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