Baldwin Village Week 06

Bula Vinaka!!

No, sadly Sister Malani did not come to LA, I just felt like it would be an appropriate greeting for today. Also sadly, even though I took a bajillion pictures this week (for reasons to be explained later) somehow in the move I misplaced my flashcard reader...so next week my friends. Next week. Also next week will be news of what happens in the transfer :) I feel like something big is going to happen, but I just don't know what it is yet...

Last week on preparation day we got to go to the Griffith Observatory (fun fact: they filmed most of Rebel Without a Cause there back in the day) and it was SO cool! It was way up int he California 'mountains' and it was bright and sunny and beautiful. Even though it was smoggy from the city, you could see the Hollywood sign and just enjoy the nature. It was really cool, and free, and a nice break from being down in the city. I haven't felt that close to nature since I was down south in Harbor City :) Refreshing and worth the drive!

Also this week, adding to the adventures of this transfer, was the wonderful fact that WE MOVED INTO OUR NEW APARTMENT! YAY! It's really nice. It's owned/rented by members of the church and they just remodeled the whole thing so we have all brand new appliances (including a washer/dryer AND a dishwasher!?) and it's in a family-friendly, nice and quiet neighborhood. In fact, it's a little TOO quiet. Haha, but it's really nice. We have been blessed :) :) I just hope I don't get transferred and have to leave it! haha....

We had a crazy and kinda rough week with out investigators. Unfortunately, despite all of our great efforts, Sxxxxx won't be getting baptized on the 29th. She didn't come to church this week (it's been about a month since she's come) and she wasn't feeling all that great about it anyway. She still says she isn't ready - which is fine! We don't want to force her into the water, and the decision is ultimately hers. We love her and want those blessings for her, so we are sad of course, but we know that when she makes that decision for herself it will be even better, and the blessings will be even richer.

The work at USC is really picking up though! We are still working with Nxxxxx and she is doing really well! She even played the piano in relief society this Sunday :) The student ward is really great about fellowshipping and helping everyone to feel not only welcome and loved, but like they can contribute in their own way with the gospel, even if they aren't members of the church. It's a really awesome thing to see and be a part of. I hope that when I return back to school that no matter where I am, I will be able to do the same for those whom the missionaries are teaching. We also are working with this awesome guy named Txxxx. He's a transfer student from San Diego and is looking to get closer to God and find a church where he feels like he really belongs. He's excited to read The Book of Mormon - in fact, when we came back for out 2nd appointment with him, he had read all of 1st Nephi and had it marked/flagged with sticky notes full of questions :) And he surfed around Mormon.org! He's the bomb. We are really looking forward to seeing him grow and progress.

Oh, and I almost ate a chicken foot. But I just couldn't do it. So Elder Moli (from Tonga) ate it for me.

Well, I think that's about all!
Au lomani iko!
Sister Hensley

Baldwin Village Week 05

Parking at University of Southern California

You know, it's ironic. Usually the week after temple p-day I don't have much to say because its only been a few days....that is definitely not so this week! haha!



First of all, we had a really neat experience involving the police this week! Now, don't freak out everyone. Remember how I mentioned that we needed to move apartments? Well, it's because someone broke into our apartment. We had to file a police report and on Thursday we got a call back from an officer who was asking if he and his partner could come by our apartment and do an on-site report. We grabbed a member and went to our house. When they showed up and as he was sitting at the table writing some stuff down he says, "Man, your apartment is a lot cleaner than the ones I had when I was on my mission".

Our jaws pretty much hit the floor.

He was a member!

Another missionary showing how.

And so he started telling us crazy mission stories of his from when he was serving in New York City. Their apartment got robbed too and the whole crazy fiasco is what led him to want to be a police officer! Cool, huh? He started asking us how the work was going, what ward we served in, how big out area was, etc. And then he gave us some tips on how to be safer and what-not, took some pictures and left. It was a very pleasant visit. Also, his partner was a younger lady and she was not a member, and so she was asking us questions about how much time we spend in the apartment, and little bit about the church. So, I'm sure that they had a gospel discussion in the squad car after they left (no matter how brief it may have been) SO a blessing coming from all of this - MISSIONARY WORK! WOW! Heavenly father is pretty amazing at what he does, wouldn't you say?


As for our housing situation, we are still living in the apartments behind the visitor center, which means we've had a 30 minute commute into our area everyday. Except for one day, we forgot to take traffic into consideration and were stuck on the 10 for an hour. However, it's kind of nice being in a nicer area, we feel really safe and there's a lot of shopping around :) not that we can do that during the week, but on p-days (like today) it opens up a whole new world of opportunities.

Our teaching pool has really picked up lately. We are currently teaching this awesome girl named Nxxxxx. She goes to USC and is double majoring (aka she's really smart) but she has a good friend  that she grew up going to church with who recently converted to our church and is in the MTC preparing to serve a mission in Russia, and so she started coming to church to check it out. She's been attending for the past month and she's amazing. She asks so many great questions and has such a desire to learn the truth and to expand her faith in Jesus Christ. She wants to find a place where she can constantly be learning and expanding her gospel knowledge, not just a "feel good church". Our lessons have been going wonderfully and so it's been a great experience. I haven't taught a girl in like, forever, and so it's been a really cool experience! We also were able to contact another student this week who picked up all of our pamphlets at an interfaith fair they had recently on campus. He said he's be interested in activities and institute and so we called and set up a return appointment for this week, we can't wait to meet him! The Lord is blessing us despite the CRAZY week we've had...

Also we are working with a woman named Dxxxxxxx and her 10 year old son.  They are preparing for baptism on the 29th! They've been taught for about 4-5 months and they really love the Gospel. It's exciting to see them preparing and working towards a goal after all this time. Heavenly Father is so proud of them, I can just feel it. In fact, Dxxxxxxx was reading her Book of Mormon during her break at work and one of her co-workers saw it and started giving her a hard time about it.  Do you know what she did? She defended it like crazy and even convinced him that it wasn't a replacement to the Bible! Look at her go! Ah I wish I could have been there, it sounds like it was a great conversation :)

Turtle belongs one of our wee friends.

Deskins with an identity crisis.(i.e. We discovered she had the wrong tag after we got to our work area. No time to go back)

100 + weather in the sun!!

100 + weather huddled in the shade waiting for an appointment.

Well, time is short and I'm starving so I'm gonna go write President and grab some lunch :) HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK ALL!


Hermana Hensley

PS - Next week is transfers...AH!! Can you believe it??

Baldwin Village Week 04

Why Hello!

I am just glowing because we just got out of the temple! I love it in there! Really, I wish we could go more often but there is work to be done :) haha I invite all of you who live close to a temple and are able to attend to go more often than you do now, especially since I can't go! haha It just brightens up your whole week. How could you pass up a deal like that? 

This week has been INSANE for us here. Due to some crazy things that happened, the mission is moving us to a new apartment. However, it has to get approved by Salt Lake and the mission etc. etc. and so we have been temporarily living at the patron apartments behind the temple for the past 2 days. This has been both a good thing and a bad thing haha It's about a 30 minute drive from our area, and so it takes at least 1 hour of time each day to travel, and a lot of our stuff (like our food) is still at the old apartment and so we keep forgetting things. BUT we were able to wash our clothes today for a LOT cheaper than we can in our area, and we are around all the VC (Visitor Center) sisters so if there is ever anything that we need, it's pretty easy to get it.

Because of the commute and other office-y things that are associated with moving, we haven't been able to teach a ton of lessons this week. Also, on Friday Sister Deskins and I both got really sick. A lot of the members and investigators have had the flu this past month, and somehow we came down with a watered-down version of it, which knocked us out on Friday. But, we were able to get Priesthood blessings and we were up and about the next day working. The poor people we have been teaching haven't really been able to see us much, but we are on the mend and ready to get back to work! (that is, after we take a breather on our p-day today ha)

Other than those things, not much to report. We get to go to a museum today! So that's exciting. The work here is good :) And the Lord loves us! Also, I've been thinking a lot about how to help the members we work with share the gospel - especially with all of the political things going on. We are SO in the spotlight and a lot of times it can be pretty intimidating to share the Gospel. I just found this awesome article on lds.org that I think has some great suggestions, and I invite all of you to take just one of them, and try to work on that this week. :) I hope you enjoy and I love you all!

Sister Hensley

Sharing the gospel should be a natural part of life as a Latter-day Saint. As the Church grows, more and more people will ask questions, and it will be easier to respond with confidence if we pay attention to some basic principles.

One of those principles, Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles teaches, is that the gift of discernment operates best when we are listening. So while talking about the Church, remember that it may help to ask clarifying questions and to do as much listening as we do talking. With that principle in mind, here are seven simple suggestions: 

1. LIVE YOUR RELIGION. A Latter-day Saint’s life is his or her best sermon. Our conversations ought to be open, genuine, and engaged in with a spirit of kindness. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are most believable when our actions are in harmony with our beliefs.

2. ESTABLISH A FOUNDATION. Rather than responding to random questions, it might be helpful to establish a foundation—explain that we embrace Jesus Christ as our Savior and accept the Bible’s teachings, but believe that the Christian world departed from basic truths, and so Christ needed to restore His Church.

3. CONNECT THE DOTS. Try to discern the gospel principle at the heart of a question, and connect the answer back to the Savior. We do not need complicated, sophisticated arguments when the principles we try to live by come from the Son of God.

4. SHARE EXPERIENCES. Answering questions is not about reciting memorized answers. Sharing genuine, personal experiences can invite the Spirit to bear witness and carry the message into the listener’s heart. 

5. UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE. The same conversation isn’t going to work for everyone—we all have different backgrounds. And remember that a casual question doesn’t require a half-hour lecture as a reply. Be sensitive to interest, comfort, and level of understanding. Signal that sensitivity so that those who are curious can feel at ease.

6. USE RESOURCES. The Church has created online resources that can be helpful for members to share with those who have questions. Church magazines are available online and in print, and items available at distribution centers may be helpful. Sharing a copy of the Book of Mormon may also be appropriate

7. BE A FORCE FOR GOOD. Members of the Church can help clear up misconceptions and increase understanding of who we are and what we believe. People may see differences between what they believe and what Latter-day Saints believe, but they may also find common ground on which to build better relationships.

Baldwin Village Week 3 (LENGUA)

Hola Everyone!!

This week has been crazy, just like all of the other weeks have been on my mission. I feel like maybe I need to find another adjective to describe what being on the mission feels like...haha suggestions would be welcome!

Anyway.

What's interesting to me about this week is that now that I'm pretty far away from the ocean (way farther than in any of my other areas) I keep getting fed seafood. Yeah. And, I don't particularly like it, but I can eat it. I have some kind of fried fish and baked Tilapia in a red tomato-y sauce. Both of which were fine, but not my favorite. However, nothing will cap the great adventure that I had eating...

LENGUA. Yup. for those of you who don't speak Spanish, that's TONGUE. COW. TONGUE.

Now, I think it would not have been that bad if it had been shredded or something in an indistinguishable way and mixed with vegetables and stuff - but no. I saw her take it out of the pot and it literally looked like someone had just yanked it right out of the cow's mouth. Not to mention it was HUGE. I was rather shocked by it (honestly I wasn't expecting to see it all it's tongue-y glory) and so I kind of freaked out. Which gave the member, and my companion, good excuse to mock me for the rest of the night. And then it was just cut into giant chunks and put into tacos. Oh my. I ate one and a half and that's about all I could do. It didn't taste that bad really but I just honestly couldn't get over the texture and the fact that it still looked like pieces of grey tongue in my tacos. Oh man. What an adventure indeed. So that was rather traumatizing.

Another interesting event, we have quite a few stray cats around our apartment and one of them had kittens last week! they are adorable! and they are living at the back of the complex near the laundry room...I took some pictures :)

Other than those things, life in the mission has been going well. We are still having trouble contacting many of the referrals that we have received in the past little while so this week we are going to make them priority in any of the open time slots that we have. Boy are we grateful for these names/people we have been entrusted with and we don't want to let those who referred us down! 

I'm still finding it a little difficult to transition to this new area. Things are just very different and it's been an adjustment. However, I'm coming to honestly love those who we teach. The members that I've met so far have been such a blessing to help us. With time, I know that this area will feel like home to me, just like the other areas that I've been in. 

Sister Deskins and I are doing well :) It took some time for us to adjust to teaching together again.  Even tho we went through the MTC together we have both changed and have very different teaching styles. But it's good now! She has such a sincere testimony and the ability to truly discern the needs of those around her. I'm learning so much from her!

Well, sorry it's so short but that's all for now!

Love,

Sister Hensley

Baldwin Village Week 02

wow. wow. wow. What a week it has been.

Seriously, sometimes when I look back over my journal of what has happened over the past few days I just stare in disbelief. It's truly amazing and crazy all at the same time. I honestly don't know how missionaries do it - but we do!

Let's see...where to start...MARKUS WAS BAPTISED ON SATURDAY!!!!!!! 

YEAH!!! Sister Deskins and I were able to go and attend that. I participated in the service by giving the missionary moment with Sister Snyder. The Spirit was so strong, and Markus just had the biggest smile on his face the entire time. Partly because he was happy, and partly because he was really, really nervous! haha Once again, the most special part of the whole service was when he bore his testimony after the baptism. He talked about how he knows that this is God's true church, restored to the earth and how the Book of Mormon is true - and how he knows all of this because he has prayed, asked God, and received his answer. Wow. I may have gotten a little teary there for a second but I quickly wiped it away and smiled a huge happy smile :) it was an awesome evening. Which was followed by and ADVENTURE to be sure.

So, because I am new to the area, I don't really know which highways to take to get back home. I know whether I'm going north or south, but when it comes to the eastbound or westbound freeways I have no idea - I never had to deal with them down in my last areas. So, as we were coming home from Markus' baptism at about 8pm, we approached I-10 and I asked whether we took 10 west or 10 east. She said west, towards Santa Monica. Well......that was incorrect. We drove through this tunnel and things started looking unfamiliar and the next thing you know, we're driving right down ocean avenue next to the Santa Monica Pier! Ah! We knew we went the wrong way so we started to look for ways to turn around and go back the way we came. WELL wouldn't you know, all of the traffic lights very distinctly told us we couldn't make a u-turn, so I decided to just turn left down a street then turn around and come back out before we got too far away. It wasn't a street I turned down, but the entrance to a VERY exclusive private club. With security and valets, like the kind you see in movies/people magazine. So, we just smiled and pulled up to the giant security/bouncer guy and asked him for directions. He was very nice and told us how to get back home, and we made it safe and sound in the end. Hahaha seriously I wish I had a better sense of direction....I'm learning but sometimes it just gets me in trouble!

Another wonderful thing is that I was able to go to another baptism on Saturday for a man that I taught way back in North Torrance named Dan. Dan, had a very frustrating case.  He had a testimony, but he just needed to do something about it! We had, sad to say, given up hope and moved on. AND YET here he was being baptized yesterday! And let me tell you - he looked like a changed man and just looked as happy as a lark. It was a very special baptism for me, and for Sister Johansen who was also there (we taught him together) Another wonderful thing about this baptism was that the person who baptized him is a man named Allan.  He is very close to our hearts. He's an older man and is a has learning challenges.  While I served in North Torrance we worked with him to read the Book of Mormon daily and to feel comfortable and confident enough to bless the sacrament. Just before I left North Torrance, he blessed the sacrament! He was able to finish reading the Book of Mormon for the 1st time just after I left, and actually understood a lot of it! Yesterday he baptized Dan! WOW!! The Gospel is wonderful and truly blesses lives. 

I'm really starting to love my new area. We're pretty close to the visitor's center and the people in the ward are loving and giving.  Once you get to know them they start to open up to you and trust you. I also really love the people we are currently teaching. Derrick, our baptism from last week got confirmed on Sunday, and he was so ready to administer the Sacrament! Oh, my heart just broke when I saw the look on his face as they said he had to wait until next week.  He would have to be ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood and that could not happen until after the Sacrament this week. He's so excited for the Gospel it's amazing!!

Well, time is short but I love you all!! Hope to hear from you soon!!

Sister Hensley

Baldwin Village Week 1

Well, as you can see by my subject - I was transferred! I'm now way up north, near the temple is a place called Baldwin Village. (I put a link to a Google map of her mission in the header of this post...Dad) 

 

It's pretty...different...than Harbor City. Well, a lot different than Harbor City. For one thing, we are up near the visitor's center and so we teach lessons there sometimes.  We spend part of our P-day there and we do our email and everything. It's kind of strange because I have been using the public library my whole mission. Also, since we are near the VC (Visitor Center) we are near all of the VC sisters, which means I am in a zone/district with a lot of sister missionaries! This is cool, but kind of bizarre at the same time. 

 

And my new companion is....drum roll. . . SISTER DESKINS!!!! She was my companion in the MTC.  Yeah?! It's pretty crazy, isn't it? I just can't seem to get away from any of my companions haha (maybe that means that Sister Snyder and I will be reunited one day too...) But it's been an adjustment. I know I will grow to love all of the people there, and it will become my new home. The Lord definitely needs me here, or else he wouldn't have moved me. One must have faith!

 

Good news, we had a baptism yesterday! yeah! His name is Dxxxxxx and he's 14 and super solid. 

He really loves the Gospel and the Church. I'm still getting to know him, but in the two lessons that we've had together he has such a fire for the Gospel. He calls for his own rides to church, and when he can't find one - he takes the bus. He also keeps a notebook by his Book of Mormon and writes in it while he is reading, this is a really good thing to do.  He is at scouts every week. His mother and sister are investigating too and so hopefully soon they will all be baptized and able to support each other in the Gospel. It was a really great experience for me, even though I'd only been in the area for about 4 days. It's always wonderful to see people making those covenants with Heavenly Father.

 

On another baptism note, Sister Snyder called me this week and told me that Markus is being baptised this Saturday at 6pm!! Yeah!! So I received permission from President Baker to attend. It's very exciting for me. Words just cannot describe...

 

Writing on the Monday after transfers in a new area is really difficult because my week has just been a blur...holy cow...

 

Size 7?

Something cool that we were able to do is that we got to participate in a special service project as a zone on Saturday. There's a giant religious organization here called "The Fame" and they have a really good relationship with our church. Every year they host a back to school free giveaway where they give shoes, backpacks, school supplies, etc. to school aged children in the LA area. 

Some missionaries have a snack of 4 honey buns and a candy bar.

I don't know how you qualify or what to do it, but it's pretty awesome. So us missionaries were invited to participate - not only was it service, but it was PR too! Haha (in fact...you may see us on lds.org sometime...that's the rumor anyway). We helped out with the shoe giveaway - and these were NICE shoes! Vans, ecko unlimited, sketchers, everything pretty much. It was very well organized and they had it all worked out. My job was to hand the appropriate shoes to the runners who were fitting the shoes on the kids. My sizes were 7 & 7.5. It was pretty cool. There are pictures! yay!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, that's about all I can think of. Please keep me in your prayers so that I can adjust to this new area...

 

love you all!

Sister Hensley

Harbor City Week 19

Why hello world!

First of all, I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers this week. I've really been able to feel it and it's been such a blessing. Not only for me as a missionary, but for the people that we are currently teaching. The Lord has just been opening up the windows of heaven and blessing us all over the place. It's quite refreshing :) Even when we feel like we are having a bad day, the Lord still finds a way to bless us an make it all better. I'm so grateful that He knows more than I do!

**On that note, transfers are this week and subsequently only He knows where I will be. SO we shall see! I really am not ready to leave Harbor City....

Let's see, what to say to update y'all on this week...let's start with the not so happy, and then move on to the happy :) On Saturday morning Tina Love passed away. If you remember, her daughter, Mxxx, was baptized in May. Tina had been battling some pretty nasty cancer stuff all year, and about 3 weeks ago she was given 2 days to live. And she made it 3 more weeks :) Apparently the cancer had gotten into her brain and she had some delusions and then a panic attack and then she died. We were able to go over and see her and Mxxx 2 weeks ago and she didn't look too good, but she was happy to see us. She even asked me how my mom was doing/feeling (I was able to sympathize with her plight a little bit because of what I've gone through with my mother, and she always asked about how she was doing. She was so amazing) I'm so grateful for the plan of salvation and that she is free of pain and suffering and the she is happy in the Spirit World. Her funeral is this Saturday and I think that Sister Snyder and I will be helping with it. 

Now for some better news.

Also - Lxx IS BACK!!!!!! AND HE CAME TO CHURCH!!!! AND HE'S HAPPY!!!!! And we've had lessons with him, did service in his new garden out back, and even went with him and Axxx to the ward potluck dinner. it's great to see him - I feel like he's the same Lxx that he was right after he got baptized. He goes to support groups/classes at Kiser everyday and now we are trying to help him get back into the habit of reading his scriptures every day, since he didn't take his Book of Mormon with him to rehab :( But he's doing really good at the moment, and so that was a total blessing.

Another great thing is that we are working with a woman now named Mxxxxx. She's from El Salvador, and so she was taking the lessons from the Spanish speaking Elders who cover our area, but her sons don't really speak Spanish. And so she decided that she wanted to take the lessons in English so her sons would learn too.  She also wanted them to understand when they all come to church together. She is amazing. When we asked her about baptism and how she was feeling about what they Elders had been teaching.  She said she had a dream, and from this dream she knows that "God wants [her] to be a Mormon" :D She reads and prays and is just one of the happiest people I have ever met. She told us the other day that she met a lady who was having a hard time, and she talked to her about Christ, and then got her information and is going to call her to see what time she and the missionaries can come over and teach her! She's already a missionary! She's preparing to be baptized on the 1st of September. Woohoo! See what blessings that lord has had in store for us lately?

And lastly, Mxxxxx. Wow, what a week for him! Last week he was struggling to know if he should join the Church.  He has been blessed this week. We had a lesson with him in which we all sat down and talked with him about everything. Basically at the end we told him to choose a date and to pray about it, and that he and Heavenly Father could work out the best time for him to be baptized. And the date he chose was/is September 1st as well. BUT when we saw him at church yesterday he told us that it might be sooner - he will let us know. AND that he wants/is planning on serving a mission, and wanted to know how long he has to wait after his baptism in order to be able to go. Pretty amazing, huh? The ward has also been AWESOME in reaching out to him and making him feel like no matter what the situation is like at home, he has a home at the church. He still is having problems/troubles, but the Lord is helping him have the strength to overcome. What miracles.

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

Much love,

Hermana Hensley