11 Months - C'est Magique!

Coucou à tous ! Quoi de neuf ?

There is sooo much that happened this week so I am going to jump right into it! 

First of all I have hit my 11 month mark! WHAT! HOW? I seriously cannot believe how fast the time has gone by, it feels like I just got here 2 hours ago! One missionary called me old the other day (in mission age), that one hurt a bit, no one likes being called old, 🤣 but I can say that these past 11 months have been the greatest of my life! I love this work with my whole heart, I love France with my whole heart, and I love these people with my whole heart! I have learned so much and I wouldn't trade these experiences for the world! Cheers to 7 more!

During the course of a mission, missionaries will have experiences that can only be described  as feeling as though they were on fire. I, myself, have had a few experiences like this where the Spirit has been so strong, and truly, the only way to describe it is to say I feel as if I am on fire! This week, I had this happen to me... 

Remember the ami we started teaching through simply waving to each other everyday? Well, we had an INCREDIBLE lesson with him where we explained the Book of Mormon and the principle of prayer. During the whole lesson he kept exclaiming that "It's magic," or "This is magic!" With each exclamation we kept reaffirming to him that it was the Spirit he was feeling. We went through the history of The Book of Mormon, and what it is, along with what is prayer and its importance. He was in awe about how personal we make our prayers. We explained that our prayers should come from our hearts, and it is a moment when we can really talk to our Heavenly Father and express the desires and concerns in our hearts. We explained how it can be like a telephone call to our Heavenly Father. He wants to hear from us! He really does! Through prayer we can express our gratitude, our struggles, worries, questions, and more. They don't have to be written down, just express what is written on your heart. Our ami was in awe and so completely excited about it all! The spirit was incredibly strong! We were on a spiritual high, we were on fire! Our friend accepted the Book of Mormon with such enthusiasm and gratitude. He kept thanking us and telling us how incredible it all was. He then told us that he knew we were genuine and speaking truth. We then in turn told him that what he was feeling was coming from the Spirit. That the spirit was testifying to him of the fullness of our message. We could not contain our smiles! It truly was an incredible moment. The scriptures talk a lot about hearts burning as a result of feeling the Spirit; and our hearts were truly burning! Since that meeting he has started reading the Book of Mormon! 

This week we also had mission conference with Elder Alliaud of the Seventy. They Split the conference into two days so half the mission attended on Wednesday, and the other half on Thursday. My zone happened to go on Thursday. Wednesday afternoon Soeur Letourneau and I packed our overnight bags and made our voyage to Versailles. On one of our trains as we entered the car we found our whole district aboard! It was awesome! That night we spent the night with the Soeurs at the Paris temple, which was so fun! 

The next morning we made our way to the chapel for our session of the conference, which was incredible! All the speakers talked about the power in our calling as missionaries, being a disciple of Jésus-Christ, the Book of Mormon, and miracles. It was truly incredible! I loved every single milisecond of it all, and Elder Alliaud is too funny! He had us laughing the enter time! Literally laughing long enough that we all missed our trains! Yup, half the mission missed their train home! At one point Elder Alliaud asked President Munns how much time he had, to which President told him to take as long as as he wanted - which he definitely did! We all then looked at our watches, a bit worried we would miss the train, but went a long with it! 😂 The assistants then whipped out their computers and started typing as fast as they could to re-buy tickets for EVERYONE. Some missionaries were able to catch a train home that night, but the other trains wouldn't leave until the next morning. SOOOO, we ended up being stuck in Paris for another night. Boooyahhhh! I mean really, there are worse places to be stranded! 😉 

While on our way to dinner that night in Paris, we stopped by a little shop selling postcards, and ended up having a 30-45 minute conversation with the owner about Jesus Christ! It was so cool! Yep, always a missionary! 😉 We even gave him a picture of Christ, which he seemed to appreciate. Postcards in hand, and with 15 minutes to spare, we ran to a 50's diner for dinner! The Paris STLs recommended this place to us, so we just had to try it! It was so cute! We waited for our food outside by a juke-box as we took in the sights of Paris, totally sleep deprived and completely happy! We then stayed the night with the Paris STLs and took the first train out the next morning! Who knew being stuck in Paris could be so fun! 😉

And for the big news...

Transfers are this week, and some big changes are coming!  This past weekend we had a Stake Conference and we were all holding our breath, waiting for transfer news to drop! Saturday night I got a call from President starting with, "Soeur Hansen, I need your help." That can only mean one thing! There is a change! Soeur Letourneau and I will both be leaving our little town of Toul and two new Sœurs will be replacing us! WHAT! TOUL IS BEING WHITE WASHED - which means every missionary in the area is changing.  Soeur Letourneau is going to the Temple Visiter's Center, and I will be heading up to Villeneuve-d'ascq, near the French and Belgium border, and Belgium will be included in my secteur! I have also been called to be the new STL for the Lille Zone! How cool is that! That just means I get to hang out more with the Soeurs in my zone and with the other mission leaders! 

We leave early Thursday morning to transfer to our new areas. We shared the news to all the branch members on Sunday, and we all are so sad, but know that it will all be okay. I have fallen in love with Toul and the people here and am so thankful for the time I have spent with each and every one of them.  One door closes, and another one opens! 

Spiritual Thought

"And now I go unto the Father. And verily I say unto you, whatsoever things ye shall ask the Father in my name shall be given unto you. 

Therefore, ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh, receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened." (3Nephi 27:28-29)

Never hesitate to ask of God and have the faith that He will answer in accordance to His will and timing! Just ask!

I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week! 

Bon courage et À bientôt ! - Soeur Hansen 🥰