All Aboard SNCF ! 🚂

Mes chers amis ! Comment ça va ? Cette semaine était vraiment BIZARRE mais je suis toujours vivant !  

(My dear friends! How are you? This week was really WIERD but I'm still alive!)

This week I felt like I was in a train/traveling more than I was not! 😜 I think I spent a total of almost 20 hours in a train this week! 😵‍💫 Crazy, I know, but luckily I love trains so ça valait la peine (It was worth it)! 

Monday night we had a repas with the famille Patea and it was incroyable! They made us a lasagne. During dinner we kind of opened a can of worms in asking them about different historical events about France. We learned A LOT! I so badly want to go do some research now! 😂

Tuesday we had our monthly trip to Paris for MLC and it was FORMIDABLE! We talked a lot about faith and how we need to have the faith sufficient enough to be the miracle...in all our efforts. We also talked a lot about repentance...no, President wasn't calling us all to repentance, 🤣 it was more so why we to repent, the importance of it, and how it can be edifying and freeing. I really enjoyed it! It was so uplifting! MLC also has a way of always keeping you on your toes! We like to do role plays where you act out a scenario and practice what you would do in a certain situation. Soeur Stevenson and I got called up to do a street contact! But of course not any ordinary street contact...we contacted President Munns! 😂 He said he enjoyed it, so I thought it went well. Afterwards, Soeur Stevenson and I of course  hopped on over to Notre Dame to take in the Parisian scenery! Sadly, it is still under construction and no one really knows when it will be finished. BUT it is still cool to see! 

Wednesday we jumped right back into exchanges! We took the train (6 hours) to the most southern secteur of the mission, and wow it is incredible there! The city is called La Rochelle and has a huge port! I'm guessing there might've been some pirate activity there way back when?? In Bretagne since it is very coastal, centuries ago there was a lot of activity with pirates and corsairs. You can find a lot of old pirate hideouts and ports. It's so fascinating! There is also some WW ll history here, but sadly I haven't had a chance to really look into it, so if anyone knows any history or facts about the region, don't hesitate to share! It was super rainy when I was there, but to be honest I love being outside and doing missionary work, even in the rain. It's just fun! 😉 

I was on exchanges with Soeur Hemery who is so cute! She is also a Francophone so it was fun to get some language help from her! We had an interesting phone call... a reference had called us earlier in the day and told us he was looking for love. Crazy, I know. So, I played it like, "Oh you are looking for God's love?" We called him later that night, which was interesting as it ended in him singing his prayer for us...a normal prayer he just chose to sing, and at the end saying it was all for us. We appreciated it! 🤣 Life is never dull as a missionary! It was so fun to be with Soeur Hemery! She is a fantastique teacher! 

Round 2 of exchanges took place in Anger ! Let me tell you, it is such an adorable town! And better yet, I got to be companions with my baby! Soeur Letourneau and I were back together again for a day! Ahhhh! It was so cool to see just how much she has grown, how we both have grown, since our time together way back when in Toul! We had an incredible first lesson with this girl named Luce who is sooooo prepared! The spirit was so strong and I just loved every moment! I love all the soeurs in this zone so much! 

After our exchanges back in Rennes we hopped right off the train and headed to a member's house, suitcases and all! It was so fun to be at this member family's house! They have three kids who reminded me so much of my brothers! (I miss them so so much!) It was funny because at one point we were talking about family and how it will be weird to see how everyone has grown when I get home, which led into me explaining how short my mom is compared to us all. (Sorry mom, 🤣 I love you!) The member asked how tall I was, and as I don't know in meters, he had me stand up next to him and then he grabbed a tape measure. 🤣 It was hilarious! #bestfriends 

I always love going over to member's houses because we have such good conversations. I love hearing their stories and getting their advice and everything. Ahhhhh! Incroyable! We then had a pensée spirituelle with their kids, and dang were they smart! We talked about the spirit and baptism as well as the doctrine of Christ, and Holy Cow! They taught better than me! It was awesome! 

Soeur Stevenson and I had a really cool moment with one of our amis this week. In the midst of the craziness we were able to go over to our friend, Madeline's house. She is actually the mother in law of another ami. She recently lost a sister and has a son in the hospital, so we were able to sit down with her, look her in eyes, and tell her that God has a plan and that she will be with her family forever. Hearing this seemed to strike her a bit. We continued talking about our belief in life after death and eternal families, and of course she asked us some questions, but wow, I really did feel like our hearts talked! We gave her a Book of Mormon with an invitation to read Alma 40 and she accepted promising she would. Fingers crossed for her! We are hoping that she starts to progress! 

Overall I am doing great! Christian is still getting baptized on the 18th and we are so excited! Pray all goes well!

 Spiritual Thought

This week it felt like I was balancing 20,000 different things at once and I know this coming week will be just as crazy! However, I came across this scripture in the New Testament and immediately sought after it: 

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." ( John 14:27) 

I saught Jesus. I saught His Peace so that I could be still and do His work. 

This week seek Jesus. Seek His Peace. Not worldly peace that is a limited time offer, but the peace that comes from Jesus, which is offered for all éternité. 

I love you all! May you feel His love and Peace! 

À bientôt !🥰  

- Soeur Hansen 

Hitch Hicking 👍

Coucou toute le monde ! Comment vous allez ? 

What can I say, another week down! Fou ça ! (Crazy!) 

Well, I just finished my first full week of this transfer and being back in the city where it all began! Not going to lie, it has been a bit bizarre, but I am beginning to fall in love with it all over again! Bretagne definitely has its own charm, as all French regions do and I have been loving it! I will be honest though, I have been missing the waffles and fries of the North. 😉 En fait I've been having some cravings for them. 🤣 But...Bretagne does have some pretty good crêpes! Apart from being known as the land of butter, I guess it is also known for their crêpes. Monday night we went over to an older couple's home and they unexpectedly fed us crêpes which were so good! Soeur Kugler explained to us that no one makes crêpes like they do in Bretagne, which is a very specific way! Fun fact - she also told us that during WW ll crêpes were actually the main source of food because it doesn't take much to make. To make crêpe batter all you need is flour, eggs, water, and milk and then once you cook it you can have it with anything! How cool is that! Your history lesson for the day!!

This week we also started our series of exchanges for the transfer. We have 5 équipes of soeurs in the zone and are trying to do two exchanges with each one, so 10 exchanges. Then, we will also have our own exchange with the Paris STLs, which will make for a total of 11 this transfer - about 2-3 per week! 🤯 

We had a great time with the soeurs in St. Brieuc and Vannes ! We taught some amazing lessons, most of which were the beginning lessons we teach to our amis as missionaries. I absolutely loved teaching with Soeur Garyson and Sœur Peterson ! These two soeurs have such strong testimonies and we taught so incredibly well together! I definitely felt the spirit, and I know our amis felt it too! I loved hearing the testimonies of these two soeurs. Soeur Garyson is just a few transfers behind me, and Sœur Peterson is only in her second transfer, and Wow! I am already so impressed with the soeurs in this zone!  During one lesson we had, we met our ami at centre-ville on a sunny and gorgeous day! We talked with her about the Book of Mormon and what we believe and she loved it! Since then she has been reading it! 

Soeur Peterson and I also had an amazing experience where we called a Facebook reference, and she answered! We then had a good conversation with her about a huge question she had, which fortunately the Book of Mormon answers. 😉 "Why do bad things happen to good people?"   We talked with her for a bit about it, then in the end we talked about what the Book of Mormon is and how it can help when we have those kinds of difficult questions. We gave her the verses that answer this question and we have a rendez-vous with her this coming Wednesday! Fingers crossed! We even had a really good conversation with another Facebook reference who is on vacation right now in London but as soon as she is back she said she wants to take lessons! Ahhhhh! *Happy Dance*

You Know, serving in the city can be quite the experience sometimes. 😂 I will say, there are things I don't include in my updates, 🙃 but sometimes they are just too interesting to leave them out! In the city we deal with a lot of manifestations (protests) that often résultats in  various military units being deployed to those areas. It can get pretty entertaining. Not only do we run into protests, but we also run into a lot of intoxicated individuals, and they often like to put on a show! Fun for us, but not always so fun for them! mdr (LOL)🤣 While I was on exchanges with Soeur Garyson we had the opportunity to watch one of these drunk shows. We were waiting for a bus when a guy began trying to pry open the doors of a bus, then progressed to kicking the bus, and finally resorted to lying on top of the bus! Yea, he was everywhere! It just kept progressing until the police eventually got involved... but it was interesting to say the least. 🤣 

Ok folks, brace yourselves, this week I had the weirdest bus experiences of my life! We were on our way to the Bishop's house, sitting on the bus, when a girl sat down in the seat right in front of us. The three of us made awkward eye contact, I said Bonjour, then in an Australian accent she asked if we spoke English. Soeur Stevenson and I glitched for a second, not expecting that, and replied with a "Yes!" Her name was Pip, and as you can guess she is from Australia. Turns out she has been in France for the past year, which started out as a visit with family, but turned into hitch hiking around to different camps in the middle the woods for an undetermined amount of time....yea super interesting! We then continued talking for the entire ride, and not gonna lie, it was a very strange conversation, somehow involving politics and how it is related to why she loves Jesus. 😵‍💫 She then told us that Bretagne is apparently one of the best places to go hitch hiking. Who knew! We also kind of started teaching her about the Restoration, and she thought it was so interesting! It was funny though, she asked us if we had ever been in love and if we could date as missionaries. A little bit off topic... 🤣 We explained to her our current purpose, what we do, and our objective as missionaries.  Then, like clockwork, an 11 year old school kid came up to us on the bus and started trying to speak English and ask for our phone numbers and social medias!🤣 We were dying, it was hilarious and the timing was so perfect! We came to the end of the bus ride and all got off and parted ways. Pip went to one side of the street, immediately stuck her thumbs out and got hard at work. After each conversation with someone in a car that would stop, she would say "Pip Pip!" Well, I really do hope she got to where she was going!😅

This week I had some amazing lessons with some of our own amis! We are currently teaching a family from Sierra Leone (in English...yea pray for me). We started with the Plan of Salvation...and Wow! The spirit was so strong! We also taught another lesson about the Plan of Salvation with one of the members, and that lesson was pretty INCROYABLE! We also got our friend, Christian, back on date for baptism! February 18! He is so ready! We are planning on doing a temple tour with him this week and I am so excited! Ahh! This week was just full of incredible lessons and experiences! 

It has felt very strange the past little bit, as the quickly approaching end of my mission started feeling very real! I had what we call our "finish strong call" with my mission President and the two other Sœurs I will be going home with. During the call we basically talked about giving it our all until the very end, being all in, and of course the blessings that will come after our mission grâce à notre (thanks to our) service. It was so strange to be at that point and I still can't wrap my mind around it, BUT here we are! That call was actually so fortifying and incredibly energizing! 

And....plot twist! I got news that I will be coming home a week earlier than planned due to scheduling changes with the missionary department! So look out for the week of April 8th! Not going to lie, when I found out I felt sad that I was loosing a week of my mission. #jipped But, President just kept telling us that it is one week more with our family so it evens out. 🤣 

Spiritual Thought

PHEW! We made it! My spiritual thought this week comes from the Bible. I have recently started re-reading the Book of Mormon for my last two transfers, as President and Sœur Munns invited me to do. As I've been reading it this time around, I've been paying close attention to the footnotes referencing Bible passages as well. As I have been reading in 2 Nephi 6 this week those verses talked about the love of God and referenced this Bible scripture: 

"Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  (Romans 8:39) 

I love those words so much because it is a testament of just how grand God's love really is for us! No height, no creature, no distance, no nothing can separate us from Christ and His eternal love for us! 

God loves you. I love you. N'oubliez jamais (Never forget) 🥰

À bientôt - Soeur Hansen 

Au revoir jusqu'à mon retour (Goodbye Until My Return)

Salut toute le monde ! Ça va ? 

I hope your week was a bit less chaotic than la mienne ! 

#Goodbyesstink!

To start the week out with a bang we celebrated a birthday in Lille! It was Elder Lantz's birthday so we were able to celebrate together during our p-day with the Lille district! Although Soeur Smith and I actually lived in Lille, our secteur was outside of the city, but of course we worked with the Lille missionaries all the time. Honestly, I have to say, they have become some of my best friends! It was sad to say goodbye to them all but I know that I'll be seeing them again soon - whether it be on the mission or at school, so it was more of a sad see you later. 🤣

This week I also said goodbye to a lot of the families in the ward and not gonna lie, it was really sad! I had gotten really close to the members in Villeneuve-d'ascq and I can honestly say that a big part of my heart belongs to the Northern France. 💖 I have absolutely adored serving in the North! The feeling, the culture, the people, the architecture are all just so incredible! I love it all! I probably had the most fun there! I was able to say goodbye to the Duez family (our Stake President) and we had dinner together, which was really good! 

We also went over to the Mangatia's house for dinner where we had roti which is a Mauritanie food and it was soooo good! We had some Mauritanie members there who made it! Sadly Soeur Smith and I had to leave before desert so they threw some cake in Tupperwares for us to eat on the train! 😂 We also stopped by the Hallermayer's and had a mini party! They are literally huge examples to me! We just talked with Louise about mission stuff and life in general, and it was so fun! We then made our way over to Marina's house where we had a mini party with her and her Sister Flora. It was sooooo fun! We chatted, swapped mission stories, and kinda had a girls party! It felt good to be there with them; it felt like I was hanging out with my friends. They are seriously incredible and I love them all so so much! 

Last but not least, I had to say goodbye to Naomi! She is a new member who was baptized right before I got to Villeneuve-d'ascq and she is literally joy in a bottle! She was super cute because she learned that I was being transferred along with one of the Lille soeurs, so she pulled all the sisters into an office and told us to close our eyes. She gave us each a gift with the sweetest note ever! And then she began to cry because Soeur Hodson and I were leaving! Ahhhhh! Not gonna lie, I cried a lot this past week too saying goodbye to all these members. 😭 I have met so many people who have become huge examples to me and so many who I have come to truly love! I feel like the grinch where my heart just grew! 💗 🤣 

Side note...

Before I left Lille the ZLs, Soeur Smith, and I went on a little adventure to help a lady from Belgium switch gares in Lille! There are two big gares right next to each other and a lot of times you have to switch trains between the two. We show up and the lady has a few bags for us to carry. She was an older woman with a few health problems, so she asked us to help, and of course we said yes! She also had a little friend with her... a bunny! Yep, you read that right! We start grabbing her things and one of the bags started moving, (yes, I was a bit concerned) and then she pulled out the biggest bunny I have EVER seen! Not your normal every day experience, but she was the cutest and just loved talking to us! 😂

TRANSFERS...Holy cow this week was transfers too! Yeah, that's kind of an important little tid bit of info! 😉Probably one of the craziest transfers ever! 

Thursday morning all of us Lille Soeurs went to the gare to meet up with the Arras Soeurs, along with the Elders from Dunkirk - aka half the zone! I said goodbye to Soeur Smith at the gare, which was so sad, but it's okay because I'll see her next week at MLC ! We then all grabbed the train to Paris and made it to Saint-Merri where I met up with all my friends! It was great! 

I also met my new companion, Soeur Stevenson! She is just darling! She is from Canada, which is super cool! Second Canadian Collègue! I've been trying to learn as much as I can from her about Canada. 😂 I'm kind of sad already though, because we will only spend one transfer together as she is ending her mission, but I am so excited for everything we are about to do! 

We then trained back to Rennes, but we were not ready for what was about to happen... We get off the metro and were greeted by tons of tractors blocking the road in protest! Yup. Rennes likes to protest! Oh the memories! 

So, all the buses were pretty messed up. We ended up taking about 5 buses and still not getting where we needed to go, which was crazy! We finally ended up standing at a bus stop, tired of trying to figure out the bus schedule, so we decided to walk to our apartment with all my suitcases. Yea, we were a bit tired by the time we got there. 😅 Then, in the distance we see a woman standing in front of her car waving us down. We go over to her and see that she is a member from the ward! She greeted us by saying that when she saw two missionaries dragging suitcases, she just couldn't leave us and offered to drive us to our apartment! Literally a miracle because we were still not close at all! We didn't even try to do the, "Oh are you sure," thing, we said, "YES" so fast! 🤣 Soeur Lececheur is an angel! Not gonna lie, it has been weird being back in Rennes...All the same old smells, buildings, apartment, people, etc. but it has also been so fun to be back! It's all different, but still familiar all at the same time! At times I feel like I never left, but somehow have memories from other places! 😂 I've been surprised at how many people remember me, specifically the members, as I've been gone for over a year. Ah! I'm so excited for what will happen this transfer! 

Missionary momentum never stops and the work began as soon as I arrived, as Saturday there was a stake youth activity about missionary work! It was so cool! The youth were all assigned to various missions and went through the church door knocking, lesson planning, language training, and experiencing almost all the things we do as missionaries! We also had missionaries from the zone come, so it was super fun to meet them! I had such a blast hanging out with the youth! We even performed a musical number with all the missionaries! Was it put together last minute? Yes, yes it was. 🤣 

Sunday was interesting too. Normally, when a missionary is new to the ward you introduce yourself by giving a testimony, but instead a member of the Bishopric asked me if I had a talk prepared. I thought he was kidding, so I was joking back. He then said, "No, we actually have a problem with the talks. Can you give one?" So, there I was, only 30 minutes later giving a talk I had completely winged last minute! I guess I should have taken my father a bit more seriously when he warned me that I should always have a talk prepared just in case. But, everyone liked it so I guess I did ok. 😂 

So far Rennes has been great! Even sureal! We have had tons of lessons already and and the work is moving along!

Spiritual Thought

"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."

(1Nephi 21:16) 

We are engraven on the hands of Christ, through the marks He bares because of His love! 

My heart is full and I love my mission! Have an amazing week! I love you! 

À bientôt !

- Soeur Hansen 🥰