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