A lot has happened this week! First off, here's the news about transfers! I'm staying in Coops-town and Sister Rasmussen is coming to join me. I've also been called as the Sister Trainer Leader. So that's kind of like a Zone leader for sisters. I'm definitely nervous, but excited. I'm excited to see things get switched up a bit. I'm also happy I'm staying more south of the mission. Sister Langford is going up north and she's going to turn into an eskimo haha.
We had our last district meeting and a district lunch. That was a lot of fun! It's always great to be around other missionaries. I love that as missionaries we're constantly relating things back to scriptures or concepts of the gospel. We "rebuke" each other with come-backs by saying stuff from the white handbook or quoting scriptures. It's hilarious. I love being a missionary haha! We were able to go to the Delhi elders' baptism this week. It went well and it's great seeing the lives that are being changed through the gospel.
On Sunday we had our primary program in Sacrament Meeting. That was SO cute! Seriously, when little kids sing it just makes me cry haha. Since I was in single's wards for so long in college, it's fun being in family wards. Oh yeah, and 2 people in our branch just turned 100 years old. It's crazy! Both of them still come to church every week and go to all 3 meetings. If that's not inspiring then I don't know what is! They're both converts too. It's really cool to see the strong faith that people have!
We've been able to teach a few more lessons, but all-in-all our weeks are still slow. We visit a widow in our branch named Sister Loudon. Her memory isn't the best because she's 90, so most of the time she doesn't remember missionaries, but she ALWAYS remembers me because I have a twin haha. When I walk in she say, "Hey... you're a TWIN!" She thinks it's the COOLEST thing ever :) I love that. I love being able to talk about my twin (Love you Kal!). It's weird not being known without her by my side... what what do ya do?!
Anyway, here are some funny quotes from my week!
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"Our most progressing investigator thinks he's a wizard..." -Elder Atwood
"Are you still having trouble with that PSYCHO in your area?" -Sister Cutler
"I'll give you 2 quarters if you pack all my stuff for me..." -Sister Langford
"If we had a midget with us dressed like an elf, then people would TOTALLY listen to the gospel." -Sister Hansen
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Thanks for all that you do :) Thanks for the support and encouragement. Oh P.S. I got Nicee's wedding announcement (thanks for remembering me!) Ahh, peoples' lives are changing so quick! Hope you're all doing well. Let me know if I can do anything for anyone!!!
Love, Sister Hansen <3
Monday, November 25, 2013
Missionary Work
It's been a pretty good week! I gave the training in District Meeting about using the scriptures in teaching. It went well, I hope haha. It's surprising how I'm not that nervous to get up in front of people anymore. I mean of course sometimes I am, but for the most part Heavenly Father has been blessing me a lot :) 3 investigators from Bennington that I taught while I was there recently got baptized. I wish I could've been with them throughout the whole process, but I know Sister Stephens is taking good care of them :)
Whenever our district leader calls us on Sunday nights he always says at the end, "Is there anything we can do for you?" Sister Langford and I the past couple times have been saying, "Hot chocolate, cookies, and a puppy!" We've been saying that for the past few weeks as a joke, and when we came into District Meeting they had hot chocolate, cookies, and fake puppies hahaha. It was really funny. Made my week!
Lately our investigators have either been busy with work or out of town... so we've been spending our time trying to find. We keep ourselves uplifted whenever we're rejected by of course playing "Would You Rather", talking about our favorite Spongebob episodes, and much more hahaha. Oh the simple lives of missionaries!!
Sometimes when things aren't going very well or when our investigators aren't progressing I start to worry that I'm not doing enough or that people are being withheld blessings because of me (of course I'm a girl, so I'm constantly worried haha). When those thoughts of feelings come into my mind I remember something that Elder Holland said....
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"One day you're going to ask yourself, "Why does this have to be so hard? Why don't people flock to the font? Why aren't we more successful?" Well welcome to the church. Welcome to the gospel. Welcome to the life of the Savior. Welcome to the life of apostles and prophets.
After all that missionaries go through, I have come to this conclusion: Salvation isn't an easy experience. Salvation isn't cheap. It wasn't easy or painless for the Son of God of whom you are to testify. If you're going to be His missionary you cannot ask to completely avoid the pain He felt, the tears He cried, or the sorrow He saw.
I want you to embrace, savor, and cherish every single minute of it. The good times, the hard times. The companions you love and the ones who test your faith. I want you to enjoy all of it. Learn from it, grow from it, and know that it will never come again. So when you come home, stand at the pulpit and bear your testimony that you've suffered the will of the Father on your mission."
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SO good right? I know that this gospel is true. I'm willing to suffer for these people to know about Christ's love for them. I'm grateful for what I've been able to experience so far on my mission. Serving a mission tests EVERY part of your testimony. On a mission you HAVE to have something that keep you going, that compels you to leave everything behind, that drives you forward, and that makes you forget about yourself. The "something" that compels you NEEDS to be a deep love for the Savior and this gospel, because NOTHING else could get you through a mission. I know I've only been out 8 months, but in that short amount of time my life has already been changed.
I'm so blessed to be serving the people of New York. I love it. I love being a missionary. I hope all of you can keep pressing forward and keep strengthening your testimonies, because that's the most important things you can be doing :) The church is true and the book is blue! Thanks for everything, I love you all!!!
Love, Sister Hansen :)
Whenever our district leader calls us on Sunday nights he always says at the end, "Is there anything we can do for you?" Sister Langford and I the past couple times have been saying, "Hot chocolate, cookies, and a puppy!" We've been saying that for the past few weeks as a joke, and when we came into District Meeting they had hot chocolate, cookies, and fake puppies hahaha. It was really funny. Made my week!
Lately our investigators have either been busy with work or out of town... so we've been spending our time trying to find. We keep ourselves uplifted whenever we're rejected by of course playing "Would You Rather", talking about our favorite Spongebob episodes, and much more hahaha. Oh the simple lives of missionaries!!
Sometimes when things aren't going very well or when our investigators aren't progressing I start to worry that I'm not doing enough or that people are being withheld blessings because of me (of course I'm a girl, so I'm constantly worried haha). When those thoughts of feelings come into my mind I remember something that Elder Holland said....
---
"One day you're going to ask yourself, "Why does this have to be so hard? Why don't people flock to the font? Why aren't we more successful?" Well welcome to the church. Welcome to the gospel. Welcome to the life of the Savior. Welcome to the life of apostles and prophets.
After all that missionaries go through, I have come to this conclusion: Salvation isn't an easy experience. Salvation isn't cheap. It wasn't easy or painless for the Son of God of whom you are to testify. If you're going to be His missionary you cannot ask to completely avoid the pain He felt, the tears He cried, or the sorrow He saw.
I want you to embrace, savor, and cherish every single minute of it. The good times, the hard times. The companions you love and the ones who test your faith. I want you to enjoy all of it. Learn from it, grow from it, and know that it will never come again. So when you come home, stand at the pulpit and bear your testimony that you've suffered the will of the Father on your mission."
---
SO good right? I know that this gospel is true. I'm willing to suffer for these people to know about Christ's love for them. I'm grateful for what I've been able to experience so far on my mission. Serving a mission tests EVERY part of your testimony. On a mission you HAVE to have something that keep you going, that compels you to leave everything behind, that drives you forward, and that makes you forget about yourself. The "something" that compels you NEEDS to be a deep love for the Savior and this gospel, because NOTHING else could get you through a mission. I know I've only been out 8 months, but in that short amount of time my life has already been changed.
I'm so blessed to be serving the people of New York. I love it. I love being a missionary. I hope all of you can keep pressing forward and keep strengthening your testimonies, because that's the most important things you can be doing :) The church is true and the book is blue! Thanks for everything, I love you all!!!
Love, Sister Hansen :)
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Working Hard. . .
We went on exchanges with the Hamilton sisters last week. I stayed in the area, and Sister Bowen came to work with me. It went well, and we taught a couple lessons! I hope one day I'll be able to go somewhere for exchanges. I'd love to see and work in a new area for a day!
Our investigators are recent converts are doing well. Cody (Hopkins' son) tried to give a BOM to his teacher haha. AWESOME! We still only have about 7 investigators, so the week was once again full of finding activities. In Bennington we got a lot of referrals and so we didn't have to do a TON of work to find investigators. Here it's kind of the opposite.... so the best way I can put it is that we're constantly working hard with mediocre results. Hopefully the ideas that we have to keep strengthening the branch will help us receive more referrals. I KNOW there are people out there who are prepared. We just need to FIND them!
The work is real. I know God is here with us even though we aren't perfect. Serving a mission is seriously the greatest experience. It's challenging, but the greatest :)
I also wanted to give a quick shout out to my amazing friends in Bennington, from Lee's Marketplace, my friends from USU, and my family. Thanks for your support and for being here for me :) Keep pressing forward and remember not only to live the gospel, but to love it!
Love, Sister Hansen :)
Our investigators are recent converts are doing well. Cody (Hopkins' son) tried to give a BOM to his teacher haha. AWESOME! We still only have about 7 investigators, so the week was once again full of finding activities. In Bennington we got a lot of referrals and so we didn't have to do a TON of work to find investigators. Here it's kind of the opposite.... so the best way I can put it is that we're constantly working hard with mediocre results. Hopefully the ideas that we have to keep strengthening the branch will help us receive more referrals. I KNOW there are people out there who are prepared. We just need to FIND them!
The work is real. I know God is here with us even though we aren't perfect. Serving a mission is seriously the greatest experience. It's challenging, but the greatest :)
I also wanted to give a quick shout out to my amazing friends in Bennington, from Lee's Marketplace, my friends from USU, and my family. Thanks for your support and for being here for me :) Keep pressing forward and remember not only to live the gospel, but to love it!
Love, Sister Hansen :)
Monday, November 4, 2013
One Step Closer
We've been working hard to find more investigators, and luckily we found a new one! We also are trying to help the branch members do one missionary activity each month, so hopefully that helps their desire for the work to grow. A lot of times in missionary work Heavenly Father won't bless us with new people unless we're already taking care of the people we DO have... So we've been focusing on strengthening the members first. THEN more investigators will come :) I know they will!
We had a Zone Conference and heard from Bruce D. Porter (from the 70). It was great, and we ate out afterwards! We also went to the Hall of Fame last p-day :) It would've been more fun if I was a HUGE baseball fan, but it was still great! On Halloween night we studied for a while, ate dinner, and then carved mini pumpkins. I sent some pictures from the Hall of Fame and the pumpkins, so hopefully those will be up soon (thanks Kallin!!!).
Elder Bird (one of the elders in our branch) had his gall bladder removed. So we brought him balloons in the hospital haha. He unfortunately didn't say anything funny or loopy after he got out... but it was still fun to support him at the hospital! Also, we knocked on this lady's door and she let us rake her leaves! Usually if people aren't interested in our message then we offer service. Most of the time people don't take us up on it, but this time she did!! So we were able to rake leaves and talk to her more about what we believe. She later said, "...well maybe I will be converted haha!" SERVICE WORKS WONDERS!
We're still trying to have faith to find and do the Lord's will. If we keep pressing forward and holding on, I know blessings will come. I love having so many of my friends serving missions at the same time as me! It's been great hearing from them and seeing the miracles that are happening around the world. I know this work is real and I love it :) Anyway, sorry that was a lot of random stuff to report haha... but there you go!
Thanks for the support! I love and miss all of you!!! :)
Love, Sister Hansen <3
We had a Zone Conference and heard from Bruce D. Porter (from the 70). It was great, and we ate out afterwards! We also went to the Hall of Fame last p-day :) It would've been more fun if I was a HUGE baseball fan, but it was still great! On Halloween night we studied for a while, ate dinner, and then carved mini pumpkins. I sent some pictures from the Hall of Fame and the pumpkins, so hopefully those will be up soon (thanks Kallin!!!).
Elder Bird (one of the elders in our branch) had his gall bladder removed. So we brought him balloons in the hospital haha. He unfortunately didn't say anything funny or loopy after he got out... but it was still fun to support him at the hospital! Also, we knocked on this lady's door and she let us rake her leaves! Usually if people aren't interested in our message then we offer service. Most of the time people don't take us up on it, but this time she did!! So we were able to rake leaves and talk to her more about what we believe. She later said, "...well maybe I will be converted haha!" SERVICE WORKS WONDERS!
We're still trying to have faith to find and do the Lord's will. If we keep pressing forward and holding on, I know blessings will come. I love having so many of my friends serving missions at the same time as me! It's been great hearing from them and seeing the miracles that are happening around the world. I know this work is real and I love it :) Anyway, sorry that was a lot of random stuff to report haha... but there you go!
Thanks for the support! I love and miss all of you!!! :)
Love, Sister Hansen <3
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