Week 6!

Week six is the week of transfers. So I found out I will be staying in Plymouth at least one more transfer!!!! 

Well I guess I will start out talking about the wonderful FHE we had with Jackie and Juliana and her little brother Joe! We watched the Lamb of God! That is an intense little video! I think I saw it when I was little but showing it to a 9 and 7 year old was a little intense. It had a great impact on them and now they really know who Jesus is and what he did for them! So that was cool to see that they are coming to know Jesus a lot better!

We went to fishers on Tuesday it was an all day thing you probably saw a picture on Facebook! We had a training on the Game Plan which was cool because it really helped me understand why we do the things we do as missionaries! I saw some sisters that I roomed with in the MTC so that was wonderful as always!

We Taught Patricia this week! She is doing well but lots of things keep getting in the way of her progression. For one of her lessons we brought a member named Sister Miller and it is so funny because when we bring members they just make the lesson so much better. During the lesson the spirit was so strong but it was a different kind of spirit I have never felt. Sister Miller came because she was needed to help Patricia. I know that God gave us that inspiration because they really connected during the lesson. I feel in that lesson we as missionaries were there to teach and bring the spirit. Sister miller was there to make what we were teaching real. So that was awesome! 

This week we also had the fall party! Well this party was great fun and we talked to tom and pat again! We got to go on a hay ride, do donut on a string, had lots of yummy food, and played volleyball! This party was at the Richharts! It was lots of fun but I got muddy shoes.

Random not fun fact we were tracting this week and I was walking down the stairs and I fell down the stairs. Now I have this wild bruise on my leg. But all is well. Also people like to give crosses in Indiana!

Sister Hanson

Week 5! The Work is Moving!

This week was awesome! First off on Tuesday we got to watch meet the Mormons! That was the best movie ever! If you don't get a chance to see it in theaters it will be on Netflix soon enough! All of you just need to see it!

So we went to go and visit these potentials in the out skirts of Plymouth. They are so into genealogy. They have this huge fan chart that they have almost filled out their whole family line with it. It makes me want to do some more family history. Just wow. They are always working on it and visiting places where their ancestors are from. We tried to talk to them about the gospel but they were not at all interested. They want to show us their cabin sometime so if we ever get back there they probably will. In our area we have about 9 to 12 towns so its hard to visit everyone.

So this week we were able to help Sister Sherwood paint her house. We painted her bathroom lime green. It actually made it look better because before it was like this ugly rose color. She loves us so much that she told us she was coming to general conference.

Patricia on of our investigators and she is working towards baptism. Her husband converted in Mexico and referred her to us and her husband is still in mexico. She has seen that change in him and wants that for herself and kids now. Whenever we go over she is always so excited to learn more and more. This week we talked about tithing and how we pay it and why we pay it. She told us that she hadn't been paying it. And we told her she didn't have to pay it until she is baptized. She is so sweet she is always willing to do anything we tell her. 

We had some members move into our ward recently and its a family with four children and they went to Utah state and lived in Logan. They are so cool and he is a dentist and they are always willing to come to lessons and help us and feed us. I love when the ward members feed us.

We taught Nicholas this week. He loves everything we teach him. He was catholic as a child and is very limited in his knowledge about gospel things so we have to go slow with him. We taught him about repentance this week and turns out he already does it he just needs to pray for forgiveness.

We also had Zone Training this week. That was lots of fun. I had an opportunity to learn more about the atonement and be able to learn how we can teach the Plan Of Salvation in 5 minutes. It is definitely hard to teach it in 5 minutes so we only go over the first part of it and talk about the atonement a lot. Then we are able to use that to set up another appointment to come back to the persons house!

Juliana is the 10 year old girl we have been teaching but she is scared to get baptized so we had to push her baptism date back. She is starting to listen better and she definitely loves when we come over. So I am hopeful that she will be baptized soon.

Love Sister Hanson

1 Month! The Priesthood! - and two other weeks of letters!

We haven't been posting on Allyson's blog for a few weeks, so I better get some stuff up on it.

Although never living in Idaho, Allyson still claims Idaho as her own.

Here are Allyson's last few letters:


Wow Week 2 in Indiana!    Sept 23

Well I don't even know where to start. I have a list so I could remember everything that happened so here it goes.

1.You know how we always point out cemeteries for dad, well there are cemeteries on every corner so you could be buried in Indiana if you wanted.

2. Everything is green here you don't see brown unless it is a side walk or a tree.

3.I forgot my white tank top...

4.Indiana is called the crossroads so there are train tracks everywhere. Mom would hate the train tracks. ahah

5. Our fridge makes weird noises all the time and we have a mouse in our house.

6. There is no time for my self except at 6:30 to 8 and 10 pm all the other times we are so busy.

7. In my zone we have only three sets of sisters. random other thing i see squirrels everywhere i look.

8. We run into Jehovah's Witnesses lots. The other day we ran into one right before a huge rain storm and he started to ask us what we believed and then it started raining. So we sat on his porch and he took everything we had (emotionally) out of us. We ended up talking for 2 hours and the storm was over by the time we were done talking. He wants us to come back but we aren't because he is not going to progress so we want to spend our time on those people.

9. You know your song about chicken and corn. Well we sang it a lot one day and a member ended up feeding us chicken and corn that day. ahah

10. Miracles are real. We were feeling all discouraged one day and nobody was answering their doors and all our appointments had fallen through. We were discouraged. So we had one back up plan and that was to go to a former investigators house. Her name is Jessica. We were pretty sure she wasn't going to be there but we went anyways. We get to her house and knocked on her door. She answers. Right away she is just enthusiastic that we are there and lets us in right away. She told us that a couple months back a former elder from the area sent her a post card and that she was so impressed that he took the time to send her a post card. She has a son and he is turning 9. She hadn't seen missionaries at her door for about three years. We talked about the BOM. She is going to read it and we have a return appointment. The lord brings us down so that we can be lifted up.

11.Here is a fun fact. The tornado siren goes off once a day at noon. its loud and alarming. It went off while we were teaching the Jehovah's Witness but it wasn't a warning for a tornado it was a warning for a fire because there was lightening.

12. Tracting: I didn't like it at first but now it is lots of fun! We get to meet so many new people and learn about new religions we have never heard of.

13.I get to go bowling today!

14. We had mission conference yesterday. It was exactly what i needed. Elder Perkins of the seventy came. He is the coolest person I have ever met. He served in the Taiwan mission and later became the mission president of that same mission. I don't really remember anything I learned there but I do remember that the spirit was there and it was strong. I encourage you to go read Acts. I don't remember what chapter but it has a lot to do with missionary work.

Elder and Sister Perkins

Where do Mike and Andrea live? What ward are they in? I love you all and Spencer yes you. Send me some pictures of my Favorite niece... Just because I am not home I still want to see her every week. I love you all again! Have a good week.

Love,

Sister Hanson

Week 3  Sept 29

Family, 

I don't even know where to start. I like pictures so send me some. I also got the package thanks for all of the shirts and shorts. The shorts are too short to wear outside so i just wear them inside while lounging. Oh and when you send me more packages, I love the workouts you put in it so put more of those.

I guess this week was weird but missionary weeks are always weird. We are just not very normal. On Wednesday we went tracting (we go tracting a lot) by a Spanish Pentecostal church and found this man named Caesar. His dad is the preacher at that church but he seemed like he didn't go to his dads church. We taught him about the restoration of the gospel. He was very interested and so we gave him a book of Mormon and asked him when he found out that the church was true that he would be baptized. He said yes. Wow so many people say yes to baptism it is sooooooooooooooo cool.

Thursday and Friday felt like they were forever long. Thursday was just a lot of planning and  nothing. It was kinda discouraging. Friday we did loads of tracting and got nothing again. Wow discouraging can you say... So we had one appointment left his name was Nicholas he speaks Spanish (hopefully we can get a Spanish branch soon. seems like everyone we are teaching speaks Spanish.) anyways we get to his house and start teaching him about the restoration and he is just so intrigued. We have to go slow and use small words because he can't understand English like we can. We gave him a Spanish Book of Mormon and (this is my first time) commit him to be baptized(first time asking or committing anyone to be baptized) he said yes with out hesitation.

Saturday! Great fun. We did a service project at the Richart's home. I got to dig holes and touch nasty chicken poop and I smelt like it the rest of the day. Still great fun. We were putting siding on their barn and other stuff like that. The Richart's are a big family they have 8 kids and now only 2 live at home. I am eating dinner with that inactive family on Tuesday. By the way I have exchanges that day and I have to be the leader on everything here in Plymouth. I am not too nervous.

Service project at the Richart's home.

Sister Chidester and Elder Jacobson

Still Saturday. We taught lots of people that day our whole day was busy so that is always nice when appointments don't fall through. Went to women's conference. Best thing ever. When you are a missionary and go to conference it's like they are aiming a fire hose at you and only you. Everything I heard was in relation to missionary work. Wowazaz. I just wanted more and more and more. 

Want to hear an embarrassing moment. Well here it is. We were at a dinner appointment we had hot dogs with chili or hamburgers (our whole district was there by the way) and I get some chili to put on my hot dog and boom it falls on my shirt. great and it is white. Even greater. I got it out today in the laundry. 

Here is another cool role play story! We were doing role plays for training (oh I get to do a training in district meeting...I don't know how I feel about it) Back to the story. It was my turn Sister Chidester just did it. So it was my turn. I had no clue where I was going with it and I just kept listening and asking questions I thought were relevant. Then it ended up being so mind blowing. I had been able to listen to the spirit and found out what was really troubling her and asked her why she didn't read the BOM. Wow it was totally the spirit. Listen to the spirit.

Okay I have some challenges for you. First, learn the First Vision. Second, feed the missionaries any chance you get. Third, send me a small copy of The Living Christ. I want to memorize it. Fourth, don't make visiting and home teaching a chore really just be their friends.

I love you all!

Sister Hanson

1 Month! The Priesthood!     Oct 6

Let start with some random facts! Today I learned you can convert to Judaism and the water here tastes like rust and looks like rust. Don't worry about it mom I will be okay! On Saturday while we were trying to visit people and it started snowing. So I had to break out the warm coat already and the wind was so chilling to my legs.

So we had exchanges on Tuesday and that day was full of miracles. We went to a less active's house and were originally planning to meet with the less active but then we ended up talking to a girl who was at the house. Her dad was diagnosed with cancer and Sister Caldwell and her really hit if off. We talked about prayer and how she can use it. I could definitely feel the spirit as we were talking to her. I knew that we were needed there that day because that less active had been in my head all day and I just kept getting the prompting that we needed to go and visit her.

Allyson with whom I'm assuming is Sister Caldwell

Another guy we are teaching his name is Nicholas and he speaks Spanish. We were able to teach him about the BOM and he has been reading it and is really enjoying the miracles are happening to Lehi and his family!

Conference was great I felt like a lot of the talks were about Jesus Christ and his Gospel upon this earth. During the whole general conference I felt so overwhelmed because there was so much information throw at me about everything that I need to emphasize on when I am teaching.

One last cool thing that happened this week. One of our investigators named Patricia had her daughter in the hospital. She came back on Saturday night and we talked to her about a priesthood blessing and asked her if she wanted one. She said yes so we got the elders and brought them over and explained how it would happen and how it would work according to her faith. So we got started with the blessing and the spirit in the room was just overwhelming. Wow the priesthood is powerful. That was just a wonderful experience with the spirit and Patricia has so much faith.

Sister Hanson

Just us in the car being lost because we had a dinner appointment that we couldn't find but in the end we found it and had a great dinner.

Ally nearby a corn field.

Plymouth the Promised Land

We received our first letter from Allyson after arriving in Indiana on Monday. We also received some pictures. Enjoy!

Allyson with the other missionaries going to Indiana

Hi all,

Well the first thing we had to do was drive two hours to Plymouth with Sister Kelly(she is the Branch president's wife). I was way tired and wanted to sleep but I didn't. We got to Plymouth and it was flooding everywhere and we went shopping and then went to Mutual. The branch has about 100 people who attend and they all come from the towns around Plymouth. The city has a nice small town feel and the chapel is in the middle of nowhere and it is smaller than the size of the seminary building at copper hills. It is a level one chapel. Ours is a level three chapel.

Plymouth Branch Church Building

Day one was very different I had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. I met the district and they are a wild bunch there are three companionship's in our district we are trying to get some Spanish elders so we can start a Spanish branch. I always have fun when I am around them. So here comes the ups and downs; we started tracting in North Liberty. We started talking to this man on the street and I could tell he was angry with God. He wouldn't let us talk and he started swearing at us. We left and I had a cry because he took the spirit away fast. After that just wanted to go but Sister Chidester said we needed to keep going so we did! We started in a new neighborhood and we found Josh, he is definitely prepared to receive the Gospel. He and his family are looking for a new church because theirs is money hungry, their boy does cub scouts (perfect). The only thing is they are busy on Sundays :(.

Random fun thing we went to a lady's house where she spoke Spanish but she couldn't understand English (I could tell she was lying, she could totally understand what we were saying). So I gave her a pass along card and I though I gave her and English one but it was Spanish! Made my day.

Plymouth is great! I wish all of you could be here with me!

Sister Hanson with her first companion Sister Chidester

Leaving for Indiana...

Today, Laura and I received a call at about 7:20AM from Allyson from the airport. She's excited to get to the mission field and sounded great. We talked for about 10 minutes and said our last goodbyes until we can talk to her again at Christmas.

I tracked her flight on the internet at work, making sure that the plane stayed in the air and landed where it was supposed to. Her plane left a little late from SLC because of a huge thunderstorm that hit the airport, but she made it to Minnesota in time to catch the connecting flight to Indianapolis. I guess I'm a bit protective of my Ally.

Later in the day we received an email with a photo attached of Allyson with President Cleveland and his wife saying that she landed safely and is excited to serve.

Laura and I both received a text message with a picture at about 5:00PM from a man named Steve. He had been on their flight and took the picture of their group along with all of the phone numbers of the families of the missionaries so he could send it to their families.

That was great to get!

Laura was also contacted on Facebook by a person who lives in Indiana letting us know that she was baking a cookie for her with her name on it. She'll give it to her as she goes to meet her trainer. 

What a blessing to see all of these kind people taking care of the missionaries.  That's what the gospel is about...taking care of your fellow man.

John

God Knows! - Allyson's Final Letter from the MTC

So today me and one of the other sisters in my district were doing some role plays. I was the missionary and I was trying to explain to the investigator (the other sister) that having the gospel in your life is a blessing and the role play was just going horrible. One of our teachers taught us that if we just listen the spirit will guide the lesson. I decided to do that and when I was doing that I heard a scripture come to me. It was John 3:16! The spirit had come and it was strong. Listen!

God knows what you are thinking. Even if you are just doing a role play he knows.

So there was an Elder having a hard time in my district and he is just really home sick. We became friends and he told me so much about his life. And because I was his friend he has more of a desire to stay on his mission and he wants to fulfill his calling!

Listen to the spirit!

Love Sister Hanson!

I Am A Missionary!

Ally's first letter from the MTC

Wow the MTC is so great! The first day I was at the MTC was the most overwhelming day of my life I felt like 3 days in one! The spirit is so great here! I just wanted to say I am doing well and so far there is nothing really scary here! Everyone is so friendly and they are always smiling!

My companion is Sister Anderson and she has a wonderful testimony! I have to say it is hard getting used to having someone around you all the time! But you just have to learn to love them!

I have learned to teach with the spirit and that is the coolest thing in the world! I would love to get emails and pictures from! I figured I can't send pictures until I am out in the field so you will just have to anticipate them for a while!

Thanks for all the love and support!

Love Sister Hanson!