Hermana Juliet Hansen - Priesthood Blessings Bring About Miracles

Buenas tardes a todos,

 

Random interesting fact provided by the brother of my companion. He works for the Missionary training center and was told this...

Normally in a two week period the brethren receive 400-600 missionary applications. During the 2 weeks after President Monson's announcement of the age change the brethren received 8000 applications. The work is moving forward rapidly and I'm soooooo excited :)

 

On to this week. It absolutely flew by but it was filled with really great experiences.

 

One of the coolest experiences from the week was this past Friday. We went to go visit our investigator H...... to commit her to church on Sunday. Well of all the great surprises we were able to meet her husband M...... for the first time. And because he had never met with us before we basically scrapped our original lesson plan and taught him the restoration. It was so great and when we gave him his own copy of the Book of Mormon his face literally lit up and he said "Really! this is for me?" He even said that he would read it in his car whenever he's on break for work. And when we invited him to be baptised he said that he would have to learn more but it is definitely something that he would work towards. It really was so amazing to see how excited about everything he was.

 

For awhile now a family we know has been going through a hard experience that has been a huge miracle in their lives. I don't remember how much I've shared of this so far but it really is so amazing. This miracle's name is E........ At about 5 months along E.....'s mom's water broke. And at that point the doctor's said that if she had the baby then they wouldn't be able to do anything to help him live. So for a week she laid flat on her back to give him more time to grow. Then she started bleeding but she was afraid to tell anyone what was going on. And for another week she laid still to give him the greatest possiblity to survive. And for that week the baby did great. But then at exactly the time when the doctor's could actually do things to help him E.....'s heart rate dropped drastically. So the doctors performed an emergency c-section. And for the last 3 months or so he has been hooked up to a respirator in an incubator. The situation wasn't super great and about a week ago the respirator was working at 100% because his lungs just weren't functioning. So his parents called some members of the ward to give E..... a blessing. His parents said that it was an amazing experience. Half an hour after receiving the blessing the respirator was working only at 25% and his lungs were doing 75% of the work. And then he was moved from the incubator to a crib. His parents are so grateful for the miracle that he is in their lives. And this is helping E....'s mom to become even more open to receive the gospel in her life.

 

I know that priesthood blessings work and that miracles still happen today. We just have the faith to ask and then accept the father's will.

 

There were so many other great things that happened this week but I'm running out of time. I'll just save those for another time.

 

With much love,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Bienvenido dia lunes, hoy podemos descansar :)

Another Monday has swiftly approached us and it happens that today is the start of transfer 9!! And guess what -  I'm staying in Reseda with Hna Whetten :) This has never happened to me before. 5 transfers in one place and 3 transfers with the same person. I'm super excited to see where this new transfer will take us. We have a lot of big plans and we really want it all to work out. And it will if we trust in God and have the faith.

 

Recently, we've had some really cool experiences with setting baptismal dates. One of those was when we were visiting with a less active member this past Saturday. We had this lesson planned based off the talk given by President Monson in general conference because we thought she hadn't been able to go. But it turned out that she had gone and actually watched the talk so it kind of made our lesson a mote point. But as we were talking it came up that her mom had questions about the church and wanted to know more about Joseph Smith. So we were able to turn the lesson and gear it towards her mom and the questions that she had. And it was a really good lesson and she was very willing to accept what we shared with her. There was a point where I thought to myself "should we invite her to be baptised?" and then immediately the thought was "why not?" And then we and her daughter were completely shocked when she said yes to the invitation. The member even commented that our faces looked absolutely glowing because we were so happy. I'm excited for her desire to be baptised. It's going to be an interesting experience because she is close to 90 and has some health problems that could impede her progress but we are super optimistic for her.

 

We also had a great opportunity to be the answer to someone's prayers this week. Saturday afternoon we went to go try and meet an inactive young single adult. It turned out that she was not at all interested so we started to head to the exit. As we were about to leave we saw a lady struggling to get things moved out of her apartment and my companion asked her if she wanted help. She looked at us and said emphatically YES!! It turned out that she had to move abruptly from her apartment because of a bad roommate situation and she had been moving all day but she only had one guy helping her. And it was getting close to the end of the day and she was desperate because she needed to get everything done before going to work. So she had been praying to God that someone would come and help her. And we just happened to show up right when she needed someone the most. She tried to pay us to get us to come to Santa Monica to help unload the stuff. We told her we couldn't because it's outside of our mission but we would make some calls and see what we could do. With 3 simple phone calls we were able to get her in contact with missionaries that could help her out on the other end. It really was a testament to me of how well organized the church is. So much so that you can organize assistance in a matter of minutes. I don't know how the story ended and if she was able to get everything unloaded in Santa Monica and then to work on time. I'm just grateful that we had the opportunity to help someone who really needed it and know that we were a direct answer to her prayer. Needless to say I went to bed very happy that night.

 

All the experiences that we've been having recently have really helped build my testimony that God really does know us personally and he always answers our prayers. It's amazing to feel the love that He had for me and all of His children. And if you ever think that he isn't there I would encourage you to get on your knees and just ask. I promise that experience will change your life.

 

Con mucho amor,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Come Listen to a Prophets Voice

What a week it has been. As always General Conference is such an amazing experience. I loved how the overall theme worked out to be, Are we truly converted? Are we committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ? I loved so many of the talks and learned so much. One of the talks that I enjoyed was Elder Nelson's. It was the message of the restoration in it's purest form and it was a call to many to seek out the missionaries to answer many questions. If you didn't get the chance to see it, here's the link http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2012/10?lang=eng&vid=1882747991001&cid=10

We all have questions about life, God's plan for us, etc. So like Elder Nelson said, "Ask the missionaries, they can help you!"

But of all the talks I think my favorite was by far President Uchtdorf's. Again here's the link, http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2012/10?lang=eng&vid=1882749069001&cid=12

I love that he taught us how to live our life so that we don't have any regrets. This talk applies to life as a whole but I really love how it applies to specific experiences like serving a mission. So I'm going to do my best to apply the things that he said by 1) being my best self and spending meaningful time with those around me (i.e. companions, investigators, members), 2) completely immersing myself in the work, and 3) being happy regardless of the circumstances. I know that as I apply these things I will come home from my mission without regrets and I'll know that I've served to the best of my ability.

What were some of your favorite parts about conference? Anything that struck you and that you want to improve on in your life?

 

One of our investigators, H........, has been in Mexico for the last 2 weeks. And originally she had told us that she would be back the 14th of the month. Well, we were concerned because we didn't know if she would be able to make her baptismal date because of the trip. And while she was gone we decided that we would try to visit with her daughter and see if we could teach her. Well, this past Saturday we went to the house to see if we could visit with the daughter but lo and behold who should we see but H........ Just returned from Mexico as of 3 hours earlier. We couldn't have been more thrilled. And so we visited with her for a little bit. We watched the Restoration DVD with her and she just is so awed by the first vision. She told us that she knows it's true and she's still wanting to be baptised at the end of the month. At the end of the lesson she put her hands to her heart and said, "I feel my faith growing."

 

Another investigator, S......., continues to be so amazing. She is super excited to be getting baptised this coming Sunday. We reviewed with her the plan of salvation yesterday and she really understands it so well. We asked her at the end of the lesson what it means to her to know that God has this plan for her and she said, "Well, it means that I need to follow this plan because I know what will happen if I don't." She is so terrific and it's been such an amazing process to see how her life has been changing. One of the things that she told us was that over the course of meeting with us she has come to know just how much her life has value.

 

I love life. And I'm so excited for the new announcement that boys can leave at 18 and girls can leave at 19. I'm so excited to see what it does for missionary work all over the world.

 

I love all of you. And I know that God knows you each individually and is aware of your needs.

 

Have a terrific week,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - The Temperatures keep rising ......

Hi all,

 

I think today was the hottest day of the summer. Our car at one point read 126 degrees. And of course it would be the day that we move apartments. The poor elders had to haul so much big furniture from one apartment to the other. But we really are so appreciative for all their efforts because now we actually live in our area and can hopefully help more people because we don't have to commute so much.

 

If I recall correctly, last week I told you about a lady named D.......  who came up to us after church and asked us what the process was to be baptised. Well we met with her and her mom after church and it turns out that she was actually baptised when she was 8 years old. The reason we thought she hadn't was because she had been told that her baptism didn't count because she had stopped going to church so long ago. And so she just wanted to know how she could be rebaptised. Well after talking with her again, we're now going to try to hunt down her records and hopefully avoid the rebaptism situation.

 

S........ came to the Relief Society General Broadcast on Saturday and to church. It was so great. And she's been reading a little bit of the Book of Mormon every day. She's in chapter 8 of 1 Nephi. It's really amazing to see how her life is changing. I'm really so excited for her.

 

Well, sorry for the short letter this week. I'm kind of out of time. Just know that everything is going really well.

 

But one last thing...during a personal study last week I was reading over my notes from the MTC and one of the questions we got asked was why are we happy as missionaries??

 

So this is a little bit of what I wrote in my journal...

Why I'm happy as a missionary:

1) I get to help others come unto Christ every day

2) Seeing hearts change is SOOO amazing

3) I get to study the scriptures and really come to know them

4) I get to feel God's love for everyone around me, basically from when I first meet them

5) I get to meet so many amazing people with such interesting stories

6) I get to become the person that God wants me to be

 

I hope you all have a terrific week

 

Con amor,

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen .... The Gospel of Jesus Christ is like ridding your clothes of stains

Good morning!!

 

One of the coolest experiences this week happened on sunday, After church our bishop introduced us to a lady named D.......  and the first thing that she says to us is, "I want to be baptised. What's the process?" Never before have I ever had someone come up to me and say that they want to be baptised!! She said that she had gone to church when she was a child because her dad is a member but she had never been baptised. Then recently a friend of hers started introducing her to the church again and she wants to join. So we got everything sorted out so we could start teaching her this week and we invited her to an activity later that day. And she went to the activity, with her mom and loved it! And it appears that her mom is also interested in learning more about the church. How great!!

 

So the activity that D....... went to was a missionary fireside that all the Spanish missionaries in the valley put together. It was a great experience and it was fairly well attended. I had the opportunity to sing in a small missionary choir and it was amazing. There was a point when we were singing "How Great Thou Art!" and the spirit was just radiating throughout the room. It was truly a moment where you could feel that all of us were singing what we truly believed. And as we looked out into the audience we could see some people shedding tears as they felt the spirit. I couldn't help but smile the whole time because of the joy that I felt. There really is no better feeling than to know that the words you are sharing though song can touch a heart. I LOVE how much music invites the spirit!!!

 

We had another amazing lesson with S....... this week. She talked about how she's been reading the Book of Mormon and everytime that she does she feels so much more peace in her life. And she says that she has felt the same way when she goes to church. I love that this is the way that the Spirit is testifying to her that the Book of Mormon is true. She really is moving forward in her testimony of the gospel.

Before that lesson with S........, Hna Whetten and I came up with this little object lesson...

 

Imagine that you have a favorite shirt, dress, etc. And tomorrow you have a job interview and you want to wear this shirt. But you love it so much that you decided to wear it today. You go to eat an ice-cream cone but much to your dismay it falls onto your shirt. And now you have a huge chocolate stain on this shirt. You can't go to your interview looking like that!!! So you try to do a quick remedy with your "tide to go" pen. It helps to remove the stain some but there's still a faint outline. So when you go home you throw the shirt in the wash, then the dryer. And then you iron it out to fully prepare it for the interview.

 

Now compare this process with the shirt to your life. The shirt is you. The chocolate ice cream stain is sin. The "Tide to go" pen is repentance. The washing machine is baptism. The dryer is receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. And ironing is enduring to the end. We all sin and when we do we have to put forth effort to repent of our sins. But we can't be completely rid of those sins until we are baptised (or partake of the sacrament each week). So we need to be completely immersed in the water just like the shirt is. But we can't go around in a completely soaking shirt. We have to apply heat. And that's the same with baptism. It isn't complete until we receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost (baptism by fire). And then for the rest of our life we need to keep doing what the Lord requires, enduring to the end or ironing out our wrinkles. And if we do all of these things we will be prepared for that big interview with our Heavenly Father.

 

I love all of you and pray for you.

 

Have an amazing week.

 

Con amor,

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Baptismal dates and a study of the Book of Mormon

Buenos dias a todos!!

 

Another preparation day has swiftly approached us.

 

I was reviewing some of my last emails to make sure I hadn't shared with you this story before and I was shocked to see that I hadn't. (Well, I couldn't find it so if it turns out that I have then forgive me) We have this really cool investigator named H.......... About two weeks ago we were looking through some of our old referral sheets and we decided that we would write down some of the names and try to find them. H......... happened to be a referral from over a year ago that never got contacted. We go by her house and she let's us in and says we can come back. The next week we go back and she wasn't home. We were really bummed. Then this past week we decided to swing by her house on the off chance that she would be home. Miracle of miracles she was home, and we had one of the best lessons about the restoration ever!! The spirit was so strong in that lesson, almost tangible. She has a Catholic background and normally when we ask Catholics if they believe that there could be more prophets on the earth today or more scripture along with the bible, they give a resounding no. But H....... was different to both questions, she was like "I don't see why not." And when we asked if she would prepare to be baptised on the 28th of October she said YES!!! She would be so ready for an earlier date but she's going to Mexico this week for 3 weeks. We asked her if she would like the address for a church near where she'll be, she said yes. So now we have everything ready for her to go to church while she is on vacation. She seriously is such a great lady. She is such a great example of service (every year she and her husband go to Mexico they take clothes for those in need). I'm so grateful to be able to work with her.

 

This week we also had a really great lesson with P......... and S........ on the Word of Wisdom. Because of some past experiences they both already have really strong testimonies of the importance of staying away from drugs and alcohol. And as we talked with them about how God has asked us to avoid those substances along with coffee, tea, and tobacco they were so willing to accept it. And when we shared with them the blessings of living this commandments they already have seen some of them because they were already living it without knowing. And S........ is still on track to be baptised at the end of the month. Love them!!! :)

 

In other news I've recently started studying the Book of Mormon again. But this time putting an emphasis on how the Book of Mormon gives insight on how to be a better missionary. It has been really interesting and I've learned a lot so far. The biggest themes up to this point have been the importance of giving thanks to the Lord and obedience to his commandments. But there have been some of tidbits that I've really enjoyed. For instance... as I read 1 Nefi 3:28 I was struck by the thought, "We can't blame our junior companions for when things go wrong." From the story of Nefi learning the interpretation of the dream of his father in 1 Nefi 11:21-22 I came to the conclusion that Nefi wasn't told exactly what was the interpretation but he was given enough information to come to the interpretation on his own. And that is something that can be applied to the people we teach. We don't need to answer every question or spell everything out. If we teach with the spirit they can come to know the truth pretty much on their own. And one last tidbit, from 1 Nefi 17:55, the honor should never go to us as the missionaries. Our work is about God and it doesn't matter how great we are. I really have been enjoying this study and I feel like it's expanding my knowledge of the book of mormon.

 

I love being a missionary. I love that over the last year I have truly been able to draw closer to my savior and become a little bit more the person God wants me to be.

 

I love all of you and pray for you.

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Onward, ever onward as we glory in his name

Good morning!!

 

I'm always constantly surprised at how unpredictable missionary life can be. Seriously, it's never the same. But for that I guess I should be greatful because it means that I can never get comfortable. Haha...lesson # 5 billion and one...learn to enjoy change :)

 

The most exciting news from this week is... Stephany accepted a date to be baptised!!! We had a really awesome lesson with her on Friday using the Finding Faith in Christ video. We talked a lot about how faith leads to action. That first action is to repent of our sins. And she is already demonstrating that she wants to change because she is reading the scriptures, praying every day, going to church, and abandoning her old habits. Then as we want to repent we want to be cleansed of those sins so we are baptised. And we asked her if she would demonstrate her faith by being baptised by someone holding the proper authority and she said YES!! It was so great. And what we've been able to see her come to recognize the spirit in her life as she tells us that every time she meets with us she feels good, like she has more peace in her life. She really is terrific and I'm super excited that she wants to take this next step in her life.

 

I was perusing lds.org today and I came across some things that I want to share. So when I was in Canyon Country I did a study of the word light in the scriptures. It was such a great study and I learned a lot. And recently Hna Whetten and I were going to talk with one of our less actives about how forgiveness brings added light into our lives. Well, lo and behold, the church has created a 3 part series of mormon messages about light. They are so great! I would invite you to check them out. Here's the link:

http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#patterns-of-light-the-light-of-christ

I know that everyone of us has access to the Light of Christ. I know also that there are certain things that we can do in our lives to increase the light that we have...service, scriptures study, prayer, church attendance, etc. All those things bring additional light to our lives. Sin takes that away and leads us into darkness. But through the mercy of our loving Heavenly Father, we , through his son, can be brought back out of the darkness and into the light once again. It is NEVER to late to seek the light of the Gospel, He loves us that much.

 

And I love when members have a fire to share the gospel. It helps us as missionaries so much. Anyway, if you ever wondered how you could share the gospel with your friends this link below is helpful.

http://www.lds.org/topics/missionary-work/seven-simple-suggestions-for-sharing-the-gospel?lang=eng#seven-simple-07

I love that sharing the gospel as members doesn't have to be a huge ordeal but really it's all about being willing to answer questions and being an example of what you believe.

 

Time to go. But I love you all and pray for you.

 

Que Dios les bendiga!! (May God bless you)

 

Love,

 

Hermana Hansen

 

p.s. How crazy is it that Friday marks my 1 year mark? Man how times flies!!

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Mas milagros .. (more miracles)

Good morning all,

 

This was a really great week. In our mission we've been working a lot on building the faith of the missionaries. Our president strongly believes that if every missionary builds their faith, we will see so many more miracles as individuals, companionships, and a whole mission. And it has been so true. About every other week President Hall sends us an e-mail sharing some of the experiences that missionaries have been having and it is truly amazing to see how the Lord has been blessing us all as we've been building our faith and talking with everyone that we met.

 

Hermana Whetten and I have been blessed to see some of those miracles. If you remember, last week wasn't so great but this week was amazing! Definitely the Lord prepared us with the struggles so that we could truly appreciate the miracles we saw this week.

 

Often times in missionary work we think that if we need to find new investigators that our only option is to go pound the pavement and knock every door. I on the other hand have a strong testimony that finding new people to teach doesn't require strictly picking a street and knocking each door. Some of the best ways to find new investigators is by going through the area book and looking at old investigators and old referrals.

Tuesday we had a list of 6 old investigators we wanted to try. The FIRST door we knocked the man happily let us in and we talked with him. It was such an amazing experience because the day before his mom had died and he kept telling us how we couldn't have known that he needed us. It was so great to see how the Lord directed us to that man who in that moment was in need. And he wants us to come back and visit.

After we visited with him the next four doors didn't open. Then the LAST door opened, it wasn't the person we were looking for but rather her uncle. And as we talked with him we asked if he had ever wondered why there were so many churches. Then he said, "do you have 10 minutes??" We went into the home and we ended up having one of the best lessons about the Book of Mormon. He loved it! We showed him where the visit of Jesus Christ to the Americas could be found and he just started reading. He read and he read and he read. What was going to be a 10 minute discussion ended up being 40 minutes. And we're going back tonight. I'm so excited!

 

A big miracle for us this week was a young woman named S....... Two weeks ago we had met her mom and her sister and had a great lesson with them. This past Friday we had an appointment with D...... (the mom) and we ended up meeting S....... She has been though some rough experiences recently that have really humbled her and helped her recognize that God is there. She wants to find truth and know what her purpose is. She is one of those people that the Lord has prepared to hear the Gospel. She loved what we shared with her on Friday and then she and her sister P........ came to church on Sunday!! Hermana Whetten and I were a little sad at first because they had said they would come but when church started they hadn't shown up. Then 20 minutes into the next class we get a text from them saying "hey we came to the services but we didn't see you." And so we basically ran out of the class to find them hoping they were still there. And they were. It turns out that they had gone to a different ward's sacrament meeting (4 wards meet at the same time so it makes it confusing for people). But they decided to stay for the rest of the class and then go to a second sacrament meeting with us. It was so great!! We'd been struggling to get people to come to church for a while but they came and we couldn't be happier. I can't wait to visit with them on Tuesday.

 

So many other great things happened this week. But one experience with a lady named M..... is still unfolding and I'll have to save it for later.

 

Sometimes though great experiences happen when we do something nice for other missionaries. This morning we had the opportunity to surprise one of the other sister missionaries near us for her birthday. She's from El Salvador and she wasn't expecting anything super awesome. Well this morning we surprised her by showing up at her apartment with supplies to make a cake and breakfast. We had called 5 minutes before to say happy birthday and then her companion sneakily buzzed us in the complex and we knocked on her door. Her face was priceless and she almost cried :) It was good to be able to make her day.

 

Well that's it for today. We're working hard and having a great time!!

 

Love you all tons,

 

Hermana Hansen

 

p.s. Here's the quote that I talked about last week but didn't have on me...

 

"Today many sisters are being called to serve.. many more are preparing to serve, not because they aren't married or don't have anything else to do, but because they have the desire to serve. One reason that the Lord wants more sisters to serve is because within the next generation He will send His priesthood army to the earth. He wants to send choice spirit children to mothers who have been prepared, properly trained, and taught the gospel. What better schooling can a mother have than the experience and growth she gains through serving a mission." -President Hinckley

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Sometimes we hit a wall ...

Hi everyone,

 

Here's the link for the most recent mormon message. I love it so I thought I would share...

 

https://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng

 

This week was hard, specifically Friday, because it was the day that we got all of our appointments cancelled. We were told we couldn't visit the 2 investigators with baptismal dates anymore, and a less active asked to have her records removed from the church. It wasn't super fun but even though it was hard we still had a good experience. That night we were knocking doors and we prayed saying, "we're going to knock doors and put forth all of our effort, please bless us with a lesson." And he did, it was a tender mercy of the Lord. I had been so crushed by everything that had happened that day but going out and working and having the Lord answer our prayers lifted my spirits so much.

I've found that every day I really look forward to companionship study. I learn so much from those hours. One day this week Hermana Whetten shared with me a quote from President Hinckley that I loved. I wish I had it on me to write it out in full but the gist was that God's chosen sons are going to be sent to the world at this time and that through missions God is preparing those that will be their mothers. One of the big reasons why I'm on my mission is because I know that it will help me become the mother that my future children need. I've already changed so much on my mission and I know that there is so much more for me to learn. Yet everything is helping me to prepare to be that mother in Isreal. As I overcome my weaknesses and put my trust and faith in Jesus Christ, my testimony grows and I learn just how much the Lord knows me and what I need. I couldn't be more grateful to know that I am on my mission at this time and in this place for a reason. God truly knows me better than I know myself and I am richly blessed for that.

When it's hard on the mission I remind myself of the quote from Elder Holland in his talk "Missionary Work and the Atonement". He said, "missionary work is not easy because salvation was not meant to be a cheap experience." We all have to struggle as missionaries. We want our investigators to be truly converted to the Gospel and so that means we have to get down in the dirt with them and go through hard times. That's even true for ourselves. As we are on our missions we are working out our own personal salvation as we come to know Christ better and become more converted ourselves. If the mission was easy that change wouldn't happen. Life in general wasn't meant to be easy. We have to have trials and go through hard times. 

 

Life is hard but salvation makes it worth it.

 

I love you all and pray for you.

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - a week of miracles

Hi everyone,

We had a great week filled with many miracles.

Sometimes we have days without any confirmed plans. They can be really hard but sometimes they can lead to some really great experiences. Friday was one of those days. We only had a lunch with a member as a confirmed appointment and the rest was blank. We had a list of people we planned to see and the faith that the Lord would provide us with opportunities to teach if we did all we could. So we put forth our efforts and saw the blessings for it. 

One blessing was this, after our lunch with the member we asked her if her friend that we had met the week before would be interested in hearing the gospel. The member then called her friend and told her she was bringing food over and then told us, let's go visit her right now. Quite the sneaky ploy to get us into her friend's house...haha :) Then we go over and visit with her friend D.....  and ended up meeting her daughter P....... as well. We talked with them for a while and they are both really interested in the message of the gospel. And what was even better was that P.........  mentioned how with our visit maybe it was time for the family to change and become more unified. They both have gone through many things in their lives that have really prepared them for Gospel. I can't wait to visit with them again this week.

We also had an experience on Sunday with a potential investigator, M......... We told the Lord that we would make every effort to visit the family but this was really the last chance because the last 4 weeks every time we would pass by the house they wouldn't answer the door or they were too busy or they weren't home. So we prayed, "if this is meant to be, help us get into the home." And we got into the home!!! It was so great. M........ was outside vacuuming her car and when we asked if she had a few minutes that we could visit with her, she said yes. We had such a great lesson on the plan of salvation with her. The spirit was so strong and she loved what we had to share with her. It was interesting to see how happy she was to hear that we are all children of God because previously other visitors from other churches had told her and husband that they weren't children of God because they weren't members of that particular church. I love that part of the message that we bring to people is that no matter what religion, what race, what age, we are all children of God. He knows us and loves us. That brought much joy to M......... Her family is also so important to her and you could tell that she is so happy to know that she can have her children with her for forever and not just this life.  We're going back on Tuesday and I'm so excited!!

We've had so many other amazing lessons this week. It is amazing what happens when you and your companion teach together in unity. When you teach in unity the spirit will testify through you both of the message and then the miracles happen. When people feel the spirit they want to change.
One of those awesome lessons was with an inactive member, M...... He recently found out that he had cancer and when we invited him to church he said "oh maybe after this big work project is over and i have the surgery to remove the tumor." We then looked him in the eye and told him "hermano today is the day to go back to church. When you are sick you go to a hospital and when you are in need spiritually you go to church. You need the spiritual strength that the church can give you in this time of your life." And he came to church for the first time in over 3 years!!

I've felt really blessed by all the opportunities that the Lord had provided for us to teach and help others come unto Christ.

Have an absolutely terrific week.

Love you all!

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Promptings of the Spirit

Hello every one,

 

Katherine got baptised on Sunday!!! It was super cool. The ward was so happy for her and even though her mom was in a lot of pain (she broke her wrist 3 days ago) you could tell that she was so excited for her daughter. The best part of the whole experience (besides the actual baptism) was that as Hermana Whetten and I were singing the special musical number, Katherine was singing along with us. As I saw her sing with us and look so happy a huge smile came to my face. At that moment it didn't matter what we sounded like, all that mattered was that we were helping her be happy. And as I keep thinking back on the experience I literally feel an overwhelming sense of love and joy for that family. There really is no way to adequately describe the joy that you feel knowing that you helped someone come unto Christ.

The miracles just keep poring out, more than I ever really thought possible. And it's been amazing to see how the spirit directs us so we can have those miracles.

First, we had been given a referral by the elders in our district this week and at the beginning of the week we planned to swing by but when we looked at the address it didn't exist. Huge bummer! You can't visit someone if there is no where to go. Then two days later when we had a little bit of time before a dinner appointment we were looking at our map and the idea came to me that we should try the referral but using the cross street instead of the original address. So we drove over there and it existed! And she was home. And she wants us to go back and visit with her!
Another experience was very similar to that. We were driving to an appointment and we had about 30 minutes before we needed to be there. A two minute drive from that appointment lives a member and her sister that she had recently referred to us. As we passed the apartment complex where the member lived I had the thought "let's go visit that referral". We quickly pulled over and parked. And after asking the member to come with us we ended up sitting on the referral's couch. And she turned out to be interested and wants us to come back. We have an appointment to visit with her on thursday but she's due to have her baby this week...could be interesting :)   

I've learned from these two experiences and a few others that often times promptings from the spirit really do sound like our own thoughts. And that is when we really have to trust that it is the Lord directing us. We could have easily not tried a different street for the first referral or kept driving for the second referral but we didn't and we saw the blessings for it. I know that if we are willing to do the Lord's will in everything that whatever good thought we have is a prompting from the spirit. So now I know that if after the mission I have a thought to call/visit a friend, I should do it. Who knows what the outcome could be.

 

I love you all!

 

Que Dios les bendiga! (may God bless you)

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Podemos cambiar su pecho

(translation: we can change your chest ..)

Hello, hello,

 

First a funny story of a Spanish slip up...

Friday night we had our correlation meeting with our ward mission leader at his house. He told us how he had changed the carpets and that was why we had to change the meeting from Wednesday to Friday. Well one of the elders asked why he didn't call us to help him out. And then we offered our assistance for whenever he might need it again. Well I decided to pipe up and I said, "Yeah, podemos cambiar su pecho...(awkward silence)....I mean techo (roof)!" When I realized what I had said I started to laugh so hard. So hard, in fact, that tears started streaming down my face. What an act of service that would be to change their chest! Needless to say our ward mission leader has a great sense of humor and he just took it stride. Oh the joys of learning a language on the mission :)

 

This week was incredibly amazing. We saw some amazing miracles and the Lord really has blessed us.

 

We've decided that every week we are going to pick some families (either investigators or members) and take them a plate of cookies or other treats (whatever we're in the mood to make). Well one day we decided to take a plate to our investigator Alba. Normally we meet with her on Saturdays but we decided to pass by on Tuesday with the cookies. As often happens when the spirit is directing you to do something, Satan tries to keep you from doing it. So the doubts crept in a little bit. But we took the cookies anyway and we had such a great lesson about the need for modern day prophets. And in the lesson we found out that she and her husband had a wedding to attend that Saturday so wouldn't have been able to meet with them anyway. It really is amazing how it all worked out. Even the fact that we got to her house 10 minutes before she got home (so we were already inside and she didn't have to opportunity to say we couldn't come in). It all couldn't have happened any better and it really was the spirit and the Lord directing our actions.

 

A similar experience happened on Saturday. We had planned to take a certain member with us to visit a young family. First the member cancelled and asked if her mom could come instead. We said sure (we'll never refuse member involvement in the work). Then we get to the family's house and they have friends over so we rescheduled for Sunday. So we decided to visit a referral (they weren't home and we got a little lost on the way). Then we decided to go somewhere else on the off chance that a potential investigator would be home. And then we had a miracle. This particular potential investigator was coming to check her mail as we approached the gate to get into the complex. We asked if we could visit with her and she said YES. After 3 months of trying to get into her home and not being successful, she finally let us in. It couldn't have worked out more perfectly. The Lord really directed us so that we would have the opportunity to meet with her and share part of the Gospel. If I had used the GPS and not gotten lost we probably never would have run into her. Oh the mysterious workings of God.

 

Well, I'm out of time. There is so much more I could talk about.

I know without a doubt that if we are willing we can be instruments in the hands of our Heavenly Father. We just need to be ready to recognize when those opportunities are there.

 

Love you all,

Hermana Hansen