Week 43 - Train adventure

FAMILY! hello! greetings! salutations!

This week - no idea where to start, so so much happened. Super long week but in a good way. There's no way to fit it all in so I'm just going to send two quick stories. But this has seriously been one of the best, funniest, crazy weeks of my mission. 

Wednesday was transfer day, so we took our troisième [third companion] to the gare and put her on a train for Paris. Well, that was the plan at least. Since we were a trio Sr Walton and I didn't need to go into Paris, because she could travel with the elders that were going in. So, Rennes is a passthrough gare, which means that the train to Paris started somewhere like Brest or Quimper and then was going on to Paris, so we get to the car where Sr Stevens' seat is, and start trying to load her suitcases. But it wasn't the first gare so all the space is filled up so I took one of her suitcases and tried to find space in the middle of the car where there are some shelves and Sr Walton was working with Sr Stevens to find some space by the doors. So I'm in the middle of the car and then this TGV noise goes off and the DOORS CLOSED. So I look over at Sr Walton and we just stare at each other and I start mouthing "ARE WE STUCK ON THIS TRAIN" just complete shock sets in. So she starts frantically pushing buttons trying to get the door to open BUT THE DOOR IS CLOSED. so we're stuck on this train and then it starts moving. 

Naturally, the calm, as the level headed capable missionaries we are, we start RUNNING down the aisles of the train cars trying to find Elder Bigler, the DL who's on the train taking Elder Kelley into Paris to get transfered. So as I'm talking to him on the phone and we're running down the aisles we see two other elders who were coming in from Brest and they were just like "oh hey sisters" to which we respond half screaming and with a lot of hand waving "WE'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ON THIS TRAIN WE DON'T HAVE TICKETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and continued running. Ended up finding Elder Bigler, who was trying to figure out how we could pool our money to buy us some tickets (oh another fun fact, my MSF card got hacked last week so I don't have any MSF for a little while) but the elders in Brest have a mission credit card (for buying gas because they have a car) and we ended up using that. So yeah. Sr Walton and I went to Paris on Wednesday. We were just laughing so hard about it the whole day and pretty much everday since. 

Adventures. 

So yeah. Good start to the transfer. Last one Sr Stevens and I were locked out for 6 hours, this one we accidentaly took a train to Paris. 

The rest of the week was really good! I am LOVING being back in a companionship and being with Sr Walton. We are having so much fun just being absolute goofs. Working SO hard and being exhausted all day and then getting into the apartment and going nuts. I was not super excited about staying in Rennes for another transfer but I feel like this is going to be one of my favorite transfers yet. 

Today we went to St Malo, I'd been before but went back with Sr Walton, it's really cool. Spent the day climbing on rocks and getting some fresh air. We ended up just spending a lot of our time sitting on some rocks and being still. So nice. We were just like "I feel so zen right now, so at peace and one with my soul" haha it was great. Sending lots of pictures for you guys. 

 Well. I love all of you so much. Hope you had a good laugh at my expense. Don't get stuck on TGVs. Its really dumb. 

you're all great!

sr hansen

Week 42 - And then there were two

HEY TEAM!

Well the tiny gang that I go everywhere with is being disbanded as of Wednesday morning. Going back to just being a duo. Its going to be so weird to be a normal companionship! But I'm really really really excited. 

Learned lots of things from this trio so I thought I'd bestow some of my pearls. They're pretty much just Sr Hansen pearls so take them as you will. 

1. Bottling it up actually solves problems sometimes.

I know psychologists will probably hate me for that one but hey this is my list of pearls so psychologists you can just get lost. I was talking to Pres in my interview a couple weeks ago about how with the trio, if you have some kind of emotional issue you want to talk to someone about its almost impossible in the trio because its so dang awkward to spill your feelings to two people. So you just don't. And then you get over it. So not bottling up so much as picking your battles. PICK YOUR BATTLES. 

2. Being sassy rarely solves problems. 

It feels good though. But don't do it. Because then everyone is just annoyed. Sometimes you have to remember that you want to be friends with these people after you're out of this high stress situation called a mission. And then you'll be grateful for every day that you were friends ON the mission and not too busy sassing each other off about things that don't actually matter. 

3. Sometimes you just need to buy ice cream. 

it solves SO many problems. yeah. 

4. A clean apartment is a happy apartment. 

Yeah. it turns out John Bytheway was on to something. And my Mom. And those annoying office elders that always do formations on cleaning the apartment. Coming home to a nasty apartment after spending the entire day, every day, with the same two people that you also live with is enough to make anyone (and frequently does make ME) grouchy. So yeah. clean apartment=heaven on earth. But I hate cleaning so that's a pearl I'm still working on. 

These are my pearls so far. Hope you've enjoyed them. 

This week though- not a whole lot to report. Did lots of missionary work. Sr Stevens is going to Orleans to be with her MTC comp and she's SO excited. And we're excited for her but its going to be weird, I've lived with that little goof for four and a half months. and I'm going to miss her like crazy.  

LOVE you fam! have a great week!

Soeur Hansen

"Sr Stevens has an American flag she didn't tell us
 about until she was packing. We sang patriotic anthems this morning." 

Week 41 - "I just love France"

GUYS!

This week was crazy, we went to Nantes on Tuesday after district meeting for a quick second exchange (they wanted to do another one because of the trio thing) it was fun to see Sr Anderson one more time before she goes home!

Got back from Nantes, had PPP with our cute Chinese ami, "G" (well she's not really an ami because we haven't actually been able to teach her but she's come to stuff!) 

Thursday we went to "E"s (the French lady we do service for) she was really really depressed so we just talked for a bit and then offered that we could arrange a priesthood blessing. It was really sweet. We saw her the next day to go grocery shopping and she just seemed SO much better. Just lighter. It was amazing to me to see the power of priesthood blessings for other people, I know how powerful they are for me personally but to see that in someone else's life, especially someone who is not a member was just beautiful. 

Friday ran around Rennes trying to find less actives to invite to the Soiree Dansant. Funniest activity ever. It was basically a stake dance, but for the ward. The whole ward, the adults the youth the primary. And there was a talent show at the end. I just love France you guys. 

Saturday we did some planning. That night we taught this super sweet lady named "N", we were going to teach plan du salut so we asked her about what she thought the goal of this life was and straight away she goes "Je ne sais pas." [I don't know] and proceeds to tell us that she's been praying and had prayed the night before asking God what the purpose of her life was and if there was a plan for her. AHHHh. Missionary work!!!

Sunday we went to church. It was raining. Missionary work...

And today! We're going to L's tonight for family home evening. Made cookies but we didn't have enough flour so I put in oatmeal (sort of worked) didn't have vanilla so we put in almond flavoring (didn't really work at all, don't try it) but non-Americans won't know the difference! 

You guys are great and I love you lots! 

Have a great week!

sr 'an-sen

Week 40 - Hump Day

"We got soaked in the space of like 2 minutes. BRETAGNE!"

Hey fam!

This week was great! and also hard. Oppostion in all things! Only missionaries get excited about that!

Started this week with "L"- did a soirée familiale with her, she's been reading "Our Heritage" and we wanted to watch a Restoration movie with her. She picked Ephraim's Rescue. It's great. Favorite "L" line from the night (after Ephraim Hanks miraculously heals a bunch of pioneers) "He got there too late, so many people died." Yep "L". That's how the priesthood works. I love her. 

Tuesday night we went on an exchange to teach "C" (I don't remember if I've told you about her..?) anyway we wanted to take a member but not overwhelm her with four people so I went alone with Sr "A". She's such a character, kept having me take pictures of us and making me promise to send them to her. Don't worry Sr "A", I'm all over it. Well, I had to write it down in my planner, otherwise I would have totally forgotten. Missionary brain is a problème grave everyone. So just to summarize that night (and the picture I'm sending) it was me- 20 year old American, Sr "A", 50-something French woman, and "C", 40-something from Chad. And somehow I was supposed to be the one teaching that night. 

Wednesday we had our interviews with President Babin, I love him and Sr Babin is just a peach. That night was PPP (ping pong, pancakes and pensé spirituelle), and a girl that Sr Stevens and Sr Ellis met came! She's Chinese and doesn't speak French but MIRACLES Elder Chen, one of the like 5 Chinese elders in the mish was at the church finishing up his interview so he came and translated the spiritual thought for her! It was SO cool. L'eglise est vrai, toute le monde. [The church is true, everyone]

Thursday we had our zone conference, it was a party. After lunch we were bugging the APs about when we're getting our iPads because "they were shipped yesterday" has been the answer for the last month or so. Guys, mission secret, the APs don't know anything more than we do about what's going on in the mission. 

Friday we went out to Brécé to do some jardinage [gardening] for a member. SO fun. We went a while ago and planted flowers and then Friday we went back to pull the weeds (and mostly grass) that have grown up around them. We were super sore for like three days after that. But got some good pics in the countryside. There were daisies everywhere. I love daisies! 

Saturday we did some stuff, got some rendez-vous cancelled on us. Got fruged by our baptismal date, got persecuted on the bus by some stoners, BUT we also did a passby so that was good. Soyez forte day. [Be strong]

Sunday was great- did planning which in a trio takes exponentially longer than in a companionship. Ate some crazy good dinner- eternally grateful for Sr Walton inspiring us to actually cook meals and not eat sandwiches everyday. 

and TODAY

sorry for this beast of an email!

We went to Mt St Michel again to take Sr Walton! Super fun! Super good weather! Got lots of great pics, they're just all on Sr Walton's camera.... sorry fam, I'll try and get those sent to you at some point! 

Love you all have a great week!

 

Soeur Hansen

Week 39- The vanishing citizens of Rennes

HEY FAM!

SO. Not going to lie -- don't have too anything exciting to share with you- some weeks are just less emailable.

Sorry about last week- we're all praying our ipads come soon (not really, that's a lame desire) because this internet cafe thing is starting to get a little old.

but. little story from last week- we've been doing a lot of member splits because the trio makes it really easy, we just need one, and we have a recent convert, "L", who is basically free 24/7 so we go out contacting with her. She's a very interesting person and we all love her. Anyway, it was my turn this one day to go on the split with "L" and we start and she REALLY wants to go into Republique, (center of town) and just talk to AS MANY PEOPLE AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE. Which is adorable. And also not a super effective way to do missionary work (at least the way that I do it, that works for other people) Anyway, contacting with "L". It's kind of like having a blue. Who is older than you. and didn't go to the MTC. and speaks fluent French. It's an interesting experience. So we start and there's like NO one out. So after the second or third "wow this street is really empty" comment I just go "it's okay, I was inspired to come here, there's going to be a reason" she was very impressed. and we ended up finding some people to talk to and had some really good contacts. Fake it til you make it everyone. It works. Besides, if you start with a prayer, have the Spirit, and do what you feel is right, that's inspiration. 

This week- 

Sometimes you just have those weeks where you can't see anyone. It's really interesting how amis coordinate their schedules to all be unavailable the same week. It's really amazing. Someone should do a study on this phenomenon. but the great thing is it means we get to do lots of finding!

We had our STLs here this week, I went with Sr Lusty and it was SO nice to be in a companionship for a couple hours. The trio is great and hilarious and we have so much fun but there's just something nice about being two by two. and Sr Lusty is great. She was in my blue zone and came up to Tours way back in October to do our finding day! She's great.

Samedi we did some super good contacting- we got all inspired about where to go, go there and saw NO one. Please everybody pray that we will be able to find the citizens of Rennes, they have vanished this week. But it gave us some good time to practice different ways to contact (two sides of the street and doing this leap frogging thing) so when those people reappear we'll be ready for 'em. 

YEP. Thats about all I've got for you guys but just know how much I love you!! Have a great week!

Soeur Hansen

Week 38 - Mother's Day Skype

[Ed. note: We got a short note from Maren yesterday, and another short one today - apparently they are having internet issues.]

Yesterday:

HEY fam!

Long time no see!

Skype yesterday! So fun to see your cute faces! I've been saying prayers of gratitude for Skype. 

Today:

Hey. Got our internet cut yesterday..... but hey the elders brought us some chocolate:)

Week 37 - First week in a trio

"On a mission for the Lord"

Hey fam!

Hope you're all just doing so great on this May 4th. Que le quatre mai soit avec vous.  [May the fourth be with you] (I think I'm funny. Sorry you guys I'm realizing I've been a missionary for too long)

Alors. This week. 

Monday- mission conference. AWESOME

Tuesday- P day. you know already. Sr Stevens and I had a picnic in the middle of nowhere because we took the wrong bus after we bought groceries. 

WEDNESDAY. Ugh. Transfers. Such a sad day. And an amazing day. And just everything in between. Got up at 6:30, Sr Back tells me the bus to get to the gare is at 6:55... AHH. So we all threw clothes on and ran around like crazy people trying to get them out the door on time. Got to the gare, all is good. Got them on the train, a little heartbreaking watching that door close. Get on the bus to head home, because our apartment was a DISASTER after the crazy couple days we had. 

Said goodbye to Soeur Back

No keys. 

Yeah...

Sr Back accidentally took our set on the train with her and we'd left the other set inside the apartment. (Trust me, not my idea)

So thankfully everyone getting transfered goes through Paris so it was easy enough to get the keys to Sr Walton and we got in okay that afternoon. BUT we were locked out for like 7 hours waiting, with nothing. I had my bag and like 4 contacting cards and Sr Stevens had her bus pass. So we walked to the elders' apartment and stole their church key so we could go have a base camp and then we just slowly went crazy. Took a bus to the terminus to do some exploring (Sr Stevens refused to contact looking how she did (it was fine but whatever haha)) 

Felt SO bad taking Sr Walton home to that for her first day in Rennes. 

An old picture with Sr Walton - her friend from the MTC and new companion 

Thursday we did missionary work. I think we had rendez-vous. I honestly don't remember other than that it rained.

 

Friday. Still raining. Thousand-hour long weekly planning (condensing two equipes means we have a TON of random amies to plan for).

Saturday STILL raining. Other rendez vous and pass bys. Tried to do some stuff. RAIN

Sr Walton crossed the street without us.
Thought it was funny.

Sunday blessed break from the rain, and we went contacting with Leena! She and Sr Stevens went together and Sr Walton and I. It was SO nice to be just in two. I love these soeurs but it's a lot of mental work to be in a trio and just be aware of two other people. So it was a little bit of a relief to be two by two for a second. Leena was a total pro apparently too so that was cool.

And today we went shopping because its raining AGAIN. And also I hate all the clothes I own. So thats fun! Haha 

it's May and I'm wearing tights. So not down. But it's okay, we had like 3 weeks of beautiful weather in April so it was bound to come around again. Hopefully it won't last too long though! 

But anyway! i'm excited to see your beautiful faces next week and I love you all so dearly!

Have a great week

soeur hansen