MERRY CHRISTMAS!!




Sisters Deskins and Hensley

 

I can't believe that it was Christmas yesterday!

Wow. Some people might worry that Christmas on the mission must be really hard, since you have to be away from your family. But I'm here to tell you that's false: Christmas on the mission is the best.

On Christmas Eve we had a mission-wide Christmas devotional with tons of special musical numbers and then afterwards the whole mission got to eat and mingle and pick up all of our packages and things until about noon. And then we came home and had dinner with some members and visited some less actives it was great. People gave us lots of food - and some gifts too like socks, soap, snacks, etc. Everyone was very generous with their time, it was great.

The Mission Family

Santa

I attached some pictures from our mission wide Christmas devotional. One of Sister Fonokalafi and I with Santa and one with my 'Mission family" Elder Conlin (my dad) Elder Moore and Elder Boyd (my brothers) me and my mom (Sister Johansen) it was a great family reunion. There's also a picture of my dad and I by the fireplace!  He's a great Elder (who's going home tomorrow....weird) and really took care of Sister Jo and I my first transfer.  He saved us so many times it itsn't even funny. So dad doesn't have to worry - my mission dad looked after me just fine.

Phone Call HOME!!

Sister Hensley Elder Conlin

Christmas day was pretty much the same. We went to 2 special christmas themed sacrament meetings (the one in the singles branch included LOTS of singing) and then we visited with members, less actives, ate dinner and I CALLED HOME and it was so great to hear everyone's voice.

In fact, because of that phone call I don't have much to say! Just that we went tracting for an hour a few days ago (a first for us sisters!) and it went really well! We set some return appointments so we'll follow up on those this week and hopefully next week I'll have news to report on new people that we are teaching!



Know this, I love you all and am so very greatful for your prayers and thoughts, especially over the Holidays. Know that I pray for you all as well

Love,

Hna Hensley

 PS - I did burn my eyelid with my waving iron this week. I guess that could be an exciting story for ya ;) I now have a lovely bright red line on my eyelid. ALSO our shower drain is totally plugged. So much so, that we bought some draino, but can't use it yet because the water from our showers this morning has yet to drain out of the tub so that we can get to the drain. This could be a problem. And our water pressure in the shower is pretty much non-existant.

Merry Christmas again!



Hola Familia!!!

Another week has gone by! and it's pretty crazy - let me tell you! This week in weekly planning we planned for CHRISTMAS!?! WHAT?! I honestly can't believe that it's that time of year already. OH man. You know what missionaries get to do on Christmas?? CALL HOME!!! Yeah! So - I'll be calling home around 4:00 CALIFORNIA TIME on Christmas day...so I'm pretty sure that works out to about 6:00....actually we better make it between 6:00 and 6:30 - who knows when I'll make it to the member's house that I'm calling from. Also, I will be calling from a California number so don't be alarmed. It's not a creeper - just your missionary daughter. And be aware that I only have 40 minutes to talk to everyone....so gotta be efficient!  Everyone who wants to talk will need to be at my parents house at that time.  You are all welcome.

 

This week...wow honestly I don't remember a ton of what happened this week. We've been working a lot with less-active and inactive members in the ward lately, because it's Christmastime so anyone new that we do meet doesn't want to talk to us until after the new year. This past Saturday was our family ward's Christmas party - and it was Hawaiian themed - and there was authentic Polynesian dancing and jhalua pig and everything. it was delicious and entertaining and spiritual. We got to meet a lot of good people and get to know the members of the ward even better. Another thing that we've been able to do a lot lately is use the visitor's center up here at the temple (I'm actually emailing you from the family history library there because we had to come into town for practice for the mission Christmas musical program we're having on Christmas) every night they have a special musical presentation at 7, and the temple grounds are all decorated with lights for the holiday season. I"ve helped with a couple of tours of the temple grounds and things with the people we've brought up there because Sister Fonokalafi (Phone-o Kah lah Fee) is a visitor's center sister who is out in the field right now. Either way, even if I can't be in the temple, being on temple grounds is almost as good. I love it there.

 

Other than that we're just excited for Christmas! We have dinners scheduled for both Christmas Eve and Day so I'm well taken care of. AND Our Brazilian sister from the ward is making our dinner Christmas eve, so there's a high possibility there will indeed be black beans and rice there. I'm excited. Tell the family not to forget to put my mission address on their Christmas card/letter list. I love getting things, no matter what they are!

 

I"m so scattered and running out of time! I have to write my letter to president...

 

but know that I'm working hard and that I love you all. Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!

Hna Hensley

Week 8

Bonjour Toute le Monde!

I figured since I'm not really speaking a ton of Spanish at the moment I might as well start brushing up on my French haha ;)

This week has been absolutely crazy - I've been orphaned :(

Here in the mission we have pet names for other missionaries who are influential to our development.  We name them after family members. 

For example:

Trainer =  Mom (or dad if you're an elder)

1st District Leader =  Dad (I don't know how this works for elders)

People who were in the MTC with you =  little brothers/sisters

Other missionaries who were trained by your trainer =  brothers/sisters (because you have the same mom or dad)

I hope you get the picture :)

This past week was transfers! Sister Johansen and I were sure that we would be sticking together because she's my trainer and I still had 6 weeks left of my training program.

Twas not so. They tore me from not only my mother but also my Dad and one of my little brothers. It was pretty hard. I'm still in North Torrance and Sister Jo went to Hawthorne.  Actually, a lot of changes happened in the zone so everyone was a little crazy. That was the first thing that made this week crazy!

Trying to get my new trainer (step-mom) Sister Fonokalafi (from New Zealand and she's Tongan) all moved in and trying to learn the area between the two of us AND putting together our baptism!! Made the week extra crazy.

That's right! Last night our new investigator was baptized! He's the referral we got from the other elder's and we speed taught him all week so that he could get interviewed and baptised this Sunday! It was a challenge, but it was worth it. The service had a special Spirit to it and I'm glad we were able to get everything done and squared away in the time frame that he wanted. So that was a happy occasion that added to the craziness of the week.

We're not really teaching anyone new other then him at the moment, but we're always looking for people to teach. Pray that we will find those that have been prepared in this area so that we can get teaching! I mean, that's my favorite part of missionary work anyway :) haha!

One last amusing story before I jet off for the day...

SO. Sister Fonokalafi and I had just opened up our companionship prayer one day when we heard a knock on the door. That's was pretty odd for a few reasons 1) it was 10AM and 2) we're missionaries so....we don't have many visitors. We then thought that it was probably our Zone leaders or District leaders with some important news so we opened the door. Instead of the two men in white shirts and ties we were expecting - it was two women! In skirts! Speaking Spanish!

I was very confused and they asked me if I spoke Spanish and I said yes a little, since I didn't know if they needed help or directions or something. Little did I know the Pandoran box I had opened. This woman started talking to me about the Bible.  Then it dawned on me - we had been tracted into by 2 Jehovah's Witness missionaries.

Boy did I feel naive and silly. SO, I politely told them thanks, be we're missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that we were busy so she said that was alright and to have a nice day. They started to walk away when the other missionary stopped her and said "wait, could I share a scripture with you, since we're both missionaries to brighten your day?" and I said "sure" and then....i got the whole 1st lesson. On the doorstep. In Spanish. I had to go get my Spanish bible and everything! OH man....i definitely was wishing that I hadn't opened that box and admitted to speaking Spanish. FINALLY when she gave me some room to get a word in, I told her that we had some differences, but that I was grateful for this learning opportunity, or something like that.

That opened a whole other box that i wasn't prepared to answer and finally it boiled down to them saying "there's only one truth! So, who's right?" at this point I translated this question for Sister Fonokalafi, who doesn't speak Spanish and was just standing there being supportive, said "You're right. There's only one truth. And it's us!"  0_0 I just stood there. And they were like...ok. So we swapped materials they gave us a book about "what the bible really teaches" and we gave them a "Plan of Salvation pamphlet", and they asked for a return appointment, we said no thank you and have a nice day and they left.

That took 45 minutes out of my mission I will never get back. Oy vey.

After that experience I just started to think "Man, I really hope that's not what people feel like when we come and talk to them." And I started to think about the differences between us and them. First of all, there are similarities -we both go out proselytizing, we both use similar techniques to grab attention to get people to listen to us, we want to get return appointments so that we can teach them and that is about where the similarity's stop.  HOWEVER, the main difference, and this is purely my opinion from my one experience in Spanish, is that we teach with love. I do it because I love them, and want to share this MARVELLOUS gift that we have with them - and it's totally their choice. They don't have to take our word for it, they can ask God themselves. Whereas while I was standing at the door with these two women, I felt chastised, kind of condemned, and like a number. (not to mention super dumb for not realizing sooner who they were) NO bueno. Overall, I just was cemented even more in the truthfulness of our message, and how much our heavenly father loves us.

Fun story, huh? ;)

WELL that's all the time for today. Hope you enjoyed my little experience. Your prayers and thoughts are always much appreciated :)

LOVE YOU ALL!

Hna Hensley

Ward Christmas Party

This picture just showed up in our email.  We don't know the story yet but it is Christmas time.

It's December. When did that happen?

Also - my first transfer in the field ends tomorrow. Also pretty crazy. Chances are fairly high that I won't be moving and neither with Sister Johansen because I'm still in the middle of my training program...but you never know! We'll see what happens and I'll let you know next week.

  

We decorated our house for Christmas! We have like, a picture nativity stuck to our window, a little Christmas tree, some stockings we found in the closet, and I bought some oils from B&BW to make the house smell good :) It's pretty festive I think, for a missionary apartment :)

 (see pictures) Also attached is a picture of the eel sushi Sister Johansen made me eat the other day. Traumatizing.

As far as the week goes - we're still just trying to find new people to teach. However, we just got a new investigator who was referred to us by the Elders who serve in the Manhattan Beach area. He's been taught by Elders for about 2 years now, is 21, and just started coming to the singles ward, which is why we are now going to be teaching him. He has a baptismal date for next week, but we'll probably push it back one more week so that he can have time for his interview :) It's an exciting time all around!! We are actually going with him and the Singles branch up to the Visitor's Center for the lighting of the Christmas lights at the temple and a little orchestra concert that they're having there. It should be fun and uplifting.

Also, I got to watch the Christmas Devotional last night - AND the 50 or so short videos about Christ's life that they were talking about?? THOSE are the films I would have worked on with Karl and the other makeup students! In fact, I'm sure some of them DID work on it :) It twas like watching a little slice of home when they showed the clips from Christ's birth. Not going to lie - I shed a tear or two during the presentation. I can't wait until they're all finished being edited! They'll be such great missionary tools! Speaking of which - if you have the time, watch some Mormon messages that are on lds.org - they'll brighten any one's day! The one that I particularly like at the moment is called "men's hearts shall fail them" and it's on the homepage right now.

In other news, Sister Jo elbowed me in the eye socket a few days ago. Sadly, I do not have a black eye to show for it (or to take pictures of, for that matter) but....it's still a little sore and slightly swollen. Fun times :)

That's about the most exciting thing that has happened this week. It's been rough, still haven't been able to get ahold of J, it's been cold, and we're emotionally wearing down. BUT we're smiling and doing the best we can!

I love you all, write me and let me know you care :)

Hna Hensley

A letter from the Mission President

Dear Parents;

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year.  It is a great blessing for missionaries and their families to have a son or daughter laboring to “invite others to come unto Christ”!  We appreciate their dedication and service.  However, it is often a difficult time for missionaries and their families to be apart.  We know that studying the Book of Mormon and giving of oneself are the best ways to feel the genuine Spirit of Christmas. 

As the Christmas season approaches, President Baker and I want to make you aware of a few things.   December brings another round of Temple Days.  Missionaries will be able to attend the temple once with their zone on one of the following dates: December 14, 21 or January 4.  For that week their preparation day is changed to Wednesday so they will be writing their letters home on Wednesday instead of Monday.  Missionaries are allowed to call their parents for 30-40 minutes on Christmas Day.  Arrangements for the time and place should be made through email ahead of time.

Because of the high volume of mail for missionaries during the Christmas season, we will be making an extra mail delivery on Tuesday December 13 and possibly on Tuesday December 6.  However, all mail that arrives at the mission office after Wednesday, December 14 will be held until December 24.  After our mission wide Christmas Musical Devotional on the morning of December 24, all remaining letters and boxes will be distributed. 

As you send packages to your missionary, please think about their companion.  Consider the feelings of a missionary who gets little or no mail when his companion gets a box every day.  Also, you might want to ask your missionary how much weight he/she has gained.  This could influence how many boxes of treats the extended family sends as well as suggesting that some new clothes might be appropriate Christmas gifts.

A couple of gift suggestions that I have are Kiwi shoe polish that comes in a four inch plastic bottle which rolls the polish onto the shoes and does not need buffing or polishing.  I would also suggest Clorox pre-packed stain remover for washing whites.  The small packages are easy to use (and aren’t really any good for anything else!) and missionaries generally won’t spend the money to buy them for themselves.  Missionaries always need small medical supplies such as band aids and antibiotic cream for cuts and scrapes.   Sister Mayorga, our mission nurse would like all missionaries to have flu shots, and to carry and use hand sanitizer.

Doctor Jackson, who supervises the medical care for all the missions in Southern California recently sent out the following notice which also includes some ideas for gifts.

“Dear Mission Presidents and Mission Medical Coordinators,

Many of our missionaries are lacking a few basic inexpensive items that each should always have in their apartments.  These are:

Thermometer  - without, it is impossible to accurately determine body temperature.

Ibuprofen  - excellent for inflammation, fever, pain, headache; should be taken with food.  Buy the drug store’s own brand, not Advil.

Benadryl (diphenhydramine) - for allergy, itching, mild sedation.  Get the drug store’s generic 25 mg tablets or capsules.

Imodium (loperamide) – for diarrhea and abdominal cramps.  Some drug stores have their own brand, which costs less.

Many times the above items are needed during the night when the missionary is sick, and it is not possible to go to the drug store.”

May you enjoy this wonderful Christmas season!

President and Sister Baker

--
Sister Baker
California Los Angeles Mission

3 Nephi 5:13  Behold I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
 I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.

Week 05 addendum

Note:

I have decided to post some of the letter Shannon wrote to us, Mom and Dad.  I am posting this as a way to help those who read this better understand what happens to a missionary while they are serving.  I think this will be of the greatest benefit to those who have never been on a mission or have not known anyone who has served a mission.  This letter is an example of what every missionary goes through at some point on their mission, being homesick.  It just happened to coiencide with the death of her Great-Grandmother, which will be particularly difficult for Shannon. 

What we need to do for her now is send a quick note to let her know you are praying for her and have not forgotten her.  I don't think there is any need to mention this email or the content, just tell her hi and that you love her.  The Lord will comfort her.  As you will read in the "Week 05" post He already has started by provding someone who seems to be prepared to accept the Gospel.  It is good for us to have some distance too.  This will allow us to see the hand of the Lord at work as He builds and shapes Shannon into what He has always planned for her.

Dad.

Hi Y'all

Yes, I did speak to President last night (Sunday) about Grandma....and I had a good cry and had a little bit of a hard time sleeping but I'm going to be just fine. In fact, I was mostly crying because I was filled with the overwhelming sense that she was happier and loving it and proud of me and all that jazz. It was a little overwhelming (hence all the crying) but I'm good. I still get a little teary every now and then,, but trust me - I know she's in a better place. Plus on Thanksgiving night I couldn't stop thinking about Grandma Nena.  I felt like she was especially proud of me and what I am doing being out here on my mission.  I thought it was kinda strange then, but now I know it must have been her paying me a visit on her way home.  All this made me think of D&C 78:18

 18 And ye cannot ^abear all things now; nevertheless, be of good ^bcheer, for I will ^clead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the ^driches of ^eeternity are yours.

Plus I had a really rough day on Saturday. I was really homesick and felt like a horrible missionary and just ached all over and we'd been having doors slammed in our faces all day long and i just cried in the car and wanted to talk to you so bad! Just have you hold me and call you. It was hard. I haven't been that homesick the entire time I've been out on my mission. I just wanted to quit and go home. My lovely companion helped me through it and I wasn't alone but I just wanted to tell you how much I love you. And even though the mission is great and I love it (mostly) there are days when I just want to be home and hold you. Gah I'm crying here in the library. I've cried so much the past few days I"ve got a permanent headache. I'm printing out some of the family pictures you sent (finally) and I'm sending Jesse a birthday card (but it's a surprise) so hopefully it'll help. And we had some really good things happen to us lately so I'll write about it in my weekly email as well. My thoughts and prayers are always with you and I pray for you every night and sometimes every morning too. I love you, love you, love you so very much.

The church is true. Sometimes that's the only thing that keeps me going. But it's so very true. The plan is perfect. The gospel is perfect. The people are not. But the lord loves us :) And I love you. Have I said that yet?

Week 05

I made it through Thanksgiving and the Turkey and everything and I'm here to write another day ;)

 

I think you will all be proud to know that I ate just about all the Turkey I could handle. Y'all would be proud.

 

I still don't like it though :(

 

This week was a rough one! It was full of door slamming, angry street people, members of the singles branch getting mugged, investigators not coming to church and/or progressing, Grandma Nena dying. I've certainly been leaning on the Lord and the scriptures a lot this week to get me through. BUT we had a couple of really great things that made up for it all!!!

 

First off, Sister Johansen's mom sent us an Olive Garden gift card just in case we didn't have anywhere to go for Thanksgiving, and the District leader and his two companions (Elder Moore and Elder Boyd from the MTC) got some gift cards for the Olive Garden too we got to eat at the Olive Garden this week. It was delicious. I made an amazing steal/interception at Frisbee during exercises this week! I can either inherit a bike from another sister for free, or purchase a lightweight newly refurbished one for 90$ from the ward mission leader (I can't decide!) AND we had the most amazing lesson last night - and we have a NEW INVESTIGATOR!

 

Her name is J and we've been trying to get a hold of her for about a month now. Some Elders helped her move into her apartment about a month ago, and then they referred her to us. We have probably made about 15 appointments with her and for some reason or another they all kept falling through. child protective services was at her apartment complex once making it impossible to teach, she got stuck in traffic, car troubles, she forgot, had to pick her husband up from work, and the excuses go on and on. HOWEVER she was always calling US back and rescheduling - so we knew she wasn't just trying to ditch us. At first we just were like "SATAN! He's keeping us away form her and her family because she's gonna get baptized!" trying to be optimistic...but as the weeks rolled on we just thought it was never going to happen. IN fact, we almost didn't go back to see her. We had an appointment scheduled with her for 4:00 yesterday and she called at about 3:45 saying that she wasn't home yet, and to reschedule for 6:00. So, 6:00 rolled around and we almost decided not to go see her but we did. She lives inside of a gated apartment complex (which is extremely common here) and their call box doesn't work and our cell phone has horrible service and we couldn't get in. HOWEVER as always happens when we're trying to get into a gated complex, some people who were walking their dog and lived there let us in. We found her outside while her husband was frying some chicken and even though they were busy, she said she didn't want to turn us away again so we went over by the pool and taught the restoration and I'm telling you - the Lord truly does prepare people to hear the gospel! She was amazing! Asking all kinds of great questions, saying how she is just searching for the truth and then when she finds it she will be fully committed. She doesn't want a "Sunday only church" but one that has lifelong activity. Where your leaders know that names of you and your family. One that has great youth programs and bible studies. One where people dress appropriately for services. We were just bursting and told her everything and taught about Joseph Smith, modern-day prophets, priesthood authority and the book of Mormon. She said she felt just like Joseph Smith, that she is searching for the truth and just wanted God to tell her and show her the truth and then when she finds it, that the Holy Ghost will testify to her of the truth. She understands the need for proper authority, already believed that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were two separate beings, and wants to pray to know the truth. We left our book of Mormon in the car but gave her a restoration pamphlet and a mormon.org card because she wanted to research and write down questions. She just wants to learn all she can and not be ignorant of us and our faith. As we were leaving she asked "Do y'all have a plan of salvation? Because I'd like to hear about that...." And we about BURST! We gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet as well and made a return appointment for Thursday, which hopefully works out. Prayers for that would be appreciated. OH, and did I tell you we asked her to be baptized when she comes to know the truth for herself and she said "Absolutely?". Yeah. It was an awesome end to a not-so awesome week. But it was so worth it.

 

Well, I'm running out of time for this week but know that I love you all, that the church is true, and that families are forever!

 

Write me write me write me!

 

Love,

Hermana Hensley 

Note from Dad

Week 04 was Monday before Thanksgiving.  Shannon's Great-Grandmother passed away on Thanksgiving day.  We called President Baker.  He called Shannon into the mission office and told her of this event. 

In family events such as this the mission president has many options.  After discussing it with us and Shannon we all decided that she would stay and keep working as she is. God is good and He has comforted us in this time of loss.

Great-Grandmother would have been 99 years old on Dec 6, 2011.  We do miss her but she lived a wonderful life and she is now with all of her siblings and parents.  We have no doubt that she is in paradise with God and his Angels.

Praise and Glory to God forever!!

Week 04

I can't believe Thanksgiving is this Thursday! What a trip. Time is such a funny thing on the mission...really slow yet really fast. Before you know it, Christmas will come and go, and then I'll be home. It's the strangest phenomenon!

 

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we have 2 food appointments that day and so I will be nicely fed. We aren't sure if we have a special schedule / proselyting rules for that day yet, but whatever it is will be for the best. Our dinner appointment is with a family where the wife is Brazilian and the husband is Italian...soy ou know the food is going to be good!! I'm so excited. Sister Brazil made black beans and rice for us the other day because she found out that Grandma Yoly was Cuban and they were soooooo good. It was just like being back home for a moment :) I told her I'd tell y'all that I was being taken car of, so there you go.

 

We got our water heater replaced today finally! That's actually why I'm getting this email off so late - we had to be at our apartment with a female member while they were installing the new water heater. They said it would only take a half our and it took 2 hours so it ate up a lot of our day. I might even be a few minutes short of my hour because we have to make it to a dinner appointment at 6....but I only get one hour a week to talk to y'all so maybe we'll just be a little late!

 

This past weekend was really cool because the North Stake just did something called a 'mini mission' for the youth. Basically the youth that wanted to participate signed up and then spent from Friday afternoon to Sunday night with a companionship of full-time missionaries! It was great. Since I was on splits from Friday night to Saturday night I had one mini-missionary while I was in San Pedro, and then another when I got back to my area. They both were amazing girls and worked so hard and are going to be great missionaries one day. They were so willing to participate (we had each of them prepare to teach a lesson - and then teach it during the day with our help!) and just were great. Afterwards on Sunday night they had a fireside/testimony meeting but President said we couldn't go :( so that was kind of a bummer because I'd love to have seen what there experiences were and things but oh well :) President knows best!

 

Speaking of my exchange in San Pedro.....what a trip. I mean...I don't even have words. It was me and Sister Deskins and our limited Spanish/experience AND a mini missionary! Teaching in a Spanish area! Luckily our mini missionary was a native speaker but still...there was a lot of trusting in the lord those 24 hours...but we had some really good lessons and some really good experience and I definitely...grew...a lot :) But I'm glad to be back in in my area :)

 

Other than that we still don't have any new investigators and other then our recent converts don't have anyone to teach :( Prayers for finding would be welcome! I love you all and love getting your emails!

 

-Hna Hensley

 

PS - dear elder seems to get letters here pretty quick too....so you might sign up for that and try it out :) My friend Mari sent on through the website on the 10th and I got it this Friday....so you never know!