8 months as a missionary!

January 28, 2019

Querido familia y amigos,

This week was a great one! It was very cold, but nothing compared to how cold this week will be. There is currently a "wind chill warning" here that will go until Thursday. They canceled school today because the wind chill was 30 below zero. On Wednesday the high temperature will be -17 degrees, and the low temperature is going to be -30 degrees, but including wind chill it will probably be around 50 below zero! I cannot believe how cold it is. We won't be allowed to proselyte, and we'll probably even have to cancel our appointments that we have planned. Bummer. But thankfully we can use technology to connect with people while we'll be trapped inside. 

This week we had Zone Conference and it was amazing as always. It was in Sioux City, Iowa so we spent the night with Hermana Iverson and Hermana Thacker!!!! It was so good to see them both again. Hermana Esplin and I spoke briefly in Zone Conference about our experiences making a plan to "act in all diligence." We shared all of the cool miracles we saw from it and it went really well. I feel like a lot of Zone Conference was focused on how we can improve and become better/more obedient missionaries. It was a little overwhelming to be honest. I left feeling like I had a lot of things I needed to improve on. I think that is the #1 hardest thing about missionary work. Always feeling like you aren't quite good enough and that there are things you need to be better on. It's the hardest, most humbling, but also most motivating thing. There are always ways we can be better to become more like the Savior. We will always fall short. But when we put in all of our effort, Jesus Christ makes up the rest. That is what I am so thankful for. 

A few other highlights that happened this week:

• We watched a guy drive into a snowbank and we helped shovel out his car and push him out. Less than 2 minutes later we watched another car get stuck in their driveway and we pushed them out too. We gave them both pass-a-long cards. Heavenly Father always seems to put us in the right place at the right time.
• We found 6 new people to teach this week. 4 of them were on the same street within like 20 minutes of each other. 
• We couldn't get ahold of Yakelyn and her family for like the first half of the week and we were getting nervous. Turns out she moved to Indiana out of the blue this week and we were HEART BROKEN!!! Their family is golden. Later this week they messaged us and told us that they are coming back!!!! Miracle. Please pray for them though. She was updating us on her journey back and sounds like their car broke down in Rushmore (2.5 hours from here) and they didn't know what to do. That's the last we have heard from them, so hopefully they are safe! They have a 4-month-old baby that should not be outside in this cold! 
• We had branch council for the second week in a row and planned out speakers for Spanish Sacrament meeting from now until April. Hallelujah!!!
• Crystell (11-year-old girl from less active family we are teaching) came to church for the 4th time since we started teaching her. She will be getting baptized this Saturday!

Transfers are on February 6th so I will find out in about a week if I am getting transferred, or staying here for my 6th transfer! Crazy!!!! I don't know what to expect! I love you all, thank you for the prayers and support. Que tengan una buena semana :)

-Hermana Hansen

Pictures:

1. Hermana Iverson!!!!

2. All of the Hermanas

3. All of us with Sister Ence (Mission President's wife)

4. We celebrated Hermana Esplin's 1-year-mark this week so here's a cute picture of her:) 

Trabajando en el frío

Jan 21, 2019

Queridos amigos y familia,

Feliz Martin Luther King day! I don't have too much to say about this week. We had a few highlights, but overall it was really really cold! We couldn't do much door-knocking because it was below zero and the windchill made it between 20 and 30 below zero here. FRÍO! But we made the best of it.

This week we had an amazing lesson with Yakelyn and her family (the ones who surprised us by coming to church last minute last week). We committed them for baptism and the spirit was so strong. Yakelyn paused for a second and said, "Pues, sí me gustaría" (yes I would like to). She said she wanted to be an example to her children. The next time we went, she told us she had a dream about God talking to her from an alter or something like that, and from that she knew that the church was true. SO COOL. That isn't uncommon by the way. We have taught a lot of Spanish-speaking people who have recieved personal revelation like that through dreams. What an amazing gift from Heavenly Father. Yakelyn is so prepared and I'm so thankful that the Spirit guided us to her! 

We held our first English class on Wednesday and we had a grand total of 2 people that came!!! Yakelyn and Catalina. We were very happy with the turnout. We were so excited for class that we got there about 45 minutes early to set up. The class went pretty well!

Yakelyn and her family came to church again on Sunday!!! We were thrilled. Spanish Sacrament meeting went a lot better than usual yesterday too, which was a huge blessing. Hardly anyone showed up, but Yakelyn's family and Catalina's family were there. We had 2 people that speak Spanish from the Stake come and give talks, and they were amazing. We were so happy. Our branch hasn't been able to find someone to teach Come Follow Me Sunday school in Spanish yet, so we taught it. We were nervous because we were a little unprepared, but the Spirit was there and helped us. The lesson actually went really well.

I wanted to bear my testimony about the Come Follow Me program. I know it is inspired. Hermana Esplin and I have been incorporating it into our personal study, and we get to take an extra hour out of our missionary schedule to do it together on Sundays after church now. In just a few short weeks I feel like my relationship with my Savior has profoundly increased. I feel like this study has allowed me to get to know Him and His life so much better. I know this program is inspired by the prophet and apostles and it is here for us to come closer to Christ and build our relationship with Him. I encourage all of you to continue to incorporate it into your every day life! I can already start to see it changing mine.

I love you all. Thank you so much for your prayers and support!!! Stay warm and stay blessed.

-Hermana Hansen-

Pictures:

These probably won't send in order but I'll do my best. 

1. English class!

2. Church with Yakelyn's family!

3. Dinner with a cute family from our Branch!

4. Hermana Esplin and I

5. Me bundled up for the cold weather 

Acting in All Diligence

Jan 14, 2019 

Hola hola!!!! 

I think this might have been the BEST week of my mission!!! Ever since Christmas ended I feel like I kind of hit a low point spiritually and mentally. I have been in this area for 6 months and I was getting sick of it. I wasn't feeling happy and I wasn't really feeling the spirit either. I prayed so hard this week that somehow I could enjoy what I was doing and find someone that genuinely wanted to hear the gospel. By some divine inspiration, on Wednesday night we got a call from the APs and after that moment my mental attitude took a 180 turn. 

Our Assignment 

They sent us a video that quoted the talk "Act in All Diligence" from President Eyring from the April 2010 Priesthood Session. They asked if we would make a plan to be diligent, act on it, and share what we learned at Zone Conference in a couple weeks. This is what the talk suggested we do: 

1. Learn what the Lord expects of me

2. Make a plan to do it

3. Act on my plan with diligence

4. Share with others how my experience changed me and blessed others 

Miracles

The next day we made specific plans about how we could be more diligent and we committed to it wholeheartedly. All of a sudden miracles started to happen.

Soon after finishing our plan we started knocking. We knocked a whole street with little success. On the very last house of the street we noticed there were some sketchy looking stairs leading up to a door on the top floor. We weren't sure if it was a separate apartment or if it was just part of the house, but we decided to give it a try. A nice hispanic lady opened the door and said "Pasen!" (Come in!) Her name was Yakelyn and her daughter is Shiry. They had recently moved here from Mexico and were looking for a church to join! We sang with them and taught the Restoration. They told us they couldn't come to church this Sunday because they were moving houses, but promised they'd come next week.

On Friday our car needed an oil change. We sat in the waiting room wondering how we were going to be productive while we were waiting, when a man walked in and started talking to us right away! After talking for almost an hour we asked if we could come teach him sometime. He added us on Facebook and we gave him our card. About an hour later he messaged us on Facebook and he sent his address, said that he loved talking to us, that it was an uplifting experience, and that he was going to come to church on Sunday!!!! He also posted about his experience and tagged us in it. Our minds were BLOWN! Stuff like that doesn't usually happen haha. The next day on Saturday we worked really hard and were able to find 3 more people to teach!!!

Sunday was the icing on the cake to our week full of miracles. We ended our personal study at 9:30 and were about to leave for church when Lee messaged us and said he wasn't going to make it. We didn't even have time to be disappointed because 30 seconds later Yakelyn messaged us and said she won't be moving today after all. We asked if she wanted to come to church and she said YES! We immediately called a member and asked if they could give them a ride and raced to our car to meet them at her house. Yakelyn and her 4 kids stayed for the whole church service and we couldn't stop smiling the whole time. We didn't even mind the fact that they didn't call speakers again so we were called on last minute to speak for the 3rd time (our poor small congregation is probably sick of hearing us but luckily they called speakers for next week!). We walked out of Spanish sacrament meeting and saw that an inactive member that we found and invited weeks ago came to church for the first time since she's lived in Minnesota (years) so that was a huge surprise too! After church a member named Catalina invited Yakelyn over to her house and fed them dinner!!!! When we got home last night we were exhausted and so happy. What a perfect way to end the week.

To Conclude...

The week before last we found zero new people to teach and last week we found 5. All of the negativity I was feeling before is gone, and I feel refreshed and re-energized! I have rekindled my love for this area and don't mind how long it has been since I got here. I feel the Spirit stronger than ever. I love my companion and I love my calling!!!! This is all because this week we made a plan to be diligent and acted on it. The call from the APs was inspired and it's exactly what I needed. The Lord has shown us that the second we show Him we care about His work, He blesses us. I have seen His hand more this week than probably any other week on my mission. I know He is there and I know He hears my prayers. 

"He doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you." Mosiah 2:24

LOVE YOU ALL!!! My invitation to you is to make a plan to be more diligent and act on it. I promise you it works!!! Have a blessed week! 

-Hermana Hansen 

Pictures: 

1. This is from a lesson we had about the Word of Wisdom with Crystell (11-year-old on date for baptism on February 2nd). We had hot chocolate to show her how much better it is than coffee haha.

2. Me outside our apartment

3. Our plan to act in all diligence. We broke down the definition in Preach my Gospel and found key things we wanted to improve on. 

4. Lee's facebook Post!

New Years, Fortune Cookies, and Exchanges!

Jan 7, 2019

Hola!!! Hope you all had a great week! I feel like not that much happened this week, so I'll try to keep it corto and dulce. 

For New Years Eve our President had us all stay inside for the rest of the night so we ate dinner, tried on outfits with our new pants, did some Come Follow Me, and went to sleep early haha. Luckily for us we weren't awoken by fireworks because it was blizzarding outside and it was below zero so there was no chance of them going off! New Years Day was pretty miserably cold but we were able to do some service for a member by helping her translate some things for church into Spanish, and we had pupusas for the first time (stuffed tortillas with cabbage on top) with Sonia, Alexis, and the Zeba family (our recent converts) and that was amazing!

We did a lot of driving this week. We had interviews with our President up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota with our zone which went great! Afterward we went to lunch with our zone to a Chinese Buffet (which was a little weird being the only sisters among 22 elders) but it was really nice. A cute waitress saw all of us together and said, "Are all of you missionaries in Sioux Falls?" We explained we were all just there for interviews, and everyone quickly went to their seats. We stayed back and talked to her for a second and asked how she knew who missionaries were. Turns out she was a member of the church and hadn't attended church since she moved to the area! We were able to give her the Elders' number in the area and got her information to give to them. So even though we were a little nervous to be the only sisters there, it was all worth it to find a lost sheep! 

After lunch I opened up my fortune cookie and to my surprise it was exactly what I needed to hear. "If you're feeling down, try throwing yourself into your work." I've never really believed in fortunes but I actually think that one was meant for me haha. I have to admit that last week and this week were both pretty hard for me to feel motivated for some reason. I think that is normal during/right after the holidays. But that is no excuse for not doing the best I can to fulfill my calling as a missionary! I took that fortune to heart and it helped me be a lot more motivated to get out and work. And I already feel a lot more motivated and happy because of it!

We went down to Omaha for a couple nights for exchanges this week too! It's a 3.5 hour drive one way, so we got to know each other pretty well haha. I always love exchanges. This time I learned how to "nicely cut people off" when they talk a lot in lessons! That has always been something that is kind of hard for me, but you meet a lot of people that go off topic and stay off topic for long periods of time while you are trying to teach them about the Restored Gospel. But my Sister Training Leader Sister Ball and I had a lesson with a talker and she helped me learn how to nicely bring the conversation back to the gospel haha.

This week in my personal study I had the strong impression that Heavenly Father was telling me to have more faith. I read about Ammon retelling the conversion of the Anti-Nephi-Lehis and he said this: 

Alma 26:22 Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing ... yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance.

I know that if I exercise faith, Heavenly Father will show us miracles. That is a New Years resolution that I have -- to increase my faith and become and instrument in the Lord's hands! 

Love you all!!!!

Con amor, Hermana Hansen