10-29 / Day 77 This is the Craziest Roller-Coaster !!

                                               A lot has happened this week and a lot has been learned! 

I'm obsessed with taking artsy pics of the TEMPLE :)

I kinda hate to admit it, but I really let my distractions and anxiety get the best of me this past week! I was feeling so run down and soooo tired because I can't sleep when I have a million thoughts in my head while I try to fall asleep. I started getting in bed at like 9:30 so I could just fall asleep on time and try to get a full 8 hrs of sleep, but nothing seemed to work & then the negativity just took over! I even had thoughts like, "Well it's okay, I've learned enough.  I'm just gonna go home & then I won't be so run down anymore, and I'll sleep normal and everything will be just fine."  

HOW STUPID AM I! 

...This stupid.  

I just got on my knees and prayed asking Heavenly Father to help me let it all go & just move forward. 

I never really understood what the Atonement was before my mission... I thought, all right you just use it when you sin and that's about it.  No.  That is SO not the only thing the Atonement is about. It's literally a full changing process. We all need to change everyday, but it can only happen through the Savior. Repentance brings power to change, the message of hope, and the ability to live in God's presence. And so, I realized I needed to really use it in a way I never had before.  I needed to tell Heavenly Father I was sorry for the things I thought and for my attitude, because this isn't my mission it's HIS!  I prayed asking for strength and answers to my worries. 

And then our mission got to hear from Dallin H. Oaks this week! Oh my goodness... most amazing experience to have an apostle testify about how he doesn't know whose questions he will answer when he speaks, but he knows it happens!  Then, during his talk, my questions were literally answered in a way I've never experienced. I knew what he was saying was FOR ME! Without going in to details that would take such a long time to explain, there were things on my mind that were pressing into such worries.  An apostle of God followed the spirit when he spoke to us this week.  He, by chance, (or Not!) said that he felt prompted to tell a short story about a man, that he hadn't been planning to share.  That story answered the question in my mind, absolutely directly.  And gave comfort and calming reassurance to my aching heart and worried mind . . . .  I have experienced yet another miracle, this one, directly for me.  The Savior knows each of us, the details of our lives, all of them, and He loves us often in spite of how well He knows us.  And He wants us to improve.  And He gives us every help we need to do it, when we ask in faith.  And that is miracle we can all experience any day we decide we will honestly put it to the test.

Sister Hale & I are trying so hard to help our investigators but we've experienced a bit of a rocky road, unfortunately. 

The sign we have up in Guest Services to remind us of the 

rules and things. SO great! I miss watching The Office!!!

Buckley: OMGoodness... what to even say about him. Basically he's been lying the whole entire time about everything. We're more counselors to him than missionaries! We texted the sisters in his ward and found out he hasn't been to church at all and that they're not even allowed to talk to him because he's such a threat to them! Scary! He's not stable at all & it's really sad.  He made up a huge story about how he went to church and the sister apologized to him and got permission to teach him again and about how he talked to the stake president and he said he can be baptized when he's sobber for a month! & the whole time we knew he was lying becuase the Sisters told us he hadn't been to church at all.  Anyway, we don't know what to do next with him because we can't tell him we know he's lying and that we talked to the Sisters because that puts them in harms way because he lives right next to them and it's just a bad situation.  We're praying that Heavenly Father will lead out and help us!

We got bored in Guest Services and miss being out on the square,
so we made this sign for everyone to share with us
what's going on outside our bubble. People phone calls and
questions drive me sooo crazy sometimes! haha! 

Carlos: We taught him this week with Darin who is a referral I got at conference (he's trying to decide to serve a mission but has a lot of concerns and struggles).  So we thought it would be cool for him to teach on the phone with us! & He did and it was such a good experience for all of us. We taught Carlos The Restoration and he understands everything and LOVES the BOM! We invited him to be baptized on Nov. 9! He said he would talk to his Bishop on Sunday & his friend Andrew who's the friend who gave him the BOM and introduced him to the church. He said he wants him to baptize him! SO TENDER! Carlos is so amazing, when we teach him, Sister Hale & I just look at each other with the HUGEST SMILES and DIE at the things he says! His prayers are soooo strong and true : ) 

Other than them, we've just been trying to contact a ton of people in our area book and people we've gotten from Conference!

The work is moving forward!!!!

I love my mission, and the struggles will just build me stronger at the end! 

-Sister Hansen

HAHHAHAH Such cheese balls during companionship study! 

We were holding Preach My Gospel together and 

another sister comes in cracking up at us 

so then we decided to exaggerate 

and take a pic of it:) Sooo silly!!!

The pin Nate got me from Chile! I LOVE MY SCRIPTURES