Protecting angels - CHRISTMAS MIRACLES

One crazy week. When I was talking with my family on Christmas day, I started hearing a lot of fireworks when Rachel got on the phone. It was a hot day and I´m pretty surprised we didn´t have the door open a crack with the fan to cool down the apartment, but later I realized it was a huge tender mercy. When I hung up the phone, there was pounding on our door and I opened the window to see a police officer asking to enter our house to go on our balcony. He then ran away when something else caught his attention. We looked out the window upstairs to see two police officers beating and arresting a man on the roof next to ours. Our neighbor had been shot in the leg and taken to the hospital (he´s okay now). We remained in the house until the noise calmed down outside and then went to our normal day activities. We stopped by a family a little later and the wife just hugged us. She told us that six armed robbers had a shoot out with the police right outside of our apartment, the sound of fireworks was actually gun fire. She was very scared because one of the robbers entered into our little aisle way and she thought he had entered our apartment looking to escape. I had a huge pit in my stomach as I thought about the armed robber desperately entering our apartment, looking for an escape. The closed and locked door was the reason he climbed up our neighbor´s house. It was a blessing and miracle that we were protected, all those stories about angels protecting missionaries are very, very true.

Santa Lucia Christmas Baby

One of our recent converts called us also on Christmas, being just short of 9 months pregnant we urged her to call us when she needed anything. We practically ran to her little house above her store to find her exhausted. She didn´t say anything, but just led us to a room where we found a new born baby covered in blankets on the concrete floor, just over 24 hours old. She gave birth to him alone in this room and called us just because she wanted to hear a message. We read her the story of Christ´s birth in Lucas 2 and it was unbelieveably realistic as the humble birth of Christ was quite similar to the humble circumstances of this new baby. We cleaned her house and dishes and it was one of those moments when the beauty of life is ever apparent. It was the second Christmas miracle that we saw. But miracles are actually just blessings from God, and it felt like He was guiding us very closely all Christmas day.

I want to extend an invitation to all those who read my blog. Attached is a reading chart of the Book of Mormon that I am following every day to finish for General Conference. A lot of you have asked me why I´m on a mission and I would like you to follow this reading chart and find out for yourself. As missionaries, we are lied to, rejected, cursed out, told to go back to our own country and even robbed. But not a single person that I have taught in this past year, who has read this book and prayed can (or has) rejected the truthfulness of it. Read with me and know of the reason why people leave everything they have to serve Christ. And if you´ve already read it, read it again with me. And whether it´s your first time asking God if it´s true, or maybe your second or your third time with a growing testimony, or the 20th time, ask Him again. I will be asking with all of you on April 4th and I promise every person who does this with me, will be changed for the better with the answer you receive. I love you all and part of me wishes I was there to celebrate all this past week, but my heart knows it belongs here for now. Please read with me before the next conference, it will also help me have more strength I need for this second half of my mission.

Christmas Eve in Guatemala - - Nochebuena

I never thought I would be waking up to Christmas Eve with the sound of poor pigs in the process of becoming the pork for tamales. Or a gecko climbing over my head, or cockaroaches in our cold bucket shower. I also never thought I would have the honor of being asked by a woman who has no way to communicate through computer or phone, to inform her son serving in Nicaragua that his parents were married and baptized early Saturday morning. It was a day I will never forget as we walked out of a small lawyer's office and walked straight to the chapel, with white clothes in a plastic bag, ready to be worn for their baptism. Their second son was able to baptize them, being a convert of two years, and waiting for more than two years for this date.  (photo of is the N and V leaving the lawyers office after getting married - they are on their way to the church and baptismal font.)

 Before my mission, I had the thought that since God has blessed me with a beautiful life, I could sacrifice 18 months to serve my Savior. I realize how naive I was. I thought a mission was a sacrifice and it would help me to "pay back" a tiny bit of the "debt" I owe to him. But these last ten months, I have only grown into way more "debt" with him. These last ten months have changed me, the blessings are so grand that this time cannot, in any way, be considered a sacrifice. It is easy to get lost from the real meaning of Christmas, but it's impossible to forget the real meaning this year. As much as I long to be with my family today and tomorrow, there is no place I would rather be than here. I will spend the day teaching humble people about the real meaning and inviting them to follow a path that leads to true happiness, so it's not a sacrifice to be here. This is a Christmas I will never forget.

After our lessons finish at 9 p.m., we are allowed to stay out until 12:30 tonight in the house of a Priesthood leader. Tonight is a bigger celebration than tomorrow and they switched P-Day to tomorrow, so I won't go out to work until 5 in the afternoon. And we will be spending tonight in our Branch President's house with his family. Everybody is super excited for "Nochebuena" and we have been invited to eat tamales at about 23987235 different houses. There are Christmas lights up and music playing everywhere. One little thing I've noticed is that I haven't heard "Santa Clause" mentioned all week, but I have heard "Christ" mentioned every single day. Their focus is strong in this pueblo in Guatemala.

We did get packages last week and I want to say a very special thank you to Angela and Mom (I got both of yours , the Garry family, and the Roberts. I received your packages and as far away as I am, I don't feel far away from you this week. You guys aren't allowed to miss me until the 27 of Diciembre, because every day on my mission has become a gift and there is no better way to spend Christmas and my birthday. I love you all and miss you, but I will be home even sooner than I would like. Have a FELIZ NAVIDAD!

new city, mice and geckos, wedding and baptism, love and sacrifice

So I am now in a new smaller city (sorry I have to take out the names on the blog :) . I am in the house notorious for being the worst house in the mission. With the mice and geckos and insects and shower and mosquito larvae in the water, I'm not surprised. BUT we cleaned all P-Day and now the house is OK.

The new area is crazy hot and different but I already love the branch. The most exciting news is that we are planning a wedding and a baptism on Saturday for a family. Their sons were baptized two years ago but the husband didn't want to make the commitment to be married or baptized...these last two years have changed him and they will be making both of those commitments on Saturday. One of their sons is currently serving a mission in Nicaragua. I can only imagine what he feels like. There isn't a better Christmas present in the world than the knowledge that your parents are making these steps. I am so honored to be here to help them these two weeks leading up to Saturday.

This email is pretty short but I also got mail last week! Big thanks to the dearelders from Paige and Cole and Dallas. And the letters from President Hixson, Terri Lamp, the FHE package, Dad, Rachel, Aaron, the Traina Family, Mom, the Collings family and Jeanette Hixson. AND THE PACKAGES from Mom and the siblings and Sean Allsop. THANK YOU SO MUCH, I could feel all of your love and I really appreciate the support I have from home to be out here. Until next week!

Love and sacrifice - This woman lives in the house you see in the picture with her family and her extended family (13 people), but she wanted to show her love to Sara.  She bought her NEW SHOES. 

Leaving my heart in San Pedro

Goodbye to San Pedro it will always hold a place in her heart. These Sisters are all wearing cortes.

After 6 months of miracles and challenges and experiences that I will never forget, I have changes on Wednesday.

I am a little sad about leaving the area. My whole mission, whenever we worked on 12 semanas, we completed questions and the question "I feel genuine love for those who I teach" really stuck out to me. I have done that specific quiz more than 10 times but I never felt comfortable putting a "5 out of 5". For the first time this week, I was able to circle a 5 for this question. I have so much work left ahead of me with the attribute of charity but the glimpses I have seen in this attribute the last 4 or 5 weeks have changed my life and my very perception of God's view on his children.

Sunday was very bitter sweet. We find out on Monday mornings who has changes, I was 90% sure I had changes the last couple weeks. Sunday was hard to look around and see all of the people that have become family that will be so hard to say goodbye to. It was one of the best Sundays on my mission to see Isaias and Jorge bless the sacrament together, both people that have showed me the mercy of Heavenly Father through the Atonement. And after church, Jorge was able to give me a priesthood blessing before I leave the area. I will never forget his story. I view him as one of the most amazing men I have ever met in my life. Strong testimony, loving, funny, happy, sweet...I don't even remember the man we met drunk on the street many, many weeks ago. And when the memory does come, it's only in amazement to how far he has come. It helps me realize how Heavenly Father views us, who we are and who we are becoming, not who we were. It reminds me how Dad told me to see people the way Heavenly Father sees them. I'm starting to learn how to do that.

When we made smores last week, my companions told me that Antonio asked them how to say "hacer" in English, along with a few other words to learn a phrase in English to say to me. He paused and thought for a couple seconds and said, "So I could say....Thank you everything. You to make my family very happy." I didn't know it would be so hard to tell their family that I have changes. When I said goodbye to my own family, I was able to say something like, "I'll see you in July or August of 2014" and there is a lot of comfort knowing exactly how long a goodbye lasts. That's why goodbyes are so hard here, I'm not sure how long they last or if it's solo para una vez. Since Antonio is working late tonight, I had to say goodbye to him last night. It was the first time I had seen tears in his eyes and he said, "We will always be waiting for your return. And if it's not possible for you to return, we will luchar as a family and see you in a place greater than this." I'm not sure how I'm going to have the strength to say goodbye to the rest of his family. Before my mission call, I had a thought that couldn't leave my mind. It was a mental image of me putting my favorite "SD" hat on a beautiful Latino nina. I had a strong impression that I was going to a place with children that looked like her, but was sad when my call packet was so small, which I thought implied I was going somewhere stateside. When I opened my call and read "Guatemala", the mental image came back and I knew I had to pack my hat. The little girl I saw in my thoughts didn't look like Marcela when I first met her, but now when I think of this mental image, I can only see her as this little girl and I will be giving away my hat today to her.

I love this place. I've always been a "heart guardar" but I really lost it here in San Pedro. But it feels like the capacity to love just grows more when you give away more and more of your heart, it's kinda funny how that works. I love this message that I can share. Any sacrifice that the mission took is nothing compared to the knowledge that there is a family here that I could be an instrument in helping find the path to be an eternal family. All I want for Christmas is that all of my family and friends can use these weeks to find a testimony or the Restoration or re-find their testimonies. Christ died for us, but more importantly, He is still living for us. And we need to live for him. Talk to you guys next week!

A gift of love and sacrifice -

This week was one of the best weeks of my life. It started as a tough week; my ribs are still really hurting and I just hate feeling sick. I'll admit, I was a little bit sad on Thanksgiving because I wasn't able to be with you guys. But on Thursday when we went over to Hermana G for lunch, a member from our branch welcomed us in and told me, "Hermana Hansen...Hermana G cooked really delicious things for lunch! There's chicken and potatoes and these things that look like tacos but they are really sweet." SHE MADE MY MOM'S ORANGE ROLLS! It was so delicious and I didn't feel so far away from home.

We then walked up to San Gaspar and there as a lady that looked like G from the back. It made me a little sad because I really missed her family, on top of missing my own "blood family". The lady turned around and I realized it was G, who had returned with her family that morning. It was so exciting to see her, it made my Thanksgiving day the best one of my life. Yeah we were missing turkey and football and thanksgiving runs...but it didn't matter because I felt like I had my family here with me. 

I also realized how much I have to be grateful for. On Friday, G told me she had a small gift for me. Behind her back, she was holding something and said, "My husband and I have talked and decided to buy you these to try to say 'thank you' for everything you have done for us." She then gave me a pair of new shoes, which I know was a huge sacrifice for them to buy. It was the best gift I have ever received and it means so much to me, and I know it also means so much to them.

Last night, we taught their family more about "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" with their extended family to help them have more unity. I also wanted to teach them how to make smores so we tied everything together. The marshmallow was the faith and prayer, two things which are essential to a successful home. The graham crackers were charity and forgiveness, because without those, our prayers are in vain (just like the marshmallow would be useless without the crackers). And Christ was of course the chocolate, the most important part. I pray for their family so often that it seems like I'm praying for my own family.

And with their return, they still think I'm part of their family. Not only J, but also M is starting to accidentally call me "aunt" and their dog follows us around. The other night it followed us to different appointments and we couldn't lose it, walking probably more than a mile to different places. Changes are coming up this next week, I am not excited for the upcoming dates, it feels like I'm leaving my family again. But I will willingly leave because maybe their is another family like that of Gladis and Antonio, who are ready for this change in their life. I love my mission!