17 Miracles

Coucou mes amis ! 

Long time no see 🤣 je blague. This week was good and crazy! Second week into the transfer and things are starting to pick up fast! We had some interesting conversations, great rendez-vous, and even some exchanges! 

Some wise words I received from a woman on our list of numbers to call were that:

 “dogs bring Karma, and cats are mystical creatures who can see in the night and are smarter than humans.” 

Well, I’m a dog person so I guess I’ve got some good karma coming my way! 😂 It was an interesting call, but we did share a scripture, so it ended well! 

We then headed up to Vannes to do some exchanges. I got to hang out with Soeur Peterson, who is actually cousins with one of my old roommates from BYU! (Shout out to Brooklyn!)  We had so much fun together! She is seriously the cutest and so talented with all things artistique! We did have an interesting call with a reference we got who kept asking if my companion left the room... yea, that's a no for me! But, the next day we met up with my companion and Sœur McMullen, and we all went to a boulangerie for lunch together and sat there laughing our heads off telling absolute dad jokes! 😂 I seriously love those Soeurs! We had such a great time!

Off to our next exchange in St. Brieuc where I got to hang out with Soeur Stevens for a day! It was a bit of a throwback for us from our days in Lille together as companions two transfers ago! It was so fun and the sun was actually out so that felt real nice! We had two lessons there that were incredible! One with our friend Gabriel, who told us he wants to get baptized yay! - but then told us he is moving at the end of the month to Gabon because he is in the gendarmerie and then will move again after that! AHHH! Foiled! 

We then had a rendez-vous with Noëlle! The lady I met on the bus a few weeks ago and gave a Book of Mormon to! She told us that she wants us to come over! How fun is that! #Miracle! 

While on our exchange, Soeur Stevens and I somehow found ourselves lost in the middle of the woods needing to do a 15 point turn as we were driving to find a cute spot to do some studies. 😂 Very scenic drive! It was so much fun! 

We also had some pretty amazing lessons with a lot of our amis! It would take too long to share them all, so I’m going to share about one in particular that was pretty amazing! His name is Theo and earlier in the week we got a text from him saying that he wanted to talk to the missionaries! So, we scheduled a video call for later in the week and, WOW, was it amazing! Turns out he had spoken to the missionaries before, and wanted to reconnect. Our conversation slowly started shifting towards life after death and he was so engaged! We invited him to read a chapter from the Book of Mormon, and within the hour of finishing our call he texted us saying he had read it and was asking for another chapter! Awesome! Of course we recommended another chapter, then the next day we got a text from him asking to know how to be baptized! #Miracle! The only "gotcha" is that he lives super far away, but still, pretty incredible! We have another rendez-vous with him this week! God is Good! 

This week I turned 17 months old! WOOP!! To celebrate Soeur Williams and I decided to go to the airport! Don't worry, we weren't planning on boarding any planes - that comes in a few weeks! 😉 - We actually ate some Mexican later to celebrate - Totally random, but, we definitely felt inspired to go to the airport because we had yet another miracle! Originally we were going over to someone's house who might be interested in hearing about the gospel. However, we felt prompted to get off the bus at a random stop. Who are we to question the spirit?!? So, we did as the spirit guided and we immediately started trying to catch up to someone on the way. Sadly, we weren't fast enough so we looked at buses and decided to wait for the next one to go to the airport. While we were waiting we decided to do some street contacting around the little town we were in and we talked to about 3 different people before running into our next miracle! Ganesh! The amazing thing about him is that he is the brother of someone Soeur Beckwith and I contacted a year ago in Rennes, that same person Soeur Stevenson and I reconnected with last transfer! AND… the day we ran into his brother, Ganesh was there too! So, when we stopped him this week he was like, "I know you!” and we immediately started talking it up and had such a good conversation! We got his number and are working to get in contact! Crazy!! Either Ganesh or his brother are going to get baptized… Or maybe even the whole family! I can just feel it! 

This week we also got caught up in the excitement of city life! Of course being that it was the weekend, manifestations were happening in full swing! Our favorite...but wait, there is more! Carnival was also happening! On one side of Centre-ville there were angry French people, and on the other side were happy party animals! 😂 We somehow actually got stuck in between the two, but happily gravitated towards the party animals. Yup! We got swept up in the crowd and found ourselves listening to a bagpipe band with giant dancing puppets! It was so cool, but at the same time was one of those moments when we asked ourselves,’how did we get here??” 😂 Loved it! 

I know my title says 17 miracles, but if I started naming 17, I wouldn't be able to stop! 😂 So, hopefully you enjoyed hearing a few! Definitely a good week - the weather is getting nice, I love seeing all the missionaries, and the work is going great! En gros... I LOVE IT! 🥰

Spiritual Thought

"And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions."  (Mosiah 24:14) 

I love this scripture because it shows the partnership we can have with the Lord. All the experiences we go through really are for our benefit, so we can learn to see Him, build our trust and faith in Him, and become a witnesses to Him. This week let the Lord take your burden and lighten it that you might not feel it, and allow yourself to become a witnesses of Him in the trial. He gives us nothing we can’t handle. What do you need to learn? Meditate on what this means for you! 

I love you all! À bientôt ! - Soeur Hansen 🥰