#20
HI world!!! It's been a crazy week! I had a couple of asthma
attacks this week and I only felt like I was dying a little bit, but it's fine
now cause I got it all under contol!!!! It's fine!!! I'm fine!!! We're fine!!!🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃
I have allergies really bad and the swamp coolers and humidity made the
allergies worse. All is well and the
mission medical missionaries took really good care of me. Sister McClellan has also been struggling a
bit with her diabetes as well. But we
have persevered and worked and took care of the Lord's business. I think the adversary didn't want some things
accomplished but we got it done!
I got the news about
transfers and I am unfortunately leaving Chillicothe. I am very VERY sad about
this. I will not be here for the baptism
of Thomas. Which, by the way, we have all planned out and it is ready to
go. He is doing awesome. Thomas had asked
me to sing at his baptism and so he is sad I won't be here to do that. I know
that the ward and the missionaries will take great care of Thomas. He is loved. I am also
sosososososososososososososo sad about leaving Sister McClellan. She is the most amazing companion and
missionary. I have learned so much from
her and we are truly soul sisters. I
will miss her sosososososooooo much. We became so close so fast. She is such a wonderful
missionary. Sister McClellan is staying in Chillicothe and training a new
missionary...again!#PRAY4SISTERMCLELLAN (that's what she has requested). Saying
goodbye has been rough. I have shed lots
of tears. Which isn't normal for me. I have developed some great friendships and I
will miss so many of the great and kind people in this area. I visited with Bill, a recent convert and my
friend, and who has been suffering from cancer. I was able to teach him for the
last time and it was hard. But, he is
officially cancer free and feeling so great.
So that is good news! I have decided that transfers are going to be the
hardest part of the mission. But I know wherever I will be next will be a great
adventure!
We did it! The
missionaries sang at the baseball game.
Singing at the Clippers baseball game was soooooooooooo fun! I love
being in Columbus. It's so pretty there!! I really felt like the spirit was so
strong as we sang the "Star Spangled Banner" for everyone in
attendance and for the baseball players.
Some of them had tears in their eyes.
It was a truly great way to do missionary work. sharing our talents is truly an effective
method of spreading the gospel. It was a
spiritual experience for me and for all the missionaries that participated. I am so happy that Sister Daines posted the
video on FB. That way you all can see us
performing. The baseball game so super fun. AND they played some Twenty One
Pilots at the game it was THE BEST. Hahahahahaha! Sister McClellan and I could
not stay for the entire game, because we had to drive all the way back to
Chillicothe and make it home in time for curfew. But we got some Dip N Dots and
sat down and watched the game and then dipped out of there. Hahaha! Sister
Andersen was THERE! Her comp played the violin while we sang, so it was fun to
be able to hang with her for a while! Also, TØP is currently in Columbus!!!!!
Evil!!!! But I will avoid temptation and not try to look them up and teach them
the gospel UNTIL I am transferred to their area and then I will do that!
#missiongoals
Anyway, that's not important.
What is important is all of the miracles I have been able to
see this week with Thomas! He is doing so well and he is SOOOOOOO ready to be
baptized. The Word of Wisdom has been difficult for Thomas. He decided he
wanted to get a priesthood blessing to help him quit smoking, and holy poo it
was THE most spiritual blessing I've ever been able to witness. The spirit was
so strong, and Brother George, the ward mission leader, said some things in the
blessing that Thomas had not ever mentioned but were troubling him. Thomas felt
the spirit so strongly and had some questions answered in the blessing. He also feels so much stronger now. I know
that blessing didn't come from man. It came straight up from God. We are now
currently fasting with him. This is the first time he will go 24 hours with
smoking a single cigarette. He has so much faith. He told us that the gospel
has helped him to realize that there is so much good and beauty in the world.
He just couldn't find it until he knew God. :') Tender moments. I am PUMPED for
his baptism!! I visited Thomas to say goodbye and we also made sure he was still fasting. He
told me he was looking at lds.org (his new fav pastime) and he found my video
on the Mormon Channel. He told me that depression and suicide are two things
that have always haunted his brain. He has suffered from depression at
different times in his life. He watched my video and said "I don't feel
the sadness anymore. Your message spoke directly to my heart and It's like a
weight has been lifted off my shoulders." I kind of just sat there because
I didn't know what to say. I knew the spirit had spoken directly to him and he
knew it too. He told me he knew that God had sent me to him and to Ohio for a
reason and that was to help him receive the gospel. I've never felt so touched
by someone in my entire life. In that moment I knew that Thomas was right. He was one of the reasons I have been called
to serve a mission. Missionary work is tough and sometimes I don't feel like
I'm contributing much to help build God's kingdom, but when you get told
something like that, it makes you feel pretty good. This work is 100% not about
me, but it's good to feel like you have had a small part in helping someone
come unto Christ. It makes all the sacrifice and difficulties worth it! I am so
sad to be transferred, but excited for Thomas and all that God has in store for
him. He is going to do so many great things.
There is a less-active family in our ward with 9 KIDS. They
are a mixed family and they are busy, busy, 24/7. I love going over to their
house it's so chaotic and fun hahahahha! It reminds me of home with all our
friends and family at the dinner table! They have two kids that are baptism
age. One is 8 and the other is 9 and so we have been going over there to try
and reactivate the family and get the kiddos baptized. We had a really
spiritual LESSON with the WHOLE FAMILY + THE DOG this week, and we extended a
baptism challenge to the two kids, they accepted and so they will be getting
baptized in a month and the family is excited to get back to church!!! Yay!!!
I'm so excited for them! Saving ordinances are DOPE and they help families be
together forever!!!!! The gospel is true folks, no doubt about it!
Anyway, life is crazy, but it's also pretty dang beautiful!
My heart is so full. I am so greatful that I am able to be a missionary for the
Lord, and that I am able to meet so many new people. Each person I meet touches
and changes my life and I'm so happy I get to be apart of this amazing
work. I am so grateful to be a
missionary of the Lord and to be sharing His message in Ohio.
Also, my comp and I saved a cute lil' box turtle this week.
He was in the middle of the road and we took him to the woods by our house.
Pics to come of our turtle rescue mission!
Not much in the awkwardness but I am sure that there is more of that
forthcoming!
ALSO Sister McClellan and I may or may not have prayed for
one of our less-active members to lose his job so that he could come to church
instead of work on Sunday. He lost his job and is now coming to church on
Sunday. #Godanswersprayers.
I'm gonna miss Sister McClellan and our prayers.
I LOVE YOU ALL.
Peace out, CHILLI. You will be missed.
- Sister Hannah Thomas
#19
Hello!! This week was CRAZY! We had our last zone conference
with President and Sister Daines. 😣 I am sad that they are
leaving so soon. I love them so much and
they are so good at leading our mission.
However, I'm excited to meet my new mission president and his cute wife! They will be here in July.
We had the opportunity to go to the temple for part of Zone
Conference last week. It was amazing. You never truly know how much you need
the temple until you actually have the chance to go. I love the temple.
Especially the Columbus temple. It's so tiny, and beautiful and has such a
lovely spirit. It was a much needed trip for me. I truly do love to see the
temple.
MIRACLE OF THE WEEK: Well, actually two miracles. THOMAS'S
WIFE GAVE HIM PERMISSION TO BE BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so happy!! She is
definitely not interested in the gospel (yet), but she doesn't want to stand in
the way of his happiness. Which is so wonderful. She says she recognizes the
change in Thomas and she thinks it is amazing. Also, Thomas took the Elders out
for dinner this week. Lol. He told them that he had some questions that he
didn't want to ask us...and we were like....What? So, he took the Elders out
for dinner and started asking them questions about polygamy, and exaltation and
Kolob. The Elders were like hecka nervous with all if his deep doctrinal
questions. After talking with them for TWO HOURS and Thomas says "oh,
alright. That's cool. Just so you know, none of my questions were dependent on
whether or not I get baptized. I just want to wanted to know the answers so
when dumb people ask me those questions, I can answer them easily." ?????
THOMAS!!! STOP DOING THIS TO ME!!-!!! He
was scared to ask us about polygamy because he didn't want to come off as a
creep or something. He didn't want to
disrespect us in any way. He is so
stalwart.
LESSON LEARNED THIS WEEK: So, Sister McClellan and I were
out working and we met this man named Joe.
Joe was soooosososoososososo argumentative! He wanted to argue with us
about everything and show us passages in the bible that proved us wrong as a
church. Instantly, my brain went, "Sister Thomas, this is your chance to
shine. This is what all this bible study has been for, YOUR FIRST BIBLE
BASH." I was so ready and I whipped out a ton of scriptures to try to
prove him wrong. And I was feeling pretty GOOD about it. I'm the most
argumemtative person in the world, as you know, so I was loving life. Except for the fact that he still wouldn't
listen to me!!!! And he was still arguing with me. WHAT THE HECK DUDE???? In
the middle of this, I remembered how contention is of the devil and then I felt
like a jerk cause I was totally being Satan and not very Christ-like. So then
my heart filled with love as I thought about him being one of Christ's lost
sheep and I just stared at him and smiled and began sharing my testimony. And
you know what??? This guy literally couldn't say one word!!! He just looked at
me while I testified and said "I know that these things are true." Of
course I had tears coming down my face so that may have been why he was staring
at me. But that experience is definitely
something I will remember for the rest of my mission, and probably forever.
When we share our testimonies and do it with love, no one can say a thing. You
can't argue with a testimony. You can't argue with the spirit. I know that to
be true. This was a powerful moment for
me.
I also had an allergy attack this week. That was nice. Sister McClellan and I were at a members
house for dinner and they have a farm.
It is such an awesome place. So
naturally, I was playing with all the baby animals because they were so cute!!
Afterwards, I broke out in hives and I was having a hard time breathing so I
took some Benadryl. But, I took WAYYY
too much! The Benadryl worked but I was pretty loopy. Sister McClellan called the doctor and was
like, "my companion accicentally overdosed on Benadryl so now
what?" Hahahaha! The doctor was like, I'm glad she made it
through the night...me too!
We also have been visiting a lot of less active members this
week. At the home of one family we were
watching one of the new children's Bible videos for a message with the less
active family and of the daughters pointed out that the fisherman in the video,
who was called to be an apostle by Jesus, was not very modest. She was upset because he was not wearing
enough clothes. He didn't have on a
tie. Hahahahahaha, she is quite
observant for a 3 year old. However, it
turned in to such a great opportunity to discuss modesty in dress and in
thought and with our actions. It was
such a great lesson and the spirit was really strong. The family was like, we
really appreciate this message.
"Out of the mouths of babes..."
AWKWARD MOMENT OF THE WEEK (there is always at least one):
SO. EVERY. SINGLE. ZONE CONFERENCE I have to get up and do something. I should
just prepare for it because President Daines, without fail, will always ask
me. This time, President had a white
board and he was making people get up and teach the Plan of Salvation to the
entire ZONE on the white board. I am a 20 year old missionary, and when I see a
white board and a marker in my face, I get like all nervous with like "Vietnam
flashbacks," and I get cold sweats and super stressed and I basically
can't function. I panic, okay! 🙃
Well, President Daines asked me to stand up and teach the
Zone on the white board about Adam and Eve.
Oh dear, I'm no artist. So, I get
up and I draw a stick figure Eve, with a cute little dress and curly hair. Then I draw Adam but by now I was shaking so
badly!! I start drawing a cute stick figure Adam and I make his body a little
bit longer than it should be, and I put his legs a little too high, so then
WHAT was supposed to be a stick figure Adam turned into something from a male
anatomy book.....DID I MENTION THIS IS IN FRONT OF PRESIDENT AND SISTER DAINES
AND A BUNCH OF MISSIONARIES???? I start to hear giggling behind me, so what do
I do?!?! I take my finger and just kind of try to nonchalantly erase
his....well...you get it. 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃 It was the worst! Everyone started laughing
and I wanted to curl up in a ball!
Hahahahaha! It's fine. I'm THAT missionary! 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃
I'm sorry to our first parents Adam and Eve!!
Anyways, my life is an AWKWARD mess. If I have learned anything from my
mission, it's that there are two things in my life that will never change: 1.
The church is true 2. My life is sosososososo strange and full of awkward
moments!
Nonetheless, I love the people here so much. They are so full of goodness. Next week is
transfers. It will be our last transfers
with President Daines. PRAY I DON'T
LEAVE THIS PLACE JUST YET! I AIN'T READY TO LEAVE CHILLI TOWN and I want to be
here for the baptism of Thomas.
Be good. Choose the
right. Don't argue with a Joe and keep
the peace! I love you.
--Sister Hannah Montana
We had an awesome lesson with him and some members in the ward and he FINALLY committed to read the Book of Mormon!!! Yay!!
I 'm just an awkward soul, so you can imagine how the lesson went. All the girls asked us if we had a boyfriend back at home or a boy on a mission that we were writing, and I got all awkward cause I am scared of boys cause Elders smell bad, so I kinda just looked at them and said, "haha. No..." NONE OF THEM BELIEVED ME (Which was kinda flattering I ain't gonna lie) BUT NOW THEY ALL THINK I HAVE SOME NICE BYU BOY BACK AT HOME. Yikes!!! They keep asking for photos!!!! I don't have a boy at home!!! SOS!!! Who's gonna tell them, cause I tried!!!! It didn't work!!! Sister Steinagel told me to show them a picture of Shia LeBouf because thinks he would be my "celebrity boyfriend match." Ummmm....no!
. When the Amish community found out that the Weavers had accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ and were going to be baptized they were shunned completely. It was so hard for them. They have a lot of family and friends who do not speak to them anymore. They had to leave their home and the community they loved. After their baptism they started to stugggle financially. Their furniture store wasn't as profitable as it has once been. But God is good and they were blessed through their trials and so everything worked out. They are strong members of the church. They have since shared the gospel with two other families from their Amish community and both families were baptized! This is so amazing to me. There are some pretty cool families in this ward and I am learning so much from them. Brother Weaver shared that cool conversion story with Sister Flora and I this week. It was awesome and I could feel the love that Heavenly Father has for him and his family. Also, the family let me play with their baby goats and their puppies. They were cute and it was a great dinner and lesson. They definitely taught me more than I taught them.