Harbor City Week 02

Bienvenue Tout le Monde!

Dynamic Duo back together again.

I'm so happy to be writing to all of you on this beautiful (and rainy) California afternoon! And to tell you all about my week. It's been a good one, let me tell you.

First of all - this weekend we had another mini-mission! It was great fun! We were working with a Spanish Stake and so all of the youth that came out with us were Spanish speakers. Trust me, I tried to get in some good practice but my skills are severely lacking. My mini-mission companion was Hna Galdamez (**she told me I could put her name up on the blog) and she was awesome. We had so many wonderful experiences. The sad/great thing was that we had a really hard day on Saturday. First, we went and finished a service project for a woman in our ward. Sister Malani and I had started weeding her garden by ourselves on Thursday, but weren't able to finish so we saved the end product to do with our mini-missionaries.  Many hands make light work. So, that was great but it was long, hard work out the in hot, HOT sun (thank goodness for sunscreen...only I must not have put any on my lips because they burned, and now are peeling. (gross) We came home and showered and then - off to regular missionary work! As sometimes it happens, nobody was home. Everyone rejected us. And, some people were not very nice. We then tried to see some member referrals but it turned out they didn't live in our area.  We were late to our dinner appointment. It was a rough day, BUT there was the saving grace of Marie Calendars blueberry/cream cheese pie and a great message for our mini-missionaries and we were able to end the night on a high note. And you know what, even though the day was long and hard - she loved it! Awesome! And we loved her. She added so much to our companionship this weekend and we were so blessed to have her. We love you Hermana Galdamez!  ***Note from Dad.. I hope she reads the blog.  Our family is grateful that she was a part of our daughter's mission.  We love you too.***

Well...I'm sorry to say that I don't have much more to say about this week. People are moving steadily along in the Gospel and I'm healthy and happy. Your love and prayers are always felt and I'm so grateful for them.

Don't forget to read your scriptures and pray and go to church! Those 3 things are the foundation of our testimonies and if we don't do that, when the hard times come we'll just crumble. I've seen it happen here on my mission and it's heartbreaking. So, just continue to feed your testimonies and know that our Heavenly Father loves you all to pieces! Just like me!

Have a great one!
Hna Hensley

Harbor City Week 01

Well, as you may have noticed by the subject line....I've been transferred! Trust me, I was more shocked by the news that you are, haha.

This transfer caused the mission to undergo a TON of changes.  We had 5 sister missionaries go home with only 1 arrival, 4 others are stuck waiting for their Visas and can't enter the country. As a result they had to close down 2 sister areas and combine others, then they moved us all around.  Hawthorne closed! Both Sis Jo and I got transferred to new places, and no sister missionaries came in to replace us. From now on there will only be elders serving in both our areas plus another area was added.

I trust the Lord, I know that He knows what He's doing, and that He will take care of everyone we were teaching but it is still very difficult to leave an area and the people that you love on such short notice.  But it's comforting to know that man wasn't behind the decision, God was.

Now, I'm serving in Harbor City! And my companion is.....SISTER MALANI! Haha yup. Apparently Heavenly Father just wants me to reunite with all of my former companions haha, but it's all good. The cool thing is, that Sister Malani served here in this area before she came to North Torrance with me, and she knows this area fairly well. And that's very nice.  This area is HUGE. Seriously - I spent a good chunk of time yesterday studying our area map and I feel like I'm just never going to get it. I mean, I'm still trying to get oriented to the Ward and the people and geographically I am lost. I'm way further down south, which you would think would mean that it's warmer here. But nope. It's cooler here than in Hawthorne, especially at night and in the morning. Maybe it's because we get all the air off of the ocean. Meh who knows. All I know is that during the day it's warm/hot and beautiful and at night I freeze my buns off. Ay.

I feel like every week here on the mission is full of adventures, but this one has been especially adventurous for my pallet. This week included the day of 3 dinners and really, really hot Indian food (for those of you out there who have an affinity for southern India and/or Indian food, this story is for you). So, the day started off normally with us trying to get to know all the people that the previous sisters were teaching in the area, making phone calls, trying to meet members, etc. At about 5:00 we were on our way to see if we could catch some former investigators at home when we got a call from a Brother in the ward. He asked us where we were and invited us to come to their house to have a light lunch/snack. How nice! And of course, we never turn down food or an opportunity to get to know/build a relationship with the members.

We turned our car around and headed over (even though we had a dinner appointment in about an hour. (mistake numero uno). When we got to the house there was a whole SLEW of people there! I mean, they were having a party. They rushed us through the house and out to the back where there were some special tacos on the grill. Knowing full well that I would be eating in an hour and that I don't eat very much to begin with I only took a few. Even with all my efforts, by the time I was finished I was pretty full and that would have been enough for the night. We talked to some people there, made some contacts, and answered some questions before heading out to our dinner appointment.

We arrive a little early to the smell of delicious food. Steak and potatoes and coleslaw and vegetables of all sorts lined the table. "Oh boy" I thought to myself. But I was determined to eat a regular sized portion and I did! And then they brought out dessert! oy. Now, by the time I plowed my way through all of that I was really full. I asked to take what I couldn't eat plus more home with me. After a short message we grabbed our plates and headed off to meet some more people.

On our way out, we received a phone call from a man named Sxxxx. He and his wife Axxxxx and their son just moved to California from India (Southern India - Bangalore).  The sisters before us had just started teaching them and they came to church last week. They invited us over and so off we went! They were so nice! They literally don't have anything except for some plates, a desk, some pots and pans, some blankets and a computer. So we sat on the floor and had a wonderful lesson about who God is, who Christ is, and how learning of Him can help us in our families. They are such a beautiful family. They are so open and willing to learn from us. We also talked about baptism and what it is and why we do it. They said that they would like to work towards being baptised, once they learn for themselves of our message! How exciting! So, at the end of this beautiful lesson we stood up and while gathered our things we were making small talk.  Sister Malani likes Indian food and asked Axxxxxx if she could make certain types of food. She said yes, so Sister Malani suggested that sometime we would all have a meal together. Their eyes got wide and said "perfect"! I made all this food, but then Sxxxxxx brought home pizza.  We still have all this food! Would you like some?" Not wanting to be rude, and thinking they would just give it to us to go or something, we said yes.

Little did we know that we just agreed to having a full course, sit-down meal. Oh! My! Goodness! It was delicious, but SO MUCH FOOD! And SO HOT! Like, I was sweating and crying and my face got all red and everything. I didn't even know how red my face was. So, the lovely family gave me some bananas in milk w/sugar to cool off my mouth. BUT I was so full I could hardly eat any more. I thought I was going to be sick. But I just had to keep eating. I eventually hit a wall and couldn't eat any more.  My lovely companion would finished a lot of my food each time the family left to go get us more...MORE! And after I thought we made it through - it was time for rice! I just couldn't do it. And I felt SO bad! So I apologized profusely, blamed it on the spicy-ness of the food and they graciously understood. They said that although I didn't eat a proper meal, I still was able to experience it. And that next time, they'll set aside a special portion just for me that isn't quite so hot and they'll teach me how to prepare my stomach to be able to eat everything. How nice of them!

Then we left. Hurried to the car. Hurried home. By the time we got home we were both sick and threw it all up. Both of us. BUT HEY! The mission is all about learning and growing, right?  But, I don't want to make a habit of this.

So. There you have it. My first few days in Harbor City. The Lord is funny sometimes :) But I'm looking forward to everything that's in store for the next 6 weeks!

All the best!
Hna Hensley

Hawthorne Week 7 EASTER!

Well Hello There! And Happy Easter!

This week has been a short one...well...it's just been short since I last updated because of Temple P-day last Wednesday :) BUT these past few days have been jam-packed, especially because of the holiday. And now that I'm sitting here...well...I can't think of anything that happened! Hang on, let me pull out my planner to remind me...

Well. Last Wednesday we bought a princess/castle egg-dying kit for Easter.
Not only did we create a myriad of princesses, princes, kings and knights but we made a movie.

That's right. And we did it in Spanish to help us with our language skills. It was an epic adventure in which Sir Peabody (cause he's green)

had to save the Princess Narantita (she's orange) from the ugly Prince Todd (with buckteeth and weird yellow hair).





One day, maybe you all will be able to see the video we took, and laugh at our poor Spanish skills. But for now, you'll just have to use these pictures and your imagination to make up your own story :)


Yesterday for Easter was the busiest Easter I've ever had. The English our speaking ward (congregation) asked if Sister Johansen and I could participate in a musical missionary fireside for Easter, in which the ward members could come and invite their friends and neighbors too, very cool. Now, if anybody knows me, they will know that I don't mind singing in public in groups or choirs but I don't sing alone. Well....I can no longer say that. I sang a solo yesterday and it didn't turn out half bad. Sister Johansen of course stole the show with her beautiful operatic voice, but we sang some duets which were very nice and even got Elder Spencer so sing. (he serves with us in our wards with his companion) It turned out nicely. IN fact, if I do recall correctly there were some teary eyes in the audience. I love how the Spirit of the Lord can be so beautifully conveyed through people's talents, whether it's art, music, literature, etc. It's a beautiful thing to be a part of.

On a slightly funnier note, I am extremely sore today. And I was extremely sore yesterday. Why you may wonder? Well. Saturday was a day full of service for us sister missionaries. It started when we went over to some member's house to help them weed in their garden/front lawn. I rather enjoy weeding. there's something immensely satisfying in hearing the crunch of roots as they come up from the ground. in fact, it makes me think I may want to have a garden when I come home just so I can pull the weeds out of it every now and then. Spring in California can be quite toasty, so we were out working in the sun, getting some vitamin D.

Oh, and did I mention that we decided to bike there too for some extra exercise? Well, we did :) So, after a 20 minutes bike ride we pulled weeds for a little over an hour and half, then we hopped on our bikes and headed over to our investigator Jxxxx house to do some service for her there. She had a rather large stack of bricks on the side of the house that she asked us if we could move them to the other side of her garage.  This would put them out of the walkway so her mother's wheelchair could fit through easier. We were happy to oblige and so when we got to her house we eagerly started working.

DID YOU KNOW THAT SPIDERS AND CREEPY CRAWLIES AND ALL KINDS OF BUGS LIVE IN BRICK PILES?!?! ....I do now. After one ginormous spider jumped on me I was traumatized but continued to work, with a much more cautious attitude. After about an hour of brick-lifting we biked back home (a good 25 minutes or so) and then changed and went off to regular missionary work. An now, I am sore but happy to have provided service :) It's a nice change in pace from the door knocking and when you teach while you serve, it's even better :)

well, that seems to be all for the updating this week!

OH NO! Yesterday was the departing missionary fireside and Sister Fonokalafi is going home! :( :(

So, we went with our Investigator Mxxxxxx from the Tongan ward, since she was taught by Sister Fonokalafi too and were all able to say goodbye. We took a picture :)

 I also got to see Sister Malani. I just love her :)



And I love you all! Until next week!
Sister Hensley


ps - Grandma! I have been getting your emails! and I love them :)

Temple Week

Well, as you may have noticed, my email is a little late this week - that's because WE GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE TODAY! Yeah! The picture is of my companion and I and our District leader and his companion who gave us a ride to the temple this morning :) Sorry that I forgot to let everyone know last week...it wasn't on our calendar so I didn't find out officially until it was too late to let everyone know by email. Hope y'all didn't worry too much :)

BUT it has been 10 days since my last update, therefore a lot of things have happened.
For instance. the first adventure starts with seafood. we went to a member's house and she served a lovely white pasta with crab meat and shrimp in it. I don't really like seafood, but I'm willing to try anything. I start eating it, it's not too bad, but about 1/2 way in I just stop. My body won't let me eat any more, and I don't feel so hot. So i eat some bread, ask to take the rest of my meal home, and we share our message and leave. When we get to the car I'm REALLY not feeling the best. I figure it's just nausea and I'll be OK with some fresh air. We drive to our next appointment. She's not home. As we're leaving the house I cough and...well...it's not looking so good. I tell my companion we should go home. Apparently, I have lost a lot of color and I barely make the drive back home. I run into the apartment and proceed to vomit that nights dinner for a good 20-30 minutes. So, adventure #1 can be renamed - the food poisoning adventure.

Adventure #2
I had another bike mishap. Oh yeah, the fun never stops for us sister missionaries and our bikes! Sister Jo and I were just leisurely riding along, down the sidewalk and then we came upon some railroad tracks. Now, we've biked across these before, and while they're a little gravelly they're not bad. Over the tracks we go and keep riding. About 2 minutes later I feel like I'm biking through sand. "this is weird" i thought to myself. Now, it was REALLY windy and I was riding into the wind, so I figured that it was just a combination of the wind resistance, Tongan food, and my lack of being in shape. As we bike up a small hill, I fall way far behind my companion. When I finally catch up to her at the stoplight she says "you doing OK there companion??" and I was like "no! I feel like I'm biking in sand" and she goes "oh....your back tire is totally flat" We cross the street and take a look, low and behold my back tire is full of thorns. AND so is my front tire. Yup, big, nasty, jackal headed thorns. and, silly me, I pulled one out of my front tire to see what it was. Then i hear the lovely "hisssssss" of all the air escaping from my tire and it proceeds to go totally flat as well. Needless to say that was depressing. Add to that the fact that I was riding another sister's bike, and that made for a sad situation. We weren't that far from our next appointment so we just walked our bikes over there. Which, in case any of you are interested, it is not really any easier pushing a bike with flat tires than it is riding one. We got to our appointment after a lovely, squeaky, 30 minute walk and then had an AWESOME lesson with Jxxxx.  We then left her house, walked around the corner and proceeded to make a bunch of phone calls to try and find someone who could come and rescue us. We were about an hour's walk away from home. Finally after many phone calls and much frustration, some of the Spanish speaking elders who live not too far from us picked us up, loaded our poor bikes on their bike rack, and drove us home to get our car :) thus ends adventure #2.

Adventure #3 starts the next day when my companion wakes up and is really, really sick. she's got some kind of flu and is coughing and sneezing and has a sore throat. so, she sleeps in. I clean and study and we plan and stay in that day while she recovers. When we call our district leader to ask for permission to stay in that day, he asks if there's anything he can do for us. I mention that my bike tires are still full of holes, and if he and his companion could come over and show me how to take the tires off and patch them that would be great. So, they do and help us. Turns out that there were 7 holes in total between the 2 tires. 4 in the back one and 3 in the front one. many more thorns and a giant splinter were pulled out of the rubber and the inner tubes, after lots of work with green goo, chalk and patches they're holding air and doing fine! Hopefully, I'll be getting my own bike from my other area sometime soon so I don't have to worry about hurting other peoples things. For now things are going well. Sister Jo is still sick and has been on and off for the whole week, but we're working through it, so, i guess until sister Jo fully recovers this adventure is yet to be finished....I'll have to update y'all again next week! haha

Adventure #4
And then, well, we had to call the paramedics at one of our lessons because our investigators mother, who is elderly and has dementia, fell down a step and couldn't get up. They came over and took her to the hospital. Turns out she fractured her pelvis :(

The normal adventures of missionary work are good. Our investigators are doing OK, reading and progressing, and we were able to teach a first lesson to a new investigator yesterday. We knocked on her door trying to track down a former investigator and then asked if we could come in and share a message with her - and she said yes!! awesome!! So we'll see how that goes.

I love you all, thank you for your prayers and your letters!

Shout out to Kelsey Moss! I got your package this week and will be sending you a letter soon :)



Have a wonderful week!!
Hna Hensley

Hawthorne Week 4

Wow!

I can't believe the good news from home! Grandma and Grandpa - missionaries too!! What a blessing to serve the Lord in any way we can. Ah my heart just leapt with joy when I heard the news!

As far as missionary work this week - things have been good! We've had a lot of miracles! First of all, I don't know if I've told you about our investigator Jxxxx. She is wonderful. She's in her 50s and has a daughter who is a member of the church. She took the missionary discussions years ago, but now, due to difficult circumstances in her life she's ready and willing to accept the gospel. And she wants to be baptized! So we teach her 1-2 times a week and I just love her. She takes care of her mother at home who has severe dementia. It's just like being around Grandma Nena only her mother grew up in Iowa. I love being over there and enjoying their company and seeing Jxxxx grow in the Gospel. One great miracle with her this week was with the word of wisdom. We taught her about it on Wednesday when we had a lesson with her. She doesn't have any major problems with it but she does drink coffee (and she has for years and years and years). However, she wants to live all of God's commandment and so she told us that she was already cutting down to 1 cup a day, and that she would slowly wean herself off of it week by week until she stopped drinking it completely. And that when she ran out, she wouldn't buy any more. That was great news for us! Then we finished teaching about some other things and set up an appointment to come do service for her on Saturday. Well, when we came over to do service she just looked so excited. We asked her how she was doing with the coffee and she said she hadn't had ANY since our lesson! That the next day, she woke up just with a horrible stomach ache and so she didn't drink any, and the same on Friday and when she was feeling better on Saturday she didn't have any desire to have any!! Wow! What a miracle. She said she didn’t know if Heavenly Father worked that way so that she could stop drinking coffee, but she thought maybe he did :) What a wonderful experience that was!

Also, did I ever tell you about the creepy abandoned hospital in our area? Well there's a creepy abandoned hospital right down the street from the church, which we bike past on our way home at night, and the lights are always on inside even though it's been abandoned for years. it's quite scary. WELL the other day we parked across the street and noticed that the parking lot was fully of cars....and movie trailers! yup! they're totally filming something in it! And according to a member who lives down the street from the hospital, Sylvester Stallone was walking around the grounds on Saturday. Fun stuff :) I'll have to keep keeping my eyes peeled when we're in that area.

The last little bit of news from this week is that Sister Johansen and I are going to be singing at a musical Easter fireside on Easter. And I'm singing a solo!!! ahh!!! So please pray for me. I'm super nervous. I don't mind singing in groups, but alone....ahhh!!

I love you all! and I CAN'T WAIT FOR CONFERENCE THIS WEEKEND! Ah it's like...almost better than Christmas. Seriously, take notes and soak in the opportunity we have to listen to a prophet of the Lord. Let their words be your compass/Liahona for the next 6 months. I love it!

-Hna Hensley

Hawthorn Week 3

Hola Familia!

Well, this week has been especially tiring. We only get allotted a certain amount of miles on our car every month, and we're low, like really low. And we have to make a few more trips up to the mission home before the end of the month so we've had to be conservative. Conservative in missionary terms means we've been biking pretty much all week, even in the rain.
The pictures are before we headed out into the drizzle to bike. not excited, and then fake excited haha :)  It was cold and wet, but we were able to see so many tender mercies of the lord because we've been on our bikes. For example, one day we had an appointment with an investigator, Fxxxxx, and his daughters, but he called earlier in the afternoon and cancelled.  He forgot that it was his daughter's open house at school. We were sad but still went to the area where he lived and tried so contact some other people. nobody was home. As we were biking down this one street all of the sudden we hear "Sisters!" and we turn around and it was Fxxxxx and his daughters! They were just walking back home after the open house. We pulled over our bikes and talked to them for a few minutes on the street and were able to set a return appointment. We go back and see them tonight. That was definitely a tender mercy of the Lord.

However, with all the tender mercies also comes the stories about how I'm still not horribly coordinated on a bike. In fact, I totally biffed it on my bike. I don't know what happened - just that all of the sudden both my bike and I were on the ground. I was fine, and so was the bike, but it was sure embarrassing. Especially since it was on the sidewalk right by a traffic light, which happened to be red so there were about 15 cars that just sat and watched me fall. But, oh well, I made it through without any scratches or anything. Also, one night when we were coming home all I know was that I went to turn but instead ended up against the wall. and since I didn't want to fall off of my bike again, I just hung there for a minute. Sister Jo turned around because she heard me scream and then just started laughing. and i had to admit. it was pretty funny. ALSO yesterday we biked to church and when we got out (at like, 4:30) it was SUPER windy and I was almost, literally, blown of my bike twice. It's ridiculous. haha So fun bike adventures!

Yesterday, sister Jo and I experience another small miracle. We had an interview with our district leader at the church at 8:00 PM. When we finished it was time to go home for the night. Since we were the last ones to leave the church we had to lock the gate. Which normally is fine. However, last night as we were moving the gate, one of the pins that goes through the gate and into the ground came out of the gate. We tried and tried and tried and just couldn't get the bar to go back in. Like, it was ridiculous. It was cold and dark and we were tired and getting frustrated. While sis Jo was working at it I said a prayer. I knew that, even though it was a trivial thing to ask, it was very important for us to get the bar back in so that we could go home and plan. All I can tell you is that the bar bent and we were able to close the gate and go home. It was a great testimony builder of the power of prayer and how prayer works through our actions.

One last thing before I head off to write my letter to president. Food adventures, I pretty much jinxed myself last Monday saying that I haven't had to eat anything weird or that I didn't like. Well, that night for dinner, we had salmon. yup. It wasn't breaded or anything, just baked. I at my whole piece. It wasn't the worst thing in the world, but it's still definitely not something that I would choose to eat. But I survived! and I think my body went into shock because of all the omega 3's haha.

In the Tongan ward they love to feed us. And, they don't do anything small. There was a relief society birthday activity and it was a feast with music and performances and everything. it was crazy. I ate lamb ;/ which tasted fine but was really fatty. And, my poor body is just not used to all the meat and heavy food. At every activity they have food. No matter what it is. Even if they're just having choir practice, or dance practice - theres food afterwards.  Tor example, when we went to the church for our interview last night, the Tongan ward was having choir practiced. they finished and had like, fried dough (like, donut balls w/out sugar) and this strange herbal hot white coco that tasted like warm liquid fruity pebbles. They gave us missionaries all the leftovers. You don't have to worry on that front, my temporal needs are all taken care of, even if I'm going to gain a million pounds :) haha

As for learning Tongan, it's hard! I can sing in Tongan out of the hymnbook  and I know a couple of words, but beyond that I have no idea. We'll see how that progresses too. Mostly I'm just lost in all of the meetings we go to.

well - that's all for this week! love you all!
Sister Hensley

Athens Week 2

Just so you know - I'm having flashbacks towhen i was in wales...this
keyboardhas a spacebar  thatsticks. so,if it lookslike many of my
words don't have spaces inthem, feel free to edit this before youpost
it so that it's easier for everyone to read. i don't have time to go
back and fix it all for y'all :( sorry!!

Note: It was fun to read this letter all messed up and all but I have cleaned the rest of the letter up.




Taro Root

I've now successfully survived two Sundays in the Tongan ward and two weeks of dinner appointments with them! They are so kind and generous and loving. There is a companionship of elders that also serve in both of our wards, and so we alternate days between the two of us for the two wards for who gets to feed us. On the Tongan days we always know that we'll be fed. Even if we forget to call ahead, they make sure they do something for us. Sometimes they take us out, and other times they make traditional food for us. Tongan food is good but it's all very...heavy! Lots of meat and potatoes. It's hard for me to eat all that I'm given (especially because it's good and I want to eat all of it) but I do my best. Who knows, by the time I come back home you might be surprised at the amount of food that I can eat  The good thing is that I haven't had any really strange food adventures. About the strangest thing that I've eaten here is something called taro - which is like a super dense potato/sweet potato. It's good but boy does it stick to your ribs! My bones are definitely going to be nice and strong by the end of this transfer for sure.

I was sick again this week  I caught a really bad cold and was coughing and sneezing up a storm for about 3 days. I'm feeling much better now, and through it all we were still able to get a lot of good work done. So the week wasn't a total bummer even thought I felt like I was dying pretty much every day. Speaking of which, you never thought that losing one hour of sleep would make such a big difference....well.... the struggle that I had staying awake all day yesterday can certainly attest to the falsehood of that statement. Daylight savings times was a struggle for Sister Jo and I. It's almost akin to having really bad jet lag. Today was better, but having to go out and play frisbee in the dark before the sun has come up is going to take some getting used to for sure.

Because of the illness there's not much to tell for this week! The work is good, we have some great investigators that are progressing, I see tiny miracles in my life every day here and I love my companion! All is well here in Hawthorne!

Much love to everyone,
Sister Hensley