Thanksgiving, Hard week!

Nov 26, 2018

Hola Familia y Amigos!!!

First of all, I want to make you all aware of the new email policy change on my mission! In our mission President's words: "You now have the approval to email as long as you want (from 8AM-6PM on Preparation Day), in concert with you companion's desires." Life is good!!!! So from now on I will be able to reply on my phone throughout the day on Mondays.

This week definitely had its ups and downs! Thanksgiving was amazing. We pretty much spent the day at member's homes and ate a LOT of good food! I was so thankful for the chance to focus on the amazing blessing Heavenly Father has given us. 

This week we were getting really nervous that Dora wouldn't be ready for her baptism date. We prayed about it a lot, and talked to our mission leader, Sonia. She suggested that we have a lesson together in Sonia's home to see if Dora was ready. We were able to help Dora open up about how she has been feeling about her baptism, and she explained that she has been kind of been feeling pressured and isn't really sure if she knows that the church is true yet. We were so thankful that she opened up, and know that she will be ready in the future! Please pray for her! 

For quite a while now we have been working with a family that has been progressing so well. The mom is named Leanor, and her two sons are Jose (age 12) and Juan (age 9). They have come to church twice now, and came to the halloween party not too long ago! They all loved church. They read the Book of Mormon very diligently and told us that they know it is true. When we asked Jose why he likes to go to church, he said because he know that this is the only church with the authority of God. Juan said he knows it is the only true church. Leanor has been having a harder time accepting it. She has still been going to her old church that she's grown up in, and told us that she just wants to be able to go to both. We lovingly helped her see that she can't choose both churches, that she will have to prayerfully make decision about whether or not this church is true and if she needs to be baptized. After we explained that to her, she told us she would pray about it and think about it. Just this last week she texted us and told us that she can't be in both churches at the same time, so she is choosing the church she grew up in. A few minutes later we got texts from both Juan and Jose from her phone, telling us thank you and that they love us, and they thanked us for teaching them how to pray. I was so heart broken. I literally read the texts they sent and started crying. I realized that over this time that we have spent teaching them the Restored Gospel, I felt so much love from them. I felt a portion of the love that Heavenly Father has felt for them. I had true hopes that they would be baptized. I still think that the boys will eventually be baptized, when they are old enough to make that decision. I prayed so hard for this family that night, and suddenly felt comforted. I know that Jesus Christ knows EXACTLY how we have been feeling. He knows what it feels like to be rejected, He knows what it feels like when people turn him away. I only hope and pray that this family will realize the joy that this gospel can bring, and come back! 

Although sometimes we experience set backs, I know we can always get back up through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He will help us stay strong. I want to be as Jacob and Joseph were in the scriptures when they said this:

"And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day." (Jacob 1:19)

This gives me so much courage and motivation to do the Lord's work, even when people will turn us away. We have truth that the rest of the world needs and lacks, and I will not hesitate to share it!!!! I love you all!!! Have an amazing week!!!!

Con Amor,
Hermana Hansen

1-2: Hermana Esplin and I

3: Hermana Esplin and I with Dominique, a member who is moving! We helped her pack up and get rid of some of the things in her house. 

4: We tried to take some pictures on thanksgiving but failed because it was so windy so they failed. Enjoy.

5: Thanksgiving dinner!!!

6: A picture from a dinner we had at a members home with the Zebas! We had a missionary lesson and we made them all badges! Love that family. 

Transfers and a Baptism :)

Nov 19, 2018

Hola familia y amigos!!!!

Transfers happened this week and I am still in Worthington, Minnesota and I am now with Hermana Esplin! Hermana Thacker is now in Sioux City with Hermana Iverson. She is from Alaska so she is very used to the cold weather that we have here. Fun fact: she was also trained by Hermana Thacker 4 transfers ago. This is only her second area and she has been out for 10 months! I already love her so much. She's really helped me get out of my shell and helped me rediscover humor. She makes missionary work so fun and has helped me see that we can laugh and have fun while still working hard! 

The day after transfers, I felt this enormous weight on my shoulders. I felt inadequate in leading out the area, and it felt very burdening to have to remember everything on my own, since Hermana Esplin doesn't know anyone in the area yet. I opened up the scriptures for personal study that morning, hopeful that the Book of Mormon would enlighten me and take away some stress. I looked down and of course I had just reached the Isaiah chapters in 2nd Nephi. But to my surprise, I was able to understand some of it, and it was exactly what I needed to hear. 

2 Nephi 8:3 

"For the Lord shall comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody."

It made me realize that when we are in our "waste places" and having a hard time, he will comfort us. We can have "joy and gladness" and still be thankful even when we are struggling. It helped me realize that I am not alone in this. Heavenly Father is there every step of the way to help me. This became so true this week. Although I had the responsibility of explaining everyone's background and remembering who we needed to go visit, we were able to work together in unity and Christ made up for the rest. 

Yesterday Jocelia, Jolene, and Joseph were finally baptized!!!! It was so amazing to see how excited and nervous they were to make this sacred covenant with Heavenly Father. Although their mother is not yet a member, she was beaming and so thrilled and supportive of her children's decision. It was such an amazing and spirit-filled experience!!!! 

Love you all, thank you for your prayers and support! Take some time to thank someone you love and appreciate this week! Hope you have an amazing Thanksgiving!!!

Con Amor,

Hermana Hansen 

It's cold!!!! Testigos Jehova, Spanish Sacrament Meeting

Nov 12, 2018

Hola familia!!!!
This week I am typing on my phone because the library is closed because of Veteran's day. All those years of texting before my mission are finally coming to good use (haha).

This week was COLD!!!! In our district we have been focusing a lot on having the "faith to find" even when it's freezing outside. We put that to good use this week! When it's cold, it is easy to lose motivation. Less people are on the streets, and it's a lot harder to get yourself to get out the door when you know you'll freeze outside. Tuesday was our "car fast" day, and it was about 20 degrees with strong, COLD wind. I was very thankful for the coat my mom sent a few weeks ago. We started knocking. Only an hour later we had found 3 new people to teach and got a referral. It was such a huge miracle! We found more people than we have found in the past 2 weeks in ONE HOUR of hard work. We really learned that even though it's cold, people have warm hearts. I think they could tell that the message we carried must have been important, because who else would be crazy enough to walk around knocking doors in that freezing weather? More people let you in when it's cold too, so that has been such a blessing. I love missionary work, even when it's freezing!!!! Little did we know that apparently we don't have to do car fasts anymore because it's so cold now. Hahaha. It was definetly worth it though, especially in Heavenly Father's eyes!

This week we had a lesson with a couple named Alicia and Ricardo. They have been taught the lessons for YEARS by the missionaries and have never shown progress. They recently just got home from a long trip and reached out to us and invited us over. We went over to establish our purpose and to make sure they understood the importance of keeping their commitments, or else we won't be able to come back anymore. Half way through our lesson there was a knock at the door, and Alicia opened it and it was 2 girl Jehova's Witnesses!!! They gave her a big hug and laughed and chatted for a minute. We were sitting there so awkwardly trying not to bust out laughing. THEY ARE TAKING LESSONS FROM THE JEHOVA'S WITNESSES TOO!!!! I think both of us missionaries realized that our efforts with Alicia and her husband weren't going too far. Hahaha. We will have to stop teaching her, but hopefully she will be ready in the future!

Our biggest miracle this week happened on Sunday. We had our first Spanish sacrament meeting in the Primary room during the same hour as English sacrament meeting!!!! It was such an amazing experience. We were small in numbers, but it felt like a close family as we all huddled into the little room together! Dora and her two sons, and Leanor and her 2 sons all came! I think I mentioned Leanor before, but if not, she has been being taught for a while and recently has been showing so much progress. They have come to church twice now and read the Book of Mormon very diligently! She isn't quite ready to let go of her old Religion yet, but she knows the Book of Mormon is true! We have high hopes for her and her family. It is just so amazing to see our little branch growing in numbers poco a poco!

I love the gospel so much. I'm so thankful to be a missionary! There are people ready to hear this gospel no matter the weather. The truth is we couldn't do it without the members! My invitation to you all is to find a way to be a missionary this week! Share a scripture with a friend. Invite a less active member to church. Go rake someone's leaves. No matter how big or small the act, it counts in Heavenly Father's eyes! He loves you!!!! And I love you!!!!! Have an amazing week!

Con amor, Hermana Hansen

Pictures:

1. Some of our favorite members, the Dickman's and their cute granddaughter!

2. The Zeba family (our recent converts) bought us sweatshirts that say ZEBA on the back and Z on the front. So we're basically members of the family now!!!! I love them so much.

3. Me and the snow! 

Zone Conference, Missionary Spirit, Prayers Answered!

Nov 5, 2018

Hola Familia y Amigos!!!!

WHAT A WEEK!!!!!! On Tuesday we had Zone Conference and it was amazing and so uplifting. It was held in Sioux City, Iowa, so we drove down the night before and stayed the night with HERMANA IVERSON!!!!! It's always so exciting when I get to see her. There will always be something so special about your first companion in the MTC, I just know we will be amigas para siempre! 

Zone Conference

At Zone Conference the biggest thing that stuck out to me was how our President emphasized that during the time we have on our mission, we belong to the Lord. Every time we wake up, we need to think, "I belong to the Lord today," and get up and do His work. He promised us that if we give His work all of our energy, have faith, and work a little harder, we will have the "spirit of a missionary." Wow. I really needed that promise. Lately, missionary work has been a little bit harder than usual. Finding people to teach has been hard, waking up in morning has been hard, and when I get home lately, I'm so worn out and exhausted. It had been harder for me to be motivated and excited to go out and knock doors lately too. Yes, I could blame the weather, but in reality, I needed that extra motivation that our inspired President gave us! 

The Spirit of a Missionary 

The entire rest of the week after Zone Conference, Hermana Thacker and I zipped up our coats and went out the door each morning feeling like we were wearing the Armor of God. We knocked door after door, and talked to EVERYONE that we saw. We worked so hard from sun up to sun down every single day. And the most amazing part about it was, I was SO HAPPY every single day. It didn't matter whether people accepted us or not. I knew we were doing everything we could to bring the Restored Gospel to everyone we saw, and I knew that Heavenly Father was pleased with our work this week. It also became a lot easier to wake up, and I even had energy when I got home. I can honestly say that I have had missionary spirit all week, and it's been such a blessing!

I truly felt like Nephi this entire week when he said:

"Wherefore, I, Nephi, did exhort them to give heed unto the word of the Lord;yea, I did exhort them with all the energies of my soul, and with all the 

faculty which I possessed, that they would give heed to the word of God and remember to keep his commandments always in all things."

(1 Nephi 15:25) 

Heavenly Father Answers Prayers

For this entire transfer Hermana Thacker and I have been praying very hard for unity within our mixed-language branch. Normally on Sundays, Hermana Thacker and I translate during Sacrament meeting with headsets. It's never easy, and the headsets don't work too well. I feel so bad for our Spanish members that have to bear with our live-translation in broken Spanish through fuzzy headphones. Especially because Heavenly Father has promised us that there will be a time when the gospel will go forth to every language, kindred, tongue, and people. There has been a plea from the Spanish members lately to start doing sacrament meeting in Spanish every week. Our Branch Council has been working hard to get it approved with the stake and area 70 for us to start splitting sacrament meetings so that the Spanish members will have more opportunities to speak and to nourish each other in their own language. After much prayer and fasting, the idea got approved this week!!!! We will start having Spanish Sacrament meeting next week in the primary room during the same time that English Sacrament meeting is happening. We were overjoyed when we got the news. You know the part in the Book of Mormon where Ammon reunites with his brethren after years of not seeing each other, and he was so happy that he passed out? 

Alma 27:17: "Now the joy of Ammon was so great even that he was full; yea, he was swallowed up in the joy of his God, even to the exhausting of his strength; and he fell again to the earth."

I didn't pass out, but that's exactly how I felt when we got the news. This is huge for our Spanish members and for the people we are teaching!!!! 

Our prayers were also answered for this past Sunday. We had a Regional Conference broadcast and President Holland spoke!!! We were very nervous about translating for that conference. We prayed so hard and asked a lot of people if there would be someone translating for that meeting. We hadn't heard anything back, so on Saturday we were planning on translating for the meeting. But on Saturday afternoon we got a phone call from one of the members and they told us there would be a Spanish translation! They were able to have a TV in the other room in Spanish and we were so thrilled. Especially because one of the families who speak Spanish that we are teaching came to church for the first time yesterday!!! Huge miracle and answer to prayer. 

Update on Dora:

We were able to move her baptismal date back to November 24th! We knelt down to pray with her the other day and told her to ask Heavenly Father if she was making the right choice to be baptized. She told us, "Look I already prayed and asked if I should be baptized and I got my answer. I know I need to be baptized!" She went on to tell us that she had a dream that the Savior came to her and told her she needs to be baptized. Isn't that so awesome?!?! She committed to live the Word of Wisdom yesterday without a problem too. We are so proud of her. She is such a precious daughter of God! 

I hope you all had an amazing Halloween and got a good extra hour of sleep during day light savings! Getting that extra hour of sleep was like the best day of my life haha.

Love you all!!! Have a great week :)

Con amor, Hermana Hansen

Pictures:

1-2: Hermana Iverson, Gubler, Thacker, and I after zone conference! They were about to go to a service project so that's why they're wearing street clothes.

3-6: Hermana Thacker and I celebrated on Halloween night after 9:00 by carving pumpkins and making cupcakes! It was also her 1 year mark :) My pumpkin is supposed to be a cat but it honestly just looks like Fin the Human from Adventure Time haha.

TMJ, Halloween, Tanta Comida, Miracles :)

October 29, 2018

Hola Familia y Amigos!!!!

This was such an amazing and eventful week!!!! 

So this whole week I've been having some weird problems with my jaw. So my jaw has always popped a lot, but this week it was like a lot worse than usual. It was like pretty tight and sore for a few days in a row this week, but I wasn't too worried about it because that has happened before and it usually goes away. BUT, on Friday morning I woke up and went to go brush my teeth, but to my surprise I couldn't open my mouth without shooting pain up and down my jaw and in my ear! And then I couldn't close my teeth together either without the same pain! I told Sister Thacker and I was in so much pain that I just burst into tears hahaha it was so sad. Long story short I went to the dentist and apparently I have TMJ. Apparently it's a type of "temporomandibular distorder" which "can cause pain in your jaw joint and in the muscles that control jaw movement." Apparently there isn't much you can do for it besides take ibuprofen and pray, haha. But after doing that for a couple days the inflammation went down and I can eat normal food and close and open my mouth without pain again! So that's a blessing. We had dinner with some members named Sonia and Alexis that night and they always feed us some hardcore hispanic food (it's so good -- they feed us twice a week, so I can blame the weight I've gained on them haha). I let them know I couldn't eat much that night and they made me some soup. Angels. 

This week we also had our Branch Halloween party! Hermana Thacker and I dressed up as pioneers. We were SO happy because a family we are teaching came to the party, and a ton of non-members! We were just busy doing missionary work all night long and talking to everyone, playing with the kids, and eating candy. It was honestly one of the funnest nights of my mission!!! 

Here's an update on Dora: One night we stopped by to teach a lesson, but she was very busy getting ready for work and cooking dinner (at 8:30 at night, haha) that she had to cancel. But naturally she invited us in for food. We had just finished eating at Sonia's house like an hour earlier (the member I mentioned that feeds us hard-core hispanic food) and we were SO FULL. But something I have learned on my mission is that you can never turn down food from a Hispanic. They won't allow it! So Hermana Thacker and I sat down and started eating. We were trying not to laugh/cry the whole time because we were SO FULL. Also, Hermana Thacker is kind of allergic to corn, it makes her pretty sick. The Hispanics give you a lot of corn tortillas. As we both took our last bites of food, we tried to stand up to leave, but Dora came back in with SECONDS, and corn tortillas! We sat back down and rolled up our sleeves. As Dora went back into the kitchen, Hermana Thacker looked at me with pleading in her eyes. I looked back and nodded. I knew what she needed me to do (eat her corn tortilla for her). I took it, folded it in half, and ate it in like 2 bites with a drink of water. It was gone before Dora came back into the room. Desperate times come to desperate measures. We were honestly pretty proud of ourselves when we returned our empty plates to her. Who knew the Spirit could help make more room in your stomach too? It was truly a blessing. Sadly though, we will have to move Dora's baptismal date back because she isn't quite ready to be baptized in 2 weeks. Despite her high church attendance, she is a bit of a slow learner so we'll have to re-emphasize some of the commandments before she can be baptized! She is still progressing really well though. :)

The biggest miracle that we saw this week was that Jocelia (the girl we have been teaching in Pipestone -- her mom allows her children to be baptized when they turn 12) is officially being baptized on November 18!!! We finished teaching her and her siblings all of the lessons, but we talked to her Mom a few weeks ago and she was still very hesitant to let Jocelia be baptized. Normally, it's not recommended for children to be baptized without their parents being members. She is a special case though, because she and her siblings have been going to church ever since they were little with some members in their ward. Their mom usually goes too! After MANY prayers, Jocelia's mom said that Jocelia and her 2 younger siblings can all be baptized together!!!! We were so excited. We didn't see it coming that she would allow her siblings to be baptized with her. :)  

This week has been busy, but also so full of the Spirit. Being a missionary is NOT easy! I've been more tired, more homesick, and more stressed than ever before in my life. But at the same time, I have NEVER been happier, and there is NO where I would rather be. That is because I love my Savior Jesus Christ, I love the people, and I know that I have been called by a true prophet and set apart by the Priesthood of God. I love this restored gospel and I know it is true!!!! 

Have an amazing week and eat lots of candy for me!!!! I will be inside studying on Halloween night and couldn't be more excited about it! :)

Con Amor,

Hermana Hansen 

Pictures:

1-2: This is Sonia and Alexis!!!! The ones that feed us twice a week. I love them so much. Sonia is also our Branch Mission Leader!

3-4: Hermana Thacker and I as pioneers at the Halloween Party!

5: The food that Dora gave us when we were already full to the brim!

A few lessons I learned about Love

October 22, 2018

Hola Familia y Amigos!!!!

This week was honestly pretty hard! I feel like we worked harder than we ever have but found ZERO people to teach this week. But we haven't been discouraged at all. I feel that the one thing that kept me going strongly this week was love. Love for the people, love for this area, love for my calling, and love for my Savior, Jesus Christ.

One day this week we decided to go work in Windom, which is about 30 minutes away from our area. We haven't done much finding there, and there a ton of less active members that we wanted to go find and invite to church! We knocked on a less-active member's door, but she wasn't home. So naturally we knocked on her neighbor's door! A family from India answered the door, and they were very kind, but not interested at the moment. The mom actually tried to give us money to give to our church. That was a first! Haha. We thanked her but told her we weren't allowed to take it and directed her to lds.org where she can donate. The miracle happened when we asked them if they knew anyone who would benefit from the message that we share about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Her young son looked up at us and said, "Oh wait, I do!" He tried to describe to us where his friends house was, but we weren't really following. So he put on his shoes and walked with us all the way to his friends house!!!! It was the sweetest thing ever. We met his friend, Simon and talked with his mom a bit. His mom was busy but said we could come back later. We were so touched by the experience that we took a picture with the two boys. I'm starting to think they should send out little kids on missions instead of us. They are FEARLESS! (I know that probably wouldn't be logical though, haha).

This week we taught Dora a lesson about Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. We know for a fact that Sunday is usually the day she does her shopping and goes to the laundromat, so we were a little nervous to teach it. When we extended the commitment to her to keep the Sabbath Day Holy, we were a bit nervous about what she would say. She took a breath, paused, and then she said, "Si, no gastando dinero es facil porque no tengo dinero!!!!" ("Yes, not spending money is easy because I don't have money!!!!!") I was laughing so hard, that was not the response we expected! She was joking of course, but was still serious about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. We are so proud of her readiness to accept the gospel. I can't remember if I mentioned this last week, but we found out her son just turned 8 years old and he will be baptized with her!

I feel that the hardest thing about this week was Sunday. Sunday as a missionary is honestly like running a marathon. In sacrament meeting one of the speakers forgot his talk so they asked us to speak last minute, even though we were already giving the musical number too. I'm beginning to realize that being asked to speak last minute as missionaries isn't uncommon, haha. I spoke first in English, then in Spanish for the Spanish members, and then Hermana Thacker and I sang a duet together, "Come Unto Christ." We recorded one of the practices we did so I'll attach it! We then translated the rest of Sacrament Meeting, taught the lesson in second hour to the Spanish class as usual, and translated in Relief Society as usual. By the end of church I am usually wiped out. At the end of all the classes, a spanish member that we are very close to pulled Hermana Thacker and I aside. We ended up talking to her for 30 minutes. She told us that she is moving to another state for a few months to help one of her daughters that is getting married there. She told us about some trials that her family is facing and Hermana Thacker and I just sat and listened. She has a lot of sad things happening in her family -- things I have heard about my whole life, but never had it sunk so deep into my heart before. I was trying to hold back tears the whole time that she was talking. I felt genuine sadness for her and I had never felt that before. I realized that it was because I love this member SO MUCH. I didn't want her to move away, and I didn't want her to have to go through the hard things she's going through. I didn't know that sadness could come from loving someone and caring about them so much. 

Last night I prayed so hard for that member, and the sadness I had turned into peace and calm. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan and that everything is going to work out. I'm so thankful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ that can take away sadness and pain. Although missionary work can be burdening, I have found that LOVE is always the cure. That's what keeps me going. I am so happy, I love this gospel, and I know that it is true!

I hope you all have a great week!

Con Amor,

Hermana Hansen 

Pictures:

1. This is a lady we are teaching named Leanor! Her cat just had some kittens and she let us hold them after the lesson we had with her. So cute.

2. We ran over a chunk of sharp metal this week and it popped our tire. We had to call a member to come put the spare on for us hahaha. It was so embarrassing and funny. 

3. This the picture we took with the boy we met who walked with us all the way to meet his friend!

4. Thank you to whoever sent us a box of hot chocolate from Amazon!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!! It didn't have a name on it.

5-6: For our preparation day activity today a member invited us over to create these flower pot things made of old tires. It was so fun!!! 

7: This is Hermana Thacker and I practicing for the song we sang in church! (I am the second one that sings)