9/11 Day 29 Oh Happy Tears!

  I honestly don't know where to begin with this email!

I say this every week but I literally don't think I have the ability yet to say in words everything I am experiencing, learning, teaching, and doing as a missionary!

The first few days here in the field we honestly the hardest, most annoying, horriblest, days of the mission so far! I bet you were expecting me to say the complete opposite, BUT this mission is a hard mission. I was not comfortable anywhere I went, I felt like a zoo animal to all the new sisters, I felt like just a tour guide to every visitor, I felt useless because I can’t speak French or Spanish like my companion.  I was so distracted by my thoughts of everyone back home & Nate leaving for his mission. I was annoyed with the dirty apartment that the sisters before didn't clean.  I was just being so negative, and we know that the spirit doesn't dwell in those who aren’t inviting of it, and faith can not be present in those who have fear & doubt. I knew I needed to KNOCK IT OFF, but it just kept getting worse and worse from Wednesday till Sunday.

Emily and Companion, Sister Deleu

           Then Sister Tiritilli and I sat down with one of the Sisters in the Relief Society presidency (Sister Takahashi). We just poured out everything we were feeling and she was so understanding and the same exact way in the beginning of her mission. After we talked for a while. I felt sooo much better. As soon as I gave up my own little petty thoughts and focused on how I can be like Christ, since this is His work after all, everything changed. I realized that it didn't matter if I wasn't meeting every single one of my "number goals" or if not a single person wanted anything to do with what I was saying that day.  What really matters is where my heart is.

            If I am honestly sharing Christ’s message with every single person, and I am fully dedicated to being a missionary, nothing else matters. Everyone has their agency! 

The miracles started pouring out like CRAZY! 

So I’m just gonna start sharing them because IT'S AMAZING.

Emily and the Million Dollar Smile!!

           I got on chat the other day and a man came on with a referral, he asked for Spanish-speaking missionaries to contact his friend, and I said we can help you, my companion speaks Spanish. Come to find out this member that was sharing this referral with me is Corinne Woomer's (my best friend) UNCLE who lives in McKinney, Texas!

            Then, after this whole thing I'm walking back out on the square and I ran into my friend from BYU-Idaho, McCall.  It brightened my whole day up to see someone I knew.  After THAT we had square time and somehow ran into these two Spanish-speaking ladies. They were the sweetest ladies ever. One has 2 sons who were just baptized and they're in their early teens. They were begging her to visit the temple.             

            Long story short, it was the most spiritual tour I've given so far! She said she could not even thank us enough for the peace we brought to her, and she is now ready to meet with the missionaries and have us start teaching her.

            Mom, I could understand so much of their Spanish it was SO COOL, the spirit is so strong and powerful. I could feel it the whole time even though they were all talking in Spanish. We're going to start teaching her friend that was there with her as well, and she gave us another one of their friends to call too! CRAZINESS.

             I'm also teaching another lady from Puerto Rico, she's awesome and is so sincere! Her husband doesn't know she’s learning about the church or reading the Book of Mormon yet, because she doesn't want him to get mad at her, 'cause hes crazy into their Christian church. But she's starting to have faith in everything! She is recognizing the spirit in her life because of her learning.

            After all these insane things happened, I got 4 new investigators yesterday! 4 in ONE DAY! I'm just going to talk about one of them though because I don't even have the time to go into detail about everything. His name is Luis he's from the Dominican Republic. He came on chat with so many questions and was just skeptical about everything. He asked us to call him so we could just meet each other and what not, then we just started teaching him, and one thing after another, booom bang booom, and he was feeling the spirit like crazy. He said he was also meeting with the Jehovah Witnesses, but expressed that everything we had taught him made sense. I gave him some scriptures and a chapter of the Book of Mormon to read. He thanked us so sincerely for the spirit that he felt during our talk. I ended the lesson/phone call with a prayer and he was speechless by the end... as was I... because I was definitely not the teacher... THE SPIRIT WAS! We are calling him back tomorrow to see how his reading went and to see how his prayers are going. I’M SO EXCITED!

            I know that the Lord’s hand is here every single day in my missionary work. I know that my love for Jesus Christ is what makes this mission worth it every day! I want to stand before him at my judgment and know He is not a stranger to me.  I want to look Him in the eyes and He look into mine and tell me that I worked hard and that He is proud of all my life on Earth. I will not be ashamed when I am in His presence again.

            I love being in Temple Square every single day... I walk on holy ground, I teach where Brigham Young taught and the spirit is amazing. Teaching of the pioneers everyday reminds me that I CAN DO HARD THINGS! The work is so hard and demanding some days, but miracles only happen when you go out on the ledge where they can happen! Faith precedes miracles!

I love the LORD & the LORD loves me!

-Sister Hansen