I HATE GOODBYES

July 22, 2019

Dear Friends and Family,

This was an AMAZING and quite emotional last week in this area! I can't believe I have been in this area for 6 months already. Time flies!!! Our President has really been pushing every companionship to find at least 2 new people a week, because finding has been a real struggle for our mission lately. We went out and worked so hard this week and found 4 new people to teach! I feel like one of the hardest things for every missionary is just getting outside and talking to everyone. It's hard because sometimes talking to random strangers about God is awkward and uncomfortable! But it's really become such a hobby to me and you meet some real interesting people when you just go for it and be as bold as you can! It's become so fun!!! 

We got to go to the temple for the first time with Boris and Yonatan to do baptisms this weekend. Guadalupe came too! That was such a tender mercy for me to be with all of the recent converts I got to teach and baptize in this area in the temple. I got misty eyed watching Boris get to baptize Guadalupe and Yonatan. He started out so nervous, but by the end he was doing it so confidently and the spirit was so strong!!! After we got out of the temple, Yonatan kept trying to describe how he felt, and he just said "I feel like I'm getting a big hug from my mom." His mom passed away a couple years ago. After he said that he ran up to Sister Hickman, one of our Senior missionaries and just gave her a huge hug and just started sobbing. He said "I know that this hug is really from my mom. She's so proud of me." SO TENDER. Before we all left, Yonatan dropped the bomb and asked me when my last day in this area was. I told him I was leaving on Wednesday, and I hadn't told Guadalupe I was leaving yet... She just kept saying "no me digas no me digas" and she started crying!!!! And then BORIS started crying!!!! And then I STARTED CRYING!!!! I literally felt like someone reached into my chest and ripped my heart out. I did not know it would be so hard to leave these people! I remember it being so hard to leave my friends and family at home, but it was nothing like the feeling I got standing there with these 3 amazing people. Because you just know that once you leave, it won't be the same! The gospel BONDS you. I've gone through such huge changes in their lives, and it's hard to let go of someone that's experienced those changes with you.

The other awesome thing that happened this week was Boris's birthday!!!! We asked if he had plans, and he told us that he just had to work. He said he didn't tell any of his friends that it was his birthday because all they would want to do is drink... and his entire family is in Guatemala! So he said, "it will really just be like any other day." Of course that broke our hearts! So we sneakily asked him if he wanted to have a lesson that day, and he agreed. We got Yonatan and Guadalupe in on it, and we all went over the Guadalupe's house for a lesson! We got these tiny piñatas from walmart, and these mini party hat sombreros. We got to her house, had a lesson, (and ate pizza that Guadalupe force fed us - even though we had literally just eaten tacos at a member's house for dinner) and then casually asked Boris what he usually does for his birthday. He said, "Well, I don't know if you guys do this in the United States, but have you ever heard of a piñata? We do them every year!!!!" When he said that we suddenly whipped out the 2 piñatas from our bag and you should have seen the look on his face, he was so excited!!! We all put on the mini sombreros and then ran around Guadalupe's TINY house taking turns being blindfolded and hitting the tiny piñatas with a tiny back scratcher that Guadalupe had! It was a sight to behold. Well turns out, no one could break the piñatas so Boris ended up just tearing them open with his hands. After the party, we went outside to leave, and Boris started to cry (again) as he told us "gracias de corazon" for the party. He said that birthdays and holidays are so hard for him because he is so far from his family, and we really made him feel at home and loved on his birthday. We're so glad we did that for him!!! 

I am so thankful to be a missionary and I am so thankful I got to serve in this area for so long. I am so sad to leave it!!! But fortunately I think I'm staying in Omaha, just going to be stationed a little more south to open the new Spanish branch down there (it's just a hunch, I'll know for sure on Wednesday). Time is moving too fast and I don't like it! 

I will now share my new favorite scriptures that I've been sharing with like everyone I meet on the street:

Alma 38:8-9

"8 And it came to pass that I was three days and three nights in the most bitter pain and anguish of soul; and never, until I did cry out unto the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy, did I receive a remission of my sins. But behold, I did cry unto him and I did find peace to my soul.
9 And now, my son, I have told you this that ye may learn wisdom, that ye may learn of me that there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness."

Repentance through the Atonement of Jesus Christ gives us peace to our soul! I have felt that peace, I feel it every day as I am purified by the sacrifice of my Savior. I love this amazing gospel so much. We can be joyful every day with it, no matter where we are or what trials are happening in our lives. Hope you all have a great week, love you all!!!

-Hermana Hansen

Pictures:

-We went to go knock on this lady we've been teachings' door, and her porch was GONE! People are making it harder and harder to get to them these days haha. We were laughing so hard.

-This is some Guatemalan pan that Boris made us 

-The fiesta at Guadalupe's house! A selfie with all of our sombreros, me hitting the pinata with a back scratcher, and a selfie of Boris haha

-All of us at the temple! Please notice the picture of Yonatan and Boris. THEY ARE MISSIONARIES!!!! Haha we gave them our tags. 

-A picture with a cute member from Peru that we ate with :) 

Go big or go gnome

July 15, 2019

Hola mi familia y amigos!!

I hope you all are staying out of the heat because I am melting. every. day. But it's okay because the work goes on and I'm staying hydrated! The biggest news of the week is that WE ARE GETTING 2 SPANISH BRANCHES IN OMAHA!!! One in North Omaha, and one in South Omaha!!! There was a big meeting about it last night and the spirit was so strong. The gathering of Israel is commencing, and it's happening here in Omaha, Nebraska! This opens more and more opportunities for people to hear the gospel in their native tongue, and I am truly so grateful to be part of this amazing work. Sometimes I pinch myself and can't believe it's really happening. Also, sometimes I forget that I am in Nebraska. This place feels like Guatemala I'm not kidding!!  

Getting accused of theft:

So about a month ago, these elders found this lady on the street named Bree. She said she used to meet with sister missionaries and would like to meet with them again, so they gave her our number. She calls us asking if we could come over and do a "study" and she asked if we could invite the elders too. So, long story short, we went to her house and she expressed to us that she really didn't want to do a study, she just wanted us to clean her house. This lady is a hoarder... haha. So anyways we we were wearing dresses so we set up another appointment and came back to clean her house. I did dishes for 4 HOURS. Anyways, fast forward a month and here we are. She called us again, and asked if we could come help her clean out her apartment again because this time she was getting evicted! So we went over with the elders again and got to work. We took out like a MOUNTAIN of trash. After we left, we get a bunch of texts and calls from Bree and she was screaming at us telling us the elders threw out her lighters (she had good reason to believe that after they did try to throw away her cigarettes - she caught them though). We told her to keep looking and promised they didn't throw them out. She stopped calling so we assumed she found them. Mistake number one... we didn't save her phone number. So a few days later we get a call from an unknown number and guess who it was? Bree. This time she accused us of stealing her X-box controllers and $400 and threatened to call the cops if we didn't give her the "church's number" so she could report us. I was just taking it all in as she screamed and swore at me over the phone hahaha. After all of that we just told her we love her and God loves her and good luck with everything and then we blocked her. So much for cleaning her house for her haha.

 Chasing guinea pigs:

The other day we were car fasting when we saw a guinea pig roaming free in someones yard. Of course our first thought was, "Oh no! Their guinea pig got out!" So of course we decided to catch it, thinking it would be a good first contact for the person on the other side of the door. "Hi there! We just wanted to return your escaped guinea pig to you. By the way we are the missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!" Haha. Anyways, didn't quite go as planned. We chased it around like crazy ladies for like 10 minutes, when the owner saw us through the window and came outside asking us what we were doing hahaha. We explained ourselves, and then she told us that the guinea pig actually just lives outside and roams around free! We were so embarrassed haha. But at least we gave her a card and told her that normally we don't chase guinea pigs, we actually share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people :)

Priesthood Power:

This week has been so awesome for our recent converts. There really is nothing more sweet than seeing people learn and progress in this amazing gospel. It really has been manifested to me that baptism is not the end, it's only the beginning! Guadalupe got her patriarchal blessing and she was beaming from oreja a oreja when she showed us the envelope of it (pictures included). Yonatan passed the sacrament for the first time, and Boris received the Aaronic Priesthood. I got so emotional during the blessing because the spirit was just so strong. He was crying afterward and told everyone about how often he finds himself crying these days, but not sad tears, happy tears because the gospel has just brought him so much peace and joy. Later that night we took him to an appointment to help us fellowship. We were teaching a guy named Pablo - who can't go to church because he has work on Sundays. Boris looked him in the face, and testified so strongly that "God will open the doors for you if you have faith in Him." He testified that he has seen it in his life, when God literally removed mountains so that he could get baptized. I literally almost fell on the ground because the Spirit was so strong. Afterward, he said "Wow. I went into that lesson not knowing what to say or to do, and after that I think I want to go on a mission." SO COOL HUH?!?! Sharing the gospel brings so much power and blessings into your life that I can't even explain to you. If you let Him, Heavenly Father will use you. He will qualify you. He will make you an instrument in His hands, no matter how inadequate you may feel. I know that is true, because I have seen Him work through me and help me do things and say things I never knew I could before. I love this gospel so much.

I'm probably getting transferred next week (tears) but I know the Lord has plans for me and the new area I'll be in! He is preparing His children everywhere. And He needs ALL of us, on all 4 corners of the earth to help Him! Love you all!!

-Hermana Hansen 

Pictures:

-Found a popcorn shop last P-day and it was like the highlight of my life (popcorn is my favorite food)

-Cute pond we found and studied at this week

-Guadalupe and her patriarchal blessing :)

-Boris and Yonatan all dressed up in their new white shirts and ties! All of the hispanics in the branch kept calling them guapo it was so cute haha

-Yonatan and his kids!

-The rest are of us exploring Laritzen Gardens this morning!

You know it's humid when you step outside and your glasses fog up

July 4, 2019

Feliz cuatro de Julio!!!

Our p-day is today because of the holiday and it's an ALL DAY p-day so we're gonna be hitting everything on our bucket list today! It has been a HOT sweaty past couple of weeks. And so humid that the subject of my email is almost an everyday occurrence. And if it's not over 90 degrees and sunny, it's pouring rain! Also, Omaha literally feels like a war zone during 4th of July weekend. So smoky and fireworks blowin up everywhere you look at all times of the day! Gotta love 'Murica.

On Monday of last week we had an appointment at 6:00, but we were running late from our dinner appointment. We were hurrying to our car when we saw a homeless man in a wheelchair. I said hi to him, and he didn't ask us for money, he just went on to tell us that he had no place to stay that night and that all he wanted was a little food and a sleeping bag so he wouldn't have to sleep on the hard ground. We got in the car feeling sooo bad for this man. So instead of rushing to our appointment we were already late to, we went home and gathered together a little food and brought a few extra blankets and a pillow that were just laying around in our apartment. When we returned to give it to him, he was so happy he almost cried. He just kept calling us angels! This little experience taught me that making it to an appointment on time isn't always the most important thing. If we are always in a rush, we might look over the people that really need our help!

Last transfer during zone conference, Elder Brian K Taylor from the 70 promised us in the name of the Lord that we could get to 40 baptisms in the month of June as a mission if everyone used the "YES list" every week (a list with a bunch of ways to ask for referrals from the ward/branch). Last month as a mission we had 18 baptisms so that goal was a STRETCH. But everyone worked so hard and we prayed and fasted as a mission, and WE DID IT!!! We had 40 baptisms on the dot this month. That was huge for us and it taught me that faith and hardwork really does bring miracles. And that promised blessings from general authorities are REAL and they work. Heavenly Father really will give us what we ask for if it is His will and if we are willing to do our part. 

This week Guadalupe, Boris, and a guy the elders are teaching told us that they are being visited by evil spirits so that's terrifying. Guadalupe said it's because when we make good decisions, Satan gets angry so he tries everything he's got to scare us. Be she said, "I am not scared!!! Satan is nothing and I have God on my side." 

A few other tender mercies:

-One of my favorite nights of my mission was when the city had their firework show and they lit them off in a park that was right down the street from us so we went out on our porch and got to watch them. Blessed.

-We had a lesson with the family we're teaching in council bluffs and at the end,  Griselda (the mom) gave us like 1000 products like face wash and deodorant and toothpaste and hairspray, you name it. And they were all like GOOD quality name brand stuff. Is she an angel sent from heaven?? Sí. 

-Our English class attendance has gone down by like 90% in the past few weeks, so the elders reposted about it on Facebook and about 30 more people came!!! Éxito!

-All of us were thinking about how fun camping in the summer was, so we made a tent in our room over our beds and hung up Christmas lights and all that jazz. So now we sleep in a tent :) 

That's about it for the week!!! Los quiero mucho!

-Hermana Hansen 

Pictures (not sure if these are in order):

-We helped a family move this week and all 9 missionaries from our branch came to help. Also an elder just got emergency transferred into our branch so we now have 10 missionaries in a little branch. I think we deserve a metal or something.

-A selfie after our "trainer trainee" meeting

-Us and Boris!!!! (Our best friend)

-Us outside watching the fireworks 

-Some CUTE kids we are teaching. The parents are members, but there are 2 kids that are over 8 and haven't been baptized that we are teaching! We made this "plan of salvation board game" and as we played it we taught them the plan of salvation! Pray for them to come to church please!

-A selfie of us in our tent that I made

-The day we were hot and dying so we got snowcones

-our big English class!!! 

How to laugh in Spanish: Wajajajaja

June 24, 2019

Hola buenos dias!

This week was full of miracles!!! We've literally been running from lesson to lesson every single day and it's felt like we have had no time to breathe! It's a good problem to have :) 

Last transfer we had Brian K Taylor come talk to us at zone conference, and he gave us something called the "YES list." It has a series of inspired questions that we ask members to get referrals from them, and it emphasizes contacting part-member families in the ward/branch and those that have unbaptized children over the age of 8! The word he used for the YES list is "rigorous." It is!! It's taken a lot of work and dedication to do all the items on the list, but this week we finally started seeing the fruits of our labors!!

After asking quite a few members in the branch if there had been anyone on their mind and hearts that they want us to go visit, someone mentioned an inactive part-member family in the branch named the Romeros. We went over, talked with the mom, and she told us that we can teach and baptized her kids!!!! We started teaching them and they are on date for baptism for July 20th! We also have been knocking on this lady's door that has an unbaptized 11-year-old for a week and she hasn't been home. But last week we were just walking through her neighborhood and she was outside! She called us over and said "Hermanas guess what?! We just had a meeting at work and they told us that we can start having Sundays off! I am going to be able to go to church for the first time in years!" We were soooo excited! Then she goes on to say, "My son Adrian is 11 and he hasn't got baptized yet!!! He needs to get baptized!" We were like WE CAN HELP WITH THAT! Haha so this is the first time we have ever met this lady and she literally just told us she is coming to church and asked us to baptize her son. We didn't even have to bring it up! So we will be teaching her son this week :) Heavenly Father just put them right into our hands!

Being in a trio has been SO FUN. It's like having a sleepover every night and we just laugh and have fun all day haha. I love mission life. We found tennis rackets in our apartment so Hermana Johnson and I play tennis in the church parking lot every morning while Hermana Jorgensen runs in cirlces around us hahaha. Gotta do what you gotta do when you have to be sight and sound from each other. 

This week we took a couple we are teaching to the visitor center and to the temple grounds! I love going to the trail center because it always reminds me about the sacrifices the pioneers made for us. What they did makes the missionary work we do "nowadays" feel so easy. It reminds me that I should never complain on days that we walk a lot and I should never complain when the weather is bad!!! That being said, we have had so many storms this week!!! The lightening struck our power box on Friday and we lost power for a little while in our apartment. It was fun pretending like we were pioneers without electricity for a little while haha. We really are so blessed to live in this day with such advanced technology! The work of the Lord is moving so fast because of it! :) 

Love you all!!! Have an amazing week! <3

Hermana Hansen 

Pictures: 

1. Us eating Guatemalan tamales from Boris :)

2. A missionary cake a member made for us

3. The missionary cake that landed in the cupholder when I accidentally slammed on my breaks too hard in the car hahahaha

4. Us with Griselda and David at the temple (we were on exchanges so Hermana Johnson didn't come with us)

5. The dog pile hahaha I love my companions 

We met the king of France

June 17, 2019

Hola!!!

This was a great week. Hermana Jorgensen and I got to go to the temple because we are TRAINING! It was so so so amazing to get to go. I will never take having 5 temples 20 minutes away from me for granted ever again when I get back home! That is the most peaceful place ever. Such an amazing escape from the crazy world around us and such a good opportunity to seek revelation from Heavenly Father. 

So we are in a trio with Hermana Johnson now!!! We are both training her. WE LOVE HER SO MUCH it has been so fun. Heavenly Father has just been blessing us so much. We moved into a bigger apartment to fit all 3 of us and it has just been like a sleepover every night it's so fun. She is from St. George Utah and went to Dixie before she came here and is studying medical biology. 

A few things that happened this week:

- We were sitting outside the church when this insane guy just comes and sits by us and starts talkin. He was on MANY drugs haha he introduced himself and the king of france. He told us that his brother is Michael Jackson and that his mom's estate are the Egyptian pyramids. I asked him if he wanted to go to church sometime and he looks at me dead in the eyes and says, "Lady. I am the church." Hahahaha. I was shook. Ah, the people you meet in Omaha. 

- We took Guadalupe our recent convert to a lesson with us and it was so awesome. She has the strongest testimony ever and she is not afraid to look people in the face and tell them to get baptized. She literally put her hands up in the air in the middle of the lesson and goes "Javier, sea bautizado en el NOMBRE de Jesucristo!!!!!" (Get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ!!!) Hahaha it was so awesome. I want her boldness.

- It's been interesting to see how much random people open up to us about the struggles they go through. This week we knocked on this lady's door, and she stepped out onto the porch and just told us her whole life story. She started bawling and opened up to us about the personal struggles she is going through and a death that happened in her family. I felt so sad for her. But we were able to testify of Jesus Christ and that he truly can take away her pain! People really do recognize us as representatives of Jesus Christ and know that we will not judge and we are really just here to help. Sometimes I start to feel weighed down by hearing about the trials and problems that people are having, especially when I realize that I can't help them or take away pain. But what is amazing is that we can lead them to their Savior, Jesus Christ - He is the true Healer. Then the weight I felt while momentarily bearing their sorrows goes away, because they are at the foot of the Savior. Oh how I love Him!!!!

My favorite scripture from my studies this week was Mormon 5:23 "Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God?" We are in the hands of God people!!!! He will not leave us! We are never alone and He is always there to help us! Remember that :)

Love you!

-Hermana Hansen 

Pictures:

-The temple, our new trio, us celebrating our first night together with pan from Boris' panaderia! 

It's not every week that you meet an apostle and have 2 baptisms and find out you're trio training!

June 10, 2019

Hola!!!! I don't have the energy or strength to describe this week but I'll do my best haha. If you want the short version of my week read my subject :) 

Elder Renlund

SO yeah basically this was the best weekend of my life. The whole mission came down to Omaha because Elder Renlund and 4 sets of either area 70 or general 70 came to visit our mission!!! Elder Renlund came to the Mexico MTC when I was there so when I shook his hand I reminded him I'd met him before. He totally remembered me! ;) Haha broma. The council he and his wife gave us was exactly what I needed. I forgot my notes but he made us some amazing prophetic promises and if you really want to know what they were, email me and I'll let ya know when I get my notes haha. 

Baptism of Yonatan and Boris

Yeah it turns out that Boris actually has spelled his named with an i instead of a y (instead of Borys) and he was just lying to us the whole time haha. THIS WAS THE MOST AMAZING DAY OF MY LIFE. For Boris this day has been LONG awaited. The first time I met him in February he was afraid to pray aloud. He was so timid and convinced that he would never get to the point of being baptized. I have seen him literally TRANSFORM into a new person. I'm convinced that I came to Omaha Nebraska on my mission to meet Boris. He will be a life long friend for sure. THANK YOU for all of your prayers. He has conquered so so so many roadblocks to get here. It was so amazing to help Yonatan get to this point too. Never have I seen someone so prepared and willing to drop everything to change and become a member of Christ's church. The coolest thing is that Yonatan brought his kids to his baptism (that's the first time we've met them) and they were SO EXCITED for their dad. He also surprised his dad that day in Guatemala who has been a member for 10 years and didn't know he was getting baptized :) It was cool to see his father's example play effect on him so many years after his conversion, and it was cool to see Yonatan being an example to his little children too. I can only imagine how proud our HEAVENLY Father is of his decision to repent and be baptized. Both Yonatan and Boris bore testimonies at the end after they got baptized and these were no ordinary testimonies. IT WAS POETRY. And they were both like 15 minutes long hahaha. Boris literally wrote the most beautiful poem I've ever heard and read it. They both expressed how the scriptures have filled an emptiness that they had. Yonatan told us that we are angels sent from God and Boris said that we rescued him. What I don't think they realize is that THEY were the ones that did this - not us. They followed the Spirit and that is what prepared them to make this covenant with God, not us! Also how special is it that both Yonatan and Boris came into the church at the same time and they are both from Guatemala? They literally became instant best friends and now will fellowship and support each other in the church probably until the day they die haha. On Sunday they got confirmed, and after Boris's confirmation he sat down by us and was literally glowing and had the biggest smile I've ever seen him have. WOW. I wish I could explain the feelings I felt this weekend but I can't. I am like Nephi: 

"And now I, (Hermana Hansen), cannot write all the things which (happen on my mission); neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men." - 2 Nephi 33:1

Hopefully the Holy Ghost carried something into your heart after reading this messy email :) 

Oh by the way Hermana Jorgensen and I found out that we are TRAINING TOGETHER!!! Haha so we will be getting a new Hermana and we'll be training her in a trio. We're moving apartments because ours is tiny and we are moving in with the Senior couple the Hickmans in our branch and we are so excited they are literally our best friends haha. IT'S A GOOD WEEK TO BE A MISSIONARY!!!!  

LOVE YOU ALL! 

-Hermana Hansen

Pictures:

1. We finally got the Mexico MTC gang back TOGETHER! The picture on top was taken in the CCM a year ago!!! And the picture on bottom was on Saturday! 

2. Hermana Iverson and I up close and personal haha

3-4. Yonatan and Boris's baptism!!! 

5. All the Spanish missionaries (minus a few) after the devotional with Elder Renlund :)

The Lord Magnifies our Efforts

June 3, 2019

Hola qué onda!?

THIS WEEK WAS SO FULL I literally don't even know where to start. 

Some bullet points:

-English class was another success with almost 50 people again!

-We served at a food pantry.

-We had an AMAZING Zone Conference with Brian K. Taylor from the 70. He gave the talk "Am I a Child of God?" in general conference of April last year. The biggest thing that happened is that he promised us in the name of Jesus Christ that if we give it EVERYTHING we got, we will have 40 baptisms as a mission in the month of June. That's pretty big for our mission considering we only had 18 baptisms last month as an entire mission! He gave us some pretty specific and divine instructions about how we will obtain this goal so we are all re-energized and excited to do some missionary work!!! 

-We took Borys and Yonatan to the temple and trail center and they loved it! Yonatan was literally vlogging the whole thing for his dad in Guatemala it was so cute haha. Guadalupe also did baptisms for the dead and took her father's name and her grandparents. So amazing to be able to see her progress so much in the gospel. She's gotten pretty sucked into family history work and told us she wakes up in the middle of the night and can't sleep because she can't stop thinking about it!!!

-We had exchanges on Friday, then on Saturday we spent half of the day cleaning this lady's house. We met her last week and she said she wanted us to come over to do a "study" but then expressed that she's really not interested in the gospel at all, she just wanted us to clean her house. Her house was... full. Haha. Just full. I was a little annoyed at first and felt like she was just trying to take advantage of us, but when we went back to clean on Saturday I felt an overwhelming feeling of love for her. I know that God loves her and she is truly my sister. My annoyance changed to gratitude for the chance we got to serve her and help her. Even after my fingers were swollen and raisiny after doing dishes for over 3 HOURS straight. We flipped that place around!!  

-We served food at a quinceañera for a girl in our branch and it was like the time of my life. Not much else to say about that other than I wish I was Mexican. 

One last story:

This week someone named Javier requested a Book of Mormon online so we decided to take Guadalupe with us to go meet him. We went to his house and no one answered the door, and the guy that was trimming the bushes out front said he didn't live there. So we left, and walked back to the car around the corner. Hermana Jorgensen and I got in the car, but Guadalupe opened the door, paused, and then closed the door again and didn't get in the car! So we got back out and she was like, "We have to go back!" And we were like "Why??" And she was like "This man made an appointment with you! He has to be there! We are going back!" So I supressed the thoughts in my head that were saying, "He probably just forget, we'll just go another day" and we caught up with Guadalupe who was practically running back up to his house. (Let me remind you that she is like a 67 year old woman with the energy of a 20 year old.) She called up to the man that was trimming the bushes and she said, "You made an appointment with these sisters and they are here to talk to you!" He called back again and explained that he did not live there. So Guadalupe walked right passed him and went to the back of the house, and there we found a bunch of guys outside drinking and smoking. They told us that Javier was inside and they went and got him for us! We proceeded to have one of the most powerful restoration lessons we've ever had. Guadalupe bore a STRONG witness that the gospel is true and that he NEEDS to come to church because it will change his life.  Wow. What would we do without this woman? She has taught me so much more than we ever taught her. She has so much faith. I'm convinced we would have never found Javier if it weren't for her faith! The best part of the story is the guy that was trimming the bushes went to the back of the house and was hanging out with the guys back there during the lesson. Guadalupe was like "I KNEW HE LIVED THERE" haha. The Spirit speaks to that woman! 

We had such a full week and still managed to find 3 new people to teach this week. The Lord really never fails to magnify our time and efforts. I love being a missionary and I love this church. These 2 guys we met last night told us we had a "beautiful ambiance" and they couldn't pinpoint what it was. They could tell that there was something different about us. It was the Spirit!!! We are so excited for Yonatan and Borys' baptism this Saturday! Also President Renlund is coming and we are excited for that too. Thanks for all your prayers! :) 

Con amor,

Hermana Hansen 

Pictures:

1 - Me in front of a Guatemala mural. I'll actually go there someday haha

2. Me celebrating my YEAR MARK with HuHot one of my fav restaurants :) 

3. Service with Sister Hickman at the food pantry

4. We had another sleepover with the HERMANAS! They came down for Zone Conference :)

5. This is us after cleaning that lady's house all day and serving food at the quinceañera haha. So exhausted.

More to come in the next email because it won't let me send more than 5