I MADE IT TO NEBRASKA!!!

HELLO EVERYONE!!!! I officially made it through my first week in the field! I never thought this day would come. 

My first area is WORTHINGTON, MINNESOTA!!! My birth state! My trainer is Hermana Thacker and she is just wonderful. I was terrified to get a new companion and trainer because I love Hermana Iverson with all my heart. But I already love Hermana Thacker so much, she is like my big sister and I feel like I've known her all my life. She trusts me a lot and tells me that I came "pre-trained" which definitely isn't true, but she does boost my confidence a lot. 

THE AREA:

The second I got off the plane in Omaha the humidity hit me like a train, the air is so thick here that I could drink it. It's a little less humid in Minnesota though, we're about 3.5 hours away from the mission home! My companion and I are the ONLY missionaries in this entire area, so we teach in both Spanish and English! It is truly a blessing that we don't have to refer any of the English speakers because we love them so much. 

This area is SO cute. Everything is very old fashioned and our apartment is in the middle of downtown Worthington right next to a beautiful lake that we jog by each morning! The people that live here live in very humble abodes. There are WAY more Hispanics here than I expected, when we go tracting I feel like we are mostly speaking spanish! 

I have learned why everyone says "missionary work is hard." I have never experienced anything harder in my life honestly. There is not a second of the day that you can think about yourself, and I've learned that the times I DO think about myself are the hardest ones. The moments that I've wondered, "Why did I decide to come on a mission? I could be at home with my mom watching TV and eating popcorn!" are the absolute hardest moments. But the second I get out and start to work, I remember why I decided to come on a mission. Because this is the MOST important work on earth, and EVERYONE needs the happiness that comes from the gospel. And it is my job to proclaim the truth! 

We do a LOT of tracting here! It is always hard when people turn us away because I have realized that as representatives of Jesus Christ that people are really turning away Christ. They are turning away HOPE, HAPPINESS, SALVATION! It really is heartbreaking. One day it was about time to go home and we decided to try one more door. My companion does this thing where she knocks really hard and earnestly because people tend to come to the door more often when it sounds urgent -- and our message is! She knocks 3 times, so that if they are home they have 3 chances to open the door. We were on our 3rd knock when she knocked louder than ever, and this hispanic lady comes rushing to the door and is speaking very fast spanish. She said something like, "Why are you knocking like it's an emergency?! You scared me to death!!!" We were slightly embarrassed and apologized, and before we could even start our message she invited us in!!! That pretty much never happens -- so we were pretty excited. But as we started to share our message her husband walks in and tries to start bible bashing. We could hardly get a word out because he was preaching so much to us about why he was right and we were wrong. I was very thankful that there was a language barrier at that moment because I didn't really want to hear what he was saying. After our short message we left, and his wife peeked her head out the door and said, "so are you still going to continue your work after what my husband said?" And we both said "YES." Of course we are! We are not going to stop sharing our message just because there are people that are against us. We hold with us the TRUTH that people need, a message of happiness, hope, and change through our loving Savior. NOTHING and NO ONE is going to stop us! 

Although there will be opposition everywhere we go, we truly see so many miracles. We are teaching a lot of wonderful people, and have a baptism set in a couple of weeks for the most amazing family I have ever met. We are so excited! They are the Zeba families and they came to America from West Africa. I will tell you all about them later on. 

Another miracle I have seen is through the scriptures. Every time I open the scriptures, Heavenly Father answers my prayers. These scriptures really opened my eyes and helped me to see how important my calling is:

Alma 29:9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

Alma 26:30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.

Alma 29:6 Now, seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?

A few other things:

The members here are WONDERFUL. Our branch is very small and very very spread out. So it's really hard for the members to feed us that often because they all live so far away, but they all would if they could. And the times that we get to have meals with them are truly wonderful, they are some of the most amazing people, and strongest members I've ever met. I am in an english speaking branch but there are a TON of people that only speak spanish, so we translate through headsets during the meetings. Luckily I didn't have to do it since this is my first week, but I will be soon! Very nerve racking. 

One of the best miracles I've seen is that I get to teach in AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE!!! I have been praying for that opportunity for probably a year now. And last week some elders from Iowa called and said there are 2 deaf guys that want to be taught!!! So sooner than later I will be video-calling them and I'll start teaching them. I could not be more excited. What an amazing blessing.

This is the address to my mission home if you would like to send packages:

Nebraska Omaha Mission
11027 Martha Street
Omaha, NE 68144-3107

This is the address to my apartment for letters!

1006 4th Ave., Apt 2
Worthington, MN 56187 

I love you all so much, I hope you have a wonderful week! 

1. My district on our last P-day at the CCM

2. Me with my new mission presidents the first day we got here! We stayed the night on Monday and on Tuesday we spent the whole day doing some training and we got to go walk around the temple and tour the trail center in Omaha! It was awesome. We spent both nights in a hotel and I met my trainer on Wednesday morning. Hermana Iverson and I popped popcorn and ate oreos on our last night together in the hotel -- it was a great final night!

3. My new Mom!!! (Sister Thacker)

4. Arriving in Minnesota :)

5. We made fried rice for dinner one night and it was so good we had to take a picture!

Con amor, 

Hermana Hansen