7/27/2015 Awesome week in Almirante

Hello everyone!!!

This week was great! Kind of all over the place though. We had two exchanges and a meeting, so I was barely in the area. But the area is progressing a lot. We are finding awesome families that show so much interest and the members are helping us a ton.  The Bishopric here is very focused on missionary work.

Hermana Lang and I are working hard and are seeing little and big miracles daily. We have been helping a less active brother, Ronald and his girlfriend Darla. They are very open and I believe that we can help them a lot.

Recently I read Mosiah 8:18.

“Thus God has provided a means that man, through faith, might work mighty miracles; therefore he becometh a great benefit to his fellow beings.”

I love it. I know that when we have faith we are blessed to bless the lives of those around us. There really is nothing better and nothing more satisfactory than being in the work of the Lord. When we have faith and the desire to do His will, He will guide us to the souls He has prepared and to those He would have us serve. I know that to be true, I see His hand in my life daily. 

Love, 

Hermana Hansen

Me, walking down a typical street in the DR

Hermana Pichardo talking with an investigator

Hermana Aura and her daughter Carolin or Carola.

Her daughters are twins and I can't tell them apart

unless they are next to each other.

The twins are new converts.

Hermano and Hermana Cabrera, family of lorenza.

She brought me my package!

Manolo and Hada, awesome couple.

Hada is a new convert.  Manolo is elders quorum president.

They are preparing to be sealed in the temple!

Mayrenis, missing her husband Alexander

and their baby Alexander Jr

Nelio and Rosi, sweetest Dominican couple and members.

They are dedicated temple workers.  They also helped us

a lot while we were preparing Danilo for baptism.

Sister Liriano, bishops mom and amazing cook.

She made the best fried green plantains I've ever eaten.

Puppies!!!!!!

7/20/2015 Hey Everyone!!!!

I forgot my memory card so I’ll have to send pictures next week. Sorry!

This week was AWESOME!!!!! So many miracles. The Lord is blessing us very much. Hermana Lang and I got to Almirante about 11 at night Tuesday. We went straight to bed and then woke up and got to work! When we got to the area it was made very clear that there was A LOT OF WORK TO BE DONE. Only two investigators were being taught--Ana and Laura, a mom and a daughter. Hermana Lang and I are committed to giving all of our heart, might, mind and strength to the work.

The huge blessing in this area are definitely the members. Everyone is so willing to help. This area has seen years of very little success, but the members are ready to work. The first night we met with the Bishopric. They were overjoyed to see us. I’ve never received such a warm welcome to an area. They told us they had been praying for sister missionaries for 2 years. I hope we can live up to their expectations. Everyday there have been several members who have taken hours of their time to show us the area which is a great blessing because the area is HUGE.

Hermana Lang and I are trying really hard to find prepared families and the Lord is blessing us so much. Our agenda is FULL with new families. We have done a lot of service projects which has helped us gain the trust of the people in the area.  I have seen so many miracles. Amaliak, a ward missionary and returned missionary is our best friend and ally here!

I feel in my heart that the Lord has grand plans for this area. Together with the members and with God’s help, we are going to see a great change in this area. I really feel like we are going to help many people and families come unto Christ through baptism and that many families will be sealed in the temple. 

I pray that each day I can give more of myself to the work.

I love you all!!!

Hermana Hansen

7/13/2015

I’m leaving Los Frailes and headed off to Almirante. I will be companions with Hermana Lang. I’m very excited.

I’m grateful for the members here and for their dedicated work and support. Also for the people who I have taught. 

I have learned so much here in Los Frailes. ESPECIALLY the importance of families. This week we taught The Compres family. We have been teaching them for about a month now. They have come to church every week and are really progressing. The dad is less active and the mom and the daughter are investigators.  We had a powerful lesson on the blessings that come as we make sacrifices to be sealed in the temple. The Spirit was so strong. As I testify of the Savior’s atonement and the eternal blessings we receive as we follow Him and make sacred covenants the Spirit testifies to my heart that the thing I am teaching are true. I know that families can be together forever through the power of Christ’s atonement.  I saw in the eyes of Familia Compres their desire to be an eternal family.

I hope to visit Los Frailes next month to see Miguel baptize his wife and daughter, Vilma and Tiffany. One year later they will be able to be sealed in the temple!  This family is very special to me.

I pray that I may be an instrument in the hands of the Lord so that they and many other families will be able to overcome obstacles that they may be sealed together forever. 

I love you all so much!!!

Hermana Hansen

Me with Familia Lagrange, Kalvin & Melani, & Hermana Fife

Me, Kalvin, Natali, Melani & Ghiani

Me and Alberto Marrero, a young adult in our area who is planning to be baptized this month

Jinera, my friend who read the

whole Book of Mormon in about a month

Betico, our ward mission leader

and Marianeli our relief society president

Danilo

Danilo with the Sister Missionaries

and youth in the ward

Me with new converts, Yeilin,

Scarlet & Gerika

Yeilin, Scarlet & Gerika

Yeilin, Scarlet & Gerika

Me with Yeilin & Scarlet

and ward members

Me & Gerika

Me and Yeilin

Neighbors, Familia Cineas

Los Frailes District

Zona Las Americas

7/6/2015

I just posted several weeks worth of Carrie's emails and photos.  We have been out of town.  Now that we are back, I finally had time to update her blog.

This weeks email was short because Carrie spent so much time uploading photos.  All she said was, "No time to write but it was an awesome week. We are working with lots of families that have so much potential. Enjoy the pictures."

Love you

Hermana Hansen

Adios Hermana Given :-(

Why do all of my companions go home?!

Making Guayaba Juice

Frambuyan tree.  No idea if I spelled that right.

Hermana Fife & Me

Me, Hermana Munoz, Hermana Taylor & Hermana Fife

Caves we visited

Beautiful Clouds

Our 4th of July FEAST

6/29/2015

This week was great! We are continuing to work with lots of families and I’m loving it!

Danilo continues to amaze me. He has received the Melchizedek Priesthood. He tells us each time he sees us his desire to follow Christ forever and always. His employers offered to pay him double to work on Sunday but he told them, “No. That’s the day I go to church.”  He also brings us mangoes all the time which I love. 

Janera has finished the Book of Mormon! That’s been just about a month!

So I had a funny experience the other day. We were out walking to meet up with a member. We came to a dip in the semi-dirt road that had turned into a giant puddle. I stepped on a part I thought was firm. The mud literally ate my shoe! Hermana Fife, being the great companion she is, dug my shoe out of the mud. But now I had thick gray clay mud up to both my ankles. I looked at my feet not sure what we were going to do because we were far from the house. An old couple yells to us across the street. They brought out buckets of soap and water so that I could wash off my feet. The Dominican people are so kind and loving. We have an appointment with the couple for this week!

I love you all! Have a great week! 

Love,

Hermana Hansen

Dominican Dominoes

A Guagua Bus

Me & Hermana Fife on a main street by our apartment

The sisters of Las Americas

minus Hermanas Greenstreet and Valdez 

6/22/2015 Being a missionary is AWESOME =)

Hey everyone! 

So this was another great week in the work. The Lord has led us to so many families to teach. There is something so special about teaching families. The spirit is strong as we help them develop faith, practice repentance and make goals towards baptism, the reception of the Holy Ghost, and the temple. 

Each family is unique and has specific needs but each is blessed as they take the steps to follow Christ. 

Dominican families are so special. In the Dominican culture family is extremely important. I am so grateful that I have the blessing of bringing a message that blesses these incredible families.

Each day I love the work more and desire to give more of myself to it. In the Book of Mormon, Omni 1:26 it talks about coming unto Christ and turning over our whole soul as an offering. Each day I try to give my whole soul to the work. And each day the Lord blesses me 10 fold. 

This week we had Stake Conference. Both the chapel and the cultural hall were so packed that they had to keep bringing in more and more chairs and having people sit on the stand. The church came to the DR in 1978. It has grown immensely. And this was just one stake! I am so grateful to be part of such an amazing heritage of members and missionaries who have labored in the work of the Lord in this country that I love so much. 

I love you all. Thank you all for your support and prayers! 

Hermana Hansen

Mom sent my favorite candy!!! Also Jhoan and Jurianni

from San Pedro loved these.  I'll have to send some

with the sisters in San Pedro the next time I see them.

6/15/2015 Great Week!

This week was great. Danilo received the Aaronic priesthood. He is very happy and very converted. I am proud of him. His testimony is strong. 

The mission, my companionship, and I have the goal to focus on strengthening families. I feel like that is what the Lord wants from me right now. I am trying to give all of my heart, might, mind and strength to His work--to finding families that God has prepared to receive the restored gospel and help them come unto Christ through faith, repentance and making covenants. As I have been focused on that goal, I have felt even greater strength, and love for the work. 

Last night we had a really special experience. We brought two members, a couple, to the house of Alex and Mireli. Mireli is a member and Alex is investigating the church. Manolo and Hada were the members. Hada was recently baptized. Manolo bore powerful testimony of the change the Savior made in their lives and family when as a family they started to focus on living the gospel of Jesus Christ. Obedience to the commandments of God is the key to happiness in this life and eternal life in the next. 

I love my Savior Jesus Christ. He is my redeemer, my mediator, and my loyal friend. I commit my life to being in his service. 

I love you all very much!! Thanks for all of your prayers and support. 

Hermana Hansen

Mosiah 2:41, favorite scripture =)

41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God.  For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

I LOVE Dominican Food

Me and Hermana Fife