Português, espanhol, sign language, and inglês all in 1 week! (Transfer 2, Week 1)

Hello everyone!

Sorry I didn't write last week, but happy New Year! Oh my goodness, thinking back a year from now I was at BYU barely starting my second semester. That feels like forever ago. So many things have happened this year. Okay, so some interesting things happened last week.

So I was at a lunch appointment with some members who just moved to the area. I was talking with them and something just felt like home. I couldn't put a finger on it, until Irmão Homer asked where I was from and I said Massachusetts. Then he said, "Well then you know this team right?" HE WAS WEARING A BOSTON RED SOX HAT. Hahaha! It just felt so normal to me that I didn't even think about it.

Also this week, we met this wonderful family from Peru. The mom only speaks Spanish and has a hearing disability so she can sign too. And it was perfect because Sister Uricoechea is from Columbia and we had an awesome lesson. And I could understand almost everything. It was awesome. Also Josias, our recent convert, is fluent in sign language so we're all set! (Sign language here is a lot different from ASL.)

And then one of the most unexpected things happened during church on Sunday. This couple walked in and basically the first thing the woman said is, "I want to baptize him." Definitely not what you expect to hear, but as a missionary I was pretty interested to say the least. Haha! Anyways, I met Cody. He's from Texas and only speaks English right now, but he hopes to stay in Brasil for some time. He just really wants help to improve himself and to be the kind of man that his finance (I think. We really don't have the details yet.) deserves. 

So anyways, Heavenly Father knew that there needed to be someone who could speak English and someone who could speak Spanish here in São Bernado! How cool is that? 

I love you guys. See you in 15.5 months! (Haha!)

Best Wishes,

Sister Hansen

A Vida Missionária (Transfer 1, Week 5)

Hello Everybody,

First of all, thank you Framingham RS for all of the cards! I opened them on Christmas and it was a PERFECT present!  (By the way Apke Kids, I have not seen any pythons. Haha! If I was in Manuas I probably could, but I'm in super city. I can count the number of stars I can see and it's usually less than 25. Haha!)

Anyway for Christmas, we went to our wonderful new converts house! I attached a really bad attempted selfie of all of us. Haha! And I tried 2 new fruits! Lychee-- a sort of huge white grape you have to peel. It has a huge nut in the middle and the outside is redish and spiky. I forget the name in português, but I also tried star fruit. Super acid-y but apparently really good for your health. Also, mayonnaise salad (picture below: so cute!) is super popular here. Brazilian food is usual super duper good, but these are just okay. MARACUJA (passion fruit), on the other hand, IS BASICALLY THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD. I don't know why the flavor isn't super popular in the USA. Seriously order some maracuja jello or juice packet or something and try it! You'll fall in love.

Also, green corn and avocado ice cream exists.

I figured that some of you might be interested in my typical day here. So here it is:

6:30 - 10:30 : Wake up, get ready, breakfast, personal study, companion study, language study

10:30 : Start doing missionary work! Teach lessons, call people, meet new people, etc.

12:00/12:30 - 1:00/2:30 : Lunch appointment***

***Now depending on the family, it usually takes between 10 minutes to an hour to finish up lunch prep. We eat a TON. (Like I seriously have not eaten so much at one time in my life as I do on my mission.) Sometimes, members keep making us eat and then let us wait a bit so we have room for dessert. So sometimes lunch takes forever. Haha!

Lunch - 9:30 : Missionary work all day!

9:30-10:30 : Plan for the next day and prepare for bed

We also have to make 50 contacts everyday. A contact is basically talking to a person on the street and asking them if they'd like to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ. This would definitely be way less effective in a place like the Northeast of the USA. But people here usually don't ignore you and keep walking past and actually want to hear. People here also sometimes are all like, "yeah, I totally want to hear a message about Jesus Christ! Come visit me. Yeah I give you my address." The only problem is that sometimes, trying to be polite or whatever, they give us a fake address. It's seriously the worst thing in the world.

Although the work is hard sometimes and long and I miss you guys, I really do love being here. I really am so happy here serving these people in a language I'm just barely learning. I know that when we focus on the good things and the more important things we can seriously have so much joy and happiness. It's easy to get caught up in what we don't have and what's hard and what's annoying, but when we change our focus we can change our attitude. I love the quote "attitude determines altitude." When we change our attitude, which is hard and sometimes only possible through God, we can seriously accomplish so much more. I've seen this in action here on my mission. It's hard, but I'm happy. Make a goal this new year and start focusing more on the most important things.

Love you all. Happy new year!

Love,

Sister Hansen

FELIZ NATAL! White Christmas in Brazil (Transfer 1, Week 4)

HELLO EVERYONE!

Okay, I really don't have much time to email. Thanks for all of your emails. I'll try to get to them all next week.

So we had a baptism last Sunday for ANIZIA AND JOSIAS! THEY ARE JUST ABOUT MY FAVORITE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. They are so kind and loving and humble. They got married on Saturday and Baptized on Sunday! Anyway, here's a great story:

So Anizia was really worried about her baptism for a while. She was worried about not being prepared, but most importantly about the water. She has a fear of pools and water. We explained to her that we could make the water warm, there could be other people with her, all of these things. She definitely felt better, but she was still a little nervous. Then came the day of her baptism. She was happy and excited, but nervous too. Then she opened the door to the font to be baptized and she said that her fear just disappeared. She wasn't scared at all and she just felt peace. What a powerful experience!

What this made me think of was leaps of faith. We all have fears and difficulties in this life and it takes a lot of faith to face those. It made me think of my experience the first week and about a half of the mission field where I thought to myself, "am I ever going to love my mission?" I had faith that I would and God blessed me with enough good experiences and enough hope to get through it. I didn't have a moment where all of my feeling went away and I still have hard times loving my mission (and I will the whole time.) But I definitely am happy here. I DO love being here. I kept taking steps of faith by staying here and by going to God when I needed help and looking for the answers. I know we all have to take steps of faith in our lives.

It makes me think of the fear the prophet Moroni had about the Book of Mormon. In Ether 12:23-29 (I think) he talks about how he's worried that the people would mock the writing. That they weren't eloquent or talented. Now, how small does that fear seem compared to the blessings of the Book of Mormon? If Moroni had listened to that fear and tossed the book aside, how much would we have missed out on? So the next time you have a fear to bear testimony of a gospel truth, to confess and apologize, to change, or whatever else, think about how great the blessings will be compared to your fear. I know that God will give you enough strength to accomplish all things you need to do. He can make your weaknesses into strengths (Ether 12:27)

Love you all,

Sister Hansen

Pictures: At the wedding with A&J, A&J and my São Bernado grandpa and grandma (CUTEST PEOPLE EVER!), Baptism

Also I look awful in all these pictures, but I will my whole mission, so I really don't care. Haha!

BRAZIL THINGS ABOUT CHRISTMAS:

-They stay up until 12:00 on the 14th to open presents

-Food: Chicken, Ham (rice and beans as always)

More Pictures: Reunion with part of my CTM district at the Mission São Paulo Sul Christmas Party (The brazilian guy in the middle, Elder Ferreira, is waiting for his visa to go to the BOSTON MA MISSION! Whoop!), Mission Presidents Christmas Tree (The ornaments are all pictures of us!)

MORE PICTURES. The other missionaries in my ward. We only have sisters and I love them! And our great attempt at a jumping photo... Haha!

Animals, Food, and Culture (Transfer 1, Week 3)

OLÁ!

Story Time: Okay, so I was just walking to the chapel, everything is a normal, until this super territorial bird attacks my head. It was a little bit scary, but actually hilarious. This bird has been attacking everyone. Sister Uricoechea and I watched the bird after I got attacked and you see it run up behind someone, do a flying jump, and just go for their head. Apparently someone doesn't want us to go to church. Speaking of animals, there's a ton of stray dogs here. There's definitely a few of them that don't like me either. One of our investigators literally has to protect me from their dog. What is it with me and Brazilian animals?

On another note, it's so interesting to be an American in Brasil. I get a whole bunch of questions I never would have thought of, such as: "I've bet you've never eaten rice and beans!" "Are all people in the US white?" "You only eat fast food, right?" Sometimes a little of my American pride that I never knew I really had comes out and I'm like "I'm cultured. I eat real food." Hahaha! It's funny. People have also asked me what are primary food is in the US, but we don't have any. Here and in other countries too, there is a food that people eat everyday! (Rice and beans of course in Brasil.) There's just things you learn when you're in a different place. It makes me think of people in the US who think that all of Brasil is like Manaus (the Amazon Jungle.)

Here's some other weird food things:

- So salt an pepper isn't a standard here. It's just salt. I almost bought some pepper until I realized that the "normal pepper" is super hot actual pepper. They have regular pepper-- it's just not the regular one here.

- Random things will be pickled. Like I'll see some yummy looking broccoli and carrots and cauliflower and it'll be pickled. What? Disappointing. But missionaries literally eat everything. Seriously. I always want to eat. Like when I finish lunch and I'm stuffed, I always still want to eat. Missionary life is weird.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

So Sister Uricoechea and I have been asking a lot of people this one question: "What will you give Jesus Christ for Christmas?" (Because besides for the 1-5% of people who aren't religious at all, everyone is Christian either with or without a specific denomination.) I want to ask you all this question. What could you give God this holiday season? Will you live a commandment more exactly, give up time for service or scripture study, or do something else? God has given us everything we have, and everything we give back we just get more. I've seen this in my life. As I've given parts of myself away, I always end up a happier and better person with way more blessings than I deserve. Here's a principle I love: God doesn't give us commandments because He wants us to obey Him or because He wants power or anything like that; He gives us commandments as a road map to happiness. He doesn't tell us to give up things or avoid things to restrict us or make us sad, He tells us because He loves us and He wants us to be free from the parts of the world that don't help us improve. Have the faith that giving up a favorite sin or free time really won't be giving up, but instead giving God the opportunity to make you better. I promise that we're better off following God than not. When we sacrifice for Him it's really like going to a donut store right before it's about to close with a cute little sister and getting twice the amount of donuts that you paid for. Haha!

Here's an idea: put up a stocking for Jesus Christ and write down what you're going to give Him for Christmas. Then try to follow through with this commitment. Let me know about your experiences!

I love you all,

Sister Hansen

P.S. If any of you are curious, I'm in São Bernardo. Look it up on Google Maps or something. Haha!

P.P.S. Pictures of our Christmas decorations and the cute garden outside my house!

More pictures! Flowers and graffiti. Literally every wall that's not a house or a store or a super rich thing looks like this or has prettier graffiti.

 

 

Difícil, Mas Está Melhorando! (Transfer 1, Week 2)

Olá Meus Amigos e Minha Família,

I never thought it would happen, but I was definitely jealous of English speaking missionaries in the US this week. Some things would definitely be easier if I could understand what people were saying and was able to respond fluently and if I have been experienced in the culture and the country my whole life. That being said, my português has improved so much! There's times when I can really understand 99% of what's being said. Most of the time, it's in between 40% and 80%. And with some people, it's about 10% or just a big old 0. My confidence with português is also increasing which is 100% a good thing because anyone who knows me knows I like to talk and I haven't been able to do a ton of that lately. Hahaha!

So here are some interesting things about São Paulo, Brasil:

-There's gates at every house, every building, everything. It's kind of like how stores in the mall pull down the gates when they close. You either ring a doorbell, clap, talk into a fancy whatever-it's-called, or just yell their name.

-Rain is definitely unpredictable and inconsistent. It was super cloudy the first 3 days here but never rained, then the 4th day it was super hot without a cloud in the sky. I replaced my umbrella with some sunscreen, and you can probably guess where this is going. It rained and stopped raining and rained again the whole day. Not doing that again! Haha!

-Lasagna here has ham instead of ground beef. Weeeird.

-Apparently you put the rice on top of the beans? I don't know. I got laughed at yesterday for doing it wrong, but I've definitely seen other Brasileiros put the feijão on top of the arroz. We'll just have to see.

-Speaking of rice and beans, it's literally at every meal, as well as chicken. Pasta and salad-- and chicken and rice and beans. Lasagna-- and rice and beans. Good thing I love them! They make rice so yummy here! Food's definitely not disappointing me!  

I love being here, but the first couple of days were definitely a little hard. I had too much time to think to myself because I could understand 1/2 of the conversations, so I made a little whirlpool of self-pity in my head. I want to testify that God does answer our prayers-- when we need them and how we need them. Hope and faith are so important! We have such a small view and understanding. We get stuck in a dark time and can't see the other way out, but God is waiting there with the answer we need. We're like children crying about having to eat the piece of broccoli before we can get a piece of cake. These things are hard for us, but God knows more. He's not going to put us through things that aren't going to be for our benefit. We need to be challenged in order to grow and learn and become better. It's so important to have that hope that the learning and answers and growing up and the GOOD will come. It always come if we choose to continue and persevere through the trials. This hope and faith can make all the difference in our attitude and our happiness. I know that I'm going to learn português and I will love my mission and God will answer all my prayers and help me. Because of this hope, I love being here. I definitely didn't have this at the beginning of the week, but God blessed me with the answer and HOPE I needed.

Thanks guys. I love you all. I love hearing your responses!

Love,

Sister Hansen

CTM: Week 6 (Tchau CTM e Olá Campo!)

Olá Todo Mundo!   

                                       

Well, it's my last week at the CTM which has been a combination of awesome and crazy. I'm trying to get all of the potuguês in my head that I can before I'm with a brazilian companion and out in the world-- essentially lose the CTM safety net. I'm pretty much pumped though. I'm so excited to finally go out to São Paulo (Sul) Sucesso! I'm going to miss my district so much though. They're basically my family. Good thing that 3 of the elders and my companion are coming to São Paulo Sul with me!

I don't have many stories this week that wouldn't require some huge amount of context or a literal video, but I did have an awesome week, especially Thanksgiving! They don't celebrate  Thanksgiving in Brasil, but they do at the CTM for us Americans. I went to breakfast that morning and literally the most Thanksgiving decorations in my LIFE. Orange and gold balloons everywhere with turkeys and flowers and thanksgiving tablecloths. There was even a balloon arch. It was basically amazing. It was also definitely the first time I ever had rice and beans along with all the Thanksgiving food. #brasil #loveit

  

I do really love the CTM and all my instructors and all of my district. We had a devotional on Thursday about gratitude. That really is one of the biggest keys to having joy. When we're grateful, we see past the annoying things that in the end don't matter very much at all. We can't change our situations all the time, but we can try to change our outlook. I'm so grateful for this experience that I'm having here and the opportunity I have to be a missionary for Jesus Christ here in Brasil. I'm grateful for all of the rough patches I've been through to get me here because I know I can help people so much more who are going through those things now. I'm grateful that I've had those hard experiences because in the end they've made me a better person. I know that God has a plan for me and that those hard things fit into His plan. Whenever I've trusted Him and persevered through them, I've gotten exactly what I've needed to or ended up exactly where or who I needed to be at exactly the right time. God's plan works a lot better than our own even if we can't see the end. I'm so grateful that I can pray and read the scriptures and receive answers to know my next step in that plan.

Next email will be from the field. Não posso esperar! Estou muito animada para ser míssionaria!

Love, Sister Hansen

CTM: Week 5 ("Pronta Para SAÌR!")

Hello Everyone!

Not much is new here at the CTM. I'm still loving it and I'm still learning português. How are things back in MA and at BYU? Let me know! I am at the point though where I'm ready to just get out! I'll miss my district and the people here, but I'm ready to go and help real people change their lives. I'm so excited. I have a lot of português to learn this last week though. (Ahhh!)

Here were some of the highlights from this week:

- This one's for you Liz. In português, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" is "Diário do um Banana." Hilarious, right? Banana also can mean a dynamite stick in português. Who knew?

- Windows here at the CTM open from the bottom, and one of the many times I was laughing hysterically here, I went to lean against a window and IT WASN'T LOCKED. I literally almost fell out the window. One of the scariest seconds of my life. Good thing I have Sister Curtis!
- The thunder storms here are crazy! It'll be all sunny one second and then pouring with lightning the next. I love it! (I probably won't like it walking out in São Paulo though.)

- Our district decided which animal and food everyone would be, and I'm an apple and a beaver. I guess I work too hard here. Hahaha! My district definitely thinks I'm more focused than I really am. They caught me at a good time because I really AM focusing because I'm doing stuff I really do care about a lot!. (Don't make fun of me, but I literally have earplugs that I sometimes wear in the classroom when everyone's getting a bit too rowdy. #dork)

Spiritual Thought: I've learned a lot about love while I've been here, especially about charity, the pure love of Christ. Love is powerful. Look at what Christ did for us because He loved us. Jesus Christ suffered and died for us and our sins and all of our trials, the hardest thing that anyone has ever had to do. Charity, His pure love, for God and for us was the only thing that could have motivated him to do something like that. In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Moroni exhorts us to pray with all the energy of our hearts that we can have this love. This love that has motivated me to learn português and give up 18 months to others. This love that has motivated God and Jesus Christ to do everything for us. This love that can make you a better, happier person. And now, no way could we ever deserve or earn this love. It's a simply a gift to those who ask for it and who are prepared to use it. One things I love about this gospel is that we never are required to be perfect or expected to be good enough; we simply do what we can and God will work with us at a pace we are able to handle. He has the perfect plan for us and He knows all of the details down to the day. He knows how to make us happier and how to make us better. All we have to do is choose to follow that plan, by praying to know what we need to do next and acting on the answers and feelings we receive. I know that as I've been praying for this pure love, I've received more and more. This has been such a blessing in my life, and it has helped me focus on others more. I've been able to become more like Christ and focus on others' afflictions while I've been wading through my own. 

Love you ALL,

Sister Hansen