TRANSFERS...I'M TRAINING!!

This week we got to go on EXCHANGES with the Sister Training Leaders in Stockton! It was sort of awkward tho because we had to be back for dinner that night, so we got there at 9:00 p.m. stayed the night, woke up worked, lunch, went out and worked some more, then came back and we had to leave. We had a wonderful dinner appointment with some of our favorite members, WE LOVE THEM.

Then the next morning headed back out to Stockton to finish our exchange. Sister Anderson and I went to Downtown Stockton for a couple of hours and talked to everyone we saw. It was a whole new experience for me. In Ione there isn't a lot of people to street contact, but in Stockton that is pretty much all you do! So we placed some Book of Mormons and talked to some AWESOME people. THIS GOSPEL IS AMAZING!

The volleyball crew

It was so wonderful working with Sister Anderson. She is an amazing missionary that is full of light and desire to bring as many back to the fold (As we all should).

Me with Sister Anderson (STL)

Thursday I received your package and the letter was my absolute favorite part!

The mission has been awesome, but all week we knew that transfers were coming up and so we were really stressed, nervous, and emotional. Sunday was rough... and by rough I mean emotional. But that is life/a mission. We took some pictures with some people and carried on with our day. That night we went to a broadcast for northern California that was all about Religious Freedoms. Very interesting.

Then that night we were at Zach and Aime's and taught a discussion! Members feedback is like the best thing ever because you can just learn and grow from them helping you progress. After we finished the discussion we got... THE CALL! We saw that it was from President Palmer... He only calls if you are doing something for the first time. Well we left their house to answer the call and both of us are listening very carefully to this phone call, while hugging, and crying...

Me and Sister Val

Sister Valgardson will be a SISTER TRAINING LEADER in Stockton (which is like the sketchiest place in our mission) and I will be TRAINING A NEW MISSIONARY IN IONE! I am a nervous wreck but I know that I can do all things through Christ and that I have a lot of support from everyone around me.

I LOVE MY DISTRICT!

I love this Gospel and I am excited to keep moving forward and to meet my new companion and to start learning from her! We meet tomorrow!


Have a wonderful week!

I can literally FEEL my brain changing gears

I know that this might sound crazy, but my, this week has been VERY emotional for me. Not because I am sad but because I have felt the spirit so strongly. My brain and thoughts have taken a toll on me this week. Every single night I have just been EXHAUSTED to the point where I can't even keep my eyes open. So much has been going through my head and most of it has to do with my brain finally adjusting to missionary life. Instead of thinking about sports and music and other things, I have been thinking about lessons, what I am going to study next, people, etc. Although I will have an occasional thought or song go through my head that is not, I am FINALLY adjusting.

We found this Flag in a cold-a-sac

Skipping way ahead to Saturday night at the adult session of Stake Conference. Members of our ward gave us a ride down to conference. We got there at a weird time... before the back curtain had opened and the chapel was practically full except for the first two rows, so we picked the second row! The talks were SO good and they really hit home for me. One talk in particular that touched my heart was Elder Gary Wilde, of the seventy! He spoke about a lot of different things but one section really got me. He had all the Full time missionaries stand. We were on the second row so we stood up awkwardly and then looked around. We didn't know that THAT many missionaries were there. There were probably 10 other sets of missionaries that stood behind us. It was AMAZING, and made me realize that, YES missions are hard, YES it will keep being hard, YES you will get frustrated, and YES things will get better, and YES other missionaries all around the world are doing the same thing, and YES Heavenly Father has angels all around us that we may not be able to see or recognize until we stand for what we know. It was a really great eye opener for me.

Elder Wilde goes on and says to everyone that these are young people that have been called here for you, to meet YOU, so take care of them, support them, and so on. But it was really powerful.

Well the next morning we had a missionary meeting as well with our Ward mission leader and assistant ward mission leader and the bishop and the ward missionaries. We got a ride down with a  new move in family who has been called as the Assistant ward mission leader. WE LOVE HIM/THEM SO MUCH. Anyway the meeting was really good and both us and the leaders learned and took a lot out of it. Well next was Stake Conference and we asked our friend who we've been working with, if we should save him a seat and he said yes. Well this guy stunned us, walking in late IN A SUIT! He usually wears jean and a flannel but he showed up in a DANG SUIT! We are so proud of him.

 People here take Halloween SOOOOOO seriously. Like insanely seriously.
This is a members house and they made this Jack Skelington!

That night we were able to visit with a old little lady that watches old men with disabilities like autism and such. We visited with her and her son and daughter were there as well and they were AWESOME! At the end of our visits she always asks us to sing for her. We sang "Beautiful Savior" and it went really well. One of her autistic boys said to us that the song was sad. This sister explained to him that it wasn't sad and that Heavenly Father was speaking to him. He stood up and gave her a hug. It truly is amazing how the spirit can talk to every single person on this earth if you are just listening!

Tonight we are doing a Family Night lesson for a family. They have 5 little kids and we are doing a activity with the liahona. Guiding them around the neighborhood then ending back at their house where their parents will be waiting with open arms. WE ARE SO EXCITED!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!
Doctrine and Covenants 84:88 "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

This scripture has popped up by other people saying it and just finding it written on things A LOT this past week, so apparently I need to learn something from it!


LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!
Sister Hansen


Q&A:

MOM: How are you liking getting up at 6:30?
ALLISON: 6:30 is ok, it could be worse...

M: What are you doing for exercise?
A: We go to the church to exercise in the morning and I usually do cruntches, push ups, then volleyball drills... serving, hitting against the wall. Sometimes I will bring the soccer ball that was given to me and do soccer drills, toe taps, roll overs, and kick the crap out of it against the wall.

M: How long is your personal study? Companionship study?
A: Personal Study is one of my favorite times of the day. Learning a lot and learning to love to learn even more. Companion study is great! I love listening to Sister Val because her studies are so good.

M: What time do you have to be out of the house?
A: We have to be out of the house by 10:00 a.m.

M: How often do you get to Modesto?
A: We hardly ever go to Modesto. Maybe once a transfer.

M: How's the bike working?
A: The bike is working great, no flat tires or anything serious!

M: Are you ready to step out of "trainee" mode?
A: Being done with training feels unreal. I don't feel like I am ready to step out yet.

Amador Rocks

Dang this week has been so dang good. My insides are shaking because I am just so happy and I just want to laugh.

MTC District

Wednesday we had New Missionary meeting and we got to see the MTC group again! That was super nice. A couple of the boys are having a hard time but I think they are mostly faking. They seem really happy. The missionary meeting was really nice. There are so many new missionaries that came in! Like 22. It was super nice to see everyone in one place. I always love Zone conferences, interviews or other meetings because seeing a lot of missionaries in one place is one of my favorite things.

I have so much to say but I don't know how to say it. We have done a lot and talked to quite a few people. This door that we knocked on this guy opened the door that was obviously drunk. He had an alcoholic drink in his hand while we were talking to him. It was a referral from a guy in our ward that had given him a Book of Mormon. We asked him if that was something he would be interested in learning more about but  he went on about how much he loves this guy that gave us his name. It was really funny and it made both of our days.

So in Amador County they have this thing called "Amador Rocks" and what it is, is you paint rocks and then hide them and other people find them and post about it. So the other day at Hawkins we painted some rocks. AND I HAD SO MUCH FUN. We painted some with scriptures on them and on the rest we are going to put LDS.org. So it was kinda a missionary opportunity!

The other day I read an article in the Ensign "Finding Help After Nancy's Death" that I seriously fell in love with. But one thing that really touched my heart was his council to his kids...
-Let the pain of hard experiences drive you towards greater discipleship
-Pour out your heart in prayer
-If you feel anger toward God for allowing tragedies to happen, beseech Him to replace that anger with faith and submission
-Covenant that you will love Him and be faithful to the end.
-Drink from the word of God constantly-from the scriptures and talks and writings of modern prophets and inspired teachers
-Go to the temple with a hunger to be taught the things of eternity
-Find people for whom a personal crisis is becoming a crisis of faith, and strengthen them with your testimony of the doctrines

Sister Rose and I

I love this so much. Not only does this council help with losing a loved one but in any circumstance. His question was "What did I need to do in order to activate Jesus Christ's healing power in my life?" Once he heard the council of a modern day prophet he said "I marveled that a concept I had understood since childhood could suddenly seem so remarkable" The council was simply said by Elder Scott after his wife had died "First of all... I didn't lose her. She is on the other side of the veil. We've been sealed in that holy ordinance of the temple, and we'll be together forever." I love this article. It has so much truth and I challenge you all to read it.


I hope you have an amazing week! LOve you all!


Love Sister Hansen

What. A. Week.

Tuesday was Zone Conference! I am always so excited for these because I love seeing all (not all but a lot) of the missionaries in one place. I also knew that I would be seeing Elder Palepale and Elder Kessler from my MTC district and Elder Stock, the one who got transferred out of the district I am in now. So I was really excited about that. Zone conference was really great- as usual. A couple things that "touched my heart"...
- Can't follow His way when we aren't doing His will.
- "To harbor anger, is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die"
- You must be WILLING to be heard
- As saints we are a light unto the world and we will just get brighter
- You will have no idea who you will have an impact on
- God is aware of flat tires
So yes Zone conference was really nice.

Me and Mr. Goat

So on Thursday nights we have a man in our ward that has been wanting to start up a Bible study. He is HIGHLY educated in the scriptures... LIKE INSANELY EDUCATED. So Wednesday morning we passed out about 200 fliers to a HUGE neighborhood for the bible study. That pretty much took up our whole morning. BUUUTTT we met this one guy (probably like 25... 26....) PRAY THAT WE WILL FIND HIM AGAIN! We have been searching. He told us he just moved here with his aunt, so we gotta catch him.

Thursday rolled around and we had dinner with one of my favorite families WHO GOT TO HANGOUT WITH MY FAMILY THIS LAST WEEKEND!!  They are so down to earth and willing to do anything. Our friend with the dreads, NO LONGER HAS DREADS. We were talking to the kids and then the door behind us opened and he came out, FRESHLY cut hair. Both Sister Val's mouth and mine were wide open. We were shocked. We stayed a little too long and it takes a bit to climb back down their big dirt road back to Ione so we missed Bible study. After all that work passing out fliers for Brother B he told us that not many people came so we aren't going to be doing it anymore. Bummer. We were looking forward to that.

This kid is so much fun and so freaking adorable.

Conference was so amazing... It is hard to even put into words... but a couple things that "touched me heart" were these...
When Uchtdorf spoke first I was like DAAANNNGGG starting off strong! His talk really was STRONG. I loved when he said "We must have the WILLINGNESS to swim up stream when necessary". Is swimming upstream easy...? Heck no, but that's the point. With Christ we are able to do hard things. So yeah I really liked that.
I LOVED Bednar's talk. Not going to go into detail but I love his comparison of our lives to an "Amazing Tapestry carefully woven". This conference really spoke to me.... Man, God is so aware of all of us.
W. Craig Zwick, This guy was funny! "Look beyond what you see" the people that you work with are probably going to have imperfections as we all do but if we didn't "Look beyond what we see" then we would never be finding anyone to teach. We have to look at their hearts and their intents. And "Forget yourself and go to work" this is not the first time I have heard this. Our mission president says this all the time, but it is so true. Nothing about this mission should be for you, it is ALL for Him.
Bonnie L. Oscarson: unless we lose ourselves in the service to others our lives will be purposeless, DO NOT MISS THE OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE.
Cutest thing when Elder Holland said missionaries our little 6 year old friend
turned to us and said "MISSIONARIES, That's you guys!" I loved when he said "Perfection is still pending" and adding on to that, it always will. What authority do we have to judge another. We don't.

Preston Castle

Those are just a couple things that really touched my heart from conference and I am sure that all of us got a very important message from it. I love and sustain the Prophets and Apostles, and believe every word they say and testify that they are true. Neil L. Anderson's little tribute to Elder Hales was so touching. We will all graduate from mortality but until then we must work hard, strive to be like Christ and endure to the end. I really love this Gospel and I am so grateful to be where I am.
God be with you!
Love,
Sister Hansen