Bonjour tout le monde ! En forme ?
This week was crazy...and to sum it up in the simplest way possible: about 14 hours spent traveling by train, two blitzes, two exchanges, some incredible lessons, approached by Bible bashing Catholic Monks, enjoyed a baptism, attacked by rats, and I turned 16 months old! Craziness! 🤣
The blitzes this week were so fun! It all started with us and the Elders waking up at 4h30 to make the train at 6h to go back to La Rochelle ! Yea...we were a bit dead at the end, but it was so incredible! Soeur Stevenson and I started our exchanges with the Soeurs from Cholet during the blitz and I had the chance to hang out with Soeur Nelson! She is so awesome!
While blitzing we had a cool conversation with a lady who was also Christian. We talked a bit about the Book of Mormon and read a scripture with her. Something I've been working on lately is asking inspired questions... so, I tried asking an inspired question! The scripture I shared with her was in Helaman 5:12 from the Book of Mormon, which talks about building our foundation on Christ. She absolutely loved it and shared a few thoughts that led into a great conversation about the importance of having a foundation in Christ. I then asked her if she believed that verse to be true, and she said yes! She then shared how it compares to the teachings in the Bible. EXACTEMENT ! The Book of Mormon is ANOTHER Testament of Jesus Christ! The two Books work together to testify of Him! I then said, the Bible testifies that Christ is the same eternally; yesterday, today, and forever! N'est-ce pas ? She answers yes! I then said If we know He doesn't change and the Book of Mormon is another Testament of Christ, and having read a scripture comparable to all other scriptures commonly known from the Bible, do you believe that the Book of Mormon could be true? She stood for a second and then responded with, "Yes, I believe it to be true!" I felt the spirit so strongly testifying, really speaking heart to heart, of the truthfulness of this book. This woman had never read it cover to cover, never kneeled in prayer asking if it was true, but based off of what she already believed and what we shared with her, she believed it could be true. This was the first time she had ever read anything in the Book of Mormon. How incredible is that?! We tried offering her a copy of the Book of Mormon and she almost took it, but didn't in the end. Even though we didn't get much further than that, it was totally OK, because I know that the she felt the Spirit! As missionaries, yes we do hope to see conversions and baptisms, but sharing the gospel isn't only about baptisms. It is also about helping others have experiences feeling the Spirit that they can reflect and rely on in future days to come. 😁 
The rest of the exchange with Soeur Nelson was formidable! We spent Valentine's together, and because our only Valentine this year was each other, we decided to go buy ourselves some chocolate! 🤣 Happy Valentine's day to all you Lovely people! 🥰
After ending one amazing exchange we then took a train to Vannes, where we started another. No rest for the weary! 😂 We were in Vannes with our district holding another blitz which was again so much fun! This time I was on an exchange with Soeur Tepu, who is from Tahiti ! She is soooo funny! (It was also pretty awesome because we spoke in French all day!) We had a lot of friendly conversations with some of the older generation from the city and learned a lot about the history of Vannes. And of course, we had a great time with our district! It is always so fun and inspiring to see everyone as we all work side by side!
But... our real miracle came that night during our rendez-vous with our friend, Gabriela! Gabriela is a 16 year old girl we are currently teaching. (She is the girl who approached me with my picture pulled up on her phone asking if it was me, then saying she wanted to take lessons. Crazy, I know!) We had our first lesson about the history of our church and The Restoration. And let me tell you-- Satan always tries to work so incredibly hard during that lesson! But, oh my goodness! If only you all were there!!! Soeur Tepu and I could not believe the spirit we were feeling! It was soooo incredibly strong! And by the way, Soeur Tepu is an incredible teacher! I LOVED teaching with her!! Gabriela just absorbed everything we were saying, and says, "Mes sœurs, I have to share an experience I had with the spirit of God!" Soeur Tepu and I were over the moon! She then explains how she had an exam she was really anxious about (absolutely relatable!) and how she did everything she could to prepare and decided to leave the rest up to God. She said she prayed really hard, then took her exam having faith in the Lord to help her. When she got her note back, she had done really well! She explained to us that she immediately felt the Spirit upon receiving the results! She then immediately offered a prayer of gratitude, since that was all she could do. She continued to described to us the joy she felt and how strongly she felt the Spirit. And yes, it probably does sound a bit too easy as I am relating this story, but, like I prefaced, Satan works hard! Her video cut out 2 times during our lesson because her phone didn't have enough battery. Nooooo! Luckily we were able to keep calling her back, and each time she was able to explain the story. We then asked if she would like to feel what she felt that day all the time. She said "OUI" with so much excitement! I told her we have a book for her to read to help her feel that Spirit, and of course at that exact moment the video cut out again! NOOO! We were just about to talk about the Book of Mormon! That always happens! We were able to give her a quick explanation of the Book of Mormon, but nothing else, sadly, before the video cut out for good. It was so sweet though, when we took out our Book of Mormon she couldn't wait! It was so cute! She was so excited to learn more! The Spirit was so incredibly strong! During the moments when the video cut out, Soeur Tepu and I kept praying that it would work again so we could do what we needed to! We prayed so hard!! 😂 Honestly, it was probably one of the greatest lessons of my mission! Soeur Tepu and I taught so well together, and I felt as if I was on fire! 😁 Please pray for Gabriela that all will continue to go well! Along with the miracles and fantastic moments, of course we experience the crazy as well! So, we tried calling one of our friends who is about ready to be baptized to have one of our final rendez-vous with him to help with final preparations for the baptism. And of course, things didn't go exactly according to plan. 😉 As soon as he picked up the phone, we knew something was wrong, as he was acting very odd, in fact he was a bit drunk. Yea...not one of my favorite lessons during my mission, it was a bit awkward. 😂 The call kept getting progressively worse, ending in one of the most interesting ways possible...let's just say we ended the video call a bit early to give him some privacy. 😵💫
BUT...par contre (on the other hand) we did have a baptism for our other friend, Christian, and it went great! It was right after church and the members were incredibly supportive! He had to be baptized three times to get it all right, haha, but all was well and it was beautiful! We even had a member come and congratulate us, telling us how well we are doing and how incredible Christian is. Pretty sure the Spirit is doing all the heavy lifting! 😉 He gets confirmed next week, so we are pretty excited about that! And to continue the crazy... now enters our friends, the Bible bashing Catholic monks! It was a definite first for me! They were in their robes and everything! It all started as Soeur Stevenson and I were just sitting on a bench when from across the way they called out to us, asking if we were Mormon. What??? 🤣 We said yes, but then shared with them that the correct term was members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. That actually was a good conversation starter! They then asked if I was Scandinavian - yes a question I often get, because of my last name. 😉 I said I was American, but my roots are Scandinavian. Once the introductions were over, they switched quickly to the topic of sharing what they believe and ended in saying that they want me to be their sister in Christ. 🤣 So much happened in that conversation! We thanked them for sharing their beliefs with us, and explained that we had a previous rendez-vous we had to go to and we all said our good-byes. It is always interesting to hear how others practice their faith in Christ and I love to see the desire they have to share their faith, since that is exactly what I am doing and why I am here!
Oh!! And no, to circle back to my intro, we actually did not get attacked by rats... BUT Rennes is full of them! We see so many! We were meeting with the ZLs to go over some things for zone conference, and the entire time we could see them running around and could hear their constant squeaking. It was definitely a bit more creepy than some of the scenes full of scavenging rats in Disney's Ratatouille! 🤣
Spiritual Thought
Well, that was a lot! Thank you to for sticking it out to the end! 😂 In my last two transfers President and Sœur Munns invited me to restart the Book of Mormon again. It has been so refreshing, as this time I am reading it simply for me! I'd like to share one scripture that particularly stood out to me recently:
"He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation" (2 Nephi 26:24) I love this scripture because it demonstrates how much Christ really does love us! He loves us so much that everything He does is for our profit and for our progression. He loves us so much that he even gave His own life for each and every one of us! What an incredible sacrifice! This week I want you all to ponder this. What does His sacrifice and His love mean to you personally? I would love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to message or email me!
Love you all! À bientôt 🥰
- Soeur Hansen
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