Hola de..... LA SERENA‏

 

Hayley with her new companion, Hermana Delgado

Buenas días mi querida familia!!

The rumors from the members of Chorrillos are true, I´M IN LA SERENA! In Hermana Page´s old sector!! It´s so fun, I´m meeting all the people that she talked to me about!!! AND it´s GORGEOUS and flat (good for my ankle!) and the ward is AWESOME. We have seen a million and one miracles (6 books of Mormon in one day and 6 new investigators, AND one of our investigators sang in ward choir AHH) It´s just great. I miss Chorrillos a lot still, and Hermana Sanford (she´s like a sister and best friend for me!) But that's normal after 6 months. Luckily I have an awesome ward so it´s not too hard :)

My companion is Hermana Delgado! It´s her third change, and she´s AWESOME. Super obedient and super diligent! She´s from California, like Hermana Evans!! (who also came up north!) Spanish is hard for her, but she´s working on it and I just hope I can help her! We speak ONLY Spanish together, and I remember when I started, it will come one day :) 

Stories from the week... I actually want to mainly talk about things before getting to La Serena! In Chorrillos on Monday we found a FAMILY!! From a kid that comes to the English classes there, Franco. It was a miracle, I know that they are going to get baptized there :) We also got to go out with the two new hermanas in the mission on Monday!! It was SO awesome. They were just so excited and ready to learn! It made me remember how the beginning of the mission was for me.... It made me sad and happy at the same time. I am so excited for those two girls, Hermana Rhoener (spelling?) and Hughes. Hermana Hughes actually went to OVALLE to start, so we talked the whole way on the bus! She´s awesome, she is going to do so many things in the mission!

In the cambios meeting, I literally just bawled the whole time. It was the last time that I saw President and Hermana Kahnlein, and they spoke and I just cried and cried. They are so amazing. I can´t even express how much they have helped me and changed me. I hope that i can see them again and that they know how much I love them and appreciate all they have done for me. I also cried the whole time because it was my last cambios meeting! We were singing called to serve and all i could think is how grateful i am for the mission. I have changed so much! God really has taken me in his hands and changed me to be closer to who He wants me to be and who I want to be. I sat there and thought of my first changes meeting, so nervous and excited and full of hopes and dreams for the mission. I sat there with Hermana Sanford, Evans, Cook, Watt, Morris, and i just cried. It has been so amazing. I sat in that same room where i first arrived and I am SO different! The mission has been nothing that i expected, but it has beyond exceeded everything i could have hoped for. I love my Savior! I love the opportunity that i have had. What a blessing it is to serve Him and get to know Him! I am so excited to work in this time that I have left, so I can give Him a worthy offering. 

Another cool thing is that on the way up north (7 hours in a bus WOO) I got to sit by Hermana Evans!!! :D I love her so much. I also got to talk to Elder Gonzalez from Mexico (my zone leader here in Serena now, and my friend from the whole mission, we were in the CCM together!) and Elder Bojorquez, my super good friend and zone leader from Valparaíso and the old assistant! He goes home with Hermana Evans and I. We just sat and talked about the mission and all the things we have learned and the biggest miracles we have seen and the hardest times and the best times... And we all gave advice to Hermana Hughes haha. It was awesome. I think that´s how it will be in heaven, we will meet up with our old friends and family and just talk about what an amazing ride life was. The funny thing is, I am the most grateful for my hardest times. That was when I have seen the most miracles. 

Anyways, I´m going to end this now, but I just am so grateful to be here. I am BEYOND excited to be here in La Serena, and I am really going to make these 6 weeks COUNT! 10 BAPTISMS, NOTHING LESS! :) Love you all, and hope you have a great week!!!

Hermana Hansen

 

Baby booties a member in Chorillos made for Hayley

Saying goodbye to dear friends Nora and Juan

Saying goodbye to Hermana Sanford

Cute comps

The four "Hansens" in the mission

Hayley with Hermana Hughes

Old comps reunited for the long bus ride north.  These two have known each other since the very beginning - meeting for the first time in the Atlanta airport 16.5 months ago.

 

Retain in rememberance the boot of thy fathers...‏

Hayley with her old comp, Hermana Evans, at leadership conference.

BUENAS

Sooo today I am not going to write very much (again! I know I'm SORRY! I promise next week will be better :)) But this week was really crazy to say the least haha.  I don´t even know where to begin!!! 

Let´s see... the whole boot thing. SO I have a boot hahaha I sent you guys a recording explaining it, . But basically I went to the doctor last week, they don´t know what it is still, so I have to walk around with this boot at least until they figure out what´s going on. But don´t worry! It doesn't hurt or anything, and I´m going to the doctor again next week :) Hermana Poulsen, the other hermana in the ocean pictures, has helped me SO much. I love her so so much! She is the health coordinator in the mission, and is seriously the best. She and Elder Poulsen have such strong testimonies and really just LOVE everyone! I have seriously met the best people here in Chile. 

So this week went well, I´m just going talk about one more thing. Consejo de líderes! It was amazing, to say the least. It was my and President and Hermana Kahnlein´s last!! Many tears shed and love felt! President said that all he wants from us is to return with honor. He also showed us an AWESOME video from Elder Bednar talking to an RM about feeling the spirit that I am going to forward you guys in another email. BUT the big heart breaker was when he talked about the mission president change. He told us that we have to forget about him and Hermana Kahnlein, and not mention them to the next president, and leap to do everything his says, that it doesn´t matter what president has said in the past. He was crying on and off the whole time, it killed me. I love them SO much. They honestly have changed my life! I owe so much to them. They are amazing. I don´t know what more I can say about them. I know that I needed to come to this mission so that i could meet THEM, because they have changed me forever. 

Afterwards, they took ALL OF THE LEADERS out to this fancy restaurant to eat!!! Right next to the sea!!! AND Hermana Sanford and I got to ride in the car with President and Hermana Kahnlein! It was so yummy. We tried blood sausage... Yikes. That was a little concerning haha but it was a lot of fun!! I love everyone in consejo so much. I´m sorry i talk about loving people all the time haha but it´s TRUE! These people are my best friends. 

After, i talked to President and I am leaving this sector! At first he said I was probably going North to Coquimbo, but I reminded him that I still haven´t trained, and he said:  "oh right, you got called as an stl really early... we´ll see then." SO I have no idea where I am going, but Iam leaving Chorrillos! It´s time, but I´m really sad. Especially to leave Hermana Sanford :( She´s one of my best friends now! It´s so hard to leave companions haha. 

Besides that, we have been working as much as we can! It´s slow moving on the hills with my boot, but we are seeing miracles still. I know this is the work of the Lord, and I am so grateful that I am a missionary!! The people here are incredible. I just want to help those that are perishing in the darkness just because they don´t know where to find the truth. There are so many! I just want everyone to have this hope in their lives. I love you guys so much, I hope you have a great week!!

Hermana Hansen

PS. I AM NOT MY BOOT.

Hayley with her mission president's wife,
Hermana Kahnlein

Boot buddies!  Elder Tinney is a friend of Hayley's in the mission and has a boot because of tendonitis

Hayley with her mission President and his wife

Hermana Sanford, Sister Poulsen, and Hayley

Hayley, Sister Poulsen, and Hermana Sanford at the beach

Selfies at the beach with Hna. Kahnlein and Hna. Poulsen

At the beach before the big leadership luncheon

Saying goodbye to Hermana Mckenna

Chorillos

Chorillos

Saying goodbye to Hermana Castillo

Saying goodbye to Hermana Cook

Creo que los muertos andan en los platillos voladores...‏

Hey family!!!

So this week went good! Not a ton of stuff happened, we had the stand so as always THAT was interesting haha, but we couldn´t work too much in our sector! Still, we always are seeing so many miracles that it doesn´t even matter. 

I really love to do intercambios! I love getting to know the hermanas and seeing miracles in their sectors and in mine. I went to Agua Santa this week and we really just saw so many miracles happen! It´s seeing how the work happens in other areas as well, because they´re different, but God works in the same way. Always. We were in a hurry and walked by this 20 year old guy and we were going to just keep going but we looked at each other and just knew that we needed to stop and talk to him. So, we went back, and turns out he had a TON of questions and really wanted to learn more!! It´s the best when God really uses you as an answer to someone else´s prayers. He isn´t in either one of our sectors, but I know Heavenly Father is looking out for him. 

Besides that, work in Chorrillos is going well! We are working to find people and help our investigators progress. We had a breakthrough with M (listen to the recording Hermana Sanford sent to her mom!!) and we are working with some others as well. I just hope that I get to stay here!! There are CAMBIOS not this Wednesday but the next, and that´s horrifying because now I could definitely leave... Yikes. BUT, I know that it will be what the Lord wants of me :)

 

ALSO, we found a huge spider in our house today. Just look at it. HORRIFYING. But we killed it so it´s okay. 

Sorry this is short, but as always, I am short on time!! Also to let you know, my left ankle has been hurting a TON and was swollen this whole week, but I´m going to the doctor this week, so don´t worry about me :) And it´s also not too bad so that I can´t walk or anything! Just annoying haha. But just so that you know and don´t stress Mom!

 

I know that this gospel is true and am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to share it with those around me. It´s incredible, and really a gospel of love, hope, and joy. I know that Christ lives, and that he really does love each of us personally. We just need to make the decision to follow Him and we will have more joy that we can imagine :)

I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!

Hermana Hansen

 

 

 

Hayley laughing!

Beautiful Chorillos

Puppies!!

Hermana Sanford with a puppy

Puppy huddle

Giant spider in their apartment

 

Bocaditos del Cielo‏

 

Cute comps at the capilla!

HOLA! 

This week was just a weird week haha but it was still so fun and so great.

It started out and we kept working with Cecilia and her part member family, they´re really progressing so much! M, her son, is actually listening to us and understanding! It´s so cool. At first he was just asking stupid questions and trying to bother us but Hermana Sanford and I lost our patience a little bit and laid down the law that if he wanted to listen, awesome, but if no, no, no más. But he came and kept listening and calmed down, and committed to read and pray and ask if God really exists. The lesson was so spiritual!! It was AWESOME :) 

We did a ton of service, and we started to teach O again (the old lady I  found with Hermana Evans) and she´s actually kind of progressing! It´s so sad, she´s losing her memory, but she wants to remember so badly. She reads the Book of Mormon every day! She says it´s the only thing she believes in anymore. So we´re working with her, teaching her short lessons, and she´s actually starting to remember some things! We´re trusting that the spirit will quicken her mind and she´ll be able to remember. 

WEDNESDAY Hermana Sanford and I got REALLY sick! The good old flu haha. It was so funny, we woke up feeling horrible with body aches and pains and nausea, but we had district meeting, so we were going to go down and get a blessing at the same time. But all the busses and colectivos were ON STRIKE! So we had to walk to district meeting, a good 40 minutes! We laughed at the odds haha. But God blessed us and they were done striking by the time to go back up, so we didn´t have to walk UP the hill! We were sick for a couple days, we went out and worked still but we were like zombies haha and just passed out at night. Don´t worry mom, we feel better now!! 

SATURDAY was insane. We did service for the Familia Robles family, because they´re moving to Santiago :( But we passed their address to the missionaries there, and they are going to go to church because they want to get SEALED! :) But they live in this gorge off the side of the hill which is down a TON of really sketchy dirt stairs... getting down to their house i feel and I have nasty bruises all over my back still, let´s go clumsy Hermana Hansen!! Haha! But we helped them haul heaters, cupboards, computers, clothing, etc etc up the hill up the dirt stairs. Hermana Sanford and I decided it was one of the weirdest things we´ve ever done haha but it was so fun! And at lunch, we ate with a recent convert and she was watching a show called Bocaditos del Cielo, or Snacks from Heaven. Literally it´s a catholic cooking show. Nuns teaching how to cook, in their nun outfits and everything! We laughed for a good while about that one. That night we contacted because we wanted to find new people, and it was so weird, it felt JUST like Halloween!!! It was cold and windy and dark, there were leaves on the ground, and we were contacting old houses and some were abandoned... Halloween in May!! 

Haha but besides that, things calmed down a bit on Sunday. L came to church!!! :) So did H, her boyfriend from Rancagua. They LOVED it!! We taught them in the afternoon and they want to get baptized so badly!! They have a date for the 14th of June. H is going to start coming here every weekend, so today we are going to teach them about marriage haha. But it won´t be a problem, they already want to get married and sealed in the temple. :) ETERNAL FAMILIES! :)

I am just so happy and so grateful to be a missionary. I know I say it every week, but it´s because it´s true! It´s the best thing that has ever happened to me. I am so grateful that I can share this gospel with those around me!! I have had really spiritual personal studies this week, which I will tell you in more detail about when I have more time. I am just so grateful for this gospel, and I am so grateful to have a Heavenly Father that loves us so perfectly! I hope you all have a great week, I love you all!!

Hermana Hansen

Photo from Hna. Sanford's Mother's Day Skype (we forgot to take one)

At church in Chorillos

Hayley with Hermania

Viña del HANSEN‏

Viña del Mar sisters at Zone Conference

Hola!!

This week some recent converts decided with my companion while i was in another sector in intercambios that i am the dueña (owner) of Chorrillos and Viña, so it´s now not Viña del Mar, it´s Viña del HANSEN. So it´s been a good week! :) 

Haha but really, it was a great week. We saw a LOT of miracles, and I learned a lot from my personal study and we had ZONE CONFERENCE! With President! It was his last and my last, so I´m sure you can imagine how sad i was. I even cried and i NEVER cry!!! But it was amazing, and I am just so excited for the time that i have to be a missionary :)

Let´s see... I´m going to try to keep this shorter even though I´m kind of bad at that sometimes haha. Olga is progressing MIRACULOUSLY, we were teaching her lesson 1 and she was remembering and understanding!! And she told us she remembered it from somewhere. Premortal life! She told us that God answers her in dreams, and that she has prayed to ask him if she should keep listening to us, and he answered her and told her that she should!! It´s seriously so amazing. She is a little old sassy woman, but i love her SO much!!! The converts are doing so well too! I wish sometimes that i could just rent a car and drive them all to the temple hahaha. It´s the best feeling this kind of love towards people, it really makes you think in every possible way to help them!!! I am going to continue praying for charity with all of my soul every day so that i can continue serving those around me! 

The zone conference was amazing. Something that really hit me was a training that they usually give to all the new leaders, so I've heard it before actually but about a year ago! It´s about the importance of having a high level of work and a high vision. If they are both low, then we are just laborers. If we have a high vision, but low level of work, we are just dreamers. If we have a high level of work, but not a high vision, we are just workers and never make a lot. But, if we can raise our vision and our work, we will be able to be LEADERS and really see miracles around us!! I had forgotten about that, and i really want to work on raising my vision for the short amount of time that i have left. I also love because President showed us a BUNCH of ridiculous quotes of how smart people thought that now commonplace things (like a computer in homes) would be impossible, and how sure of it they were! He talked about how bumblebees technically shouldn´t be able to fly, but they don´t know that, so they fly anyways! He talked about breaking barriers down in our lives, because honestly, with Christ, all things are possible. We can achieve it if we just forget about the limits and works towards it! If we put limits, we are limiting our own potential. I hope to be able to take away all the barriers that limit me, so that i may fulfill my eternal potential! I am so grateful for all the things I have learned from this man. He and his wife are the most incredible people i know! He gave us a list of things he wants from us now that he is leaving, i translated it and am attaching it! He and Hermana Kahnlein bore us their testimonies and introduced us to THEIR mission presidents and our new mission president (thru photos and info, no mas) and I seriously cried so much. I love them with all of my heart! They have changed my life forever. It´s like saying bye to parents in a way, because they have seen me grow so much and have been a key part in my growth. But, i know i will always remember them. I just hope that i can make them proud!

Okay I´m going to wind this down, but i felt the spirit so strong in personal study this week! I read Eyring's talk about fasting this last conference, and i have rarely felt the spirit so strong in personal study. I know that fasting is SO important, and a fast isn´t complete without fast offerings! It´s a way to fulfill our baptismal covenants, and really help our brothers and sisters, even if they are found in far off lands. I will ALWAYS fast and give fast offerings, from this day out!!

Also,I  would just like to say how much I love Elder L. Tom Perry. I am so grateful for his smile that he always had and for the happiness he brought into my life! I read his last two conference talks, and in both he testified strongly of eternal families. I know that he changed the lives of so many, and that he is going to have his eternal family that he so desired :) 

Sorry if this email is scatterbrained, I swear I have less and less time every week! But I love you all so much, and i hope you have a great week!! This church is the very church of the living Jesus Christ, and I love Him. 

Hasta la próxima semana, 

Hermana Hansen

 

Viña del Mar Zone Conference