Sister Brooklyn Hermansen Minnesota Minneapolis Mission: Miracles? Lice? Bed bugs? All of the above?

Here is last week’s update, I started writing it and then we helped a senior couple who was leaving and I didn’t have time to finish!

Wow this week was a good one! To start things off, Elder Williams left and went down to Albert Lea with Elder Evans! Elder Evan's companion, Elder Larsen, is now here in St Paul! Annnnnnnd we got a new sister! Her name is Sister Hoskins! She’s super sweet and funny! She's already doing great, I’m super excited for her to learn Karen and experience this crazy adventure.

Last week I talked about all of the cool things going on with Mae Paw, and this week there’s even more! 1. Mae Paw’s dad fed us again! That’s two times in the past week and the only two times in my whole year of being here! 2. Mae Paw’s dad said that he wants to start coming to our church! There are a ton of Baptist churches here that most of the Karen people go to and lately a lot of them have been having a lot of problems. One congregation just got kicked out of their building, another one just split up, and they just have a lot of issues. He said that he’s sick of the problems and instability in their churches so he wants to start coming to ours! Super cool! However, it snowed a tooon on Saturday and they didn’t end up coming. It was sad.

We also had a pretty cool finding night on Saturday. We went on splits. I went with Mae Paw to one apartment complex and Sister Hoskins and Sister Hicks went to another apartment complex. We found 12 new investigators within 3 hours! It was pretty cool! We taught a nice Buddhist couple that wants to learn about Jesus Christ. God is definitely blessing us! We have been trying to be more exactly obedient and we are seeing the results! When we obey, we receive help and blessings.

Now for this week! Sister Hicks wrote about this week beautifully, so indulge yourself in our week, written by her. Things bolded and italicized will be my edits.

Day one:

Had a good pday. Senior couple was leaving to go home and she loaded us up with 2 shopping carts full of food. One for the rotini pasta and one for everything else. We seriously have rotini pasta up to our ears. All our cupboards are topped with rotini. If you need pasta let me know. I'll include a picture of all the food we got. So. Much. Rotini.

Day two:

Taught some people as usual. Sister Hermansen leaned back in her chair in the car and I looked through her hair as a periodical thing to check for lice. Found some lice. Proceeded to check all our hair. We all had lice. Sister Hoskins has been here for a week. Went out and taught some people. Did an over night lice treatment. Most of the Karen people have lice, but we use preventative oils and stuff in our shampoo. We thought it was working. Until now.

Day three:

Woke up and picked lice out of our hair for 3 hours. We were suppose to go on an exchange, but instead the sisters brought us Chic Fil A. Gave us this sweet note went to the laundry mat and washed everything we sleep with. All blankets and pillow cases and everything. Kept two blankets out. In plastic bags to sleep with that night. Taught some people. Came home and slept on the couch and hammock because we wanted to keep all our lice free, clean sheets, lice free. Slept with the two blankets we had kept out of the washing. Sister Hicks and Hoskins slept on the couch. I slept in my hammock.

Day four:

Went to zone conference. It was so good. President gave an incredible training on forgiveness. Such a good training. He talked about how repentance and forgiveness are intertwined and you can’t do one without the other. You can't truly repent until you’ve forgiven yourself and others who have wronged you. When we don’t forgive people, it's basically denying the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. He suffered so that all men can be forgiven by God. If we think someone doesn’t deserve to be forgiven, that’s denying the power of Christ’s sacrifice. Then some zone leaders gave a really great training on desire. What are the desires of our heart? Sometimes we have to pray for God to give us the desire to read our scriptures or go to church. Such a good spiritual refresher. Came home to drop off some stuff. Sister Hermansen found a bed bug chilling on my blanket I had used the night before. Right on the couch. Compared him to our bed bug card indicator. Texted our exterminator Bishop and this is the text we receive from him:

"Full grown, looks like a female, recently fed. That is a bed bug"

Went to our apt manager and showed him the bed bug. This is what he said:

"That's a bed bug"

It is confirmed. It is a bed bug.

Got it figured out that the exterminator would come in a few days to check out the place. Told the mission president and he invited us to stay at the mission home. We did not pass up that offer. Went and taught Mae Paw and her family. Slept at the mission home. Most Karen people also have bed bugs. No preventative action has been taken. If you know of any, I would greatly appreciate your knowledge.

Day five:

Woke up from the best sleep of my life. These mission home beds are better than any other bed I have ever slept on! Wow.

Had a good day of teaching. Did another lice treatment. After the bedbugs I'm not feeling too bad about the lice. Literally the first time in my entire life I can remember waking up and thinking, “Wow I feel awake and ready for this day” I thought my mission would help me become a morning person. Update: it has not.

Day six:

Ate chicken feet soup. Found a new invistigator through a young woman. We went on splits and I went tracking with Mae Paw! Taught a Buddhist about God and Jesus Christ. Slept at the mission home again. Still don’t like chicken feet. Sister Hoskins and I helped a member prepare her Sunday school lesson for the next day while Sister Hicks and Mae Paw taught the Buddhist guy I found with Mae Paw last week.

Day seven:

Went to church. Really good testimony meeting. Mission president had us over for dinner. He grilled us some yummy stakes. Mmm. Yum.

I hope your week was better than mine. ♥️ But in all seriousness, it hasn’t been that bad. It’s been a fun adventure and the mission home beds made the whole thing worth it. I have learned a lot from this whole experience, but the most important lesson I have learned is that when we have problems, the best way to take your mind off of them and feel joy through your tribulations, is to help other people. When we would be at home or driving in the car, I would constantly be thinking about the lice and bed bugs and mentally making myself itchy, but as soon as we would go into someone’s home to teach them, I would forget about it right away and even stop itching. Plus, when we help people, God blesses us, who doesn’t want blessings from God? If you have any problems in your life weighing you down, which everyone does, get outside of yourself and help someone. You will be better able to deal with your problems, and also receive blessings from God. Have a great week! Stay tuned for an update on the lice and bed bugs next Monday!

They look like cute lunch ladies! haha