Defeating the natural man, Snow, and a miracle!

October 15, 2018

Hola familia y amigos!!! 

I'm getting where there is so much that happens in a week that I don't even know where to start! Honestly preparation days are sometimes the hardest days because I feel so focused on myself. If there is anything I've learned, the saddest and hardest times you'll experience on your mission is when you are focused inward, and not outward. I've been trying so hard to learn to be selfless, and I've really realized that is so hard! I'm trying to do my best to rely fully on my Savior and Heavenly Father and what their will is for me, not what my own will is! 

Mosiah 3:19

"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." 

I am doing my best to do exactly what that scripture says, and let me tell you, it is not easy! For example: This morning I was hoping to get out the door as soon as possible and go buy our groceries so we could get to the library sooner so I could upload my pictures onto the computer and delete them off my phone to free up some storage. Turns out we were out the door a lot later than expected because cleaning the apartment seemed to take a lot longer than usual... I was trying my BEST to be patient but was still feeling a bit irritated. The store seemed to take a lot longer than usual too. When we FINALLY got home, I realized something. I had no idea where my phone was! We frantically called Walmart and they said they didn't have it. We drove back to the car wash to see if it fell out of the car -- it hadn't. So finally we drove back to Walmart to see if we had accidentally left it in the cart. Unfortunately, the cart we had left outside had already been taken back inside by a worker. We found a worker and explained the issue, and we looked at the long rows of carts and he explained that it could honestly be anywhere inside of them, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. He had us follow him to the very back of the rows of carts and a miracle happened! After just a few minutes of looking he found it in the middle of one of the rows. Wow. He told us, "I could almost hear the little prayers you girls were saying!" I was so thankful that he found my phone, but also so humbled. Losing my phone had lost us almost another hour of the day, and this time my companion had to be patient with me. Now that all of the stress is over I realized how selfish I had been earlier in the day! It really is never about me and never should be. Giving up the natural man is not easy, but I know that through the help of our Savior, Jesus Christ and His Atonement we can improve every single day, little by little! Jesus Christ gave up His will completely, and because of Him, He will help us do the same.

A few things that happened this week:
We had exchanges in Omaha with our Sister Training leaders! It was amazing as always. I learned so much -- especially that being an English missionary is a whole lot different than being a Spanish missionary! That was the first time I had ever tracted a neighborhood full of mansion sized houses. It was definitely a lot different than the humble little neighborhoods we tract on in Worthington. It was a really good experience to have and to help me see how thankful I am to be called to teach in Spanish -- the people truly are so kind and humble and ready for the gospel.

We got hit by like 6 inches or more of snow on Sunday!!!! We were so shocked when we had to scrape the ice off of our car in the morning. It's already mostly melted, but it was definetely a foreshadow of what the winter will be like, I am so nervous! But no matter the weather -- rain, sunshine, or snow, there are people that are looking for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I am ready to share it with them! 

We also had a lesson with Dora last night and found out that her son Daniel just turned 8 years old yesterday!!! He said he wants to be baptized with his mom!!! He loves primary and we asked what his favorite song was that he has been learning, and he started singing, "I want to be a missionary now!" So cute. Dora is still progressing very fast. We taught her the law of tithing yesterday and asked if she would live it after baptism. She full-heartedly said yes. She told us that a lot of people at work ask her why she doesn't join the Catholic church. She explains that she likes the church she is going to now, and is determined to stay. We are so proud of her and are so excited for her to enter the waters of baptism on November 10th! 

We saw so many more miracles this week. I wish I had time to share them all! I love you all, thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement. I pray for all of you too. Have an amazing week!

Con amor,

Hermana Hansen

Pictures:

1. Sister Thacker and I at the Trail Center in Omaha! Our Sister Training Leaders are serving in the trail center so we got to join them for a training meeting on Saturday. It's always so amazing to be there and remember how much the pioneers sacrificed and did for us.

2-3: The snow on Sunday!!!