Vamanos, Come On!

Hola everyone!!!!

What another amazing week in the CCM.
In reference to my subject line, one of the main discussions we have with the Latinas is about Dora the Explorer, couldn't tell you why but we think it's so funny. Apparently Dora taught us spanish as kids but it taught them English. So in our theme song we sing "Come on, vamanos!" And in their's it goes, "Vamanos, come on!" And we literally just sit there singing the theme song and DIE laughing because it's like one of the only ways we can communicate. 

We have 2 new "investigators" (also our teachers) and it's really frustrating when my heart is full of things to say, but I have no idea what the words are in Spanish. A few times this week I was feeling a little discouraged about how slow the language is coming. But on Friday, Elder Renlund and his wife came to talk to us. At the beginning he took the time to shake EVERY single missionary's hand and asked where we were from. (There are about 300 of us.) He repeated over and over that it is a right a responsibility to find out that my call is from God. I was so thankful for his message, because it reminded me that GOD called me. And if God called me, He will provide a way. I know that the moment I was set apart as a missionary I was given the authority and power to fulfill all of my responsibilities, including Spanish!!! I am here for a REASON, and I can't wait to find it. I know there are people in Nebraska that are waiting for MY message, and it's gonna be in SPANISH! 

Although there have been times I've felt discouraged, the blessings from God outweigh the bad every time.

First of all, I FOUND MY BOOK OF MORMON! I lost it on Sunday and prayed so hard every single day that I would find it. My sweet lil companion is so patient with me, she retraced our steps with me every single day and checked the lost and found with me like 3 times a day. In the midst of my search one day I ran into the president of the CCM and he said something like, "you'll find it, I think the Lord would want Hermana Hansen to have her Book of Mormon right?" That honestly gave me so much faith and I prayed that night like I've never prayed before, and the next morning I walked into the cafeteria and had the thought to look in the cubbies they have by the walls. AND THERE IT WAS. I almost cried tears of joy because in that moment I KNEW Heavenly Father heard my prayers and cared enough to help me. I've never put anything in those cubbies before so I would have never thought to look there on my own. Heavenly Father LOVES us you guys.  

Another tender mercy I had was on Monday. They challenged us to speak ONLY spanish for the entire day, which was so hard. By lunch my brain was exploding, it was rough. But shortly afterward it started DOWN pouring outside. Full on lightening and thunder storm. In my companion's words, "it's like Noah's flood up in here!" Me and my companion realized we left our windows open in our casa and all of our books were next to the windows and we were afraid they were gonna get soaked. So we RAN all the way home huddled under this tiny umbrella, splashing through the massive puddles and trying not to get struck by lightening. It was a SIGHT to see, we were shrieking and laughing the entire way, and when we finally got home we were DRENCHED! Don't worry, our books were safe. We closed the windows and piled on all of our rain clothes, and shoved a bunch of extra jackets in our rain coats for the other hermanas in our district. It was so funny we had to take a picture. The funniest part was that by the time we got back to our classroom the rain had completely stopped HAHA. Also in the words of my companion after we returned in head-to-toe rain outfits looking up at the clear sky: "The Lord works in mysterious ways." Good times.

Last but not least I want to share something our CCM president taught in our devotional last night. I'll give a summary of my favorite part:

In the pre-mortal life there was a war in heaven. We are here on earth because we FOUGHT with our whole souls to defend the plan of salvation and to defend our Savior. We put EVERYTHING into that war. Heavenly Father reserved OUR spirits for this day, to participate in the "greatest and most important work on the earth." God reserved our spirits so WE could be part the gathering of Israel. Side note, we watched President Nelson's address to the youth and if you haven't watched it, WATCH IT. President Nelson said that we need to "CHOOSE TO ENLIST IN THE BATTALION TO GATHER ISRAEL!!!" It's up to US you guys. Our president told us that we were in the MTC in heaven too, the "Mortality Training Center." I know that's true, even if we can't remember it, the lessons we learned there are PART of us. As we learn and strengthen our testimonies the feelings come back into our remembrance and confirm that they are true.

That's all for now, tomorrow I start TRC which is where people from outside the MTC (usually members) come in and we teach them. They're gonna be speaking fast spanish, not slow easy spanish like our teachers. Wish me bueno suerte por favor!!!

Love you all,

--Hermana Hansen

PICTURES: 

1. Me and my friend Jaci from BYU!!!!

2. Our (pointless) rescue mission.

3. The girls in my casa!!! I love them so much. Also I know I'm lookin rough in this picture but it is what it is. 

4. At the temple we got to go to this little bookstore and I bought all these pictures of Jesus to hang on my wall. I would 10/10 recommend doing this. So nice to wake up to this every morning!

5.  This was today (still raining). Me and my beautiful companion Hermana Iverson <3