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