Door knocking, gift of tongues, church, and bug bites

Amigos y Familia <3

I want to start this week off by reminding you of the promise that is in Preach my Gospel. It says, "More happiness awaits you than you have ever experienced as you labor among His children." I testify that that is SO TRUE. But it also comes with the most fear, sadness, and stress than you have ever experienced. But the happiness and joy out ways it all, Heavenly Father has blessed me SO MUCH and I've gone to bed with a smile on my face pretty much every single night this week. Missionary work is amazing.

One experiences knocking doors this week I wanted to share: We always knock 3 times, because it gives them 3 chances to open the door to the most important message they will ever hear. We knocked, and we heard a little kid go, "Quien es?" (Who is it?) It's funny because we could literally see the shadow of someone look through the peep hole, and a mom say "Son los Angeles." (It's the angels. Awesome to be referred to that, right?). We heard the little kid go, "Abrir la puerta!!!" And the mom said, "No!" On the second knock, the kid screamed it again: "Abrir la puerta!!!" And we could tell that he was trying to open the door, and his mom was holding him back. On our third knock we heard him crying and saying, "Abrir la puerta abrir la puerta!!!" Over and over. They didn't open the door, but both of our hearts were a little bit broken. I'm a firm believer that little kids are closer to Heaven and the Spirit than anyone else. He knew that this message we carry is so important, if only his mom knew it too!!!

Another really amazing door knocking miracle happened this week. We've reached out to Kham quite a bit but haven't heard from him in a while, he pretty much dropped off the face of the earth (that happens quite a bit as a missionary). We stopped at his house and met his brother, Khom. We talked to him for a bit, he asked us how long we have been missionaries. As we explained our purpose a little bit, we saw his eyes change. He suddenly said, "You know, it's people like you that helped my family get here. We were in a refugee camp for a really long time and it was just awful. Something a little kid should never have to go through because it is traumatizing. A Christian couple sponsored us and that's how we were able to get out and live here. God bless you guys." We felt like crying tears of joy, it feels so nice to hear those things every once in a while. He wasn't interested in that moment to hear more, but hopefully once we find Kham again we can teach him too!

This transfer my companion and I have a goal to use as MUCH Spanish as possible when we are together. We've been doing so well! As my companion would say, "Somos Latinas." I have been praying for the gift of tongues so much this week as well. Prayers + Effort = Success. I have seen the gift of tongues work in me SO WELL this week. We had a street contact the other night and it ended up being like 30 minutes long because the guy had so many awesome questions. And at the end of it I realized I understood EVERYTHING he said!!!! And I was able to answer everything. He even told me that I had very good Spanish. Wow. Gift of tongues is so real.

Yesterday, we had a lesson with one of the people we are teaching named Sergio. There is a member that always comes with us named Hermano Ayala and he moved here from El Salvador. We walk with him because we aren't allowed to drive members of the opposite sex unless there is a woman with them too. We had the best conversations both to and from the lesson, and we all found ourselves laughing and having the best time. At one point he looked at me and said, "You know I have seen your spanish improve so much from the first day you were here." (In spanish, he doesn't speak english). I was so touched, THE GIFT OF TONGUES IS SO REAL!!!! And I LOVE SPANISH SO MUCH!!!!!

I have also seen the promise come true to me that if I love the people that the gift of tongues will come. Sometimes I feel like I'm actually in a foreign country because I learn so much about the different South American cultures that are here. I'm pretty sure like 70% of this town in Hispanic haha. I've learned to love their cultures, and I understand their backgrounds and the way they understand the gospel a lot better now. This love is IMMENSE. This is what makes me so happy. These people are AMAZING, I wish I could introduce you to all of them.

A few more things:

This week we have been pondering about whether or not we should stop teaching Dora. We have been teaching her for quite a while now, the whole time I've been here at least. She has shown very little progression. She has lived here for about 6 months now and came from Guatemala, she doesn't know a word of English or how to read. But this week we taught her the importance of coming to church, and guess who came to church?? DORA!!!!!!!!! She doesn't have a car so we lined up a ride for her. We were literally so excited we almost cried. I think she was slightly overwhelmed because we have an English branch and a lot of people tried to talk to her in English. But I know she felt the Spirit! And she brought her 2 little sons with her and they LOVED it.

Also, I don't remember if we have mentioned this but we teach Sunday School in Spanish every week. And translate in Sacrament meeting. I don't translate much yet, but I do the prayers and testimonies!
 

I also want you all to know that I am SO HAPPY!!!! I finally feel like I'm starting to get the hang of being a missionary. Knocking on doors isn't really scary anymore. Especially because the people here are literally so nice. :)

Have an amazing week!!!

Con Amor,

Hermana Hansen

P.S. For those who were asking, I didn't get attacked by anymore wild animals this week (phew). But unfortunately I got eaten alive by mosquitoes, my legs are so covered you would think I have chicken pox HAHA. Also, I got my facebook up this week! I will be using it for proselyting use only, mostly to contact people I am teaching through messenger. My companion and I spent a long time cleaning my timeline out, I think she is slightly scarred. I was a weird 13 year old. Also, I started driving this week too!!! No one has died yet, so that's good.

PICTURES: 

1. My facebook profile picture

2-4: We got to go up to our ward campout for a little while on Friday! This is where the mosquitos got me. But it was beautiful!

5. This was some weird shrimp/fake crab meet salsa/soup thing a member gave us this week. I wanted to eat it but I got to the point where I physically couldn't swallow it. Thankfully my companion noticed I was struggling and dumped like half of it into her bowl while the member's back was turned. I have no idea what I would do without her :')

6. Dora and her family at church!!!!!

Attacked by a dog, stress, and the temple

Hola Familia y Amigos!!!

I made it to my first transfer in the field!!! However Hermana Thacker and I will stay put since I am being trained still. :) Chances are I will actually probably stay in Worthington for about 6 months! Since there are only 6 Spanish Sisters and 3 areas in my entire mission, we can pretty much predict who we will be serving with next and where. Everyone gets about 6 months in each area (Worthington Minnesota, Sioux City Iowa, and Omaha Nebraska). Of course it is all determined by revelation, and there are surprises sometimes!
 

First crazy story of the week: On Wednesday night we were tracting and we saw some people bringing their groceries in. We walked up to offer them some help, when their HUGE black dog (about the size of me) started barking and charged at me at full speed. You should have seen the look on my face, my life literally flashed before my eyes and I let out this high loud pitched scream. I had every right to though, because that thing launched itself at me and CHOMPED MY ARM!!! Yup, I got attacked and chomped. Don't worry though, I walked out with nothing but a few teeth marks and a good bruise. And we still went to talk to the owners afterward (I was holding back tears, no biggie). They weren't interested, but we offered a pass-a-long card!

This week was honestly pretty hard for me. Let me give you a little explanation. Missionary work is AWESOME, and being able to teach people in Spanish is wonderful too. The Hispanic people here are SO nice (most of them are from Guatemala, but we meet people from all over the place). A lot of them will let us teach them a lesson right then and there and we get return appointments pretty easily with them! It's so awesome, but also has caused my companion and I a ton of stress. This week we filled up our schedules really fast and still had a TON of people we needed to go visit and teach, with literally no time. We also kept double-booking ourselves by accident and had to reschedule appointments quite a few times, which is also very stressful as a missionary because people never really answer the phone, most of the appointments end up being up in the air. Now THAT is very stressful to me, because I like to have everything set in stone. Does that make sense? My companion and I would pretty much get home every night and try not to cry because of how stressed we were haha. But I learned a few very valuable things from this experience:

1. EVERYTHING works out if you leave it up to Heavenly Father. Pretty much every morning I would look at our schedule and cringe -- because so many things were up in the air/double-booked. But I would tell myself, "I am going to put this day in Heavenly Father's hands, and let him take control." And guess what? EVERYTHING worked out!!! Pretty much without fail, every time we accidentally double-book things, one of the appointments cancel at the last minute and we are able to go to the other appointment stress free. And I know that is because Heavenly Father is watching out for us and He is taking control!!

2. During my personal study one morning I was reading in Alma 58 -- this is during a war and the army of Helaman has not been receiving the provisions, food, or military support they needed from the government. I'm sure you can imagine how stressed they were! But this is what Helaman said in verse 37: "But, behold, it mattereth not—we trust God will deliver us." That's all we need to do, trust God and He will deliver us. :)

3. Our Sister Training leaders sent us this quote this week:

"If you feel a little overwhelmed, take that as a good sign. It indicates that you can sense the magnitude of trust God has placed in you." -Henry B Eyring

So comforting. :)

This week I also experienced something very new to me, doubts! I can honestly say I've never really had doubts about the gospel in my entire life. It's always been very easy for me to believe, and I have always known it is true! But for some reason, this week I have been struggling. I testify of the truthfulness of this gospel like 100 times a day and promise people the blessings of living it. But for some reason, as I say the words, "I know this is true," this little voice in the back of my head goes, "do you really know this is true though?" And as soon as that thought comes, the Holy Ghost is gone, and I forget how to speak Spanish. EVERY TIME, WITHOUT FAIL! There was an experience that really helped me overcome that this week:

We call Wednesdays our "adventure days" because we have district meeting in Marshall (about an hour away) and on the way back we go to a bunch of different people's homes that we usually don't have time for during the week because they are far away. This week we stopped at the Sas family's house! They have 2 sons that have autism, and both of them were baptized last transfer. One of them is 8 (Emmett), and one of them is 10 (Jaarom). We taught Jaarom a lesson about Family History. Because of his autism we teach him extremely simply, and only ask yes or no questions. During this lesson I felt the spirit SO strong, reminding me that this gospel really is so simple. And it is SO true. And I DO know it is true. Everything suddenly made sense.

Funny story from this experience: Emmett (the 8-year-old who also has autism) apparently loves Harry Potter. Apparently when he got confirmed, when they put their hands on his head to do the blessing he was whispering, "Not Slytherin, Not Slytherin." Over and over. When they told me that I died laughing. Good stuff.

Sorry this email is so long again, but the best part of my week was that Roy and Peda (two of the boys who got baptized a few weeks ago) went to the temple on Friday to do baptisms for the dead, and we got to go with them!!! The temple is in Omaha (3.5 hours away) so we pretty much got to spend the whole day with them and the members who drove us. Such an amazing experience!!!! And I needed it after all the stress we had this week. I love the temple, it truly is the most peaceful place on earth -- separate from all of the distractions in the world!

I love you all so much! Never forget how much Heavenly Father loves you, and never forget that He is in charge!!!

Have a great week,

--Hermana Hansen

Pictures:

3 blurry pictures from the temple and 1 of my district!

Muchas cosas locas este semana!

Estimado Amigas y Familia!!!

There were a million MUY LOCO things that happened this week so buckle up!!!

The first email worthy thing that happened this week was on Tuesday, our "car fast" day (we walk everywhere). We had an appointment with Kahm (the guys we chased down the street last week) but he wasn't home. We decided to check our area book app and find some less active members that lived in the area. We headed down to a less-active member's home and met a young girl outside her house. She had literally dragged a couch outside her house and was curling up just about to take a nap when we came and talked to her. She was 9 years old, she's from South Sudan, and her name is Ding. We showed her a picture of Christ and asked if she knew who it was, "Of course I know who dat is! Dat's JESUS!" We asked how He had blessed her life, and she just started laughing. A few minutes later 3 other little girls came running over and sat on the couch with Ding. They were her neighbor friends. Ding goes, "Ask dem what you jus asked me 'bout Jesus." After talking to them for a bit, we asked if we could sing them a song. We sang "I am a Child of God" and they loved it. When we finished, Ding goes, "Okay now les go knock on my friend's door and you guys can sing that to dem too." We were like "Okay!" And we went and knocked on her other friends door. 2 more kids came out, and we ended up having like a whole primary song concert for them on their front porch by the request of Ding. Without us even asking her to, Ding shows her friends the picture of Jesus and says, "Do you guys know who this is?" And she goes on to teach her friends and says, "Whenever I get scared at night, I read my bible and pray and all my fears go away." She looks at us and points to our Book of Mormon and goes, "Here, give dem a bible!" She literally was SUCH A GOOD MISSIONARY we were so impressed. We explained about the Book of Mormon and handed it over to them. Then, Ding goes, "Okay, now let's go sing to my friend Sayda." Us and 6 other children went over to her other neighbors house, knocked on the door, and the parents answered. We asked for their 4 year old son, and we sang "I'm a Child of God" to the whole family. It was the awesomest, weirdest, and most hilarious door approach I've ever had. We were able to talk to their parents for a minute too before we left. When we left we turned our area book on to remind ourselves where the less active member's house was, and we realized that the house we just sang at WAS THEIR HOUSE!!!! So you know what we did? You bet your bottom dollar we turned back around and went and knocked on their door AGAIN haha. We found out that the member we were looking for was their younger brother who moved, but we could come back on the weekend because he comes back to visit a lot. Miracle or what? We haven't had the chance to go back there yet, but I'll let you know what happens when we do! 

The next awesome thing that happened this week was I had a dinner with a member and her deaf brother and his wife so I could finally use my ASL!!!! It was honestly the weirdest experience of my life. Her deaf brother is named Darrell, and he has a cochlear implant and he can basically hear and talk better than I can, while his wife is completely deaf and doesn't speak at all. She can read lips very well though. The whole family signs and talks at the same time, and poor Stacy (Darrell's wife) sits there and tries to keep up. I've never really signed and talked at the same time before so that was hard for me. They asked me to say the opening prayer and so I said it in straight ASL, thinking that's what they wanted me to do. When I said Amen, they were like, "why didn't you talk? The only person that benefited was Stacy!" And Stacy was laughing so hard. Wow I was so embarrassed you have no idea! I honestly thought they wanted me to sign it. Hahaha whoops. We were able to share a short message with them, my companion spoke while I signed. That's all that really came from it, but hopefully I will be able to meet with them again in the future!!!

OKAY!!! Get ready for this part because it's nuts. So on Thursday we still hadn't seen Kahm, the guy we chased down the street last week, and we'd gone to his house twice and called him a couple times and couldn't get a hold of him. On Thursday morning I was kind of having a rough morning, not gonna lie. I was exhausted and the last thing I wanted to do was go outside and run. I prayed that Heavenly Father would help me get through the morning. As soon as we got to the lake, guess who was sitting on the park bench? KAHM!!!! We went and talked to him and were able to schedule an appointment. Who would have thought he'd be right by the place where we go running, at 6:45 in the morning? Heavenly Father really answered my prayer that day by showing us that miracle and putting us in the right place at the right time. So on Thursday we taught Kahm all about how the Book of Mormon can answer the questions of the soul. Kahm seems like he's had a bit of trouble in the past. He's 38, lives with his mom, no car, no job. He's just overall a little rough around the edges. The lesson was amazing, the spirit was so strong. Kahm asked us where we go after we die and we were able to share Alma 40 with him and answer a lot of questions. We got a return appointment for Saturday. This part deserves it's own section because it was crazy. 

THE RETURN APPOINTMENT:

On Saturday we went back to Kahm's and he was waiting outside on his porch for us! Kahm's family is Laotian. We asked him if his mom makes Laotian food, and he says, "Actually yeah, do you guys want some egg rolls or something?" We were like, "yeah sure!" We were thinking his mom had already made them and he was just offering us one. He invited us in and his mom was inside, but we were mistaken because he started making us egg rolls right then and there! His mom loves us, we've met her a few times before when we've tried to go to his house and he wasn't there. She was very very excited that we were over and gave us both big hugs, she said something in Lao and we just kind of smiled and nodded. We went and sat down while he was making egg rolls, and a few minutes later we realized his mom disappeared. We suddenly realized she was gone and told Kahm we had to go outside and wait for him. The vibe was suddenly super weird. We think his mom might have the wrong idea about why 2 young girls are coming over to see her single, 38 year old son. AWKWARD!!!!! Anyway, we waited while Kahm brought us egg rolls and when he went back inside to get more we took a picture, which I think is hilarious this whole situation was just super awkward and funny. When he was finally ready we shared a quick lesson with him and took the rest of the very spicy egg rolls to go, and he promised us he would be at church on Sunday! He needed a ride, so a member took us to pick him up the next morning. He was there when we got there, but he had changed his mind (sad). 

BUT GUYS GUESS WHAT JUST HAPPENED? Literally as I'm writing this story on the computer at the library, KAHM WALKS IN. He came over and talked to us and asked when we can come back!!! We have an appointment with him tomorrow. We're pretty sure he saw our car and came in just to talk to us because he came in and walked out. Wow. I'll let you know what happens next week!! 

Sorry this email is so long! I don't even have time to talk about this -- but we had zone conference this week too! It was amazing and I got to see Hermana Iverson again which is always such a blessing. It's sad that there are only 2 girl companionships and like 1000 elders though, I miss seeing girls my age! Also, I forgot to mention that I have been translating a lot more at church lately into Spanish and it's been going surprisingly well. The gift of tongues has been working very strongly lately, we teach MOSTLY in Spanish and it's been so awesome. 

That's all I have for now, this week has really shown me that as we strive to be exactly obedient, Heavenly Father WILL bless us, answer our prayers, and show us so many miracles. 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

-Hermana Hansen

PICTURES:

1-2: Ding and her friends

3: We stopped at a Mexican Ice cream cart and got Arroz con Leche ice cream, it was DELISH

4. The pic we took while we were awkwardly waiting for Kahm outside his house HAHA

5. Hermana Iverson at Zone Conf <3

Miracle on Miracles!!!

Hola Familia y Amigos!!!

I think the weeks keep getting better and better. This week we saw so many miracles and tender mercies! 

Something I've learned this week is that sometimes blessings from Heavenly Father come slowly, and sometimes they are just simply handed to us. I felt like this experience was one of those that Heavenly Father just decided to hand over to us, because he loves us and appreciates the work we are striving to do for Him! So my companion and I are the only missionaries for miles. We cover the entire area ourselves, and we are actually technically over the Pipestone branch too (which is another huge area next to ours that doesn't have any missionaries). We got a call from a lady in the Pipestone branch and she had a referral for us! It was a 12-year-old girl named Jocelia. Her family is also from Africa (I think from Ghana). Her mom is not a member but all of her 4 children go to church, and she allows them to get baptized when they turn 12 because she wants them to be sure about the decision they're making. The oldest son has been baptized and the other 3 are very eager for when they can be baptized as well! We were able to drive up there after district meeting on Wednesday and we were greeted by an amazing member family and Jocelia and her siblings. We taught the Restoration and Jocelia committed to be baptized on September 2nd. We are so excited!!! This experience was such a tender mercy from Heavenly Father. 

This week we also had "Trainer--Trainee" which is a conference down in Omaha for all the new missionaries. We drove down on Thursday night and spent the entire day down in Omaha! And know what the best part was?? We slept at our Sister Training Leaders' apartment and guess who also stayed the night there with us?? HERMANA IVERSON!!! It was just like old times. It was so good to see her again and catch up! I love her with all my heart. I pray every day that we'll be companions again because she is my soul sister. The training was amazing. In the MTC we would have devotionals like 2 or 3 times a week, but you don't have that same opportunity in the field of course. So this whole day was truly such a blessing for me because it was just spiritually refreshing! The best part was the president and his wife took us to tour the tabernacle in Council Bluffs afterward!!! My companion and I left late from the Mission Office because we were picking up supplies and stuff, so we ended up getting left behind (whoops). We got super lost on the drive up so we called a sister down in the office and she directed us the entire way over the phone because our GPS broke. By the time we got there we missed like half the tour HAHA classic Hermana Thacker and Hermana Hansen.But it was an incredible day, and it was so amazing to hear the stories of the pioneers.

The pioneers suffered SO much and so many died on the journey. The trials they went through and the amount they sacrificed was insane. Why did they do it? Because they KNEW with their very souls that this church was true. No one in their right minds would have suffered what they did without the knowledge that this church was true. And because of their faith, our church was able to continue and grow! I am so thankful for the pioneers that made the way clear for us. 

On Saturday I saw one of the coolest miracles so far on my mission. We had an appointment with a less-active member who lives in like a Delinquent home thing across the street from the library (don't worry he's not dangerous haha). When we went there the doors were locked, so our backup plan was to go to the library and print off this list of less active YSA members and figure out where they live so we could track some of them down. Well, the library ended up being closed too. So we decided to sit on the steps of the library try to find the YSA members through the map on our phone. As soon as we sat down my companion looks up and sees a man walking pretty far down the street, and she goes, "Come on, we're gonna go catch that guy." Suddenly she stands up and literally takes off across the street, literally chasing this guy down!!!! Not gonna lie I was pretty terrified about this approach we were taking. But we caught him, and started walking with him! His name is Kham, and we found out he was having a very hard time in his life and was actually looking for some truth. As we started sharing our message he goes, "do you guys want to go sit down somewhere and talk?" YES!!! YES WE DO!!! We walked to the lake and shared the whole restoration lesson with him. The spirit was SO strong, like stronger than I've ever felt in my life. I literally almost started crying as we shared the first vision with him, because I could see his eyes light up. I know he could tell that what we were sharing was true, and as we talked about Jesus Christ I could tell the message was familiar to him. At the end of the lesson, I popped the question. "Kham, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone that holds the proper authority and priesthood of God?" "Yes." "We are having a baptismal service on September 15th, will you prepare to be baptized on that day?" "Yes." AHHHH!!! I wanted to jump for joy. Literally one of the happiest moments on my mission. So thankful my companion was brave enough to chase him down the street.

A FEW LAST THINGS! Sorry this email is so long. On Sunday Moumouni and his son Peda (the ones that just got baptized) received the Aaronic Priesthood. This was another moment when my heart was so full it was about to overflow. SO SPECIAL. They were so happy and smiley afterward. We taught them a lesson about the temple this week and they kept saying "When can we go when can we go?!" They are GOLDEN. Last thing. I AM TEACHING IN ASL THIS WEEK!!! The lady in my ward (Sister Postma) invited us over for dinner with her brother and his wife and their deaf son as well!!! So excited. Although I tried signing a little bit this week and I think I forgot everything. Gift of tongues applies with ASL too right? I hope?

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! Have an amazing week! <3 

--Hermana Hansen

Pictures!!!

These are all at the tabernacle!!! The one with the elders -- those are the elders that were in my district at the CCM. It was so awesome to see them again!!! They're like my brothers. It was a nice reunion!