Week 69 - Joyeux Noël!

Hello everybody! 

I'm going to be honest I don't really have the desire to write out everything we did this week plus I just saw you (well, mostly Mom Dad and Erik) on Friday so... It's gonna be quick. 

Before Christmas we just did finding. Comme d'habs. 

Christmas was really good! We spent Christmas Eve in Lille with our district. We had a raclette fête and played loup-garou (basically Mafia but with werewolves) and ping pong and just had a good time. 

That evening in Valenciennes we were with some really awesome members and they fed us really well! It was very French haha we got there at 7 and got home at 11. And we were eating pretty much the whole time, except for a little break we took to play a few rounds of Uno before the cheese course and dessert. I love the French. 

Christmas Day we got up late and opened presents. I made Soeur Sabando make us empanadas with paté. Then we went to an amis' for lunch and then Skyped. It was a good day. 

And that's the important stuff! 

This is too short and I wanted to share this story last week but had already written too much so I'll share it this week. It's from a Christmas Liahona from a few years ago and for some reason I love it. So. Enjoy. 

"When I was a member of our district presidency, I helped coordinate an activity in which the members of our district donated toys to poor children living in the city of Soacha, Colombia. We had a wonderful response from all the members. Not all the gifts were new, but most were in good condition. As we finished loading the gifts on the buses that would take us to the city, a young girl came up to me with a plastic ball that had been heavily used and was scratched. I held the ball in my hand, wondering who would have donated such a beat-up ball. With some disdain I tossed it under the seat. When we arrived, our youth began singing Christmas hymns. Their music, along with their Christmas hats, attracted a large group of children. When we started handing out the gifts, those children called other children. Soon we had given out all our gifts. When we were about to leave, I saw a boy about eight years old running toward us, holding his little brother by the hand. When they arrived, the older boy said, “We came for our gifts.” His innocence left me without words and touched my heart. I explained to him that the gifts were gone. He responded, “It doesn’t matter if my gift isn’t here, but my little brother’s must be here.” Then I thought of the ball I had tossed under my seat. I told the boys I did have one more gift but that it was a humble one. “It doesn’t matter what it is,” he said. “That is the one.” I got on the bus and found the ball. When I gave it to the little boy, his joy overflowed. Jumping with gratitude, he said, “A ball! That is the present I asked the Christ child to bring me.” He continued to dance around happily as he and his older brother went away with their treasured gift. I quietly stood there and wept as a warm feeling of peace and gratitude enveloped me. The concern and selfless care the older brother gave to his younger brother touched me, and I silently hoped that I would be as eager to bless others as the older boy was to bless his brother. As the boys happily walked away, I was reminded of the Savior’s love for us. He did not even forget a little boy on a mountainside who had asked for a simple ball for Christmas."

Love you all! Thanks for everything you do!

Soeur Hansen

Week 68 - Four cities, six trains

Hello family et Joyeux Noel!

It's once again Pday and I once again have absolutely no idea what to write you guys about... But I'm going to start anyway and just kind of see what ends up happening.

It was a really good week, we were in four different cities (Valenciennes, Lille, Paris and Cambrai) and took six trains so that's always fun!

First stop on the Valenciennes Soeurs world tour was Lille for district meeting. We actually missed our train and had to wait an hour for the next one, which I was super annoyed about to be honest, but we tried to find the humor and laughed about the fact that we were walking around (trying to find an ATM) carrying a tartiflette that we made for the district meeting meal. And I read a talk by Pres Eyring about adversity and realized that even though we'd missed the train and half of district meeting, we "were not yet as Job". Thanks Pres Eyring.

Wednesday was one of those super fun all day finding days! And that's all I'm going to say about Wednesday. Except that I was wearing these ankle-high rain boots that I found in the closet. Worst mistake of my life. My feet killed me for the next three days. But my toes were dry for the first time in a while:) Those monsters went back in the closet.

Thursday. See Wednesday, minus the rain boots. Plus stop number two on our world tour! We spent the night in Paris to do Soeur Sabando's visa work for her second year in France.

Friday we got to the prefecture and ended up running into a bunch of missionaries, including Soeur Ellis and the Redds! So that was fun! The Lille soeurs were there too and we went over to Consecration Hill together and then went to this crepe/panini place by Notre Dame that the missionaries are obsessed with. It was super fun. Then I took Soeur Sabando to the Arc de Triomphe since she'd never been!

That night when we got back we went to this activity with the ward (mostly for the young men and young women) which was singing in centre ville at the Christmas marché! There weren't a ton of people at the marché despite the fact that it was a Friday night but it was good. We weren't given permission to give cards/brochures or anything so the branch mission leader decided that the best way to do missionary work despite that obstacle was to put the missionaries and "vos jolies plaques" in the very front.... As you can imagine that was a thrilling prospect for me.

Saturday was the final stop on the world tour, we went to Cambrai which is a ville in our sector that is about the same size as (If not bigger than) Valenciennes. But there aren't very many members down there so they're a part of the Valenciennes ward. Our rdvs were both canceled at the last minute so we had no real reason to go but we decided to go and try and see some less actives that we found on the repertoire because Christmas is an easy way to make contact. We found one and we had a good little lesson with her about the real meaning of Christmas and tried to get to know her. It was cool!

That night we had the ward Christmas party which started off with more caroling in centre ville. A lot more people were out so that was cool! There was one lady that stayed pretty much the whole 20 minutes we were singing and then thanked us for helping people remember Jesus! That was super sweet. The party was chaos as Christmas parties, and most ward activities, usually are. But it's a fun chaos.

Sunday we rounded out with some more finding! Yay! Voici ma semaine. [That was my week]. Sorry this is such a freakishly long email. I love you all and I'm so excited to talk to you on Christmas!

Soeur Hansen 

Week 67 - Un Sauveur est Né

Hey family! 

Soeur Sabando and I took Christmas pictures last night so I didn't write this email before hand... It's gonna be a quick one! 

The first couple days were pretty cold and we did a lot of finding, got frudged and we were just super excited for the Christmas conference that was on Friday! It was super fun, the Babins did a lot of really sweet stuff for us and I loved it. Plus I got to see the Redds and some other Liegeois so that's always fun! 

Saturday we taught a couple that have been Amis for almost a year. The wife is really awesome and is basically just waiting for her husband to decide to get baptized so they can do it together. He refuses to progress and its a little tricky, but this week Soeur Sabando and I really wanted to see what their understanding of the restoration was, because if you don't understand that, then you really can't progress. It was so cool! They knew all the parts like priesthood and apostasy and Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon but this time we were able to help them put all the parts together and they seemed to finally get it! So that was a miracle. 

We had another sweet miracle this week - We had about an hour to do contacting, it had been a really frustrating day because everybody we talked to was going through trials that could have been soothed if they'd been willing to hear about the gospel. We stopped a lady who started to tell us about the hard things in her life and we offered our condolences and tried to teach her a little about the plan of salvation, she wasn't interested in learning more but told us she was touched by our compassion and accepted to pray with us. The spirit was super strong during the prayer and I felt God reaching out in love to His daughter through us. That's why we're here! 

So voilà ma semaine. Je vous aime tous et joyeux Noël!

Soeur Hansen 

PS I love the Christmas video but it's way better in French, except for the little African boy who says "for our sins.. For our sadness" that's my favorite part. I watch it like at least once a day. 

#unsauveurestne

[Here is the link to the French version of "A Savior is Born" - the Christmas message on lds.org]:

Un Sauveur est Né

[And here is the English version]:

A Savior is Born

"Batman came to Valenciennes this week"

"What every house in Valenciennes looks like after 19h"

Week 66 - We got a Christmas tree!

Our "sapin de Noël"

Hey team!

So gonna be a little short today, since I'm trying to figure out plans with Dad and Nekel for going to....drumroll....LONDON!! Summer 2016! I'm
so excited!

[Maren found out this week that she and her friend Nekel have been accepted to the BYU study abroad program in London next Summer term]

But, it's still December 2015 and I'm a very focused, consecrated missionary.

This week was good, started off with exchanges, I had Soeur Rasband here in Valenciennes. Little bit stressful trying to get us around when I'd only been here for 6 days but I only got us a little lost... We met a really cool girl, our rdv fell through so we turned up a street to go catch the team and do some porting and we talked to this woman about the retab [Restoration] and she seemed to actually kind of get it! Which is a miracle during a street contact! So that was really cool! She was moving so we couldn't get any contact info for her which was too bad.

Wednesday we went to Lille for district meeting! And then the Redds came to town to bring the elders some paint for their apartment and fix a couple things for us, that was super fun! Little Liège reunion.

Other than that... We started Christmas porting, singing for people. If anyone wants proof that a mission changes you, look no further than the fact that I was willingly knocking on strangers doors asking if I could sing for them. Miracles happen.

Fun stuff. We had a rdv with a member that lasted like over two hours because the member was FULL of stories to share. It was really sweet
of her to come haha.

Church was good! Christmas zone conf this week! Woot!

I love you guys! Have an awesome week!

Soeur Hansen

Week 65 - Back in France

Hello fam!

So apologies in advance, usually I write this email the night before so I can actually have some kind of coherence, but I had no envie last night so sorry if it's even more random and scatter brained than usual.

This week!

Monday and Tuesday we were on lockdown, Tuesday we started to get pretty slap happy. Played games, I finished packing, got our last frites (got special permission to go out for that one), and basically just completely cracked. It was fun. 

"Last frites in Belgium"

We went to the Redds that night for the JA FHE. They ask the missionaries who are leaving to bear their testimonies or share something they've learned. It was so sad :(.  Four of us were leaving so it was very bittersweet. And to make it worse they sang God be with you till we meet again. They kill me.

Wednesday we got up super early to get to the gare, got to Brussels, got to Paris and met up with Soeur Sabando, got on a train and came up here to Valenciennes!

So Valenciennes. It's basically the summary of what everyone thinks France is, small and quaint, quiet, everyone is at least 60 years old and Catholic. No one understands my French. It's fun. Very different feel from my other villes, but I'm excited to get to finish my mission here. The look of it reminds me a lot of Tours mixed with Liège. But that doesn't really mean anything to you guys haha.

Soeur Sabando is great, probably the chillest start to a companionship, we already know each other and have lived together so we could just get to work. No more awkwardness than is normal in a two-man apartment. It's just quiet and tranquille up here. And super cold. And no matter where you're walking the wind is in your face haha. I don't know how it's possible but that's how it is.

Thursday was really great, got to meet some amis and see more of the ville (we walk everywhere pretty much since there are like literally four bus lines and a tram, I've never used public transport this infrequently). Made a little Thanksgiving dinner for ourselves. Pretty low key, I honestly kind of forgot that it was a holiday haha.

Thanksgiving with my Canadian companion, who tried to convince me that Thanksgiving was in October.

Friday we did missionary work. Went to ward council. Woooohhoop.

Saturday, ditto.

Sunday we went to church and did some porting. Woot. Met some super nice Muslims.

And so like yeah. Voici the week. Full of adventures as you can tell.

I sent a package home with a bunch of clothes I don't wear right now but still want and some chocolate for you guys! Hope it gets there okay!

Love youuuuu
Soeur Hansen

"The wise man that Soeur Corneta gave me from a creche she got-- she was like, I can't keep this, i can't fit it in my suitcases!"

"I found a Care Bears coloring book in my desk when I was cleaning it out. and we'd been on lockdown for four days so..."

Week 64 - Transfer news

Love the Redds! Gonna miss them!

Salut team!

Hope you're all doing just fantastic! Got lots of stuff for you guys this week - not sure that I'll write about all of it but like we'll see :) here we go.Monday we had our zone pday- everybody in Belgium came out to Liège! It was super fun, we played some games and ate some food and wrote some emails. It was a party. This weekend was super weird, we saw our zone Friday for zone conf, Sunday for stake conf and then again on Monday! It was especially weird for us in liege - usually we just feel like were banished over because we see no one haha. So it was a fête.

Tuesday we had district meeting, did some missionary work, went to the Redds for soirée familiale. Went on a hunt to find flowers to take to a member that's really sick- it's remarkably hard to find flowers in Liège!

Wednesday we had a nice long day of finding.

Thursday - did some more finding and then we went to Paris! I had to go pick up my titre de sejour card so we went down and stayed with the Versailles soeurs- Soeur Walton! It was sooo fun. And we definitely went to bed on time... Lol no. Sorry.

Friday - got my titre de sejour! I'm legal! Yay! Then we had a couple of hours to wait until our train, so we went to the Arc de Triomphe and walked on the Champs Elysees! It was POURING all day so that was a bit of a bummer. After that we went and got hot chocolate and waited inside, bought a baguette and then got back on the train to Liège! Soaked and freezing. But it was super fun!

Saturday - got up and did studies, we got a text about 8:30 am that Belgium's security level had been raised, that people in general in Brussels weren't supposed to go outside and that they would keep us posted. About 9 we got a text that we needed to cancel our rdvs and stay inside. Fête. We watched Meet the Mormons, played Uno and organized becauuseeeeeeee...

I'm going to Valenciennes! With Soeur Sabando! Crazy! Soeur Nelson's training for her last transfer and Soeur Facer is going to whitewash into Torcy! Lots of crazy changes this transfer. I'm going back to France!

Funny from Saturday - Soeur Redd texted us that she wanted to bring us something - we were hoping for food since we were a little low haha, she brought us the repertoire (the zls had already called us and told us what was going on with transfers) as well as a bag of clementines, nacho cheese Doritos, and a chocolate cake. Thanks Soeur Redd!

Sunday - church was only sacrament meeting and the branches were combined, so that was kind of fun! It was supposed to be the Primary program for the other branch so they went along with that. There were two primary kids, three that were there but one was too shy to do it with both branches there. And two less active kids had parts but weren't there so their teachers replaced them, pretty funny to see adults get up to give their one sentence and then sit back down. "Les prophets sont appellé par Dieu." [Prophets are called of God] They did a good job. And then Elder Kaonohi sang the closing hymn- "reste avec nous seigneur". [Abide With Me] So so beautiful. He also played the prelude on his ukulele haha. That was
sweet.

But yeah. Spent the day in the apartment again, but avoiding packing. It's crazy to be leaving, I feel like I barely got here! But I'm excited for this next adventure.

Today we're still sort of on lock down, we can't take public transport or go to rdvs unless we have a member drive us there and back. So... Yeah. We got permission to come to the Redds! So we're having our bye bye breakfast.

Love you,

Soeur Hansen

Uno!

Rachel, one of the young adults in the branch