Harbor City Week 13

Buenas Dias!

Wow. Transfers always seem like the craziest time in the mission. Pair them up with the 4th of July and you've got quite an exciting week :D The day before transfers I stayed with the Spanish sisters down in San Pedro and then the next morning went back to Harbor City to wait for my new companion...SISTER SNYDER! She's awesome. She's from St. George, has a tons of siblings, is 6 feet tall, blond, and has only been on her mission for 5 months.


Sister Snyder on the left.

That means that this transfer I became the senior companion! I know - crazy huh? And so on transfer day I had to pick up some other elders and we all went up to Santa Monica for leadership training and were there until late in the afternoon. And since the 4th can be a slightly dangerous holiday we had to be in our apartments by 7pm. We got back into our area just in time to go to our dinner appointment and then head back to the apartment. Which is weird because we had a whole day without any missionary work.

I'm learning a lot things about myself now that Sister Malani is gone. Like, I know the area a lot better than I thought I did, the people in the ward actually like me, and that the Lord trusts me and has blessed me with a companion who is excited and ready to learn and grow and serve. Truly this week has been one full of blessings and miracles.

First off, we have a baptism this Saturday! Txx is being baptised! He truly has progressed so much in the past few weeks. He hasn't had any cigarettes for 2.5 weeks, he reads from the scriptures daily, prays daily, comes to church and actively participates, keeps all of his appointments with us, and has a true testimony of the Book of Mormon. The most amazing thing I've seen change, is his countenance. It seems like every time we go over for a lesson with him he is just beaming. IN fact, they announced his baptism in church this Sunday over the pulpit and when he stood up he had the biggest smile on his face - he was so happy. And throughout the meetings that day people kept coming to him and saying how happy they were for him to be baptised. It's going to be a great service

Mxxxxx is also progressing really well. This week he told us that he prayed about his baptismal date and that even though the 28th is right around the corner...it's ok because he's ready and he wants a new clean start so why wait? He's facing a lot of opposition from his family - he's African American and so a lot of his family members have a real problem with him joining the church.  They have many misconceptions about how the church treats other races and cultures. Mxxxxx though has a strong testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel, and has been defending his testimony to his family. It's going to be hard when he's baptised.  His family has pretty much told him that he won't be welcome in their homes anymore, but he has LDS friends that are reaching out to him, and also the ward is starting too as well. In fact, we had a really great experience when a member came with us to a lesson with him yesterday. This member is a recently returned missionary and he and Mxxxxx got along really well. In fact, Mxxxxx even asked us for his number afterwards so that he could ask him more questions! It's so great to see when member and investigators bond, especially because as missionaries, we change. You never know when we are going to be around. But the members will always be there. SO yes. Mxxxxx is doing SO so well and preparing for baptism. In fact, funny story, after our lesson with him on Tuesday we assigned him to read Mosiah 16:6-10. But when he wrote it down he wrote Mosiah 6-10 instead. And you know what, even though he thought it seemed like a lot of reading - he read it all! all 4 chapters! And highlighted verses and had questions for us. He is elect. The Lord has such great things in store for him, I can just feel it.

Well, I think that's all of the majorly exciting things that happened this week :) The work is good and the church is true!

I love you all!
Sister Hensley

Harbor City Week 12

Well Hello Everyone!

I'm still in Harbor City today but transfers are on Wednesday so I'll find out what's happening to me tomorrow night. I'm almost 100% sure that I won't be going anywhere, since Sister Malani is being transferred to Fiji and they probably won't white wash the ward again. ("white wash" is a slang term used when both missionaries are transferred out of an area and new ones are transferred in) I do feel like some sort of change will be happening though, so I'll be sure to let you know what happens next week. Whatever the case may be, I know that the Lord is behind the decision and he will help me be able to handle whatever is next in store for me :)

I've been reflecting this week a lot on how much of a roller-coaster ride the mission is. It seems like things are either going really well, or things are really tough. And this week has been the week full of polar opposites. First, Sister Malani got really dehydrated and super pale and weak and we had to stay in for one day. And then, the next day we didn't really have any appointments and so we had to go out finding all day. Days like that are tough, but can be rewarding :) Either way they are physically demanding and on top of her recovering from her severe dehydration that day was a tough day. Just when we were about to the end of our rope things just started to pick up. In fact, they picked up so much and so fast we were a little overwhelmed with how good Heavenly Father was to us that day. Let me tell you about it :)

First off, did I tell you that we lost the phone? Well, we did a few weeks ago and so we were phone-less for about a week. When we were finally able to get a new phone, it didn't have any contact information in it, except for the missionaries in the mission. And so, when we received a message from an unknown number asking when they could meet with us, Sister Malani and I were rather surprised. Especially since this was a new number. When we asked who it was, it turned out to be a potential investigator named M*****. We were able to set up an appointment with him and we met on Friday. What a tender mercy, let me tell you. He's in his mid-twenties and he told us that the copy of The Book of Mormon that he has is the same one that he was given when he was 15 years old. Although he hasn't read from it in a very long time, he's taken good care of it. Then, he asked us who Joseph Smith was, and so we were able to teach him about the restoration of the Gospel. After we taught, we asked him what it would mean to him to come to know that all of these things were true. He said his life wouldn't change too much, but that it would be better. The Spirit was so strong that we invited him to be baptized! You know what? He said yes! Then he told us that ever since he received that copy of the Book of Mormon he felt like this is where he belonged, and where he would find the most happiness. But, back then when his mom found out he was reading the Book of Mormon she threatened to kick him out of the house if he continued to learn from the missionaries. He is older now and if he gets kicked out he can get his own apartment, and while he's apprehensive because he won't have any support from him family, and may even be disowned he wants to move forward and prepare to be baptized at the end of July.

Next, we went over to teach a lesson to a recent convert, and his non-member sister and her husband were visiting from Mexico! It turns out that they have had the missionaries over to their house, but have only had them over once, maybe twice over the years. We asked them if they would like to join us for the lesson, and they did! His sister even said the prayer! It was a really great experience. Even better, was that we invited them to come to church on Sunday and they did! Even if they choose not to formally listen to the missionaries at this time, they were able to feel the Spirit of God and have their lives touched while they were here on vacation. Pretty sweet huh?

AND THEN to top it all off we had a wonderful lesson with J**! We met and talked about the Holy Ghost and how Heavenly Father has been involved in his life every since he was a little kid and we invited him to be baptized! He also accepted and is working towards a date at the beginning of August. As you can see, we were pretty overwhelmed that day by how great Heavenly Father was to us. It's just a testament to me that when we are obedient and try our hardest to do what is asked of us and work in the Lords way, we will be blessed. I'm looking forward to this next transfer and seeing how else the Lord will work with us as we help these people grow in their testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Don't forget to pray and read your scriptures every day! It's like putting on your spiritual armor - "The Armor of God" - without it the world is able to beat you down during the day :( and since nobody wants that, make sure that you prepare yourself to fend of whatever the adversary sends you way.

I love you all tons and hope to hear from you soon!

Sister Hensley

Harbor City Week 11

Why hello everyone!

This week has been a great one. The awesome thing that happened to us missionaries since my last letter is that we had a general authority come to visit the mission! Elder Paul V Johnson and his wife came and spoke to us on Friday. He's a member of the 1st quorum of the 70 and has been working within the church educational system and whatnot. He spoke to us about teaching spiritual truths, and how those we teach can only learn spiritual truths by the Spirit. It was a really great afternoon. Our mission president also spoke to us about the Holy Ghost and about how we truly can rely on him in our missionary work. It really had a positive affect on my companioship. We have new and renewed motivation to go out and do the work! It's amazing how hearing how much faith and love our leaders have for us will really add to a companionship.

Unfortunately we weren't able to see J** this week. His brother unexpectedly passed away and so he had to go out of town. But he should be giving us a call either today or tomorrow, that's exciting.

Well, since it's only been a few days since I wrote, that's about all I have to report. Today for preparation day we were able to go to a member's house...well...his mansion...and play tennis and ping pong and do some bowling. it was pretty great. But the best part was the view of the sea/harbor from outside. Sister Malani and I took some pictures :)

Love you all!
Sister Hensley

Harbor City Week 10

Bula Everyone!

The sun in Calif. is so bright.

Wow. It's funny because on Temple P-days I should have a ton of things to say because I haven't emailed in 10 days instead of 7, but for some reason my mind is always blank. Maybe it's because I was just in the temple and so I just feel all calm and peaceful on the inside. The temple makes any day a little bit more beautiful :)

     

This past Sunday we had stake conference here in the Palos Verdes stake, and us missionaries were invited to sing in the choir. It's so nice to be able to participate in a choir again! Ah I just loved it. And, I've always been able to feel the spirit well through music,  so being able to sing  was especially wonderful that Sunday. It gave me the peace I needed for that day. The talks were great - in fact - our mission president and his wife spoke about having faith and doing missionary work, it was great.

     
Oh and something exciting that I will get to talk about next Monday is that on Friday we are having a general authority come to the mission and speak to us! I don't remember his name but he's a member of the 70 that's over this region. So we'll get to here what the first presidency and everyone really wants conveyed to us missionaries. Being able to go to the temple just a few days before has been a wonderful way to prepare for his visit. I"ll be sure to take lots of notes :)
    
We were able to teach a man this week named Joe, who was someone that the Spanish-speaking sisters met on the street a few weeks back. He works as a longshoreman down at the harbor and so his work schedule is kind of erratic - but we were able to teach him last Wednesday and it was wonderful. He said that he knows that he's searching for something, but he just doesn't know what it is. And that he feels like God brought us to him at this time so that we could help him find it. Pretty sweet if I do say so myself. Heavenly Father is so good to us missionaries sometimes (well...all the time)

Current Zone at the Temple.

   
Love you all! Sorry this weeks it's kind of short....
Sister Hensley

Harbor City Week 9

This is Dad, I am just getting Shannon's letter from last week posted.  There should be another letter day after tomorrow.  So check back.  Now, on to the regularly scheduled blog post.


Well I'm going to start this off by saying that next week is Temple p-day and so I won't be sending out anything until next Wednesday :)

Wow...this week...We've been biking again and so my tan is getting tanner. And the great thing about being in the south of the mission is that there is always a breeze from the ocean and so even if it gets hot, the wind is always there to save us. It makes biking in skirts a little challenging sometimes, especially when you're flying down some of the hills that exist in Harbor City/San Pedro but I love it. I'm thinking that I might even bike when I get back to Provo. Shocking, I know.

Oh goodness. There are so many people around me in the family history library up here at the VC...it's getting really hard to concentrate. ok. let me gather my thoughts....

As for our investigators, we were able to teach Txx 3 times this week! His smoking has been up and down, and we really felt prompted to have him pray about his baptismal date. We were able to have a member who speaks Samoan go to a lesson with him and that really helped us to gain a true understanding of where he's at as far as his baptism. When we saw him on Wednesday he hadn't had any cigarettes since Sunday, but he said it was hard. And so we told him that he could just cut back slowly instead of going cold-turkey and he seemed to feel better about everything. So now, we're working with him really trying to help him strengthen his testimony of the Book of Mormon and his faith in Jesus Christ.

We haven't been able to really get ahold of Nxxxx until yesterday, and we set an appointment for tomorrow and so hopefully there will be some good progress there as well.

Sxxxxx and Axxxxxx called the Sisters while I was on exchanges in another area and they had a really great lesson with them about the Restoration. We're planning to review it with them using the scriptures this week.  Last night we stopped by and were able to watch some videos together from mormon.org which helped them to see how the Gospel blesses famililies and individuals from all over the world. It's pretty awesome, and if you haven't checked it out lately, here is my shameless plug to do so.

The most exciting thing that happened this week is that I received a call on Wednesday night from the elders who are serving over in Hawthorne telling me that Jxxxx was getting baptized on Saturday!! Yeah! She was one of the people we were working with when the area was closed and I got moved to Harbor City.  I was so excited for her. And so, on Saturday Sister Malani and I were able to drive over to Hawthorne and attend her baptism! She asked if I would speak at the service about the Holy Ghost and I was honored. Especially because during the entire 6 weeks that Sister Johansen and I were teaching her the one thing that really kept her going was the presence of the Holy Ghost in her life. From the very first lesson she was able to recognize the Spirit when she was reading the scriptures, praying, and coming to church. And so being able to speak on the Gift of the Holy Ghost that she would be receiving the next day was truly inspired and a great opportunity for me. The Spirit during the service was very strong and very special, and I'll admit, I got a little teary eyed more than once. Being able to attend her baptism was such a testament to me that Heavenly Father is truly aware of all of his children, and that it's never too late to make those promises with Him.

Other than that it hasn't been too eventful here in Harbor City. Like I mentioned earlier, I went on exchanges but it was in a Spanish speaking area. I thought my brain was going to explode. I had such a hard time understanding the people, and an even harder time of being able to express myself. It was frustrating to say the least, but it just filled me with a determination and resolve to set specific language learning goals for myself and to try my best to improve while I'm serving in English. Who knows if the Lord will ever call me to serve in a Spanish-speaking area, but the most important thing is that I stay prepared.

Well, sorry this email is a little scattered, but I've been a little scattered today haha lots of things to do and so little time!

I love you all!
Until next Wednesday!
Sister Hensley

Harbor City Week 08

Bulavinaka!

I've been learning some Fijian from my lovely companion...I can now count to 10 and say "Hello" and "I love you" ....and that's about it so far haha but hey! It's something, right?

I just want to start out this email by saying thank you so much for all of your prayers and love and thoughts. I seriously have felt them this week, both in my heart and in the hearts of those here in Harbor City. Our prayers are being answered all over the place in ways we never would have expected...and while there are still some hard days it truly has been a blessing to be in this area this week.

First a fun/funny fact about this week before we get down to spiritual business. I am now the proud owner of a farmer's tan. Yup. I don't know how California sun is different than Texas sun but it is and I'm "tanning up" to quote my companion. This might be due partly to the fact that we ran out of miles this past month, and so we biked for 2 days! It was a great experience. I can't believe that I biked what I did. We biked all the way from our apartment in Harbor City down to 7th street in San Pedro...I have no idea mile wise how far that is but it took us a little over an hour to do it. And our area is full of hills. Oy Vey. But they were good days, in fact many of the good things that happened this past week were/are a result of the time we spent biking. See? The Lord even blesses us when we have slightly poor planning for the month and run out of miles haha :)

We've recently started teaching a woman named N****. She's a single mother of a lovely 3 year old boy named B**** (She's actually the one that the Spirit lead us to a few weeks ago.  She was in her neighbors apartment when we arrived.  She told us that the night before she had prayed to God for help and guidance, and we showed up.) We had a wonderful lesson with the two of them on Tuesday. The Spirit was so strong. We talked about Jesus Christ and how much he loves us. In fact, the most wonderful part of this lesson was that right at the started.  We were trying to get and keep her 3 year old's attention so we gave him a picture of Christ and the little children that's on the front of the Articles of Faith pass along card.

Christ and Children from around the World

By Del Parson

He looked at the picture, his eyes go really wide and he said, "Look! It's the king" and he pointed to Christ! It was amazing. At first we thought that maybe it was just because he was wearing a red robe, but as we flipped through the Gospel Art book and he looked at all the pictures, he would point to Christ in each of them and say, "It's the king!" If that wasn't sweet enough, his mom turned to us and said, "You know, I have no idea where that comes from. I don't really talk to him him about God because I don't really know much myself. But every night when we pray he asks me if I love him, and then if his God loves him. I don't know why, but he does"
How precious! It was just a testament to me that children are such sweet, precious souls and our Heavenly Father loves them so much. No wonder the scriptures tell us that we need to become like little children... Matt. 18:3, 3 Nephi 11:37.

Anyway so we had a great lesson with them and set up a return appointment for Friday. But the next morning she called and left us a voice mail asking to reschedule and to have us call her back. So we did. I happened to be the one who called, after rescheduling, I asked if there was anything that we could do for her.  She just asked if we could pray for her. I said sure that is easy and then asked if there was anything specific we could pray about.  That is when she started to cry. I was a little taken aback she had given no indication that she was upset. So, I just waited on the phone until she could get her composure.  Then she started her story.  It seems that right after we left that wonderful meeting she went right to her neighbors apartment to tell her all about our visit, how wonderful it made her feel.  It was a long story and many things happened but at the end this lady attacked her for no reason.  N**** ended in the hospital and the lady went to jail. And so N**** asked if we could move her appointment because she went to go stay with her mom for the weekend. As I sat and listened on the phone I was amazed at how Satan tries to keep people from the truth about God. We told her not to loose faith and that we would pray for her. Wow. We haven't seen her yet, but when we do it's going to be good. I can't wait to see her grow in her faith in Jesus Christ and in the Gospel.
We also had a great lesson with another investigator T** this week. He has a baptismal date for the 17th of June (Father's Day) but he also has a problem with smoking. He smokes 3 cigarettes a day. When we taught him on Monday he said he'd cut down this week but when we saw him yesterday he hadn't. We told him that we'd have to move his baptismal date because in order to be baptized he can't have had any cigarette for at least 2 weeks.  This would mean stopping right then or we would have to move the date.  So, as we started to plan his date he said, "Wait, when is the date I have right now? The 17th? I still want to be baptized on that day" and so we told him he'd have to quit smoking - no more cigarettes from that point on. And you know what he said? He said "Ok. No more. I quit right now". Wow! It was great. He wouldn't let us take his cigarettes from him, but we did set up an appointment for tonight and so we'll see if he's true to his word!

The last experience I want share is with S***** and A******, our wonderful family from India. We were finally able to have a lesson with them this week. Well, actually our lesson was only with A****** because S***** was sleeping. He had been up for the past 48 hours waiting for the Visa people to come by their apartment.  After all that, he actually missed them because he decided to take a shower when they came by.  When we came by he had just passed out, so we let him sleep and just taught A******. The Spirit of God that is present in their lessons is so beautiful and strong. This family is so humble, so loving, and so sincere in their desire to learn and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Feeling prompted of God, we changed the lesson we were planning and decided to tell her about Lehi's dream and focus it on the family. As we talked, A****** was so involved and attentively listening to everything we said. As she read the verses from 1 Nephi 8 she understood them and just kept saying how it was "So true!". We talked a little more about being baptised and she said that she and S***** still want to be baptized, but things just got crazy with the Visa that their date passed. But they want to set another date with us :) And the most wonderful part about that whole lesson was that she prayed. She's never prayed in a lesson with us before and her prayer was so sincere and lovely. I just wanted to cry right there on the floor (they still have no furniture) of their little apartment, but I didn't want to wake S***** up so I held it in until we got in the car, then I cried a good one. The Lord loves all of his children SO much. AH! The Gospel is SO true and it has the power to change people's lives for the better.

It's moments like these that really confirm my love for this work. Harbor City is flourishing this week. And like I said, while there certainly are days and moments that are better than others, when I look back on my time here so far, I can only smile and express my gratitude for my Heavenly Father for the opportunity He's given me to serve Him in this way.

I love you all more than words can express. And I love my Savior even more than that.

Until next week,
Au lomani iko
Sister Hensley

Harbor City Week 07

Los Angeles Temple

Well, Sister Malani and I both survived transfers! And we are both still here in Harbor City and will be here until July 4th :) Oh, and Happy Memorial Day!

One would think that since neither of us were transferred that our week wouldn't have been a crazy one. Well, that was definitely not the case this week. In fact, it feels like I haven't emailed in ages because this week has been a slow one. But, such is life and I'm just living my mission day by day :) One of the reasons that this week has been so long is because I've been sick. It's really just that time of year and since everyone in the world is sick, and we talk to everyone in the world it was going to happen eventually. The usual cold/sinus/throat thing. I'm pretty much fine now except I have a pretty nasty sounding cough. Which is mostly annoying more than anything and hopefully that will be disappearing in the next day or so.

We've been doing a lot of service this week because everyone (OK not everyone, but several people) in our ward are moving. Seriously now I think I'm an expert and packing boxes, cleaning shelves and vacuuming. It's always rather exciting/interesting to see what kind of things people accumulate over the years and what they're willing and ready to throw away, give away and keep. It also makes me never want to move, EVER! Too bad that's a part of life too hahaha

Something that I've really learned more about this week, is patience. It's funny because my companion tells me that I'm an incredibly patient person, and yet I don't feel like I'm patient at all. Maybe I feel this way because I'm not as patience with myself as I should be. I have come to realize that this is actually the case. I work hard and want to give my all for the Lord, and sometimes when the reality of being human hits me (such as being sick) it's hard to be patient with myself. Anyway, I am rambling.

Our investigators are doing well. We had a little scare with S***** and A****** this week, the Indian family that we've been teaching. They came to the baptism last week and really seemed to have a good time, felt the Spirit and then disappeared. This whole week we haven't been able to get in touch of them. Our appointments with them fell through, we could never get through to them on their phones and they live in a gated apartment building and so it's hard to get in and 'just stop by'. We've been stopping by pretty much every night this week to try and get in touch with them but without success. So last night we decided to walk around the block to follow up on a lead that we planned as backup.  Guess who we see walking across the parking lot! A******* and her son! And so we started talking to them and trying just to make sure everything was OK and it turns out that 1) their phone hasn't been working and so they're trying to get a new one 2) their son has been sick and 3) their visas are expiring on the 31st.  The Visa is a surprise for them because they were told they wouldn't have any problems with that. Anyway, they've been trying to work it all out and may have to go across the country to talk to their attorney to work it all out and then come back to California. Crazy stuff, it's amazing how hard Satan will try to thwart people when he sees that they are on the path to learn of the truth about God.

Well, that's it for this beautiful memorial day weekend. Be safe, remember that the Lord loves you. Reach out and do your own missionary work! The members are the lifeblood of the Church missionary program. :)

All the best,
Sister Hensley