week 3 in Cali

HELLO ALL!!!

Well its that time again when I awkwardly try to come up with interesting things to tell ya'll. It has been a pretty great week. I just love my area! It is so fun to bike around the hood and see all the different people that are around!

We had a bit of a heart breaker this week. Juan Carlos dumped us. His friend-the one we are trying to love anyways- got to him and put a bunch of non-scense in his mente and now he is gone. It was so sad!! It was the worst dumping of my life. It is amazing how much you grow to just really love people that you barely even know, when you are teaching them. I barely even knew Juan but I know that Father knows him very well and wanted him to hear His good word. Anyways, it was super sad and we may have shed a tear or two in his behalf however we carry on!!

 Let me tell you about one of my new favorite people. His name is Jose. I just love this guy. He is an 18 year old cholo AND he speaks english. Dream come true for me! He is such a great kid! His faith has grown so much just in the short time that I have known him. We have big hopes for him. Its a bit difficult because he is on 3 years of probabtion so he can't be baptized for 3 years unless he shows a real desire to repent and be baptized. He is so great though! He was telling us the other day that we was reading the Book of Mormon on the bus the other day...O my goodness that just warmed my little heart! He was on the bus, our little cholo with tattoos all over, reading el libro de mormon. AWW!!! He is so great! Its a little offensive because i think he thinks we are squares. We were trying to say spanish slang the other day and he was like "No you can't say that. With your little bikes and skirts and helmets. Its just weird." I try to explain to him that I am actually really thug...he's not buying it, Rude. :)

  We had a stake missionary activity last night. We have a whole spanish stake here so its super fun for the activities because they are so big. We had seperate rooms that people rotated through and each explained a prinicle of the gospel. Faith, repentence, baptism and the gift of the holy ghost. I was in the baptism room and I got to public speak in a language that I don't speak and that I have a very love-hate relationship with. Hna Clayton and I had to give a 3 min intro explaining what baptism is. I was just a tiny bit stressed. We only had to do it twice thankfully and thankfully I am so white I don't feel like people expect great spanish from me anyways. The first time was alright I stuttered my way through it ok. The second time was a bit more awkward. I just was so white, and I could just hear my whiteness- it was a bit emabarrassing. After my part was done I had a hard time not smiling super huge just thinking about my awkwardness. I am such a great public speaker especially when in a new language. Not so much but its like I tell Hna Clayton all the time "it's ok Hermana, I have different talents" I use that line for pretty much everything. :)

 Well that's all I got for this week! I am seeing little miracles everywhere and everyday. I know that Chirst is our Savior and He is with every step we allow Him to be! I am glad to hear all is well there in AZ and I love you all oh so much!!! Keep on keepin' on!

Les Quiero!

Hna Hansen

Week 2 in California

Week 2 in the field ya'll and it has been special! First of all I am so sorry about my lack of letter writing last week I only had time for one letter and from the sounds of it it didn't find him, geedangit. I had to do some serious shopping last week. Listen up, I got to go to TARGET! It was such a thrill, I almost felt normal and then I remembered I was wearing a dress and suddenly felt like a poligomist in the Cedar walmart (if that was rude, don't blog it). However it was a great Pday! I have made sure to have A LOT of letter writing time today so I will be writing like crazy.

 

So this week has been a good one. I LOVE the support I get from the Savior constantly. We got stood up probably like 100 times last week and when they were there I had no idea what they were saying to me. However there were a few times that I felt that I had earned a good solid pity party but it just wouldn't come. I was riding my bike at one point and was thinking ok I'm ready to be sad and disappointed I was getting ready for a good cry or something...and nothing really came. Ah well better luck next time. ;) I know I am being taken care of and there are small miracles in the works all around me.

 

Mircale #1: Last week on my first full day in the field we were riding our bikes away from an appt and a man off yonder called us over to him. We went over and started talking to him and he was a really nice fella. His name was Juan Carlos. He absoultely loved that I was trying to learn spanish and kept laughing at me when I didn't know what was being said. Its good though, I don't mind people laughing with me, just as long as they will talk to me, I'm good. So we talked to him briefly about the restoration and he seemed very interested and wanted to come to church. score. Well he didn't show up and we couldn't get ahold of him. This is when the miracle came in, we were walking out of our apartment the other day getting ready to knock doors, when we heard someone yell "Hey Ladies" we looked and it was JUAN! He was on his bike and crossed the 5 lanes of traffic ndb and came to talk to us!!!!!! I was SO EXCITED! I just love this little Juan. (juan sounds like one, I realized that after I typed it, I am hilarious.) Anyways we set up another appointment with him and he showed up!!!! He brought a friend with him who just so happended to be the most negative man a live so it didn't go as planned. But I still have hope for him!!

 

Miracle #2: Some of you have scoped out my area a bit and have seen that it is on the more...run down side of things. Well the other night Hna Clayton and I were out, being stood up left and right, we were just having a less than fantastic day. We decieded to hit up one more area befor calling it a day. This just so happens to be one of the most sketchy streets of our area and we were having no luck. It was 8:15 and we decided to just head home. well as we were going down the street we just so happend to pass by William. The Hnas had been contacting him before I got there but he was kind of awkward during the whole lesson and so they just put him on the back burner for a bit. Anyways so we stopped and talked to him and he said (in spanish) "wow this is the same place I met you last time, maybe its a sign from God." he is such a nice guy! We read from the Book of Mormon again and he again just gets uncomfortable. We have come to discover that it is partly because of his family that he lives with. We went and taught him again yesterday. We taught him the plan of salvation. I love to teach about the plan of salvation it is just so true and it blesses everyone!!! He really liked it! We have another appointment set up for this saturday and we are hoping we can teach him at the church so his family isn't around. He also agreed to come to church which is awesome! before he would just straight up say no.

 

We have had just such a great week full of miracles! I wish I had time to tell all of them! I love you all so much! I miss getting to hear from you all during the week but I am glad I got to hear from you all today! The church is so true and this gospel is really Christ's gospel! I hope you all have a fantastic week and are praying and reading the scriptures :) Keep on keepin on

 

Hermana Hansen

Week 1 in California

Hola familia!!!!

So um hey here I am in California. Are you dying to know where? I hope so because I have been dying to tell you! But first of all I LOVED talking to ya'll this week! It was the best! I'm sorry I couldn't hear very well I was trying so hard, but I could not have loved hearing from all of you more! I have been stressing since the phone call that #1 Andrea is stressing I don't sound happy--I am PUMPED!! I was just trying to hear everybody and it was quite a big day for me :) and #2 that Lexie thinks I am weird or different because I sound different. Don't stress I am still the same. :)

Ok so we landed in Burbank, me and 15 other missionaries, and we met President Hall. He is so great! He is exactly what I thought a Mission President would be like, really caring, really strong spiritually and cries every time he talks about his wife.

So we spent Wednesday in training and meetings, we still had no idea where we were going or who we were going with. On Thursday they took us to the church building for the transfer meeting!!! WOOT! So I am with.........Hermana Clayton. She is so great! I just love her! I have so much to learn from her. She has no fear and just gets in there and gets it done! I love it! She is from Houston Texas and these next 2 transfers, with me, are her last two. She leaves for home in November.

The area I am in is North Hollywood. Nope Lexie don't get excited just because it’s Hollywood. It is the hood! I love it so much!! I could not be more in love with this place! It is exactly what I was hoping for! It is very Hispanic and run down kind of. I feel very safe though I haven't been worried ever about my safety. Oh also I am on BIKE! (Any tips Mom and Dad to get rid of the sore bottom?) I LOVE being on bike! (Now Lexie is really worried about me being different. :) ) I was a bit nervous to find out I was in one of, I think, only 3 sister bike areas, but I put it in my head that it would be awesome and it is! I mean let's be real, it does get pretty hot and so I would love the option of a car, but its not a big deal. What's a little sweat?

So my apt (this is so jumbled sorry) address is, XXXX Laurel Canyon #XXX North Hollywood, CA 91605. That is probably the best place for letters for the next 12 weeks and possibly longer. The mission office is fine too I think, I get the stuff from there every couple of weeks. I don't know what the best way for ya'll to write me is, I would say mail, that way I could use this hour I have to write everybody back, but I'm afraid I will never hear from you if I say mail so just do whatever you think is best. I just want to hear from you.

Anyways so back to my week… So as it turns out I was right, I can't speak Spanish, or understand it really. When my comp is speaking I can mostly understand because she is white, but when somebody else gets going I am lost. Luckily a lot of people know English so they help me out. We have taught a couple of lessons; we are stood up most of the time though. It’s all-good though, we will find the people that are ready. That is one thing that I love about being Spanish speaking, they are way more willing to talk to us, and about God. They are much more comfortable about talking religion with people and are happy to talk to us. It’s wonderful!

OH family I have to tell you about the dinner I had last night. We went to a member's house for dinner, which is exciting because that means yummy Mexicanish food right?? Well, we went to a sister's house last night and you would not believe what I, of all people ate. She set down an entire fish right in front of me. Listen, it still had the face and the eyeballs and the brain!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh!, I had a bit of a freak out!! You all would be so proud of me though because I ate that thing! I skipped the eyeballs and brain, mostly I just avoided the head and I stayed away from the tail, but I just ate the meat up real good! Don't stress, I got a picture of it, I wanted you all to see the thing. Ughhhh!!!! It was terrifying! After I tackled that bad boy they brought out the crickets. CRICKETS!!!! Whole crickets! Who are you people? The elders were eating them like they were candy, to that I have to say gracias, pero no gracias. I was too...full? I don't know but I just could not do it!

I am loving it here though! It is so great to be around people even though I have no idea what they are saying. I was thinking last night how grateful I am that Adam has taken me to Mexico so many times because I am quite comfortable having no idea what is going on around me. I know a lot of people have told me how frustrated they were that they couldn't understand people; I'm pretty chill with it.

I know that Heavenly Father allows me to understand what I need for now and will just keep helping me improve. I have so loved being about to share my simple Spanish testimony about the Savior with people. He cares so deeply for all the people I meet and because I know that, I know I can do whatever He need me to do to help them. Even eating a whole nasty fish. I know that this is God's work.

Our ward is made up of mostly converts and it is so amazing to feel all of their spirits and their testimonies. That just shows to me that what I am doing is so important and its what Father wants. I know that God is with me every step of the way, that I allow Him to be.

I love you all so much! Until next Monday! Nos Vemos!!!!

Hna Hansen

Last letter from MTC!

Wow sorry these MTC computers are quite special. They froze up and stopped working for a few hours. I love technology!

 

So anyways this was my last full week here as you all know. It has been a great one! We have been getting really anxious and excited but mostly really nervous!

 

I have been stressing about the language lately. This whole time I haven't been to worried about it, I knew it would come when I needed it and when Heavenly Father thought was the best time for me. Well it just got real that I have to talk to real people soon and I have been stressing! We went to class the other night and our teacher tells Hermana Bragg and I that our lesson with ''Rogelio" that night was going to be observed by another class in thier 9th week as well. I was panicing! Lessons are not so bad and I can get away with my not great spanish usually but not when people are watching! I prayed so hard that I could teach the lesson and remember all the spanish I needed. I was so stressed about the spanish and looking like an idiot in front of a bunch of Elders when I realized its not about the spanish. The spirit had to give me a good pep talk that it doesn't matter what I say, all I need to worry about is inviting the spirit and that Rogelio's needs are met. So the time came for us to go teach our lesson and I am feeling a bit better but still pretty nervous. The classroom they do it in has a giant 2way mirror so the observers can watch from the outside. Rogelio decided to have one of his friends in for the lesson (one of the elders from our district). We started off getting to know his friend and checking up on Rogelio's reading and other commitments and then we started our lesson. It was by far the BEST lesson we have ever taught! The spirit was so strong in the room! It is still so amazing to me how much the spirit is involved even in these fake situations. Our spanish was not great I was conjagating everything wrong and forgot a bunch of words I needed but it didn't matter, we were still able to teach what we needed and the spirit filled in the rest. This was exactly what I needed! I know that it really doesn't not matter what I say, because none of this is about me. Its all about the investigator and his realationship with Christ. It was so great to feel like an instrument in the Lord's hands! THIS IS ALL SO REAL (even when it is fake)!!!!

 

Yesterday we had in-field orientation for 12.5 hours. I must my patience was tested a few times. That is a long time for meetings. Everything we were learning was so good though and it was all stuff we needed to know. We do A LOT of role playing here and yesterday we practiced contacting people. We practiced as if we were on a bus, in the streets or in a park. It is a pretty scaring thought that for some of the time I only have 30 seconds to make a difference in these peoples lives. I know that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ and is something that can bless everybody's life. I hope I will be able to convey that to them! THe people who taught in field orientation are like MTC celebrities, they are in all the videos they show us as examples. They followed missionaries around for their appt and now they show them to us as good and bad examples of teaching. One of the Sisters that taught and was in the video served in California spanish speaking so I had to talk to her after to get all the hints. Its was really good and helped a lot!

 

Well I love you all! The next time I write will be from California! AH I am so PUMPED!! Let's do this! Thank you for all of your support! I have the best family and friends!

 

Hermana Hansen