great example occur this past week:

We found a new investigator! Her name is Geeta, and she's a busy mom of a 4 year old son, named Darin. She is Hindu and comes from Mumbai, India. We found her tracting and talked about prayer, the nature of God and baptism on her door step. She invited us to come back a couple days later, where we were able to bring a member with us! Well, the time came for us to have a closing prayer and we asked her to offer it. She seemed a little hesitant, but then asked, "What if you said a prayer first? Then I can model my prayer after yours!" We were excited! I said a short, slow prayer, asking for the Spirit to remain and testify. Then SHE said a prayer, expressing thanks for her family and for us. It was TENDER! Our member was so excited that she prayed, that she start light clapping as soon as the prayer was over hahaha. But the Spirit was there, and Geeta felt it. We look forward to seeing her again really soon!

Now to the NATS GAME. What a TREAT!!! Since it was only three days after my birthday, I considered it a birthday game. It was INCREDIBLE! Being there with the whole mission, talking to everyone, people seeing our tags and asking questions, riding the Metro at midnight and being so swamped... IT WAS THE BEST. It will be such a great memory for me! I have met so many wonderful missionaries here and love spending time with ALL of them. Heavenly Father knows I love baseball and friends... He truly blessed me this week :)

To repeat what I said earlier, I know the importance of praying out loud! Think about it... we can write our testimonies down wherever we went, but when we get up and say our testimony in sacrament meeting - how much more powerful is the Spirit? To vocalize our testimonies is to bring the Spirit one hundred-fold! The same goes with prayers. Always have a prayer in your heart - I'm working on that as a missionary. But I challenge all of you to say at least one vocal prayer a day. Keep that Spirit present in your life!

Love you all and thanks again!

LOVES,

Sister Hansen

PICTURE:

1) Happy Birthday to me! Hahaha this is at a member's house for dinner. Sister Mitchell made it known it was my birthday, so the lovely member put a candle in my vanilla pudding :)