His Story

His Side

Samuel Jan Hansen -

 I grew up in Pleasant Grove, Utah! We moved around a lot before but I still call PG home. My dad is from Lindon (Utah), and my mom is from Le Mans, France! My sister Ana is going to UVU studying Nutrition, while my brother is currently serving his mission in Greece! I love my family and we love doing everything together.

 In 2020, I was called to the Tahiti Papeete Mission! However, due to COVID-19 I was reassigned to the Tempe Arizona Mission, where I served for 9 months. In July of 2021, I got the announcement that I would be the first American missionary to return to Tahiti! Confinement was hard, but can't complain about it being on a tropical island!

 Months later, the American missionaries began to trickle in. On Dec. 15, a large group of 50 missionaries joined our mission! We had a fun mission conference where Tahitians and Americans became one through party games and activities. Here, was one of the first moments I had heard of Soeur Bytheway, though we never got to talk.

 Months passed and I served in several areas such as Vaiari, Arue, and was even sent to the most remote island in our mission, Ua Huka! I was a Zone Leader, with a mission to build a group/branch on the island! Mission leadership meetings over zoom from Ua Huka to Tahiti were extremely difficult since there was little internet, and Natalie remembers very choppy video calls of a far and distant Elder Hansen...

 Time began to draw close to the end of my mission and I eventually served in Papeete, the capital of Tahiti. Almost three weeks before I was going home, Elder Soares, the Apostle, was coming to Tahiti and wanted to come see us! So many events and days for mission wide singing practices were planned to prepare for his arrival. One of those practices, on August 15, I met Natalie for the first time.

 We had arrived in a spectacular fashion to the event– dripping wet from the rain, and very late on our bikes. The whole mission watched and giggled through the huge glass windows as we pedaled up to the doors. I couldn't help but smile as I saw all my missionary friends and knew how silly we looked.

 We sang together, took some pictures all together, and went out into the courtyard for some lunch. I looked around at all my friends and missionaries I would soon miss and couldn't believe my time was coming to a close. Soon, most of the missionaries began to go home so they could enjoy their preparation day. Staying behind a little longer to help the Senior missionaries pack things up, we started to head out of the church too, and the rain began to trickle down again.

In the front lawn of the building, was a small group of sisters getting ready to go home. We went to say goodbyes and started a small conversation with them.

Soeur Tippets, one of the Sisters I had served with before introduced me to the group while I introduced my French companion, Elder Justum.

"Hi, I'm Soeur Bytheway!" I instantly recognized the sister, as she was often talked about amongst the Elders. Her smile, kindness, and glow was instantly apparent and I immediately jumped to wanting to know more.

"Hi, I'm Elder Hansen!"

"Weren't you like, the first American to get here?"

"Yeah, I was! I kinda cheated, I'm a dual citizen and had a french passport..." They laughed and the conversation continued.

"Wait, did you have a reassignment?" Soeur Bytheway asked.

"I did, in Tempe Arizona!" I said.

"Wait, I had a reassignment in Arizona too! In Tucson!" She exclaimed.

"No way! When are you going home then?"

"September 7th!"

"No way, me too!" I exclaimed.

 From that moment of connection, we began to develop a friendship that progressively grew over the next couple of weeks as we attended our activities for Elder Soares and our preparations for departing. September 7th came so fast, and we all became close as we made the trip together to Salt Lake City.

 We had a long layover in San Francisco. We stayed together to talk and eat all day long. We were exhausted, nervous, and emotional from the transition from Tahiti to the US and it was a relief not to be alone throughout the process. That continued to be the case for me and Natalie months after we had arrived home:)

 We arrived in Salt Lake, and I was greeted by my lovely family and definitely shed a few tears. After exchanging lots of long and warm embraces, we slowly made our way for my bags and to the car.

 Before I could get too far, a distant voice called out for me to wait. Soeur Bytheway!

 "Elder Hansen, could we take a picture before you go?"

 With both our moms ready, we stood by each other for a picture that we still love today:)

 We began to constantly text each other, and we supported each other throughout our experience of transitioning to our new routines. Though the drive from Pleasant Grove to Millcreek was long, it was always worth it. We began to date each other officially one month after we got home, on Oct. 1. We got ready to go to BYU and make the transition to Provo together too, living only 5 minutes apart from each other (what a commute!)! During the summer, the answer became more and more clear that we were heading somewhere that needed to be figured out soon. We just couldn't believe it was each other!

I couldn't be any happier, I love Natalie with all my heart and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with her:)