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Dad

Baldwin Village Week.... I've lost track... (11)

Sister Hensley and Morgan

Hello world!

This week has been crazy and eventful! We were running low on our miles this month because of various circumstances beyond our control, and so we did a lot of biking! It was great! In fact, we biked all the way to USC and back twice, which ends up being about 20 miles total for the 2 days. Yay for exercise! and the weather has been really nice, so it was fine to finally get out in the sun for a change haha

Things are going really well with those we are teaching too. It's like the Lord is making up for the time we have to be in the apartment, we have a new 12 week training program for new missionaries, by providing us with awesome people that we are teaching. Txxxx came to church for the first time this week!!!! Yeah!! And Kxxxx is praying about a baptismal date and doing super well. also

DRUMROLL

Sxxxxx and her son Bxxxx are being baptized on Sunday!! Woohoo!! So we are just running around like chickens without heads getting everything ready. It's super exciting.

The work is good, and the Lord is blessing us so much. I'm so sorry that this week's letter is very short. but - there are many pictures! so, enjoy the photo essay/email this week and I promise there will be more exciting things to talk about next week.

Love!!

Sister Hensley

 

Learning to make Tamales

Hot and Fresh... Tamales!!

The best part of making Tamales, EATING THEM!

A Gift from their Ward Mission Leader.

Trunk or Treat.  This seems to have become a Mormon tradition.  We use a parking lot to decorate the trunk of our cars to the children can collect candy from trusted sources.

Must be some of their favorite children.

 

Baldwin Village Week 10

Hola Everyone!!

This week has been long and exhausting and wonderful. Our area had just been booming with success and greatness lately. The Lord is blessing us tons and it's wonderful! This week we were able to set 2 baptismal dates with people we have been working with :) Which is pretty sweet. One of them is Txxxx! Yeah! I was on splits with Sister Pinto this week and we had a miracle lesson with him. I don't know if I've mentioned this but something that we've been waiting for/working with Txxxx on is him receiving his answer that the Book of Mormon is true. He reads and prays about it daily, and last we heard the only answer he had received so far was to "keep reading" so he has. But when Sister Pinto and I were there, he opened up to us about his recent experiences, thanks to some truly inspired questions. He told us that he has recently realized that even before he even opened the book and started reading, he knew it was true. This whole time he's just been coming to an acceptance of it's truthfulness in his life. and that as he's been reading, he hasn't gotten just one big "it's true!" answer, but many small witness over time as he's been reading and felt the Holy Ghost testify to his heart that it's true. WOW! How amazing is this gospel and the power that it has to change people's lives!! Soon after that we talked about baptism and invited him to be baptized at the end of November, and he accepted :) AND he said he'd be at church this upcoming week. What blessings!!

We also have been working with a young girl named Cxxxxxxx for a while. She's 17 and has been taking lessons for a while before we started, and was all set to be baptized in the past but her mom said no. So, she is waiting until she turns 18 in December. We were able to set a solid date with her so that she knows exactly what she is working towards. She really is amazing. Her parents are divorced and so we teach her when she is at her dad's house every other weekend. She reads the Book of Mormon 10 minutes everyday, and is just wonderfully strong in her testimony, even though she isn't allowed to go to church when she's at her mom's. It was a really special moment to set that date with her and to see her face light up. She's been waiting for that day for 2 years - and I can't wait to be there when she finally gets to make those covenants with Heavenly Father. 

Whelp. That's about it. I don't' know if I mentioned this last week, but President Baker has invited all of us missionaries in the CLAM to read The Book of Mormon from cover to cover by the end of the year. He challenged us to focus on attributes of happy and successful missionaries as we read. So, I invite all of you to do it with me! But instead of successful missionaries, look for attributes that apply to yourselves, like good parents, good students, etc. Let's work together and finish it by the end of the year! woohoo!!

I love you all!!

Sister Hensley

 

PS This is Dad.  For those of you who want to have a copy of the Book of Mormon to read on your portable device you can find it in the Apple APP store or Google Play.  This is the complete Book of Mormon with a special reference guide to the teachings of Jesus Christ.  Just search for Book of Mormon and get the app.

Baldwin Village Week 9

Dear Everyone,

We have had a miraculous week this week, let me tell you! I've been pretty astonished at the blessings that Heavenly Father has been giving us in our area over the past few days.

This week we started teaching a girl named Kxxxx. She is AMAZING!! She's been coming to the USC ward since June, and all last transfer when I was with Sister Deskins we thought she was a member. Well, while we were talking to her a few weeks ago we found out that she isn't a member! And so in between sessions of conference we set up an appointment with her for this week. It turns out that she was introduced to the gospel by her boyfriend whom she was dating when she was 16. Back then she knew it was true, and wanted to be baptized but her parents wouldn't allow her to. And so, over the past 2 years she has been going to church and has such a testimony of the it's truthfulness. She told us something really interesting/beautiful though during our lesson. She said that if she had been baptized 2 years ago, she wouldn't have the testimony that she does now, because she wouldn't have had to fight so hard to defend what it was that she believed in. And now that she's 18, she wants to take that step and be baptized, but understandably she is apprehensive. So, our goal as we meet with her is not only to prepare her spiritually to be baptized but to help her find the confidence and strength in her testimony that she already has so that she can approach her family about her decision. HOW COOL IS THIS? Her baptism is scheduled for the end of this month, and we are all really excited to help her to work towards that goal. She is just absolutely amazing. And this whole experience is just another testament to me of the power that we have as members in missionary work. She's never had lessons from the missionaries before, but she has a solid testimony because of the friendships that she has with members of the church who are unafraid to answer her questions, live their faith, and love her. It's amazing. 

We also have continued to have really wonderful lessons with Txxxx. He is just like, a gospel sponge and is so filled with sincerity about learning the truthfulness of the gospel for himself. Another person we are teaching, Sxxxxx is continuing to prepare for her baptism at the beginning of next month. We can tell that she is a little apprehensive as well about it, but since this time she is the one who made the decision and she is the one who set the date she also seems more solid in this decision than before. I am so excited for her to make those promises with heavenly Father and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost to help her throughout the rest of her life.

On a non-investigator note, I am learning to cook real, delicious Mexican food from a lovely member named Martha. We eat dinner wit h her every week and now we are spending more time with her in the kitchen helping her create the food we eat. This week, I learned how to make chile relleno's (just for you dad!!) and they were DELICIOUS!! I can't wait to share with you all when I come back home! We'll have a giant dinner and it will be delicious.

This weekend we also had the opportunity to have a mini missionary with us! Her name was Sister Castagnola and she was such a wonderful addition to our companionship. She's 17 and super excited about the news that she can go on a mission when she's 19 instead of having to wait until she is 21. She is going to make a wonderful missionary some day and it was a blessing to have her in Baldwin Village. She was able to testify and touch the hearts of some of those that we teach in a way that we could not have done without her. 

Well, I love you all and hope that you've had as wonderful a week as I have.

All the best!

Sister Hensley

Baldwin Village Week 8

Hi All,
Ah what a fantastic weekend it was for the church everywhere!! It was CONFERENCE WEEKEND! YEAH! Pretty much better than Christmas for missionaries. At the end I'll include some highlights that I lifted from lds.org from some of my favorite talks...or at least, the ones that i put stars by while i was listening :) haha  Other than conference we also had a really good week here in Baldwin Village. The work in the USC ward is really picking up, and Sister Morgan and I have had some awesome spiritual experiences with those that we are teaching. They are progressing along nicely and I can really see the growth in them, especially from when we first started meeting together. It's really beautiful to see how when a person is reading, praying, and studying with real intent, the conversion that starts to take place within their hearts, just like was talked about a conference. 

The weather here has been nice. It's starting to cool off a bit - this week it's going to be in the 70s all week so it will finally start to feel like fall! 

This upcoming week we have zone conference - which I am really excited for! I love when a bunch of us missionaries have the opportunity to get together and strengthen one another. Not only do our testimonies grow, but I leave zone conferences with a new fire for the work, and goals to help keep me motivated during the transfer! Hopefully there will be more exciting news to report this next week :)

Well, please forgive me for this short and very vague email. this week has just kind of been a blur and the only thing still on my mind that I can actually focus on is conference! So, I'll leave you with my love and some quotes! Until next week!

 

Hermana Hensley

"Becoming Goodly Parents" L. Tom Perry

Our strengthened family cultures will be a protection for our children from “the fiery darts of the adversary” (1 Nephi 15:24) embedded in their peer cultures, the entertainment and celebrity cultures, the credit and entitlement cultures, and the Internet and media cultures to which they are exposed constantly. It will help our children live in the world and not become “of the world” (John 15:19).

"The First Great Commandment" Jeffrey R Holland

My beloved brothers and sisters, I am not certain just what our experience will be on Judgment Day, but I will be very surprised if, at some point in that conversation, God does not ask us exactly what Christ asked Peter: “Did you love me?” I think He will want to know if in our very mortal, very inadequate, and sometimes childish grasp of things, did we at least understand one commandment, the first and greatest commandment of them all—“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind” (Luke 10:27; see also Matthew 22:37–38). And if at such a moment we can stammer out, “Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee,” then He may remind us that the crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty.

“If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15), Jesus said. So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord.

"The Caregiver" Henry B. Eyring

With all your differences in personal circumstances and past experiences, I can tell you something of what lies ahead for you. As you keep the faith, you will find yourself invited by the Lord often to serve someone in need when it will not seem convenient. It may appear to be an unpleasant and perhaps even impossible task. When the call comes, it may seem you are not needed or that someone else could easily give the succor.

Remember that when the Lord lets us encounter someone in distress, we honor the good Samaritan for what he did not do as much as for what he did. He did not pass by on the other side even though the beaten traveler on the road was a stranger and perhaps an enemy. He did what he could for the beaten man and then put in place a specific plan for others to do more. He did that because he understood that helping may require more than what one person can do.

Lessons in that story can guide you in whatever your future holds.

Baldwin Village Week 07

Well hello everyone!

**Note from Dad**  There are a ton of photos this week.  I will put them at the bottom of this post.

The start of a new transfer brings...CHANGES! I'm still in Baldwin Village but I'm officially TRAINING A NEW MISSIONARY! AH! Her name is Sister Morgan, she is from Pleasantview, UT and she's pretty great. She just came from 9 weeks at the MTC and is so excited and ready to learn and work and grow. Being a trainer is quite the exciting experience. it really keeps you on your toes and helps you to reflect back on your experiences as a missionary and how you can improve. She's so wonderful, I'm really blessed and the funny thing is that she's a lot like Sister Johansen! She's an opera singer too and is artsy and whatnot. My baby is like my mommy...haha but it just all goes to show that the Lord truly does match us with people that we will work the best with.

Being in the area without Sister Deskins has been difficult. She was here for so long and knew the people and the area so well and I'm still fumbling around a bit. BUT I'm recognizing my worth and potential here in the area and am finding my way around ok. Thank goodness for companions, maps and the spirit ;0)

We had some really great lessons this week, and some awesome teaching experiences together as a new companionship. One that I want to share is with an investigator named T****, who goes to USC. I don't know if I have mentioned him before, but he's wicked smart and so sincere about the gospel. He's been reading and praying about the Book of Mormon daily and is still waiting on a answer, but is still diligently searching. He takes the time to read from the Bible and compare it to the Book of Mormon and the things that we teach him. For example, he's currently praying to know if Joseph Smith was truly a prophet of God, and so he's reading in Dueteronomy about the qualifications of true prophets vs false prophets and using those combined with prayer to find his answers. He truly is an example of studying things out "in his mind and in his heart" as the Doctrine and Covenants say. His growth is truly miraculous to watch and every time we meet he has more and more light. When he receives his answer that the Book of Mormon is true and from God, nothing will be able to stop him and/or shake him. The cool experience we had in the lesson is that because Tyler is so smart, he tends to have lots and lots of questions and wants to know all the answers to them right away. But this week we really focused on having him simply focus and concentrate on the basic doctrines and then everything will fall into place. As we were teaching, there was a great pause (it felt like forever, but in reality was probably only a few seconds) and then Sister Morgan started to share an experience from her life with prayer and bore sincere, simply testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. It was awesome and the spirit was so strong. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful companion.

Well, that's all for this week. Sorry the letter is so short, but we've just been on the run and on the go! I love you all, and hope to hear from you soon!!

Sister Hensley

 

New missionaries and their trainers.

Morgan and Hensley

Morgan and Hensley.. Again

Deskins, new member, Hensley

Deskins, new member and son, Hensley

Hensley and new food. Figs

She is not too sure by the looks.  But it tasted good.

Deskins, Hensley at the Griff.

P-Days can be fun.

A couple of Elders along the way.  What a view.

Deskins,  Hensley