A novel by Sister Henson

Dear Family- and all others who may be reading this-
An email this morning reminded me that it is again transfer
week, thanks alot! Just rub it in. I’m not sure where the
time goes, only that I wish it wouldn’t. Time is so twisted
on a mission; I can’t quite figure it out. Maybe it’s because
we’re trying to work on the Lord’s timetable, so it throws
our mortal minds for a whirl. I like that excuse, I’ll stick
withthat. We’ve had another incredible week. Tuesday night
we went out on splits. Iwent with Jenn, recent convert, and
Sisters Hansen and Smith went out withanother member, Abby.
While out, we both saw miracles. I went to teach Rui and
Hengwei, the Chinese students attending Creighton University.
They are almost straight from China so the language barrier
is tricky. Thankfully, the Churchhas a lot of resources. We
had taught them about the Book of Mormon they had both been
reading it. We were able to find copies for them in Mandarin
Chinese. Rui was the only one we taught that night, but I brought
the Restoration video and we watched it. We played it in Chinese
with English subtitles. It was interesting to experience the
Spirit in that way. Rui loved it and when I asked him if he
believed that it happened he replied in his broken English,
“I don’t think he want to lie to people, so yes, I think true.”
It was so sweet. He has a real, sincere, deep humility that
I’ve never seen in someone before. Let’s flash over to my
companions teaching DeAndre over dinner. They taught him more
about the Book of Mormon and read over Enos with him. He
reallycould relate to Enos. He loved that after Enos had
prayed for his own remission of sins, he started praying for his
brethren. DeAndre always talks about love,peace and unity.
If he were going for Miss America, he would wish for world peace.
But in all sincerity, mean it. He has such a huge heart.
He ispreparing for baptism on September 13th and is very excited.
He loved Church yesterday. I sat by him and after every
hymn he would make a comment about how we should start a band.
Ha! He’s really talented musically, he played the piano
for us and it was beautiful. After Church we were talking
about reading and he said “Ain’t nobody gonna keep me away
from that book (the Book of Mormon), if they do, I’ll say
(he raises his hand and sings this next part)get thee hence,
amen, halleluiah.”
Let’s flash back to me on Tuesday night.
The Elders in Contestoga hadfound a couple of young single
adults to teach when they attended a CatholicChurch last
Sunday. I know, of all places. Anyway, they were going to
meet upfor dinner and they invited us along to transition
the teaching. I walked in and just about died when I saw who
they had found. I want you to go back wit me to July of last
year when I was serving in Elmwood with Sister Johnson.
Do you remember the Ammon moment I had with Greg and his brother
Daniel? Daniel is a Roman Catholic who we taught a few times
before he left for the Dominican Republic. So, back to the
taco shop, it was Daniel! He recognized me right away and
we chatted like old friends. It was so weird! He had a
friend with him,Jolie, and we taught while we ate the best
tacos I’ve ever had. It was great. We set another appointment
for tomorrow and left Jolie with a copy of the Book of Mormon.
She’s very open and I think she’ll love and grasp the Gospel
quickly. Maybe that’ll give Daniel enough courage to follow.
On my way out, I ran into Katrina who just got back from Colorado.
We’re having dinner with her and Andy tonight. I’m excited
to see her progression asshe’s been reading the Book of Mormon
this last month.
OK, I just reviewed all the things I want to write about and
this is going totake ages. So I’ll give you the short and sweet
versions.
Wednesday we found Antonio
again. He’s the one that went to Wulu’s baptism a while ago
and said that he felt the Spirit and that it told him that he
was next! He wants to be baptized but he also said that he might
be moving to Texas by the end of the month.
I’m praying that he’ll stay. It was neat how the Lord changed
our plans to have us go over and catch him at the right time.
We had been tryingfor so long. This was also the day of
interviews with President. I just love him. He’s so much like
the Savior in that he shows you ways to improve but shows you how
much you’re loved. You feel so good around him, being in this
mission, that you always want to be better to make him proud.
Right after interviews, my district went out to lunch
at Wendy’s, we’re high class;) Anyway, I went to the bathroom
to wash my hands before lunch (Ihad just shaken a lot of
Elders hands, ha). While in there, one of the employees asked me
if I was with a church. I told her I was and which church
it was. We talked for a minute and I told her about the singles
ward and invited her to come. She replied, “Well, I’m not in a
relationship now so that sounds nice.”
Haha, whatever draws them in. She should be able to come next week,
her name is Amanda. Thursday was also a great day. I’ll share
my favorite highlight. We taught David and Marcella again.
We started out reading from 2 Nephi 31. It talks about how we
keep the commandments to show that we love the Lord. David started
to get a little adamant that we really didn’t need to go to
Church every week. He said he hadn’t been in like four or five years.
He went off and explained all these reasons why we didn’t have
to go. I took one of his issues,taught the truth, bore testimony
and transitioned to Sister Hansen. She took the next one,
then Sister Smith, and then our teamup, Rachel. He would kind of
try to argue in between each of us but by the end, he sat back
in his chair, and said, “Okay, I’m done. Ya’ll are right. I have
nothing else tosay.” He then committed himself to coming to
Church next week! I love the Spirit!
More quick updates… DeMon is doing well.
He wasn’t baptized this last weekend but is working
towards this weekend. He really wants to be baptized,but
has a hard time remembering to keep commitments. It’s kind of
an important part of the process. He’s doing better though
and we’re seeing his heart soften. Friedo is also doing great.
He has received a lot of little answers, but wants a big,
fireworks display. We’re still working towards Wednesday,the
day before transfers. Please pray for him. Sunday night, we
invited a young man named Enzol to come visit us at the Trail
Center as we were on shift that night. He works at the HyVee
grocery store down the street from us. He is friends with all
the Senior couples, and they as well as the young Elders in the
area, have been trying to get him to theTrail Center or Church
for over a year now. Then, one of our members met him selling
security systems and they became friends. He started going to
Church three weeks ago and has come every week. When he first
moved to Omaha from Georgia in 2004, he met missionaries but
didn’t really progress. Well, he came last night to the Trail
Center and Sister Hansen gave him a tour. I wouldhave liked
to go, but it was busy so only one of us could. The Spirit
prompted me to have her go, I figured it would be best for her
to develop a relationshipwith him in case I get transferred.
From what she said, the Spirit was powerful throughout the tour.
Enzol just loves the Prophet, Joseph Smith. She invited him to
prepare for baptism at the end of September, the 27th, and he
accepted! He seemed very excited about it in fact! I’m so
proud of her. She isbecoming a bold missionary. Enzol is such
a neat guy. I get so sad at the thought of leaving here.
There is so much going on,that I want to be a part of.
I want to see these people progress, but then I realize how
selfish I’m being. The Lord has blessed me with five transfers
here, I just need to be grateful and let the Lord lead me where
He wants me. If I do get transferred that is. Well, I warned
you this would be a novel. Thanks for humoring me and reading all
of it. I love you all, thanks for your prayers, please direct them
toward the area and these amazing investigators.
Love, Sister Henson
p.s. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad, sorry no card, but I did think of you!