UUUTTTAAAAHHH!!

Bonjour à tous! 

J'espère que vous allez bien et que vous avez passé une bonne semaine!  (I hope you all are doing well and have had a good week!)

I know I say this every week, but THIS WEEK FLEW! It was honestly a really really good week! We had some amazing lessons with our amis and members, some great repas with members, and even some French lessons with some of the amazing young adults in our ward. And to top a great week off, I've made it three months as a missionary! Whoop Whoop! 

Tuesday night we had some French help from one of the young adults in our ward, and my mind was blown! It helped so much and Soeur Beckwith and I learned a lot! The people in France love helping non-natives with the language and a lot of times are super willing to offer corrections - sometimes a little too willing. 😂 But it has been so helpful! 

After that we stayed to help one of the members clean the church and in return they fed us dinner! They made macaroni and cheese! Now, it wasn't kraft macaroni and cheese with the character shaped noodles, but it was still amazing! Maybe even better 👀. You honestly just can't go wrong with any French cooking! As we were all talking and waiting for the oven to beep I looked out the window and saw.... SNOW ! I COULD NOT BELIEVE MY EYES! Soeur Beckwith and I ran to the window and climbed out of it to go run in the falling snow! It was so pretty! It doesn't ever snow in Britagne so it made us even more excited! One of the young adults there stuck his head out the window and while pumping his arms in the air, yelled "UUUUUUUTTTTTAAAAAHHHHH!" It was so funny! I did have to tell him though that I was actually from Colorado, but he was close enough. 😉 I do miss the snow, but the rain is usually as close as we get. 😂

We had some really great meals this week with some older couples in our ward - So good! Some of them were with the Elders too, and when the four of us go to a repa together, it is always a good time! At one of the repas we went to, we had to catch the bus pretty soon after we finished. As soon as we left the house and stepped foot on the street Elder Mason says, "And now we run," and all four of us immediately sprinted to the bus stop, and luckily caught our bus. Just one of those real moments that makes missionary work fun! Soeur Beckwith and I actually end up running catch the bus most of the time, so it's quite a normal occurrence for us! 😂

Miracles - both big and small keep building! The sun is starting to come out more and we are taking advantage of soaking up that sunshine as much as we can! 

We had a lot of great lessons with our amis this week and so many incredible blessings along with that! One is on date to be baptized next week, and another on the 11th of February! Fingers crossed everything progresses as intended!

Favorite Moment of the Week:

The other day we went street contacting and found a part of the city we had never been to before. We saw an older woman sitting alone on a bench in a little park. We walked up to her and I asked if we could sit next to her and she said yes. We started talking with her and just getting to know her. She told us a bit about her family and her life. She was just a super sweet lady. She told us about how she lost her husband to COVID and how much she missed him. We offered the comfort we could and then told her about the plan God has for us, the plan of salvation, and how one day she will be able to live with her husband again or the rest of eternity along with her children and the rest of her family. She seemed to be touched by our message. We asked her if she was interested in learning more about our beliefs and she politely declined and said it was too late for her to change. 😊 We said OK and that we understood. We then ended with a prayer together and she seemed to really appreciate that. We then excused ourselves and went on with the rest of our day. 

Many times as missionaries we get rejected one way or another, but one of the things I'm learning is that one of the things that means the most is how we connect with people, more specifically how we connect with people through Christ. Christ took time with everyone He met; He looked them in the eyes and cared enough to really understand them and their needs. Even though as missionaries our hope is to share the gospel with those who are willing and open to hear it, our true purpose is to simply invite people to come unto Christ and the best way we can fulfill our purpose is by acting as He did. 

Spiritual Thought

Each week more and more I see the beauty of missionary work, and it is amazing! This week I've been reading in both The Book of Mormon and the New Testament and it is so cool to be able to identify Jesus Christ in both and how each set of scriptures relates to the other. One of the aspects of Christ shared in both books of scripture, is how He is our source of rest. In the book of Matthew I love the verses from chapter 11 that say: 

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  (Matthew 11:28-30) 

I love this passage because it talks about how we are yoked to and with Christ. We don't have to bear our burdens alone. When we humble ourselves before Christ and turn to Him, He can make our burdens lighter. Sometimes in life it is hard to share our burdens and to give them to Christ, to be yoked to Him. But, I promise that as you give the things that weigh the heaviest to Him and allow Him to share the load with you, you will be able to feel His love and feel Him bearing and lifting you up. I have seen it in my own life. 

As always, I am praying for and thinking about you all! Je vous aime! 

À bientôt! - Soeur Hansen