HOLA AMIGOS Y FAMILIA!!
Well
two weeks almost down here at the CCM! I can't
believe a week has already passed! So much has happened!They said make it til Sunday.... and they were right!! Things go by SO MUCH FASTER after Sunday!
Okay, so as you may or may not know, I was really sick from
Thursday to Sunday. On Sunday, I was the sickest I've been in a long time.
I had a bad fever, cold symptoms, migraine, sore throat and a cough. It
was to the point where I felt like I couldn't learn or study.
So, I said a prayer Sunday night pleading with God that I would feel just a little better. I promised him that I would work as hard as I could if he just made me well enough to concentrate in class... and he did! I still had a cough, but my fever and headache were gone by Monday morning! CHURCH IS TRUE PEOPLE.
So, I said a prayer Sunday night pleading with God that I would feel just a little better. I promised him that I would work as hard as I could if he just made me well enough to concentrate in class... and he did! I still had a cough, but my fever and headache were gone by Monday morning! CHURCH IS TRUE PEOPLE.
So, Sunday was
amazing. We had the most amazing devotional and also had the opportunity
to watch a devotional by Elder Bednar called 'Character of Christ'. It
was given at BYU-Idaho and I
would encourage all of you to look it up (click on this link) .
It changed my life. I was really struggling with my purpose and why I'm here on Sunday and it was such an amazing testament to me. I'm here to TURN OUTWARD and help others come unto Christ through the Espíritu Santo.
Elder Bednar said, "The greatest convert on your mission should be you. But you won't be if you focus on you." I LOVE THAT MAN.
Temple day with the district!! We love it so much!!
It changed my life. I was really struggling with my purpose and why I'm here on Sunday and it was such an amazing testament to me. I'm here to TURN OUTWARD and help others come unto Christ through the Espíritu Santo.
Elder Bednar said, "The greatest convert on your mission should be you. But you won't be if you focus on you." I LOVE THAT MAN.
Monday
was also amazing. I learned so much! We taught our second lesson to our
"investigator", Chari, and 5 minutes before we were supposed to go in,
one of our teachers, Hermano Snyder, told us that we weren't allowed to
use notes. We were all freaking out. WE DON'T FREAKING KNOW SPANISH! The hermanas were especially freaking out. We were just overwhelmed.
So Hermano Snyder shut the door and started speaking in English to us (thats when you know it's serious... because our teachers speak to us all in Spanish. No matter what.) He explained to us that looking at our notes and speaking to our investigator with memorized spanish phrases does not bring el espíritu. It's testifying from the heart. Even if it's in terrible, broken Spanglish.
He is so sincere and so loving. The spirit was so strong as he was telling us this. So that's what Hermana Baker and I did. We brought only our scriptures and our broken Spanish. We testified of Dios and the truth of the Spirit and el Libro de Mormon in terrible, broken español.
Somehow, even Hermana Baker humbled down to broken Spanish (She is normally fabuloso)! The Spirit was so, so strong, because we were speaking with love, through the Spirit. The next day, we had another amazing lesson with Chari. Hemano Snyder said something to me that helped me a lot. He told me my Spanish was bueno, and I was like... "No bueno! No hable español!" And he was like: "Hermana Hansen. NO."
Emergency game of MASH to stop us from going insane...
So Hermano Snyder shut the door and started speaking in English to us (thats when you know it's serious... because our teachers speak to us all in Spanish. No matter what.) He explained to us that looking at our notes and speaking to our investigator with memorized spanish phrases does not bring el espíritu. It's testifying from the heart. Even if it's in terrible, broken Spanglish.
He is so sincere and so loving. The spirit was so strong as he was telling us this. So that's what Hermana Baker and I did. We brought only our scriptures and our broken Spanish. We testified of Dios and the truth of the Spirit and el Libro de Mormon in terrible, broken español.
Somehow, even Hermana Baker humbled down to broken Spanish (She is normally fabuloso)! The Spirit was so, so strong, because we were speaking with love, through the Spirit. The next day, we had another amazing lesson with Chari. Hemano Snyder said something to me that helped me a lot. He told me my Spanish was bueno, and I was like... "No bueno! No hable español!" And he was like: "Hermana Hansen. NO."
And then he showed me this:
con fe = with faith
confiar = to trust/confide
confianza = trust/CONFIDENCE
Confidence comes from faith en Dios.
So, we invited Chari to be baptized in our lesson. Through the spirit, I was able to bear my testimony about the atonement in español and tell Chari how much we loved her and how much God loved her. The Spirit was so strong, our FAKE INVESTIGATOR was crying! It was such an amazing experience. With God, I can do this.
BUT, amongst all these amazing experiences with the teaching that we had, the most important thing I learned this week was humility.
Our "investigator" Chari (aka our teacher Sis. Toleafoa)
We went in confident in our Spanish abilities,
and confident in our español. The lesson was so.... different. Something
was off.... something was missing. Afterwards, we concluded that we
felt we were being guided by the Spirit, but we didn't feel like the Spirit was there.
So, we prayed, to understand what went wrong. We got our answer..... humility. We weren't humble. The other lessons we went into sooooo scared...scared we couldn't speak español...nervous about what we were going to say... and it scared us into being humble. But this time, WE tried to be the teachers, instead of letting the Spirit....which was so, very wrong.
WE ARE NOT THE TEACHERS. WE ARE MERELY TOOLS IN GOD'S HAND FOR THE SPIRIT TO TEACH THROUGH.
What's interesting, is the night before during companionship prayer, I prayed that Hermana Baker and I would recognize our strengths and weaknesses. Well, we definitely recognized our weakness!! We are now praying and striving to be more humble. Because honestly, we are nothing without God. God is everything.
So, we prayed, to understand what went wrong. We got our answer..... humility. We weren't humble. The other lessons we went into sooooo scared...scared we couldn't speak español...nervous about what we were going to say... and it scared us into being humble. But this time, WE tried to be the teachers, instead of letting the Spirit....which was so, very wrong.
Hermana Baker & Hermana Hansen
WE ARE NOT THE TEACHERS. WE ARE MERELY TOOLS IN GOD'S HAND FOR THE SPIRIT TO TEACH THROUGH.
What's interesting, is the night before during companionship prayer, I prayed that Hermana Baker and I would recognize our strengths and weaknesses. Well, we definitely recognized our weakness!! We are now praying and striving to be more humble. Because honestly, we are nothing without God. God is everything.
Funny things that happened this week:
- I
forgot Hermana Baker's name during companionship prayer. It was awkward. Its
not like I spend every freaking minute with her or anything.
- Whenever we are eating, we have a rule you can only argue if you do it in British accents. Elder Shepard and Elder Cox have fun with that one.
Thanks for the Fiesta, Mama Hansen!
- When
I speak in English I subconsciously try to translate everything to
Spanish in my head and it makes it difficult to think and speak. I can't
even think in English! Also, I can only pray in Spanglish now.....even when I try to
pray only in English because I'm fed up with Spanish!
Hermana Hansen with her BYU roomie Hermana Malstrom
(heading to Mendoza, Argentina)
(heading to Mendoza, Argentina)
- The other
night we were dancing around in the other hermana's room and Hermana Baker's skirt
just.... fell off. Literally, right off her body.
Hey, look Alicia Matsuura...it's your winning tennis partner!
- I sang in the
MTC choir at the Tuesday Devotional and all the Hermanas in my district were on
the big screen multiple times. So, now I'm not only a singer but a famous
one (take that Miners!!)
I love the MTC, I love my district, teachers, learning
Spanish and being a missionary!!
District Kickball and mirror selfies
Sister Toleafoa (Chari) told us that if we weren't in the CCM she would never have guessed we were new missionaries. It was so awesome! She is so sweet! I love her so much! Hermano Snyder y Hermano Ashby (teachers) are also the bomb.
I love you guys so much!! Dear Elders (same-day MTC mail service) and letters ARE DA BOMB DOT COM so keep them coming!! They keep me sane!
I call this P-day Eve (Seriously it was like Christmas)!
Love,
Hermana Hansen
*You can write Hermana Hansen using the Dear Elder link above or by sending a letter or package directly to the MTC at:
Sister Jordyn Kylee Hansen
SEP15 MEX-TXG
2023 N 900 E Unit 836
Provo, UT 84602
*You can write Hermana Hansen using the Dear Elder link above or by sending a letter or package directly to the MTC at:
Sister Jordyn Kylee Hansen
SEP15 MEX-TXG
2023 N 900 E Unit 836
Provo, UT 84602
