Week 37: ¡Felìz dìa de amor y cariño!

Dear family and friends,

Hope you all had a good week!  Mine  was pretty normal as far as missionary standards.  You know, some miracles, some heartaches (I liked the way Elder Adam Young said it in last week`s report).  

So, here`s some random news bits from this week.  Sorry, I didn`t organize my thoughts on a sticky note in my planner this week, so sorry if it`s jumbled.

-We got a second counselor in the branch presidency!  When I came to this area six weeks ago, we only had a secretary.  The district president was acting as branch president (and still is).  But now we have a first and second counselor!  Woohoo!

-Mario came to church again!  We didn`t see him all week because he was working in the northern part of the country, but we called him on Sunday afternoon and he said (in his usual miraculous way), ``Oh yeah, I just got into town a few hours ago.  Of course I`m going to come to church.``  Ah, those are the moments you live for!

-Luis Alberto`s super negative wife always says terrible things when we come to visit.  But this week we gave Luis his baptism photos, and the wife`s heart was softened and told us that she can see we`re good people.  She gifted us coconuts, and Luis Alberto nearly gave me a heart attack as I watched the elderly man climb onto his roof to cut them down.

-We were making the rounds on Sunday afternoon before church (our branch meets at 2:00), a dog that always barks at us in an investigator`s house was loose from his chain and came running at us.  My companion screamed, but the dog only went flying by.  Then we died laughing.

-Sometimes I have bachata songs stuck in my head because they`re constantly playing in the streets.  Sometimes I can`t sleep because they`re stuck in my head.

-I`m grateful for a sweet companion!  One day I was hot and rather grumpy because every appointment was falling through and investigators had told us that they didn`t want anything to do with the Mormons and so forth.  I said in a moment of desperation, ``What are we doing wrong?  Are we really such bad missionaries that nobody wants to hear this message?  What can we change?`` And my companion`s just like, ``Maybe you just need to sleep more.``  Then she pulled out a scripture as we walked and helped me see the bigger picture.

Anyway, I`m out of time and I don`t have much more to say.  I`m going to focus more this week on feeling the Spirit and helping my investigators to feel it too.  And also, I`m going to sleep better!  Doesn`t Elder Holland have a quote about that?

It`s a transfer week!  I`ll let you know what happens!

Lots of love,

Hermana Hansen

1) The district on Valentine`s Day

2) Cocos at Luis Alberto`s house.  First time drinking coconut milk!

3) Awkward companionship selfie with our cocos

Week 36: Turning Point!

Hello, dearest everyone!

Time is short because we had to write in the church and the internet wasn`t working on my computer.  Now we have the rest of the zone waiting to write.  I also spent time reading emails from the family and I love you all and love hearing your news!

-We had one of the Sister Training Leaders, Hermana Grow, come work with us for a day.  Being in a trio is the weirdest thing ever!  But we learned some things that will help us improve, so it was a success.

-Elder Kevin R. Duncan of the area presidency came to speak to our mission, and I consider the experience to be a major turning point for me.  WOW, the things that we learn when we prepare with the Spirit and the teacher teaches with the Spirit!  There is seriously no time to go into details, but suffice it to say that every question I had going into the conference was answered, either through the words of Elder Duncan, the scriptures he shared, or the whisperings of the Spirit.  I feel my vision elevated as far as what my purpose is here and what is possible for this area.  A few points: 1) Teach repentance, not just helping the investigators meet minimum requirements for baptism. 2) Everyone who will eventually join the church and become a powerful leader in your area probably already lives in your area.  Who will be the church leaders in your area in 20 years?  Find them, teach them, baptize them!

Okay, there`s seriously no time.  If it`s cold there, just think of me sweating to death and getting sunburned.  Sunday was a scorcher!

Ah, lots of miracles, but again, no time!  Mario continues to be amazing and Estefani still hasn`t returned to be confirmed.  Anyway... until next week!

Love,

Hermana Ali Hansen

1) Early morning birthday surprise for Hermana Powell!

2) Nicaraguan children are adorable: Exhibit E

3) Multi-zone photo (can you see my tan line?)

I have a couple more minutes, so here are my funnies:

-I received notes from some of my favorite converts and members in Loma Linda at the multi-zone.  One was addressed to ¨Hermana Homcel¨ another to ¨Hermana Hansell¨ and the other to ¨Gringuita Linda.¨ I love my Nicaraguan life!

-When we are contacting and see a family, my comp always says in her limited English, ¨Family Search!¨ And then we go contact them.

Out of time!  Love you!

Week 35: Mario el Milagro

Hello, all!  

It`s been a week of miracles!  There were disappointments as well, but I was really able to see how the Lord is directing this work.  Here we go:

Miracle:  This story begins a few weeks ago.  We were playing the game, ¨see how many Catholics you can contact before lunch¨ on a Saturday.  On the last house on the street, we yelled, ¨Buenas!¨ as usual and a smiling 50-something-year-old man walked out to greet us.  We introduced ourselves, and he said, ¨Hey, I work with a lot of members of your church, and they`ve invited me to their meetings before.  I`ve attended in (insert various parts of Nicaragua), and I really like your religion.¨ We happily invited him to the district conference the next day, but didn`t actually think he`d come.  To our surprise, we saw him waving at us as he walked out after the meeting.  

The days passed and we never could catch Mario at home.  Then on Tuesday, he was miraculously there!  He invited us in and went to get his Book of Mormon that a friend had given him.  He told us he had read 1st and 2nd Nephi and knows that it`s the word of God.  We sat there stunned and grinning, explained a little bit more about the Book of Mormon and invited him to be baptized on the 21st (because he checked his agenda and he`s scheduled to work on the 14th).  We left him a pamphlet of the Restoration and when we went back for a return appointment, he had read the whole thing AND answered every question at the back of the pamphlet.  That`s unheard of, at least in Nicaragua!  He had some great insights about the apostasy and talked about the importance of the priesthood as well.  Again, I was shocked, thinking, ¨It`s not supposed to be this easy!¨  I hope to be sending you a baptismal photo three weeks from now!

Moral of the story:  Heavenly Father loves us and blesses us with miracles when we are being obedient and doing all we can to serve Him.

Wow, there`s so much more to write, but Mario swallowed all my email time.  Back to bullet points:

-The zone leaders worked with us one day.  We learned that we need to immediately start contacting every time an appointment falls (because literally every appointment fell that day) instead of feeling bummed and wondering what to do next.

-We contacted a 15-year-old atheist who invited us to ¨forget about trying to change people´s beliefs and enjoy our lives without the weight of our backpacks on our shoulders.¨ We also contacted an ¨alien-ist¨ who is quite convinced that humans were created by extra-terrestrials.

-Estefani got baptized!  Her older sister Cecilia had a last-minute change of heart, and not a single member of her family came to support her at her baptism.  It`s not very fun to baptize children when you know they have no family support, but if they have the desire and the attendances at church, the zone leaders will machete us if we deny them the opportunity.  (Sorry for the negativity  I try to be honest and positive, but sometimes the positivity doesn`t come through.)  And despite our numerous reminders that the confirmation would be on Sunday and that the family shouldn`t go anywhere, Estefani was nowhere to be found on Sunday afternoon before our 2:00 church meeting.  That`s another confirmation that will have to wait a week...

But Estefani is a cutie and I really do love her!

-Santiago got confirmed!  And the Lord blessed us with investigators miraculously arriving at church.  That`s another story that deserves its own paragraph, but I`m out of time!

Sending love and hugs!  Read your scriptures, say your prayers, have family home evening, and pay your tithing!  You will see miracles!!!

-Hermana Ali Hansen

P.S. I read the talks from last conference`s priesthood session and was super uplifted!  I invite you to read or re-read them as well!

Photos:

1) Photo of an helado, as promised.  You bite off the corner of the bag to eat it.

2) Estefani!

3) Sneak peek of the mission shoes...

4) Photo of my feet/legs that the mosquitos love to snack on.

Week 34: The secret to being a successful missionary... STICKERS!

Dear everyone,

To begin, here´s what I forgot in last week´s email...

1) Explanation of the subject line (the week I finally realized I could speak Spanish): I dreamed at least twice in Spanish!  I´m not sure if that has happened before, but this time I was conscious of the Spanish.  Also, we contacted some Canadian tourists on our way home and I had to speak English in the contact. My English was ridiculously awkward... ¨Oh, you speak English?  Well, we´re misione-... I mean, missionaries, of the Church of...Jesus Christ of... Latter-Day Saints,¨ and so forth.  It turns out I only know how to be a missionary in Spanish.

2) A big thank you to the Cluff family, the Keith family, and Sister Angie Arnoldsen for sending me their Christmas cards!  I loved seeing your cute pictures and reading your kind messages.  Thanks, Barb, for the stickers!  More on that later...

Anyway, it was an up and down week.  We have been working on applying a new mission initiative which translates to ¨the finding funnel¨ with some success.  I´m trying to focus on being more led by the Spirit in our lessons and responding to the investigators´ needs.

Monday: Family Night!  There´s an awesome group of recent converts who all congregate in the home of our lunch appointment, Hermana Melixza, every Monday night.  They practice teaching, and everyone participates in the gospel discussion.  It´s basically the most effective thing I´ve ever seen in convert retention, and I leave each week with my heart so happy!

Tuesday: Habitat for Humanity.  Just kidding... we went to help Luis Alberto clean out a little shack next to his house so he could live the law of chastity and not live with his friend Manuela.  They didn´t want us to help at first, but we just jumped in and didn´t give them the option to say no.  After we started, they got excited and were very pleased with the outcome.  From this experience, I learned: 1) People usually feel awkward when you ask how you can serve them.  ¨First observe, then serve¨ is a very true principle!  2) Everyone feels happier in a clean, orderly environment.  That is where the Spirit can dwell!  So go clean your room. :)

Wednesday: Divisions again.  Hermana Arana is the only sister training leader for this zone, so she works individually with each sister in the zone. This week, she worked with my companion in our area. I went to Pancasan 2 again with Hermana Lagos... I´ve started calling her, ¨my other companion.¨ We had fun visiting some of the same people as last week and helping some members bag homemade coconut candies, and they gave us some to take home-- yum!

Thursday: Weekly planning and a normal day.

Friday: Hno. Rafael, the ward mission leader, accompanied us on some visits.  Woohoo!

Saturday: Baptisms!  Luis Alberto and Santiago both got baptized.  We were a little worried when we couldn´t find Luis before his baptism, but he made it to the church on time and by himself!  Another miracle: we had sufficient baptismal clothing, and priesthood holders, and we didn´t have to run around finding people to give talks and prayers.  Life runs so smoothly with ward mission leaders who fulfill their callings!  Also, Santiago removed his white Catholic rosary before the baptism... that was another little miracle.  ;)

Sunday: We had a family at church!  And Luis Alberto got confirmed!  Unfortunately, Santiago seems to have forgotten how important it was to complete the second half of his baptismal ordinance and went to sell clothing on his bicycle early in the morning and was nowhere to be found.  Ouch, that hurts.  We´ll get  him to church next week to be confirmed.  

Two other things to note:

1) I gave out stickers to our primary-aged recent converts for learning Articles of Faith.  Wow, I´ve never seen kids more motivated by a little happy face or bowtie-wearing bear!  My companion and I discussed (jokingly... but with a little bit of seriousness) that we should give out stickers to investigators of all ages to incentivize them to come to church.

2) I have a new food addiction.  Well, two.  One of them is green (unripened) mangoes with lime, salt, and chile.  The other is ¨helados,¨ which are homemade ice cream things packaged in plastic bags.  I´ll try to send a picture next week.

My emails have certainly lost the spiritual aspect, so I promise to focus more on that next week!  A huge thank you to my brother Jake for his inspired email.

Don´t forget to love, serve, and smile!  Be obedient!

Love you!

-Hermana Hansen

Photos:

1) All the baptismal candidates for the Pancasan branch this week

2) With Luis Alberto and Santiago (the one and a half converts)

Week 33: The week I finally realized I could speak Spanish

Hey, everyone!

So, I spent basically all of my email time sending personal emails.  I apologize in advance for the anticipated lame-ness of this week`s report.

- We had divisions within the zone on Wednesday!  I worked with Hermana Lagos, who was Hermana Aquian`s companion two changes ago.  It was fun to work in another area (even though I don`t really know my way around my own area yet) and get to know Hermana Lagos.  We had fun teaching together, working hard to meet the zone`s goals for the exchanges and discussing methods to combat mission weight gain.

- This Sunday was District Conference, like Stake Conference but for an area that only has branches instead of wards.  We had sweet Roxanna, a 14-year-old new investigator walk the rounds with us for over an hour in the morning reminding all of our investigators that they committed to go to church.  We had a miracle contact on Saturday that showed up to the conference on Sunday... woohoo!  The talks were good, although different than the stake conferences I`m used to.  Speakers addressed topics of chastity, tithing, agency, and the importance of attending church.

- We have some baptismal prospects for this Saturday!  I`ll let you know how that goes next week.

-Old Nicaraguan men are hilarious and very frank.  Luis Alberto has no problem telling us exactly how long it`s been since he`s been intimate with his ¨wife¨ (they`re not married) Manuela, all with his cute bug eyes.  Also, he told us that he knows the Book of Mormon is true because he read the introduction and it talks about Esther just like in the Bible.  We didn`t have the heart to tell him that ¨Esther¨ is really ¨Ether.¨  

Another favorite old man is Ronaldo.  After explaining the Word of Wisdom, he says, ¨Estas hermanitas me ponen un camino angostito.¨ We gifted him a bag of Pinolillo (popular Nicaraguan drink mix) to help him not drink coffee, and he was so grateful that he now wants to buy us leather belts... haha, Nicaragua never ceases to amuse me!

Ah, I`m out of time, but I have so much more to say!  My companion is sometimes super hilarious.  Sometimes the heat makes us loopy and ridiculously tired.  Anyway, until next week!

I love you lots!

Hermana Ali Hansen

Photos

1. The hermanas of Zona Granada next to their companions!  Hermana Powell is from Brigham City and went to Box Elder.  She knows Andrew Miller!

2. Hermanas of Granada next to their companions for a day

3. Zona Granada celebrating birthdays of Hermana Arana and Elder Jimenez in the restaurant Ajua

Week 32: Hello from... GRANADA!

Hello, family and friends!

So... I've been transferred!  First time out of Managua, woohoo!  I'm in the historic city of Granada, area Pancasan 3.  Wow, we're a five-minute walk from old Catholic cathedrals, tile roofs, cobblestone streets, brightly colored buildings, etc.  Look up Granada on Google images and think of me walking around those streets here on P-day. I love it!!

The area we actually work in is more tranquila.  The biggest changes are that here is flat; after seven months of climbing hills in Monte Fresco and Loma Linda, my leg muscles crave that exercise!  There's less noise, trash, buses, etc. than in my former area.  The people are friendly and happy to listen, even though there are more Catholics here.  I feel like a city kid that got sent to the country, and the stress in my shoulders is melting away!

My companion is Hermana Perez.  She has three months in the mission and is a sweetheart.  She's the ninth of 12 children and was a preschool teacher before her mission.  We get along famously and work hard, which I love!

Most of the recent converts and investigators here are children.  Perhaps for pressure to baptize, it's that way.  But we also have some "sacerdocios" (men older than 18) that are progressing, so that's good.  I'm excited to get to work in this area and see what the next few months bring!

Pancasan is a branch, not a ward.  The church building is similar in size to a double-wide trailer, but it's a slightly more permanent structure. :)  The advantage is that here there are two branches that meet, one at 9:00 AM and one at 2:00, so that means twice the opportunity to get investigators to church!

It was hard to say goodbye in Loma Linda.  Hna. Elizabeth and Hna. Gladys were the hardest.  Our "chavalos" Geovanny, Erwin, and Gerald were all at SOY (EFY) all week, so I didn't get to see them.  I guess I'll just have to come back to visit in a couple years!

Spiritual insights for this week:  I loved Elder Lynn G. Robbins' conference talk, "Which Way Do You Face?"  and also the Relief Society lesson on Elder Benson's talk about loving God above all other things. Man, this is such a true principle!  Do what you can this week to put God first and watch the unneccessary things fall out of your life.  Please God before pleasing man.  It's my goal to become a more dedicated servant of Him... feel free to join me!

Lots of love!

Hermana Ali Hansen

Photos:

1) My favorite children ever... Cony and Caroline.  Caroline, the little one, talks a ton and always says in a very earnest voice, "Ver-dad, 'manas?"  (Right, Hermanas?)  I'll miss their hugs and cheek kisses!

2) Jamileth and Noel, recent converts in Loma Linda who we visited a lot

3) Hermana Gladys, my mission abuelita

4) Officially my nicest bathroom of the mission so far!  Mire, que fachenta!  Also, the first time having a showerhead, and the water is often warm because it's so hot here.  I could get used to this!

5) With Hermana Perez!  I know, my cheeks are huge and my companion is tiny.  Don't worry, "Operation: Shrink the Cheeks" is already underway.  Step one: Don't live close to Hermana Gladys. :)

Week 31: I dreamed a dream...

Hello, everyone!

Happy New Year!  I celebrated by... sleeping through all the midnight fireworks and noise.  The mission exhaustion is just that deep!

It was nice to have a more normal week this week after the two most stressful weeks of my mission.  Let´s see what I can remember that would be of interest to all of you:

-I´ve learned that the scripture in 2 Nephi 31 that says the Spirit speaks to us in the way we can understand is very true.  Nicaraguans understand the Spirit often times through dreams.  And sometimes they ask us as missionaries to interpret their dreams... Sorry, I still haven´t reached Joseph of Egypt status on that front.  Anyway, here are two positive dream stories from this week:

Elieth (who is radiantly happy ever since her baptism) told us that she had been nervous and unsure about getting baptized on the 27th.  She had been praying for a witness that she should go forward with this major step, and the night beforehand she had a dream that she was entering the baptismal font dressed in white.  So, she went through with it!  Ah, I love being on the same team as Heavenly Father in this great work!

Elizabeth (recent convert) has been passing through some majorly hard trials in her family and with some of the leaders of the ward.  She was on the point of giving up the fight and leaving the church, but she decided to ask God first.  She prayed and said, ¨If I´m supposed to stick with this, let me dream of my mother and father tonight.¨ The next several hours she slept restlessly, but at 4:30 AM she dreamed of both parents right before being awoken by a mistakenly set cell phone alarm.  Wow, I love that woman for her strong testimony and her great personality!

-One of the best moments of my week was when Erwin walked into sacrament meeting literally pushing his two rough-looking teenage non-member friends in ahead of him.  Afterward, we asked him how he got them to come, and he said that he just decided to pass by their houses on the way to church and told them that church ¨no es nada aburrida.¨  And they both liked it, because we watched a cheesy 1980´s church video in Gospel Principles.  The Lord works in mysterious ways...

-On December 31st, we returned to our apartment at 9:30 PM to find a tarantula on the wall of our study room.  There was considerably less squealing and fanfare than the first time this happened... just took some quick photos, smashed him with a broom, and swept him up to begin planning for the next day´s appointments.

-Tania, age 14, was looking through my photos on my camera and came across some photos we took before entering the MTC.  

¨Who´s that?¨ 

¨Oh, it´s my mom.¨ 

¨No, the one in the middle.¨ 

¨That´s me!¨ 

With huge eyes, ¨I don´t believe you!  Really?! Wow, you´re so skinny!¨

Thank you for your honesty... hahaha!  I figure I´m either preparing for a parasite, or my spirit is just getting so big that my body has to expand to fit it.

Anyway, I´m going to send photos now.  But I hope you all had a happy new year and are working on meeting your goals!  It was fun to think back on all that happened in 2014 and set new goals for the coming year.  It´s been a year of major growth, that´s for sure!

Love you lots!

-Hermana Ali Hansen

Photos:

1) Christmas dinner at the multi-zone conference with my randomly curly hair and three of my favorite ladies

2) Elieth and Juan Carlos with Emanuel on their wedding day!

3) Cutting the cake

4) Baptism of Elieth

5) Happy New Year!  Burning the old man...

6) Our other roommate, with El Libro de Mormon for reference