Here's to Life Without A Name Tag

Hello Friends,
         
        I'm sure you're all wondering what it's been like to be home. Well I'm not gonna sugar coat anything… honestly it's been hard. It didn't take long to find a job but just the adjustments of everything can be hard. And then somedays I'm so grateful to be home. I can go to the gym whenever I want, blast music in my car all by myself, and kind of just walk to my own beat. Which has been relaxing. But I miss the mission, I miss the constant spirit, I miss having purpose in EVERYTHING. I'm sure the more time goes by and I get back in school I'll be feeling a lot better.
 
Here's some horrible poor quality pictures of some events from the past 2 months… you read that right 2 MONTHS. Where does the time go?

Reunited with my Best Friends 

Nanny Life is the GREATEST. Quinn is my new best friend

Did I mention that Caterine(Sister Asay) & I hang out on a weekly basis 

Homecoming Talk

My Sweet Family welcoming me at the airport

Thanks to all those who have followed my blog & cared about my silly little life. If you want to see what the mission has done for me forever more PLEASE follow my instagram… here emiilyhansen , & I'm contemplating starting a new blog. We shall see.

xoxox to everyone.

Emily Hansen

Farewell Email January 2015

Get comfortable.  I have some things to tell you about!

It’s been a powerful week. I’ve learned some important lessons. Literally I’m not exaggerating the whole entire week till Saturday not a single person answered the phone and the Square has been dead. You know, it’s the time of the year where there’s more Sisters than visitors! So it was getting us down pretty hard. I mean really, it’s the hardest thing ever when you’re trying to teach and help people but no one will accept or even pick up the phone. I think God was just testing my patience, trying to see how much I was willing to give & how much I truly wanted to work hard. Because miracles started happening towards the end of the week. On Saturday, every single one of our appointments came through. And then Sunday was a miracle day. Let me just share my journal with you all…

January 11, 2015

Today we have witnessed a miracle! It really is true what they say… when things get rough just know that God is preparing you for a miracle. We called Carlos today to see how he was doing, ya know, the usual checkup.  I Love him so much. He’s always doing amazing things that help him. In the middle of our conversation out of nowhere he goes “Oh wait, Sisters. I referred you to a friend of mine who’s been learning about the church for a while now. I told her to text you. I was going to wait for it to be a surprise, but I just feel like I should tell you now.”  After our phone call he gave us Michelle Porter's number. She’s a senior in High School and really loves the church but her dad is super anti and made her cut off all connections to the church. When we got her number we thought “Well, why not text her and introduce ourselves.” So we did and this is what happened....

“Hey Michelle, this is Sister Hansen & Sister Vasi the missionaries Carlos was telling you about. He told us you’re super awesome!”

“Hi! Oh my goodness I am so glad you guys texted!!! :D I have been struggling a lot with my parents and my involvement in the church esp. my Dad… But he literally just sat me down and told me he has been thinking about it for a long time now, and he said, “You are 18 now and even though I don’t necessarily approve of you getting baptized & getting involved with the Mormon Church, and I don’t think it’s right for you, you are an adult and need to start making decisions for yourself now. If you want to become Mormon, then that is your decision. I will still love you whatever path you take.” Holy cow…a huge weight was just lifted off my chest! J It was crazy that you Sisters texted me at this time!!!!:)”

“We literally have the chills everywhere! That is amazing. Carlos told us how much you love the church and how hard it’s been that your Dad wasn’t supportive. Heavenly Father is so mindful of you & loves you so much. We’re excited to teach you & help you.”

“I love Heavenly Father so much! I do need help!!! A LOT! Haha! I started reading the Book of Mormon last Jan and finished it right before school started in August. I have not been to church for like 6 months because my Dad forbade me. I have been trying to re-read the Book of Mormon, but it’s been hard since I don’t have that guidance like I did when I was going to church. I need so much help Sisters! What do I do? Where do I start? What do I do next? I need guidance! O Gosh I am so happy right now I am crying tears of joy!”


After an awesome conversation we set up an appointment to call her. Seriously is so amazing. When we called we just wanted to get to know her better & hear about how she first learned about the church. Her two best friends are members & they just started talking about church one day then gave her a Book of Mormon with their testimonies in the back of it. But once her parents made her cut all connections to the church she just did anything she could to do small things here and there. From last Jan till school started this year she read the whole entire Book of Mormon! Her parents told her she could pick one church dance to go to and she said she would wait to go to the New Year’s Dance (where she made the connection with Carlos and he gave her our info). She also had the opportunity to go to the Gilbert Temple Open House & the Phoenix Temple Open House. When she was meeting with the missionaries last year she was taught all the lessons & even gave a talk at a baptism about the Holy Ghost. I mean she is just amazing and so prepared & ready to now RECEIVE the gospel. She is so relieved that she is now able to go back to church and get involved again. She told us how crazy it was that today her Dad decided to sit her down & tell her that she can choose for herself. Literally right after her Dad walked away from talking to her she looked at her phone and there our text message was. BOOM, God is in the details of our lives everyone. We really really love her! It was so fun to teach her & get to know her better. We are now calling her Miracle Michelle.


Truly the Lord blesses us when we’re willing to put him first. That’s something I’ve greatly learned throughout the course of my mission. It’s so weird to be here emailing for my last time and sending my last email as a missionary. Tears fill my eyes as I reflect upon all the amazing things I’ve learned and been able to experience. It’s been quit the journey but I don’t regret a minute of it. From being with crazy unstable companions to having truly my BESTEST friends as companions I’ve grown and been able to become just a few steps closer to the daughter of God He wants me to be. I haven’t just learned a ton more about the scriptures and learned why and how we have the gospel but what it means to me to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It means that no matter the sacrifice, not matter the pain we go through in life, we CHOOSE to follow God and never falter. We see trails as blessings! We look forward with faith knowing God ALWAYS has a plan for us.


“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith (2 Tim 4:7). Yea, I know that I am nothing: as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God. For in his strength I can do all things; yea behold, many miracles we have wrought in this land(Temple Square), for which I will praise his name forever(Alma 26:12). I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me. (Phil 4:13) So that I may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. ( Heb 13:6) He will never leave me nor forsake me. (Heb 13:5) When I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be my light. (Micah 7:8) Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord: yea we will rejoice, for my joy is full: yea I will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long suffering towards the children of men? Behold , I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel. (Alma 26:16) Having much to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink; But I trust to come unto you and speak face to face that our joy may be full. (2 John 1:12)

Friends & Family I am so excited to return home and apply all that I’ve learned and become over the past 18 months. I think I better stop this email here or I'm just going to start bawling my eyes out.

So let me end with the words above… Mom and Dad when we meet face to face our joy shall be made full!

I love you all so dearly.

Thanks for all the support & love you're given to me throughout this journey.

Sister Vasi & I have LOVED serving in the Beehive together

President & Sister Poulsen

Forever Friends. I love you Sister Asay

The Departing Missionaries

Did I mention how excited I am that she only lives 20 min away!

Sister Tiritilli aka My BEST FRIEND

With Sister Moore-The mission secretary 

Love you all, 

Sister Emily Hansen

Dec/January 2014-2015 The Wrapping Up Scenes of Mission Well Served ...

Hi out there!!

Yvette here, again. So did you think I was just going to up and leave you hanging and not share Sister Hansen's last few of emails from her mission including her mission wrap up? WAIT .... Can we just pretend I didn't ask that? Yes, we'll just take that as a rhetorical question (the kind there is really no need to answer), and hopefully it will suffice to share that welcoming home a daughter that you're profoundly grateful to have the stewardship of parenting, is a very consuming event. To add to that, the week that we went to Salt Lake to pick Emily up was actually the first week of the Spring semester for me so when we got back home with her, there was much to do for this lady of limited capacity, to catch up with school classes. I had to push back the privilege of this final wrap up task.


So, please read on and enjoy Emily's reflections during the last few weeks before departing her honorably served 18-month full-time service in the Utah Salt Lake City Temple Square mission.

From December 30, 2014

Hello family & friends!!

This week has just FLOWN by. It's been a really fun and busy week with Christmas.

Sister Vasi & I are just working hard. Being a district leader has taken me away from her a lot which makes me sad, but I know exchanges are important so it's okay. We've been on exchanges the past 2 days and when we got together again last night we were like, "AH I MISSED YOU!"

I really don't know what I'm going to do when I have to leave her in 3 weeks. She has been such a blessing to me especially at the end of the mission. She pushes me to be better and to work harder everyday. I love that every time we teach or just talk to someone we're always evaluating afterward to know what we can do better for the next time. I've been praying so hard lately that I will be able to finish all the things that the Lord has asked of me. Pleading with him to have the spirit to know what to do next.

Christmas was so good. I have loved Christmas as a missionary because you're able to be outside of the world and just fully 100% focus on the Savior and glorify Him. We had so much fun in our apartment and the mission had a big Christmas program that was seriously beautiful and so full of the Spirit.

I hope you all had a spiritual and uplifting Christmas and that you set goals for the new year that will all help you to become better :) That's what I'm doing!! Yay for 2015 in the RM life. 

haha ya right... I'm so scared. You don't even know.

I love you all! 

Sister Hansen

The gift of love box is a little box where we write on a little piece of paper something nice we did for someone in our apartment that day. you do it everyday of December and on Christmas you read them! It was so sweet.

From January 6, 2015

Welp... this week's been really great. 

Heather got baptized :) Yayyy. She even got a calling her first Sunday as an official member. She's going to be helping out with the Relief Society Enrichment Nights. We're super happy for her. She's the sweetest! 

We had some awesome miracles happen this week. We did a zone fast for the people we're teaching and sooo many people were baptized this week and were able to make it one step closer to come closer to Christ. 

I love this work! I will surely miss it. I can't believe how fast the time is going now. I'm just taking each day as it comes and doing my very best to work my very hardest that day. 

I can't even tell you how much I love Sister Vasi. She is honestly an angel. Couldn't be any more sweet or more loving. Don't think I've EVER heard one negative thing slip out of her mouth. Ya, I'm not even exaggerating I'm surrounded by an angel 24/7. She's a POWERFUL missionary. 

We've had some interesting experiences in the Beehive House this week. One tour was full of just SUPER angry members. The spirit was just not there, so we kind of just went through as fast as we could since it was super awkward the tension that was there. Then afterwards the angry ladies followed me back into the house and just RIPPED me one after the other.  Ya, that hit me pretty hard for some reason. I went into the back room and just bawled. Usually I let that stuff just slip right off my shoulders, but they totally got to me. But I realized I did the best I could with the situation we were put it. That's just the story in short. 

Also... I can't even tell you how happy I am that the Christmas Lights are off! I love them, but after a month and a half straight of them it's nice to say, "See ya next year."

I love you all!! 

Sister Hansen

12 - 23 / Days Left, 30 Merry Christmas!

Not too much happening this week other then, all that Christmas brings to Temple Square.  But I'm doing good. I love Sister Vasi sooooo much, she keeps me going and working hard. I'm really grateful for that. 

All is well over here, just working everyday as hard so we can and getting lots of work done. 

We had Zone Conference this past week and it was super powerful. I learned a lot. At the end we had a testimony meeting and we were suppose to share an experience where we felt the spirit undeniable in our lives. As the Sisters got up and shared their experiences I was just filled with the spirit and had vivid flashbacks of my whole entire mission and the times where I've felt the spirit so strongly. It really helped me to see how much I've been able to experience and to see that I've truly been an instrument in the Lord's hands at certain points over the past 18 months. I can't even express how grateful I am for the lessons I've been able to learn while serving. It's changed me 100% & I never want to move backwards, I just want to keep going forward.  

This gospel means everything to me. I've been able to realize and see how important it is to put God first in everything we do. That's something I'm excited to apply for the rest of my life. 

I love you all & hope you have a wonderful Christmas!!! 

Yes, we really did.

xoxoxo, 

Sister Hansen

12 - 16 / Days Left, 37 Two PDays for the Price of One

I have too much time to catch up on since I haven't had a pday for 2 weeks. 

Let me just do the most important events:

Jerrica's Endowment:

I don't know if you remember Jerrica. But she is a Less Active that I taught with Sister Asay. She found her in the beginning of her misson and has been helping her ever since. On 12.13.14 she went through the Temple!!! YAYYY. I was so grateful that she invited me to go. It's truly amazing to see the changes people can make when they decide to fully follow God and His will for them in their lives.

Jerica's Endowment.

Sister Vasi:

I have the best companion in the whole universe. I don't even know what to say. Honestly she's an angel sent from above. She is so hard working and just loves everything and everyone. Not a single person walks by that she doesn't stop and say hello to and asks how their day is going! She truly is a consecrated missionary and she's helped me to become better just in the last week I've spent with her. I LOVE HER SO MUCH. I'm glad she's my companion in my last transfer cause she keeps me going :)

Sister Vasi and I.  Beehive House Christmas Tree

Carlos:

Carlos is doing sooooo amazing. He has started his mission papers and is 80% done. He will turn them in soon and is planning to leave on his mission this summer. So Mom & Dad, I will be going to his farewell!!

Ben:

Yesterday Ben celebrated his 1 year of Baptism! He actually gave a talk in church and we were allowed to go! I loved it. It's so neat to see all that he's learned over the past year and how much he truly loves the gospel and is converted to it.

Christmas Dinner:

Last night Sister Vasi & I, and Sister Tiritilli and Sister Weidmann got to go to the Moore's house for a Christmas Dinner. They are actually the secretaries in our mission, so I don't know how we lucked out and got to go to their house, but it was THE BEST. We ate such yummy food and played with their grand kids and told funny Christmas stories. We even had those popper things with the goodies inside that we have at the Johns every Christmas Eve. I would send pics but Elder Moore has them still. So maybe next week.

Beehive House:

I'm serving in the Beehive House again! & I think I love it even more this time. I forget what a privilege it is to serve there. It's helped my testimony sooo much. Just being in a prophet's home and taking people through it has made the gospel more real to me in my life. Sister Vasi is really good about helping us have spiritual tours there instead of just being like,... "This is the office, and blah blah blah here's the facts."  Like I said, she's an amazing missionary, so I'm happy to be serving in Brigham Young's home with her. 

I think that's about all the biggest things I can think of that have happened over the past 2 weeks. The biggest lesson I've learned is that when we follow the Lord's will with what ever it is, he blesses us once we've made it through the challenge or trial. Being Sister Jarrett's companion was truly one of the hardest parts of my mission. But I can say that I did try my hardest and that I learned SO much. Now she's home & I have no idea what's going on with her, but I'm just working SO hard, like harder than ever with Sister Vasi & it's the greatest.

I love you all! 

Sister Hansen 

Temple Square beauties!1

12 - 4 / Days left, 49 Familia y Amigos

Hello everyone! Another week has just flown by. 

Lots of fun stuff happened this week. We've found so many new AWESOME investigators! Yayyyyyyy. So much better then the Sahara Desert I told you about last week.

David is on date for December 20th... we're praying that he will stop smoking

Heather is on date for January 3rd. She's an amazing new investigator we found on chat this week. She is super sweet & loves going to church. She told us all about how her life has been blessed since she's decided to put God first. Sister Marsh, well Mindy now, taught with us as a member present. OMGoodness, I miss her sooo much, but it was fun to teach with her again.

There's lots of other really great people that I'm excited to help also.

The Christmas Lights are as crazy as ever. So many people, I don't even know what to do with myself half the time. President Poulsen had a brilliant idea to have us carol for like an hour a few nights a week. ITS MY FAVORITE! It's so fun & the people LOVE IT. I just want to quote elf every single time, "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear," but I restrain myself, haha.

Anyways, I don't know what else to talk about. Transfers are this week. YIPPPIIIIIIIIEEE.

New start :) ahhh. I can't tell you how refreshing it will be for me.

I'm not sure when my next p.day will be. So hopefully I'll have one next week... If not, sorry Mom!

I love you all.

And just because I have 6 weeks left does not mean you can't send me letters. I haven't gotten anything for ages. Nate's the only one who writes me, and he's all the way in Chili!

Sister Hansen

11 - 28 / Days Left, 55 Week of Events

It's been a pretty eventful week so let me just take on great event at a time:

DEPARTING TALK & CRAZINESS:

So much happened today. Let’s start with first things first. I gave my departing talk in church, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2014.  It actually went really well. I spoke with Sister Asay, Gee, Khoa, & Yeung. Everyone gave me the nicest compliments all day on the things I shared. That was really sweet! 

It’s also Carlos’ 1 year mark of being a member of the church. Wow, I am so grateful for his strength in the gospel and everything that he’s learned & accomplished. He told me today that he’s turning in his mission papers by late January/early February! Which means I can be on skype!  And, he’s also applying to BYU-I so he can go after his mission. AMAZING. 

As far as current investigators go, I feel like I’m in the Sahara Desert. All the good potentials won’t answer their phones & David our investigator on date has started drinking & smoking again, didn’t even go to church because he was hung over! Today was also weekly planning. So that means companionship inventory. S. Jarrett basically said that she didn’t care about anything anymore that she’s checked out. She thinks that because we don’t have anyone progressing and nothing perfect happening for us that nothing matters anymore so she’ll just continue to go through the motions these last 2 weeks of her mission. She completely contradicts herself by saying the only thing she cares about is God and that she loves him. I think if you truly love God you do His work in His way, with your whole heart, mind, might & strength just like he’s asked us to.  

Since Sis. Jarrett has to have weekly meetings with  President Poulsen, I asked her if she was sharing how she's feeling with him. She responded that she hasn't.  The one good thing in this situation, is that I have learned that living obediently to the gospel is also trusting in the people He has called to fulfill certain callings.  If we love God and truly have a broken heart and contrite spirit, we are always open to change, in the name of progression, so we must trust those he’s called to help us do that. He’s called President to guide us when we need direction & when we’re stuck, not being able to figure out how to move forward & become better. 

I asked her what we could do to be better & to finish the transfer strong. Her answer was, “Keep trying & doing what we’re doing.” 

I said, “Isn’t that what we have been doing?"….

"Yes"....

"And where has that gotten us so far?” 

Then S. Tiritilli kind of pitched in a comment since she was sitting right there. She said “The definition of someone insane is when you keep doing what you've always done expecting different results” AMEN! It doesn’t matter how much we want to be better, how much we want to serve God until we are actually willing to do something about it. You simply cannot say one thing and do another. What a challenge it is to be trying to work this way.  I’m not here to endure this transfer & say every day, that’s okay only 17 days left, 16 days left all the way down to 0! I just want to do Gods work in His way. That’s what I’m here for & that’s what I promised Him I would do.

DIRKMAATS VISIT: 

Well Nate's family came to the square this week! President Poulsen let me take them on a tour. It was fun to see them. I was SOOO happy, you can only imagine :) Check out the pics:

THANKSGIVING:

We got to go to a families house for Dinner. We went to the Rasband family in Bountiful. They were super nice & it was yummy. My stomach has been realllly bothering me lately, so I didn't eat that much & didn't have dessert or anything. I hope it gets better soon cause I've been nauseous and had no appetite for like a week now.


The Christmas Lights turn on tonight! That should be fun.


They changed the whole entire North Visitors Center. It looks AWESOME! We are freaking out about it cause it's been the same exact thing for the past 16 months!


Everyone go to Mormon.org/Christmas and watch He is the Gift. It's an amazing new video the church put out for Christams! They've done soooo much work on it. I could go on and on telling you about it.

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Sister Hansen

P.S. (This is Mom -- don't think Emily knew, at the time of this writing, that older brother Blake's employer, Sansom Media was the company commissioned to produce He Is The Gift.  So Blake was very involved with the production and his sweet girlfriend Emily and her cute bulldog, June, are in one of the beginning scenes, haha. Who knew!?)

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!