11 - 21 / Day 63

It’s been another week full of challenges and lessons to try and learn.

I forgot to share last week that I was able to meet Myriam (who was baptized last January). She was visiting Salt Lake City & of course stopped by Temple Square to meet me. She’s sooooo sweet. Wrote me the most tender card. She’s thinking about serving a mission! Wooohooo. Talked to her bishop about it and everything.

Carlos was able to participate in the Cultural Celebration for the dedication of the Phoenix AZ Temple. His brother Ricardo (the one he baptized) even got a high five from President Monson. Pretty cool!

From my journal on Sunday:

I got to attend John’s baptism. Sister Marsh & I met him together our first time in the Swahili ward. He’s so sweet & awesome. I was very grateful to be able to go and see my Swahili family again! I always LOVE it there. Every time I see someone enter the waters of baptism my heart feels so peaceful. President said as John was lifted out of the water “That’s a happy sound.”  It just strengthens my testimony in the priesthood and the power that is held in the Church. 

I truly do know that we have the authority to baptize in the way that is approved by God. I know Heavenly Father is so proud of John and his decision to enter in the waters of baptism to become a member of Gods true church here on earth. The spirit was ever so present as he made this essential step.  Sister Burton gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and at the end she read a letter Peter (John's friend that is serving a mission now) wrote to John. It made my eyes get all watery. The love that is in that ward is so strong. Peter bore his testimony about how much God loved John and how grateful he was that John decided to be baptized. He talked about how he has never regretted the decision he’s made to be baptized with Gods authority. I was so grateful that President also came to the baptism, I thought that was really sweet of him to take out time from his busy day to come and support John. He truly does care for his Sisters so much and always goes out of his way to make sure we know it and to make sure we know that he’s proud of the work we’re doing.

We also got to attend Savior of The World. I love that production so much. If any of you have the opportunity to go, you should. It builds my testimony on the Savior every time as it teaches us of the most monumental times of his life, his birth & resurrection. It is literally like living scripture. It touches on so many principles of the gospel, obedience, love, service. I am grateful to be a disciple of my Savior Jesus Christ.

For Relief Society this week Clayton Christensen came and spoke to us. If you don’t know who that is. So check this out:  In 2011 in a poll of thousands of executives, consultants and business school professors, Christensen was named as the most influential business thinker in the world. He’s also the author of “The Power of Everyday Missionaries” (great book, highly recommend it!). Anyways, as you can see it was an amazing privilege to have him come speak to us. Another evidence of how much President Poulsen LOVES us (he’s got the hook ups). He spoke to us about how important it is for a society to have religion at it's base because then everything falls into place. He also talked about how essential the Book of Mormon is in answering our investigators questions! The spirit was soooo strong and it was a really good meeting. His wife also spoke and something she said really hit me "I am grateful to have married someone who never left the mission field" because Brother Christensen is so missionary centered in every thing he does. That's definitely a goal for me!

I mentioned that there was some “awfuls” to my week. Well, without getting into too much detail and sharing too much personal information. Things have been more than tough with Sister Jarrett. She’s struggling REALLY bad with depression and some other issues. I’ll be totally honest, it’s really hard for me. Negativity and pessimism is like the DEVIL to me. Those truly are the tools he uses against us. I’m learning that those things over take everything, literally consume you. Really they do… our thoughts, our desires, and when those things are affected it goes into our actions. So I’m just trying to do what I can with trying to teach her obedience out of love for our Savior not just because “we’re supposed to”. And trying to give her crazy motivation since she only has 3 weeks left of her mission.  I found a quote the other day and it really resonated with me 

“On this mortal journey we must never think that our choices affect only us.” –Larry S. Kacher. 

Especially as a missionary when you’re surrounded by someone 24/7 except in the shower (that’s celestial time for sure). I know that I’m never supposed to let someone else determine my happiness, but it’s hard to just go about missionary work on your own when your companion is on their own planet. So like I said, learning and growing every day. Sister Hansen doesn't have patience for irrational thinking and actions! Haha. Trying to learn it though.

There’s my week full of Lovelies and Awfuls. At least I’m still always able to see things I’m thankful for. Let’s all remember what great blessings we’ve been given this week with Thanksgiving coming up… even though I know we all go through some awfuls every once in a while there’s ALWAYS something to be thankful for.

Love you all,

Sister Hansen

11 - 13 / Day 70 Weekly Hellos

Alright Alright... 

Nothing too exciting happened this week. Just the same ol' same ol'.  

After some major health challenges with Sister Jarrett, things are slowing improving, I'm grateful for that. The missionary work is just going right along.  We have a few people on date and a few meeting with local missionaries now. So all is well. 

We're prepping for our crazzzyy Christmas season over here. I AM SO EXCITED. But also scared cause the second those Christmas lights turn on time is going to fly. I remember how fast it went by last year. 

I'm excited for this Sunday, I get to go back to the Swahili ward for John's baptism. Someone Sister Marsh & I met when we were together. 

Oh, and I so want to share about Carlos this week.  He emailed me the SWEETEST email this week... I just have to share part of it cause it melted me little heart! 

"You are almost done with your mission! I seriously I am sooo happy, yet sad that you are done! Hopefully we can still be friends and still talk to each other after your mission! It weird, to be honest, we are good friends while you are still serving your mission. Most missionaries don't talk to the people they convert afterwords. I am the lucky one! Anyways, I am about to turn 1 year being a Mormon. Man, thats crazy. I didn't know the church could change my life. I still remember talking to you for the first time! Now that was funny.I1 year of ups and downs. Only been 1 year and I still do my best to help the church and the people around me! 

I am so grateful for you teaching me a year ago, and know we are friends still!  If I could I would have let you baptize me. You called nearly every single day and taught me so much and never gave up on me even if I was sorta of challenging person to teach! I learned so much from you and I still do! Its awesome what you experience and go through.  You deserve an award.  I got to know a good amount of missionaries during this past year and you beat every single one of them. Thanks so much for inspiring me and helping me understand the gospel. You aren't just a missionary, I know,  but a good friend. You always have something to teach me. Thanks for that."

Sincerely,

Carlos

This, my friends, is why I am so grateful for the choice I have made to come serve my Savior. What great joy & lasting happiness it has brought to my life to help in God's work & help bring his children back to him. It's emails like those that make every trial, every struggle, every complicated companion totally worth it! I just continue to pray that I will be able to find more souls like Carlos' that are more than prepared to receive this wonderful gospel. That I will be guided by the spirit to know what to say to those that I speak with! 

Tomorrow is also a year since the first day I met Ben. Wow... how much the Lord has done for Ben & Carlos this past year & for me as well.

I love you all... let us all remember the things that we are thankful for this Thanksgiving season.

Have a wonderful week everyone! 

Sister Hansen

Pictures....

Pretty Fall Leaves!

10 - 30 / Day 84 I'm Back!

Well 2 pdays in one week... this is interesting! 

I didn't think I would have much to share since I just emailed, but I was wrong. 

This morning we had a desk assignment.  I was sitting there, and I had this random thought "Something great is going to happen today." 10 minutes later some Sisters texted me and told me that Ben was here. He came to introduce his cute new girlfriend Megan to me. Well, of course he asked to see Gods Plan with her.  I don't know if you remember the other week what happens when I watch Gods Plan with him, but it's a TOTAL tear jerker for sure. 

The gospel just means so much to him, and he can't help but get emotional every time he watches it. I wish I could express in words how amazing this kid is and how GREAT the talks we have are. Words just can't express, especially over an email. But what I've learned is that when we put the Lord first, we truly are blessed. In tremendous ways! I know that I was suppose to come on a mission so that I could meet Ben.  He says that if it weren't for me he wouldn't have been baptized. Well that just made me cry my eyes out!  I truly cannot express how much serving a mission has meant to me. I am so eternally grateful for the experiences I've been able to have so far, I'm even grateful for the trying times because that's when I've learned the most. 

I love being a missionary SO MUCH. And let me just tell you how amazing it's been to be out of the office! I loved serving there, but there is nothing like just being a regular missionary and that's all you have to do. I caught myself thinking yesterday "okay, what do I need to get done today. Who's schedule do we need to fix. What report do we need to start working on!" Then I realized... Sister Hansen you don't have to do ANY of that. All you have to do is focus on the work.  Focus on those you're teaching.  Focus on your testimony. It's the BEST :) I think I'm just on FIRE to work & work & teach & teach.  I think I spent as much time on the square yesterday as I did the whole entire time I was in the office combined. haha. People probably thought I was so weird cause I was just soooo happpppyyy. Anyways, I'm done rambling now. 

Until next time! 

xoxo 

love you all 

Sister Hansen

10 - 27 / Day 87 Rough Week

Here goes today.

This week has just been full of challenges and trials to be completely honest. I'm learning how to count my blessings more than I count my "disasters"! It's a work in progress that's for sure.

One thing I'm grateful for is the opportunity to serve as a regular missionary. I think that's where the real heart of the mission is. Just working your hardest every second of the day & having nothing else to accomplish but your missionary purpose. Not to say that working in the office was a bad thing, I loved it & learned so much from it. But I know that all I want to do in these next 12 weeks is WORK work & WORK.

I have always talked about going home with no regrets! So with that in mind I know I need to just take advantage of every second I have left. Don't worry though, I will take one day out a time. It's all about daily diligence. I think of Mosiah 4:27

"And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order."

I am trying so hard to keep my life in order with the things that the Lord expects.

Also, my new companion starting Wednesday is Sister Jarrett from Hawaii. She's in her last 6 weeks so this should be interesting. I'm praying & praying that we can just work hard & not really talk about home too much.

I love you all,
Sister Hansen

P.S. Even with a rough week, we sure found some funny spots!

Companionship Study ... aka Companionship Snuggle While watching "The District."

Dying Laughing

Our Favorite Movie, "The District."

This is what we do Every night!

10 - 20 / Day 94 The Time is Accelerating

I don't know where to begin... as usual, right?!

How about I start with this, I went to check my mail box this morning and in it I found our departure paperwork to fill out. I wanted to rip it all up and scream, "NO I won't even LOOK at that!" hahah.

This week has been busy, nothing to too exciting happened. I'll share one cool experience though...

Ben (recent convert) texted us on Tuesday morning saying he had a friend he wanted to bring to the square for us to teach. Where do I begin....  His friend Johnny is so sweet and open to guidance and goodness. He grew up in the Presbyterian church in North Carolina, but goes to school at the U now and is trying to make right and good decisions in his life. He came to Utah for the first time 2 years ago, visited Temple Square and felt something so different here.  It was a super long lesson, so I don’t even know how to include it all in one little journal entry,  but the spirit was super strong the whole time. We started our lesson just sitting on the couches and getting to know him. He really wants to make the right decision in his life and get on a better path. We took him to the NVC basement and taught him about Prophets, The Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith. He had a lot of great questions! Ben gets soooo excited while sharing about the Gospel and loves Johnny a lot, it’s pretty cute actually.  

After talking for a while in the basement and answering some of the questions he had, we took him to see Gods plan. Alright, let’s just say there was NO way I was getting out of the presentation without bawling.  Just a side note, this was the first time I’ve been through God's Plan with Ben since the first time one year ago which was when he knew he was supposed to get baptized. The spirit was so strong and touched Johnny’s heart a lot. He sees so much goodness in the church and is sincerely interested in coming to know if it’s true.  Listening to Ben at the end bear his testimony and tell him his conversion story, literally made me want to cry my eyes out.  I tried my hardest to compose myself, oh my let me just say… that was a hard one for me. Haha. It is the neatest thing to see someone who’s been through so much bring a close friend of his to us to teach and to help. I hope more than anything that we can help his friend Johnny find goodness and light in the teachings of Jesus Christ as he learns more about the things that we believe. I just LOVE being a missionary and I don’t know how I’m ever going to enter back into the normal world. I feel so protected and happy cause I’m just consumed by the spirit every day. So many good things to come these next few months in the field! I'm just continuing to learn and grow.

We had President's interviews this week. That was nice :) I love President sooooo much. Our new transfers start next Wednesday so this week we're going to be in the office again 24/7 making schedules and getting everything ready. I'm pretty sure I'm going to train for my last 2 transfers. We'll see. I'll know in a few days what's happening. I'll be excited if that happens, but also a little nervous. It has it's pro's & con's for sure.

I love you all.

Sister Hansen

PS.  David Archuletta's Fireside Pic:

10 - 13 / Day 101 A Week of Surprises!

Here's to an amazing week at Temple Square! :)

Our Asian visitors are so super interested in EVERYTHING. Quite hilarious!

Tuesday October 7th:

We were busy with office things most of our day. After lots of work we got to call Myriam. Remember her? She was baptized back in January. She's finally doing good again after being less active for a while. She really loved Conference and is actually talking about serving a mission again. We will have to see what happens there. I'm really happy for her! She's been studying her Book of Mormon everyday again!

We’ve gotten some new investigators this week too. All people we’ve met here in Temple Square, which is awesome!


Wednesday October 8th:

It’s been an interesting day today. We literally spent 4 hours straight in our office changing things in everyone’s schedule because President wants the Sisters to be spending more time in the Teaching Centers (phone centers). Our brains were literally fried after changing everything. While in Guest Services (where we book tours) we did a little Conference Catch up since calls were slow. I love watching Conference! There was a lot of powerful messages. The sick bug that’s been floating around the mission has finally caught me! My throat feels like its going to burst! We’re also getting forced to get flu shots. Umm, heck no! At least I’m sick so that will post pone mine a little while. I don’t understand the point of flu shots… let me just go get a painful shot that’s going to make me get sick so I don’t get the flu?  What?  I don’t know if any of your remember, but I got the flu BAD in Fresno, and we were forced to get flu shots last year. Yeah, that shot was pointless! haha. I’m just a li'l biased to flu shots, but I will be obedient and get one I suppose.

Thought I'd share -- This is a report we worked really hard on.  It shows the massive amount of visitors that come to Temple Square.  (This is just the organized tours.)

Thursday October 9th:

Oh happy day! Every time we’ve had Map desk assignment this transfer we’ve seen a miracle and talked to awesome people. We got 2 new investigators from Puerto Rico. Their friends with them were nice also. I talked to Luis, who was really impressed with everything he heard & saw during their visit.  He said, “ You people are so happy.   You can just see it.  I’ve never seen anything like it.”  They all took Books of Mormon & I gave Luis our number. I really hope he calls! I LOVE sincere people.  We got his friend's, Myrna & Rafael’s number. Gosh dang it for my mother not teaching my Spanish! The square was beautiful weather today too! We had planned to do office stuff, but just couldn’t because we wanted to enjoy the outside & talk to people. I can’t believe we start week 5 on Monday. I’m nervous to see what will happen next transfer. I’ve had the best companions since I’ve been back. I assume it will just continue, at least that’s my hope!

Friday October 10th:

Where to begin. Today was hilarious & super busy. First Ben came to the square. He was going through a pretty rough time & basically ignored me for like a month! Now he’s back on track though. We decided to have weekly visits. We’ll see if he keeps his word there. He set 6 steps to success to help him. 

1. Read the Scriptures 

2. Pray daily 

3. Monthly Temple Visits 

4. Apply what he’s learning 

5. Include God in his choices 

6. Look for blessings! 

I think we should ALL apply these 6 steps to success. 

Then we met with Jerrica.  She’s a returned member Sister Asay taught. She’s soo funny & is preparing to go to the Temple. After her lesson, I found out that Jenna (my like bff/mother who is a Temple Square RM) brought two Nigerian ladies to the square for us to meet & take around. Oh my, they were literally hilarious!! First of all they literally took pictures of EVERYTHING & thought Jenna was famous because she’s so gosh dang pretty. We shared a few things with them, then they wanted to take just about a thousand pics. So we did and instead of saying, “Cheese” they told us to say “JESUS!” Then while Pauline took pictures of Ene sitting by the Christus, she said “JESUS, Save Us!!!” hahah. No way right now.  Reverence right out the window. Before leaving, Jenna sang "Amazing Grace."  They LOVED it & made us all join in at the end. Yup, def people were looking… 2 missionaries, Jenna, & 2 Nigerians singing Amazing Grace in the middle of the square. What an interesting day. I’m getting sicker and sicker by the day, but whatevs. Dumb colds.

Saturday October 11th:

It’s amazing what a cure sleeping is. I woke up feeling like junk today so I slept till 9:45! I was feeling a ton better, the rest of the day we just had a normal day of missionary things. By the end of the day it’s sooo hard for me to focus and study. Having fun roomates doesn’t help either. We get super distracted by each other. Sister Ferguson & I lost it, had a laughing attack for a good 30 minutes. Everything was funny. We were talking about how fat we’ve gotten & were just making the best jokes EVER. I need to quarantine myself to my room when I get home so we can actually study & not distract each other. It was a good stress reliever though. I will repent!

Sunday October 12th:

What a spoiled mission we have. David Archuleta came & performed for us. It was more of a fireside setting though, kinda like Q & A. He talked about experiences he had on his mission and everything that he’s done in his life to get through trials. A sister asked him what’s the most important thing that’s helped him keep his spirituality up since he’s been home. He said attending the Temple weekly. He told a story about how when he was on tour he made a commitment to Heavenly Father that no matter where he was or how busy he would go to the Temple every week. That’s pretty awesome to me. I thought about this same goal for myself after the mission and then thought to myself “woah, that might be hard” yeah right! It’s totally possible. It just comes down to how committed you are. He sang a few songs, they were all amazing. His voice was UNREAL. I wish he would have sung a little more though. But with his stories and stuff there wasn’t much time at the end since every zone got to take picture with him & actually meet him & what not. Pics coming soon! Haha. Anyways it was just a really cool experience to hear him bear such strong testimony about what’s helped him in this life. He’s so committed to the Gospel & so above the things of the world. Doesn’t want to go back to the “FAME WORLD” because he doesn’t want to feel like “A chicken running around with it’s head cut off” in his own words! Haha.


Today is Sister Asay's 22nd Birthday. I told Heavenly Father that I knew he had a sense of humor & that while we were doing grocery shopping today, he should make the song 22 by T-swift come on. haha! We'll see what happens there. I remember when that song was sooo cool before I came on a mission... probs is super lame now. But we keep holdin' on! hahaha.

I love you all! Thanks for putting up with me and reading my emails.

100 days left... I wore black today cause I'm in mourning. :( 

Love,
Sister Hansen


OHH!  P.S! (Sandra got her patriarchal blessing on Sunday. I am so excited to hear how it went for her. Yayyy.

I also forgot to tell you all about meeting President Utchdorf in the Tabernacle the day before Conference. We were in there just standing by the door and in walks President Utchdorf with his freinds visiting from Germany. He talked with us for a few minutes and then shook our hands. It was super neat. Second time meeting him... Check! haha)

10 - 6 / Day 108 Conference!

It's been a crazy week here in Temple Square. Conference time is the best. So many people to talk to 

:)

It was weird seeing so many people I knew though, you love it and hate it all at the same time. After Conference was over the square was just dead and it made us want to cry! haha. The buziness and hustle and bustle is so fun, everyone is always so so happy. Last night after Conference we got to watch Meet The Mormons. It's such a good movie. I hope everyone goes to see it when it comes out in Theaters this week. 

http://meetthemormons.com/#/filter-all/page-1

Here's the preview link! 

My mind is cloudy today so I don't know what to share. Just know I'm doing good & super tired! 

I'm looking forward to reading all the Conference talks. That's the one down fall of being a Sister missionary on Temple Square during conference, you don't get to watch it. But talking to everyone is always really awesome. I can't believe next Conference I won't be here. That kind of breaks my heart a little bit. It will never be the same, that's for sure. 

Love you all! 

Have a wonderful week. 

Sister Hansen