hey guys! sorry it took me so long. had difficulties signing in for a couple of weeks. here are amy's first two letters!
Mom and Dad and family and everyone I love and even people I just like!!
I only have a half hour and the clock is literally ticking right before my eyes so excuse any typos that I make because I"m not turning back. I'm at the MTC! I've almost survived my first week. The first day and a half was really crazy because tehy didn't really know what to do with me, since I already speak French. They put me in the distrcit that's leaving in trhee weeks but it was awful because they all knew how to teach and do everything, and I had no idea what was going on even though I understood and could speak better than ayn of them. So it was really discouraging and probably not the best foot to start out on. So I talked to them and asked to be switched back to my original district that just came in with me so I could learn how to teach and what not before I go on to Tahitian in 3 weeks. I feel a lot better now, and it's good--I love my district. I"m sure it's just teh honeymoon phase or whatever, but I seriously love all the elders in my district. They are just so precious. I have spiritual crushes on all of them! Ha. But we have a lot of fun together and then get down to business in class. My companion is Sister Sandoval, she's from San fran and going to Montreal on her mission, Spanish and French speaking. When I first found out taht she was going to be my companion I was a little apprehensive and mostly like "Are you kidding me with this?!" because we have a certain mutual male friend. But actually, I realyl really like her and I'm so glad we're companions. We get along really well and laugh a lot. She puts up with my almost constant play-by-plays on when I need to go to the bathroom.
So far, honestly, the MTC is really hard. I feel liek there are only extreme versions of emotions here. I'm either sooo happy or super discouraged, wide awake or unconscious, starving or about to burst. It's hard to be tired almost all the time, hopefully I'll be able to adjust soon. It's a little worse because I've been having a hard time falling asleep at night, even though I'm exhausted. But today I got to take a nap and it was the BEST THING OF MY LIFE. I feel like a zombie missionary a lot. But I think it's just the adjustment and I'll start to get used to it soon. But yeah, it's hard here. It's hard to not feel like I'm good at this yet--it can be really discouraging to not feel like an effective missionary. But I feel like already, my awareness and testimony of God's love for me has been really strengthened because every time I felt like giving up this week (I know, I've felt it already), I was almost immediately blessed by some little thing that boosted my spirit. Like once, I was trudging back from the longest day ever, feeling discouraged and like I'd just gottent the crap kicked out of me all day, and there were some other sisters in the stairwell and I asked one of them where she was from and she was like "I'm from Tahiti" and i was like WHAAAT?!?!! And I got SOOOO excited and we talked for like half an hour and I was just so happy afterwards. I've met a few other people from Tahiti too and it seriously makes me soo so happy! I love talking to them. It's kind of crazy how much love I already feel for that people. I can't wait to get there.
There have been some cool things happening so far too--on Saturday we had a special 4th of July fireside that was full of patriotic stuff that made me proud to be an American or whatever (actually it was pretty funny because tehre's an elder from England in our district that we were sitting next to during all of the Declaration of Independence talk and we were like, "Oh yeah, remember when we declared independence from you because we hated you and stuff and then our little podunk army beat you and stuff? Yeah that's so weird huh!" He is really funny though, but you probably had to be there to appreciate it. Just know that I'm funny and laugh anyway.) But at the end of the fireside they did this really awesome thing where they put up a map on the screen and all of the missions came up one by one and everyone cheered so loud when their mission came up--I had to cheer extra loud since I'm literally the only person in the MTC right now (actually until September) going to Tahiti. It was insane though--the room was seriously ELECTRIFIED and it made me so happy. It just reminded me that this is a great work and that I'm here for a reason. Am I talking like a sister missionary? Gross! Anyway, afterwards they fed us haagen-daas ice cream and let us watch the fireworks and I was pretty much as giddy as a 5 year old to be able to do something other than sit in a classroom. Normally we have to go to bed at 10:30, but our teacher was like "Yeah I think they're going to let you stay up late tonight to watch the fireworks!" And Sister Sandoval and I were like, "uhhh are they going to let us sleep IN later too??" And he was like "...No." So then our excitement was diminished a little bit. But all in all, it was pretty fun. And this past Sunday, Jenny Oaks Baker came to play a musical fireside, and it was really great. I was mostly thinking the whole time how jealous you would be, Mom. And her 3 little daughters played a little number for us on the piano, cello, and violin and it was adorable but also like "Oh cool this 6 year old is better at the piano than I am." But we all gave them a standing ovation at the end and they were so happy and it was really cute.
I'm going to try and figure out how to upload pictures on to the email, but I didn't have time this week. I did order some pictures so I'll send them to you as soon as I get them. Also, Mom, I'll write up directions to teach you how to scan stuff. I think I can remember how to do it, so hopefully it'll work. Anyway, I feel like this letter is super boring. This past week has honestly been a blur though, and I feel like I haven't had time to do aanyyythiiiiiinggggg. But just now that I'm happy to be here--it's really hard and can be discouraging a lot, but I know that this is where I'm supposed to be and I know that it will get better. I'll try to write down funny things when they happen so I can remember to write them in emails, because seriously the elders in my district are hilarious. Every time we leave to go back to our room, Sister Sandoval is like "Sister Hansen, they're all in love with you." And I'm like, "No, they're just in love with my brain." Because pretty much I'm just a walking dictionary for them. It's fun to be able to help them with their French though, but I had to tell them to directing their questions to me when the teacher is in the room because I feel embarrassed and like I'm going to get struck by lightning or something. I can't wait to start learning Tahitian though--I've been looking through my materials and it is INSAAAANNNE!!! C,d, g, k,s, x, z and a bunch of other letters are actually pronounced as T's, and then L's are pronounced like R's and I'm like are you kidding me?!!! But it sounds sooooooooooooooo cool and I think I actually figured out how to pronounce my name tag and I learned how to say Hello! Weeeee! I'll probably feel like even more of an idiot when I startt those classes but bring it on.
ANYWAY I ONLY HAVE FIVE MINUTES LEFT BUT I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU A LOT!!! Please write me letters. You have NO idea how much it brightens my day to hear from you. Give everyone my love. Seriously. I love you. Thank you for supporting me. I'll think of more exciting things to tell you next week, and I'll write more letters in between then hopefully. So much love!!!!
Gros bisous,
Soeur Hansen
Hiiii everyone!!
I've officially started my third week at the MTC and my time is ticking on my email so I'm typing fast and just now decided that i no longer care about making capital letters. deal with it. anyway, i've finally fallen prey to the nasty incubus of germst hat is the MTC. i feel like a zombie--my head is totally stuffed up and i have to blow my nose every 30 seconds. it's really adorable, lemme tell ya. but also, it's really disgusting because one elder in my district LITERALLY FILLED THE TRASH CAN WITH HIS TISSUES. a trashcan, filled with nothing but snotty tissues. that, and scripture study, is my life right now. also, i'm a zombie because i have to get up at 6:30 every morning, and i generally wake up wanting to kick puppies. and to make matters even better, one of my roommates gets up at 5 IN THE MORNING to curl her hair and then PUT IT INTO A PONY TAIL. why?! whyy do you do this?!! and then, as my alarm goes off and i wonder if i really have a will to live, so says "you can do it sister!" and i'm like I KNOW I CAN DO IT GET OFF ME!. so yeah, the mission hasn't reallly brought out my happy morning-person personality quite yet, but i'm qorking on it. i'm definitely starting to get more settled in though, i still get up when i'm supposed to even though it makes me sad in my heart. and mom, i will assure you that i'm drinking plenty of water. my companion can attest to this, because she has to go with me to the bathroom about 40 times a day. there's an elder in our zone that's from england and apparently there, in order to ask to go to the bathroom, you say, "can i spend a penny please?" because it costs a penny to use the "loo." anyway, we learned that and now sister sandoval always says, "oh my gosh sister hansen, how much money do you have?!!" i'm really rich, i guess. so yeah. don't worry. i'm drinking plenty.
in other news, i got called/assigned to be the coordinating sister for our zone. i don't actually know what that really entails yet, but i'm pretty sure it means that i'm going to have to start liking girls. oooooh god knows us so well...but no, it is a little bit of an overwhelming thought. our coordinating sister right now is like SUPER sister missionary and i'm like really? i still laugh at fart jokes. i don't think i can do this. but i'm sure there is something that i'm suppposed to learn from this experience and it will work for me good. right? our branch presidency is way cool though. i like them a lot.
my district is still really great. i just want to laugh all the time that i'm with them, but we've been getting better about being focused. they seriously say the funniest things sometimes. although i did experience a bit of a culture clash/silent battle this week. one of the elders in our district is from peru, and apparently the culture down there is that women are supposed to be inferior and only for making babies, because he has some serious beef with me. during language study and stuff, elders will ask me questions about frnech and i'm more than willing to answer them, but apparently this is very displeasing to him, since i'm a woman. he tells his companions in spanish not to ask me questions or makes fun of them when they do, and he refuses flat out to ask me anything, or even talk to me. i think he thought that i didn't understand him when he spoke about me in spanish, but i cleared up that misconception pretty quick by explaining to him, in spanish, that i understood him just fine. at first, i was really mad and was like "elder you better check yourself before you wreck yourself," but i'm pretty much over it now. i know it's hard learnning a language, so it can be really frustrating. but i'm not going to apologize for the hard work i've done to learn french. the language classroom is not a place for pride, you just have to accept that you're going to feel like an idiot a lot.
which i have experienced frist hand in my tahitian class!! i started on saturday. it's seriously insane. we have computer language training programs where you learn vocab and prhases and listen to them speak and record yourself, and i seriously just laugh the whole time because i'm like WHAT?!!! for example, one of the prhases i had to listen to and learn was "did i understand you corerctly?" which is "ua maramarama maitai anei au i to oe mana'o?" and i was like uhh.....did i understand YOU correctly?! i've started writing down some of teh crazy/funny words i come accross like faahanahanahia, which means "glorified", and faaho'i-faahou-hia mai, which means restoration. and popoti which means cockroach, which i call my companion. she LOVES IT. but seriously, i love learning tahitian. i'm the only one in calss, so it's just me and the teacher, which can be kind of awkward sometimes, but mostly because i think he thinks i'm a CRAZY person because i'm so overly excited when i learn how to say something or get something right. i might have to simma down so i don't totally weird him out. i'ts better than complaining the whole time or refusing to ask questions though, right? i just feel legit now that i actually know how to say what's on my name tag.
when i'm not learning tahitian, i'm back in my district with my companion practicing teaching and role playing and stuff. my favorite evil not christ like thing to do to my companion (other than call her cockroach, endearingly), is to give her really outrageously difficult things to address during role play. like this one time, she was like "i know god loves you and you're his daughter." and i was like "but...i was born a boy..." you should have seen the look on her face. it was so bad of me, but i could not resist. anyway, we had a good laugh about that but most of the time we really do take it seriously and it's a good experience. she's a little boy crazy though, and is "in love" with one of our teachers, which is simultaneously funny and exasperating. the elders in my district call me "mama llama" because i'm so old. they all try to get me to say whose tie i like the best, and i tell them, as a good mother would, that i love them all equally. we have a good district, although i've heard that it's around the 3rd week that everyone starts hating each other, so i guess we'll see what happens.
anyway, we finished last week with our first "investigator" and felt pretty bummed out about it, because we really felt like we failed. but when our teacher who was playing the investigator came to talk to us about it, he said, "none of you failed. people have their agency. as long as you care about them and you're teaching truth, you cannot fail." and that helped me a lot--we can't MAKE people believe and accept out message, but we can testify of what we know to be true and do everything we can to help them feel the spirit to know it's true too. i read 1 nephi 1:1 the other day, and kind of filled in my own stuff: "i, amy, having been born of goodly parents, therefore i was taught somehwat in all the learning of my faither; and having seen many affliction sin the course of [my mission], nevertheless, having been highly favored of the lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowlege of the goodness and mysteries of god, therefore [i keep on trying to be the best missionary i can be and move forward in faith.]" that's one of the things that keeps me going, i think. to know that i KNOW what happiness the gospel can bring into someone's life, and if i can be the person that helps show someone the way to that, even if it's just one person, it will be worth every struggle.
anway, a few items from your letters to reply to: first of all, mom: what the heck is a "blackballed man"??? are you allowed to be saying stuff liek that to me?? i'm a sister missionary!!
the dearelder letters are great. puh-LEEEEEZ keep them coming. i said it once and i'll say it again, you have NO IDEA how much getting mail means to me--even if it doesn't even sound exciting or important to you, it is importnat to me.
i got your note about the plaque pic--i'll get one to you as soon as i can. my p-days are on tuesdays, which i found out is the only day we're supposed to write letters, so don't be sad if i dont' reply right away. keep writing me. just be happy i'm being obedient! normally we get to go to the temple on tuesday mornings, but the temple is closed for another week or so. anything you'd like to send in a package would be awesome. but i would like my black cardigan--our classroom is freezing and i end up loooking like raw chicken because i have so many goosebumps. and my pillow case would be cool too. other than not, no specific requests. just send me some lovin.
the food here is fine, not great but not usually terrible. i mostly end up eating the various assortment of salads they offer. and sometimes sister sandoval will force me to eat an apple. but i'm well-nourished and hydrated, don't worry. i still hate eating breakfast, but i do it.
anwyay, i'm almost out of time! please write letters so that i don't have to spend my precious 30 minutes reading emials! not that i don't want them, but i have so little time to write you and so much time during the week to read emails. dear elder is great!!! i love you, think of you often, and pray for you always. pass along happy belated birthdays to tim and andrea, and happy 40th to you, mom and dad!! hoooweee! long time.
ua here au ia outou! (I LOVE YOU!!!)
love,
sister hansen
p.s. i'm goign to try and see if i can't figure out how to record some of my tahitian for you--i learned how to bear my testimony! wee!
