La mejor misión del mundo.‏

Buenas días!

This will be my last letter home! I can´t believe that this day came... This is going to be not as organized and well written as I wanted, I didn´t have time to write it out before and I don´t have a lot of time today because we have a zone activity so less internet time! First I´m going to tell you about my week!

We are teaching the family of a recent convert, and the mom isn´t a member! We taught them about the importance of reading the scriptures and it was SO spiritual. The mom totally opened up to us, and she wants to get baptized!! :) I love moments like that. I know that she is one of the reasons I had to come to La Serena. I love that.

My companion was super sick most of the week, she couldn´t even hear for 5 days!!! It was so sad. But she´s better now, don´t worry! :) We have seen a lot of miracles this week, even though she was sick! I´ll tell you more when I see you guys haha.

We had zone conference, and I SAW HERMANA FRANDSEN AND BLUTH!!! Hansen, Frandsen, and Bluth, beginning together and ending together :) We met our new president and his wife, they are AWESOME! I am really sad that I don´t get to spend more time with them. They´re really fun and really good teachers!  I learned a LOT. The mission is so great in that way...

Another miracle, today I saw Hermana Evans and it looks like we are going to get to go to LORETO'S BAPTISM!!!! Do you guys remember her?! She was our miracle in Chorrillos, but really hard to find! She´s getting baptized on Sunday and we are going to do everything we can to go see it! :) Such a miracle. I love seeing God´s hand in my life.

Okay, but here we go. This is my last. I honestly cannot believe it. The mission has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. I have never been so happy in my entire life!

Before the mission, I had a desire to go on a mission, but I had no idea why. I was not very good at sharing the gospel, I believed the church was true but I didn´t have the strongest testimony, I didn´t know the scriptures very well, and a million other reasons. In the MTC, I was really nervous and had no idea what I was doing! But I can say now that the mission is exactly what I needed. God called me and qualified me. I gained a testimony. I know without a single doubt that the church is true. I have seen miracle after miracle. I love the mission. I love Chile. And I love my Savior. We are so blessed to know this gospel. The mission has not been easy, but it has been the biggest blessing of my entire life.I am so grateful for the opportunity to share the gospel with my brothers and sisters and to serve my Heavenly Father. It is incredible how my Heavenly Father knew that I needed to go on a mission to this place in this time. This work really is marvelous and a wonder! And what helps me is to remember that it doesn´t end when I leave Chile. I hope to be like Christ´s apostles and leave behind my nets forever, not just for this time. I want to serve Him for the rest of my life and bring this light that we have to all of those that are in the darkness. There are so many that perish in the darkness only because they don´t know where to find the truth! I hope to be able to continue helping my family here on earth.

All I can think of are the words to one of my favorite hymns: Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, How great thou art!

Thank you all so much for the support you have given me. Thank you all for helping me to be able to come to Chile and on this mission, because my life has been changed forever. I love you all so so much, and I will see you soon!

Hermana Hansen

Cute coca cola

How Hayley feels after eating corn

Maria Inez - a member they helped reactivate

QUE LLUEVA!!‏

 

Buenas Días mi familia!! :)

Para que sepan... Next week is my last week for email, because the Monday after I am going to be with Hermana Evans saying bye to her converts so that she has a companion to do it! SO if you want me to read something you are going to send me before I go home, you need to send it THIS week! :)

But this week has been great! We worked hard! We´ve been working a lot in Brillador B, the sector that we´re opening, it´s been good! We have been seeing a lot of miracles with incomplete families, we have been teaching a lot of families of recent converts! They all sit down and listen to us :) It´s so cute! I love it when people just honestly want to learn about the gospel. Because that´s all God needs, a humble heart and an open mind, so that he can change your life for the better :) 

 

My companion is sick with the cold, so we couldn´t do everything we wanted, but God still made things happen for us! :) It also rained a ton on Sunday!! We were going to have a Noche Blanca, a bunch of baptisms one after the other in the stake center, but it got cancelled because of the rain! Seriously, the streets were like RIVERS! La Serena is not prepared for rain haha.

L and L are doing well! It´s sad, the soonest that they can get married is in October, so I´m not sure if my companion will be there for their baptism... :( I already knew that I wouldn´t but I really want my companion to be there! BUT at the same time, I am so excited for them!! They promised to send me pictures of their wedding and baptism :) They are so converted! It is amazing how God prepares people. J came with us and the bishop to visit less actives, he is seriously a member without baptism! But his wife doesn't want to let us visit them... It´s weird. But, we have faith that he is going to get baptized Saturday the 25th!! We´re finding new people too. We are just working along here in Brillador!

I really love this ward. The members are really great with us! I am just so happy to be here in the mission. It´s weird, I still don´t feel like I´m going home soon! It´s like being in the Celestial Kingdom here in the missions. Everything is so perfect. Obviously it´s still hard, but it´s amazing to be able to serve the Lord and others 24/7. It´s so unique, and honestly, it´s so simple. I am so grateful for this time in my life so full of light!! I now can say that i KNOW miracles exist, and that i love my Heavenly Father with all of my heart. His plan is perfect, and I just hope to be able to follow in His light. I just want to lose myself in these last two weeks, and touch as many lives as possible and bring the light that I have found to others. It´s beautiful, the light of Christ. I hope that all can have it, and that I can always be able to share it with others. I know that His light is true and lasting happiness and peace. How great is this work!

 

I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Hermana Hansen

Drinking mate.

Comps drinking mate!

A beautiful sunset in La Serena

¡¡¡¡VIVA CHILE!!!!!‏

 

Hayley in La Serena

 BUENOS DÍAS!

Okay first off, CHILE WON THE COPA AMERICA WOOO! and even crazier, our new mission president let us see it in the house of a leader!! SO we went to my ward mission leader's house at ate pizza and watched the game. Let me just say, I felt like a SINNER because it´s the first time I´ve watched anything that´s not a Mormon message in 17 months, but by the end it was really fun! After everything was crazy, there were a MILLION people in the streets honking horns and yelling and waving flags until like 5 am, but it was so fun! I love seeing the country come together. Chile deserves it!! :)

Okay done with the worldly part of my email haha. This week was good! We worked a LOT in the half of the sector that we are opening! It was good!! We are finding new investigators and the recent converts! The converts need  a LOT of help... there´s one that doesn´t even remember that she´s a member of the church (she got baptized a month and a half ago) one that is breaking hard core the commandments, and almost all of them are inactive. SO, we have got our work cut out for us! But we know that with the help of the Lord, we will be able to help them to come back :)

Awesome things of the week - L and L, our investigators, are going to set a date to get married today sot hat they can get baptized!!! :D AHH! I hope it´s before I go home, because here the marriage situation is ridiculous. But if not, it´s okay, because I know that they´re at least going to get baptized and later SEALED! I love eternal families. Another eternal investigator, J, got an assignment to work with the scouts this week! He knows the church is true, he says he knows the decision is for forever and he´s afraid of messing up after. we just need to teach him and he will get baptized any day now! YEAH! besides that, we´re looking, and we know that a miracle is going to happen :)

I wanted to mention a talk that I want you all to read! It´s called "A Priesthood Man" by President Eyring. ALSO, his talk about prayer in the last conference´s priesthood session. I LOVE those talks! I really want to better my prayers so that I can fully access the powers of God! I also am so grateful for the priesthood men in my life. For all the examples of faithful children of God that I have seen, so that I could have come to this point. I hope that I can be a good example for those around me as well! 

Thank you family for your love and for your examples to me. If it weren´t for you guys, I wouldn´t be here, and being here in Chile on the mission is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love you all so much!! have a good week! (AND I´M NOT DEAD YET NO MORE TRUNKY COMMENTS.)

love,

Hermana Hansen

also i love this video:

http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/mens-hearts-shall-fail-them-1

Hna. Delgado in the apartment

Their kitchen

Spare room

Bedroom

Outside of their apartment

Cute companions on the 4th of July

Chile takes the Copa America!

Cute comps

 

Sushi!

La Serena

Outside of their apartment

Cansadísimas!‏

 

Completos!

HOLA!

Buenos días a todos! My space-bar in this internet place is really bad, so I apologize now if this is short because I´m going to get frustrated haha and for the lack of spaces! BUT I continue to see miracles here in La Serena :) 

I´m just going to share a couple stories:

ONE, in intercambios, a HUGE miracle happened. I don´t know if you guys remember Ninoska and Alexis from Ovalle?!? Where I STARTED?! They were a young couple with a little baby and were having a hard time, but the gospel was helping them. We helped them move and everything! Well, it turns out that they moved to Tierras Blancas, which is where my Hermana Leaders are!! (so weird to say that... after being a leader for a year, it´s weird and nice to be led haha) So in intercambios with Hermana Mariscal (who is AWESOME) NINOSKA ran up to me!!! AHHH!! And she told me about how she had had a hard time and that she always sees me in her hard times. SO we took down her address! She is so prepared, I KNOW she is going to get baptized!! What a miracle....

We also found a woman the other night named María while we were contacting. She wasn´t very interested at first, but my companion gave her a card that says ´How can i find peace and happiness?´and she began to tell us about how that´s all she wants in her life!!! AHHH. We were an answer to her prayers! We taught her and the Spirit was WAY strong, and she accepted a baptismal date! It was awesome.

Besides that, we are opening a sector at the same time. This ward used to be two sectors, but now it´s one,and it´s HUGE!!!! So we are just running all over the place with a map and asking everyone how to get everywhere haha. We are SO TIRED!!!! haha But I love it, because I know that we are working hard and giving it our all! I LOVE hard work and challenges! (something I never thought I´d say haha) This is exactly what I prayed for in my last change. I just want to help this ward and my companion be as happy as can be. I want them to see MIRACLES like I have seen, and to feel the love that I know God has for them. I love being a missionary so so much! The ward is great, and I get to talk to everyone about Hermana Page :) (she was here for 7.5 months! and Hna Cook!) God is a God of miracles, it´s true. 

I finished reading the Libro de Mormon for the 4th time in Spanish today. I love that book so much. I know that it is the word of God. The Book of Mormon changes hearts and the very nature of people! I am an example. As I read the words written by the prophets, I can feel all of my desires to do what is against God´s will slip away and all I want to do is please Him. What more proof of the veracity do you need? I love this gospel, i love God, and I love being a missionary. President Kahnlein leaves tomorrow, but I won´t bore you again with more rambling about them haha. I just love them. They will always be a huge part of my life. 

I love you guys so much!! I hope you all have a great week :)

Hermana Hansen

 

*hayley didn't send any photos this week, so I am posting some that Hna. Sanford's mom shared with me. :)  They are not current, but still so cute!

 

Leadership council lunch

Cecilia, Mauricio, and Natalia

 

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