How Not to Budget Your Monthly Mission Money :-)

The life of a poor and unwise missionary.....

I imagine that all missionaries come to a point in their mission when they have literally 4 pesos to their name.... but usually people are wise and learn from their mistake the first time.... well this is my second time casi pesoless (almost moneyless) in the mission. 

Fool me once shame on you... fool me twice... shame on me. QUE PENA (what a shame). Ya, well, I'm not kidding I literally have 4 pesos right now. And we don't get our monthly money until next p-day! This happened one other time with Hermana Martinez.  But, it wasn't really our fault because we ended up having to pay for a new stove. 

This time it was just bad planning... I didn't take into account that as senior companion I have to pay for the light, got an eye infection, and my companion has this addiction where she has to buy a new pen at like every papeleria (stationary store) that we pass.

Also, we were lazy and took a lot of colectivos (buses / taxis). So now we are left moneyless for one week, with no money for combis (that means we will be walking a whole lot more), and only with oatmeal, water, hot sauce and a little bit of knock off nutella. Whatever, it's food We can survive. Triste Hermanas. (Sad Sisters)

But, not to worry, we are pro at casually getting members to feed us. For example, last night we went to the house of a less active. Just as we were about to leave, I asked for water, to which she of course replied yes. 

When she opened the fridge, it reminded her of the all natural mango smoothie she had just made, and asked if we wanted some. So we sat down, started to drink our smoothie. I noticed that we had to be back in our house in 5 minutes. So I said, "Oh look at the time! I didn't realize how late it was! Sorry Hermana, is there any way we could take our smoothies to go?" 

So of course she filled an entire tupperware full of smoothie, decided it was way too dark for us to be out walking alone, and since she just happens to be one of the 4 members in our ward who has a car, drove us to our house. Now we will have delicious mango smoothies for breakfast for 3 days!! Ah, the life of a missionary.

We have been working a lot with our recent convert, Hermano J. And he wants to serve a mission!! It's kind of the coolest thing ever, because he says he's been praying every night about whether he should serve a mission or not. 

So he was in our Principles del Evangelio clase (gospel principles class), and we asked what hymn everyone wanted to sing. He just typed in a random number, 169 or something. The hymn was about missionary work! It's called "Predicad al mundo" o algo asi (or something like that).  (english LDS hymn is "go forth with faith" #263)

He took that to be his answer!! He's now super stoked and wants to prepare to leave in a year! And he just got baptized last week! He is such a great example to me! The gospel really has changed his life.

So this week we had 103 people attend church. THAT'S RIGHT. 103. WE BROKE 100!!!!!!!! I'm the happiest girl in THE WORLD. Hermana Juarez and I also did really well with our numbers... which means we worked UN BUEN (a lot). We had the highest number of lessons we've ever had in a week, and just had a lot of success.

We are convinced its because we made a goal to try to be more obedient. It's not like we're disobedient... it's just little things. Like personal study for 5 min over the scheduled time...not completely following the spirit...leaving our house at 12:05 instead of 12. Little things.

But we've really been making an effort to be EXACTLY OBEDIENT. We are nowhere near perfect, but we are working on it. And I really can see how the Lord is blessing us. Imagine how much the Lord can bless us if we do EXACTLY what he says. 

Faith in action is obedience. I never realized that until I came on my mission. But the truth is every single commandment has a specific blessing that God is OBLIGATED to give us. He has to! It's a promise.

La verdad (the truth), when we keep his commandments we are actually more free than we would be if we don't, because the Lord is on our side. 

I challenge you all to find a commandment that you are struggling with, and work to be exactly obedient to this commandment. I PROMISE THE LORD WILL BLESS YOU UN BUEN (a lot). 

I love you all!!! 

Hermana Hansen

Enjoy more photos from Hermana Hansen's week...

Mama C will keep these cute Hermanas fed!

 

 Hermana Hansen sharing her CTR stickers she brought from the US

Another 6 Weeks in Central and a Chosen Baptism

He aqui; mis hermanos amados....(Behold, my beloved brethern)

JAJA JK. I'm just so freaking happy right now...sorry not sorry...Because I'm in CENTRAL for at least one more transfer! That means I'm gonna have 6 MONTHS here... woohoo! 

Our area is growing and we are finally starting to see the fruits of our labors. Por ejemplo (for example).... Hermano J. GOT BAPTIZED YESTERDAY!!! A ton of members came, and it was a beautiful service. 

District Elders, Hermano G & J, Hermanas Juarez, Hansen & George 

Hermana George and Pres George met him this weekend. Hermana George even came down for the service and sang Mas Cerca Dios de Ti (Nearer My God to Thee) with us for the musical number! 

Hermana Hansen, Hermanos G & J, Hermana Juarez

Oh and Hermano G. baptized him! It was his first time baptizing someone, and he was so nervous that he messed up...and Hermano J. got baptized 4 times. But, it's all good!

Hermano J. was ESCOGIDO (chosen) I'm telling you. The Lord prepared him so much and we were able to come in at a time in his life right when he needed the gospel most.  It's amazing to be instruments in the hands of God. 

But let me just give you all an example of how golden he is: When we taught him the law of chastity (he's a 22 year old living in Mexico so usually this doesn't go well), he just said, "Wow....que HERMOSO (that's beautiful)." We just like stared at him in shock and were like, "Pues...si. La mas hermoso en el mundo." (Yes, the most beautiful thing in the world)

 

He then pulled out his phone and read us a quote he had found on the internet. It was about love and waiting until you were married..or something..and how beautiful he thought it was. Haha it was so awesome because it just shows how much the Lord prepared him. 

Hmm...what else happened this week? We had an awesome multi zone conference with Elder Valenzuela of the seventy that was amazing.   We also had the opportunity to go the the temple with Elder Nava and Elder Johnson!

I'm telling you the temple session in Spanish is la mas hermosa cosa en el mundo la verdad (the most beautiful thing in the world for reals) If you don't speak Spanish I'm so sorry because it's way better than English!! 

Elders Johnson & Nava with Hermanas Hansen & Juarez in front of Tuxtla Gutierrez Temple

Another miracle of this week: We have a less active member and an investigator living in a union libre (not married)... (like everyone here in Chiapas. Marriage is a very uncommon thing) and we kind of ironed her with the law of chastity lesson but I'm telling you with MUCHO AMOR (lots of love). Because we really care about her and want her to live a better life. 

 
The spirit was so strong, and I know she listened to it because she came to church on Sunday with her boyfriend and talked to the bishop!! They are gonna get married in February and her boyfriend is gonna get baptized after that!! I know it was only through the Holy Ghost that she could feel God's love for her and feel the need to get married. IT'S SO AMAZING TO BE A PART OF THIS MARVELOUS WORK!!!! 

Lunch with Hermanas Hansen & Juarez and Elders Johnson & Nava

Love you all!!! 

Hermana Hansen

Earthquakes, Zone Conference and 96 Blessings!

So, we had two earthquakes this week! I don't know why but I have a rep for being really calm during earthquakes... but I'm not gonna lie this last one was a little frightening.

Funny story: We went to Chiapa de Corzo and ran into the Hermanas from our district there too!! Party!

 

They always seem to happen while we are sleeping or eating.... if we are eating everyone's screaming and ducking under the table and I just continue eating my tortilla all like, "This too shall pass".

Hermana Martinez (she goes home in one week...triste)

 And when it's at night and my companion wakes up screaming, "HERMANA HANSEN WHY ARE OUR BEDS MOVING IS IT AN EVIL SPIRIT?" I'm just like, "Ya calmase (calm down). It's just an earthquake" and continue sleeping.

But last night there was a really strong one around 2 AM. Hermana Juarez screamed at me to turn on the light so I did, and our whole room was shaking. Usually you can just feel the vibrations, but I literally saw our whole room shaking and our beds were moving A LOT.

 Bartering like pros

So that went from the cool level to, "We're on the second floor of our house and probably gonna die" level real fast, but then it was over and no pasa nada (nothing happened). Whatever, I'm over it.

Ummmm we may have gone a little peso loco....

So this week we had an AMAZING zone conference. Like, I'm not even gonna describe it because you just had to be there. But needless to say, my zone is the absolute BEST.

Our ward is progressing A LOT. Which is so satisfying to see! Almost 5 months of hard work in this area and I feel like it's finally paying off! It helps that our ward is now on the 10 AM schedule and not 8 AM....it really does effect the ward attendance.

Hermano A decided to go to California....triste Hermano A....adios!

But we had 96 freaking people in church yesterday! A new record! and 6 investigators! God is blessing us so much in this area! There have been some weeks when we only had 15 people starting out and about 30 by the end of the meeting.... so to have almost 100 is huge. 

Thanks for taking care of our Hermanas Mama C!

I love this work! El campo esta blanco YA para la siega!!! (the field is white and ready to harvest)

Hermana Hansen

More pictures from Hermana H's week..

Breakfast

 DÍA DE REYES 

The night before P-day