august 6, 2012

aug 6

hey everyone

let's talk about this was a great week--i feel like the scripture in doctrine and covenants has suddenly become so much more applicable to my life: after much tribulations come the blessings. rang true this week! last week was woof--but this week was so gerat! we had so many awesome things happen, a couple new really solid references, and some members that are starting to get motivated to help us!

we met with this new investigator therese this week and taught her the first lesson--she is seriously the most awesome person ever. our first lesson went really really well and she told us about how she had met a member coming back on a boat and she was at a point in her life where she just didn't know where she was going or anything, and he talked to her about the church and she was like "i don't know, i just felt really drawn to what he was saying and i wanted to know more." so somehow she got into contact with her uncle who is in our ward and we started the lessons with her. gaah! golden! she has had some really hard experiences, but i think it just goes to show that she has really been prepared to receive the gospel. we encouraged her during the first lesson to start praying and how prayer is really important, and then the next lesson we had with her, (we always start and end with a prayer), we were like "so therese who do you want to say that prayer?" and she was like "i'm gonna do it." and seriously, i just wanted to cry because it was such a sweet and simple prayer but as soon as she opened her mouth it was like BOOM! SPIRIT IN THE HOUSE! i love seeing the discovery process of people who don't have the habit of talking with God and the light that comes into their face when they finally learn how to open that connection. when we first met with therese, her eyes were sad. but by the end of the week after we taught about joseph smith and the plan of salvation and everything, she looked like a totally different person. so great right?! yes it is great. the only hitch is that...she's not actually in our area! and she went back home on friday. but we gave the reference to the elders who are assigned to her area and i will go and beat them down if they don't take good care of her.

which brings me to my next point: i'm getting transferred! AND it was normally supposed to BE in the area where therese lives! and i was like YESSS PERFECT! but then president called a few days later and was like hey i felt like i needed to change your transfer, so now you're going to paea to open a new area for the sisters. and i was like man. ok. but! kind of cool because soeur chapman's family lives in the area where i'm going and they're not members, so i was like soeur, i'm gonna go track down your fambly! anyway, next monday i get moved so i have one more week in faaa and then i'm outta here back on the bike.

speaking of soeur chapman, SHE GOT APPENDICITIS! on saturday, soeur teheiura and i were doing work and stuff (you know, the norm) and president calls and i'm like man is he going to change my transfer again?? and it turns out he called us so we could go to the hospital in town to pick up soeur white (soeur chapman's companion) because SOEUR CHAPMAN WAS IN THE HOSPITAL! and i was like aaaaaaaaah my child!!!! we got there and she just looked so out of it and i was so sad and wanted to cry but i didn't because i didn't want to look like an idiot. but yeah they pretty much took her right away into surgery. so she'll be here for a couple weeks to be in the car while she heals from the surgery. craaaaazy things.

let's see...there are other things i could talk about but people are waiting for the computer so i'm gonna finish this off. hope everything is going well in america. love you!!

love,

soeur hansen

july 30, 2012

hey everyoneeee

i have no time (again) this week because one of the computers is broken and my companion is waiting for me to finish this, so i'm trying to type fast. this week was lonnnnnnnnnnnnng, because it's still vacation time and it seems as though the island of tahiti has been abandoned. seriously we had SO many lessons cancelled this week, we were kind of wanting to pull our hair out by the end. it was tough, but i guess it just allowed us a chance to try and get creative to find effective ways to use the time. we're trying to work more with the members in our 3 wards to get them motivated for missionary work, but i get the feeling it's going to be like pulling teeth in the beginning. but i'm pretty confident that once the wheels get turning, we'll see the fruits of our labors. (wow i mixed a lot of analogies in that sentence. hopefully you understand how my brain is working right now.)

other than that, things are going along well. now that i'm back in the car the weight gain has reared its ugly head again. seriously it's kind of unreal how quickly it happens. gross. whatever, more of me to love, right? :)

ok my companion's sighs are getting more and more frequent and obvious, so i'm gonna cut this short. i love you all!!

love,

soeur hansen

july 23, 2012

heyyyy everyone,

i have like almost no time to write because we have to go meet someone to do a thing (yes i know the details are overwhelming). but just a quick note to say hi! this week went by really fast! things are going well here in faaa. the work is gong alright--everyone is on vacation so it's kind of hard, but we're doing our best to find people to teach and help our investigators. we've been teaching a lot of kids lately, which is entertaining and makes you want to pull your hair out sometimes, haha. but they're cute and sincere and it mostly just makes me smile. 

this week we got to go to the temple with our district because two of the elders were finishing. so the picture included is of all of us in front of the temple. always good to go and feel the spirit and be happy. let's see...nothing too terribly exciting to report. just trying to do work and be diligent. the gospel is true, everybody, in case y'all forgot. ok i gotta go, but i love you!!

love,

soeur hansen

july 16, 2012

hey everyone,

guess where i am? not in moorea!! 

i'm back in FAAA. i don't know if you remember my first area. you know, the one that i was already in for 6 MONTHS. and now i'm back. president called last week and was in a tight spot and was like soeur hansen, none of the other sisters have their license, and i need you to go back to faaa. i'm not gonna lie, i cried just a TEENY TINY bit. but then i was like, you know what? it's cool. i'm happy to go back. but really though, i know this is where i'm supposed to be for right now, and things are good. although it is SUPER weird to be back. i feel like i just started my mission again because it was around this time last year when i first got here, haha! but there is a lot of work and a lot of potential in this sector, so things are good. and what's really cool about tahitians is that they love missionaries and are super welcoming and nice when you're new, but even more welcoming and nice when you come back, so when i went back to the wards that i served in yesterday and everyone found out that i'm serving in this sector now, i was seriously like CELEBRITY STATUS. haha it was so awesome. and obviously made my heart happy, because i was super excited to see everyone, and they were super excited to see me! love it when things are mutual like that. and we set a baptismal date last thursday, the day i got here, so things are off to a great start. 

except then friday came, ironically enough, friday the 13th.  A SCOOTER REAR-ENDED ME!! ughhhhhh. scooters are the worst. but because i was turning left (even though i had put on my blinker!!), the insurance company is holding me responsible. guhhh talk about a buzz-kill. i wanted to cry and kick puppies all at the same time. i just feel bad for putting an extra burden on the mission, and slightly indignant because it totally was not my fault--the guy driving the scooter even admitted that he was driving too fast and didn't see my blinker. aah the injustice of it all. oh well. just gotta smile and roll with the punches i guess. 

let's see...oh man i miss soeur chapman so much!! seriously like my favorite companion. i miss moorea too. i loved the people there, and the island itself was just awesome. now i'm back in the ghetto, haha. but it's good. and i love soeur teheiura too. she finishes up in september so she's almost done. it's actually like a whole new sector here because most of the investigators are new and so many of the investigators i taught before i left are baptized now! so awesome! actually, in a way, it's really cool to come back, because i'm seeing firsthand the fruits of the seeds i got to plant earlier. for example, i don't know if you remember nella and melodie, the sisters we taught before thanks to door to door contacting. well, they're baptized, and now their dad who was inactive is coming regularly to church, their mom comes too and has stopped smoking and drinking, their brother who lives on bora bora just got baptized, and we're teaching their other brother and his girlfriend. i was just like WHOA. that little seed has become a TREE. and it makes me really happy to see all the changes that have come about in their home. 

anyway, i gotta wrap this up. i love you all!!

love,

soeur hansen

july 9, 2012

dearest everyone,

aaah another pday has arrived. the weeks seem to be going by even faster lately! this week was pretty good, but very tiring. we did A LOT of walking and tracting and contacting. i feel like...i have really learned what it is to STINK at the end of the day. like when you start to smell yourself, that really means that you smell BAD. and when it's so hot and you're in the sun all day and biking and walking and sweating with a heavy backpack...it's just a recipe for rankness. i apologize for this overshare, but on the bright side, i have really learned to appreciate showers and antibacterial soap. not that i didn't appreciate them before, but now it's like the best thing ever invented.

ANYWAY. yes. this week we did a lot of walking. up a lot of hills. it was kind of like adventure week, because we discovered some hidden corners of our sector that turned out to be like HUGE NEIGHBORHOODS that we had no idea existed. i think we probably had no idea they existed because they're all like way up in the valley mountainous area and they're hard to get to. but we hiked up our skirts (not too high, mind you!) and got down to business to scope out the undiscovered territory. we found some people, we got rejected by a lot of people, and a lot of people pretended not to be home when we passed by their house. that's always the cutest--when you SEE people in the house, you call out "bonjour!", and then they go run and hide. seriously. people are funny sometimes. soeur chapman and i just laugh, because we're like man are we really that scary? actually, in light of the previous paragraph i wrote, maybe it's just because we smell bad. hm. never considered that one before. 

continuing on the theme of big hills and long hikes, this one day we had a lesson up in the mountains. now normally, we have a member drive us up to the house because it's a long way up and pretty much impossible to get their on a bike. but this particular day, there was no one available to take us. so i was like welp, guess we're going on foot then. so we dropped off our bikes at a member's house at the bottom of the hill, and started the long walk up. and up. and up up up upppppppppppp. about a half hour later we arrive at our investigator's house to find...WHOOPS THEY'RE NOT THERE! ahhh so cute. as we walked away, i was like man. what's up with that? but then i was like no don't murmur. there's got to be a reason for this or something. so we're walking away, and this guy calls out to us--soeurs! soeurs! come over here and we'll talk about heavenly father! actually we already knew who the guy was, because we usually see him stumbling drunkenly (is that a word?) in the street. and at first i was like ohmaaaannn not THAT guy! but then i was like ok. he's a child of God too. so we sat and talked with him for a bit and shared a little message and invited him to come to church on sunday. and during the time we were talking to him, bam! our investigators next door who weren't there before drive up in their car. weeeeee! so our long hike wasn't all for nothing. and we had a really good lesson with our mamie investigator. when we presented her with the book of mormon, she was like "oh yay! that's actually just what i wanted!" and i was like "oh yay! i love it when investigators say things like that!" (in my head, obviously.) so that was kind of a cool experience where the little voice in my head was like, "see, amy? i told you not to murmur, because there was a plan here aaaaalll along." boom bam.

there was another experience that stands out in my mind from this week that confirmed to me that God's hand is in this work. we had already planned out our friday on thursday night, and we hadn't planned to go see this couple that we're teaching, noelline and marama (the miracle couple). but friday morning i woke up with the thought, hey maybe we should go see them today. and it kind of just persisted in my brain. so i was like ok we're gonna change the plan a bit and work in a time to drop by and visit them. and when we did, we ride up to their gate and call them and we're like "hiiii are you home?" (yes) "ok well we're right outside your house!" (huh? oh! ok!) and we go in and chat for a bit and eventually noelline tells us, "you know, today has not been a good day. and earlier i was in a bad place and i thought to myself, guhh i'm just gonna give up. quit the missionary lessons, quit trying. because i was fed up! and i said a prayer and i was like God? if you give me a sign that i should keep going, i will. but if not, i'm quitting this. and then i went back inside to make lunch and not long after, i get a phone call--it's you two, right outside our house. if that's not an answer, i don't know what is." i believe it was thomas s. monson who talked about how one of the best feelings he ever feels is to get a prompting, follow it, and find out that it was the answers to someone's prayer. i can confirm that wholeheartedly. in that moment, i was really grateful for the privilege of being an instrument in the Lord's hands. i love that feeling.

so on that high note, i'm gonna wrap this up. i included two photos in this email (you guys are so spoiledddd)--one is of what you might have thought was a small horse but is in reality a giant dog that we passed by one day. (also, aren't my chaco sandals so awesomely bad? i feel like a transformer every time i wear them and i love it.) the other picture is of us with one of the members in our ward--we ate at their house on the fourth of july and i was like "man it's my country's independence day today!" and talked about what we do to celebrate and stuff, and they were like "welp we don't have any fireworks, but our son knows how to FIRE DANCE!!!" so we got our own personal fire dancing show where he threw around a flaming baton. it was so legit. and i was proud to be an american celebrating independence tahitian style.

i hope you all have a lovely week and remember that i love you and miss you!

love,

soeur hansen

july 2, 2012

hellooooo,

welp it's official guys, i hit my year mark. one year ago on june 29th, i entered the MTC a fresh-faced and 20 pounds lighter sister hansen. (yeah that's right everybody, i recently weighed myself. so while i appreciate everyone telling me that i don't look fat, the scale does not lie.) now i'm here in tahiti, one year later and proud to say that 20 pounds is not the only thing i've gained thus far on the mission. experience, testimony, and a die-hard love for da gospel have been rooted in my heart. cool right? RIGHT! soeur chapman and i had a little ceremony to commemorate my one year mark--i gave a talk, recited a poem on the spot, and soeur chapman made me do some ridiculous stuff like put on a bunch of the clothes that don't fit me anymore and ride my bike twice around the house singing my favorite hymn (at 8:00 at night mind you). the neighbors probably think we're insane. also you know how it's like tradition amongst missionaries to burn something at a year in? well a few weeks ago, i saw that some dogs had half eaten some of my shoes. so we were like hey no big deal, that'll just be the thing that i burn for my yeariversary. turns out shoes don't burn quite so easily, especially when it's pouring rain so the air is even more humid than usual. but i included a picture of the "burning" process for your viewing pleasure.

anyway, we had a baptism this weeeeek. our ami romea got baptized on saturday and confirmed on sunday. it was a good day, and he invited his family to come see his baptism and i think that they were really proud of his decision, even though they're all part of different religions. it was cool to see them there to support him. now we're back to the drawing board because our baptismal pool is dry. we have a couple of investigators that are really potential, but still got some hang ups before they can fully commit themselves. but we love them and are happy with even the slightest hint of progress. like, for example, we're teaching this couple: noelline and marama. noelline is a inactive member and marama is her boyfriend. they came to church all on their own a few weeks ago (i think i mentioned them and how they're a mirrraaaaccle) and we've been working with them ever since. our bishop gave them the challenge to read a chapter from the book of mormon and pray together every day for one week and they would see the blessings by the end of the week. we went to go see them yesterday and noelline told us that she had just found out that her grandma had died and then she was like  "you know, during the week, i was like 'man bishop i'm really not seeing any of these blessings! what's the deal!' but this morning i realized that if i hadn't been reading my scriptures and praying, this news would have totally turned my world upside down. but i see how the scriptures have really softened my heart and helped me to react differently." and we were like yesssssssssssssssssssss! and even marama is totally into it! they were telling us about how when they got the news they were like man what do we do, and marama was like "hey maybe we should read a chapter and say a prayer." and we were like yessssssssssssssssssssss! again! so these investigators are awesome is basically what i'm saying here. it's always nice to have investigators that keep their commitments and when they do that, they see why we committed them to it in the first place. weeeeeeee!

anyway, this week was pretty good. although it's hard sometimes not to feel stuck in a rut. on the mission you do the same things every day, and even though they're really good things, it happens sometimes that you just get into the routine and forget why you do the things you do. so soeur chapman and i have been trying to think of ways to innovate our days and to get out of the rut. not easy. but still trying nonetheless. in other news, i finished the book of mormon for the second time on the mish--good news, it's STILL true!!! but seriously, each time i read it i'm struck by the fact that i learn something new and i see how my prayers and questions are answered through what is written inside. it's a great book. 

alright well i'm gonna wrap this up. keep doing good stuff and being happy and writing me letters ok?! ok. love you!!

love,
soeur hansen

june 25, 2012

hellooooooooooooooo,

HEY EVERYBODY, i've almost hit my official one year on da mission mark: june 29th. CRAZY. to be honest, there are times when i'm like WHOA how did that happen? i feel like i just got here! and then there are other times when i'm like real world? do you exist? what's it like to go to the movies?? but all in all, i can't think of a better way to spend the last year of my life. i had some experiences this week that really showed me how much i've changed, grown, been stretched, and learned. it was kind of a satisfying moment for me to do a little mental recap in my head, but my brain quickly humbled me by reminding me of how far i still have to go. but you know. line upon line, precept on precept and all that good stuff. i can't believe that i only have 6 months left, but i'm excited to see what's in store for me as i wrap up my mission.

guys. i got bit by a DOG this week. YEAH. it kind of went down like this:

dog: CHOMP

me: what the heck dog? why did you just bite me??

dog: well you see, i just gave birth and i thought you were coming here to steal my puppies. so i bit you.

me: dog! i don't even LIKE dogs! even less so now that i'm on a mission! why would i want your puppies??

dog: oh. right. well i guess this was just a big misunderstanding.

me: YEAH I GUESS SO.

luckily i'm really christlike and stuff so i frankly forgave the dog. also luckily there was no blood involved. she was like hiding under the bench where i was going to sit down and popped out and bit my ankle and i was like aaaahhhhh!!! and ran away. so that was kind of an exciting story for the week.

guys! this week was great! we have new investigators! and i love them. and they come to church and activities. and i'm seriously legitimately happy when i see them. and i love feeling like that! there are obviously still investigators that aren't budging. and there are still days where i'm like GUHHHHH WHAT IS HAPPENING?!! but all in all, i'm happy with what's happening in our area, and the members in our ward are slowly starting to mobilize themselves. we also have another baptism this saturday--our investigator named romea. i'm hoping everything is gonna work out for it, because it's been a little bit of a bumpy road. so stay tuned for that next monday and i'll let you know how the story unfolds.

k let's talk about some of my favorite people: mamie and papi manua. i don't know if i've already talked about them. they're an older couple that have been inactive for the past 5 or 6 years. a few weeks ago we went to visit them and encourage them to come back to church, and then we went back the next weekend with our mission president to do the same thing. and ever since then they've been coming regularly to church, activities, meetings, the whole shabang. it's like boom! now they're back. and now we're teaching their granddaughter and she is cool and i like her. but i think the best thing that i've seen in the whole thing is seriously the LIGHT that has come back into their lives, physically. when we went to their house the first couple times, it was like...a wreck. like a tornado had passed through. dark, dirty, dreary. all of the above. but when we went back yesterday, it was like whoa is this the same house? everything was neatly organized, clean, light and airy. it just goes to show that when we get ourselves in order spiritually, the temporal starts to fall into place as well. trying to live the gospel the best we can has all-reaching effects. i love mamie and papi manua. and i'm really happy to see them at church, because i see how happy THEY are when they're there. aah. so nice.

anyway, i'm gonna wrap this up. i hope everything is going well in america and that you're all aware how blessed you are to have walmart. me and soeur chapman were just talking this morning about how much we miss walmart sometimes (she went to BYU hawaii so she got a taste of american stuff too). transfers are coming up in a few weeks, so we'll see who's getting moved where. even though i've been here for like 4 months, i kiiiind of don't want to move. because things are starting to pick up and i'm just happy about it! but we'll see. i guess i'd be happy to stay or happy to discover a new place. i mean honestly, i'm in TAHITI, so it's not like there's a bad transfer. ANYWAY. enjoy the photos! one is me in jumping in front of the ocean. typical.(confession: the shorts i'm wearing in that picture are FOR MEN. because the none of the women's shorts FIT OVER MY BOTTOM HALF. GAAHHHH!!!!!) another is from frere ebb's baptism two weeks ago. and then the other one is me in front of the view from our one of our investigator's house. legit. ok i love you bye!!!!

love,

soeur hansen

june 18, 2012

 hey everrryone

this week went by sooo fast, which is good and bad. good because it was kind of a week that made me go "woof." but bad because it's insane how fast time goes by!! gaah. we did some cool stuff this week like a service project out on a pineapple farm that soeur chapman and i are still recovering from. seriously it's kind of pathetic how sore our muscles STILL are, and we did it on thursday! guuh. embarrassinggggg. it was cool though--we went with two of our investigators, a mamie and a papi and we worked with them for a couple hours pulling up plants and weeds to clear the ground so they could plant some more stuff. service projects are always a nice change of pace too. and i especially like them because i can like tangibly see the results of my efforts. it's also so satisfying. aaahhh.

other than that, soeur chapman and i affectionally called this week the "everyone hates the missionaries!" week. weeee! it seemed to us that everyone was kind of just like...blah! some of our investigators pooped out, some of the members are having some tantrums and we have no clue why, and everyone seems to be really into arguing lately. all of our neighbors, even me and soeur chapman (whoops! we still love each other though). oh my gosh there were so many LOUD arguments this week with our neighbors. and the thing with tahitians is, once they are fired up, it's like NUCLEAR. and it doesn't stop. guhh. anyway, so that was kind of like ok enough already! but i guess if i try to see it in a positive way, it's kind of like TV. since we don't have cable (or tv at all for that matter), it's like our daily episode of a reality show. so at least we have some sort of entertainment other than scriptures? maybe i'm stretching it.

ANYWAY. there were some really good things that happened this week, for example: BAPTISM!!! weeee! our investigator frere ebb got baptized on saturday, and now their family is complete and in preparation to go to the temple next year! it was a great day and they are so solid. soeur ebb (who if you forgot already, gosh guys why don't you remember every detail of my life?!!, got baptized in april with their daughter manihiki) just got called to be second counselor in the relief society presidency. so that's also quite solid. she was kind of like "whoa" about the call, but she seems to be adapting nicely. i'm seeing good things for their family happening in the ward. and it was cool too because he invited his younger brother, who is not a member, to his baptism and he came and was pretty impressed by all the changes he saw in his brother. and we went to go visit them yesterday and talked to him about the book of mormon and stuff, and it was really good! he has a lot of questions and is looking for answers. the downside is that he doesn't live on moorea, so we dont' really know when we'll get to have contact with him again. but luckily frere and soeur ebb are there for him.

ok ok. let's talk about how yesterday was like the best sunday everrrrrrr. seriously, we had investigators like coming out of the woodworks to come to church. so unexpected, but so great! 6 of our investigators came to church for the first time yesterday, and they all had a really good chapel experience. and best of all, there was this new couple and their son that we saw sitting towards the back. and i went up to them to talk to them a little bit and find out who they were and the woman was like yeah i used to be a member, this is my husband and my son, we just moved here, what do we need to do to receive the missionary lessons? i believe that it was at that point that i peed a little bit. just kidding. but maybe seriously. like hello golden question that every missionary wants to hear! so we got everything arranged and we're going to see them on tuesday to get things started. but they both seem awesome and i'm excited to get to know them better! aah. it was a miracle, i'm tellin ya.

anyway, i gotta wrap this up because soeur chapman is waiting for the computer. you guys, i just love you. write me letters! i'll send some more pictures next week.

love,
soeur hansen