Hermana Juliet Hansen - Women in the Scriptures

Hello all,

 

This week I have felt really blessed by the Lord. We had the most lessons in one week that I've ever had since being on my mission. Our mission standard is 20 lessons a week and we managed to get 23!! I know that it had a lot to do with the Lord blessing us to find people at home and able to receive us. And at times we had experiences where the people were really really grateful that we had stopped by.

One such experience was with a girl named M(.........). Friday night we were deciding what we were going to do for Saturday and Hermana Williams was like "I feel like we need to go visit the V(.........) family." I was like okay, let's do it. So Saturday we swung by their house and it didn't look like they were home but we decided we would knock the door anyway. We said our prayer and pretty much as soon as we finished they drove up to the house. Miracle!!! Then we go over to talk to them and M(.....) was like "I'm so glad you're here. I was praying that someone would come and visit me!" We were able to visit with her and her mom for a little while and I feel like we were able to really help them that day. We talked about sharing the Gospel with people and we found out that M(.....) loves to share the Gospel with whoever she meets and so we gave her some Restoration pamphlets to help her out. We also talked about faith and building faith...I've been studying women in the scriptures and so we shared the story of the woman with the issue of blood. M(.....) loved it and she asked if we could help her understand the scriptures better. We told her that we would love to. When we left she just kept telling us how greatful she was that we had come over and that we were an answer to her prayer. It was so great that we could do that for her. The Lord really helped us know that she was in need and so we followed those promptings. I loved that experience this week!

 

So like I said I've been studying women in the scriptures. I started reading the New Testament and one day I decided that I would start writing down the women that are mentioned and why they are important. There is a line in my patriarchal blessing that says something along the lines of growing to love the women in the scriptures and I really feel like that is being fulfilled right now. As I read the New Testament my love for the Savior and these women grows every day. We all know the big names like Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Elisabeth, etc. But even the ones that have smaller roles to play are such great examples to me. Like the story of Anna in Luke chapter 2. It says that she "departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day." She is a great example of devotion to God. And because of her devotion she was able to see the Son of God. I love that story. I wish I had more time to share other stories because there are so many great women in the scriptures and we can learn so much from them.

 

Well I'm almost out of time.

 

I hope you all know that I love you A LOT!!

 

Have a terrific week.

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - 6 months on the mission ........

Good grief Juliet has been gone 6 months already. The time has passed quickly. Here is part of her e-mail sent earlier this week.

....and I'm tired. Haha. Such is life as a missionary :) Tired for good reasons though.

 

This week taught me a lot about the importance of serving your companion. We had one of those experiences where the little things about each other started to bug us. We talked about it all and we've resolved those things and we're back to being good friends. But Saturday night I was sitting on the couch and I was praying "Lord I really want to love my companion. Help me know what to do so I can love her again." And immediately the idea came that I needed to serve her. I didn't have a ton of time that night to do something big but I put away the dishes and I straightened up the living room and then wrote her a note and put it on her desk. After that I felt better knowing that I had done something that would help her feel better in the morning. I know that this is something that will help me throughout the rest of my mission and the rest of my life. I know that as I try harder to serve my companion in little ways every day, our relationship will be so much stronger and we will have the Spirit with us more. So that is my new goal for the rest of my mission...What can I do every day to serve my companion?

 

Yesterday, my district ended the transfer on a high note with a baptism. One of the sets of Elders had a baptism for a 9 year old named Sebastian whose mom and sisters are all members. There was such love during that baptism and the whole ward was so supportive. It was really a testament of how our district really has been blessed this transfer. 4 baptisms!!!

I know that these blessings have come from our renewed determination to be more obedient. I've really come to have a strong testimony of the scripture Mosiah 2:41...

 

"And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

 

I know that to be true. As a missionary...in life in general...as I strictly keep the mission rules and the commandments of God I will be blessed in all things.

 

I love you all and I'm grateful for your support.

 

Con amor,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Finding People at McDonalds :)

Part of the e-mail Juliet sent us this week.

This week was good. We are still trying to find new investigators and we had a really interesting experience at McDonald's that led to two new investigators, ............... We had met up with a member for breakfast on Saturday to teach her granddaughter. We were sitting talking and this lady, .......... , keeps looking over at us. Basically staring at my companion. So Hermana Williams finally says hi to her and ............  says "how do you know Spanish so well?" So Hna G........ says "come on over and join us." So she sits with us and we chat about how we're missionaries and Hna G....... shares a story about how her granddaughter was healed by a blessing, etc. It was a really good conversation, which led to us getting an appointment to visit with them on Sunday. Well we had a lesson with them and it was awesome!! (.............) shared with us her story of how she got to be in the states and it was extremely powerful. As she was sharing the story the Holy Ghost pretty much filled the room. It was such a testament to me of how the Lord has prepared this lady to hear the Gospel. The things that have happened in her life have really helped her draw closer to God and want to do his will. When she said that she only wanted to do the will of God we smiled because all we really ask people to do is find out the will of God and do it (through reading the Book of Mormon, praying, etc.) I'm so excited to get to work with her!

 

That was the coolest thing to happen this week. We're still working on a lot of reactivation. We've looked at all the members in our area and we have a list of 50 families and 25 of them are inactive. We have a lot of work to do in our area.

Hermana Juliet Hansen - We Had a Baptism

(Most of last weeks contact from Juliet was family oriented hence no up-date.)

This week was awesome!!! We had a couple of miracles that I would like to share with you.

The first obviously by the subject is that we had a baptism. Our investigator (...........) was baptised on Saturday. I haven't mentioned him much so here is a little bit about him. He is 14 years old and he comes from a family with a bunch of members. His mom and brother are members but currently inactive and his extended family are active members. In December of last year his younger sister was blessed in a Sacrament meeting and afterwards he asked his mom why he had never been baptised or had the opportunity to learn about the church. So we were given their names. We started teaching him in mid January and every lesson that we had he just embraced whole heartedly. And every time we would talk about his baptism he would be super excited. Well his baptism was amazing. All of his family was there, even some from Utah, and they were so happy that he was finally getting baptised. One of the uncle's told us that this was a moment they had all been waiting for. It was so beautiful to see how much love and support (........) has from his family. And because of his example we really feel like his mom is going to come back to full activity and that possibly her fiance will want to take the lessons too. We actually went over to their house Saturday evening and we were talking to his mom who told us that she had given up drinking coffee that week. We were blown away. That is a testament to me that one person can have such a big influence on others. I feel really blessed that I've been able to get to know this family and be a part of such a wonderful experience for them.

Last night we actually got a call from President M saying he was so happy that we had a baptism. He actually sounded giddy that we are having success. (............) baptism was the first in our ward in 3-4 months so I guess he has every right to be pleased. And in the course of 2 weeks each companionship will have had a baptism. We had one Saturday, the bike elders had one on Sunday, and the car elders are going to have one next Sunday. The Lord is really blessing us for all our efforts.

The other miracle this week was a girl named (.......). I've mentioned before that we are working on organizing our area. Part of that has been following up on some referrals to make sure they are as updated as possible. Well we contacted her on Tuesday and she invited us back for Wednesday and this is what she told us...

Last summer she had gone to visit her aunt in Salt Lake City. They had gone to the temple and she loved it. She felt such a peace there that she hadn't felt in a long time. Because of that experience she requested missionary visits. And she has been waiting since last July for missionaries to come knock on her door. She didn't know when they would come so every night she and her mom (who is inactive) would read the Book of Mormon and pray together. Waiting and waiting and waiting....

We were stunned that no missionaries had visited her until us. She is so incredibly prepared to learn about the Gospel. We taught her the first lesson and it was like she was glowing because of how happy she was. And we extended her a baptismal date and she was so excited to know that she could get baptised. I don't know why missionaries didn't visit her before but I know that the Lord works in mysterious ways. There is a reason why we found her and no one else did. I'm excited to get to know her and her family better and help her progress in the Gospel. And one day we will know why it had to be us to find her.

Well that's the news for this week. Oh, I finished the Doctrine and Covenants in English. That was such a cool experience. I'm now working on the Pearl of Great Price. I've learned a ton as I've worked my way through the scriptures.

I love you all and hope you are doing well.

Til next week,

Hermana Hansen

Photos below are from Juliet's email last week.