Anneli just sent us this photo. She says, " Here's my district trying to be as much ourselves as possible. It shows our silly personalities so well. We wanted to make sure there was a big awkward space between the Elders and Sisters and it turned out perfect." She also quoted a saying she say in the MTC that really touched me: "Missionary: One who leaves their family for a little while so that others can be with their family forever."
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Mi Favorita Photo de Nosotros!
Anneli just sent us this photo. She says, " Here's my district trying to be as much ourselves as possible. It shows our silly personalities so well. We wanted to make sure there was a big awkward space between the Elders and Sisters and it turned out perfect." She also quoted a saying she say in the MTC that really touched me: "Missionary: One who leaves their family for a little while so that others can be with their family forever."
Friday, March 25, 2011
Hello World
This week sure was a crazy one! So many blessings happened. I will forever love the MTC and be so grateful for the time I get to spend here. I need all the time I can to prepare. There is just so much to learn and so little time and my strongest desire is to be a good servant of the Lord. I'm not sure if I've reached that point yet. I'm so grateful that the Lord is patient with us and understands our worries and our difficulties.
This week I've learned a lot about patience. As my companions and I are growing closer, we have had to be more patient with each other. This week our focus has been patience and I've learned so much. The biggest thing that I've learned is that when you are impatient, you experience life less and you love people less. That is the last thing I want to do. Also, I've learned that as you begin to understand the worth of a soul, you will be more patient. Basically, if we can learn to really, sincerely love people we can do anything!
This week I've had a lot more humbling experiences with teaching. I know that as a companionship we are good teachers when we have the Spirit. This week we had an amazing lesson with one of our progressive investigators, Jorge, and the spirit spoke to us very strongly. We knew what we needed to share with him and we felt such a love for this man! That night I realized that this is what teaching and being on a mission is all about-about loving people and loving the Lord enough that their welfare is your whole motivation for all you do and all you think about. The lessons after that haven't been quite as good, but that's because I'm not quite there yet. But I know that it's possible and I know that if I'm doing my best and making a real effort, the Lord really will bless me to have those experiences and to know what to say in the very moment.
This week I've learned that we HONESTLY are given weakness so that we turn to the Lord and become better in Him. The scriptures that have stuck out to me the most this week are 2 Cor. 12:9-10, Ether 12:27, and Alma 26. As I said last week, I am just not realizing all the weaknesses I have, but the Lord is just refining me and making me better. What an amazing opportunity to be made into the person the Lord sees for me! Elder Claudio Costa of the presidency of the seventy and his wife came this week for the devotional. His wife said something i love. She said, we don't have to be better than other missionaries, we just need to be better than ourselves- always improving. I can do that!
I love my zone here! they are absolutely wonderful. We're all so different, but we get along so well and I think having that helps us all to encourage each other as we're trying to be better and more close to the Lord. We got a new district this week and there are 5 hermanas in the district. It's so wonderful to have 5 new friends to love! Man, I really am blessed!
This week our district found out that we might be on an MTC special in between conference sessions on Sunday on KSL and BYU tv. If all goes planned, our district will be the one Spanish speaking district that they film, so I might be on TV. So weird, but it would be awesome for all of you to see what my life is like. The camera crew was supposed to come yesterday, but they didn't make it, so it's all up on the air right now. I'll let you know next week for sure what we are doing.
I hope all at home are doing well. It's crazy to think you are all so close, but I still don't get to see you. But it helps me to focus on my work, so esta bien. This week our goal is to speak in Spanish at all times, so it's weird for me to be writing in English. Espanol is el mejor lingua! Es muy deficil, pero el Senor me ayuda mucho. Yo no creo que pueda habla y entiendo muy mucho. Hopefully that's all right. I have a hard time especially with knowing how to structure sentences and conjugation. But it's coming.
Thank you for all of your support and prayers I know the Lord is hearing those prayers because he blesses me so much throughout the week. I hope all is well for you at home. Keep me posted! Love you, love you, love you!
This week I've learned a lot about patience. As my companions and I are growing closer, we have had to be more patient with each other. This week our focus has been patience and I've learned so much. The biggest thing that I've learned is that when you are impatient, you experience life less and you love people less. That is the last thing I want to do. Also, I've learned that as you begin to understand the worth of a soul, you will be more patient. Basically, if we can learn to really, sincerely love people we can do anything!
This week I've had a lot more humbling experiences with teaching. I know that as a companionship we are good teachers when we have the Spirit. This week we had an amazing lesson with one of our progressive investigators, Jorge, and the spirit spoke to us very strongly. We knew what we needed to share with him and we felt such a love for this man! That night I realized that this is what teaching and being on a mission is all about-about loving people and loving the Lord enough that their welfare is your whole motivation for all you do and all you think about. The lessons after that haven't been quite as good, but that's because I'm not quite there yet. But I know that it's possible and I know that if I'm doing my best and making a real effort, the Lord really will bless me to have those experiences and to know what to say in the very moment.
This week I've learned that we HONESTLY are given weakness so that we turn to the Lord and become better in Him. The scriptures that have stuck out to me the most this week are 2 Cor. 12:9-10, Ether 12:27, and Alma 26. As I said last week, I am just not realizing all the weaknesses I have, but the Lord is just refining me and making me better. What an amazing opportunity to be made into the person the Lord sees for me! Elder Claudio Costa of the presidency of the seventy and his wife came this week for the devotional. His wife said something i love. She said, we don't have to be better than other missionaries, we just need to be better than ourselves- always improving. I can do that!
I love my zone here! they are absolutely wonderful. We're all so different, but we get along so well and I think having that helps us all to encourage each other as we're trying to be better and more close to the Lord. We got a new district this week and there are 5 hermanas in the district. It's so wonderful to have 5 new friends to love! Man, I really am blessed!
This week our district found out that we might be on an MTC special in between conference sessions on Sunday on KSL and BYU tv. If all goes planned, our district will be the one Spanish speaking district that they film, so I might be on TV. So weird, but it would be awesome for all of you to see what my life is like. The camera crew was supposed to come yesterday, but they didn't make it, so it's all up on the air right now. I'll let you know next week for sure what we are doing.
I hope all at home are doing well. It's crazy to think you are all so close, but I still don't get to see you. But it helps me to focus on my work, so esta bien. This week our goal is to speak in Spanish at all times, so it's weird for me to be writing in English. Espanol is el mejor lingua! Es muy deficil, pero el Senor me ayuda mucho. Yo no creo que pueda habla y entiendo muy mucho. Hopefully that's all right. I have a hard time especially with knowing how to structure sentences and conjugation. But it's coming.
Thank you for all of your support and prayers I know the Lord is hearing those prayers because he blesses me so much throughout the week. I hope all is well for you at home. Keep me posted! Love you, love you, love you!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
The Best Month of My Life
Anneli's first district. Many of them have left the MTC and she said there are a lot more sisters in her district now
Some amazing Elders and Sisters in her zone.
Anneli is in a threesome companionship and she loves both of these sisters. Anneli is on the left then Sister Farley and Sister Reyes.
Sorry there hasn't been a post for a while. I lost the password. But Anneli sent it to me so we're up and going again.
Andrea(mom)
Oh, my goodess! I can't believe it's already been a month that I've been here. It went by so fast! It truly has been the best and hardest month for me. This is the best decision I've made in my life so far for sure! I love being a missionary and even when I am having a hard time, I can always see so much to be grateful for.
This week seemed to be a little bit harder than the previous weeks-or maybe I just expected myself to be better than I am at everything by now. For whatever reason(s), I've been really discouraged about my teaching abilities and trying to do my best, but still messing up so much. Never before have my flaws affected other people so much! They affect who I teach and also my companions and the way our lessons go. But I am so grateful that this is happening now where I can still prepare and get feedback about my teaching. I was talking to a good friend of mine that entered the MTC yesterday and I was talking about life here and I realized how good I have it here: I have amazing companions that are truly so patient with me and just love me no matter what, I have awesome teachers that really want to help me be better, I have the opportunity to learn the gospel 24/7, I love my district, I don't have to worry about anything else in life (money, social life, dating, etc.), and the list goes on and on...My life is truly blessed and I know that the Lord loves me and that somehow He can see the good I'm trying to do. As it says in Sam. 16:7, "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."
This week we've done a bunch of teaching, but I still want to do better. I think we'll get another investigator soon so that we can become even better. We have three right now, but I think the more we practice teaching, the better we will get. We've had some awesome lessons, where the Spirit has been so strong, and some not so awesome lessons, where we've tried, but just didn't quite get it. But those awesome lessons are the ones that keep me hopeful.
I was talking to my companions today and wer realized that we are getting through this experience soley because of the Spirit and laughter. We don't have the strength to keep going, yet the Spirit gives us that strength and comforts us through it all. Then there are the times when everything is going wrong and all you can do is just trust in the Lord and find something to laugh about. For example, last night I was in the bathroom with my companions getting ready for bed. My companion, Sister Farley, was brushing her teeth and she started talking to me. In the middle of talking to me she goes silent and has a look of pure distress on her face. And then she says: "I'm brushing my teeth with facewash!" We were in the midst of a crisis, but we couldn't help but die laughing for about 5 minutes. Oh, the Spirit and laughter can get you through anything!
As we've been learning Spanish, we've been experimenting with what words work together and which don't. There are some words and phrases that make perfect sense in English, but just don't in Spanish. We've come up with many of those and we call them Apostacy Palabra's (words). Here are some of my favorites: "Oh no, no hizo!" (Oh no, you didn't!), "Nunca-mente" (Nevermind), and "Fuego Obras" (Fireworks).
This week the choir here sang this song called Behold the Wounds in Jesus Hands. It's such a beautiful song about all the savior has done for us. I don't have time to type the words, but look it up-it's beautiful! While we were singing the song, I was filled with God's love-but not just for me, I could feel the love he had for all of His children. It was so sweet and so pure and I knew that if I could get my investegators to fill that love, there would be no doubt of the truthfulness of our message and what the Savior could do for them. I keep praying for more of that love, especially when I teach.
This week another sister in my branch asked me to be apart of a musical number to use to tryout so that we could preform in one of the firsides/meetings here at the MTC. I'm part of a trio and we're singing The Olive Tree, a song I have always loved, but that means more to me now that I'm actually doing what it says in the song. We tried out this morning in front of two of the Mission Presidency's wives and they loved it. So in the next week or so, we're going to preform that for the MTC. I'm so excited and nervous, but mostly excited. The Lord has been helping me with my ability to sing since I got here. I feel a lot less nervous to sing in front of people and more confident in myself, especially because I really believe in the messages of the songs and want to inspire others with them. What a blessing!
This week our zone got 11 new missionaries and 5 of them are Hermanas! I'm so excited to have more sisters and so excited to get to know them better. I need to go soon, but I wanted to share a scripture. My good friend Matt Paskett shared this with me a few years ago and told me on his mission he labelled this scripture "How to Keep it Real". It's Alma 7:23-24. It is truly an inspired few verses of how to keep a good perspective on life and how to be an amazing servant of the Lord.
Anyway, I love you all! Thanks for the prayers and the letters and reading this! I especially have been thinking about my extended family this week. Love you and miss you lots!
Con Amor,
Hermana Hansen
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