January 20, 2015 - Go Hawks

Dang I'm sure Seattle is goin crazy! My heart gets pumping just reading that article about the Seahawks Packers game! That's a crazy game... People ask where I'm from and they get all excited when I tell them I'm from Seattle because the Hawks are in the Super Bowl! It's a good conversation starter.  I wear my Seahawks PJs every night to support my squad!!! 

Mom & Dad - Good job being so willing to speak in church! That's awesome. I remember how much I hated it, now I feel like I wouldn't mind too much. Even in Spanish if I had to. We teach the Gospel Principles class, and that's some good practice.

I'm doing great! We had a good week! Taught lots of lessons, had a good time! Me and Elder Browne are like best friends right now... I'm super sad because he's leaving tomorrow. :/ transfers are so annoying. As soon as you get comfortable...they mess everything up!  I also found out I'm training...so that will be a fun adventure! We will see who my new companion is! I get to show him all around the area! So that's pretty much all that's on my mind right now... transfers are pretty stressful! 

I'm training?? Super scared about that...I hope my trainee knows Spanish. Ha that would be nice! But whatever I get will be fun! I feel like I've gotten along with all of my comps so well...and yet I haven't stayed long with any of them. Me and Elder Browne were working so hard and tearing it up this last couple weeks and now he's leaving. WHYYYYYYY

Oh well, I'm sure this will be a good learning experience. Did you ever have to train on your mish?  I feel like I never heard stories from your mission. WHAT THE HECK! I'm the worst! I never read your journal or anything!! Send me stuff about your areas and your investigators and your problems and your funny times and all that! if you find time in the next week. :)

Did you get my letter?  I sent you one like last Wednesday or Thursday, so hopefully you get it soon! I feel like it should be there!

also:  Sister Bickley recently sent me a big tin of cookies! I can't find the card so can you tell her thank you for me? Also the Calkins, I think I forgot to write them. Send them my love and thanks! I'm so sorry I didn't get to write them!

Thanks for all your love and support!  Go Hawks!!

Elder Hansen

Chula Vistaaaaa - January 13, 2015 and January 6, 2015

January 13, 2015

Another great week in the books!

The weather this past week has been awesome! Back to typical San Diego weather, in the seventies and sunny for the most part!

This past week we met a really cool family, it's kind of a weird situation, they aren't married but they are a family so let's just pretend they are. It's Larry, Rosio and their 11 year old son Sam. They are super awesome! They have been meeting with missionaries for 3+ years, and Rosio was baptized a couple years ago, but for some reason they lost contact with missionaries. We found their teaching record and went and stopped by! They are super nice, and we keep meeting with them, they are so chill! And they love to feed us! We have had 3 meals with them in the 3 times we met with them, so they are a tender mercy family!

We found 7 new people to teach this past week, which is super exciting! One of them is Johnny. We met him on the street, and he actually asked if we could come over and talk to them. He's in his mid 50s. He was one of those people who look like they wouldn't want anything to do with you, but then they turn out to be so sincere and humble! We passed by on Saturday for our appointment but he wasn't there, so we knocked on the neighbors door, which was kind of weird, we don't normally do that. But they are super cool too! They told us that his wife died the past week and that he was at the viewing. It was sad to hear that. We passed by on Sunday and he was sitting on his porch just thinking. He was so sad! We talked with him for a while about his wife and shared little tidbits of the plan of salvation. Mostly though we just let him talk to us. He's such a strong guy! He had been taking care of his wife for the last 2 years because she had a stroke. PLUS his mom has Alzheimer disease and so he takes care of her too. He would go to the clinic where his wife was and rub her feet, do her hair and help her eat. It's crazy how much he loved her! It was the saddest conversation I have had on my mission, but he's really open and so we can't wait to teach him about the plan the Lord has for him and his wife.

We also had a wonderful miracle yesterday! We were on exchanges yesterday with Elder Dudley and Ramirez, the zone leaders. Elder Dudley came to my area, he's a stud. He's been out for 2 years, he extended for an extra transfer. We stopped to talk to this lady that was in her car, taught her the first lesson, and turns out she lives in Elder Dudley's area, which is cool! And then we asked if she knew anyone we could teach, and she pointed us to her friend Carolina. So we went and knocked on the door, not expecting her to be super interested, but dang, we were wrong!!! She let us in right then and there, which never happens. Then we taught her about the restoration and she was stoked! She's preparing to be baptized on February 21!

Those are the biggest highlights of this week!

I love you all!

Elder Hansen

January 6, 2015

Hi family! How's it going?

We are on early this morning because we have interviews with president really early so we are using the waiting time to email. Because of some weird scheduling conflicts we had our interviews at 7:00, and while we were waiting in between he had us email a little bit, so I got a little head start :)

 

Interviews were cool! The more I talk to president the less intimidated I get, and the more I'm able to talk to him and really have a conversation with him (in Spanish), which is cool! He's a super cool guy. His family is amazing! They're like perfect I swear.

 

One of the counselors in our mission presidency just got called to the Chile Santiago mission. That was pretty cool! I'm jealous of those missionaries...He's super awesome! I wish he could still be here with us.

 

We went down to La Jolla for a doctors appointment today too, for Elder Browne, so it's been a little different "P" day. I'm not sure what we are doing for the rest of the day... Just hangin out I guess.. We just follow around the Elders with cars...haha  We probably won't use our full two hours, but it's nice to get a little head start while we are here :) 

How was everyone's week?

We had a good week! Elder Browne got a little of the sickness going around so that knocked out a couple days this past week, but we still made the most of our time!

Wednesday night we went out to dinner as a district for New Years. We went to Chili's together, it was a ton of fun! The food was super good too :) Then we were in our apartment by 6 pm and we made some yearly plans and got to bed pretty early. It was kinda nice to catch up on a little sleep.

Thursday- We had weekly planning, which we did down at a park in our area by the beach! It's super nice!!! I love it there. That was cool, because usually weekly planning is kind of a bummer, but on the beach its not a bummer at all! 

Friday- I had an exchange with Elder Najera in his area, we had a fun time. Their area is a lot different than ours, so it's always kinda fun to have time outside of the area and have a little break. 

Saturday Elder Browne was down for the count, so we couldn't leave. Poor guy. He got super tired of being in the house, so we went to a baptism that the sisters had, which was fun! The bishop asked me to give my testimony on the spot while we waited for the little niño to get changed... which is always fun in Spanish. It was good though! Elder Browne sang...they always ask him to sing for everything.  Poor guy wasn't feeling good and he still nailed "Grande Eres Tu" (How Great Thou Art).

Sunday was a good day at church.  Our ward changed from 1:30 to 8:30... super early, but it's pretty convenient for us. Except that Elder Browne shouldn't have gone out on Saturday or probably to church Sunday so after church he pretty much died...

Monday was a miracle day! We went around with the mindset that we were going to talk to everyone, which we did. At times it was frustrating because some people wanted nothing to do with us... but then 3 people in a row asked US if we could come over... that like never happens so that was cool. We ended up meeting some really cool people and got a bunch of return appointments to come talk to them!

That about sums up my week. Things are getting back to normal after the holidays. Last week was really cold. Down in the 40s and 50s. But today is back up to 80 and sunny :) It's beautiful down here in Chula Vista :)

Love and miss you all!

Elder Hansen

December 30, 2014 Felize Año Nuevo

It was awesome to talk to you all last Thursday! How was your Christmas and weekend?

The rest of our Christmas was fantastic! We had some menudo after I hung up with you. Then we talked with them about Christ and his birth, I like to share 1 Nephi 11 when Nephi sees the birth of Christ in a vision. After that we went caroling with our district to some members in the Loma Verde branch. The Sanchez's are so nice! I'm jealous they aren't in our ward.   After that we tried to go to Chili's, but it was closed, and then we went to iHop and the wait was too long, so we went to Subway. Oh well, the guy made me the best subway sandwhich I had ever had Merry Christmas to me!!! haha 

I've still been a little sick the last few days which is annoying but it hasn't bothered the work too bad. Most people are out of town in Tijuana right now, so hopefully we will be able to find more people home after the new year. Friday was district meeting which is always a blast :)

Saturday we helped a lady move some stuff from one storage to another, it was a ton of stuff!!! But we had to leave early because of Yuridiana's baptism. It was awesome :) Yuri and two little kids from the branch were baptized. We helped a member named Haylie write a talk about baptism and she KILLED IT!!! She's super awesome, we love visiting her house!!! That pretty much took up our day but it was a good one!

Sunday we sang in the Loma Verde branch (because my comp Elder Browne has the voice of an angel). So we had to go to church at 7 (because our ride Elders Takke and Strong had ward council). That was soooo early!!! But it was fun going to both sacrament meetings, and we did a pretty good job singing "Mas Cerca Dios de ti" or "Nearer my God to Thee". That night we had a sweet lesson with Kimberley, Yuri, and their parens. Our stake president, President Dixon and his wife came and taught with us. It was super cool having them with us. He speaks amazing Spanish, and his wife is a native Spanish speaker, so she does too. haha  We learned a lot having them with us. Missionary work is so much more effective when there are members there to testify of what you are saying and connect with the investigators! 

Yesterday was cool, we went to contact some former investigators and both the houses we went to were super nice and told us we could come back! One wasn't even the people we were looking for, they were a different family, but we have appointments with them so that was cool!

Today we went to the temple!!!!!!! It was so awesome! It had been a while since I was out in Calexico and couldn't go from there, and it was the first time going into the SD temple. It's as beautiful inside as it is outside! The Celestial room is incredible. It was an awesome session! Plus I got to go with my boy Elder Takke :) 

How was your week?? Let me know how everything is going!

Love Elder Hansen

December 23, 2014 Felize Navidad

We had an awesome week this past week.

We are working with a recent convert named Kemberley (25). She got baptized a couple weeks before I got here, and her sister Yuridiana (15) will be baptized this Saturday! Also, her parents have recently changed their attitude and are really thinking about getting baptized, which is awesome! Before, they didn't even think about it, they just knew it was something good for their daughters. They have really cut back on the drinking, and we haven't even taught the parents the word of wisdom! And they LOVE church! They always talk about how much they feel the spirit there, which is great! They are continuing to pray for answers and say they will set a baptismal date when they are more sure! We are super stoked about that whole family! (that is the family we are Skyping with) They are excited to see our families, even though they only speak Spanish.

The ward here is awesome! We have some super great members and we love visiting them! We visit this one girl Haley a lot. She was baptized a few years ago, but went super less active, but recently she has been super active! We have been helping her read the Book of Mormon, and understand it. She's super good at baking so she makes us a bunch of desserts, which is awesome!!! She's very cool!

Other than that we have just been walking around our tiny little area in downtown Chula Vista trying to share la buena palabra de Dios! (the word of God)  It's pretty sick! There is a park in our area that reminds me a lot of Edmonds Marina, it's very pretty! There's a bay with a ton of boats and stuff, we went down there a few days ago.

We also went to this area called Christmas Circle, with a ton of Christmas lights and we sang Christmas carols as a district! It was really fun! We are also going to go caroling to less actives and investigators as a district on Christmas Eve, which I'm really excited for! :) I'm super stoked for the rest of this week! And I hope you have an awesome Christmas!

Love you all! Elder Hansen