Hermana Juliet Hansen - Busy as a Bee

Hi all,

First I would like to apologize for the really lame email that I sent last week. That was not good.

Anyway, you might be asking yourselves why I titled this email "Busy as a bee..." Well, I'm getting transferred!!! After almost 6 months here in Canyon Country, I am now going to be serving in the Reseda 4th ward which is in North Hills, California. I'm super excited to be going down there. From what I know, my companion and I will not only be in charge of part of Reseda 4th but also the Young Single Adult ward. We are also part of a completely Spanish stake (in Canyon Country we were the only Spanish ward in an English stake). So I'm expecting my Spanish to really grow down there. No more teaching lessons in English for me...haha. My new companion's name is Hermana Fish. We actually had the opportunity to work together a couple of weeks ago for a day when we had sister exchanges. She is 28 years old and from Spanish Fork, Utah. She has been on her mission for almost 3 months so that means I will be her senior companion. In mission language when you are someone's second companion we call them their stepmom or stepdad. So I will be Hermana Fish's stepmom, helping her learn a different way to do the missionary work and helping her progress in her language and teaching skills. All of this will be a VERY different experience for me but I'm really excited for this opportunity to learn and grow and become a better missionary.

Also, this Sunday we had another baptism!!! It was most definitely the best way to end my time here in Canyon Country. So last week I told you that Janette and Rachel got baptised. Well this week Janette's husband, Jesus, got baptised. It was such a miracle for us. And it was so amazing to feel like we were completing a family in the Gospel. What has been so amazing with Jesus is that he has basically turned his life around in 2 weeks. We had been meeting with him for longer than that but he never seemed super excited about anything. Then he started to see the changes that were happening in Janette and he got a little more excited about the Gospel and he wanted to keep learning. So he stopped smoking and drinking coffee. As we talked to him about how it was going with all of that you could see the change in him in his face. He was visibly happier, more alert, etc. Then they got married and it was like overnight their relationship just started to blossom and be so much more unified. Then Janette got baptised and Jesus was solidly on board. He loved the spirit that he felt at her baptism. And when we taught him about tithing he was so excited to be able to pay that for the first time on Sunday. He said that he already had the money set aside ready to go. Then he got baptised yesterday. He was so nervous all day long but afterwards you could feel how at peace he was. The spirit was so strong during  that service. And I felt so overwhelmingly grateful that I had the opportunity to be a part of his growth in the Gospel.

I want to share with you part of a letter that I received this week. It was probably one of the best, if not THE best letter I've received my whole mission.

          "My name is Meg and I attended my first LDS service last Sunday at the Bellevue, TN ward....I'm fairly new to Nashville, but I felt more welcomed and uplifted in one hour last Sunday than I have my entire time living here...The kindness extended to my husband and I and the words and testimonies I heard felt so true that I am excited to go back next week. I hope others are willing to experience the church and your message and testimony. When not, I hope you're filled with the strength to continue whole-heartedly in your work...I know you are doing wonderful things by serving as a missionary."

I read that letter and I was so grateful for the things that she said. I fell like I'm getting to see the blessings that come to the home ward of a missionary. Thank you Bellevue Ward for being such amazing people and helping others feel welcomed. Keep up the good work!! This lady's name is Meg Fites. If you have the opportunity to talk to her please do. She seems like such an amazing lady and someone who has been completely prepared by the Lord to receive the Gospel.

I've been working my way through the New Testament and I am currently in Romans. I LOVE the book of Romans!!! Specifically chapters 6 and 8. In chapter 6, verses 3-6, I love how baptism is compared to the death and resurrection of Christ. For it truly is. As we are completely submerged in the water our sins are washed away and as we come out of the water we are then a new person, without sin.

I wish I had more time to really share everything that I've come to learn from these chapters of scripture. But I'll leave you with the verses that were my favorites.... chapter 8 verses 14, 16-18, 24-25, 26-28, 31, 35, 38-39. This way you can read them and then learn for yourself through the Spirit. I would love to hear about your experiences with the Scriptures and the things that you have learned.

Well that's it for this week. I'm off to a new adventure :)

Con amor,

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - A Wedding and a Quadruple Baptism

Happy Monday to everyone!!

This week was awesome...crazy...but awesome. And now because of everything that has happened I feel like I can say that I am an experienced missionary.

Our investigators Janette and Jesus got married on Saturday! That was a huge step that took quite a long time for them to accomplish. We spent forever setting up their wedding and making food. I could now make you all a really nice drink called Horchata and a delicious crab salad that you would put on tostadas.

Our district had 4 people get baptised on Sunday. That was a huge miracle. Each companionship of elders had someone get baptised and we had 2 of our investigators get baptised as well.

I wish I had time to write about everything. My mind has been all over the place this morning.

So here is what I'm going to do. You can go visit my companions blog at sisterkimberlywilliams.blogspot.com and you can see in vivid detail all of what we've been up to for the last two transfers and specifically this weekend. Her mom should have it updated some time tomorrow.

I'll try top send you all a hand written letter later describing everything myself.

Sorry that I had major writers block today. Next weeks letter should be better. Transfer calls are Saturday!

Love you all,

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Ad campaign

Hello all,

So I told dad that I would tell you all this week about this new ad campaign that my companion and I are doing in one of our apartment windows. We decided that we would start writing up the Articles of Faith in Spanish and posting them on the window along with some pictures of Christ and the mormon. org website. We decided that this would be a different way of doing missionary work that would reach out to other people. We weren't sure for a little while if anyone actually reads it but this week we actually saw 3 people stopping to read it. That was awesome!! And you never know maybe they actually went and visited mormon.org because they were struck by what the 3rd article of faith says.... "We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."

Here are some descriptions of the pictures.

One is of the mormon.org campaign in our window. I won't get to see it through all the way to the end because I'll probably be transferred but every week it has been really fun putting up new ones. The picture is from week one.

Another is from our sister missionary get together the Monday before Easter. It's of Sister Robb and I. She is one of the English sisters in the zone. We were the only ones to do polka dot eggs. It was really fun getting to spend some time with the other sisters.

Another is of my district. From left to right we have...Elder Reed, Elder Alvarado, Me, Hermana Williams, Elder Ruano, and Elder White. I love my district, they are all really awesome missionaries. I'll be sad to leave them when I get transferred (there is a high probability that this will happen in a couple of weeks).

The last one is of me and my companion with "C G". She is one of the Young Women in the ward and we've been working a lot with her family and some investigators that live at her house. She is an amazing girl.

We had the interesting experience of getting our apartment door knocked by an older gentleman out sharing a message of Christ for his church. I don't think he was expecting to find 2 Mormon missionaries :) It was really interesting to talk to him but we came away just feeling sad because we did our missionary thing and tried to invite him to pray about our message of a living prophet and modern revelation and he wouldn't do it. He negated the idea that there could be a true prophet and then also negated that many of the prophets in the bible were even prophets (like he said that Adam wasn't a prophet). I don't think he realized what he was saying to us. I'm grateful that I know without a doubt that God has always worked through prophets. Like the scriptures say He is "the same yesterday, today, and forever" If He called prophets before, He would do so again. And I love that as missionaries we don't ask people to take our word for it but we invite everyone to read the words of the prophets and then to pray to find out for themselves. It seems like such a simple process but I know that it is hard because when people pray to know that Joseph Smith was prophet and Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet and they receive an answer it means that they have to do something about it/change their way of thinking. And change is always hard....But isn't it worth it???

I'm grateful for all of your support and prayers. I love you and pray for you!!!

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Happy Easter!

Hi all,

 

I hope everyone had a terrific Easter sabbath! I had the opportunity to sing in church with one of the elders and my companion accompanying us. It was such an awesome experience. I felt the Spirit testiying so strongly through us. We sang "I know that my Redeemer lives" in Spanish, a version that you can find on the Especially for Youth CDs. Some of the members came up to us later and said that we had made them cry :) It was so good to be able to share our testimonies through song.

 

Funny/tragic story for the week....We were driving along to an appointment and the entire way we had this group of kids on bikes along side us. Well at one corner we stopped at the red light and one of the kids decided not to stop. You can imagine what happened next. A car pulled out in front of him and he ploughed right into the car. He rolled over the hood and flew to the pavement in front of her. He promptly hopped back up, took his bike to the side walk, and rode away. The woman driving the car was stunned and visibly angry. The kid left quite a large dent in her car. He did nothing about it and the other kids just left with him. My companion and I were also stunned by what happened.

Moral of the story: When riding your bikes watch out for moving vehicles and don't run red lights :)

 

This week I have had the opportunity to learn and feel a little more of the love that Heavenly Father has for all of his children. Early on in the week we met the teen-age daughter of one of our investigators. We had heard a lot about her and everything that is going on in her life. When you hear a lot about someone generally you build an image in your head of what you would expect them to be like, etc. She has gotten herself into a lot of bad situations that have resulted in her getting pregnant. We met her and it was not at all like I was expecting. But what was so amazing about that experience was that I felt so strongly the love that God has for her. Yes, she has made some huge mistakes but He still loves her and wants her to come back to the arms of his love. She is a great example to me of how you can never get too far from the love of God.

Well I'm short on time. I love you all. I know that Christ lives! He loves you.

 

Til next week :)

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Good Morning All

Good morning all,

This week was an unusual week because my companion and I were sick for a few days with the stomach flu. Not to worry though we are both now recovered and doing just fine. My poor companion got the worst of it though and it was not pretty.

 

..........

Conference was amazing! We got to watch all four sessions and it was such a nice time to be rejuvenated spiritually. I went having three topics/questions in mind that I was hoping would get talked about and all of them were talked about. One of the things that I wanted to learn more about was how I could be better directed by the spirit in my life and here are some of the things that I learned...

Humble prayer with real intent allows the spirit to touch our hearts (Elder Koelliker) 

When we yield to the will of the Lord the spirit is felt (Elder Koelliker) 

When we love the Lord we can have that power [of the Holy Ghost] (Elder Koelliker)

To enhance the spirit we must let all bitterness be stripped from us (Elder Soares)

Yielding to anger or hurt drives away the spirit (Elder Scott)

Having healthy bodies can help us understand the spirit (Elder Scott)

When we are thinking of others we can be more easily inspired (Elder Scott). 

Anyway, those are just a few and I could keep going. I just love that Lord hears our indivdual prayers and knows what we need to learn from conference.

Here are a few of my favorite things from conference....

"The feeling of love from our Heavenly Father is like a gravitational pull from Heaven." (Elder Koelliker)

"Don't delay....it's getting late" (Elder Holland)

"The difference between those who hear the music of faith and those who are tone deaf is the study of the scriptures" (Elder Cook)

"A perfect body is not required to attain a divine destiny" (Elder Rasband)

"Wherever you find yourself on the road of discipleship, you are on the right road!" (Elder Andersen)

 

Anyway, I'd love to hear some of your insights from conference.

 

Mom asked me some questions in her email so I'll try to answer some of those now...

 

First...what do I do on P-days....well we still have to get up at 6:30 am. My companion and I will generally role out of bed and then write letters because that seems to be the most productive time to do so. Then we'll write e-mail at 9 and grocery shop right after. The rest of the day depends on if there is a zone activity or not. My zone likes to do activities almost every Monday and if we feel like going we'll go. Today they are doing frisbee but we aren't going to that. Instead we and the other sisters are getting together to dye easter eggs. Then we have till 6pm to do whatever we feel like to doing. Clean the apartment, write more letters, sleep, etc. Then at 6 we have to start proselyting again.

 

Second...what's my area like....well I'm still in Canyon Country, the Santa Clarita 1st ward. The area is really nice. We have a mix of really expensive, really nice areas, and then really poor areas. But for the most part it is middle class single family homes/apartments. (Now granted more than one family, if Hispanic, lives in the apartment/home because it is SO expensive to live out here...a house like ours runs about half a million to 600,000). We work a lot in trailer parks and apartments because that's where most of the hispanics live. We are blessed in our area to have access to a variety of stores (Target, Walmart, Goodwill, and like 4 different grocery stores). There are TONS of people all over the place. Our companionship does all of the Spanish work in Canyon country and then we have 3 sets of English elders that cover our area. We're lucky in that they do a lot of knocking doors so they send us referrals of any Hispanics that would be interested.

 

Finally....food....I LOVE the food. Paposas, empanadas, enchiladas, pasole, alare some of my favorites. They also make delicious drinks like horchata, chicha morada, atole, etc. They also make drinks called aguas that you make with whatever fruit you want, a little water, and some sugar. They are so good. I've also come to really enjoy spicy food. I've come to really have a high tolerance for anything spicy. I've only had a few experiences with food that I did not like. One was with this boiled chicharron (pig skin)...that was not pleasant :( and the other was with shrimp cakes. (Basically pureed shrimp and egg, fried) Not good. I've had the fortune of not having to eat menudo yet (soup with cow stomach), it'll probably happen at some point but luckily not yet.

 

Anyway, if you have any other questions feel free to send them and I'll do my best to answer.

 

I love you all a lot,

 

Hermana Hansen