Home.

"I'm sittin' in a railway station, got a ticket for my destination"

Hey team! 

I'm not really sure how I can possibly summarize this week/transfer/18 months into one final, all-encompassing email. There's no way to do it justice, but I'll give it my best shot. 

I love my mission. It has not been easy and I think for many people (myself absolutely included) that loving the mission comes gradually as we are able to reflect on our experiences with the perspective of already having passed through them. There were moments, including during this week, when I did not love my mission. When it's raining and you're freezing and the one rdv you had that day got cancelled. It's not easy. But the feeling you get at the end of the day when you went and did it anyway is worth the freezing toes and disappointments. 

Throughout the mish there are times we do things that don't really make sense, or things we frankly don't want to do- like knocking on doors in the pouring rain or going to lessons with people when the odds seem stacked against us or talking to people in centre ville, or wandering around on our deserted street in the dark because it's not quite nine o'clock yet and the bell hasn't rung. But when we're in those situations my comps and I have reminded ourselves that "we must really love Heavenly Father" and at the end of the day, that's why we do it. We love Heavenly Father, and He loves all His children. 

And He is so grateful that we do it. 

I have not been a perfect servant but luckily God doesn't need us to be perfect! In fact, He gave us a Savior because part of the plan was for us to not be perfect. And the Atonement is real, even for missionaries. All Christ asks is that we put our trust in Him and keep going. He can and He will change us. That's why He wants us to be obedient and to work and to try, it's because "He can make of us a masterpiece, while we only make of ourselves a smudge." 

So I am grateful that we do it. I am grateful to have been here and to have been given the opportunity to love and serve and teach these people. Stubborn and difficult as they are, they've sure earned a place in my heart. 

"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow-creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again"

Heroes get remembered but legends never die. 

Soeur Hansen

1 Corinthians 1:17 

Week 75 - 7 Books in 7 Days

Hello family! 

Yes, as you have all noticed and mentioned, this will be my last full week as a missionary. Thank you for reminding me. 

But right now I'm going to talk about last week! It was a really good week and really quick despite the fact that it was basically all day finding days everyday haha. So I've got less than no envie [desire] to try and remember stuff from every week so I'm just going to throw some random experiences at you! 

This week we set the goal to give a Book of Mormon to someone everyday - 7 books in 7 days. It's a goal I set a long time ago but never actually seriously tried to do it, so obviously the perfect time is my second to last week haha. 

Monday we only had a little time to contact and didn't find anyone which was a bummer, so I was like "it's fine, we'll do two tomorrow" but THEN at the rdv we went to there was this random friend there who wasn't super interested but she accepted a BofM! Thanks Heavenly Father! 

Then throughout the week we found out it was actually pretty easy to give people free books haha. By Saturday we'd given 6, one a day. But we were out of the ville for most of the day and we needed to plan, so we only had a little time. So, like the good missionaries we are, we prayed and did our best to follow the spirit and talk to everyone. Which meant we ended up walking up and down the same rue like three times and then wandering down a random path where there's never anyone. EXCEPT THAT DAY. The first people we saw were a couple and I hate contacting couples but I did it and they took the book! Victory! We said a big fat gratitude prayer and then did our weekly planning.

The spirit guys. It's real. 

And now a quote. That I found in a Liahona I was reading. Cracked me up. It's Boyd K. Packer I believe. 

"If the question is asked, 'You mean you are out to convert the entire world?’ the answer is, ‘Yes. We will try to reach every living soul.’ Some who measure that challenge quickly say, ‘Why, that’s impossible! It cannot be done!’ To that we simply say, ‘Perhaps, but we shall do it anyway.’"

Some words of wisdom for you. Have a great week! 

Soeur Hansen

PS the members here are awesome, we were supposed to have a raclette fete on Tuesday which got cancelled so our dmp and a ward missionary couple had us over for raclette anyway. They're the best. 

Week 74 - Valenciennes Sees Miracles

We made caramel au beurre salé

Hello family!

Can I just express one more time how excited I am to be done writing these emails haha. I mean there's a Soeur who went home in November still going strong writing weekly emails but like no way Jose. Sorry in advance Reese.

But since I still have the chance to write you guys I guess I should be grateful and make the best of it and have a positive attitude and all that other stuff I've learned about in the last 17 months haha.

So yeah.

Two stories to share.

One comes from last week but I forgot and it needs to be shared. MIRACLE. So last Saturday we were trying to make lunch but realized our shredded emmental cheese that we stole from the elders' now vacant apartment had gone moldy! What are soeurs to do! We came up with something else but during our trajet home we were trying to decide what we wanted for dinner and everything involved cheese! So we tried to stop by Carrefour but it was closed! We resolved to just make quiche pockets without cheese so I started cracking eggs and Soeur Gilbert grabbed some other stuff from the fridge. INCLUDING A BAG OF EMMENTAL! It was definitely out there by angels. We called it the miracle cheese and shared that as our miracle of the week in district meeting. #valenciennesseesmiracles.

This week was good but I don't really have anything interesting to share until Sunday! Actually the week was a little rough- plans just kept falling through and it was a little frustrating.

So Saturday night we got a call from the dmp [ward mission leader] to tell us that church
was cancelled. CHURCH! [apparently the heat in the chapel was not working] We were dying about that haha like literally everything fixed from the week had fallen through including dmp and conseil de paroisse [ward council], that we have every week. And CHURCH was cancelled haha. Raged a little but then we got over it. So we started calling leaders to figure out what to do and long story short we ended up going to Lille for church! It was super weird because we didn't know anyone, didn't have to do anything, didn't have amis to wait for/watch over. We called it vacation. Plus we got to see other missionaries! And I met Henri-Paul Doit, one of Dad's companions! He says hi Dad!

With Bishop Doit in Lille

Elder Doit and Elder Hansen - Montauban, France 1979

So then we get to the gare to take our train back... The train broke down! They made a couple announcements and then finally were like "the next train's at 18h35. Get off" haha. So we had to wait like 40 minutes. We called our DL who's in Lille because they were going to try and get us some stuff for a member in Valenciennes and asked them to bring us some apples cause we were hungry and they had that haha. So they show up at the gare half an hour later with a bag of food - apples, oranges, a granola bar, a sleeve of cookies, a baguette and a pizza they'd just taken out of the oven haha. Best DL ever award. That time going to church took the entire day.

Today we took some pictures (miracle in itself), did our normal tour around the mall, and made caramel that a JA in Rennes used to make that Soeur Gilbert had the recipe for! Yay! Caramel au beurre salé. [caramel with salted butter]

So yeah. I think that's everything!

LOVE you guys!

Soeur Hansen

Week 73 - Trips to Belgium, Exchanges in Lille, Last Interviews

Hey team!

Well, I've procrastinated writing this email pretty much as long as humanly possible haha. Trying to come up with some good stuff to send you but my brain is just like "...."  Probably because we ate kebab for lunch. And made Madeleine gauffres for dinner yesterday (they're really good). But we felt like we were going to die. Sugar overload.

Pretty good week. Went to Belgium twice. Had exchanges. Had interviews. Made lots of Madeleines. Visited members. And now we're writing emails again!

Tuesday was SO COLD. It was a really cold week but Tuesday was the worst, and we were supposed to have a rdv but it got cancelled at the last second so we ended up with about 6 hours of solid finding. Miserable haha. We finally were just too cold so we took the tram for a while to warm up a little. Went to FHE at the church that night, us, the ward mission leader and the ward missionaries. We're a pretty cool crew. Just need some amis to show up.

Wednesday we had a couple mangez-vous which was awesome. One was with this family who live literally and hours drive from the church. It was fun to be with them, though - they have a daughter who's about to turn 19 and put her papers in so they've been shopping for her clothes and shoes and it was so cute to see how excited she is!

Thursday we went to Lille for our exchanges. I was with Soeur Ulrich, she's super cute. We taught a cool convert couple who recently moved from Brazil about the temple! Did some finding, had some good conversations.

Friday was awesome. We had our interviews, my last ones with Pres and Soeur Babs before I die. Bittersweet. I love them. Then we had district meeting (they're doing interviews at district meetings starting this transfer). And then headed back to Valenciennes, we went straight to our ward missionary meeting, then had council de paroisse [ward council] and taught our nine year old ami who came with his mom and older sister who has seminary on Friday nights. We were exhausted that night. In the best way.

Saturday we went to the old elders' apartment to make an inventory of everything there for the office. It was fascinating. We also found out that they ordered like 3 boxes of Book of Mormons and a trillion brochures that we need to some how get to our apartment which is like a mile walk away. Well keep you posted on that one.

Sunday was great. It's been really fun to get to know the ward better- there's such a difference once you've started visiting them in their homes, it feels like you have friends and the ward feels like home. Taught some lessons (miracles). This ward rules. Our dmp announced the Tuesday night FHE over the pulpit during his talk and we're having a raclette fete with the ward
missionaries and him because he found out that Soeur Gilbert and I love raclette. And the JA ward missionary made a meal calendar and went around asking people to have us over. So rad.

And today. We went shopping and ate kebab. Fete.

Love you guys! Have a great week!


Soeur Hansen

Week 72 - Elder Kearon conference and an RDV!

With Soeur Gilbert at the border

Herro family!

First off, I'm really sorry I have like no pictures again this week, seriously I think I've taken like 6 this transfer... Gotta be better. Soeur Gilbert and I have made it a joke to see how long we're going to go without taking a picture together.

Okay now for the part where I try and summarize this week in a concise, uplifting, and hopefully slightly humorous way. You guys, these emails are the trial of my mission. But thankfully dad writes the subject lines for me, that would be beyond my capabilities.

Starting it off with Monday. Soldes [sales] shopping! Not super successful but we're going to try some other places today (had to start with the basics- h&m and Zara). Fete.

Tuesday we did a normal day of all day finding here in Valenciennes, meaning that I think it's safe to say that I've walked enough in the last two months to justify never walking again in my entire life. But we saw some miracles and met some cool people!

Wednesday we did more finding and then went to Cambrai to teach a nine year old who's preparing for baptism. We talked about Nephi and played a game. Teaching kids is hard! Major props to all my Primary teachers, I'm so sorry for all the blank stares and one word answers haha.

Thursday we went to Paris for a conference with Elder Kearon! He's so cool. It was super inspiring and I loved it. Lots of good one liners again haha "attack the day!" And "stop worrying and work hard!" But my personal favorite was when he asked what President Hinckley's father had said to him when he complained about how hard the mission was and an elder responded "shut up and go to work!" Hahahaha pretty close but like not quite, my friend. And President and Soeur Babin (in their loving way) basically told all of us to shape up and be more obedient.

Friday we actually HAD A RDV! With a new ami!! It was so cool! And I realized that I've completely forgotten how to teach first rdvs. But it's okay the spirit helped us out and like at the end of the day, we did our best so if she's ready, she's ready, if not, it's not our fault.

Saturday Soeur Gilbert was sick so I did book work. I know this area book WAY too well.

And Sunday! Called basically everyone in the known universe (or at least Valenciennes) and then did some pass-bys. And we got let in! We'd gotten this lady's address and phone number and we'd called her but she didn't respond so we were like "well... We could just go" haha. I'm realizing how creepy we are. Like if this wasn't the truth, we'd be super creepy. But anyway she let us in and we taught a brief retab and gave her a Book of Mormon. Miracle!

Last week we gave a Book of Mormon to a member and asked her to write her testimony in it and pray with us that we'd be able to find someone to give it to so all week we'd been finding people, (and we actually found a lot of new amis this week) but still hadn't been able to give the Book of Mormon, until that rdv! Thank you Heavenly Father!

And today we're going to Belgium.

Love you guys!


Soeur Hansen

PS - Back from Belgium and sending some pictures after all.

MTC comp, Sr Walker

Making beignets!

Saw Soeur Ellis at the conference

Week 71 - Birthday and a new companion

Sr Sabando made me a breakfast waffle!

Hullo family!

Well. Not much to report this week. Other than like I'm a year older and got a new companion. Yay birthdays! Thank you to everyone who wrote me! Shout out to the fam, got 6/6 on emails, you guys rule.

Birthday birthday birthday. It was really cool, since it was the day before transfers we were running around for Soeur Sabando to say goodbye to people, it was probably the busiest day I've had in Valenciennes, so that was a great birthday present! That night we had soirée familiale for the first time since I've been here which was really good...except for the random polygamy tangent that a couple members went off on.

Wednesday was transfers...longest day ever haha. Got up early, got our train, Soeur Sabando ditched me in the gare, I waited with some other missionaries for my new comp, we got on the train to go back and then had like 6 hours of proselyting time. With no bus pass because you need a proof of residency and I didn't want to go through the hassle of having her buy a bunch of day passes when we could just walk everywhere. Which we did. We walked and walked and walked. Like pioneer children. It was a party.

Thursday we went and did some member and less active visits with a member couple, they picked us up and drove us around and it was awesome! They were so cool because they just like took responsibility to fix the rdvs and take care of everything, we just brought the message. So instead of walking everywhere we drove everywhere for a day!

Friday we got Soeur Gilbert's bus pass! (She still didn't use it until Saturday night) did planning, had dmp and ward council and it was just a fête. One of our goals is to gain the members' trust by being really obedient and on top of life since they're kind of still bummed about not having Elders in the vile anymore. But it's okay because the Soeurs are here!!

Saturday we raided the old elders apartment (we had to take the trash out for them since they lived in centre ville it could only be taken out certain days) they had a raclette machine! And enough flour and sugar and rice and non-perishables that were basically not going to
buy anything besides cereal and fruit for groceries so that was a good day.

Sunday was good too. We had some really good lessons and a less active family we've been trying to work with (they're super busy) came to church! After church was a ward meal and devotional which was done by the Soeur missionaries! It was supposed to be the elders doing part about porting and contacting and us doing a part about teaching in lessons. But then the elders equipe got closed and Soeur Sabando got transferred so it was basically just me trying to summarize both lessons and Soeur Gilbert testifying about everything. It went okay, I think only like two of them fell asleep so that's déjà bien.

So yeah. That's pretty much the week. Sorry my emails have been so lame lately, we need to go on more adventures!

But I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Soeur Hansen

Week 70 - Happy New Year!

Hullo family!

Transfers this week. Kind of crazy, Soeur Sabando is going to Rennes! So that's all four of the same villes for us. (Both started in Tours, then she went to Liège and I went to Rennes, then I came to Liège and she went to Valenciennes, I came to Valenciennes and now she's going to Rennes!) (that was probably more detail than you cared about) We've been joking for weeks that she's going there haha. What are the chances? And Soeur Gilbert is coming to me from Rennes! So that's super crazy too. But she's Soeur Walton's bleue and she's super cute so I'm looking forward to getting killed by her!

ALSO the elders' equipe got closed so Soeur Gilbert and I are the only missionaries that are going to be in Valenciennes. The ward was super bummed.

This week though- we had our last district meeting so I got pictures for ya. Then we stayed in Lille and did mini exchanges with the STLs. I was with Soeur Proudfoot and we went to the COOLEST mangez-vous ever. The STLs ported into this family a couple weeks ago doing Christmas porting and they invited them to come over for dinner! They weren't interested and didn't want to hear a message but they'd looked up some stuff on Mormon.org so we were able to talk about the Word of Wisdom and why we do what we do and live how we live. Mostly we talked about France and America and they showed us like a hundred pictures from their vacations haha. They were great and it was so much fun.

Dad, when we were in Lille I asked the Lille elders about Henri-Paul Doit. He's the bishop of the Lille Ward!! [Bishop Doit was my missionary companion in the France Toulouse Mission in 1979]

Wednesday we went to Belgium! There's a family in the ward that lives right across the border. We had a miracle too on our way there. A few weeks ago when we got on the bus the bus driver (a Muslim man) was like "hey! Mormons! Do you have the Bible?!" And we were a little hesitant but we gave him a Book of Mormon and a card with the elders' number. So then when we're on the bus going to the border it's the same bus driver! We thought we were supposed to get off at the terminus (we weren't, the member was like 6 stops back...) but since the member wasn't there we were just chilling at the stop and the bus driver got off to talk to us because he'd lost the card we gave him and we were able to teach him a little bit about Christ (and that we were Christians...) it was way cool!

Thursday we did some fun stuff and then came in at dinner (we don't work the night of the 31st since everyone's fête-ing) and did some area book work. Partayyy.

Friday we were supposed to work... So Soeur Sabando and I went out contacting. There were like four drunk people out. It was super efficace. But we were obedient! And then we found ways to be productive from inside. Like deep cleaning the apartment and planning. Partayyy #2

Saturday was the transfer news, we did some member pass-bys and then went home again because both of us were feeling sick.

Sunday was a super depressing church because the elders are leaving. But we met this super rad less active that the elders teach every week so I'm stoked to start teaching him! We'll just have to get some good member help so that we can actually go!

Okay well that's the week. Were in full cleaning/packing mode to get Soeur Sabando ready to go. Kind of crazy to be doing three one-and-dones in a row with comps!

Love you guys!! Pray for Valenciennes!!

Soeur Hansen

Eating foie gras (at our dinner appointment with the cool family we mentioned that Soeur Sabando didn't get to try it so they pulled some out for us. I liked it better than last year but still don't think it's worth what they put those animals through!)