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