Semana de Milagros - March 10, 2014

Hi Guys:

This week has been absolutely fantastic!! Probably one of my favorites on my mission!

Tuesday: I went on exchanges with Sister Hoer to Greeley. It was so great! And so fun to see the members from the Glenmere Ward and some of our investigators we taught together when I was there! We had a bit of a different experience... We went to see Richard and Sam!! :) I love them! But last week they were watching the gospel channel and something came on called "The Truth about Mormons". So they decided to watch... Oh boy... It obviously sparked a lot of questions. So they asked us to watch it with them and to resolve their concerns. So we sat down and we only got through 15 minutes in 1 hour! We were having to pause like crazy! This preacher was saying he got all of his information out of our books and they actual were quotes... He made accusations that Mormons don't believe Mary was a virgin, or that we only believe in partial Atonement. What does that even mean?? We quickly set that straight and explained that we DO believe Mary was a virgin, and we DO believe in the Atonement completely! We shared verses from the Book of Mormon that backed us up. He also "quoted" a verse in D&C 130:22. It said on his slide... "God is a body of flesh and bones and he lives with his many wives and together they procreate and live with their spiritual offspring." WHAT??? So we immediately opened our scriptures to that verse and had Sam read it. It doesn't say that at all! The only thing that was the same was "The Father has a body of flesh and bones". Yes, this opposition and false accusations were a set back. BUT they worked to our favor so much! Sam and Richard were only strengthened after that! We have opposition in all things! Everyday we are faced with opposition! And this experience was a testimony to me that opposition only makes a stronger!! 

Wednesday: It was a good day. Nothing too special. We met with a less active Spanish family. They were so rude! This is the 2nd time we have gone there and they just make fun of our Spanish. It actually really upset and offended me. I am trying my very best. I try to listen and understand everything they say and bear testimony after. For example, this week I read a scripture in Alma, and right after I was going to explain why I liked the scripture, before I even had the opportunity, the dad stopped me and asked if I even understood what I read. It was so rude. Most people are sooo nice and helpful and lift you up and tell you your spanish is great. They do not. They tear you apart. And I DID understand the scripture! Ugh! It was hurtful and made me want to stop trying. And the most frustrating part was they don't speak a lick of English! They don't even try! So here I am trying to speak their language, in an English speaking country with very little exposure to Spanish and they still make fun of us. Ugh. Sorry, had to vent. 

Thursday: This was a WONDERFUL day!! We met with our fabulous Roxy! We taught her the Stop Smoking Program! It went SO well!! We had Sister Korf come with us, who we knew used to smoke, but didn't know she quit on the program! Divine Inspiration! We read through the packet, we made her go out to the dumpster and tear up her cigarettes and throw them away. We testified to her about the atonement, that she is not alone. She was crying. It was so powerful! The spirit was SO STRONG! The strongest it has ever been for me in a lesson! We were on cloud 9 after! ANd Roxy was feeling so good!! And ready!! Then we went to Cargill to teach english! I LOVE doing this! I have built relationships with all of the Africans and Hispanics in the class! We joke and have fun together :) We are not really supposed to talk about he Gospel, but if it comes up we can answer questions. It actually comes up a lot because we have to explain why they call us Sister and not by our first names. On tuesday, 2 guys, one from Ethiopia and the other form Sudan were SUPER interested in learning more and asked for our phone numbers! Their names are Glitch and Muhammad. Pray for them please! Pray they call us this week!! Also, the last hour we taught a different class with only 3 guys in it. One from the Congo and 2 from Sudan. (another named Muhammad). The other guy from Sudan started telling us he is Muslim and he thinks Christians are crazy for believing Christ was a Prophet. The other 2 guys are christian and they lost it on him. They got into the huge heated argument! It was crazy! We didn't know what to do! Neither did the teacher... They finally calmed down. Thank goodness! It was kinda funny though. 

Then we had dinner with Sister Korby. She is the German lady in our ward that makes enough food to feed a village! We were there for 2 and a half hours and ate no joke like 15 courses! It was crazy! But DELICIOUS!! She also invited over the Mangum's in our ward. They really wanted to meet me. Bro. Mangum brought over this book of genealogy and I was flipping through it and a family picture with Grandpa and Grandma and the first 7 kids of the fam were in it along with autobiographies! SO cool! So we are related.They are very nice!

Friday: Was just an average day. It was good though!

Saturday: This was a day of MIRACLES!! We were supposed to meet with Roxy again in the morning. We got to the church for our appointment and she called us 5 minutes after she was supposed to be there to cancel because she was sick... I don't know if she really was, or if she was worried we would be upset because she messed up... I really don't know. I think she was sick. But I am not sure if she has smoked since thursday or not. It is all ok - we just wanted to give her some love and support! Then Simon, our other investigator texted us and canceled our appointment! We had 6 confirmed appointments scheduled for Saturday and we were so excited because that was the most lessons either of us have ever gotten in 1 day! And now, 2 appointments fell through! We were pretty sad. But Sister Korf was there for Roxy's appointment, so we shared a message with her! Then we decided to phone up an elderly lady in our ward and see if we could go visit her. She said of course! So we went over and did a puzzle with her played a couple rounds of cards and shared a message. It was so fun! Then we had a lunch appointment with Maria Cruz, a less active spanish speaking member. She invited a friend who was a former investigator! It was awesome! She told us she might want to meet with us and be taught again! The lunch was great! I love mexican food! She made shrimp enchiladas :) I miss having spanish food everyday when I was in the Branch! Then we went to visit a less active old couple who are in their 90's. We visit them weekly :) And then we went and saw Grandma Nichols! Haha! I love her! She is 93 with a thick German accent and is as sassy as can be! We told her we were speaking in church on Sunday and that she should come. She never comes to church. Partly because of her age. We had a great visit! And we were able to meet our goal!! 6 lessons! It felt so good! And that day was just a testimony that even when problems arise, push forward, keep trying and we will be blessed for our efforts!

Sunday: We got to church and were up on the stand because we had to give talks. And Simon walked in and Roxy walked in and Grandma Nichols walked in! Ah!!!!! I had the hugest smile on my face! Our talks went well I think :) I told about Ally and me and our story before the mission :) People were crying! I was so nervous to talk, I really hate speaking in public, but it felt really good after! Then we taught Gospel Principles class. That went good too :) We also had a 15 year old girl, Brittany, who is not a member but who has been coming to church with her friends come up to us and ask if we can teach her. We have been trying to for 5 weeks but she hasn't felt ready, but she is now! We have an appointment with her for next friday! I can't wait! 

We were at a total of 21 lessons for the week at this point, and our goal for the week was 24. We had a couple confirmed appointments and we were ready to meet our goal! And then, someone of course canceled... But again, it didn't stop us! We got 3 more lessons in and we were able to meet our goal of 24 lessons for the week! All time high for me and Ally!!!! IT FELT SO GOOD!!! And then at the end of the day we were driving home and got a voicemail from Roxy's sister. SHe is in the ward and is feeding us dinner tonight and Roxy is going to come! :) But in her voicemail she started crying and thanking us for helping her sister and that we are having a bigger impact than we know. It almost brought me to tears listening to her. It was so sweet and made me realize that what we are doing is huge! The gospel DOES bring joy and happiness. A joy you can not experience any other way! And through it we are promised eternal life and exaltation! I was overcome with gratitude to be a missionary! There is seriously no better feeling than when we are serving the Lord with all of our might, mind, and strength! 

I am glad to hear everyone had a great week! This is the last week of the transfer for us. So don't send any mail this week just to be safe. And I ask that you all pray that Ally and I get to stay together in Fort Morgan next transfer!! We are seeing so many miracles together!! We are so happy! 

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!

Love, 

Hermana Hannah Mangum :)

#1-3 My day in Greeley

#4 Beautiful Colorado clouds

#5-6 Our relatives!!!

#7 Hermana Hoer has a crazy family photo of you guys!!!

#8 Roxy, some grapefruit juice (helps with smoking cravings) and her commitment to not smoke!

#9 A blue door and a dress from Somalia

#10 We bought "Catching Fire" nail stickers in honor of Katniss this week :)

#11 We found John Lennon roaming the street of Fort Morgan

Sister's Conference was A M A Z I N G!! - March 3, 2104

Familia Mia:

We had our first-ever Sister's Conference in our mission!! It was so wonderful! We met in Loveland and all 65 of the sister missionaries were there :) It was SO MUCH fun seeing everyone! I love the sisters in this mission! They will forever be some of my dearest friends and a part of my life! The talks were great!!! The wives of all of the mission presidency spoke. It was wonderful. They showed us a video called "Courage" about Esther and three other women. It was amazing and powerful! You guys should watch it!

This week a family in our ward who had signed up for dinner had to cancel on us so they gave us a gift card to a Mexican restaurant. We were really excited :) While we were there, another member of our ward came in to pick up some food to go. He saw us and paid for our meal! How sweet!!! There are so many great people out there! I am so grateful :)

We got a text this week from one of our investigators, Simon. I believe I have told you about him. We asked him if he was going to be able to make it to church this week. And he send back this text that said, "By God's grace, I will be at church."  I love it!  And then he didn't end up coming. He tore something in his hip the day before... :(  He is doing well and we love knowing that we can be a support system to him. He is just so nice and we really love working with him. BUT we did have another investigator at church who has been avoiding us the last couple of weeks! And we were able to set up an appointment with her for this week :) And we had 2 potential investigators at church too! So great!! We were really happy :)

I think the ward is really getting involved with us as missionaries and we are so happy. The bishop asked us to both speak in sacrament meeting this next week, we were also asked yesterday to teach for the next 8 weeks in Gospel Principles, and to teach Relief Society in 2 weeks. We have so much to do! They didn;t ask the Elders to do anything but we asked if we could switch off every other week for the Gospel Principles class with the Elders and they agreed. We just wouldn't have had time to prepare a lesson every week on top of all of the other lessons we teach, service projects, sacrament talks, etc. I am grateful for the opportunity to dig in hard and study and prepare for all of these assignments.

Last night we went and visited Grandma Nichols :) She is sister Penn's mom. She is 93 and from Germany and is just a crack up! She talks so loud with this thick german accent. She lives on a farm and when we walked into her house there was a baby calf that had just been born that day in her garage! It was sooooo cute! It was so weak and kinda sick, that is why it was sleeping in the garage. As we were leaving, Grandma Nichols (who always has chocolates) asked us if we wanted a bag of "kitty-kats" haha! I took us a minute to figure out she mean Kit Kat bars :) So cute!!

We also had the opportunity to teach a lot of English at Cargill again this week. I am literally in love with the Somali people in our classes. We spend a 3 1/2 hours teaching both Tuesday and Thursday. I absolutely love it. George, who works there was very busy, so we took care of his classes for him. 

I have been thinking a lot this week that I want to challenge you guys to have the missionaries over more! Get to know them! Feed them dinner! It means soooo much to us! I wish our family did that more back home! So please pay it forward and feed the missionaries serving in our stake! Ok!? Great!!!I hope you are all doing well!! I love and miss you!!

con mucho amor,

Hannah :)

#1 - 4 SISTER'S CONFERENCE in Loveland! I love love love these missionaries! Sister Smith cut out a picture of my face and stuck it on her calendar because she was excited to see me on that day - ahhhhh :)

#5 I loved Simon Peter's text - such a great investigator!

#6 -7 Newborn calf in the Garage at Grandma Nichols :)

#8 - 10 Fort Collins temple site on a REALLY windy day!!

I hang out at a beef plant :) - February 24, 2014

Hello Everybody :)

We had 20 lessons this week!! Wahoo!! It was an all time high for me :) My highest before was 19!! It felt sooooooo good!!

This week just started off great. I was feeling really good about everything and happy about Fort Morgan. We wore our Somali dresses to Cargill (the beef plant) to teach our English class and the ladies were so excited that we were wearing dresses from their store! But a lot of the Americans were trying to decided if it was appropriate or not... What? Sister Penn told us she thinks it is great and that we are literally helping bridge the gaps between the 2 cultures. Also, there is an infestation of bed bugs here in Brush... they are in the library... so Sister Penn said we could come email at Cargill. Therefore, I am emailing you from a beef plant today. Haha! Everyone is blaming everyone else for the bed bugs. It is really hard for me to listen to people blame another culture for bed bugs!! But all of them are participating in the fight. Ugh!!  Fort Morgan is sooooo poor. They serve breakfast in the public schools because parents literally can't even afford to feed their children. The poverty level here is really sad. So with that all sad, I am grateful to have met these people and for them teaching me how to be more humble, and more grateful. Mom, your letter came at a PERFECT time!!! Everything was building up and I was getting really sad about all that I was seeing and then I got your inspired letter!! With wonderful advice!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!

This week we also had district meeting in Greeley. We got there a little early and decided to stop in and see Hna. Leos!! I LOVE HER! We went up to her door and she opened up and was completely shocked!!! Soooo happy :) She had just made some flan (which is straight from heaven) and fed us. It was wonderful!!!!! It was also fun to see some of the other missionaries at the DM.

We also had a ward pot luck on friday. The boy scouts put it on. It was fun. The whole time they played 3 songs over and over for the background music! They were: We Are The Champions- Queen, Roar-Katy Perry, and a song I have never heard before which was really weird and annoying... I liked Roar, but everything else got annoying really fast! haha!!

On Saturday, we called our dinner appointment to confirm and the family said they never signed up to feed us and that they were going out of town... so we were dinner less... But we got a phone call from Sister Korf in the ward and she said she was making shrimp tacos and wanted to know if we wanted to come for dinner. Holy divine inspiration, Sister Korf !! She loves us! She is in her 40's but looks like she's in her 30's and is a body builder! haha! We went over and it was delish!! Her son Rayven (he is 12) told us that if we ever need dinner to call his mom! haha!! It is really cute! Sister Korf loved our Somali outfits and so we are going to go today and take her there! I am excited to get them more business :)

Best news of the week....

Simon, our amazing investigator came to church :) He is probably in his late 20's early 30's. He is from Brazil but has lived everywhere! Portugal, France, Senegal, and a million other places. A member in our ward, the Wolff's invited him to our dinner appointment that night. He came!! It was awesome!!!! He had a great time! And we had an awesome lesson about faith! I am excited to meet with him again this week :) We are going to try and set him up with a baptism date!!

Well, I think that is about it for this week! I love you all so much!!!! I hope you are doing great!! Even though I have been feeling a little homesick and stuff, I know this is where I am supposed to be. On a mission!! I know that this brings blessings and I feel them. I am grateful to be comps with Ally!!!!! I love her so much. We work so well together :)

TE AMO Y EXTRANO!!!! TENGA UNA SEMANA BUENA!!!!!!!!!

con amor,

Hannah :)

PICTURE OF THE WEEK:

#1 A visit with Hermana Leos

#2, 3 We made the cupcakes Dad sent me

#4 Cargill - THE BEEF PLANT - in my Somalian outfit

#5 Your letter and package

#6 Holy crochet, Mom I thought you would enjoy this!!

Little Somalia in Fort Morgan - February 18, 2014

Hola -

I am so glad to hear you are all doing so well! For some reason this week I had a feeling like something had happened and I was worried, so I was very relieved to know you are all doing great!

On Monday night we had an appointment with a less active sister named Hilda. She is wonderful! She has been through so much! She is getting a divorce. She has had cancer. She works as a hotel maid. She is struggling! She is so strong and amazing and unfortunately has to work on sundays and can't make it to church but LOVES when we come and visit and loves that she can speak to us in Spanish :) While we were there though, I had a major allergic reaction to her cat... My eyes swelled up and were huge and super itchy!! We went back again last night and again my eyes swelled up! I have been around other cats this week though and haven't had a reaction... But there is something about this little kitty cat that my body doesn't like! haha! I am going to have to keep benedryl on me every time we go to visit her!

This week one of our new investigator’s husband got out of jail and we were strongly advised to not go and visit until he goes back. He is out on bail. So we can't visit her anymore... :( That is something that I have come to see and realize on my mission - How common abuse is in marriages. It breaks my heart! Soooo sad! I just want to help these women and tell them to be strong! But, as a missionary, I can't offer that advice and it is hard for both Ally and me. This is common problem in the our area.

We are also teaching an excommunicated member. She and her husband want to prepare to go to the temple. And so she needs to be re-baptized. She struggles with smoking. So we are going to start doing the “stop smoking” program with her! This is going to be my first time teaching it, but I am really excited for her! She is great! We had a lesson with her last week that went really well :) I look forward to our visits with her this week :)

Some other good news... Mirtha (from my last area - that came up to Hna. Soto and I and asked if we could teach her because she wants to get baptized) was baptized on Saturday! I am so happy for her and wish I could have taught her more.

There are NOT a lot of projects for our “Just Serve” program in Fort Morgan. But we do one that I love! We teach English to people! We go to the Beef Plant, which is literally a factory where they kill beautiful cows... yikes! And we teach the workers there. There are a TON of people from Somalia! Which is super random to me. There are a lot of people from every where in Africa, mostly Somalia, and then a lot of Hispanics as well. I really love it! It has got me thinking about maybe going somewhere when I get home to teach English for a summer or something!

This week was kinda rough. We didn't get our 35 lessons... It seemed like everyone and their dogs were canceling on us :( And then to top it off... we both got sick. GR!! Satan always gets ya when you are trying to do  your best! But it is ok, we are bouncing back from that and are feeling much better now and we started the week off with a bang! We got 4 lessons on a Pday! That just doesn't happen! So we are really excited and feel like this week will be the week we get 30 lessons! Please keep praying for us that we will be able to do so :)

We went and got some soup and a deli in Brush on Friday when we were not feeling too good. And the man who owned the restaurant was super nice and gave us discounts.  And the soup he gave us was literally Progresso soup... haha! He then talked to us FOREVER about religion. The man was crazy! I am sure Ally is telling the story in her email, so you will have to read it to get more info. But he basically doesn't believe in organized religion, thinks half of the New Testament shouldn't be scripture, baptizes people in the hot tub that is in his deli... and speaks in tongues. haha! He spoke in tongues to us! It was so crazy!!!! We would think we were getting somewhere with him about the church, but then he would say something crazy again! We gave him a Restoration pamphlet and are debating whether we should go back or not. Ha! It was a crazy experience! He kept us there for hours! Luckily we didn't have any scheduled appointments.

Yesterday, Ally and I went to a Somali store. (Because like I said, there are a ton a Somalians here! Enough that they have their own store in this tiny tiny tiny tiny town. haha!) And we found the most BEAUTIFUL dresses and skirts! For $20! So we each bought one! I got a dress and Ally got a skirt! We are wearing them today and feel so cute! Haha! We will have to send out a pic of ourselves to you next week! Lennon- if  you want, I will buy you a skirt or dress from there! Everything is super long and modest and beautiful! Let me know :)

I love you guys soooooooooo much!!! I hope you are all doing well and having spiritual experiences by reading the Book of Mormon daily, by daily prayers in the morning AND night! By doing service for others and trying to live in the way you know our Father in Heaven wants us to. Nothing will bring you more joy than that. I know that, because I have been able to dedicate my time for the last almost 7 months doing that. And I have never felt so happy. The gospel is amazing!! I hope you all take advantage of the blessings we get from it and try to share it with others. I love you all!!! Have a wonderful week!!!!!!!! You are all in my prayers!

Love,

Hermana Hannah Mangum :)

THIS WEEK IN PICTURES:

#1 - Our truck,, yes Mom, we drive a truck!!
#2 - Happy girls, but I wish I could drive :(
#3 - My FAVORITE - Toberlone!!
#4 - Beef plant where we teach English :)
#5 - Valentines Day packages
#6 - We heart attacked Sister Penn
#7 - Valentines dinner at a members home, their daughters decorated for us! So sweeeeet :) We felt loved!!
#8 - We saw Hermana Hoer!!! love love love her

Baltimore, Maryland!! Spanish speaking!! I could not be happier :) - February 10, 2014

Familia Mia :)

I am just soooooo happy about Lennon's mission call! It is absolutely perfect!! When I read "Baltimore, Maryland", i was so filled with the spirit and just KNEW that is where she is supposed to go! And I am so happy it is spanish speaking!! Best language ever!!! :D You are going to be an amazing missionary!!!

It has been a great week! I love being companions with Ally!!! We are having a lot of fun together!! I will admit though, being with someone that reminds you of home can be tough. It makes me homesick. We both feel it. But, we are keeping ourselves so busy and it keeps our mind off of all we are missing back home! Ha! This week we have planned 35 lessons!! It will be amazing and an all time record for me if we are able to get it! I hope we can, or at least close :)

So Fort Morgan... Wow! I am in the country in the middle of no where... I miss being around PEOPLE!! We cover several towns since the towns are tiny. We cover Wiggens, which literally has more cows than people, Fort Morgan which has about 12,000 people and Brush (where i live) which is about 5,000 people. I am not used to living like this, but I am so grateful I have Ally with me!! I can survive because of her!! :) And, there is so much work here!! So we are keeping ourselves busy which is great.

The second night here, we had dinner with a German lady. She is soooo funny!!! She talks for ever and has a thick accent! Her food is amazing, but she feeds us so much!!!! She stuffs us!! Course after course! And then sooo many left overs! 4 grocery bags full!! haha!

Also, guess what? There are some Mangum's in the ward! They are less-active and I haven't met them yet, but I am going to try and see them in the next couple weeks. Maybe the fact that we are probably related will get them to come :)

There have def. been some miracles this week! For starters, we had district meeting on Thursday. And before we all went to McDonalds for lunch. While we were there, one of the Elders started talking to this man and gave him a Book of Mormon and the address to the church for sunday. Well the next day we all went out to eat at Wendy's (wow, i sound fat and ridiculous - never thought missionaries did this... a member gave us coupons...) and he was there!! What are the odds?!? He was SHOCKED when he saw all of us! Then on Sunday, about a half hour after sacrament started, he walked in and stayed for all 3 hours! Amazing! The Elders are going to be teaching him. It was pretty cool!

Another miracle... We went and visited a less active family this week. They haven't been to church in a long time, and they came!!! And one of our investigators came too! His name is Simon Peter. If that doesn’t indicate something, I don’t know what will! It was the first time I had met him. He is cool! I hope we can get a lesson with him this week. He believes in everything about the church, including the restoration! The only thing he has a hang up about is the wording of the baptismal prayer. That is literally his only hang up... He feels like it should only say Jesus Christ's name. And he is pretty adamant about it. So hopefully we can resolve this problem, because when we do, he will get baptized! Pray for us!

We also got a referral this week for a lady named Juana. Her husband is in jail, she has 3 little boys, and she has no money. She let us in immediately and started crying and telling us everything. Her TV was on and her boys were running around showing us all of there toys and she was crying and speaking spanish. So it was sooooo hard to understand!! I wish I could have spent more time in the Branch so I could have been immersed in spanish and picked it up faster. Oh, well. I am trying hard! I am already way better than I was before :) But I want to be fluent! I know it will come :)

Ally and I have a goal of finishing the Book of Mormon in Spanish together this transfer! We have to read 18 pages a day! I am so excited! I think we can do it!!

  

During my personal study this morning I was reading in D&C 75 and it talks about when you are a faithful missionary you will be blessed and will be able to overcome the challenges.  I have seen how the Lord is blessing our family. This gave me extra strength this morning because I was missing you all terribly! But I know you are being blessed!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!

XOXO

Hannah :)

#1 Elder Welch gave ally and me messages in a bottle

#2 me, ally and sis. jarvis!

#3 me and ally in our brand new TRUCK headed to fort morgan :)

#4,5 and 6 Ally and I absolutely freezing in front of coolest train ever!

Ally and I are going to be COMPANIONS!!!! February 3, 2014

Dearest Family in the Whole Wide World -

Well, for starters... the big news of the week... I AM BEING TRANSFERRED TO FORT MORGAN AND WILL BE COMPANIONS WITH ALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can not wait!!!! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need it so bad!! I never thought I would be happy about serving in the middle of no where away from everyone and everything... BUT I AM BECAUSE I WILL BE WITH ALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And honestly, right now I don't want to be around anyone for a while after the transfer I have had... ugh! so grateful it is over!!! Today is the last day! Wahoo!!!

Also, as you have all talked about... the Super Bowl. Haha! Colorado has been crazy getting ready for the big day! I even bought a shirt to support them! haha! And as you know... the Broncos lost... It would have been really cool if they had won while I was here on my mission :) Like when Argentina won the World Cup when you were there Mom! Haha! I hear it wasn't even a close game... #embarassingcolorado Ha!

This week has honestly been really difficult... But what else is new... I don't even want to get in to it. I just want to move forward. I am so grateful to be going with Ally! But, I am really sad to be leaving the Branch. It is the only full Spanish area in the mission and I only got it for 1 transfer... and it was the worst transfer of my life. I really hope I will be able to come back and serve here again!!!

I got up on Sunday and bore my testimony is Spanish and I just started crying... I am such a crier... I hate it. After church I was bawling like a baby! I am going to miss everyone in the branch so much! They are my family!! I am so sad to be leaving la familia Martinez and Leos!!! :( They have become such a big part of my life! I cannot wait for you all to meet them!!

The best part of the whole week, besides finding out about transfers, was church! Jesus blessed the sacrament for the first time ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jonathan was supposed to too, but was late... Oh well. I wanted to cry seeing Jesus up there! And then both Jesus and Jonathan got up and bore their testimonies!!!!!!!!!!!!!! These guys have done a complete 180!! I am so proud and happy for them! I will never forget either of these guys! It has been such a blessing and honor to have watched them change their lives around!! After church, Jesus came up to me and was saying the NICEST things to me!! I was in shock. He has changed SO much from when I first met him!! He was telling me that he will never forget me and is so grateful that I took the time to help him and teach him. He told me that I changed his life and that he is sooooooo much happier and he didn't even know it was possible to feel as happy as he does. He was saying things like, I know where ever you are going is where you are supposed to go and is where God needs you. Because he sent you here and I needed you to bring the gospel back in my life. It was amazing! if you guys had known him before, you would know that this doesn't sound like him. He has changed so much! I am so happy for him! He is an amazing guy! He said he would come and surprise me and church in fort morgan one of these days! haha!

So that is my other good news! :) It has been such a blessing to see the change in these 2 young men! The gospel is the only way to be TRULY happy!! I know that for a fact! I don't care what anyone tells me, the only way to be truly happy is to be keeping the commandments and living the gospel.

I love you all!!! LENNON- I CAN NOT WAIT FOR YOU TO GET YOUR CALL THIS WEEK!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!! MY MONEY IS STILL ON PHILLY :) HAHA!

Have a wonderful week fam fam!!!! :)

Con Much Amor,

Hannita :)

Pictures of the week -

#1 Transfer documents :) - yay!!!

#2 Well, first of all... this was a BAD hair day!! ugh!! I tried to curl my hair and it looked terrible when I was done... then I tried to straighten it, and obviously that doesn't work... so my hair got put up and I looked terrible! #yuck! oh well... but this is Jonathan

#3 Jesus :D Gonna miss these guys!!

#4 And me and Maria! I LOVE HER!!!! I am going to miss the Branch soooooooooooo much!!!

#5 me and Martinez reppin' our bronco pride! haha

#6 lunch at red robin... YUM ;) haha

#7 spent way to many days in the hospital this transfer...

#8 this was for her procedure... she was OUT! ha

#9 it has been snowing like crazy here!!!!!!! It was 3 degrees.... save me!!!