Sister Alex Hartvigsen-- Oct. 31, 2011

Happy Halloween
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Hide Details FROM:Alexandra Hartvigsen TO:Carol Ferguson carol@clubferguson.com Dave, Lisa and Family 11 More...Message flagged Monday, October 31, 2011 11:41 AMMessage body
Dear family, I hope you have a very happy Halloween. I was in the VC his last week giving a tour to a family that just recently moved into our ward. The 7 year old son asked me what I was going to be for Halloween because He was going to be Wolverine. I told him that I was going to be something so scary that even grown men run and hide. I am going to me a Missionary. Later the kid walked up to his mom and said that he had changed his mind. He was going to be a missionary instead of wolverine. He wanted to have his Book of Mormon and his little missionary in training tag. I gave him some VC pass along cards that he can go trade for candy. It was really cute and funny. Later his mom asked him what they did in the temple a few months before when they were all dressed in white. He promptly responded, " you left me" She wanted something more along the lines of they got sealed rather than they left him. It was funny. I got my transfer news on Saturday. I am finally leaving my first Spanish ward. I am going to a Spanish branch that is also in Mesa named Valencia. I think the biggest shocker was that I am going back to Sister Nishiguchi. By the end of this transfer I will have been out a year and be on my 2nd companion in AZ. It will just be for this transfer because she is going home at the end of it. It will be an adventure. Thhis week has been really good in our area. On Monday we were able to have 4 member present lessons. We met with a women and talked about the importance of diligence and obedience. We ate dinner with a less active and her children and talked a about the Atonement with them. Later this week we met with her again and talked about prayer. We read a scripture in 1 Nephi 14 about how we need to pray first and inquire of the Lord before he will give us an answer. She shared an experience about having prayers answered. It was really cool because she admitted that she hadn't thought about prayer for a while but she recognized that she has had prayers answered. We also invited them to come to the trunk or treat that the ward was having so that they were able to meet more people in the ward. We had a family night with a women and her daughters as well as a member family who did a cookie run with her. It was a really good lesson and they ended up sitting all together during Sacrament meeting. We were given a referral for a less active women and her granddaughters by a women in our ward. Those three girls were very excited to see us. We taught them how to pray and each one of them wanted to say a prayer with us right then. Later this week we went to the VC and had a lesson with them about the Plan of Salvation. We had a lesson with a couple together again this week. We invited them to pray together and attend church. They are not really progressing right now so i think we will be dropping them for a while. On Thursday Sister McKee was with us for the day and we had a new investigator. We explained our purpose as missionaries and talked about the firt have of the Restoration. He is searching for something doesn't know what. We set up a time so that we can meet with him and his wife together this next week. We met with a family and taught about how our families can be together forever as well as why we are given commandments.
I have been studying 1 Nephi this last week. What really stood out to me is the contrast between how different people react to the same situation. Nephi hears Lehi teach about the his vision and goes and asks the Lord to help him understand. His brothers do not understand because they do not make the effort to inquire of the Lord and find out for themselves. Heavenly Father expects work to fix a problem. We have to ask and make an effort before the Lord will answer. Otherwise we wouldn't appreciate it and wouldn't learn anything.
I love you all. I hope you have a great week.
Love Alex