Ye Shall Obtain :)

It was a bitter-sweet week! I enjoyed taking pictures with everyone and spending time with them. I know I'm leaving and it's been sad saying bye, but the good thing is that I'm coming back to New York :D So it actually isn't TRULY goodbye! I'm excited for my family to meet my OTHER family in New York ;) The temple trip last week was PERFECT. The weather was amazing and I hardly even looked at my watch. I was able to just relax and enjoy the moment! It felt peaceful being in the temple again and I loved all the sites! I had a great experience at the Sacred Grove and am grateful that this gospel was restored :)

It doesn't seem real that I'm actually going home... honestly it feels like I'm LEAVING part of my home. On a mission you learn and grow so much. It feels like part of my heart is here and this is the place where I more fully have been able to build my foundation and strengthen my faith. I have always loved the gospel, but now I see things a little bit clearer :) Which happens in each phase of life, and I'm excited to have my eyes opened even CLEARER now that I have a new step to take :)

I loved my mission. The other day we sang, "I Believe In Christ." I really thought about the words and the phrase that stuck out to me said, "And while I strive through grief and pain, His voice is heard 'ye shall obtain.'" It reminded me of missions. They're a lot of work and sometimes really difficult. They're amazing, but exhausting. I've loved every minute of it, because it has brought me closer to others and closer to my Savior :) In the end we DO obtain sooo much. So much more than we deserve :) Heavenly Father is just amazing! We're all so blessed, even through the hard times.

I'm excited to see all of you and I know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's church :) We have a living prophet. Temples are amazing, the Spirit World is real :) I love ALL of it so much! Thanks for everything! Love you all!


Eternally in the Lord's service!!!

Love, Sister Hansen <3

New York

Our week was great :) Sister Kunz and I are enjoying our time together and loving the people we're teaching! We had 2nd transfer training for Sister Kunz with the Zone Leaders! That was fun :) I also found out that I'm related to one of the elders in our ward! His name is Elder Speakman! We were looking at our genealogy charts and found out that we're 4th cousins! Cray cray right? ;)

So here's a funny story... heh heh. It's kind of personal, but still funny! The members have been feeding us a TON of pasta and cheese.... so can you guess what's been happening? Yeah, we've been feeling a little... backed up... if you know what I mean :) So I decided to take laxatives for the first time in my life hahaha. It was an interesting experience, but it worked well hahaha.... That might be too much info, but I thought it was funny :) Not much else has been happening! Just working hard and enjoying my time with the people here!

I guess everyone needs to eventually stop sending my mail to the PO Box 149 address! Start sending them to this address please:

Karli Hansen
1012 Prestwick Circle
Farmington, Ut 84025

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!! :) It's been such an amazing year and a half! I can't even begin to describe all that I've learned and experienced. I'm going to the Sacred Grove tomorrow and the Palmyra temple :) I know that this gospel is true and I love going to the temple. I know missionary work is so powerful and it's what we're commanded to do. I'm excited to do member missionary work and help other missionaries in the future!

I bore my testimony on Sunday about moments that bring us closer through the veil (examples: when a baby is born, temple marriages, etc). There are certain moments in life when heaven is so close and the veil is thin. My mission has brought me closer to heaven. It has helped me see a little bit clearer through the veil. The good times, the hard times,... everything! I absolutely love the people I've met and am blessed to now have them in my life :)

I'm grateful that New York is pretty close, so that I can visit and see these amazing people every so often! I'm grateful for the other missionaries I've met and all the people who have written and supported me as I've been here :)

I know this gospel is true, Christ lives :) and WE can live again just like Him! I love this work and know it's true! Everyone please stay safe and be happy.... okay?! Love you all :)


Eternally in the Lord's service, Sister Karli Hansen <3

Enjoying Each Moment

This was a great week! We're working hard and teaching a lot of people! Sometimes I get over-whelmed because everyone tells us their problems and expects us to help them with everything and solve them. Of course that's sometimes what we're there for, but at times it's exhausting. I love it though and I'm happy that I can be helping people come closer to Christ! We've had some fun activities lately, like a district activity where we played tons of small games, and we went to Olive Garden!!! Highlight of my week haha :)

I rode in a mini cooper for the first time the other day! It was sweet :) I love the members and we've had some great dinner appointments! I'm just soaking everything in and enjoying each moment, because I know I won't have this for too much longer! I love teaching over the phone and over Facebook. The work really is hastening!

I've been able to look back and see that we've been getting promptings and following them without even realizing it. It's been awesome :) I love feeling the Spirit so strong each day and striving to live the gospel to the fullest! I love being around Sister Kunz and I'm grateful that she's my last companion. We have fun and work diligently at the same time!

Here are some quotes!

" I love you... I really do.... and so does my cat!" -Sis Salisbury

"We were trying to be nice to the people who were sitting alone... but we just came off creepy." -Brother Ripplinger

"Okay I'm going to need one of you to dump..... the bucket of water I mean." -Bro Whinnery

"Buying a pen for you will be $10... but it'll be $14 with a delivery fee." -Elder Geminert

Have a wonderful day! The gospel is true :) Don't forget to feel peace and the comfort of the Spirit amidst all the chaos of the world! Can't wait to see all of you in a couple weeks!!! :)


Love, Sister Hansen <3

He Has A Plan :)

This week was awesome!!! We've just been busy busy busy! :D I love this work and I love these people! It's stressful at times, but I'm grateful for all that I'm learning! We had a ward picnic and one of our investigators came! 2 investigators were at church and one less-active! Those were great miracles :)

The Silvers gook us missionaries in the ward out to Red Robin, which was SO FUN! We've also had other fun dinners with members and have been able to teach quite a bit! I'm loving these last few weeks and am grateful to be a missionary!! Oh, and one of the members had FLARP. I don't know if everyone know what that is... but it's the best. On our way to appointments we were playing with it... ah man! I love the simple things in life that make us laugh :)

The leaves are slowly starting to change colors here, and I'm getting excited! Fall is just around the corner!!! Time really is going by fast! I need to cut this update short because we have a district activity to go to, but I know this gospel is true :) I love being on a mission. Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us and it's amazing to see those plans fall into place little by little!

I hope everyone is doing well! Keep being strong and living the gospel! I'll see everyone in just a few weeks, but in the mean time stay safe and be happy :D Love you all!!!


Love, Sister Hansen <3

Missions Are Awesome!

It was another wonderful week :) I love being here and I love the people we're teaching! I always look forward to going to lessons and helping people change their lives! Right now we're trying to help a couple of our investigators live the Word of Wisdom. It's been challenging and sometimes you wish you could take their agency away... but of course you can't haha. I just know it will help them feel the Spirit more and they'll be able to receive clearer answers if they stop smoking and drinking. Sister Kunz and I had a fast for them the other day... so we'll see what that will bring :)

We've also been teaching a member's daughter. The members are very active and strong in the church, and their daughter turns 8 in a couple months! So they wanted her to take the lessons and decide for herself that she wanted to be baptized, even though her whole family is already strong. It's been great teaching her and it's good for us to strive to teach simply :)

Here are some funny quotes :)

"I mean lets face it, I could never fill God's shoes! Excuse me... I mean His sandals." -Bro Whinnery

*counting my pass along cards* "Uno, dos, tres... I'll keep one just in case!" (rhyming on accident)

"Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and not be creepy?"

"I'm already tired for tomorrow." -Sis Hansen

Everything is going well :) We have Zone Training Meeting this week, so that should be fun! I'm excited to see what new missionaries are in our zone. We're being fed well by the members and the weather has been awesome! I'm just so grateful for all the tender mercies Heavenly Father blesses us with! I love this gospel and can't even imagine my life without serving a mission. If anyone is debating on whether or not to serve a mission... GO :) It will change your life!

Have a great week! Thanks for everyone's emails and letters. Love you all :D

Eternally In the Lord's Service,
Sister Hansen <3

Loving The Work :)

So transfer calls came and I'M STAYING!!! I'm really really really excited and happy :) I get to end my mission in my favorite area! God really does answer prayers :) It was funny because the zone leaders usually call us to tell us if we're staying or going. This time they called us from the church phone and we didn't have the number saved in our phone, so we didn't know who it was at first.

They said in a high pitched voice, "Hi... this is Stephanie! You talked to me on the street a few weeks ago!" We were fooled for a few seconds, but then knew it was them ha ha. I love how elders are constantly joking and making missionary life fun! Sister Kunz and I are striving to be more funny like that ;)

Oh yeah, and more big news! Pretty soon we can be on Facebook in our mission! I'm not exactly sure when, but hopefully soon. It kind of stinks that I only have 6 weeks left and we're getting it, but either way I'll be on Facebook soon haha. That'll be a cool tool to use to share the gospel even further :) We can be on it for one hour a day... we don't know when yet though! The assistants and zone leaders have already started using it and testing it out! I'll send details when I know more :)

I watched the new Mormon Message called, "The Hope of God's Light." It's SOOO good! If any of you haven't seen it yet then you NEED to! The Christlike attribute that I've been working on lately is hope, so it fit perfectly :) We've been working hard and loving the people :) Our mission president has set a standard/goal for us to try to achieve 20 lessons a week. I'm making a goal to teach over 20 lessons every week until I'm home... so I could use prayers haha! I want to work my hardest and best this next month, because the work is true and I know miracles will come because of it!

We had a lot of great members feed us this week, including Brother Whinnery. Bro Whinnery brought his friend (Mark) with him to lunch. We ended up teaching him the Restoration and he's an investigator now! It was hilarious because we had the lesson at a hot dog stand called Gus's Hot Dogs. Bro Whinnery ordered 12 mini hot dogs, and so did Sister Kunz. I was sitting there teaching Mark about Joseph Smith and Bro Whinnery just gets up and throws up because he ate way too much hahaha. The amazing part is that Sister Kunz are ALL 12 and didn't even throw up! She sure showed him up ;) We're helping our investigators progress slow, but steady!

During the week our GPS took us on a wrong road and we were confused, but I had the thought, "Maybe we're on this road for a reason... maybe someone is prepared." So we tracted the street and found someone who's interested, and they're an investigator now :) That was a beautiful miracle :) Sometimes we're meant to get stuck on the wrong roads because God uses them to get us to the right places :D

Thanks for your help and prayers! I'm grateful for my family and friends who're always there. You're in MY prayers, remember that :) I know this gospel is true!!! Have a good week!!


Love, Sister Hansen <3

Busy Week!

We had a very full week! We went to Utica twice. Once for the "All Sisters' Conference" and for "Return & Report." Those were both great meetings! I felt spiritually uplifted, the trainings were good, and I loved being able to see all the sisters in the mission!

We had a big rain storm hit and some trees were knocked down. Our power was out for a few days, but it's back on now :) Teaching has also been going well! We're working hard and trying to help as many people as we can! One of our investigators, Sharon, came to church on Sunday!!! She LOVED it and is loving the gospel. She was taking notes during Sacrament Meeting. Sister Kunz and I saw her write down, "Go to the temple someday and make covenants." We about DIED. How cute is that?! She's so excited to go to the temple one day and she wants to be a missionary like us :) She's in her 50's I think.

I hope I don't get transferred so that I can see Sharon get baptized. It'd be a beautiful gift from Heavenly Father if I could experience that :) We get the call this Saturday to see if we're staying! I'm loving this area and having fun with Sister Kunz :)

Not much else has happened, just seeing miracles happen each day and I'm loving being able to serve others. Some days are harder than others, but in the end I love this work :) I know God is there and that He knows us each individually. He knows what's best for us even when we think otherwise. So I guess we'll see what happens for transfers :/

Hope everyone has a joyful week and can see the small blessings each day :) Love you all! Stay strong, the gospel is true!


Love, Sister Hansen <3

Quick Update

So because we had an activity with our district today, I only have a short time to type an update! This week was pretty good. I went on exchanges to Delmar! They're wanting exchanges to last for 3 days, so we tried it out. I mean it was good and I learned, but I started to miss my area by day 3 and wanted to be back with my companion.

I worked with Sister Yu! We were able to talk to a lot of people on buses and teach some lessons. We had a couple people try to anti us, but we held our heads high and kept our mouths shut haha. I'm grateful for this gospel. It makes me sad when people put it down, but I know it's all part of the experience, experiencing a tiny fraction of what Christ experienced!

While I was on exchanges one of my investigators passed away :( Her name was Becky. She had cancer, so we figured it could've happened at any time, but it was still sad. We went to her viewing and we're hoping to start teaching her family. I'm grateful she's in the spirit world and can pick up right where she left off with the lessons haha ;)

For our district activity we did a lot of fun things. I don't really have time to describe them right now haha. I forgot my camera cord, so I'll send pictures next week. I love being with other missionaries and doing fun activities... it reminds me that I'm human haha :)

I know this gospel is real and that Christ lives! I love teaching people and seeing them change! We're teaching someone named Sharon right now and she's progressing really fast! She loves the gospel and we read the BOM over the phone with her haha :) She's truly prepared and we're LOVING teaching her. Whelp, I'm out of time. I'll hopefully say more next week!

Thanks for everything! Hope everyone has a beautiful week full of sunshine, happiness, love, and THE GOSPEL :) Love you!!!


Eternally In The Lord's Service, Sister Hansen <3

Tiring Bliss

I just love this area SOOO much!!! Have I ever mentioned that before?! Probably not ;) Everything has been good here! Sister Kunz and I are getting to know each other, working hard, and still having fun! We picked up some new investigators, who are women in their 50's. They're sweet and interested!

We had Zone Conference this week, and I loved the testimony meeting! During the trainings we did a role play and taught the Plan of Salvation to a missionary senior couple. Sister Kunz did well, but she's still way shy with teaching. Training for my last time has really been a blessing, because it's opened my eyes to a lot of things. Of course a greenie always has the "greenie fire", but also it has helped me to see how far I've come on my mission.....like the principles I've learned, how I've been able to apply them, and how I'm not scared to do a lot of things anymore.

Satan is constantly working on us as missionaries to feel inadequate or scared, but lately since I've been training, Heavenly Father has helped me see my growth. He has also helped me know that I'm capable of many things through His help :) What a tender mercy and blessing!

Oh here's a funny story! Some members gave us soda to drink at a dinner appointment. That night I woke up with heartburn because of it. I got up and chewed a couple tums (which helped) and I went back to bed. In the morning Sister Kunz was like, "Did you get up in the middle of the night to eat candy?" Hahaha I died laughing. If anyone were to get up in the night to eat candy it would probably be me ;) To go along with that, here are some funny quotes!

"That elder over there probably weighs as much as my left arm." -Julia

"Either that was thunder or someone is falling down the stairs." -Sis Kunz

*two sisters talking to each other*
"So how was giving service at the soup kitchen?" -"Just as scary as ever!"


The members are awesome here! We went teaching and had dinner with the Ripplingers :) Them, the Przudpelskis, and the Cluffs are just AMAZING! Some of them seriously are like my best friends haha :) I love it here, but of course there are some hard days. Some days I'm so exhausted and I feel like I can't go on, but the Lord gives me strength.

Sometimes I feel like my emotions can't take another rejection, but the Lord reminds me of why I'm here :) I love all that I'm learning and I love serving a mission. The best way I can describe a mission is "tiring bliss" haha. It's SO tiring and hard, but it's full of bliss and joy :) Thanks for the letters and emails from everyone, you're so sweet! Hope everyone has a beautiful week :) Love you!!!


Love, Sister Hansen <3

4th of July

We were able to see some of our investigators that we hadn't seen in a while, that was nice! Missionary work really is a gradual process and takes time because people have lives or something like that ;) We have a few investigators set for baptism in September, so hopefully I'll get to see them baptized... but who knows! Maybe some lucky missionaries in the future can see them take that step!

While tracting this week we found a few potentials, which is always a blessing! We didn't do much for the fourth of July. We taught lessons and listened to the fireworks go off while laying in bed that night haha. It's okay though, because yesterday we had a cook out with Brother Whinnery and the Ripplingers! That was pretty fun :)

Two of our investigators dropped us on the same day... so it started out sad, but then we went teaching with Lindsey (a young woman in the ward) and the zone leaders randomly brought us ice cream! They had no idea about our investigators dropping us, they just felt like they needed to bring us ice cream! So that was a strong testimony builder for me that God works through other people to help bring sunshine into our days :)

I love the work! I just love teaching and feeling the Spirit. This are is so amazing and I hope that I can stay here till the end of my mission :) Sister Kunz is adjusting pretty well! She's still a little shy, but I'm helping her come out of her shell! We're getting along great and I'm helping her know the people and area!

Hope everyone had a fun weekend for the 4th! Stay safe, thanks for all the support! Love you!!!!!


Love, Sister Hansen <3

Birthday Week!

What a wonderful week :) I'm just SO happy that I'm staying here in Albany and am with my new trainee, Sister Kunz! She's from Idaho, 19 years old! She's nice and we're starting to get to know each other! She's a little quiet, but I'll help change that ;) We had the BOM class on Wednesday on 1 Nephi chapters 9-11. We also had a Relief Society activity about meditation and cooking!

My birthday on Sunday was fantastic :) A lot of members gave me hugs, cards, and gifts! We had homemade mac&cheese and fondue at the Cluff's house---divinely heaven sent food! I got calls and texts from people, and the zone leaders called, sang Happy Birthday really loud, and then hung up haha :) We also tracted into a few people who're wanting to learn!! So that was a fun birthday gift :) Heavenly Father definitely helped make the day special, but for some reason it didn't actually feel like my birthday haha. I think it was because I was away from Kallin and the rest of my family, but it was still a good day and I'm grateful :)

Here are some quotes!

"When I was baptized I was dressed in all white.... I felt like a giant bowling pin." -Toni Whinnery

"I have more black people in my family than some black people do!" -Julia Volk

"Sister Brown.... you can't laugh at your own jokes..." -Sister Hansen

"I was upset about being transferred, but then I found out that my new area has a washer and dryer... then I was like, oh okay.... I'm good!" -Elder Lords

Well I hope everyone is doing well and are happy :) This gospel really is the plan of happiness, so remember to smile and be happy... okay?! ;) I love this work, I love my Savior, I love all of you!!! The church is true, the book is blue, and Moroni's on the ball!<--------- Get it, Moroni's on the ball?! ;)


Love, Sister Hansen <3

God Answers Prayers

First off I'm sharing the news about transfers! I'M STAYING AND TRAINING!!! :D I seriously am SO happy! I pretty much started crying tears of joy when President Wirthlin called me to stay. I had been praying and praying to stay, but of course I was trying to be submissive to God's will... but He answered my prayers and I get to be here hopefully till the end of my mission!!

It's a bummer to see Sister Brown leave, but she knows I get WAY more attacked to people than she does haha. She's excited to move to the next adventure that her mission has for her! I'm super excited to get another greenie (my 3rd child)! We'll see who she is in just a few days :) Transfers are this Wednesday! Just keep sending my mail to PO Box 149 in Whitesboro. That address never changes and will always get to me wherever I am in the mission, thanks!

This past week I went on exchanges with Sister Lloyd to Saratoga Springs. It was great! Saratoga is known for all the horse track races that go on there. It was a fun town and we were able to teach some lessons. A family named the Rugies were awesome :) This week we also picked up 3 new investigators! Their names are Dan, Eric, and Lucie! We're excited to be teaching some investigators even though our focus has been working with less-actives :)

We've also been on splits quite a few times. Some of the sisters have managed to find time to come out with us so we can visit multiple people at the same time. Every ward or branch that I've been in has always "talked" about making splits happen, but no one ever went with us. It's FINALLY working here and has been fun :)

We started giving service at a soup kitchen! We already serve at a thrift shop and now we're serving at a church soup kitchen. It's been a great way to get our tags out there and for people to see us serving the community! I love being able to talk with people and help :) Hopefully some teaching opportunities will arise in the near future!

I want to give a shout out to my twin sister since our birthday is this week :) Thanks for being my best friend Kal!!!!!! You're amazing and I'm so lucky to have you in my life! I'm grateful for the memories we have and the ones we WILL have :) The past 21 years have been a blast, thanks for everything... "You've got a friend in me" I love you Kal!!!!!!!!!!! :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! The gospel is true and God is real, I know that for a fact. Keep doing your best, keep smiling, keep being like Christ, keep being yourself. The gospel is worth every sacrifice :)


Love, Sister Hansen <3

Fun In The Sun

I thought I would go my whole mission without throwing up... but I was wrong ;) This week I randomly got the flu haha. My stomach started hurting one night and that was the end of it. I was sick for about a day and a half, but Sister Brown took good care of me! Even though we missed about 2 days of work, we were still able to see quite a few people :)

One of our investigators made it to church and 2 of our less-actives!!! That made us really happy :) I love seeing what church does to people when they haven't been in a while! We've been able to teach a lot with the women in the ward, give service at the Przedpelski's, and have meal appointments with Rebecca Jordan, The Hathaways, etc. I love these people :) Some of them are like my best friends! I'm scared to see what happens with transfers because I don't know if my heart can take leaving these people... but I guess we'll see. Saturday is the day we find out! :/

So there's this funny joke with missionaries! I don't know if I've written about this yet, but oh well! Whenever us as missionaries see a plane we say, "How far away do you think that one is?" People's usual response is about how many feet/miles it is above the ground. We then answer with, "10 months away" or "7 months away." It's a joke for missionaries about how love they have left on their missions haha. So lately I've been saying "3 months away." Which is crazy! Time is going by slow, but way fast at the same time!! I love this work though. I love what I learn each day and I love these people :)

The other day we were sitting in the park waiting to have a lesson with an investigator. Sister Brown looked at my back and started gasping (in fear). I got up and started RUNNING, because obviously there was a bug on my back. I kept running around and she finally told me it was gone haha. We're getting more bees and a TON more of those scary centipedes. I'm officially terrified of bugs. I'm really really happy we don't have those huge centipedes out west!

So I learned a cool analogy at church! The hymn 335 is called, "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy." Some of the lyrics say, "let the lower lights be burning." We learned about what lower lights are. They're the lights that are on the shore of the beach that let ships know where the shoreline is. It's an analogy because Christ is the lighthouse and he leads others to Him. WE are the lower lights because we guide ships TO the lighthouse. Isn't that cool? :) Everyone should look up the lyrics! That song means so much more to me now!

Anyway, this week was great! Today we went with Przedpelskis to "Cohoes Falls" where there's a waterfall and we had a good time being out in nature. We then went grocery shopping and out to eat at Chipotle! Such a fun day in the sun :) I'll send pics next week. I'm grateful for the small moments in life that are just perfect! Hope everyone can have some of those this week! The gospel is true, keep being amazing! Thanks for your prayers and support, love you all!!!


Love, Sister Hansen :)

Blessings

I don't know if I've already written about this or not, but we've been trying to make sacrifices to show the Lord we're willing to work for success. We've been making small sacrifices, like taking 45 minute lunches instead of an hour, fasting for the people we teach each preparation day, and not opening our mail till the end of the day, so we can focus on the people here. We've seen a lot of blessing come from it :) The phrase from the song Praise To The Man says, "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven." It's SO true. I love that Heavenly Father sees what we do each day and is willing to bless us when we strive to serve others!

We discussed 1 Nephi chapter 8 in BOM class. It was a fun class! I always love talking about Lehi's dream and what all the different parts in the vision mean. We had a good turn out too, so that was excited! I was sick one day this week and received a blessing from Brother Przedpelski because I was getting a little stressed out haha, but other than that it was good :)

We went bowling for our district activity today and we had a blast! I love being around other missionaries and just being ourselves! I love that we're each called to specific areas for specific reasons. We all have different personalities and talents that will help certain people :) We have a good bunch of people here in the Albany Zone!

I hope everyone has a beautiful week! I love the gospel and am grateful for Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost :) I love that families can be together forever.... and not just our individual families, but ALL of us as a family here on earth! Thank you all for being a part of my family ;)

Eternally In The Lord's Service, Sister Hansen <3

IT IS WORTH IT

A lot of fun events took place this week :) First, we had a talent show with the Relief Society! Sisters brought things they had made, someone danced, others told jokes or read poetry! It was a fun night celebrating everyones' talents!

Also, Zone Training Meeting happened! Elders Geminert and Lords gave the training and had us all go to different rotation to learn. It was good! Sister Brown's birthday was on the 30th, so I tried to make her day as special as possible :) Someone took us out to dinner and we had ice cream later. It was a good day!

Oh, the other day we were walking from someone's house to our car. A group of girls were standing on the sidewalk. One of them said, "Hey you're really pretty!" I thought that was nice and said thanks. Then she was like, "Can I get your number? Please?" We just said nothing and got into our car haha.... AWKWARD. I don't know how to handle being hit on by another girl haha!

Here are some quotes!

"Sister Hansen is always a happy Mexican!" -Sister Brown

"Sisters are missionaries by day and ninjas by night." -Toni

"My wife thinks I'm a Jesus freak." -Brother Behunin

*driving around a small round about*
"How about we drive around it twice just for funzies.......... and maybe a 3rd time so that people for SURE know Mormons are insane?!" -Sister Hansen

Thanks for all the letters and packages of support :) I love hearing from you and am grateful for what you do and the prayers you say for us as missionaries! Thanks Mom and Dad for the package that had the quote by Elder Holland! I LOVE it! It's true... this work and this gospel IS WORTH IT :) Have a wonderful week!


Love, Sister Hansen <3

Memorial Weekend

Another amazing week here in New York! :) I just love the ward here and I love the people we're teaching!! We've been going on splits with the Relief Society sisters so that we can get to know the less-actives in the ward. It's been GREAT! We get to know the sisters in the ward AND get to teach lessons! Each ward or branch that I've been in always wanted to get something going like this, but it never actually happened. So I'm super happy that it's happening in this ward :)

We've also been able to give a lot of service this week. We volunteer at a thrift shop in town and we were able to help a couple people randomly when we saw they needed help with yard work. It's amazing how much people warm up once they see that we're normal people and not just "missionaries." Quite a few new people have become interested and so we're excited about that :)

The other night Sister Brown and I were singing a hymn to open our planning session for the night. We sang one of my favorite hymns, page 191 "Behold The Great Redeemer Die." We decided to sing all of the verses. I had never sang all of them before. So we did, and after we finished it, the Spirit was so strong that we both didn't even speak, we just started crying haha. I think the very last verse (#6) is my very favorite :) Hopefully you can all look it up or sing it! It's such a beautiful and powerful song!!!!

I hope you all have been having a great time as birthdays and holidays have passed. I have everyones' birthdays on my calendar, but I often times don't get the chance to give a shout out on my blog. I'm always thinking about everyone though and I hope you're having great birthdays and holidays! :D

For memorial Day we had the Albany Stake Picnic. I also attended it last year when I was in Bennington! So I got to go again this year :) We played ultimate frisbee, had food, and met some new people! I love being around a bunch of Mormons! :)

I just love reading the scriptures and receiving answers from our Heavenly Father. I've been having a few things on my mind lately and I've been praying about them! It's amazing how when we're humble and ask, He'll give us answers :) Everyone, read the Book of Mormon and Bible ;)

Hope everyone had a good weekend! Stay safe and keep being amazing :) I love you all soooooooo much!


Eternally in the Lord's service, Sister Hansen <3

Another great week!

This week was full of a lot of tracting and trying to find people to teach! For the most part it went well and we've seen small miracles come from it :) One day we were waiting for a lady to open her door. She opened it and YELLED "Get off my porch RIGHT NOW! LEAVE! I can't believe they let you do this!!!!! Get away!!!!!" With a smile on my face I just responded, "Sorry... we're just trying to help people :)"

She then continued to glare at us and watched us through her window as we tracted the rest of the street haha. It was kind of scary in the moment, but after it was all said and done it's a great story to tell and we laugh about it :) Some people here in New York are nuts haha ;) Hopefully one day she'll be able to learn and accept the gospel!!

People have started coming to the Book of Mormon class that we've been teaching each week. It's great to dive into the scriptures and help others understand them! we also had a dinner/auction fundraiser for the young men and young women in our ward! It was fun being with everyone and watching all of the bidding that was going on!

The sun has been warm lately and I love it!! I love Watervliet so much!!! I'm really really happy that I'm staying here another transfer :) I love being a missionary! I love the scriptures and the joy that comes from feeling the Spirit. I know this gospel is true and I love receiving insights and learning from the prophet and apostles!!! I hope everyone can look up talks and keep reviewing the conference addresses from General Conference! I love the new Ensign! I hope the gospel is making all of you happy, because it makes me happy :D Thanks for everything! I'm grateful for all of your support! Love and miss you all! Have a beautiful week!


Love, Sister Hansen <3

Mother's Day

First off, it was GREAT to see everyone yesterday!!! I hope you all had a good Mother's Day! I know that I sure did :) I'm grateful for my family and the support they are while I'm out here! THANK YOU! So transfer calls were this weekend and we're both STAYING in Albany for a 3rd transfer together :) We're super excited and happy! We love it here!!!

This past week we had exchanges with the Delmar sisters. I got to sit at a table on Albany campus representing the church! We handed out material and free cookies ha ha. We did a lot of OYMing and it was a great exchange!

We also taught one of our investigators, Alfonzo! He said every time he has been truly pondering about God or thinking deeply about life, we randomly show up haha. So he says that's his answer that this is the true church :) We also got to see Julia and Rebecca, who are members! They're fun to have lessons with and we're bonding well!

We've met a few more people during the week who are interested and have good questions! We also did some service for people that we tracted into. I love it here and am loving being out in the sun :) The trees are starting to turn green and I'm in heaven! Heavenly Father knew this is where I needed to serve my mission ;) Apparently there's this huge tulip festival with thousands of gorgeous tulips! We weren't able to go, but hopefully we'll see some pictures from members!

Here are some quotes!

"Instead of sitting around eating twinkies, I should probably be out serving someone." - Jessica

"I'm a major brain fart person!" - Sister Wright

"These correlation meetings just keep getting weirder and weirder..." - Elder Koga

This work really is true :) I learn so much each day and I love feeling the Spirit so strong. I love serving a mission! Hope you're all happy and healthy. You're always in my prayers! Have a wonderful week full of fun, friends, family, and JOY :) It's called the plan of happiness for a reason ;) I love you!!!!!!!!!!


Love, Sister Hansen <3

Busy Week!

So at the first of the week, I went on exchanges back to Bennington! I was able to see a lot of people including Barb, Chuck, Pat, Jessica White, and many others that I taught :) It was great to see them, but weird to be back at the same time! Jessica White was someone that Sister Stephens and I tracted into, and it was crazy going back into her house and seeing pictures of Christ everywhere :) Such a cool moment!

MLC was on Friday. It was a fun drive there and the meeting itself was great! It's awesome knowing everything that's going on with the mission and figuring out how to better help all the missionaries :) After MLC, we had Sister Brown's 2nd transfer training with the Zone Leaders. That was a spiritual meeting and we had a good time!

A few people dropped us this week because they got anti-material, but hopefully one day they'll come back and remember the spiritual times that we had with them! Of course we just keep trying to teach others and see less-actives :) At correlation meeting we had another bonfire and also played a casual game of baseball. SO fun! Whenever we're at the Silver's house will all the missionaries, it just feels like family! I love the people I've met on my mission and even more people I'll be able to meet. Serving a mission is amazing!

We also had an ultimate frisbee game as a district today :) Afterwards we went out to eat at Chipotle! SOOO awesome! On Thrusday we'll have our last district meeting before transfer calls... :/ I'm nervous about what's going to happen.... but I'll be letting you know when I call on Mother's Day!!! I'm excited to talk to everyone :)

Have a wonderful week! The gospel is true!!!!!!!!!!!


Love, Sister Hansen <3

Time Is Flying!

Many miracles have been happening and I love this area SO much!!! We decided to pray about where we should tract, and then picked 3 streets. On the first street, we found our new investigator named Marlene!! She's truly prepared for the gospel and gave us 3 referrals before we even finished the Restoration lesson! She's solid and we're really excited to keep meeting with her! :D

We've also been teaching Dave and helping him progress. Hopefully he'll start coming to church regularly and he can feel the Spirit more in his life! Stake Conference was on Saturday and Sunday and it was great! I loved feeling the Spirit and seeing so many Mormons all in one place haha. I kind of forgot what that was like ;) I also got to see a few people from Bennington :)

Every week our dinner appointments are great and I love all the families! We went to eat at Chipotle, which was way good, and also a homemade ice cream place called Snow Man. Like I've said many times before, I just love the young families here and they make me so happy :) Transfer calls are coming in a couple weeks... I REALLY want to stay, but I guess we'll see what happens!

Time is going by fast and we're striving to work hard! It's becoming sunny here and I love it :D Hopefully I'll be sending my winter clothes home soon, just a heads up! Oh yeah... a member told me about this book called, "Visions of Glory." Even just hearing about it has totally changed my perspective on life and the spirit world! I see things differently now and am so excited to read it one day! PLEASE family and friends read that book if you can!!

I guess there's not much else to update! Things are going well and I'm loving it. I'm grateful to be a missionary and know that this one decision will change my life! Missions are amazing because they teach so much and help us become a little bit closer to who we need to be! Thanks for everyone's good examples and for being here for me! Have a  great week, love you all!


Love, Sister Hansen <3

Easter Weekend!

This week was great! We were able to teach quite a few lessons and spend time with great people :) 2 people are set for baptism! We're slowly getting there!! The role play at Zone Conference was scary, but went pretty well. I'm just glad it's over haha. The new teaching method has been working well though and I'm glad we were able to give an example of how it works!

Something cool happened last night! So I woke up and heard Sister Brown talking in her sleep and she said, "I KNOW the Book of Mormon is true!" I just kind of chuckled and then went back to sleep haha #missionariesteachingintheirsleep #hilarious. In the morning I told her about it and she told me that the day before she had finished the BOM again and prayed again to know if it was true. When I told her what she said in the night, she almost started crying and said that that was her answer! It was a funny, but cool way for Heavenly Father to answer her prayers! The BOM is SO true, I love it :)

So the Behunin family from Bennington are coming to the Albany Ward now! I'm super super excited :) It's been fun seeing familiar faces and talking about good times! We had a good Easter with the members too. Of course the music and program at church was beautiful and after church we had a party at a member's house. Sister Brown and I were there with a bunch of other young married couples haha. It was funny! Married couples and sister missionaries.... PERFECT ;) I really did love it though. I love being around young families and couples :)

Oh by the way, thank you everyone who sent me Easter packages and letters! I loved all of them so much!!! I especially loved all of the testimonies that were in the Easter eggs. Best East gift EVER!! I'm grateful for my family and friends who share their testimonies with me! I know our Savior lives and I know that because of Him we will all live forever too ;)

Not much else is new here! Just loving the warmer weather, getting ice cream on occasion, and loving standing up for the gospel :) I love being in New York and in the Albany ward!!!!!! Everyone have a safe and beautiful week! Thanks for everything! Love you!


Love, Sister Hansen <3

Spring!

It's finally warm!!!! :D I've been loving the warmer weather!!! A lot of people are out and about in the town and it's easier for us to corner people and talk to them ;) The bugs are coming though... and that scares me. We have TONS of ants invading our apartment. I'm kind of freaking out. We're finding ways to get rid of them though!

So two funny/embarrassing stories... again :) One, we were tracting and this black lady only opened her door about an inch wide, so it was hard to understand her. She said her name was Fabiola, but I didn't hear her right. I was like, "Ravioli???" Then I just burst out laughing and could barely talk to her. It was great!

Second, Sister Brown had been doing something with the sink so she pushed the button that plugs the drain. I didn't know that, so I starting running the water until it was warm. I came back to the bathroom and the sink overflowing with water and going ALL OVER the bathroom floor hahaha. It didn't make any damages to the bathroom. I just mopped it up and kept laughing. I'm ridiculous sometimes :)

Anyway, we've been teaching some great people and a man named Dave is set for June 14th! Alfonzo (another investigator) came to church and loved it so much that he wants to invite his friends next week! :D Tomorrow we have Zone Conference, and Sister Brown and I have to give a role play in front of everyone... with President Wirthlin being our investigator. We're pretty nervous, but I know we just need to follow the Spirit and do our best! Pray for me to not be nervous!!! Haha

The other night at correlation with our Ward Mission Leader, we had a BBQ and a bonfire :) It was SO much fun!!! I love correlation meetings at the Silver's house! I'm excited for Easter Sunday too and the joy of Easter time! I know our Savior lives and loves us. I'm grateful for the sun and to be here in New York! I hope you have a great week :) Take care, love you all!


Love, Sister Hansen <3

Eventful Week!

A lot happened this week which is always good :) We found a Thrift Shop to give service at and there are a couple people who might become investigators because of it! MLC was good! We have this new teaching method for the first 4 lessons. A lot of different missions are trying to implement it, and it's SUPER amazing! Learning it will be a slow process, especially for us missionaries who have been out for a while... but it's AWESOME! We're going to give a training on it at ZTM.

General Conference was amazing as usual! I received SO many answers to the questions I had!! I love the Spirit and I love hearing from the leaders of the church. It's just comforting to know that what everyone said was what Heavenly Father wants us to know! I loved President Monson's talk on Charity and a lot of the speakers talked about faith! Elder Holland's talk was powerful of course and I loved seeing Carol B. Cook give the opening prayer :) It was good to see a family member haha!

We've received 5 Head Quarter referrals and 4 member referrals, and those have been huge blessings! Hopefully a lot of them will want to listen to our message! We're slowly, but surely finding more people to teach! Surprisingly there isn't much else to update because we just had so many long events happen during the week... but I'm excited to have yet again another week in the Lord's service :)

Quote time!

*Elder Lords pretending to teach the Word of Wisdom horribly* "Do you see this picture of a family? Well they're happy because they DON'T SMOKE WEED :)"

*Sister Brown talking to me* "Thanks for being your cute, sweet, weird self!"

"Can you draw a starfish in a Batman suit??" -Elder Geminert


Keep being amazing and keep smiling :) Life is beautiful and the gospel is true!!! Have a stupendous week! I love you all with my whole heart!!!!!!!


Love, Sister Hansen!

Staying in Albuny!

So we got transfer calls and we're staying!!! :D I'm sooooo happy! Sister Brown and I also have been called to be Sister Training Leaders over 3 sister companionships. MLC (Mission Leadership Council) is this week and we're excited :)

The women's broadcast was really powerful and uplifting!! I loved how the theme was to remember who we are and what we stand for :) It was such a fun night being with sisters in the ward, having dinner, and feeling the Spirit. I'm so excited for GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!! This week is just gonna be filled with awesome experiences!! I hope you all have been able to think of questions to ponder and study! ;)

We also had exchanges last week with the Glenville sisters. I stayed in Watervliet with Sister Johnson. It went well! We were tracting and a black lady let us in. She said she had cancer and wanted us to pray with her. So we all held hands in a circle and took turns praying haha. After a little while she couldn't breathe very well and wanted us to take her to the hospital. Her husband was going to be home in like 10 minutes, so we just helped calm her down by singing hymns :) He then took her to the hospital. We hope she's okay and we'll go back soon. Hopefully we can start teaching her or help her!

Oh yeah! The other day we were OYMing (open your mouth) people and talking about the gospel on the streets. We saw this guy who was walking fast from his apartment to his car. We wanted to get his attention before he went inside, so I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind haha. I was like, "I LIKE YOUR MUSTACHE!" Hahahaha. He then stopped and talked to us for a while, he had a pretty sweet mustache! So now we have that as an inside joke. Every person that we see on the street we mentally say, "I like your mustache!"

Today for fun we're going to the HUGE Wal-mart in Albuny. It's 2 stories high and everyone says it's awesome. It should be an adventure :) The weeks have been flying by. Each time it's Monday again I'm like WHAT?! In the moment it's slow, but at the end of the week it feels like it's only been 2 days! I LOVE the members here and LOVE spending time with them :) I love young families. Our investigators are slowly progressing and we're still trying to find more. You know... the usual... It's like doing missionary work or something ;)

Here are some quotes!

"Everyone learn to budget your money. If you eat at a restaurant, get the stuff on the dollar menu, not any of the Super Sized Super Dippedy Dopper Doof stuff!" -President Wirhlin

*at church* "Ugh... I don't feel like being social." -Elder Geminert

"Don't worry, I kept my cool.... even in a van." -Sister Hansen

Hope ya'll have a great week ;) The sun is actually SHINING here.... it's a miracle! Hopefully spring will come soon haha. The gospel is true, everyone keep being amazing! :) Love you!!!!!

Love, Sister Hansen <3

Missionary Fun

First things first. URGENT: There is a new Sister Hansen coming into our mission. So make SURE to write Sister KARLI Hansen on my letters so that they get to me and not her haha :)

Anyway, this week was pretty awesome :D We had "Return and Report" when all the trainers and trainees go to Utica and have training. It was fun staying at the mission home and training was great too! I LOVED the testimony meeting. I just wish testimony meetings would never end haha, I love when the Spirit is so strong!

This week we also conducted a "Mini MTC Experience" for the girls in the stake ages 8-11. We had them come in, and just like the MTC we pinned their badges on :) Then they received a "mission call" and we had a bunch of different rotations and activities. It was SO cute! I loved being able to help teach them about how to be a missionary :) Ahhh, I just love missionary work. I hope a lot of them are able to serve in the future!

Transfer calls come this Saturday. I feel like I'm going to stay, but ever since Owego I'm ready to take anything haha. I love this ward so much though... I really really want to stay. Hopefully I will... but I guess we'll see! The work has been a little slower because people cancelled on us, but we're still doing our best! We were able to teach a couple lessons though.

We just barely got done bowling with our district :) SOOOOO much fun! :D I bowled like an 87, it was hilarious. Luckily I wasn't the lowest score! I felt like a normal person for a few minutes while wearing jeans and having normal music playing... it was really weird. I felt guilty but happy but skeptical but excited all at the same time... I still don't quite know how I feel about the whole thing haha... but it was a blast :) I'll send pics if I have time to upload them all!

Oh yeah, the past few weeks I've been having scary dreams at night and haven't been able to sleep. I don't know why I've been dreaming so much lately... Anyway, I was constantly tired and could barely stay awake, so I had Elder Geminert (Zone Leader) give me a blessing. Ever since the blessing, my dreams have stopped and I've been sleeping better :) It was a cool experience and I'm grateful for worthy priesthood holders!

Well I don't have much time so I need to wrap this up. I hope you're all staying strong and remembering that you need CPR to stay alive (Church, Pray, Read)! :) I love everyone!!! Have a good week!!!!!!!!!! The gospel is true and God loves you! :)


Love, Sister Hansen <3

Miracles

SO many small miracles have happened the past few weeks! Sister Brown and I have been trying to be as diligent/obedient as we can, and we've seen blessings come from it :) Heavenly Father has led us to 4 new investigators and 3 pretty solid potentials that we're going to follow up with!

One of them is Bill. We talked to him on the street and he said he's been looking for a church that he feels comfortable at. He's been searching for a year, but still hasn't found it (NOW HE HAS!!!) ;) haha. We talked with him briefly, testified, and left him with a BOM. Later when we were driving back that way to go home, we saw him on his porch reading it!!! :D That was so cool!

Also one of our investigators is Jamaican haha! She's great and she's really interested in the priesthood and prophets. We're teaching her next week and she wants to come to church! We visited a less-active family this week too. They have young kids so we watched the new Mormon Message about bullying with them. The Spirit was really strong and they loved it! We talked about being Christlike, it was great :) They invited us back again!!

Oh yeah, the other day I was leaving a voicemail on someone's phone and at the end I almost said, "In the name of Jesus Christ amen." but luckily I stopped myself right before and then just said bye really fast hahahaha.... and another embarrassing thing was that I pulled into the parking lot at our church for ZTM and President Wirthlin was walking in. In our mission, President Wirthlin is trying to help us learn how to get good at backing our bars into parking places. He was like, "Sister Hansen... I want to see you back in!" ...... OH GREAT. I've been backing in my whole mission and I'm STILL horrible at it haha. Lets just say I made a food of myself... but it was fun :)

I've had so many interesting dreams lately. Last night it was this one: I was driving a car full of missionaries. I was following my GPS and it was NOT taking us the right way. We were going on long windy roads and I started to get frustrated. We stopped the car and went to sit on a bench by some grass. We sat down on the bench and everyone was like, "Lets role play!" I was still trying to figure out my GPS, so I sat down away from the group on the grass. My GPS was taking us a MUCH longer way to get home and I didn't know why. Clearly on the map there were TONS of other short roads that could've gotten us home. I started crying after a few minutes haha. Then someone came and sat by my side. I still don't know who that person was... but he said something that I'll never forget.

"OFTEN GOD KNOWS THERE'S AN EASIER PATH... BUT SOMETIMES WE NEED TO TAKE THE TOUGH AND LONG WAY."

When he said that, I knew it was true. Even though our paths in life can be difficult and can seem long at times, there are lessons we never would've learned if we took the shortcut. There are things we never would've seen or felt if we took the short road. I'm grateful for that dream. It helped me know that God is aware of the path I'm on, and He's helping me understand more and more each day :) I love receiving answers through dreams!!

Anyway, the new March Ensign is REALLY good. You all should read it! Also, I hope everyone has a fun St. Patrick's Day :) We got ice cream cones for 50 cents at Stewarts for wearing green :) I'll end my post on a funny note by writing some of the quotes from my week :) Enjoy!

"We're trying to have more fun like elders. So we're embracing our inner elder!" - Sis Brown

"Adidas stands for- All Day I Dream About Shoes. It should be Adidaj- All Day I Dream About JESUS!" - Elder Holt

*choosing a random pamphlet to leave at an unanswered door* "Let's see what we got here... AH! Luck of the draw.... these lucky people get chastity!" -Sis Hansen

*during his testimony* "You know what? I just love being weird. I'm weird.... and being weird makes me happy!" -Elder Houggard

Haha well, I hope everyone is happy and healthy :) The weeks are starting to go by a lot faster now :) Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!


Love, Sister Hansen <3

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

To start out I want to mention the scripture D&C 84:114. "Go to the city of New York... and also the city of Albuny." It mentions my area in the scriptures!!! ;) I thought that was pretty cool haha. Anyway, this week we've seen some progress. We've been receiving Head Quarter referrals for people who want to know about the gospel, so that's been a HUGE blessing. Hopefully we can meet them and start teaching soon!

We had another cool experience! We knocked on a lady's door named Rebecca. She let us in and we taught her about the Restoration. She received it well and was really curious about what we believe. She then told us that she felt like she knew us, that we seemed very familiar :) We were excited to hear that! :) She agree to read and pray, so we'll see what happens there! We also met a guy on the street named Alfonzo who might be interested too!

Oh yeah, someone that we talked to the other day told me that I look like I'm 14 years old... I wonder if I'll ever start to look older haha. I had another funny dream the other night. I was sitting in sacrament meeting and I started to get really hungry. So I started SHOVING my face with food hahaha. I was trying to hide my face, because I didn't want people to see that I was eating during the meeting. It was hilarious! I think I like food a little too much haha.

Sister Brown and I are getting to know each other more, but we still haven't completely connected yet. It's been brought to my knowledge that she has a "red" personality in the Color Code. That explains A LOT haha. It's a work in progress, but we'll get there! SO many members here have gone to school at USU :) It's really fun to be able to talk about Logan! I love the members!!

The other night we were listening to the talk called, "Finding Joy In the Journey" by President Monson. He mentioned a story about a father who was in prison or something in another country. He was allowed to write his family, but using only 25 words. So I thought about that and wondered what I would write to my current family or my future family if I only had 25 words. Here's what I came up with!

Cherish family. Be Christlike. Serve. Remember your worth. Faith. Keep covenants. Worthy mission. Pray. Laugh. Trials are blessings. Love deeply. Smile. Patience. Humility. Cherish moments.

What would all of you say??? ;) There's actually not much else to report about. It's been a good week though. Slow but steady things are going to pick up. I know this work is true and I'm grateful to be meeting people and helping them change their lives! I love our Savior and I'm grateful for the Atonement :)

I hope everyone back home is doing well! Love and miss you more than you know!!!


Love, Sister Hansen :)

I Love Mormons

It's been another good week in Watervliet! I had a dream that President Wirthlin transferred me AGAIN after only being in Watervliet for one transfer haha. I hope SO bad that I can stay here for a while. I guess we'll see what Heavenly Father has planned though... Oh and I also had a dream that at General Conference, President Monson announced that sisters could serve for 3 years instead of 18 months.... uh yeah, probably not gonna happen haha. Can you tell I'm excited for General Conference though?? :)

In our district we have 7 sets of missionaries, including a senior couple. They're awesome, and they make us lunch each week after district meeting! We have a fun district and we're all trying to work hard. We've had dinner with a lot of great families too :) As far as investigators go... we have none... So it's back to square one... finding. The first few days were a little rough, because my GPS always acts weird whenever I change areas haha, but after my GPS started working, things got better.

On a particularly stressful day, we were walking down the street. I was silently praying about everything that I was feeling. Ahead of us some little kids got dropped off by a  school bus. 2 cute black kids started running down the street to go home. Right before they passed us the little boy all of a sudden ran up to me, randomly gave me a big hug, and then ran off haha. It was the sweetest thing EVER! I felt like it was God's way of giving me a hug and letting me know that I need to stop stressing haha. It was an absolute answer to my prayer and I'm really grateful for that!

Each day I'm reminded of how blessed I've been with the family life I have. Families out here and even the family situations with some of my companions are just falling apart and are really sad. I'm more and more thankful each day for my family and the life I've been able to live. Love you all sooooo much!

Oh yeah, we have a car and the zone leaders have a van. Sometimes we switch and drive the van to pick up the elders for church. We needed to know where the zone leaders lived, so we texted them and asked for their address. Our texting conversation proceeded by us joking back and forth, giving references from the white handbook haha. To other people this might not be funny, but hopefully missionaries will understand.
Here it is:

Sisters: Hey, can we get your address for driving tomorrow?

Elders: That is classified info. Page 46 of the while handbook. "Do not give your address to non-members or make your address publicly known."

S: Page 57. "Leaders should be sensitive to the needs of others..."

E: Page 62. "My loyalty is first to the Lord, then to the mission president, THEN to the missionaries."

S: Page 59. "Leaders should also recognize that they can learn much for the missionaries they serve. "

E: Page 62. "A leader should never tolerate or take part in inappropriate activities."

S: Romans 14:10, Mark 9:22.

Haha it was great! We ended up winning the "texting battle" and they gave us their address. IO love the funny jokes that we have as missionaries and inside jokes as Mormons. I just love Mormons :) I love being a missionary!! I better wrap up things though. I hit my year mark in 3 days... crazy!!! I'm thankful for my mission and what I've experienced in the past year. 6 more months!! :) Thanks for everything! The gospel is true, and I love all of you! :)


Love, Sister Hansen!

Albany Ward

I'm not gonna lie, leaving Owego was sad haha. My last day there we got our car stuck in deep snow and the elders and a member had to come help us get out haha. Then later that night we had dinner with Elaine and Rachael (recent convert & investigator. We had a good, deep, heart-to-heart conversation about a lot of things haha :) (oh yeah, Mom and Dad sorry I spent so much money on my debit card... I was helping Elaine pay for some of her temple clothes!) I'm really going to miss everyone there. I also slipped on the ice for the first time this winter... Well I didn't actually make it ALL the way to the ground, but I did slip. We were running to our car and then I biffed it haha, so it was a pretty hard fall. My  hand got hurt, but the cool thing was that my knee didn't get bruised or scraped up or anything because my garments were there :) That was a cool testimony builder on garments! :)

Anyway, transfers went well. My new trainee is Sister Jessica Brown. She's 22 years old and from Washington. She's kind of an odd duck haha, but she's great! She's always trying to brag about how many boys want to marry her... and I'm sitting over there like, "Hey I'm a missionary... I like cake." Ha ha yeah... that's how things have been lately. We're still trying to get used to each other, but it's been good so far. We've been making the apartment cute and cleaning everything :) It feels really homey now that we've decorated it!

I'm actually not in Latham. Latham is in my area, but I'm in a town called Watervliet (water-vleet). We live below the Dunklee family who are awesome members :) After fixing up the apartment we've been trying to find more people to teach. Our ward is really big with  a lot of young families and little kids :) I love it! There are actually 4 sets of missionaries in our ward, 3 sets of elders, and us. Our bishop is Bishop Heybourne! The members here have wanted sisters for SO long, so we were received well and everyone was really friendly :) I'm excited to get to know everyone!

I've been trying to teach Sister Brown all that she needs to know as a new missionary, and she's been adjusting well. We hear ad a funny story about an elder tracting for the first time. The person opened the door and he was so nervous that he just paused for a while and then just blurted our, "MORMONS!!!!" Hahaha, I thought that was hilarious! IF she does anything funny like that then I'll definitely let you know ;)

Here are some funny quotes from this week:

"There's GOTTA be a trash can in here.... come on... it's the Relief Society." -Elder Prestwich

"He's not black... but he's big, bald, and cool." -Elder Lords

"We are going to be HILARIOUS wives one day!" -Sister Hansen

"I wonder if God laughed when he invented farting." -Sister Stewart

Oh yeah, 3 people that I was close to in Bennington have been baptized recently! I'm really happy for them :) I also heard that Brother Grover is moving to Logan in a few weeks! I'm sooo excited for him!!!! Logan is the best :D

The library nearest to where we live doesn't open till 2:00pm... so I'lll most likely be emailing sometime after 2:00 every preparation day, just a heads-up! Thanks for everything! I guess that's all folks. Remember God is watching over you! I know He is because I ask Him to every day :) Love all of you!


Love, Sister Hansen :)

...Come Again President?

So... BIG news. We got transfer calls and President Wirthlin says, "Sister Hansen... I'm about to really rock your world." He then asked if I would leave Owego even though I've only been here one transfer, train a new missionary, AND open a sister's area... WHAT?! Yep, that's seriously what is happening with transfers. I'm leaving Owego even though I just got settled and I'm being transferred to Latham (Lay-thum), it's near Albany. I'm going to be in the city with the Zone Leaders in our ward!

As soon as I hung up the phone, Sister Stewart and I started crying haha. We really wanted to stay together. We were having a lot of fun and working hard. We TOTALLY thought we were both going to stay. My mind is still blown haha. It was really hard saying bye to everyone on Sunday because it felt like I just barely got to know them and was really starting to connect with people. I'm sad to leave our investigators too :( .... but I guess "I'll go where you want me to go dear Lord."

Now that the big news is out of the way, I'll tell you about our week. Valentine's Day wasn't very fun at first haha, but then the Smiths had a cute dinner for us (thanks for setting that up Mom, Dad, and Kallin!). It was really cute and fun! I started crying a little when I read the card and they gave me the roses. What a creative idea! Thanks also for the package and letters!!

We had another snow day where we had to stay inside... so that was a little boring, but when we were able to get outside we worked hard. One of the elders in our ward had his birthday this week, so we got permission to bring a member and wake him up by singing with a cake and candles at 6:00am haha. They had NO idea we were going to do that, it was really funny! They live with the Cox family, so it was really easy to do!

Our investigator Tim set a baptismal date for late March!! He also came to church for the first time!! :D He surprised me by coming since it was my last week here :( and he really liked church :)

OH YEAH! We had another cool experience happen! We had just finished lunch and were about to get back to work. I had a random thought that we should call Sister Klug (recent convert). We called her and she told us to come over right then. We went over and she told us she was having a really hard time with some things. As SOON as she started feeling all the weight collapsing from it all, we called her on the phone :) It was perfect timing and we helped her feel SO much better. That was awesome seeing what happens when Heavenly Father works through us to help others :) She made a great turn around!!

Other than those few things, nothing huge happened. Just normal teaching and contacting! I could probably use some prayers because I'm a little nervous to open an area and train at the same time, but I know whom the Lord calls He qualifies :) I'm excited to be around a greenie again hahaha, that's always fun! Oh and Sister Stephens is training again too. So I'm gaining a "daughter" AND a new "grand-daughter." Wish me luck!

Thanks for everything! I hope everyone has a wonderful week :) Thanks for all the Valentines. You all mean so much to me, thanks for being in my life!!!

Love, Sister Hansen <3

The Greatest Commandment

This week was pretty good, but it snowed a TON. So we didn't get as much done as we could've haha. There was one day where it was like a blizzard outside, so we stayed inside. We studied, cleaned, and tried to keep ourselves busy for as many hours as we could... but eventually we were going crazy haha. around 7:00 we decided to eat ice cream and watch Legacy (produced by the church). It's basically the closest thing we as missionaries can get to watching a chick-flick haha. So we were really happy and loved it :)

We had dinner and breakfast with quite a few members this week. The Smiths, Hess family, Albujas, the Knudsens and others. It's been really fun! The members have been showing a great effort of doing member missionary work and success is coming from it! Our investigators: Tim, William, and Rachael are all progressing. They love learning and are striving to follow Christ. We had a Linger Longer on Sunday, which was fun!

Oh, last preparation day I bought a plaque that says, "If you don't climb the mountain, you can't see the view." I LOOOOVE it! It's in our kitchen :) Last week I think was Ground Hog's Day! Did any of you keep the tradition and watch the movie? Haha man that's such a great show. 6 more weeks of winter, right??

Here are some quotes from the week:

"I can make a fat-booth picture without even having the app!" -Sis. Stewart

*Sister Klug saying a prayer* "Jesus... you're AWESOME."

"That lesson was SO amazing!.......... we need to run weird." -Sis. Hansen

"We talked and cried about how hard missions are... then we cheered each other up with loud toots." -Sis. Stewart

Hahaha mission life is crazy, but I love it! Some days I feel SO happy and other days it's really hard, but I'm grateful to be here :) I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day this week. I don't have any big plans... shocker right?! ;) Everyone please remember how much I care and how much you're loved. I just love LOVE haha. There's a reason why the first commandment is to LOVE the Lord. Everyone should check out one of my favorite talks. It's called, "The First and Greatest Commandment" (or something like that) by Elder Holland. Stay safe and be happy :) LOVE ANYONE AND EVERYONE! Have a wonderful week! Oh, and Happy Birthday Z!!! :)


Love, Sister Hansen :)

With Us Every Step

Sister Stewart had a doctor's appointment in Albany this week... so that meant driving almost all day haha. We were in the car probably a total of 8 hours. It was fun listening to music and just chatting away though! The appointment went well and hopefully she will be able to stay on her mission. I hope she can, but if she needs to go home then that's where the Lord wants her! So far she'll be staying for at least another 3 or 4 weeks.

We also picked up a new investigator!! We went to see a member (Katie) and she had her friend over. We taught him The Restoration and it went well!! He said he'll start reading the BOM and come to church! We were really excited :) Seriously, the best way to bring people into the gospel is through members. My testimony has been SO solid on that ever since I left Bennington. Oh, his name is Tim!

Sister Rasmussen has been keeping me updated about Cooperstown. She wrote and said that someone called about the Addiction Recovery flyers that Sister Langford and I posted around town, probably 3 months ago. She saw the flyer, showed up, and is now going to the classes regularly!! Sometimes it seems like our efforts go to waste, but it's amazing to see that they NEVER do. Later down the road the work we do WILL make a difference :)

She also told me that the Hopkins boys received the priesthood and passed the sacrament for the first time last Sunday!! :D I wish I could've been there to see, but I know they're in good hands. I'm glad that Sister Rasmussen and I pretty much switched places haha, so keeping each other updated is awesome!

William's baptism was supposed to be this weekend, but his parents told us that he's not ready :( There are some family issues that they're trying to work out, so we're scheduling it fora  few weeks from now. Hopefully things will get worked out... we're excited for him though. He comes by himself to church every week and he's only 14!

We had some awesome experiences happen all in one day haha. We made plans to tract a street, and when we finished that street we felt like we needed to keep going and tract the back roads that only  had a couple houses on them. We were knocking on a door, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a man sitting on a rock by the river. We didn't know if he was over there smoking something or what, but we decided to go talk to him haha. We ended up talking for about 15 minutes. He's kind of familiar with Mormons and said he'd like to know more! We got his number and will call him this week!!! His name is Lee!

Then we went home and had lunch. After lunch I was looking at the map of our area. This wasn't in our plans, but i randomly closed my eyes and pointed to a street haha. I felt like we needed to go there for some reason. So we got in our little Toyota Corolla and went to Gary Drive. We parked the car and as soon as we got our a guy was passing us walking his dog. We started talking to him and found out that he's a less active that no one knew about haha,. He moved in without telling anyone I guess. He said we could stop by! SO cool!!!

It was great having those two experiences happen on the same day! I felt sooo happy! This truly is the Lord's work. I know that Heavenly Father is with us in every step we take!! Oh, speaking of step haha.... as we were walking down Gary Drive a car passed RIGHT as Sister Stewart slipped on the ice HARD CARE haha. It was hilarious! We couldn't gain composure for like 20 minutes hahaha. Man, that's on great thing about winter ;)

Well, it was a great week and I love being here! I love the people that we bisit and I'm grateful to be a missionary :) Remember during this month (and always) to show a lot of CHARITY towards everyone <3 Love you all!


Love, Sister Hansen!

Another Missionary Week

Another week as a missionary, another week to cherish! We had a lot of appointments scheduled, but then most of them canceled. We still were able to teach a few lessons and see quite a few people. We had dinner at the Smith's, Corwin's, and the Albuja's. They all are great people and I love getting close to the members! The Albujas made us fried plantains and potato pancakes.... I had never had them before, but they were SO good!

We had a district lunch before district meeting. We went to a place called Moe's that was kind of like Costa Vida. Then after we went to COLD STONE!!! I finally had some Cold Stone ice cream after almost 11 months! It was great :) After district meeting we had exchanges with the Binghamton sisters. I stayed in Owego and Sister Gochnour (Gok-nor) came. It was a good exchange and we had fun!

One day we were trying to visit a few people and they were either not home or they canceled, so we decided to see someone else. While we were walking there we turned the corner on a street and there was this teenage girl who was crying as she was walking.

We had no idea who she was or why she was crying so we asked her how she was doing and if she was okay. She was hesitant at first. We asked if there was something that she wanted to talk about. For a moment I think she almost opened up to us... but then she shyly said no and kept walking. We let her know that we cared and hoped she had a good day. Nothing ever came of it, but I think Heavenly Father wanted her to know there was someone who cared when she was sad. Maybe we'll see her around town again! It was just cool to be at the right place at the right time!

We've been teaching William (set for baptism on Feb 8th), and a few other people. I love this gospel and am grateful for the people we have to teach! It's been snowing a lot, but we're still pressing forward! Thanks for all the support! I love you all!


Love, Sister Hansen <3

Fun Week!

This week was really fun! There are a TON of random things I want to share, so sorry this post will be all over the place. We had Zane Conference... and guess what?! I saw Sister Stephens!!!!!!! :D It was probably the best companion reunion ever haha. We SCREAMED, RAN, and HUGGED each other a billion times. We couldn't stop laughing and talking about the good ol' days in Bennington. It was great being with her again and having an awesome Zone Conference centered on Faith In Christ. It really uplifted and motivated me!

Another funny thing: All of my companions have either snored or talked in their sleep, but I've never really done either of those haha... but one night before I went to bed my alarm clock got bumped so it was unplugged. I plugged it back in, set the time, and went to bed.

Then in the middle of the night I woke up (still half asleep) paranoid that I set the alarm wrong. I can't really remember this happening, but Sister Stewart told me that I was like, "Hey!...don't worry! We're okay.... we're good.... we're okay.... alright?! My alarm didn't go off..... Wait, did my alarm go off?! Did you hear it?! What time is it? No.... we're alright.... okay?"

I can barely remember doing this, but then I just started grabbing my alarm clock and pushing a ton of buttons hahaha. I was looking at it REALLY close. I sat up in bed and just stared at her for a few seconds, set down my alarm, and went to bed haha. I know that probably doesn't sound very funny to anyone else, but to me it was hilarious! I never do anything funny like that in my sleep, so it gave me a good laugh! Don't worry, my alarm DID go off at the right time, so we were good ;)

Also it was Sister Stewart's birthday last week, and her mom had a HUGE cake delivered to our apartment. It was made by the bakery near our house and it was soooo good. I don't know if I'm proud or ashamed to say this... but we ate it all in 2 days... haha. It was heavenly... but I'm grateful for the morning workout program ;)

I love everyone here in our ward and am getting to know them more! It's really weird being in a big building again and in a ward rather than a branch. It's nice, but different at the same time! The attendance at church is the size of a branch though, so we're trying to work with as many less-actives as we can. We taught Gospel Principles on Sunday about Service and that went well!

Another cool experience we had was when we taught one of our recent converts, Elaine. She's been a member for a year now and is still so solid in the gospel and LOVES everything. She had kind of a rough past, so fears sometimes creep back into her life. So while we were there she asked us to pray for her. Sister Stewart and I each took a turn praying out loud while she was there.

That was seriously soooo cool because after we both got done praying she was crying. She's VERY in-tune with the Spirit and has had some amazing experiences happen in her life from the other side. She told us that she could tell what type of people we were by how we prayed.

She told Sister Stewart that she was someone who could handle a lot and fight trials and battles in her life. She told me that I had the gift of comfort/peace and that I truly understood the atonement. When she said certain things it highlighted some sentences in my patriarchal blessing, so I thought that was pretty cool :) It was a great lesson!

We've been teaching and helping as many people as we can, but as always we're trying to find more investigators. We have goals set and are trying to achieve them! I'm grateful to be here in Owego and I already love it! Thanks for everyone's support. I'm thankful for all of you and love you! Oh, and Dad I hope you had a great birthday!!


Love Sister Hansen :)

Owego

My last few moments with Sister Rasmussen in Cooperstown were good ones! We rocked out to Josh Groban, "You Raise Me Up" in the car haha and were able to drive to transfers safely. I met my new companion (Sister Stewart) and we were on our way. Owego looks quite a bit like Cooperstown! It's a cute small town with old fashioned buildings and busy roads. We live above a bank that's green and purple haha. The colors of houses out here in NY are awesome!

Our apartment is pretty old, but it's a good one. We have a washer and drier!!!! AND we have a dishwasher... crazy!!! I'm sooo happy I won't have to spend $25 on laundry anymore. We have a bunk-bed, so that's kind of fun haha. I'm on the top bunk. I forgot my camera, so next week I'll send some pictures. Also, there's a big bridge that goes right across the Susquehanna River. It's really pretty and we drive across it every single day :)

Church on Sunday was great! I'm getting to know people and trying to remember everyone's names. We have 4 or 5 investigators too, and 2 of them came to church! I'm excited to get to know all of them! Sister Stewart has only been here for 6 weeks, so we're both still trying to figure the area out haha.

We visited someone this week and a member in their family went all anti-mormon on us during the lesson... They started yelling how we as women should be able to hold the priesthood and how Joseph Smith wasn't a prophet. The Spirit was immediately gone and the family was yelling at each other... it wasn't good. So we said a prayer and left. I started crying after because sometimes those experiences really tug at your testimony and at your heart.

As I was leaving their house, two scriptures came into my head though. D&C 127:4 and D&C 136:31. I know that as missionaries we can be persecuted and rejected all day, but in the end there will be a reward in heaven. I'm thankful that even though that wasn't a good situation, God helped remind me that there's a purpose for everything and that all that I experience will be for my good. Nothing says welcome to Owego like having that happen the day after I get there right?! ;)

Anyway, I'm doing pretty well, but still trying to adjust. I love all of you and hope you know that you're missed. I pray for all of you! I also want to give a shout out to the people in Bennington and also Cooperstown!!! I love you all!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and everyone should listen to the talk called, "His Grace Is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. It's soooo good! :)


Love, Sister Hansen <3

Flying the Coop

I'm surprised to say this, but we got our transfer calls... and I'm leaving Cooperstown :( Hence the title "Flying the Coop." I honestly thought for sure I was staying, so I'm a little bummed. I wanted more time with the members and more time to get to know Sister Rasmussen more, but I guess there's someone or something in Owego that's waiting. The fun thing about being in Owego is that Sister Stephens is in my zone :D I'm sooo excited to see her, and it's near the border of Pennsylvania, so I'll have been in 3 states on my mission haha.

It was sad saying bye to everyone, but my last week here was good! We went to MLC on Friday and had exchanges after. As the STL I kind of had to lay down the law of obedience with the sisters we were with haha, but it went well. We actually got our car stuck in some snow (because our car is ridiculously weak haha), but someone pulled over and helped us, so that was a blessing!

We also picked up 2 new investigators! They're 2 girls in their late 20's. Oh, and for the past few weeks none of our investigators had been to church, but one of our investigators Marjorie (who bakes wedding cakes) came to church on my last Sunday here! That really was the best going away gift I could ask for!!! Elder Bird is also leaving. He's heading up to Glens Falls in the Albany Zone (my old zone!). In his last testimony in sacrament meeting he said, "There will always be a piece of me in Oneonta...... and that's my gall bladder." He got his gall bladder removed while he was here haha, so that was pretty funny!

I bore my testimony about this cute plaque Kallin sent me when I first came out on my mission that says, "Love is all you need." Well the other day I looked at it and though, "Okay... you need WAY more than love to do this hahaha." You need patience, courage, faith, etc. So I thought to myself, "What is one word that can encompass ALL that?" Then one word came into my mind... CHRIST. Christ truly is all that we need, because He is everything. So now every time I look at it I think, "Christ is all you need." That was a good eye-opener, so thanks Kal for sending me that :) I love it!

Being in Cooperstown truly was the hardest time in my life so far, but I was able to get through it and overcome trials... so in a way the person that I helped find was myself. I taught myself how to truly use the atonement, the sacrament, and all other aspects of the gospel. So when I look back (so far) on my mission, I'll know that I DID go to Cooperstown and help change someone's life, and that life was my own :)

I know that God is there for us, even if we don't feel like He is. There's a quote that says, "When you're going through a trial and you're wondering where God is, remember the teacher is always silent during a test." I know all my trials and hardships aren't over just because I'm leaving Cooperstown, but I know that I overcame things that I needed to and I helped my heart become stronger. I'm grateful for that. I know the gospel is true, and I'm happy to be on a mission.

It really was great serving in Cooperstown... challenging, but great! I'm going to especially miss the Willdens, the Jones, President St. John, and the elders. I'm grateful that I was able to spend the holidays there and get to know everyone :) I'll hopefully have time to send all of the pictures and I'm excited to see what Owego is like. Thanks for all the support :) Love you!!


Love, Sister Hansen :)