love, Hermana Hansen
well...week two has come to an end. can't believe in one week we'll be halfway through our ccm experience. exciting but a little scary too. i'll be trying to send out letters today...with mexican stamps on them haha. and hopefully i'll be able to slip in some little souveneirs i bought today, if they don't weigh too much. mail takes like 2 weeks to get here and 3 weeks to get from here to the US, so you probably won't get them until right before i leave. they also asked us to not have our families send any letters in the mail after the end of next week, so next p day would be the last day for you to send anything out. i've heard you can send letters through dearelder, a website and they only take 1 week to get to the mexico mtc, which is a little quicker. they just have someone type up the letter for you and they deliver it to the missionary. also, a lady working here at the mtc gave us her business card, with something similar to dear elder only for the mexico mtc. her site is www.missionarypackagemx.com.last p day was elder seeborg's birthday. he's an elder in our district. we all wrote him nice notes in a notebook we bought at the tienda here. and the elders put together a gift with some candy, new socks, bc he loves socks, and some other things. my back was hurting me a little last week with a pinched nerve, so that was my excuse for sitting out on the zone volleyball tournament haha. we got a new district on friday and most of them are going to kennewick, wa. we're getting another new district in our zone tonight, they came yesterday but we meet them tonight. there's quite a few missionaries here. i may have said this in the last note but someone in the mtc presidency said that there are 1000 missionaries here and 3000 in provo mtc, but we have like 3x the acre-age here, so we have a big, spacey campus. we did a service project on saturday and cleaned the computer labs out. we got our 2 new investigators starting saturday, we teach each one every other day. we teach mauricio one day, then edgar the next, etc. they're actually just our instructors pretending to be investigators they met on their mission. i gave a sacrament talk on sunday, all in spanish, and it went really well. a girl came up after and told me it was amazing and that i sounded like a latina, haha don't know how true that is, but she was sweet to say that to me haha. we had a good devo on sunday from elder scott, broadcast from provo. it was amazing and after the closing hymn, right before the prayers, he stood up again and said he was prepared to make an apostolic promise and i wrote in my journal most of what he said. he promised...through the holy ghost, we can MASTER the language, our mission will be a rich experience if we write down principles and experiences given us to we can develop, the mission will enrich our lives as wives and mothers and guide us as we raise our children in righteousness, we won't be asked to do anything we can't do because we've been given the power to overcome, the lord has called us to succeed, not fail, a mission is an opportunity to learn more about yourself and your capacities than you ever knew, and god will fit the task to our capabilities. we also learned the mexican national anthem a little since they're going to have us sing it on mexico's independence day, the 15th of september. they've got tons of cute decorations up all over. i'll have to send pictures of them next week since they're still in the process of putting them up. i already mentioned in some of your emails that i got really sick this week, but i think hermana hamilton and i will take a trip to the doctor today, since it's still bugging me. but other than that this last week was a long, fulfilling week, despite being exhausted and almost falling asleep during TALL like 5 times haha. our district is getting closer and closer and feeling more like family. i feel like they're truly my brothers and sisters. it's funny because our district leader, elder frame, reminds me SO MUCH of Haiden!!! he's a bit of a show-off, really goofy, he does this weird mouth-closed smile when he's joking around and i know i've seen haiden do that before a lot haha. and he has frizzy hair like haiden and has some of the same facial expressions as haiden. we taught mauricio yesterday, our second lesson, and invited him to be baptized. he has excited and i'm super excited for our next lesson with him. i'll send pics on a separate email. i love you all and can't wait to hear back from you all next week. i love you lots! and miss you tons!
love, Hermana Hansen
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Hola Familia, i have so much to tell you. hopefully i don´t run out of time!!! so we got here on wednesday around dinner time. the bus from the airport to the ccm was like the scariest but coolest experience of my life hahaha. it was crazy because people here don´t follow traffic rules, they just drive wherever, however and whenever they want. and people fly through on their scooters. they don´t even use the lanes. they have like 5 cars or buses on a 3 lane road!! and people walk between the cars trying to sell things to people in their cars. since hallie asked, yes it is a little ghetto (actually a lot ghetto) but also really beautiful. i forgot to bring my schedule with me to tell you how a typical day is so i´ll just guess, no specific times haha. we get up at 6:30 in the morning, have companionship prayer, get ready (i´ve gotten pretty good at getting ready in under 25 minutes makeup, clothes and hair haha). then at 7 we have personal study. then we have breakfast at 7:45. then at 8:20 we have to be in our classroom. we go over our language study homework, and do more studying with gospel and language study. then we have book of mormon, our district and teacher take our chairs outside and each read a verse at a time. we stop and ask questions and discuss the chapter we read, we read the scriptures in english so we understand it better. then we go to gym at 11:30 and we get ready and go to lunch at 1pm. then we have companion study i think and then we teach our investigator. since its the first week, our whole district has been teaching the same investigator, who will eventually become our night teacher in like a day or two. teaching starts at 3:30 and we each give a 20ish minute lesson. we rotate the order we teach in. hermana hamilton and i were the first ones in our district to teach on friday. we had like maybe 10-15 minutes to prepare but it went really well. it was crazy just how happy we both felt after teaching our investigator, javier, about the gospel. not all of our lessons have been perfect, which is one reason why we´re glad he´s not a real investigator so we can make mistakes without huge consequences. but none of our lessons were really bad. our fourth lesson was the best, the spirit was so strong as we talked with javier about the doctrine of christ and keeping the word of wisdom (he had a problem with drinking and smoking). in our fourth lesson we committed him to baptism and to attend church with us and the 5th lesson we committed him to read the book of mormon. even though we know it´s not real, it felt so real. i can´t imagine how much better it will feel to be able to teach a real investigator!!! after teaching we have companion study then dinner. then we have a zone meeting devotional thing. then at 10 i take a shower (i can now take a shower in under 10 minuets) then companion prayer and journal and bed. i´m almost out of time!! a little about my companion, she´s from a town just outside of nyc. she´s amazing! i need to go so that i can attach pictures i guess. i love you all and hope you have a great week! i am loving the ccm and am learning so much!! miss you and love you! love, hermana hansen First E-mail after arriving at the Mexico MTCI love you all so much and miss you already! the flights were great, i got a little sick the last flight but it was great. my p days are thursdays. i love you all. hasta luego. mucho amor, hermana hansen My mission call finally arrived on Thursday, May 1, 2014. I went home to open it on Friday, May 6, 2014 at nearly midnight! I was so excited when I got home, that I couldn't wait to open it the next day. I opened my call with my family and a few friends from school. Dear Sister Hansen, You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the California Arcadia Mission. . . . You should report to the Mexico Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, August 20, 2014. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language. . . . I was beyond excited when I read my mission call. I had received impressions while waiting for my call multiple times that I would serve in the US on a Spanish speaking mission, and California came across my mind many times. Yes, someone guessed my mission call right on the dot!!! My brother guessed minutes before I opened my call that I would go to the California Arcadia Mission! I couldn't be more excited and know that this call is given to me through inspiration from God. I know that God has been preparing the hearts of the people I will serve so that I will be able to inspire them in a unique way. I know that as I serve those I'm called to serve, that I will be able to help them become closer to our Savior and help them to be able to participate in all the blessings of the gospel. I have a lot of family from California and a few who live within as well as right outside the borders of my mission! I'll swallow my pride and post a picture of me with my mission call. I had been traveling forever on the roads, it was past midnight, and I was a little emotional, so excuse my face. It had been a long day--what a perfect way to end a long, exhausting day! Hermana Hansen While watching the video: Walk in His Light from the General Women's meeting, I was so touched. I still cry every time I watch it because of how beautiful it is. I can feel that strength that comes from righteous women when I watch it. In my personal study I read a talk from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf titled, "The Hope of God's Light." He suggested three ways for us to "open our eyes to the hope of God's light." First, start where you are. "Isn’t it wonderful to know that we don’t have to be perfect to experience the blessings and gifts of our Heavenly Father? We don’t have to wait to cross the finish line to receive God’s blessings. In fact, the heavens begin to part and the blessings of heaven begin to distill upon us with the very first steps we take toward the light. "The perfect place to begin is exactly where you are right now. It doesn’t matter how unqualified you may think you are or how far behind others you may feel. The very moment you begin to seek your Heavenly Father, in that moment, the hope of His light will begin to awaken, enliven, and ennoble your soul. The darkness may not dissipate all at once, but as surely as night always gives way to dawn, the light will come." Second, turn your heart toward the Lord. "Lift up your soul in prayer and explain to your Heavenly Father what you are feeling. Acknowledge your shortcomings. Pour out your heart and express your gratitude. Let Him know of the trials you are facing. Plead with Him in Christ’s name for strength and support. Ask that your ears may be opened, that you may hear His voice. Ask that your eyes may be opened, that you may see His light." Third, walk in the light. "Your Heavenly Father knows that you will make mistakes. He knows that you will stumble—perhaps many times. This saddens Him, but He loves you. He does not wish to break your spirit. On the contrary, He desires that you rise up and become the person you were designed to be. "To that end, He sent His Son to this earth to illuminate the way and show us how to safely cross the stumbling blocks placed in our path. He has given us the gospel, which teaches the way of the disciple. It teaches us the things we must know, do, and be to walk in His light, following in the footsteps of His Beloved Son, our Savior." I am so grateful for the Gospel in my life! We will all face sorrows, but I know that as each of us will draw closer to God and walk in His light, we will be able to feel His love and overcome any trial or heartache. I know that there is hope in the light that comes only from faithful obedience to the commandments of God. That light has the power to give us strength in order to overcome that which we once thought impossible. I invite you to follow the counsel from President Uchtdorf and open your hearts to the light and guidance the Gospel can provide to each of us. I invite you to seek diligently God's will for you. "Seek Him through study and prayer. Come to His Church, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Learn of Him and of His gospel, participate
actively, help each other, and joyfully serve our God." I know God's love is unchanging and unconditional and that if we will seek Him diligently, we will find true joy. I know these things to be true and I testify of this, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. I've been contemplating a lot about why I want to serve a mission. I know without a doubt that I want to serve, but I wanted to do some more pondering and soul-searching and really think of my reasons for serving. I want to be sure that I'm serving for the right reasons so that I can best serve the people I'll soon be called to serve. Amazingly, I came across a fellow sister missionary blog. She had the awesome idea of writing a "list essay" of the reasons she wanted to serve. I thought it was brilliant, so I came up with my own list:
Reasons Why I Want to Serve By: Kaitlin Hansen 1: I want to bring others unto Christ. I know that our Savior has an infinite amount of love for every human on this Earth. His love is unchanging and unconditional. I want to share the love that I know Christ has for each of us with others, so that they too can feel His love for them. 2: The Gospel blesses my life. The Gospel has given me standards to live by. I’m grateful for the strictness of the Gospel, because I never have to wonder what is expected of me. I know what is expected of me. I can’t imagine going through life confused as to what I’m even doing or what I am to accomplish in life. The Gospel gives my life purpose and direction. I have never lived without the Gospel, but I know that when I’m doing what is right and keeping the commandments, my life is so much less complicated. I want others to feel that sense of direction and confidence in where they’re going that only the Gospel can bring. 3: I love my Savior. I have come to gain such a strong relationship with my Savior through learning of Him and following His example. I know He loves me because of the many blessings He’s given to me. I want to be able to show my love to Him by dedicating a meager 18 months of my life to His service and bringing others unto Him. 4: I want to serve. When we serve others we forget about our own problems. Service has brought me so much happiness and I’m grateful that my parents have taught me the value of service numerous times. Service is a way I can communicate to God that I love Him and that I want to give back to Him for the blessings I’ve received. I can give back to Him by helping others on the path back to our Heavenly Father. 5: I want to do hard things. In order to become better, we have to push ourselves to do things that may seem hard. We have to aim above and beyond what we think we can do. I know that when I rely on the Savior to guide and direct me, I can accomplish hard things. I can become a better person each day. 6: To find myself. When I study the scriptures, I can find so much about myself. I have a testimony that the Gospel is true, and I know that going on a mission will just solidify further my testimony and help me to grow more than I could imagine. The things I will learn will create a solid foundation. 7: To receive more spiritual experiences. I know I’ll experience things on a mission that I won’t be able to accomplish anywhere else. I will have experiences that will help me to teach my future children. I will have experiences to draw from throughout my life. 8: I don’t want to regret anything. The confirmations I’ve had that going on a mission is part of God’s plan for me have been so strong. I can’t help but think that when I’m standing with the Savior on judgment day, if I didn’t follow through with those prompting that I would feel at least a little ashamed. I know that the Spirit testifies to us of God’s will for us. I know so many blessings will come to me and my family and future family by me serving a mission. I know that looking back on my mission, in the future, I won’t regret a single day of serving a mission. 9: I want to develop lifelong habits. I want to develop habits of reading scriptures, writing in my journal, saying my prayers, dressing modestly, speaking politely, teaching with the spirit. I want to develop habits that will not only affect me, but also my posterity and anyone I come in contact with. I want to let others know that by living righteously, we receive so many blessings. I want to develop habits that will bring me closer to my Heavenly Father and my Savior and help me become more like Christ. 10: I want to be an example. An example to my siblings, my friends, my cousins, my future children. I want to be an example to anyone who crosses my path. I want to be a force for good in the world. I want my light to shine because of the love I have for the Savior and the ways I manifest that in my everyday life. I want to be an example to others of the blessings that living the gospel and serving a mission can bring. I want to show others that where there’s a will, there’s a way. If we have a desire to serve God (in whatever capacity that may be) God will provide a way; we just have to put forth the effort and ask for guidance, and we’ll receive it! 11: I want to share and develop my talents. I want to use the talents I’ve been blessed with to improve my work as a missionary and further God’s work and build up His kingdom. I know I’ve been blessed with many physical and spiritual talents that can hopefully help me to draw others unto Christ and relate more easily to them. 12: I want to give back for what I’ve been given. I was fortunate enough to be born into a family strong in the Gospel. I have been placed around so many individuals who have helped me to become all that I am today. They have helped me to stay clean, worthy, and happy. I can’t imagine life without the support system I have. I know there are others who live without the comradery that comes with being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I have received so many blessings through being a faithful member of this Church. I want to show my gratitude to my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ, for the blessings that I’ve received throughout my life. I want to show gratitude to Joseph Smith and so many others who have helped to restore the Gospel, which has brought so many blessings into my life. I feel like I owe a lot of my happiness and blessings to them, because I wouldn’t be who I am today if I didn’t have the Gospel. I would highly recommend this to anyone planning on serving a mission! I already knew some of the reasons why I wanted to serve, but just contemplating them and actually TYPING THEM OUT helped more than I could have imagined. I know it strengthened my testimony of the divinity of missionary work and helped me learn more about myself. |
Hermana HansenI am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, called to serve as a missionary in the CALIFORNIA ARCADIA MISSION, SPANISH SPEAKING. This blog will be used to share my testimony and insights with readers. When I leave for my mission, my mom will be posting my updates, letters, and emails! Mormon.orgTo learn more about the LDS church and the message I will be sharing as a missionary, visit the link above.
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