8 months as a missionary!

January 28, 2019

Querido familia y amigos,

This week was a great one! It was very cold, but nothing compared to how cold this week will be. There is currently a "wind chill warning" here that will go until Thursday. They canceled school today because the wind chill was 30 below zero. On Wednesday the high temperature will be -17 degrees, and the low temperature is going to be -30 degrees, but including wind chill it will probably be around 50 below zero! I cannot believe how cold it is. We won't be allowed to proselyte, and we'll probably even have to cancel our appointments that we have planned. Bummer. But thankfully we can use technology to connect with people while we'll be trapped inside. 

This week we had Zone Conference and it was amazing as always. It was in Sioux City, Iowa so we spent the night with Hermana Iverson and Hermana Thacker!!!! It was so good to see them both again. Hermana Esplin and I spoke briefly in Zone Conference about our experiences making a plan to "act in all diligence." We shared all of the cool miracles we saw from it and it went really well. I feel like a lot of Zone Conference was focused on how we can improve and become better/more obedient missionaries. It was a little overwhelming to be honest. I left feeling like I had a lot of things I needed to improve on. I think that is the #1 hardest thing about missionary work. Always feeling like you aren't quite good enough and that there are things you need to be better on. It's the hardest, most humbling, but also most motivating thing. There are always ways we can be better to become more like the Savior. We will always fall short. But when we put in all of our effort, Jesus Christ makes up the rest. That is what I am so thankful for. 

A few other highlights that happened this week:

• We watched a guy drive into a snowbank and we helped shovel out his car and push him out. Less than 2 minutes later we watched another car get stuck in their driveway and we pushed them out too. We gave them both pass-a-long cards. Heavenly Father always seems to put us in the right place at the right time.
• We found 6 new people to teach this week. 4 of them were on the same street within like 20 minutes of each other. 
• We couldn't get ahold of Yakelyn and her family for like the first half of the week and we were getting nervous. Turns out she moved to Indiana out of the blue this week and we were HEART BROKEN!!! Their family is golden. Later this week they messaged us and told us that they are coming back!!!! Miracle. Please pray for them though. She was updating us on her journey back and sounds like their car broke down in Rushmore (2.5 hours from here) and they didn't know what to do. That's the last we have heard from them, so hopefully they are safe! They have a 4-month-old baby that should not be outside in this cold! 
• We had branch council for the second week in a row and planned out speakers for Spanish Sacrament meeting from now until April. Hallelujah!!!
• Crystell (11-year-old girl from less active family we are teaching) came to church for the 4th time since we started teaching her. She will be getting baptized this Saturday!

Transfers are on February 6th so I will find out in about a week if I am getting transferred, or staying here for my 6th transfer! Crazy!!!! I don't know what to expect! I love you all, thank you for the prayers and support. Que tengan una buena semana :)

-Hermana Hansen

Pictures:

1. Hermana Iverson!!!!

2. All of the Hermanas

3. All of us with Sister Ence (Mission President's wife)

4. We celebrated Hermana Esplin's 1-year-mark this week so here's a cute picture of her:) 

Trabajando en el frío

Jan 21, 2019

Queridos amigos y familia,

Feliz Martin Luther King day! I don't have too much to say about this week. We had a few highlights, but overall it was really really cold! We couldn't do much door-knocking because it was below zero and the windchill made it between 20 and 30 below zero here. FRÍO! But we made the best of it.

This week we had an amazing lesson with Yakelyn and her family (the ones who surprised us by coming to church last minute last week). We committed them for baptism and the spirit was so strong. Yakelyn paused for a second and said, "Pues, sí me gustaría" (yes I would like to). She said she wanted to be an example to her children. The next time we went, she told us she had a dream about God talking to her from an alter or something like that, and from that she knew that the church was true. SO COOL. That isn't uncommon by the way. We have taught a lot of Spanish-speaking people who have recieved personal revelation like that through dreams. What an amazing gift from Heavenly Father. Yakelyn is so prepared and I'm so thankful that the Spirit guided us to her! 

We held our first English class on Wednesday and we had a grand total of 2 people that came!!! Yakelyn and Catalina. We were very happy with the turnout. We were so excited for class that we got there about 45 minutes early to set up. The class went pretty well!

Yakelyn and her family came to church again on Sunday!!! We were thrilled. Spanish Sacrament meeting went a lot better than usual yesterday too, which was a huge blessing. Hardly anyone showed up, but Yakelyn's family and Catalina's family were there. We had 2 people that speak Spanish from the Stake come and give talks, and they were amazing. We were so happy. Our branch hasn't been able to find someone to teach Come Follow Me Sunday school in Spanish yet, so we taught it. We were nervous because we were a little unprepared, but the Spirit was there and helped us. The lesson actually went really well.

I wanted to bear my testimony about the Come Follow Me program. I know it is inspired. Hermana Esplin and I have been incorporating it into our personal study, and we get to take an extra hour out of our missionary schedule to do it together on Sundays after church now. In just a few short weeks I feel like my relationship with my Savior has profoundly increased. I feel like this study has allowed me to get to know Him and His life so much better. I know this program is inspired by the prophet and apostles and it is here for us to come closer to Christ and build our relationship with Him. I encourage all of you to continue to incorporate it into your every day life! I can already start to see it changing mine.

I love you all. Thank you so much for your prayers and support!!! Stay warm and stay blessed.

-Hermana Hansen-

Pictures:

These probably won't send in order but I'll do my best. 

1. English class!

2. Church with Yakelyn's family!

3. Dinner with a cute family from our Branch!

4. Hermana Esplin and I

5. Me bundled up for the cold weather 

Acting in All Diligence

Jan 14, 2019 

Hola hola!!!! 

I think this might have been the BEST week of my mission!!! Ever since Christmas ended I feel like I kind of hit a low point spiritually and mentally. I have been in this area for 6 months and I was getting sick of it. I wasn't feeling happy and I wasn't really feeling the spirit either. I prayed so hard this week that somehow I could enjoy what I was doing and find someone that genuinely wanted to hear the gospel. By some divine inspiration, on Wednesday night we got a call from the APs and after that moment my mental attitude took a 180 turn. 

Our Assignment 

They sent us a video that quoted the talk "Act in All Diligence" from President Eyring from the April 2010 Priesthood Session. They asked if we would make a plan to be diligent, act on it, and share what we learned at Zone Conference in a couple weeks. This is what the talk suggested we do: 

1. Learn what the Lord expects of me

2. Make a plan to do it

3. Act on my plan with diligence

4. Share with others how my experience changed me and blessed others 

Miracles

The next day we made specific plans about how we could be more diligent and we committed to it wholeheartedly. All of a sudden miracles started to happen.

Soon after finishing our plan we started knocking. We knocked a whole street with little success. On the very last house of the street we noticed there were some sketchy looking stairs leading up to a door on the top floor. We weren't sure if it was a separate apartment or if it was just part of the house, but we decided to give it a try. A nice hispanic lady opened the door and said "Pasen!" (Come in!) Her name was Yakelyn and her daughter is Shiry. They had recently moved here from Mexico and were looking for a church to join! We sang with them and taught the Restoration. They told us they couldn't come to church this Sunday because they were moving houses, but promised they'd come next week.

On Friday our car needed an oil change. We sat in the waiting room wondering how we were going to be productive while we were waiting, when a man walked in and started talking to us right away! After talking for almost an hour we asked if we could come teach him sometime. He added us on Facebook and we gave him our card. About an hour later he messaged us on Facebook and he sent his address, said that he loved talking to us, that it was an uplifting experience, and that he was going to come to church on Sunday!!!! He also posted about his experience and tagged us in it. Our minds were BLOWN! Stuff like that doesn't usually happen haha. The next day on Saturday we worked really hard and were able to find 3 more people to teach!!!

Sunday was the icing on the cake to our week full of miracles. We ended our personal study at 9:30 and were about to leave for church when Lee messaged us and said he wasn't going to make it. We didn't even have time to be disappointed because 30 seconds later Yakelyn messaged us and said she won't be moving today after all. We asked if she wanted to come to church and she said YES! We immediately called a member and asked if they could give them a ride and raced to our car to meet them at her house. Yakelyn and her 4 kids stayed for the whole church service and we couldn't stop smiling the whole time. We didn't even mind the fact that they didn't call speakers again so we were called on last minute to speak for the 3rd time (our poor small congregation is probably sick of hearing us but luckily they called speakers for next week!). We walked out of Spanish sacrament meeting and saw that an inactive member that we found and invited weeks ago came to church for the first time since she's lived in Minnesota (years) so that was a huge surprise too! After church a member named Catalina invited Yakelyn over to her house and fed them dinner!!!! When we got home last night we were exhausted and so happy. What a perfect way to end the week.

To Conclude...

The week before last we found zero new people to teach and last week we found 5. All of the negativity I was feeling before is gone, and I feel refreshed and re-energized! I have rekindled my love for this area and don't mind how long it has been since I got here. I feel the Spirit stronger than ever. I love my companion and I love my calling!!!! This is all because this week we made a plan to be diligent and acted on it. The call from the APs was inspired and it's exactly what I needed. The Lord has shown us that the second we show Him we care about His work, He blesses us. I have seen His hand more this week than probably any other week on my mission. I know He is there and I know He hears my prayers. 

"He doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you." Mosiah 2:24

LOVE YOU ALL!!! My invitation to you is to make a plan to be more diligent and act on it. I promise you it works!!! Have a blessed week! 

-Hermana Hansen 

Pictures: 

1. This is from a lesson we had about the Word of Wisdom with Crystell (11-year-old on date for baptism on February 2nd). We had hot chocolate to show her how much better it is than coffee haha.

2. Me outside our apartment

3. Our plan to act in all diligence. We broke down the definition in Preach my Gospel and found key things we wanted to improve on. 

4. Lee's facebook Post!

New Years, Fortune Cookies, and Exchanges!

Jan 7, 2019

Hola!!! Hope you all had a great week! I feel like not that much happened this week, so I'll try to keep it corto and dulce. 

For New Years Eve our President had us all stay inside for the rest of the night so we ate dinner, tried on outfits with our new pants, did some Come Follow Me, and went to sleep early haha. Luckily for us we weren't awoken by fireworks because it was blizzarding outside and it was below zero so there was no chance of them going off! New Years Day was pretty miserably cold but we were able to do some service for a member by helping her translate some things for church into Spanish, and we had pupusas for the first time (stuffed tortillas with cabbage on top) with Sonia, Alexis, and the Zeba family (our recent converts) and that was amazing!

We did a lot of driving this week. We had interviews with our President up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota with our zone which went great! Afterward we went to lunch with our zone to a Chinese Buffet (which was a little weird being the only sisters among 22 elders) but it was really nice. A cute waitress saw all of us together and said, "Are all of you missionaries in Sioux Falls?" We explained we were all just there for interviews, and everyone quickly went to their seats. We stayed back and talked to her for a second and asked how she knew who missionaries were. Turns out she was a member of the church and hadn't attended church since she moved to the area! We were able to give her the Elders' number in the area and got her information to give to them. So even though we were a little nervous to be the only sisters there, it was all worth it to find a lost sheep! 

After lunch I opened up my fortune cookie and to my surprise it was exactly what I needed to hear. "If you're feeling down, try throwing yourself into your work." I've never really believed in fortunes but I actually think that one was meant for me haha. I have to admit that last week and this week were both pretty hard for me to feel motivated for some reason. I think that is normal during/right after the holidays. But that is no excuse for not doing the best I can to fulfill my calling as a missionary! I took that fortune to heart and it helped me be a lot more motivated to get out and work. And I already feel a lot more motivated and happy because of it!

We went down to Omaha for a couple nights for exchanges this week too! It's a 3.5 hour drive one way, so we got to know each other pretty well haha. I always love exchanges. This time I learned how to "nicely cut people off" when they talk a lot in lessons! That has always been something that is kind of hard for me, but you meet a lot of people that go off topic and stay off topic for long periods of time while you are trying to teach them about the Restored Gospel. But my Sister Training Leader Sister Ball and I had a lesson with a talker and she helped me learn how to nicely bring the conversation back to the gospel haha.

This week in my personal study I had the strong impression that Heavenly Father was telling me to have more faith. I read about Ammon retelling the conversion of the Anti-Nephi-Lehis and he said this: 

Alma 26:22 Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing ... yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance.

I know that if I exercise faith, Heavenly Father will show us miracles. That is a New Years resolution that I have -- to increase my faith and become and instrument in the Lord's hands! 

Love you all!!!!

Con amor, Hermana Hansen

Feliz Año Nuevo!

Dec 31, 2018

Feliz año nuevo!!!

I had an AMAZING Christmas and hope you all did too!

On Christmas Eve we spent the evening at a members house, the Pace family! We had a candle lit dinner and we had "unleavened bread" (garlic Naan), fish, pomegranate seeds, and grapes and ate with our hands like Jesus would have. It was a really cool experience! We did the nativity with their family, I was the best Wiseman you ever did see haha. We ended the night by opening our Christmas Pj's that our parents sent us with their family!

Christmas day was amazing. There is no better place to be on Christmas than on your mission serving the Lord. We opened our presents from home, ate breakfast with Sonia and Alexis, and FaceTime our families!!! That was definetly a highlight even though the time seemed to go so sick. I love them! We spent the rest of the night with members and it was truly such an amazing and happy day.

The rest of this week was a little hard. Not from homesickness, but the work was pretty slow. No one seemed to be home. I think that is typical during the holidays though. The day after Christmas we got up to exercise and Hermana Esplin hurt her back pretty bad when we woke up to exercise. She already has some back problems but  apparently she did a Squat wrong and did something to it. She pretty much collapsed and was in a LOT of pain! She said she was fine so we went out and did some tracting, but apparently it was still hurting pretty bad. We called our mission nurse and she said she needed to stay inside for the rest of the day and rest with ice and heat packs. So we were inside from 4:00PM to the rest of the night. We watched some church videos and I took care of her like the good companion I am (it wasn't that hard haha). I also got to write some thank you cards to the members in our branch so it turned out okay! Her back is feeling much better so we were able to work for the rest of the week.

There was one day we had an appointment with Gay Moo, a man that speaks Karen. No one answered, but a blizzard hit the night before and his driveway was full of snow. So we shoveled it for him! And to our surprise, he opened his door and invited us in! Turns out he was home after all and was sleeping. This time his wife and roommate joined us for the lesson!!!! Because we took some time to serve him and shovel the driveway, we were able to find two new people to teach. They are so humble and ready for the gospel!

On Sunday we were running late to church and we were stressed. We walked in to find out that the Branch presidency forgot to assign talks for Spanish Sacrament AGAIN (this has happened at least twice now) and they really didn't want to do fast and testimony meeting for like the 3rd week in a row. So me and Hermana Esplin gave very last minute talks. During the sacrament I was kind of panicking, so I prayed SO hard for strength and ideas for my talk. I was prompted to look up the talk from Shayne M. Bowen, and I ended up reading a long story from it and bearing my testimony about the Book of Mormon. It was like a 10 minute talk in Spanish that I hadn't prepared for at all! The gift of tongues was so real and I felt the Holy Ghost working through me and giving me strength and confidence. It was such a spiritual experience for me and I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers. Now I will be praying that our branch presidency asigns talks from now on haha. 

I hope you all have an amazing new year!!! Thank you for all of your love and support! I love you!!!

Con amor,

Hermana Hansen 

Pictures:

1-3: Christmas Eve dinner

4: Christmas pj's from my mom!

5: Christmas pj's from Hermana Esplin's mom

6: Skyping my family from 4 different places! Ohio, Utah, England, and Minnesota :)

Feliz Navidad!!!

Dec 24, 2018

Feliz navidad a todos!!!!

We had transfers last week, and lucky for me I will be staying in Worthington for my 5th transfer! We were relieved. I love it here and I love Hermana Esplin!!! I already know we will be life long friends and we are already making plans for me to visit her in Alaska after our missions! Also, I hope you all heard that Sister Missionaries can wear dress pants now! So excited for that change. I love President Nelson.

We worked very hard this week and honestly I think knocking doors is becoming one of my hobbies. I actually find joy in it!!! If you told me I would say that at the beginning of my mission I wouldn't have believed you. I used to be terrified of knocking doors because I never knew who would open it. But now I think to myself, "What's the worst thing that could happen?" And I also think to myself, "If they reject us, in the Spirit world they will come up to us and apologize." Haha. When they open the door we smile and introduce ourselves and do our best to offer them something that we know will change their life, something that is true, and something that they need whether they know it or not!

This week we saw our hard work paying off! Probably over half of the names on our Branch list are inactive, moved, or people just don't know who they are. We went to a couple different cities in our area this week and tried knocking on everyone's doors that was on the member list but we hadn't met before. Miraculously we found a few of them that hadn't moved!!! We were able to invite them to church. There was one lady named Nidia that we tried to see, and no one answered the door. A man pulled up in his truck as we were about to leave and we asked if Nidia lived there. He said no, but said she lived close and he could show us how to get there! He got in his car and had us follow him to her house around the corner. The timing was perfect, if we came any earlier we would have missed him! He was so kind to show us where she lived. What a miracle! 

We got a referal a few weeks ago for someone that requested a Bible online. We had tried to get in contact with her but she hadn't answered the door or the phone. We tried calling one last time last week and were able to get an appointment! She invited us inside and we gave her the Bible and she opened right up to us. Her name is Susan, she is probably in her 50's-60's and lives alone. Her children have basically cut her out of her life and won't allow contact with her because of some things that have happened in her past. They won't even let her see her own grandkids. She told us she has a reached a point where she doesn't know if God is really there for her. She was looking for truth, and for a church. We shared the Restoration with her. We bore testimony to her that God loves her, and Jesus knows her pain and is reaching out to her, and that because of His Atonement she can be forgiven and can heal. She basically told us she wants to get baptized!!!! I think that was the strongest the Spirit has been during a lesson in my whole mission. The whole time I was thinking to myself, "This is why I am on a mission." I know that Heavenly Father has been preparing her for this gospel at this time. I am SO excited to continue teaching her and helping her progress towards baptism. What an amazing experience.

This week we also were able to put a girl named Crystell on date for baptism! Her mom is somewhat less active and Crystell just wasn't ready to be baptized up until this point. She is 11, and is thrilled about the idea of going to the temple! We had dinner with them and asked if she wanted to be baptized and she said yes! We have asked her before and she always said not yet. We are so excited to help her prepare to be baptized on January 19th!

This week was so amazing. The miracles we've seen have truly been a demonstration of God's love for us, and His acknowledgment that we have been working hard to gather His lost sheep. I know this Gospel is true!!!! God loves you all so much!!! So much that He sent His Son as a gift to us so that we can come back to Him. I'm so excited to celebrate the Savior, Jesus Christ's birth tomorrow! And see my family! YAY!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Con amor, 

Hermana Hansen 

Pictures:

-A few weeks ago on P-day we took these pictures for a Christmas card. Enjoy!!! 

-There's also a picture from the special sacrament meeting we had on Sunday. Hermana Esplin and I sang a song in Spanish with a member named Flor! 

Milagros de Navidad!

Dec 17, 2018

Hola Familia y Amigos!!!

Prophecies Fulfilled:
"And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall commence his work among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, to bring about the restoration of his people upon the earth." (2 Nephi 30:8) 

This prophecy really came true for us this week. I have almost been in Worthington, Minnesota for 6 months now, and it really hit me this week how diverse this area is. We taught lessons in 5 different languages this week!!!! Lao, Karen (pronounced like Korin), Spanish, English, and I even got to do a little ASL this week!!!! Of course I don't speak Lao and Korin, but there is a less active Lao family that we visit and use Google translate to communicate and show videos that they have in Lao. And we phone-called the Karen Elders in our mission to help with a Karen family that we met! We got an ASL referral that is in a different area in Iowa, and we sent a video to her in ASL introducing ourselves. 

Zone Conference:

This week we had Christmas Zone conference and it really was such a faith builder and the motivation that we needed to work even harder and have more faith. We also had a talent show in our Zone and Hermana Esplin and I performed a spoof song that we called "I'll Make a Missionary Out of You" (instead of "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan). It was so fun! I'll try to send the video if it works. 

Discouragement and Miracles:

The work here has definitely slowed down since I was here in the summer. There was a point that we were teaching so many people I couldn't even keep track. Now we could count them on one hand. We officially stopped teaching Dora because she had completely stopped keeping all of her commitments and started to dodge our appointments and hasn't been at church in weeks. When we stopped teaching her I was so sad. She was doing so well, and I just didn't understand what happened. But I know that the Lord has timing, and that it just isn't her time right now. People also just haven't been accepting return appointments or showing interest. We were pretty discouraged at the beginning of the week, but our discouragement didn't last long. 

Miracle 1: 

On Thursday we went to try a less active member named Ferdinand who lives in Windom. He lives in a locked apartment and his buzzer wasn't working. We knocked on the glass, and an old man told us he couldn't let us in because we didn't live there. We were about to leave, when another old man came by and opened the door for us and said, "Come on in!" Miracle. We went to his apartment and a girl answered and let us right in. She told us that Ferdinand moved, but she was his ex-girlfriend and she was a member!!! Apparently she moved here a few months ago from Washington and got baptized 2 years ago. She told us she wanted to come to church so we got a ride for her!!! We were so thankful that we were able to find a lost sheep. She is so sweet!

Miracle 2:

On Saturday morning we woke up, did our studies, prayed a LOT, and went to WORK. We car fasted for almost 4 hours. We knocked door after door. As we were knocking, a big Ford truck pulls up and I kid you not, SANTA CLAUS get out and comes up to us! He said, "I saw you guys working out here and had to come with you a Merry Christmas!!!" And he gave us candy canes and thanked us for the work we do!!!! We were so happy we literally almost cried tears of joy. We gave him a light the world card too. Yeah that's right, we just might convert Santa Claus!!!! 

Miracle 3:

We kept knocking doors and a cute Guatemalan family let us right in. They fed us a huge dinner of mole (kind of like beans and chicken) and were SO kind. It fills my heart to know there are people out there kind enough to let strangers into their house and feed them. We were able to teach them and get a return appointment! Such humble and amazing people. 

Miracle 4:

On Sunday morning we gathered to have Spanish Sacrament meeting, and it was about 15 minutes after the meeting should have started and NO one had showed up that only spoke Spanish. We wondered if we should just cancel the meeting and go join the English sacrament meeting. But one of the members said, "Let's just start the meeting just in case people show up." We started the meeting, and about 15 minutes later 10 Spanish speakers showed up all at once. No one cared that they were late, we were just SO filled with joy that they came. The meeting was so spirit-filled. What an amazing day!

I really learned that when we have faith, discouragement disappears, and miracles happen. The Lord's hand is with us in every moment, we just have to look for it! Sorry this email is so long, I just had so much to say! I love you ALL so much and am so thankful for your support and love!!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! 

Con Amor,

Hermana Hansen  

Pictures:

1-2: Zone conference with the Hermanas! So nice to be reunited with every companion I've ever had all at once. I love them SO MUCH!

3: Santa Claus!!!!

4: Christmas Party with Sonia

5: Church with Alexis!