Hermana Juliet Hansen - Last Preparation Day in the MTC

Hello all,

 

So before I forget here are my travel plans for next Wednesday when I head to the field.

 

I am going to be flying on Delta Air Lines. It leaves Salt Lake airport at 8:39 am and gets to the Burbank, CA airport at 9:42 am. I have to leave the MTC at 5 am and I'll probably arrive at the airport at or a little after 6 am. We are allowed to call home and talk to our families for about 30 minutes once we are through security at the airport. (.......................)

This week was for the most part a really great week.

 

Last week I forgot to tell you about the experience I had hosting some of the new missionaries on Wednesday. But that was probably a good thing because I got to host again this week too. Hosting is super fun. You have to be in your second to last week or last week of your time at the MTC and then you get sent a letter in the mail saying that your district has been selected to host the new missionaries. Some of my friends here had really hilarious experiences when they hosted (my friend Elder B, his first missionary got lost, and because of that they changed how hosting is done). I assume they eventually found that missionary. Unfortunately, well I guess fortunately, I had really normal experiences as a host. All of the sisters that I hosted were really excited to be here, they weren't too overwhelmed with all the information, weren't showing any obvious signs of being homesick or anything. Last week I hosted a sister going to Arizona and a sister going to Portugal. This week I hosted another sister going to Arizona and a sister going to Oklahoma. All of them seemed liked really sweet sisters with really strong testimonies. My host was really amazing when I got to the MTC so I hope I was as helpful for these sisters as she was for me.

 

So Mom and Dad, a couple of nights ago I had an experience where I became even more grateful for the kind of people you are and how supportive you are of all of your children. Basically, one of my roommates was going through a hard time and she was expressing how unsupportive her family is and it made me realize that maybe I never express how grateful I am for you enough. So thank you a billion times over for all that you do. You are amazing parents and great examples and I wouldn't be who I am without you.

 

Okay, so spiritual experience. We have workshops every Wednesday evening and generally they are just okay but the past two weeks have been pretty awesome. This week we had a workshop on the restoration and how it relates to our purpose as missionaries (invite others to come unto Christ and receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end). Well at one point in the lesson the teacher asked us to write down how the restoration had impacted your life. So I thought about it and I came to the realization that basically my entire life is heavily impacted by the restoration of the Gospel. Had there not been a restoration my parents probably never would have met. I would not be on a mission right now. Probably wouldn't have gone to BYU. And if none of those things hadn't have happened I wouldn't have met a lot of the people that are really dear to me. It is a testament that God really does know what every person needs in their life and so orchestrates things in a way that everything works out as it should. And everything I know and have experienced can basically be traced back to the restoration of the gospel. So my question for you to ponder is, how has the restoration fo the gospel impacted your life.

 

I love you all so much and I can't wait to talk to you all next week.

 

Love,

 

Hermana Hansen 

Hermana Juliet Hansen - And the countdown begins .... 13 days!

Hello all,

 

I don't have a lot of time because of some computer problems that ate away at my time but here are a few tidbits.

 

This week was pretty awesome.

 

Sunday we had the opportunity to hear from Elaine S. Dalton during Relief Society. She is an amazing woman and I learned that she is actually really competitive and likes to run a lot with her family. Well, she shared with us an experience she had while running with her husband. She said that she normally doesn't run with him because he is a lot faster than she is and she doesn't like to lose to him. Well one day they were running and they get to this hill and she says to herself, "I am good on hills. He is not...I can beat him up this hill" She said that she was doing well for a little while and then all of a sudden at about halfway he shoots right past her. She wasn't too happy about that so she yelled to her husband, "Honey, I'm going to turn around now and wait for you in the car." Her husband then turns around, runs back, grabs her hand, and says, "Don't you know you never make the decision to turn around in the middle of a hill?" And they finished running the hill together. She then said that at the top of the hill she was able to witness one of the most beautiful sunrises she has ever seen. She told us that this is like life. When we are in the middle of a trial we should never decide to turn around at that point. If we push forward and continue to the end we will be so richly rewarded. I was so amazed by her words and am really grateful that she shared that experience. I know that if we push through our trials we will ultimately come out better people in the end and the Lord will bless us for our efforts.

 

Monday we had the opportunity to eat lunch with the MTC president, President Brown. Whenever he eats lunch with a district he always quizzes them on their knowledge of the scriptures, specifically the Book of Mormon. Well what often happens is that the districts feel like they've been out through the ringer BUT I can honestly tell you that we managed to come out of that lunch having impressed President Brown with our scriptural knowledge. He asked us to tell him our favorite part of the Book of Mormon, 10 scriptures that are about the Atonement, and the 3 prophets that talk about the second spiritual death. The elders in my district were amazing in their knowledge of the scriptures. And I am determined that one day I will be as knowledgeable about the scriptures as President Brown.

 

I love you all,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - 3 weeks to go!!

Hello all,

 

It is so crazy to think that I'm going to be in the field in a mere three weeks. Scary, huh? How time flies when you are serving the Lord.

 

So a little funny story. The Elders in my district are pretty hilarious. Sometimes it can get a lot distracting but for the most part it's not to bad. Well last night at dinner was one of the funnier occasions but also it got a little out of hand. On occasion, we like to joke about how Elder Lasitani has eaten horse before. And so somehow that came up last night along with other crazy things that we might eat. Well we got talking about dogs. The conversation went as follows...

 

E. Lasitani: I miss my dog

Me: Oh what kind of dog did you have

E. Palmer: Medium rare

Everyone: loud laughter

E. Kane: This is getting out of hand...

E. Palmer: At what point does it become "loud laughter"?

Me: Well that's something you'll just have to ask God now isn't it?

E. Palmer: Elder Palmer 0, Hmna. Hansen 1

 

That's just a little tidbit of our district humor. I should send home some of the quotes that made it onto our quote sheet. They are all super hilarious even out of context. Most of them are Elder P or Elder O. I guess it's their role to be the class clowns.

 

In other news, this week was one of those weeks where it was like a roller coaster of bad, good, amazing, and decent days. Sunday and Monday I believe were the best days that I've had at the MTC thus far. I really do believe that how your day turns out depends a lot on what your attitude is when you wake up. On Sunday and Monday I woke up and I said to myself today is going to be an amazing day. And you know what, they were. I think a lot of it had to do with really effectively using my personal study time. I had a focus, I prayed for the Lord to guide me, and as I studied I kept praying. I learned things from the scriptures that I wouldn't have learned had I not gone about my studying in that way. I happened to be studying the scriptures that go with the song "Be thou Humble". I would highly recommend it. You can learn a lot of powerful spiritual lessons when you study the hymns. Stephen B. Allen came and talked to us on Sunday (head hauncho of all things missionary work in the Church) and one of the things he said to us was "don't be afraid to sing a hymn during a lesson when the spirit directs, even if you feel like you cannot sing". He said that the hymns are a powerful missionary tool. I really do believe that and I want to try to find ways to use the hymns more frequently.

 

I had a really powerful experience in one of our progressing investigator lessons. Elder Morales, Elder Kane, and I were teaching Louis about prayer. And it wasn't really clicking for him. I wasn't really sure why either. Then we asked if he ever prayed with his family (who are members but he is not). He then said something that changed everything. He said no because he would feel awkward praying to someone that he doesn't have a relationship with. We had been teaching the wrong thing, we needed to teach him about how he can have a relationship with God. But what was so amazing was that when he was saying that he felt like he didn't have a relationship with God I got this overwhelming feeling of love for our investigator. It witnessed to me of God's love for Louis. Even though Louis felt like he didn't have a relationship with God, God still knew him and loves him deeply. And I bore testimony to Louis of that fact and hopefully it helps.

 

I know that God loves us and that we can have a relationship with Him. He's just waiting to hear from us.

 

Love you all,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - We're (over) halfway there!

Hello all,

 

I hope you are all doing well. Life at the MTC is ever changing. I now have a different "companion" for Preparation days and Sundays, as of yesterday. I haven't had much opportunity to get to know her yet so I'll tell you about her next week. She's in the advanced Spanish class though, which I'm kind of excited about because she'll be able to help me improve my Spanish a lot more.

 

So this week I had my first success story of my mission. Two Mondays ago, before my companions left for the Peru MTC, we had the opportunity to teach in the TRC (Teaching Resource center). We taught a brother who happened to be from Peru and is living in Provo with his family. We were assigned to teach the topic of "receiving revelation through prayer." We first started talking about personal prayer and it was going okay and then my companion Hermana Captain starting talking about family prayer and right then we knew that it was what he needed to hear. Well at the end of the lesson we committed him to find a time every day to have family prayer (because that was something that his family has been struggling with). We left the lesson hoping that he would do it, thinking that we might not ever see him again. Well this past monday I had the opportunity to teach him again with some of the elders and guess what....HE KEPT THE COMMITMENT!!! His family has been praying together every night at 10 pm. This was such an amazing experience to have. Even in the MTC we have managed to fulfill our purpose as missionaries "to invite others to come unto Christ."

 

Also, this week we had the opportunity to hear from Richard G. Scott at our devotional. It was so cool to hear from him. He talked a lot about receiving personal revelation. What was so interesting about this experience was that just that morning my district and I had finished watching the talk Elder Bednar gave at the MTC a little while ago about the same topic. I don't think it was mere coincidence that those two talks happened to coincide. The thing that I took away from those two talks is that we need to stop worrying about whether the thought was a prompting of the spirit or just me. They both kind of discussed how if we are doing what we are supposed to be doing that we will be instruments in God's hands and it doesn't matter if a thought came from the spirit or you. All good things come from God. Elder Bednar shared a story about giving a 20 mark note when he was a missionary  to Elder Packer and at the time he didn't recognize it as a prompting of the spirit but as time went by and he learned more about what happened after he realized that God was directing his actions. (look up the story it is really amazing). How many times does that happen in our lives? We do something not knowing what the outcome will be or why we are doing it but later we learn that we were being directed by God. So my challenge is this...let us lead our lives in such a way that we don't have to rely on the spirit to tell us everything to do but that because we are living righteously our actions will always be in accordance with God's will.

Also, if you have any experiences where this has happened in your life and you're willing to share them please send them my way.

 

Time is short. I love you all. God loves you. I know that the gospel is true and I'm so excited to be a part of this great work.

 

love,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - A Month Has Gone By

Hello,

 

Can you believe it?!? I've been at the MTC for a month already. It is so amazing how quickly the time passes.

 

As an update I am now a solo sister. My companions Hermana Davis and Hermana Captain finally got their visas last night so they left bright and early this morning. Being a solo sister means that I am the only Hermana in my district and so now I teach our investigators with a companionship of elders and on Preparation days and gym times and such I am with other sisters in my zone. It's cool because it's kind of like I belong to two different districts at the same time, also kind of like I have 11 companions instead of 1. I don't know how being a solo sister will ultimately turn out but I know that the Lord has something specific for me to learn out of this. I've been praying for acceptance of God's will and the ability to recognize what I need to learn. All I know at this point is that it is going to be a really interesting learning experience and I'm excited to see where it takes me.

 

We had the opportunity to hear from Sister Julie B. Beck at our Tuesday night devotional this week. It was amazing. She talked a lot about how the family is the center of everything in the church. I wish I had my notes with me so I could share a lot more of what I learned there but I don't. One thing though, her husband shared his experience as a missionary in Italy and he talked about how when he served in Rome there were only a handful of members and how they would struggle to find people to teach. He and his companion would set up on a corner and would teach to whoever would listen until the police chased them off and then they would take the bus and move somewhere else until the police chased them off. It was like that all day every day basically. But then he discussed how miraculous it is that membership has gone (in the last 20 years or so) from a handful to enough for there to be a temple in Rome. How miraculous is that! It really testifies to me of how the Lord prepares people to hear the gospel and how no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. This is also evident in cities now having 2 temples. (Can't tell you how excited I am about the Provo tabernacle becoming a temple. It truly is a miracle!)

 

I want to share with you something I learned on Tuesday during my personal study. The night before I had prayed about what I should study and the topic of charity came to me. So I did a Topical Guide search of Charity. And the first reference is a scripture in Leviticus that talks about loving your neighbor as your self. Then I looked at all the other scriptures in paranthesis after Leviticus in the TG and there were 9 other scriptures that talked about loving your neighbor as yourself and how it was like unto loving God with all your heart. There were also a couple that talked about how loving your enemies is so important. Well as I was reading I felt struck by how all of these things are interelated. Love yourself, love your neighbor, love your enemy, love God. And then I was struck by how loving your neighbor, enemy, and God all start at loving yourself. The scriptures say love your neighbor as yourself. Well, if you don't love yourself as you should then how can you adequately love your neighbors or your enemies and more importantly how can you love God? So, I decided then that I am going to work harder at loving myself by not getting down on myself when it comes to learning the language (it's okay to make mistakes) and by not comparing my progress to that of other missionaries. I feel that if I do these things then I will be a better servant of the Lord. So my question to you all is, what can you do this week to better love yourself?

 

Oh random thing that happened this week. I moved into a new room and one night we were talking about our teachers and one of our other roommates happened to overhear us and she asked us if we were in intermediate spanish and then asked who our teacher was. We said Hermano Lewis and she was like NO WAY I dated him in high school and I'm best friends with his sister. The LDS world is incredibly small. And needless to say we now know too much about our teacher becaue she likes to give little stories about him at night. It's kind of interesting to me how that all worked out.

 

Anyway, I wish I had a funny story to share with you today but I will try to have one for next week.

 

I hope you all have a terrific week.

 

Love you,

 

Hermana Hansen

 

Hermana Juliet Hansen - New Companions and General Conference

Hello again,
(Personal family part............)

So a few things that I want to share.

It is so interesting to be at the MTC because of the strong spirit that is felt everywhere all the time but also because of all the languages that are spoken here and the changes that occur on almost a daily basis. This week I got new companions because Hermana Sheridan left on Wednesday for the Peru MTC. My companions are now Hermanas Captain and Davis. They were supposed to go to the Peru MTC too but they have not gotten their visas yet. I don't know how long I will have them as companions but I will enjoy it while it lasts. They are superstars and I know there is a lot that we can learn from each other.

Okay, so here is a really interesting experience that I had this week. Yesterday in class we were learning how to teach investigators about the importance of kneeling vocal prayer. The teacher asked for a volunteer to give a demonstration and I volunteered. She asked me to think about someone I know who isn't a member and so I thought of Grandma Lindsay. I don't know all of Grandma Lindsay's beliefs about prayer but I tried my best. We went through a five minute discussion about prayer and then we got to the point of having to kneel and say a vocal prayer. I got on my knees and I prayed as I thought grandma would. At one point I asked to know if the church was true and I felt this warm, almost embrace and a sense of peace and comfort. It taught me a lot about receiving answers to prayers even while you are still praying. I know that I can now testify of that to investigators out of experience because I know it is possible. I want my investigators to feel that sense of the spirit like I did.

Conference was amazing. I went with three questions before and almost every single talk answered those questions. It was amazing. I'll write more next week.

Read D&C 6. It is amazing. I love how it applies so much to missionary work.

I love you and never forget that God loves you and you can feel of His love through prayer and the Atonement.

Love,

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - This week in the life of

Hello all,

 

So I always seem to be short on time. 30 minutes just never is enough.

 

I have not been able to see the Relief Society broadcast yet, but they are having the sisters watch it while the elders are watching the Priesthood session. I have heard really good things about President Uchtdorf's talk and I'm really excited to get to see it. I'm really excited for conference in general because we get to hear the words of the prophets. I think before I came on my mission I took General Conference a little bit for granted but now I really now how important it is. Because no other church in the world has the opportunity to have 8 hours of talks from people who can receive revelation directly from the Lord. Let me know what your favorite talk is from this weekend.

 

Okay in the few minutes left that I have I want to tell you something that we learned from Elder Clarke of the Seventy during our Tuesday night devotional. He said that if we love our investigators then we will push them. Meaning that we will work hard to get them to read the Book of Mormon and to go to church and to do all the things that are important in the gospel and the church. I then felt very strongly that this is so applicable to everyone that we know. If we love someone we will push them to be better. So I have two challenges. 

One: I challenge you to make Family Home Evening a priority in your life. I have been learning so much about how important family is to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. FHE doesn't have to be very long but take the time to spend time with your family. And I'd like to hear what you learn about every week.

Second: I want to challenge you to study a chapter of the Book of Mormon every day while I am serving a mission. Not just read but study. I know it will change your life.

 

I'll close with my favorite scripture. Romans 8: 38-39. Always remember that NOTHING can separate you from the love of God.

 

Love,

 

Hermana Hansen

***********************

We received a letter from Juliet earlier this week and I want to share part of it with you.

"I think it was the second day here, I was walking with my companions and this girl stops me and it happens to be a girl that I was working with as a research assistant. It was so surprising to see her because when we worked together we never really discussed missions. We were chatting about things, specifically how I was enjoying the MTC and how long she'd been there. Then I asked her where she was going and she said California, San Fernando and I was like NO WAY !! I'm going there too. So we are going to the exact same mission, Spanish speaking and everything. She'll just get there a few weeks before me. We could possibly be companions in the field, which would be awesome."

Then she shares information about her companion who comes from Massachusetts and lives in the stake next to her uncle Karl and aunt Lisa :)

" ...... she is going to the Peru, Rujillo mission. She's supposed to leave for the Peru MTC in a couple of weeks along with the other sisters and 1 elder in my district. So we'll go from 9 to 5 and I'll most likely be a solo sister. I'm not sure how I feel about that but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

One of the most amazing things about the MTC is how prevalent the gift of tongues is. I think before I got here subconsciously I knew that in order for missionaries to learn say Finnish or Japanese in 12 weeks that the gift of tongues would have to be given to the missionaries. But I truly did not comprehend that until I experienced myself and during SYL (speak your language) day and especially until I saw it happen for my companion during a lesson...........

One last story. On Sunday I got called as the music coordinator in our branch. There are 4 callings in the branch, 2 zone leaders, a coordinating sister, and a music coordinator. At first I felt a little overwhelmed because I was still trying to get used to the missionary schedule and then to have a calling on top of it. It felt like a lot but I love it. I love that I am able to put my music abilities to use. The hardest part is finding a musical number for each Sunday because who is in the branch changes so much but it will all be a good experience............. I've been so blessed in being able to use my musical ability to good use. It feels like God knew that it would be what I need while in the MTC......."

Estimated MTC departure date is November 16th.

Hermana Juliet Hansen - A Week Has Gone By

Hello,

So it's really crazy that a week has gone by already. I don't have a ton of time so I'll try to be fast.

Tell Sister Ashby thank you for the cinnamon rolls. They were delicious and they brought many a missionary joy. Apparently, missionaries in my hallway would just walk into the class, stare at the cinnamon rolls, and leave. Too funny.

People can write to missionaries on Dearelder.com . I kind of would like to get some letters during the week. And it's free to send the letter while I am at the MTC.

We had the amazing experience of having Elder Nelson come and speak to us at our Tuesday night devotional. His wife gave a little talk before he did and I want to share with you something that she said that struck me. She said, "be the kind of missionary where your mission president could send you anywhere and he would know that the area would be fruitful." I want to be that kind of missionary. I think it applies to every member as well. Be the kind of member that your Bishop knows that he can put you in any calling and that area of the church will flourish.

Elder Nelson spoke about the Book of Mormon and what we know to be true about it. We had to read this month's Ensign before he came. I would encourage you to read it from cover to cover and then act on the principles that are found inside. It helped strengthen my testimony about the Book of Mormon and I know it can help strengthen yours.

I have to go but know that I love you and I pray for you all often.

Love,

Hermana Juliet Hansen

MTC address

If you want to write to Juliet at the MTC here you go.

Sister Juliet Ann Hansen
MTC Mailbox #356
CA-SFER 1116
2005 N 900 E
Provo
UT 84604

She should be there till middle/end of November.

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Blessings Abound

Our daughter Juliet entered the MTC (Mission Training Center) in Provo on Wednesday afternoon. We were able to drop her off amidst all the happy "curbside chaos." She has been called to serve in the California San Fernando Mission (Spanish speaking). She is allowed to e-mail us once a week with an update on her progress and we can talk with her on the phone or by Skype at Christmas and on Mothers Day.
I plan on sharing some of her mission experiences, hopefully on a weekly basis, during the next 18 months.

Blessings Abound
The MTC is such an interesting experience. When I first got here it looked like there wasn't a bed for me because my host and I went to my room and all the beds were full. It took quite a while for them to get everything straightened out but in that time my host and I were able to get to know each other better and surprise, surprise we happen to have friends in common. She is best friends with a girl that was on my freshman floor, Brittany A...... My host and I even stayed in the same hall in Helaman just one year apart. Such a small world that we live in. I thought my experience the first day was a little crazy but one of the Elders in my district, when he arrived at the MTC they had no record that he was supposed to be there. Apparently, the MTC thought he was coming 3 weeks later for the new program that they are starting but his stake president never told him that that was happening. Elder P..... jokes that his family didn't want him and the MTC didn't want him either.

 

I've also had an interesting experience companion wise. When I got here I found out that I was going to be in a trio. Hermana Campbell and Hermana Sheridan were my very first companions. They are great sisters but in the course of 2 days I have already had a companion be transferred to another area. Hermana Campbell was bumped up to advanced Spanish on Friday. It is going to be a blessing for all of us in the long run. Hermana Campbell is so much more fluent in Spanish than all the rest of us in our district and she wasn't really being challenged. Now instead of going from the Provo MTC to the Peru MTC after 3 weeks, she is going straight to the field. She is, of course, nervous about it but she knows that she will be forced to push herself more and that is what she needs. Hermana Sheridan and I now have the opportunity to push ourselves more in learning Spanish because now we don't have Hermana Campbell to fall back on when we don't know how to say something. This short experience with my companions has taught me more about how God knows us and knows what is best to help us succeed. Had Hermana Campbell stayed as our companion, Hermana Sheridan and I probably would not be as capable as we could be.

 

We've been teaching our first investigator for the last two days. Her name is Shirley. (In reality she is one of our teachers. In the MTC our teachers take on the character of an investigator for a couple of weeks) In the two lessons that we have had so far it has been amazing to see how the Lord speaks through the spirit. Shirley didn't ever believe in God but we have been able to teach her about God's love, how she is a child of God, and Christ's atonement and the resurrection. She seems so receptive to what we are teaching her and every time we finish a lesson, Hermana Sheridan and I are so happy and excited for the work that we are doing.

 

Time is short. The Lord loves you and knows your needs. I know that He can help with whatever you are struggling with because He has helped me so much already.

 

Love you,

 

Hermana Juliet Hansen