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

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.

Hermana Juliet Hansen - I Love Life

Hello all,

 

So my first week with my new companion has been awesome. Granted we are working really hard to mesh our teaching styles because we are both very strong personalities but we both really want to make it work and we've seen much success because of how hard we are working together. We are currently in a massive overhaul of our area books because we really want our area to be more organized. So we have lists and lists of people that we are trying to contact so we can update teaching records. Every day is something different and I love that we are now doing knocking with a purpose. Instead of knocking a whole building we knock one apartment with the purpose of trying to find someone that had contact with the missionaries before. We've had a lot more success finding potential investigators that way. And we randomly knocked into the English elders that way too :)

I really feel like the area is coming back to life and that we are going to be seeing a lot more success.

 

Speaking of success....we are going to have a baptism in 2 weeks if everything goes according to plan. We are so excited!! His name is (......)  and we had been thinking that he was going to get baptised in March but then yesterday we talked to his mom and she was like "all of our family is coming down the weekend of the 25th of February could we do the baptism then?" Well if the bishop says yes and (.....) passes his interview and goes to church this weekend then Saturday the 25th he will be baptised. I can't wait!!

Also, this weekend Hermana Williams and I are going to go down to the valley to see one of her old investigators get baptised. I'm really excited about that because it will be the first baptism I'll have attended on my mission.

 

This week we had the really awesome experience of setting a baptismal date with our investigator (........) I've mentioned her before. We set a date for March 18th. We really feel that because she has the date the Lord sees that she has faith in him and will make it possible for her to get baptised on that day. She and (......)  need to get married but we promised her that because of her faith the Lord would bless her to be able to get married. So today we are meeting with her and the family and hopefully we can commit (him) to be baptised that day too and talk a little more about how to get the ball rolling with their wedding.

 

We also have some amazing member referrals that we are going to meet with this week. One of them happens to live in the same home as the members so we're really excited to get to teach them. And they both already came to church this week before we had taught them the first lesson. I just love the power that member support of investigators has.

 

To end this email I would just like to share this funny quote from a member, that really has nothing to do with missionary work.

 

"This is so greasy it looks like lipgloss on my fingers!"

 

I love you all and I hope everyone has a terrific week.

 

Con amor,

 

Hermana Juliet Hansen 

Hermana Juliet Hansen - I'm getting a new companion

(This e-mail was received on Monday. Please excuse the delay in posting it here.)

Hello all,

 

Well today is transfer day. And most of the Spanish sisters are going to descend upon my apartment to do a massive companion switch at around 2 pm. Hermana White is headed to San Fernando and I'll be staying here in Santa Clarita. My new companion is going to be Hermana Williams. I'm excited to have her as a companion. I've met her a couple of times and I know that we'll get along really well. What's funny is that Hermana White and Hermana Williams were actually companions before, in the MTC and for one transfer in the field. I'm excited to see what I learn from her.

 

So funny story...earlier this past week we tried to go visit one of our investigators R........ Well she ended up not being at home. Near her house is a road sign that happens to have the same name as Hermana White's brother ....... Well after we found out that R..... wasn't home Hermana White asked if we could go take a picture of the sign. So we parked the car using the head lights to give us as much light as possible (it was night time). We were trying to get a picture to work when this lady comes out of her house in her bathrobe asking us what we were doing. So we told her we were taking a picture to send to Hna White's brother. She was super suspicious of us. Well I try to take another picture of Hna White standing under the sign and the woman says, "But why does she have to be tied up?"......huh?....."Ma'am she's not tied up!" And she starts asking us other questions like do we live around her, etc. Well the picture wasn't turning out so I'm like Hna White let's just go. We laughed so hard in the car. I don't know what she thought we were doing but how suspicious she was really amazes me.

 

Also this week I found the scripture that really describes my time in Santa Clarita. It's D&C 64:33, "be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great." We haven't been having a ton of success lately especially with finding new investigators and getting our current investigators to keep commitments but after I read that scripture I knew that every effort that we are making is worth it. It may not feel like we are successful especially numbers wise but everything we do is for a purpose and we are just planting seeds and laying foundations. Those things need to be done first before we can see success/great things. So I will continue knocking doors, working with less actives, asking for referrals, etc and hopefully everything that I'll have done in this area will help future missionaries have more success. And each small step that we take in the work will ultimately lead to something great.

 

Take care,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Transfer 2 is coming to a close !!!

So earlier this morning I was talking to my companion and I was like I have no idea what I'm going to write in my email home. And then we got to talking and we have had good experiences this week. Sometimes it's a little hard to remember them because everyday we knock and we knock and we knock and knock some more. So by the end of this week it felt like that's all we did.

 

Tuesday we had a really great sisters training given by Sister Martin. She talked a lot about the parable of the 10 virgins and how we need to be prepared like the 5 wise virgins. It was a really great training. At the end of the training President and Sister Martin talked a little bit about how they met and their engagement story. They are such a funny couple. Basically they met at BYU and President likes to say that she just flew into his arms. She was running away from a guy who was going to throw her into a pool and she ran into President's apartment saying "SAVE ME!" while locking the door behind her. Then for their first date he had asked her out for a Saturday to his mission reunion and he couldn't wait to go out with her and so he called her up and asked her out for Thursday as well. She was like "What if we don't like each other after Thursday? Am I going to have to suffer through a date on Saturday too if the one on Thursday doesn't go well???" Well the date went well, obviously. Their engagement story is funny because President completely botched it. Instead of saying will you marry me he said something like Gemmie what am I going to do with you? And the conversation continued something like this "well I don't know what are you going to do?" "I think I'll throw you to the dogs..." huh is that what he thinks of me!?! "...no I think I'll keep you." "For how long?" "Forever." And that's how they left it. And she didn't say yes or anything for 2 days. And when she did it was in a note that she sent to his apartment through her roommate. And he took so long getting to her place after she sent the note that she thought he had changed his mind. Well he didn't change his mind and obviously they have lived happily ever after. It was so cute to hear their story and it was so easy to see how much they love each other. And you're probably like what does this have to do with a sisters training. Well one of the things they talked about was marriage after the mission and one of the sisters asked how they knew they had found the one. And it launched into their story.

 

I don't know if I've ever told you all about this family we are teaching. I may have mentioned them when we found them back in November. So this family, is seriously like my ray of sunshine in our investigator pool. We found out two lessons ago that they weren't married and so we knew that our next lesson would have to be the Law of Chastity. Well the next lesson he wasn't home so we had to do a different lesson but finally this last week we were able to teach them together. I wasn't sure how it was going to go but it turned out to be the most comfortable, spirit led lesson about the law of Chastity ever. We asked if they had ever considered getting married and they were like we would have gotten married a long time ago if it weren't for some things that need to get sorted out. So they've basically been living like a married couple for years hoping that one day the problems will work out and they can finally get married. When (........)  heard that they couldn't get baptised until they got married you could tell that she was disappointed. And it's not like they could take the other option and live separately because they have a lot of kids to take care of. But I know that eventually they will be able to get married and then ultimately get baptised. They have such a desire to learn and do everything to help their family be more united. We asked (.......)  at the end of the lesson if he had prayed to know if these things were true and he said yes but that he hadn't received his answer but he's seen signs that maybe it's true. And one of those signs was the Law of Chastity!!! I love that family so much and I come away from evey lesson feeling so happy and uplifted.

 

Anyway, I don't have much time left. It's a lot of hard work right now and sometimes it can be discouraging when you knock doors for 2 hours and you don't find anyone. But then when we do find someone it's such a sweeter experience. And guess who we met this week knocking doors...Christopher Columbus :) He still exists...hahahaha.

 

Love you all.

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Update

Hello all,

 

This week was a great week. The Lord really provided for us and for the first time in a few weeks we were able to achieve almost all of the goals that we had set at the beginning of the week.

 

So this week a few great things happened.

 

First, I finished the Book of Mormon in English!!!! You know how I told you that one of my goals this year was to read the Book of Mormon in both English and Spanish. Well I accomplished half of that goal already. I started in September when I entered the MTC and I finished January 18th. And I really wanted to take Moroni's promise again so that I could say to my investigators that I have done what they need to do and that I know that I've received my witness. Well the morning I finished I just got on my knees by the couch and I prayed to have that confirming witness that the Book of Mormon is true. It was such a great experience to have because it was like I just felt this overwhelming feeling of love for the Book of Mormon. I felt so much gratitude to have it in my life. And for me that was my reaffirmation that the Book of Mormon is true. And I shared that experience with some of our investigators that same night and I really feel like it helped them know that they will get an answer to their prayer. I've always known that the Book of Mormon is true, I've never doubted that. And know I have this experience that really solidifies my testimony that the Book of Mormon is true.

 

Second, We got two more investigators to commit to baptism. One is a 14 year old boy whose mom and grandparents are members. He was never baptised but his older brother was. Well in December his little sister was blessed and he started to wonder why he was never taught those things. So he went up to his mom and asked what he needed to do to be baptised. We met with him on Friday and we talked about the Book of Mormon and coming to know for himself that all of these things are true. He just seems so excited to learn everything. And if everything goes well with talking to his grandpa, going to church, and praying about the date, he is going to get baptised the 5th of February. 

The other is a man named (.......). He was an investigator a couple of times in the past but he never really progressed because it was next to impossible to find him. Well it's still pretty hard to find him but when we have it's been a miracle. He has such an amazing spirit about him. He has a deep desire to really know for himself if these things are true. He's been reading the Book of Mormon and he already likes what he is reading. I'm so excited for him to continue to progress. Hopefully this week he will pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true and be able to attend church. And if everything goes well for him, he will be baptised February 26th.

 

There were so many other good things that happened but I'm lacking in time to share all those stories. Just know that we are working hard and enjoying ourselves at the same time. Imagine a fashion show at a Relief Society activity of a whole bunch of different hats representing things about Visiting Teaching. Then imagine one of the sisters wearing a huge hat that looked like a rooster and another sister wearing a hat that looked like a beehive. (I wore a leprechaun hat). It was super fun(ny)!

 

Love you all!!

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Exchanges!!

My companion and I are in the process of rebuilding our investigator pool. This means that we do a lot of knocking doors and contacting people. Some days it is really hard but I know that soon the Lord will reward us for our labors. We just have to keep working hard and praying every day to be led by the spirit.

 

So the best experience of this week happened during exchanges on Thursday. So last week I told you that we have a baptismal date with our investigator (......). Well that is really tentative and that experience was not nearly as cool as the one on Thursday. 

So thursday I was up in Palmdale with Hermana Stander. One of the lessons that we had was with a girl named (......). She is (..) years old and she lives with her grandparents, her aunt, and like 14 cousins. Her grandparents and aunt are actually members but have not gone to church in about 8 years. Ever since (.......) met the missionaries about 4 weeks ago she had been taking the lessons and going to church all by herself. On Thursday we watched the movie "The Restoration" with her and talked a little bit about the Young Womens program because she went for the first time on Wednesday. After our little discussion we talked about how to be a member we have to be baptised. So we asked her if she would be baptised on the 12th of February. And she said YES!! And she was so excited! It was like she could hardly contain her smile. And I was so excited for her. 

She's not my investigator but it was so exciting to see for the first time someone who is so excited to get baptised and be a member of the church. AND miracle of miracles because of her example her aunt and several of her cousins went to church on Sunday. And now 4 of her cousins are taking the discussons. It's so awesome!

 

And we also had one of our families come to church on Sunday. They missed Sacrament meeting but eventhough they were late they still came for Sunday School and Relief Society. That was so exciting when we saw them there.

 

Anyway, that's about all the time I have for today. But I want to share this scripture with you... Alma 36:26. I love this scripture. Next to it I have written "how to be an effective missionary...have you tasted, seen, and known?" So something to think about is how have you tasted, seen, and known that the gospel is true? And how have you shared that knowledge with others? It's really cool that the scriptures compare gaining a testimony/spiritual experiences to the senses.

 

I hope you enjoy that scripture.

 

I love you all and know that I pray for you always.

 

Till next week,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Awesome conversion story and a baptismal date !

Hi everyone!!

  

This week was a little slow but I can't expect every week to be jam packed. We did a lot of knocking doors and trying to track down less actives and old investigators. I guess you can call it success when you learn that they've moved, then you can redirect your focus a little bit. Though it would be awesome if we could know where they moved to so we could send other missionaries to their homes. Sometimes we get lucky with that.

This week I met a really inspiring lady. Her name is (.......) and she is in her late 60's/early 70's. We met her because she had referred her daughter to us, asking for a blessing. We arrive at her house and her daughter isn't there yet (and neither are the elders) so she starts to tell us about how she came to know the church. 

About 3 years ago, she and her family had just moved into their house in Canyon Country when one Sunday morning she woke up and decided that she needed to go to church. She said that it didn't matter what church, any church would do. So she decided that she would either walk two blocks to the left or two blocks to the right and the first person she met she would ask about where she could find the nearest church. She started walking and she saw this man holding what looked like scriptures, putting stuff in his car. So she went up to him and asked where they were going. They happened to be LDS and his wife said they were going to church and she asked if (........) wanted to join them. She said yes, she would. So the family said they would pick her up in 15 minutes. She went home to change (she saw the wife wearing a skirt). She had no idea where to find a skirt (since they had just moved) but miraculously there happened to be one sitting on the back of a chair. The family picked her up. She went to church, not knowing much English, but happy to go anyway. She enjoyed what she saw and felt. She got baptised and since then hasn't missed a single Sunday. And because of her example her granddaughter was baptised just a short while ago.

She is such a great example to me of the converting power of the Holy Ghost. She didn't understand much English and to this day she only understands about 75% of what is said but she felt that what was being said was true and thus wanted to be a part of it. Her story, to me, is one of those amazing conversion stories that you don't hear very often. I'm grateful to have met her and hopefully I'll get to see her again in the future.

In other news... Hermana White and I have a tentative baptismal date set for one of our investigators, (.......), for the 12th of February. She's a great lady and we're excited that she wants to be baptised. I'll have to tell you more about her when I have more time because I don't have time (now) to tell you sufficiently about her.

Oh and we are doing exchanges this week. On Thursday I get to go up to Palmdale. I'm super excited. I'll let you know how it goes.

Have a terrific week.

Love you all,

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Happy 2012

(I have been a tardy mom regarding posting J's e-mail for this week. My apologies for that.)

Happy New Year all,

 

This week was by far so much better for missionary work than the week before Christmas. Investigators were more willing to receive us. When we knocked doors people weren't busy with family visits. Granted New Year's eve was hard to contact people but for the most part we had success.

 

So this week I started something new with my reading of the scriptures in English. I decided that I'm going to underline every time the scriptures mention a part of the gospel of Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end). I've assigned each topic a specific color. I've really enjoyed doing this. It's kind of been like a treasure hunt. I've found that after I started doing that every morning I'd wake up and I couldn't wait to read some more of the Book of Mormon and every night before I go to bed I want to read some more, basically because I want to continue to find times when these things are mentioned. It's been amazing how quickly the pages go by as I'm really focused on the words so I don't miss an instance. Before I started underlining these words I'd read the scriptures in English and I'd only feel like I could read one or two chapters at a time but now I have this immense desire to keep reading and reading. Sometimes it's hard to stop.

But here's what I've found so far...from Alma 1- 36 (granted I skimmed the first 10 chapters of Alma because I had already read them before I started underlining)

Faith...54 times

Repentance...82 times

Baptism...16 times

Gift of the Holy Ghost... 4 times

Endure to the End... 3 times

 

I've learned something from how many times repentance is mentioned in these chapters. This is mainly when Alma and the sons of Mosiah are out doing missionary work. And there is a scripture that talks about how a missionary is to "cry nothing but repentance unto this generation". Well by underlining these words I've come to see just how much Alma, Ammon, etc. are truly fulfilling their purpose as missionaries. That's pretty much all they did, was bring people to repentance. Awesome! This also shows me just how important repentance is to the Lord. Really seeing how much it is mentioned in the scriptures is helping remind me that I need to repent every day and so I've become a lot better about doing that.

 

Anyway, that was probably the most interesting/significant thing that happened to me this week. I got creative with my scripture study. So my question for the week is... What can you do to be more creative with your scripture study? I know that studying the scriptures in a slightly different way has really helped me have a greater desire to read every day and I find my study a lot more enjoyable.

Have fun with your scripture study this week!!

 

Also, tonight we are going to find out if our investigator (......)  got a response to his prayer about being baptised on the 15th. Pray for us that he'll commit to that date. I'll let you know how it goes in next weeks email.

 

Love you all,

 

Hermana Hansen

 

p.s. Don't forget those hand written letters :) Oh and I'm also asking people to share with me their favorite scriptures. So what's yours?

Hermana Juliet Hansen - I love being a missionary

This is part of the e-mail we received last week. With everything else that was going on I did not get round to posting it. We had a wonderful phone conversation with Juliet on Christmas Day for about 40 minutes. She loves where she is at and we are grateful that she is enjoying her mission and that she is learning so much from the people around her.

.........So this week I want to share with you some interesting/fun stories. For the most part all of my other emails have been more spiritual so I'm going to shake it up a bit. I'm going to share with you two stories...

First, a tale of epic miscommunication...

         Hermana White has kind of put me in charge of the phone. So I make a lot of the phone calls and answer the phone, especially when she's driving. Last weekend we called one of the less active members to see if we could visit her. She said that she was busy working so I asked if she was going to be able to come to church on Sunday. She again said that she would be working. So I asked if we could send someone by to pick up her kids. She then starts to tell me that her kids have gone back to Mexico to live with their dad. This is what I heard anyway and I didn't really think anything of it. But then I tell Hermana White and she starts freaking out because apparently the dad is really awful and it was going to undo all of the progress that (.......) had made over the past little while. So Saturday, Sunday, and Monday we go over to her house frequently to try and visit her because we are extremely concerned. Well, Tuesday afternoon we go over to her apartment and the other people that live there tell us that she's not there. And they say that she's gone to pick up the kids from the bus. Huh? As we walk back to the car who should we run into but (......)  and her daughter! We walk back with her to her apartment and Hermana White tells her that we thought her kids had gone to Mexico. Her face was like "Are you crazy!? How would you ever come up with an idea like that?" So I'm left super confused about how I could so completely misunderstand what she said to me on the phone. I mean I'm still learning Spanish but I can, for the most part, understand it pretty well. So yeah...I just about gave my companion a heart attack, one of the less actives thinks I'm a little crazy, but at least we managed to avert an international CPS crisis.

Second, a tale of how I'll never be able to eat lamb again...

        A couple of Saturdays ago we had the opportunity to help out with one of the YW's quincinera (15th birthday). Basically, huge/expensive party with a ton of food and lots of dancing that takes months to plan. Anyway, one of the other brothers in the ward offers to make the food for the party. So he gets a 220 pound lamb! (We walked into his apartment with all of the fresh meat sitting on his kitchen table. That was weird.) And he makes barbacoa with the lamb. Basically you cook the lamb in a big metal trashcan with water and banana leaves (?). Well we go over to this family's house to see if we can help out and we get left to baby sit this meat for over an hour. Initially it smelled so good and the hermano let us try some and it was delicious. But after smelling the same thing for an hour and then going and carving the meat for an hour or so and then serving it and then having your hands, your hair, your jacket, everything, smell like lamb...you kind of never want to eat it again. Oh man, that party was something else. But you want to know what is even crazier. The mom of the birthday girl went to the hospital a couple days before and they still had the party. Then last week she goes to the hospital again and it turns out that she had had a stroke!! I don't know how she was able to function at this party but that is some devotion and love for your daughter.

I hope you enjoyed those stories. Not only is the mission very spiritual but you also get some pretty crazy stories to go with it.

We had our Christmas concert for the stake this weekend and it was amazing. And guess who our narrator was...Kirby Heybourne (the actor from the singles ward and the Best Two Years). The music reminded me so much of our stake and I'm glad to hear that all of your concerts have gone well.

Love you all,

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Miracles Do Happen

Hello all,

 

I hope you are doing well. I got the birthday card. Thank you so much. Also, thank you for sending ......

So the Christmas season is upon us. I just have a couple of requests for Christmas presents ........  That's really all I want but you're welcome to throw in some surprises if you like. I'm so grateful for all the support you give me and I'm so grateful to be able to serve the Lord especially at this time of year.

 

So the subject line this week is Miracles do happen. I really have seen this happen in little ways since I've been out in the field. But I really saw this happen yesterday. I don't know if I've mentioned in my past emails a couple, I..... and I...... Well they are a really special couple with a really cute daughter. (She) is a less active member and (he) is investigating the church. We've been struggling to get them to come to church, for one reason or another, work or they slept in etc. Saturday we had a really great lesson with them with the help of some members about the Word of Wisdom and I..... told us that she would try to come to church with her daughter but I.... said he needed to work. Much to our shock and great pleasure, who should wander into the chapel but (he) in the flesh. It was so amazing and exciting to see him there. And not only was he there but he participated in Sunday School and Priesthood. 

I.... (she) offered to help the sisters with preparations for our Christmas party. Their daughter J..... loved Primary. I really feel like a miracle has happened for this family. And I hope that coming to church has helped him have more of a desire to set a baptismal date. Every day that I'm out here and things like that happen my testimony of miracles is strengthened. I know that they happen and that all we have to do is be willing to recognize them. 

So my question for you this week is what miracles have you seen in your life this week? If you have had some, write them down, so you won't forget them.

 

Sorry that the email this week is short but know that I love you all and I pray for you often.

God loves you and knows your needs.

 

With much love,

 

Hermana Hansen

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

Hello all,

 

Can you believe that it's December already? It's a little hard to believe that it's almost Christmas when it's been 70 degrees out here.

 

So a couple of things first... (could you ......)

And, I got the package that the Relief Society sisters sent. It was awesome. I'll be writing a letter to them all.

 

Okay, so I did have the opportunity to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional last night and it was amazing. I really loved the videos that they shared about the birth of Christ. They were spectacular. I really loved all of the talks but at one point someone said something about giving the gift of Christ. I feel like that is what I am doing as a missionary. And it is probably the best gift that anyone could receive or give. The knowledge that they have a personal savior, who knows every need that they have, every sorrow that they've ever experienced. So often people don't recognize that they need this in their lives but we as missionaries (even member missionaries) have the opportunity to show them that they do need Christ in their life and their life will be so much better for it. I feel like this is what Christmas is truly about, giving people hope and bringing light into their lives. 

 

Along with that idea, Sunday morning we had a meeting with the Stake presidency, Mission president, Ward mission leaders, and all the full time missionaries in our stake to talk about the state of missionary work in our area. We talked a lot about what we could do to improve. What I took away from that meeting was the importance of getting to know your neighbors. That we need to become their friends first and invite them over for dinner, play games, talk, etc before we invite them to listen to the missionaries. I think as members we have this fear to share the gospel with our friends because we don't want to be rejected or any other multitude of reasons. But in this meeting I learned that sharing the gospel becomes so much easier when we have a LOVE of God and a LOVE of others. And we can develop those things through fasting and prayer. Also we can develop this desire to get to know our neighbors and share our love for the savior when we ask ourselves this question "Have I seen the image/countenance of the Savior in my friends?" When we see the Savior in our friends we want them to feel of His love like we do, we want them to know Him like we do.

 

So my challenge for all of you this Christmas season is to get to know your neighbors better. And then to pray and fast at least one day this month for an opportunity to share the Gospel with a neighbor or a friend. Give the gift of Christ. Will you accept this challenge?

 

I love you all with all my heart. And I'm grateful for all of your prayers and support. I know that Christ lives and loves us.

 

Hermana Hansen

 

Hermana Juliet Hansen - The work is marching forward

Hello all,

 

First off, I wish you (Mom and Dad) the best of luck with all of the concerts that you have coming up this week. I'm sure they will be fantastic.

I'm glad to hear that you all enjoyed your visit with Grandma Hansen. I'm sure she really enjoyed the visit too. 

Thanksgiving as a missionary is different. We basically do everything that we would on a normal day, tract, teach, etc. BUT we get fed a lot. We had two dinner appointments that day (the elders had 3) and they were back to back. One at 5 and one at 6. Had they been spaced out a little bit more it would have been okay but because they were one right after the other it was so hard. (..........) So many things, it's hard for me to remember them all. Anyway, by the time we were finished at the second meal I was so full that when I laughed it hurt so bad. Delicious food but oh man it was a lot.

 

Okay story of the week. We have a car but each month we are only allotted a certain amount of miles that we can drive. Well, for various reasons by last Friday we were down to about 100 miles left that we could use for the month. So we've been doing a lot of walking recently. From the experiences we had on Saturday I know that the Lord has really been blessing us for our willingness to try to be obedient with the number of miles and still wanting to work hard. 

Saturday we decide to look for some of the less actives that live really close by our house. We had a list of about 10. If you were to look at the list alone you would think that we had an awful day because only one of the people on the list was actually at home. But things happened as we were walking that only could have happened because we weren't using the car. 

We randomly ran into an old investigator that we had previously tried to look for as we were walking on the main road. We now have an appointment to teach him. 

We got lost in an upscale trailer park for like an hour before we found the house that we were looking for. The family that we were looking for wasn't at home but as we were headed out of the area we met a wonderful man, ........, who is so open to the Gospel and is willing to listen to the missionaries. We had to refer him to the English missionaries but I really hope that good things come out of that even though we can't teach him. 

Then as we were searching for the last name on our list right before we needed to leave for our dinner appointment we met two men, a father and his son, as they were walking home who actually lived in Orem Utah for a while, of all places. The son let us come into his home and meet his family and they are interested in learning more about what we believe. And surprisingly his wife had met with the missionaries before when she was really young. We have an appointment with them as well this week. 

I know that all of these people we met were not really because of us but because we were willing to be tools in the Lords hands and really the Lord put these people in our path. I know that He can do this for any one not just missionaries. Maybe all we need to do is shake up our routine a little bit (like walking instead of driving everywhere).

 

I love you all and know that you are in my prayers always,

 

Hermana Hansen

 

"We are all enlisted" -Jeffrey R. Holland (love this talk A LOT!!)