God Gives us Trials so the Miracles are so Much Better

I think sometimes God gives us trials so the miracles are just so much better.

Not gonna lie.... these last few weeks have been weird. Like randomly all of our progressing investigators not progressing... what seems like an eternity of no baptisms... flea and foot problems ETC. UNTIL  YESTERDAYYYYY.

So we left early and walked around all of Teopisca, calling and knocking on the doors of every single investigator we could think of... and everyone a) wasn't home b) saw us and hid, or c) lied. So we got to church about 10 minutes early, without any investigators only to find that none of the members have arrived yet either. 

So we sit down feeling a little disheartened. When in walks in Hermana Lupita, who is working towards baptism! Woohoo! And right behind her, walks in some random joven.  He starts saying hi to everyone and sits down like he knows the place. We ask him who he is, and if he had come before. 

He said, "No, you guys talked to my mom last week in the street. Well she didn't want to come but she told me about you guys, and told me about where your church was. So I came looking for it because I like to listen to the word of God." 

 

Come to find out he actually lives in a little town outside of Teopisca, which is a good 15 minute away in combi and another 30 minutes or so walking. He speaks Tsotsil, Tsental, and Spanish. 

 He said, "I actually have read the Book of Mormon. I find really interesting the stories of Nephi and Jacob. I'm really interested in the book of Ether about the Jaredites. I've been thinking that maybe I'm one of them!" 

We just blinked. 

"I also am interested about Joseph Smith," he said.  "I also want to know what church is true. And I think his prophecies are coming to pass!" 

More blinking. 

I have no idea how in the world he found us. Our casita de oracion is behind a big metal black door thing and it's just a little log cabin without a sign or anything. How he even found us is a miracle. He stayed for the whole meeting, liked it all, accepted a baptism date, and when we talked with him afterwards and prayed with him. 

He said, "Father, I think I have found the true church." 

Hermana Arellano and I were so shocked through the whole thing we were sure it was a trick from our zone leaders or president!! Haha

OK! OK! Back to the montòn de milagros. So during the opening prayer, a young woman prayed that one investigator would come who hadn't arrived yet. Literally the moment that she said his name, he opened the door and walked in. After the prayer, Hermana I. arrived. Being the character that she is, during the talks, she secretly passed around candy to everyone. 

Then, after the sacrament, Hermanas M. and J. and their 3 kids showed up. So they also kept their baptism dates!!! There were just so many tender mercies from the Lord yesterday. 

I love these people so much and I love being a missionary. WORD.

Hermana Hansen 

Tuxtla Pimienta...Birthday Edition

The Birthday Girl...at Cañon de Sumidero

FELIZ Cumpleaños A MI.

Yes, I'm 20 today. But I don't like to talk about that because I feel super old. For my birthday surprise, I got an infected ingrown toenail (TMI?).  But that's the mission life for ya. I just keep trekkin on in my crocs. 

Also, today we went to the Cañon de Sumidero with the YSA (young single adults) from my ward and it was super chido. Blessings of a birthday on P-day!! 

 At Cañon de Sumidero with her YSA ward birthday posse

This week was a week of SERVICE SERVICE AND MORE SERVICE. But, not your normal service.... weird service opportunities like making bolis for the primary activity, making and selling mole, and helping a truck driver during the rainstorm..get unstuck. We've been praying for more service opportunities, and apparently it worked.

We made Bolis for the Primary Activity..."Day as a Missionary"!

With Hermana J, we've been trying to figure out how we can better gain her confidence so she can come to church and bring her son, Hermanito P. We asked her if we could do anything to help her, and she jokingly said to help her make mole. We told her we would be happy to, and we actually wanted to learn how anyways.

Making Mole

She also didn't want to read the Book of Mormon, so we made a deal with her that if we found 7 people to sell mole to, and helped her make it, then she would start reading the Book of Mormon. We put a date, and wrote it down in our agendas, all set.

 Making Mole

 So we went to her house on Friday, at 10 am like planned, and called her name up the stairwell. She stumbled out (obviously just woken up) and said, "What? I didn't think you guys would actually come!" 

We responded, "Of course, Hermana!" 

She said, "And you have 7 orders?" 

We said, "Claro Hermana como crea?!" (little did she know we had been frantically calling everyone we knew an hour before asking if they wanted to buy her freaking mole haha).  

 She told us that she hadn't even bought the stuff.  

So I said, "Bueno! Let's go to the market!" 

 

Making Mole like a boss

So, we went to the market with her, came back, and she taught us how to make mole! We made it in about an hour and a half. She told us alone it usually takes her 3 hours or more!! Then we went walking from east to west, bringing all the mole to her clients all over the area!! We had an awesome time, laughing with her and really just becoming her friend!

So, the next day we stop by..and she's ironing her sons clothes for church the next day. She says, "I'm not gonna be able to make it tomorrow. But, I'm gonna send my son. Will you guys watch out for him?" 

 We just blinked at her like uhhhh yeah sure!

YES! MIRACLES HAPPEN BECAUSE OF SERVICE! 

We also were able to help this kid who got stuck in the rainstorm. We ditched our umbrellas and bags on the side of the road and went with a member. We couldn't do too much since we were in skirts. But, we ended up getting in the truck bed and jumped around a bit giving it leverage so he was able to pull out! 

The kid was so grateful. Everyone was passing by, but nobody was helping him. He tried to offer us like 15$. But we just said, "No way man, the way you can repay us is by going to that church down the street Sunday at 10!" Haha 

LES AMO UN BUEN 
Hermana Hansen

Enjoy more photos of Hermana Hansen's week

 Bolis!

  At Cañon de Sumidero with her YSA ward birthday posse

 

 

Primary Activity: I can be a missionary too!

A day in the mission with the primary!

 Being Missionaries!

 

 Hermana C (one of our investigators)...teaches Hermanas how to crochet.

Display of Hermana C's creativity

Christmas Caroling, Family History & a Trip to the Zoo

Hermana Hansen & Juarez went to Tuxtla Zoomat on their last P-day with a few families from their area

Ayyyyy mi HERMOSA FAMILIA. Mucho gusto a verles esta Navidad! Beckham está demasiado grande y no muy me gusta eso pero es la vida eh? Sav está bien guapisima y Austin está bien..... hipster. Que padre.
(ay my beautiful family. It was great to see you on Christmas! Beckham is getting too big and I don't like this but it's life, eh?  Savannah is looking good and Austin is very ....hipster)

I had a great Christmas! We had Christmas dinner with Hermana I. after we skyped! But the best part of Christmas was on the 23rd. We went caroling for a ward missionary activity. We caroled to all of the neighbors of the church, giving them hot chocolate and pan and Christmas DVDs (pretty much bribing them to set up an appointment with us... haha). 

It was so beautiful! Well, not at first.... at first ...everyone was slamming doors in our faces saying they were Catholic or Cualquier (whichever) other religion....or drunk and yelling (and swearing.... I think) at us and I was thinking: "What the heck were we thinking?? This is a distaster!" 

But after a while we changed our tactic and just started saying, "Buenas noches! Tenemos un regalo para usted!" (Good evening! We have a gift for you!) And then we'd start singing and passing them chocolate and it turned out being really cool. 

Who would have thought a year ago that I would be spending this Christmas in the streets of Tuxtla singing Christmas carols? It was awesome. We had a couple of investigators come as well and the spirit was so strong as we sang of Christ's birth. I know they felt it!

So as a mission we are working A LOT with Family History and family search. Before the mission I just thought it was a boring hobby that our grandparents do. But here on the mission I've learned just how important and critical it is for our salvation.

Something cool that I discovered while on Family Search the other day is.....I'm related to John Tanner!

If your not a missionary you might not know who he is...but he played a huge part in the restoration of the gospel with Joseph Smith. All of the missionaries know who he is because there's a whole video on him on one of the DVDs we use with members and investigators a lot.

Since discovering this, we now have a little presentation that we do. We show our investigator/member the video... talk about it... and then BOOM throw in there that I'm his great great great great granddaughter... and I only found this out recently through family search... so they should really get on their 'A' game and do their family history.... so they can find out if they're related to someone cool!

Haha it's pretty fun. But really He is an amazing example of faith... and donated a whole lot of money to the church. And because of this Joseph Smith promised all of his prosperity that they would never again have to beg for food.... no big deal. 

Moral of the story: do your family history!!! 

Love you all!!! 

Hermana Hansen

P-day at the Tuxtla Zoo