Aplauso para ti

October 28, 2019

Hola!

I could go on and on about the crazy things that happened this week... but I'll spare you the boring details and get right into the good stuff. 

The Drop Lesson

So we have been working with this guy from Guatemala named Edgar for about a month now. He is a SUPER awesome guy. He is so energetic and happy and he loves talking about the gospel. Particularly the bible. At first, we were really excited to teach him. During our first lesson he asked us about literally everything. We talked about tithing, the law of chastity, the word of wisdom, you name it. The next day he called us and asked if we could come back and teach him more! So we did! After the first couple lessons though, our outlook seemed to change. He refused to read the Book of Mormon, and our lessons changed from being centered on the restored gospel to him trying to teach us about the bible. He'd quiz us on scriptures and ask if we knew random stories and he'd go "preacher mode" and wouldn't let us get a word out. Whenever we'd get one of his questions right, he'd clap his hands and say "aplauso para ti!!!" (applause for you). He'd say things like "It embarasses me that 3 young girls are teaching me the gospel, when really I, a grown man, should be the one teaching you." He couldn't seem to get passed that. So, when he asked us to come back over, we decided to bring a friend, Brother Bechtold, from our church. Someone Edgar wouldn't belittle so much. He served his mission in Argentina, got a degree in Spanish, and now he's a doctor. As soon as we got inside, Edgar says something like, "Most people don't know anything about the history of their church. Do you know the history of yours?" Great question! We taught him the restoration and shared the first vision of Joseph Smith. The spirit was so strong during the first vision that it was almost tangible. I know he felt it. We think it scared him because he interrupts us and said, "Your faith exalts Joseph Smith! You worship him more than you worship God!"  The best part of the lesson is when he bluntly says, "When you guys come back, you are not allowed to talk about Joseph Smith ever again!" I could literally feel my fists curling but I held back my annoyance at his comments. Brother Bechtold calmly explains that Joseph Smith was a prophet, an instrument in God's hands, and he had the exact same authority as Moses, or Paul, or any of the other prophets in the bible! He was so patient with Edgar and that opened my eyes so much. We left the lesson and Brother Bechtold shook his hand and said, "Edgar, read the book. And pray. That's all we ask. Call us when you do." After the lesson I was still a little heated about how hard hearted Edgar was. But looking back, I learned so much about how Brother Bechtold reacted. Patiently, lovingly, and with simple testimony. That's the only way we'll get anywhere with difficult people like this. We have to act like the Savior acted and treat them with love, even if they don't seem to understand. 

Well, I hoped to share more about this week but that story was really long. But one awesome thing is ROBERTO PASSED HIS BAPTISM INTERVIEW!!!! He is getting baptized this Saturday! We are so excited and proud of all of his progress. Also, we had interviews with our President this week and this was my last one ever!!!! I can't believe it. He gave me a priesthood blessing afterward and it was really special. I'm so thankful for the special experiences and relationships I've created on my mission. I will never be the same because of them.

This week we also had an AMAZING Stake Conference with Lynn G Robbins from the 70. It was so special. My favorite part was when he talked about resilience. He talked about how more and more youth in this generation lack resilience and tend to give up when life gets too hard and overwhelming. He mentioned that to become more resilient we have to go through hard things. We have to fall and fail and be lost. Hard times and trials give us the opportunity to use Christ's Atonement to become better and stronger. We can't always resort to taking the "easy way out." We'll never learn or become stronger if we don't face opposition and make mistakes sometimes. I'm so thankful for Christ and His Atonement because through Him, I can try again EVERY day, despite my failures the day before.

Love you all!!! <3

-Hermana Hansen

Pictures: Apparently we literally took none this week. So here's a picture of the pumpkin I carved last P-day haha  

Las superpoderosas

Oct 21, 2019

Hola familia y amigos!

El tiempo se mueve muy rapido y no me gusta! I've really been enjoying fall in Sioux Falls and I am trying to soak in every single precious moment of my mission before it spirals to an end in about a month from now... I love being a missionary so much. I love waking up and knowing exactly what my purpose is and feeling productive. I love setting out for the day with our eyes wide open on every street we turn onto... looking for every possible sign of a house that contains Spanish speakers... I love laughing the night away with my companions. I love studying the scriptures and learning more and more about my Savior's love for me. I love helping people progress in the beauty of this gospel... the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Part of me never wants to leave this wonderful adventure that I'm on. But I'm realizing that a lot of the wonderful parts of being a missionary can stay with me and can become part of me for the rest of my life. I'm grateful for that.

A few highlights:

-This week we were on the "hunt" as we call it. It's not as bad as it sounds. We often drive or walk around and write down every house that we find that has any kind of hispanic vibe. (Often times they have Christmas lights up, kid toys on the lawn, a grill--for carne asada of course, and they often have a snow shovel or broom on their porch by their door, no importa the weather). I hope none of you think that we are creepy or racist for noticing these kinds of things. But the longer you've been a Spanish speaking missionary in an English speaking world, you start to notice them. We drove past a house that had a few of the "signs" and my companion yells out "I saw a guy in the window we have to go knock that door!" The cutest little cowboy from Mexico lets us in and tells us that he used to attend the "Mormon church" in Mexico for 3 YEARS!!!! He never got baptized but took like all the lessons! He was so open to learning the gospel again and even said he wants to come to church! Milagros.

-Annette is also progressing so much. She is very sick with cancer but all she wants to do is learn more about the church and understand God's love for her. She came to the relief society activity and our ward game night this week and to church, despite how she was feeling inside. She is progressing so well, please pray for her health!! 

-This week we also found a lady named Maria. She invites us in, introduces us to her guinea pigs, invites us to sit down, and then the first thing she asks is, "Do you guys do baptisms in your church?" "Yes!" we say. "Que bueno. I've been trying to find a church for my daughters to get baptized in and I haven't found any I've liked. Can they get baptized in your church?" Ummm YES!!! Haha. We are going to start teaching them this week and hopefully they will come to church. And hopefully her heart will be softened and she'll want to become a member too :)

-ROBERTO IS ON FIRE EVERYONE!!!! His baptism interview is tomorrow, and we hadn't finished all the lessons yet and we were getting nervous because he still had a couple "big ones" we had to cover. We planned a lesson that included the 10 commandments, the Godhead, keeping the Sabbath Day holy, and the law of chastity. We thought we were gonna be there for like 3 hours cuz he talks a lot but surprisingly it only took an hour and he took it all very well! My eyes were very opened because I realized that the "big lessons" that we teach people, like the word of wisdom, chastity, and tithing, aren't really that "big" when the person is truly converted. Roberto knows the gospel is true, and because of that, he is willing to do give up anything and change. It made me reflect on myself. Am I truly converted? If Christ asked me to give up something that was important to me, would I do it? Think about it.

I'll end with one of my favorite quotes from General Conference from Elder Christofferson: "I believe that the ultimate “joy of the saints” comes in knowing that the Savior pleads their cause, and no one can conceive of the joy which will fill our souls as we hear Jesus pray for us unto the Father." Think about that too.

Los quiero! 

Con amor, Hermana Hansen 

P.S. My subject comes from a member from Columbia that always calls us the "superpoderosas." That's what they call the powerpuff girls in Spanish hahaha. 

Pictures:

-A beautiful Sioux Falls fall view with some hot air balloons 

-Us and Roberto

-Us and Annette and Jose and our ward mission leader Matt at game night

-A sick picture of Roberto I stole off his Facebook

Who let the dogs out?

October 14, 2019

Buenas tardes!!!! 

THIS WEEK WAS FUEGO. The first big news is I am in another TRIO!!!! Our new companion is also named Hermana Hansen. She is from Seattle, Washington and she has been out about 6 months. She's super fun and smart and great at spanish, she adds a lot to this companionship!!!! A huge perk about being in a trio is that normally we can't go inside to a single man's house unless we have another woman with us. But with 3, you can go inside ANYWHERE. We feel invincible. It's been so nice, especially with the cold weather we're getting. It snowed for 2 days straight this week! 

I'll share a few funny/epic fail experiences we had this week: 

One night we were knocking doors in this apartment complex, and this lady answers the door, swears at us and yells at us to go away, and then opens the door up as wide as she possibly can just to get a big windup to SLAM it right in our faces. It gets better though... we went to go knock the next door and the walls are thin so she could hear us knocking, so she continues to YELL at us at the top of her lungs, through her door, every swearword you could possibly imagine. "GET OUT OF THIS #@#$ APARTMENT! NO ONE #@#$$ WANTS YOUR $#$@$#!!!!" You get the picture. We ran out of the apartment laughing hysterically. It's those moments where that is the only thing you can do. Ahh... so entertaining. Gotta love being a missionary. 

On Tuesday we went to go help a member move into their new house. She asked if we could carry her clothes downstairs and put them all on the top rack of her closet. I think she had more clothes than she anticipated... The plastic support holding up the pole in the closet SNAPPED and all of the clothes fell. It was so embarrassing and we felt so bad. But yet again, we found ourselves laughing hysterically. Hahaha. All that work for nothing.

On another rainy/snow day this week we went to go visit a referral that the elders sent us. They were a Hispanic family and they couldn't communicate with them so we went and knocked their door. A teenage kid opens the door and then watches in horror as his gigantic dog escapes outside and runs out the fence that we foolishly forgot to close..."OTRA VEZ?" He says ("again?"). We felt so bad that we stupidly volunteer to run after it and bring it back. So we continue to chase this GIANT and very fast dog all throughout this giant neighborhood... We realizing that it had no collar or leash and it probably the size of one of us. So we eventually gave up, and made the walk of shame back to the house and told them we couldn't find their dog. Later that evening we saw the elders that referred them to us, and we tell them about our experience, and they say, "YOU LET THE DOG OUT TOO???" and bust up laughing. Whoops... Hopefully they let us come back to teach them. We'll close the fence next time. Hahaha. 

This week we were tracting in this trailer park and this Hispanic guy opens the door and he's literally wearing a Utah hat. Like the Utes. I was like "you've been to Utah???" And he's like "What's Utah?" And I was like "uhhh... your hat says Utah!" And he was like "Oh yeah no I just found it at the store so I bought it." Hahahah. Classic.

Okay sorry I know this email is already super long. But just 2 more cool experiences. This week one on of the freezing cold days we decided to contact some less active members that we wanted to meet. We emailed/called/texted/messaged on Facebook. It was like the most successful hour of my life! Pretty much everyone responded, many had moved, and the ones that had moved told us that they've been wanting to get back in contact with the church!! One of them literally said, "Can you help me?" Ummm YES!!! We sent missionaries to like 3 of them! It was so awesome! So much more successful than if we went out and knocked on their doors. Technology works people! It was given to us to spread the gospel! Use it! 

This week we had some awesome lessons with Roberto. We had to push back his baptismal date to November because he still has to overcome some Word of Wisdom issues. But he is sooo determined and even got a priesthood blessing when he came to church this week. It was one of the most spiritual experiences ever. After the blessing he just thanked everyone for helping him and motivating him on this journey he's on to get baptized and change his life. Later he texted us saying how happy and special that blessing made him feel. The Holy Spirit is so real and so strong!!! I love being a missionary and being able to be part of these awesome changes people are making in their lives... please keep praying for Roberto! 

Love you all!!! Thanks for all your support! <3

-Hermana Hansen 

Pictures:

Not sure what order this will send in. But: 

1. Breaking the pole in the closet...

2. Celebrating my birthday again with Sister Homer (mission birthdays are the best because you celebrate it like 5 times)

3. Me in the SNOW!!!
4-7: Us at the pumpkin patch 

2 bags of popcorn per week

October 7, 2019

Hola familia y amigos! 

Thanks for all the happy birthdays! It was a great day and there was no better way to celebrate than watching conference!! 

This week was FULL I mean FULL haha. We had Zone Conference in Omaha which occupied like a day and a half including driving and spending the night, and then 10 hours of General Conference. So basically it involved a lot of sitting and being spiritually edified. All good things! Haha. So we had a BIG change announced at Zone Conference... you know all those rumors you've heard about missionaries in the U.S. that can't eat with members anymore? Yep. The dreaded day arrived and they are implementing that rule in our mission....!!! Hahaha. But there are some exceptions. We can eat with members if they invite a non-member or less-active member, or if it is at 4:00 on Saturday or Sunday. And unless those things are the case, we eat alone at 4:00 every day. It's all with the purpose of us being out proselyting from 5:00 - 8:00 which are hours that people are normally at home! At first everyone was a little upset when our mission president announced the change. Then I felt like everyone calmed down and we actually all felt the Spirit. It was just a calm feeling, helping us realize that this will be a good thing. It will help us be more effective, and it will hopefully get the members excited to be more involved in the work, and we'll be able to find those who are prepared to receive this important message!!!! And if worst things comes to worst, they gave us all crock pots so we'll have to learn how to cook for ourselves hahaha.

We had a really spiritual lesson this week with Annette and Jose. Jose has been a member for several years but has fallen inactive, and Annette isn't a member. It's been a little hard to find our swing in teaching them because she's a native english speaker and he only speaks Spanish, so it's been very spanglish-y. We read Alma 36 with them in the Book of Mormon with them and neither of them understood a single thing. We broke it down for them in very simple terms, but they still didn't understand. Finally, in English, we asked something like, "Annette, do you know what it means when we say that Christ suffered for your sins?" "No," she said. In that moment we instantly realized that she has basically no knowledge about God or our Savior. I mean, why would she? She didn't grow up religious. We took it from square 0 and testified about Christ's mission and His Atonement. We told her that He suffered and died for her. He knows her pain and sorrows. And He is the only way we can make it back to Heavenly Father again. The spirit was so strong. I haven't had many times I've gotten to teach in English on my mission, and hearing those words in my native tongue touched my spirit and it was re-affirmed to me that those things are true. It is so special to be able to teach someone who has never heard those words before and to invite the Spirit into a person's life who hasn't been able to recognize it before. Jesus Christ knows us. He loves us. 

A few things that stuck out to me during conference were how they kept telling us to put away worldly distractions. I heard so many warnings about Satan and his tactics. I heard that we need to keep our covenants and that there is a need to access God's power more than ever before in our lives. I heard that we need to become true disciples of Jesus Christ. I heard that we need to repent and become holier. All these things led with a promise of happiness and joy... All we have to do is make the changes and we can be happy! I testify that that is true. 

This week for my birthday I got a 12 pack box of popcorn. I was so happy until I realized that... if I want to finish all this popcorn before the end of my mission... I basically need to eat 2 bags a week. It then hit me how little time I have left on my mission... It was a very bitter sweet moment. The popcorn won't be a problem though. It will probably be gone next week let's be real. 

Love you all!!! 

<3 Hermana Hansen 

Bendecido por Jesucristo

September 30, 2019

¡Saludos! 

This was an amazing week. We had a lot of success and taught un montón of lessons. On Monday night after P-day alone, from 6:00-9:00 we had 3 lessons back to back. Then again on Saturday we had 4 lessons back to back, 3 of which involved members helping us teach! None of them even fell through! Thanks for all of your prayers :) 

I feel like Heavenly Father taught me so many lessons this week. The past couple days I have been so incredibly scatterbrained. Sometimes I feel like everything I do I mess it up somehow haha. For example, almost every week I forget that we need to refill our laundry card so we have enough money on Monday to do it, because the place to refill the card on Monday opens later in the morning than we prefer to do laundry. But this week I remembered! I grabbed the card on the way out the door one day, but by the time we were going to refill the card, I looked around and couldn't find it anywhere. I LOST IT! Of course. The one time I actually remembered to refill it I lost the card haha. The very next day I was having a really rough time driving for some reason. I kept driving over curbs, at one point I got one lane too far over trying to turn left and I was on the wrong side of the street (my companion yelled at me to change lanes though don't worry), and here's the worst part... we went to go get gas, I opened the car door and a huge gust of wind pulled the door open and it hit a pole and I DENTED OUR BRAND NEW RAV4 CAR DOOR. It's just a small dent, but I felt so horrible. I promise I'm usually not that bad of a driver, I was just having a rough day I think haha. But anyway, after all these incidents I was feeling so awful inside. I tried not to show it, but I was angry and frustrated with myself for making all these silly mistakes and I just felt stupid. I even prayed and asked for forgiveness, even though I didn't sin, my scatterbrained-self just kept getting in the way of everything.  

The next morning after I dented the car, I kneeled down to pray to start my personal study. I had no idea what I was going to study so I prayed for guidance. I somehow stumbled upon an article written about the talk Joy D Jones gave during education week. She talked about a time she was heading to the temple and got pulled over for speeding. She was so frustrated with herself she turned around and started to go home, and she had this thought: "Receiving a speeding ticket had nothing to do with my worth as a daughter of God." That hit me. I felt like Heavenly Father was directly telling me that all the silly mistakes I make doesn't make me worth any less. I am His precious daughter and He loves me. I don't need to be perfect, all I can do is my best and learn to react in a positive way to the little setbacks along the path. Joy D Jones said, "As individuals make a daily effort to overcome the enticements in their life and put off the natural man, they begin to experience greater control in their life. The little things don’t bother as much because they are able to see them for what they really are—opportunities to use agency to turn to Heavenly Father and to become as He is." 

I know my Heavenly Father loves me. I know he guided me to find that article because it reminded me that every mistake we make gives us an opportunity to learn, and to choose to react in a positive way. That's what I am trying to do. 

My subject line comes from a phrase that Roberto says to us every time we ask him how he's doing. It means "Blessed by Jesus Christ." To conclude, here is a sweet message he sent us this week.

            "Muchas gracias por haberse aparecido en mi camino. Dios los bendiga y se que están para ayudar a quien realmente lo necesita y por gracia de dios yo soy uno de ellos." 

            It means: "Thank you so much for having appeared in my path. God bless you. I know you are really just here to help people that need it, and by the grace of God I'm one of them." 

I know it was no chance that we ran into Roberto. He is so prepared and excited to get baptized this month. Please pray for him to be able to stop smoking and to forgive himself for the hard things that have happened in the past. 

I love you all so much!!! Thanks for all the prayers and love. By the way I TURN 21 THIS WEEK can you believe it?

Con amor,

Hermana Hansen

Pictures: Sorry we are absolutely failing at taking pictures lately. Here's a picture of a Annette's door that we heart attacked this week, and a selfie with Roberto at church.

No time

September 23, 2019

Hola familia! 

It's gonna be a short email today because we don't have much time. This week was full of DRIVING. We had to go all the way to Omaha for trainer trainee and then we had exchanges. It is always amazing to me how God seems to consecrate our times and efforts though.

A cool story about Jose and Annette. Hermana Iverson and I had met Jose a few weeks ago but nothing really came of it. He is the less active member we ran into in the trailer park last week and he invited us in to meet his wife Annette, who isn't a member. So Annette is from Minnesota, English is her first language but she knows a little Spanish. And Jose doesn't speak a word of English so not really sure how that works. We had a lesson with them again last week. Jose really opened up to us. He told us about the day we ran into him, he was just on a ladder fixing his roof, when a thought ran through his mind of me. He thought to himself, "La hermana? That's random." 2 seconds later, he turns around and there we were. Standing right behind him saying "Hola Jose!" He told us he knew that thought was a sign from God, and that he needed to come to church again. He told us he knew that his wife needs the gospel and the Book of Mormon in her life, because she is so so sick, and she needs the gospel to give her peace and fill her soul. Annette has kidney cancer and has to go to dialysis 3 times a week, and both of them have diabetes. They came to church for the second time this week, and they both got Priesthood blessings. The spirit was soooo strong. All of this was just a reminder and testimony to me that God knows us and loves us individually. He knows His children need His gospel. When you live the gospel, you can be happy despite the trials you are facing. What a beautiful promise. 

Have a great week! Love ya!

-Hermana Hansen

Pics: Hermana Phelps and I at the falls, and us at trainer trainee with Hermana Iverson!!!

Tormentas y alarmas

September 16, 2019

Hola!!!

This week was a whirlwind, quite literally! So on Monday night the fire alarm in the building went off in the middle of the night, so we all had to evacuate. We got outside and our neighbors from the Dominican Republic were out there, and another hispanic family we didn't know lived in our building came out too!!! So we were just chillin outside our building at midnight speaking Spanish with everyone. I actually was translating for one of the hispanic guys to the fire fighters because they didn't know how to turn off the alarm and the hispanic guy did. A situation I never would have pictured myself in a year and a half ago... I love being a missionary hahaha. Anyways, we were sleep deprived the next night so we went to bed early, just to get woken up by a TORNADO!! Haha. We were so oblivious and just thought it was a crazy storm, so we pulled the covers over our head and slept through it haha. Luckily we were safe and so are all the people we know here! Just some more flooding, some smashed cars, and broken trees everywhere. 

This week we really felt lead by the hand of God. We felt like we needed to go visit a potential that lives in a small trailer park. Of COURSE I got lost and took a rather long detour trying to get there... (classic) but we made it. It was proof to me that there really is a reason for everything, because we got there in time to run into a less active member that lives next door to the potential. He hasn't been to church in a LONG time. He told us his wife was inside and invited us to meet her! She isn't a member and we were able to start teaching her!! At the end of the lesson, his son Adrian walks in, and turns out I actually had met him before when I served in Worthington, Minnesota!! He used to live there and then moved up here. Guess what? THEY ALL 3 CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY! We were shocked when we saw them walk in but it was a great surprise. Another guy we are teaching came too!! Yesterday we also taught our very first Spanish Sunday school. They've only had English Sunday school up to this point. A lot of people came and it went so well. The work is moving fast up in this tiny hispanic community in Sioux Falls, South Dakota! 

I read this quote in my studies this morning by Elder Neal A. Maxwell: "Our perfect Father does not expect us to be perfect children yet. He had only one such Child. Meanwhile, therefore, sometimes with smudges on our cheeks, dirt on our hands, and shoes untied, stammeringly but smilingly we present God with a dandelion—as if it were an orchid or a rose! If for now the dandelion is the best we have to offer, He receives it, knowing what we may later place on the altar. It is good to remember how young we are spiritually.” Neal A. Maxwell, That Ye May Believe (1992) 

I think sometimes we get frustrated with ourselves when we don't see improvement or growth as fast as we hope. But it gives me hope knowing that I don't need to be perfect, I just have to do my best, and Christ will make up for the rest. That is all we can do! And until the day that we will be completely perfected in Him, He is gonna have million of bouquets of dandelions from me at His feet. That is, until He picks me up, dusts me off, and turns my dandelions into roses. I truly am nothing without my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Love you all, hope you have a great week!

-Hermana Hansen 

Pictures:

Hermana Phelps and I

Us at a birthday party for little Rebekita 

The other day we were just sitting at a park contacting some less-active members, when these girls just came and started hanging out with us. Literally so beautiful all of them. So we took a picture :)