Mallory's Homecoming

Mallory will be speaking in sacrament meeting

Sunday, May 16th

2:00 p.m.

The church is located at 300 north and 900 east in America Fork

Welcome Home!!

After a full day's delay, and endless hours in multiple airports, Sorella Mallory Hansen arrived home! The family had the house ready for her arrival.

The Hansen Clan... Waiting a little longer

Finally she descended the escalator amid tears and shouts for joy.

Mama Hansen and Mal

Mallory, Kim and Debi

Big brother Cody and his fam.

Meeting Tate, her nephew for the first time.

Getting reacquainted with her niece Mya.

Sorella Swenson, Hughes, Hansen and Millis

These four were originally in the MTC together, Sorella Millis was Mallory's MTC companion, but sadly Mal never got to serve with any of them in the field.

Overnight in Paris ~ What a punishment

We just received a call from Mallory informing us that after about a 5 hour delay in Paris they were notified that their direct flight to Salt Lake City had been canceled due to a defective right engine. We're sure that Mallory is devastated by the news that they will be staying in Paris for the rest of the day and tonight. The airline has provided them with hotel and food vouchers, and we are waiting to hear when she will arrive home. We are expecting sometime tomorrow night.

Back in the U.S.A., whether she likes it or not!

Sorella Hansen arrives home today at 2pm!

Wahoo!!

We love you Mal!

The daughters Josef never had, apparently I'm supposed to leave Italy one day....‏

Buon Giorno once again!! I hope er'body had a marvelous week! I had a grand one indeed. Have I mentioned how much I love and adore the fact that Josef exists in my life?!? Oh my stars he just might be one of my favorite human beings. We've seen him several times this week and er...last week my companion mentioned that I'm going home. (Yeah, I hadn't told anybody) He was really upset. It was really sad. I was sitting by him in sacrament meeting and was asking him how the other meetings had gone and he said, "I can't even look at you." It was the saddest thing. He's not mad at me or anything but he's just sad. On Monday when we were at his house he was like, "I've never told you guys this but I always wanted a daughter and you guys are like daughters to me." He is wonderful. We have an appointment with him in like an hour. He's been doing well but for some reason he's still having trouble praying and asking God if this is the true church. We've been trying to work with him and figure out what his concerns are but it's been difficult for him. Tonight we're going to talk about the Atonement and repentance. Sunday was my birthday and had several surprises in store. One was the fact that I had to give a "farewell" testimony in church. It was completely bizarre. I feel very blessed to have been able to learn and love these people with the only 6 weeks that I've been with them. It has been a huge blessing to feel such a love for them and love from them in return. Isn't it marvelous that you can know someone for only 6 weeks and already love them? My companion was really sweet for my birthday. She made me crepes for breakfast. :) And she made a birthday cake for a member appointment that we had after church. (Somehow she did all of this when I was in the shower. Magician that one.) It was a fun birthday indeed...besides the fact that I'm a year closer to being elderly! But until then, I'll continue to enjoy all of the Italians telling me how young I am. It's rather nice. :) Tomorrow morning really early I have to go to the Mission Home and have a testimony meeting with everybody, I'll sleep there that night and then the next morning I get on a plane. I think I almost just threw up a little bit. I have been doing very good to shove it out of my mind. The fact that it's practically here makes me ...not really sure what to do with myself. ha ha I think everything will be fine. I am happy to come home. I know that the Lord called me to serve for a year and a half. That's what He wanted. I'm happy that I was blessed with the opportunity to do it. I will miss Italy terribly--obviously. I have a family of Italians here that I love so much. i have learned so much from them and the Lord has taught me a great deal since I've been here. But I also have developed a greater love for my family and I am excited to be able to see them and you all again. I really do know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I have been blessed out of my mind to have been able to teach the message of the gospel for a year and a half. Jeffrey R. Holland was right. I am my best convert. I had my own plans instead of a mission but in the end I'm glad I didn't do them. I know that God wanted me here to help His children here in Italy. He wanted me here to convert ME to the gospel. I love the gospel. I have seen time and time again how obedience to the commandments brings immense joy and convert. Why would you not be all over that?!? I love you all and can't wait to see you and give you a big hug.
A wallop of Italian love, Sorella Mallory Hansen

Book of Mormon Give-Away Comp, A Conversation about Jesus, Three Musketeers‏

Hello guys!
Well, another marvelous week. Is the weather as fickle in America as it is here? Oh my stars, one day it rains and is completely gloomykins and then the next...it's blazing hot! It's been completely nuts. I don't really know how to dress for the weather. Whatevs I guess. We finished our Book of Mormon competition as a district. After we won 4 days in a row they just called it off and told us they'd buy us the good fruit from their fruit stand as a prize. :) We've started over though and are having another go at it. It's been really fun to have a little competition that pushes us and has scored us some pretty bizzangin' contacts. No complaints!
We had an appointment with someone who stopped us on the street the other day and asked us if he could hear our message. He's Muslim and it was quite an interesting lesson. There are really strict rules about teaching Muslims so I had to talk to our mission president about it to make sure everything was cool. It was really interesting. It greatly increased my testimony of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. He pretty much tried to use the bible to prove that Jesus was just a prophet and not the Son of God or...our redeemer. Yeah. We'll see if he calls us to see us again but...we won't be making the call. ha ha He was a nice guy but...I know that Jesus atoned for our sins. I know that. I know that He is an essential part of the Plan of Salvation. I know that. I find it kind of laughable that you're trying to use the Bible AGAINST Jesus. Really? It made me want to do some more studying from the Bible this morning about Jesus and yeah, lets just say my testimony remains unshaken on his stand point.
Let's talk about Josef!!! Have I mentioned that I kind of adore the fact that this man exists in my life?! We finally got him to come to church and he came for all three hours. He LOVED it! ha ha Oh it made me so happy. We've also tried really hard to bring a bunch of members to his appointments so when he came to church, he had a LOT of friends. It was rad. So I don't know what was taught in your priesthood sessions at home (I'm assuming it was the same lesson but I don't know if they did something a little different here...anyway) but apparently in priesthood they talked about how we all need to work together and have unity. Josef came up to me after the meeting and said, "It was beautiful! Practically what they said was, "All for one, and one for all"". ha ha He continued to ponder it and reflect throughout church and then in the end he came up to me again and he said, "It's beautiful. All for one and one for all. Like the Three Musketeers. Do you know who wrote that book? I'm absolutely sure that he must have known Joseph Smith." ha ha I have had a good laugh over that for the last couple of days. I have always enjoyed the three musketeers and now I know why. Apparently the author knew Joseph Smith. ha ha I love Josef. We have an appointment with him tonight. We're going to teach him the law of chastity. Should be splendid.
I hope everything's going beyond grand for you guys. Take care of yourselves. Be happy. And remember what the musketeers say, "all for one, and one for all!" ha ha aka...take care of each other. :) Roman love,
Sorella Hansen

Beautiful Baptism, Friendly District Competition, Taking care of your Cadillacs‏

Hey friends and family!
So we had a baptism on Saturday which was crazy cool. Her name's Fernanda and she's wonderful. It was much more eventful then we had been planning because, making a long story short, she didn't show up at 6...when her baptism was supposed to happen. Yeah. There was some last minute Satan being a jerk-face drama, but in the end some members went to her house, gave her a blessing, and got her to the church! By 7:20 she got all dressed up in her baptismal dress and she just looked so happy. I'm glad she was able to get over the problems that were going on because you could see that once she overcame them, that she was just filled with joy. It was beautiful. She gave her testimony afterwards and...ah...it was great. She really knows that the church is true. She bore testimony about how she doesn't feel alone anymore now that she's found the church. It was a stressful but absolutely beautiful day all at the same time.
A couple of the elders in our district have challenged us to an ol' fashioned "who can give out more Book of Mormons". (How many of you judged me about whether or not I correctly pluralized Book of Mormon?" Because...I just did) BUT we decided that there's no point in giving out Books of Mormon (changed it up, just to make sure that I'm right at least once) :) unless something comes out of it. So we are keeping track of how many we give away a day BUT it only counts if you get their phone number. So we've been working on our finding and so far we've gotten one everyday....and we're winning. shhh..
Yesterday one of our few appointments cancelled on us last minute and so...that left us with a whole afternoon of finding work on our hands. We did just about everything. Street, bus, metro, house, trenino....yup, we did an hour of one thing and then changed it up. It was about 8:00, we'd been working for hours and still no bites. Wouldn't ya know, on the way home a guy on the trenino looks at my Book of Mormon and decides to ask me about what it is and what we believe. Cha-ching! So we spent the whole train ride telling him about the restoration of the church and bearing testimony and we gave him a Book of Mormon (part 1) and were getting a lot of good feedback on his part. He was really into it. I had already asked for his phone number 2 different times when it came up during our ride and then when we were at the end of the line (his stop) I asked him one last time. And...he gave it to us! (part 2). His name's Marco and he's genuinely great! He happens to have a wife and two children. Italian family? Don't mind if I do!! Hopefully we'll be able to meet with him on Saturday. He said he was going to have to talk it over with his wife. So...we've been praying for her a lot lately. :)
And in closing, we taught my dear friend Josef about the word of wisdom this last week. This little guy is my favorite. Oh my stars I just want to introduce him to all of you. He's marvelous. He loves analogies and so it's good times preparing things for his lessons that will catch his attention and get him to apply the lessons that we're teaching. So my favorite word of wisdom analogy is starting by talking about a beautiful, expensive car and how the mechanic that made that car knows it in and out. He knows exactly how to take care of it so that it'll run well, last, and so you can enjoy it! We asked him what would happen if I just up and decided since I didn't have gas that I could just put some peanut butter in the gas tank instead. He gave quite the reaction and was like, "Oh no, you don't do that." ha ha And we talked about how God created our bodies and knows the ins and outs of how they work. The word of wisdom is an instruction manual for how to take care of them, make them last, and enjoy them! He loved it. However we got to a point when he said, "Well, I don't understand why I can't have a little bit of wine every now and then. If I'm not an alcoholic, why does it matter?" and I was like, "Would you put even a teaspoon of peanut butter in your Cadillac's gas tank?" He sat there quiet for a second and then said, "You're right. Are you sure this Smith wasn't a genius?" "No, Josef, he was a prophet." ha ha I love that man.
Well, I've got to scadaddle. Apparently we can get into the Colosseum for free today! Why would we not be all over an offer like that?! So we're gonna go check that out and then we have an appointment with a contact that we met on the train. He's a really cool guy from Congo named Victor. He's seen the missionaries around in Congo and wanted to talk to us about the church. So we'll be seeing him tonight. I hope that you guys are having a marvelous month of April. I think about ya (just the right amount) and pray that you're all doing well and are happy. Take care of yourselves. Roman kisses,
Sorella Hansen