Monday, September 29, 2014

MY COMPANION MAN‏


Hayley and friends at Zone Conference


HELLO my family!

This week was pretty normal!! Basically, we started out with a kind of lame week, not a lot happened and all of our appointments fell through... BUT then Friday I did intercambios with.... wait for it... HERMANA BLUTH - my companion from the ccm!!! Crazy, no?! And then that day we found an awesome new family to teach and we had 8 lessons! The Lord almost never blesses us immediately, we just need to have the patience, faith, and diligence to wait for it and he will take care of everything. We only have to do everything that we can do, and it will ALWAYS be enough. 
 
C is progressing, he's keeping the word of wisdom, but he didn't go to church :( bummer no?! But it's fine haha. Besides that, we've found a bunch of new investigators and October looks like it's going to be an awesome month!! I'm just hoping that Hermana Barros and I aren't changed, because cambios are coming on October 8th, and we´re a little nervous haha. But hey, I know that it's going to be what the Lord wants from us!

Thank you for everything you guys do for me, I really love my family more than anything in the world!!! I notice it even more here haha. I know that the Lord has prepared me for every moment that I've lived here in Chile. It's a huge blessing that I could come here, and for every chance I've had to meet every single person. 

I watched this video today and it´s a little corny, but I like it a lot too haha. http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3792885561001
 
I hope you all have a good week, LOVE YOU!

love, 
hermana hansen
 
Noche de Hogar (family night) with the Familia Burgos



A cute little boy in her ward

Vivi's birthday celebration


Hayley on splits with her MTC companion, Hermana Bluth

Valpariso Zone conference
Hayley and her comp at Zone conference




 

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

¡FIESTAS PATRIAS!‏


 
Hayley ready for the Asado


 HOLA FAMILIA

This week was good! We didn't get as much done as we would have wanted to, but we had a big activity AND it was 18 of September week partying, and everyone here in Placilla headed to Valpo or Viña or Santiago, soooooo.... yeah. But we still found miracles, GOTTA LOVE IT. 

On Wednesday we had our activity for 18! We had permission to stay for 2 hours because it's awesome to get referrals and all. It was a blast, and the food was DELICIOUS. I decided that I have to come back to learn how to dance cueca hahaha. Thursday was the actual day of 18 de Septiembre, and we were a little nervous, but it actually went way well! We had weekly planning in the morning, so that helped, and we got to have lunch with C and C!!!!! (C our investigator that is SO CLOSE) So we didn't eat asado or any typical food because she´s from Peru, but it didn't even matter haha. 
After we found a MIRACLE. We both felt impressed to visit this recent convert that had recently moved here, but we didnt have his exact address. BUT we went anyways and ended up finding it and his parents recently adopted two teenage boys and the boys are also recent converts but the parents arent members!!! But they've listened before and they told us they're ready to join the church. WHAT. But the dad works 7x7, in other words 7 days of rest and 7 days working in the north. So they went out of town for the last few days of the party week and then the dad took off, but we're going to see them tomorrow hopefully, just not the dad! MIRACLES. I am so excited for their sealing so that the boys can actually be THEIRS. :) The rest of the day we actually taught people and we ate empanadas and felt way sick at night but it was still good haha.
I did intercambios in Playa Ancha, close to the beach in Valpo, and had asado TWO TIMES. I thought I was gonna barf. It consisted of: barbequed meat, shish ka bobs, churripan (basically hot dogs but with a different type of meat), baked potatoes, salad, and empanadas. AH. then after we went to another house and they had barbequed meat for us and had potatoes as well and then gave us ice cream after! I was so nervous, but I survived thank goodness haha. But it was a good intercambio, she's brand new and super awesome and the sector was GORGEOUS. 
The rest of the weekend was good, C came to church and committed to live the word of wisdom (AHHHH) and asked us AGAIN if we can fast with him this Tuesday. I am so excited for him to get his answer. He just needs to make sure to do everything. THEN yesterday, Maria and Marcelo, the same couple that surprised me for my birthday, surprised us with an asado!! (yes, again asado hahaha but it was delicious and so cute of them! Reminded me of Petty parties without the smores haha) AND they invited C and C as well as their neighbors, C and C, that we´re teaching! YAYYYYY. Seriously I love this ward and this sector so so much. I want to be a different kind of member when I get home haha - but really!

Anyways, that was our week, Hermana Barros and I continue embarrassing ourselves and laughing 100% of the time, just trying to help these people llegar al conocimiento de la verdad (come to the knowledge of the truth)! i know that the Lord is really preparing people for EVERY SINGLE ONE of us to help, we just need to notice it and take action. I love you all so so much! Have a good week!! :)

hermana hansen
 

18 de Septiembre Celebration at the Church

The ward mission leader at the ward party

More ward festivities

Hermana Barros at one of the parties
 
One of the many asados this week

Dinner with members and investigators


Dinner with members and investigators

Ready to eat!

Yummy empanadas
The ladies cooking in the kitchen

View of Valpariso
Hayley with the new missionary she was training

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

fe.‏

Hayley at training last week


BUENAS TARDES FAMILY. 

Soooo this week was a little crazy, but good! It's always good in the mission though, what can I say. LET´S START FROM THE BEGINNING. First off, sorry that this is a day late, but president had an emergency and had to change the zone conference from Friday to Monday soooo our p-day got changed to Tuesday. LO SIENTO MAMÁ.  

So Tuesday. Tuesday, my companion and I were eating lunch and all of the sudden her stomach starts making way weird noises, and it just so happened to be someone that talks FOREVER. But eventually we cut her off and ran to the apartment and she had the stomach flu! After leaving throwing up in the street a couple times we went back to the apartment and read the Book of Mormon because we are WAY behind. So that was good! 
 
The rest of the week was pretty normal, we had to do emergency exchanges (I don't know what happened, last change all of the hermanas were a dream with 0 problems and now the world is ending! I just hope I can help..) and it ended up going well!  We had the replica of leadership counsel and Hermana Barros and I KILLED IT, everyone said they felt the spirit, yeahhhhh. 

Something I loved from this counsel was the differences in answers from the lord for the brother of Jared. He asked three questions: where to go, how they were going to have light, and how they were going to have air. The air question he got an immediate, direct, and specific response. For light, the lord had him think about it and verify with him. For where to go, the lord basically said "don't worry, this is my work, I will take care of it."  We all get these answers today, we just have to have the patience and trust to be able to recognize the answers. 

Okay thennnnn SUNDAY. It was a good day, we had a meeting with our ward mission leader and bishop (literally we couldn't ask for a better bishop. he's a dream.) And the bishop said something I loved. He said that we can measure our faith based in how much time we spend thinking about our goals and working to achieve them. So awesome. Then that night, we had an appointment that had to be pushed back, but we had another appointment after. We were in the first appointment, and we were trying to decide if we should stay because we were going to be WAY late for the other (with C who we can only see once a week) or go and possibly offend the less active we were with. I chose in my mind to stay, but I got THE ugliest feeling!!! So after I just said no Hermana Barros we are OUT of here and left and afterwards she thanked me because she really wanted to stay. BUT we went and saw C and had a HUGE breakthrough. He's getting baptized this month, I know it. He even said he wants to fast! He wants to know, he just needs to act on it to get his answer, and he's about to get it. Gotta love the spirit, no? 
 
THEN yesterday we had THE best conference with president. We talked about faith, and about being assertive (which I am SO bad at haha yikes) and attributes of Christ. The spirit was so strong. I want to go out and change the WORLD now hahaha. This is a talk we read during it that i just loved: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/faith-in-the-lord-jesus-christ?lang=eng. It applies to everyone, not just missionaries! MORONI 10:23, my favorite scripture. 

Anyways, I love mission work. I am so glad that I know now that I have a testimony for real and who Jesus Christ is and that he really loves me and I love him. I just want to be an instrument, nada mas (nothing more). Here's to a good end to September, and looking forward to hear the prophet speak in a couple weeks, and hoping that we have success this week even though 18 de septiembre is coming! 
LOVE YOU ALL
Hermana Hansen
 
Alfajores from the mission president for Zone Conference  
 
 
 
Mission leadership Counsel

Hayley taking notes at her meeting

Friday, September 12, 2014

Podemos ir a la iglesia de Dios?‏

 
 
Reuniting with old friends at Leadership Council
HEY FAMILY!
 
So this week was a little rough, haha. We set the alarm wrong so we had to get ready in 10 minutes to go to leadership counsel with the president (STRESS) and then no one told us about the time change, so we got to church at what we thought was 10 minutes early, but really it was 50 minutes late... YAY FOR THE MISSIONARIES. But you know, it's all good now!!! haha

We did have a good week. We had intercambios and it was a good time, lots of hills, but hey I need the workout so I was okay with it haha. Consejo with president was so awesome!! We received a lot of revelation, including that we really will be able to have 6 baptisms this month. I know it. We just have to work a TON. And we also got to see Elder Bojorquez who left us, and it was like a family reunion!! Hermana Barros, Elder Bojorquez, Elder Pinillos and I are definitely meeting up again after the mission. 
 
Saturday, our ward mission leader's daughter had to come home from her mission because she's allergic to the mosquitoes there (and she was in the rainforest so YIKES). She hadn't been released yet, so she was with us the whole day!! It was so fun haha, she's really cute and an awesome missionary! 
 
We found our miracle family again, seriously they are going to be amazing because so many things have happened to them since we found them, and they are just amazing. They completely understood the restoration.  And M even asked us what church is that because I know that its the church of God!! Seriously so cute. And he came to church on Sunday even though the rest of his family couldn't because the dad got hit by a pole at work in the face (literally, it is SO scary). So the mom had to take care of that and Nicol was sick. I love them so so much!

OKAY AND V GOT BAPTIZED YAYYYY FINALLY!! :) So happy about it!! It was an absolute NIGHTMARE making it happen, but it happened. The ward mission leader wasn't really prepared, so that was stressful, and the bishop was going to baptize her, but he forgot to bring his clothes and went to go get them and couldn't find the pants! SO the elders had to run to their apartment to get clothes so one of them could baptize her... seriously the most stressful day of my LIFE. BUT, it all worked out!! Seriously, it's incredible how God's work isn't frustrated. And then V's mom (who´s been inactive for a while) bore her testimony about how much this means to her and how she is going to help V every step of the way and that she's never going to distance herself from the church again... we all cried. I love it SO much. Being a missionary is the best thing in the world. I have never made such a good decision. 
 
Anyways, I love you all, I hope you have an awesome week!!

love, 
hermana hansen

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2371781721001 Love it!! When we're afflicted, pray with faith, then get up running. It will all work out in the end.


V's Baptism

V's Baptism

V's Baptism
Pretty Peggy

Hermana Barros trying to stay warm and dry

Monday, September 1, 2014

Viento viento, estoy contento(a)....‏



Birthday Girl with her first cake


Hello from.... VIÑA DEL MAR!!! hahaha Don't worry I didn't get transferred or anything, my comp just needs to go to the doctor so we're here in Viña for internet. It's pouring rain and the rain is crazy, we're soaked, but hey we're missionaries, right?? Hermana Barros and I SIGUEN JUNTAS (they are staying together as companions)! Everyone calls us crazy or the dynamic duo, take your pick, but we have six baptismal dates for the next three weeks so I´m not even mad. 

Lets see...this week. It started out awesome!! It was my birthday and it was so much fun!! First it was lame because Hermana Barros was in a way bad mood because her boyfriend didn't write her (GAH) and the bank ate her card, so it was way lame. But then we went to our ward mission leader's house, I watched your videos and we made the cake!! Then after we went to our investigator M's house with her kids, and they surprised me after we taught with a cake and candles and singing and everything! It was so cute and so fun :) 
After we went to a recent convert's house and they also surprised me with a bunch of members and investigators and it was way fun!! haha Hermana Barros smashed my face in the cake, i think Marcelo uploaded pictures on Facebook. You'll have to look at them!! And they bought me things and everything! So cute. I loved it. 

V PASSED HER INTERVIEW!! WOOO. She's getting baptized next Sunday!! Also we had intercambios, and I now understand why I got called as the sister training leader in this area and why I had to pass through with a harder companion. I love my calling, but it's hard to watch the sisters struggle sometimes. 

J came to church, C is going to finally pray specifically for his baptismal date, and we found our miracle family of 5 again and put baptismal dates with them!!! September is going to be a month of miracles, I know it. 

Basically, it's been a good week. The holy ghost is amazing and I love my calling as a missionary and a sister training leader. It's hard, but this gospel is so true and I love every minute of this. Seven months passed by way too fast, but all I can do is make the best out of the rest!!

LOVE YOU ALL!
Hermana Hansen
 
Making the birthday cake I sent her

Making the cake


Decorating!

Finished product

Happy Companions!

Party number one
Cute Hayley on the streets of Valpo
Hayley with a turtle
 
Birthday celebration number two!  Dulce de leche cake.


crazy kids

Party number 3!






Cake in the face!
With the guilty companion.
Hayley with the Elders in her ward