Down to the River to Pray

So this week in Gospel Principles we were teaching about the Post Mortal Spirit World and we got in there late cause someone was talking to us. We walk in and there are 6 ladies sitting in a circle waiting. Sooo we walked into a sort of weird conversation, which they continued for a while. (Missionaries just get to hear everything, nothing is held back just because "the missionaries are here") But! Here are some funny things that happened in our lesson...
A: "Spirit Paradise and Spirit Prison..."
B: "Sounds like High School to me."
A: "I think Satan uses the Media to twist people's brains about Zombies and people actual believe in this stuff..."
B: "Sounds like me on Fridays"
A: "The nurses who do mammograms don't have a sense of humor. When I went in there I said "I should get half off since I only have one" (she had breast cancer) The nurse didn't laugh and I was like "C'mon that's a good one!"

Ahhhhhh, got to love the old lady talk.

Now on to the week... so this week didn't work out for "K's" baptism. Not because she wasn't prepared but because everyone was out of town and there was going to be no support, all the options of people she wanted to baptize her were out of town for Thanksgiving weekend. So we have moved it to this Thursday! Fingers are crossed that everything will work out. Sorry I got everyone all riled up!

Livin' the dream!

Tuesday we were about to start our finding. We drove to the place we chose that morning and parked. I felt not bad but not good about the area we had chosen, so I voiced it. Sister Houghton said that she didn't really feel anything. Not good, not bad. So we decided to pray and choose another spot for the night. Once we chose we drove to that area and it felt way better. Vibes were goin'. We get out of the car and start knocking. Couple doors in we talk to this couple that we got to have a good conversation with. They had just had a break off in their church and they were on the board for the new one. We gave them an Articles of Faith card and they invited us back for Friday!

The next door we knocked they opened and man is talking to us and then his wife comes over and says we already know everything, our daughter married a "Mormon"... well we don't know EVERYTHING". They were Jews! So me not knowing a lot about their culture asked them about it, which caused them to open up and let us in. We ended up having a wonderful discussion on religion, God and the Plan of Salvation at their kitchen table with snacks and water. They ended up being so sweet and it would definitely be a home that we would go back to. She said that she very much enjoyed us coming over and talking to her. It opened her up completely. It was amazing seeing the miracles on this street that we didn't have in our plans.

Fall is in the air!

That night we told "K" that we were going to go over and help her clean her house. We really love her. When we got there she had bought pizza and we turned on Christmas music and just dusted, swept, cleaned cob webs, etc. Before she turned on the music she told us we needed to hear this song... it was Down to the River to Pray (I think that's what its called). Anyway she told us that she wants this playing at her baptism, especially when she is walking into the front. We all laughed. Sometimes she doesn't really understand how sacred the baptism is. Her last baptism was like swimsuit, quickie, dunk, and done, kinda thing. We are so excited for her. Stay tuned for more information.

THANKSGIVING!
So we had three Thanksgiving dinners and then sort of four when we went to another home for dessert (I didn't eat anything). So pretty much I still feel like I'm recuperating.

Transfers were this weekend. YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT. We pretty much already knew that we were going to be in a trio, but guess who our new companion is?? HERMANA BERRY!! We are going to be in a Zebra companionship (English and Spanish). Hermana Berry is my pal. We served together in Modesto. She is a baller (volleyball), so it'll all be ok. Grateful for this new opportunity. Excited to see how in the world we are going to fit three Sisters in that apartment, but if there is a will there is a way.
I hope everything went ok there! I'm super pumped that I will be spending the next Holiday with my family!!!
Have a good week!

Love,
Sister Hansen

PUPPIES!

This week has flown by. One of the reasons being that we are so busy! The new designated finding time from 5-7:00 is so amazing and it feels like it fills up our day. We have had an amazing week full of miracles! This is the last week of the Transfer, so you will be eager to hear if I have a new companion(s) for the last 3 weeks of my mission!

Sorry I don't have a lot of time!

love,
Sister Hansen


Mom's note: Short and sweet this week folks, but the pictures of these absolutely adorable puppies will make your day!!

We now have an official return date for Sister Hansen .....DRUM ROLL PLEASE.......
 DECEMBER 19th!! YEP! She'll be home for CHRISTMAS!! A few months ago she sent us a video of her singing, "I'll be Home for Christmas". Yeah, I screamed!!! It will be the first Christmas in 3 years that our whole family will be together. We can hardly wait! We will miss not have a full-time missionary out in the field. This has been an amazing 3 years having our girls serving our Heavenly Father.

Enjoy the puppies!

Fancy cookie we got while tracting

Just the place to rest my weary feet

Ok, so do I just pick a date then?

Don't panic mom. This last week was Zone Conference and Mission Leadership council. Lot's of changes in the  missionary department, along the west coast. From Hawaii to Alaska, 31 missions included will now have a designated "finding" time from the hours of 5:00-7:00 p.m. Included we will not be eating dinner - or any meal at that - with members. There are a lot of reasons behind this, one of them being that this is the time of day that people are coming home from work and are home as families. Another reason is that we want members to be involved with our missionary work, OTHER than feeding the full time missionaries, (which isn't really missionary work). Other missions have put this into play already and their convert baptisms have doubled. WE are ready for this change, we are ready to see miracles and to see Gods hand in our missions on a whole new level. So Mom, your email with a recipe is very fitting now that we are cooking for ourselves from 4 -5:00 every night for the rest of my mission. It will also force me to learn how to do something in the kitchen, besides spaghetti sauce.

Sisters at the Mission Leader Conference

"K" is on date to be baptized! We had exchanges after Zone Conference and Sister Naraarj (Nada-ad) from Thailand. She is just the cutest little thing, brand new out of the MTC this last transfer. We had a lot of fun together, learning about her culture, having language study, and learning about some traditions.

Sister Naraarj from Thailand

We were able to schedule a lesson with "K" and we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I can honestly say that one of my favorite feelings in the world is knowing that the spirit is speaking through you and that you are being used as an instrument in Gods hand. 

This lesson was so amazing. We didn't have a team up, and we tried really hard to get one that morning. We asked Sister "B", but she had work. We were prompted to ask her if she had any names or ideas of who we COULD ask to come help us teach. From this list of four woman only one could come, She was a PERFECT match. I would have never pulled her name out of my head but honestly it was perfect. The spirit was so strong in this lesson. "K" was asking awesome questions and expressing her concerns to us. We felt that we should invite her - yet again - to be baptized. She said at some point she knew she needed to but kept expressing different concerns, one being what her family and others would think and how they would react. I remembered a story in Preach My Gospel that was along these lines and I decided to read it to her, knowing that it might have been harsh, but also knowing that it was exactly what she needed to hear.

This is the story...

“When we invited the Sniders to be baptized and confirmed, Sister Snider was ready, but Brother Snider said, ‘Don’t get your hopes up, Elders. I don’t know if I can ever do this!’ Although Brother Snider accepted what we taught and was always warm and friendly, he was deeply concerned about how his family would react to his joining another church.

“After several weeks of watching Brother Snider struggle, my companion and I felt impressed to again read 3 Nephi 11 with the Sniders. I will never forget what happened that night. As we opened the Book of Mormon, my companion explained, ‘This chapter, as you might recall, recounts the Savior’s visit to the people in the Book of Mormon. Here we read about the Savior’s love for these people and what He taught them.’ We each took turns reading a verse or two. After reading through verse 5, my companion interrupted and said, ‘I have always been impressed with the description given here of the voice they heard. The voice was not harsh, it was not loud, and although it was a small voice, it had a powerful piercing effect on them. This voice was not only heard with their ears, but it spoke to their hearts.’ I watched the Sniders as they listened intently to my companion.

“After some discussion about prayer and listening to the Spirit, it was Brother Snider’s turn to read: ‘And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they heard; and it said unto them: Behold my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him.’ Brother Snider paused, looking intently at his Book of Mormon. Then he looked up at me and said, ‘Heavenly Father was really proud of His Son, wasn’t He?’ ‘Yes,’ I said. Brother Snider looked back at his book again and stared at the open pages as if deep in thought. Finally he said, ‘I would want Heavenly Father to be proud of me too. I wonder how He would introduce me. I guess, if I … well, if I want Him to be proud of me then I had better do what He wants me to do.’ ‘Yes, I think that would be important,’ I replied. ‘Well,’ Brother Snider continued. ‘I think I’ve been worrying too much about what everybody else thinks and not enough about what God thinks.’ After a brief pause Brother Snider nodded and with a determined look said, ‘I think I had better be baptized.’ His response was so unexpected that my companion and I looked at him with blank stares. Finally, my companion said, ‘Yes, that would be the right thing to do. In fact, later on in this chapter the Savior teaches …’ As my companion talked I felt a burning in my heart and gratitude for the power of the Book of Mormon.”

************

After reading this too her with tears in my eyes barely able to finish it, I looked up at "K" also wiping away tears, and she said "Ok so do I just pick a date then?" We were all ecstatic. We are aiming for November 24th, two days after Thanksgiving and the day we find out about transfers. We are so grateful for the spirit that resided in this lesson. We have had amazing members that have helped support her and friendship her and literally do anything that she is in need of. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true and if you don't know that for yourself please take time on your knees. God needs us all to step up and know how to discern the spirit. Please take the needful steps to find and have your own testimony of the Savior.

I hope everyone has an amazing day and week and life! See you soon - ish

Love,

Sister Hansen

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

This week has been full of contact attempts and a lot of people not answering. Before some of our appointments we decided to knock around the neighborhood that we were in. So that's exactly what we did while we waited for the time to go to our appointment. We talked to this really nice lady who appreciates what we do. She used to live in Salt Lake City and knows a lot about our church. She said that she really does respect what we do and the devotion that we give, and told us that she had never met a bad "Mormon". She was feeling under the weather (usually we wouldn't fall for that, but she was in a bath robe and looked not good) but she still took the time to talk with us and even gave us cold bottles of water. I truly love kind people, and I truly believe that God was preparing us and giving us that positive contact to buoy us up for the next person we talked to...

We knocked on the next door and a boy (maybe 15) answered the door and told us that they were Christian. Shortly after, his mom came to the door and told us that they are "purely Christian and read the Holy Bible and ONLY the Holy Bible."  She asked us some questions about our church and then asked us to hold on. She came back with a "Christian Cults and Religion" booklet and began 'telling' us what we believe and WHY it is wrong.

At this point in my mission I feel pretty confident that I can back up my testimony and back up what I believe, but she wouldn't let us, and all I wanted to do was say "Thank you for your time" and walk away. After a while I didn't want to hear anymore so I did say... "thank you for your time". Then Sister Houghton said "before we go..." I was thinking to myself that if we don't just leave that this will keep going, but Sister Houghton went on and just left this lady with her testimony that she has found, through personal revelation, that these things are true, and that she loves the Gospel. The lady just gave us a, shall I say, insincere smile, and sent us on our way. NOT FUN.

My picture wall

People have been surprised when I tell them that was the first time I have been bashed out. I have learned that I really don't like contention, and bashing is purely contentious. So maybe some contacts could have arose to that, but I didn't allow it to get to that point. I feel that I am good at discerning when a conversation is getting heated and I can cut it off where it stands.

This Halloween was very different from the last. Last year was the day that I picked up Sister Draper and we had to be inside by 6:00. So while Sister Draper unpacked, and we received a few trick-or-treaters from the ward, I just wrote in my journal and studied. So fun right?? (Actually I would love to do that now. Wouldn't even mind.) This year our cars had to be parked at our apartments at 6:15 but we could get member rides and do activities with them. So we hung out with a sweet sister in our ward - Sister "B", but had to be back in at 8:30. Twas a good night. AND then Halloween night, CHRISTMAS MUSIC WAS APPROVED. So you better believe that is what we have been doing, all week.

Sister Hansen being a judge for the Cornbread contest...YUM!!

Don't know if you know this, but we have been going to High Fitness lately. Which is pretty much just an intense aerobics work out class. It is so good for us, and so much fun, and you sweat so much. I will be looking forward to finding a class like that in Utah, that I can go more than once a week. (It is like Zumba on steroids).

"K" is doing very well. She is progressing. This morning we got a call from her and she just wanted answers and clarification on where she was reading in the Book of Mormon. It was the Isaiah chapters... At the time we were at the Bishops dropping off our laundry (because his wife is our missionary mom) When we hung up the phone Bishop was like, "Wow she is reading the Book of Mormon, and thinking about it." Man, she is so close. This was our miracle input for the day...

Another miracle! Last night we had a lesson with our friend on the Plan of Salvation. When we read 1 Corinthians 15:40-43 on the Three Degrees of Glory. She went on a tangent about how she can't believe other churches don't know this or understand this. We told her that, that is why we are serving missions and that's why there are 70,000 missionaries around the world. Then she said... "No offense, but that's not enough. You need more. People need to know this." 

Super Saturday:"K" came to the whole thing! We painted and ate and created and listened and relaxed and it was just a find old time. I will send a picture of my painting.

My painting

Christmas music is approved now. HALLELUJAH!
Charity is real. Please increase your own this week!
Love,
Sister Hansen