The Book of Mormon is the Word of God

Hola HIJOS DEL MAÍZ.

So this week something cool happened in our family group of Teopisca.... we had a our full 3 hours of church for the first time EVER!!!! Hermano A. constructed another little log house to the side of our casita de oracion, so we now have room for classes! The 2nd counselor from the rama came down and set apart teachers for Sunday School and Relief Society! They have never taught a class before... and don't know the doctrine very well...so it was a little interesting! Haha! But poco un poco..... It was great! 

This week I finished el Libro de Mormón for the first time completely in Spanish and the second time on my mission. It was great. I was able to pray and ask if it was true (as always). It was interesting because I remember almost a year ago when I finished it the first time... I didn't get my answer right away. I actually got my answer about 3 days later when my companion Hermana Juarez was bearing her testimony, and I also recieved a confirmation from the Holy Spirit that it was indeed true. 

But this time, as I knelt praying, I received an immediate answer that I honestly wasn't expecting!! That "burning in your chest" that everyone talks about but I honestly never really feel... (I feel the spirit in different ways generally) testified to me that it was true right then and there!! It was a cool experience, because I really learned that God responds according to OUR needs and HIS will. I learned later why it was wise that I received my answer so immediately in this form.

A few days later, we were with Hermana I... an investigator that has passed through way too many trials in her life. Honestly, she's probably had one of the hardest lives I've ever heard of. Because of this, she is very psychological and has a tendency to over analyze everything. She has a lot of knowledge, but very little faith. 

Hermana I. told us that because of our young age our hearts and intentions were pure. But she was sure that as we grew up and experienced and suffered more we would change our mind about our religion, find ourselves in another place, and change religions according to how we changed. Then we would find that another religion was "true to us". She said because we grew up in the religion, we had been brainwashed and didn't know anything else. I WAS SO FRUSTRATED. 

So I did the only thing I could. I testified. 

I held up the Book of Mormon and said, "With all due respect, Sister, you are completely wrong. Maybe we are young. I'm sure we haven't suffered or experienced all that you have, and maybe we never will. But something I know for sure is that there is only one true church, and it's this church. And I know that because of this Book. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. It contains the secret to your happiness in this world and the life to come. Maybe we don't know everything, but at least we know this. And I challenge you to come find me in 50 years. Find me. And you will find that I still will be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, in this very same religion. Because the Holy Ghost has told me that this Book is true. Yes, I was born in this church. But I had to find and receive my very own testimony. I didn't always believe. But I was humble enough to read and ask. And if you will just humble yourself, and open your heart a bit, and ask...you will also find that it's true. It will change your whole life! But it's up to you. I know it's true. In the name of Jesus Christ. AMEN."

Hermana Hansen

Amazing, Faithful Families in Teopisca

Something that's funny about small town branches is that people don't really understand the whole reverence thing. A cute investigator walked into sacrament meeting late, as Presidente George was giving his talk.

She said very loudly, "Better late than never! Buenas tardes Hermanos!" 

President George, looking very shocked (as it was the middle of his talk) said, "Oh, bienvenida hermana. Buenas tardes!!" 

Jajajajja

Pues.... what to say? We are seeing miracles, and finding amazing families who want to be baptised. We just have to marry them all first.... hahah welcome to CHIAPAS. The land where nobody gets married unless they are Mormon!!

But we really have seen a ton a miracles and are working hard. We won our zone's traveling Christmas tree this week for having the overall best week! Haha.

I love Teopisca. There aren't a lot of members. But they are faithful, give us food every week and are always ready to come work with us and give us references. They are the best and I love them!!!

The other day we almost got ran over by three bulls on the loose. But, luckily we weren't wearing red. So I just gave them my most gringa threatening stare (as Hermana Arellano tried not to break down), and they stopped charging at us and walked on past. WOO.

The inside of our newly constructed church

Loving life out here in the boonies! Picking corn and beans every day and preaching the gospel too.

Love, Hermana Hansen

Put our faith in God...and all will work out!

Well, don't shoot me because we are in Tuxtla and I can't upload pictures, because I didn't listen to the Spirit and bring my memory card adapter... and there's no way to upload pics from this computer. So you'll all just have to hold your horses and wait till next week to see my new zone and selfies of me and Hermana Baker.... jajaja. (Pictures this week are from past weeks of Hermana Hansen's service in Tapachula & Provo MTC)

SO.

I'm sure you are all wondering how it goes with 2 gringas in Tapachula.... JUNTAS. Well we´ve only been chased by a drunk guy once so far, so I´d say its going pretty well.
 

Hermanas Baker & Hansen in front of the Provo Temple

It's pretty fun to be with Hermana Baker again, because we struggled and grew so much together in the MTC, and now we really get to see how we have grown in our 13 months away from each other and how we teach and stuff. Probably my favorite part of this week was to watch Hermana Baker teach someone how to pray.... I remember us struggling so much with that in the MTC! We could never remember the words! Haha! Now we actually speak Spanish, and she did is so powerfully... a la mecha... fue bien padre de verdad. She is an amazing missionary, and I have a whole lot to learn from her. FIESTA (of missionary work of course).

So this week I learned God loves us, and He blesses us, but that doesn't mean we won't ever have trials, even if they are small.

 Hermanas Baker & Hansen taking a break from studying Spanish at Provo MTC

My first day working with Hermana Baker was Wednesday. We had super great day. We helped a young women find more than 10 names to take to the temple, found 8 new investigators, and contacted and taught a bunch of people. The investigator that we couldn't find earlier, ended up knocking on our door at night so we could talk to her! (She's our neighbor). God was so good to us, and I was seeing MIRACLES that day! 

Then the next day, despite our efforts, was horrible.

We were late for an intercambio with some other Hermanas. As I was trying to call them for their direction I dropped the phone in the street... which was a river because it was raining. So our cell phone died, and we couldn't get a hold of anyone to tell them! Then we had to rush off to the baptism of the ward. As I was introducing Hermana Baker to all of the ward members, I called one of our ward members who had just been called to the stake presidency "Hermano" instead of "Presidente". His wife got annoyed with me in front of everyone (I just played dumb like I didn't speak Spanish.... haha). To top it all off as we were walking from the church building, a freaking drunk started following us for quite a bit. Then he started yelling things at us. So we started running until we got to our ward mission leader's house and ran inside. He ended up chasing us all the way there! (Don't freak out mom.... we were fine hahaha)

Our ward mission leader was protective and didn't let us leave his house and then walked us home...Also, we had exactly.... ZERO. Zero lessons this day... and like 3 contacts. I don't think that's ever happened before!

But whatever...I was humbled and learned that we just have to take our bad days with the good ones.. put our faith in God... and all will work out! 

We put the phone in rice (as I learned from my junior high and high school days) and it worked like a charm! It works great now! And a guy from the little store saw us running away from the drunk and I guess ran out and stopped him from chasing us. He talked to us later and he told us to be careful. Now we have an opportunity to share the gospel with him! 

And, our new zone leader is great, his name is Elder Jarrett, and he made history by opening a branch  and a prayer house in Tonala. He's just the humblest and the best ever... and has the best ideas! Combined with Hermana Baker and Elder de Jesus... they are the dream team! And I got to listen to conference on Saturday and Sunday... only 6 months until the next one! WOOOOO! 

So I'm super excited for this transfer, we are gonna tear things up. We are really focusing more on the Obedience, which brings Faith, which brings MIRACLES. We are also focused on helping the missionaries and the members of Tapachula gain stronger testimonies...instead of only focusing on the numbers. It's just what I need to wake me up out of my almost dangerous slumber of sameness!!! I'm loving the life as usual.

 I made this tortilla by hand

Love you all! 

Hermana Hansen

Tapachula.. the land of Miracles...

My joy is FULL. Because we baptised an eternal investigator!!! Well, honestly we didn't do much of anything... it was all the Spirit and the Lord. We just filled out the baptism record.

Hermana M. is the wife of Hermano P., who joined the church 3 years ago. She listened to the discussions with her husband, but never once went to church. She had been baptized Catholic when she was little, later got baptized Baptist...and she was never getting baptised again and that was that! 

But over the summer, she started praying to God. She wanted to know what she should do, because her husband was baptized in a different church. She knew if she wanted to be with him forever, they needed to have the same baptism. She asked God that if the Mormon church was true, that He would let her know through some sort of sign. 

A few weeks later, her husband lost consciousness and was in critical condition for a few days. This experience really scared her, she thought she was going to lose her husband. But, she felt a manifestation of the spirit that this was her sign, that she should get baptized in the Mormon church...now she just needed a testimony.

So, she acted with faith. She went to church with her husband for the first time, without us even inviting her to do so! She actually went to church 3 times before we could even find her in her house and start teaching her the lessons. Poco un poco, her testimony grew. She completed all of her commitments, even the little extra reading assignments in the back of the pamphlets! 

Seriously, in the lessons she has taught us more than we taught her, I'm sure. So, she sewed her own baptism dress, and got baptized on Saturday. 

The only problem was, because of her health, she needed to get baptized in warm water. (Note: warm water in Tapachula IS UNHEARD OF. It practically does not exist) So we decided maybe we could heat up a few gallons of water in the Relief Society room and throw it in right before her baptism. We did it... and we prayed a lot that it would work. So, Hermana M steps in the water... and starts shivering like no one's business. Our attempts to heat up the water DID NOT WORK... not at all. 

 Afterwards we were apologizing, saying we did everything we could... and she said, "Oh sisters, don't worry. I'm sure you did everything you could do... but Jesus didn't want my water warm!" 

Ha ha! I guess it's true...a test of her faith! Although she was very cold in the moment, miraculously the next day she wasn't sick! She said she woke up with a cold, but by ten in the morning it was gone!!! FAITH PEOPLE. FAITH. 

Right after she was baptized, I said, "Well sister, you've been baptized Catholic, Baptist, and now Mormon. How do you feel?" 

She said, "Well it's my last one that's for sure. It's the only true one anyways." :) JOY. 

Love you all! Tapachula is good! We are loving the rain, and staying off of the freeway (Since we saw a hit and run yesterday. Luckily, the ambulance came quickly...I think. :/ Pray for him)! 

Hermana Hansen 

 Laundry Day

 

We might have left the keys in the house...

(this is the house of the Hermanas de Vistahermosa...We were on intercambios!) 

 One hour later!!!!

 

Priesthood Power and another Rescue

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECKHAM!!!!!! I LOVE YOUUUUU!!! 

I love Tapachula. 

What more can I say? I love...not putting on makeup because I'll just sweat it all off anyways. Running through rainstorms. Contacting and inviting 12 people to baptism at once in a creepy combi while a remix of Enrique Iglesias plays in the background. Talking to people in the street with machetes like it's no big deal. Crossing hammock bridges, and way dinkier woodboard slash bedframe bridges. Catching butterflies. Avoiding stray chickens. Countless laughs and ideas shared during planning meetings with my best friends the zone leaders, and the girls on intercambios. Preaching the gospel. I love it. 

So I don't think I've really said anything...since the first time I had lice. Well they never really went away. I've been living with lice, using the shampoo like no ones business and killing all of my hair for like 3 months now. 

SO I got desperate and the mission doc said, "Well why don't you ask for a priesthood blessing?" 

Like, duh. I know it seems like something stupid. BUT LICE SUCKS OK. 

So I awkwardly asked Elder Brass and Elder de Jesus for a priesthood blessing... to cure my lice. Of course, they gave me one. And I am not kidding you people! It was the most powerful blessing I have ever felt given to me! Elder Brass said, "Jordyn Kylee Hansen, con la autoridad del sacerdocio del melkesidec que poseo, pongo mis manos sobre tu cabeza, y mando que todos los piojos SALGAN DE TU CABEZA." 

Hahaha! I'm not kidding you. It totally worked. HAVEN'T HAD LICE SINCE. Three months of freaking lice and all I needed was a little faith, humility and a priesthood blessing. Just too easy.

 Enjoying my lice free hair. THANK YOU PRIESTHOOD BLESSING FROM ELDER BRASS. 

So this week we had another rescue in Tuxtla Chico. But it was even more amazing and way more awesome. I'll write more next week. 

Also, we sadly had to drop an investigator Hermano P, who had 4 asistencias. But... suddenly he said he doesn't believe in god... and well... in his prayer he pretty much dropped us. He prayed out loud that although he loved us, that we would never come back to visit him. Haha. OK. Cool. 

But, on Sunday, we found an awesome investigator who has 2 asssistencias and wants to get baptised! Totally golden. I know the Lord has blessed us for our efforts!!!! 

Love you all and miss you!! 

Hermana Hansen

PS Hey so I have a birthday video for Beck, and pictures of this week and everything...but sadly I have a virus on my memory card and this computer doesn't read it. Soooo...I'm in Tuxtla right now for the leadership conference and hopefully I can get one of the assistants to take of the virus and send the video and pics next week. 

Prayer with Faith brings Miracles

No freaking manches! So much has happened since last week!!!!

Well La muerte de La Yorgason went well.... we had a super mega FHE for her Monday night.... like half the ward came!!! And everyone shared their testimonies about Hermana Yorgason... and it was super tender. 

 

She is such an amazing missionary and companion and everyone loves her so much!! We all miss her but I'm sure shes doing great things back in the States! 

Anddd introducing Hermana Guarcax!!! My new comp is from Guatemala!!! First off, we´ve come to the conclusion that I´m either psychic or prophetic...call it what you will...because last week I randomly found and bought a Book of Mormon in Sotsil (Mayan) just for the heck of it.... and Hermana Guarcax just came from Chenahlo, speaking Sotsil, and is now gonna help me learn Sotsil!!!

WHatttttt! I'm super pumped. And she is THE BEST ever! I'm telling you, like full of love and patience and diligence and every other Christlike quality you can think of. She's also super hilarious and we are having theeee best time together!!! 

So this week was a week of prayer miracles. The power of prayer is real. So first off, Friday we went to pick up Hermana D. to come with us in the morning, only to find her mom laying on the bed in a ton of pain. Something was going on, and she had taken the pain medicine hours ago but it wasn't helping. She couldn't even move and was about in tears. 

I said, "Okay, let's go find someone who can give you a blessing. We will be right back!" 

But Hermana Guarcax said, "Okay. But, let's pray first." 

I was a little skeptical, feeling a little discouraged like, we don't have the priesthood, is a prayer really gonna help her like a priesthood blessing could? But Hermana Guarcax is all faith and all action. She asked Hermana F.,"Do you believe that the Lord can help you if we say a prayer?" and she said yes.

So Hermana Guarcax offered the prayer. It was simple and short, but powerful. No more than 2 minutes later, Hermana F. sat up, and said, "Hey.... I'm feeling completely better. The pain is gone."

Then she got up and started cooking breakfast! We were shocked! We knew a prayer would be powerful, but we weren't expecting it to work that well or that fast!! By the time un hermano came to give her a blessing, she was feeling completely better!! 

Later that night, we went to teach a 12 year old girl, Hermanita L., who we had found the day before. She had really opened up to us the day before and expressed to us all of her trials in her life. Her mom had died a year before, her older siblings abandoned her and left her to live with her aunt, and she wanted to find a job so she could eat and help her aunt out...but nobody would take someone so young. We taught her that God loved her, and taught her how to pray to Him. At the end of the lesson, she had said a specific prayer, where she asked to find some sort of work. 

So Friday night, when we went to visit her, she was a completely different person. So happy! She gave us a huge hug and said, "Hermanas! A miracle happened! God answered my prayer! This morning, a random stranger knocked on my door, and said she was looking for someone to help with housework. She asked me and my cousin to come work for her! I didn't even think twice about it. I just went! Before I felt very alone, and didnt even know if God knew about me. But now I know that He loves me. He listens to our prayers, and He answers them!" 

We again, just looked at her in shock. She said, "This isn't what I was expecting at all!" 

I said, "Us either!!" Haha. These experiences really are a testimony to me just how powerful prayer is. I mean, if we think about it we shouldn't ever doubt prayer. The Church of Jesus Christ was restored through a simple, humble prayer from a young boy. Prayer with faith brings miracles. 

Cuídense mucho!! 

Hermana Hansen

Enjoy more pictures of Hermana Hansen's week!

Utah Hermanas getting their Mcdonalds fix