Email - Sept. 30

   We recently started teaching our neighbor. She has lived by the missionaries for many years and every set of missionaries have always tried to teach her, but she wasn't open to it. She has let us teach her and she has changed her ways. She quit smoking,swearing, drinking coffee, and wearing not modest clothes. She really is coming closer to Christ. She and her daughter will be getting baptized soon and I have been so blessed to be a part of her change and conversion.

Email - September 23

I have been doing alright this week, my hopes and faith is really being tried, but everyone's letters sent this past week has really helped me. I don't have much time today to write this email, but thank you for continuing to send letters to me :)

Email - September 16

About our car accident, this is what happened...

   We were heading back from our district meeting on Tuesday, which is in downtown Yuma. About a half an hour from our home. We just left the church and we were heading east down the main road. The speed limit is 35, so I was going 40. I see a pick-up truck getting into the left-turning lane, heading west, about to turn. Usually, people stop and wait for cars to pass by, so the road is clear, but this truck turned left right in front of us. I gasped  and slammed on my brakes and the next thing I see is airbags deploy.  I looked at my companion to see if she was okay. I was in a little shock, like what the heck just happened!!? I said to her, "You know that wasn't my fault, right?" haha I was worried! But she already knew it wasn't. My companion opened her door and we both jumped out her door because mine was blocked by the truck. We went to see if the guy was okay. He seemed really confused and startled because I don't think he even was aware of us at all before the crash. 

BLESSINGS: 1. We crashed right in front of a fire station. They came right away because they heard the crash and made sure we were all okay. 2. I was paying strict attention to my surroundings at that time and not distracted at all. 3. My companion was looking down at some CD's but she felt a need to look up and sit strait, right before we crashed. 4. Some members were driving by right after the crash and went to take their children home and then came back and helped us take everything out of our car and put it in theirs. And they drove us to the doctors, stayed with us there and brought us home. Luckily, the husband took the day off of work that day. 5. No other cars were around us at the time of the crash, no bikes or people either. Just a two car accident. 6. Both of us aren't transferring and if we were, we would have had to leave the next morning super early. 7. Many many more blessings, The Lord even helped me pick out what I was going to wear that day to make sure I was safe.

Injuries: We went to the Instacare right after, because I don't want any of what happened now, dwell in the future. Instantly, my companion had a hurt hip from the seat belt, it was bleeding and bruised. Pretty much her whole waist is bruised from the seat belt. Her lower back also hurts a bit. And a couple bruises on her arm. As for me- the seat belt that goes across the chest, was what hurt me. I have some bruised ribs and it hurts every time I laugh or sneeze or cough or anything like that. It scared me a lot because at first it hurt to even breath,  so super worried about that. Then I got a huge bruise on my knee, I don't know what from. I got some burns from the airbag on my left hand and right arm. And we both had a little whiplash so we were quite sore and stiff for a few days. 

   We don't really know what is going on with the other guy that was involved. Something that breaks my heart and scares me is that he was most-likely under the influence/ taking prescription medicine when he hit us. You know how those things creep me out! He got some blood work done but we won't know for 6 months what the results are. It really increased my testimony in the word of wisdom, drinking/texting and driving, and how God can ease trials but he doesn't take them away. I know for a fact that God did all He could do to ease our pains, to ease the crash, to ease everything. But it did happen for a reason, what that reason was... I am not sure yet, but I hope that everyone who was involved can grow from it. I learned how easy a life can be taken away from someone that is not paying attention. I learned that life is full of things that are unexpected which I really forgot as a missionary when our whole days are planned out for each hour. 

We were blessed.. 

P.S. the cop just wants me to get a Arizona license so he doesn't have to give me a ticket and that is why I need my birth certificate and guess what... Now my whole mission has to get an Arizona license... haha what a huge DEAL!

And on Tuesday the Mission President was doing interviews and Wednesday he was doing transfers. SO BUSY but he was so willing to help and do all that he could to help us. 

Sorry for this weeks news. But know that I LOVE YOU and that I am so grateful to be serving the Lord at this time, no matter the circumstances.

Hermanas Hansen and Pinnock

Letter - September 6

   I probably never have told about the baptism of the Cabrera family, on July 27, 2013. It was and will probably be the best day I will have on my mission. I wish I could explain the feeling I had there because it was just the warmest, loving feeling I have ever felt. I have never felt the Lord's love as strong as I have that day for a different family, rather than my own. Right before we got out of our car to go to the baptism, I asked my companion if it was okay to say a prayer. While I was praying, I started to really tear up because I was so grateful to know this amazing family and to be apart of their change and covenants they are making with Heavenly Father. I am so grateful that we found this family so that they can have eternal happiness. I can't believe how lucky I am to see these people change their lives and become happy. Every time I think about them, it makes me cry with a smile.
   So the thunderstorms here are sic man! My companion and I were just playing in the rain haha. It was so fun! When it finally rains, it pours and pours. It was hailing! And the rain is warm! And the lightening is crazy!Oh, it is the neatest thing I've seen! But, a lot of power lines went down, which isn't good. Especially in the more poor parts. It makes me feel real bad because when you don't have power, you don't have A/C, and it's like a 1,000,000 degrees here!
   I love studying the gospel, I don't think I could ever get enough of it! I have also really learned to communicate with the elderly here. The other day we went out to eat to this really great Mexican food place with 2 elderly couples and an elderly single man. They were SO funny! It was the best dinner. They are all just super blunt and always have clever, cute jokes. I was dying of laughter! Oh man, it was just great! And I heard some really amazing stories of people's lives from these elderly people.
   So yesterday, my companion, Sister Pinnock, and I were trying to find where we were eating dinner and it was out in the country, down a long dirt road. We thought we go down this long skinny dirt road - farm plants on both sides. We drive down about 1/4 of a mile and realize that this wasn't suppose to be a road and there was no place to turn around. Missionaries have a rule that we have to back up each other every time we back up. So, I have to jump out and back her out all the way back down this skinny, sandy, dirt road hahahaha. It was so funny! We were dying of laughter! I love my companion so much! We go together like peanut butter and jelly!

September 2 - Email

Tomorrow we are getting FACEBOOK :):):):):):):):), so we can do missionary work online everyday for an hour. So awesome right :) And we should be getting ipads and iphones soon!

August 19 - Email

   Some interesting things happened this week... I went to an Elvis concert, haha ;) There was a ward party in the Foothills ward and it was Asian themed. We had rice and yeah... Asian food. And then all of a sudden, Elvis came out! haha. In the ward there is an Elvis impersonator. I guess he does shows all the time everywhere. It was so funny!! He is like in his 50's, oh it was good... I was cracking up when he would try to do the dance moves like shake his legs way fast.  haha. But the great thing is that at the ward party, some members brought their nonmember friends, so we gave a tour. It went well.

   So my companion and I went out to Wellton one day. In Wellton, there is one of the biggest cow farms in the U.S., I think. haha anyway, TONS OF COWS!!!! And you know the smell which comes along with all those cows right? We were driving by the cow farm and it stank already. But then I noticed a fly in the car, so I decided to roll down the windows without thinking. My companion yells "NO, NOT THE WINDOWS!!" hahaha oh man it stunk so bad and we were just cracking up laughing. But hey, guess what, that little annoying fly was gone, so it's all good :)

   OYM(open your mouth), which is pretty much street contacting people, is pretty interesting here because NO ONE is outside in this heat!! Who would want to be, ya know!? So every time we see someone, we pull over in our car and run after them. Haha, literally we run sometimes. A lot of times people are scared that two little girls are running after them! They start running away or pretend they are talking on their phones. We just want to share this amazing gift that we have...

   At the end of the day, you know your companion's tired when you have to go wake her up from her prayer... haha It always feels good to come back home, with no energy at all, knowing you did your best that day and did all you could do. I have really learned that I can get so much done in one day.

August 12 - Email

   Everything is going so well with my nuevo companera. :) My spanish is not doing too well :( My companion doesn't really know much Spanish, so I guess this is a time where I can't rely on anyone else besides myself and the Lord to help me. I mean I can roughly teach a super simple lesson and get by and I can understand roughly what the people are saying, but I just wish I could share what I want to or what the Lord wants me to. I know how to help these people, but I don't know how to say it. Frustrating! And with learning Spanish, some of my speech problems from when I was younger are coming back. It is really hard for me to say things sometimes, like I sometimes stutter when I speak and when I read in English and Spanish. I think my mind is confused. haha
  One day this week, we street-contacted a guy at a little-family-Spanish party(they have parties a lot!). We talked to him and gave him a Book of Mormon and didn't think much of it. I mean he seemed interested, but not a ton. The next day he calls us (this never happens from street contacts!) and he says that he has been reading and has a few questions. (His name is Javier and he speaks English more than Spanish) So, we decide to go teach him that night. We brought this girl named, Kaycie Dahl, with us. She comes with us a lot because she is soon turning in her mission papers. Also, we need someone to come with us because he is a single guy. We taught him the first lesson, the Restoration, and everything went really well. He is really loving and interested in the Book of Mormon. He is like a golden investigator. So, a couple days go by and we have another appointment with him. We called this older lady in the ward, a ward missionary, to come with us. She has been on two missions before and so she knows everything. This is the first time she has been able to come and she sounded so excited to come! My companion and I go to some other lessons that we have that day before Javier's appointment. The older sister calls us about 20 mins before the lesson with Javier and says that she isn't quite feeling well and that she wouldn't be good company because she got the runs! haha So we hurry and call up Kaycie Dahl to come with us. She is the best and comes with us right on the spot. We get to Javier's and he has a friend over. They had been drinking and didn't exactly have the clearest most spiritual mindset. Javier's friend, lets just say he was a complete disgrace to our Heavenly Father, was bashing the religion with all these dumb jokes about polygamy and other things. The spirit was absolutely, not there. We tried to start teaching the second lesson, the Plan of Salvation, but he kept ruining it with more polygamy jokes and he would just laugh at us and did not take us seriously. My companion said, "I am sorry, but we will come back another time and teach this lesson, we can't be here." Javier looked disgusted with his friend, he felt so bad and  sad about what had happened. We really felt sad about it too. It is sad what people think is funny and where the world is going these days. Later that night, we realized that God gave that sweet older lady the runs so that she wouldn't have to be there in that lesson. Haha, it is kind of funny. But really God will do what He has to do. God knows what is going on. The next morning, Javier called us and said that he is so sorry and that he was praying and reading all night and that he absolutely will go to church next Sunday. It is incredible the lessons we can learn from mistakes. And then at church that day, that sweet old lady said she feels completely fine now, and that she must of ate something not good, but she is great now. Poor lady, but God knows what is best. I am so thankful Heavenly Father was looking out for us, for Javier and for that sweet old lady. Moral of the story: Heavenly Father will give you the runs if He has to.

August 5 - Email

   My companion is the BOMB!!! Her name is Sister Pinnock. She is from Holladay and she is 20. She reminds me a lot of Kelli, so that is great! :) She works hard and likes to be organized. I am very happy to be working with her. She is waiting for her visa to Argentina, but will most likely be here for quite a long time.  Way great! Oh and is a dance major at the U of U. Sister Pinnock is a very hard and fast worker, she is up for anything, it is awesome! And she always shows others how much Heavenly Father cares for them. This week we have really gained our testimony in OYM's. Here in the Foothills, a lot of people leave for the summer and not many people even step outside throughout the hot summer days. But we have been praying to get 20 OYM's each day together. We know that the Lord will provide us with those 20 people. We have learned that those 20 might be few and very difficult to contact but if we see a person while we are driving we will absolutely pull over and OYM them. This is the way that Heavenly Father can provide these 20 people at this time of year so we have gone to great lengths to contact them and at the end of the day we absolutely feel accomplished. God is looking out for us. God is looking out for His children. I have no doubt about that."