ha... and i thought it was chikungunya

yeahhhh..... um. Don't freak out. Cuz im still alive. I decided this last week. chikungunya? pffft llllaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeee.... lets go the whole nine yards. 

So I went and got dengue instead. oh. ha and then that wasn't fun enough apparently, for the hard core Sister Hansen. So I got typhoid fever on top of it. 2 virutally non existant diseases in the US. so I would've been hospitalized for one of them.. but then I had both. So yeah. totally hospitalized. 

Remember when I was like 10 and Hannah went to the hospital and I was jealous. What 10 year old doesn't want a moving bed and tv all day? I mean really. Well its a little different then I imagined. my blood platlet level was so low they were withdrawing my blood every 6 hours. No fear of needles now. thats a plus. and I got stabbed multiple times in my finger tips, and the typhoid started to fill my lungs with water... and it was hard to breathe... and I had a temperature of a 104... and ha.

 Mom and Dad. let me interrupt. k I'm FIIIINNNNNNEEE now. In case your freaking out :) but I'm hard core. Its how I roll. but lets just say it was probably the hardest most painful week of my whole life. I was SO homesick. I was all crying and like all I want in life is high school musical and a hot bath. *sniff sniff* is that to much to ask??? ha but Heavenly Father loves me. As do the other missionaries here and especially my mission president and wife.

 I got like 3 blessings, the one from president said that there were many souls still waiting for me. and of course that I'd recover and all. and I remembered stake presidents setting apart blessing that is all I bless you with protection from everything and it's dog pretty much... (see small print: apparently excludes needles and pain and suffering) but my testimony of the atonement has gone WAY up. Christ loves us all SO so SO so MUCH!!! its seriously unfathomable. 

This gospel is real. and I'm walking and shopping and living it up and pretty much back to normal health again. Party hardy in the pines. Don't worry about me. The lord has my back. I'll go out and baptize some nations now. party on like Donkey Kong  I love and miss you all so much! but I've got work to do

-ciao!

chikungunya. what a lame name

This is the story of how  I died... (tangled quote) so as I lay awake last night i tried to think of clever ways to start this, and thats is all I got. But yeah. Soooo chikungunya... chicken goon yeah!... chicken... birdflu!! DDDEEEAAATTTH!!! that's kinda how things escalate around here. 

So you may be asking yourself. What IS she going off about? Have you heard of dengue? Well this is its counter part evil twin. You get it from mosquitoes. But the best part is... wait for it... ITS NOT CURABLE! yayayaya. ha. no its just a virus so you have to chill and die while you wait for your body to kill it. 

anyway... yeah I got it. Friday night. I've been bed ridden like 3 days. ew. its like fever. check. chills. check. nauseous. check. head ache. check. rash. check. only thing I haven't done yet is vomit. so thats a bonus.

 ha but before you frweak out ( yeah that's totally a typo in freak but I decided that sounded cooler after all) just know my President and Sis Barrientos take good care of us. She's a nurse. And i have 3 of the most motherly missionaries in my appartment. Baby me to the max. Do my wash and make me lay down and make me soup. I seriously feel like such a pansy. I'll just be like will you peel my grapes now? ha joke. I love them all.

I got a blood test at the hospital this morning. She was the most magaling nurse I've ever met. (basically awesome) she found my vein in like 2 second and it didn't ever hurt. Yay for competent nurses. But yeah I'm feeling a little better now. I think im on the up hill swing now.

 but last night. (here comes the spiritual phenomenon) I was seriously done. The previous night I had had a panic attack when I took some medicine on an empty stomach so I was scared to go to sleep and Elder Eddington(senior couple next door) had given me a blessing (along with rice pudding and a liter of spirite... my neighbor is cooler then most of yours. its a fact) but in this blessing he blessed me with some things that I'd pretty much been feeling the exact opposite. So I was like what am I doing?? I'm just dying slowly in the pines. and I just started to cry. pitiful. Pretend it didn't happen though. but then we were saying our prayer before bed. sis mcphie goes who says it. and I said ako (me). and I folded my arms. closed my eyes. and just started BAAALLLLIIINNNNGGGG. It was seriously the most pitiful, desperate, begging, sincere prayer I've ever said in my whole life. I testify that Heavenly Father is REALLY there. and he really listens. 

I don't know if you all remember the talk given my Jeffery R. Holland  he talks about why isn't this(missionary work) easier. and why aren't people just lining up for baptism but then he says: this isn't easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. why should we expect it to be easy when it was never ever easy for Him. and he talks about that when we're struggling the most is when we take a few steps into Gethsemane and that's when we stand with the savior. My testimony grew last night. I know that the savior lived and died for us. He can enable us because he's been there. he knows what we need. I felt comforted after my prayer. not healed. but a little better. This church is true. I'll share more adventures next week. but just know I'm doing good. I'm not writing my last will and testament... yet ;) joke. but I love you all!

-sister hansen

ya'll... this week was fun

(here is the one from this week)

Soooo this week... hmmm... yesterday we had 2 of our investigators come to church. 

First our lovable bible bashing nanay ta(m)bis (we just recently found out there's an m in there) who's real name is Leomella,  who does nothing but read scriptures and pray all day I'm pretty sure and like to go off at least once every visit about the second coming. she's usually right though :) except when she interprets scriptures directly and thinks the true church BUILDING will not be burned in the last days. So her church is made out of stone. Oh nanay. I love you. I really do. She is the most valiant awesome person ever. 

We took her to church and on the way we run into one of our recent converts that has recently decided her job is more important then church. So N.Tabis goes off about how we need to go to church. And in my head I'm like this is why you need to be baptized. She follows the word of wisdom and think modesty means sleeves past your wrists and ankles need to be hidden (uhhh... haha whoops. my skirt is a bit sketchy i guess ;) she reads everything ever given to her. and now... she's moving. Eh. not my favorite. The missionaries of quezon are lucky. 

Then we have another investigator who I see as the future relief society president. She invites everyone within the vicinity to come listen to the word of God and come to church. WHY ARE YOU ALL SO AWESOME??? 

ha quick story about Tabis. So she likes to say praises during prayers so during the prayers at church I hear her start to mumble and im all huh? so its like *mumble mumble mumble* Jesusss *mumble mumble* and I'm like yes. you are so awesome. Sister McPhie's birthday was yesterday and president brought her her own birthday cake (reason number 1921832488 why my president is the coolest/chillest there is) and then we had cake at the Eddingtons (next door neighbor senior couple) and so long story short we have cake for days going on in our house. MAY WE BE SMITTEN WITH FATNESS AND NEVER RECOVER :) jokelang ;)

 oh and it flooded this week. That was pretty cool. so not many lessons but at least I can say I treked through... a couple inches of water. IM LEGIT NOW. ha k maybe not but I felt like it. My grammar is pitiful now in both languages. pray for the gift of interpretation of tongues as you try to decipher my letters. its real. as is my pitiful grammar. I LOVE YOU ALL ;)

-Sister Hansen 

eh. punted.

(sorry this letter is waaaay late, its been crazy this is her letter from two weeks ago- hannah)
So this week wasn't all sunshine and beaches. and peaches. theres no peaches here. and actually it rained like the whole week. one day we actually had to stay in because 2 missionaries somewhere got more then they bargained for when they were electrocuted walking through standing water that was it. lame sauce right? 

hmmm k. lets dwell on the positives. even though we got like no lessons and were punted beyond belief there was miracles! one: our bible bashing nanay (but not really a bible basher but she spends literally ALL day reading the bom and bible) bore her testimony of sorts to this random teen sitting in our lesson. I think we'll baptize him :) 

Lets just baptize everyone. The spirit really has been guiding me in this work. for example. last week I mentioned Jerry. yeah well we went to house once and we didn't really know why and then he was there so we're all we'll teach you! 

Then once when we were trying to give directions to a tricee driver he didn't really understand but under some miracle he just kinda went to the right place. I was all whaaaa? then jerry texted us bible bashing question,  and we were all "we really got to answer this face to face" and he didn't reply but then later we're walking by his house and guess who happens to get off school at the same time? well hello jerry... we've been waiting for you.. (ha not. we're not that creepy of missionaries... yet) and we taught him.

 Its seriously awesome what and who the spirit will lead you to if you let him. This latest picture is of me. creepin on my burrito. when mexico meets the philippines its truly a beautiful thing. ha we taught some other lessons this week and I really felt the spirit testifying through me... cool experience wont lie. im all brotha (or sister) THIS IS FOR YOOOU! (Like jullian smith hot koolaide) AND I DID IT BECAUSE I LOVE YOU! and then they're all IM NOT DRINKING IT (spiritually speaking) and them im like.... lame. gah. oh well. after the sunshine comes the rainbows. and pegasai (a popular myth here).  and butterflies. and cock roaches. but we'll ignore those. well thats all for now folks. Keep me in your prayers the whole 2 language thing is an adventure. party on! k well the picture I was GOING TO send was with a burrito. it didn't work so use your imagination :) love you. the work goes on

sister hansen

so... ya'll. this is going to be split up cuz I'm sending a bunch of pictures :) and I can only send one an email. hope you like random cuts in the convo. Pero this first pictures is called. The miracle of toes.

 eh. k not so much. But remember like a year ago when I hurt my back being a buff woman at college and could barely reach past my knees? yeah. those were pathetic days. I felt like an old person asking people to help me tie my shoes. long story short: I have never been able to touch my toes. weakness. so I realized this weakness. though small it was still pesky and i have since stretched almost every morning. little by little. UNTIIIIILLLLLLLLLL: LOOK! 

gahahaha I like about screamed like a banshi with joy. I can now touch my head to my knee and wrap my hands around the bottom of my feet. so moral of the story is weakness rock. Through weakness you can be made strong and have your faith strengthened in the enabling power of the atonement. Its real. it works. Man alive it works. Also the gift of tongues is real. Since I've been training suddenly I can follow the conversation. These last two weeks have been harder then harder but SO FUN AND AMAZING! I understand I understand. which only increases the fact that I adore Filipinos.  I seriously love all the teens in the ward. They're our ward missionaries. Its... an adventure. *sigh* ah so is life but I love them more then anything. theyre so funny.

so sister Mcphie. Her family is from scotland. LeRue Bruce is her great grandma, but yeah so dad that's it for now. I'll work on more for next week. But this picture is our transportation. 

eh heh heh. so illegal. so fun. When in the pines. Do as the pinoys. This is shiela one of our killer rc. She's going to serve a mission. yes life it worth it. hmmm other adventures this week... I got my second potential mother in law invitation. haha. at one of our appointments with these amazing members. I let it slip I want to visit here again post mish. as I'm leaving she goes: Hey! when you come back you can marry my son! uhh... yeah. maybe. ha so I'm pretty sure a lot of american moms think the same thing. like I want this person to marry into my family. people in the pines are just a lot more open about it. so im like... uh next time na lang! a favorite put off of people here. Sister Mcphie was sick this week. she was seriously a zombie child saturday and was all I want to go out and save souls. no. you will not. you will stay home and rest child. good news is she's all better now :) yay. 

k this last people is called how legit people do laundry. 

 so when sister mcphie was being an of the dead so sick you need to get better and rest and stop killing yourself for the work child I was doing laundry. oh man alive. It was paradice. me. the laundry. a down pour of rain. and... david. oh yes. davie enchilada was right there serenading me through it all. yayaya  oh holy night. sing for MEEEE. mmm. it was pretty great wont lie. I love laundry. im still alive from the wimpy typhoon. however this week at church it decided to flood. It was all satans doing im sure because we had SO many solid people lined up for church but rain likes to change things. you have not SEEN rain like this. awesome. so basically we got soaked BUT we found one investigator to come to church. his name is jerry. yes. awesome right. starts with the name. but oh man. earlier this week we were led to him through a series of down right miracles. thats all this work is. I LOVE IT MORE THEN ANYTHING. I'm totally signing up for the 2 year program when it comes out. I love missionary work :) I want to be one forever. 

-sister hansen signing out!

TYYYPPPHHHOOOOON.

(explanation for this first part so you know what is going on, my dadio aka dad sent Rachel a bunch of pictures from home:) so ya that should clear up a few things) 

Oh dadio. What an over achiever you are :) kaya mo yen (basically you can do it!) ha am I home sick???? pffft no. got way to much to do but WOWZA what happened??? you're all getting old and kirsten lost her braces. I apparently am missing monumental stuff like that. wow. I sat here like a creep taking pictures of pictures. yay for weird american status. thats me. I walk under the rain and under the sun without an umbrella. and i like being tan. so basically they might think I'm weird. over that. guess what??? theres a TYYYPPPHHHOOOOON. ha yeah. we're in laoag city. basically that means its a joke. we've got mountains. so its currently... gray. eh. maybe we'll get a real storm later and I'll go all life guard swim captain and save someones life and soul when I get transferred in a while.

 yeah but the heat before the storm was killer. im talking 37 degrees celcius... like 98 fareignheit PLUS like bath water humidity. you don't even know. heres our blessing. so in japan and korea it was 40 degrees celcius or like 104 and 500 were hospitalized. needless to say i am a brown child. one of our fellowshippers made it a point to tell me and i was all why thank you! he gave me the weirdest look (quote from mormon pride and prejudice "she was talking about the women feminist movement in jerusalem and i was all well then maybe you should call it shebrew... she gave me the weirdest look." -thats so you can have the right voice in your head) yeah they just like to be white. I will be pinoy to a point but tan is much prettier. 

oh what else. so I forgot my journal so sorry if i have to dwell on the weather and my small talking skills take over. hmmm so this week was punted beyond belief. WE DON'T SPEAK ILOCANO. news flash. apparently they don't understand a lot of our tagalog. thats ooook. we all speak the language of the spirit. ha earlier this week sister ellis and I were discussing how so many missionaries hook up after missions and i was all its cuz they speak (for example) the same 3 languages! english spanish and love! ehehehe I think I'm clever. silly me. no but really people understand the pure love of chirst. so I continue to try to love people despite the language barrier. 

sister mcphie rocks.. dad I forgot her geneology again.. remind me next week! but shes a good worker and funny and blunt. I just love all my comps :) oh ps: while we were waiting out the "typhoon" warning we made a soup called mchancallis. its about the most delicious thing ever invented. I'll make it for you sometime. oh... yes then theres my teeth.. I might have to get some work done on them. one of my rootcanals started hurting.. again. whats new. so pray for me. but if I need to convert the dentist and the Lord sees fit for me to have this challenge its going to come out of our bank account. we'll see. but it feels ok now :) 

last thing. we go to pick up our stroke victim investigator yesterday that we THOUGHT could barely walk. as soon as he saw us I doubt a fully healthy person could move as fast as him. he proceeded to hide behind a curtain... when there was a mirror on the other side of the room positioned perfectly so we could see him. it was a tad awkward. we stared at him in the mirror and he stared back. ha um... want to come to church? yeah. we had no investigators as church that day. it happens. but I'm as happy as ever. we had 3 aaawweeesome contacted MEMBER referrals. they're the way to go. I kid you not. this work is one giant miracle. I love it more then anything. its like alma the younger... when he was older. he kept preaching because he "could not rest" i want to be a missionary forever :) I love you all more then anything and literally live for your emails. share your adventures. 

sister hansen signing OUT!

ha um did i see miracles this week

ha um did i see miracles this week

 is that even a question

YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! I've seriously grown more this week then probably any other week of my whole life. You cant even imagine. Well so it started out with me balling. whats new. jokelang since being here I've only cried 3 times. one lesson. Once when I left sister porter and sister storey (it was the ugliest most pitiful thing ever. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH) and then again after sister gadiano left. (I LOVE HER SO MUCH) I seriously just started to cry and then she left this letter about how she knows i can do it. well that helped. ha I started crying in front of my whole district. So that's just the office elders and the ap's. and my house of sisters. yeah.. pitiful. but then I started.

 oh man mom did I feel your prayers. I seriously stopped one day and was like someone is DEFINITELY praying for me right now. so Sister McPhie and I went out. Yeah I was feeling so sick to my stomach with worry. It was the hardest thing ever. I was thinking thoughts like yeahIi kinda would be ok to be in lehi right now. like this isn't kansas anymore tottop- dorthy status. 

Well we got stalked by an 80 year old man who started singing to us and wouldn't let me teach him the gospel or accept my pamphlet. that was bummish. Lucky for us 80 year old men who like to linger longer on hand shakes cant walk or run very fast. Both of which we are capable of. eh. lost him no sweat. and we saw my other creeper "ronny" so I turned right around in the middle of the street with him only 100 ft away staring and I walked the other way. 

Call me discreet.

 ssooooo smoothe. I'm over it. I cant afford smoothness with creeps. We also went to 2 birthdays/lessons that day and got a magic show while waiting for a fellowshipper. the whole time im all is this legal? cuz magic isn't exactly the priesthood power. eh. life continues. so this week was an adventure. BUT I UNDERSTAND. The lord was SO right by my side the whole week. I just go up to people not knowing how they're going to respond or if they even speak tagalog or just ilocano and just use what I got. Man alive. I've never felt the gift of tongues so real. so so SO real.

 Dad remind me to tell you her geneology next week. Sister Mcphie that is. 

oh and these pictures are entitled: rachel... has terrible form but its not about beauty but about getting it done.

 and the other is me about to catch a ball and Sister Bacalla goes "I saw a pillar of light".

 self explanitory. haha. 

anyway back to business the ward continues to progress. before the avg attendance was like 95. now with 2 sets of missionaries its jumped to 125ish. wowza. we made a goal for 140. God helps us reach goals. I testify of it. oh last thing. In a lesson yesterday, I just kinda forced my self in. We've been bugging them non stop. but then the nanay and tatay both just started balling as we talked about repentence and faith in christ. Does the gospel change lives. um yes. that's all for now. I feel your prayers and love you more then anything. :) I miss you all :) but not enough to distract of course. keep me posted. 

Sister Hansen over and out :)