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

 

Our week in review #3

Saturday 01 October
For the past couple of years we have opted to watch General Conference from home. It always brings a lovely spirit into our home during that time. Today our internet and cable access went out close to the end of the first session so we did a mix of home and chapel. John had to work so he listened from there.
I highly recommend watching the talks on-line at http//lds.org
President Monson announced that the Provo Tabernacle will be saved and re-built as a temple, which caused quite a joyful noise in the Conference Center :) It is one of the oldest buildings in Provo and had been badly burned (almost to a shell) earlier this year.

Sunday 02 October
With cable and internet back in operation we were able to watch both sessions from home. Wonderful. As always lots of excellent talks. I am looking forward to listening to them again over the next few weeks while I do indexing.
Kristina sang her solo this evening at the Hillwood Presbyterian Church "Fall Follies" concert. It went well. The whole concert was very enjoyable.

Monday 03 October
Volleyball was fun today and we had a very good attendance.
Kristina had her semi-annual visit to see her neurologist. She has to go get an ultrasound done to make sure some of the issues she's been having over the past few months are not being caused by her new medication.
Nikolas picked out the stories from the New Era for FHE this evening. He chose to read the first page of "Speaking In Sacrament Meeting?" then switched to "Chain Reaction" about a boy who found himself about to watch a movie he did not like at a birthday party. After weighing his options he chose to leave the room. After a short while others who had felt the same way but were scared to be the first to get up, joined him. The movie was abandoned and games played instead. We had a good discussion about the importance of making wise choices.
Juliet sent us photographs of her missionary district with fun info about each of the missionaries. Some of them will be leaving soon.

Tuesday 04 October
I am doing double duty at the Franklin FHC Center this week. I covered for one of the other ladies today and will work my regular shift on Thursday. I found some information about one of the "married in" lines of my family. Our fabulous volunteer, Merry Anne P. (who lives on the street behind us) is going to send me information about US research so I can get better in that area.

Wednesday 05 October
We were supposed to go Visiting Teaching today but Laura P. had an issue with her shower so I rearranged the appointments and went over to help her fix it. It took a while but we got it done with the assistance of some WD40 and some new parts :)

Thursday 06 October
One of the ladies from The Bellevue Family History Group came into the Franklin FHC today. I am helping her research land records in Kansas. We had tried before with no success but I'm hoping new information has become available.

Friday 07 October
Our neighbors, the Lee's, whose house backs up to our driveway (and their sub-division) are having a large yard sale tomorrow. We have been pulling things from round the house to donate to them. They are raising money for Breast Cancer Research.
The Bellevue Genealogy Group was treated to a very interesting and amusing presentation by the director from Historic Rock Castle. After that there was a meeting about Cemetery Research (it's somewhat like a census that is taken every 10 years or so).
We had the Wardles come for dinner this evening and did a potato bar. Most of the "floor junk" from our family room is now in the spare room and hopefully we can now get it all put away properly.

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

Our week in review #2

Saturday 24th September
Nikolas had a good time today canoeing along the Harpeth River with some of the Young Men from church. This time round he did not come home with sun burn :)
John spent the day trying to work out some issues related to Lego Mindstorms.
Kristina and I attended the General Relief Society broadcast this evening. Our local Stake RS leaders organized a brief spiritual presentation and dinner beforehand. Sister Smith (our president) was not in attendance due to the death of her mother-in-law. The main broadcast was wonderful and I highly recommend watching it on the internet. President Uchtdorf gave a wonderful talk that most of the ladies could totally relate to on many levels. The closing prayer touched my heart and made me cry.

Picture courtesy of http://beinglds.blogspot.com/2011/09/forget-not-president-uchtdorf.html

Sunday 25th September
John and I are members of the Nashville Community Choir (formerly known as the Nashville Saints Community Choir). He is currently the Finance Director and I am currently the Music Library Manager. This evening was the first rehearsal after our summer break. Always organized mayhem with music packets being signed in (old) and signed out (new).We are currently scheduled to sing two Messiah performances (Clarksville and Franklin) and one Christmas concert (Nashville). We have outgrown our current rehearsal location and will be moving in a couple of weeks.

Monday 26th September
I kind of went to volleyball today. In the building archiving music and listening to the rowdiness of the ladies enjoying themselves :) I took part in the last game.
A care package was sent of to Juliet today. Hopefully the perfume spray pumps are securely enough taped shut.
For FHE this evening we opted to read and discuss "The Real Reward for Reading" from the New Era. How a young man rose to the challenge set by his seminary teacher to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Juliet had sent us a letter so we incorporated her challenge regarding the Book of Mormon into our discussion then sent her a letter at dearelder.com
Kristina is singing in a concert on Sunday evening so we practiced for a while today. She knows her piece but lacks some confidence in her ability.
We got a phone call from Elisabeth (she usually does that when walking to work or between classes.) Her advisor is of the opinion that she could graduate early. She is looking at her options.

Tuesday 27th September
'Twas a gorgeous fall day out so I took advantage of the cooler weather to tackle trimming bushes and clearing off the driveway fence line. Anyone with dogs knows that it is probably wise to make sure there is no poop lying around before paying attention to other tasks. Alas I did not :( Once Nikolas got home from school he tackled cutting the grass. Most of our 1/2 acre yard is out front and on a slope so it takes a while to mow.

Wednesday 28th September
While I was out walking with Lucy this morning I noticed an interesting potential photo angle for the old Bellevue Log House. I'll have to start taking my camera on our walks.
The Nashville temple is about 20-30 minute drive (depending on traffic and lights) from our house. I went this morning for the first session. 2/3 ladies to 1/3 gents in the session (which was full). I would love to take a photograph of the stain glass windows from inside but that probably won't happen. They are simple and elegant with very pretty golden and soft green hues.
It was "Standards Night" for the youth at church this evening. The theme was "By Small and Simple ... Choices. Thought -> Actions -> Habits -> Character -> Destiny ->" John (HPG advisor) gave one of the talks and we learned some interesting details about some activities he participated in with his dad that led to where he is now career-wise.  Shane Adams, member of the bishopric, shared a defining moment in his younger life that led to a major change in how he perceived and treated people. Taryn Baker (Youth Sunday School teacher) talked about her life in the church as a non-member YW then goals she set to prepare to marry in the temple. The definite highlight of the evening was a very large mysterious object that Will Grigg (YM President and Engineer) built to demonstrate how a small choice can have big consequences.

Thursday 29th September
Fall weather is definitely here because we had our first foggy morning of the season AND the spiders are out weaving their webs. Our driveway gates were "webbed shut." Down the street a couple of enterprising spiders had attached to two trees and then to the road below before spinning their webs.

Friday 30th September
Our local YMCA has a very vibrant Fifty Forward group. So many activities to pick from. On Friday mornings the Bellevue History & Genealogy Group meets for a couple of hours. The leader of the group, Bob Allen, has worked very hard over the past few years to make the group successful and worthwhile. There are speakers 3 times per month and research assistance 1 time per month. This morning I helped some of the members with their research.
Hillwood has been allowing the students to go out of SSA (Standard School Attire) this week. Each day has been a different theme e.g hats, college, work. Work day -  Kristina went dressed as a science teacher and Nikolas as a missionary. For college day they both wore BYU/Cougar shirts.
John has a big assignment due ASAP at work so is working overtime to get his part done.
We are looking forward to watching the General Conference broadcasts over the week-end.

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.

Our week in review

I don't usually blog at the week-ends and writing personal stuff on an open forum does not come easily to me but we have family out there that want to keep up with what we are doing. We stay "occupied" with various things and some weeks are more productive than others. Now that two of our girls are away from home we are not as "busy" as many families.
For our family week in review I plan on running from Saturday through Friday and picking out pieces from each day. Juliet's update will be kept separate.

Saturday 17th September
Kristina, Nikolas and I went to the Haywood Lane Building to participate in "Make a Pillow Day". I am one of the organizers of this on-going activity, along with Hiroe Reynolds. We had a nice turnout given all the other activities that were also happening. 114 post-op breast cancer pillows were completed and 33 others are ready to stuff. Kristina worked diligently at the stuffing station and Nikolas did whatever was asked of him (bless his wonderful heart.) He was "borrowed" to help clean the building, set up/tore down tables and chairs, cut up strips for ties, and cut out fabric squares.
While we were gone for the day John got busy at home. I had moved furniture around earlier in the week (we now have a dedicated guest room and a new sewing room) and he re-arranged the guest room to allow us to use the WII Fit and other games without running more cables through the garage. He also fixed the dryer.

Sunday 18th September
Sunday, 99.9% of the time is a church day for us. Our ward currently meets during the 1.00 p.m. 3 hour block and we have choir practice afterwards. The talks in Sacrament today were about choices made to become stay at home moms and how that impacts learning etc. At the end of Relief Society we were given "Daughters in My Kingdom - The History and Work of Relief Society". I'm looking forward to reading this.
A nice surprise at church today. 63 more pillows and 45 ready to be stuffed. Some of the ladies had taken fabric and stuffing home with them yesterday.

Monday 19th September
Monday thru Friday morning at 5.30 a.m. Kristina and Nikolas attend early morning Seminary and have just enough time at the end to catch the bus to school. Most high schools in our school district start at 7.05 and are done by 2.05. There's about 14 in our Seminary class now, which is wonderful given that 8 years ago there was a class of 1 (Juliet).
Monday morning means - Volleyball. It's been a while since I went and it was a lot of fun. I'm usually the oldest one in attendance. I'm fairly decent at the net but wimp out somewhat anywhere else on court. Some of the other ladies are amazing players.
After that I dropped off most of the pillows at the Vanderbilt Breast Cancer Clinic at 100 Oaks Mall, and spent some money at Michaels and the Scout Center.
During Family Home Evening (FHE) we read a story from the New Era "Racing For Two" (amazing), and helped Nikolas finish up another badge for Scouts. He just has two required ones left and then he can get going on his Eagle Scout project.

Tuesday 20th September
My calling at church is Family History Consultant. I work at the Franklin FHC and today I substituted for one of the other workers. Had a mini training/"gripe" session with our Director.
Kristina has voice lessons on Tuesdays after school. Her teacher has a concert coming up soon for her students so a lot of practice has been done for that. Kristina is now singing "God Bless America" instead of one of her "Princess" songs.
Hillwood HS hosted a 12th grade college fair this evening. We visited 5 colleges during the summer and Kristina was pleased to see some of the reps in attendance.
"Biggest Loser" started back up this evening and Kristina is a huge fan of the show. We taped it for her to watch once we got home.

Wednesday 21st September
Our dog, Lucy, is loving the cooler weather. We are back out walking most mornings and she has rediscovered her "inner puppy." We are blessed with lots of dogs in our neighborhood and town which also means there's an on leash and poop pick up ordinance in place. The local park is not too far from our house. It has a walking track that we like to visit every so often. Most of the time we stick to the streets in our sub-division.
I have wonderful Visiting Teachers from church. They came this morning and we got into a good discussion about scripture reading.
The principal at our high school is trying out a different way to bring parents into the building for PTSO meetings. We had a luncheon today to celebrate some of the "Write on Wednesday" student writers in the building. Culinary arts students cooked and served the food.

Thursday 22nd September
John and I went a Nashville Symphony concert this evening. First time we have heard the banjo used as a classical instrument.
The concert started with a beautiful version of Aaron Copeland's Suite from Appalachian Spring. Gorgeous. Then the main piece of the evening was Concerto for Banjo and Orchestra composed by Bela Fleck. World premier performance and broadcast over the internet. The middle movement was my favorite part. The concert wrapped up with Tchaikovsky's Symphony no.4 in F minor Op. 36. A lovely evening.
Funky goings on outside the Schermerhorn Concert Hall - hundreds and hundreds of very noisy birds in the surrounding trees.

Friday 23rd September
Some of the art and photography students at Hillwood went to the Appalachian Center for Art to do some classes. I went along as a chaperone and took the Itajime class with Kristina. We had a wonderful time and we each made three scarves of varying designs. The other classes were glass bead making and copper bracelets. Our wonderful teacher/bus driver got us through some lousy weather conditions and funky road conditions in the hilly "outback."
Our truck has come to a grinding halt and had to be towed home this evening.

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

Women In The Scriptures

If you are interested in learning more about the women in the scriptures and their influence here's an interesting blog - http://womeninthescriptures.blogspot.com/ Heather is researching as many women as she can, sharing what she finds and giving her own thoughts about each one. Currently Jehosheba/Jehoshabeath in 2 Kings 11:2 and 2 Chronicles 22:11. I've read each posting (arranged in Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine & Covenants sections) and enjoyed them all.

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

December - a special month for Christians all over the world

A time to reflect and rejoice on the birth of our Savior. Yes we in our church believe that he was born in the spring but that does not stop us from honoring Him and rejoicing with everyone else, singing praises and Hosannahs to the Christ Child and all that he means to us.
We are in the middle of rehearsing music for our annual Christmas Sacrament program, Stake Christmas program and The Messiah sing along. Lots of wonderful music, some in arrangements that I have never heard before. All glorious and guaranteed to have everyone feel the spirit of rejoicing.
Early Saturday morning we had a ward choir rehearsal. We were few in number but worked out many details. Then it was back home to start decorating the family room. Nikolas had put up the tree in our absence. I had spent a good chunk of the past week painting our family room and we are enjoying the new color.
Later in the day John and I attended the Nashville Temple with the HPG (High Priest Group). Full to overflowing and such a special feeling to have many of us in attendance. We witnessed Raquel E. going through for the first time in preparation for leaving on her mission to Ogden next Wednesday. Afterwards everyone went out to dinner.
I enjoy Fast and Testimony meeting Sundays. Michelle C. I think summed everything up well with her feelings of happiness about the celebration of Christ's birth and life. We need to focus on the joy and not the stress that many feel as they become overwhelmed with family celebrations.
Relief Society had to be rearranged because Meg E. is sick and could not give the lesson. Many of us shared a favorite scripture and a story about Christmas. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" Matthew 6:21. My story was about the years we have been involved with singing Handel's MEssiah and our interactions with the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Stake Choir practice was like a group of old family & friends (and some new) meeting up again for the first time in a while. The Carols are gorgeous and some of the arrangements I had not heard before. We are singing part of one in Spanish. This was our only opportunity to practice properly before conference next week-end and as usual the Tolks inspired us beyond our normal abilities :)
We watched The First Presidency Christmas Devotional from home this year. Wonderful, as always, and such a great start to this season of celebration. After that we read a Christmas story with Kris and Nik and they headed off to bed. We stayed up for a while listening to our new Christmas CD for this year "David Tolk Christmas", short but pretty. We are giving it as a gift to family members this year.
May the joy of this time of year continue on in all our hearts through the coming year and may we each look to our Savior and grow in our relationship with him.

Some more Chihuly at Cheekwood

Well it appears we've run out of photo space !!!!!