Hermana Juliet Hansen - Happy Thanksgiving

Hello All!!!

 

What a terrific time of year. I love Thanksgiving and having the time to think about the things that we're truly grateful for. God really has blessed my life and I know that I would be nothing without him.

I just want to share with you the top 10 things that I'm grateful for this year (in no particular order)....

 

1. My family....mom, dad, Liz, Kris, Nik, grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins.

2. Being a missionary

3. Having the Gospel in my life

4. Trials that God gives us to help us grow

5. The Book of Mormon

6. Being able to speak Spanish

7. All the companions that I've had....Hna White, Hna Williams, Hna Fish, Hna Whetten. These women are so amazing and I love them so much!!

8. Wonderful friends

9. Sharing talents, specifically through song

10. Jesus Christ and His atonement

 

I also want to share with you a story that Hna Whetten told me this past week during companion study.

One day in class her mission prep teacher shared with them a story about having to rely on the direction received from the Lord when faced with obstacles in life. He shared how his companion had been dealing with some problems from home and one day they were in the middle of a lesson and his companion just gets up and leaves. So he rapidly brings the lesson to a close and leaves the house. He looks around and he doesn't see his companion anywhere. So he prays asking for direction. He felt like he needed to go right. So he walks and he walks and he runs into a forest. He looks at the forest and thinks that his companion wouldn't have gone in there so he prays again. And he feels prompted to go left. So he walks and he walks so more and he ends up at a beach. And he doesn't see his companion anywhere. So he prays again and felt prompted to walk left. He walks and walks and a little way down the beach he finds his companion sitting and crying.

After sharing that story with me we had a wonderful discussion about how the Lord directs us whenever we face obstacles. Sometimes we can't just go from point A to point B and call it good. Sometimes we have to take a few little detours, Point A to point B to point C to point D until we get to the goal. And at every point we may face what seems like a really insurmountable wall but as we seek the Lords guidance we can know how to keep moving towards that goal even if that means going in a new direction.

I know this to be true. Missionary work is never according to how we would like it to be but it is according to how the Lord would want it to be. We make plans but we have to be willing to be patient when the Lord has something else in store.

Much of my time here in Reseda has been teaching me the importance of being patient. This week I found my theme scripture for my time here. It's....

 

"Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." -Alma 26:27

 

I know that as my companion and I continue to work and have patience through the struggles that we will eventially see success for the Lord has promised it in the scriptures.

 

I love being a missionary. It's not always easy but it is always worth it.

 

Con mucho amor,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - A slow week ....

Hi all,

It was a slow missionary week basically because I was sick with the stomach flu. Not a lot of work was able to be accomplished because of it but I'm back to 100% and we're ready to hit it out of the park this week. 

Even with the sickness we were able to have some really great experiences.

We have the opportunity to teach a lady named A..... She's terrific and is really progressing in her testimony of the Gospel. She is our investigator that we leave notes with scriptures about gospel topics every day at her door. She told us that she really appreciates the notes we leave for her. They've helped her so much. Anyway, this past Saturday we had a really great lesson with her. We talked with her about some of the commandments that God has given us specifically tithing, fasting, and the Word of Wisdom. I just want to share one thing that we talked about during that lesson. 

In the Word of Wisdom it asks us to avoid alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs, coffee, and tea. Her question for us was "Why do I need to give up coffee? It such a little thing and I don't feel like it would really separate me from God. There are other things that are more important to focus on." And we shared with her this analogy...

        It's like when we're young. Our parents ask us over and over to make our beds. It's such a small thing that they require. And yet we often ask, "Why? Why can't I just leave it unmade? It doesn't hurt me or anyone else." But our parents know better than we do. They want us to develop habits so that we can be happier as we get older. They know that if we don't learn to make our beds we'll have a bad habit that could irritate future spouses or roommates. So they ask us to make the bed for our future happiness. And we do it without fully understanding why and as we grow we come to understand what they knew. The same is true for the commandments no matter who small or big. Some it's easy to understand i.e. "Thou shalt not kill." but then we have coffee. "Why should we give that up? I don't think it hurts me or anyone else." But we know that God would never give us a commandment that we can't fulfill. God knows better than we do. He knows what is to come and He wants us to be happy. And because we love him we keep his commandments even when we don't understand them. And as we do so we come to learn what He already knew and we start to see the promised blessings.

I know that as we follow the Lord in all things, even those things that we may not understand completely, we will be happier and more blessed.

Remember, obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles.

I love this time of year that we are going into. Thanksgiving and Christmas are wonderful times to be alive. How amazing it is to be able to give thanks for the blessings that we have but most especially the opportunity to celebrate more the life of our Savior Jesus Christ. I feel so blessed to be able to be in His service.

In a few days the church will be launching it's new site for the Christmas season mormon.org/christmas. I would invite everyone to check it out and contribute your thoughts and testimonies of Christ. And then share it with all your friends.

God knows you and your needs. He is listening! 

Con amor,

Hermana Hansen 

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Power of the Priesthood

Hello all,

 

We had a really interesting experience this week with one of our investigators. For the sake of confidentiality I won't share much of the story but I will share what I learned from the experience. I know that each of us has within us a strong spirit that comes from a divine Heavenly Father. Unfortunately, we don't always recognize it, may it be because of the circumstances that we are born into or the decisions that we make in our lives. We're all special but every once and a while you meet someone that you know must have been an elite spirit in the pre-earth life. I have found this to be true with this particular investigator. Her life has not been easy and this past week was no expection. Every time we had an appointment scheduled it would get cancelled. And we didn't get to see her until Sunday. When we finally got to meet with her it was an experience I'll never forget. As she opened up to us about her struggles it was overwhelming the sense that God loves her so much. He knows her and her trials so perfectly. And we testified to her that in our darkest moments it is when we need to turn to Christ the most. And then we talked with her about the power of priesthood blessings. No matter who we are, member or nonmember, the power of God has been restored on earth and we have the capacity to receive blessings directly from the Lord through his servants. And I was able to share with her a powerful experience I had during my mission of receiving a priesthood blessing. It was exactly what she needed to hear. And two hours later the elders were in her home giving her a priesthood blessing of comfort and healing. You could feel the Holy Ghost in the room. And the elders didn't know the details of what was going on but the things that they said in that blessing were evidence to me that the spirit inspires worthy men to know what to say. It was amazing!!

 

God knows his children. He knows our needs. He knows our weaknesses. He knows how to succor us. I know that the power of the priesthood is real. I know that priesthood blessings work. They can uplift us when we most need us. They can even save someone from the edge of death. They have power if we have the faith. So we should never hesitate to ask for one.

 

So many other amazing things happened this week but for lack of time I can only share the best.

 

I know that God lives and I LOVE being a missionary.

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - The Missionary Work is Swiftly Increasing ....

Life has been really amazing. There really is no greater time to be a missionary. And God has been granting us so many miracles.

 

First, I thought you might enjoy some pictures of the fun things that we've been up to recently. One is of Hna Whetten and I making smores over our gas stove :) And the other two are from a hike that we took just this morning. All of us Hermanas decided to strike a yoga pose on an awesome rock formation, it was super fun. You might be able to tell that I'm not skilled at yoga [but if Hna Whetten has anything to say about it, I will be :)]. We do a lot of amazing things with teaching others about the gospel of Jesus Christ but we do enjoy ourselves with other things too. (We will add the photos into this posting later)

 

So some cool experiences for the week...

 

Friday we were getting ready to leave the car to go contact a potential investigator when who should walk across the street but a boy named M...... He goes to church every week but for some reason he's not baptised. When I saw him I about jumped for joy but was slightly limited by being in the car. And I'll tell you why I was so excited... When Hna Fish and I were together we tried many times to visit with him and his mom but every time the lesson would get cancelled. In the three months that we were together, I never had the opportunity to talk with him apart from seeing him at church on Sundays and Wednesdays. Not even once were we successful. So when I saw him in my mind I was like, "This is it!" We didn't even pray, we just booked it after him. We knocked his door and asked if we could visit him. He said yes and we had a great conversation outside on the stairs. It was such an awesome lesson. He has a great testimony of everything. So we asked him if he would be baptised and he said "Yes"!! It was truly one of those experiences where we were able to teach some one who is literally ready to be baptised the next day. I didn't ever imagine that that would happen on my mission.

 

And in BIG news. I've talked before about the Y.... family and their son E..... Well on Sunday we were finally able to meet with the mom and it was such an amazing lesson. We went in with the plan to teach the restoration really focusing on authority and how we have the priesthood. And during that lesson we saw just how much the experiences she's been having with E..... have prepared her to accept the Gospel in her life. When we talked to her about how Jesus Christ gave his authority to the apostles by the laying on of hands it was like a light bulb went off in her head. And she said, "That's how you do it. That makes so much sense now." And it was like that the whole lesson. She really understood everything so well. And she wants to read the Book of Mormon without us even having to ask her. She wants to know the truth so badly in her life and now she knows how to do it. And she wants to be baptised in December!!!! Wooohhhh!!!

 

Well, I'm again out of time. I LOVE being a missionary!

 

I hope you have a terrific week.

 

Con amor,

 

Hermana Hansen 

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