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And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free.

He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death; and ye can do good and be restored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you.
Helaman 14:30-31

**Pray that the Lord will prepare the hearts of specific people to hear the gospel. Pray also to be sensitive to those whose whom He is preparing. "It will be a great day," taught President Gordon B. Hinckley, "when our people not only pray for the missionaries throughout the world, but ask the Lord to help them to assist the missionaries who are laboring in their own ward."***

So last Monday we had a multi-cultural feast, where all the elders and sisters brought food from "home" and we shared it. There was tons of Mexican food, Canadian food, American food, Chinese food, it was really a cool experience. I totally was wanting to bring true Texan food, but I made sopapillas instead and EVERYONE loved them. 

We had a Family Home Evening lesson with a less active family in the ward, it went really well. He speaks Spanish and everyone else speaks in English so we taught in both so the kids could learn Spanish and he could learn a little English. We taught about service. 

We taught Ana the lessons about The Gospel of Jesus Christ,  Obedience and Prayer. She loves prayer and we talked about how much I love obedience. I think its genius that Heavenly Father gave us the principle of obedience to bless us. 

We also taught a new investigator named Luz, we taught her about the Restoration. She and I talked about what Catholics believe and what we believe. It was a really great lesson and fun to share and increase our knowledge. 

WE FINALLY GOT ANOTHER LESSON WITH MARIA!!! We taught her the importance of Obedience, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, and For the strength of Youth. It was super great and we invited her to come to church! 

Pictures from the multi-cultural activity and the Garden restaurant thats in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

Ana our recent convert, and me contemplating the purpose of bed bugs

We met with Carolina Lopez and taught The Gospel of Jesus Christ with a member present. They also got a blessing because their baby is super sick :( 

There was a Navajo lady I met who sang the national anthem in her tongue and that was such a neat experience. Thank you Grandma Marilyn, for the information about the navajo children you had in your home for many years because I use it daily now. 

I went to the doctors and they fixed me up:) Im all better and ready to continue working! Sister Hansen helped me and talked me through it. I actually saw her hours before she had passed away, but we had no idea until Thursday morning. 

When we heard about the passing of Sister Hansen, we called the Sister Trainer Leaders (SLTS) to talk to them about it. When we went to work I asked Sister Gonzalez if we could make it a companionship goal not to talk to anyone about it. We together could talk but not with members, investigators or anyone else. That whole day we felt as if she was walking through the streets with us and we loved it. I truly felt her loving spirit helping us serve harder and more mightily, with "fire in the bones" as she always said. We saw a less active trying to put cardboard in her van because someone had shattered her window and taken things out. Her face was completely red and swollen from crying that morning.  I helped her put the cardboard in place of the broken window and my companion had called the Elders. We had another appointment but we told her we would be back that night to read the Book of Mormon with her. 

Sister Hansen was an amazing lady. She lived a very faithful life and I love her so much. That day I only cried when I kneeled down to pray for President and his family.  The rest of the day I was thinking that I will get to see her again someday and THAT reunion will be a magnificent one. We had a missionary memorial service for her. Just missionaries from the Salt Lake City mission and the family was there. The funeral today, all missionaries were sitting in the back and at the last song, everyone was crying. The song was, 'God Be With You Till We Meet Again', then EVERY SINGLE MISSIONARY spontaneously stood up and finished singing. Dallin H. Oaks, who was on the stand, pointed to President Hansen and his family to look back. They were all in tears and so were we. The spirit was so strong and Im so thankful to be able to honor her in that way. She loved singing and music. I love her so much and cannot wait to see the missionary reunion in heaven with her:) I also saw Rinna! I would like to share a passage from my journal on the day she passed away...

"Heaven gained a wonderful woman today. We were in studies and our district leader Elder Parker called, explaining we had "Mission News". I was already in my head thinking about what it could be... Elder Parker's voice changed after saying how proud President Hansen is about the work that we have been doing and going forth. "Last Night, Sister..." I immediately knew what he was going to say. A sister in our mission died, but who? After hearing the words "Sister Hansen" an overwhelming moment of silence captured the room. I had talked with her yesterday, hugged her, thanked her. Now she is gone....I said a prayer.  After I was done, I felt peace. I finished with my studies, and went to work....All I wanted to do was ask her what it was like to be in the Spirit World. I know she's continuing missionary work up there...We had 2 doors slammed in our face today, my first! But the joy and love I felt today had no comparison to any other emotion."

Our mission had a conference call the next day. We are getting IPADS soon!  We are excited because that will help the work! 

Maria came to church... THAT WAS A MIRACLE! I woke up with a HUGE headache and she said she couldn't come because she had a fever. I texted her asking if she wanted a priesthood blessing and the Elders went, texted us saying her dad said she was going to church. A frustrated text followed from her saying "I guess my dad doesn't care that I'm sick but ya... I'm coming to church" I knew I had a responsibility to make her have a spiritual experience. "Im sorry:( I said we can both be sick at church. Sis B has a headache" Praying that it would work I sent the text and she was laughing and saying she would meet us at her house. We picked her up ( it was a BEAUTIFUL sabbath day) and we walked to church and she absolutely loved it. We also taught Primary kids the Articles of Faith, well I did, my companion doesn't know them haha.

Thank you for your prayers for my mission president and his Family. We were lucky enough to know her and serve with her. The memorial included President Clayton (from the Presidency of the 70) and Elder Don R. Clarke (from the 70)

Today was the funeral and we were also privileged to hear from Dallin H. Oaks who read a letter from the First Presidency about Sister Hansen. She changed my life. She helped me see who I want to become. I love her and know one day we will see her again. It is not easy losing a dear friend and a mother figure but thanks to the Atonement of Christ, we can live again. 

I'M GETTING TRANSFERRED! I'm going to be in a trio with Hermana R

Con Amor
Hermana B