This one is me and a few girls from my district going Beatles style in Mexico City!

Hola!

Hola!

 

I feel like this week I have just been loaded with doctrine and spiritual inspiration. It has been crazy! It is also crazy that today is my halfway mark being at the CCM which is definitely a bittersweet feeling. I'm so excited to get out to Honduras and actually teach real investigators, but I am definitely not ready to leave the people here! Especially my companion. Once we leave the CCM I won't get to see her until we are both back from our missions, because she will be headed to Nicaragua!

This week we had something called TRC which is where they put us in a room with an investigator we know nothing about and we had to get to know them and practice the principles of Beginning to Teach a Lesson. Anyway, my companion and I got put in a room with a sweet little Hispanic woman named Hermana Lopez! I was so excited to start teaching her until we asked her the first question.... Her Spanish was so fast and she had such a heavy accent that me and Hermana Grow could hardly understand anything she was saying to us! So anytime either of us understood a few words or a phrase we would jump in and make a comment about that! It was so, so difficult, but definitely a good experience for the both of us.

In relief society this week Hermana Pratt (The CCM President's wife) taught about Christ-like attributes and discovering the Character of Christ. Her lesson was absolutely amazing! She showed us this 3 minute video from the LDS youth website. It was either called Christ like attributes or Character of Christ, but either way it was awesome! There are no words just music in the background and it shows clips from the Bible movies that the church put out. It is such a powerful, spiritual video and if any of you have time to look it up I would definitely recommend it! Also later that night for the movie they played an older devotional by Elder Bednar called the Character of Christ. It is one of the most inspiring and motivating devotional I have ever watched. He talks about how it is not enough to just have a testimony of the church, but that we must become converted unto the Lord in order to never fall away. It was a big reminder that we are all going to go through hard things in life, but sometimes it's not all about us... sometimes it's more important to by aware of the feelings and situations of the people around us. Our problems and trials are only a small piece of the tapestry of life. As you help others you will be strengthened in the Lord and become converted unto him. Again if you ever have some free time this is another good video to look up!

I feel like I have so much more spiritual knowledge to share with you from this week alone, but I can tell you about it all day long and it won't help or change anyone unless they choose for themselves to act on the promptings of the spirit. I am still loving my stay here at the CCM and am so glad to be where I am. The workers and Latino missionaries are always so kind and always willing to help us out with our Spanish if we just take the time to ask them. And most of the time they are trying to learn English as well so they will ask about a few words and phrases. Spanish is still hard, but every week I am getting better and better at speaking it. I enjoy all the e-mails and support I receive each week. The Lord definitely blesses his missionaries!

 

With much love,

 

Hermana Hansen

This is me and Herman Jones! She is one of the sweet sisters that is always helping us out when we don't know what to do! She takes good care of us!

I pass this cool little rock with the face on it everyday on my way to La Comidor (Cafeteria) I love it so we took a picture with it!

Second week at the CCM

Quero Familia y Amigos,

This second week at the CCM just flew by! Everyone here kept telling us that once we made it to our first p-day that the days would just fly by and it is so true! I feel like I was just barely sitting at this same computer answering everyone's e-mails. I am already 1/3 of the way done with my stay at the CCM which is so crazy, because I still feel like I have so much to learn. I may have already told you this, but my Districto is amazing! And so is my companion. My companions name is Hermana Grow and she is so great and motivates me to be better every day. She is from Mesa, AZ. She took some Spanish in High School before coming so she has been a huge help when it comes to learning and applying the language. This week we finally gave a lesson (completely in Spanish) that we both felt really good about. It gave me a slight bit of hope that I actually am catching onto the language and that one day I will be fluent in Spanish. The gift of tongues is so real! If it wasn't real there would be no way that I could know and speak as much Spanish as I can now after only 2 weeks. All I can say is that God watches out for and takes care of each of his children here on the earth.

So the cool pass time here at the CCM is breaking apples in half with your hands. Our elders started doing it first and then we all made a goal to do it. Once everyone had accomplished that the new goal now is to be able to break an apple in half with only one hand.... I haven't quite mastered that one yet, but don't you worry because before I leave the CCM I will be a master at that too! Since I'm on the subject of food, the food here is actually pretty good. Occasionally they serve meat that we don't actually know what it is, but most of the time it's pretty good. Also in La Tienda (the little bookstore here) they sell Bueno's!!! And for those of you who don't know what those are they are a candy bar that I had while in the Turkish airport a while a back. Crazy enough they also had them a few select stores in Provo. They're like a chocolate covered crispy candy bar that has a hazelnut filling... I think it's hazelnut anyway. But that doesn't matter, because they are so delicious!

We had a few devotionals and church meetings and things this week and I want to share with you what I've learned. First off... one sister made a comment and said, "We only have a short time to serve, but we have an eternity to look back on it." This is so true! I only have 18 months to completely devote all my time to God and what he wants me to do. I want to go throughout my mission and have no regrets! But this doesn't just apply to missions. Live life to its fullest... we are only on earth for a short period of time and I do not want to regret any of my time. I want to be able to look back one day and say Ya I lived a good life! Don't take for granted the little things in life, because one day you'll look back and realize what a bit influence those little things had on the course of your life. While on my mission I want to give my whole self to god and be a tool in his hands to bring his lost sheep back to the fold. This goes perfectly with 1 Nephi 8. That is the chapter describing Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life. We, like Lehi, know that the fruit of the tree is most desirable over any other and that we must partake in order in order to have true happiness in our lives. This is why it is so hard when we see family members and friends struggling with the church, because we know that if they would just partake of the fruit and come unto Christ again that they would have that true happiness in their life. This is something that motivates me to try to become the best missionary I possible can so I can help others find their way to the iron rod. I love you all so very much and think of you constantly. I know that I'm out here for a reason. Even if the only reason I can see right now is that I love God and want to serve him. The church is true.

 

Love,

Hermana Hansen

P.S.

P.S.

I forgot to tell you guys about two other events! First, the dedication of the CCM was on Sunday and it was so amazing! Elder Oakes came and spoke to us and gave the dedicatory prayer. As soon as he walked into the auditorium you could feel the spirit so strongly. It's amazing to think how in tune the Brethren have to be in order to be so close to God and have his spirit so strong every day. Elder Oakes spoke about Preach My Gospel and what a truly amazing tool it is. Not only does it outline the lessons so well, but it allows us as missionaries to personalize each lesson depending upon the needs of our investigators at that time! He also spoke about this generation of missionaries. He said that not only are we younger, but we are required to do and learn so much more than ever before! But he said that he knows with all of his heart that we are capable of such a task! His words were inspiring and I loved listening to him! The second thing I forgot to mention was our service project yesterday. First off, me and my compeñera got lost and separated from our District so we just followed another District that was doing service. They took us to one of the casa's in the back corner of campus to clean it out. Some Elders had lived there before and it was disgusting! To clean the floors we literally just poured buckets and buckets of water on the floors in every single room and pushed it around with a broom to scrub all of the dirt and such out of the corners and we would push all of the water right out the front door or into the drains that are in each bathroom. Speaking of bathrooms.... Hermana Grow and I got assigned a certain room and bathroom to clean. So I went into the bathroom to scrub out the shower and there wasn't just 1 or 2, but there was THREE dead cockroaches lying belly up in the shower! EEWWW! It was so gross, but lucky for me the Elders came in and found them fascinating and took care of them for me. I was just so glad that I didn't have to touch them, because they were huge! Well that about sums up my adventures from this week! I can't wait to hear from all of you again! Much love!

I want to tell you a quick story about this B on the mountain. It actually stand for Brooklyn....... just kidding! It was the first letter of the name of the school when the CCM was a High School, but now our teacher tells us that the "B"is our goal, which is Baptism! So everyday I look up at the mountain and remember why I am here!

This is my companion and I with the elders from our District.... and the last one is "The Evolution of Missionaries" courtesy of my District Elders :)

Dear Famalia,

I feel like I have been at the CCM (Spanish for MTC) forever, but it has only been one week! Well I have to tell you about my very first crazy experience here. After flying and riding a bus all day on Wed. I finally made it to the CCM! And the first thing they did was give us our name tags!!! Once you have your tag you feel like you are actually a missionary! Anyway, after that we had to go visit with the Doctor and make sure we had all of our immunizations. Turns out I needed a flu shot and a Hep. B booster. They took me behind this little curtain and the cutest little Mexican man prepared me for my shots. He gave me the flu shot with no problems, but the Hep. B booster was a whole other story! As soon as he gave it to me I had this tingley feeling fill my entire body and he kept asking me if I was okay! The blood had just drained from my face and I felt like I was going to faint! But no worries, because the cute little Mexican assistant took me by the had and sat my down somewhere and another guy brought me this delicious cranberry juice, some water, and two apples. After a few minutes I tried to tell them that I was fine, but they still made me sit there for like 20 whole minutes!! But now I am totally fine and have had no problems since! My compeñera's name is Hermana Grow and she is the cutest little red head I have ever met! She is always so happy and she has been such a blessing to me. We are always planning for the next day or preparing our lessons and she is so so patient with me and helps me with my Español! In short... I absolutely love her.

Now about the food... Each meal we have a few choices so usually I am able to find something that I can eat! But breakfast is my absolute favorite, because every day they have a nutella/peanut butter toast bar and it is fabulous! I didn't actually like nutella much before I came, but I love it now! Also every Tues. night is pizza night so we get Costco pizza which is also quite delicious! Anyway, enough about the food. I love being here, but that does not mean it is easy. Having no Spanish background I struggle learning the language a lot, but thanks to my compeñera and my teacher I am getting much much better!

Now for a little lesson I've learned... The first day we had a sweet hermana come in and teach part of our class. The thing that she said that hit me the most was "Haga algo más!" which means "Do something more!" I have tried to make that my moto while I am in the CCM. When I am having a rough day or struggling with the language I just remind myself to Do something more! And once I take my focus off of what I am feeling and turn it to the other missionaries in my District that are also struggling my day goes so much better! I want to extend that message to all of you as well! When you think you have it bad or you're just having a rough day just remember that if you focus on the edges the middle will take care of itself. In other words, focus on those around you and the God will take care you! Well I love you all so so much! Te Amo!

 

-Hermana Hansen

I finally made it!

AAAHHH!!! I finally made it! It has been such a long day and it's only five thirty! I just want you all to know that we made it here safely even whilst driving only inches away from the cars next to us! The CCM (Spanish for MTC) campus is absolutely beautiful and it's huge! There are palm trees everywhere and it is so warm here! I can't wait to get to explore it a little bit! Also when we arrived they announced to us that this Sunday Elder Oakes is coming to dedicate the grounds as a mission training center. Isn't that awesome to think that my group will be the first group here when this place is officially dedicated! I am so excited! Also I have a nametag now!! It makes me feel so official walking around wearing a badge with my name on it! I left my camera in my other bag so I don't have pictures to send yet, but I promise I'll send some next time I get to e-mail. Speaking of..... my P-day is on Wed. Also mom if you pull out my call packet it has my MTC address with blanks in it! Here are the blanks... My branch is 11, District A, and I don't know if you need this but my apartment is 41-1.... Hopefully that's everything you need and if not just let me know! I just want you all to know that I love you so much and I'm going to miss you like crazy! But I have already met some awesome people (Including the girl that is going to the same mission as me) and I am so excited to get to know them even better! The Lord loves us all and I ,along with all of these other missionaries, would not be where we are today if we didn't know that was true. He's always watching out for us even when we feel scared or along. He will be there for you if you just ask for his guidance and strength to make it through the next time. Well just wanted to let you know that I'm alive and well and miss you guys already!

Love always,

Hermana Hansen

Here Goes Nothing!

Well, here I go everyone! Starting tomorrow morning at 4 I will be officially headed off to the Mexico MTC for 6 weeks before I go to Honduras! It seems like it has been forever since I got my call and the day is finally here! Thank you all for your love and support! :) I can't wait to see everyone when I get back! If you'd like to contact me while I'm on my mission my e-mail is brooklynh@myldsmail.net and the Honduras mission home address is:
     Honduras Comayaguela Mission
     Edificio Plaza America, Contiguo a Sears
     una cuadra del Mall Multi Plaza, 3 Nivel
     Teguicigalpa, Francisco Morazan
     HONDURAS
I won't know my MTC address til I get there, but my mom will hopefully get it put up here and on Facebook. I love you all tons and thanks again for everything! I'll see you guys in 18 months!

With Love,
   Hermana Brooklyn Hansen