People are flocking to the church!

March 18, 2019

Hola familia y amigos!!!!

First big news: I found out last night that I am going to train a new Hermana this transfer!!! Transfers are on Wednesday. I am nervous and excited!!! I will miss Hermana Gubler. She has taught me soooo much. Pray for her safe travels home! 

I know I have said this like 100 times before. But I think this was the best week of my mission. Hahaha. I'll just highlight a few of the biggest miracles.

Borys:

On Monday night we had a lesson with Borys and the first thing he said was "I made a big life change this week." And he went on to tell us that HE GOT A NEW JOB. So he will be able to come to church!!!! Which means he will be able to get baptized!!!! We were like bouncing up and down how excited we were. Miracles are just happening right before our eyes. Faith can move mountains people!!! 

Guadalupe:

SHE GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! You guys. This was the most amazing day of my life. Everything worked out perfectly. She was SO EXCITED and it made us so happy. Everything was in Spanish but the talks were translated in English too. She was so cute. She sat in the front row, and everytime she liked something they said in the talks, she would say "AMEN" hahaha. While she was changing after her baptism, Hermana Gubler and I shared The Living Christ with the congregation in Spanish by MEMORY. We have worked on it almost every day this transfer. It was a great experience to be able to share it, and I felt the Spirit so strong testifying of our Savior. It was even better hearing the "Amens" from Guadalupe when she got back from changing. The best part of the baptism was hearing Guadalupe share her testimony at the end. She shared how her life has completely turned around since she met the missionaries. She talked about how Hermana Gubler and her last companion found her 3 days after her mom passed away and how she was so sad, but now she has an eternal perspective and has never been happier. She said she had been praying and praying and praying to be able to find a church, and the missionaries found her and she knows God hears her. The best part is when she said "Me amo mi Jesus Christ." She loves saying Jesus Christ in English because it's one of the only words she knows and she thinks is so beautiful. "En el nombre de Jesus Christ, amen" she says haha. We are teaching a whole family from El Salvador that is in another area right now because they don't speak English. Hermana Gubler and I invited them to come the the baptism but they said they probably can't because they are bad at directions. Hermana Gubler wanted to set it up so someone could stop by their house and they could follow them to the baptism, but I didn't want to because we had a lot of other stuff to do and it would take too much work/time to set it up. But she was persistent and we were able to find someone to guide them to the church and THE WHOLE FAMILY CAME. I was literally shocked. I learned a humbling lesson that it is always worth the trouble to get people places where they can feel the spirit. The mother in that family was crying while Guadalupe bore her testimony. It was so spiritual and I'm thankful for Hermana Gubler's  diligence to get them there! Borys came too! It was a great turnout and the Spirit was so present.

Church miracle:

Guadalupe got confirmed on Sunday, and afterward we had a "linger-longer" activity. Basically a potluck haha. We didn't even know Guadalupe knew about the activity but she stayed up until 1:00AM making pazole (It's yummy Mexican soup stuff). She was running around helping all of the other Hispanic members prepare their food and it was the cutest thing ever. She is doing so well! She also had her temple recomend interview and she is going to go with the branch to do baptisms on Thursday!!! 

Crazy thing that happened. A random guy walked into church yesterday and we saw him sit down and start eating at the activity. We went and talked to him and this is his story in bullet points. 

-He came to Omaha on a whim with his friend to find a new construction job. 

-His friend ditched him here, he had no job and no place to stay.

-Within a few days he found a job selling furniture and another one flipping houses (buying run-down ones and making them nice again to sell). He was able to live in the house that he's currently working on. 

-He found out that the house he's working on has to do with something about the Mormon pioneers? Like they settled the property or something. I was a little confused. 

-It made him think. Huh. "I've never gone to one of them Mormon churches before. Maybe I should go sometime." (He doesn't know about the name correction Haha.) 

-He recognized that Heavenly Father had been blessing him with being able to find a job and a house so fast and realized he needed to go to church. He said he would go to the first church he drove past. IT WAS OUR CHURCH!!!!! Coincidence?? I think NOT!

As we were talking to him we mentioned that our purpose as missionaries is to help people have faith, repent, and be baptized. He goes, "Oh yeah! I was thinking about baptism lately and how it says in the bible that we need to be baptized. So I want to be baptized." Our jaws literally dropped. This doesn't happen on a regular basis Haha. We found out he isn't in our area so we don't get to teach him, but SO COOL HUH? He told us he recognized that the Spirit has just been guiding him around and that's how he made it to our church. He was pretty stoked that he came the day we had food too haha.

Basically my testimony has grown so much this week. People are literally flocking to the Church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is true. I'm so glad that I am in the midst of the Lord hastening His work. What an amazing blessing to be a missionary in the last days. :)

Love you all, have an amazing week!!!!

-Hermana Hansen

Pictures:

1. Doing service with Hermana Tere cleaning her house! Cutest member ever. She has cancer but just finished her treatments and as of now she is cancer free!!!

2. Our district!

3-5: Guadalupe's baptism!!!!