Herman Juliet Hansen - Sickly but still able to see miracles

Hello all,

I hope Christmas was wonderful for everyone. I loved getting to talk with the family on Skype. Liz I missed you though!!! I hope you had fun in Provo. 

We had the opportunity on Christmas to share with a part member family the movie "Joy to the World". As we shared with that family we felt the spirit testify to our hearts of the true spirit of Christmas. It was so great to be able to share the true message of the season with this family. As we got to focus on the life of the saviour it brought so much joy and love to my heart and to that of my companion. I hope those feelings came to all of your hearts this holiday season.

Sadly, after that lesson...Hermana Tavoian and I got sick. We then spent the rest of Christmas with fevers in our beds. But I'm really grateful that we were able to share with at least one family the spirit of Christmas. But not to worry...we are doing much better :)

We had an amazing experience meeting a man named S......... Before I came to Sylmar, he and his wife had attended church and he expressed interest in meeting with the missionaries. We had tried to visit with them for the last couple of weeks but for some reason or another it didn't work out. And then this week it did! We met with them and it was so amazing. He has such a sincere desire to learn and she is desirous to come fully back to the church. He loves everything that the church has to share and he wants to become part of the church. The only hurdle we have to get over is that they need to get married but we know that as we pray and work with them that the Lord will help us in that step. 

To close I want to share a quote from Elder Quentin L. Cook that our mission president shared with us this week.

In one of the most profound verses in all of scripture, Alma proclaims, “If ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?”

Local leaders across the world report that when viewed as a whole, Church members, especially our youth, have never been stronger. But they almost always raise two concerns: first, the challenge of increased unrighteousness in the world and, second, the apathy and lack of commitment of some members. They seek counsel about how to help members to follow the Savior and achieve a deep and lasting conversion.

This question, “Can ye feel so now?” rings across the centuries. With all that we have received in this dispensation—including the Restoration of the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the outpouring of spiritual gifts, and the indisputable blessings of heaven—Alma’s challenge has never been more important.

So as we go into the new year 2013 I want to encourage you all to think about the question "Can you feel so now?" I know that all of us have had experiences that have helped us to become converted to the Gospel and feel the fire of testimony deep within our hearts. Every day do we still feel those things? If we don't, what can we change to fell that again? If we do, how can we keep hold of those feelings? 

Maybe this year our goals can be more than just "Oh I want to lose 20 pounds." or "I want to cut out sweets". Maybe our goals can be more "I want to become more fully converted to the Gospel"" or "I want to be a better visiting/home teacher."

I hope that as we set our goals for this coming year we take a little time to think about what the Lord would have us to become.

Happy 2013!!

Love you all,

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - I'm dreaming of a white christmas

Hi all,

So maybe that dream of a white Christmas here in the valley is a little ambitious...hahaha. 

This week was a slow week here in Sylmar but we accomplished some good things. Here are some pictures from the week.

Picture 1: This is Hermana Zepeda and I. We had exchanges this week on tuesday. I've always wanted to work with Hna Zepeda, so it was kind of a dream realized for me. We got to meet some cool people in her area and teach a girl named A....... I hope all goes well with her, maybe one day I'll hear that she's getting baptised :) And I learned a lot from Hermana Zepeda and now there are things that I can do to help Sylmar become even better

Picture 2: This was a house that Hermana Zepeda and I saw while we were on exchanges. These are the coolest Christmas lights that I've seen so far this year.

  

Picture 3: And this is the winner for random occurrence of the week. We happened to see these 3 peacocks cross the road in the middle of suburbia. Maybe the joke should now be, "Why did the peacock cross the road?", haha.

I wish all of you a very happy week.

I'm grateful for all of you and love you so much.

Con amor siempre,

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen .... Sometimes we aren't perfect

Hello all,

We had an experience this week that taught me about how we are never done learning as missionaries. It doesn't even matter if you have 3 months left or you just started you're always at a point where you're striving to become a better teacher. Well this week we met and started teaching a lady named L...... One of her biggest concerns when we sat down with her the first time was about sabbath day observance. She believes strongly that it is Saturday and so she wanted to understand why we worship on Sunday. We didn't have a good answer then so we told her that we would study it and get back to her. We went back to visit on Friday with some scriptures about how Christ set the example of worshiping on Sunday after his resurrection and the apostles continued to do so as well. What we weren't prepared for was that she also came prepared with scriptures to back up her point. Needless to say the lesson didn't go as we were expecting. As we walked out of the lesson it hit me as to what we should have done. The whole time we should have focused on the need to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, i.e. watching the restoration with her and having her pray to know etc. Because if we know that Joseph Smith was a prophet then we know that by inspiration the Lord had him restore the church in the perfect way with worship on Sunday. I really was kicking myself afterwards but I've learned my lesson and now I know what I can do in the future to help someone with that same question. We live and we learn :)

We had a really amazing lesson with our investigator J...... on Saturday. For the longest time he has never wanted to set a baptismal date but with some great help from a member he told us that he wants to be baptised in January!! It was a huge step from him and we're so excited to see his desire grow even more to come unto Christ.

We've been sharing with many people recently a Christmas message based on 3 Nephi 1: 13-21 where the Nephites saw the new star on the day that Christ was born. I just want to share my testimony with all of you that I know that Christ was born to save the world. I know also that not only did the people in Jerusalem get to see him but the people in the America's as well. I know that this is the best time of the year that we get to celebrate the birth and life of our Savior and Redeemer. I'm forever grateful for him and I'm excited to see the miracles that will happen this Christmas season.

Con amor siempre,

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - First week in Sylmar

Happy Tuesday morning!!

 

We had the opportunity to have a visit from Elder Don R. Clarke from the quorum of the seventy yesterday. So they switched our preparation day to today. I've officially been transferred to the city of Sylmar, CA. This is part of the San Fernando 2nd Spanish ward. I love it here. And my companion is super awesome. Her name is Hna Tavoian from Idaho. She's been on her mission for 6 months. She actually came out with my last companion, Hna Whetten.

 

We've had such amazing experiences this week. I literally cannot believe how many miracles we've had and I've been stunned at how strongly the spirit has been directing us.

 

The very first night in the area we met a girl named M...... She is amazing!! She had actually met with missionaries 2 years ago. She had even accepted baptism but then shortly moved to Mexico and lost contact with the missionaries. Then somehow the elders met her mom and she gave the elders her contact information. We went over and it was so great. She is so prepared for the gospel. We talked with her about the Restoration and she felt the truth of that message and when we talked with her about baptism she accepted. I'm so excited to continue meeting with her and her mom said that we can visit with her as well.

 

The following day, Wednesday, we had returned home after a lesson that had fallen through to finish our studies when not 15 minutes later we got a call from a former referrral, J........ He said to us, "I'm at the church building and I have a couple of hours. Can you visit with me?" We were slightly apprehensive but we told him we would be there. We show up and who else should be there but the bishop. It was a huge miracle for us. Initially J...... told us that he wasn't really interested in changing religions because he grew up Catholic but as we taught about the restoration he really started to light up and be open to it. And when we invited him to be baptised he said YES!! 

 

When we were receiving instruction from Elder Clarke I had the name of a member family pop into my head. I really felt that we should go ask them for a referral. And later on in the conference their name popped into my head again. But I looked at our schedule after the conference and we literally had no time. Every hour was filled with an appointment. Then after the conference we called two of the appointments and they told us that they needed to cancel because they had to take care of some problems. Initially that was disheartening because we had the thought "oh great now we have to replan our whole night." Then we realized that this opened up the possibility of being able to go visit the member family. So we grabbed something quick to eat and then made our way over to their house. It seriously was one of the most spiritual experiences of my whole mission. We shared with them our experience of feeling prompted to come visit with them and they were a little shocked but willing to visit with us. We had the husband offer a kneeling prayer to know who was prepared and as we talked it turned out the he and his wife had the same two names pop into their heads. And then their daughter thought of two more people who could benefit from the gospel. I know that one of those four people is why the spirit so strongly prompted us to visit the member family. One or all of them is prepared to receive the gospel and we just have to do our part to help them. From this and many other expereinces I know that the spirit will direct us to those that need the gospel. This time of year is the perfect time to share the gospel because we are giving the greatest gift of the true gospel. I know that often it can be scary to invite a friend to listen to the missionaries or to give the name of our friend to the missionaries. But no matter what happens it is always worth it. I know that as you pray to know who is prepared the Lord will make it known to you. And maybe if the missionaries are paying attention they will knock your door because they have been instructed to do so by the Lord, just like we were. Will you accept the challenge to pray to know who of your friends is ready for the gospel??

 

I know that God is aware of the needs of our friends and us. He loves us. And I know that He sent His son Jesus Christ so that we can be saved. I hope that this year we can truly come to understand Christmas more than just enjoy it.

 

Con mucho amor,

 

Hermana Hansen  

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Fulfillment of Alma 26:27

Hello all,

 

In big news...I'm getting transferred!!!! I don't know where yet. We'll find out tomorrow morning but it doesn't matter where I go. I'm really excited to see where the Lord will send me.

 

In bigger news......Alba got baptised!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

It was such an amazing service. We had to wait a week from her original date but it was definitely worth it. She had such a great experience praying to know if the 25th was the right date for her. Her husband waited 10 years for her to get baptised and now she did it. And oh man was the spirit so strong in her baptism. Afterwards, we gave her huge hugs and she said, "I'm crying and I don't even know why!"

I couldn't be more happier to have been a part of her life and to see her progress towards baptism. She literally is the fulfillment of my scripture for this area, Alma 26:27. She really feels like a second mother to me and I love her so much. There couldn't have been a better way to end my time here in Reseda.

 

Con mucho amor,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Happy Thanksgiving

Hello All!!!

 

What a terrific time of year. I love Thanksgiving and having the time to think about the things that we're truly grateful for. God really has blessed my life and I know that I would be nothing without him.

I just want to share with you the top 10 things that I'm grateful for this year (in no particular order)....

 

1. My family....mom, dad, Liz, Kris, Nik, grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins.

2. Being a missionary

3. Having the Gospel in my life

4. Trials that God gives us to help us grow

5. The Book of Mormon

6. Being able to speak Spanish

7. All the companions that I've had....Hna White, Hna Williams, Hna Fish, Hna Whetten. These women are so amazing and I love them so much!!

8. Wonderful friends

9. Sharing talents, specifically through song

10. Jesus Christ and His atonement

 

I also want to share with you a story that Hna Whetten told me this past week during companion study.

One day in class her mission prep teacher shared with them a story about having to rely on the direction received from the Lord when faced with obstacles in life. He shared how his companion had been dealing with some problems from home and one day they were in the middle of a lesson and his companion just gets up and leaves. So he rapidly brings the lesson to a close and leaves the house. He looks around and he doesn't see his companion anywhere. So he prays asking for direction. He felt like he needed to go right. So he walks and he walks and he runs into a forest. He looks at the forest and thinks that his companion wouldn't have gone in there so he prays again. And he feels prompted to go left. So he walks and he walks so more and he ends up at a beach. And he doesn't see his companion anywhere. So he prays again and felt prompted to walk left. He walks and walks and a little way down the beach he finds his companion sitting and crying.

After sharing that story with me we had a wonderful discussion about how the Lord directs us whenever we face obstacles. Sometimes we can't just go from point A to point B and call it good. Sometimes we have to take a few little detours, Point A to point B to point C to point D until we get to the goal. And at every point we may face what seems like a really insurmountable wall but as we seek the Lords guidance we can know how to keep moving towards that goal even if that means going in a new direction.

I know this to be true. Missionary work is never according to how we would like it to be but it is according to how the Lord would want it to be. We make plans but we have to be willing to be patient when the Lord has something else in store.

Much of my time here in Reseda has been teaching me the importance of being patient. This week I found my theme scripture for my time here. It's....

 

"Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." -Alma 26:27

 

I know that as my companion and I continue to work and have patience through the struggles that we will eventially see success for the Lord has promised it in the scriptures.

 

I love being a missionary. It's not always easy but it is always worth it.

 

Con mucho amor,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - A slow week ....

Hi all,

It was a slow missionary week basically because I was sick with the stomach flu. Not a lot of work was able to be accomplished because of it but I'm back to 100% and we're ready to hit it out of the park this week. 

Even with the sickness we were able to have some really great experiences.

We have the opportunity to teach a lady named A..... She's terrific and is really progressing in her testimony of the Gospel. She is our investigator that we leave notes with scriptures about gospel topics every day at her door. She told us that she really appreciates the notes we leave for her. They've helped her so much. Anyway, this past Saturday we had a really great lesson with her. We talked with her about some of the commandments that God has given us specifically tithing, fasting, and the Word of Wisdom. I just want to share one thing that we talked about during that lesson. 

In the Word of Wisdom it asks us to avoid alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs, coffee, and tea. Her question for us was "Why do I need to give up coffee? It such a little thing and I don't feel like it would really separate me from God. There are other things that are more important to focus on." And we shared with her this analogy...

        It's like when we're young. Our parents ask us over and over to make our beds. It's such a small thing that they require. And yet we often ask, "Why? Why can't I just leave it unmade? It doesn't hurt me or anyone else." But our parents know better than we do. They want us to develop habits so that we can be happier as we get older. They know that if we don't learn to make our beds we'll have a bad habit that could irritate future spouses or roommates. So they ask us to make the bed for our future happiness. And we do it without fully understanding why and as we grow we come to understand what they knew. The same is true for the commandments no matter who small or big. Some it's easy to understand i.e. "Thou shalt not kill." but then we have coffee. "Why should we give that up? I don't think it hurts me or anyone else." But we know that God would never give us a commandment that we can't fulfill. God knows better than we do. He knows what is to come and He wants us to be happy. And because we love him we keep his commandments even when we don't understand them. And as we do so we come to learn what He already knew and we start to see the promised blessings.

I know that as we follow the Lord in all things, even those things that we may not understand completely, we will be happier and more blessed.

Remember, obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles.

I love this time of year that we are going into. Thanksgiving and Christmas are wonderful times to be alive. How amazing it is to be able to give thanks for the blessings that we have but most especially the opportunity to celebrate more the life of our Savior Jesus Christ. I feel so blessed to be able to be in His service.

In a few days the church will be launching it's new site for the Christmas season mormon.org/christmas. I would invite everyone to check it out and contribute your thoughts and testimonies of Christ. And then share it with all your friends.

God knows you and your needs. He is listening! 

Con amor,

Hermana Hansen 

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Power of the Priesthood

Hello all,

 

We had a really interesting experience this week with one of our investigators. For the sake of confidentiality I won't share much of the story but I will share what I learned from the experience. I know that each of us has within us a strong spirit that comes from a divine Heavenly Father. Unfortunately, we don't always recognize it, may it be because of the circumstances that we are born into or the decisions that we make in our lives. We're all special but every once and a while you meet someone that you know must have been an elite spirit in the pre-earth life. I have found this to be true with this particular investigator. Her life has not been easy and this past week was no expection. Every time we had an appointment scheduled it would get cancelled. And we didn't get to see her until Sunday. When we finally got to meet with her it was an experience I'll never forget. As she opened up to us about her struggles it was overwhelming the sense that God loves her so much. He knows her and her trials so perfectly. And we testified to her that in our darkest moments it is when we need to turn to Christ the most. And then we talked with her about the power of priesthood blessings. No matter who we are, member or nonmember, the power of God has been restored on earth and we have the capacity to receive blessings directly from the Lord through his servants. And I was able to share with her a powerful experience I had during my mission of receiving a priesthood blessing. It was exactly what she needed to hear. And two hours later the elders were in her home giving her a priesthood blessing of comfort and healing. You could feel the Holy Ghost in the room. And the elders didn't know the details of what was going on but the things that they said in that blessing were evidence to me that the spirit inspires worthy men to know what to say. It was amazing!!

 

God knows his children. He knows our needs. He knows our weaknesses. He knows how to succor us. I know that the power of the priesthood is real. I know that priesthood blessings work. They can uplift us when we most need us. They can even save someone from the edge of death. They have power if we have the faith. So we should never hesitate to ask for one.

 

So many other amazing things happened this week but for lack of time I can only share the best.

 

I know that God lives and I LOVE being a missionary.

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - The Missionary Work is Swiftly Increasing ....

Life has been really amazing. There really is no greater time to be a missionary. And God has been granting us so many miracles.

 

First, I thought you might enjoy some pictures of the fun things that we've been up to recently. One is of Hna Whetten and I making smores over our gas stove :) And the other two are from a hike that we took just this morning. All of us Hermanas decided to strike a yoga pose on an awesome rock formation, it was super fun. You might be able to tell that I'm not skilled at yoga [but if Hna Whetten has anything to say about it, I will be :)]. We do a lot of amazing things with teaching others about the gospel of Jesus Christ but we do enjoy ourselves with other things too. (We will add the photos into this posting later)

 

So some cool experiences for the week...

 

Friday we were getting ready to leave the car to go contact a potential investigator when who should walk across the street but a boy named M...... He goes to church every week but for some reason he's not baptised. When I saw him I about jumped for joy but was slightly limited by being in the car. And I'll tell you why I was so excited... When Hna Fish and I were together we tried many times to visit with him and his mom but every time the lesson would get cancelled. In the three months that we were together, I never had the opportunity to talk with him apart from seeing him at church on Sundays and Wednesdays. Not even once were we successful. So when I saw him in my mind I was like, "This is it!" We didn't even pray, we just booked it after him. We knocked his door and asked if we could visit him. He said yes and we had a great conversation outside on the stairs. It was such an awesome lesson. He has a great testimony of everything. So we asked him if he would be baptised and he said "Yes"!! It was truly one of those experiences where we were able to teach some one who is literally ready to be baptised the next day. I didn't ever imagine that that would happen on my mission.

 

And in BIG news. I've talked before about the Y.... family and their son E..... Well on Sunday we were finally able to meet with the mom and it was such an amazing lesson. We went in with the plan to teach the restoration really focusing on authority and how we have the priesthood. And during that lesson we saw just how much the experiences she's been having with E..... have prepared her to accept the Gospel in her life. When we talked to her about how Jesus Christ gave his authority to the apostles by the laying on of hands it was like a light bulb went off in her head. And she said, "That's how you do it. That makes so much sense now." And it was like that the whole lesson. She really understood everything so well. And she wants to read the Book of Mormon without us even having to ask her. She wants to know the truth so badly in her life and now she knows how to do it. And she wants to be baptised in December!!!! Wooohhhh!!!

 

Well, I'm again out of time. I LOVE being a missionary!

 

I hope you have a terrific week.

 

Con amor,

 

Hermana Hansen 

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Priesthood Blessings Bring About Miracles

Buenas tardes a todos,

 

Random interesting fact provided by the brother of my companion. He works for the Missionary training center and was told this...

Normally in a two week period the brethren receive 400-600 missionary applications. During the 2 weeks after President Monson's announcement of the age change the brethren received 8000 applications. The work is moving forward rapidly and I'm soooooo excited :)

 

On to this week. It absolutely flew by but it was filled with really great experiences.

 

One of the coolest experiences from the week was this past Friday. We went to go visit our investigator H...... to commit her to church on Sunday. Well of all the great surprises we were able to meet her husband M...... for the first time. And because he had never met with us before we basically scrapped our original lesson plan and taught him the restoration. It was so great and when we gave him his own copy of the Book of Mormon his face literally lit up and he said "Really! this is for me?" He even said that he would read it in his car whenever he's on break for work. And when we invited him to be baptised he said that he would have to learn more but it is definitely something that he would work towards. It really was so amazing to see how excited about everything he was.

 

For awhile now a family we know has been going through a hard experience that has been a huge miracle in their lives. I don't remember how much I've shared of this so far but it really is so amazing. This miracle's name is E........ At about 5 months along E.....'s mom's water broke. And at that point the doctor's said that if she had the baby then they wouldn't be able to do anything to help him live. So for a week she laid flat on her back to give him more time to grow. Then she started bleeding but she was afraid to tell anyone what was going on. And for another week she laid still to give him the greatest possiblity to survive. And for that week the baby did great. But then at exactly the time when the doctor's could actually do things to help him E.....'s heart rate dropped drastically. So the doctors performed an emergency c-section. And for the last 3 months or so he has been hooked up to a respirator in an incubator. The situation wasn't super great and about a week ago the respirator was working at 100% because his lungs just weren't functioning. So his parents called some members of the ward to give E..... a blessing. His parents said that it was an amazing experience. Half an hour after receiving the blessing the respirator was working only at 25% and his lungs were doing 75% of the work. And then he was moved from the incubator to a crib. His parents are so grateful for the miracle that he is in their lives. And this is helping E....'s mom to become even more open to receive the gospel in her life.

 

I know that priesthood blessings work and that miracles still happen today. We just have the faith to ask and then accept the father's will.

 

There were so many other great things that happened this week but I'm running out of time. I'll just save those for another time.

 

With much love,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Bienvenido dia lunes, hoy podemos descansar :)

Another Monday has swiftly approached us and it happens that today is the start of transfer 9!! And guess what -  I'm staying in Reseda with Hna Whetten :) This has never happened to me before. 5 transfers in one place and 3 transfers with the same person. I'm super excited to see where this new transfer will take us. We have a lot of big plans and we really want it all to work out. And it will if we trust in God and have the faith.

 

Recently, we've had some really cool experiences with setting baptismal dates. One of those was when we were visiting with a less active member this past Saturday. We had this lesson planned based off the talk given by President Monson in general conference because we thought she hadn't been able to go. But it turned out that she had gone and actually watched the talk so it kind of made our lesson a mote point. But as we were talking it came up that her mom had questions about the church and wanted to know more about Joseph Smith. So we were able to turn the lesson and gear it towards her mom and the questions that she had. And it was a really good lesson and she was very willing to accept what we shared with her. There was a point where I thought to myself "should we invite her to be baptised?" and then immediately the thought was "why not?" And then we and her daughter were completely shocked when she said yes to the invitation. The member even commented that our faces looked absolutely glowing because we were so happy. I'm excited for her desire to be baptised. It's going to be an interesting experience because she is close to 90 and has some health problems that could impede her progress but we are super optimistic for her.

 

We also had a great opportunity to be the answer to someone's prayers this week. Saturday afternoon we went to go try and meet an inactive young single adult. It turned out that she was not at all interested so we started to head to the exit. As we were about to leave we saw a lady struggling to get things moved out of her apartment and my companion asked her if she wanted help. She looked at us and said emphatically YES!! It turned out that she had to move abruptly from her apartment because of a bad roommate situation and she had been moving all day but she only had one guy helping her. And it was getting close to the end of the day and she was desperate because she needed to get everything done before going to work. So she had been praying to God that someone would come and help her. And we just happened to show up right when she needed someone the most. She tried to pay us to get us to come to Santa Monica to help unload the stuff. We told her we couldn't because it's outside of our mission but we would make some calls and see what we could do. With 3 simple phone calls we were able to get her in contact with missionaries that could help her out on the other end. It really was a testament to me of how well organized the church is. So much so that you can organize assistance in a matter of minutes. I don't know how the story ended and if she was able to get everything unloaded in Santa Monica and then to work on time. I'm just grateful that we had the opportunity to help someone who really needed it and know that we were a direct answer to her prayer. Needless to say I went to bed very happy that night.

 

All the experiences that we've been having recently have really helped build my testimony that God really does know us personally and he always answers our prayers. It's amazing to feel the love that He had for me and all of His children. And if you ever think that he isn't there I would encourage you to get on your knees and just ask. I promise that experience will change your life.

 

Con mucho amor,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Come Listen to a Prophets Voice

What a week it has been. As always General Conference is such an amazing experience. I loved how the overall theme worked out to be, Are we truly converted? Are we committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ? I loved so many of the talks and learned so much. One of the talks that I enjoyed was Elder Nelson's. It was the message of the restoration in it's purest form and it was a call to many to seek out the missionaries to answer many questions. If you didn't get the chance to see it, here's the link http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2012/10?lang=eng&vid=1882747991001&cid=10

We all have questions about life, God's plan for us, etc. So like Elder Nelson said, "Ask the missionaries, they can help you!"

But of all the talks I think my favorite was by far President Uchtdorf's. Again here's the link, http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2012/10?lang=eng&vid=1882749069001&cid=12

I love that he taught us how to live our life so that we don't have any regrets. This talk applies to life as a whole but I really love how it applies to specific experiences like serving a mission. So I'm going to do my best to apply the things that he said by 1) being my best self and spending meaningful time with those around me (i.e. companions, investigators, members), 2) completely immersing myself in the work, and 3) being happy regardless of the circumstances. I know that as I apply these things I will come home from my mission without regrets and I'll know that I've served to the best of my ability.

What were some of your favorite parts about conference? Anything that struck you and that you want to improve on in your life?

 

One of our investigators, H........, has been in Mexico for the last 2 weeks. And originally she had told us that she would be back the 14th of the month. Well, we were concerned because we didn't know if she would be able to make her baptismal date because of the trip. And while she was gone we decided that we would try to visit with her daughter and see if we could teach her. Well, this past Saturday we went to the house to see if we could visit with the daughter but lo and behold who should we see but H........ Just returned from Mexico as of 3 hours earlier. We couldn't have been more thrilled. And so we visited with her for a little bit. We watched the Restoration DVD with her and she just is so awed by the first vision. She told us that she knows it's true and she's still wanting to be baptised at the end of the month. At the end of the lesson she put her hands to her heart and said, "I feel my faith growing."

 

Another investigator, S......., continues to be so amazing. She is super excited to be getting baptised this coming Sunday. We reviewed with her the plan of salvation yesterday and she really understands it so well. We asked her at the end of the lesson what it means to her to know that God has this plan for her and she said, "Well, it means that I need to follow this plan because I know what will happen if I don't." She is so terrific and it's been such an amazing process to see how her life has been changing. One of the things that she told us was that over the course of meeting with us she has come to know just how much her life has value.

 

I love life. And I'm so excited for the new announcement that boys can leave at 18 and girls can leave at 19. I'm so excited to see what it does for missionary work all over the world.

 

I love all of you. And I know that God knows you each individually and is aware of your needs.

 

Have a terrific week,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - The Temperatures keep rising ......

Hi all,

 

I think today was the hottest day of the summer. Our car at one point read 126 degrees. And of course it would be the day that we move apartments. The poor elders had to haul so much big furniture from one apartment to the other. But we really are so appreciative for all their efforts because now we actually live in our area and can hopefully help more people because we don't have to commute so much.

 

If I recall correctly, last week I told you about a lady named D.......  who came up to us after church and asked us what the process was to be baptised. Well we met with her and her mom after church and it turns out that she was actually baptised when she was 8 years old. The reason we thought she hadn't was because she had been told that her baptism didn't count because she had stopped going to church so long ago. And so she just wanted to know how she could be rebaptised. Well after talking with her again, we're now going to try to hunt down her records and hopefully avoid the rebaptism situation.

 

S........ came to the Relief Society General Broadcast on Saturday and to church. It was so great. And she's been reading a little bit of the Book of Mormon every day. She's in chapter 8 of 1 Nephi. It's really amazing to see how her life is changing. I'm really so excited for her.

 

Well, sorry for the short letter this week. I'm kind of out of time. Just know that everything is going really well.

 

But one last thing...during a personal study last week I was reading over my notes from the MTC and one of the questions we got asked was why are we happy as missionaries??

 

So this is a little bit of what I wrote in my journal...

Why I'm happy as a missionary:

1) I get to help others come unto Christ every day

2) Seeing hearts change is SOOO amazing

3) I get to study the scriptures and really come to know them

4) I get to feel God's love for everyone around me, basically from when I first meet them

5) I get to meet so many amazing people with such interesting stories

6) I get to become the person that God wants me to be

 

I hope you all have a terrific week

 

Con amor,

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen .... The Gospel of Jesus Christ is like ridding your clothes of stains

Good morning!!

 

One of the coolest experiences this week happened on sunday, After church our bishop introduced us to a lady named D.......  and the first thing that she says to us is, "I want to be baptised. What's the process?" Never before have I ever had someone come up to me and say that they want to be baptised!! She said that she had gone to church when she was a child because her dad is a member but she had never been baptised. Then recently a friend of hers started introducing her to the church again and she wants to join. So we got everything sorted out so we could start teaching her this week and we invited her to an activity later that day. And she went to the activity, with her mom and loved it! And it appears that her mom is also interested in learning more about the church. How great!!

 

So the activity that D....... went to was a missionary fireside that all the Spanish missionaries in the valley put together. It was a great experience and it was fairly well attended. I had the opportunity to sing in a small missionary choir and it was amazing. There was a point when we were singing "How Great Thou Art!" and the spirit was just radiating throughout the room. It was truly a moment where you could feel that all of us were singing what we truly believed. And as we looked out into the audience we could see some people shedding tears as they felt the spirit. I couldn't help but smile the whole time because of the joy that I felt. There really is no better feeling than to know that the words you are sharing though song can touch a heart. I LOVE how much music invites the spirit!!!

 

We had another amazing lesson with S....... this week. She talked about how she's been reading the Book of Mormon and everytime that she does she feels so much more peace in her life. And she says that she has felt the same way when she goes to church. I love that this is the way that the Spirit is testifying to her that the Book of Mormon is true. She really is moving forward in her testimony of the gospel.

Before that lesson with S........, Hna Whetten and I came up with this little object lesson...

 

Imagine that you have a favorite shirt, dress, etc. And tomorrow you have a job interview and you want to wear this shirt. But you love it so much that you decided to wear it today. You go to eat an ice-cream cone but much to your dismay it falls onto your shirt. And now you have a huge chocolate stain on this shirt. You can't go to your interview looking like that!!! So you try to do a quick remedy with your "tide to go" pen. It helps to remove the stain some but there's still a faint outline. So when you go home you throw the shirt in the wash, then the dryer. And then you iron it out to fully prepare it for the interview.

 

Now compare this process with the shirt to your life. The shirt is you. The chocolate ice cream stain is sin. The "Tide to go" pen is repentance. The washing machine is baptism. The dryer is receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. And ironing is enduring to the end. We all sin and when we do we have to put forth effort to repent of our sins. But we can't be completely rid of those sins until we are baptised (or partake of the sacrament each week). So we need to be completely immersed in the water just like the shirt is. But we can't go around in a completely soaking shirt. We have to apply heat. And that's the same with baptism. It isn't complete until we receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost (baptism by fire). And then for the rest of our life we need to keep doing what the Lord requires, enduring to the end or ironing out our wrinkles. And if we do all of these things we will be prepared for that big interview with our Heavenly Father.

 

I love all of you and pray for you.

 

Have an amazing week.

 

Con amor,

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Baptismal dates and a study of the Book of Mormon

Buenos dias a todos!!

 

Another preparation day has swiftly approached us.

 

I was reviewing some of my last emails to make sure I hadn't shared with you this story before and I was shocked to see that I hadn't. (Well, I couldn't find it so if it turns out that I have then forgive me) We have this really cool investigator named H.......... About two weeks ago we were looking through some of our old referral sheets and we decided that we would write down some of the names and try to find them. H......... happened to be a referral from over a year ago that never got contacted. We go by her house and she let's us in and says we can come back. The next week we go back and she wasn't home. We were really bummed. Then this past week we decided to swing by her house on the off chance that she would be home. Miracle of miracles she was home, and we had one of the best lessons about the restoration ever!! The spirit was so strong in that lesson, almost tangible. She has a Catholic background and normally when we ask Catholics if they believe that there could be more prophets on the earth today or more scripture along with the bible, they give a resounding no. But H....... was different to both questions, she was like "I don't see why not." And when we asked if she would prepare to be baptised on the 28th of October she said YES!!! She would be so ready for an earlier date but she's going to Mexico this week for 3 weeks. We asked her if she would like the address for a church near where she'll be, she said yes. So now we have everything ready for her to go to church while she is on vacation. She seriously is such a great lady. She is such a great example of service (every year she and her husband go to Mexico they take clothes for those in need). I'm so grateful to be able to work with her.

 

This week we also had a really great lesson with P......... and S........ on the Word of Wisdom. Because of some past experiences they both already have really strong testimonies of the importance of staying away from drugs and alcohol. And as we talked with them about how God has asked us to avoid those substances along with coffee, tea, and tobacco they were so willing to accept it. And when we shared with them the blessings of living this commandments they already have seen some of them because they were already living it without knowing. And S........ is still on track to be baptised at the end of the month. Love them!!! :)

 

In other news I've recently started studying the Book of Mormon again. But this time putting an emphasis on how the Book of Mormon gives insight on how to be a better missionary. It has been really interesting and I've learned a lot so far. The biggest themes up to this point have been the importance of giving thanks to the Lord and obedience to his commandments. But there have been some of tidbits that I've really enjoyed. For instance... as I read 1 Nefi 3:28 I was struck by the thought, "We can't blame our junior companions for when things go wrong." From the story of Nefi learning the interpretation of the dream of his father in 1 Nefi 11:21-22 I came to the conclusion that Nefi wasn't told exactly what was the interpretation but he was given enough information to come to the interpretation on his own. And that is something that can be applied to the people we teach. We don't need to answer every question or spell everything out. If we teach with the spirit they can come to know the truth pretty much on their own. And one last tidbit, from 1 Nefi 17:55, the honor should never go to us as the missionaries. Our work is about God and it doesn't matter how great we are. I really have been enjoying this study and I feel like it's expanding my knowledge of the book of mormon.

 

I love being a missionary. I love that over the last year I have truly been able to draw closer to my savior and become a little bit more the person God wants me to be.

 

I love all of you and pray for you.

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Onward, ever onward as we glory in his name

Good morning!!

 

I'm always constantly surprised at how unpredictable missionary life can be. Seriously, it's never the same. But for that I guess I should be greatful because it means that I can never get comfortable. Haha...lesson # 5 billion and one...learn to enjoy change :)

 

The most exciting news from this week is... Stephany accepted a date to be baptised!!! We had a really awesome lesson with her on Friday using the Finding Faith in Christ video. We talked a lot about how faith leads to action. That first action is to repent of our sins. And she is already demonstrating that she wants to change because she is reading the scriptures, praying every day, going to church, and abandoning her old habits. Then as we want to repent we want to be cleansed of those sins so we are baptised. And we asked her if she would demonstrate her faith by being baptised by someone holding the proper authority and she said YES!! It was so great. And what we've been able to see her come to recognize the spirit in her life as she tells us that every time she meets with us she feels good, like she has more peace in her life. She really is terrific and I'm super excited that she wants to take this next step in her life.

 

I was perusing lds.org today and I came across some things that I want to share. So when I was in Canyon Country I did a study of the word light in the scriptures. It was such a great study and I learned a lot. And recently Hna Whetten and I were going to talk with one of our less actives about how forgiveness brings added light into our lives. Well, lo and behold, the church has created a 3 part series of mormon messages about light. They are so great! I would invite you to check them out. Here's the link:

http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#patterns-of-light-the-light-of-christ

I know that everyone of us has access to the Light of Christ. I know also that there are certain things that we can do in our lives to increase the light that we have...service, scriptures study, prayer, church attendance, etc. All those things bring additional light to our lives. Sin takes that away and leads us into darkness. But through the mercy of our loving Heavenly Father, we , through his son, can be brought back out of the darkness and into the light once again. It is NEVER to late to seek the light of the Gospel, He loves us that much.

 

And I love when members have a fire to share the gospel. It helps us as missionaries so much. Anyway, if you ever wondered how you could share the gospel with your friends this link below is helpful.

http://www.lds.org/topics/missionary-work/seven-simple-suggestions-for-sharing-the-gospel?lang=eng#seven-simple-07

I love that sharing the gospel as members doesn't have to be a huge ordeal but really it's all about being willing to answer questions and being an example of what you believe.

 

Time to go. But I love you all and pray for you.

 

Que Dios les bendiga!! (May God bless you)

 

Love,

 

Hermana Hansen

 

p.s. How crazy is it that Friday marks my 1 year mark? Man how times flies!!

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Mas milagros .. (more miracles)

Good morning all,

 

This was a really great week. In our mission we've been working a lot on building the faith of the missionaries. Our president strongly believes that if every missionary builds their faith, we will see so many more miracles as individuals, companionships, and a whole mission. And it has been so true. About every other week President Hall sends us an e-mail sharing some of the experiences that missionaries have been having and it is truly amazing to see how the Lord has been blessing us all as we've been building our faith and talking with everyone that we met.

 

Hermana Whetten and I have been blessed to see some of those miracles. If you remember, last week wasn't so great but this week was amazing! Definitely the Lord prepared us with the struggles so that we could truly appreciate the miracles we saw this week.

 

Often times in missionary work we think that if we need to find new investigators that our only option is to go pound the pavement and knock every door. I on the other hand have a strong testimony that finding new people to teach doesn't require strictly picking a street and knocking each door. Some of the best ways to find new investigators is by going through the area book and looking at old investigators and old referrals.

Tuesday we had a list of 6 old investigators we wanted to try. The FIRST door we knocked the man happily let us in and we talked with him. It was such an amazing experience because the day before his mom had died and he kept telling us how we couldn't have known that he needed us. It was so great to see how the Lord directed us to that man who in that moment was in need. And he wants us to come back and visit.

After we visited with him the next four doors didn't open. Then the LAST door opened, it wasn't the person we were looking for but rather her uncle. And as we talked with him we asked if he had ever wondered why there were so many churches. Then he said, "do you have 10 minutes??" We went into the home and we ended up having one of the best lessons about the Book of Mormon. He loved it! We showed him where the visit of Jesus Christ to the Americas could be found and he just started reading. He read and he read and he read. What was going to be a 10 minute discussion ended up being 40 minutes. And we're going back tonight. I'm so excited!

 

A big miracle for us this week was a young woman named S....... Two weeks ago we had met her mom and her sister and had a great lesson with them. This past Friday we had an appointment with D...... (the mom) and we ended up meeting S....... She has been though some rough experiences recently that have really humbled her and helped her recognize that God is there. She wants to find truth and know what her purpose is. She is one of those people that the Lord has prepared to hear the Gospel. She loved what we shared with her on Friday and then she and her sister P........ came to church on Sunday!! Hermana Whetten and I were a little sad at first because they had said they would come but when church started they hadn't shown up. Then 20 minutes into the next class we get a text from them saying "hey we came to the services but we didn't see you." And so we basically ran out of the class to find them hoping they were still there. And they were. It turns out that they had gone to a different ward's sacrament meeting (4 wards meet at the same time so it makes it confusing for people). But they decided to stay for the rest of the class and then go to a second sacrament meeting with us. It was so great!! We'd been struggling to get people to come to church for a while but they came and we couldn't be happier. I can't wait to visit with them on Tuesday.

 

So many other great things happened this week. But one experience with a lady named M..... is still unfolding and I'll have to save it for later.

 

Sometimes though great experiences happen when we do something nice for other missionaries. This morning we had the opportunity to surprise one of the other sister missionaries near us for her birthday. She's from El Salvador and she wasn't expecting anything super awesome. Well this morning we surprised her by showing up at her apartment with supplies to make a cake and breakfast. We had called 5 minutes before to say happy birthday and then her companion sneakily buzzed us in the complex and we knocked on her door. Her face was priceless and she almost cried :) It was good to be able to make her day.

 

Well that's it for today. We're working hard and having a great time!!

 

Love you all tons,

 

Hermana Hansen

 

p.s. Here's the quote that I talked about last week but didn't have on me...

 

"Today many sisters are being called to serve.. many more are preparing to serve, not because they aren't married or don't have anything else to do, but because they have the desire to serve. One reason that the Lord wants more sisters to serve is because within the next generation He will send His priesthood army to the earth. He wants to send choice spirit children to mothers who have been prepared, properly trained, and taught the gospel. What better schooling can a mother have than the experience and growth she gains through serving a mission." -President Hinckley

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Sometimes we hit a wall ...

Hi everyone,

 

Here's the link for the most recent mormon message. I love it so I thought I would share...

 

https://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng

 

This week was hard, specifically Friday, because it was the day that we got all of our appointments cancelled. We were told we couldn't visit the 2 investigators with baptismal dates anymore, and a less active asked to have her records removed from the church. It wasn't super fun but even though it was hard we still had a good experience. That night we were knocking doors and we prayed saying, "we're going to knock doors and put forth all of our effort, please bless us with a lesson." And he did, it was a tender mercy of the Lord. I had been so crushed by everything that had happened that day but going out and working and having the Lord answer our prayers lifted my spirits so much.

I've found that every day I really look forward to companionship study. I learn so much from those hours. One day this week Hermana Whetten shared with me a quote from President Hinckley that I loved. I wish I had it on me to write it out in full but the gist was that God's chosen sons are going to be sent to the world at this time and that through missions God is preparing those that will be their mothers. One of the big reasons why I'm on my mission is because I know that it will help me become the mother that my future children need. I've already changed so much on my mission and I know that there is so much more for me to learn. Yet everything is helping me to prepare to be that mother in Isreal. As I overcome my weaknesses and put my trust and faith in Jesus Christ, my testimony grows and I learn just how much the Lord knows me and what I need. I couldn't be more grateful to know that I am on my mission at this time and in this place for a reason. God truly knows me better than I know myself and I am richly blessed for that.

When it's hard on the mission I remind myself of the quote from Elder Holland in his talk "Missionary Work and the Atonement". He said, "missionary work is not easy because salvation was not meant to be a cheap experience." We all have to struggle as missionaries. We want our investigators to be truly converted to the Gospel and so that means we have to get down in the dirt with them and go through hard times. That's even true for ourselves. As we are on our missions we are working out our own personal salvation as we come to know Christ better and become more converted ourselves. If the mission was easy that change wouldn't happen. Life in general wasn't meant to be easy. We have to have trials and go through hard times. 

 

Life is hard but salvation makes it worth it.

 

I love you all and pray for you.

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - a week of miracles

Hi everyone,

We had a great week filled with many miracles.

Sometimes we have days without any confirmed plans. They can be really hard but sometimes they can lead to some really great experiences. Friday was one of those days. We only had a lunch with a member as a confirmed appointment and the rest was blank. We had a list of people we planned to see and the faith that the Lord would provide us with opportunities to teach if we did all we could. So we put forth our efforts and saw the blessings for it. 

One blessing was this, after our lunch with the member we asked her if her friend that we had met the week before would be interested in hearing the gospel. The member then called her friend and told her she was bringing food over and then told us, let's go visit her right now. Quite the sneaky ploy to get us into her friend's house...haha :) Then we go over and visit with her friend D.....  and ended up meeting her daughter P....... as well. We talked with them for a while and they are both really interested in the message of the gospel. And what was even better was that P.........  mentioned how with our visit maybe it was time for the family to change and become more unified. They both have gone through many things in their lives that have really prepared them for Gospel. I can't wait to visit with them again this week.

We also had an experience on Sunday with a potential investigator, M......... We told the Lord that we would make every effort to visit the family but this was really the last chance because the last 4 weeks every time we would pass by the house they wouldn't answer the door or they were too busy or they weren't home. So we prayed, "if this is meant to be, help us get into the home." And we got into the home!!! It was so great. M........ was outside vacuuming her car and when we asked if she had a few minutes that we could visit with her, she said yes. We had such a great lesson on the plan of salvation with her. The spirit was so strong and she loved what we had to share with her. It was interesting to see how happy she was to hear that we are all children of God because previously other visitors from other churches had told her and husband that they weren't children of God because they weren't members of that particular church. I love that part of the message that we bring to people is that no matter what religion, what race, what age, we are all children of God. He knows us and loves us. That brought much joy to M......... Her family is also so important to her and you could tell that she is so happy to know that she can have her children with her for forever and not just this life.  We're going back on Tuesday and I'm so excited!!

We've had so many other amazing lessons this week. It is amazing what happens when you and your companion teach together in unity. When you teach in unity the spirit will testify through you both of the message and then the miracles happen. When people feel the spirit they want to change.
One of those awesome lessons was with an inactive member, M...... He recently found out that he had cancer and when we invited him to church he said "oh maybe after this big work project is over and i have the surgery to remove the tumor." We then looked him in the eye and told him "hermano today is the day to go back to church. When you are sick you go to a hospital and when you are in need spiritually you go to church. You need the spiritual strength that the church can give you in this time of your life." And he came to church for the first time in over 3 years!!

I've felt really blessed by all the opportunities that the Lord had provided for us to teach and help others come unto Christ.

Have an absolutely terrific week.

Love you all!

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Promptings of the Spirit

Hello every one,

 

Katherine got baptised on Sunday!!! It was super cool. The ward was so happy for her and even though her mom was in a lot of pain (she broke her wrist 3 days ago) you could tell that she was so excited for her daughter. The best part of the whole experience (besides the actual baptism) was that as Hermana Whetten and I were singing the special musical number, Katherine was singing along with us. As I saw her sing with us and look so happy a huge smile came to my face. At that moment it didn't matter what we sounded like, all that mattered was that we were helping her be happy. And as I keep thinking back on the experience I literally feel an overwhelming sense of love and joy for that family. There really is no way to adequately describe the joy that you feel knowing that you helped someone come unto Christ.

The miracles just keep poring out, more than I ever really thought possible. And it's been amazing to see how the spirit directs us so we can have those miracles.

First, we had been given a referral by the elders in our district this week and at the beginning of the week we planned to swing by but when we looked at the address it didn't exist. Huge bummer! You can't visit someone if there is no where to go. Then two days later when we had a little bit of time before a dinner appointment we were looking at our map and the idea came to me that we should try the referral but using the cross street instead of the original address. So we drove over there and it existed! And she was home. And she wants us to go back and visit with her!
Another experience was very similar to that. We were driving to an appointment and we had about 30 minutes before we needed to be there. A two minute drive from that appointment lives a member and her sister that she had recently referred to us. As we passed the apartment complex where the member lived I had the thought "let's go visit that referral". We quickly pulled over and parked. And after asking the member to come with us we ended up sitting on the referral's couch. And she turned out to be interested and wants us to come back. We have an appointment to visit with her on thursday but she's due to have her baby this week...could be interesting :)   

I've learned from these two experiences and a few others that often times promptings from the spirit really do sound like our own thoughts. And that is when we really have to trust that it is the Lord directing us. We could have easily not tried a different street for the first referral or kept driving for the second referral but we didn't and we saw the blessings for it. I know that if we are willing to do the Lord's will in everything that whatever good thought we have is a prompting from the spirit. So now I know that if after the mission I have a thought to call/visit a friend, I should do it. Who knows what the outcome could be.

 

I love you all!

 

Que Dios les bendiga! (may God bless you)

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Podemos cambiar su pecho

(translation: we can change your chest ..)

Hello, hello,

 

First a funny story of a Spanish slip up...

Friday night we had our correlation meeting with our ward mission leader at his house. He told us how he had changed the carpets and that was why we had to change the meeting from Wednesday to Friday. Well one of the elders asked why he didn't call us to help him out. And then we offered our assistance for whenever he might need it again. Well I decided to pipe up and I said, "Yeah, podemos cambiar su pecho...(awkward silence)....I mean techo (roof)!" When I realized what I had said I started to laugh so hard. So hard, in fact, that tears started streaming down my face. What an act of service that would be to change their chest! Needless to say our ward mission leader has a great sense of humor and he just took it stride. Oh the joys of learning a language on the mission :)

 

This week was incredibly amazing. We saw some amazing miracles and the Lord really has blessed us.

 

We've decided that every week we are going to pick some families (either investigators or members) and take them a plate of cookies or other treats (whatever we're in the mood to make). Well one day we decided to take a plate to our investigator Alba. Normally we meet with her on Saturdays but we decided to pass by on Tuesday with the cookies. As often happens when the spirit is directing you to do something, Satan tries to keep you from doing it. So the doubts crept in a little bit. But we took the cookies anyway and we had such a great lesson about the need for modern day prophets. And in the lesson we found out that she and her husband had a wedding to attend that Saturday so wouldn't have been able to meet with them anyway. It really is amazing how it all worked out. Even the fact that we got to her house 10 minutes before she got home (so we were already inside and she didn't have to opportunity to say we couldn't come in). It all couldn't have happened any better and it really was the spirit and the Lord directing our actions.

 

A similar experience happened on Saturday. We had planned to take a certain member with us to visit a young family. First the member cancelled and asked if her mom could come instead. We said sure (we'll never refuse member involvement in the work). Then we get to the family's house and they have friends over so we rescheduled for Sunday. So we decided to visit a referral (they weren't home and we got a little lost on the way). Then we decided to go somewhere else on the off chance that a potential investigator would be home. And then we had a miracle. This particular potential investigator was coming to check her mail as we approached the gate to get into the complex. We asked if we could visit with her and she said YES. After 3 months of trying to get into her home and not being successful, she finally let us in. It couldn't have worked out more perfectly. The Lord really directed us so that we would have the opportunity to meet with her and share part of the Gospel. If I had used the GPS and not gotten lost we probably never would have run into her. Oh the mysterious workings of God.

 

Well, I'm out of time. There is so much more I could talk about.

I know without a doubt that if we are willing we can be instruments in the hands of our Heavenly Father. We just need to be ready to recognize when those opportunities are there.

 

Love you all,

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Like the last coca-cola in a dry desert

Good morning all,

 

It was a great first week for my new companion and I. Her name is Hermana Whetten and she is from New Mexico. She has a lot of fire to do the work and is super excited to be out here in the field. I had been preparing for someone that didn't know Spanish but surprise surprise she already has a good foundation in the language. That was actually really relieving for me. We hit the ground running and I can tell already that it's going to be a great transfer.

 

We had a huge miracle on Sunday. So in order for someone who is less than 18 years old to get baptised (and at least one of the parents isn't a member), a permission form has been signed. This is to avoid legal issues in the future and it helps us know that the parents are willing to support their child in being involved in the church. Well, our investigator K.........  is 10 and her dad is not a member. And for the last 6 weeks or so we've been talking with her about baptism and talking with him about how he feels and if he would give us permission. Well we got verbal permission pretty early on but for some reason his response to signing was always no, she's not ready. Then yesterday HE SIGNED!!! I guess he finally feels like she's ready for this step in her life. It was such a huge answer to our prayers. And now we can move forward more with her. And she's super excited to be getting baptised in 2 weeks. I can't wait :)

 

The other great experience we had this week was with the F...... family. They are a less active family that we are working with to help reactivate. And about a month ago the parents started going back to sacrament meeting which was a huge step for them. Well last night as we were talking with the dad he shared with us a very powerful testimony about how he knew the Book of Mormon to be true. It was so amazing to hear and to know that he has progressed so much in the last few months that we've been visiting with them. And then he said that us that our visit with them were like the last coca-cola in a dry desert. That it was something that gave him hope and helped him know he could move forward even when it was hard. I love that as missionaries we have that opportunity to be a ray of hope for someone when they most need it. And often we don't even know how much of an effect we are having on someone. I know this can hold true even for normal members of the church. As we fulfill our callings and go out to visit other members we can be that "last coke in a desert" for someone. We can give them the energy to carry on and the hope that everything will be okay.

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Hansen

(Juliet also sent photos which we will add in when we can.)

Hermana Juliet Hansen - in big news

Hello all,

.....I found out on friday that I'M TRAINING!!! Hermana Fish is being transferred to an area called Canoga Park on bike. I am getting a brand new missionary and I have no idea what her name is or where she's from, absolutely nada. We have two new Spanish sisters coming out this transfer so President wants to interview both of them Wednesday morning when they get here and then he will decide which one I'll get as my companion. So it's still a really big mystery, which is kind of exciting :)

We had really awesome experiences this week and Hermana Fish and I were able to end our time together with a bang.

We found an inactive member named Constanza. We had half an hour before our next appointment and so we took a look at the list of members and we decided that we would go see her. We knocked on her door and apparently the guy that answered went to go get her and said, "There are two angels at the door for you." We are the first missionaries that have visited her in a long time. We really were super lucky to meet her too because for the last 10 years she NEVER answered the door when members or missionaries would come to visit. She told us about how she used to be super active. She was the stake primary president for 6 years, she was the Bishop's wife, she would have the missionaries over every week, etc. and then she went through a really messy divorce and she never went back to church. It was incredibly sad to hear. She really is an amazing woman and now one of my goals is to help her come back to church and remember the promises she made. We shall see how it goes.

The other experience I want to share is with our investigator A....... Her sister B...... was baptised a little over a year ago and just recently got engaged to her boyfriend (who happens to be the missionary that baptised her). Last  night we were visiting with B..... and were about to wrap up our lesson with her when her family walked in. A..... sat down and we started to talk with her and she expressed with us how frustrated and mad she is that she won't be able to go into the temple when her sister gets married. It was one of those experiences where you could feel how much she loves her sister and how much her heart is breaking because she can't see such an important event in her sister's life. Teaching with the spirit is so key. Because how do you help a 16 year old who has imagined for her whole life what it would be like at her sister's wedding understand why marriage in the temple is so important. The only way that she will be able to come understand is through her own experiences with the spirit. We told her that if she really wants to know for herself then we need to teach her and then she needs to pray to God. Really the only way that she will feel at peace with this is to receive her own personal witness from God this is what is right for her sister and her family. I truly hope we can help her to have peace about her sister's wedding.

Love you all so much,

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Welcome to President Hall!

Hello everyone!

 

This week we had the opportunity to meet our new missiona president, President Hall, and his family. They are really great! Super funny and really excited to be here. He is already starting to change a few things but I know that it is all for the best and it will help our mission be more successful. Some missionaries are not super excited about the rules that he is being stricter on but it will just test us on how willing we are to be odedient and show our loyalty to the Lord and our mission president.

 

We had the unfortunate experience this week of our investigator, Alma, moving without us being able to say goodbye. We had sister exchanges on Tuesday and so Hermana Quick and I went to visit her at our normal time of 4:30 and her house was a wreck. She told us that she was moving and when I asked her when she said Friday. So I thought "oh good, Hermana Fish will get to say goodbye." Well we go over on Thursday at our normal time, expecting to see her, and she had already gone. Hermana Fish was soooo sad because she had been working with Alma for almost 6 months. We're sad that we didn't get to say goodbye to her but we understand why she had to leave so quickly. I know that I would want to move quickly too if a gang tried to break into my home. I really, really hope that we can get in contact with her to help her find the missionaries again. Fingers crossed!

 

Hermana Fish and I are also in charge of the Young Single Adult branch as well as the family ward. We had a blessing this week happen in that we got a new Branch president. We are so excited about this because there is FINALLY support from the leadership to have people attend the branch. We are really excited to be able to help the branch grow in size and return to what it once was.

 

My journey through reading the Old Testament in spanish continues. I am know reading all about the story of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. Talk about sibling rivalry :) I really love reading the stories I grew up hearing in church and at home but I also like reading the things that happen in between the famous stories. You really get an understanding of how these people got to be who they were.

 

Love you all bunches,

 

Hermana Hansen  

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Lessons Learned From The Bible

Hi everyone!

 

So I can't believe I forgot to mention this last week. So almost two weeks ago we had the opportunity to go to the LA temple. It is always so amazing to be able to go to the temple and feel of the strong spirit that is there. Almost the entire mission went that day to kind of bid a fond farewell to our mission president and his wife. I had a really amazing experience as I was sitting in the celestial room after the session was done. I decided that I wanted to pray to Heavenly Father and ask him if he was happy with how I had done the first half of my mission. So that's what I did. I sat down and I asked God. And after I prayed I felt a great sense of love. It wasn't overwhelming but was enough to know that God had heard my prayer and was pleased with me. I'm grateful to know that I am doing what is right in the sight of the Lord.

 

This past week we had the opportunity to receive one last training from President Martin before he left the mission on Saturday. The training that he gave us was the training that he would give to every missionary before they went home. And part of the training that he gave was "Jerry Martin's 10 commandments for career success." For your information these are what they were...

 

1) Choose a career you can fall in love with

2) Weigh the lifestyle implications of your career choices every step of the way. (i.e. will you be able to go on vacations with the family, will you have to work on sundays, etc.)

3) Select good supervisors and role models

4) Add value every day (i.e. always be a high-value contributor. Deliver a little bit more than expected)

5) Become a quick change artist

6) Be a problem solver and not a problem pointer

7) Learn to be an effective team player

8) Surround yourself with people who challenge you

9) Attitude is a personal responsibility

10) Nurture your life anchors (i.e. God and family)

(These must work if President Martin was able to become an executive CEO of FritoLay) 

 

I was really grateful for the training that he gave. Even though these were points on how to be successful in business and career, I was able to learn some great things on how to be a better missionary.

 

And lastly I would just like to share with you the experience that I've had with the Bible. For a while now I've been contemplating if I should work on reading the Old Testament while I'm on my mission. I would go back and forth wondering if it would really be worth my time (in the essence of would it benefit my investigators). Well last week I decided that I would go ahead and start reading it. And I would do it in Spanish so it could count as language study. And I have learned that it indeed has been worth it. I LOVE the Bible. And the stories are so applicable. One lesson that I learned was from the story of Noah. There is something important from Genesis 8: 20. Noah and his family had been on the ark for approxiametly 150 days (40 days of rain and 110 days of water receeding) and when finally they were able to walk on dry ground Noah built an altar and offered a sacrifice to God. So my question for you all is....when we go through our own personal floods (temptations, sicknesses, etc), when it is all said and done do we take the time to offer up sacrifices (give thanks) to the Lord for the things that we have experienced?

 

Con mucho amor,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Knocking on Doors

Good morning!!

 

Recently we've been doing a lot of knocking because we are trying to find some new people to teach. Unfortunately, the investigators that we currently have are not really progressing. Before my mission I thought I wouldn't enjoy knocking but I was wrong. In actuality I like doing it because of the wide variety of people that we get to meet.

So today I would like to give you a little taste of the types of people we've met as we've knocked in Reseda California...

 

We've had the "we're not interested" door slam, the peek through the window, wave, and ignore the door, the "I was raised (insert religion here) and don't go right now but I'm okay with my beliefs. Thanks for your time.",(those you could get just about everywhere but the rest were very singular)

 

One day we knocked a door and when opened we saw the biggest, most orange Hindu shrine I'd ever seen. The lady then told us about how she doesn't go to the doctor but instead takes a little bit of the white holy powder found on one of the pictures, mixes it with water, drinks it, and she's cured.

Another day we knocked the door of a man who believes strongly in medical marijuana. He expressed interest in coming to church but only if he could be sure that no one would judge him for wearing his "colors" (a ruby and emerald encrested cross with a marijuana leaf in the center). We left him with a pass along card to check out the mormon.org website and as we walked away he yelled, "Hemp will save the world!"

For the first time ever on Saturday we met someone who was raised going to the church of the Holy Rollers. And that same day we talked for a while with a lady who was very nice to listen to us but not super interested. Whenever we finish talking to people we always ask if we can pray with them before we go. Normally they'll just say "no thank you" but this time she told us "We don't need a Mormon prayer."

 

Life gets really interesting when we go knocking. You really never know what you'll find behind the door but sometimes we get really lucky and we find someone who has been prepared to receive the gospel. I love the experiences we've had where we knock the door and the person is really happy to see us. And the best is when they feel the spirit and then let us come into their home and teach them. Those are rare but they make every slammed door so much more worth it. And I know that if we have sufficient faith God will lead us in the right direction to find that person who is most in need right now.

 

It's time for me to go but know that I love you all.

 

Que tengan muy feliz semana! (Have a great week)

 

Con mucho amor,  

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Happy Father's Day!!

Good morning!!

 

First I would like to say a CONGRATULATIONS to Meg Fike for getting baptised a couple weeks ago. If you remember she was the lady I mentioned in an email a month or two ago that sent me a letter about how she had attended a Mormon service for the first time. I got a letter this week from her saying that she had got baptised. I love hearing stories like that and knowing that the ward back at home is growing.

 

In church yesterday one of the speakers mentioned how it was Father's Day. One of the things he said was that we ought to thank our Heavenly Father for the things that He has done for us ever day but even more so on this day. I was struck by that because we grow up celebrating our earthly fathers on this day but shouldn't we also celebrate that we have a Heavenly Father as well. I'm really greatful for my earthly father but also I'm extremely greatful that I was raised knowing that I have a Father in Heaven who loves me just as much. So today I would like to say THANK YOU to my dad and my Heavenly Father for everything that they have taught me and given me. I know that without either of them my life would not be the same.

 

One of the coolest experiences this week was with the De Leon family. The other week when we had sister exchanges Hna. Arguello and I had dinner at the De Leon's home and we read with them part of the Proclamation to the Family. We invited them to look at the things mentioned in the Proclamation and pick one that they could work on as a family. About a month or so ago Hna Fish and I had shared a thought on family prayer but they still were struggling with it. And so we were hoping that they would maybe pick that as the thing to work on. And that's what they did. They decided that they would start having family prayer every day before they sat down to dinner. Well...we followed up the next time we had dinner with them a few days ago and they have been successfully having family prayer every night!!! And the 7 year old daughter is super happy that they are now doing it. And what's even better is if they happen to forget before dinner someone always remembers and reminds the family that they need to do it. I was SOOOO excited when I heard that they were seeing success in their desire to be better at family prayer. 

 

Through many of the lessons that we've had this week and just generally during my time on the mission, I've found that true conversion really only comes when gospel principles are taught and learned by the spirit. I know that much of the success that I've seen with my companions has been because we strive to always have the spirit with us.

 

I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish this week. That was a really great moment. I love the scriptures and I really really know that they can help change our lives. And I know that there is comfort in those pages that we really can't find anywhere else.

 

I'm grateful for all of you and the support you give me.

 

Con mucho amor!

 

Hermana Hansen 

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Christlike Love

Good morning all,

 

Today we start a new transfer. For me this transfer marks the half way point of my mission. CRAZY!! and Hermana Fish and I are officially staying together! We're excited to continue working together and seeing this area progress even more.  

 

This week we had the pleasure of meeting someone who truly exemplifies Christ like love. The Elders had told us about a lady named Maria Guerrero and how she had requested that the sister missionaries come and visit her. We visited with her and as she shared with us her story I really could feel how much the Lord loves her and how much she loves the Gospel. About 8 months ago she met the missionaries in the street when she was going through a really hard time. Her grandson was incredibly sick and she was very sure that he would die. The missionaries talked with her and asked if they could give her grandson a priesthood blessing. They gave him a blessing and almost immediately her grandson went from on his death bed to sitting up and asking for food like nothing was wrong. She had literally seen a miracle in her life and for that reason she knew she couldn't not join the church. You might be wondering how does she exemplify Christ like love....recently her parents starting having extremely poor health that requires around the clock care. She told us that growing up with her parents was really difficult and for a long time it was hard to forgive them for some of the things that they did but when she came to know the gospel she recognized that she needed to love her parents anyway. So she took them into her home and devotes 100% of her time to them and their needs. And she does it without complaint or desire for any reward. She does it because she knows that the Lord wants her to. To me that is Christ like love because she is willingly putting past wrongs behind her and giving of herself for the needs of others. That's what Christ did for us...he gave of himself for the benefit of us...to fulfill our need for repentance from sin.

 

I also had the opportunity to finish the New Testament this week. I fell like I've really been able to draw closer to my Savior as I've read the pages that contain the story of His life. And my testimony of Him has grown immensely. I know without a doubt that Christ lived, died, and was resurrected for our sakes, so that we could attain that great gift of living with our Heavenly Father again and receiving eternal life. I know that I can't do anything without His assistance, so I must put my trust in Him everyday. I have learned so many things from the New Testament and have come to develop such a powerful love for the scriptures. They really are for our benefit and learning.

 Here is one final favorite scripture from the New Testament that I would like to share that illustrates one of the most important lessons we could ever learn...

1 Peter 4: 12-13 "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy."  

I know that all our trials are given to us for a purpose. The Lord always wants us to learn and to grow and for that reason we all have to experience fiery trials. But God gave us His son so that through Him our trials could ultimately bring us exceeding joy. And if that joy doesn't come in this life then it will definitely come in the next life when we can rest from all of our struggles.

I know these things to be true and I invite you to read the New Testament if you haven't or re-read it if you have.

 

So as I mentioned at the beginning...I'm at the half way point. I cannot be more grateful to be on a mission at this time in my life. I know that the Lord has called me at this time, to this place, with these companions for a purpose. I'm excited to continue working in his service for another 9 months!!

 

Have an absolutely fantastic week.

 

Con mucho amor,

 

Hermana Hansen