Monday, February 27, 2017

#BashersCantStopUs

Date: 02-27-2017
Companion: Sister Staker
Area: Vancouver North Stake, Walnut Grove Ward

Hello hello hello everyone! This week was a whirlwind of everything! Lol. Everything here in the Walnutty Groovey Ward is awesome. This ward is so good! (Almost as good as the North Ogden 1st Ward...lol). We had a couple of funny and awesome stories this week!

So there is this thing called a blitz, and that’s where all the missionaries in a district work in one area or ward. So we decided to do a blitz in the Walnut Grove Ward. There's two other sets of Elders in our District. So there's 6 of us missionaries, standing in a circle in this parking lot, and we were trying to tell the Elders what part of the ward we wanted them to go to and what we wanted them to go see, and we're just about to leave, and this car pulls up right next to us. Which we all thought was kind of weird cause we were in the back of the parking lot, but this guy who's probably 20-ish and his little brother who had to have been 13 or 14 get out of the car and they ask if we're Mormons. Lol. So then they start asking questions and we start answering them a little and they just get more and more mad the whole time we're talking. Elder Brown and Dastrup are trying so hard to just talk with the guy and answer his questions, but every time they say start to say anything, the guy interrupts them with another question or tries to disprove them before they can finish what they're saying. It was incredibly frustrating and also hilarious. It was so hard because you just wanted to shake him and say "Hey fam, we just wanna give you the gospel and all the happiness and joy it can bring ya" but he wasn't there to learn, he was there to put us down and try to tell us we're wrong.

Sister Staker was talking to me after and she said the best thing to do in that situation is to just bare your testimony, cause they can argue with stories and verses the whole day, but they can't force you to not believe in something. Just like we can't force anyone to believe anything. God has given us agency and it’s such an awesome and good thing, but also frustrating. I know that when we give our agency and our will to God that he will give us so much more in return. When we focus on the feelings we have, even if other things don't make sense, it will all work out in the end. GOD IS AWESOME!

The Elders felt bad that we didn't have as much time to do the blitz, but we do this thing called a miracle text, where anyone in the zone will text the zone leaders and tell them of a miracle they just had and the zone leaders will send it to everyone in the zone, and it's just a fun thing to do and it boosts everyone's energy and it’s so fun to see everyone having miracles, and everyone's been doing hash tags in them so we decided that if we had miracles on the blitz we'd text them in with the #BashersCantStopUs. So now Sister Staker and I have been saying it every time something hard or stupid or funny happens. Lol

One more story! This one's an awesome miracle!

Yesterday, Sister Staker and I decided that we were going to find 2 new investigators. We went to this apartment complex to find this lady we'd talked to the night before. But we couldn't find her apartment. So Sister Staker asks what I want to do and I say "we said we were going to find 2 new investigators, and we haven't done anything to find new people!" (We had been going to less actives) so we start knocking on the doors on the bottom floor with no luck, and I could tell Sister Staker was frustrated with me (later she'd said it was because she felt like we could have been doing something more productive with our time). So finally I said we could go and visit some people the Bishop had wanted us to go to, and Sister Staker says "no let's go knock the top 3rd floor, I have a feeling we have to go there" So we go up, and there's not luck and it’s just kind of defeating. So we leave and go to church which was at 3:00 p.m. this week because one of the other wards was having stake conference, so the ward decided to do a linger longer after. The Tellez family is awesome!! I love them so much! They brought 4 investigators with them, and we asked them if they wanted to see the chapel. We did a chapel tour with them for a little bit. And 2 of them, Mi. And C. Start asking so many questions, and the other two left. And the Tellez family was like "Hey why don't we go to our house and talk about this more!" It was AWESOME!!!!!!! So we went over and these guys were seriously so cool! Mi. is 18 and C. is 17 and they asked so many questions. And then Mi. kept saying he wanted to be Mormon so bad and he knows he's supposed to go on a mission. Honestly the spirit was so strong. He said "I don't know anything about the church, but I know that it's true and it’s where I'm supposed to be. God has done so much for me. God has done everything for me, the least I can do is give up 2 years for him" I'm not kidding the spirit was so strong. Brother Tellez told his conversion story and it was just so cool! So then we left and Sister Staker and I were freaking out! We had followed the spiritual promptings we had received, and we felt like we were going nowhere, but we showed God that we were willing to listen to Him, and he answered our prayers by giving us two new investigators! GOD IS SO REAL!!!!

When we act on feelings we have and they don't turn out the way we think they should, don't get frustrated! God has another plan in mind! Something better than your plan would ever be! It's GLORIOUS! The church is true. GOD LOVES YOU!

Sister Emma Hansen

Pictures from February

As a missionary Mam it can be tough.  You miss your kid . . . are they okay? Are they hungry, cold, sad, lonely, being nice?  The Washington Vancouver Mission has wonderful members - this I knew. It's where I grew up.  But these sweet families have taken time to care for my daughter and her sweet companion . . . I'm more grateful than I can express - so grateful it leaks from my eyes.  Especially when they take a quick moment to text me a picture.  


02-25-2017: Fed your daughter the other night!  She is so sweet - and doing great.


02-22-2017:  They heart attacked me in the pouring rain for my birthday.  They are adorable and sweet!  Very thoughtful.  (Sister Patty Bower)

02-21-2017:  Posted on the Washington Vancouver Mission Facebook Page
Zone Conference for the Rainier, Longview, Van North, Van West Zone in Rainier Building.

02-14-2017  from Sister Bower, message said: We just had your beautiful daughter over tonight.  She is so much fun <3  We laughed a lot and will really enjoy having her in our ward.  


02-08-2017  from the Kestner Family, message said:  Look who was out doing missionary work this evening.  Their area book and phones weren't working but they still found a member family to uplift ;) so excited to have sisters and your daughter serving in our mission and ward.  

Monday, February 20, 2017

Reptiles? In Washington?

Date:  02-20-2017
Companion:  Sister Staker
Area:  Vancouver North Stake, Walnut Grove Ward

2 days ago I hit my one month mark. Isn't that lit. Also, I've had to stop saying lit cause like missionaries aren't supposed to make drug references. Hah lols. 

This week has been awesome! We took M. to a baptism and the spirit was so strong! And then she came to all of church on Sunday! The last lesson we had with her we committed her to baptism! She doesn't have a specific date yet but she wants to! 

We met a couple of awesome people this week! This one lady texted us and told us she didn't want to talk with us anymore but we don't like getting dropped over text so we went to her house anyway, but she didn't answer the door, so we were going back to our car and we met J. And he is AWESOME! He's been looking for a church to go to and he said he was looking online but it was hard and we told him God sent us and he was just so excited! He's going to take a church tour on Wednesday and he's super excited to read the Book of Mormon! #miracle 

My district is AWESOME! I love them so much! Elders Dastrup (district leader) and Brown are awesome! And Elders Smith and Grant are hilarious. 

The other night we came home and were finishing up studying, and Sister Staker came around the corner and just yells "Sister Hansen!!!!" And I go over,,,, and there's a FROG on the corner of the door!! So we ran and grabbed a glass cup and Sister Staker trapped it! And then we used the technology safeguards booklet to slide under the glass (cause what else is the booklet good for?) And threw it outside!!! It was a funny experience. And then the next day, we were at a lesson and this lady had a bearded dragon in a tank right next to us, and it stared at Sister Staker the entire time! So then the next day we went to dinner and the family that was feeding us had a bearded dragon, and the little girl was showing it to us while the mom was just finishing up cooking. The little girl leaves with the dragon, and the mom asks Sister Staker to go put a plate of food on the table. When Sister Staker gets to the table she SCREAMS! THE DRAGON WAS ON THE TABLE. And the mom was just like "oh yeah, he'll eat with us." And the dragon sat on the table the entire time we ate.   Sister Staker and I decided that reptiles just aren't our thing. Lol. 

So it's been a pretty good week! I love getting every one's emails! And I'm sorry that I can't respond very much but thank you all for emailing me still! 

Also this is my address:

10803 NE 103rd St
Vancouver, Washington 98662

If you wanna send something go for it, but I'm at a members house so please don't go too crazy! (look at me getting greedy) or send it to the mission home and they'll get it to me that way! Thank you! I love you ALL!

-Sister Emma Hansen


1.frog. Lol I had some videos but I can't figure out how to send them lol.
2. And 3. Bearded dragon at the table
4. And 5. Sister Staker and I
6. Our district got to teach Seminary, it was awesome! (Elders Grant, Smith, Brown, Dastrup, Sister Staker, Hansen

Monday, February 13, 2017

Just Go 4 It

Date: 02-13-2017
Companion: Sister Staker
Area: Vancouver North Stake, Walnut Grove Ward

IMPORTANT INFORMATION!!!!
Before I start with anything that happened since last week, my mission has a couple of rules and I hope you’re all ready to be disappointed cause I CERTAINLY WAS WHEN I HEARD ABOUT ALL OF THIS. So . . .

1. Apparently I’m not allowed to email anyone in my mission, so I can’t email Hatch, Robinson, O'very, Proctor, Samples, Thiel, etc.

And 2. I can only email each person ONCE EVERY WEEK! What the heck? So this weekly email doesn’t count, but I can only send one email to each person that might email me back. So if I’m not emailing as much as I used to, I’m not ignoring you and know that I miss you all so much and I just want to talk to all of you. I LOOOOOVE you all.

ALRIGHT!

Wowowowow this week was a crazy one! Monday night, the night before we left, out two districts in the MTC decided we all wanted to get priesthood blessings and it was seriously so cool. I love all the elders so much! It was so awesome to see them use their priesthood power and I know they’re going to do great things on their missions in Vancouver, Ogden, and Fort Collins.

Then we flew out Tuesday. And boy was it crazy. I was the travel leader and I’m 100% sure I had like 4 panic attacks trying to keep track of everyone. But we all got there, safe and sound. Our plane got delayed so we had more time to call and relax. BUT THEN our flight got bumped back up! So it was delayed an hour but then it was only delayed like 20 minutes so we had to rush to find everyone, only we couldn’t find two sister and I just started panicking and sister samples was awesome! She was so helpful and we just prayed, in this airport and everyone was just walking around us. So we got on the plane without the two sisters and like 5 minutes before we took off they came running onto the plane! GOD IS REAL. It was awesome! So then we landed and we met with president McAteer and he is so cool! We stayed in the mission home that night!

Then the next day we went to the mission office and met our new companions/trainers. My new companion is Sister Staker! And let me tell you, she is AWESOME, Heavenly Father definitely blessed me big time on this one! We are in the Vancouver north stake, in the walnut grove ward. We live with a member, her name is Sister Lister and she’s fantastic! They used to have elders here so we were whitewashed in which means both of us are new, don’t know the investigators, members, or area.

And then we tried to get all set up. Our area books are on our tablets, only it wasn’t syncing. So we didn’t have any of the information that we needed, LDS Tools wasn’t syncing either so we both only had our home wards information. Lol. AND we didn’t have a working phone! WE HAD NOTHING. We were at the grocery store just hoping that someone would come around the corner who was in our ward and could tell us some information. And all the sudden the elder that had been in this ward previously walked around the corner! GOD IS REAL. He was able to tell us enough information that we knew where dinner was, and a couple of investigators. It was awesome! So we went to a member’s house for dinner and they were awesome. We knocked on a couple of doors and this lady said her neighbors across the street were LDS. GOD IS REAL. So we ran across the street and it was the 1st councilor in the bishopric! They are the Kestners and they’re awesome as well!

Sorry this is so long, I’ll try to speed it up. So the next day (Thursday) we went to this lady’s house (I’m not allowed to write her name so for now she'll be M.) that the Elder told us about the day before. When we knocked on her door she says "I was just about to call you! I really want to talk with you guys" GOD IS REAL. So we walked in and started talking with her just a little bit and it was awesome. She actually came to church on Sunday! It was so cool!

Basically our saying this week has been "Just go for it!" Because we keep having technological problems and we have to just keep moving along. There have been so many miracles just in the past couple of days, it’s so cool!

One more funny story and then I’m out✌ so we had about 20 minutes before we were going to go back to our house to do some training so we decided to knock on a couple of doors. This one lady answers the door and Sister Staker starts asking her about God, etc. The lady seemed interested so we asked if we could come in and share a message and she was like "is that okay?" Turning around and there’s a man sitting on a chair, and he waves us in. She tells us that he just had 3 teeth pulled so he can’t talk and we're all oh no! That’s alright, we got the talking part down! So Sister Staker starts talking a little bit about Christ and tries to see where they’re at with their beliefs, and the man points to this bible that is sitting on their couch and the lady tells us he reads it a lot. Sister Staker asks if we can say a prayer to bring the spirit before we start and the man GOES HAM. He starts questioning us in what we believe in and who we're praying to and how many days are in a week and how long did it really take God to create the earth. And then he just starts talking about TONS of doctrine from the bible! I’m not gonna lie, I zoned out a couple of times, and most of it was over my head and he was talking really fast. But he talked for like 40 minutes straight. Every once in a while he'd ask a question, to which we could nod our heads to and he’d start off again. So finally he lets us start talking, and Sister Staker the ANGEL MISSIONARY THAT SHE IS jumps right into the restoration and it was so good! She talked for maybe 7 minutes and then was talking about the Book of Mormon and I’m not kidding the spirit was so strong! And then she asked me to bare my testimony and I’m not gonna lie, it wasn’t horrible. She speaks about the gospel so much better than me though, but anyway it was great! I’m not kidding! The spirit was so strong! And then the man starts off by saying "if what you just said is all true, than this book gets thrown out the window....." and then he just starts going off again! It was so frustrating! He talked for a while again and basically referred to us as poison in clean water, it was so funny. But it sucked because I know he felt the spirit. But then the lady asked a question about the Book of Mormon and asked if she could have one! It was so awesome!

But it was just so funny. The Lord has blessed me so much just in the 6 days I’ve been out. I love it so much! The work is great GOD IS REAL. It’s hard sometimes but the Lord is always there for us. This is a great ward and I can’t wait to serve it! Sorry it was so long, I’ll try to keep it shorter next time....

GOD IS REAL!

✌ Sister Emma Hansen ✌
District with Instructor Sister Linford 

Ogden Elders! Take care of them FAM
Elders Payne, Curtis, Lewis, Emry 

LOL

Thursday, February 9, 2017

She's Officially Arrived


Dear Missionary Family,
President & Sister McAteer and Sister Hansen


We are delighted to inform you that your missionary has arrived safely to the Washington Vancouver Mission. We already love them and are excited to serve with them. We have enjoyed becoming acquainted with them and are confident that they will become an effective instrument in the hands of the Lord in sharing the gospel with the people of Washington and Oregon.

We have assigned them a companion who is an experienced, devoted, and motivated missionary. All of our missionaries understand that one of the greatest privileges available in the mission is to train a new missionary. This first companion will be a special person to your missionary’s life and will help give them a great start here.

We feel that our greatest responsibility is the care and welfare of your child. We want to assure you that we will be in close contact with them. We will be observant of their physical health, happiness, and spiritual well being. We will work closely with them throughout the mission to help them succeed and fulfill their calling as a representative of the Church and as an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Please be assured that we will be in contact with you if we ever encounter any concerns that would call for your attention. 
Thank you for the sacrifices you are making at home to have your missionary in the field. We have seen the Lord bless the families of missionaries who are serving in untold ways. We know that his blessing will be upon you as well.

Attached are photographs of your missionary taken with us at the welcome dinner at the mission home.

With love,

President and Sister McAteer
Washington Vancouver Mission



Wednesday, February 8, 2017

She made it . . . Washington State

Although we haven't officially heard from her, Sister Hansen is in 
WASHINGTON STATE!  
Mission President, Wife and new Missionaries

Sister Hansen and her companion/trainer Sister Staker

Saturday, February 4, 2017

3 days? Two and a half?

Date: 02-04-2017
Companion: Sister Packard & Sister Thiel
Area: MTC


To be honest I don't really know what else has happened in the MTC cause it's been the same for the past 3 weeks, ha lolz. We had one lesson where we learned how to teach the word of wisdom. I hadn't really thought about it cause I always just thought 'God won't actually shorten my life if i don't follow the word of wisdom, but my life'll just be horrible' or something. And its true, God won't shorten our lives, but when we follow the word of wisdom God will bless us, and one of the things He could bless us with is a longer life, which in turn could bless us in other areas of our life. In the word of wisdom it talks about how we will be saved from the destroying angel if we follow it and i never really thought about that. Mosiah 4:9-10 God knows more than we do, so when He asks us to do to something it's for our safety. That's why we still follow Him, even if we don't know why we're doing what we're doing. That was just something that really hit me this week, I'm not sure why. 

I really love this gospel so much. The MTC is super hard but its been such a blessing and i cant wait to learn more.

I ran into Wyatt Peterson this week! He's doing good and I'm so happy for him! I also ran into Wyatt Ebarb and I had no idea he was coming in this week so it was so crazy to see him. I'm so excited for the both of them!

We leave the MTC on Tuesday at like 3:50 am and they decided to make me travel leader and I have absolutely no idea why. Lol. So I'm kinda freaking out but I'm super excited. I can't wait to get to Washington. 

This gospel is so true, it's all happened because Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us. If everyone could send me their testimony sometime this week I would be so grateful. I love you all!

Peace out! Sister Emma Hansen!

1. Sister Packard, Elders Curtis and Payne, and me from my favorite camera angle
2. Some of our district
3. The girls of our district, except S
ister Thiel because she was sick
4.&5. Representation of our companionship
6. Lol

Sister Packard, Elders Curtis and Payne, and me
from my favorite camera angle

Some of our district

The girls of our district, except Sister Thiel
because she was sick

Representation of our companionship 

Representation of our companionship 

LOL