Hey everybody,
P-Day somehow ended up being more packed than ever this week, so this might be a little short, like last week's. Okay, actually it's because we've been putting off a lot of things that really need to get done around the apartment (like shipping Elder Oberhansley his bike) so, it was bound to be this way. Plus we have to get ready for a trip to Vaasa for companion exchanges this week. Losing a day in our proselyting area means extra work on the other days to make up for it.
This past week was definitely better than the week before. We regrouped, reevealuated, and redoubled our efforts to make last week's faliures and disappointments look like flukes.
This week has been a great one for us in finding. We found in a way I had never thought possible before: former potentials. One day, when we were on our way in, I felt prompted to try a former potential that had been dropped for many months. She had never shown interest after the initial contact. At first, I thought it might just be someone on the way that we ought to speak with, so on the way to this former potential, we talked with a wonderful mother. We both got very excited. Unfortunately, she wasn't interested. So we continued. We eventually made it to the home, and to our surprise the former potential was not there, but her daughter was. We spoke with the daughter and introduced the questions of the soul. She took the Book of Mormon and promised to read. When we arrived for our follow-up appointment, the daughter was not home, but the mother, the former potential, was. She let us in. Her daughter had left the Book of Mormon behind and this woman had begun to read it on her own! We sat down and taught her the Restoration. She has many questions about which church is truly God's church. Miracle.
Our visits to A have become a bit of a routine. The only problem is that, that routine is one of absolute bedlam for nearly an hour, consisting of her two little ones pulling our arms, legs, fingers, hair, and occasionally noses to get us to come play with them, yelling and jumping off the couch on top of us, and us valiantly trying to both quiet them and share a short (usually very short) spiritual thought. Now, whenever we walk in the front door, her one year old boy comes running down the hall yelling, "Hasen, Hasen, HASEN!" (As close as he can get to Hansen) and grabbing for my nametag. I usually give it to him, at which point he procedes to try to clip it onto his own shirt. Then his sister wants one, so I take off my other one and give that one to her. We have a small piece of cake or something that A has made (the one year old just eats the whipped cream), and then we try to sit in the living room to have a lesson. Commence bedlam. This week we thought it would be a good idea to let them watch the Restoration DVD, thinking that might keep them interested and entertained quietly for a while. It, uh, didn't. A's daughter spent most of the time trying to keep Elder K covered with blankets and pillows, and when I would try to say something, she would put her small hand over my mouth and say, "Shh, there's a movie on." Kids. A is doing really well, though, all things considered.
We had something of a small miracle with one of our less-active members this week. We sang! As we were talking in our lesson, his wife brought up the words to a hymn she really likes. We sang it as our closing hymn in that visit, and this old less-active, who hasn't shown a lot of interest or participation in previous lessons, sang with us. There was a light in his eyes. There was such a wonderful spirit in the home. And, while he stll didn't come to church on Sunday, he at least woke up on time! Baby steps, baby steps.
I wish I had more time to tell you all about the craziness that's happening here right now. Life is wonderful. Even if it's getting darker and a lot colder really fast... The district is doing great. We have two baptismal dates for the end of the month! Pray they go through!
I love you all, and miss you all very much.
Elder Hansen
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