Sick-- Please Pray for Hannah-- Transfer Week

I can understand pretty much everything in Spanish now...there`s just a few people that I have a hard time understanding. The kids and the old people are those that are hard to understand cause they speak different.

I`m trying to read through the whole Book of Mormon in Spanish. I hope to finish it next change.

So the computer just ate my memory card...I was going to upload some pictures. Blargh. I hope I`ll be able to get it back. 

This week was really great but today I`m really sick. I was in bed all day today until about 5:00. I was sooo sick. I had a horrible fever and I was achy and it was just really awful. I think that`s why it`s taken me so long to read and respond to all of the emails. My head isn't really working right and I`m really tired. 

So cambios are on Wednesday. Everyone`s going to be there! Like as in all of the missionaries from the whole mission! How crazy is that?? So Hermana Rodas will be training this change and I`ll get a new companion. I`m really excited for the change I hope that its even better than this one.

My head really isn't working right. Besides the sickness everything's great. 

Pictures on the Mission President's Photo Blog

Here are some pictures I [Hannah's mom] noticed today. HERE is the link to the mission president's blog post in case you want to go there and click on the pictures to see the first picture bigger. I'm not sure why it's small. Her pictures are a little ways down on that post. We look forward to hearing from Hannah again on Monday.

5th Week in Santa Librada

Sorry I used up a lot of my time asking questions to Dad and writing to Owen, Mariel, and friends. 

 









I`m really glad that you're finding ways to motivate the kids and have fun. You really sound happy. I know that you miss me and your parents but I`m glad that you`re able to enjoy the moment! 

So this week I have divisions with Hermana Rodas all week. The Hermana Leaders (aka sister zone leaders) told us yesterday. Hermana Rodas is one of the other Hermanas in our house. She`s from Guatemala and we get along really well. She`s a great missionary that really just wants to be obedient and work. So I think we`re going to have a really great week! We did a short weekly planning session last night and talked about our expectations for this week. I don`t really understand why the President wants us to work together this week but I`m really grateful for it. We`re planning on having an amazing miracle filled week!

Saturday was a baptism!!! His name is Ramon and he was so prepared! Hermana Rodas and Hermana Lopez taught him and prepared him for his baptism. He had met with other missionaries before but hadn't been able to overcome smoking. But the hermanas worked with him on that and he received help from the Lord and he was baptized!! It was really neat to see and to know that I was a part of it too since I was able to teach him and I was there when we found him. We didn't really find him honestly because he just decided to come to church one day and that`s how we "found" him. Really it was God that sent him to us. 

Know that I`m really happy, I`m really excited for this week, and I`m learning a lot. There`s so many experiences that I want to share but so little time! 

But I`m going to try to send pictures again...a picture is worth a thousand words right? haha 

I LOVE YOUUUU 

Hermana Hannah

4th Week in Santa Librada

My shoes are holding up pretty well I think. There`s no problems with the outside part of my shoe or the inserts or whatever that part is called. The problem is with under the insert. It`s not really ripping apart...that`s pretty dramatic...it`s more like little flakes are peeling off. I think that they`ll last. I've thought about only wearing those shoes during the dry season. The shoes that I thought were prettier are better for the rain because the water can`t get inside the shoe..it's more "tight like unto a dish." Ha ha, mission humor...but the ones that are tearing apart water can get in through the top, but they`re super comfortable, more than the ones that are good for the rain. 

The pictures I`m sending today are of me eating this weird fruit. You have to bite it to open it and it feels like you`re cracking an egg with your teeth. The inside is really slimy and I was thinking it`s like what a worm would feel like. But it definitely doesn't taste like a worm! It tastes like a grapefruit. The Spanish word for this fruit sounds like "mamon"...but I don`t really know if that`s how it`s spelled. [Mom Googled it and she spelled it right. HERE is a link that tells about it.] I tried a different fruit the other day which was kind of weird. It tasted kind of like passion fruit. It`s called "granodilla" in Spanish...I`m not really sure how to spell that either it`s a guess. [granadilla, she was close!]

So this week has been really good. It was so much better "work wise" then last week. I had some really good experiences with prayer. On Saturday morning I studied the plan of salvation in the morning...specifically pre-mortal life. I read the General Conference talk by President Uchtdorf in the young women's session and really really liked when he tells the "story" about our decision to come to earth. I also found a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 138:57 that talks about how after death people have an opportunity to learn. 

So we had lunch with some recent converts...L who is 16 and her mom. Instead of us keeping track of what they learn on a "registro de ensenanzas" they choose what they want us to teach right before we teach it. While she was looking at this sheet I was praying super hard that she would ask us to teach pre-mortal life, but if not that I would be prepared to teach. We waited for a few minutes while she was looking at the sheet of paper and my heart was pumping pretty hard...but....she chose pre-mortal life! Pretty amazing right? So I shared the story with her and we talked about it a bit. Then out of nowhere she had a question, "Where`s a scripture that talks about baptisms for the dead?" I was thinking, "Holy cow!!!! No way!!!!!" and I said immediately, "I have a scripture for that!!" And I used the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants. Crazy right???

Later that same day we were going to have a lesson with a member. The investigator that was going to come with us to teach has been really wanting to meet a member. The last lesson that we had, we told her that there would be a member there but we weren't able to find anyone and she was really disappointed. We were supposed to meet her at 3:30 at a "chino," aka store. So we got there around 3:15 and started reading while we were waiting. At 3:40 I prayed that if God could do anything to make it so she could come to please do it, but if not that our lesson would be able to turn out okay. At 4:00 my companion said that she thought we should go to the lesson. We decided to wait ten more minutes. Just before the time when we`d decided we`d leave, the member showed up! The member hit it off really well with our investigator, they had a lot in common. So great!!!

So yesterday L gave a talk in church. The day that we had lunch with her she was super nervous. She said that she wasn`t going to show up to church. We kept trying to reassure her but she reallllly didn't want to give the talk. So yesterday in church she showed up. When it was her turn to give the talk she went up to the podium and just stood there. I was sitting in the front because I had just played the piano and I could see her hands shaking really hard. I prayed sooo hard for her that she would be comforted and be able to give the talk. So she started talking, and her talk was amazing!! There were people crying afterwards because they felt the spirit so strong!! I was so happy for her and I gave her a big hug afterwards. She was so strong and her talk was so good! 

So this week has been full of prayers and answers to prayers! 

Thank you for writing to me about everything that`s going on. I hope that you all have a wonderful summer and that you find fun things to do. Remember to enjoy the journey!! 

Lots of love, 

Hermana Hannah

3rd Week in Santa Librada, 9th Week in Panama, 15th Week on a Mission

"Being able to say we're 'from Utah' is a good way to get people asking questions about the church," [Hannah's mom said.] 

That`s so funny that you say that you`re from Utah now! In Chitre I told everyone that I grew up in New York but now my family lives in Utah. The thing is that confused a lot of people. Like A LOT. Even the other missionaries were confused. SOOO I've started saying that I`m from New York. The problem with that is people think I`m from New York City...which...I've never been there before. So I say that I`m from the "campo" of New York...or the "interior" [countryside] of New York. Both of those places here signify places outside of Panama City. It`s really different then how it is in New York but it helps them understand. 

"How does your personal worship bless your life?" [Hannah's mom asked because she's preparing a lesson.]

Personal worship...I`m assuming that means worship that isn't in the church or with other people...so like studying the scriptures? Well for me if I didn't have a personal testimony I wouldn't be here serving a mission. And for me my testimony didn't come from worship with other people. My testimony came because of things that I did by myself...choosing to read the scriptures, and choosing to follow Jesus Christ. I know that worshiping with others is important...going to church is a commandment from God and by going to church every Sunday we can take the sacrament where we renew our baptismal covenants. But church is a more social thing...obviously because it`s with other people...but I mean it`s not personal...okay I`m really not explaining this well at all. Church worship and Personal worship are both important in different ways. To me, if I didn't do things on my own I wouldn't do things with others. Because it`s important to me, because I've gained my own testimony, that`s why I go to church. Ha ha sorry you might not be able to use any of that for your talk but I tried to answer it as best I could. 

"I am tempted to not write as much today so you'll have more time to write to us," [said Hannah's mom, but now she's sort of wishing she hadn't written that.] 

I really love reading your little updates. It really feels refreshing to know what's going on with everyone. Basically what I`m trying to say is keep writing!! I`m trying to tell all of my friends that I can`t really write a whole lot to them because I want to write one big email to my family!! But I also like to get updates from friends to know what`s going on with them. So basically keep writing! But don`t expect much back! In case you didn't get the message yet...keep writing!! :D 

Okay so I have more time to write now!!! First I want to share a story. When we were Skyping you asked what happened to the man that Hermana Molina and I were teaching that couldn't hear or read very well. Remember that story??? Okay maybe not...so we contacted a guy on a bus...and he couldn't hear us....so Hermana Molina wrote down the address of the church and our phone number and we didn`t think anything of it after that. Well he came to church that Sunday!!! But he couldn`t really hear anything. We tried to go to his house afterwards but the only direction we had was it was close to _________ bar and it was ________ color (sorry I don`t remember the name of the bar or the color of the house :D).

[Click on THIS post and look about half way down for the original story and the house colors.]

So we were walking around, I`m pretty sure we prayed, and then we passed his house but he was on his porch waiting for us and he came out and called us over to him. So we tried to have a lesson with him but he couldn`t really hear us...he understood Hermana Molina a little bit but he couldn't hear/understand me AT ALL. After the lesson we were feeling like we had no idea what to do BUT that we had to keep trying because God sent him to us and God helped us find his house. So the other day Hermana Molina called...anddddddddd...he`s getting baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was sooo happy when she told me that. It`s really absolutely amazing. So she said that he kept going to church. That he would sit there on the bench with his eyes closed trying to be able to hear. That every time he was at church he would have a big smile on his face. That he`s reading the Book of Mormon every day. He really wants to be baptized!!!! Technically I`m not his missionary when he`s getting baptized but I was a part of it!!! I was and am soooo happy :D

Today we went to the temple!!!! It was absolutely beautiful. It`s bigger then the Guatemala Temple but smaller than the temples in Utah..that's kind of general cause there's a lot of temples in Utah...but it's smaller than the Salt Lake Temple and the Bountiful Temple and the Oquirrh Mountain Temple and the Jordan River Temple...that narrows it down right? It`s absolutely beautiful!!!!!!!! 

Enough typing I`m going to try to send PICTURESSSSS

[P.S.] We don`t have any more RAID to kill the bugs!! Last night there was a giant cockroach and Hermana Alvarez (my companion) killed it with a big stick!! We make due with what we have!