Yes I Got Transferred Last Week!

I'm in Chula Vista! It's awesome. I actually feel like I'm in the San Diego Mission now.  Before I was in the Mexicali North mission!  But I still miss Calexico and the great people there.  Transfer meeting is basically a couple of short talks by missionaries (on the spot) and then President Schmitt speaks a little and sister Schmitt talks and then he announces who's going where and we go to work!  It was nice not having a 2 hour drive to the Imperial Valley this time, we just went about 20 minutes down to Chula Vista. 

My new comp is great! His name is Elder Browne. We get along super well together. It's a walking/biking area, so far we have just been walking since I don't have a bike. It's fun!  I'm stoked to be in a bike area.  I do need a bike, but for now walking is okay, we are looking for a decent cheap used one.. if you could shuffle in just a tiny bit of money for it that would be sweet. I will try to keep it cheap though. If I can get a good one that would last that would be nice.

Elder Browne is from Maryland, but he went to BYU last year too, he lived in Helaman Halls like me! He is in his third transfer in the field, so I only have 6 weeks more in the mission. I kind of feel like the senior comp is the one who knows the area better, and then there will come a point when we both know it well and we will just be equal, there isn't a super defined senior comp thing here. Since I have more time in the mission there are certain things that I have experience in... but he's familiar with the ward and the people. So I don't really know, it's fun though!

It's pretty fun with him! We have been having a good time, and we get a lot done!  We work downtown, the chapel is far away, we get a ride from the other Chula Elders to all of the church stuff. Our area is right by our apartment, so we work from Second Street to the beach. We live right by a Fuddruckers, and there are tons of other restaurants and stuff on Broadway, which is cool. There are also some good taco shops.  Our apartment is nice. It used to be a hotel building so it's pretty sweet! It's got inside hallways and stuff and it's super secure. Our area is the more ghetto one of the district, but it's not too bad. It's just more downtown ish. Lots of apartments and little houses. We have the most work in the district though, which is cool!  I'm in the Chula Vista 4th ward (Spanish), it's pretty small, about the same as Calexico but seems like it is more solid maybe.

We have a couple of part member families that we are working with, one girl has a baptismal date for the 27th, she's pretty solid on that one, her sister got baptized 2 weeks ago, and we are working with her mom too, she knows the church is true, but is nervous to get baptized because of her family, who are all staunch Catholics. The people in the ward are all really nice and friendly, that's just how it is with Hispanics, they are all super nice! 

There aren't a ton of extra duties right now... we are just regular old missionaries just trying to teach peeps! We try to visit less actives and recent converts a lot. There are some super solid people. The district has 2 sister companionships and 3 elder companionships. Our district covers a ward and a branch, we are in the ward. The zone has one other district in it, I think 10 companionships, but I haven't met everyone in the zone yet. There is a Chula English and Chula Spanish zone, so we are all Spanish which is cool!

P day is only today because we have zone conferences tomorrow with Elder Neilson. It'll be pretty cool! 

This week we have been running around and introducing me to members and investigators. The ward is super solid. We had an awesome day Sunday. Church was sick, it's fun meeting new members and stuff. We had 5 investigators there, which was awesome!

Yesterday (Sunday) evening we had a wonderful Stake Christmas concert. There were tons of members and non-members there! It was packed! They had a Tongan Interfaith choir that sang too, they were super good! We sang in a little Spanish choir, which turned out pretty good too! It was fun to hear all the Christmas songs and see little Christmas videos and stuff!

We have a ward activity tomorrow (Tuesday) evening, I'm going to be Nefi (Nephi) in a little "Christmas from the Book of Mormon" presentation. I'm pretty stoked about that!

Also our district is cool, Elder Takke (was in my district in Calexico) came out here this last transfer too so we are in the same district again! I was stoked at transfer meeting when we both got called to Chula! He's my bud. Love that guy. The other missionaries are cool too! Chula is also one of my dream areas in the mission. This is where they filmed "The District 2" so I have already met a few people from the District. Like Amor Robles and German. The Stake Center and our ward buildings are both in the show a lot too. I've watched so much of the District that I feel like these people are celebrities. ha-ha

We have a mission Christmas devotional, which should be cool, but it's not really a party.  It'll be next week on Monday. 

That's exciting to have the family up in Seattle again! I can't wait to Skype you all together!

I'm happy to hear the ward is having good activities now!

I miss my little Crew! You should send me videos when he's in Seattle! Send me pictures of the lights and the tree and stuff!  

It's been a crazy week! But a good one for sure! How is everyone doing at home??

Love
Elder Hansen

Transfer From Calexico

How's it going?  We had an awesome last week! Still lovin it out here! I got the phone call today and I'm getting transferred tomorrow. We shall see where I go! I'm a little bit sad because I was supposed to baptize Ricardo, he's 21 and he's a super cool guy. He hangs out with the missionaries all the time! I love the guy. I would totally hangout with him after the mission! But now I don't get to baptize him this weekend :/ 

I'm also going to miss tons of the recent converts and members in the ward! I feel a little bit like I wasn't completely done here in Calexico, but I'm excited for whatever the Lord has in store for me! We will see how it goes. It was a big surprise. Elder Hawkins and I were both counting on me staying.... CRAZY!! never know what's going to happen on transfers!

You two are hilarious for going and getting turkeys in Moroni at the turkey plant.. haha 35 lbs is crazy!! that's so much food!  I got my box before Thanksgiving! Thanks so much!! :)

Glad to hear everything in Utah went well, and that you got the lights up at home! It's awesome to see Christmas lights and everything up! Even though it doesn't feel like Christmas season at all...It's like 75 and sunny everyday. haha love it though!

So sad I missed getting the decorations down from the attic.. haha my back hurts just thinking about it! I bet it was tough with just you two though!

Nothing else I need! I'm doing great! Thank you for all your love and support! Anything I can do for you while I'm out here??

Love you all so much!

Elder Hansen :)

We also received a great email from a good member of the Calexico ward.  She and her family have been taking good care of the missionaries and Alex has written often about them.  She was baptized in October and her son Derrick was baptized 2 weeks ago. We really appreciate all she has been doing for Alex and his fellow missionaries.  She also included some pictures of his last night in Calexico before the big transfer.

Hello Hansens, I'm sure Elder Hansen already gave you the news....he is being transferred, I'm super sad, we were totally not expecting or prepared for that...but I wanted to let you know that you have done an amazing job...you've raised a great young man...I'm sure you already know that!  I hope I can raise my son to be as awesome as him...so far so good. It was an honor to have met Elder Hansen and have him be such a great part of my life...we loved having him in our home and our family...I pray Heavenly father takes care of him and keeps him safe...thank you! We love him and he will be missed in our home...Here are some pics of his last night in my home and if you should ever find yourselves in Calexico...Mi casa es su casa (my house is your house/you are always welcome here) I hope all is well in Washington and Go Seahawks...Merry Christmas!

Love always

Anna

We had a super awesome week! Thanksgiving was super good! We had a lunch with some members, and then Dinner at Anna's house. It was super good, all her family was there, and it totally felt like family for me too!. I loved it!

Derrick was baptized on Friday! It was an awesome service. He's nine but a stud! He even remembered all of the ten commandments in order...I can't even do that! A lot of their family was there. Anna gave her testimony at the end and it was best thing ever!!!

Saturday Gilbert got baptized! He's awesome. We have been teaching him and his 3 brothers (25,16,8). He is a stud! He loves being a part of the youth and he's already an awesome example for the rest of the ward! It was also an awesome service! A good amount of people were able to come which was awesome! We even had some investigators there!

We are teaching a lot of youth right now, which is cool! It's fun to see them get involved with the youth program, and it will bless there lives a lot in the future! Two of the youth, Mia and Zandra came to church, and it was good! They liked it a lot. They are doing super good! Another youth, Jadrien went to the baptism on Saturday and thought it was cool! I love when investigators come to baptismal services, they get to see how awesome it is!

I'm super excited for the Christmas season when we get to focus a ton on Jesus Christ! It's an awesome time to share the gospel!

Thank you for all of your love and support!

Elder Hansen

Feliz Dia de Acción de Gracias (Happy Day of Thanksgiving)

Here's a summary of my week!

Last Wednesday I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. This time I stayed in my area with Elder McChesney from AF Utah. He's a super cool guy and an awesome missionary! I love exchanges because we always learn so much, and it's a fun chance to get to know other missionaries! We had a good time, taught some good lessons! We also interviewed Derrick Castaneda and Gilbert Mares for baptism and they are all set to go for this weekend! It's going to be an awesome week!

Thursday we had some super sweet lessons! We first talked to this guy Omar when I first got to Calexico, like the middle of August, and he said come back at the end of September, so we did. And ever since then we have been trying to set up a solid appointment and every time something has come up and we couldn't meet. This week he got sick (miracle), so he was able to finally meet.  So we taught him and his wife the restoration, and they were stoked about it and about the Book of Mormon! They weren't able to make it to church this week, but he has already read the chapter we left him, and we are stoked to talk to him again! We have an appointment with him tomorrow. We are also teaching a bunch of youth right now. I don't know how it happened but most of our super solid investigators are 13-17 right now, which is cool! They are super honest seekers of truth so its fun to teach them!

Friday-Highlight was the Priesthood activity at Brother Garzon's house. We watched a movie in his back yard and had Carne Asada. They were going to watch Church Ball, but the disc didn't work so I threw in a couple church movies about the book of Mormon and the Mormon Battalion. It worked out nicely, because we couldn't have watched Church Ball anyway. Authentic Carne Asada tacos are the most delicious food on the planet. I am completely converted to Mexican food. It was sweet because Gilbert went, and a couple of the deacons came with him, so the fellowship was fantastic! I'm super stoked about how he loves the ward!

Saturday-Saturday we had a member drive us around (we donated our van to the bike elders for the day). It was sweet to have a member there to testify of what we say!   He also bought us a little bit of lunch while we were out :). While we were coming out of a lesson some kids took the tops off his tire inflator thingys... it was pretty funny. He was mad!

Sunday we got to teach the Elders Quorum lesson... that was an adventure! But it went well though! We taught about prayer, and it really helped strengthen my testimony of prayer...especially how when we pray with the intent of following the will of the Lord and his answers.  Our prayers will be answered! I think it's really cool how we are promised that whatever we ask the father in the name of Jesus Christ will be given to us, as long as we ask in faith and intend to act!

Yesterday we had a surprise meeting with our mission president about a new initiative called "He is the Gift". It's super cool! They are really encouraging everyone to listen to the message of Jesus Christ! I love all that they're doing with it! Check it out!Christmas.Mormon.Org!

Tell all of the family I love them and miss them (extra special love for Gloria ;) )

We had a fantastic past week! And it looks like this week will be awesome as well! 

Thank you all for your love and support!

Love,

Elder Hansen

Elder Hansen, Elder King & Elder Takke

November 18, 2014

Here is a short little summary of my week. Next week I will try to be a little more prepared and have more to talk about!

Highlights were teaching some kids that are going to get baptized a week from Saturday! That's super exciting! We got a new missionary here from Salt Lake in our district. He served in Mexico City but went home because he got sick, and he came out here! He's super cool, and he speaks great Spanish, so we are learning a lot from him!

Cool experience- We have been working with a member family, the Garzons, and we have been helping them come up with a date to have a lesson with some non-member friends in their home. They have been praying to know who to invite and he decided to invite a family that he is friends with through his son's basketball team. He invited them, and they're reaction was super cool! They said that they would love to come and that they have been needing something like this in their family. It was cool how Heavenly Father answered their prayers, and it has really excited them about doing missionary work as a family! We can't wait to teach them together in their home, it'll be awesome!

We have had some packed nights lately, we teach lots of lessons and have found some super solid investigators! I went on exchanges yesterday with the bike trio, which was fun. I like being on bikes a lot! It is pretty nice being in car though. haha

The weather has been cooling down a lot. It actually gets pretty chilly at night and in the mornings. We have been wearing sweaters, which is not anything I expected coming out to the Imperial Valley!

Love,

Elder Hansen

Here's my week! 

For starters, Last Tuesday after P-day sports we had Carne Asada at a members house, with all the missionaries. It was so much fun! And dang, Carne Asada tacos are the best food in the whole wide world. It was awesome.

Wednesday we had a normal day, planned for our week. Taught our investigators. It was sweet. I exchanged that night with Elder Takke. I love Elder Takke, we had an awesome exchange. I love exchanges, it's a great chance to learn from other missionaries and also get to know them! 

Friday was MTEs (missionary training experience). That's where President Schmitt comes and does a training in the morning, and then we go out with a coach for the rest of the day. We had an awesome training about inviting, and how important it is to invite others to take steps to bring them closer to Christ and help them repent. Elder Hawkins and I taught a workshop type thing on the invitation to church. It was pretty cool. That night I went to Brawley with Elder Fiso and Elder Oakley. It was teaching in English this time which was kinda nice. It was such a fun day! We taught a bunch of lessons, and it was cool to meet other investigators. 

Saturday we exchanged back and went and contacted a referral we got. He was super open and let us come in and teach him right then and there, which is rare. So we taught a sweet restoration lesson. He's a super cool guy. That night we had the adult session of Stake Conference. It was sweet because we had couple of members of the Quorum of Seventies there to change the stake presidency. They did a panel about missionary work, one with converts, one with ward mission leaders and one with a couple who talked about how getting sealed in the temple has blessed their lives. It was super cool. 

Sunday we had the normal session of conference! Again it was awesome to hear from the Seventies! I never realized how cool it is that our church is the same organization that Christ had when he was on the earth. When we were inviting people to church, we were stressing how when Christ was here he called his Seventies as well, and that we had the opportunity to listen to current members of the Quorum of Seventies in PERSON! I had never realized the significance of this before. Unfortunately none of our investigators came, because it was in El Centro and so it was a bit of a drive.

Yesterday was an awesome day. It was one of those days where you really see the Lord's hand in His work, because of the way the day happened. Finding different people at home, just arriving or just leaving, who we wouldn't have seen if we arrived later or earlier, just worked out the way it was supposed to! Which was cool.

I love the work! Thank you so much for all of your love and support!

Love Elder Hansen

Elder Hansen & Elder Hawkins

On Exchange with Elder Takke

Hola familia y amigos!

I had a fantastic week!

Last Wednesday was transfers, so we drove in to San Diego.  It's about a two hour drive. That was an adventure, and the weather in San Diego was super nice. Elder Carlson went to Logan Heights, which is right in the heart of San Diego, its kind of "The Hood". Church is held in an elementary school.

My new companion is Elder Hawkins! He's super awesome! He's from South Jordan Utah, and he's been on his mission about 21 months. He was just in Logan Heights where Elder Carlson is now. He's such an awesome missionary! It's going to be an awesome time here in the next few weeks.

Highlights from the work:

We are still teaching the Maris brothers. They are very solid and it's really exciting! They came to church on Sunday even though they were in different houses the night before. We thought they might not make it because of this, but they did!

We are also teaching Derrick Castaneda, he's so excited for his baptism at the end of this month, and we are too! Their family is doing very well, we love going over there because there is always someone to teach!

Next P-day we are planning to go to San Diego, and hopefully some recent converts can go to the temple to do baptisms and then take some people to the Mormon Battalion site. That should be exciting. We have to get members to take us, since it would be so many miles to put on mission cars, but I think we have that all arranged! It should be awesome.

Today all of the missionaries are having a little Carne Asada at Hno Silvas house, that should be pretty exciting! It's always fun to have Carne Asadas. I think that's my new favorite food. REAL Carne Asada tacos. :)

The weather has been cooling down a bunch! The mornings and nights are super cool, which is awesome. Elder Hawkins and I even wore our sweaters yesterday!

Anyway, I'm having an awesome time here in Calexico! Love to hear that you are doing well! Love and Miss you!

Elder Hansen

I miss the rain! I'm jealous that you guys get the fantastic Seattle weather!! It's still pretty hot here...which is weird because it should be chilly Halloween weather...

I miss Maplewood! Send my love to any teachers that are there that I know.

Our week was good!

Here's a short summary.

We had a couple of Halloween activities. One stake Trunk or Treat and one ward Halloween party. We had investigators at both of them, which was exciting! I love to see them interact with the members and stuff! It was also fun to spend time with the members and gain their trust. I'm excited because I think we will be getting some awesome referrals from members soon, this is the best way to find solid investigators so its always exciting to have members doing missionary work.

We also had a couple of days completely eaten up by service, but those days are super good too! Service is fun! :)  We helped out at the food bank, helped our bishop clean up his yard, poured a sidewalk (this took 2 different days). But it was all fun!

We have been teaching an awesome family! The 4 brothers are all very interested and one of them (he's 13) came to church all by himself! It made my Sunday. Also it was the primary program which is always exciting at church! :) Love the kids. Can't wait to have a family.

We have been having more success in Anna's home. We are still teaching Derrick and he is on track to be baptized very soon, but we are having more success getting others to sit in on lessons too, which is very exciting! We should see the fruits of that soon! :)

My companion is getting transferred tomorrow, so I'll get a new one, which should be interesting... we will see how that goes! It'll be an adventure, but I'm always nervous for the unknown!

Anyway, those are some highlights from the week!

los amo y los extraño, (I love & miss you)

Elder Hansen

Hola mis queridos padres!!

That picture of Crew on the bench at the temple is the cutest!!! I've seen the Seahawks have been doing pretty terribly, it's sad  :(. Oh well, they have the rest of this season and next season to figure it out so when I get home they can get another Super Bowl :)

It's so great to hear from you again this week! It sounds like everything is going well back at home! It's awesome to hear that you are working on the missionary effort in our ward! Missionary work is impossible without member help! We had a fantastic last week!

It's been a little bit crazy, we have had meetings and such so we haven't had as much time in our area as we hoped, but we make the most of what we have!

Last Wednesday we had interviews with President Schmitt. He's awesome, so it's always great to talk with him. He served his mission in the Laotian language, but somehow he speaks amazing Spanish. We did most of the interview in Spanish. Hopefully I've improved from the first one!

Thursday, our district had two more baptisms in our ward, which is exciting! And we have 3 coming up this Saturday. Calexico is on fire!!! We have also added some pretty cool investigators, which is great. It's awesome to have an abundance of people to teach!

Friday we had a fantastic district meeting. And it was Sister Brady's birthday (she's in our district). So we set up a little birthday party with the stuff you sent me! She really really appreciated it. We had a really great member lesson on Friday. We decided to have the Garzon family set a date, to invite someone to their home for a family home evening with the missionaries. It's something that would be awesome for you guys to do as well. They can do a simple get together and we will have a casual lesson with all of them. It's a great opportunity to introduce friends to the missionaries in a super casual setting! They are really excited to invite someone in the next 3 weeks.

Saturday was a fun day full of service! In the afternoon we helped a member family with a little path they wanted in their yard. The family is so awesome! They also made us some Carne Asada tacos, which were suppppper good! That evening we helped Anna clean up her yard. All the missionaries in the ward came, which was super fun! She also made us Carne Asada tacos which were also fantastic! Some of the best meals I've had so far! Both in one day!

Sundays are some of the best days. It's so great to partake of the Sacrament and renew our baptismal covenants. Before my mission I'm not sure I fully understood how important the Sacrament really is. I'm so grateful for it now! This weekend Elder Carlson picked up a little flu bug. He was the only one of us who didn't get a flu shot last week. He has definitely learned his lesson.  Follow the council of your leaders!! (President Schmitt suggested we get flu shots). He's hangin in there but he still doesn't feel too great.

Monday- we spent a bunch of time cleaning our apartment, which was exhausting but it's amazing how much better it feels to have a clean apartment. Studies are always way more effective when we have a clean apartment. Then we went and had a great member lesson and Elder Carlson interviewed a young boy for his baptism this week! Sisters Brady and Squire have been teaching him. As of Sunday his mom wasn't going to let him get baptized because he was acting up at home, but last minute she decided he could and so now he's interviewed and all ready :) 

We also taught Derrick, Anna's son, which is awesome. We love that we are able to work with them both, and Anna is teaching him along with us. He will be getting baptized in the next month :)

Anyway, this is the last week of the transfer, and we will be saying goodbye to Sister Squire (she's going home). And most likely to my companion Elder Carlson (he's been in Calexico forever). It will be interesting to see how transfers go next Wednesday! I'm having a great time out here! I love you all! 

Thank you for all the birthday wishes last week! Have a great week!

Love Elder Hansen

Feliz Cumpleaños

Happy Birthday to Elder Hansen

Hello familia!

 

Thank you so much for all the birthday stuff! I got my packages last week but saved them til Sunday night to open them! I loved all the wonderful stuff you guys sent me! Thank you so much!

 

I didn't have a chance to use the birthday party stuff, so we are going to use it this week in District Meeting! It will be tons of fun!

 

Thank you so much for the ties and the treats and the hat and the music and the pictures and everything! You guys are the best!!

 

Thank you also for the new camera, I will try to take more pictures! :)  

 

This week was fantastic!! Anna was baptized last Saturday! It was a wonderful baptismal service. Some of her family came. One of the members of the ward, Sister Garzon talked about baptism. It was a fantastic talk even though she was nervous to give it in English. She is awesome! Sister Squire, one of the sister missionaries in our ward/district talked about the Holy Ghost and then all of the missionaries sang Love is Spoken Here. It was really good :) Elder Carlson baptized her! He forgot to unplug the drain, so we let Anna's son Derrick go do it after the meeting. He's excited to be baptized here in the coming weeks.

 

Sunday I confirmed Anna in church. Elder Carlson and I taught the Youth Sunday School class about Christ-like attributes and we had a big "Break the Fast" with the 8 missionaries and our ward mission leader Halim

 

Yesterday our district went to Ihop for lunch and then we went and got flu shots (happy birthday to me). We then went to the Stake Center to do some Mormon.org stuff and the zone leaders came all the way down there to give me cookies that they made which was super cool! Love them! Then We went and did some missionary work and what not. Talked to some peeps, knocked on a lot of doors to people who didn't answer. laaaaame. but it happens. We went to Anna's house for dinner. We had an awesome little party. She made us some really good Chicken Fettuccine and got me a sweet Seahawks cake! She also got me a 49ers colored tie since she's such a big fan! It was a wonderful birthday!

We got to see the movie "Meet the Mormons" in Zone conference a while back. It was awesome! I loved it!! 

 

Love you all so very much!

Elder Hansen 

 

Conference Was The Best!!!!

This week was another awesome one!!! 

We had some really great member lessons last week! I love having good member lessons, and increasing the members' trust! It's impossible to do any missionary work without the trust of the members! It's awesome sharing spiritual experiences with them and their families! We were talking about service, and shared the latest Mormon Message called "You Never Know". I really love it! The members really love it as well and are excited to search for more opportunities to serve in their everyday lives. I challenge you guys to watch it and look for small opportunities to serve as well! It's amazing how many blessings we receive as we serve those around us! We shared this lesson with the Garzon families. There are 2 of them (the dads are brothers). They both are super awesome! And fed us as well! :) 

We planted some Palm Trees at Jose Cunningham's house. He's been meeting with missionaries for a very long time. He and his family are amazing! It was fun service, and his family felt bad for how long it took so they cooked us dinner on Sunday :)

General Conference- General conference was the highlight of my week!! It was sooooo awesome! If I had to pick a favorite talk it would be the one by Elder Jorg Klebingat. I loved out bold and straightforward he was, and learned so much from him! I also really loved Elder Holland's talk and Elder Bednar's in the last session. We watched Conference in the stake center, we had a room just for the missionaries, which was really cool! Anna came and watched it in there with us. She had a great experience. On Friday we told her to come with a question in her mind. She said she had been praying for a while to know that baptism is the right thing to do, and she was looking for confirmation of that. During Elder Anderson's talk, she said she got hit by the "warm fuzzies" and felt as though someone was hugging her. It was awesome to hear her talk about this when we went to her house Saturday night. She knows that baptism is what is best for her and her family! She also loved Conference on Sunday! Dang it was such a spiritual weekend!!!!!!

Monday was awesome. We were focusing on finding new investigators. We had a zone meeting in the morning and so we were really fired up!! We worked hard to talk to everyone, and were able to add a former investigator! We also had a really great lesson with the Armenta family, who we haven't been able to talk to too much. We had a good discussion, helped them clean their fish bowl, and then they decided to take us to Rally's, which is a local drive in. It's super good!! It was an awesome end to the day and the week!

I love you all so much!

Love, Elder Hansen 

 

Me Encanta la Lluvia! (I Love the Rain!)

It's great to hear from you guys! 

Things with Anna are going great. She is continuing to read and pray, and is looking great for her baptismal date on the 11th. I think she is really excited. We have seen how much more positive she is about the trials that she has had in the past, and the trials she continues to have. It's awesome. You can feel the increased love in her home, even though she doesn't have a ton of support from her family there, but she is strong in her growing testimony. She loves to "water her tree". She says that since we talked about Alma 32 with her. She's the best! Hopefully Derrick will continue to be more and more interested so we can teach him as well! Her daughter Bri, who is six is amazing. She's soooo funny! She's the bubbliest little girl ever.

Funny story- I was playing patty cake with her, when one of her cousins started pulling my pant leg. I looked down, and then when I was patty-caking I accidentally high-fived her face. I didn't even know since I was looking down. It was so funny. And they still both make fun of me for it. We just love going over to their house. We go there every night before we go home, and I can't wait to get there everyday. We have taught her pretty much everything we have to teach her, so we are sharing Mormon messages and sharing scriptures and reading from the book of Mormon now. We should be starting Derrick on the lessons soon!

We are working hard to find more people to teach. Sometimes it is a challenge, but it's fun!

We are teaching a cool 17 year old kid named Angel. It's awesome to meet kids who think more deeply about things, and are so mature. I definitely wasn't that way when I was his age.

There was a huge rainstorm this past week! It was so nice! Ever since it has been much cooler everyday. In the mornings now its actually kind of chilly! I love it!! So much nicer to run now that it isn't 95 and humid at 645 am.

Other than that I don't have anything too interesting to share!

I Have A Challenge For You!!  

I have a little notebook that I want to fill up with quotes! I would love to hear your favorite quotes, any kind. From General authorities or scriptures or anyone!

Also I want to hear your favorite quotes from this upcoming general conference!! 

Love you all!

Elder Hansen

El Horno Está Enfriando un Poco (The Oven is Cooling Down a Bit)

Hello my dear Family and Friends! :) 

I received a bunch of letters forwarded from the CCM today. Thank you to everyone for writing me! It was great to get mail as well! :) it's like my favorite thing! 

Some highlights from the week! 

Last Tuesday we had an awesome Mexican Independence party! We had a sweet turnout! And a few investigators showed up as well! it was sweet!! We had some awesome food there too!

Wednesday was transfers! It was a craaaaaaaazy day! We got a new Elder here, Elder King who is awesome, plus two additional Elders who are opening a new area out here. The work is progressing so fast in the valley! It's awesome! 8 missionaries in our little ward!!! Elder Collins and Sherman are both studs as well. We traded in our Chevy Cruze and picked up a nice ol minivan. I'm the driver this transfer! Its our swagger wagon! :) 

We continue to teach Anna, we have now taught her just about all we have, but we are going to start over to teach her 9 year old son Derek so he can be baptized as well!! They are amazing. We have seen such an awesome difference in their house. I love visiting them so much!!

Saturday we had district exchanges. I went down to the bike area with Elder Takke. We had a blast!! We got to teach some good lessons and we ate some good meals as well! Usually Saturdays everyone is in Mexicali, but we were able to find a lot of people home! It was a miracle!

Sunday was a great day in church!!! Anna's son came for the first time, so we went to primary with him. It was awesome, I missed primary so much!! :)

That night I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I was with Elder Fowler. It was a blast! I learned so much from him, he's an amazing missionary! We had an awesome day. 

Some random lady called us we have never met before and asked us to move a "few things", so we went to help in proselyting clothing. Turns out they had a full storage unit, full of metal, dirty junk in it and it was stinkin hot! By the end our clothes were completely covered in dirt, and we were drenched in sweat, but it was still fun! 

Today we went out to salvation mountain, which wasn't all that exciting but it was a good thing to do I guess. 

Love and miss you all! Can't wait to hear from you!

Elder Hansen

P.S. This is a poem that Elder Fowler Showed me. I loved it so I thought I would share it.

The Fellowship of the Unashamed

I am a part of the fellowship of the Unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit

Power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has

been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow

down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense,

and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight

walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions,

mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or

popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised,

regarded, or rewarded. I now live by presence, learn by faith, love by

patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.

My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my

way is rough, my companions few, my Guide is reliable, my mission is clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, diluted,

or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the

presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the

pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of

mediocrity.

I won't give up, back up, let up, or shut up until I've preached up, prayed

up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ. I am a

disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go until He returns, give until I drop,

preach until all know, and work until He comes.

And when He comes to get His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My

colors will be clear for "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the

power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.."

Salvation Mountain

Me Encanta Ser Un Missionero (I Love to be a Missionary)

Hi my dear family and friends!! :)

So happy to have the chance to write you after another awesome week! It wasn't too eventful so I don't have a ton to write about, but I'll hit some high points!

Anna keeps progressing! Which makes Elder Carlson and me so happy! We finish off every night at her place and there is no better way to end it! I've seen her and her family change so much! The environment of their home has changed, her attitude has changed, and her childrens' attitudes have changed. It's awesome to see how the restored gospel of Jesus Christ can bring a family together, and make them so much happier! :) We took her to the Family History Center last week, which was awesome! She didn't have much information for herself and her ancestors, but she entered in as much information as she had! I also found out that the Senior Couple, the Carrols, are also related to Samuel Gadd! Which was fun! Anna brought us California Burritos, which are Carne Asada burritos with French fries in them, and they are sooooo good! We didn't know there was a good place to get them out here, turns out there is!!!!!! Anna takes good care of us, she also hooks us up with the NFL scores and BYU scores as well! She is a huge Niners fan, so we have some disagreements but that's okay :) Anna brought her daughter Brianne to church on Sunday.

We were a little worried because Bri doesn't speak that much Spanish, but she LOVED primary! She had the biggest smile on her face when she walked out with a sucker in her mouth, and that's all she can talk about! And she always wants to come pray with us when we go teach them! Its amazing!

Lately we have had some struggles with finding solid investigators, but we keep working hard, and talking to everyone. I know the Lord will help us find the people who are prepared to have the gospel in their lives. Elder Carlson and I have a ton of fun together! Even when the days aren't going the best we make the most out of it!

 Transfers are tomorrow!!! Crazy right? I already made it through my first transfer in the field! Me and Elder Carlson are staying together - thank goodness! Elder Stecklein got the call for a transfer, so he and Elder Takke are getting separated.  We might be seeing some changes in our area tomorrow. I have a feeling Elder Stecklein might open up a new area in Calexico.  The Church just started renting out a vacant apartment in our complex.  Supposedly we are getting two new missionaries in Calexico which is exciting!   

The work out here in the Imperial Valley is booming! It's awesome to be a part of it.  There are also some wonderful changes going on in the ward. The whole attitude has been changing for the better and it's really helping the missionary work out here. Elder Stecklein got the transfer call today, so I think he's out, but he could be opening up the new area with the new set of missionaries in our complex, so we shall see! I'll miss him a lot if he goes, but I'm excited for a little bit of change!

We have a sweet ward activity tonight for Mexican Independence day. (no Cinco de Mayo isn't independence day in Mexico), It should be a ton of fun!, I should have some pictures to send to you guys next week!  

Thank you for your prayers! Love you all!

Elder Hansen

Una Semana en la superficie del sol (A Week on the Sun's Surface)

Another Great week in paradise! AKA Calexico :)

This week was Awesome!!!!

Elder Carlson and I continue to get along better and better and work better together. We also have a ton of fun doing it. I feel like we are laughing like 90% of our time together!

Some highlights of the week!

Last Tuesday we taught a sweet FHE to a couple of families. We taught about the armor of God, out of D&C 27, which is a sweet section!! We had them make the armor out of cardboard, it was super fun!!!

Last Wednesday was an adventure!!!

We had exchanges, and I went into the other Elders' area in Calexico with Elder Takke. Their area is a bike area, so it was something fun and new!! It was a scorcher that day too, so I sweated...a lot! But Elder Takke and I had some good lessons, and had a lot of fun as well. Their bikes are so ghetto, mine didn't even have brakes. haha!!! Still fun though! And don't worry mom I wore my helmet and stayed safe.

Thursday was a pretty normal day, except I met a former investigator named Jose Cunningham, and he's super cool!!! He has had some really bad back problems, so he's basically stuck in bed all the time, but he has been friends with missionaries for years, one companionship used to check on him a lot, and he says they kept him from committing suicide! Anyway, before his back problems he was a prosecuter in Mexicali, he says he put a lot of Cartel members in jail. He told us some crazy stories!! He's super cool so I'm excited that we are back in his house teaching again.

Friday we had a sweet lesson with Fernie in the Church, I'm really excited because I think he really felt the spirit and really understood the restoration and how we have the authority of Jesus Christ again. He's a super cool kid, I'm glad we were able to contact him.

Saturday we did a ton of service!!! It was super fun!

First we went and helped out at a fundraiser car wash for a kid who died at Calexico High of heat stroke. We got invited by this cool truck enthusiast we met. There was some bumpin music at this car wash. There was also some super cool lowriders there. They fed us and were really grateful to have us there, plus we got to get sprayed by some hoses!!! It was a blast. We also helped a less active named Daffney and his wife Diana move some stuff from Calexico to El Centro. Daffney is the Bomb. He feeds us all the time and loves talking to us, especially because his little brother just left on a mission. Sometimes when he can't feed us he will leave his apartment unlocked so we can go grab some food or water when we need to.

Sunday

Unfortunately all the people who told us they would be at church didn't show up. Including Daffney which really made us sad. That afternoon though, there was a baptism! A family in the ward baptized their son, who's name is Nephi. Hes the funniest little kid! After he got baptized he came up with his thumbs up and said " Esta bien chilo" which is basically like "this is cool!" in slang. He cracks me up! They gave us some sweet Mexican style hot dogs after too, with chili beans and cheese and bacon and onions, they were good! They have food for everything down here, members treat us well!!!

Monday!

Yesterday we had a dynamite lesson with Anna, and we finally got her to commit to baptism! We set a date for October 4th, which we all feel really good about, so I'm super excited! And hopefully we can get her two kids going as well. She is really awesome, and takes good care of us with food and sports details :) She's the bomb!

That sums up our week! Love you all!!

Calexico

Hola Querida Familia y amigos,

Another amazing week with Elder Carlson is in the books!

Lovin life out here in Calexico, El Horno de dios (The Furnace of God?).  Its cooling down out here.  We only had one day over 115 this week!  And a couple days that didn't bust 110! It was a miracle. We still sweat ... a lot. :)

Wednesday! To be honest I don't remember anything interesting happening this day. Sorry! but...we tried Yum Yums Chinese restaurant with Elders Stecklein and Takke which was fun! And then Elder Takke got us donuts from this little shop down the street. We were stuffed

Thursday- We had a sweet visit with some members! The Garzon family. They're super awesome. Hno Garzon is/was a really good basketball player.  He was showing us the videos from when he was doing 360 dunks in a streetball tournament. They also made us some really good little taquitos with home made pico de gallo and salsa and tortillas. I stinkin love Mexican food!!!!!!!!  We also have been infiltrating this new neighborhood called Sevillas. Which is by far the richest neighborhood out here.  We have a theory that there are more responsible people out here who might actually keep commitments and be there when we make appointments. We will keep you posted on that!

Friday we had some good lessons with some new investigators, one of which dropped us hard for no good reason, but I think he will be coming back eventually. We also had district meeting where we tried this Chinese place that was not really very good. Fun fact-Mexicali was founded by the Chinese, so some of the best chinese food in the world can be found there and some pretty good Chinese food is here in Calexico too, it's just not at Golden Dragon. Yum Yum's was way better!

We walked around Sevillas Friday night.   Man these houses are soooo nice. Everyone has sweet trucks and quads and all the business. Since it's Calexico, it was probably really cheap! Anyway, we added some solids out there and talked to some really great people!

Saturday in the AM elders Stecklein and Takke had a baptism so we went to that. It was awesome!  Then we studied and went and ate at a members house, Hermana Montano. She fed us welllll! We had Jumbalya, Church's chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, fries and some really really good peach cheesecake. Good thing we run here a lot, or I'd be gainin some serious weight!  After that Elders Stecklein and Takke had another baptism for Jose and Zyra, who are brother and sister. They are so cool! They're the best! Jose asked me to speak so I gave a little talk on baptism... In spanish, which was fun. And what's crazy is his neighbor came, who we had contacted on the street, and she's totally interested and I'm pretty sure going to get baptized. She's in Takke and Steckleins area. It was an awesome baptism! 

Sunday was a great day at church!  We had two investigators there, and Anna is for sure our most solid! The other missionaries in our ward had a bunch of people there too! Plus Zyra, Jose and Hna Beltran got confirmed! It was awesome being in their circle! We also had a super solid lesson with Anna and a lady from our ward Hna Martinez.  It was awesome! 

Monay was a great start to the next week.  We met with some less actives, which has been a big focus of ours recently, and we have successfully reactivated a couple of people since I've been here. It's awesome! We also brought Omar Barron out to a couple of lessons with us. He's 16 and it was sweet to have him with us!!

Anyway that was my week! Today Hno Martinez took us out to In-N-Out Burger, which was awesome! And now we are emailing! :) Love you all! 

Elder Hansen