I'm getting good at destroying houses

April 29, 2019

Hola!

This week was LLENA. We had exchanges, our first english class, service at the food pantry, Zone Conference, we went through the trail center with Borys and Guadalupe, and we served with the flood cleanup in Pacific Junction, Iowa on both Saturday and Sunday. There isn't much to say about most of these things though. Everything was average except for no one we invited to English class came... so we had 3 people that the elders the elders brought haha. Pray for us. I'll just share the highlights of the rest of the week.

Trail Center:

On Thursday after Zone Conference we went to the trail center with Brother Washington (the man who gives us a lot of candy), the senior missionaries in our ward the Hickmans, Borys, and Guadalupe!!! It was an AMAZING EXPERIENCE. Translating pioneer words into Spanish was a little hard but they got the gist and they absolutely loved the trail center. One of the best parts was when we showed Guadalupe one of the little cottage demonstrations that the pioneers built when they settled in Nebraska. She was like "I LIVED IN THIS EXACT SAME HOUSE IN MEXICO!" She could relate to the humble living conditions that the pioneers lived in haha.  

Afterward we went to walk the temple grounds and we sat in the temple waiting room. This is what got Borys excited. He found a temple magazine in Spanish in the waiting room and started flipping through it light speed. He found a picture of the Guatemalan temple, and he pressed it up against his face and kept showing all of us. He was blown away that they have a temple in his country! Afterward, he was talking to Sister Hickman about the scriptures. He told her, "Sometimes I read the scriptures and they are so beautiful and all of a sudden I start crying and I don't know why." She was like "BORYS THAT IS THE SPIRIT!" She kept asking him why he wasn't baptized, and he just kept saying, "I am so ready to be baptized. I am so ready!" ALL HE HAS TO DO IS GET WORK OFF ON SUNDAYS. The second he does that he can do it! Here is the other good news. He told us he was waiting for his boss's wife to have her baby, so that he would be in a good mood when he talks to him. Guess who had her baby this week?? His boss's wife!!!! Anyways, before we left the temple he asked if he could take a picture in front of it to send to his mom. She is very devout in her religion, but recently has been very supportive of Borys and his decision to learn about the church :) Miracles! 

One last thing about Borys. We had a lesson this week about the brother of Jared in Ether 2. When he read that he saw the finger of God, he literally almost fell out of his chair. He was like "DID THAT REALLY HAPPEN?" We were trying to apply the story to his life, but he couldn't stop reading! He needed to find out what happened! It is sooo cool to be able to see people's reactions when they read the Book of Mormon for the first time. IT IS TRUE PEOPLE! 

Service:

On both Saturday and Sunday we served in Pacific Junction, Iowa cleaning up after the huge flood. One of the best things about it was on Sunday our little branch all showed up in work clothes so that we could just jump into a car and go serve as soon as it got done! It felt pretty nice wearing pants and a sweatshirt to church. Guys. They ENTIRE TOWN was under water for a MONTH. Literally a month that they couldn't get into their homes. It was destroyed and it was heart breaking. You know in the scriptures when it talks about cities becoming "desolate?" Yeah, that's what it was. It was desolate. The service was so fun though. When else in your life will you be able to like rip down doors and kick through walls and stuff? It was pretty good anger management. With every punch, "this is for all the people that slammed the door in our faces!!!" (jokes haha) But yeah. Hermana Jorgensen and I kept finding people's photo albums and stuff destroyed. :( I'm gonna live on a very tall hill when I grow up. I absolutely love serving though. The home owners were so overwhelmed and seeing how willing we were to help them gave them some hope. 

I forgot to mention that during service, one of the elders in our ward tried to tear down this metal tape stuff off one of the walls in the house, but his hand got caught on a nail and he just destroyed his hand! I have pictures but it's pretty gory so if you want to see it let me know haha. 

40 Day Fast

This week we also started another 40-day-fast. This is when you fast and pray to know what Heavenly Father needs you to do/sacrifice to become as sanctified as you can be. We fasted on Saturday and wrote down all of the things we felt like we need to change to become 100% dedicated to the missionary work. There are a lot of things we are doing, but one of the biggest is we are giving up speaking English in the house before 9:00pm for 40 days!

"And if ye are purified and cleansed from all sin, ye shall ask whatsoever you will in the name of Jesus and it shall be done." (D&C 50:29) 

These things work. The last time we did a 40-day-fast, Guadalupe got baptized! This time it's for Borys. Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven! 

Love you all, have a great week!!!

-Hermana Hansen 

Pictures (Sorry if they are out of order):
1: Showing up to church in our work clothes

2-3: Service!

4-8: Pictures from the trail center/the temple. Please pay close attention to the adorable one of Guadalupe standing by the temple door. She LOVES GRAPES. Her house is literally full of grapes. She was so happy that the temple was decorated with her favorite thing haha. Also, she does the most serious face when she poses for pictures but we got her to laugh. "Diga queso!" 

9: This is a screenshot from the facetime lesson we had with Borys about the brother of Jared. He loves the Book of Mormon!!!

10: Last but not least, here is a side-by-side comparison of me at the Winter Quarters temple when I was 4, and now!!! Haha I didn't even realize I had been here before! 

I Fear No Man!!!!!

April 22, 2019

Hola!!

I hope you had a great Easter and got a chance to reflect on the Savior and His Atonement and Resurrection. As for us, it felt exactly the same as every other day haha. I suppose that is a blessing though, because the calling we have requires us to reflect on the Savior and His Atonement daily - so really every day is Easter for us. The only different thing was a member gave us like 1000 pounds of candy so that was nice. We kept the stuff we wanted and then we gave some of it out to homeless people on the street corners (there is no way we could have eaten it all ourselves). It was actually really sweet to see their faces light up and for them to recognize that they are loved. 

Not that much else exciting happened this week so I'll give the highlights in bullet points. 

-Last Monday for Preparation day we went to the Zoo!!!! 

-We car fasted on Tuesday and it was so hot I thought I was gonna die. But we survived and we talked to like 1000 people. Even though most of them weren't interested, it's nice to get home from a long day like that and just feel exhausted because you know you worked so hard. The funny thing is, even though I've been out for almost a year, talking to random people on the street never gets easier. But you just do it and you open your mouth and just hope that something normal comes out of your mouth because most of the time you really are just winging it! And sometimes the Spirit touches them and they want to learn more! And sometimes you say something stupid but you just laugh it off because most of these people you will never see again anyway. Hermana Jorgensen and I read this missionary letter called the Ricciardi Letter together and it's about a super bold missionary. Every morning he would look at himself in the mirror and say to himself "I FEAR NO MAN!" So now whenever we get afraid to talk to someone, we look at each other and saw that haha. It helps a lot. 

-We started teaching a family that got referred to us in Council Bluffs, Iowa because they speak Spanish. They are so prepared and want to be baptized!!!! But sadly no one in their ward speaks Spanish so please pray for us to figure out a solution for that haha. 

-I translated for the Spanish members in Sacrament meeting and Sunday school and my brain was fried afterward but it is crazy looking back at how I was when I first started translating for Sacrament meeting in Worthington when I was like 4 months into the mission. I can actually correctly say what I am trying to say! The gift of tongues is so real. 

That's all I got for the week, but go to ComeUntoChrist.org and watch the new easter video if you haven't yet!!! Love you all, the church is true!

-Hermana Hansen 

 Pictures:

1. Selfie at the zoo

2. Hermana Jorgensen in a sombrero

3. Us with Brother Washington!!!! The member who loaded us up with candy for easter. Love that guy

MAMA LUPE!

April 15, 2019

Queridos amigos y familia, 

This was an insane week!!! I wanted to start with 2 very opposing text messages that we got this week. 

Borys: (The most progressing person we are teaching. He sent this to us after he read all of Joseph Smith History on his own - not being asked. BTW I'm translating this from Spanish so it might not be exact.)

"When I read these scriptures something grand happens inside of me. Because of this, I feel so grateful to have met missionaries in my country and now to have met you guys here. You are people that one can truly feel the word of eternal life with. I read all of the testimony of Joseph Smith and I felt the spirit. I know that God loves me and sent me missionaries to learn from the disciples of Christ." 

The words flowed better in Spanish but isn't that amazing? The spirit truly has testified to him that this church is TRUE. He is a 22 year old boy that spends all of his time working and reading the scriptures. We should all be a little more like Borys!

Abraham: (This was a crazy experience. Earlier this week we had to leave our apartment at around 7:30AM - much earlier than usual - to help translate for a Spanish speaker that was getting interviewed for baptism. It was a little ways away, but it was closed to the computer lab, so on the way home we decided to stop at the computer lab because we needed to print out some bus routes. Right when we were about to leave, this guy comes up to us and asks if we had a minute to talk. Of course we do! He asked us some questions about our beliefs. This ended up being almost a 2 HOUR CONVERSATION. It wasn't a bible bash but like kind of. All we did was testify of the restoration, that Joseph Smith was a prophet and translated the Book of Mormon, and a little bit about the Plan of Salvation and that we go to the spirit world after we die. Let's just say he didn't believe it. Which is okay! We told him our purpose was only to invite, and that the only person that could witness to him that what we said was true was God, through the Holy Ghost. Anyways, he said he wanted to go to church to see what it was like, so we sent him the address. This is what he said in response.) 

"Thank you for reaching out to me. I will not go to the meeting today. To believe that the book of Mormon was given by the inspiration of God as the Bible, and that there is hope for Salvation for sinner after death are beliefs that are diametrically opposed to what the Bible says and to what I believe as a Christian. Infact, after our discussion, I felt very concerned about your Salvation. Just assume maybe Joseph Smith was wrong or deceived by the devil, which is a possibility. The devil is very crafty. I encourage you to read more of the Bible and less of the book of Mormon. J. Smith also read and believe the bible. Currently I am not a member of any Church so l am not asking you to leave your Church rather to encourage you to objective and ask the Lord God Almighty to reveal the truth to you. As for me, if an angel came from Heaven to tell me that the book of Mormon is an Inspired book and that there is hope for sinners after death I will not believe. I'm very willing and happy to discuss the Bible with you or anyone at anytime. Thanks and God bless you. Extend my greetings to your friend."

So... that's that! Haha. Just wanted to share a little bit of the opposition that we see as missionaries. I just feel bad for these people, because they have no idea how much greatness they are missing. What he doesn't know is that we have put in the spiritual work to know that the Book of Mormon is true. It is the word of God. Jospeh Smith was a prophet. And that this is the only church on earth that has saving ordinances that connects us directly with Heaven. Please pray for Abraham! 

My dad met Borys and Guadalupe! 

Besides that, so much other amazing stuff happened this week! Our mission president is trying out this new thing where we can video chat our parents into lessons if they have an experience that would benefit those we are teaching!!! We tried that this week. My dad videoed-in to a lesson we had with Borys and Guadalupe. It was such a cool experience!!! It shows that there is a divine reason that God sends us on missions. My dad was able to both use his Spanish, and share stories from his mission in Peru in the video call. What he learned on his mission is still blessing lives years later! 

Trainer Trainee and MAMA LUPE! 

This week we also had Trainer Trainee, a meeting with all the trainers and trainees. It was cool to be on the opposite side of it this time. It made me realize how much my mission has shaped me and changed me!! We also had the opportunity to help serve with all of the flooding again. I'll attach some pictures. I never knew destroying drywall was so satisfying. The best part though, was seeing 66-year-old Guadalupe taking charge. She was yellin at everyone giving them instructions (in Spanish mind-you), and shredding up the place with her shovel. That is a power woman! She probably got more done in that house than the rest of us combined. Everyone started calling her "Mama Lupe!" and cheering for her while she worked. It was so funny. I wish you could have seen it.

That's about it for the week. I love being a missionary. I used to not understand when missionaries used to say "I never want to go home." I was like what are you talking about? This is so hard. But I understand now. You see miracles on your mission. My mission has completely changed me for the rest of my life. I have a personal relationship with my Savior. I know the Church is true. I still don't know if I can say "I never want to go home," but I can say, "I want to be a missionary forever." And that is something that I can do :)

Los amo,

Pictures:
1-2: Some more pan that Borys brought us from his panaderia! 

3: Nebraska sunsets <3

4. Trainer trainee!

5-8: Pictures from the flood clean-up and mama Lupe!

9: A screenshot from the lesson we had with my dad, Borys, Guadalupe, and us!  

Time is Running Out

April 8, 2019

Hola!!

This week was kind of a blur, I feel like Monday was yesterday. A lot of people cancelled on us, but something that I realized is that often times when someone cancels an appointment, it's because God needs us to be doing something else. He has a divine plan and purpose His hand literally guides us everywhere. 

Mormon.org

This week we got an assignment to go try and find a lady on our branch roster that no one had ever heard of. We knocked her door, and an old man named Michael answered that was clearly not interested, but we gave him a card and told him to call us if he ever wanted to learn more about the Church! The next day, we got a call from a random number and it was Michael!!! He saw "mormon.org" on our card and said "He didn't realize we were Mormons" and realized that he actually had a lot of questions about our religion. His internet doesn't work (that or he doesn't know how to use it) so he asked if we could bring him some literature so he could learn more about it. Wow!!! So I guess there are still good things about having an outdated mormon.org pass-a-long card. He wouldn't have known who we are if we didn't have that link on there!

Shawn.

In the same outing that we found Michael, we were heading back to our car when we saw a dude with a cowboy hat reading the paper on his front porch. I didn't particularly want to talk to him and we were already running late to dinner, but the Spirit wouldn't stop telling me that we needed to. So right before I unlocked the car door, I was like "Come on. Let's go talk to this guy." His name was Shawn. Turns out Shawn is a MEMBER. He hasn't been to church since he was young and we don't even have him on our branch records. He was very friendly! Although he isn't ready to start coming back to church, Heavenly Father lead us right into the path of one of His lost sheep. When I heard in conference that Heavenly Father is aware of all of His children and knows where every single one of them are, I thought of Shawn. I'm so thankful I listened to that prompting from the Spirit! 

Omaha Ice Cream

Another cool thing that happened this week was that we got a referral from a lady named Paula in Utah. Her phone broke, so she called a phone repairman and he happened to live in Omaha. She told us that they had a good conversation about how good the Ice Cream is in Omaha, "and obviously that lead to me telling him that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." (Word for word what she said). They talked about the trail center, and apparently he had been there before for the Gingerbread festival they have in December there. He said he had noticed how kind everyone was there, and he wants to learn more about the church!!! Wow. This reminded me of Elder Ucthdorf's talk this weekend - reminding us how important it is to bring the gospel into our everyday conversations, in normal and natural ways! Anything and everything can lead to a conversation about the restored gospel. Even Omaha Ice cream! 

Unfortunately every person I've talked about in this email so far we had to refer to the elders because they are all English speaking. But it was still so cool to see God's hand everywhere throughout our week:) 

Time is Running Out

Did it hit you guys as hard as it hit me when President Nelson said this??? The second coming is around the corner! Last night after conference we went and did some finding. There was a huge Hispanic family sitting out on their porch last night so we went and talked to them. The dad's name was Alex. We had the deepest conversation with him about Jesus Christ and His Atonement for us. I felt the Spirit as Alex bore his testimony to us that only through Christ can we be saved. He talked about how vital repentance is and that we have to allow His Atonement to cleanse us within. He even talked about how there are so many churches on earth that have different beliefs, but there is only one God. That lead to a perfect conversation about Joseph Smith and we shared truths of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon with him. After all of this, he could not accept that we read any other book than the bible. We left the conversation feeling so heart broken. He is so close. He knows he has a Savior that loves him and his core beliefs match up almost perfectly with ours. But he does not know that he is missing out on saving ordinances from the restored Priesthood authority that we have. I feel like I finally understand the sons of Mosiah when they say: 

"Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble." (Mosiah 28:3)

It makes sense to me now. TIME IS RUNNING OUT people. I wanted to just grab Alex by the shoulders and shout that at him. But unfortunately we shouldn't do stuff like that haha. 

Apparently we took 0 pictures this week so sorry about that. Love you all. Thanks for the support and prayers!

-Hermana Hansen 

If I ate street tacos every day for the rest of my life I'd be content

April 1, 2019

Hola!!

This week we had the chance to help serve people near the river that were affected by the flooding that's been happening all over Nebraska. It was such a crazy experience! Homes were literally destroyed. There were trailers, shacks, and garages that were completely submerged in the water. We helped gut one of the houses by ripping up the drywall and taking everything out to the dumpster. It was heart breaking to see people throwing away belongings that were once precious to them. Overnight people's homes were destroyed and everything they own is gone. Many are living in hotels. It's tragic. We were thankful that we were able to help! These people got teary-eyed seeing that we were willing to serve them.

We had Stake Conference this weekend and we had both Elder Brain K Taylor and Elder Scott from the 70 join us, because we are getting a new stake in Omaha! Our branch just got put into the new "Omaha Millard Stake" and we are excited. I translated during the adult session with headsets and we got to sit on the stand behind the general authorities and our mission president. It was a really cool experience that I (and a few other members) got to translate for a member of the 70. The gift of tongues was SO REAL and it was cool that translating is so much easier for me now than it was 5 or 6 months ago. 

Stake Conference was amazing. My favorite parts were when Elder Taylor and Scott told stories about President Nelson. Elder Scott told a story about when he was in a meeting with President Nelson in Wisconsin. Elder Scott said something like, "The people in Wisconsin are so nice. How are we going to help them get the missionary work moving faster?" President Nelson said back, "I don't think Heavenly Father is worried about that. I think Heavenly Father just wants his children to come back home." Wow. Heavenly Father doesn't care about numbers or baptismal statistics, he cares about each of His children individually, and He just wants them to come home. President Nelson is man that truly knows the nature of God. Elder Scott wept as he talked about hearing the prophet and apostles bear witness of the Savior. He just kept saying, "They know Him." How amazing is it that we have a prophet and apostles that KNOW Jesus Christ personally. We get to hear them next week. I'm so excited. It was special to be a witness of a new Stake Presidency being called. They were very emotional and I felt the Spirit tell me that God himself chose them to guide the people here. I don't even know them and the Spirit witnessed that to me. Remember that in your callings. God chose you.

This week I felt prompted that I needed to strengthen my personal relationship with my Savior. During personal study I started looking up one reference to Jesus Christ every day in the Topical Guide. Wow. I highly recommend it. So far I have only been re-reading the story of his birth. But I have felt the Spirit so strong every time I read about Him. I already feel like I know Him better and the reality of His life on earth has already influenced the way I've been thinking and acting this week. I know our Savior lived and died for us. He loves us. He knows us individually. He can lift us out of any rut we find ourselves in. I have seen it in others and I have seen it in myself. 

Love you all, thank you for the support and prayers!
-Hermana Hansen 

 Pictures:

1. We got these bad boys on our car fast day. Lagrimas. They were so good. 

2. Some members we went out with  to find less active members in the area!

3-5. Flood cleanup!!! 

6. Service at the food pantry with Sister Thomas our mission nurse/service coordinator.

7. Borys brought us some pan that he made from his Panaderia!!! El cielo en mi boca.