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

CTM: Week 4 (Preachers in São Paulo)

Hello Again!                                              

So first things first, we got a new elder in our district, Elder Toronto. We told him that he spoke basically fluent English for a Canadian. (He's from Pennsylvania. We're so funny. Ha!) He's from the Provo MTC and speaks Português pretty well! I love him, all 6'4" of him! Haha!  

So this week we started our first real "jejums de inglês" (English fasts-- basically we try to only speak Português.) We started Sunday and have kinda failed since then, but I'm trying to end strong. I've learned so much Português in 3 weeks. It's crazy!

Here's a funny story: So we have choir practices on Sundays (everyone is a part of the choir.) There were these Spanish speaking Elders behind us, and they were hilarious. Part of the song

was in English, so it was kind of fun to hear about the equivalent of what I sound like in Português. One of the elders was saying "earth-lie" instead of earthly, and another thought the mezto forte dynamic was a part of the lyrics. Ha! After they master the English pronunciation, they started saying stuff like "I'm American," "MacDonauds," "Berger Keen." My favorito though was this: "You awr too handsome" "Thanks, me too." Hahaha! The CTM is the best!

We got to do a great thing on Wednesday: actually go outside the CTM building! (We only usually get to on Fridays.) Sometime on your fourth week, everyone goes out to some part of the city to actually do some missionary work--- not just practice. (I just need to put this here. 2 things I've noticed about São Paulo: graffiti everywhere and crazy driving. We seriously applaud these bus drivers sometimes! They'll stop a perfect 2 inches away from the car in front of them, barely dodge the motorcycles swearing through traffic, and back into the CTM parking lot on the tiniest baby  street! GOOD THING I won't be driving here.) So when we go out, we talk to people and give away Book of Mormons. It was so great to see how happy people were to get them. Sister Curtis and I got 6. We gave the first three away to this sweet old lady (she was a member of the church! How hilarious is that?! I'm pretty sure she said she stopped going though.), a really

really grateful homeless man, and a cute little family of 4 with the cutest little 3 year old I've ever seen! Then things got funky.

So after those three, we felt pretty confident and we went up to this man who turned out to be a

Jehovah's witness. We weren't able to get anything out before he started talking at us and we tried to talk but half of the time we had no idea what he was saying. We kept trying to get away, but he just kind of followed us. Then some other guy came up and we thought, "Oh perfect! We'll just talk to this guy." Turns out he was a preacher who tried to convince us and the JW that he saw Jesus. Just as we started to get worried and we literally couldn’t defend anything they were saying against us in Português, Irmão Mello swooped in and saved us. Then it started to POUR. (Biggest drops of rain I have ever felt in my life within 30 seconds.) We were able to escape. Tender mercies!

Then it was basically time to go and we still had 3 Book of Mormons. The hispanic sisters we so so sweet and helped us give them away within 2 minutes. I love those sister so much. We hang

out with them all the time.

One guy in our district, Elder Chandler (the sweetest 18-year-old I think I've ever met. He'd probably wouldn't call himself that, but I'm going to anyway) had a great experience. He and his

companion gave away a Book of Mormon to this old man, and later they walked by and saw him reading and smiling. He said that that we the happiest he's probably ever been in his LIFE! That's why we're here: to make others happy by bringing them closer to God and Jesus Christ. I've seen this gospel change people's lives. It is amazing blessing to me that I have this knowledge and this church in my life. What I have been given is way worth me sacrificing these 18 months of my life. I can't wait to give other people this kind of joy.

See ya next week,

Sister Hansen

Post Script

Other fun things mom: Halloween isn't really a holiday in Brazil, plus we're missionaries so we can't dress up. Our district decided we were the mystery scooby doo team though. I was wearing the same colors as the van! So I dressed up as a van for Halloween. That's a first.

Other fun thing: I've started wearing earplugs during study time because everyone (especially the Elders) are so distracting. I'm the biggest dork, but I'm a Portuguese speaking dork! Ha!" ‪

#‎mymissionaryisadorkable‬

CTM: Week 3 "Aprendando Português Rapidamente!"

Hello Everyone!  

I love being here at the CTM. It's great. My district (our group of Elders and Sisters) is pretty tight. We got two new Sisters this week from the Provo CTM, and holy cow, it's been nice to have a little less goofing around in the classroom (Sala de Aula.) We pretty much settled down and we're super great friends, but now we can also get some studying done.                                         

I'm worried for the new sisters a little though. At the Provo MTC, there's just not as much Português practice. You're in the US and you only practice with your instructor really. Here, I have to use it all the time. I'm learning so quickly. I'm loving all of the studying. Super weird, but I think my brain was having school withdrawals from a 6 month summer. The sisters will catch up quickly though. Being in Brazil with lots of Brazilians makes a huge difference.

Not much new stuff goes on at the CTM. It's basically training for being a missionary, so I'm not going to get all of the stories that I probably would in the field. I figured it might be nice for you guys to see a typical schedule while I'm here:

6:30 – Wake up

7:00 - Personal Study

7:30 - Breakfast

8:00 - Personal Study

8:30 - Practice Teaching and Preparing Lesson (We teach "Jéssica" who is
really Irmã Majory in disguise)

9:30 - Instructor Lessons (Irmã Majory)

11:30 - Additional Study and Practice

12:15 - Lunch

1:00 - Additional Study and Practice

1:30 - Practice Teaching and Preparing Lessons ('Luis")

2:15 - Instructor Lessons (Irmão Mello)

4:45 - Additional Study and Practice

5:15 - Dinner

6:00 - Physical Activity (We play Volleyball and it's SO FUN!) After this we either have a devotional, service, or more studying and planning for the rest of the day.

It's hard to get use to at first, but I do really love it. Although, I cannot wait to actually get out into BRASIL!!!

Spiritual Thought: Tuesday, we had a great devotional about scripture study. The scriptures can really change people's lives. There's this great quote by Ezra Taft Benson that goes something like this: "The world works from the outside in while God works from the inside out. The world would take the people out of the slums while the Lord would take the slums out of the people who could then take themselves out of the slums... People would change human behavior where God can change human nature." I love to think that I really can change, that I can become better. I love that there is such thing as infinite potential, and that we all have it! It makes me so sad to see people say that "it's just the way I am" or that "I can't change." I know that I'm not satisfied with where I am right now. I want to grow and change. I know that I can change my heart and all the bad parts of me through the gospel of Jesus Christ. His atonement and sacrifice for me doesn't just make up the difference between me now and the better me later; it makes ALL the difference. (LOOK UP BRAD WILCOX'S GRACE IS SUFFICENT TALK.) Through scripture study and prayer, we can access the atonement and change ourselves into the person we want to be. I've felt this.                                                     

Thanks for your emails. I love you guys!

Until next week, Sister Hansen

CTM: Week 1 (and also 2)

Bom Dia Everyone! 

I love being here at the CTM (MTC) in Brasil! Everyone is so happy and kind. I joke around and sit at meals with people I don't even know, and it's great. The plants here are beautiful. They have a garden here at the CTM, and we love to take breaks to walk through it. Some of the flowers I literally want to eat because they smell SO SO
GOOD!                         

So although I'm in Brazil, it doesn't really feel like it because I'm stuck in the building all day. I love it though, but I'll definitely be sick of it by the end of 6 weeks! I have to learn Portuguese somehow though, right? Everything is in Portuguese here. My schedule on the second day was in Portuguese, my teachers only teach me in Portuguese, etc. I have to learn quickly! (Especially now that 2 of my roommates are Brazilian!)
           

The first couple of days we soooooo long. Combined with the 9 hour red-eye flight, we had a full schedule, most of which took place in the Sala de Aula (our classroom.) The days literally felt like weeks. After being cramped in our room so long, Sister Curtis (my companion from Tennessee with a cute baby southern accent) and I was so
excited for service last week. We had way too much fun mopping the stairs. It was so nice to be up and DOING something. Maybe they're brainwashing us into loving forced servitude? Haha! I honestly just love being here and everything about this place!
               

One of those things has got to be the food. The food here is SO GOOD. Half of the time I don't know what I'm eating, but it's always delicious. But we actually have meat for every meal. It's weird-ed me out the first couple of days to have so much meat, and I'm definitely missing my vegetables! (Whenever there's some, I fill my plate.) One of my favorite things is this soup we have for breakfast. It kind of taste like the milk after you eat all the lucky charms, but warmer and thicker. I'm gonna need to learn how to make that!
                            

There's a bunch of stories and pictures, but you'll have to wait until I can upload my voice recordings and photos (when I'm out of the MTC.) Spiritual Thought: These first couple of weeks at the CTM, I have really felt so much love for my future investigators (pesquisadores.) There are so many people out in the world who are looking for some light in their life, some hope. I've seen people who have joined the church and witnessed the huge change in their life. I know that this church can bring so much joy into peoples' lives. I've seen it in my own lives and in the lives of so many others around me. I am so excited to help people find that. I already love these people so much. I wouldn't be here and I wouldn't be studying Portuguese so hard if it wasn't for the love I have for these people I haven't even met. I've given up a whole 18 months for them; there's no way I can't love them.                                    

Thank you guys for all of your emails. I'm sorry if I don't have time to respond to all of them. Take care and remember that God loves you. (He really does!)
                     

See ya next week, 

Sister Hansen

CTM: Week 1 (part 2)

So I have a little more time than I thought. Here's a little about my teacher, Irmao Mello (Like marshMELLO.)                         

He is the craziest goof ball I've ever met. He is 24 max and he got married just in this past month. He tells us "Merry Christmas" every time he leaves the room and we always sing Christmas songs. That's the next big holiday in Brazil. He makes me laugh more than probably anyone else. He always makes us say something about giving him chocolate in Portuguese. Oh my goodness there was this one time, when he locked all
of the elders in our district out of the door and he wouldn't let them in. Then he finally opened the door and said, "I know thee not" and shut it again! He's the most crazy person I've ever met. He makes sitting in that Sala De Aula for 64ish% of my waking hours (we calculated it) bearable.                      

Just for example, he was teaching us about how to be better missionaries and he said that we needed to learn the fundamentals. He compared it to Dragon Ball Z and said we needed to "collect" the 7 dragonballs so we could power up of whatever (I haven't seen Dragon Ball Z) so we shoot out some spiritual power. He spent the next 20 or so minutes pretending to be Goku. He's crazy.                      

See ya next week, 

Sister Hansen