Sunday, May 31, 2015

Week 19

We had the craziest week, running from appointment to appointment and the rat story lives on! We got to go on exchanges this week so I was in Sister Potestad's area and that was fun to see the people she works with on a daily basis. We spent some of the time getting ready for the Restoration showing. We have been praying it would all work out alright. The rest of the week was pretty much the same. We found out though that two of our investigators who we have been trying so hard to prepare for baptism in June won't be able to be baptized until their mother returns in 2017! Poor things! They are so ready,but I understand too I wouldn't want to miss my children's baptism. We will keep helping them prepare! 
So, that brings us to Friday. We showed up at the Triangle (like a sports court where the film showing would be) and there was a basketball game going on with really tall white men. It was weird to see white people again. But we got all the chairs set up and went around inviting people to stay and join us. In total, we ended up with about 200 people there and got a lot of people's information that we can now go and find and teach! There was even a man who walked up to us and grabbed an invitation from me and look at me like he would only come if I was there, it was weird but he didn't show up. 
Saturday morning, we had our Branch 3 Summer Activity, also another great event. We had a lot of people show up there too! Later that night, President Mangrobang and his family took us to dinner for Elder Longsons last one. When we got home for the night, Sister Potestad said she smelled gas so I went to go check the stove to see if we left the propane on or something and the next thing I know something is flying in my face! The rat was in the stove and jumped at my face!!!! We all screamed and screamed as it ran around the room and was probably scared for its life as were we. Apparently, we were so loud as Sister Shirley, next door neighbor, came running right over asking what was wrong. We told her about the rat and she said we have to catch it and she would kill it for us if we were too afraid to. So we are killing the rat ASAP. I was too freaked out to see where it went but we found out the next morning as I went to get into my desk drawers! The rat went crazy on my stuff! It chewed through plastic bottles and ate through the binding of my bible and chewed on all my books! I don't know why this rat only likes my stuff but it only likes my stuff, maybe a nibble here or there in the other sisters stuff but with mine it goes to town.So I am determined to kill the thing as soon as it gets in the trap. I decided to ask Brother Howard last night to see what he recommended and he lent us a cage that traps the rats inside. So we have that set up to kill the rat! We did a major deep clean this morning cause it got into more of my food last night. So there will be pictures to come if I am still here to kill the rat this week! The Elders said they have a rat in their home as well and that you just learn to always have one in every apartment. This week is transfer week so there are letters and gifts coming to you all, especially to a little b-day girl soon! There are some sweet treats and some fun summer toys that the kids play with here. So have fun with those. If the instructions aren't clear let me know, the English is terrible I know but I made them and they worked! So whenever you get them, have fun and let me know how they work. Love you all 
Sister Hansen      










Sunday, May 24, 2015

Week 18

This week was a blur, especially as I sit to write this. 
Last monday, we went to a recently returned family's home. They actually own a photography shop so it is fun we get to see them there. They are the most generous family to us and the father told us that when he and his family were taught about the word of wisdom his father had a wall of American Alcohol that would be worth probably a fortune and all it did was sit on the wall but when he was taught about the word of wisdom, he let the missionaries pour all of it down the drain. Wow! What a strong trust in Heavenly Father to do that. To give up such a wonderful collection, not try and sell it, but to just get rid of it and not let it hurt someone else. The same father told us that he was raised to always give to the missionaries and to never let them go without, and even now he is the most generous person to us. He sees us on the street and will stop us, let us sit down, and buy us fresh mangos. We really like it:) 
Another day this week, we went to visit another members home, this man is 88 years old and for a while everyone thought he was dead, turns out he was visiting San Diego. We like to visit him because he is the cutest old man, it reminds me of working in Golden Living. During this appointment he just came from getting a bath and was so talkative. He came around the corner and says, "I smell good now"! He then told us all about this Samoan from Hawaii, we asked what his name was, he said he didn't remember but that if we found him, he would recognize him, we just told him we would look :) It was funny because when we asked to pray he crossed himself and asked if he could make the sign, we just kinda smiled.  For the closing pray, he just said, "thank you for the day" and then sat back in his chair. I just assumed he was done and we said amen! It was so cute. He is the sweetest old man and he is just so cute to go and visit you can tell that as we teach he remembers the doctrines of the gospel but is just so old. Now we are trying to work with him to complete his record, so that it is accurate as to his Priesthood and temple work. Sunday it was really cool as well, there is this less active couple that is less active because of work and family problems that come all the time, who we invite every week we do all that we possibly can to help them come to church and this week they came, and all as a family too! It was so good to see them as a family in the church it was really cool. Also, I am working on writing letters for everyone this week to send them next week with pictures . This week we have so many activities planned and I am so excited to be able to write home about all of them. Tonight we have FHE at a member's home, for our investigators, recent converts and those we are working to reactivate it should be so much fun! Then Friday we are showing The Restoration movie free for anyone who would like to come, and Saturday a branch activity. It should be such a fun week for me. Hope you all have a wonderful week! Mahal Kita
Sister Hansen 
Check out these blue crab. Sister Hansen and her companion were purchasing some shrimp and saw these blue crab. Sister Hansen said the shrimp over there is not at all like here. She doesn't think she will purchase shrimp a second time




Sunday, May 17, 2015

Week 17

Hello family
Mother's day last week was so great! I loved getting to talk with all of you on Skype and seeing your bright faces. Sorry I kept you up so late. I forgot that it was like 11pm there.
This week for me has been so long and so busy, which is nice but so exhausting. It was Sister Potestad's 23rd b-day and that was the absolutely craziest day. Right now, we have 5 people who we are helping prepare for baptism in June. We visit them a lot and it is so cool to hear from all of them as to their own personal progress. One family we have been working with left us this week and I was so sad to see them go. The daughter left for Thailand and then 2 days later her mom moved with her son. We spent the entire day helping them pack and move all their belongings to Pompanga where they now live. It was sad to see them go but they will be taken care of in Pompanga. Other than that, we seriously go from appointment to appointment. One day we had planned teaching all brand new investigators except for one appointment that was reteaching. It's so fun to teach new investigators and to find them here. Everyone is so willing to let you teach them and to let you share your beliefs with them. We met one family, in the coolest way actually. We were walking, just deciding whose house we could stop at to use the bathroom ( they call it the CR here) and we noticed this woman just watching us. Not too surprising since a lot of people stare as we walk since I am white, but as we were walking we just stopped and said hello. We asked if she had met missionaries like us and she said no. We asked when can we come back and teach you? She said teach me right now and eventually we got an appointment scheduled for the following day. We went back and actually got to teach her and her whole family. They had tons of questions for us and it was so fun to try and answer their questions.rWe taught one of our investigators, who is preparing for baptism, and is a little nervous about taking the full step. We invited them to join us at the baptism so they could see exactly how it will work for them, when we went to go and pick them up it was so cool to see them sitting outside waiting for us to pick them up and to take them with us. The baptism was absolutely perfectly planned for them. The speakers addressed all of the concerns about baptism that our investigators have and it was so cool to have them be there to witness it. When we went back yesterday, after church, we discussed it all with them, it was so cool because we have seen just how ready she is for baptism and how the spirit is touching her.  She has yet to really talk with us about it, so we invited her to share with us some of those things. She said that she is feeling that it is true and we invited her son to bear his testimony of why he joined the church. It was absolutely perfect and it was so spiritual to hear about the things that she is feeling and how she is wanting to continue to investigate the church and all the doctrines of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so cool as we shared with her about Joseph Smith again and to see her feel that she has been given such a great opportunity. The best part is that her son can be the one to baptize her and hopefully confirm her as well. It truly is the most amazing experience to be apart of this work and to be given the opportunity to witness the spirit testify of the truthfulness of the gospel to these people. I have been working on letters and cards to all of you as well so hopefully you will get them soon. We also have been working on updating all our record because it is so important to have them and to be able to have something for the missionaries behind us to go off of.
For Sister Potestad's birthday, it was really fun. The sisters helped us move our member and then we went to TGI Fridays for lunch and bought little cakes for us and President and Sister Mangrobang also brought cake and ice cream over so we have had a lot of cake this week. We put the huge candle in the cake and turned the lights out then when they got home sang to them and had her blow the candle out, it was so fun.
Next week, I get to work with Sister Potestad again on exchanges and we are going to try to go back to Oscars house. I am so excited. Well, I love you all, Mahal kita. Hopefully next week I will have fun stories to tell you not just boring weekly updates.
Sister Hansen


These are photos of my apartment. Sorry some of them are sideways




























Sunday, May 10, 2015

Week 16 Mother's Day Sykpe

It was absolutely, hands down, the best part of Mother's Day getting to see and hear this sweet daughter's voice. The connection was not super great but I will take what we got. There was a delay which was fabulous because I would see a smile spread across Teesh's face before she would speak which warmed my heart. We were able to Skype for 2 hours(Lucky, I know!) Teesh spoke in Tagalog and shared some of her favorite things. It was so great to be able to get answers to our questions and see what her living conditions are like, She said it takes over an hour to wash out 5 sets of garments and they dry really fast, only 2 hours. Malia mentioned, "that is fast"? The little things we take for granted here in the states.
Teesh was in an internet cafe filled with all missionaries. You could see them and hear them. Lots of happy mommas for sure. We were able to talk to an elder who is returning the end of this month to South Jordan. He reports his mission on the 14th. We asked if we could come and listen to him report his mission. I know probably a little strange but hey we love missionaries from the Philippines.

Teesh told us about her daily routine and we met her trainer.
Can you believe we are a few days shy of celebrating Sister Hansen serving 4 months.
Isn't Teesh glowing? She is so happy and was smiling constantly, so were we for the record though.
 The majority of our call was off centered but it's ok that we saw a lot of her shoulder. Her mic had a short cord so she had to hold it close to her mouth.












Sunday, May 3, 2015

Week 15

This week seemed to fly by and I feel like I don't remember most of what happened. Hopefully I will remember enough. Tuesday was a recently returned member's birthday. So last minute, we threw together an FHE to celebrate his birthday. They are the Javier family. They have 2 of the cutest girls, Shamira is 8 and was just baptized by her father in March and Jillian who will be 2 on Sierra's birthday, July 25th. Jillian is so funny. She is more comfortable with me now and loves to touch my water bottle. She pulls it out and hands it to me. We even got Brother Howard and his wife (an investigator) to join us as well as Brother Joseph's family. We played "Do you love your neighbor" and ate cake and dinner, it was so much fun! 
We are working with this family to help them be endowed in the temple and be sealed as a family soon as well. They were just married in February, so have some time to prepare. 
For the pictures,  we were walking and saw this cute little van. All the cars here are so much tinier than at home. Also, this week President and Sister Dahle worked with us to visit two families and our MCM.  was really cool to work with the mission president. He is such   remarkable man and is so great at sharing the gospel. We taught the Javier family about the priesthood and the roles of men and women in the family. President Dahle explained that he likes to think of the priesthood duty as a backpack that if given to the one who is taking care of everything around the home, the family and everything else it becomes a burden but instead it is given to the one who has less responsibility. It's a way of balancing the responsibility in a family. Sorry if that is confusing. But I think it explains it so well. 
We also taught Sister Nanay Judy, Brother Howard's wife. Brother Howard is American and his wife is a Filipino so they both speak English. It was really cool because she let us teach her.  We showed her a video about receiving revelation and answers to prayers. President Dahle also gave them a really cool promise that I really hope they are doing all they can to obtain.  
This morning has been crazy! We decided to climb Tatlong Crusses (I think) 3 crosses. It's a mountain, hopefully you get some pictures, it was gorgeous. It was just a little foggy, so some of the pictures aren't all that clear. But we got up at 4 am and were supposed to meet the Elders by 5 am.  We got there early. It was so scary, the streets were only semi lit and then there was an either drunk or crazy woman that kept walking towards us so we would cross the street and try to get away from her. Finally, she left us alone and the Elders got there but it was freaky. That was the second time this week for me. Sorry, I know you don't want to hear about our crazy people but its so new to me. 
We met a couple too that was so cool, they speak English. We see them every once in a while but this week we talked with them, they asked if we were Jehovah's Witnesses and asked us a question they ask all the missionaries that talk to them. I knew the answer to their question and can't wait to go back and have a chance to explain to them. I also got a bug bite on my ankle again, so that was fun! I had the Elders give me a blessing last night for it and am taking an antibiotic. We had several brown outs this week which makes it so hot since we have no fans and we are supposed to have another this week. Sister Dahl(my cousin) came to my area this week for a training for leaders. Unfortunately, I was at the hospital visiting one of our less active's who had her baby this week. The poor woman went into labor and was in labor for about 12 hours before they ended up doing a c-section.  She was really nervous for this but you can see the love she has for her daughter already. Her baby was 8 lbs, which looked like a normal baby to me except when you see them next to a regular Filipino baby, she is huge! She is so cute though! Before I forget this week I also saw a rat in our apartment! It freaked me out a little to think that it is living with us. Yesterday, I was looking at my food storage and the rat had eaten through the plastic bag and eaten one of my treats for my 72-hour kit, it was so gross, I pulled all that was left out of the bag and put them in the plastic container, so just a word for the wise about rats they will eat your food :) 




 Teesh and her MTC companion Sister Gibbs from Colorado