A "Religious discussion", how do you say Napkin?, Miracle named Susan‏

Hi-di-ho~
So, Sunday our wonderful Paolo and Walter received the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was so cool. I had to play the piano in sacrament meeting that day and I just felt like it was the most surreal thing, sitting on the piano bench, watching my friends receive the Holy Ghost and continue on this amazing road in the gospel! It was completely surreal but so wonderful!So...a couple of weeks ago we did a morning of nothing but house and it was kinda discouraging...no bites. Well, we met a woman with a little girl in her stroller and talked to her a little about the gospel and exchanged numbers. Her name's Angela and she's a Jehovah's Witness and we decided that we'd talk again. So this last week we had set up a time to meet her in a park to talk more about the gospel. I was so excited to show up to the park and see Angela and her cute little girl in the stroller. Well, we entered the park and were looking for Angela and all of a sudden I hear my companion say, "No way. ...she brought a friend." What? It turns out Angela brought a little friend who is also Jehovah's Witness and I had a feeling that the lesson that we planned for Angela that morning was...going to have to be altered. To start with, they wouldn't let us start with a prayer...uh??? So they started by reading us some scripture and then coming to the conclusion that you can't go to war and be Christian. They wanted us to explain why Mormons go to war ...and how we can still claim to be Christian?! It was way left field and so random. The interesting thing is Angela was really quiet through the whole thing but her "well-versed" friend did most of the talking. Even though they didn't let us pray out loud, there was certainly a lengthy prayer going on in my heart. We taught about the restoration of the church. They would nod when they were in agreement and pull a random scripture out when they felt they hadn't spoken in a bit. When I got to the part about Joseph Smith, Angela's friend said, "We don't need to hear about him. I already know everything about him. He founded your church." I used all of my mental strength to be patient and have a sweet loving voice. I tried to lovingly inform them that he didn't found our church and...explained everything to them anyway. I said the first vision and bore my testimony about how I know that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and how I've prayed, asked, and I've felt for myself that it's true--he was called as a prophet to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then, coolest thing happened....silence. Ah....it was a good sound. They had no scriptures to pull out, no contrary opinions, just silence. It was beautiful. And I realized the most marvelous thing: You can't fight with a testimony. There's no scripture that says, "No you didn't feel that Joseph Smith was called of God." Nope, doesn't exist. Because I have felt it. End of story. Go right ahead and check your topical guide all you want, but you can't bash my testimony. We finished teaching the lesson. They wouldn't let us read out of the Book of Mormon so...we just bore testimony of it. :) It was a great learning experience for me. I heard stories before my mission of situations like this...who knew that I'd be running into one on a little ol' island off of Italy? Not I, my friend. It was an awkward start, but I walked away without any worries about my testimony.Awkward moment of my life. During our weekly meeting as a district. My companion was trying to talk to the Italy elder in our district and was trying to say the word 'napkin'. The word had slipped my mind. I remember we said the word a lot in the MTC because we all thought that it was a really funny word. I was trying to think so hard about how you say it. I could remember the letters, the sounds involved...but the actual word wasn't quite coming to me. I thought I'd give a stab at it. So I looked at Anziano Polelli and said, "Tivoglio?" He gave me a weird look and then I said it slower..."Ti voglio?" Then my mind registered what I'd just said. Oops!! That is exactly how you do NOT say napkin. What I had actually just said to Anziano Polelli is, "I want you." Er...permission to go all karate kid and try to break a board with my face?!? How embarrassing. ha ha So, in case you want to know--you know, for future info--in Italian the word napkin is "Tovagliolo". I was close.... ha ha We had a miracle happen on Sunday. Let me start this story by backing up to like 2 months ago. Sorella Bjarnason and I had looked through our area book of old investigators and grabbed a couple that we wanted to follow up on. Well, we dropped by a woman named Susan. She has a husband and two children and we went and saw her. She was super nice, but then...didn't answer our calls after that. So...we just kind of let that go. Well, on Sunday she showed up to church with her family! Yup, Husband and two children. She remembered me and said she wanted us to come teach her and that she wants to be baptized. Er...for reals?! So I made sure to talk to her husband on Sunday because according to the record, he wasn't interested before. The missionaries had just taught Susan. Well, I talked to him about how we wanted to come teach them the gospel and got his number and...so now we have a family to teach. Love it! Oh my, when I have weeks like this, it just makes me laugh wondering what might go down in the coming week. Ah yes, missionary life.We have Presidents interviews this week which are always a joy. And then there's like a week and a half left in the transfer. It's gone mighty fast! I hope you guys are getting my mail. I've written everyone back that has written to me. Sometimes I wonder about mail because I think I'm putting on less postage then I should...haha so...I hope you're getting my mail. I love you guys. Have a marvelous week. Read your scriptures, say your prayers, and...hope you know how much I love you guys! Sister missionary love from Sardegna! Sorella Hansen

A Meter?, Walter's BAPTISM, Enrica‏

Well hey hey guys!We had a marvelous Zone Conference on Friday. It's always great to get more trainings and learn new ways to improve and be more effective. President Acerson always gives an amazing training. This time he was trying to demonstrate "vision" and this is how he started his training. He asks about our ability to run. He wanted to ask us different distances and then we had to raise our hand if we felt like we could run it. The point wasn't actually the running, because afterwards he asked us WHY we could run the different distances. The point was to see our vision of ourselves and help us to see that we can go great distances in the mission but it takes work. BUT the blip that I would like to share with you is a "Mallory moment". OH dear. So President started with "Let's start easy, how many of you could run a meter?" Now in my defense, we don't use this measuring system right?! So everyone raises their hands and obviously I know that I can run it but I just wanted to make sure that I knew how far it was. I leaned over to Sorella Millis and said, "That's like a mile right?" She laughed and didn't answer me. So I asked her again, "hey, that's just like a mile right?" ha ha So President looks at me and says, "Sorella Hansen..." (Me obviously being the only one in the room with their hand not raised---but I wanted to make sure I actually knew how far it was!) And then Sorella Acerson is in the row behind me and lovingly says, "That's like 3 feet sister Hansen." ha ha I started laughing. Then from then on whenever he said a distance, Sorella Acerson would say--from behind me-- the corresponding translation ex., "That's about 2/3 of a mile Sister Hansen." ha ha How awkward is my life? I seriously died laughing and the whole zone had a good laugh about it. Ah yes, put the metric system on my list of things to learn! Yipers!Walters baptism was on Sunday and it was such a great day! Walter and his cousin came to church (in ties! Which was marvelous!) and then we had a lunch together in church afterwards. I had to prepare a talk on Baptism and then Anziano Polelli was going to give the other talk on the Holy Ghost. We understood that they were supposed to be brief. So I had been fretting and worrying about what to say in the talk and I seriously finished throwing it all together like a half hour before the baptism and made my poor companion listen to it because I'm still in 5th grade like that. I was so nervous and THEN at 3:50 --yes, this would be 10 minutes before the program is to start-- our ward mission leader informs me and Anziano Polelli that he will not be speaking. So I was now the only speaker and had to somehow eloquently throw the Holy Ghost into my BRIEF talk. They're kind of big deal topics right? Baptism AND then add the holy ghost into a talk in a foreign tongue in 10 minutes---"Oh and also, would you mind playing prelude music, the hymns, and postlude music?" My thoughts were as follows, "excuse me sir, could you pass me a brown paper sack?" Don't worry, it's not like I made a scene or anything. In fact, I'm certain that nobody noticed a bit that I was a bit nervous but alas, I learned that I can work under pressure--but it IS something that I can work on. ha haSo I got to play the hymns, go give my talk, and then watch two bea-utiful baptisms! It was the greatest sight! Paolo hugged Fratello Floris when he came out of the water and I'm pretty sure I almost cried all over myself!...but I didn't. It was just so beautiful I can't even explain it. I just felt like, "yeah, that's why I'm here." It was so cool to see these two wonderful investigators--and friends--make the decision to be baptized. They are so amazing and I am so grateful that I got to be even small part of the experience. It was so cool.The weather has been all kinds of crazy. I love Sardegna with all of my heart. I have looked like a complete sweaty mess for months but I have loved every second because this place, the people, and the work are my favorite! BUT it has completely amazed me the weather has taken a change. Downpoor rain. It's nuts! On Monday we went to our meeting with our district. The weather seemed pleasant. Our meeting got over at 12:30 and we had a half an hour to get to our lunch appointment with the Sanna Family. We took off to the bus stop, the dark clouds rolled in and the trickling went to downpour very quickly. We being the unbelievably awkward sister missionaries that we are, know that we need to keep all of the things in our backpacks protected from the rain. (Preach my Gospel, scriptures, planners, etc) So...we put our backpacks on the ground... underneath our skirts (not joking) and kind of snuggled trying to stand under this sparse tree giving mediocre coverage, waiting for the bus to arrive. We probably waited for the bus for like 10 minutes and every now that then a car would wiz by and splash us. ha ha We were seriously DYING laughing the whole time. I mean, it was really the only solution! We tried to protect our backpacks, and then just laughed because there was really nothing else to do. We got on the bus and the bus driver (and all of the passengers) were laughing and teasing us but I think they like us more now. There's gotta be something endearing about a pathetic wet missionary right? Then we got off the bus and had to walk for about 10 minutes to the members house. We just continued to laugh and tried to make good time. I suggested that we should do some house because maybe people would feel bad for us and listen to our message. We arrived at the appointment, like 5 minutes late but they just laughed at us. Good times! It was really a moment that I'll never forget. Everything that got us more wet, was just more funny. I love moments like that. Sometimes inconveniences are just hilarious to me. I don't know why exactly but when I find myself in misfortune, it's somehow humorous. I can find things hilarious instead of whine about it--and it's SO much more fun that way too. So...win win! As enjoyable as that day was though, no worries, I bring an umbrella with me these days. :)Well remember Enrica? We're officially back together!! ha ha We had another appointment with her this week and it went really really well. We taughter her obedience, pray often, and study the scriptures. She hasn't wanted to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon because she's scared. I tried to lovingly call her on it this appointment and she just went off on how she knows that the Catholic church isn't true. I asked her again and she almost started crying. She knows exactly what we have. She knows exactly how huge it is. Ah, I can't even explain how I feel about it. She's pretty difficult to plan for because we pretty much have to do everything 110% by the spirit, and I'm still trying to figure that out. :) But everything's going well. She's making progress and keeping the commitments that we give her. It won't be easy, but I know that we can help her. She's amazing. Bah, I just love it here! There's so much to do and so many people who need the gospel!Well, I will end this eternal e'mail. I love you guys very much. Thanks for all of your love and support. Sending lots of Italian love your way, (how many meters it takes to get to you?...I'd be the wrong person to ask but...it's goin' in your direction.) Sorella Hansen

Breaking up but still holding hand, 100 pages in the BOM‏

Well, happy 9th of September!! Let me tell you about this week in the mission:On Saturday we did some service and cleaned the church. It looked pretty mangled. I spent several quality hours with the fig tree. Raking fallen leaves and matted smooshed figs, weeding...all good times! In the end, the church looked like paradise--soo beautiful. And the fig tree, thanks to Anziano Smiths pruning skills, actually looked like a tree instead of an overgrown ball of leaves. We left the church a little sunburnt, sweaty, and smelling like latex gloves and rotten figs but wouldn't you know it, it was a good time had by one and all. And hey, if you happen to run into some perfume called "latex gloves and rotten figs" I can advise you by first-hand experience to not invest! :)In other news we had another appointment with Enrica. Ah, I love this girl. We had planned to finish teaching the second lesson with her but right when she came into the church she seemed very agitated and ...not okay. She kind of gave us a "talk". She explained that this is a really hard time in her life right now and she's been trying to believe but she just can't do it at this point in her life. She talked to us about what the problems are and she has some legitimate problems that she's dealing with. I pulled out some scriptures that came into mind that I thought could help her and just bore testimony to her that the gospel could help her and...she didn't respond like it did anything for her. I was actually so sad. In the end, she still wants to see us, and I asked her if we can still read the scriptures with her and stuff and she agreed. So...it was weird. I like to use the comparison: She broke up with us....but we can still hold hands. ha ha I know that's awkward, but in the sense that it's still not over! I know that we have what she needs, and I know that as we carefully plan and follow the spirit, that she'll be able to see and feel of the truth and power of this message.We had Walters baptismal interview on Saturday--it's all a go! I'm glad that everything's official and that it's really happening. After his interview we had investigators, contacts, and new members watch "The Other Side of Heaven" in the church. It was weird how the movie is so different to me now. I watched it before my mission and I liked it alright. But watching it now, as a missionary, with investigators, it's a completely different experience. I dunno. It was weird.ALSO, yesterday we were out doing some finding work and we got a text from Walter. (Just as a little background information, the last thing that I'm aware of, is that he finished 1Nephi 12 like 5 days ago). So his text said that he just read all of 2Nephi and he listed his favorite chapters and verses. I was amazed and at the same time just started laughing. Come on! Who is this guy?! He ACTUALLY just sat down and read 2Nephi like no big deal. THEN, like 3 hours later when we were having lunch, we get another jolly text from Walter that says that he just finished reading Jacob. He again listed his favorite chapters and verses. I just started laughing again and looked up the parts that he liked so much. ha ha I'm so happy that he has a love for and testimony of the Book of Mormon. It's going to help him with his testimony so so much.By-the-way, how wonderful is the Book of Mormon? Throughout my mission I've been coming up with my own coloring coding system and it's quite possibly one of my favorite things. I love looking back through my scriptures and the colors and I know exactly what they mean. Also, if I'm looking for a certain type of scripture then I can just look for a specific color. I am telling you what, it has changed my personal study and I do not hate it. On the contrary, love it! I would seriously recommend it if you're looking for something to spice up your scripture study. It was the best thing that happened to my scripture study: Putting down the red pencil, and picking up a box of colored pencils. Yeah, give it a go. Your mind will expode with how much you'll love the scriptures. At least mine has......ANYWHOThanks for all of your love and support. I love you guys very much and keep you in my prayers. I know that I'm supposed to be here right now to serve God's children in Italy. He loves them so much, and I do too. It is such a blessing to be able to serve. I am learning so much. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father is so patient with me in my attempts to accomplished what He wants me to. I feel very blessed to have the perfect example to look up to--the more I learn about the Savior, the more my love grows for Him, the more I want to be more like Him, and the more that I want the people around me to know how important each one of them are. I love you guys. Be happy. Read your scriptures. Say your prayers. Laugh everyday. And know that Sorella Hansen is sending you Italian amore, Sorella Mally

Bye, bye to my other half, Rockin' tie, Drunkin' Sailor?‏

Buongiorno!! Come state?!? What a crazy sauce week it has been. Going to bed at midnight, waking up at 4:30--let's just say that accompanying my companion to Rome kinda threw off my whole 10:30-6:30 sleeping schedule. ha ha But it was quite the experience and I enjoyed it nonetheless. I love talking with the boat workers. They're always very pleasant. I'm really sad to see my dear Sorella Bjarnason go. Can I just tell you how awkward it is to be separated from someone that you've spent 4 and a half months of your life with? I have spent half of my time in Italy with that girl. It's crazy how different things are with her gone. I feel like someone split me from my Siamese twin. (What's more awkward, the fact that I just made that analogy or the fact that I don't know how to spell Siamese? Lemme know.) It's cool to look back at our time together and remember all of the hard times, but also all of the times that we laughed, and how much we grew together. I think we're both completely different missionaries then we were before. I hope that happens with all of my companions. My new companion is Sorella Nelson. She's is starting her 5th transfer. (Just for reference, I'm in my 7th.) She is from Seattle, Washington and is so excited to be serving here in on the Island. She has like 3 foot long hair. It completely blows my mind. Mine is getting longer but...yeah, hers is forever long. I don't know how she does it. We've set some really good goals together and I'm excited to see all that we're going to learn together and all great moments that we're going to come across. Well as for a little Walter update. Sorella Bjarnason called him last Wednesday to give him a last reading assignment from the scriptures and he told her that he was on his way to his hometown. (It's a long slow train ride to the middle of the island.) It makes me laugh because he's so used to seeing us and so we think that because we left to Rome for like 3 days that he didn't know what to do so he went home. ha ha But the good news is I called him on my way back to see how his family was and everything and he said that everything's going to be okay! I was really worried that they're get really mad at him when he went home but he said that everything was fine and they're okay with him being a member! Woot woot! We had another appointment with Enrica on Saturday. Ah, I just adore that girl! We taught her the first half of the Plan of Salvation. She just completely intrigues me. I just love hearing her thoughts and opinions because she really thinks things out. I know that she'll become a member someday. I just think she's gonna take a little bit of work--which is okay. I adore her and don't mind doing the work that it takes to get her to the gospel where she'll be happy. So my companion and I have discovered a new fun game. She told me that she has a philosophy about people and how they have more than one age. They have the age that they actually are, and then the age that they act. One night after our appointment with Walter (where at the bus stop, he started dancing like Michael Jackson and singing Thriller) she said that she thinks Walter is "32 going on 23". He's actually 32 but acts like a 23 year-old. I can only agree. I've thought the same thing, just not necessarily phrased in that way. I asked my companion what she is. She said that she's "22 going on 60 ...going on 3." Obviously I don't know her very well but I will let you know if that holds true. So then I asked for her evaluation on me. She said that I'm very elegant, sweet, and loving. But she also said that my way of speaking and my dry humor is something else entirely. So her analysis of me is that I'm "22 going on Princess Diana, going on Drunken sailor." ha ha So...make of that what you will! Consider that our first companionship inventory. ha ha We have finished teaching Walter all of the lessons. And we also went through the baptismal questions with him again. He's ready. It's seriously the coolest thing. He really knows that it's true. He really understands the doctrine. It's the coolest thing in the world. ALSO, and sound the alarm because this news is dare I say, massive!....Okay so here it goes: Walter wore a shirt and tie on Sunday!!! I'm not even playing! He kind of whined about it the whole day and how it's uncomfortable but...I think deep down he loved it. :) We have his official baptismal interview this Saturday and then NEXT Saturday is the big day. I am so, so excited. Welp, everything's going well. There is really a lot of work to be done here in Cagliari but it can be done-obviously with the help of the lord. :) We were talking in our weekly meeting about how we've changed since we received our mission call, and since we left the MTC, and to where we are at this point. It's crazy all of the things that have happened since then. I feel like I've lived 5 years in 1. I can't imagine my life without this experience though--without these people. I really do need to be here. I love you guys! (Just in case you didn't know, it's factual!) There is a grundle of delicious, sweaty, lovable, Italian, sista missionary love, bubble wrapped and sealed with a kiss (the appropriate kind obviously....) headed your way. Aka Vi voglio bene! Say your prayers, read your scriptures, and ....I dunno, try to picture me more like Princess Diana then as a drunken sailor. That'd be great. Kisses! Sorella Hansen