17 Visitors at Church on Sunday!!! - July 14, 2014

Hey-ho everybody :)

Where to even begin... So much has happened! 

So, on Wednesday we were over at Elsa's having a lesson when we were just getting ready to leave and she mentioned that she was going over to her daughters to eat menudo.  Hna. Stratford immediately let her know that I had never had menudo before... UGH!! Do you all know what menudo is??? It is the lining of cow stomach!!! Sick Nasty!!! Haha! So Elsa insisted that I should go to her daughters house and try it... I was so nervous!!! I don't want cow stomach inside of my stomach!! haha! But we walked over and I did it! I ate the menudo... I guess it really depends on how it is cooked and who cooks it... it wasn't terrible... not my favorite and I would never ever voluntarily eat it! The texture was weeiiirrd! But it was better than I was expecting :) Hna. Stratford has had some pretty terrible menudo before, but this was tasty according to her!

I was attacked by a dog this week too! But not in a ferocious kind of way... We went to contact a less active spanish member and their dog was outside and it kept wrapping itself around my leg and “you know what-ing” me! Over and over! It didn't matter how many times I would push him off or try and shake him off of my leg, that dog was wrapped tightly around me and would not let go! The less active wasn't home but her non-member live-in boyfriend was there and was dying of laughter!!! It was so funny!! He couldn't even talk. He was actually crying bc he was laughing so hard! It was pretty hilarious! But I was completely violated. Haha!! 

We were tracting in a trailer park this week and knocked on a door. Some lady yelled from inside, "Who is it" we respond awkwardly... "Missionaries"... She yelled, "Come in!" We looked at each other wondering if we should or not and she yelled it again... so we opened the door and she freaked out! Haha!! She obviously did not hear us right! haha! It was really funny! She wasn't mad, just shocked! #missionaryworkisawkward!

We were tracting in this same park and this guy answered and he immediately told us he believes what the native Americans believe, when they say that Christ came to the Americas and visited the people here. And we were like, DUH! That is what we believe!! Haha! So we told him we have an ancient record that is from the Native Americans and it talks about when Christ came! He seemed pretty shocked and then not sure how to get us off his porch. haha! But we finally convinced him to take the Book of Mormon and to read 3 Nephi 11 :) He said he would! It was pretty cool!

Also, I got a terrible migraine on Tuesday night. We ended up coming home early... It came out of no where... ugh! So our District Leader, Elder Olson, came to give me a blessing. So sweet! I love him! He is a great missionary! I mentioned that my year mark was the next day so as he was leaving our house ,he chucked a $20 bill at my face and told us to go out to lunch. I tried to give it back but he would not take it. So SWEET!!!! So we went to Noodles and Co :) As you know, one of my personal favs :) Haha! We also hit up the Waffle truck this week - life has been goooooooood :)

Ok, now onto the good stuff!!!! 

We had an amazing lesson with John Bowman on Tuesday! Oh!! Fantastic! We have been trying really hard to help him recognize answers from Heavenly Father. He was waiting for some Aw-ha moment to know the church was true and for a very specific answer! So our last few lessons we have been really trying to help him open his eyes and to READ from the BOM because that is where God talks to us. So, as we were talking to him, he all nonchalantly tells us that he was reading in Helaman 6:3 and he got his answer that this is God's church! This is what the scripture says...

"Nevertheless, the people of the church did have great joy because of the conversion of the Lamanites, yea, because of the church of God, which had been established among them. And they did fellowship one with another, and did rejoice one with another, and did have great joy."

He did it! He finally got his answer :) So we committed him to baptism for July 19th. But Christine made us move it back to Aug 2nd because her family will be in town. But it doesn't matter! He is really going to do it! We also had a member of our ward, Bro. Williams, who is the 1st counselor in the Bishopric come and share his conversion story. IT was awesome! John ate it up!! He said EVERYTHING John needed to hear! And at the very end, he told John, "Once you know, don't wait". And John just had told us he knew! Amazing!!! So August 2nd baby! Please keep him in your prayers :) 

Another wonderful miracle... We had Elsa and her daughter Rosie come to the church on Saturday for a tour. IT was amazing!!! The spirit was strong! We were able to show them around the building and explain what we do during the 3 hours and where it happens. We ended in the chapel. The spirit was tangible; it was so strong! We taught lesson 3 (the gospel of Jesus Christ) while in there and explained the sacrament and it was awesome! Elsa told us when she goes to new places she is not familiar with, she gets scared and nervous, but she was overwhelmed with peace and happiness there!!! :) Ah!!! It was amazing! One of my favorite lessons probably overall from my mission. Top 5 for sure! 

Then at church!!! Oh!! This was by far the most successful Sunday I have had! Our Spanish group, which usually is about 5 or 6 people had 17!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had 9 less actives that we teach who came church!!!!!!!! and 2 Investigators AND Mike (niki and mike) and Scott (bowman) came to church too :) It was awesome!!!! Mi corazon fue muy llena!!!!! :) I was flying on cloud 9 all day yesterday!! Carlos came! Anthony came! Some other less-actives that I haven't mentioned to you before, Maria, Joaquin, our investigator Miguel, and we got a new investigator yesterday who came with a member, her name is Carmen :)

MILAGROS!!!!!!!! Heavenly Father is looking over the Spanish group in Fort Collins :) 

So, needless to say, it was a great week!!! Transfers are this Saturday!! I really do think I am going to stay with Hna Stratford again and I really hope so!! So please pray that that is what happens! I am not ready to leave!!! 

I love you all so so much!!! :) Thanks for everything! I wouldn't be here without you :) Lennon, I am so happy to hear you are doing good! Your letters give me strength! and build my testimony of this great work!! Our family is so blessed to have 2 of us out at the same time serving the Lord and inviting others to come unto Christ!!! The church is TRUE!! And I can't wait for you to go to Baltimore and help the people there :) 

Les Extrano muchisimo :)

-Hermana Hannah

Pics with Niki and Mike 

Feliz Cuatro de Julio :) - July 7, 2014

HI GUYS!!! HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT FOURTH OF JULY!!

STARS (OR POLKA DOTS) AND STRIPES (OR CHECKS) FOREVER!!! WE LOVE US SOME RED, WHITE AND BLUE!!! AND HAD FUN CELEBRATING WITH JOHN AND HIS FAMILY :)

For starters, let me apologize for not writing an email last week! Email time was hectic! So I am going to try and give a brief summary of the last 2 weeks. I had Hermana Stratford send you her email last week,so hopefully you already know most of what happened :)

The 2 biggest highlights last week :) 

We have been working with one of our fabulous less-actives in the ward. We found him the first week Hermana Stratford came to Fort Collins. He has been living in FoCo for a little over 3 years and has not been to church at all. He and his wife separated and that is why he moved here from Missouri. We are the first missionaries to have visited him in the 3 years he has been here! We have invited him to come to church but he didn't feel ready and said that his church clothes were still packed up and he needed to get them out and get them dry cleaned. But we continued to visit him and it took 2 full weeks but we told him it didn't matter and that we were going to go to his house Sunday morning and get him a ride to church and iron his clothes for him etc etc. Well, we showed up and he was all ready :) Beaming and glowing!!!!!!! Mi corazon estaba llena :) I was sooooooooooo happy!!! He hasn't been to church in over 3 years and he came last week!! He was so happy to be there! And it showed in his countenance  It is moments like this that make everything worth it! And that make me absolutely LOVE being a missionary!! He is an answer to pray for our Spanish group!! :) While at church he signed up to feed us and so this last Friday he took us out to eat and we had a great time! I love him! 

The same Sunday morning we went to get him for church, we went to another less-actives house to get him to come as well. He wouldn’t budge :( He said he had to move bricks from his garage to his backyard and that was why... so we offered to quick do it for him but he said no. So he promised (and shook on it) to come to church this week. We went back during the week to share a message and make sure he was still coming to church and he said, "I promise! I am a man of my word, I will be there." Well, he never showed up yesterday... that was disappointing... We are trying to figure out a new game plan for him because he is such a good man and I want him to feel the peace of the gospel again... 

Last week we were early to a dinner appointment, so Hna. Stratford and I decided to go walk around the trailer park and find some new investigators! There was this crazy hailstorm the night before that really destroyed some of the trailers. Breaking windows, sidings, roofs, etc. We saw this lady outside and I felt like we should go and talk to her. So we walked over and she didn't speak any english, but not a problem because Heavenly Father has blessed us with the gift of tongues and so we spoke to her in Spanish and we offered to help her. She told us we could come back the following day to help her. So we did! She said she was shocked that we came! She fed us a yummy authentic mexican almuerzo and we set up a return appointment to teach her about the church. We have gone back several times now and she is great!!! I love her!! Elsa is amazing and finds everything we teach to be really interesting. She is patient with our Spanish and we try to help her with her English. Her husband, Jesus, sat in on a lesson and really liked it.They ate it up. Elsa had so many questions answered! Rosa, their daughter, came in after we had already explained pretty much everything, but I had bought this puzzle at the MTC that explains the Plan of Salvation. So when Rosa came in, Elsa immediatily told her to sit down and listen. Elsa grabbed the puzzle and taught Rosa the Plan of Salvation herself!!! It was really cool!!!! And to see she understood everything we said and to see how exctied she was made me feel so happy ! IT was an amazing feeling and it strengthened my testimony of the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel even more!!! 

This week we also went on exchanges with our sister training leaders. They were good :) We also had a cool experience after one of our lunches this week. We were walking back to our car when this guy on his longboard stopped us and said, "youre mormon missionaries right? I have some questions for you." So we talked to him and he had dated a mormon girl before and had met with the missionaries and was trying to remember what they told him about the Plan of Salvation and more specifically the Kingdoms. So we taught him on the sidewalk right off of Old Town and gave him our number and we are going to meet with him again this week! 

I feel so honored and blessed to be involved in this work! To be seeing miracles and to be building relationships with the amazing people here! I love everyone! I love the peace and joy and blessings the Gospel brings to people! I know miracles are all around us and we can see more as we share the Gospel with those we love!! I encourage all of you to read Power Of Everyday Missionaries by Clayton Christensen! It is amazing!!! And it will give you the added strength you need to OPEN YOUR MOUTHS :) Also, Elder Ballard invited everyone, especially parents of missionaries, to read Preach My Gospel and share what they learn with their kids! I encourage and invite you to accept his invitation! 

I LOVE YOU ALL!! I hope you all had a good 4th :) I did! Also, my year mark is on Wednesday! How crazy is that!! It has flown by!! 

XOXO

Hermana Mangum SR. ;)

Words from Hermana Stratford - June 30, 2014

HELLO THERE - THIS IS HANNAH'S MOM :) SHE WAS OVERWHELMED WITH EMAILS THIS WEEK AND ONLY HAD TIME TO READ (THANKS FOR ALL THE LOVE SHE IS BEING SHOWN!) SO SHE SEND US THE EMAIL HER COMPANION SENT HOME. WHEW!! I NEEDED INFORMATION. IT WAS NICE TO HEAR ABOUT THEIR WEEK FROM HERMANA STRATFORD AND GET TO KNOW HER BETTER. ENJOY :)

This week was so amazing! so many miracles happened.. I dont even know where to begin... lets start at the beginning:)

SO last Monday we were at Walmart after emailing and we ran into ROSA! the same one that I wrote about last week!! It was so cool! Totally a sign. We havent been able to teach her yet though... which is a bummer. we go to her house and she is never there. she has a little two pound guard dog that is literally a spawn of Satan. I wish I could send you the video of this dog. IT IS SO CREEPY! It's alright though, we just take it as another sign that satan doesnt want us to talk to her. (EVIL DOG NAMED PEQUENO - haha)

On Wednesday, we had dinner with a less-active member of our group but we got to her house a little bit early so we decided to go contacting in her little trailer park. WELL, going back a little bit, the night before there was a HUGE hail storm. literally golf- tennis ball size hail was falling from the sky, and it seemed to only hit this little part of town as we were driving though, it looked like a tornado had reeked havoc. There were holes in everyones houses! HOLES!!!! WHAT? windows were broken, leaves were EVERYWHERE. Every thing was just destroyed. SO before this dinner we started walking to find someone to talk to and there was a lady that was raking her leaves by her self in her front yard. It was a HUGE project for one person to handle, so we decided to talk to her and we asked her if we could come back and help her with her leaves. She was SO nice! and she was probably surprised that two dressy ladies were coming to ask to help clean her yard. Well we went back the next day (we recruited the Elders - who dont speak spanish at all, so it was really fun translating for them everything that happened) and bagged and raked leaves for her (all the while talking about her life and our lives and what we do as missionaries and, of course, the gospel:)) Afterward, she said to us, "ahora, vamos a comer!" which means, "And now, were going to eat!”, so we did! she made us all delicious REAL mexican food. It was so good! I could honestly live off of beans and rice and tortillas for the rest of my life if I had to, they are so good! we talked more and at the end, we asked her if we could teach her the lessons... this is what she said,"I knew you were teachers about God, I want to understand why you leave your family for so long, there has to be a good reason.." 

SO! we went back and taught her!!! AND mid lesson her husband came out of the house and joined in and they both are SO GOLDEN! They planned on coming to church but then she texted us and apologized and said that she had to watch her grand kids but that she was so sorry and that she was looking forward to our cita next wednesday! that never happens, usually people just dont show, but she was legitimately sad that she couldn't come. ahhh what a miracle. her name is Elsa and his is Jesus, Pray for them OKAY!!!

Miracle #2:

We have been working with a man that is less active but hasnt come to church for YEARS. He cant read or write so he has a hard time with church because he is afraid that some one will call on him to read. Well, we go over to his house weekly and read to him the Book of Mormon. This week we read Alma 32. ALLLL about faith. At the end of our lesson, like we do every time, we invited him to come to church. He gave some silly excuse about how he doesnt have the clothes and they are in his granddaughters closet and she gets mad when he goes in there.... WHATEVER! so I basically called him out and asked him what the real reason is. He sat there for a second and then said, "okay I guess it will only take a few days to get them out..." We told him that we would come over sunday morning to wake him up and make sure he was coming. WELL we did that, and his daughter answered the door and told us that he was going to be a minute. We waited and waited and waited and finally, He came out, ALL DECKED OUT in his church clothes and said, "alright, lets go." AHHHHHHHHHHHH I about died. It was the coolest moment. he loved every second of church. He just sat there and soaked it up! ahh The church is true y'all.

There was another less active member that we tried to do the same thing with but he just called me a, AND I quote, "meanie weenie" and then didnt come... BUT he shook on next sunday, so Ill let you know how that one goes. I would just like to say that I am just firm, and he didnt like what I was saying because he knew I was right! 

Something I have learned:

I got a package from one of my favorite members in Boulder, and inside there was an article about sister missionary success. I gotta say, it changed the way I will look at being a missionary. There was a story about a sister in Japan that didnt know the language and had to contact people the first day she got there.. well obviously she was struggling and so she said a prayer for help, then she just looked for people that stood out to her to talk to. she talked to 4 people and ALL four wanted to learn more about the gospel. As I was reading her story I realized something. As a missionary for the Lord, I am entitled to revelation. I am out here, on my own, doing HIS work. He has got to help me becasue otherwise, NOTHING is going to get accomplished. As his servant, I am entitled to that help, as long as I am worthy to receive it. It has been awesome because I have been able to ask and receive the help that I need. I talk CONSTANTLY to my Father in Heaven and tell him what I need. I cant even begin to tell you all the times I get exactly the help that I need. I am his servant and I am entitled to His help... Let me go a little further. We are ALL his children. As members of His church, we are ALL entitled to His help. If we are worthy to receive it, HE WILL HELP US!

AHHH I love the gospel, I love being a missionary. THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!

Have a great week!

Love, Hna Stratford

Pics of the beautiful Enriquez family

Teaching my companions future step Dad :) - June 23, 2014

Hey everybody :)

This week has felt so long! I don't know why... but it feels like forever since I have emailed you! 

I have to start by saying how excited and proud I am of you Lennon!!! You did it! You are an HERMANA!!! Your email made me so happy! I can tell you are doing great and enjoying your time! You will love the CCM and you will love Mexico and the missionaries and your teachers, etc. etc. etc. I am so happy for you!! Can't wait to hear how your first week went :)

Monday night we went to visit one of our new investigators who we found last week. Her husband was there and they let us right in and we started teaching them the 1st lesson. Things were going good and they were understanding and receptive to our message, until we mentioned prophets and specifically, Joseph Smith. Oh boy... they Bible bashed us... saying that there is no way there is a modern prophet and that it all ended when Christ died. We were there forever. They would not let it go and she even "rebuked us in the name of Jesus Christ" for saying there is a prophet... But then she said that if we can show her in the Bible where it says there will be another prophet after Christ, she would believe us! They told us we were welcome to come back anytime... strange! They were nice while they talked to us, they weren't rude, but just not willing to give up. The husband also speaks in tongues... 

We also met a guy this week while trying to find a less-active member of our ward. He is trying out for the Voice on Saturday. His name is Koichi. He plays 19 different instruments. He is really short! He is an atheist and was not interested in meeting with us but we talked to him for a while. It was really fun. So you will have to look for him on the Voice (who knows if the guy can sing)! 

We had dinner with the cutest couple from China! They are adorable! And they made us yummy real authentic Chinese. Nothing like Panda! haha! She is going to send us some pics she took with us this week and I'll forward them to you :) We also had dinner with the Turners! (Cory's parents) They are so sweet!! I like them a lot! Sorry, I was lame this week and didn’t take any pics of my own. Sorry, Mom!

Another funny thing happened... we were visiting a family in our ward and the oldest daughter was telling us how her Dad is very antagonistic about the church and was telling her all sorts of false things about it. Here is a quote from her... "My dad says that Mormons belong to a deer... oh I mean colt! I know it is some sort of 4 legged animal". Haha!!! It was darling! 

We had Zone Conference on Tuesday. It was great! They focused a lot on families and our roles in our families (i.e. husbands and wives). It was really good! I appreciated everything they had to say. I feel like I can apply it all to my life after the mission, with our family, and my future family,but also now as a missionary to those I am teaching :)

Zone Conference was in Greeley, so after we swung by Hna. Leos' to say hi! It was awesome! I love her so so so much!!! It was so good to see her :) I hope I get to go back to the branch and serve there again! 

After zone conference, we had an fabulous experience. Hna. Stratford's Mom came to town. It was totally approved by President Brown and we knew she was coming. Her fiance is not a member and is ready to take the lessons. He would only take the first one if Hna. Stratford could teach him. So they got permission from Pres. Brown. They took us out to eat at Cafe Rio and then we went to the Bowman's house and taught him there. It was a really neat experience! He was so nice! He said he could see and feel the spirit as we testified that we knew the church was true. He also said that before he makes a decisions to be baptized, he wants to know with that same conviction for himself that it is true. We were able to teach him how he will come to know it for himself. He was really excited and said when he gets home to Portland he would call the missionaries and start taking the discussions!! So cool!!!

Yesterday we went to see Raul. We planned on teaching him about Family History but the lesson changed when he walked out drinking a huge can of green tea. We switched it up and taught him the Word of Wisdom. He did not like what we had to say and could not understand why tea was against word of wisdom. He just kept on sippin’. We explained why and by the end he got serious and stopped joking around and started to understand. He had 2 cans with him on the porch and we challenged him to dump them out. He wouldn't do it for the longest time, but then we decided to would pay him the money back that he used to buy them. So we gave him $4 and he did it. He dumped it out and committed to not drink it again. After he started to cry. It made me sad, but they were spirit tears. It was a really neat lesson. It was challenging to get through to this 13 year old boy. But by the end, we were able to. And we did it with love and he knows that. I am so proud of him and I know Heavenly Father is too. 

We see so many miracles as missionaries. Certainly teaching Hna. Stratford's future step Dad and having our lesson with Raul were some from this week! I am grateful for these experiences I am having. They come from the Spirit and from being members of the Gospel. I know the church is true! I know that the gospel blesses families! I am seeing it bless ours right now! Lennon... I LOVE YOU AND I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!! 

I love you all!!! 

Love, 

Hermana Mangum the 1st :) Haha

P.S. I moved... one of the most stressful days ever…

Oh, here is a Colorado sunset :) That is all your gettin' this week :(

A week full of teaching and service - June 16, 2014

Hello good family :)

It has been a good week - the start of another transfer! The first week of transfers is always stressful... but it was good :)Tuesday was a long day! Saying good bye to Hermana Smith was hard. But it's ok because we are going to have many more adventures ahead of us when we go home :) Roommates we will be!! We got plans!

On Wednesday we had a great lesson with John Bowman! We read from Ether 2 and 3 and committed him to be baptized July 12th. We are going to work really hard to make it happen for him :) We went back over again yesterday and did this really cool object lesson about faith and the atonement. You have someone hold a tea bag in their hands and then you light it on fire and right when you think it is going to burn you, it disappears and goes away! it is really cool!! It was Hna. Stratford's idea and the Bowman family really liked:) We are going to try and start teaching John's Dad, too, this week. We have been building up a pretty good relationship with him and so I think he might be willing to :) I am excited to let you all know next week what he says!

We went over to contact a part member family and they let us in. The Dad and the daughter, who is 17 are members, but the Mom and the younger 2 daughters are not. And one of them is old enough to be baptized. The Dad was sleeping and their Mom was taking a shower, but we taught Jamie (the member) and Ashley her sister. They are so cute! And Ashley was so darling and begged us to come back and teach her more. We are going back tonight :) I am really excited to teach her and hopefully we can start teaching their Mom this week too!

We were trying to contact a member on our ward list in the Spanish group, who had actually moved, but the lady who lives there let us right in! Her name is Gabby and she is a born-again Christian. She told us she was in prison and had completely turned her life around and found Jesus. She got out and now has 2 DARLING little girls! We have a return appointment with her tonight and I am really excited for it :) 

We also were able to get a lesson in with Mercedes, an investigator Hna. Smith found before I came into the area that we never had luck getting a hold of. But we were able to teach her and it went so well!! The spirit was really strong! Mercedes was crying. I can't wait to teach her more! She has a lot of potential! 

We found another less active Spanish speaker this week. His name is Anthony. He hasn't been to church in years. He is really cool! We are going to start to make weekly visits over there and read to him because he doesn't know how to read :)

There was another “raccoon scare” at the Leach's! Haha!! They can really do some damage - Mom, remember the awful bunny story when we lived at Brian’s?? They are vicious. Duane ran out with a gun to hunt it down! haha! It was hilarious! Also this week we did service for Farmer Joe. He is not a member, but his sister is one of the Relief Society Presidents in the stake. He was super nice. He is only 26 years old. We caught chickens and pulled weeds. And he apparently grows pot on his farm... we found some... I accidently pulled it out and then quickly realized what it was... hahaha!! You remember I am serving in Colorado, right?? haha!

I am so happy to hear Lennon's farewell went so well!! The pictures were absolutely beautiful!! I am so excited for you Lennon!! Next time we email, you will be an Hermana in Mexico!!! What?! You are going to be such a great missionary!! The spirit is glowing from you in all the pictures from your farewell. You are going to love every minute of your mission! It will change your life! You will be forever changed for the better! You will learn so much about yourself, about the gospel, about people and about life. Good luck with everything this week! You will do great!! 

Also... HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD :) 

Love you all!!!

-Hermana Mangum :)

1. Mangum and Strattford

2. My expression when I weeded an interesting plant :$

3. Hermana Stratfford chasing chickens

4. Way to go Hermana Heintz!!

5. Watch out raccoons!  

I am 22 years old!! - June 9, 2014

So, let me start by telling you what is happening with TRANSFERS!!!!! I am staying in Fort Collins! I am really happy about that! Hermana Smith is being transferred to Cheyenne :( That was a short companionship!! I got to be comps with her two times, but only for six weeks each. My new companion is Hermana Stratford. She is really cute. I served with her a little bit when I was in Greeley. She is 6'2"! So even taller than Lennon! Ha! I think it will be a good transfer :) 

So I have a lot to talk about this week! 

Monday: We went to contact more people on the Stake directory that have Spanish names. We went to one house and this guy answered. He was pretty terrifying looking! No shirt on, covered in tattoos, nasty big nipple piercings, long goatee... you get the idea. But we talked to him forever! We just talked outside in the driveway and he smoked the whole time. Every time he finished a cigarette he'd whip another one out. He told us about he doesn't believe in a God. But believes in the Big Bang Theory and in energy. And then he told us about one time he did these heavy drugs from Peru that are totally illegal here and about his experience. It was crazy! And made me extremely grateful for the gospel!! It is simple and pure!!

Tuesday: So, for part of our Just Serve projects we do service at Catholic Charities. It is awesome :) We cook lunch for the homeless and feed it to them! It is so great! Now when I am driving down the street or at the library I recognize all the homeless people (some you can't really tell are homeless). It is very cool, I love it. And we are making great friendships with the cutest older couple who volunteer there. Dick and Jane. Yep. That is really their names. Ha! I want to teach them so bad! I had a cool experience there this week. There was a lady there who was community service, i think for a DUI. She started talking to Hna Smith and me and told us how her husband committed suicide a year ago. She started crying and it was really sad. She was really worried about her kids who are in their early teens. I kept getting the feeling I need to tell her God loves her and her kids and is very aware of them. But we are not allowed to preach at all on these service projects. We are only there to help but I felt so inspired just to reach out a little to her. But I got nervous and then she left... It was eating at me! And then not even 1 minute later she ran back inside to grab her coffee that she left. Here was my chance! Heavenly Father trusted me to try again! I am so grateful he did because I went up and told her and she just cried and gave me a big hug! I felt so much better after! I am grateful for the Holy Ghost! It is so important to act on those promptings! I am grateful I got another chance! 

Later that night we were visiting Raul, 13 year old RC :) He is adorable! As we were leaving his trailer we saw a less active spanish speaker we have been trying to contact! Talk about meant to be! So we talked to her in front of the dumpster in the trailer park and she told us how she was having a hard time with her sister in law who is staying with her and her husband right now. We were able to share D&C 121:7-8 :) It was awesome! She was super nice! We made huge progress with her! I hope she lets us in to visit! She says she is not interested in being involved with the church right now... but Heavenly Father put us in her path for a reason! 

Wednesday: We were helping a family move. Oh my goodness. There were 5 days late in getting out of their house! The landlord was really mad at them. There was so much contention between the husband and wife. He was so hard to handle. He abuses her. He has broken her nose, cheats on her, says terrible things to her, and always in trouble with the law. SO sad! WHile we were there though, his mom was sitting in her car and called me over to talk to her. She was this little large lady with a deep raspy voice! She was smoking the whole time I talked to her. I talked to her forever! She started telling me how she loves the show 19 Kids and Counting and Little People Big World. Hahaha! SHe loves them because these are real people with good moral values and you can't watch anything these days that does. She tried to relate that to us and how impressed she was with our values and for coming on missions. She asked me what Mormons believe. So I took went and grabbed a Book of Mormon out of the car and gave it to her and taught her Lesson 1. (Hna Smith was helping with the move so I was teaching by myself). IT went really well. She seemed interested :) It was neat!

Friday: MI CUPLEANOS :) So, we got up at 5:00am and went to this donut shop that was giving away free donuts! How perfect! And then we (with Sister Cardon and Sister Heintz) headed up the mountain to go and hike Horsetooth!! Oh My Goodness!! It was beautiful!! I want to take you all on this hike some day!! It was pretty hard, but gorgeous! It was 5 miles total :) Once we got to the top, oh, it was breathtaking! I opened your gifts and then we did our studies up there and it was so great! Then we hiked down and ran home and showered. We met the YSA sisters, Sister Hutto and Sister Haas for lunch at Fat Shack! MAX I am taking you here! You would love it! It was actually really good :) I was surprised! I got the Fat Doobie hamburger, it had french fries, mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers and jalapeno poppers on it:) And Hna Smith got the Fat Donkey Lips! haha! It was also delicious! We ate fried oreos for dessert :) Haha!! Don't know that I will be going back anytime soon... but it was totally worth it!!! 

Hna Smith surprised me and took me to the cutest boutique in old town where she bought me a bracelet :) SO sweet!! Then we had dinner at Red Lobster with a family from the ward. How much food can a missionary eat - goodness! It was the first time I have eaten there and it was so good :) Next on the agenda was visiting the Enriquez family. Their daughter came running down the stairs and said "Mom! Zaden needs surgery! He stuck a lego up his nose!" hahahaha!!! Poor thing was in so much pain! So we actually went to urgent care with them! Ha! IT was so funny! They got the lego out but he sure was one unhappy kid. Ha! It was quite the adventure :) And the night was not done, we got a call from the YSA sisters who asked us to quick stop by the institute and they had a little surprise party for me. I am a lucky loved hermanita!

Saturday: The Elders had a baptism. President and Sister Brown were there. A lady in our ward gave one of the talks. She whipped out a cake and started frosting it during the talk.... ummmm - what?! The frosting was really thick so she sprayed some water on it and she likened the water to baptism... oh my goodness! It was different for sure. I will have to give you more details about it later. But I could tell President Brown was not liking it!

We got transfer doctrine that night... what, no more Hermana Smith :( I am sad, but it is going to be a good transfer. And Hna Smith and I will be together again soon as normal people in Provo living together! Wahoo :) So it will be fine! I am excited for my new adventure and new comp :) It will be fun to finally be the one in charge of the area! Ha! 

Love you all!!!! :)

XOXO

Hannah :)

Here are a ton of pictures :) You will figure out what they are!

Last week of transfers - will I stay, or will I go?? - June 2, 2014

Ok! Warning, this email will probably be scattered! I didn't write down things to tell you this week ... this could be all of the place.

So, this is the last week of the transfer. We will find out Saturday night if we stay or go and where. We are nervous. Hna Smith has been here for 4 transfers (6 months) so the chances of her leaving are high. We are hoping to get one more together though! I think I will stay. I would really like to stay in this area for at least 3 transfers! I have not stayed in an area for more than 2! That is not really normal. Ha! I have served in 5 different wards and Ally has only served in 2! Hna Smith has only been in 2 zones and this is her 3rd ward and she's been out about 3 months longer than me! I move a lot. So I hope I get to stay here for a little bit :) 

I went on exchanges this week with Sister Cardon :) She's my sister training leader right now. She is so cute!!!! I love her so much!! We had a lot of fun together!! We had some great appointments and she took me to meet their 91 year old investigator who is getting baptized this weekend!! She is adorable!! And I got to meet several really cute families from her ward. We had a great time! It was really fun! Then the next day before we exchanged back, she took me to lunch at this really cool place in Old Town! It is called Silver Grill :) (her mom gives her money for every exchange she goes on so she can take the sisters out to lunch) Oh yum!! I had this delish turkey panini with a yum yum yummy soup and then we got this amazing cinnamon roll sunday dessert!!  To die for!!! It was an awesome exchange :) 

I also got to have dinner with this cool family in the ward. They are awesome! He is an artist and an amazing one! He took us back to his studio! Ah! I was in heaven! it was so cool!! He does landscapesl! And he uses gold leafing in all of his work. He sells in art gallery's in New York, Florida, DC, all over the East Coast. They are just stunning! You should look his work up! His name is Talmage Watson (but he goes by Tal).

So, last week President Foster, our stake president, called us and wanted to meet. He told us it was about the Spanish group. (I might have told you this... sorry!) We got there and we got right down to business!! We highlighted EVERY name in the stake directory that sounded remotely spanish and he asked us to contact everyone that week! We were so pumped! We could tell he was wanting to get this group stronger and possibly turning it into a branch. He never came out and said that, but it was obvious. So this last week that is all we did! We contacted like crazy! We called Relief Society Presidents and missionaries and got as much info about people as we could. And then tried to contact everyone else that no one knew anything about. Then on Sunday, before church we complied all of our information and we wrote bios about EVERYONE!! My hand was cramping by the end! Then after church we met with President Foster again and presented our information to him. He was really impressed! The meeting was awesome! I love him! He is such a wonderful, good and inspired man! We need more men like him in the world! He would ask us things like, "do you think she would make a good RSP or he would be a good WML or HPGL?" Ah! It is so refreshing to have someone excited about the Spanish work! Unfortunately, a lot aren't. Some people think they should learn English and come to English wards. I have come to see that people should be able to go to church, worship God, understand what is being said, and feel the spirit in their native language. They can learn English in other ways. So it is refreshing and exciting to see him so excited about what is coming! I feel honored to be a part of it!! I think it will only be a matter of weeks before he gets this together!! Ah! So exciting! We have some more "unknown" people to contact this week. And some other people who have part member families. This is going to get our work going and growing! We will get investigators out of this! We will have waaaay more people to teach and visit in Spanish! Which is what we are called to do! We learned how to get this rolling! So now, if and when I get transferred to a new area I will know how to effectively contact and strengthen the Spanish groups!!! I can't wait! Such an exciting time! I can't wait to report more to you next week :) I love the hispanic people! Lennon i can't wait for you to serve and start your mission! These wonderful people are some of the most kind and giving and god loving people I know! I feel so blessed to serve with them. To be a missionary in this great time! In the hastening of the work! In the beautiful state of Colorado! I love what I am doing! I love the people! I love our Savior and feel honored to be able to wear his name on my chest for 18 months. Es un gran bendicion!!! I know he lives! 

I love you all!! Thanks for the Birthday wishes :) I really appreciate it! I will be partying hard :) We are going to get up early and go hike "horsetooth" (it is this legit hike in Fort Collins) and do our studies up there! Then we are going to go to this place called "Fat Shack" for lunch. They sell these burgers that only have appetizers on them. So not meat or cheese or stuff like that. You get a hamburger with onion rings/mozzarella sticks or things like that and then they deep fry it! They also have deep fried desserts like oreos, twinkies, snickers, etc. Sounds disgusting right!? But i hear it is actually pretty good and is a must try in Fort Collins! We are also planning on visiting our favorite people :) I am really excited!!!!! Gonna be a great day!!  

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! 

Con Carino,

HANNAH 

P.S. Just realized I forgot to talk about John. So we had an AMAZING lesson with him this week!! His mom sat in and it was awesome times 10! We left and he told his mom he felt the spirit really strong. He told us he has some issues about Joseph Smith. So we tried to resolve his concerns and it went really well! But then at church yesterday (he came btw) his mom told us that his dad basically talked him out of wanting to be baptized. UGH!!!! He knows it is true! And so does his dad. They are concerned about the responsibly it will bring. I am just in shock that a father would talk a child out of something so good and pure and true. John isn't saying he won't ever get baptized. I know he wants to. But he is for sure hesitant and now his dad has put doubts in his mind. I hope we have some amazing lessons with him this week and are able to resolve some of his concerns.