3/16/2015 I Love you all!!!

Wow what an amazing week!!! The highlight would have to be the mission wide conference we had. All of the missionaries in the whole mission were present, except the missionaries in the ABC islands, but they were there via Skype.

The conference was presided by Elder Whitney Clayton from the seventy. Elder Cornish and Elder Martinez from the Area presidency were also present.

Elder Clayton said something that really stuck with me. He was talking about studying the scriptures and the gospel in general. He said to focus our scripture study on the basic principles of the gospel. He expressed that one day there will be time to study other things, but not now. Now there is time for the basics. Those are the things we should focus on developing.

For now we need more faith, more repentance, more focus on our covenants. That really hit me. It helped me to remember that I need to focus on the basics. Everything starts with faith in Jesus Christ. If we focus on having true faith in Him, repentance will follow, along with covenant keeping and the constant guidance of the Holy Ghost.  Eventually, we will find that we have endured faithfully to the end where He awaits to welcome us back to our Heavenly home. 

I got a new companion this week!!! Hermana Given! She is incredible and I've already learned a ton from her. Unfortunately she has to leave because the sugar cane factory that is in the area is affecting her asthma. I think we are going to have a special transfer tomorrow. I’m not sure what’s happening yet, but I’ll let you know who my new companion is next week.

I love you all!!!! Thank you for your constant love and support!!

Love 

Hermana Hansen

3/9/2015 My Dominican Paradise

So this week has been a little crazy. This was Hermana Hilbun’s last week in the mission so it’s been a lot of long bumpy bus rides to the capital for meetings and such. I’m going to be staying in La Romana and my new companion, Hermana Given will be coming. I believe she is from Colarado. I am super, super sad to say goodbye to Hermana Hilbun. She was one of my favorite companions and is an incredible missionary but I am excited to work with Hermana Given. 

This week was really great. We faced a lot of opposition, BUT every day we saw small and simple blessings from the Lord. We really saw the hand of the Lord this week. The Lord truly does bless His missionaries and all those who follow Him. 

I know the atonement is real. Jesus Christ took upon Himself all of our pains, all of our worries and all of our sins. As we turn our will over to Him we are blessed. He changes our hearts, and gives us power to fulfill His purposes. As I have tried my best to turn over my will to the Lord and accept His this week I truly have felt a difference. I feel the Spirit, more abundantly and feel my love for Him and my fellow man and my testimony growing. 

I love you all and am so grateful for your support, love, and prayers! Have a great week!!!

Love,

Hermana Hansen

Left to Right:  Hermano Francisco (ward missionary, He's going to Braydon's mission in May!) Hermano Ozoria (ward mission leader) Me!, and Hermana Hilbun (my amazing companion)

Left to Right:  Hermano Francisco, Hermano Ozoria, Obispo(Bishop),

Familia Hermano Santos (counselor in bishopric),

Hermano Saturnillo (ward secretary), Me & Hermana Hilbun

Me!, Hermano Ozoria, Hermana Hilbun, and

Jhonathan (ward missionary and Hermano Ozoria's grandson)

Me & Hermana Hilbun with new converts, Wildin and Maxo from Haiti

and Hermano Ozoria at his house

Aleisha (Hermano Ozoria's granddaughter) & Me

DOMINICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY

February 27, 1844

La Puerta del Conde (The Count's Gate)

The site where the founding fathers proclaimed independence 

and raised the first Dominican Flag

Statues of the 3 Dominican Republic Founding Fathers

Left to Right:  Francisco de Rosario Sanchez,

Juan Pablo Duarte and Ramon Matias Mella

Me at La Puerta del Conde

The 3 Founding Fathers

Beautiful  parade girls

More Photos of La Puerta del Conde

Familia Mojica & Franci

Familia Rijo

Pablo and Yovanni, investigators

La Ramona Districts

I never get tired of the beautiful Dominican Skies

3/2/2015 Every week is amazing!!!

Sorry I couldn't write yesterday. My companion and I wanted to see some famous caves that are close to our area and they weren't open on Monday so we got permission to change our pday to Tuesday. 

We had another great week. We have a new ward mission leader, Hermana Ozoria and he is working really hard. The ward is really motivated and we are all working together in this great work of salvation!

Hermana Hilbun is going home this week :( So I’ll have a new companion soon. 

We had a really cool experience.  We left a correlation meeting with the Bishop, and as we were speaking with him, we realized we really needed to find some new people to teach. We left the meeting and each of us had the impression to contact someone. We stood in the church parking lot and prayed for guidance. We knocked a lot of doors that night and the last one was a super prepared investigator, Joel. He loves the gospel of Jesus Christ and knows the Book of Mormon is true! 

Love you all!

The flowers in the DR are BEAUTIFUL!

I never get tired of the Blue Skies

Waiting to hitchhike a guagua (bus) from the highway

Don't worry Mom, its perfectly safe!

Cueva de las Maravillas

Caves of the Wonders

Entrance to Caves

Cool painting from the caves visitor's center

We couldn't take photos inside the caves  They were AMAZING!

Me and Hermana Meldrum

 Iguanas!

Our tour guide said the Iguanas were fighting!

Daily planning session with my Compa

This is a guagua :) A dominican bus. Basically, it's a 15 passenger van. I am amazed by the amount of people they can fit in them sometimes! I wish you could see it from the outside. The side door is always removed, and they are all at least 50 years old. I honestly don't know how they keep them running. This time a member who owned a guagua picked up all the missionaries from District meeting.

Intercambios (companionship exchanges)

I love Dominican Food and my Compa

La Romana Zone

2/23/2015 What a special week =)

First off Pablo. Wow this man is amazing. I often think back to where he started. When we first met Pablo he was really, really struggling both physically and spiritually. He had just recently been in an awful accident and had a lot of pain in his leg. He had been out of work for about a month because of the injury. But more than that, he was spiritually aching. He wasn't sure if God even existed. We couldn't share with him without him weeping.

The change I have seen in him has been incredible. This man is sooo happy now. He has gone from depressed and heartbroken to happy all the time with a new light in his eyes. When we first started teaching him it was really hard for him to understand the gospel but now he has such a firm testimony. He knows the Book of Mormon is true, that God answers prayer and that God lives.

The gospel changes lives. The atonement of Jesus Christ heals the broken hearted. I know that anyone who comes unto Christ will find purpose, peace and eternal life. 

I also learned about sacrifice this morning. When we sacrifice for the Lord it really isn’t a sacrifice at all. Because when we give to Him, he always blesses us infinitely more. Giving our will to the Lord is never a burden and always a blessing. 

Love you lots! 

Hermana Hansen

2/16/2015 Awesome Week!!!

I want to share some experiences we've had with Pablo this week. He is amazing!! He is so converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He always says that nothing will take him from this path he has started. 

When we started with him he didn't know how to pray.  We taught him how, and he would say them really quietly because he was embarrassed. This past time he said a prayer with confidence.  It was a beautiful, simple prayer but it was sincere.  He really knew he was talking with his Heavenly Father. 

This Sunday he didn't come to church. We passed by his house later and he told us he had taken a painting job, but knew it would have been better to go to church. It was amazing to see how he recognized that. We told him not to feel bad, and I could see from the light in his eyes his desire to be better and follow Christ.

I am so grateful for his example of faith!! 

I love you all! 

Hermana Hansen

Cookies!!!  Thanks Olivia's Family!!!!

Mango season is back!! A member knew I was waiting for mango season and she found these while working and saved them for us!! 1st ones of 2015 =)

1/12/2015 Snail Mail!