Week #4 at the Missionary Training Center

First off, Taryn wanted me to tell all of you how easy it is to write to her while she is in the MTC! This is because of a website called "Dear Elder" which allows you to write her free next day letters. So you write her one day, and by noon the next day they have it printed out and sealed in an envelope to give her! It is such an easy to way to write her while she is in the MTC... She only has 2 weeks left in the MTC so take advantage of this soon, she will leave for the mission Dec 14th. I am sure she would love to hear from you.

Here are some simple instructions on how to use "Dear Elder"

Step 1- Click on this link: www.dearelder.com
Step 2- On the left hand side of the page click on PROVO MTC FREE
Step 3- Fill in this info... Taryn Hansen 2005 N 900 E Unit 18 Provo, UT 84602
             Unit # is 18, Mission Code is CA-SJO, and Departure date is DEC14
Step 4- Fill in your email address, and if you want her to receive the letter by email as well you can put her email address below yours.. which is: taryn.hansen@myldsmail.net
Step 5- Type up your letter is less than 7900 characters and then click send! Easy as that:)

As for her letter to us this week, it seemed very up beat and positive. She is having a lot of really cool experiences and it sounds like she is ready and excited to get out into the mission field! So without further ado... Here is Hermana Hansen's weekly email:)

Starting off where I left off last week... Hermana Sanft and I had a TRC investigator that we were supposed to teach on Wednesday, but at our leadership meeting one of the leaders told us that we had to be at the meeting and that we would have to miss the meeting. So that is what we planned on. We had no lesson planned or anything! Then the next morning right before our meeting, we both had the impression that we needed to teach Maribel! So using up the full five minutes that we had before we had to be there we prepared a lesson. We decided to teach her about prayer. I told her my "Lost Cat" story, and she loved it so much. She thought it was weird that I prayed for my cat, because in her religion they only say a memorized prayer. She thought it was amazing that she could pray for anything! We then asked her to be baptized, because she has such wonderful faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. She said... YES! We were so elated! The Lord really blessed us with our lesson! 

Thanksgiving was this week! We first started out with choir practice in the morning which is always fun! For Devo we had Neil L. Anderson come and speak. He spoke about being thankful, of course, and how we should be thankful for our trials and even more thankful for our blessings. As you all know I am a pretty picky eater when it comes to Thanksgiving and so I did say some things like how I  don't like stuffing. My companion pointed it out to me that it is Thanksgiving and I should be grateful always even if I don't like something. I really appreciate her and her example.

So Hermana Sanft and I were table leaders for the service project. We got to be in charge of making sure everyone knew what they were doing and that they were kept out of trouble. We got to make bags of food for the hungry people in Utah. Each tiny bag was able to feed 6 people! We filled up 12 boxes which held 48 bags. And that was just our table! There were 54 tables in the whole room and 2 shifts! So do the math!

We got to watch Ephraim's Rescue, which is such a great movie! It was a lot of fun watching it with a bunch of missionaries because during the romance scenes everyone would be ooo-ing and laughing!

They showed us videos at the evening Thanksgiving event, and Hermana Sanft and I were in one of them! A lady had stopped us a few days before and asked us if she could record us saying what we were thankful for! It was really cool to see myself up on the screen!

Elder white had a wonderful idea to have us write notes to each other anonymously. My letter was so sweet! I was able to guess my person right away because the person said I had pretty hair and eyes... I did not think that an Elder would write that! Hermana MacDonald wrote me the note!

On Saturday we were studying when the Elders started to rap to Sponge Bob Square Pants! It was so hilarious! It was the perfect 5 minute break! Everyone was laughing and I even got it on video!

Choir on Sunday was the best choir yet! We sang a Christmas song and the choir director talked about how Jesus came down as a normal child. He could have been made fun of, he could have fallen down and scraped his knee. The most important person came here, to be like us, to grow up like us! It was just so amazing to think about!

For the Devo I had to give the opening prayer. It was in front of more than 2000 people! My heart was pounding so bad!!! When I got up to say it I thought, "Crap! I can't remember how to start a prayer!" I stood there for what felt like forever trying to remember and finally I was able to get the words out and say the prayer! I was so glad when it was over. Hermana Sanft said I did good and she didn't even notice my pause!

Yesterday was the first day of a lot of snow, that stuck! It was a lot of fun for us to walk around the MTC while it was snowing! It has been cold but I have been warm. We had another lesson with Maribel. We were going to print off a Spanish Family Proclamation, but it wouldn't print for some reason. I got really stressed. My companion helped me out by saying that we could teach a different lesson and to put my trust entirely with the Lord. It worked! Our lesson went fabulous again! I was so happy to be able to put my trust in Him and have everything turn out OK!

So for the past few days one of the Elders in our District has been acting really mean towards Hermana Taylor, when in the past he has been really nice. He started acting overly nice to her after she gave him a note just saying that she appreciated him sharing a personal story. We believed that he had this huge crush on her! So she started to ignore him so that he would not think that anything was going on between them, and that is when he started acting mean. I believe someone is really jealous! It is kind of funny to see how angry he gets when she pays attention to to the other Elders and not him. We hope that he can get over it because he is here to serve the Lord not to create romances!

I only have 2 more weeks in the MTC! We get our flight plans tomorrow! I am so excited to get out in the field and serve the Lord by finding his sheep in Cali!

I love you all and miss you so much!

Hermana Hansen 

Another Week in the MTC

The report this week sounds like this past week was a little tougher than the rest. She has been surrounded by sick missionaries in her district including her companion. So far she has managed to miss it, and I hope she is still feeling well. She has also dealt with some stress, and some mean words from others... I am glad she has a good companion to be there for her. She also must have picked up on some of Dads nursing skills, who was recently in nursing school. She had already ruled out appendicitis when a fellow missionary had sharp stomach pain and had to go to the ER... I am sure Dad is proud! Also, if you know Taryn at all her weakness is cheesecake... but apparently the MTC can't get cheesecake right! We got some pictures again this week, it looks like she is enjoying the beautiful paintings at the MTC and took pictures of some of her favorites to share with us. She also included a video of her and her companion making the trek to the temple... It was so nice to hear her contagious laugh! Hope you enjoy her letter as much as I did... It sounds like she is really working hard, and putting her trust in the Lord. Love and Miss her!

Hola mi familia.! Y mis amigos tambien!!!

This week has been a little more stressful than the others. It started out by Hermana Sanft and I being assigned to do both the District meeting lesson and the Relief Society lesson on Sunday. They both had to be about 40 minutes long and I just did not know how we would be able to do both with all of the other stuff that we had to do as well! It did make me feel better that the two Hermanas in the other district had to do the same thing.

While studying for our lessons this week for our lesson with Javier, I remembered an idea about teaching him about Alma the Younger. Hermana Sanft and I were so excited to teach him, but we have yet to for reasons I will explain later. :(   We didn't plan as much for our lesson with Carlos, so as to be expected the lesson did not go as well as we would have like it to. I was in a really bad mood after that and had a meltdown after someone I didn't know said something that I don't think was supposed to be rude, but was. Hermana Sanft was so kind! She comforted me and helped me feel better. I am so grateful for such a great companion. It just goes to show that you shouldn't say anything that could be considered mean. You never know what people are going through. 

I now have the first vision and my purpose memorized in Espanol!!! Be proud!!! It was so hard to memorize! I would walk around the track repeating it over and over in my mind. I am now working on the baptismal invitation.

The week was going good until Hermana Taylor got sick with the flu. She was out all day Thursday. Then the next morning Hermana Sanft came down with the flu as well! I was so nervous about getting it. I had to stay at the rooms all day! I was so restless! I did take several naps though :)

Hermana Taylor ended up staying with her the next day, because she wasn't feeling so good again. I ended up staying with the STL's one night because I just couldn't stay in a room with a sick person making sick person noises. I do feel bad for not being more of a comfort to my companion though. 

We have become really good friends with the other Hermanas in the other district. Hermana Landrin, and Hermana Maw. They really kept me entertained while we were all stuck in the residences with sick companions. I was so grateful they kept me happy!

For dinner on Saturday Hermana MacDonald got the last cheesecake! I was so sad!!! I really wanted some! So after begging, she said that I could have a bite. I waited as patiently as I could for this delicious bite... finally I was able to put my tiny morsel into my awaiting mouth... EWW! The worst cheesecake that I have ever tasted!!! HOW CAN YOU MESS UP CHEESECAKE! It tasted like warm Sherbert. Yuck! I know never to get the cheesecake here again.

On Sunday Hermana Taylor had to go to the ER because she was having this sharp pain on her right side right below her ribs. I ruled out appendix already because it was way to high of a pain. They gave her a lot of pain medication and she has had to go back for several tests over the last few days. They still don't know what is wrong but has a hunch about her gall bladder. I am really worried but I have this feeling that she is going to be OK. I just hope that they can figure it out and get her feeling like her normal self again.

So during the Sunday Devotional they gave us a challenge to choose a Christlike attribute every week and work to gain that gift. I decided that I would work on Charity. It takes me a little bit longer to trust people and show my love. I am trying though. Yesterday while it was raining I gave two sisters my umbrella because they didn't have jackets or umbrellas. I was able to put my hood up. Even though I hate the rain it made me feel good to give away my umbrella so that those girls didn't have to get soaked. I know that it was something the Savior would have done.

So we now have a TRC (I have no idea what that stands for). It is a person who is a member that we teach about the gospel, but they pretend to be investigators. Her name is Maribel and she is from Mexico. I believe our lesson went really well! Our teacher told us that we should have asked her to be baptized! That was only the first lesson! I find that to be a little weird, but he said it gets you an idea about what they need to learn about the gospel to get them prepared to be ready to be baptized. 

This week we have a service project for Thanksgiving and guess who got volenteered to be one of those in charge? ME and Hermana Sanft! Ahhh! So scary! I know that the Lord will help me so that I will be able to do the job correctly and to my best ability. I also got asked to give the opening prayer at the next Sunday Devotional!!!!!!!!! WHY! I guess the Lord wants me to get out of my comfort zone.

Well, that is about it for this week! I love ya'll so much (It is a rule not to say guys, but I can say ya'll). I know that the Lord is helping me and blessing me during my stay here and that he will continue to bless me through out my whole mission. I am so thankful for the gospel and how my family is being blessed while I am serving. It is so comforting to know that he is watching over them! 

Until next week!

Hermana Hansen

First Couple of Weeks

Hermana Hansen seems like she is doing really well! We got a nice letter and some pictures from her this Tuesday. While in the MTC her P-Day is on Tuesdays, so I will try and keep her blog updated as she updates us! Her Companion is Tongan but moved to Colorado when she was 11, her name is Hermana Sanft- and they get along really well.

Hola!

My second week here has been a lot less stressful than the first week! We now have 2 investigators that we have to teach, but my companion and I don't feel stressed about preparing the lessons. We listen to the spirit and then teach with love. We try to think of things that will make our investigator want to read the BOM, or repent etc. 

The sisters and I get a long so well. We have fun all of the time. There are points in time that we are laughing and can't stop. I love them all so much!

Every Tuesday we have a guest speaker come and teach us during a devotional. Last Tuesday it was Jenny Oaks Baker! She is so amazing! Her music can make anyone who is having a bad day smile. 

So Flourentin (our investigator) ended up getting "baptized"! He is so active in the church now. He now goes by Brother Johnson and he is teaching us how to be better missionaries! Yes he became our teacher! So I  was right and he was not a real investigator, but it was still really fun to teach him. We ended up teaching he 4 times. We now have 2 new investigators, One is Carlos and the other is Javier. Carlos is our other teacher Brother Tuft and Javier is Brother Johnson. I feel more comfortable teaching them because they can help my companion and I learn how to teach better!

The food here at the MTC has been making us sick :( After we eat it we just feel like we drank a whole tub of gravy. I have been sticking to the salads lately.

My Spanish is coming a long pretty well. I am learning a lot of new words a day, but if you know Spanish... please don't write to me full sentences because I will have no idea what it says until 4 months from now! I can tell that the Lord especially helps me with my Spanish during my lessons. I feel like when I teach I don't have to think too hard about what I want to say and how to say it. It just comes out!

This week I have played 4 square during gym time!!! I love 4 square so much! It has relieved a lot of stress! 

We have to memorize the First Vision by Thursday! I kind of have half of it done. I think that during gym tomorrow I will walk around the track and try to memorize it. That is how I memorized the missionary purpose!

Hermana MacDonald and I are doing the MTC choir! It is so much fun! The director is so hilarious. He tells stories about the songs that we are singing and makes us laugh!

I have felt the spirit so much while I have been here, and while I have missed everybody, I love knowing that what I am doing will bless the lives of so many people!

I love you all and will write to you next week! 

She's off!

Our Sister Missionary has started her adventure. 

After a great farewell talk from Taryn on her last Sunday, followed by a nice luncheon with family & friends... 

Then last night she was set apart as a missionary by her Stake President at her home... 

We were off to Provo early this morning. We enjoyed our last few hours taking pictures together at the Provo Temple, and eating lunch at her new found favorite spot, thanks to me, Zupas:) Then is was a quick goodbye at the curb of the MTC.

Our Family, minus our Brother Jarom, and my husband Jon.

I love this Girl!

With Mom & Dad

With Gpa Peterson

My Zella, she loved the fountains at the Temple, here she is meeting another Sister Missionary,
She is so friendly and outgoing, we all love her personality!

The Girls

Off She Goes! 

We are all missing her, and I am sure she is missing us... but the prayer I have for her is something that the Stake President said when he set her apart... That she will focus on the work ahead of her, and as she does, Heavenly Father will help her with her feelings of homesickness, and what is happening at home won't be a worry for her. 

Good Luck Sweet Sister! We love you:) 

If you would like to write, here is her address while she is in the MTC:

Sister Taryn Eileen Hansen
DEC14 CA-SJO
2005 N 900 E Unit 18
Provo, UT 84602