THE FISH! SAVE THE FISH!

 OK I know I say this every week.... but this was a week of miracles!!! Ya, I know I'm sure you are all sick of miracles by now. So I'll start out with swimming.

This week we went swimming in the river! Well... not really. What happened...is due to weird hurricane trends it rained even more than it usually does. So, the river rose and flooded a lot of houses in our area. We just happened to be eating this day...right next to the river. It started pouring right as we were finishing up, which, we would normally just say NI MODOS and leave in it. 

But, something told us to stay and wait a bit. SO we used this opportunity to help out the Hermana with some family history. Suddenly, her mom comes running in screaming, "SAVE THE CHICKENS! SAVE THE CHICKENS! THE RIVER´S RISING!" We looked outside to see the river was indeed rising, and very quickly. So we helped move the chickens (well... Hermana Baker did.. I'm still scarred from when I killed a chicken a while ago and can't touch them really...) 

Then everyone just kind of stood around taking videos and pictures. I asked everyone, "Are you sure it's not gonna flood the house? It's pretty close." 

But everyone said, "No, don't worry. It always rises a little bit, and usually floods the street. But, in our 35 years living here it's never flooded the house." 

Bueno. So everyone just stood around taking pictures for a while. Then suddenly we hear, "THE RABBITS! SAVE THE RABBITS!!" We had neglected to see the river was flooding in the back of the patio, and was about to drown the rabbits! 

Everything went really fast after that.... a bunch of screaming, "THE DOGS! SAVE THE DOGS!" and "THE CHICKENS!" and "THE PARROTS!" and "WHERE ARE THE KIDS" and "THE MATTRESS!! SAVE THE MATTRESS" and "THE PLANTS!" 

Perhaps the weirdest of all, was when the river started going down people started screaming, "THE FISH! SAVE THE FISH!!" 

Here are a bunch of houses filled with water and damaged, but almost everyone on the street was outside looking for the little fish that had been left behind, to throw them back in the river! Hermana Baker and I were laughing so hard.... like Ron Weasley would say, "Where are your priorities??" 

But it was such a good thing we stayed. We were able to help out quite a lot, and there might have been more damage or some dead animals if we would have left right after we were done eating like we had planned.

Another fun thing that happened is we went to Izapa with our cookie family, Hermano E, and Hermanas Y and D!!!! We saw the rock of the tree of life... but it was kind of lame because its been badly taken care of... so you couldn't really see it... We also climbed a pyramid that looked just like a hill...it hasn't been completely uncovered yet...and some random pyramids that were pretty cool. Also we wore pants and did some long needed head stands. Long story short, it was a blast. 

 

AND for the miracles. Hermanas D AND J GOT BAPTIZED!!!! I've talked about their conversion stories in past letters, but it was amazing! Hermana D got baptised in the morning, then we rushed off to Tuxtla Chico for a rescate. We came back just in time for Hermana J's baptism! 

In Hermana D´s baptism, her mom came down from Comitan and spoke. Hermana Y. spoke as well, and it was just a beautiful, spiritual experience because she is the last of the family to get baptized! 

In Hermana J's baptism, when she was sharing her testimony, she said, "I bet a lot of you think I got baptised for my boyfriend. BUT NO. I did this for ME, and for GOD, because I know this church is true!!" ESOOOOO.

Love this lifffeeeee.

Hermana Hansen

Fasting, Miracles..and God Prepares His People

Sup homefries?

SO this week went great. Interviews with President George are always a blast. He pretty much (not so subtly) suggested that for the next transfer I will be opening up a branch in Comitan and training. But we won't really find out until transfers roll around 2nd week of November! 

 Hermanas Baker, George and Hansen in their newly made skirts!

I love interviews with President George. It's the best learning experience, and it's always more like a conversation with a cool general authority than an interview!! Afterwards we went emergency fabric shopping with Hermana George and she made us skirts. I love Mama and Papa George!! 

So the 40 day fast that we have been doing has brought MIRACLES every day!! Hermana J is preparing for baptism this Saturday!!! Also, Hermana D, our investigator, came proselyting with us!!!! She's preparing for the mission.... and she hasn't even been baptised yet!! It rained a bunch and we got soaked but she loved every minute of it. Then we met up with Hermana Y and Hermano E at the church and ate pelliscada....which is like a pizza taco thing..... BEST DAY EVER. 

Mmmmmm....pelliscada!

On Wednesday our zone leaders challenged us to pray and fast for 3 people that we could find that day who could accept a baptism date. So even though we had just fasted, we did it... and MIRACLES HAPPENED. 

The day before, we had contacted a family in the street, and went to visit them with a joven who is preparing for the mission. Immediately when we entered, we could feel a different and beautiful spirit. They are a family of 4, and 3 of them are of baptising age. Getting to know them, we could see how God has prepared them. When we contacted them that morning, they had just been talking about what church they should join, and how they should get baptized so they can raise their kids right. And then we found them! 

They told us how pretty much every time they talk seriously about a religion, they run into a Mormon!! They all accepted baptism, but the father of the family said, "Okay, I know I should pray, and go to church, but what more do I need to do to prepare my family for baptism??" 

We just stared at him and shock, and explained a little about the commandments, especially the law of chastity. (note....NOBODY is married in Chiapas.) He said, "Well, we aren't married, but I guess we'd better get on that if we wanna get baptized in November!!" 

Haha.... miracles. 

LOVE YOU ALL......

Hansennnnnn

Intercambios with Hermana Larsen

  What happens when you don't wash clothes for a month....these are all mine

 Mole

 Platano frito lleno de FRIJOLES

 Casual Volcano

 Right outside our house

 

 Zone Leaders sharing the gospel

Birthday Edition

Hermana Hansen celebrated her brother and sister's birthdays...Tapachula style!

40 Day Fast with 40 Miracles

OK OK OK!

I gotta do this fast!

So first off HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON THE 13TH TO AUZ AND SAV!!!! Birthday pics are coming your way.... next week.

Funny story. Hermana Baker and I both sleep talk. And at times we seem to have conversations. So this morning, at 3:30 AM, (apparently in my sleep) I told Hermana Baker it was time to get up. So she got up, knelt down, and started saying our companionship prayer. 

I woke up, groggily looked over to see her praying in Spanish, and say, "Hermana Baker, Que en el mundo esta haciendo.... es las 3 30 am!!!" 

She said, "Ughhhh no invente en serio? Bueno." Got back in bed and went back to sleep. 

Hahahahahah reminds me of the time she was knitting in the dark in the MTC. We are quite the pair.... 

Sooooo this week was a week full of random MILAGROS!!!! We had a great leadership meeting from Presidente in Tuxtla which pretty much went right along with what we wanted to focus on with our zone.... which would be Obediencia --- Fe----- MILAGROS. 

So we had our zone conference on Wednesday and it went a ton better than we had even planned. It really showed me how if we just try to follow God's will.... he makes us instruments in His hands so others can feel His spirit. No matter how weak we are! We went in with a pretty good plan that would make for a cool zone conference.... but it ended up being completely CELESTIAL. 

Elders Jarrett & de Jesus and Hermanas Hansen and Baker

We were able to show the missionaries the power of obedience. As we were talking about it like 3 missionaries said that during the conference they felt a spirit and a peace like they were in the temple. Elder Jarrett, Elder de Jesus, Hermana Baker and I left the room all calm--but as soon as we got into the other room we started freaking out like, "WHAT IN THE WORLD! HOW WAS THAT TEMPLE STATUS! WE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT WE WERE DOING!!!!" Yep, God is great.

 Also this transfer we are doing a 40 day fast (we made a list of everything we wanted to change about ourselves). But we tweaked it a bit to be a 40 day fast with 40 miracles. Every day we have to write down the miracles we are seeing and our progress in letting go of things of the world and selfishness and becoming more like Christ. So far, we have already seen 2 miracles GRANDE. 

 Reunited with Hermana Juarez

 

First off, Hermana D. She is the little sister of some members, but is only obligated to go to church because she has a deal with her mom that she will pay for her school if she goes to church every week. But she has had NO DESIRE to be baptized or even go to church or put on a dress. So she came to us and said, "Hermanas I think I want to be baptized. I feel good about it." 

Second, Hermana Y, who is the girlfriend of a member, has been coming to church for almost a year. She goes to all the activities, has almost finished her Personal Progress, and has wanted to get baptized for a while now. Unfortunately, she doesn't live in our area and her mom won't let her. 

She went to all 4 sessions of General Conference. And this past Sunday she ran up to us and said, "Hermanas! I have something to tell you. I'm gonna get baptized. My mom hasn't given me permission yet, but I'm 18. When I heard the prophet talk in conference, I felt a strong impression that I shouldn't wait. I should get baptized like right now. Will you help me get baptized next week?" 

So we were gonna work it out so she could get baptized in her real ward. But since she's being coming here for a year she really wanted to be baptized here. So we talked to Presidente, pulled some strings and he gave us permission!!!

So yeah, when we make an effort to consecrate ourselves, God gives us miracles!!! 

 LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!! 

Hermana Hansen