EVERYONE! I'M NOT DEAD! last pday we didn't
have time to write because we had a big all-missionary activity after choir
practice. it was nice to get to know some of the other missionaries a little
bit better and have some fun. but i'm glad this week to have the time to write
some stuff. i have things to say.
first off, we have SIX baptisms this week!
weeee! the family babou is getting baptized on friday and we're pretty stoked
about it. everything went well with their interviews and so we're all set to
go. and last week this lady who takes care of two kids that we inherited from
the sisters before us that have been taught for like a year but have never been
able to get baptized because the parents never gave permission (this is
becoming a really long run-on sentence DEAL WITH IT) anyway she called us last
week and she was like "hey i need parental consent forms for the two kids
because the parents gave their permission for them to get baptized and they
want to come to the baptism and la la la everything is so great!" and we
were like whaaat?! ok! so we're pretty excited about that too. so we have 6
baptisms in one day. it's going to be insane but awesome. all of the elders in
our district are super jealous and we're like yeah suckers if you were awesome
you could have a bajillion baptisms too. except not really because we didn't
really do anything to get these baptisms--we just taught them, and God
definitely did the rest. i'm realizing more and more that i don't actually do a
whole lot--i just try and do my best and trust that their hearts will be
prepared to accept the message. and lookee there, it kinda works! i'm really
happy about the babou family though. their two kids that are getting
baptized--samir is 13 and nasra is 12--they are cool kids. i love nasra--she's
always super excited to see me and runs up and hugs me and kisses my cheeks. i
know i can always count on her to show me some love. when we were preparing her
for her baptismal interview, i was like "hey nasra, why do you want to get
baptized?" and she was like "because i love God and i know this
church is true!" it made my heart happy. every time i see her she tries to
take my tag and wear it because she wants to do a mission too. she's just
precious and i love her.
oh yeah. guess what guys. I'M GONNA BE
TAHITIAN FAMOUS! freals. on wednesday, we get this call in the morning from the
assistants and they were like "hey the news people from public affairs
called and they want to interview a missionary for a program they're doing and
gonna put on the teeeveeee" (ok they didn't really say it like that but
whatever) basically they wanted to interview and american sister and out of the
choices they had, they had the most confidence in my french (to be fair, i did
kind of study it in college and the rest have only had 9 months max so it's not
really a fair comparison) so i got picked. so i was like uhh ok coool....and
then later that afternoon they called us again and were like "oh by the
way it's tonight in like 3 hours soooo...okbye!" and i was like aaah my
haaair (which is always AWFUL, just so you know). anyway, i did my best to look
presentable and we went so i could talk into the camera. apparently it's some
sort of christmas program where they wanted me to talk about christmas in
america and how it's different and how i'm going to keep the spirit of
christmas with me during the mission. my response wasn't super profound, it was
pretty much like "welp i think i'll try to keep the spirit of christmas
with me by TEACHING PEOPLE ABOUT JESUS EVERY DAY." UHN. nah i said other
stuff too and tried to sound intelligent. not sure if it totally worked, but in
any case it will be broadcast on national tahitian television next sunday. so
basically, i'm a celebrity everyone. you can tell all your friends and feel
really cool.
so this week i had a great blessing come into
my life for four days--the sisters serving on raiatea came to stay with us.
they're american. choruses of angels were singing in the heavens. my heart was
filled with joy. i can't even tell you how refreshing it was to have people who
understand my culture--who laugh at the same things that i laugh at, who don't
tell me that everything i do is wrong, who don't expect me to read their minds.
they reminded me that there IS happiness! but seriously, it was so awesome to
have them with us. we got to do splits and i taught with soeur buswell, (who by
the way, was in one of my french 101 classes at byu, go figure!) and it was so
great! i felt so comfortable and at ease and the spirit was super strong and i
was just super happy. and we had a really nice conversation that helped me a
lot and gave me hope for the future. having them with us was really an answer
to my prayers. they helped me to feel less alone and now i feel like i actually
have friends here. when all the missionaries get together, i have people to
talk to now, rather than just standing next to people and listening to
conversations.
which brings me to my next point: we finally
had our missionary choir program on sunday. it was so great! there were a
bajillion people who came and so many of our investigators showed up too! it
was awesome. the spirit was super strong and it turned out really well.
apparently the stakes on tahiti want us to do like a tour or something and
re-do the program in their stakes, so i guess we're gonna do that. again, we're
famous or whatever. haha. anyway, i kind of have a love/hate relationship with
the missionary choir. sometimes i'm like yeah this is awesome wee! other times
i'm like I HATE THE MISSIONARY CHOIR because it takes up pday and the director
is kind of a tool (ok but he's really nice and works really hard but sometimes
he seriously acts like he's craig jessop and i'm like DUDE YOU'VE NEVER TAKEN A
MUSIC THEORY CLASS IN YOUR LIFE). anyway. the point is, it's cool but sometimes
makes me want to punch myself in the face. but i will admit, it was really
great to have our amis there to feel the strong spirit.
this week i had a cool experience. i was with
soeur buswell on a split and we had taught a lesson and went back to the house
to pick up the other sisters, but apparently my companion thought it would be a
good idea to start straightening the other sister's hair so they weren't ready
to go yet. so i was like "hey i was thinking about going to visit nella
(one of our investigators) and see how she's doing and invite her to the
program tomorrow night." no response from my companion. me: "soo...is
that cool?" she shrugs her shoulders. me: OK LET'S GO SOEUR BUSWELL SEE
YOU LATER HAVE FUN BEING A JERK!| just kidding i didn't say that last part.
anyway, so we go to see her and she's at the house and she's way excited to see
us. to give a little background, the last lesson we had with her and her sister
(18 and 16 years old) i gave them the committment to baptism and they were like
"yeah we had talked about it but we're not sure because we want our whole
family to follow too", which is legit of course. anyway, so i was like hey
will you pray about it? and they were like yeah! and i gave them ether 12 to
read too. anyway, back to the story. so we go see her and she's like "hey
i read that chapter you gave me. and i want to get baptized." and i'm like
AH! OK! REALLY? and she's like yeah! and i was so happy. it was a moment where
i really felt joy in the fruit of my labors. i'm so excited for her and excited
to see her progression.
anyway, this is long and i gotta go. but i
love you all! have a good christmas!
love,
soeur hansen
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