Cambios and Christmas Miracles

 Christmas came a little early for Hermana Hansen & Martinez

So cambios (changes) are today. And the craziest things are happening. Hermana Martinez is off to Tapachula mañana to be a freaking CAPACITADORA (This is like being a Zone Leader for Hermanas).

So apparently I found my own freaking cousin in Mexico. What? He's from Rupert (Idaho) 

and we are 3rd cousins. HANSENS TAKE TUXTLA.

And me....  well I'm here in Central still... but I'm TRAINING. I just finished my training YESTERDAY...and I'm already freaking training!!! It doesn't make any sense! It's not like there's a shortage of Hermanas here on this mission, and there are a ton of Hermanas who have way more time then me on the mission and haven't ever trained!

How am I supposed to train someone when I hardly speak the language? I mean, yes, I understand most everything but my vocabulary consists of gospel terms and random Chiapaneca phrases and my grammar is horrible.

Hermana A's son...he is seriously the Mexican version of Beckham (Hermana Hansen's little brother)

But tomorrow I receive mi PRIMERA HIJA (my first daughter). I'm super excited and nervous but I know that the Lord needs me here in Central, and he needs me training. He is trusting me with the soul of another missionary and I'm gonna do my best to make Him proud.

CTR con A. (HE'S GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY)

And I'm so excited to stay in Central. When I came on my mission, the city is the last place I wanted to be (it's the least beautiful and usually the people have more duro corazones (hard hearts)). But, I have grown to absolutely love everything about it.

Selfie time con Hermanas Martinez & A, and Hermanos A.& G.

I love the people, the accents, the colectivos (buses / taxis), the people selling food, water and hammocks in the streets, the noise, absolutely everything. And I'm beyond excited to be here for Christmas.

Yes, I'm gonna miss Hermana Martinez like crazy. But, we honestly feel satisfied as a companionship with the work we've done here. We really have seen our ward grow and change for the better, and I'm excited to keep working on it.

Foto gracias a M.B. ayudando con el rescue squad :-)

Now for all the craziness that happened this week. Well remember the rat? Turns out there's more to the story. We found it living in our suitcases. We don't have a lot of space for storage and so we both use a suitcase that we use regularly for clothes and other things. Yeah, it was freaking living in there. 

 Rescue squad round two. But, they didn't find it after we sent it running from our screams. 

Needless to say we washed EVERYTHING again in our already clean house, all of our clothes, everything, and by hand. We closed everything up so it couldn't return to its home. Although we didn't sleep for a few nights, we haven't seen any signs of it since. But yeah, we are in the process of looking for a new house. 

So something really sad that happened this week. A lady in our ward died of lung cancer. This was really terrible, because she was only 50. And we pretty much watched her suffer, die and starve to death...because she couldn't eat anything.

It is such a strange experience to see someone up and moving one day...and the next day on their death bed...not able to talk or anything. But, I know she is now in a better place and has been put out of her pain and suffering.

I'm so glad for the knowledge of the plan of salvation. But, unfortunately, sometimes it's easy to forget this plan and let the pain and misery of losing a loved one take over. I saw this happen with the family she left behind as we visited them and helped out with the funeral. All of her children, grown adults, screaming, bawling, unable to move at times, hitting the floor...literally going insane because of the pain of losing their mother.

I've never seen anything like it. It was so sad. Some of them have the knowledge of the plan of salvation, others no. But, sometimes the grief and pain causes someone to forget what they know to be true.

In times like this, I guess we can only try to do what Jesus did. When his friend Lazaras died, he knew he would live again. But, he wept with the family of Lazarus. He wept with them, because he knew that nothing he could say would help their pain. Only after he wept with them did he raise Lazaras. 

I know they will see their mother again, I know it. That's why I'm here.

My last week with my companion was full of even more miracles. Christmas Miracles. As missionaries, we are really working with the El es la Dadiva (He is the gift) video. We have special pass a long cards and everything.

Our goal as a mission this Christmas is to bring 400 souls to Christ to receive this gift. That means 400 baptisms for this transfer. It means 4 baptisms for each companionship...about one family. What's cool is the whole world is doing this, missions all over.

Hermana Martinez and I fasted on Thursday specifically to find a family of 4 ready to receive the gospel, who would attend church five times before the end of the new transfer so they could come unto Christ and be baptized.
 
We promised that we would contact every single family we saw if He gave us a family by the end of that day. I can honestly say I fasted with all of my faith. I don't think I've ever really done that before...with fasting or prayer...literally not doubting anything. But we did. And a miracle happened.

That night in our English class, Hermana M and her family came. They have been progressing in every other aspect besides going to church for about 2 months now. The problem is her whole family are Jehovah Witnesses..and so she is very skeptical and doesn't want to feel obligated to go.

Hermana M & family...with Hermanas Martinez & Hansen

Before we even asked or anything she said, "My family and I will be attending your church on Sunday." We just blinked at her in shock. This was our miracle family! Our family of four people! The Lord softened her heart enough for the spirit to testify to her that she needed to go to church. It really was a miracle.

What's more, is that the next day the Lord blessed us with another miracle family of four. All of my life I have never received an answer to a prayer or fast so rapidly and so specifically. I know that if we fast and pray with all of our faith, the Lord will answer our prayers. He can do anything. He is amazing! And He is guiding us in this work to save our brothers and sisters.

I'm praying for you all, and I encourage you all to share the "He is the Gift" video through some sort of social media to help your hermanos (brothers and sisters) come to Christ as well. He is the best gift we can give!! 

Con Amor,

Hermana Hansen